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Why has gold reigned as the world’s go-to precious metal for over 2,600 years? It’s not as rare as platinum, durable as diamonds, or malleable as copper. What is it about this metal that made it the standard unit of coinage, from China to Mesoamerica? It’s a very long story, but gold’s scarcity, durability, malleability, and universal appeal made it ideal for trade and wealth preservation, starting with the Lydians of 550 BC. Unlike tin, copper, or bronze, gold’s intrinsic properties allowed it to serve as a stable and universally recognized unit of exchange, laying the foundation for its historical role in economies. In today’s episode, we explore gold’s history, the evolution of monetary systems (from China’s early use of paper money in the Middle Ages to Great Britain’s establishment of the gold standard in the late 17th century), and how the gold standard of the last century facilitated international trade and stability but was ultimately abandoned due to its deflationary pressures and limitations. The pivotal moment came in 1971 when President Nixon ended dollar-gold convertibility, ushering in the fiat currency era. To discuss these topics is today’s guest, Collin Plume, author of “Silver Is the New Oil: Strategies for Profiting From the Next Industrial Revolution” and CEO of Noble Gold Investments. He offers insights into modern trends, including nations increasing gold reserves, gold-backed cryptocurrencies, and the future role of gold in global finance. Links: Silver Is the New Oil Noble Gold InvestmentsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Becoming something of value has its downside. In 25 parts, edited from the works of FinalStand. Listen and subscribe to the ► Podcast at Connected.. “Live fast, die young and leave a; No. Enjoy life and die when it is your time. Your corpse will the least of your concerns if there really is an Afterlife.” (Monday) For some God-unknown reason I was showing up to work at 6 a.m. Monday. I swear, one of these days I'm going to show up to work naked. If asked why, I'll claim that it wasn't in my brilliantly scripted orders. I would then beg forgiveness for 'assuming' I was allowed to breath, or even be conscious. We'd all laugh. Nothing would change. They were never going to give me advance warning of what my latest errand entailed. I don't think it was in them. "You've made to Week Three," Buffy sneered as we entered the garage beneath Havenstone's skyscraper. "I'm flabbergasted." "So am I; flabbergasted that is," I nodded sagely. "I had no idea you knew what flabbergasted meant." Punch. Definitely back to the old Buffy. "You need a haircut," she commented. My phone beeped. I had data packet. I had received them before; just not from this place. I opened it up as we exited the car and made for elevators. "Holy Bat-shit Bat-Bunny!" I gasped. "Hayden's written me a letter." "Really?" Buffy was momentarily non-psychotic. I showed her my screen. Hayden had made an official declaration; something that would be in the records of the Amazons from now until forever. Any and all males of Havenstone; specifically one Cáel Nyilas; were to forthwith and immediately stop spiritually assassinating any and all Amazons and Amazon recruits. Furthermore, I was admonished for murdering Fabiola Dobrani and, under penalty of an unmentioned punishment, I was to publicly rejoice at her resurrection. Life was relentless. Buffy's phone rang. She got the same message I did; as did every freaking Amazon in the building. I didn't think the guys would be getting this memo. "I wonder how the Chicklettes are going to take this," I mused. The doors opened before Buffy could formulate her comeback. Relentless may have not been a strong enough word. Waiting for us in two distinct groups were Constanza with two SD Playboy Bunnies; opposite them was Oneida. Oneida looked; enamored. This wasn't curiosity about what my meat would feel like as it made her weep tears of rapture. This was a weekend binge of watching some of the best received, twenty-something, romantic movies of the past ten years. It was hard for me to decide which group was more divorced from reality; the Amazon man-haters, or the 'Hollywood was real' babe. "I'm going to get a bite to eat," Buffy announced. Entering the garage had completed her bodyguard duties. Oneida had the higher prestige so she came first. "Hi Cáel Nyilas," she stepped up and greeted me. She extended her hand; for me to shake. Amazons clasped forearm to forearm. I greeted her Amazon-style. "It is good to see you again, Oneida of House Arinniti," I replied. She looked upset. "You know who I am," she sighed with disappointment. "Please believe me," I stroked the side of her left cheek to the top of her ear, "had I known Friday, I would have finished up by impaled myself on your spear and cleared up a whole manner of things. Why does it matter to you that I know who you are?" "I; I didn't want to be treated as anyone special," she gazed up at me with innocent eyes. "That's not going to be a problem," I chuckled. "To me, you are nothing but another psycho-bitch that's trying to kill me. You are a black-hearted, soulless creation of Hell and I hate your guts, Oneida." "But you saved my life?" she whimpered. She was a bit more unbalanced than the normal babe employed here. Yay me. "And? See, this is why my description of you and your sisters is so accurate," I smiled while I explained. "I would try to save almost anyone because it is the right thing to do. The only reason saving you was a mistake was that it caused me to fall further into Hayden's favor. Now she's going to expect that shit on a regular basis solely because you are of House Arinniti." "Ah; I like you," Oneida pleaded. "Why?" I asked. "You risked so much for Aya. You made her laugh and smile. You; you acted as if you cared for her; as if you were her own mother," Oneida told me. "Was that a deception too?" "Hmmm; not what I expected," I mused. "Fine, realizing that I was with Aya for her sake and hers alone raises you up a step in my estimations. I'm not being deceptive about how I feel about this place, Oneida. Here, let me prove it." I looked to Constanza. "Constanza, do I hate your guts?" She glared at me. "Constanza, if I thought I could get away with it, would I shove a fragmentation grenade up your ass and pull the pin?" No response. "See," I grinned to the gawking Oneida, "I'm not being deceptive about how I feel about this place. My opinion matters not at all to these women yet they know I'll never act on my hate because of my own, perverse Code of Conduct. I'm not going to run away and I'm not going to stop being me. I'm certainly not going to fall in love with anyone here." "Oh," she muttered. "I have to go to work now. Have a nice day," I turned to Constanza. "Are you my work buddy today?" "Male, come with us," Constanza snapped. Off the four of us walked; right back to the elevator. Down we went, past any level my ID card could have accessed. Devo's Working in the Coal Mine sprang to mind, so I hummed it. I was feeling completely at ease. Constanza stood behind me, while the other two stood at either side, but half a step back so they were right at the edge of my peripheral vision. I felt like a team player; an interregnal part of my imminent demise. The group marched past the Armory. I waved to my old friend, the Kindergarten Cop. She glowered. Amazons were not martinets. They were clean-cut and proud, but vigilance meant much more than a scuff mark on a boot, or a gaze locked on the farther wall. Our trip deposited in yet another room I could never access. I was the first one through the door. I almost froze. For starters, the room was around 15 meters wide and 6 meters deep. In the center of the room was an 8x2meter table. On the table where a wide variety of firearms and ammunition. Automatic pistols, revolvers, shotguns and submachine guns plus multiple clips, or speed-loaders for them all. They hadn't brought me here to murder me with Death by multiple calibers. If they wanted me dead, they would have blown my brains out already then put a gun in my hand in a hopeless attempt to fool Katrina. The number of guns didn't even impress me. The far wall was transparent and through it I could see multiple ladies in sports bras and boy shorts shooting away on a firing range. Holy Mother of God! I was here for weapons training. What the Hell had gone wrong? As I moved deeper into the room, one SD Femi-Nazi moved down the left wall, the other moved down the right and Constanza remained two steps behind me. "Please clarify my task for this time period, Constanza?" I requested. The look she shot me was lethal. "The weapons present are ones you have stated you have a familiarity with as well as others in common usage here at Havenstone. All the rounds are hollow points, or slugs. Chose which weapons you wish to qualify in, load your clips and inform me when you have completed this part of the assignment." "Thank you," I nodded then set to the task at hand. Constanza clearly had expected me to be a smart ass. I had used learning about guns to get tail. That didn't mean I disrespected the weapons. I picked up several side arms, testing their weight and grips before deciding on the 40 caliber Smith and Wesson Glock 22. I felt the ammo, making sure I wouldn't be running around with blanks this time. This shit was real. Elsa had claimed she'd rather be skinned alive than let any man bear weapons in her Havenstone. Maybe I shouldn't have felt her up, or given that massage to that med tech, or stripped in the elevator. I was a really, truly naughty boy. Most women spank naughty boys. My tormentors tend to fuck with my mind because, ya know, it's harder to defend against that crap. Also, there is not a hand lotion made that will soothe the ravaged psyche. I began loading the clips. "Is that the only one you are taking?" Constanza eventually broke down and asked. "I don't want to waste your time," I replied. "This is my favorite pistol. I've shot 22, 38, 9 mm, and 45, but I'm most comfortable with this one. Maybe later I can work with the shotguns. I haven't a clue how to handle anything else." I could see it in her eyes; 'damn him; he's making sense.' There was one final way I could fuck up. I didn't. I knew firearms etiquette. Don't load your gun before taking your station at the range. Sure, all the crazy chicks could do it, but that was part of their jobs; killing things. I was a novice. I picked out some ear protection and an adequate hip holster in case Constanza wanted me to fire from the draw. I was clearly not making her day by not screwing up. "This way," she barked. She accessed the door leading to the range and out we stepped. All around, the firing slowly died. For each of the women, there was a second of disbelief followed by several more seconds of outrage. Lust was where the emotional landslide ended. I was 'That' guy. I wasn't something they could codify. I made meaningful, defiant eye contact, I dressed to impress, and I was known to be courageous. Having Hayden decide that she wanted to mate with me didn't hurt my appeal one bit. I could already tell they were figuring out where to shoot me so that I could still have sex an hour later. I was a man in Havenstone with a gun after all. I was the equivalent of the Pope in Mecca; it just didn't happen. My booth was nice and comfy. After placing my gear on the table, "What do I do next?" "Ear guards; check weapon; load, chamber, announce your preparation to fire; fire as quickly and accurately as possible. Reload and fire until you have uses all rounds," she commanded. Hmm; six meters. Standard human-scored target. I hadn't done this in a year. I shook my limbs out to get ready for the shock and recoil then steadied my breathing. Fifteen rounds, starting at the ready stance. "Ready," I pronounced. "Begin," was Constanza's muffled command. The report of the first shot, the sting of the recoil, the pull on the arm and the shell ejecting; all of those rolled over me before I could count. I almost missed the automatic slide staying open. Down went the old magazine even as my left hand retrieved and leveraged the next one in. A problem presented itself. The girl who first taught me was pretty good; in the 'if you couldn't find the prerequisite number of bullet holes in the target, everyone assumed the missing bullet had passed through one of the previous penetrations' kind of way. I was pretty lucky. She took a red hot poker to me and was thankfully far less accurate. She was so incredibly beautiful; so furious with me, naked and chasing me around a cabin lit solely by the fireplace, with that firebrand in her hand. Maybe it was wrong of me to take her English professor up to the girl's cabin for a sexual rendezvous; or stick the professor in the closet when the poor lady absolutely had go to the bathroom. Or fucked the girl on her bear skin rug until the professor had to come out of said closet before she urinated. I know; I'm an idiot. Fifteen bullets into the first target had made a mess of it. Since there was no one in either station around me, I started shooting at the target to the left. I put the last magazine into the one on the right. It took me well over thirty seconds to get all 45 shots off, but I did it. "Done," I stated as I put the gun down and took a half-step back. "Do you shoot pistols a lot?" one of my other guards asked in amazement. They had undoubtedly seen better speed and marksmanship. It was their cosmically low opinion of me that made my effort so impossible to believe. "No, I'm a Natural Born Killer," I grinned at the three of them. "Males are arrogant and take things for granted. They are sloppy," Constanza sneered. "It never fails to surprise me that you don't accept that your ancestors were some of the toughest bitches to ever walk the planet," I muttered. "What does that mean?" Constanza growled. "Warriors so tough they are remembered thousands of years later and your founders escaped with their lives; as opposed to all those Trojans, Hittites and Lydians who ended up decorating graves with their bones," I glared back. "What I mean is; why does me having a weapon really bother you? I'm am totally out-numbered, out-classed and out-gunned." "I don't want to die. I'm definitely not suicidal. I'll even take bullets, arrows and blades for you people," I snarled. "Quite frankly, all of this paranoia is really starting to get on my nerves, so fucking Cut it out!" "You do not tell us what to do," Constanza ground out. She'd grabbed my chin with one hand. "I'll keep that in mind next time an Amazon's life is in danger and a simply warning from me could save their life. Be assured I'll put your directive down for the reason they croaked," I countered. "If it was up to me, you would be killed for your insolence," she growled. "Does it ever occur to you it is the other way around?" I touched her wrist. "What?" Constanza was both irate and uncertain. "You are where you are because you have a habit of making poor decision on a strategic level," I explained. Apparently I wanted to die. "Why does anyone like you?" Constanza muttered. "Like me? Most people who know me, hate me; like you. The difference is they get to know me first then they hate me. You haven't gotten the full Cáel experience yet. You hate me on a purely generic level. Real hate comes from knowing me," I grinned. Like so much that comes from my lips, that was a lie. To be truthful, most of the women I had wronged over the past four years forgave me; eventually. Most of them figured out that I hadn't cheated on them; I cheated on EVERY girl I was with, but one; my mentor. She was the one who tossed me out among the female population in the first place. Some ladies did hold a grudge. There is one chick who burns me in effigy every year on the date of our break up. I should have known better. It was my freshman year and she was a Psychology teaching assistant. Most psych majors are wacko; more wacko than most pissed of women, I have learned from experience. I'll still date them. I also take more care about what I eat and drink around them too. "I'm glad to know you will be gone soon," she seethed then removed her hand from my chin. "Constanza, you really need to stop trusting me so much," I chuckled. "I don't trust you at all," she countered. "But you are taking my word for it that women hate me," I snickered. "More importantly, you are ignoring the facts. The majority of the women at Havenstone who like me, do so for reasons totally devoid of any intimacy. We both know I can be a jerk. I'm being a jerk right now; to you. What separates us is that I have no doubt that if you were in danger, I would come to your aid. That is the kind of person I am," I related calmly. "That would never happen," Constanza insisted. "I don't care what you think," I shot back. "I don't make decisions based on your whimsy. I follow my leadership. I know I'm loyal. Now, can we please get back to the reason we are all here?" The scoring indicated that I was so lucky that girl came at me with the poker. I missed six shots out of 45, which I thought was awesome. I even managed to badly tear up the chests of the front and left targets. The target on the right was still 'dead', but he could be buried in a tuxedo. I had one head shot; it wasn't on purpose. We went back to the gun room, reloaded my Glock, a 38 Colt and a Mossberg shotgun. One guard went with me while Constanza and the second guard scored my first round. Back in the firing lane, I lost all firearms ability what so ever. I was saved by three shooters who volunteered to help. See how easy that was? They helped me with my stances, reload techniques and argued the merits of hip holster, ankle holsters and shoulder holsters. To reciprocate their hospitality, I stripped off my annoying jacket, tie, shirt and undershirt. We got into a discussion of spent rounds bouncing around and maybe scaring the shooter. For the Amazons, it was training to ignore painful distractions. I stopped; leveled by an epic brainstorm; and fired off an order to Executive Services; care of Daphne. "What are you doing?" one of the new lethality-engines asked, somewhat piqued. "Oh, I have to celebrate Fabiola's resurrection; Hayden's orders; and that is going to require supernatural aids," I replied. I was back on track in their eyes. "What was it like to feel the strength of the Ancestors flow through you?" the second one whispered. This Ancestors and Goddess crap; mysticism was real to them. I've never claimed to be a deity though I've insinuated that I was the blood descendant of the Goddess Ishtar; reference the Wiccan Priestess; and her circle of naked female celebrants. The answer, not a total lie, was pure Amazon. "I didn't feel anything," I could sense their disappointment. "You know, all I felt was the spear and nothing else. Absolutely nothing else mattered. All other burdens and pains were lifted from me so I could devote myself entirely to the task at hand; hold the spear aloft." They ate it up because the 'stillness' was at their core of martial mystique. Bushido had it too except they called it 'No Mind', or something like that. To be honest, I had come by that state of being through sex. My focus narrowed down to my partner and all of her actions and reactions. For a lowly male, like me, to possess that quality must have been divine intervention. "You did a wonderful thing; channeling the Ancestors that way," the third stated. "Oneida is precious to the Host." "I beg to differ," I regarded her with a quirky smirk. "Every life is precious. When you start weighing a person's life before you chose to save it, you have lost much more than that split second; you have lost a piece of your soul." Oh look. I was lecturing them and they didn't like it. "Try looking at it from my viewpoint for a second," I knew they couldn't. "I'm a lowly male caught up in your fiendish experiment. I don't know who any of you are beyond the reality that you would casually harm, or even kill me for any number of reasons." "You clearly think I should cower and cow-tow to your whims and wishes," I took in their negative reactions. "I'm not. That's not me. Instead, I'm going to run errands, learn to fight, laugh, play and have a great time. If it matters; I know it doesn't to you; I am Cáel Nyilas, son of Ferko, son of Árpád of the Magyar. 'Where there is Valor, there is Hope'," I added. That wasn't my family motto. We were from poor, immigrant stock. My grandparents spoke Hungarian. I knew a little of it, just not enough to be considered fluent. I knew some Vlach (Romanian) too. When your neighbors are screaming insults at you, it pays to know exactly what they are saying. Again, I'm not fluent in Vlach, but I could get in a bar fight over what I did know. "Your lineage is inconsequential," Constanza snapped. She'd come back; yippee! "How did I do, Jefe?" I beamed happiness her way. "I hate you," she said through clenched teeth. I must have done better than I thought. "Well, that's good. Maybe, under your instruction, I'll almost be a match for the other fine ladies down here one day in the distant future," I nodded happily. "That your heart still beats is an insult to everything I stand for," Constanza spat. "I'm cool with that in the same way I'm cool ignoring this whole 'blood prestige' thing. You gals aren't respecting mine and you certainly aren't explaining your rules to me, so I'm opting out of this whole 'my old lady was better at dodging arrows than yours'." "You should not insult us this way," my closet, newest gun-buddy cautioned me. "I agree. Do you even know who the Magyar are?" I inquired. "No," she shrugged. "Go find out and then we can talk," I grinned. "Until then, you are disrespecting the aim of a sniper you don't even know exists yet is stalking you." As they were struggling to figure that out, I groaned. "You are insulting my people without knowledge of who they are. You are asking me to show respect to your people without explaining to me why. I'm sure they were wonderful, fucking women, but I don't know anything about them," I related. "If you want blind obedience, go have fun with sterility," I smirked. "I've got better and more far-sighted women I'd rather be with." "Most likely you will be milked of your seed, joined with our eggs thus creating the next generation of the host," the third girl got all riled-up. Sex. "Man," I laughed. "Am I the only one here to have figured out that I, and the other new male hires, aren't the only ones being tested? Really? Come on. If Katrina wanted to train me to use a gun, she could have sent me with Desiree to a private gun range and handled this stuff off-site. No. She had to put me here; with all of you." All those smug, superior, horny chicks just realized they'd taken a philosophical snap-kick to the cranium. Tested? Amazons were tested all the fucking time. It was their culture to keep them fit, firm and alert. Best of all, the male had to be the one to bring this to their attention. I wrapped my arm around the waist of the closest Amazon and pulled her groin to my hip. "That's okay though. I'm in this for all of you," I murmured while looking deep into her eyes; as if we were the only two people in the world. "With your aid, I think we can do this; make it work. Don't you?" She nodded. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. Shotguns, pistol-grip shotguns and an MP-5 joined my list of weapons I knew the basics of afterwards. Once more, I was rendered even more attractive by the fact that I could hit a man-sized target at 6 meters with a gun I had only then picked up. I had been joking about the whole 'natural born killer' comeback. I wasn't convinced that my ancestor's ability to fight all their neighbors, sometimes all at the same time, made me kick-ass. Frankly, my people had lost wars to every European empire of the middle ages and modern times. You just couldn't keep us down. Maybe resistance was genetically based. That was crazy talk; but Grandpa was a tough SOB, as was my Dad, now that I thought about it. Gramps Old Man died fighting the Russians in world war two, which was why he fled his homeland as a child. Mom's people; they were Irish; the Irish, when not fighting for their own homeland, were fighting for some else's. Mom didn't get the time to teach me much, but I do recall this: The greatest lie the Irish ever tell is that they only hate the English. The Irish hate anyone they can get their hands on, even other Irish. If you don't believe that, look at every ethnic neighborhood in the US that border an Irish enclave. They fight with them all. I got my twisted sense of humor from my Mom. I miss her so. Knowing Mom, she wouldn't be ashamed of my infidelities. She'd probably say 'he's test-driving until he finds the one that can keep him in line'. I hoped she wouldn't be ashamed of me. My time was up. I had to go to Katrina's office. Constanza banished me with a grumpy face and a dismissive wave of the hand. The chick I had put on my hip volunteered/elbowed her way to showing me out. My ID card wouldn't open any stairwell, or elevator. She felt comfortable walking around in her underwear, plus a shoulder holstered 10 mm. Ten steps out, from her left, I snaked my hand around her back to her right hip. She looked to me and smiled. "Can you give me some advice?" I inquired. "I'll try," she hedged. "Well, you are clearly in excellent physical condition. I've been trying to put together a regimen that will get my left thigh in shape," I started. She nodded. "I've a quadriceps exercise in mind, but I'm unsure about one for the gluts," I mused. She looked uncertain. I moved my hand off her hip, over to her left hand then placed her hand force on my left ass. We were now really close. "I'm afraid of losing my muscle tone. Can you help?" "Umm;” she hesitated. "I could think of a few things." She worked herself up to giving my ass a good squeeze. This was not the first male ass she'd handled yet it was most likely the firmest and most sexually promising one she'd felt. Promising something she couldn't quite envision but felt deep within her loins. She dispensed advice. I nodded appreciatively. When I asked for some kind of confirmation, she kindly put my hand on her ass which I promptly began squeezing. Like shooting fish in a barrel. We were comparing stomach and shoulder techniques on the elevator. Her name was Naomi and she was with the Security Detail and a member of House Rajah; ally of House Arinniti. Sweet! Like clockwork, Brielle and her buddy joined me in the elevator on the ground floor. They had to know somebody to track me this well. Me shirtless with an Amazon in her undies. It must be Monday morning. "This is new," Brielle commented. "Good morning, Naomi. Forget something?" "I'm on the job," Naomi retorted. It was the whole 'going without clothes' thing. "Are you protecting a bare-chested Cáel from us, or us from a bare-chested Cáel?" her companion joked. Naomi's mouth opened then shut. "I cannot talk about it. Neither one of us can," Naomi declared with authority. "That's right, Ladies," I nodded. "What happens in the laundry room, stays in the laundry room." All those who felt I'd gone to the laundry room, raise your hands. No takers. "I smell gunpowder residue," Brielle commented after she took a close whiff. "The Dominicans, Latin Kings, and the Redneck Posse have all started fighting over that little block of paradise I call home," I sighed regretfully. Silence. "Redneck Posse? That's not one I've heard of before," Naomi commented. Here we go! "Oh yeah," I looked contemplative. "Ten years ago, several linguists studying Appalachian dialects paid for some native speakers to come to the city to help in their research. The hillbillies got paid, got jobs and brought their families down." "When the grant money for the study ran out, the bumpkins had to find another way to support their kin that their minimum wage jobs couldn't providing. Enter the Redneck Posse. Guns, meth, moonshine; they do it all. They are kind of like Afghan tribesmen except instead of being half a world away by sea, or air, they are a four, or five, hour drive down the interstate," I concluded. The three women exchanged confused looks. The doors opened on my floor. "Oh my Goddess!" Brielle exclaimed. "That's almost possible to believe." I winked and left. "You mean that was a lie too?" Naomi gasped. The doors shut on that conversation as I swept through the office. I had 90 seconds to spare. Only Dora wasn't here yet, but there was a pile of boxes on my desk. They were all looking at me as if I'd just stepped out of a pool, or a French cologne commercial. I set my clothing and valise on my tiny, now over-stacked, desk then joined the line-up. "Good morning Cáel," Katrina looked me up and down. "I certainly hope it will be. Good morning to you too, Katrina," I beamed. Pause. "Forgetting something?" Katrina prodded. I sniffed the air. I didn't sense it. "Yes Ma'am, Katrina. I'm missing one thing. I hope it gets here soon," I confirmed. Pause. "Very well, let's get started," Katrina began. Fabiola lost it. "What! He doesn't have a shirt, tie, or jacket on. As far as we know, he's not even wearing underwear," she screeched. "Cáel, is your attire, or lack thereof, necessary for the performance of your duties?" Katrina politely inquired. "Yes it is Katrina," I nodded. "Very well;” Katrina started over. "What possible reason could you have for being half dressed," Fabiola ranted. "Are you going to cover yourself with oil and slither down the stairs like the snake you are?" No one said anything for a while. The rest of the 'new hires' were coming around to the fact that Katrina and I were mocking Fabiola. Otherwise, Katrina would have shut her down. I held up my hand. "Yes Cáel," Katrina acknowledged me, "despite the meeting having already begun and not being directly addressed by me, you may speak." Slap! "Fabiola, I find your desire to see me oiled up a bit perplexing," I grinned in her direction. "I would like to point out, despite the evidence you have presented today, I am not an idiot and our boss; Katrina; is not a fool. Hate me to your heart's content, but don't insult Katrina by thinking she doesn't already know what I'm up to." "She does not explain herself to me, or you, and I'm pretty sure even Hayden gets an edited view of what goes on here in Executive Services. I don't know and I don't care. That's not in my job description and I'm already way out of bounds as it is," I said. "For your sake and your sake alone, I will tell you why I'm am dressed the way I am today." "It is part of your ritual apology," Violet blurted. "It's obvious. This has to do with what Hayden told him to do." That wasn't truly fair to Fabiola. The rest of the ladies had been rushing around getting the items I decided I needed for my public apology. Dora came bolting in right then. "I'm sorry I'm late, Katrina," she panted. "Did I miss anything?" "No," Katrina returned events to their proper order. "First off, for today, I'll start with Cáel's work review for Friday. I never thought I would say this about his on-the-clock performance. Cáel, your work output on Friday was stellar. There, I said it. Next; " That would have been a far greater treasure had that been my work report instead of Aya's. Everyone else did well, save Tigger. She had forgotten a security sequence and had half a floor locked down for 15 minutes. At the conclusion, Buffy came in, slammed a flimsy, but aromatic, box into my chest then stormed away. "Cáel?" Katrina questioned. "Yes. Thank you," I then turned to Fabiola. "Do you wish to have the ceremony here, or out on the main floor of Executive Services?" "I; what are you going to do?" Fabiola grew suspicious. "This is a trick to make me look foolish again." "Fabiola, it is Hayden's wish you hear him out," Paula spoke. "He's troublesome, not stupid. I don't think he's stupid enough to defy Hayden on this." "Swear to me you are not going to make me look bad," Fabiola stared at me. "What do I possess that you believe is valuable?" I countered. She had to think about that. It couldn't be Aya. Fabiola was stumped. She had been so busy looking down her fine Roman nose at me, she had neglected to notice everything I had done and said. "Your mentor," Daphne offered. "She has forbidden me to see her again, but thank you," I winked at Daphne. A quick list of less than helpful suggestions followed. It turned out the only thing I valued was my freedom and I couldn't give that up to Fabiola because that decision lay with Katrina. I would rather defy Hayden than give up sex, I lied continuously for little, or no reason. Fabiola wasn't looking for Lent, she wanted something concrete. It simply didn't exist. Out we went with a very distraught Fabiola and me with a bunch of small boxes. I didn't worry about expensing all this crap. I wasn't spending my own money anyway. I had Fabiola stand in the largest open area ES had. Even people who only had business on this floor were joining the growing body of my co-workers here to witness the spectacle. Three small brass bowels and one small oil lamp went to the four compass points; I even had a compass. I put sand in one, water in another and dry ice in the third. I lit the lamp. "This symbols me calling the four corners of Terra to bear witness: Earth, Air, Fire and Water," I explained. Next I wrote down Fabiola's name on a slip of paper in Old Kingdom Hittite. I burned it. Fabiola frowned. She was the only one. I dropped the ashes into a glass of water. "With this, I take back my curse. I swallow it, thus swallowing my words," I explained to Fabiola. I drank the whole thing. That accomplished, I pulled a small silver owl out of an unopened box to a series of murmurs. "This is a gift to your house. Minerva (the Roman Athena) is your patron Goddess. I do honor to her for bringing you back." I handed her the owl. Her expression told me she was still waiting for the trap to be sprung on her. I wrote out my name, in Magyar then held it up to Fabiola. "This is my name, Cáel Nyilas, in my native tongue," I told her. I burned it, ground up the ashes with my fingers. With a little bit of coordinated effort, I drew the word 'forgiveness' in Old Kingdom Hittite over my heart. The last box. It was Dobos Tortas, a sweet treat from my native land; Hungary, not Chicago. "Please accept this gift as a symbol of my apology and my desire to seek your forgiveness," I looked into Fabiola's eyes. The weight came crushing down on her. Virtually all the women around her wanted me to be forgiven. Not because they hated her. Most barely knew her; or me. It was the ceremony. Simple, relatively quick yet individualized by the giving of gifts designed for each participant. Deep in her twisted little soul, Fabiola still expected a trap, trick, or joke at her expense. She probably thought the 'cookies' were poisoned. "I forgive you," Fabiola stated. She put her hand on my shoulder. "Share a treat with me." I even let her pick out the one to stick in my mouth. Maybe she thought I had the antidote, or maybe she decided I was on the up-and-up. The crowd of Amazons made happy, communal noises and we all parted as friends; okay, friends and their dancing bear; me. Katrina snuck up on me as a handful of woman thanked me for the insightful ceremony. I told them they were welcome while neglecting to inform them that I made all of that up. Part of it was Wiccan. Part was some 1960's Italian movie I'd seen. A few things I pulled out of my ass, like normal. "Put on your clothes," Katrina handed me my things. "You did well. I am sure Hayden will be equally pleased." "No problem," I looked at her appreciatively. I felt a cerebral connection evolving between us. "Put on your shirt before I start licking your nipples," Katrina demanded. Damn it. Wait, things got better. As I looked away from Katrina and started getting dressed, Buffy appeared before me. I bet I could have melted an ice cap with the head of steam she'd built up. "Do you like dressing as a male stripper? Do you like women drooling all over you?" Buffy sizzled. "No; yes," I responded. "I hate you," she snapped. "I admire the fact that you can pull off the lead in Madame Butterfly," I bantered back. "Let's get to work," Buffy growled. Off we went. (Elsa Round Three) "Hello Stanica," Buffy greeted the SD guard at the gym facility door. That was new. Normally it was a card-swipe and in you went. Buffy and I were dressed for a workout; per orders. "Full-bloods only," Stanica stopped Buffy. Ah, racism was raising its ugly head. "How am I supposed to get in?" I countered. This appointment was in our queue for 11 a.m. "You have been summoned," Stanica clarified. "Cool; I'll be back in 70 days. Good job Chuckles," I grinned. "You have been summoned," she threatened with a great deal more menace. "He works for me today," Buffy yawned. "That means he goes where I go. Cáel doesn't have a queue today, I do. He's my intern. If you won't let me in, then he doesn't go in. Let's go Cáel." Stanica grabbed my arm. "He goes in. You stay," she insisted. "Cáel; resist," Buffy ordered. To Stanica, "Knock yourself out." Stanica briefly tried to move me. Then she went for some kind of control-hold/lock. Brazilian jujitsu, Baby. It is not some kind of 'super' martial art. As far as I knew, none of them were. If you were trying to break, or establish physical control over another person, it was pretty spectacular though. Along with the Amazon 'house' style, she knew something akin to Krav Maga. Stanica was hampered by her unwillingness to do me serious harm, as was I toward her. The difference was, all I had to do was stay in the hallway, while Stanica had to get me through the doors. The stalemate was broken by two fresh full-bloods coming from the changing room to the facilities. "Sisters, assist me," Stanica called out. "Help me wrestle him to the ground without undo damage." They came forward and jumped me. "Are you on official Havenstone business?" Buffy politely inquired as they dog piled on me. "Shut up," Stanica yelled. "Failing to adequately explain the situation," Buffy quick drew her pistol and pressed it to the temple of one of the two new Amazons, "informs me you are willingly interfering in official Executive Services business." "By all means, give me an excuse to file an incident report," Buffy grinned feral. "Do it and you die, 'Lost Blood' (Old Kingdom Hittite)," the threatened woman responded. "Boss, may I suggest an alternative?" I ground up. They had me pressed down in the hall. "I'm willing to accept you were hired for your intelligence," Buffy allowed. "Trust me. I got this," I snickered. Buffy didn't trust me, yet she knew my tone well. Buffy holstered her weapon and stood back. "This isn't over, Buffy," the Amazon she'd pulled down on snapped. "Go for it," Buffy chuckled. "You are running off with Katrina's male. I was trying to assert her rights and you have defied her. I gleefully await her judgment." The woman snarled then grunted as my three captures pulled me up. Buffy was on her phone, typing away a text when the women realized my feet weren't planted under me. I started to topple over. "Stand up, damn you," Stanica demanded. I looked to Buffy for confirmation of that order. She smiled while indicating nothing. "Stand up," the third Amazon insisted. She backed that up with a jab to my left kidney. Damn, this place was hellishly unlucky for the left side of my body. That did not encourage me to stand. "Fine, we'll drag him in," Stanica changed up. I didn't resist one bit. I acted like dead weight. This scene was made all the more precious by the audience Elsa had gathered for whatever exhibition she had planned for me. The whole sparring area was surrounded by Amazons clearly waiting on me. Most were cross-legged though a few knelt behind the first rank. I could see Elsa, spear in hand, watching those three lugging me in from her position in the Southwest corner of the mats. "What's wrong with him?" Elsa inquired calmly. "He is afraid," Stanica answered. I would have replied, but I knew silence would be far more cutting. See; everyone expect me to have a comeback. My quiet unsettled them. The three unceremoniously dumped me next to the Northeast corner. I lay there. I had noticed two axes about a meter in on the mat. I pulled myself into a position where my ass was resting on my heels. "My Sisters," Elsa began. "There has been some interest in Cáel's two-axe style as well as various theories on how to defeat it. Today, I will display the long spear technique's ability to overcome this problem." "Cáel, pick up the axes and prepare yourself. I will wait until you indicate your readiness," Elsa nodded my way. Very friendly. I looked around a bit, rather bored. "Cáel?" she repeated. I looked at Elsa. "Oh, were you under some delusion that you could tell me what to do, Elsa?" I replied. There was a hush for so many reasons. Elsa being denied, a man denying anything to any of them, and my cavalier, even dismissive attitude toward the Full-blooded assembly. "Under what delusion do you think you can safely defy me?" Elsa smiled shark-like. "Hmmm," I mused, "let me think. You are not Hayden, Katrina, or Buffy; my chain of command. You are not Aya, who I love. You are not acting in my best interest as it relates to Havenstone. Yeah, that should about cover it." "I am a woman of Havenstone and I am giving you, a male, an order. There is no acceptable reason to disobey," Elsa countered. "You are incorrect," I began. The ladies around me didn't like that. "I cannot betray my Amazons. You do not possess the power to force me to disappoint them." "Your Amazons?" A chocolate Amazon with a shaved pate jumped up. "We are not 'yours', filth." "Were you born stupid, or has education made you that way?" I spat back. An ass-whooping was in the offing. "If you came at Hayden, or Katrina, do you think I'd sit idly by and let them fight alone?" I kept at it, though I remained kneeling. "If you threaten any member of Executive Services, or House Epona, make peace with your Ancestors because I will fight, bleed and die for MY Amazons. I've already proved that oath. Your opinion on the matter is less than rat-piss to me." I'm sure arrogance has a use. I haven't found one yet, but I don't ignore the possibility. Chocolate chick grabbed for my hair, ready to slit my throat the moment she tilted my head back. This would have been appropriate if I was one of their old male population. Only total arrogance had kept her from actually listening to the words of defiance coming out of my mouth. I caught her hand, flipped her over and drove the top of her skull into the mat. That shoots a numbing jolt right up the spine, I can tell you from experience. I snatched the knife from her helpless fingers as she finished flipping over, her head closest to me then pressed the blade to her jugular. "Not a single person in this room matters to me. The only person that should matter to you, is me," I stated calmly and quietly. "That being the case, chose your next words carefully and with due consideration of everything I've said before this moment." I was going to die if I killed her. That wouldn't save her life from her own, small, razor-sharp blade. Almost a minute passed. "Cáel, give me my blade," she replied in a rather brave voice. I pulled my hand up, spun the blade around and pressed it into her palm. She slowly sat up and swiveled around until we were face to face, her cross-legged and me, back to my kneeling pose. Her eyes were ice cold. "I was never in any danger, was I?" the woman half-asked, half stated. "Of course not. I would never shame Katrina that way. I'd kill for her. Killing an Amazon to save my own life would not be something she'd allow," I explained as much to the room as the woman. "Don't lie," another Amazon teased me; thankfully. It was Traska Maza; from the Medical Center. "I heard you murdered an Amazon on Friday; end of business." "Yep," I confessed. "Hayden has admonished me from repeating that method of assassination. I swear that if Fabiola keeps calling 'Runners' 'Lost Bloods', I'm going to figure out another way to get her." "The term 'Lost Blood' is the term we use. Accept it, Male," Stanica growled. I had to think about that. I stood up, so I had a good view of the SD bitch. I also had to work up the proper insult. Anything I directed at Stanica would be useless. I knew their weakness though. "Hey," I addressed my African opponent. "Stanica's mother mated with her own paternal male to give birth to Stanica. I read it in an inner-office e-mail." Total lie, but the 'lie' wasn't mine. It was from an unnamed Amazon and it insulted her bloodline, something she truly valued. I glared at Stanica. "That is why it is insulting. In a blood-conscious culture, you are rubbing their noses in a fact beyond their control." "I agree," Oneida spoke up. "'Lost Bloods' is insulting. I had never questioned that before. 'Runners is a better term. I will ask my house to use it from now on." "That's not going to save him," Stanica seethed. "Do you want to know where the memo came from?" I inquired of Stanica. "There is no memo," Stanica snapped. I shrugged. "Why would I make it up? Such a deadly insult?" I pressed the point. Oh, I had made it up because I hate bigotry, especially when it is aimed at someone who was almost a friend. "Who?" she glared. "I don't know, but I know who does," I offered. "She's right outside that door," I pointed to the main entrance. Now, do people recall that divide I was talking about way back in Chapter Two? It worked both ways. Full-bloods were aware of the oppression they exerted on their 'Lost Blood/Runner' sisters. Creeping around in the back of some of their minds was the worry that those newcomers resented their superiors. Had the two groups been truly united, Stanica wouldn't have given my bluff a second glance. Here was the backlash of being a bigot; the idea that those you hated, hating you right back. In short order, Buffy was by my side and listening to Stanica's grievance. Finally we were speaking English again. "Man, Desiree is going to be so sorry she missed this," Buffy looked down at me. I was kneeling again so she was able to appear lofty and run her hand through my hair the way she liked to do when she was extra horny for me. I also liked the way her boobs nearly obscured her face from my view. Very nice tits. "Stanica, he lied to you," Buffy revealed. "I knew it! Stand aside, I'm going to gut the little shit," Stanica started to come at me. "No you don't," Buffy interposed herself. "See, Cáel was following his instructions and he used your idiocy against you, Dumbass," she gloated to Stanica. "He was ordered to serve at my side today, so that is what he did. Who in the right mind would commit anything about blood prestige to an office e-mail anyway? It wasn't even up to his normally superb level of deception." "Then he should be punished for lying to me," Stanica seethed. "I told him to," Buffy wasn't even lying. She'd approved my plan the moment she agreed to 'trust me'. "When?" Elsa requested. She was coming our way. Buffy looked over her shoulder. "Funny, you don't look like Katrina, Elsa," Buffy guffawed. "Make an official request through the proper channels. You don't get to tell me what to do." "Do we need to clarify our positions?" Elsa menaced. I jumped up and took up a boxing stance. With Stanica on one side, Elsa on the other and the preference of Amazons to gang up on opponents, I had to have her back. "Kneel," Buffy tapped my shoulder. I knelt. "Honestly Elsa, Cáel fucked me so hard and long this weekend that even your pettiness doesn't annoy me today. Now, why are we here?" "He's not allowed to have sex," Traska seemed a bit distressed. Me having sex outside the office had never occurred to her apparently. "Strangely, I have all of you to thank for that," Buffy smugly regarded the room. "While you let Constanza and Crewe ambush him then sat back uselessly while he kicked both their asses, gazed on as he refused to take advantage of Constanza once she was clearly incapable of resisting and let her put a blade to his throat, he found a way to legally sleep with me." "Afraid? With a blade to his throat, he couldn't care less about any of you," Buffy regaled them. "Oh, we know you don't care what he thinks; or what I think. Well, welcome to the world you've created. I don't care what you think. Blood Prestige? I'll only give as much respect as I'm given. I am embarrassed I ever thought any of you were better than me." "My prestige is that I volunteered for this lifestyle. I made a choice that no one else in this room ever had the courage to make; to abandon my old life for another, unknown one. From here on out, I'm going to be like Cáel. One of you bitches puts a hand on me, be ready to back it up," Buffy challenged them. Not the best move as far as I could tell. "Be prepared to be put in your place," Elsa grinned. "Go right ahead. Don't get too worked up. There are around a hundred of my fellow; 'Runners' at the door," Buffy smirked. "It is best to end this rebellion right now," the chocolate opponent stood up. "Over what?" I looked up. I hated Buffy making me kneel. "The 'Runners' are doing the exact same tasks you are doing. They want to be awarded respect for that." "This is not your place," the woman stated to me. As an afterthought. "Ngozi." "Thank you," I acknowledged her consideration of giving me her name. "Ha," Buffy snorted. "Oh; rebellion? Let's just say when we realized that (dead word) meant Lost Bloods, we were; unhappy. All this weekend, this petty insult had been spreading out to all our non-Full-blood sisters. Actually, we have come up with two alternatives. One was to approach Hayden with our grievance." "The other was to start calling the rest of you (dead word) (which meant 'Poison Bloods')," Buffy stared down the festering crowd. "After all, we are all fertile and the few children we have been allowed to have are born without defect." Amazons don't threaten often. Normally they simply go straight to the punishment. I was somewhat of an exception for reasons that somehow alluded me. I tried to stand again, but Buffy pushed me back down. Pain was imminent then the muttering began. Around us, small clumps of Full-bloods began pushing for space. That could only mean they were getting ready to fight and since they weren't close to us, they were getting ready to fight their own sisters. I doubted they were enamored with me, or the 'Runner' cause. This was a common sense reaction. They recognized a no-win contest when they saw it. 'Runners' were demanding respect; same recognition for taking the same risks. They weren't even asking for admission into the 'Host'; the true Amazons and their House structure. The tipping points in this protest had been Fabiola and the loyalist opposition led by Helena, the only 'Runner' close enough to my struggle Friday afternoon that could have started it. Remember, the Old Kingdom Hittite language was a closely guarded secret. So secret that Buffy, despite her years of loyal service, hadn't been taught it. There had been decades of small slights that led to this. It wasn't me, except for the definition thing. Fabiola was hardly an aberration. The other female 'new hires' were more the exception than the rule. That was probably why Katrina had chosen them. In her profession; internal and external security; creative thinking and flexibility were as important as blood lines. "Excuse me," a soft voice penetrated the chaos. The noise died down. Tessa Carmichael moved through the crowd to the mat. "Oh, by the Seven Sister Goddesses, of course Cáel Nyilas is here." Then, in English, "Buffy, pardon me but I think this needs my attention." See, a good ass-reaming is done in a target's native language. Tessa went back to Old Kingdom Hittite. "Why are there a 150 sisters outside in the hall milling around?" Tessa began. She held up her hand to truncate the various responses. "Why does it look like you are all preparing for a general melee? Lastly, why are Buffy and Cáel even here? You would think that after his last episode, he'd be avoiding this place." "The 'Lost Bloods' outside are part of a rebellion of their kind, a few of our sisters don't appreciate the threat this poses and; Cáel is here because Elsa invited him here," Ngozi explained. "I'm not exactly sure why Buffy is here?" "Cáel, have you inflicted this building with a histrionic-inducing vapor?" Tessa looked at me with exasperation. I blinked. I had to recall what 'histrionic' meant then I knew what to do. I held up my hand in front of my face, exhaling into it to see if something was 'bad' with my breath. Next, I sniffed my underarms. Lastly, I peeked down my tight shorts to make sure that wasn't the cause. "Nope," I reassured Tessa, "I'm good. I mean, I've been good; this time." "Will miracles never cease," Tessa muttered. The comedy was bleeding the tension and hostility from the room. "Let me try this again. Since top down doesn't work, let's start in the dirt beneath the basement. Cáel, what is going on?" "Okay; give me a second to make this sound reasonable and convincing," I furrowed my brow. "For starters, Buffy and me were working the queue which currently indicated that I was to come here and participate with Elsa in a weapons exhibition," I began. "Buffy became confused by the flickering ceiling lights so I persevered alone. While we waited, Elsa and I engaged in a discussion of corporate etiquette." "The conversation migrated into matters of close combat techniques and mat thickness, which Ngozi assisted with. Clearly satisfied that we were all becoming fast friends, the discussion traveled to Old Kingdom Hittite terminology, background and the ambiguity of some definitions," I continued my literary conjurations. "Buffy discovered she hadn't made me her bitch in the past ten minutes, so hunted me down to this place," I grinned at Buffy. "Since Buffy was hankering for a bit of cuddle time, we were wrapping up the matter of 'Lost Bloods' only being used by total Prom Queen Wannabes while 'Runners' was growing in popularity because it was a word actually used at your people's genesis." Pause. "Was any bit of that the truth?" Tessa looked to Elsa and Ngozi. "No," they both responded. "But, it makes the mess that happened sound far better than the reality," Ngozi added. "That I will agree with," Elsa said. "Buffy," Tessa addressed my boss in English, "the Council will discuss this matter of terminology at the next meeting. Have our sisters outside disperse." "Yes Tessa," Buffy nodded then weaved her way to the entrance. Tessa walked up, patted me on the head as she shook hers. "We really should poison, strangle, stab, shoot and finally throw you off the highest available peak," she smiled warmly at me; psycho. "If you added 'rolling me in a carpet and tossing me in a frozen river' we could call it 'pulling a Rasputin," I grinned back. "I love you," she looked all affectionate. I wanted to cry on the inside; and the outside. "Damn! Now you tell me," I grumbled. "I sent away for a mail-order bride from the Ukraine on Sunday and you know there is no money-back guarantee." "You are enchanting," she chuckled. I wanted to die. "You'll get used to us, I promise." Yes, the head of Human Resources could read my mind. "Tessa, before I get back to Elsa demolishing me, can I ask you something?" I inquired. "Yes." "During that last interview process, you were seriously throwing out the 'let's do it on the table' vibe, weren't you?" I posed. "Very much so," she beamed utter joy. "I was truly impressed that, with your history with woman, you constrained yourself." "If I had come on to you, would I have lost this job opportunity?" I asked. "Oh Goddess no," Tessa laughed. "Someday I should let you read the sheaves and sheaves of transcripts our investigators gathered on your sexual exploits." "That's why you've never encountered anyone from Human Resources in the building. They are forbidden to be alone, or only in the company of other Human Resources employees, with you out of fear they'd rape you," Tessa informed me. "Is he really that good?" Traska asked. "His college years don't read as a triple X rated movie; they read as top shelf erotic fiction," Tessa enlightened the masses. "Oh, Cáel, the nun hopes you're are still seeking spiritual fulfillment." "Cool. How is she doing?" I responded. "She's in Uganda, working at a Catholic school for war orphans," Tessa answered. "You slept with a nun?" Oneida gulped. "Oneida, if there was no intern program, and this wasn't an Evil Empire, I'd never leave this place. I'd move my bed into a spare room, set up a mini-bar and spend every second off the clock seducing each and every one of you," I stated. Even the ones who didn't terribly like me chuckled, snorted, or laughed. "To answer your question: sort of Oneida. I slept with a woman who was about to take Holy Vows, not truly a nun," I confessed. "I've slept with a Wiccan Priestess too, if that matters." "Why do you think you can treat us like those lesser women?" Ngozi looked angry. "You have tits, a vagina, are straight, or bisexual, and between the ages of 18 to 70," I shot right back. "I have no desire to sleep with men, or lesbians. Outside of that, given somewhere between five minutes and five days, I could nail every women in this room. It is not that I'm better than any of you." "I can do it because you all are hopelessly arrogant, thus unable to put forth an effective defense because you don't believe I can seduce you. Add to that, I can figure out what you want in an erotic encounter. End of story," I sighed. "Frankly, having lived lives devoid of romance, you Full-bloods are too easy." I could see Tessa smirking. Not only had I seduced all kinds of women, apparently all of them had been willing to relate those encounters. I'm a great lover and a lousy boyfriend. "We would never submit to your predations," yet another Amazon jumped in. Sex. I told them, they are simply too easy; except Katrina, Tessa and Hayden. They were scary. I'd still sleep with them because I had no common sense. "Hey Lady, if you want to be on top, I'm okay with that," I smiled disarmingly. Plant the idea of erotic positions early. It can be as easy as pushing up against a girl from behind, or a hug. "If I ever consented to have sex with you, you would do what I said," she persisted. "That sounds like fun; 70 more days and its Hunting Season," I winked. I repeat,
Cáel's tombstone: For the love of women, women put him here.In 25 parts, edited from the works of FinalStand.Listen and subscribe to the ► Podcast at Connected..
Famously, our school's spiritual founder, Thales of Miletus, made his reputation as a wise and noteworthy scientist predicting an eclipse. The event is recorded in Herodotus' "The Histories" as the armies of the Lydians and the Medes were fighting for control of Anatolia. Thales predicted an eclipse would happen on May 28, 585 BC, and when the celestial phenomenon took place, the Lydians and the Medes concluded a hasty peace treaty. The event is noteworthy on a number of levels, chief amongst them that the event is one of the earliest events that be dated to the precise day on which it occurred and others celebrate Thales' achievement as the birth of science.With the eclipse coming up on Monday, April 8, we are releasing this special episode to help students know what an eclipse is, how they form, and how they can watch an eclipse without doing serious damage to their eyes. In this episode, Winston Brady speaks with Robert Luddy, founder of Thales Academy, and Melissa Svirida, a junior high science teacher at Thales Academy Waxhaw, about solar eclipses and how to enjoy them safely. For students out there, we hope you enjoy the eclipse but be sure to wear the appropriate glasses to ensure you do not do any lasting damage to your eyes!Check out this video from NASA Goddard on making a pinhole projector: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI1ttQxXt5s
When the sun came up on May 28 back in the year 585 BC, the Medes and Lydians were still at war. They had been at each other's throats for years, and it looked like there was no end in sight for their conflict. But something extraordinary happened on the battlefield that day, which changed everything. This episode also features an interview with Mr. Stephen Coats, instructor of earth science at Imperial Academy, and with Dr. Fred Espenak, an astrophysicist and scientist emeritus at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
Dan and Paul discuss money in D&D, and how they've both independently arrived at the need for a silver standard. From measuring encumbrance in coins to stocking dungeons with treasure, to how to drain the players of their inflated wealth, the Wandering DMs will cover everything numismatic in your D&D game. Many cultures around the world eventually developed the use of commodity money. The Mesopotamian shekel was a unit of weight, and relied on the mass of something like 160 grains of barley. The first usage of the term came from Mesopotamia circa 3000 BC. Societies in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Australia used shell money—often, the shells of the cowry (Cypraea moneta L. or C. annulus L.). According to Herodotus, the Lydians were the first people to introduce the use of gold and silver coins. It is thought by modern scholars that these first stamped coins were minted around 650 to 600 BC. In most major economies using coinage, copper, silver, and gold formed three tiers of coins. Gold coins were used for large purchases, payment of the military, and backing of state activities. Silver coins were used for midsized transactions, and as a unit of account for taxes, dues, contracts, and fealty, while copper coins represented the coinage of common transaction. This system had been used in ancient India since the time of the Mahajanapadas. In Europe, this system worked through the medieval period because there was virtually no new gold, silver, or copper introduced through mining or conquest. Thus the overall ratios of the three coinages remained roughly equivalent. Read Dan's blog comparing original D&D to historical prices This description uses material from the Wikipedia article "Money", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.
Money. You don’t have to love it, but you do need it. In this episode, we dig into our first super financial literacy term and discuss money. Where did it come from? What can it do for you? And is paper cash, nearing an end!? We’ll discuss this and more in season 2 episode 2 of the Ca$h Kid Podcast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Transcript Money, Money, Money Money isn’t the most important thing in life, but it’s reasonably close to oxygen on the “gotta have it” scale. ~Zig Ziglar Welcome back to another episode of the Cash Kid Podcast. Whether you're listening from Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the cashkidpodcast website, or wherever you like to listen from, we’re glad you are here! In this episode, we start to dive into some financial literacy terms we need to know and understand. And you guessed it, today we’re talking about money. You don’t have to love it… but you do need it. The Cash Kid Podcast is underway! Intro tease: So you’ve got some cash. Maybe from an allowance, or that money your grandma gave you for your 7th birthday. Here you go, sweetie. Thanks, Grandma. Whatever it is, what are you going to do with it? Spend it, hide it away… or maybe invest it? Let’s start learning how to make that money grow. Time to learn how to be a cash kid. Money. Why do we have it? Where did it come from? And are the days of holding paper cash nearing an end? Well, money or forms of it have been around for thousands of years. Money serves to measure the value of an item. Back before coins or cash, people bartered or exchanged, goods and services. For instance, maybe one villager would trade his one goat for five chickens. The value of the one goat was considered worth five chickens. Over time, the methods used to pay for a product or service developed into the use of coins. Precious metals like gold and silver started to be used in trading. Lydians in 600 BC were the first known to make coins from these precious metals. The first paper money known was introduced in China around 800AD. But it wasn’t until the 17th Century that Western civilizations turned to the use of paper money. Today, central banks print banknotes or paper money and use special security features to prevent them from being easily fake. Money now has taken the form of everything from the U.S. dollar to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Thanks to the creation of modern-day money, buying, selling, and trading is easier than it’s ever been. But while here in the US we are familiar with the US Dollar. Different countries have different currencies or forms of money. In the US, we have the US Dollar. But in India, it’s a rupee. And the value of the currency of one US dollar is equivalent to 82 rupees (at the time of this podcast). This is known as an exchange rate. The value of one currency versus another country. This actually changes as it’s tied to the global market. So if the US market were to go up, then the value of the dollar would be even greater. Google has an easy currency converter if you want to try it out and compare your currency to another and see the difference in value. Will paper money one day go away? Well, who knows? But Elon Musk stated so in a podcast interview four years ago stating cryptocurrency is a far better way to transfer value than pieces of paper. Our generation may be the ones to touch those green bills or shiny coins the least ever. Just remember money is a tool. You can make it work for you. Build wealth. Give to others and make a difference. Or cause yourself financial ruin and make a mess of things with it. Having money doesn’t always translate to happiness or bliss either as many might think. Having money means having choices. It gives you independence and freedom. Like Zig Zigler said in our opening quote. It’s not the most important thing in life, but you gotta have it. And learning to manage it well early in life is what this podcast is about. A book review coming up next! We’re introducing a new segment on the show today. My Mom… “Hello”… is going to start giving a quick book review in some shows. Warren Buffet and Mark Cuban are avid readers and have both stated in interviews that everyone has access to the same information they do. It’s just a matter of who takes the time to consume that information. Books are a great tool and there are many financial books to choose from. My Mom is focused on the ones she feels are good starting points for our listeners. Take it away Mom! Mom: Thanks, Cash Kid! Today I’m spotlighting the book “How to Turn $100 into 1,000,000” by James McKenna and Jeannine Glista. I was able to check this out at our local library. It’s a great starter book to break down basic money concepts. It gives creative ways to make money and make it grow at a young age. Check it out of your local library or it’s less than ten dollars on Amazon. Happy reading! Thanks, Mom! Just remember, money is a tool that can help you throughout your life. So, get motivated to grow your super financial skills in the next episode. Remember to visit our website at cashkidpodcast.com, leave a review wherever you are listening from, and follow us on Instagram. Cash Kid Out!
The story of Midas, and how everything he touched turned to gold, is perhaps the most famous golden myth of all. His touch led to one of the most successful, long-lasting and under-rated technologies in history: coinage.Midas was King of Phrygia (now part of Turkey) and Dionysus - more commonly known as Bacchus - the god of wine, parties and pleasure - was passing through with his entourage, revelling as they went. Waking up one morning after a heavy night, Dionysus discovered that his tutor, Silenus, was missing. Silenus was a satyr, half man half goat. He had been drinking and he'd wandered off and fallen asleep in a rose garden, a garden that belonged to King Midas. Midas enjoyed spending time there with his daughter, who he loved more than anyone else in the world.Midas found Silenus lying on the ground and took him in, no doubt nursing a hangover. Silenus stayed with Midas for over a week, delighting him with songs and stories, enjoying his wine, food and hospitality. On the eleventh day, Midas took Silenus back to Dionysus, who was so delighted to see his old mentor safe and well, he offered Midas whatever reward he wished for. Midas thought hard and then asked that everything he touched should turn to gold. Dionysus urged the king to reconsider, but Midas was sure and so Dionysus granted his wish.Initially, Midas was delighted. He turned a twig, then a stone to gold. When he got home, he touched every rose in his garden, and they all turned to gold. Delighted, he ordered his servants to make him a feast, but, when his food and drink turned to gold, it dawned on him that perhaps his gift was a bane.His daughter came to him, crying that their roses had lost their smell. Midas hugged her and she too turned to gold. What had been his beloved daughter was now a statue, albeit a golden one. Despairing, he prayed to Dionysus to deliver him from his curse. “Go and wash your hands in the River Pactolus,” Dionysus told him.Midas did so. Dionysus's cure worked. Midas' power flowed into the water and the sands of the river turned to gold. Whatever he put in the water, his daughter included, was turned back into what it had been before Midas touched it. So does that part of Midas' story end.The obvious moral to the tale is of the tendency of lust for wealth to overpower good sense, to make us lose sight of what we love. But there is another tale that Midas left there in the sands of the River Pactolus. The Western World's First CoinsAt its height, the Lydian empire stretched across all western Asia Minor, and the Pactolus flowed right through the middle. The Lydians were, around 700BC, says the Greek historian Herodotus, “the first of all those we know to introduce the use of gold and silver coins and the first to deal in retail trade."The Chinese might have something to say about that. Their bronze spade money and knife money dates back to the 16th century BC and the late Shang Dynasty. The money gets its name from its shape, which resembles a spade or hoe, with a pointed end, a flat or round base, and a central hole for stringing them together. But it wasn't round, so technically I suppose it isn't coinage as we know it.Given that we still use coins today, coinage has proved a remarkably successful technology. Indeed the Chinese ‘yuan' and Japanese ‘yen' both mean ‘round shape' – referring, of course, to the shapes of coins. “History became legend, legend became myth,” wrote Peter Jackson in his screenplay for The Fellowship Of The Ring and here is a case in point. Midas did actually exist. Most Greek mythological figures did before they became legend. Something similar happens now. The sports stars of today will become the gods, heroes and legends of tomorrow, just as those of our childhood now enjoy such status. One of Midas' descendents was the Lydian King Alyattes I, the first western king to mint coins. He minted his coins from the alluvial electrum (a gold-silver alloy) found in the beds of the Pactolus, the gold left there by Midas. These coins, the western world's first coins, formed the base of the Lydian empire.Alyattes' innovative son, Croesus, had the electrum coins of his father melted down to separate the gold from the silver, and then re-minted. On one side of his new coins was the image of a lion and a bull, on the other were punch marks to show their value. (Faces did not appear on coins till later). Effectively, Croesus launched not only the first imperial currency in the history of the world, but the bi-metallic standard.His coins were not only accepted, but demanded throughout Asia Minor, Greece and beyond. This universal acceptance played a key role in developing Lydia's prosperity. With his coins circulating so widely and effectively, Croesus' reputation as an extremely rich man was secured for all time. Not only was he as rich as Croesus, he had, it seems, the Midas Touch. That touch lasted. His basic denomination was subdivided into smaller denominations of thirds, sixths and twelfths and these reforms evolved into the 24 carats and ounces we use today. Coin values reflected the actual value of the metal content. Within 100 years coinage had spread to Persia in the east, across Asia Minor and Greece and at least as far as Sicily in the west. Roman and Celtic coins would later follow the same principles.Coins provided both geographical and social mobility. People could move around and carry value with them. Trade spread with a newfound ease, and the development of civilization could and did accelerate. My show on gold at the Edinburgh Fringe this August will take place at Panmure House, in the room in which Adam Smith wrote Wealth of Nations. You can get tickets here.And if you are interested in buying gold, my recommended bullion dealer is The Pure Gold Company, whether you are taking delivery or storing online. Premiums are low, quality of service is high. They deliver to the UK, US, Canada and Europe, or you can store your gold with them. More here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe
The story of Midas, and how everything he touched turned to gold, is perhaps the most famous golden myth of all. His touch led to one of the most successful, long-lasting and under-rated technologies in history: coinage.Midas was King of Phrygia (now part of Turkey) and Dionysus - more commonly known as Bacchus - the god of wine, parties and pleasure - was passing through with his entourage, revelling as they went. Waking up one morning after a heavy night, Dionysus discovered that his tutor, Silenus, was missing. Silenus was a satyr, half man half goat. He had been drinking and he'd wandered off and fallen asleep in a rose garden, a garden that belonged to King Midas. Midas enjoyed spending time there with his daughter, who he loved more than anyone else in the world.Midas found Silenus lying on the ground and took him in, no doubt nursing a hangover. Silenus stayed with Midas for over a week, delighting him with songs and stories, enjoying his wine, food and hospitality. On the eleventh day, Midas took Silenus back to Dionysus, who was so delighted to see his old mentor safe and well, he offered Midas whatever reward he wished for. Midas thought hard and then asked that everything he touched should turn to gold. Dionysus urged the king to reconsider, but Midas was sure and so Dionysus granted his wish.Initially, Midas was delighted. He turned a twig, then a stone to gold. When he got home, he touched every rose in his garden, and they all turned to gold. Delighted, he ordered his servants to make him a feast, but, when his food and drink turned to gold, it dawned on him that perhaps his gift was a bane.His daughter came to him, crying that their roses had lost their smell. Midas hugged her and she too turned to gold. What had been his beloved daughter was now a statue, albeit a golden one. Despairing, he prayed to Dionysus to deliver him from his curse. “Go and wash your hands in the River Pactolus,” Dionysus told him.Midas did so. Dionysus's cure worked. Midas' power flowed into the water and the sands of the river turned to gold. Whatever he put in the water, his daughter included, was turned back into what it had been before Midas touched it. So does that part of Midas' story end.The obvious moral to the tale is of the tendency of lust for wealth to overpower good sense, to make us lose sight of what we love. But there is another tale that Midas left there in the sands of the River Pactolus. The Western World's First CoinsAt its height, the Lydian empire stretched across all western Asia Minor, and the Pactolus flowed right through the middle. The Lydians were, around 700BC, says the Greek historian Herodotus, “the first of all those we know to introduce the use of gold and silver coins and the first to deal in retail trade."The Chinese might have something to say about that. Their bronze spade money and knife money dates back to the 16th century BC and the late Shang Dynasty. The money gets its name from its shape, which resembles a spade or hoe, with a pointed end, a flat or round base, and a central hole for stringing them together. But it wasn't round, so technically I suppose it isn't coinage as we know it.Given that we still use coins today, coinage has proved a remarkably successful technology. Indeed the Chinese ‘yuan' and Japanese ‘yen' both mean ‘round shape' – referring, of course, to the shapes of coins. “History became legend, legend became myth,” wrote Peter Jackson in his screenplay for The Fellowship Of The Ring and here is a case in point. Midas did actually exist. Most Greek mythological figures did before they became legend. Something similar happens now. The sports stars of today will become the gods, heroes and legends of tomorrow, just as those of our childhood now enjoy such status. One of Midas' descendents was the Lydian King Alyattes I, the first western king to mint coins. He minted his coins from the alluvial electrum (a gold-silver alloy) found in the beds of the Pactolus, the gold left there by Midas. These coins, the western world's first coins, formed the base of the Lydian empire.Alyattes' innovative son, Croesus, had the electrum coins of his father melted down to separate the gold from the silver, and then re-minted. On one side of his new coins was the image of a lion and a bull, on the other were punch marks to show their value. (Faces did not appear on coins till later). Effectively, Croesus launched not only the first imperial currency in the history of the world, but the bi-metallic standard.His coins were not only accepted, but demanded throughout Asia Minor, Greece and beyond. This universal acceptance played a key role in developing Lydia's prosperity. With his coins circulating so widely and effectively, Croesus' reputation as an extremely rich man was secured for all time. Not only was he as rich as Croesus, he had, it seems, the Midas Touch. That touch lasted. His basic denomination was subdivided into smaller denominations of thirds, sixths and twelfths and these reforms evolved into the 24 carats and ounces we use today. Coin values reflected the actual value of the metal content. Within 100 years coinage had spread to Persia in the east, across Asia Minor and Greece and at least as far as Sicily in the west. Roman and Celtic coins would later follow the same principles.Coins provided both geographical and social mobility. People could move around and carry value with them. Trade spread with a newfound ease, and the development of civilization could and did accelerate. My show on gold at the Edinburgh Fringe this August will take place at Panmure House, in the room in which Adam Smith wrote Wealth of Nations. You can get tickets here.And if you are interested in buying gold, my recommended bullion dealer is The Pure Gold Company, whether you are taking delivery or storing online. Premiums are low, quality of service is high. They deliver to the UK, US, Canada and Europe, or you can store your gold with them. More here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe
Becoming something of value has its downside.By FinalStand. Listen and subscribe to the podcast at Steamy Stories.-Live fast, die young and leave a…No. Enjoy life and die when it is your time. Your corpse will the least of your concerns if there really is an Afterlife- (Monday)-Ah…no sex…not sure how that happened-For some God-unknown reason I was showing up to work at 6 a.m. Monday. I swear, one of these days I’m going to show up to work naked. If asked why, I’ll claim that it wasn’t in my brilliantly scripted orders. I would then beg forgiveness for ‘assuming’ I was allowed to breath, or even be conscious. We’d all laugh. Nothing would change.They were never going to give me advance warning of what my latest errand entailed. I don’t think it was in them.“You’ve made to Week Three,” Buffy sneered as we entered the garage beneath Havenstone’s skyscraper. “I’m flabbergasted.”“So am I; flabbergasted that is,” I nodded sagely. “I had no idea you knew what flabbergasted meant.”Punch. Definitely back to the old Buffy.“You need a haircut,” she commented. My phone beeped. I had data packet. I had received them before; just not from this place. I opened it up as we exited the car and made for elevators.“Holy Bat-shit Bat-Bunny!” I gasped. “Hayden’s written me a letter.”“Really?” Buffy was momentarily non-psychotic. I showed her my screen. Hayden had made an official declaration; something that would be in the records of the Amazons from now until forever.Any and all males of Havenstone; specifically one Cáel Nyilas; were to forthwith and immediately stop spiritually assassinating any and all Amazons and Amazon recruits. Furthermore, I was admonished for murdering Fabiola Dobrani and, under penalty of an unmentioned punishment, I was to publicly rejoice at her resurrection.Life was relentless. Buffy’s phone rang. She got the same message I did…as did every freaking Amazon in the building. I didn’t think the guys would be getting this memo.“I wonder how the Chicklettes are going to take this,” I mused. The doors opened before Buffy could formulate her comeback.Relentless may have not been a strong enough word. Waiting for us in two distinct groups were Constanza with two SD Playboy Bunnies; opposite them was Oneida. Oneida looked…enamored. This wasn’t curiosity about what my meat would feel like as it made her weep tears of rapture.This was a weekend binge of watching some of the best received, twenty-something, romantic movies of the past ten years. It was hard for me to decide which group was more divorced from reality; the Amazon man-haters, or the 'Hollywood was real’ babe.“I’m going to get a bite to eat,” Buffy announced. Entering the garage had completed her bodyguard duties.Oneida had the higher prestige so she came first.“Hi Cáel Nyilas,” she stepped up and greeted me. She extended her hand; for me to shake. Amazons clasped forearm to forearm. I greeted her Amazon-style.“It is good to see you again, Oneida of House Arinniti,” I replied. She looked upset.“You know who I am,” she sighed with disappointment.“Please believe me,” I stroked the side of her left cheek to the top of her ear, “had I known Friday, I would have finished up by impaled myself on your spear and cleared up a whole manner of things. Why does it matter to you that I know who you are?”“I…I didn’t want to be treated as anyone special,” she gazed up at me with innocent eyes.“That’s not going to be a problem,” I chuckled. “To me, you are nothing but another psycho-bitch that’s trying to kill me. You are a black-hearted, soulless creation of Hell and I hate your guts, Oneida.”“But you saved my life?” she whimpered. She was a bit more unbalanced than the normal babe employed here. Yay me.“And? See, this is why my description of you and your sisters is so accurate,” I smiled while I explained. “I would try to save almost anyone because it is the right thing to do. The only reason saving you was a mistake was that it caused me to fall further into Hayden’s favor. Now she’s going to expect that shit on a regular basis solely because you are of House Arinniti.”“Ah; I like you,” Oneida pleaded.“Why?” I asked.“You risked so much for Aya. You made her laugh and smile. You…you acted as if you cared for her; as if you were her own mother,” Oneida told me. “Was that a deception too?”“Hmmm…not what I expected,” I mused. “Fine, realizing that I was with Aya for her sake and hers alone raises you up a step in my estimations. I’m not being deceptive about how I feel about this place, Oneida. Here, let me prove it.” I looked to Constanza. “Constanza, do I hate your guts?”She glared at me. “Constanza, if I thought I could get away with it, would I shove a fragmentation grenade up your ass and pull the pin?” No response.“See,” I grinned to the gawking Oneida, “I’m not being deceptive about how I feel about this place. My opinion matters not at all to these women yet they know I’ll never act on my hate because of my own, perverse Code of Conduct. I’m not going to run away and I’m not going to stop being me. I’m certainly not going to fall in love with anyone here.”“Oh,” she muttered.“I have to go to work now. Have a nice day,” I turned to Constanza. “Are you my work buddy today?”“Male, come with us,” Constanza snapped. Off the four of us walked; right back to the elevator.Down we went, past any level my ID card could have accessed. Devo’s Working in the Coal Mine sprang to mind, so I hummed it. I was feeling completely at ease. Constanza stood behind me, while the other two stood at either side, but half a step back so they were right at the edge of my peripheral vision. I felt like a team player; an interregnal part of my imminent demise.The group marched past the Armory. I waved to my old friend, the Kindergarten Cop. She glowered. Amazons were not martinets. They were clean-cut and proud, but vigilance meant much more than a scuff mark on a boot, or a gaze locked on the farther wall. Our trip deposited in yet another room I could never access.I was the first one through the door. I almost froze. For starters, the room was around 15 meters wide and 6 meters deep. In the center of the room was an 8x2meter table. On the table where a wide variety of firearms and ammunition. Automatic pistols, revolvers, shotguns and submachine guns plus multiple clips, or speed-loaders for them all.They hadn’t brought me here to murder me with Death by multiple calibers. If they wanted me dead, they would have blown my brains out already then put a gun in my hand in a hopeless attempt to fool Katrina. The number of guns didn’t even impress me. The far wall was transparent and through it I could see multiple ladies in sports bras and boy shorts shooting away on a firing range.Holy Mother of God! I was here for weapons training. What the Hell had gone wrong? As I moved deeper into the room, one SD Femi-Nazi moved down the left wall, the other moved down the right and Constanza remained two steps behind me.“Please clarify my task for this time period, Constanza?” I requested. The look she shot me was lethal.“The weapons present are ones you have stated you have a familiarity with as well as others in common usage here at Havenstone. All the rounds are hollow points, or slugs. Chose which weapons you wish to qualify in, load your clips and inform me when you have completed this part of the assignment.”“Thank you,” I nodded then set to the task at hand. Constanza clearly had expected me to be a smart ass. I had used learning about guns to get tail. That didn’t mean I disrespected the weapons. I picked up several side arms, testing their weight and grips before deciding on the .40 Smith & Wesson Glock-22.I felt the ammo, making sure I wouldn’t be running around with blanks this time. This shit was real. Elsa had claimed she’d rather be skinned alive than let any man bear weapons in her Havenstone. Maybe I shouldn’t have felt her up, or given that massage to that med tech, or stripped in the elevator. I was a really, truly naughty boy.Most women spank naughty boys. My tormentors tend to fuck with my mind because, ya know, it’s harder to defend against that crap. Also, there is not a hand lotion made that will soothe the ravaged psyche. I began loading the clips.“Is that the only one you are taking?” Constanza eventually broke down and asked.“I don’t want to waste your time,” I replied. “This is my favorite pistol. I’ve shot .22, .38, 9 mm, and .45, but I’m most comfortable with this one. Maybe later I can work with the shotguns. I haven’t a clue how to handle anything else.” I could see it in her eyes; 'damn him; he’s making sense.’There was one final way I could fuck up. I didn’t. I knew firearms etiquette. Don’t load your gun before taking your station at the range. Sure, all the crazy chicks could do it, but that was part of their jobs; killing things. I was a novice. I picked out some ear protection and an adequate hip holster in case Constanza wanted me to fire from the draw.I was clearly not making her day by not screwing up.“This way,” she barked. She accessed the door leading to the range and out we stepped. All around, the firing slowly died. For each of the women, there was a second of disbelief followed by several more seconds of outrage.Lust was where the emotional landslide ended. I was 'That’ guy. I wasn’t something they could codify. I made meaningful, defiant eye contact, I dressed to impress, and I was known to be courageous. Having Hayden decide that she wanted to mate with me didn’t hurt my appeal one bit. I could already tell they were figuring out where to shoot me so that I could still have sex an hour later.I was a man in Havenstone with a gun after all. I was the equivalent of the Pope in Mecca; it just didn’t happen. My booth was nice and comfy. After placing my gear on the table,“What do I do next?”“Ear guards; check weapon; load, chamber, announce your preparation to fire; fire as quickly and accurately as possible. Reload and fire until you have uses all rounds,” she commanded.Hmm…six meters. Standard human-scored target. I hadn’t done this in a year. I shook my limbs out to get ready for the shock and recoil then steadied my breathing. Fifteen rounds, starting at the ready stance.“Ready,” I pronounced.“Begin,” was Constanza’s muffled command. The report of the first shot, the sting of the recoil, the pull on the arm and the shell ejecting; all of those rolled over me before I could count. I almost missed the automatic slide staying open. Down went the old magazine even as my left hand retrieved and leveraged the next one in.A problem presented itself. The girl who first taught me was pretty good; in the 'if you couldn’t find the prerequisite number of bullet holes in the target, everyone assumed the missing bullet had passed through one of the previous penetrations’ kind of way. I was pretty lucky. She took a red hot poker to me and was thankfully far less accurate.She was so incredibly beautiful; so furious with me, naked and chasing me around a cabin lit solely by the fireplace, with that firebrand in her hand. Maybe it was wrong of me to take her English professor up to the girl’s cabin for a sexual rendezvous; or stick the professor in the closet when the poor lady absolutely had go to the bathroom. Or fucked the girl on her bear skin rug until the professor had to come out of said closet before she urinated. I know; I’m an idiot.Fifteen bullets into the first target had made a mess of it. Since there was no one in either station around me, I started shooting at the target to the left. I put the last magazine into the one on the right. It took me well over thirty seconds to get all 45 shots off, but I did it.“Done,” I stated as I put the gun down and took a half-step back.“Do you shoot pistols a lot?” one of my other guards asked in amazement. They had undoubtedly seen better speed and marksmanship. It was their cosmically low opinion of me that made my effort so impossible to believe.“No, I’m a Natural Born Killer,” I grinned at the three of them.“Males are arrogant and take things for granted. They are sloppy,” Constanza sneered.“It never fails to surprise me that you don’t accept that your ancestors were some of the toughest bitches to ever walk the planet,” I muttered.“What does that mean?” Constanza growled.“Warriors so tough they are remembered thousands of years later and your founders escaped with their lives; as opposed to all those Trojans, Hittites and Lydians who ended up decorating graves with their bones,” I glared back. “What I mean is; why does me having a weapon really bother you? I’m am totally out-numbered, out-classed and out-gunned.”“I don’t want to die. I’m definitely not suicidal. I’ll even take bullets, arrows and blades for you people,” I snarled. “Quite frankly, all of this paranoia is really starting to get on my nerves, so fucking Cut it out!”“You do not tell us what to do,” Constanza ground out. She’d grabbed my chin with one hand.“I’ll keep that in mind next time an Amazon’s life is in danger and a simply warning from me could save their life. Be assured I’ll put your directive down for the reason they croaked,” I countered.“If it was up to me, you would be killed for your insolence,” she growled.“Does it ever occur to you it is the other way around?” I touched her wrist.“What?” Constanza was both irate and uncertain.“You are where you are because you have a habit of making poor decision on a strategic level,” I explained. Apparently I wanted to die.“Why does anyone like you?” Constanza muttered.“Like me? Most people who know me, hate me; like you. The difference is they get to know me first then they hate me. You haven’t gotten the full Cáel experience yet. You hate me on a purely generic level. Real hate comes from knowing me,” I grinned.Like so much that comes from my lips, that was a lie. To be truthful, most of the women I had wronged over the past four years forgave me; eventually. Most of them figured out that I hadn’t cheated on them; I cheated on EVERY girl I was with, but one; my mentor. She was the one who tossed me out among the female population in the first place.Some ladies did hold a grudge. There is one chick who burns me in effigy every year on the date of our break up. I should have known better. It was my freshman year and she was a Psychology teaching assistant. Most psych majors are wacko; more wacko than most pissed of women, I have learned from experience. I’ll still date them. I also take more care about what I eat and drink around them too.“I’m glad to know you will be gone soon,” she seethed then removed her hand from my chin.“Constanza, you really need to stop trusting me so much,” I chuckled.“I don’t trust you at all,” she countered.“But you are taking my word for it that women hate me,” I snickered.“More importantly, you are ignoring the facts. The majority of the women at Havenstone who like me, do so for reasons totally devoid of any intimacy. We both know I can be a jerk. I’m being a jerk right now; to you. What separates us is that I have no doubt that if you were in danger, I would come to your aid. That is the kind of person I am,” I related calmly.“That would never happen,” Constanza insisted.“I don’t care what you think,” I shot back. “I don’t make decisions based on your whimsy. I follow my leadership. I know I’m loyal. Now, can we please get back to the reason we are all here?”The scoring indicated that I was so lucky that girl came at me with the poker. I missed six shots out of 45, which I thought was awesome. I even managed to badly tear up the chests of the front and left targets. The target on the right was still 'dead’, but he could be buried in a tuxedo. I had one head shot; it wasn’t on purpose.We went back to the gun room, reloaded my Glock, a .38 Colt and a Mossberg shotgun. One guard went with me while Constanza and the second guard scored my first round. Back in the firing lane, I lost all firearms ability what so ever. I was saved by three shooters who volunteered to help. See how easy that was? They helped me with my stances, reload techniques and argued the merits of hip holster, ankle holsters and shoulder holsters.To reciprocate their hospitality, I stripped off my annoying jacket, tie, shirt and undershirt. We got into a discussion of spent rounds bouncing around and maybe scaring the shooter. For the Amazons, it was training to ignore painful distractions. I stopped; leveled by an epic brainstorm; and fired off an order to Executive Services; care of Daphne.“What are you doing?” one of the new lethality-engines asked, somewhat piqued.“Oh, I have to celebrate Fabiola’s resurrection; Hayden’s orders; and that is going to require supernatural aids,” I replied. I was back on track in their eyes.“What was it like to feel the strength of the Ancestors flow through you?” the second one whispered. This Ancestors and Goddess crap; mysticism was real to them. I’ve never claimed to be a deity though I’ve insinuated that I was the blood descendant of the Goddess Ishtar; reference the Wiccan Priestess; and her circle of naked female celebrants.The answer, not a total lie, was pure Amazon.“I didn’t feel anything,” I could sense their disappointment. “You know, all I felt was the spear and nothing else. Absolutely nothing else mattered. All other burdens and pains were lifted from me so I could devote myself entirely to the task at hand; hold the spear aloft.”They ate it up because the 'stillness’ was at their core of martial mystique. Bushido had it too except they called it 'No Mind’, or something like that. To be honest, I had come by that state of being through sex. My focus narrowed down to my partner and all of her actions and reactions. For a lowly male, like me, to possess that quality must have been divine intervention.“You did a wonderful thing; channeling the Ancestors that way,” the third stated. “Oneida is precious to the Host.”“I beg to differ,” I regarded her with a quirky smirk. “Every life is precious. When you start weighing a person’s life before you chose to save it, you have lost much more than that split second; you have lost a piece of your soul.”Oh look. I was lecturing them and they didn’t like it.“Try looking at it from my viewpoint for a second,” I knew they couldn’t. “I’m a lowly male caught up in your fiendish experiment. I don’t know who any of you are beyond the reality that you would casually harm, or even kill me for any number of reasons.”“You clearly think I should cower and cow-tow to your whims and wishes,” I took in their negative reactions. “I’m not. That’s not me. Instead, I’m going to run errands, learn to fight, laugh, play and have a great time. If it matters; I know it doesn’t to you; I am Cáel Nyilas, son of Ferko, son of Árpád of the Magyar. 'Where there is Valor, there is Hope’,” I added.That wasn’t my family motto. We were from poor, immigrant stock. My grandparents spoke Hungarian. I knew a little of it, just not enough to be considered fluent. I knew some Vlach (Romanian) too. When your neighbors are screaming insults at you, it pays to know exactly what they are saying. Again, I’m not fluent in Vlach, but I could get in a bar fight over what I did know.“Your lineage is inconsequential,” Constanza snapped. She’d come back; yippee!“How did I do, Jefe?” I beamed happiness her way.“I hate you,” she said through clenched teeth. I must have done better than I thought.“Well, that’s good. Maybe, under your instruction, I’ll almost be a match for the other fine ladies down here one day in the distant future,” I nodded happily.“That your heart still beats is an insult to everything I stand for,” Constanza spat.“I’m cool with that in the same way I’m cool ignoring this whole 'blood prestige’ thing. You gals aren’t respecting mine and you certainly aren’t explaining your rules to me, so I’m opting out of this whole 'my old lady was better at dodging arrows than yours’.”“You should not insult us this way,” my closet, newest gun-buddy cautioned me.“I agree. Do you even know who the Magyar are?” I inquired.“No,” she shrugged.“Go find out and then we can talk,” I grinned. “Until then, you are disrespecting the aim of a sniper you don’t even know exists yet is stalking you.”As they were struggling to figure that out, I groaned.“You are insulting my people without knowledge of who they are. You are asking me to show respect to your people without explaining to me why. I’m sure they were wonderful, fucking women, but I don’t know anything about them,” I related.“If you want blind obedience, go have fun with sterility,” I smirked. “I’ve got better and more far-sighted women I’d rather be with.”“Most likely you will be milked of your seed, joined with our eggs thus creating the next generation of the host,” the third girl got all riled-up. Sex.“Man,” I laughed. “Am I the only one here to have figured out that I, and the other new male hires, aren’t the only ones being tested? Really? Come on. If Katrina wanted to train me to use a gun, she could have sent me with Desiree to a private gun range and handled this stuff off-site. No. She had to put me here; with all of you.”All those smug, superior, horny chicks just realized they’d taken a philosophical snap-kick to the cranium. Tested? Amazons were tested all the fucking time. It was their culture to keep them fit, firm and alert. Best of all, the male had to be the one to bring this to their attention. I wrapped my arm around the waist of the closest Amazon and pulled her groin to my hip.“That’s okay though. I’m in this for all of you,” I murmured while looking deep into her eyes; as if we were the only two people in the world. “With your aid, I think we can do this; make it work. Don’t you?” She nodded. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. Shotguns, pistol-grip shotguns and an MP-5 joined my list of weapons I knew the basics of afterwards.Once more, I was rendered even more attractive by the fact that I could hit a man-sized target at 6 meters with a gun I had only then picked up. I had been joking about the whole 'natural born killer’ comeback. I wasn’t convinced that my ancestor’s ability to fight all their neighbors, sometimes all at the same time, made me kick-ass.Frankly, my people had lost wars to every European empire of the middle ages and modern times. You just couldn’t keep us down. Maybe resistance was genetically based. That was crazy talk…but Grandpa was a tough SOB, as was my Dad, now that I thought about it. Gramps Old Man died fighting the Russians in world war two, which was why he fled his homeland as a child.Mom’s people; they were Irish; the Irish, when not fighting for their own homeland, were fighting for some else’s. Mom didn’t get the time to teach me much, but I do recall this:The greatest lie the Irish ever tell is that they only hate the English. The Irish hate anyone they can get their hands on, even other Irish. If you don’t believe that, look at every ethnic neighborhood in the US that border an Irish enclave. They fight with them all.I got my twisted sense of humor from my Mom. I miss her so. Knowing Mom, she wouldn’t be ashamed of my infidelities. She’d probably say 'he’s test-driving until he finds the one that can keep him in line’. I hoped she wouldn’t be ashamed of me. My time was up. I had to go to Katrina’s office. Constanza banished me with a grumpy face and a dismissive wave of the hand.The chick I had put on my hip volunteered/elbowed her way to showing me out. My ID card wouldn’t open any stairwell, or elevator. She felt comfortable walking around in her underwear, plus a shoulder holstered 10 mm. Ten steps out, from her left, I snaked my hand around her back to her right hip. She looked to me and smiled.“Can you give me some advice?” I inquired.“I’ll try,” she hedged.“Well, you are clearly in excellent physical condition. I’ve been trying to put together a regimen that will get my left thigh in shape,” I started. She nodded.“I’ve a quadriceps exercise in mind, but I’m unsure about one for the gluts,” I mused. She looked uncertain. I moved my hand off her hip, over to her left hand then placed her hand force on my left buttock. We were now really close. “I’m afraid of losing my muscle tone. Can you help?”“Umm…” she hesitated. “I could think of a few things.” She worked herself up to giving my ass a good squeeze. This was not the first male butt she’d handled yet it was most likely the firmest and most sexually promising one she’d felt. Promising something she couldn’t quite envision but felt deep within her loins.She dispensed advice. I nodded appreciatively. When I asked for some kind of confirmation, she kindly put my hand on her ass which I promptly began squeezing. Like shooting fish in a barrel. We were comparing stomach and shoulder techniques on the elevator. Her name was Naomi and she was with the Security Detail and a member of House Rajah; ally of House Arinniti. Sweet!Like clockwork, Brielle and her buddy joined me in the elevator on the ground floor. They had to know somebody to track me this well. Me shirtless with an Amazon in her undies. It must be Monday morning.“This is new,” Brielle commented. “Good morning, Naomi. Forget something?”“I’m on the job,” Naomi retorted. It was the whole 'going without clothes’ thing.“Are you protecting a bare-chested Cáel from us, or us from a bare-chested Cáel?” her companion joked. Naomi’s mouth opened then shut.“I cannot talk about it. Neither one of us can,” Naomi declared with authority.“That’s right, Ladies,” I nodded. “What happens in the laundry room, stays in the laundry room.” All those who felt I’d gone to the laundry room, raise your hands. No takers.“I smell gunpowder residue,” Brielle commented after she took a close whiff.“The Dominicans, Latin Kings, and the Redneck Posse have all started fighting over that little block of paradise I call home,” I sighed regretfully. Silence.“Redneck Posse? That’s not one I’ve heard of before,” Naomi commented. Here we go!“Oh yeah,” I looked contemplative. “Ten years ago, several linguists studying Appalachian dialects paid for some native speakers to come to the city to help in their research. The hillbillies got paid, got jobs and brought their families down.”“When the grant money for the study ran out, the bumpkins had to find another way to support their kin that their minimum wage jobs couldn’t providing. Enter the Redneck Posse. Guns, meth, moonshine; they do it all. They are kind of like Afghan tribesmen except instead of being half a world away by sea, or air, they are a four, or five, hour drive down the interstate,” I concluded.The three women exchanged confused looks. The doors opened on my floor.“Oh my Goddess!” Brielle exclaimed. “That’s almost possible to believe.” I winked and left.“You mean that was a lie too?” Naomi gasped. The doors shut on that conversation as I swept through the office.I had 90 seconds to spare. Only Dora wasn’t here yet, but there was a pile of boxes on my desk. They were all looking at me as if I’d just stepped out of a pool, or a French cologne commercial. I set my clothing and valise on my tiny, now over-stacked, desk then joined the line-up.“Good morning Cáel,” Katrina looked me up and down.“I certainly hope it will be. Good morning to you too, Katrina,” I beamed. Pause.“Forgetting something?” Katrina prodded. I sniffed the air. I didn’t sense it.“Yes Ma'am, Katrina. I’m missing one thing. I hope it gets here soon,” I confirmed. Pause.“Very well, let’s get started,” Katrina began. Fabiola lost it.“What! He doesn’t have a shirt, tie, or jacket on. As far as we know, he’s not even wearing underwear,” she screeched.“Cáel, is your attire, or lack thereof, necessary for the performance of your duties?” Katrina politely inquired.“Yes it is Katrina,” I nodded.“Very well…” Katrina started over.“What possible reason could you have for being half dressed,” Fabiola ranted. “Are you going to cover yourself with oil and slither down the stairs like the snake you are?”No one said anything for a while. The rest of the 'new hires’ were coming around to the fact that Katrina and I were mocking Fabiola. Otherwise, Katrina would have shut her down. I held up my hand.“Yes Cáel,” Katrina acknowledged me, “despite the meeting having already begun and not being directly addressed by me, you may speak.” Slap!“Fabiola, I find your desire to see me oiled up a bit perplexing,” I grinned in her direction. “I would like to point out, despite the evidence you have presented today, I am not an idiot and our boss; Katrina; is not a fool. Hate me to your heart’s content, but don’t insult Katrina by thinking she doesn’t already know what I’m up to.”“She does not explain herself to me, or you, and I’m pretty sure even Hayden gets an edited view of what goes on here in Executive Services. I don’t know and I don’t care. That’s not in my job description and I’m already way out of bounds as it is,” I said. “For your sake and your sake alone, I will tell you why I’m am dressed the way I am today.”“It is part of your ritual apology,” Violet blurted. “It’s obvious. This has to do with what Hayden told him to do.” That wasn’t truly fair to Fabiola. The rest of the ladies had been rushing around getting the items I decided I needed for my public apology. Dora came bolting in right then.“I’m sorry I’m late, Katrina,” she panted. “Did I miss anything?”“No,” Katrina returned events to their proper order. “First off, for today, I’ll start with Cáel’s work review for Friday. I never thought I would say this about his on-the-clock performance. Cáel, your work output on Friday was stellar. There, I said it. Next…”That would have been a far greater treasure had that been my work report instead of Aya’s. Everyone else did well, save Tigger. She had forgotten a security sequence and had half a floor locked down for 15 minutes. At the conclusion, Buffy came in, slammed a flimsy, but aromatic, box into my chest then stormed away.“Cáel?” Katrina questioned.“Yes. Thank you,” I then turned to Fabiola. “Do you wish to have the ceremony here, or out on the main floor of Executive Services?”“I; what are you going to do?” Fabiola grew suspicious. “This is a trick to make me look foolish again.”“Fabiola, it is Hayden’s wish you hear him out,” Paula spoke. “He’s troublesome, not stupid. I don’t think he’s stupid enough to defy Hayden on this.”“Swear to me you are not going to make me look bad,” Fabiola stared at me.“What do I possess that you believe is valuable?” I countered. She had to think about that.It couldn’t be Aya. Fabiola was stumped. She had been so busy looking down her fine Roman nose at me, she had neglected to notice everything I had done and said.“Your mentor,” Daphne offered.“She has forbidden me to see her again, but thank you,” I winked at Daphne.A quick list of less than helpful suggestions followed. It turned out the only thing I valued was my freedom and I couldn’t give that up to Fabiola because that decision lay with Katrina. I would rather defy Hayden than give up sex, I lied continuously for little, or no reason. Fabiola wasn’t looking for Lent, she wanted something concrete. It simply didn’t exist.Out we went with a very distraught Fabiola and me with a bunch of small boxes. I didn’t worry about expensing all this crap. I wasn’t spending my own money anyway. I had Fabiola stand in the largest open area ES had. Even people who only had business on this floor were joining the growing body of my co-workers here to witness the spectacle.Three small brass bowels and one small oil lamp went to the four compass points; I even had a compass. I put sand in one, water in another and dry ice in the third. I lit the lamp.“This symbols me calling the four corners of Terra to bear witness: Earth, Air, Fire and Water,” I explained. Next I wrote down Fabiola’s name on a slip of paper in Old Kingdom Hittite.I burned it. Fabiola frowned. She was the only one. I dropped the ashes into a glass of water.“With this, I take back my curse. I swallow it, thus swallowing my words,” I explained to Fabiola. I drank the whole thing. That accomplished, I pulled a small silver owl out of an unopened box to a series of murmurs. “This is a gift to your house. Minerva (the Roman Athena) is your patron Goddess. I do honor to her for bringing you back.” I handed her the owl.Her expression told me she was still waiting for the trap to be sprung on her. I wrote out my name, in Magyar then held it up to Fabiola.“This is my name, Cáel Nyilas, in my native tongue,” I told her. I burned it, ground up the ashes with my fingers. With a little bit of coordinated effort, I drew the word 'forgiveness’ in Old Kingdom Hittite over my heart.The last box. It was Dobos Tortas, a sweet treat from my native land; Hungary, not Chicago.“Please accept this gift as a symbol of my apology and my desire to seek your forgiveness,” I looked into Fabiola’s eyes. The weight came crushing down on her. Virtually all the women around her wanted me to be forgiven.Not because they hated her. Most barely knew her; or me. It was the ceremony. Simple, relatively quick yet individualized by the giving of gifts designed for each participant. Deep in her twisted little soul, Fabiola still expected a trap, trick, or joke at her expense. She probably thought the 'cookies’ were poisoned.“I forgive you,” Fabiola stated. She put her hand on my shoulder. “Share a treat with me.” I even let her pick out the one to stick in my mouth. Maybe she thought I had the antidote, or maybe she decided I was on the up-and-up. The crowd of Amazons made happy, communal noises and we all parted as friends…okay, friends and their dancing bear; me.Katrina snuck up on me as a handful of woman thanked me for the insightful ceremony. I told them they were welcome while neglecting to inform them that I made all of that up. Part of it was Wiccan. Part was some 1960’s Italian movie I’d seen. A few things I pulled out of my ass, like normal.“Put on your clothes,” Katrina handed me my things. “You did well. I am sure Hayden will be equally pleased.”“No problem,” I looked at her appreciatively. I felt a cerebral connection evolving between us.“Put on your shirt before I start licking your nipples,” Katrina demanded. Damn it.Wait, things got better. As I looked away from Katrina and started getting dressed, Buffy appeared before me. I bet I could have melted an ice cap with the head of steam she’d built up.“Do you like dressing as a male stripper? Do you like women drooling all over you?” Buffy sizzled.“No; yes,” I responded.“I hate you,” she snapped.“I admire the fact that you can pull off the lead in Madame Butterfly,” I bantered back.“Let’s get to work,” Buffy growled. Off we went.(Elsa Round Three)“Hello Stanica,” Buffy greeted the SD guard at the gym facility door. That was new. Normally it was a card-swipe and in you went. Buffy and I were dressed for a workout; per orders.“Full-bloods only,” Stanica stopped Buffy. Ah, racism was raising its ugly head.“How am I supposed to get in?” I countered. This appointment was in our queue for 11 a.m.“You have been summoned,” Stanica clarified.“Cool…I’ll be back in 70 days. Good job Chuckles,” I grinned.“You have been summoned,” she threatened with a great deal more menace.“He works for me today,” Buffy yawned. “That means he goes where I go. Cáel doesn’t have a queue today, I do. He’s my intern. If you won’t let me in, then he doesn’t go in. Let’s go Cáel.”Stanica grabbed my arm.“He goes in. You stay,” she insisted.“Cáel; resist,” Buffy ordered. To Stanica, “Knock yourself out.” Stanica briefly tried to move me. Then she went for some kind of control-hold/lock. Brazilian jujitsu, Baby.It is not some kind of 'super’ martial art. As far as I knew, none of them were. If you were trying to break, or establish physical control over another person, it was pretty spectacular though. Along with the Amazon 'house’ style, she knew something akin to Krav Maga. Stanica was hampered by her unwillingness to do me serious harm, as was I toward her.The difference was, all I had to do was stay in the hallway, while Stanica had to get me through the doors. The stalemate was broken by two fresh full-bloods coming from the changing room to the facilities.“Sisters, assist me,” Stanica called out. “Help me wrestle him to the ground without undo damage.” They came forward and jumped me.“Are you on official Havenstone business?” Buffy politely inquired as they dog piled on me.“Shut up,” Stanica yelled.“Failing to adequately explain the situation,” Buffy quick drew her pistol and pressed it to the temple of one of the two new Amazons, “informs me you are willingly interfering in official Executive Services business.”“By all means, give me an excuse to file an incident report,” Buffy grinned feral.“Do it and you die, 'Lost Blood’ (Old Kingdom Hittite),” the threatened woman responded.“Boss, may I suggest an alternative?” I ground up. They had me pressed down in the hall.“I’m willing to accept you were hired for your intelligence,” Buffy allowed.“Trust me. I got this,” I snickered. Buffy didn’t trust me, yet she knew my tone well. Buffy holstered her weapon and stood back.“This isn’t over, Buffy,” the Amazon she’d pulled down on snapped.“Go for it,” Buffy chuckled. “You are running off with Katrina’s male. I was trying to assert her rights and you have defied her. I gleefully await her judgment.”The woman snarled then grunted as my three captures pulled me up. Buffy was on her phone, typing away a text when the women realized my feet weren’t planted under me. I started to topple over.“Stand up, damn you,” Stanica demanded. I looked to Buffy for confirmation of that order. She smiled while indicating nothing.“Stand up,” the third Amazon insisted. She backed that up with a jab to my left kidney. Damn, this place was hellishly unlucky for the left side of my body. That did not encourage me to stand.“Fine, we’ll drag him in,” Stanica changed up. I didn’t resist one bit. I acted like dead weight.This scene was made all the more precious by the audience Elsa had gathered for whatever exhibition she had planned for me. The whole sparring area was surrounded by Amazons clearly waiting on me. Most were cross-legged though a few knelt behind the first rank. I could see Elsa, spear in hand, watching those three lugging me in from her position in the Southwest corner of the mats.“What’s wrong with him?” Elsa inquired calmly.“He is afraid,” Stanica answered. I would have replied, but I knew silence would be far more cutting. See; everyone expect me to have a comeback. My quiet unsettled them. The three unceremoniously dumped me next to the Northeast corner. I lay there.I had noticed two axes about a meter in on the mat. I pulled myself into a position where my butt was resting on my heels.“My Sisters,” Elsa began. “There has been some interest in Cáel’s two-axe style as well as various theories on how to defeat it. Today, I will display the long spear technique’s ability to overcome this problem.”“Cáel, pick up the axes and prepare yourself. I will wait until you indicate your readiness,” Elsa nodded my way. Very friendly. I looked around a bit, rather bored. “Cáel?” she repeated. I looked at Elsa.“Oh, were you under some delusion that you could tell me what to do, Elsa?” I replied. There was a hush for so many reasons. Elsa being denied, a man denying anything to any of them, and my cavalier, even dismissive attitude toward the Full-blooded assembly.“Under what delusion do you think you can safely defy me?” Elsa smiled shark-like.“Hmmm,” I mused, “let me think. You are not Hayden, Katrina, or Buffy; my chain of command. You are not Aya, who I love. You are not acting in my best interest as it relates to Havenstone. Yeah, that should about cover it.”“I am a woman of Havenstone and I am giving you, a male, an order. There is no acceptable reason to disobey,” Elsa countered.“You are incorrect,” I began. The ladies around me didn’t like that. “I cannot betray my Amazons. You do not possess the power to force me to disappoint them.”“Your Amazons?” A chocolate Amazon with a shaved pate jumped up. “We are not 'yours’, filth.”“Were you born stupid, or has education made you that way?” I spat back. An ass-whooping was in the offing.“If you came at Hayden, or Katrina, do you think I’d sit idly by and let them fight alone?” I kept at it, though I remained kneeling. “If you threaten any member of Executive Services, or House Epona, make peace with your Ancestors because I will fight, bleed and die for MY Amazons. I’ve already proved that oath. Your opinion on the matter is less than rat-piss to me.”I’m sure arrogance has a use. I haven’t found one yet, but I don’t ignore the possibility. Chocolate chick grabbed for my hair, ready to slit my throat the moment she tilted my head back. This would have been appropriate if I was one of their old male population. Only total arrogance had kept her from actually listening to the words of defiance coming out of my mouth.I caught her hand, flipped her over and drove the top of her skull into the mat. That shoots a numbing jolt right up the spine, I can tell you from experience. I snatched the knife from her helpless fingers as she finished flipping over, her head closest to me then pressed the blade to her jugular.“Not a single person in this room matters to me. The only person that should matter to you, is me,” I stated calmly and quietly. “That being the case, chose your next words carefully and with due consideration of everything I’ve said before this moment.” I was going to die if I killed her. That wouldn’t save her life from her own, small, razor-sharp blade.Almost a minute passed.“Cáel, give me my blade,” she replied in a rather brave voice. I pulled my hand up, spun the blade around and pressed it into her palm. She slowly sat up and swiveled around until we were face to face, her cross-legged and me, back to my kneeling pose. Her eyes were ice cold.“I was never in any danger, was I?” the woman half-asked, half stated.“Of course not. I would never shame Katrina that way. I’d kill for her. Killing an Amazon to save my own life would not be something she’d allow,” I explained as much to the room as the woman.“Don’t lie,” another Amazon teased me; thankfully. It was Traska Maza; from the Medical Center. “I heard you murdered an Amazon on Friday; end of business.”“Yep,” I confessed. “Hayden has admonished me from repeating that method of assassination. I swear that if Fabiola keeps calling 'Runners’ 'Lost Bloods’, I’m going to figure out another way to get her.”“The term 'Lost Blood’ is the term we use. Accept it, Male,” Stanica growled. I had to think about that. I stood up, so I had a good view of the SD bitch. I also had to work up the proper insult. Anything I directed at Stanica would be useless. I knew their weakness though.“Hey,” I addressed my African opponent.“Stanica’s mother mated with her own paternal male to give birth to Stanica. I read it in an inner-office e-mail.” Total lie, but the 'lie’ wasn’t mine. It was from an unnamed Amazon and it insulted her bloodline, something she truly valued. I glared at Stanica. “That is why it is insulting. In a blood-conscious culture, you are rubbing their noses in a fact beyond their control.”“I agree,” Oneida spoke up. “'Lost Bloods’ is insulting. I had never questioned that before. 'Runners is a better term. I will ask my house to use it from now on.”“That’s not going to save him,” Stanica seethed.“Do you want to know where the memo came from?” I inquired of Stanica.“There is no memo,” Stanica snapped. I shrugged.“Why would I make it up? Such a deadly insult?” I pressed the point. Oh, I had made it up because I hate bigotry, especially when it is aimed at someone who was almost a friend.“Who?” she glared.“I don’t know, but I know who does,” I offered. “She’s right outside that door,” I pointed to the main entrance. Now, do people recall that divide I was talking about way back in Chapter Two? It worked both ways. Full-bloods were aware of the oppression they exerted on their 'Lost Blood/Runner’ sisters. Creeping around in the back of some of their minds was the worry that those newcomers resented their superiors.Had the two groups been truly united, Stanica wouldn’t have given my bluff a second glance. Here was the backlash of being a bigot; the idea that those you hated, hating you right back. In short order, Buffy was by my side and listening to Stanica’s grievance. Finally we were speaking English again.“Man, Desiree is going to be so sorry she missed this,” Buffy looked down at me.I was kneeling again so she was able to appear lofty and run her hand through my hair the way she liked to do when she was extra horny for me. I also liked the way her boobs nearly obscured her face from my view. Very nice tits.“Stanica, he lied to you,” Buffy revealed.“I knew it! Stand aside, I’m going to gut the little shit,” Stanica started to come at me.“No you don’t,” Buffy interposed herself. “See, Cáel was following his instructions and he used your idiocy against you, Dumbass,” she gloated to Stanica. “He was ordered to serve at my side today, so that is what he did. Who in the right mind would commit anything about blood prestige to an office e-mail anyway? It wasn’t even up to his normally superb level of deception.”“Then he should be punished for lying to me,” Stanica seethed.“I told him to,” Buffy wasn’t even lying. She’d approved my plan the moment she agreed to 'trust me’.“When?” Elsa requested. She was coming our way. Buffy looked over her shoulder.“Funny, you don’t look like Katrina, Elsa,” Buffy guffawed. “Make an official request through the proper channels. You don’t get to tell me what to do.”“Do we need to clarify our positions?” Elsa menaced. I jumped up and took up a boxing stance. With Stanica on one side, Elsa on the other and the preference of Amazons to gang up on opponents, I had to have her back.“Kneel,” Buffy tapped my shoulder. I knelt. “Honestly Elsa, Cáel fucked me so hard and long this weekend that even your pettiness doesn’t annoy me today. Now, why are we here?”“He’s not allowed to have sex,” Traska seemed a bit distressed. Me having sex outside the office had never occurred to her apparently.“Strangely, I have all of you to thank for that,” Buffy smugly regarded the room. “While you let Constanza and Crewe ambush him then sat back uselessly while he kicked both their asses, gazed on as he refused to take advantage of Constanza once she was clearly incapable of resisting and let her put a blade to his throat, he found a way to legally sleep with me.”“Afraid? With a blade to his throat, he couldn’t care less about any of you,” Buffy regaled them. “Oh, we know you don’t care what he thinks; or what I think. Well, welcome to the world you’ve created. I don’t care what you think. Blood Prestige? I’ll only give as much respect as I’m given. I am embarrassed I ever thought any of you were better than me.”“My prestige is that I volunteered for this lifestyle. I made a choice that no one else in this room ever had the courage to make; to abandon my old life for another, unknown one. From here on out, I’m going to be like Cáel. One of you bitches puts a hand on me, be ready to back it up,” Buffy challenged them. Not the best move as far as I could tell.“Be prepared to be put in your place,” Elsa grinned.“Go right ahead. Don’t get too worked up. There are around a hundred of my fellow; 'Runners’ at the door,” Buffy smirked.“It is best to end this rebellion right now,” the chocolate opponent stood up.“Over what?” I looked up. I hated Buffy making me kneel. “The 'Runners’ are doing the exact same tasks you are doing. They want to be awarded respect for that.”“This is not your place,” the woman stated to me. As an afterthought. “Ngozi.”“Thank you,” I acknowledged her consideration of giving me her name.“Ha,” Buffy snorted. “Oh…rebellion? Let’s just say when we realized that (dead word) meant Lost Bloods, we were; unhappy. All this weekend, this petty insult had been spreading out to all our non-Full-blood sisters. Actually, we have come up with two alternatives. One was to approach Hayden with our grievance.”“The other was to start calling the rest of you (dead word) (which meant 'Poison Bloods’),” Buffy stared down the festering crowd. “After all, we are all fertile and the few children we have been allowed to have are born without defect.” Amazons don’t threaten often. Normally they simply go straight to the punishment. I was somewhat of an exception for reasons that somehow alluded me.I tried to stand again, but Buffy pushed me back down. Pain was imminent then the muttering began. Around us, small clumps of Full-bloods began pushing for space. That could only mean they were getting ready to fight and since they weren’t close to us, they were getting ready to fight their own sisters.I doubted they were enamored with me, or the 'Runner’ cause. This was a common sense reaction. They recognized a no-win contest when they saw it. 'Runners’ were demanding respect; same recognition for taking the same risks. They weren’t even asking for admission into the 'Host’; the true Amazons and their House structure.The tipping points in this protest had been Fabiola and the loyalist opposition led by Helena, the only 'Runner’ close enough to my struggle Friday afternoon that could have started it. Remember, the Old Kingdom Hittite language was a closely guarded secret. So secret that Buffy, despite her years of loyal service, hadn’t been taught it.There had been decades of small slights that led to this. It wasn’t me, except for the definition thing. Fabiola was hardly an aberration. The other female 'new hires’ were more the exception than the rule. That was probably why Katrina had chosen them. In her profession; internal and external security; creative thinking and flexibility were as important as blood lines.“Excuse me,” a soft voice penetrated the chaos. The noise died down. Tessa Carmichael moved through the crowd to the mat. “Oh, by the Seven Sister Goddesses, of course Cáel Nyilas is here.” Then, in English, “Buffy, pardon me but I think this needs my attention.” See, a good ass-reaming is done in a target’s native language. Tessa went back to Old Kingdom Hittite.“Why are there a 150 sisters outside in the hall milling around?” Tessa began. She held up her hand to truncate the various responses. “Why does it look like you are all preparing for a general melee? Lastly, why are Buffy and Cáel even here? You would think that after his last episod
Becoming something of value has its downside.By FinalStand. Listen and subscribe to the podcast at Steamy Stories.-Live fast, die young and leave a…No. Enjoy life and die when it is your time. Your corpse will the least of your concerns if there really is an Afterlife- (Monday)-Ah…no sex…not sure how that happened-For some God-unknown reason I was showing up to work at 6 a.m. Monday. I swear, one of these days I’m going to show up to work naked. If asked why, I’ll claim that it wasn’t in my brilliantly scripted orders. I would then beg forgiveness for ‘assuming’ I was allowed to breath, or even be conscious. We’d all laugh. Nothing would change.They were never going to give me advance warning of what my latest errand entailed. I don’t think it was in them.“You’ve made to Week Three,” Buffy sneered as we entered the garage beneath Havenstone’s skyscraper. “I’m flabbergasted.”“So am I; flabbergasted that is,” I nodded sagely. “I had no idea you knew what flabbergasted meant.”Punch. Definitely back to the old Buffy.“You need a haircut,” she commented. My phone beeped. I had data packet. I had received them before; just not from this place. I opened it up as we exited the car and made for elevators.“Holy Bat-shit Bat-Bunny!” I gasped. “Hayden’s written me a letter.”“Really?” Buffy was momentarily non-psychotic. I showed her my screen. Hayden had made an official declaration; something that would be in the records of the Amazons from now until forever.Any and all males of Havenstone; specifically one Cáel Nyilas; were to forthwith and immediately stop spiritually assassinating any and all Amazons and Amazon recruits. Furthermore, I was admonished for murdering Fabiola Dobrani and, under penalty of an unmentioned punishment, I was to publicly rejoice at her resurrection.Life was relentless. Buffy’s phone rang. She got the same message I did…as did every freaking Amazon in the building. I didn’t think the guys would be getting this memo.“I wonder how the Chicklettes are going to take this,” I mused. The doors opened before Buffy could formulate her comeback.Relentless may have not been a strong enough word. Waiting for us in two distinct groups were Constanza with two SD Playboy Bunnies; opposite them was Oneida. Oneida looked…enamored. This wasn’t curiosity about what my meat would feel like as it made her weep tears of rapture.This was a weekend binge of watching some of the best received, twenty-something, romantic movies of the past ten years. It was hard for me to decide which group was more divorced from reality; the Amazon man-haters, or the 'Hollywood was real’ babe.“I’m going to get a bite to eat,” Buffy announced. Entering the garage had completed her bodyguard duties.Oneida had the higher prestige so she came first.“Hi Cáel Nyilas,” she stepped up and greeted me. She extended her hand; for me to shake. Amazons clasped forearm to forearm. I greeted her Amazon-style.“It is good to see you again, Oneida of House Arinniti,” I replied. She looked upset.“You know who I am,” she sighed with disappointment.“Please believe me,” I stroked the side of her left cheek to the top of her ear, “had I known Friday, I would have finished up by impaled myself on your spear and cleared up a whole manner of things. Why does it matter to you that I know who you are?”“I…I didn’t want to be treated as anyone special,” she gazed up at me with innocent eyes.“That’s not going to be a problem,” I chuckled. “To me, you are nothing but another psycho-bitch that’s trying to kill me. You are a black-hearted, soulless creation of Hell and I hate your guts, Oneida.”“But you saved my life?” she whimpered. She was a bit more unbalanced than the normal babe employed here. Yay me.“And? See, this is why my description of you and your sisters is so accurate,” I smiled while I explained. “I would try to save almost anyone because it is the right thing to do. The only reason saving you was a mistake was that it caused me to fall further into Hayden’s favor. Now she’s going to expect that shit on a regular basis solely because you are of House Arinniti.”“Ah; I like you,” Oneida pleaded.“Why?” I asked.“You risked so much for Aya. You made her laugh and smile. You…you acted as if you cared for her; as if you were her own mother,” Oneida told me. “Was that a deception too?”“Hmmm…not what I expected,” I mused. “Fine, realizing that I was with Aya for her sake and hers alone raises you up a step in my estimations. I’m not being deceptive about how I feel about this place, Oneida. Here, let me prove it.” I looked to Constanza. “Constanza, do I hate your guts?”She glared at me. “Constanza, if I thought I could get away with it, would I shove a fragmentation grenade up your ass and pull the pin?” No response.“See,” I grinned to the gawking Oneida, “I’m not being deceptive about how I feel about this place. My opinion matters not at all to these women yet they know I’ll never act on my hate because of my own, perverse Code of Conduct. I’m not going to run away and I’m not going to stop being me. I’m certainly not going to fall in love with anyone here.”“Oh,” she muttered.“I have to go to work now. Have a nice day,” I turned to Constanza. “Are you my work buddy today?”“Male, come with us,” Constanza snapped. Off the four of us walked; right back to the elevator.Down we went, past any level my ID card could have accessed. Devo’s Working in the Coal Mine sprang to mind, so I hummed it. I was feeling completely at ease. Constanza stood behind me, while the other two stood at either side, but half a step back so they were right at the edge of my peripheral vision. I felt like a team player; an interregnal part of my imminent demise.The group marched past the Armory. I waved to my old friend, the Kindergarten Cop. She glowered. Amazons were not martinets. They were clean-cut and proud, but vigilance meant much more than a scuff mark on a boot, or a gaze locked on the farther wall. Our trip deposited in yet another room I could never access.I was the first one through the door. I almost froze. For starters, the room was around 15 meters wide and 6 meters deep. In the center of the room was an 8x2meter table. On the table where a wide variety of firearms and ammunition. Automatic pistols, revolvers, shotguns and submachine guns plus multiple clips, or speed-loaders for them all.They hadn’t brought me here to murder me with Death by multiple calibers. If they wanted me dead, they would have blown my brains out already then put a gun in my hand in a hopeless attempt to fool Katrina. The number of guns didn’t even impress me. The far wall was transparent and through it I could see multiple ladies in sports bras and boy shorts shooting away on a firing range.Holy Mother of God! I was here for weapons training. What the Hell had gone wrong? As I moved deeper into the room, one SD Femi-Nazi moved down the left wall, the other moved down the right and Constanza remained two steps behind me.“Please clarify my task for this time period, Constanza?” I requested. The look she shot me was lethal.“The weapons present are ones you have stated you have a familiarity with as well as others in common usage here at Havenstone. All the rounds are hollow points, or slugs. Chose which weapons you wish to qualify in, load your clips and inform me when you have completed this part of the assignment.”“Thank you,” I nodded then set to the task at hand. Constanza clearly had expected me to be a smart ass. I had used learning about guns to get tail. That didn’t mean I disrespected the weapons. I picked up several side arms, testing their weight and grips before deciding on the .40 Smith & Wesson Glock-22.I felt the ammo, making sure I wouldn’t be running around with blanks this time. This shit was real. Elsa had claimed she’d rather be skinned alive than let any man bear weapons in her Havenstone. Maybe I shouldn’t have felt her up, or given that massage to that med tech, or stripped in the elevator. I was a really, truly naughty boy.Most women spank naughty boys. My tormentors tend to fuck with my mind because, ya know, it’s harder to defend against that crap. Also, there is not a hand lotion made that will soothe the ravaged psyche. I began loading the clips.“Is that the only one you are taking?” Constanza eventually broke down and asked.“I don’t want to waste your time,” I replied. “This is my favorite pistol. I’ve shot .22, .38, 9 mm, and .45, but I’m most comfortable with this one. Maybe later I can work with the shotguns. I haven’t a clue how to handle anything else.” I could see it in her eyes; 'damn him; he’s making sense.’There was one final way I could fuck up. I didn’t. I knew firearms etiquette. Don’t load your gun before taking your station at the range. Sure, all the crazy chicks could do it, but that was part of their jobs; killing things. I was a novice. I picked out some ear protection and an adequate hip holster in case Constanza wanted me to fire from the draw.I was clearly not making her day by not screwing up.“This way,” she barked. She accessed the door leading to the range and out we stepped. All around, the firing slowly died. For each of the women, there was a second of disbelief followed by several more seconds of outrage.Lust was where the emotional landslide ended. I was 'That’ guy. I wasn’t something they could codify. I made meaningful, defiant eye contact, I dressed to impress, and I was known to be courageous. Having Hayden decide that she wanted to mate with me didn’t hurt my appeal one bit. I could already tell they were figuring out where to shoot me so that I could still have sex an hour later.I was a man in Havenstone with a gun after all. I was the equivalent of the Pope in Mecca; it just didn’t happen. My booth was nice and comfy. After placing my gear on the table,“What do I do next?”“Ear guards; check weapon; load, chamber, announce your preparation to fire; fire as quickly and accurately as possible. Reload and fire until you have uses all rounds,” she commanded.Hmm…six meters. Standard human-scored target. I hadn’t done this in a year. I shook my limbs out to get ready for the shock and recoil then steadied my breathing. Fifteen rounds, starting at the ready stance.“Ready,” I pronounced.“Begin,” was Constanza’s muffled command. The report of the first shot, the sting of the recoil, the pull on the arm and the shell ejecting; all of those rolled over me before I could count. I almost missed the automatic slide staying open. Down went the old magazine even as my left hand retrieved and leveraged the next one in.A problem presented itself. The girl who first taught me was pretty good; in the 'if you couldn’t find the prerequisite number of bullet holes in the target, everyone assumed the missing bullet had passed through one of the previous penetrations’ kind of way. I was pretty lucky. She took a red hot poker to me and was thankfully far less accurate.She was so incredibly beautiful; so furious with me, naked and chasing me around a cabin lit solely by the fireplace, with that firebrand in her hand. Maybe it was wrong of me to take her English professor up to the girl’s cabin for a sexual rendezvous; or stick the professor in the closet when the poor lady absolutely had go to the bathroom. Or fucked the girl on her bear skin rug until the professor had to come out of said closet before she urinated. I know; I’m an idiot.Fifteen bullets into the first target had made a mess of it. Since there was no one in either station around me, I started shooting at the target to the left. I put the last magazine into the one on the right. It took me well over thirty seconds to get all 45 shots off, but I did it.“Done,” I stated as I put the gun down and took a half-step back.“Do you shoot pistols a lot?” one of my other guards asked in amazement. They had undoubtedly seen better speed and marksmanship. It was their cosmically low opinion of me that made my effort so impossible to believe.“No, I’m a Natural Born Killer,” I grinned at the three of them.“Males are arrogant and take things for granted. They are sloppy,” Constanza sneered.“It never fails to surprise me that you don’t accept that your ancestors were some of the toughest bitches to ever walk the planet,” I muttered.“What does that mean?” Constanza growled.“Warriors so tough they are remembered thousands of years later and your founders escaped with their lives; as opposed to all those Trojans, Hittites and Lydians who ended up decorating graves with their bones,” I glared back. “What I mean is; why does me having a weapon really bother you? I’m am totally out-numbered, out-classed and out-gunned.”“I don’t want to die. I’m definitely not suicidal. I’ll even take bullets, arrows and blades for you people,” I snarled. “Quite frankly, all of this paranoia is really starting to get on my nerves, so fucking Cut it out!”“You do not tell us what to do,” Constanza ground out. She’d grabbed my chin with one hand.“I’ll keep that in mind next time an Amazon’s life is in danger and a simply warning from me could save their life. Be assured I’ll put your directive down for the reason they croaked,” I countered.“If it was up to me, you would be killed for your insolence,” she growled.“Does it ever occur to you it is the other way around?” I touched her wrist.“What?” Constanza was both irate and uncertain.“You are where you are because you have a habit of making poor decision on a strategic level,” I explained. Apparently I wanted to die.“Why does anyone like you?” Constanza muttered.“Like me? Most people who know me, hate me; like you. The difference is they get to know me first then they hate me. You haven’t gotten the full Cáel experience yet. You hate me on a purely generic level. Real hate comes from knowing me,” I grinned.Like so much that comes from my lips, that was a lie. To be truthful, most of the women I had wronged over the past four years forgave me; eventually. Most of them figured out that I hadn’t cheated on them; I cheated on EVERY girl I was with, but one; my mentor. She was the one who tossed me out among the female population in the first place.Some ladies did hold a grudge. There is one chick who burns me in effigy every year on the date of our break up. I should have known better. It was my freshman year and she was a Psychology teaching assistant. Most psych majors are wacko; more wacko than most pissed of women, I have learned from experience. I’ll still date them. I also take more care about what I eat and drink around them too.“I’m glad to know you will be gone soon,” she seethed then removed her hand from my chin.“Constanza, you really need to stop trusting me so much,” I chuckled.“I don’t trust you at all,” she countered.“But you are taking my word for it that women hate me,” I snickered.“More importantly, you are ignoring the facts. The majority of the women at Havenstone who like me, do so for reasons totally devoid of any intimacy. We both know I can be a jerk. I’m being a jerk right now; to you. What separates us is that I have no doubt that if you were in danger, I would come to your aid. That is the kind of person I am,” I related calmly.“That would never happen,” Constanza insisted.“I don’t care what you think,” I shot back. “I don’t make decisions based on your whimsy. I follow my leadership. I know I’m loyal. Now, can we please get back to the reason we are all here?”The scoring indicated that I was so lucky that girl came at me with the poker. I missed six shots out of 45, which I thought was awesome. I even managed to badly tear up the chests of the front and left targets. The target on the right was still 'dead’, but he could be buried in a tuxedo. I had one head shot; it wasn’t on purpose.We went back to the gun room, reloaded my Glock, a .38 Colt and a Mossberg shotgun. One guard went with me while Constanza and the second guard scored my first round. Back in the firing lane, I lost all firearms ability what so ever. I was saved by three shooters who volunteered to help. See how easy that was? They helped me with my stances, reload techniques and argued the merits of hip holster, ankle holsters and shoulder holsters.To reciprocate their hospitality, I stripped off my annoying jacket, tie, shirt and undershirt. We got into a discussion of spent rounds bouncing around and maybe scaring the shooter. For the Amazons, it was training to ignore painful distractions. I stopped; leveled by an epic brainstorm; and fired off an order to Executive Services; care of Daphne.“What are you doing?” one of the new lethality-engines asked, somewhat piqued.“Oh, I have to celebrate Fabiola’s resurrection; Hayden’s orders; and that is going to require supernatural aids,” I replied. I was back on track in their eyes.“What was it like to feel the strength of the Ancestors flow through you?” the second one whispered. This Ancestors and Goddess crap; mysticism was real to them. I’ve never claimed to be a deity though I’ve insinuated that I was the blood descendant of the Goddess Ishtar; reference the Wiccan Priestess; and her circle of naked female celebrants.The answer, not a total lie, was pure Amazon.“I didn’t feel anything,” I could sense their disappointment. “You know, all I felt was the spear and nothing else. Absolutely nothing else mattered. All other burdens and pains were lifted from me so I could devote myself entirely to the task at hand; hold the spear aloft.”They ate it up because the 'stillness’ was at their core of martial mystique. Bushido had it too except they called it 'No Mind’, or something like that. To be honest, I had come by that state of being through sex. My focus narrowed down to my partner and all of her actions and reactions. For a lowly male, like me, to possess that quality must have been divine intervention.“You did a wonderful thing; channeling the Ancestors that way,” the third stated. “Oneida is precious to the Host.”“I beg to differ,” I regarded her with a quirky smirk. “Every life is precious. When you start weighing a person’s life before you chose to save it, you have lost much more than that split second; you have lost a piece of your soul.”Oh look. I was lecturing them and they didn’t like it.“Try looking at it from my viewpoint for a second,” I knew they couldn’t. “I’m a lowly male caught up in your fiendish experiment. I don’t know who any of you are beyond the reality that you would casually harm, or even kill me for any number of reasons.”“You clearly think I should cower and cow-tow to your whims and wishes,” I took in their negative reactions. “I’m not. That’s not me. Instead, I’m going to run errands, learn to fight, laugh, play and have a great time. If it matters; I know it doesn’t to you; I am Cáel Nyilas, son of Ferko, son of Árpád of the Magyar. 'Where there is Valor, there is Hope’,” I added.That wasn’t my family motto. We were from poor, immigrant stock. My grandparents spoke Hungarian. I knew a little of it, just not enough to be considered fluent. I knew some Vlach (Romanian) too. When your neighbors are screaming insults at you, it pays to know exactly what they are saying. Again, I’m not fluent in Vlach, but I could get in a bar fight over what I did know.“Your lineage is inconsequential,” Constanza snapped. She’d come back; yippee!“How did I do, Jefe?” I beamed happiness her way.“I hate you,” she said through clenched teeth. I must have done better than I thought.“Well, that’s good. Maybe, under your instruction, I’ll almost be a match for the other fine ladies down here one day in the distant future,” I nodded happily.“That your heart still beats is an insult to everything I stand for,” Constanza spat.“I’m cool with that in the same way I’m cool ignoring this whole 'blood prestige’ thing. You gals aren’t respecting mine and you certainly aren’t explaining your rules to me, so I’m opting out of this whole 'my old lady was better at dodging arrows than yours’.”“You should not insult us this way,” my closet, newest gun-buddy cautioned me.“I agree. Do you even know who the Magyar are?” I inquired.“No,” she shrugged.“Go find out and then we can talk,” I grinned. “Until then, you are disrespecting the aim of a sniper you don’t even know exists yet is stalking you.”As they were struggling to figure that out, I groaned.“You are insulting my people without knowledge of who they are. You are asking me to show respect to your people without explaining to me why. I’m sure they were wonderful, fucking women, but I don’t know anything about them,” I related.“If you want blind obedience, go have fun with sterility,” I smirked. “I’ve got better and more far-sighted women I’d rather be with.”“Most likely you will be milked of your seed, joined with our eggs thus creating the next generation of the host,” the third girl got all riled-up. Sex.“Man,” I laughed. “Am I the only one here to have figured out that I, and the other new male hires, aren’t the only ones being tested? Really? Come on. If Katrina wanted to train me to use a gun, she could have sent me with Desiree to a private gun range and handled this stuff off-site. No. She had to put me here; with all of you.”All those smug, superior, horny chicks just realized they’d taken a philosophical snap-kick to the cranium. Tested? Amazons were tested all the fucking time. It was their culture to keep them fit, firm and alert. Best of all, the male had to be the one to bring this to their attention. I wrapped my arm around the waist of the closest Amazon and pulled her groin to my hip.“That’s okay though. I’m in this for all of you,” I murmured while looking deep into her eyes; as if we were the only two people in the world. “With your aid, I think we can do this; make it work. Don’t you?” She nodded. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. Shotguns, pistol-grip shotguns and an MP-5 joined my list of weapons I knew the basics of afterwards.Once more, I was rendered even more attractive by the fact that I could hit a man-sized target at 6 meters with a gun I had only then picked up. I had been joking about the whole 'natural born killer’ comeback. I wasn’t convinced that my ancestor’s ability to fight all their neighbors, sometimes all at the same time, made me kick-ass.Frankly, my people had lost wars to every European empire of the middle ages and modern times. You just couldn’t keep us down. Maybe resistance was genetically based. That was crazy talk…but Grandpa was a tough SOB, as was my Dad, now that I thought about it. Gramps Old Man died fighting the Russians in world war two, which was why he fled his homeland as a child.Mom’s people; they were Irish; the Irish, when not fighting for their own homeland, were fighting for some else’s. Mom didn’t get the time to teach me much, but I do recall this:The greatest lie the Irish ever tell is that they only hate the English. The Irish hate anyone they can get their hands on, even other Irish. If you don’t believe that, look at every ethnic neighborhood in the US that border an Irish enclave. They fight with them all.I got my twisted sense of humor from my Mom. I miss her so. Knowing Mom, she wouldn’t be ashamed of my infidelities. She’d probably say 'he’s test-driving until he finds the one that can keep him in line’. I hoped she wouldn’t be ashamed of me. My time was up. I had to go to Katrina’s office. Constanza banished me with a grumpy face and a dismissive wave of the hand.The chick I had put on my hip volunteered/elbowed her way to showing me out. My ID card wouldn’t open any stairwell, or elevator. She felt comfortable walking around in her underwear, plus a shoulder holstered 10 mm. Ten steps out, from her left, I snaked my hand around her back to her right hip. She looked to me and smiled.“Can you give me some advice?” I inquired.“I’ll try,” she hedged.“Well, you are clearly in excellent physical condition. I’ve been trying to put together a regimen that will get my left thigh in shape,” I started. She nodded.“I’ve a quadriceps exercise in mind, but I’m unsure about one for the gluts,” I mused. She looked uncertain. I moved my hand off her hip, over to her left hand then placed her hand force on my left buttock. We were now really close. “I’m afraid of losing my muscle tone. Can you help?”“Umm…” she hesitated. “I could think of a few things.” She worked herself up to giving my ass a good squeeze. This was not the first male butt she’d handled yet it was most likely the firmest and most sexually promising one she’d felt. Promising something she couldn’t quite envision but felt deep within her loins.She dispensed advice. I nodded appreciatively. When I asked for some kind of confirmation, she kindly put my hand on her ass which I promptly began squeezing. Like shooting fish in a barrel. We were comparing stomach and shoulder techniques on the elevator. Her name was Naomi and she was with the Security Detail and a member of House Rajah; ally of House Arinniti. Sweet!Like clockwork, Brielle and her buddy joined me in the elevator on the ground floor. They had to know somebody to track me this well. Me shirtless with an Amazon in her undies. It must be Monday morning.“This is new,” Brielle commented. “Good morning, Naomi. Forget something?”“I’m on the job,” Naomi retorted. It was the whole 'going without clothes’ thing.“Are you protecting a bare-chested Cáel from us, or us from a bare-chested Cáel?” her companion joked. Naomi’s mouth opened then shut.“I cannot talk about it. Neither one of us can,” Naomi declared with authority.“That’s right, Ladies,” I nodded. “What happens in the laundry room, stays in the laundry room.” All those who felt I’d gone to the laundry room, raise your hands. No takers.“I smell gunpowder residue,” Brielle commented after she took a close whiff.“The Dominicans, Latin Kings, and the Redneck Posse have all started fighting over that little block of paradise I call home,” I sighed regretfully. Silence.“Redneck Posse? That’s not one I’ve heard of before,” Naomi commented. Here we go!“Oh yeah,” I looked contemplative. “Ten years ago, several linguists studying Appalachian dialects paid for some native speakers to come to the city to help in their research. The hillbillies got paid, got jobs and brought their families down.”“When the grant money for the study ran out, the bumpkins had to find another way to support their kin that their minimum wage jobs couldn’t providing. Enter the Redneck Posse. Guns, meth, moonshine; they do it all. They are kind of like Afghan tribesmen except instead of being half a world away by sea, or air, they are a four, or five, hour drive down the interstate,” I concluded.The three women exchanged confused looks. The doors opened on my floor.“Oh my Goddess!” Brielle exclaimed. “That’s almost possible to believe.” I winked and left.“You mean that was a lie too?” Naomi gasped. The doors shut on that conversation as I swept through the office.I had 90 seconds to spare. Only Dora wasn’t here yet, but there was a pile of boxes on my desk. They were all looking at me as if I’d just stepped out of a pool, or a French cologne commercial. I set my clothing and valise on my tiny, now over-stacked, desk then joined the line-up.“Good morning Cáel,” Katrina looked me up and down.“I certainly hope it will be. Good morning to you too, Katrina,” I beamed. Pause.“Forgetting something?” Katrina prodded. I sniffed the air. I didn’t sense it.“Yes Ma'am, Katrina. I’m missing one thing. I hope it gets here soon,” I confirmed. Pause.“Very well, let’s get started,” Katrina began. Fabiola lost it.“What! He doesn’t have a shirt, tie, or jacket on. As far as we know, he’s not even wearing underwear,” she screeched.“Cáel, is your attire, or lack thereof, necessary for the performance of your duties?” Katrina politely inquired.“Yes it is Katrina,” I nodded.“Very well…” Katrina started over.“What possible reason could you have for being half dressed,” Fabiola ranted. “Are you going to cover yourself with oil and slither down the stairs like the snake you are?”No one said anything for a while. The rest of the 'new hires’ were coming around to the fact that Katrina and I were mocking Fabiola. Otherwise, Katrina would have shut her down. I held up my hand.“Yes Cáel,” Katrina acknowledged me, “despite the meeting having already begun and not being directly addressed by me, you may speak.” Slap!“Fabiola, I find your desire to see me oiled up a bit perplexing,” I grinned in her direction. “I would like to point out, despite the evidence you have presented today, I am not an idiot and our boss; Katrina; is not a fool. Hate me to your heart’s content, but don’t insult Katrina by thinking she doesn’t already know what I’m up to.”“She does not explain herself to me, or you, and I’m pretty sure even Hayden gets an edited view of what goes on here in Executive Services. I don’t know and I don’t care. That’s not in my job description and I’m already way out of bounds as it is,” I said. “For your sake and your sake alone, I will tell you why I’m am dressed the way I am today.”“It is part of your ritual apology,” Violet blurted. “It’s obvious. This has to do with what Hayden told him to do.” That wasn’t truly fair to Fabiola. The rest of the ladies had been rushing around getting the items I decided I needed for my public apology. Dora came bolting in right then.“I’m sorry I’m late, Katrina,” she panted. “Did I miss anything?”“No,” Katrina returned events to their proper order. “First off, for today, I’ll start with Cáel’s work review for Friday. I never thought I would say this about his on-the-clock performance. Cáel, your work output on Friday was stellar. There, I said it. Next…”That would have been a far greater treasure had that been my work report instead of Aya’s. Everyone else did well, save Tigger. She had forgotten a security sequence and had half a floor locked down for 15 minutes. At the conclusion, Buffy came in, slammed a flimsy, but aromatic, box into my chest then stormed away.“Cáel?” Katrina questioned.“Yes. Thank you,” I then turned to Fabiola. “Do you wish to have the ceremony here, or out on the main floor of Executive Services?”“I; what are you going to do?” Fabiola grew suspicious. “This is a trick to make me look foolish again.”“Fabiola, it is Hayden’s wish you hear him out,” Paula spoke. “He’s troublesome, not stupid. I don’t think he’s stupid enough to defy Hayden on this.”“Swear to me you are not going to make me look bad,” Fabiola stared at me.“What do I possess that you believe is valuable?” I countered. She had to think about that.It couldn’t be Aya. Fabiola was stumped. She had been so busy looking down her fine Roman nose at me, she had neglected to notice everything I had done and said.“Your mentor,” Daphne offered.“She has forbidden me to see her again, but thank you,” I winked at Daphne.A quick list of less than helpful suggestions followed. It turned out the only thing I valued was my freedom and I couldn’t give that up to Fabiola because that decision lay with Katrina. I would rather defy Hayden than give up sex, I lied continuously for little, or no reason. Fabiola wasn’t looking for Lent, she wanted something concrete. It simply didn’t exist.Out we went with a very distraught Fabiola and me with a bunch of small boxes. I didn’t worry about expensing all this crap. I wasn’t spending my own money anyway. I had Fabiola stand in the largest open area ES had. Even people who only had business on this floor were joining the growing body of my co-workers here to witness the spectacle.Three small brass bowels and one small oil lamp went to the four compass points; I even had a compass. I put sand in one, water in another and dry ice in the third. I lit the lamp.“This symbols me calling the four corners of Terra to bear witness: Earth, Air, Fire and Water,” I explained. Next I wrote down Fabiola’s name on a slip of paper in Old Kingdom Hittite.I burned it. Fabiola frowned. She was the only one. I dropped the ashes into a glass of water.“With this, I take back my curse. I swallow it, thus swallowing my words,” I explained to Fabiola. I drank the whole thing. That accomplished, I pulled a small silver owl out of an unopened box to a series of murmurs. “This is a gift to your house. Minerva (the Roman Athena) is your patron Goddess. I do honor to her for bringing you back.” I handed her the owl.Her expression told me she was still waiting for the trap to be sprung on her. I wrote out my name, in Magyar then held it up to Fabiola.“This is my name, Cáel Nyilas, in my native tongue,” I told her. I burned it, ground up the ashes with my fingers. With a little bit of coordinated effort, I drew the word 'forgiveness’ in Old Kingdom Hittite over my heart.The last box. It was Dobos Tortas, a sweet treat from my native land; Hungary, not Chicago.“Please accept this gift as a symbol of my apology and my desire to seek your forgiveness,” I looked into Fabiola’s eyes. The weight came crushing down on her. Virtually all the women around her wanted me to be forgiven.Not because they hated her. Most barely knew her; or me. It was the ceremony. Simple, relatively quick yet individualized by the giving of gifts designed for each participant. Deep in her twisted little soul, Fabiola still expected a trap, trick, or joke at her expense. She probably thought the 'cookies’ were poisoned.“I forgive you,” Fabiola stated. She put her hand on my shoulder. “Share a treat with me.” I even let her pick out the one to stick in my mouth. Maybe she thought I had the antidote, or maybe she decided I was on the up-and-up. The crowd of Amazons made happy, communal noises and we all parted as friends…okay, friends and their dancing bear; me.Katrina snuck up on me as a handful of woman thanked me for the insightful ceremony. I told them they were welcome while neglecting to inform them that I made all of that up. Part of it was Wiccan. Part was some 1960’s Italian movie I’d seen. A few things I pulled out of my ass, like normal.“Put on your clothes,” Katrina handed me my things. “You did well. I am sure Hayden will be equally pleased.”“No problem,” I looked at her appreciatively. I felt a cerebral connection evolving between us.“Put on your shirt before I start licking your nipples,” Katrina demanded. Damn it.Wait, things got better. As I looked away from Katrina and started getting dressed, Buffy appeared before me. I bet I could have melted an ice cap with the head of steam she’d built up.“Do you like dressing as a male stripper? Do you like women drooling all over you?” Buffy sizzled.“No; yes,” I responded.“I hate you,” she snapped.“I admire the fact that you can pull off the lead in Madame Butterfly,” I bantered back.“Let’s get to work,” Buffy growled. Off we went.(Elsa Round Three)“Hello Stanica,” Buffy greeted the SD guard at the gym facility door. That was new. Normally it was a card-swipe and in you went. Buffy and I were dressed for a workout; per orders.“Full-bloods only,” Stanica stopped Buffy. Ah, racism was raising its ugly head.“How am I supposed to get in?” I countered. This appointment was in our queue for 11 a.m.“You have been summoned,” Stanica clarified.“Cool…I’ll be back in 70 days. Good job Chuckles,” I grinned.“You have been summoned,” she threatened with a great deal more menace.“He works for me today,” Buffy yawned. “That means he goes where I go. Cáel doesn’t have a queue today, I do. He’s my intern. If you won’t let me in, then he doesn’t go in. Let’s go Cáel.”Stanica grabbed my arm.“He goes in. You stay,” she insisted.“Cáel; resist,” Buffy ordered. To Stanica, “Knock yourself out.” Stanica briefly tried to move me. Then she went for some kind of control-hold/lock. Brazilian jujitsu, Baby.It is not some kind of 'super’ martial art. As far as I knew, none of them were. If you were trying to break, or establish physical control over another person, it was pretty spectacular though. Along with the Amazon 'house’ style, she knew something akin to Krav Maga. Stanica was hampered by her unwillingness to do me serious harm, as was I toward her.The difference was, all I had to do was stay in the hallway, while Stanica had to get me through the doors. The stalemate was broken by two fresh full-bloods coming from the changing room to the facilities.“Sisters, assist me,” Stanica called out. “Help me wrestle him to the ground without undo damage.” They came forward and jumped me.“Are you on official Havenstone business?” Buffy politely inquired as they dog piled on me.“Shut up,” Stanica yelled.“Failing to adequately explain the situation,” Buffy quick drew her pistol and pressed it to the temple of one of the two new Amazons, “informs me you are willingly interfering in official Executive Services business.”“By all means, give me an excuse to file an incident report,” Buffy grinned feral.“Do it and you die, 'Lost Blood’ (Old Kingdom Hittite),” the threatened woman responded.“Boss, may I suggest an alternative?” I ground up. They had me pressed down in the hall.“I’m willing to accept you were hired for your intelligence,” Buffy allowed.“Trust me. I got this,” I snickered. Buffy didn’t trust me, yet she knew my tone well. Buffy holstered her weapon and stood back.“This isn’t over, Buffy,” the Amazon she’d pulled down on snapped.“Go for it,” Buffy chuckled. “You are running off with Katrina’s male. I was trying to assert her rights and you have defied her. I gleefully await her judgment.”The woman snarled then grunted as my three captures pulled me up. Buffy was on her phone, typing away a text when the women realized my feet weren’t planted under me. I started to topple over.“Stand up, damn you,” Stanica demanded. I looked to Buffy for confirmation of that order. She smiled while indicating nothing.“Stand up,” the third Amazon insisted. She backed that up with a jab to my left kidney. Damn, this place was hellishly unlucky for the left side of my body. That did not encourage me to stand.“Fine, we’ll drag him in,” Stanica changed up. I didn’t resist one bit. I acted like dead weight.This scene was made all the more precious by the audience Elsa had gathered for whatever exhibition she had planned for me. The whole sparring area was surrounded by Amazons clearly waiting on me. Most were cross-legged though a few knelt behind the first rank. I could see Elsa, spear in hand, watching those three lugging me in from her position in the Southwest corner of the mats.“What’s wrong with him?” Elsa inquired calmly.“He is afraid,” Stanica answered. I would have replied, but I knew silence would be far more cutting. See; everyone expect me to have a comeback. My quiet unsettled them. The three unceremoniously dumped me next to the Northeast corner. I lay there.I had noticed two axes about a meter in on the mat. I pulled myself into a position where my butt was resting on my heels.“My Sisters,” Elsa began. “There has been some interest in Cáel’s two-axe style as well as various theories on how to defeat it. Today, I will display the long spear technique’s ability to overcome this problem.”“Cáel, pick up the axes and prepare yourself. I will wait until you indicate your readiness,” Elsa nodded my way. Very friendly. I looked around a bit, rather bored. “Cáel?” she repeated. I looked at Elsa.“Oh, were you under some delusion that you could tell me what to do, Elsa?” I replied. There was a hush for so many reasons. Elsa being denied, a man denying anything to any of them, and my cavalier, even dismissive attitude toward the Full-blooded assembly.“Under what delusion do you think you can safely defy me?” Elsa smiled shark-like.“Hmmm,” I mused, “let me think. You are not Hayden, Katrina, or Buffy; my chain of command. You are not Aya, who I love. You are not acting in my best interest as it relates to Havenstone. Yeah, that should about cover it.”“I am a woman of Havenstone and I am giving you, a male, an order. There is no acceptable reason to disobey,” Elsa countered.“You are incorrect,” I began. The ladies around me didn’t like that. “I cannot betray my Amazons. You do not possess the power to force me to disappoint them.”“Your Amazons?” A chocolate Amazon with a shaved pate jumped up. “We are not 'yours’, filth.”“Were you born stupid, or has education made you that way?” I spat back. An ass-whooping was in the offing.“If you came at Hayden, or Katrina, do you think I’d sit idly by and let them fight alone?” I kept at it, though I remained kneeling. “If you threaten any member of Executive Services, or House Epona, make peace with your Ancestors because I will fight, bleed and die for MY Amazons. I’ve already proved that oath. Your opinion on the matter is less than rat-piss to me.”I’m sure arrogance has a use. I haven’t found one yet, but I don’t ignore the possibility. Chocolate chick grabbed for my hair, ready to slit my throat the moment she tilted my head back. This would have been appropriate if I was one of their old male population. Only total arrogance had kept her from actually listening to the words of defiance coming out of my mouth.I caught her hand, flipped her over and drove the top of her skull into the mat. That shoots a numbing jolt right up the spine, I can tell you from experience. I snatched the knife from her helpless fingers as she finished flipping over, her head closest to me then pressed the blade to her jugular.“Not a single person in this room matters to me. The only person that should matter to you, is me,” I stated calmly and quietly. “That being the case, chose your next words carefully and with due consideration of everything I’ve said before this moment.” I was going to die if I killed her. That wouldn’t save her life from her own, small, razor-sharp blade.Almost a minute passed.“Cáel, give me my blade,” she replied in a rather brave voice. I pulled my hand up, spun the blade around and pressed it into her palm. She slowly sat up and swiveled around until we were face to face, her cross-legged and me, back to my kneeling pose. Her eyes were ice cold.“I was never in any danger, was I?” the woman half-asked, half stated.“Of course not. I would never shame Katrina that way. I’d kill for her. Killing an Amazon to save my own life would not be something she’d allow,” I explained as much to the room as the woman.“Don’t lie,” another Amazon teased me; thankfully. It was Traska Maza; from the Medical Center. “I heard you murdered an Amazon on Friday; end of business.”“Yep,” I confessed. “Hayden has admonished me from repeating that method of assassination. I swear that if Fabiola keeps calling 'Runners’ 'Lost Bloods’, I’m going to figure out another way to get her.”“The term 'Lost Blood’ is the term we use. Accept it, Male,” Stanica growled. I had to think about that. I stood up, so I had a good view of the SD bitch. I also had to work up the proper insult. Anything I directed at Stanica would be useless. I knew their weakness though.“Hey,” I addressed my African opponent.“Stanica’s mother mated with her own paternal male to give birth to Stanica. I read it in an inner-office e-mail.” Total lie, but the 'lie’ wasn’t mine. It was from an unnamed Amazon and it insulted her bloodline, something she truly valued. I glared at Stanica. “That is why it is insulting. In a blood-conscious culture, you are rubbing their noses in a fact beyond their control.”“I agree,” Oneida spoke up. “'Lost Bloods’ is insulting. I had never questioned that before. 'Runners is a better term. I will ask my house to use it from now on.”“That’s not going to save him,” Stanica seethed.“Do you want to know where the memo came from?” I inquired of Stanica.“There is no memo,” Stanica snapped. I shrugged.“Why would I make it up? Such a deadly insult?” I pressed the point. Oh, I had made it up because I hate bigotry, especially when it is aimed at someone who was almost a friend.“Who?” she glared.“I don’t know, but I know who does,” I offered. “She’s right outside that door,” I pointed to the main entrance. Now, do people recall that divide I was talking about way back in Chapter Two? It worked both ways. Full-bloods were aware of the oppression they exerted on their 'Lost Blood/Runner’ sisters. Creeping around in the back of some of their minds was the worry that those newcomers resented their superiors.Had the two groups been truly united, Stanica wouldn’t have given my bluff a second glance. Here was the backlash of being a bigot; the idea that those you hated, hating you right back. In short order, Buffy was by my side and listening to Stanica’s grievance. Finally we were speaking English again.“Man, Desiree is going to be so sorry she missed this,” Buffy looked down at me.I was kneeling again so she was able to appear lofty and run her hand through my hair the way she liked to do when she was extra horny for me. I also liked the way her boobs nearly obscured her face from my view. Very nice tits.“Stanica, he lied to you,” Buffy revealed.“I knew it! Stand aside, I’m going to gut the little shit,” Stanica started to come at me.“No you don’t,” Buffy interposed herself. “See, Cáel was following his instructions and he used your idiocy against you, Dumbass,” she gloated to Stanica. “He was ordered to serve at my side today, so that is what he did. Who in the right mind would commit anything about blood prestige to an office e-mail anyway? It wasn’t even up to his normally superb level of deception.”“Then he should be punished for lying to me,” Stanica seethed.“I told him to,” Buffy wasn’t even lying. She’d approved my plan the moment she agreed to 'trust me’.“When?” Elsa requested. She was coming our way. Buffy looked over her shoulder.“Funny, you don’t look like Katrina, Elsa,” Buffy guffawed. “Make an official request through the proper channels. You don’t get to tell me what to do.”“Do we need to clarify our positions?” Elsa menaced. I jumped up and took up a boxing stance. With Stanica on one side, Elsa on the other and the preference of Amazons to gang up on opponents, I had to have her back.“Kneel,” Buffy tapped my shoulder. I knelt. “Honestly Elsa, Cáel fucked me so hard and long this weekend that even your pettiness doesn’t annoy me today. Now, why are we here?”“He’s not allowed to have sex,” Traska seemed a bit distressed. Me having sex outside the office had never occurred to her apparently.“Strangely, I have all of you to thank for that,” Buffy smugly regarded the room. “While you let Constanza and Crewe ambush him then sat back uselessly while he kicked both their asses, gazed on as he refused to take advantage of Constanza once she was clearly incapable of resisting and let her put a blade to his throat, he found a way to legally sleep with me.”“Afraid? With a blade to his throat, he couldn’t care less about any of you,” Buffy regaled them. “Oh, we know you don’t care what he thinks; or what I think. Well, welcome to the world you’ve created. I don’t care what you think. Blood Prestige? I’ll only give as much respect as I’m given. I am embarrassed I ever thought any of you were better than me.”“My prestige is that I volunteered for this lifestyle. I made a choice that no one else in this room ever had the courage to make; to abandon my old life for another, unknown one. From here on out, I’m going to be like Cáel. One of you bitches puts a hand on me, be ready to back it up,” Buffy challenged them. Not the best move as far as I could tell.“Be prepared to be put in your place,” Elsa grinned.“Go right ahead. Don’t get too worked up. There are around a hundred of my fellow; 'Runners’ at the door,” Buffy smirked.“It is best to end this rebellion right now,” the chocolate opponent stood up.“Over what?” I looked up. I hated Buffy making me kneel. “The 'Runners’ are doing the exact same tasks you are doing. They want to be awarded respect for that.”“This is not your place,” the woman stated to me. As an afterthought. “Ngozi.”“Thank you,” I acknowledged her consideration of giving me her name.“Ha,” Buffy snorted. “Oh…rebellion? Let’s just say when we realized that (dead word) meant Lost Bloods, we were; unhappy. All this weekend, this petty insult had been spreading out to all our non-Full-blood sisters. Actually, we have come up with two alternatives. One was to approach Hayden with our grievance.”“The other was to start calling the rest of you (dead word) (which meant 'Poison Bloods’),” Buffy stared down the festering crowd. “After all, we are all fertile and the few children we have been allowed to have are born without defect.” Amazons don’t threaten often. Normally they simply go straight to the punishment. I was somewhat of an exception for reasons that somehow alluded me.I tried to stand again, but Buffy pushed me back down. Pain was imminent then the muttering began. Around us, small clumps of Full-bloods began pushing for space. That could only mean they were getting ready to fight and since they weren’t close to us, they were getting ready to fight their own sisters.I doubted they were enamored with me, or the 'Runner’ cause. This was a common sense reaction. They recognized a no-win contest when they saw it. 'Runners’ were demanding respect; same recognition for taking the same risks. They weren’t even asking for admission into the 'Host’; the true Amazons and their House structure.The tipping points in this protest had been Fabiola and the loyalist opposition led by Helena, the only 'Runner’ close enough to my struggle Friday afternoon that could have started it. Remember, the Old Kingdom Hittite language was a closely guarded secret. So secret that Buffy, despite her years of loyal service, hadn’t been taught it.There had been decades of small slights that led to this. It wasn’t me, except for the definition thing. Fabiola was hardly an aberration. The other female 'new hires’ were more the exception than the rule. That was probably why Katrina had chosen them. In her profession; internal and external security; creative thinking and flexibility were as important as blood lines.“Excuse me,” a soft voice penetrated the chaos. The noise died down. Tessa Carmichael moved through the crowd to the mat. “Oh, by the Seven Sister Goddesses, of course Cáel Nyilas is here.” Then, in English, “Buffy, pardon me but I think this needs my attention.” See, a good ass-reaming is done in a target’s native language. Tessa went back to Old Kingdom Hittite.“Why are there a 150 sisters outside in the hall milling around?” Tessa began. She held up her hand to truncate the various responses. “Why does it look like you are all preparing for a general melee? Lastly, why are Buffy and Cáel even here? You would think that after his last episod
On today's episode, we track the movements of the Medes, the Scythians, the Lydians, and the Kimmerians, as we finally end this leg of our journey.
Audio Bible Old Testament Ecclesiastes to Malachi, King James Version
église AB Lausanne ; KJV Jeremiah 46 The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles; Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaoh-necho king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah. Order ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle. Harness the horses; and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, and put on the brigandines. Wherefore have I seen them dismayed and turned away back? and their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace, and look not back: for fear was round about, saith the LORD. Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates. Who is this that cometh up as a flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers? Egypt riseth up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers; and he saith, I will go up, and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof. Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the shield; and the Lydians, that handle and bend the bow. For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord GOD of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates. ...
Coins were introduced as a method of payment around the 6th or 5th century BCE. The invention of coins is still shrouded in mystery: According to Herdotous (I, 94), coins were first minted by the Lydians, while Aristotle claims that the first coins were minted by Demodike of Kyrme, the wife of King Midas of Phrygia. Let's Connect MORE ONLINE! Get insights and inspiration for your projects & CTFO business, and learn from what Our Team is doing to build our brand and promote quality products. $$ Home Based Business $+weekly Pt Ft! $$$ Take back control of your retirement through Precious Metals and Silver investing. Hold your retirement in your hands. Learn how to buy Silver and other precious metals and have them delivered to your doorstep! definitely passionate about what we do and we would recommend this for consideration by anyone! Focused Wealth Building Strategy focuses on pinpointing strategies and opportunities for investors of all experience levels to increase their cash flow bhsales.vpweb.com
Financial literacy expert Adam Carroll joins Tim to talk about all things money, from financial freedom, managing your own finances, and the current trend towards a cashless society. Adam is the author of “Winning The Money Game,” “30 Days To $1K,” and “Mastery of Money for Students.” He is a two-time TED talk speaker, with one of his talks surpassing 4 million views. https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/shapingopinion/Adam_Carroll_Final_auphonic.mp3 Money. You either have a little or a lot, but it seems for most people, you never have enough. And for as critical as it is, it's amazing how little most of us actually understand it. In ancient times, if human beings wanted something from someone else, they bartered. I'll give you a cow if you give me salt or tobacco. Somewhere around 5,000 BC, metal objects were used as money. And then around 700 BC, a group called the Lydians were the first in the Western world to make coins that were used as money. Not long after that, countries started to make their own coins and give them certain values. That way people could compare the cost of items or services that people wanted. China was the first country to introduce paper money. Paper money became more common by 960 AD. We still rely on paper money and coins for much of our day-to-day spending and purchasing. But we also rely heavily on a cashless society. Credit cards, loans, and now thanks to our digital world – Venmo, online spending using passwords that access our financial accounts without anything physical changing hands. And, of course, crypto. We're fast moving into an almost totally cashless world. And it seems to be happening at the speed of light. Adam Carroll is an author and a speaker on the subject of personal finance. He has spent the better part of his career and life helping people better understand money, how it fits in their lives, how to manage it, and how to be financially free. Links Adam Carroll's Website, AdamSpeaks.com The Build a Bigger Life Manifesto, by Adam Carroll (Amazon) Winning the Money Game, by Adam Carroll and Chad Carden (Amazon) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Franklin/Covey The Fifth Discipline, by Peter Senge (Amazon) Rich Dad Poor Dad, by Robert Kiyosaki (Amazon) Cashflow Quadrant, by Robert Kiyosaki (Amazon) The Millionaire Next Door, by Thomas Stanley and William Danko (Amazon) Udemy.com Coinbase How the Status Quo Bias Affects Your Decisions, VeryWellMind.com Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE), Motley Fool About this Episode's Guest Adam Carroll Adam Carroll is an internationally recognized financial literacy expert and author of Winning The Money Game, 30 Days To $1K, and Mastery of Money for Students. He is a two-time TED talk speaker, with one of his talks surpassing 4 million views. He is the creator of the Broke, Busted & Disgusted documentary which has been played in hundreds of high schools and colleges, and is featured on CNBC and available on Itunes. He is the founder and curator of www.MasteryOfMoney.com, and a contributor to the Huffington Post. Adam has presented at over 750 college and university campuses, hundreds of leadership symposiums, and countless local and regional events. His passion is helping people build a bigger life, not a bigger lifestyle.
The words of the Delphic oracle had rung true, the rising empire founded by Cyrus the great, the Persians had just destroyed a mighty empire, in that of king Croesus and his Lydians. The Greeks of Ionia had stood by idle only having been subjected to the Lydians a generation earlier. Cyrus had tried to incite the Greeks to rebel, though they would wait to see which way the winds would blow.With the Persian victory the Greeks now sought to arrange favourable terms with the new power in the region. Though, their fence sitting would find their attempts met with anger and distain from Cyrus. With Sardis captured and only mopping up operations left in the west, Cyrus departed back into the empire leaving his commanders to finish the job.As the Persians absorbed the Lydian system into their own, resistance would develop with one last effort of the Lydians attempting to regain control. Cyrus would learn of the Lydian revolt and detach an army to head back to stamp it out as quickly as possible. With the revolt under control measures were now taken to punish those regions involved. This would see all of the Greek cities along the Anatolian coast now fully integrated into the Persian Empire. After a generation living under Persian control, dissatisfaction in the Ionian Greek cities would begin to make itself known. The Greeks were living under tyrannies acting in the interests of the Persians, though they had not been particularly popular before this time also. A combination of tyrannical rule, Persian tribute pressures as well as personal ambitions would all end up seeing a revolt develop in Ionia. The Ionians would take the initiative and launch an attack on Sardis, though it would fail and the revolt would drag on for a number of years. Casting Through Ancient Greece WebsiteFollow on TwitterFollow on FacebookSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/castingthroughancientgreece)
With the collapse of the Bronze Age the Hittite Empire which had dominated Anatolian lands would vanish from the world stage. Its presence and legacy would only be rediscovered in our modern times showing the influence it once held. With its destruction the region of Anatolia would fragment into many small kingdoms and principalities looking to exert control in their immediate areas.With the passage of time, recovery would take hold seeing conditions arise for the establishment of another empire to spread its influence into Anatolia. Though, internal problems would see that outside pressure would lead to the decline of the Neo-Assyrians, thanks to the Medes and Babylonians. But they would not be the next great empire to emerge. The Persians would rise up out of obscurity and incorporate the Medes into their newly created empire, before then expanding to include much of Asia Minor.Meanwhile over on the West coast of Anatolia, the Greeks had been arriving on the shores, from across the Aegean. Perhaps the collapse of Mycenaean civilisation seen the first influx of Greeks, but the migrations would continue. This would end up seeing a great many Greek cities dot the Anatolian coast line and see such areas as Ionia form. Though, they had not settled in lands that were empty, with hostile and friendly interactions taking place.One of the largest powers to have developed in the western part of Anatolia during the period the Greeks were settling, was the Lydian kingdom. They would be seen to have roots stretching back into the Bronze Age, though it would be their third and final dynasty that would enter the pages of history. By the time of the last Lydian king, Croesus, all the Greek cities of Ionia would no longer be free but under the Lydian Empire, well that was until ever expanding Persia arrived on the eastern Lydian boarder. Cyrus the Great of Persian would defeat the Lydians and absorb them into his empire, the largest yet seen. The Greeks, would not gain their freedom, but would now answer to a new master. Casting Through Ancient Greece WebsiteFollow on TwitterFollow on FacebookSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/castingthroughancientgreece)
Isaiah 66 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane. 1 This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Could you build me a temple as good as that? Could you build me such a resting place? 2 My hands have made both heaven and earth; they and everything in them are mine. I, the LORD, have spoken! “I will bless those who have humble and contrite hearts, who tremble at my word. 3 But those who choose their own ways— delighting in their detestable sins— will not have their offerings accepted. When such people sacrifice a bull, it is no more acceptable than a human sacrifice. When they sacrifice a lamb, it's as though they had sacrificed a dog! When they bring an offering of grain, they might as well offer the blood of a pig. When they burn frankincense, it's as if they had blessed an idol. 4 I will send them great trouble— all the things they feared. For when I called, they did not answer. When I spoke, they did not listen. They deliberately sinned before my very eyes and chose to do what they know I despise.” 5 Hear this message from the LORD, all you who tremble at his words: “Your own people hate you and throw you out for being loyal to my name. ‘Let the LORD be honored!' they scoff. ‘Be joyful in him!' But they will be put to shame. 6 What is all the commotion in the city? What is that terrible noise from the Temple? It is the voice of the LORD taking vengeance against his enemies. 7 “Before the birth pains even begin, Jerusalem gives birth to a son. 8 Who has ever seen anything as strange as this? Who ever heard of such a thing? Has a nation ever been born in a single day? Has a country ever come forth in a mere moment? But by the time Jerusalem's birth pains begin, her children will be born. 9 Would I ever bring this nation to the point of birth and then not deliver it?” asks the LORD . “No! I would never keep this nation from being born,” says your God. 10 “Rejoice with Jerusalem! Be glad with her, all you who love her and all you who mourn for her. 11 Drink deeply of her glory even as an infant drinks at its mother's comforting breasts.” 12 This is what the LORD says: “I will give Jerusalem a river of peace and prosperity. The wealth of the nations will flow to her. Her children will be nursed at her breasts, carried in her arms, and held on her lap. 13 I will comfort you there in Jerusalem as a mother comforts her child.” 14 When you see these things, your heart will rejoice. You will flourish like the grass! Everyone will see the LORD 's hand of blessing on his servants— and his anger against his enemies. 15 See, the LORD is coming with fire, and his swift chariots roar like a whirlwind. He will bring punishment with the fury of his anger and the flaming fire of his hot rebuke. 16 The LORD will punish the world by fire and by his sword. He will judge the earth, and many will be killed by him. 17 “Those who ‘consecrate' and ‘purify' themselves in a sacred garden with its idol in the center—feasting on pork and rats and other detestable meats—will come to a terrible end,” says the LORD . 18 “I can see what they are doing, and I know what they are thinking. So I will gather all nations and peoples together, and they will see my glory. 19 I will perform a sign among them. And I will send those who survive to be messengers to the nations—to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (who are famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to all the lands beyond the sea that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. [...]
In this podcast, we take a look at the fabled king, Croesus of Lydia, at least from the point of view of Greek writers such as Herodotus and Xenophon. Croesus was a king who during his day (r. 560-546 BC) was deemed to have been the wealthiest sovereign in the world. However, he lost it all to the Persian king Cyrus the Great while finally learning the lesson that the great Athenian sage, Solon, was trying to convey to him. It's an interesting tale and fun to examine. Follow History with Cy:YouTube ChannelInstagramFacebookTwitterWebsite Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/historywithcy)Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/historywithcy)
Science in antiquity was at times devised to be useful and at other times to prove to the people that the gods looked favorably on the ruling class. Greek philosophers tell us a lot about how the ancient world developed. Or at least, they tell us a Western history of antiquity. Humanity began working with bronze some 7,000 years ago and the Bronze Age came in force in the centuries leading up to 3,000 BCE. By then there were city-states and empires. The Mesopotamians brought us the wheel in around 3500 BCE, and the chariot by 3200 BCE. Writing formed in Sumeria, a city state of Mesopotamia, in 3000 BCE. Urbanization required larger cities and walls to keep out invaders. King Gilgamesh built huge walls. They used a base 60 system to track time, giving us the 60 seconds and 60 minutes to get to an hour. That sexagesimal system also gave us the 360 degrees in a circle. They plowed fields and sailed. And sailing led to maps, which they had by 2300 BCE. And they gave us the Epic, with the Epic of Gilgamesh which could be old as 2100 BCE. At this point, the Egyptian empire had grown to 150,000 square kilometers and the Sumerians controlled around 20,000 square kilometers. Throughout, they grew a great trading empire. They traded with China, India and Egypt with some routes dating back to the fourth millennia BCE. And commerce and trade means the spread of not only goods but also ideas and knowledge. The earliest known writing of complete sentences in Egypt came to Egypt a few hundred years after it did in Mesopotamia, as the Early Dynastic period ended and the Old Kingdom, or the Age of the Pyramids. Perhaps over a trade route. The ancient Egyptians used numerals, multiplications, fractions, geometry, architecture, algebra, and even quadratic equations. Even having a documented base 10 numbering system on a tomb from 3200 BCE. We also have the Moscow Mathematical Papyrus, which includes geometry problems, the Egyptian Mathematical Leather Roll, which covers how to add fractions, the Berlin Papyrus with geometry, the Lahun Papyri with arithmetical progressions to calculate the volume of granaries, the Akhmim tablets, the Reisner Papyrus, and the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, which covers algebra and geometry. And there's the Cairo Calendar, an ancient Egyptian papyrus from around 1200 BCE with detailed astronomical observations. Because the Nile flooded, bringing critical crops to Egypt. The Mesopotamians traded with China as well. As the Shang dynasty from the 16th to 11th centuries BCE gave way to the Zhou Dynasty, which went from the 11th to 3rd centuries BCE and the Bronze Age gave way to the Iron Age, science was spreading throughout the world. The I Ching is one of the oldest Chinese works showing math, dating back to the Zhou Dynasty, possibly as old as 1000 BCE. This was also when the Hundred Schools of Thought began, which Conscious inherited around the 5th century BCE. Along the way the Chinese gave us the sundial, abacus, and crossbow. And again, the Bronze Age signaled trade empires that were spreading ideas and texts from the Near East to Asia to Europe and Africa and back again. For a couple thousand years the transfer of spices, textiles and precious metals fueled the Bronze Age empires. Along the way the Minoan civilization in modern Greece had been slowly rising out of the Cycladic culture. Minoan artifacts have been found in Canaanite palaces and as they grew they colonized and traded. They began a decline around 1500 BCE, likely due to a combination of raiders and volcanic eruptions. The crash of the Minoan civilization gave way to the Myceneaen civilization of early Greece. Competition for resources and land in these growing empires helped to trigger wars. Those in turn caused violence over those resources. Around 1250 BCE, Thebes burned and attacks against city states cities increased, sometimes by emerging empires of previously disassociated tribes (as would happen later with the Vikings) and sometimes by other city-states. This triggered the collapse of Mycenaen Greece, the splintering of the Hittites, the fall of Troy, the absorption of the Sumerian culture into Babylon, and attacks that weakened the Egyptian New Kingdom. Weakened and disintegrating empires leave room for new players. The Iranian tribes emerged to form the Median empire in today's Iran. The Assyrians and Scythians rose to power and the world moved into the Iron age. And the Greeks fell into the Greek Dark Ages until they slowly clawed their way out of it in the 8th century BCE. Around this time Babylonian astronomers, in the capital of Mesopomania, were making astronomical diaries, some of which are now stored in the British Museum. Greek and Mesopotamian societies weren't the only ones flourishing. The Indus Valley Civilization had blossomed from 2500 to 1800 BCE only to go into a dark age of its own. Boasting 5 million people across 1,500 cities, with some of the larger cities reaching 40,000 people - about the same size as Mesopotamian cities. About two thirds are in modern day India and a third in modern Pakistan, an empire that stretched across 120,000 square kilometers. As the Babylonian control of the Mesopotamian city states broke up, the Assyrians began their own campaigns and conquered Persia, parts of Ancient Greece, down to Ethiopia, Israel, the Ethiopia, and Babylon. As their empire grew, they followed into the Indus Valley, which Mesopotamians had been trading with for centuries. What we think of as modern Pakistan and India is where Medhatithi Gautama founded the anviksiki school of logic in the 6th century BCE. And so the modern sciences of philosophy and logic were born. As mentioned, we'd had math in the Bronze Age. The Egyptians couldn't have built pyramids and mapped the stars without it. Hammurabi and Nebuchadnezzar couldn't have built the Mesopotamian cities and walls and laws without it. But something new was coming as the Bronze Age began to give way to the Iron Age. The Indians brought us the first origin of logic, which would morph into an almost Boolean logic as Pāṇini codified Sanskrit grammar linguistics and syntax. Almost like a nearly 4,000 verse manual on programming languages. Panini even mentions Greeks in his writings. Because they apparently had contact going back to the sixth century BCE, when Greek philosophy was about to get started. The Neo-Assyrian empire grew to 1.4 million square kilometers of control and the Achaeminid empire grew to control nearly 5 million square miles. The Phoenicians arose out of the crash of the Late Bronze Age, becoming important traders between the former Mesopotamian city states and Egyptians. As her people settled lands and Greek city states colonized lands, one became the Greek philosopher Thales, who documented the use of loadstones going back to 600 BCE when they were able to use magnetite which gets its name from the Magnesia region of Thessaly, Greece. He is known as the first philosopher and in the time of Socrates even had become one of the Seven Sages which included according to Socrates. “Thales of Miletus, and Pittacus of Mytilene, and Bias of Priene, and our own Solon, and Cleobulus of Lindus, and Myson of Chenae, and the seventh of them was said to be Chilon of Sparta.” Many of the fifth and sixth century Greek philosophers were actually born in colonies on the western coast of what is now Turkey. Thales's theorum is said to have originated in India or Babylon. But as we see a lot in the times that followed, it is credited to Thales. Given the trading empires they were all a part of though, they certainly could have brought these ideas back from previous generations of unnamed thinkers. I like to think of him as the synthesizers that Daniel Pink refers to so often in his book A Whole New Mind. Thales studied in Babylon and Egypt, bringing thoughts, ideas, and perhaps intermingled them with those coming in from other areas as the Greeks settled colonies in other lands. Given how critical astrology was to the agricultural societies, this meant bringing astronomy, math to help with the architecture of the Pharoes, new ways to use calendars, likely adopted through the Sumerians, coinage through trade with the Lydians and then Persians when they conquered the Lydians, Babylon, and the Median. So Thales taught Anaximander who taught Pythagoras of Samos, born a few decades later in 570 BCE. He studied in Egypt as well. Most of us would know the Pythagorean theorem which he's credited for, although there is evidence that predated him from Egypt. Whether new to the emerging Greek world or new to the world writ large, his contributions were far beyond that, though. They included a new student oriented way of life, numerology, the idea that the world is round, numerology, applying math to music and applying music to lifestyle, and an entire school of philosophers emerged from his teachings to spread Pythagoreanism. And the generations of philosophers that followed devised both important philosophical contributions and practical applications of new ideas in engineering. The ensuing schools of philosophy that rose out of those early Greeks spread. By 508 BCE, the Greeks gave us Democracy. And oligarchy, defined as a government where a small group of people have control over a country. Many of these words, in fact, come from Greek forms. As does the month of May, names for symbols and theories in much of the math we use, and many a constellation. That tradition began with the sages but grew, being spread by trade, by need, and by religious houses seeking to use engineering as a form of subjugation. Philosophy wasn't exclusive to the Greeks or Indians, or to Assyria and then Persia through conquering the lands and establishing trade. Buddha came out of modern India in the 5th to 4th century BCE around the same time Confucianism was born from Confucious in China. And Mohism from Mo Di. Again, trade and the spread of ideas. However, there's no indication that they knew of each other or that Confucious could have competed with the other 100 schools of thought alive and thriving in China. Nor that Buddhism would begin spreading out of the region for awhile. But some cultures were spreading rapidly. The spread of Greek philosophy reached a zenith in Athens. Thales' pupil Anaximander also taught Anaximenes, the third philosopher of the Milesian school which is often included with the Ionians. The thing I love about those three, beginning with Thales is that they were able to evolve the school of thought without rejecting the philosophies before them. Because ultimately they knew they were simply devising theories as yet to be proven. Another Ionian was Anaxagoras, who after serving in the Persian army, which ultimately conquered Ionia in 547 BCE. As a Greek citizen living in what was then Persia, Anaxagoras moved to Athens in 480 BCE, teaching Archelaus and either directly or indirectly through him Socrates. This provides a link, albeit not a direct link, from the philosophy and science of the Phoenicians, Babylonians, and Egyptians through Thales and others, to Socrates. Socrates was born in 470 BCE and mentions several influences including Anaxagoras. Socrates spawned a level of intellectualism that would go on to have as large an impact on what we now call Western philosophy as anyone in the world ever has. And given that we have no writings from him, we have to take the word of his students to know his works. He gave us the Socratic method and his own spin on satire, which ultimately got him executed for effectively being critical of the ruling elite in Athens and for calling democracy into question, corrupting young Athenian students in the process. You see, in his life, the Athenians lost the Peloponnesian War to Sparta - and as societies often do when they hit a speed bump, they started to listen to those who call intellectuals or scientists into question. That would be Socrates for questioning Democracy, and many an Athenian for using Socrates as a scape goat. One student of Socrates, Critias, would go on to lead a group called the Thirty Tyrants, who would terrorize Athenians and take over the government for awhile. They would establish an oligarchy and appoint their own ruling class. As with many coups against democracy over the millennia they were ultimately found corrupt and removed from power. But the end of that democratic experiment in Greece was coming. Socrates also taught other great philosophers, including Xenophon, Antisthenes, Aristippus, and Alcibiades. But the greatest of his pupils was Plato. Plato was as much a scientist as a philosopher. He had works of Pythagoras, studied the Libyan Theodorus. He codified a theory of Ideas, in Forms. He used as examples, the Pythagorean theorem and geometry. He wrote a lot of the dialogues with Socrates and codified ethics, and wrote of a working, protective, and governing class, looking to produce philosopher kings. He wrote about the dialectic, using questions, reasoning and intuition. He wrote of art and poetry and epistemology. His impact was vast. He would teach mathemetics to Eudoxus, who in turn taught Euclid. But one of his greatest contributions the evolution of philosophy, science, and technology was in teaching Aristotle. Aristotle was born in 384 BCE and founded a school of philosophy called the Lyceum. He wrote about rhetoric, music, poetry, and theater - as one would expect given the connection to Socrates, but also expanded far past Plato, getting into physics, biology, and metaphysics. But he had a direct impact on the world at the time with his writings on economics politics, He inherited a confluence of great achievements, describing motion, defining the five elements, writing about a camera obscure and researching optics. He wrote about astronomy and geology, observing both theory and fact, such as ways to predict volcanic eruptions. He made observations that would be proven (or sometimes disproven) such as with modern genomics. He began a classification of living things. His work “On the Soul” is one of the earliest looks at psychology. His study of ethics wasn't as theoretical as Socrates' but practical, teaching virtue and how that leads to wisdom to become a greater thinker. He wrote of economics. He writes of taxes, managing cities, and property. And this is where he's speaking almost directly to one of his most impressive students, Alexander the Great. Philip the second of Macedon hired Plato to tutor Alexander starting in 343. Nine years later, when Alexander inherited his throne, he was armed with arguably the best education in the world combined with one of the best trained armies in history. This allowed him to defeat Darius in 334 BCE, the first of 10 years worth of campaigns that finally gave him control in 323 BCE. In that time, he conquered Egypt, which had been under Persian rule on and off and founded Alexandria. And so what the Egyptians had given to Greece had come home. Alexander died in 323 BCE. He followed the path set out by philosophers before him. Like Thales, he visited Babylon and Egypt. But he went a step further and conquered them. This gave the Greeks more ancient texts to learn from but also more people who could become philosophers and more people with time to think through problems. By the time he was done, the Greeks controlled nearly 5 million square miles of territory. This would be the largest empire until after the Romans. But Alexander never truly ruled. He conquered. Some of his generals and other Greek aristocrats, now referred to as the Diadochi, split up the young, new empire. You see, while teaching Alexander, Aristotle had taught two other future kings : Ptolemy I Soter and Cassander. Cassander would rule Macedonia and Ptolemy ruled Egypt from Alexandria, who with other Greek philosophers founded the Library of Alexandria. Ptolemy and his son amassed 100s of thousands of scrolls in the Library from 331 BC and on. The Library was part of a great campus of the Musaeum where they also supported great minds starting with Ptolemy I's patronage of Euclid, the father of geometry, and later including Archimedes, the father of engineering, Hipparchus, the founder of trigonometry, Her, the father of math, and Herophilus, who codified the scientific method and countless other great hellenistic thinkers. The Roman Empire had begin in the 6th century BCE. By the third century BCE they were expanding out of the Italian peninsula. This was the end of Greek expansion and as Rome conquered the Greek colonies signified the waning of Greek philosophy. Philosophy that helped build Rome both from a period of colonization and then spreading Democracy to the young republic with the kings, or rex, being elected by the senate and by 509 BCE the rise of the consuls. After studying at the Library of Alexandria, Archimedes returned home to start his great works, full of ideas having been exposed to so many works. He did rudimentary calculus, proved geometrical theories, approximated pi, explained levers, founded statics and hydrostatics. And his work extended into the practical. He built machines, pulleys, the infamous Archimedes' screw pump, and supposedly even a deathly heat ray of lenses that could burn ships in seconds. He was sadly killed by Roman soldiers when Syracuse was taken. But, and this is indicative of how Romans pulled in Greek know-how, the Roman general Marcus Claudius Marcellus was angry that he lost an asset, who could have benefited his war campaigns. In fact, Cicero, who was born in the first century BCE mentioned Archimedes built mechanical devices that could show the motions of the planetary bodies. He claimed Thales had designed these and that Marcellus had taken one as his only personal loot from Syracuse and donated it to the Temple of Virtue in Rome. The math, astronomy, and physics that go into building a machine like that was the culmination of hundreds, if not thousands of years of building knowledge of the Cosmos, machinery, mathematics, and philosophy. Machines like that would have been the first known computers. Machines like the first or second century Antikythera mechanism, discovered in 1902 in a shipwreck in Greece. Initially thought to be a one-off, the device is more likely to represent the culmination of generations of great thinkers and doers. Generations that came to look to the Library of Alexandria as almost a Mecca. Until they didn't. The splintering of the lands Alexander conquered, the cost of the campaigns, the attacks from other empires, and the rise of the Roman Empire ended the age of Greek Enlightenment. As is often the case when there is political turmoil and those seeking power hate being challenged by the intellectuals, as had happened with Socrates and philosophers in Athens at the time, Ptolemy VIII caused The Library of Alexandria to enter into a slow decline that began with the expulsion of intellectuals from Alexandria in 145BC. This began a slow decline of the library until it burned, first with a small fire accidentally set by Caesar in 48 BCE and then for good in the 270s. But before the great library was gone for good, it would produce even more great engineers. Heron of Alexandria is one of the greatest. He created vending machines that would dispense holy water when you dropped a coin in it. He made small mechanical archers, models of dancers, and even a statue of a horse that could supposedly drink water. He gave us early steam engines two thousand years before the industrial revolution and ran experiments in optics. He gave us Heron's forumula and an entire book on mechanics, codifying the known works on automation at the time. In fact, he designed a programmable cart using strings wrapped around an axle, powered by falling weights. Claudius Ptolemy came to the empire from their holdings in Egypt, living in the first century. He wrote about harmonics, math, astronomy, computed the distance of the sun to the earth and also computed positions of the planets and eclipses, summarizing them into more simplistic tables. He revolutionized map making and the properties of light. By then, Romans had emerged as the first true world power and so the Classical Age. To research this section, I read and took copious notes from the following and apologize that each passage is not credited specifically but it would just look like a regular expressions if I tried: The Evolution of Technology by George Basalla. Civilizations by Filipe Fernández-Armesto, A Short History of Technology: From The Earliest Times to AD 1900 from TK Derry and Trevor I Williams, Communication in History Technology, Culture, Leonardo da vinci by Walter Isaacson, Society from David Crowley and Paul Heyer, Timelines in Science, by the Smithsonian, Wheels, Clocks, and Rockets: A History of Technology by Donald Cardwell, a few PhD dissertations and post-doctoral studies from journals, and then I got to the point where I wanted the information from as close to the sources as I could get so I went through Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences from Galileo Galilei, Mediations from Marcus Aurelius, Pneumatics from Philo of Byzantium, The Laws of Thought by George Boole, Natural History from Pliny The Elder, Cassius Dio's Roman History, Annals from Tacitus, Orations by Cicero, Ethics, Rhetoric, Metaphysics, and Politics by Aristotle, Plato's Symposium and The Trial & Execution of Socrates.
Today we're going to have a foundational episode, laying the framework for further episodes on digital piracy, venture capital, accelerators, Bitcoin, PayPal, Square, and others. I'll try to keep from dense macro and micro economics but instead just lay out some important times from antiquity to the modern financial system so we can not repeat all this in those episodes. I apologize to professionals in these fields whose life work I am about to butcher in oversimplification. Like a lot of nerds who found myself sitting behind a keyboard writing code, I read a lot of science fiction growing up. There are dystopian and utopian outlooks on what the future holds for humanity give us a peak into what progress is. Dystopian interpretations tell of what amount to warlords and a fragmentation of humanity back to what things were like thousands of years ago. The utopian interpretations often revolve around questions about how society will react to social justice, or a market in equilibrium. The dystopian science fiction represents the past of economics and currency. And the move to online finances and digital currency tracks against what science fiction told us was coming in a future more utopian world. My own mental model of economics began with classes on micro and macro economics in college but evolved when I was living in Verona, Italy. We visited several places built by a family called the Medici's. I'd had bank accounts up until then but that's the first time I realized how powerful banking and finance as an institution was. Tombs, villas, palaces. The Medici built lasting edifices to the power of their clan. They didn't invent money, but they made enough to be on par with the richest modern families. It's easy to imagine humans from the times of hunter-gatherers trading an arrowhead for a chunk of meat. As humanity moved to agriculture and farming, we began to use grain and cattle as currency. By 8000 BC people began using tokens for trade in the Middle East. And metal objects came to be traded as money around 5,000 BC. And around 3,000 PC we started to document trade. Where there's money and trade, there will be abuse. By 1,700 BC early Mesopotamian even issued early regulations for the banking industry in the Code of Hammurabi. By then private institutions were springing up to handle credit, deposits, interest, and loans. Some of which was handled on clay tablets. And that term private is important. These banking institutions were private endeavors. As the Egyptian empire rose, farmers could store grain in warehouses and then during the Ptolemeic era began to trade the receipts of those deposits. We can still think of these as tokens and barter items though. Banking had begun around 2000 BC in Assyria and Sumeria but these were private institutions effectively setting their own splintered and sometimes international markets. Gold was being used but it had to be measured and weighed each time a transaction was made. Until the Lydian Stater. Lydia was an empire that began in 1200 BC and was conquered by the Persians around 546 BC. It covered the modern Western Anatolia, Salihli, Manisa, and Turkey before the Persians took it. One of their most important contributions to the modern world was the first state sponsored coinage, in 700BC. The coins were electrum, which is a mix of gold and silver. And here's the most important part. The standard weight was guaranteed by an official stamp. The Lydian king Croesus then added the concept of bimetallic coinage. Or having one coin made of gold and the other of silver. Each had a different denomination where the lower denomination was one dozen of the higher. They then figured out a way to keep counterfeit coins off the market with a Lydian stone, the color of which could be compared to other marks made by gold coins. And thus modern coinage was born. And the Lydian merchants became the merchants that helped move goods between Greece and Asia, spreading the concept of the coin. Cyrus the second defeated the Lydians and Darius the Great would issue the gold daric, with a warrior king wielding a bow. And so heads of state adorned coins. As with most things in antiquity, there are claims that China or India introduced coins first. Bronzed shells have been discovered in the ruins of Yin, the old capital of the Shang dynasty dating back hundreds of years before the Lydians. But if we go there this episode will be 8 hours long. Exodus 22:25-27 “If you lend money to my people—to any poor person among you—never act like a moneylender. Charge no interest.” Let's put that bible verse in context. So we have coins and banks. And international trade. It's mostly based on the weight of the coins. Commerce rises and over the centuries banks got so big they couldn't be allowed to fail without crashing the economy of an empire. Julius Caeser expands the empire of Rome and gold flows in from conquered lands. One thing that seems constant through history is that interest rates from legitimate lenders tend to range from 3 to 14 percent. Anything less and you are losing money. Anything more and you've penalized the borrower to the point they can't repay the loan. The more scarce capital the more you have to charge. Like the US in the 80s. So old Julius meets an untimely fate, there are wars, and Augustus manages to solidify the empire and Augustus reformed taxes and introduced a lot of new services to the state, building roads, establishing a standing army, the Praetorian Guard, official fire fighting and police and established a lot of the old Roman road systems through the empire that Rome is now known so well for. It was an over 40 year reign and one of the greatest in history. But greatness is expensive. Tiberius had to bail out banks and companies in the year 33. Moneylending sucks when too many people can't pay you back. Augustus had solidified the Roman Empire and by the time Tiberius came around Rome was a rich import destination. Money was being leant abroad and interest rates and so there was less and less gold in the city. Interest rates had plummeted to 4 percent. Again, we're in a time when money is based on the weight of a coin and there simply weren't enough coins in circulation due to the reach of the empire. And so for all my Libertarian friends - empires learned the hard way that business and commerce are essential services and must be regulated. If money cannot be borrowed then crime explodes. People cannot be left to starve. Especially when we don't all live on land that can produce food any more. Any time the common people are left behind, there is a revolt. The more the disparity the greater the revolt. The early Christians were heavily impacted by the money lending practices in that era between Julius Caeser and Tiberius and the Bible as an economic textbook is littered with references to usury, showing the blame placed on emerging financial markets for the plight of the commoner. Progress often involves two steps forward and one back to let all of the people in a culture reap the rewards of innovations. The Roman Empire continued on gloriously for a long, long time. Over time, Rome fell. Other empires came and went. As they did, they minted coins to prove how important the ruling faction was. It's easy to imagine a farmer in the dark ages following the collapse of the Roman Empire dying and leaving half of the farm to each of two children. Effectively each owns one share. That stock can then be used as debt and during the rise of the French empire, 12th century courretiers de change found they could regulate debts as brokers. The practice grew. Bankers work with money all day. They get crafty and think of new ways to generate income. The Venetians were trading government securities and in 1351 outlawed spreading rumors to lower the prices of those - and thus market manipulation was born. By 1409 Flemish traders began to broker the trading of debts in Bruges at an actual market. Italian companies began issuing shares and joint stock companies were born allowing for colonization of the American extensions to European powers. That colonization increased the gold supply in Europe five fold, resulting in the first great gold rush. European markets, flush with cash and speculation and investments, grew and by 1611 in Amsterdam the stock market was born. The Dutch East India Company sold shares to the public and brought us options, bonds and derivatives. Dutch perpetual bonds were introduced and one issued in 1629 is still paying dividends. So we got the bond market for raising capital. Over the centuries leading to the industrial revolution, banking, finance, and markets became the means with which capitalism and private property replaced totalitarian regimes, the power of monarchs, and the centralized control of production. As the markets rose, modern economics were born, with Adam Smith codifying much of the known works at that point, including those from French physiocrats. The gold standard began around 1696 and gained in popularity. The concept was to allow paper money to be freely convertible into a pre-defined amount of gold. Therefore, paper money could replace gold and still be backed by gold just as it was in antiquity. By 1789 we were running a bit low on gold so introduced the bimetallic standard where silver was worth one fifteenth of gold and a predefined market ratio was set. Great thinking in economics goes back to antiquity but since the time of Tiberius, rulers had imposed regulation. This had been in taxes to pay for public goods and bailing out businesses that had to get bailed out - and tariffs to control the movement of goods in and out of a country. To put it simply, if too much gold left the country, interest rates would shoot up, inflation would devalue the ability to buy goods and as people specialized in industries, those who didn't produce food, like the blacksmiths or cobblers, wouldn't be able to buy food. And when people can't buy food, bad things happen. Adam Smith believed in self-regulation though, which he codified in his seminal work Wealth of Nations, in 1776. He believed that what he called the “invisible hand” of the market would create economic stability, which would lead to prosperity for everyone. And that became the framework for modern capitalistic endeavors for centuries to come. But not everyone agreed. Economics was growing and there were other great thinkers as well. Again, things fall apart when people can't get access to food and so Thomas Malthus responded with a theory that the rapidly growing populations of the world would outgrow the ability to feed all those humans. Where Smith had focused on the demand for goods, Malthus focused on scarcity of supply. Which led to another economist, Karl Marx, to see the means of production as key to providing the Maslovian hierarchy. He saw capitalism as unstable and believed the creation of an owner (or stock trader) class and a working class was contrary to finding balance in society. He accurately predicted the growing power of business and how that power would control and so hurt the worker at the benefit of the business. We got marginalize, general equilibrium theory, and over time we could actually test theories and the concepts that began with Smith became a science, economics, with that branch known as neoclassical. Lots of other fun things happen in the world. Bankers begin instigating innovation and progress. Booms or bull markets come, markets over index and/or supplies become scarce and recessions or bear markets ensue. Such is the cycle. To ease the burdens of an increasingly complicated financial world, England officially adopted the gold standard in 1821 which led to the emergence of the international gold standard, adopted by Germany in 1871 and by 1900, most of the world. Gaining in power and influence, the nations of the world stockpiled gold up until World War I in 1914. The international political upheaval led to a loss of faith in the gold standard and the global gold supply began to fall behind the growth in the global economy. JP Morgan dominated Wall Street in what we now called the Gilded age. He made money by reorganizing and consolidating railroad businesses throughout America. He wasn't just the banker, he was the one helping become more efficient, digging into how the businesses worked and reorganizing and merging corporate structures. He then financed Edison's research and instigated the creation of General Electric. He lost money investing on a Tesla project when Tesla wanted to go wireless. He bought Carnegie Steel in 1901, the first modern buyout that gave us US Steel. The industrialists from the turn of the century increased productivity at a rate humanity had never seen. We had the biggest boom market humanity had ever seen and then when the productivity gains slowed and the profits and earnings masked the slowdown in output a bubble of sorts formed and the market crashed in 1929. These markets are about returns on investments. Those require productivity gains as they are usually based margin, or the ability to sell more goods without increasing the cost - thus the need for productivity gains. That crash in 1929 sent panic through Wall Street and wiped out investors around the world. Consumer confidence, and so spending and investment was destroyed. With a sharp reduction needed in supply, industrial output faltered and workers were laid off, creating a vicious cycle. The crash also signaled the end of the gold standard. The pound and franc were mismanaged, commodity prices, new power Germany was having trouble repaying war debts, commodity prices collapsed, and thinking a reserve of gold would keep them legitimate, countries raised interest rates, further damaging the global economy. High interest rates reduce investment. England finally suspended the gold standard in 1931 which sparked other countries to do the same, with the US raising the number of dollars per ounce of gold from $20 to $35 and so obtaining enough gold to back the US dollar as the de facto standard. Meanwhile, science was laying the framework for the next huge boom - which would be greater in magnitude, margins, and profits. Enter John Maynard Keynes and Keynesian economics, the rise of macroeconomics. In a departure from neoclassical economics he believed that the world economy had grown to the point that aggregate supply and demand would not find equilibrium without government intervention. In short, the invisible hand would need to be a visible hand by the government. By then, the Bolsheviks had established the Soviet Union and Mao had founded the communist party in China. The idea that there had been a purely capitalist society since the time the Egyptian government built grain silos or since Tiberius had rescued the Roman economy with bailouts was a fallacy. The US and other governments began spending, and incurring debt to do so, and we began to dig the world out of a depression. But it took another world war to get there. And that war did more than just end the Great Depression. World War II was one of the greatest rebalancing of powers the world has known - arguably even greater than the fall of the Roman and Persian empires and the shift between Chinese dynasties. In short, we implemented a global world order of sorts in order to keep another war like that from happening. Globalism works for some and doesn't work well for others. It's easy to look on the global institutions built in that time as problematic. And organizations like the UN and the World Bank should evolve so they do more to lift all people up, so not as many around the world feel left behind. The systems of governance changed world economics.The Bretton Woods Agreement would set the framework for global currency markets until 1971. Here, all currencies were valued in relation to the US dollar which based on that crazy rebalancing move now sat on 75% of the worlds gold. The gold was still backed at a rate of $35 per ounce. And the Keynesian International Monetary Fund would begin managing the balance of payments between nations. Today there are 190 countries in the IMF Just as implementing the gold standard set the framework that allowed the investments that sparked capitalists like JP Morgan, an indirect financial system backed by gold through the dollar allowed for the next wave of investment, innovation, and so productivity gains. This influx of money and investment meant there was capital to put to work and so bankers and financiers working with money all day derived new and witty instruments with which to do so. After World War II, we got the rise of venture capital. These are a number of financial instruments that have evolved so qualified investors can effectively make bets on a product or idea. Derivatives of venture include incubators and accelerators. The best example of the early venture capital deals would be when Ken Olson and Harlan Anderson raised $70,000 in 1957 to usher in the age of transistorized computing. DEC rose to become the second largest computing company - helping revolutionize knowledge work and introduce a new wave of productivity gains and innovation. They went public in 1968 and the investor made over 500 times the investment, receiving $38 million in stock. More importantly, he stayed friends and a confidant of Olson and invested in over 150 other companies. The ensuing neoclassical synthesis of economics basically informs us that free markets are mostly good and efficient but if left to just Smith's invisible hand, from time to time they will threaten society as a whole. Rather than the dark ages, we can continue to evolve by keeping markets moving and so large scale revolts at bay. As Aasimov effectively pointed out in Foundation - this preserves human knowledge. And strengthens economies as we can apply math, statistics, and the rising computers to help apply monetary rather than fiscal policy as Friedman would say, to keep the economy in equilibrium. Periods of innovation like we saw in the computer industry in the post-war era always seem to leave the people the innovation displaces behind. When enough people are displaced we return to tribalism, nationalism, thoughts of fragmentation, and moves back into the direction of dystopian futures. Acknowledging people are left behind and finding remedies is better than revolt and retreating from progress - and showing love to your fellow human is just the right thing to do. Not doing so creates recessions like the ups and downs of the market in the years as gaps between innovative periods formed. The stock market went digital in 1966, allowing more and more trades to be processed every day. Instinet was founded in 1969 allowing brokers to make after hour trades. NASDAQ went online in 1970, removing the floor or trading market that had been around since the 1600s. And as money poured in, ironically gold reserves started to go down a little. Just as the Romans under Tiberius saw money leave the country as investment, US gold was moving to other central banks to help rebuild countries, mostly those allied with NATO, to rebuild their countries. But countries continued to release bank notes to pay to rebuild, creating a period of hyperinflation. As with other times when gold became scarce, interest rates became unpredictable, moving from 3 to 17 percent and back again until they began to steadily decline in 1980. Gold would be removed from the London market in 1968 and other countries began to cash out their US dollars for gold. Belgium, the Netherlands, then Britain cashed in their dollars for gold, and much as had happened under the reign of Tiberius, there wasn't enough to sustain the financial empires created. This was the turning point for the end of the informal links back to the gold standard. By 1971 Nixon was forced to sever the relationship between the dollar and gold and the US dollar, by then the global standard going back to the Bretton Woods Agreement, became what's known as fiat money. The Bretton Woods agreement was officially over and the new world order was morphing into something else. Something that was less easily explainable to common people. A system where the value of currency was based not on the link to gold but based on the perception of a country, as stocks were about to move from an era of performance and productivity to something more speculative. Throughout the 80s more and more orders were processed electronically and by 1996 we were processing online orders. The 2000s saw algorithmic and high frequency trading. By 2001 we could trade in pennies and the rise of machine learning created billionaire hedge fund managers. Although earlier versions were probably more just about speed. Like if EPS is greater than Expected EPS and guidance EPS is greater than EPS then buy real fast, analyze the curve and sell when it tops out. Good for them for making all the moneys but while each company is required to be transparent about their financials, the high frequency trading has gone from rewarding companies with high earnings to seeming like more a social science where the rising and falling was based on confidence about an industry and the management team. It became harder and harder to explain how financial markets work. Again, bankers work with money all day and come up with all sorts of financial instruments to invest in with their time. The quantity and types of these became harder to explain. Junk bonds, penny stocks, and to an outsider strange derivatives. And so moving to digital trading is only one of the ways the global economy no longer makes sense to many. Gold and other precious metals can't be produced at a rate faster than humans are produced. And so they had to give way to other forms of money and currency, which diluted the relationship between people and a finite, easy to understand, market of goods. As we moved to a digital world there were thinkers that saw the future of currency as flowing electronically. Russian cyberneticist Kitov theorized electronic payments and then came ATMs back in the 50s, which the rise of digital devices paved the way to finally manifest themselves over the ensuing decades. Credit cards moved the credit market into more micro-transactional, creating industries where shop-keepers had once kept debits in a more distributed ledger. As the links between financial systems increased and innovators saw the rise of the Internet on the way, more and more devices got linked up. This combined with the libertarianism shown by many in the next wave of Internet pioneers led people to think of ways for a new digital currency. David Chaum thought up ecash in 1983, to use encrypted keys, much as PGP did for messages, to establish a digital currency. In 1998, Nick Szabo came up with the idea for what he called bitgold, a digital currency based on cryptographic puzzles and the solved puzzles would be sent to a public registry using a public key where the party who solved the puzzle would receive a private key. This was kinda' like using a mark on a Lydian rock to make sure coins were gold. He didn't implement the system but had the initial concept that it would work similar to the gold standard - just without a central authority, like the World Bank. This was all happening concurrently with the rise of ubiquitous computing, the move away from checking to debit and credit cards, and the continued mirage that clouded what was really happening in the global financial system. There was a rise in online e-commerce with various sites emerging to buy products in a given industry online. Speculation increased creating a bubble around Internet companies. That dot com bubble burst in 2001 and markets briefly retreated from the tech sector. Another bull market was born around the rise of Google, Netflix, and others. Productivity gains were up and a lot of money was being put to work in the market, creating another bubble. Markets are cyclical and need to be reigned back in from time to time. That's not to minimize the potentially devastating impacts to real humans. The Global Financial Crisis of 2008 came along for a number of reasons, mostly tied to the bursting of a housing bubble to oversimplify the matter. The lack of liquidity with banks caused a crash and the lack of regulation caused many to think through the nature of currency and money in an increasingly globalized and digital world. After all, if the governments of the world couldn't protect the citizenry of the world from seemingly unscrupulous markets then why not have completely deregulated markets where the invisible hand does so? Which brings us to the rise of cryptocurrencies. Who is John Galt? Bitcoin was invented by Satoshi Nakamoto, who created the first blockchain database and brought the world into peer-to-peer currency in 2009 when bitcoin .1 was released. Satoshi mined block 0 of bitcoin for 50 bitcoins. Over the next year Satoshi mined a potential of about a million bitcoins. Back then a bitcoin was worth less than a penny. As bitcoin grew and the number of bitcoins mined into the blockchain increased, the scarcity increased and the value skyrocketed reaching over $15 billion as of this writing. Who is Satoshi Nakamoto? No one knows - the name is a pseudonym. Other cryptocurrencies have risen such as Etherium. And the market has largely been allowed to evolve on its own, with regulators and traditional financiers seeing it as a fad. Is it? Only time will tell. There is about an estimated 200,000 tonnes of gold in the world worth about 93 trillion dollars if so much of it weren't stuck in necklaces and teeth buried in the ground. The US sits on the largest stockpile of it today, at 8,000 tonnes worth about a third of a trillion dollars, then Germany, Italy, and France. By contrast there are 18,000,000 bitcoins with a value of about $270 billion, a little less than the US supply of gold. By contrast the global stock market is valued at over $85 trillion. The global financial markets are vast. They include the currencies of the world and the money markets that trade those. Commodity markets, real estate, the international bond and equity markets, and derivative markets which include contracts, options, and credit swaps. This becomes difficult to conceptualize because as one small example in the world financial markets, over $190 billion is traded on stock markets a day. Seemingly, rather than running on gold reserves, markets are increasingly driven by how well they put debt to work. National debts are an example of that. The US National Debt currently stands at over $27 trillion dollars. Much is held by our people as bonds, although some countries hold some as security as well, including governments like Japan and China, who hold about the same amount of debt if you include Hong Kong with China. But what does any of that mean? The US GDP sits at about $22.3 trillion dollars. So we owe a little more than we make in a year. Much as many families with mortgages, credit cards, etc might owe about as much as they make. And roughly 10% of our taxes go to pay interest. Just as we pay interest on mortgages. Most of this is transparent. As an example, government debt is often held in the form of a treasury bond. The treasury.gov website lists who holds what bonds: https://ticdata.treasury.gov/Publish/mfh.txt. Nearly every market discussed here can be traced to a per-transaction basis, with many transactions being a matter of public record. And yet, there is a common misconception that people think the market is controlled by a small number of people. Like a cabal. But as with most perceived conspiracies, the global financial markets are much more complex. There are thousands of actors who think they are acting rationally who are simply speculating. And there are a few who are committing a crime by violating or inorganically manipulating markets, as has been illegal since the Venetians passed their first laws on the matter. Most day traders will eventually lose all of their money. Most market manipulators will eventually go to jail. But there's a lot of grey in between. And that can't entirely be planned for. At the beginning of this episode I mentioned it was a prelude to a deeper dive into digital piracy, venture capital, Bitcoin, PayPal, Square, and others. Piracy, because it potentially represents the greatest redistribution of wealth since the beginning of time. Baidu and Alibaba have made their way onto public exchanges. ANT group has the potential to be the largest IPO in history. Huawei is supposedly owned by employees. You can also buy stocks in Russian banking, oil, natural gas, and telecom. Does this mean that the split created when the ideas of Marx became a political movement that resulted in communist regimes is over? No. These have the potential of creating a bubble. One that will then need correcting, maybe even based on intellectual property damage claims. The seemingly capitalistic forays made by socialist or communist countries just go to show that there really isn't and has never been a purely capitalist, socialist, or communist market. Instead, they're spectrums separated by a couple of percentages of tax here and there to pay for various services or goods to the people that each nation holds as important enough to be universal to whatever degree that tax can provide the service or good. So next time you hear “you don't want to be a socialist country, do you?” Keep in mind that every empire in history has simply been somewhere in a range from a free market to a state-run market. The Egyptians provided silos, the Lydians coined gold, the Romans built roads and bailed out banks, nations adopted gold as currency, then build elaborate frameworks to gain market equilibrium. Along the way markets have been abused and then regulated and then deregulated. The rhetoric used to day though is really a misdirection play handed down by people with ulterior motives. You know, like back in the Venetian times. I immediately think of dystopian futures when I feel I'm being manipulated. That's what charlatans do. That's not quite so necessary in a utopian outlook.
Some men say and army of horses and some men say an army on foot and some men say an army of ships is the most beautiful thing on the black earth. But I say it is what you love. Easy to make this understood by all. For she who overcame everyone in beauty (Helen) left her fine husband behind and went sailing to Troy. Not for her children nor her dear parents had she a thought, no- ]led her astray ]for ]lightly ]reminded me now of Anaktoria who is gone. I would rather see her lovely step and the motion of light on her face than chariots of Lydians or ranks of footsoldiers in arms ] not possible to happen ] to pay for a share ] ] ] ] ] toward[ ] ] ] out of the unexpected. Translation by Carson Sappho, , and Anne Carson. If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho. , 2002. Thank you for listening to our first episode! You can follow us on Twitter & Instagram @sweetbitterpod. You can support us on patreon.com/sweetbitter - sign up before November 1st at any level for a free Sweetbitter tote bag. Our guests this episode were Chris Mason from Olds Songs, Marguerite Johnson and Diane Rayor. You can learn more about our guests and where to find them here: https://sweetbitterpodcast.com/guests/ --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Now that we have seen the development of Sparta and Athens, two of our main players for the upcoming Greco-Persian Wars period, we need to look at a third. This time it is not a Greek city state, but an empire east across the Aegean Sea. This was the Persian Empire and would come to influence Greek affairs for centuries to come.The main empire the Greeks had contact with in the Near East during the Achcahic period was that of the Lydian Empire who controlled most of Anatolia. In the late 6th century, the Lydian’s had brought the Ionian Greek cities dotted all along the Anatolian coast into their control. Though, as powerful and wealthy as the Lydians were a great threat appeared on their eastern boarder.This threat was in the shape of the new power of Persia, who only a handful of years earlier was one of a number of Iranian groups occupying the Zagros Mountains. Events around them would see this relatively small group of peoples coming to dominate their region, before then expanding and creating the Persian Empire, which Lydia would become apart of. The founder of the Persian empire would become to be known as Cyrus the Great and like most founders there were traditional tales to explain his background and rise to greatness. In just his life time Cyrus would go onto create the largest empire the world had yet known, bringing the Greek world into direct contact with them.
Isaiah 65 (NIV)Judgment and Salvation1 “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me.To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.'2 All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people,who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations—3 a people who continually provoke me to my very face,offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick;4 who sit among the graves and spend their nights keeping secret vigil;who eat the flesh of pigs, and whose pots hold broth of impure meat;5 who say, ‘Keep away; don't come near me, for I am too sacred for you!'Such people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day.6 “See, it stands written before me: I will not keep silent but will pay back in full; I will pay it back into their laps—7 both your sins and the sins of your ancestors,” says the Lord.“Because they burned sacrifices on the mountains and defied me on the hills,I will measure into their laps the full payment for their former deeds.”8 This is what the Lord says:“As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes and people say, ‘Don't destroy it, there is still a blessing in it,'so will I do in behalf of my servants; I will not destroy them all.9 I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah those who will possess my mountains;my chosen people will inherit them, and there will my servants live.10 Sharon will become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds, for my people who seek me.11 “But as for you who forsake the Lord and forget my holy mountain,who spread a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,12 I will destine you for the sword, and all of you will fall in the slaughter;for I called but you did not answer, I spoke but you did not listen.You did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me.”13 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says:“My servants will eat, but you will go hungry;my servants will drink, but you will go thirsty;my servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame.14 My servants will sing out of the joy of their hearts,but you will cry out from anguish of heart and wail in brokenness of spirit.15 You will leave your name for my chosen ones to use in their curses;the Sovereign Lord will put you to death, but to his servants he will give another name.16 Whoever invokes a blessing in the land will do so by the one true God;whoever takes an oath in the land will swear by the one true God.For the past troubles will be forgotten and hidden from my eyes.New Heavens and a New Earth17 “See, I will create new heavens and a new earth.The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create,for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy.19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people;the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.20 “Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years;the one who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere child;the one who fails to reach[a] a hundred will be considered accursed.21 They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat.For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people;my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands.23 They will not labor in vain, nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune;for they will be a people blessed by the Lord, they and their descendants with them.24 Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent's food.They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,”says the Lord.Footnotes:[a] Isaiah 65:20 Or the sinner who reachesIsaiah 66 (NIV)Judgment and Hope1 This is what the Lord says:“Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be?2 Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?”declares the Lord.“These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.3 But whoever sacrifices a bull is like one who kills a person,and whoever offers a lamb is like one who breaks a dog's neck;whoever makes a grain offering is like one who presents pig's blood,and whoever burns memorial incense is like one who worships an idol.They have chosen their own ways, and they delight in their abominations;4 so I also will choose harsh treatment for them and will bring on them what they dread.For when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, no one listened.They did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me.”5 Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at his word:“Your own people who hate you, and exclude you because of my name, have said,‘Let the Lord be glorified, that we may see your joy!' Yet they will be put to shame.6 Hear that uproar from the city, hear that noise from the temple!It is the sound of the Lord repaying his enemies all they deserve.7 “Before she goes into labor, she gives birth;before the pains come upon her, she delivers a son.8 Who has ever heard of such things? Who has ever seen things like this?Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment?Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children.9 Do I bring to the moment of birth and not give delivery?” says the Lord.“Do I close up the womb when I bring to delivery?” says your God.10 “Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her;rejoice greatly with her, all you who mourn over her.11 For you will nurse and be satisfied at her comforting breasts;you will drink deeply and delight in her overflowing abundance.”12 For this is what the Lord says:“I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream;you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees.13 As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.”14 When you see this, your heart will rejoice and you will flourish like grass;the hand of the Lord will be made known to his servants, but his fury will be shown to his foes.15 See, the Lord is coming with fire, and his chariots are like a whirlwind;he will bring down his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.16 For with fire and with his sword the Lord will execute judgment on all people, and many will be those slain by the Lord.17 “Those who consecrate and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one who is among those who eat the flesh of pigs, rats and other unclean things—they will meet their end together with the one they follow,” declares the Lord.18 “And I, because of what they have planned and done, am about to come[a] and gather the people of all nations and languages, and they will come and see my glory.19 “I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations—to Tarshish, to the Libyans[b] and Lydians (famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations. 20 And they will bring all your people, from all the nations, to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the Lord—on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels,” says the Lord. “They will bring them, as the Israelites bring their grain offerings, to the temple of the Lord in ceremonially clean vessels. 21 And I will select some of them also to be priests and Levites,” says the Lord.22 “As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the Lord, “so will your name and descendants endure. 23 From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the Lord. 24 “And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”Footnotes:[a] Isaiah 66:18 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.[b] Isaiah 66:19 Some Septuagint manuscripts Put (Libyans); Hebrew Pul
Isaiah 65 (NIV)Judgment and Salvation1 “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me.To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.'2 All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people,who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations—3 a people who continually provoke me to my very face,offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick;4 who sit among the graves and spend their nights keeping secret vigil;who eat the flesh of pigs, and whose pots hold broth of impure meat;5 who say, ‘Keep away; don't come near me, for I am too sacred for you!'Such people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day.6 “See, it stands written before me: I will not keep silent but will pay back in full; I will pay it back into their laps—7 both your sins and the sins of your ancestors,” says the Lord.“Because they burned sacrifices on the mountains and defied me on the hills,I will measure into their laps the full payment for their former deeds.”8 This is what the Lord says:“As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes and people say, ‘Don't destroy it, there is still a blessing in it,'so will I do in behalf of my servants; I will not destroy them all.9 I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah those who will possess my mountains;my chosen people will inherit them, and there will my servants live.10 Sharon will become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds, for my people who seek me.11 “But as for you who forsake the Lord and forget my holy mountain,who spread a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,12 I will destine you for the sword, and all of you will fall in the slaughter;for I called but you did not answer, I spoke but you did not listen.You did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me.”13 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says:“My servants will eat, but you will go hungry;my servants will drink, but you will go thirsty;my servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame.14 My servants will sing out of the joy of their hearts,but you will cry out from anguish of heart and wail in brokenness of spirit.15 You will leave your name for my chosen ones to use in their curses;the Sovereign Lord will put you to death, but to his servants he will give another name.16 Whoever invokes a blessing in the land will do so by the one true God;whoever takes an oath in the land will swear by the one true God.For the past troubles will be forgotten and hidden from my eyes.New Heavens and a New Earth17 “See, I will create new heavens and a new earth.The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create,for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy.19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people;the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.20 “Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years;the one who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere child;the one who fails to reach[a] a hundred will be considered accursed.21 They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat.For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people;my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands.23 They will not labor in vain, nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune;for they will be a people blessed by the Lord, they and their descendants with them.24 Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent's food.They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,”says the Lord.Footnotes:[a] Isaiah 65:20 Or the sinner who reachesIsaiah 66 (NIV)Judgment and Hope1 This is what the Lord says:“Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be?2 Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?”declares the Lord.“These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.3 But whoever sacrifices a bull is like one who kills a person,and whoever offers a lamb is like one who breaks a dog's neck;whoever makes a grain offering is like one who presents pig's blood,and whoever burns memorial incense is like one who worships an idol.They have chosen their own ways, and they delight in their abominations;4 so I also will choose harsh treatment for them and will bring on them what they dread.For when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, no one listened.They did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me.”5 Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at his word:“Your own people who hate you, and exclude you because of my name, have said,‘Let the Lord be glorified, that we may see your joy!' Yet they will be put to shame.6 Hear that uproar from the city, hear that noise from the temple!It is the sound of the Lord repaying his enemies all they deserve.7 “Before she goes into labor, she gives birth;before the pains come upon her, she delivers a son.8 Who has ever heard of such things? Who has ever seen things like this?Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment?Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children.9 Do I bring to the moment of birth and not give delivery?” says the Lord.“Do I close up the womb when I bring to delivery?” says your God.10 “Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her;rejoice greatly with her, all you who mourn over her.11 For you will nurse and be satisfied at her comforting breasts;you will drink deeply and delight in her overflowing abundance.”12 For this is what the Lord says:“I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream;you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees.13 As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.”14 When you see this, your heart will rejoice and you will flourish like grass;the hand of the Lord will be made known to his servants, but his fury will be shown to his foes.15 See, the Lord is coming with fire, and his chariots are like a whirlwind;he will bring down his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.16 For with fire and with his sword the Lord will execute judgment on all people, and many will be those slain by the Lord.17 “Those who consecrate and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one who is among those who eat the flesh of pigs, rats and other unclean things—they will meet their end together with the one they follow,” declares the Lord.18 “And I, because of what they have planned and done, am about to come[a] and gather the people of all nations and languages, and they will come and see my glory.19 “I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations—to Tarshish, to the Libyans[b] and Lydians (famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations. 20 And they will bring all your people, from all the nations, to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the Lord—on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels,” says the Lord. “They will bring them, as the Israelites bring their grain offerings, to the temple of the Lord in ceremonially clean vessels. 21 And I will select some of them also to be priests and Levites,” says the Lord.22 “As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the Lord, “so will your name and descendants endure. 23 From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the Lord. 24 “And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”Footnotes:[a] Isaiah 66:18 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.[b] Isaiah 66:19 Some Septuagint manuscripts Put (Libyans); Hebrew Pul
Isaiah 65 (NIV) Judgment and Salvation 1 “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.' 2 All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations— 3 a people who continually provoke me to my very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick; 4 who sit among the graves and spend their nights keeping secret vigil; who eat the flesh of pigs, and whose pots hold broth of impure meat; 5 who say, ‘Keep away; don't come near me, for I am too sacred for you!' Such people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day. 6 “See, it stands written before me: I will not keep silent but will pay back in full; I will pay it back into their laps— 7 both your sins and the sins of your ancestors,” says the Lord. “Because they burned sacrifices on the mountains and defied me on the hills, I will measure into their laps the full payment for their former deeds.” 8 This is what the Lord says: “As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes and people say, ‘Don't destroy it, there is still a blessing in it,' so will I do in behalf of my servants; I will not destroy them all. 9 I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah those who will possess my mountains; my chosen people will inherit them, and there will my servants live. 10 Sharon will become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds, for my people who seek me. 11 “But as for you who forsake the Lord and forget my holy mountain, who spread a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny, 12 I will destine you for the sword, and all of you will fall in the slaughter; for I called but you did not answer, I spoke but you did not listen. You did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me.” 13 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “My servants will eat, but you will go hungry; my servants will drink, but you will go thirsty; my servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame. 14 My servants will sing out of the joy of their hearts, but you will cry out from anguish of heart and wail in brokenness of spirit. 15 You will leave your name for my chosen ones to use in their curses; the Sovereign Lord will put you to death, but to his servants he will give another name. 16 Whoever invokes a blessing in the land will do so by the one true God; whoever takes an oath in the land will swear by the one true God. For the past troubles will be forgotten and hidden from my eyes. New Heavens and a New Earth 17 “See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. 19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more. 20 “Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; the one who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere child; the one who fails to reach[a] a hundred will be considered accursed. 21 They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands. 23 They will not labor in vain, nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the Lord, they and their descendants with them. 24 Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent's food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the Lord. Footnotes: [a] Isaiah 65:20 Or the sinner who reaches Isaiah 66 (NIV) Judgment and Hope 1 This is what the Lord says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be? 2 Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?” declares the Lord. “These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word. 3 But whoever sacrifices a bull is like one who kills a person, and whoever offers a lamb is like one who breaks a dog's neck; whoever makes a grain offering is like one who presents pig's blood, and whoever burns memorial incense is like one who worships an idol. They have chosen their own ways, and they delight in their abominations; 4 so I also will choose harsh treatment for them and will bring on them what they dread. For when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, no one listened. They did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me.” 5 Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at his word: “Your own people who hate you, and exclude you because of my name, have said, ‘Let the Lord be glorified, that we may see your joy!' Yet they will be put to shame. 6 Hear that uproar from the city, hear that noise from the temple! It is the sound of the Lord repaying his enemies all they deserve. 7 “Before she goes into labor, she gives birth; before the pains come upon her, she delivers a son. 8 Who has ever heard of such things? Who has ever seen things like this? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children. 9 Do I bring to the moment of birth and not give delivery?” says the Lord. “Do I close up the womb when I bring to delivery?” says your God. 10 “Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice greatly with her, all you who mourn over her. 11 For you will nurse and be satisfied at her comforting breasts; you will drink deeply and delight in her overflowing abundance.” 12 For this is what the Lord says: “I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees. 13 As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.” 14 When you see this, your heart will rejoice and you will flourish like grass; the hand of the Lord will be made known to his servants, but his fury will be shown to his foes. 15 See, the Lord is coming with fire, and his chariots are like a whirlwind; he will bring down his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. 16 For with fire and with his sword the Lord will execute judgment on all people, and many will be those slain by the Lord. 17 “Those who consecrate and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one who is among those who eat the flesh of pigs, rats and other unclean things—they will meet their end together with the one they follow,” declares the Lord. 18 “And I, because of what they have planned and done, am about to come[a] and gather the people of all nations and languages, and they will come and see my glory. 19 “I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations—to Tarshish, to the Libyans[b] and Lydians (famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations. 20 And they will bring all your people, from all the nations, to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the Lord—on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels,” says the Lord. “They will bring them, as the Israelites bring their grain offerings, to the temple of the Lord in ceremonially clean vessels. 21 And I will select some of them also to be priests and Levites,” says the Lord. 22 “As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the Lord, “so will your name and descendants endure. 23 From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the Lord. 24 “And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.” Footnotes: [a] Isaiah 66:18 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain. [b] Isaiah 66:19 Some Septuagint manuscripts Put (Libyans); Hebrew Pul
Pastor Andy Davis preaches a verse by verse expository sermon on Luke 24:44-53. The main subject of the sermon is the sacrifices of God's people that lead to the accomplishment of the Great Commission. - Sermon Transcript- Turn in your Bibles to Luke 24. And as I mentioned in my prayer, this is the time of year that we focus on unreached people groups, on missions. We have something called The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering named after a woman named Charlotte Moon, shortened to Lottie Moon, who was a missionary that served in China for many years, 39 years. She ran a school for girls in Tengzhou and also in Pingdu, and she burned with a strong passion to reach girls, those girls for Christ and women, to bring them to faith in Christ and anyone that she could talk to about the gospel. She regularly baked fresh cookies, and the aroma, as it would waft from where she lived, from the kitchen would be attractive to people. You talk about the aroma of Christ, it was initially the aroma of cookies and it brought people in. But as she would share those cookies, she would also share with whoever partook share the gospel. She was especially known for writing moving and passionate letters to Baptists in the US to support missions. That more people would go out as missionaries, that those that didn't go would support with more money, and her letters home detailed China's hunger for truth and the struggle of so few missionaries taking the gospel to almost half a billion at that point, Chinese, in her day. And so she pleaded for more workers and for more money, and she once wrote home to what was called the Foreign Mission Board at that point, "Please say to the new missionaries that are coming that they are coming to a life of hardship, responsibility, and constant self-denial.” A life of sacrifice, disease, turmoil, lack of co-workers threatened to undo Lottie's work but she gave herself consistently to the work of the Lord, and she worked with others to help lay a foundation for a church of Christians in China that is really uncounted. We don't have any idea how many Chinese Christians there are, but we will know on Judgment Day what her labors, her sacrifices, and that of many others have done in the lives of the Chinese. She died as a direct result of her self-denying, self-sacrificial life, as there was a famine in that part of China at that point, and she denied her own food to the point where it was beyond help as people knew that she was dying, but they knew it too late. The Woman's Missionary Union started The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering in 1918 to honor her sacrifices and to move Southern Baptists to similar sacrifices for the sake of the gospel. The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering makes up more than half of the annual budget of the International Mission Board, so every dollar that we give to The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering goes directly overseas to winning lost people. Now, FBC's goal this year is $150,000. And it's our desire that every man, woman, and child, as a member of this church or involved in this church should weigh carefully what God is calling him or her to do, that we would pray about it, think about it, what level of sacrifice. It's easy... It's kind of out of sight, out of mind. It's easy for us to forget about missionaries, and it's easy for us to forget about people like we just saw in the video, who have no access to the gospel. They're living in countries where it's very, very hard to hear of Christ and we are called on to be people of faith. Who see invisible things and they press on our minds, we see not only those folks who are in different parts of the world, but we see ahead in time to what Judgment Day is going to be like, and we yearn that people be made ready to stand before God, having been cleansed from their sins through faith in the blood of Christ. And so, our desire is to focus, and what I wanna do is root this Great Commission in the Scripture that you just heard Bob read for us, that we would understand that this is not some new thing that was thrown together, but it's been going on not just for 2000 years, but even before that, as Jesus says in Luke 24, it was founded on the Old Testament Scriptures. And so we're gonna walk through that today, and I want you to see how it's rooted in Scripture, and to understand the sacrifice, the central sacrifice of Jesus Christ, it's the center of the gospel. But then the lesser sacrifices that are essential to the spread of the gospel that our brothers and sisters have done who are willing to suffer and deprive themselves and go through difficulties so that lost people may hear of the gospel. And then thirdly, that each of us would weigh our own involvement in that and see what God is calling us to do. I. Central Sacrifice of the Great Commission: The Death of the Christ So let's zero in this morning as we begin on the central sacrifice of the Great Commission, the death of Jesus Christ. Now, the Great Commission is found in five different places at the end of each of the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; each has their own version of the Great Commission. So he gave it multiple times slightly different language, and then again in the Book of Acts, that the disciples are responsible to move out from Jerusalem through Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth with the gospel. But we're gonna look at Luke 24 and look at verses 44-47, “And he said to them, This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled, that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms. Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, This is what is written, that Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” So the centerpiece of the Great Commission, the centerpiece of the gospel is the death of Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God. Now, picture in your mind this powerful poignant scene there in the upper room, Christ had died on the cross, the third day he came to life again. The women had just come back from the empty tomb. And they had declared it to be empty, they said that they had had an encounter with the resurrected Christ, and Jesus had told them to go to report to his brothers what they had seen and that he was risen, and they did so. The upper room where they were meeting together was the place where Jesus had had the last supper with his disciples just days before that. And so they were there in the Upper Room in Jerusalem with a tiny church, and now they were assembled there in fear and bewilderment. John's Gospel tells us that they were in there with the doors locked for fear of the Jews. So they were afraid of dying, they were afraid of being arrested, they were afraid of suffering the same faith that Jesus had being crucified. Now, in Luke's Gospel, the reaction is emotional and powerful. Look at verses 36-43. “Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you’, but they were startled and frightened, thinking that they saw a ghost. He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled? Why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet, it is I myself. Touch me and see. A ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see, I have’. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, ‘Do you have anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of broiled fish and he took it and ate it in their presence.” So Jesus is offering them what Luke tells us in the Book of Acts, in Acts chapter 1, many convincing proofs that he was alive. And why did he have to do this? Because they couldn't seem to believe their eyes. It was too good to be true. You ever heard that expression before? It's just too good to be true. You realize how essentially pessimistic that is. I mean, anything really good can't be true, but that's effectively what the text says. They could not believe it for joy. I mean, joy means it can't be true. “Friends, let me tell you something. Beyond your wildest dreams, God is gonna lavishly bless you for eternity in the new heaven and new earth. It's going to be greater than anything you can possibly imagine. In one sense, you could say the whole thing is turned around, it's too good not to be true. That's how good God is.” " God is gonna lavishly bless you for eternity in the new heaven and new earth. It's going to be greater than anything you can possibly imagine." But they couldn't believe it, and so he's got to give them all these convincing proofs. People just don't die and come to life again. It just doesn't happen. When somebody's dead, they stay dead. And so he's got to do all these things. He says, Look at my wounds, touch me and see, look at my hands, look at my feet. Do you have anything here to eat? So he eats some broiled fish. All of this physicality to prove that he had really physically been raised from the dead. That's the centerpiece. His death and his resurrection from the dead is the centerpiece of the gospel. And then Jesus explains all of this and roots it in the prophetic writings. He roots it in Scripture. And why is that? Because none of us can touch him and see. We don't get to watch him chew and swallow broiled fish. We don't get to put our fingers in the nail marks. We're going to get it from Scripture or we're not gonna get it at all. And what Jesus shows us is that the Scripture's predated his birth. These things have been predicted, they'd been written about in the Law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms. This was not new, any new thing, but the Lord had told ahead of time what he would do. Look at Verse 44, he said, “This is what I told you while I was still with you, everything must be fulfilled about me that is written in the Law of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms.” Now, without the direct work of almighty God on their minds and on yours and mine, we'll never believe it. We'll never believe it. Our hearts are so hardened in sin. We are so far from God. We are so, so corrupted and twisted, but because of our sins and the sins of the people we live around, it's hard for us to believe God's Word. We need him to work directly on our hardened hearts. And so look what it says in verse 45, what a marvelous verse. “Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.” I think that's something we should pray about as we have our quiet times, don't you think? As we go before the Lord and we open up the Bible, say, O God, through your Holy Spirit, would you just open my mind that I might understand the Scriptures? Help me to see what's written here so it's not just some empty words that don't mean anything to me. He opened their minds, and isn't it marvelous that he has that kind of power? He actually has access to your mind, he has access to your heart, and he can open it up to his working through the Word of God. And so, he then roots his atonement in Scripture. Look at verse 46, “This is what is written, that Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day.” So all of this thing had been predicted in Scripture, God had planned it before the foundation of the world, but he had begun to pay out the truth little by little, right from the beginning in the Garden of Eden, how the serpent came and deceived Adam and Eve, and God cursed the serpent. And in Genesis 3:15, he said, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers. He will crush your head and you'll bruise his heel.” And so that was the prediction of how Jesus, by his death, would crush Satan who held the power of death. Genesis 3:15, that's right from the beginning, and then right after that comes the animal sacrificial system. Even that same day, as their eyes are open, they realized they were naked, God clothed them with animal skins so that in the next chapter, Abel began offering animal sacrifice. And so throughout the Old Testament, we have animals sacrifice, the blood of bulls and goats and sheep offered under the command of God, but all of them as a picture of Christ's blood sacrifice on the cross. And the lessons are very plain and clear. All sin deserves the death penalty. The death penalty can be paid by a substitute, but the substitute can't be an animal. It's just symbolic. Those were the lessons of the animal sacrificial system, but it was all written there in the Law of Moses. And we have the story, of course, of the Exodus. Remember the 10 dreadful plagues that persuaded Pharaoh to let the Jewish people go out of bondage into the freedom of the promised land? And the last plague was the most dreadful, the most terrible, the plague on the firstborn. And God commanded the Jewish people that they should sacrifice the Passover Lamb, they should kill the lamb and paint its blood on the doorpost and on the lintel of their doors, and the angel of death would see the blood and pass over and would not bring the righteous judgment of God on the sinners inside that house. For all have sinned, the Jews had sinned too, but God had provided for an atoning sacrifice. And so that taught a very important lesson, and it's important for the Great Commission, that our salvation comes in two basic steps: Redemption accomplished and applied. The redemption is accomplished by the blood sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world once for all, never to be repeated. Never needs to be repeated. That's why it's different than the animal sacrifices that had to be repeated endlessly year after year. But Jesus once for all died in our place. That's redemption accomplished, and Jesus said, It is finished, and that's it. Nothing more needed. But then step two, the blood has to be spiritually painted on individual sinners, the redemption has to be applied, and that happens by the Great Commission, it happens by evangelism and missions, by people who have the message of the gospel traveling, it might be just across the office, it might be across the street in evangelism, or it could be to the ends of the earth in missions, and take that message of the gospel and apply it so that people hear it and believe, and the blood gets spiritually applied to us and we are forgiven of our sins. And he said All of that was predicted in the Law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms. II. The Great Commission Stated Plainly You heard the text that Jason read, Isaiah 53, “All we like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him, on Christ, the iniquity of us all.” That's written seven centuries before Jesus was born. So Jesus lays out these Scriptures for them. Everything that was planned and then written about in the Scriptures had to be fulfilled. And so that is the deliverance of the world from sin, the shedding of the blood of Christ once for all, and then the application of that message to the Great Commission. And the Great Commission stated plainly, look at verse 46-48, he told them, “This is what is written, that Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” So Christ has entrusted to his disciples the proclamation of the gospel message. Look carefully at the words, repentance, and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations. There is one Savior, one redeemer, the Christ whose blood alone atones for sin, but this one message of the one redemption has to be taken to distant parts of the earth. And Jesus says, You are witnesses of these things. Now, witnesses, they were eyewitnesses. Mary, the mother of Jesus, was there in the upper room with the early church. And I think a lot of that information we get that we... This time of year, as we read in Luke chapter 2 about the birth of Jesus probably came humanly speaking through Mary, as she shared the experiences that she had as a virgin, bringing the only begotten Son of God, fully man, fully God into this world. You're witnesses of these things, of how he lived a sinless life among them, and how he did great signs and wonders. There was no healing he could not do, there was no... Nothing too difficult for him. He gave great displays of power like stilling the storm and feeding the 5000, all these incredible miracles. You are witnesses of these things. You saw them with your own eyes, and you saw me die on the cross, you saw me dead, and you saw me now, you're seeing me now physically raised from the dead. You are witnesses of these things. These facts are essential to the gospel, and repentance and forgiveness of sins proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. Oh, what glorious good news that is for all of us. All of us, if we repent of our sins, turn away from darkness, turn away from wickedness and turn to God; if we repent of our sins, forgiveness of sins will be ours through faith in Christ. Not by works, but by simple faith. That's the gospel, and that message will be preached in his name to the ends of the earth. That's the Great Commission. Now, the Great Commission was written in the Old Testament, not just that Christ would die, but that the message would be carried by messengers from Jerusalem through Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth. That was predicted too. From the original call of Abraham, where God says, I will bless those who bless you. I'll curse whoever curses you, and through your offspring, all peoples on earth will be blessed. Peoples means nations. So from the calling of the Jewish nation, God had intended to bless all nations on earth. And then Psalm 2 in verse 8, “Where God the Father says to the Son, Ask of me and I'll give you the nations as your inheritance. The ends of the earth, your possession.” That's in the Psalms. And then at the end of Isaiah 66. I love this verse. This is one of these Great Commission verses. Listen to this, Isaiah 66:19, "I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive," some of the remnants, "to the nations, to Tarshish," that's in Spain, "to the Libyans," North Africa and Lydians, Central Asia, famous as archers, to Tubal and Greece. And listen to this, "to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. And they will proclaim my glory among the nations." Isaiah 66:19, the Great Commission was written. Jesus said, "This is what is written, repentance and forgiveness of sins we preached to the ends of the earth." So only as this gospel is proclaimed can people in those distant lands, like we saw in that video, hear the Gospel message and believe. But the power of the Great Commission always has been the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. We wouldn't have moved... As a church, we would not have moved out of the upper room if it weren't for the power of the Holy Spirit. Even after seeing evidence of Jesus's conquest of death, a week later, they're still in the upper room with the doors locked. And Jesus said, "You must stay in Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high. You're gonna receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth. Again and again, our brothers and sisters that have stepped out in faith and have traveled through the centuries to distant lands to share the gospel have testified it was only by the compulsion of the spirit in their hearts that they left behind their friends and family and went to dangerous places. III. The Subsequent Sacrifices of the Great Commission The Spirit moved them. Now, you may say, "I don't feel like I'm called to be a missionary." Maybe you're not. Not many are called to actually go to cross-cultural settings and do that, not many, but some. But we are, all of us, called to travel from point A to point B. Like I said, it could be across an office to an unsaved co-worker. And you may feel, "I don't think I can do that." Well, it's the same feeling. It's the same fear. It's the same Holy Spirit that enables us, driven and compelled by love to share the Gospel with people. You receive power, and you'll be my witnesses. Since that time, it's been a river of sacrifice. Brothers and sisters have been willing to lay it on the line to take the Gospel from Jerusalem, through Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth. They've been willing to sacrifice. It's amazing, Jesus was a prophet. He made predictions. And he said, "This thing here, 120 in the upper room, is not gonna stay here. It's going to go to the ends of the earth." Now, a prophet has to be vindicated by his predictions coming true. Well, that prediction has famously come true. There is not a political nation on earth represented at the United Nations in which there is not a church of Jesus Christ with people assembling to meet and worship Christ. There are hundreds of millions of Christians spread all over the Earth. His words have come true. It's not done yet, but His words have come true. His prediction has happened. In every generation, the Holy Spirit sees to it that Jesus's name is the most famous human name on earth. There is no more famous human being than Jesus in every generation. The Holy Spirit sees to it. Better than any PR department getting the name of some rock star out, that fades like grass within two or three generations. Every generation, Jesus is the greatest name because the Holy Spirit sees to it. This has happened. Now, when I look at the prediction of the distant islands, I thought, "I wonder what the most distant island is." So bear with me for the next few moments as I Googled, "Where is the farthest place from Jerusalem on planet Earth?" Remember, it's a globe, so if you go around too far, it goes back the other way. So I've asked numbers of friends. Some of them said "LA" for a lot of reasons. Others, "Alaska," different things. Well, are you ready? The most distant island on planet Earth are the Pitcairn Islands in the South Pacific. The Pitcairn, you say, "What is that?" Have you ever heard of "Mutiny on the Bounty"? It was a movie. And some mutineers went and they overthrew Captain Bligh, and they took over. And they knew that they were gonna get hunted down by the British Navy, and so they were looking for someplace. They stumbled upon some uncharted island about 1500 miles southeast of Tahiti. It is 11,305 miles from Jerusalem. Now, you'd say, "Well, that doesn't count, Pastor, there were no people there when they landed." But they landed there, and they had some battles within themselves. There was some murder that took place. And the few that were left repented of their sins and started reading the Bible and set up a flourishing, strong Christian community that's still there. And a whaler came 18 years later, just saw this uncharted island, went ashore to see if there's any water, and found a church and Christians there praising God. You just say, "Alright, but that was inhabited. What about any habited islands?" Yes, New Zealand is the farthest inhabited island. And the history of the Gospel in New Zealand is fascinating. How it was first discovered by an explorer named Tasman, and he eventually gave his name to Tasmania. And he prayed over those islands, that God's purpose would be done there. James Cook came over a century, more a century and a half later, prayed about the same prayer. Eventually, God sent some missionaries. And they took on the fierce Maori people, who were war-like cannibals, and won many of them to faith in Christ. A marvelous story. And so you have Christ's church there in Auckland and those areas. That's as far as it gets from Jerusalem. And God's Word has been fulfilled. Now, in every generation, the church has advanced the Gospel at very high cost. It's been a trail of blood, brothers, and sisters, a trail of blood. And Paul saw it coming. It was already happening in his own life. In Colossians, Chapter 1, Verse 24 and 25, he said, "Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions for the sake of His body, which is the church. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the Word of God in its fullness." That's my commission. And he's fulfilling it by writing the letter to the Colossians. But he had not been there. He didn't plant that church. And he said, "I rejoice in what was suffered by the men and women that did come with the message of the Gospel. And they suffered, and I rejoice in that suffering. And I'm filling up in my flesh what's lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions for the sake of His body." What does that mean? Careful of blasphemy here. There's nothing lacking in redemption accomplished. It was accomplished once for all. But what's lacking is the second step, it has to be applied. And that takes suffering. And Paul says, "I rejoice in that suffering. I rejoice in it." Now, the Gospel spread. Initially, the persecutors were unbelieving Jews who had not yet crossed over to faith in Christ, and so they kick people out of their synagogues, and they wouldn't buy and sell from them. They arrested them, even beat some of them. Read about it in the Book of Acts. But then the Romans took over and began persecuting. And for a couple of centuries, there was on and off persecution by the Roman emperors and by the Roman authorities. Even spilling our brothers' and sisters' blood in the sands of the Colosseum until at last that ended with Constantine's conversion, hope it was genuine, in 312. And Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. Remarkable proof of the spread of the Gospel. Whether he was genuinely converted or not, he saw it at least politically expedient to declare himself a Christian. Incredible, in a very short amount of time. But the Gospel didn't stop there. It continued to spread among the barbarian tribes, tribes of Germania. They're terrifying, militaristic. And missionaries went out and were willing to suffer and even die to bring those Germanic-speaking people to faith in Christ. And up to the islands of what we call the British Isles, Britannia, and again, the fierce peaks in the Scottish Highlands, being willing to take on courageously tribal chieftains that would have and were ready to slaughter them. But they won many of them to Christ. This has been going on in every generation.As it says in John 12:24, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains by itself a single seed. But if it dies, it brings forth much fruit." And so that has been the principle, Christians willing to lay down their lives, willing to die for the spread of the gospel. Now, for me, I love missionary hero stories. I just love reading about people like Lottie Moon or others. I especially like stories I haven't heard. So that's hard to Google. "Stories Andy Davis hasn't heard yet on missions" came up empty. But there is one book I was reading recently of a number of missionaries I had never heard of. And one of them, amazingly, was a man named James Gilmore in the 19th century, who was a missionary to Mongolia. I really believe we just saw mission work among the Mongolians. They just said Central Asia, they didn't say exactly, but those yurts are Mongolian style. And I wonder if those brothers and sisters are from Mongolia. I don't know for sure, but I know this, that James Gilmore, a Scottish missionary to Mongolia, suffered as much as any, just the physical deprivations of working in such a hostile land. The land itself is vast. It's about the size of the American West. And this man just went on foot, sometimes walking, hiking up to 40 miles a day on foot. He originally began as a missionary in China, but then went into the northern regions, to the Mongolians. And they're very spread out. They're herdsmen, and they move around. Their yurts, their tents travel. And so he went from place to place. It's a cold land. Sometimes the temperatures plummet as low as 40 degrees below zero. He endured long spells of hunger and thirst on his treks. His target people, the Mongolians, dwelled in filthy, vermin-infested yurts. They were very nasty places. And he would go in there, and he would share the Gospel. He would seek to win them from animism and Buddhism, Lamaistic Buddhism. And they were very... A lot of them struggled with drunkenness, with violence, with thievery. And as he would witness to them, he would do rudimentary medical care, basic medical things like extracting bad teeth and other things like that. He was not a trained medical worker, but he knew some basic things, and people would come and he would care for them. And he would share simple Bible stories and the simple life of Jesus, His death on the cross, His resurrection. And he was there for four years of diligent sacrificial labor, James Gilmore. In 1874, he could not count a single convert, and he went beyond that. There was not even a single person that he felt was interested in the Gospel. Imagine doing that kind of work for four years. But he was concerned that no Mongolian he ever talked to did not come to faith in Christ because of a lack of clear, passionate proclamation of the Gospel. That's what he said. He wanted to be certain no Mongolian would be justified in pitching into us for not pitching into them more savagely. Listen to that, pitching into them savagely, for not, in fact, taking them by the cuff of the neck and dragging them into the kingdom. Sounds a little like a frustrated missionary after a while, but sharing the Gospel, it's like, "I'm gonna drag you into the kingdom." But there's no physical place to go. It has to be by hearing and believing. And after four years, no response. He left for a short time and then came back in 1884. And he finally won his first convert. He was in a dirty Mongolian tent. There was a fire in the center of the tent. There's generally smoke in there, but this was unusually bad because an outsider came in and started stirring up the smoldering log, filling the yurt with noxious smoke. And so he was getting as low as he could to just get some air in the tent. But then out of the cloud... He couldn't even see the man. Out of the cloud, this man spoke, "I have for months been a learner of Jesus Christ, and now I am ready to trust Him." Gilmore said of that moment, "The place was as beautiful to me as the gate of heaven, and the words of the confession of Christ from out of that cloud of smoke were as inspiring to me as if they had been spoken by an angel from out of the cloud of glory." They left the yurt. They walked together for 23 miles, talking about Christian theology. You have a 23-mile walk with a man, what are you gonna tell him? So he did basic Christian follow-up. They hugged each other. They knelt together and prayed. And then as far as I know, James Gilmore never saw that man again. Gilmore continued to travel in native fashion. He walked everywhere. He ate porridge. He lived on equivalent of about six cents a day. During one eight-month stretch, he preached to almost 24,000 people, sold 3000 Christian books, saw about 6000 patients with rudimentary medical treatments, distributed 4500 tracks, traveled almost 1900 miles, spent about $200 on himself for his own needs, and reported that in all of that, only two individuals came to faith in Christ. So as I look at that, I think, "Pastor, couldn't you have chosen a more triumphant story?" There are many more triumphant stories, but do you not see the grace of God in that? His relentless commitment to share even if he doesn't get the response. That's all we're called to do. You can't grab someone by the scruff of the neck and drag them into the kingdom, but we can, at great cost, be willing to take the message to them. He reminds me of what it says in that hall of faith in Hebrews 11:37-38, "They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated. The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains and in caves and holes in the ground." IV. The Heavenly Celebrations Awaiting These Sacrifices Now, I believe when we get to heaven, we're going to celebrate brothers and sisters that sacrifice like Lottie Moon and like James Gilmore. We're gonna celebrate them. And you have, and so do I, a massive education waiting for you on the history of missions. And you're not gonna be bored at all because I really believe God's gonna not just tell you about it, but show it to you. And you're gonna get to know them, these heroes, and all of them are going to testify that whatever glory they have for their sacrificial service belongs to Christ. And they're going to lay their crowns before Jesus. As I was doing leaves a couple of days ago, I was thinking about these hero stories and brothers and sisters and the honor that's gonna come in heaven to them. But I was also thinking about that song "God and God Alone" by Steve Green. And I was thinking, "All the glory goes to him." And these heroes and heroines are gonna say that. They're gonna cast their crowns, all of them, before the Lord. And I thought about that scene in Revelation, chapter 5, where the scroll is in the right hand of God Almighty. He sits on the throne. And a search is made in heaven and earth and under the Earth, and no one is found who is worthy to take the scroll and open its seals, except Jesus. And so we're gonna celebrate and honor the sacrifices that were made. We're going to rightly celebrate them. We're gonna learn. We're not gonna feel jealous of them. We're gonna honor them, even if they are greater sacrifices than our own. And many of them will be greater than our own. And they'll have a greater place of glory than we do. But all glory goes to Christ, so there is no one like him, and his alone is the glory of the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He alone had the right to take the scroll and open its seals. Now, I read other stories, and they're exciting. You wanna hear some of them? Come to me afterwards, and I'll tell you more. One particular man in Japan left during the period in the middle of the 19th century, when it was illegal for Japanese to leave Japan. They couldn't leave their own country. He had come across the track, had become a Christian. He wanted to get theologically trained. His name is Joseph Nisima. He was in the bottom of a boat that was a junk, that was traveling to China, and he hid under some ropes. And he eventually went to Andover Seminary, right near where I went to seminary, was theologically trained, went back to Japan and set up a school for boys, and led hundreds of Japanese boys to faith in Christ. I can't wait to meet him. I was a missionary, my wife and I were missionaries in Japan. And it's hard work there, very slow, not a lot of converts. Then there's George Mackay, who worked in Formosa, now known as Taiwan, among some headhunters who collected the heads of their victims. This guy went up into the mountainous regions of Formosa, Taiwan, and shared the Gospel in tents in which their heads strung together, all around there. And they liked him because, like James Gilmore, he was good at extracting bad teeth. So that's very painful, and so he's able to pull it out and alleviate their pain, they're willing to listen to the gospel. And he led a number of them to faith in Christ. So those were sacrifices that have been made. People that are willing to go into dangerous places and share the gospel. The question that's in front of us now, this month and really year-round, not just because of the Lottie Moon Christmas offering, but because we're Christians, because we read the Scripture, we see it. We can feel what it was like to be in the upper room. What are we called to do? V. A Call for You to Sacrifice for the Great Commission And it always must begin with prayer. Start by presenting yourself as a living sacrifice and saying, "Lord, what am I to do for unreached people groups? What involvement do you want me to have?" One of the benefits we have of being in this church is we have a number of friends that are serving amongst unreached people groups right now. If you wanna know their names, come to any of the elders or church members, we'll tell you who they are and what people groups they're working with. You can pray for them. And in this day and age, we can even stay in contact with them and ask how we can pray for them this week. The home fellowships have adopted missionaries. Be faithful in praying for them. Find out what their needs are, so we can be praying and lifting them up. You know how Paul says that we should join our brothers and sisters that are in prison as if we were in prison with them. Well, I think the same mentality, we can join people in their struggles for missions as if we are fellow missionaries with them through prayer. “We can join people in their struggles for missions as if we are fellow missionaries with them through prayer.” Secondly, financial giving. I'm very well aware that a couple of weeks ago, I urged you to consider your involvement in the More than a Building campaign, and that continues to be a need. We borrowed money, and we're going to pay it back at interest. The sooner you can give, the less money and interest we'll pay. It'll be better for the Kingdom. And that's still true, but I think we have enough bandwidth, don't we, to also think about missions. We have enough bandwidth to say, "There's that, but there's also unreached people groups." And we have the chance, as Southern Baptists, to give money directly to brothers and sisters that are gonna go and serve into the distant most parts of the earth. We can share through them financially in giving. So just go before the Lord and say, "Lord, what do you want me to give to unreached people group missions?" And then finally, go. So what does this mean? It means look for opportunities to go. We have a mission trip going to Taiwan. I don't know if there are any openings on that, but we're gonna be regularly going overseas on short-term mission trips. But there may be some of you that God may be calling. No matter what stage of life you're in, it's amazing how many opportunities there are, how many pathways there are to go and serve overseas. One family, the Hausons, were sitting in pews just like you folks. He had a successful consulting business, consulting job, and was doing very well, but God called him out of that to go do business missions in North Africa. And he's serving now. I talk to him every other week and get prayer requests from him. God called him out of a situation just like you guys are in, sitting there in the pew, to serve in cross-cultural missions. So what is God calling you to do? What will you be glad that you did when you get to Judgment Day? What will you be eternally glad that you did in heaven? What can we celebrate for the glory of God? What sacrifices are you willing to make? Close with me in prayer. Father, we thank you for the Word of God. We thank you for what it does in our hearts and our minds. Thank you for how the Great Commission is a timeless work. It is something that you planned before the foundation of the world, that Christ would be slain for the elect. From before the foundation of the world, that plan was made. And now, the call on us, that central sacrifice has been once for all made, now you're calling us to other sacrifices, that the gospel might be applied to those who, right now, as I speak, are not yet Christians. And so I pray, O Lord, that you would please call us to willing, cheerful sacrifice for the spread of the gospel. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
With the conquest of Lydia, the Persians were introduced to coinage. The Lydians did not take to the shipment of their hard won treasure east meekly. After bringing the Lydians to heel Cyrus finished his last great conquest Babylon, before heading to his doom on the Steppes. By conquering Babylon and freeing the Jews from their Babylonian Captivity he earned himself a lot of good press for posterity. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
It is almost a century since the disastrous end of the Greco-Turkish War ended the almost three millennia of Greek presence in Western Asia Minor. The Greek cities of the region played a pivotal role in shaping Greek culture and Western Philosophy. They were also along with the Lydians candidates for minting the first coins. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Pastor Sutton preaches from Isaiah 66:18-24 on September 15, 2019. “And I, because of what they have planned and done, am about to come and gather the people of all nations and languages, and they will come and see my glory. “I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations—to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations. And they will bring all your people, from all the nations, to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the LORD—on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels,” says the LORD. “They will bring them, as the Israelites bring their grain offerings, to the temple of the LORD in ceremonially clean vessels. And I will select some of them also to be priests and Levites,” says the LORD. “As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the LORD, “so will your name and descendants endure. From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the LORD. “And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”
Pastor Andy Davis preaches a sermon on Matthew 2:1-12 and explores the Magi's visit to Jesus Christ. - SERMON TRANSCRIPT - The most famous, miraculous sign in the Old Testament was the burning bush. As Moses was tending his father-in-law, Jethro's sheep, and he saw this amazing sight that broke all the laws of physics. How this bush was burning, but not consumed. Well, I want you to imagine a similar scenario in which you are hiking out West, let's say you're out in the Rockies and you're hiking up a steep mountain and you're going through the woods and you're getting tired, it's hot, and suddenly you hear a rushing mountain stream, vigorous rushing mountain stream. And so you make your way through the woods to the stream, only when you get there, you see something you can't... It defies all the laws of nature, all the laws of physics. The stream's going up the mountain. What would you think? What would you think if you stood there? You'd be like, "I don't know if I would drink from it, I would be so stupefied. I'd be like, "Is it water? Is it healthy? What could I do? What should I do?" I'd just stand there in amazement. Isaiah chapter 2:2 gives a prophecy of the success of the Gospel in that kind of an image. In Isaiah 2:2 it says, "In the last days, the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as chief among the mountains. It'd be raised above the hills and all the nations will stream to it. And many peoples will say in that day, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways and show us his laws, we will walk in the light of His laws. The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem and all the nations will see it, and they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks, and they will not learn war anymore. Come, oh house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord."” So here's this image of a mighty river flowing up a mountain, the highest mountain in the world, even. How would we explain it? Well, it has to do, I think, with the success of the gospel to the ends of the earth as people come to faith in Christ and they make spiritual pilgrimages to Christ. Spiritual pilgrimages. They don't need to physically go anywhere. And the idea of water running, rushing up a steep mountain defies all the laws of physics, it's not a natural streaming. It's a supernatural streaming. It can only be affected by supernatural forces on the people that are making the pilgrimage. Nothing but a supernatural force will cause them to leave their old way of thinking, to leave their old way of worshipping, their old value system, and make a pilgrimage to Christ to come to Christ. Now for me, I love those stories, I love hearing the stories of how brothers and sisters in Christ from all over the world came to faith in Jesus, especially if there are signal providences, amazing signs, visions, dreams, other things involved. A few weeks ago we gave you in an insert, a prayer, a week of prayer, a guide from the IMB. And there was a story in there of a woman given the name Delara from Central Asia. We're not told her country, we're not told her real name. But we are told the circumstances of her, a Muslim woman, coming to faith in Christ. She had a dream and in that dream she saw a structure she'd never seen before and three men there in front of that structure who she didn't know. But in the dream, she knew one person, Jesus, and Jesus lifted her up in her dream, out of her bed, set her on her feet, and invited her to come to this building. And then she woke up. Within the next week, she was in a certain part of the city and there she saw the building and it was a church. She'd never been there before, but it was definitely that place. And she went inside and the three men were there, including one man who spoke to her and led her to Christ. Now, I'm gonna get to heaven, I'm gonna hear 100 million stories like that, of how the nations streamed up against all odds, against every inclination of the sinful human heart, against all of the teachings of their native religions, whatever they were, to come to faith in Christ. A few weeks ago, I was meeting with a woman who is serving as a missionary in North Africa, in a Muslim country in North Africa. She told me a similar story, this is remarkable. Of a man who came to faith in Christ, a Muslim man, who had just within the last year been a member of an ISIS cell group, preparing... And he was preparing for a suicide bombing mission. And he was training and preparing for this. And he was told he had to go to Mecca, make his Hajj, his pilgrimage to Mecca, to purify himself for his entry into paradise. So he went on the pilgrimage, but when he got there he could find no transportation to the Kaaba, the Black Stone that all the Muslims go around seven times counter clock-wise, that's the consummation of their pilgrimage. He couldn't get there, he couldn't get... I don't know, from the airport or exactly, I don't know the details, but he couldn't get there. There was no bus, there was no taxi, there was no way to get there. Finally, this little bus comes and the door opens and there's this man there, and he says, "I'm trying to get to the Kaaba" and this man looks at him for a long time, doesn't say anything, just looks and he says, "You're going the wrong direction." "Beg your pardon?" "You're going the wrong direction." That's all he said. Door closed, drives off. Wow, that was unnerving. He somehow found a way to complete his Hajj, went back to his home country. A few weeks before he was to die in a murderous suicide bombing in the name of Allah. He went to the home of a Christian for dinner, someone he knew, and when he got there, on the wall, there was a picture there of the Last Supper. He was immediately fascinated, he said, "Who is that man in the middle?" "Well, that's Isa, that's Jesus." He said, "No, that was the driver of that bus." Now, you're like, "What did Jesus look like?" And don't go there. It doesn't matter. What matters is that was the man he saw. And he knew what he was doing was sinful, it was wrong. He knew he was going the wrong way, he had no peace in his heart. And so, from the Muslim context of honor and respect for Jesus, even beyond that, to the fact that Jesus actually is not merely a prophet who did miracles, but actually God in the flesh, he was led to faith in Christ. And then told the rest of the story to his brothers and sisters there in his home country. Now for me, I love to hear those kinds of stories, I wanna know what God does to bring someone from point A to point B, to bring them to faith in Christ. Now, the account we're gonna read today of the Magi is one of the first such stories, maybe the first, of a pilgrimage made from a distant land by Gentiles, pagans, to come to worship Jesus. And so we're gonna walk through that this morning. I. Endless Fascination with the Magi Now, we have an endless fascination with the Magi, which is part of the Christmas scene, and we are interested in it. And so you're probably wanting to know what I'm going to say about the Magi, you're hoping I'm not gonna touch too sharply on your nativity set. Well, I'm probably gonna mess with your nativity set a little bit, and mine too. But we're gonna find out about the Magi. Now, Christmas is filled with all kinds of images and we know it's powerful, it's a powerful force in our culture. Very strong feelings. Some of those forces are good, some are not so good. Christian parents would do well to saturate the minds of their children in the theological truths of the birth of Christ, to tell them the truth about who Jesus was. You heard Wes reading John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God." He was with God in the beginning, all things were made through him. A number of verses later, verse 14, "The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory of the only begotten, from the Father, full of grace and truth." A few verses after that, "The law was given through Moses, grace, and truth came through Jesus Christ." "Christian parents would do well to saturate the minds of their children in the theological truths of the birth of Christ, to tell them the truth about who Jesus was." We're not wondering who he's talking about at all in John 1. So for us as Christian parents, to just saturate the minds of our children and say, "Teach them this, teach them who Jesus is, that He is God in the flesh." And teach them why he came. 1 Timothy 1:15, "This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst." That's a great verse, year-round. Cherish that verse. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the worst. If you ever feel like the worst sinner, that's your verse. That's why he came. Now, the biblical images of Christ are powerful enough to consume our imaginations, our minds for the rest of our lives. We don't need all of the other myths and legends. Luke 1:30-33, which we looked at last week a little bit, where the angel Gabriel said, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor or grace with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of his father, David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever." Son of God, Son of David, the incarnation. And then the angel appearing to the shepherds outside Bethlehem, "Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born for you." Isn't that powerful? A savior for you, and he is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign to you, you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. So this is the theology of Christmas, the incarnation, the idea that God became human and came to save us from our sins. Now we know that there are overwhelming images, many of them secular, lining up with Christmas. I'll like to count all of the different phrases that you hear on the radio as you're listening to seasonal music. So it is the most wonderful time of the year. Silver bells. I've personally never seen chestnuts roasting on an open fire, I don't know what happens. I would picture they would explode, but I don't know. And then you've got the other weird things that entered somewhere around when I was a little kid, like the Grinch and the Snow Queen and the elves and all that sort of stuff that come in with those TV programs that come in every year. Then you've got Ebenezer Scrooge and the three ghosts, past, present and future. I saw recently, a movie, The Man Who Invented Christmas. Some of you have seen that, about Dickens and the circumstances of him writing The Christmas Carol. And it's just striking how unimportant Christmas was in Victorian England back before that time. But it was really Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and then Dickens in the story that made it huge. So just all of these images. And then there are other threads that are theological, like the hymn we just sang, "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" is the most... I think the most theologically rich Christmas carol we ever sing. "Christ by highest heaven adored Christ the everlasting Lord. Laid in time, behold him come, offspring of a virgin's womb. Veiled in flesh, the godhead, see. Hail the incarnate deity." Incarnate deity. "Pleased as man with man to dwell, Jesus our Immanuel." What you may not realize is Charles Wesley wrote maybe dozens of verses to that and those were the best. The four that we know are the best. Wes chose a few extra. Where did you find those? You have to ask him. Where did you find out about the second Adam? That was amazing. But I know that Charles Wesley wrote more than made it in the hymnal. Very rich and powerful, and so we should saturate ourselves in it. Now when we come to the Magi, there are lots of misconceptions. So here I have to go there, I have to talk about the nativity sets. So there we see Joseph, Mary, baby Jesus, the shepherds, that's all good. A barn, maybe, might have been in a cave, but barn, manger, fine. And there they are, the three kings, alright? And they're in rich kingly robes and they've all got different ornate boxes and they're offering... I've got it too. I set it out every year without any pangs of conscience at all. Now honestly, the number of the Magi is unclear. Because they gave three gifts we think there are three of them, we don't know. The Magi are not in any way said to be kings in the account. They're Magi. Talk about what that means in a moment. Those two misconceptions come together in a very famous Christmas carol, "We Three Kings... " You know that one, "We three Kings of Orient are bearing gifts, we traverse afar. Field and fountain, moor and mountain, following yonder star." In the 14th century, a cleric named John of Hildesheim wrote a work called "The History of The Three Kings." So you can look it up, you can get some of the text online, it's public domain at this point. He included some details about the star they followed, details that are not found in the Bible. He gave us their three names, Melchior, Balthasar, and Gaspar. They were said to be kings of Ind, Chaldea, and Persia. They chanced to meet on the outskirts of Jerusalem, all of them guided by the star, they bumped into each other and then they proceeded together to Bethlehem where they presented their gifts. They departed back together to the border of the ancient realm of Ind, where a watchtower is maintained, that's where the star had first been sighted. On and on, this account goes. Turned out that all three of the kings returned to the watchtower on the border of Ind, and there they built a large and ornate tomb for themselves and they all died on the same day and were buried in that tomb. Well, so much for John of Hildesheim's account. In the city of Cologne, Germany, you can go and actually find supposedly the bones of all three kings. So, if you wanna make a pilgrimage to Cologne, Germany, and go to the shrine of the three kings, there are some bones. I don't know whose bones they are, but there are some bones there. But today, I think it's better for us to walk through the biblical account and see what Matthew tells us and what timeless lessons we can take from this beautiful narrative. II. Walking Through the Biblical Account So let's begin at verse 1 of chapter 2 of Matthew. Verses 1-2, "After Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, 'Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship Him.'" So this occurs some time after the birth of Christ. The only account we have of that, of course, is Luke 2, which I've already cited a little bit, the account of the shepherds, the angelic visiting, the army, the host of heaven, the glory of God. Here in this text, the time is set as the reign of King Herod, Herod the Great. Herod was a thoroughly evil man. He was paranoid, he was insecure, very powerful. Under his rule, the Temple, the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem was refurbished and greatly expanded with mighty stones, the very things that Jesus' apostles pointed out to him right before his death, such that the temple in Jesus' day was called Herod's Temple. He was given the title "King of the Jews," though he actually wasn't Jewish at all, he was Idumean. His father, Herod Antipater, had done some favor for the Romans and as a result, Herod's family was given the right to rule Judea under Roman rule. Herod was a consummate politician. He did everything he could to curry Roman favor and maintain his power. In return, the Roman Senate gave him an army and with it, he expanded his borders into Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. He was ruthless and merciless as a ruler. He slaughtered zealots by the score, any who would cause any trouble to the Romans. He had 10 wives and 12 sons. One of his wives, Mariamne, had a brother named Aristobulus who was the Jewish high priest. Herod the Great thought he was a threat and had him murdered, then he had Mariamne killed as well. He was so paranoid that he had his two eldest sons put to death. His entire life was one of plots and assassinations, all of them geared to keep him in power. One of the final acts of his life was the arrest of some leading citizens of Jerusalem with the command that they be killed the moment he died so that there would be weeping in Jerusalem at the time of his death. He knew very well no one would be weeping for him. So this is the king, this is the setting, this is the one who is in our account. Now, who are the Magi? As we've already said, they almost certainly were not kings, but rather were counselors to kings. The word magi links them directly to the priestly cast of the Medes, those that linked up with the Persians to topple the Babylonian Empire, the Medes, according to the ancient historian, Herodotus. They were active throughout Babylon, Persia and Mesopotamia during the region of the Old Testament. The original Magi were priests of the Zoroastrian religion. Zoroastrianism was the official, the state religion of the Persian Empire. Amazingly, it's still practiced by a very small group in India called the Parsis, who fled when the Muslims took over in Persia, modern-day Iran. Zoroastrianism has some parallels to Judaism, monotheism, animal sacrifice, hereditary priestly cast like the Levites has that, but the religion was essentially satanic because it had a mixture of the occult. They did a lot of witchcraft, sorcery, potions. And especially, they would blend science, would be a legitimate science, chemistry, etcetera, with the occultic issues. So you would have astronomy, which would be the stargazing. When you're looking up at the sky, the night sky and noting the alignment of the stars, the planets, different motions, and the spheres, that's astronomy, science. With astrology, which is taking whatever insights you find from the stars and applying them to current events here on earth or about the future, so that's astrology. And they did both. They were experts at both. They were greatly desired as counselors to kings throughout the ancient Near East, they rose to positions of power in the courts of the kings and the Babylonian and middle Persian and Greek empires. The word magistrate in English comes from them. The Latin word for teacher is Magister also comes from magi. And of course, we get the word magic or magician from them as well. Now, we meet them in the Book of Daniel, and this is very relevant to our story in Daniel chapter 2. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and he wanted to know what it meant, and the Magi were experts at interpreting dreams. They frequently would write down interpretations of dreams, a scheme that you would take when you see these symbols. They had whole libraries of Dream Interpretations. Nebuchadnezzar didn't trust them as far as he could throw them. So in order to confirm that they could give a right interpretation of his dream, he wanted them to tell him what his dream was, the content of the dream and then he would give them permission to interpret it, this is all in Daniel chapter 2. And so he calls the men in Daniel 2:2, the king summoned the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers to tell them what he had dreamt. None of them could do it. But God revealed the content of the dream and its meaning to Daniel and his friends as they fasted and prayed throughout the night. And it had to do with the flow of human history, it was a statue with a head of gold and chest and arms of silver and belly and thighs of bronze and legs of iron and feet, partly iron, partly clay. It was a statue and it had to do with the unfolding of human empires, one empire succeeding the next. And at the end, the interpretation of that, Daniel 2:44 says, "In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself endure forever?" An eternal kingdom. And every kingdom needs a king. So we're talking about an eternal king of an eternal kingdom. And it's quite possible that Daniel, and perhaps other Jews and succeeding generations kept these prophecies, these Jewish prophecies alive in that region of the world, and it's specifically among the cast of the Magi. The Magi speak in this text of one born King of the Jews. No one is born King. You can be born the crown prince, the heir to the throne, but Jesus is born a King, and that's prophecy, there was no baby gonna be born in Palestine who would be born King of the Jews. And so that's all got to do with prophecy. So we see this rich heritage of dreams and stars and Jewish prophecies perhaps coming together. And look at verse two, at the star they had seen. "Where is the one they said who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship Him." Magi were stargazers, astronomers and astrologers, both. They were led by dreams and visions and they also had these prophecies. And suddenly, this celestial portent comes up in the skies. You would imagine a larger, more radiant, more glorious, different, don't know, just different caught their attention, never seen anything like it before. It appeared. Either in the East or it's rising, can't tell from the Greek. But it had the ability to move and it was the kind of thing that you would want to follow if you're into that type of thing, where you thought that the celestial portent meant something for the future on Earth. And they did believe that. And so clearly, they started to move and they started to follow this star. Now many have wondered, tried to figure out what this thing was. They link it to Jupiter or the moons of Jupiter or a comet. I don't think any of those explains actually what the star did. Its ability to move, to lead people, to... It wasn't moving rapidly like a shooting star. It was just... The journey would have taken a long time, weeks. And it had the ability to stop over a specific place in Bethlehem and identify where the baby Jesus was. If you look at verse 9, it says, "The star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was." All I can do is speculate, I can imagine it was an angel or something, they're sometimes likened to stars or just an inanimate light that had these attributes similar to, let's say the pillar of fire that led the Jews out of bondage in Egypt. A light that would go at night and lead them on and identify a specific house where the baby was. Now, when they come with this question, this question disturbs Herod. Look at verse 3, "When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed. He was turbulent within him and all Jerusalem with him." This is no surprise, from what you've already heard about Herod, how paranoid he was, how zealous to hold on to his throne... What would it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? Willingness to give up. Whoever finds his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. If he said, let him have my throne, I wanna worship Him, everything would have been different, but that wasn't his nature. And specifically the phrase, "Where is the one born King of the Jews?" That was his title. He was jealous for it, he was shaken deeply and he shakes Jerusalem with him. I don't know what that means, but we can imagine. So he calls in the scholars in verses 4-6 to ask a biblical question. "When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. "In Bethlehem, in Judea, they replied, for this is what the prophet has written." But you, Bethlehem in the land of Judah, by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will be shepherd of my people, Israel."" So this is amazing, these chief priests, scribes, coming together and they've got the right Bible answer ready to go. And they know exactly where the Messiah is to be born, they've got the right biblical answer. Don't you wonder why they didn't go and look for themselves? It's not a long trip from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, why not go and find out? But they had no interest in it. So they've got the right prophecy, the Jewish religion was all set up with the prophecies, but they didn't think they were being fulfilled. And this becomes a pattern that's lasted to our present day. Accurate thinking about the prophecies, but not thinking they've been fulfilled in Jesus. And so they didn't go anywhere. Now, at this time, we are putting the accounts together, the census was going on, populations were moving to their ancestral homes, and those of the household of David, the lineage of David, were going to Bethlehem, the city of David. And so this was all going on. Now, the words of the prophecy come from Micah chapter 5:1-2. And it speaks there of a ruler whose origins are from ancient times, from eternity past. And he's gonna come in and be a ruler who will shepherd the people of Israel. What a beautiful prophecy and a prediction. Well, Herod hears this, he's got the location, he's got this shocking turn of events of Magi saying that a baby has been born king of the Jews. So this paranoid, wicked tyrant is not gonna let this sit. He was an evil man, but he was hardly passive, he was not lazy or indolent. He was a man of action. He was a doer. And so he hatches a plan to use the Magi to lead him to the baby. Look at verses 7-8, "Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. [He's got the location, now he needs the time. Verse 8] He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me so that I too may go and worship him." Well, obviously, we know his intentions are dark, he had no intention of worshipping this child. He knew the general location, the vicinity, but he didn't know exactly where this baby was and he wanted to know the timetable. 'Cause we know exactly what he's going to do, he's gonna try to kill this child. He's gonna search for the child to try to kill him. Well, "After they had heard the king, [verse 9] and they went on the way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was." So we've got this moving, heavenly, glorious being, angel or star moving on ahead and they follow the short distance from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. And it stops and it illuminates, verse 11, it speaks of a house. So again, sorry for your nativity set. But the baby is in a house at this point. Which house? They didn't have addresses back then, they didn't have numbers on the houses, so it's helpful to have a heavenly column of light, don't you think? Illuminating the house, just like your Christmas card show. I think that's probably exactly what happened. "This is the house, go here." It's incredible. And so the house is glowing with a heavenly light and so they go there. And it's identified in verse 10, I love this, "When they saw the star, they were overjoyed." Oh, how I love meditating on that. The purpose of all of this is your joy in the glory of God. That's what's going on here. That you would be redeemed out of dark idolatrous wicked thoughts to find joy in the glory, the radiant glory of almighty God, salvation. The joy of salvation, that's what we've got here in verse 10. That's the whole reason for Jesus coming, as it says in Luke 2:10 and 11, the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David, a savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord." Isaiah 9 speaks beautifully of this incredible joy that should be filling our hearts. It says in Isaiah 9, "You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy. They rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing up the plunder. For to us, a child is born, to us, a son is given. The government will be on His shoulders. Great joy and enlarging of a nation's prosperity, the beauty of a harvest and of the military conquest." Sheer unadulterated happiness, that's what it's all about. I know we've seen many times that saying, "Wise Men Still Seek Him." I was thinking about that yesterday, I was thinking about that statement, "Wise Men Still Seek Him", it's like, yes, but they only seek him because He first sought them. We love because He first loved us, we seek because he first seeks us. It says in John chapter 4, "These are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks." He seeks us, he sought the Magi where they were living. He brought these compelling forces into their lives to get them to get up and move and go and find Jesus. So the real wisdom to seek Jesus comes from God ultimately from him first, and so they sought him and they found him and they found him at a... Joy, overwhelming joy. But what I find so amazing is how little they know about Jesus and His mission at that point. I think they're just happy at coming to the end of their journey. They found the baby, they saw the King who has been born, the King of the Jews, but the joy is infinitely greater for them now. They bowed down and worshipped this baby based on a very small amount of information. We know more now, don't we? We know all of the reasons why Jesus came, at least those recorded in scripture, we know what he came to do. And so how much greater should our joy be? I was praying this morning as I was preparing to preach, I was like, "Oh God, just give me the ability to communicate the words of scripture in such a way that God's people, my brothers, and sisters would feel the joy they should feel." You should have a foretaste of joy that cuts through all of the materialism, all of the business and all of the cares and grieve that are attended to 12 months a year of sickness and death and sorrow and sin. Just let all of those things slip off you. Some day, if you're a Christian, someday they're all gonna slip off you. You're gonna leave them behind like Elijah left his cloak behind. You're gonna just be ascended up into heaven and you're gonna be free and you're gonna celebrate, and you're gonna be learning Jesus up in heaven. These Magi knew very little about this baby and what he had come to do, but they were still filled with joy. Verse 10, "When they saw the star, they were overjoyed." "And then they bowed down... " Verse 11, "On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary and they bowed down and worshipped him." This worship is the point of our salvation, God sent his Son into the world to free us from empty idols. To serve the living and true God. And to worship Christ is to worship the living God. Jesus said, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." "God sent his Son into the world to free us from empty idols. To serve the living and true God. And to worship Christ is to worship the living God." So we can say, anyone who worships Christ through him worships the Father. And so they worshiped him. And then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. These gifts represent sacrificial worship. They're costly to the Magi and therefore acceptable to God. Practically, it could be that Joseph sold them and used them to pay for their time in Egypt. Joseph and Mary were not wealthy. Then the Magi were warned in another dream in verse 12 not to go back to Herod and they returned to their country by another route. Now we know the tragic epilogue, the rest of the chapter. God warns Joseph in a dream to get up and take the child and his mother, and he got up during the night and fled for their lives to Egypt. So it could be fulfilled the prophecy out of Egypt, I called my Son, but then Herod realizing he had been outwitted by the Magi was enraged and sent soldiers to Bethlehem and to its vicinity to kill all the boy babies that were two years old and under in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. A terrible tragedy, fulfilling the words of Jeremiah the prophet, "A voice is heard of lamentation weeping, great mourning. Rachel, weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted because they are no more." So isn't it amazing how we go from incredible joy in verse 10, exceeding joy to incredible lamentation by the end of the chapter? Jesus was a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. He had to weigh down into our misery, in our sorrow and sin and death and bring us up out into lasting joy. Alright, that's the account. Let's just look at some timeless lessons by way of application. "Jesus was a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. He had to weigh down into our misery, in our sorrow and sin and death and bring us up out into lasting joy." III. The Timeless Spiritual Significance First of all, the Magi represent first fruits from the Gentile nations. God has a saving intention to every tribe and language and people and nation. And instead of them coming to the promised land, the Old Covenant was a come-and-see type of religion. Where the Queen of Sheba came from the ends of the earth to see Solomon's wisdom and glory. The new covenant is a go-and-tell kind of religion, where from Jerusalem through Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth the message goes out. And so the Magi are first fruits of that in Matthew 8:11, it says, "I say to you, many will come from the east and the west and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven." Psalm 22 predicted it. 27 through 29, it says, "Now all the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before Him. For dominion belongs to the Lord and He rules over the nations. All the rich of the earth will feast and worship. All who go down to the dust will kneel before Him", those who cannot keep themselves alive, they're gonna bow down before him and worship him, Psalm 22. Isaiah 66, almost at the very end of that incredible prophecy, verse 19, it says, "I will set a sign among them and I will send some of those who survive to the nations, to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians, famous as archers, to Tubal and Greece and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory and they will proclaim my glory among the nations." That's missions. And so God overruled the false religion of the Magi and compelled them physically to go. But now no one needs to go anywhere. Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, "You don't need to make any pilgrimages anymore, neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem." God is Spirit and you can worship him anywhere you want. We have to go and tell. That's all about missions. Jesus said in Luke 24, after his resurrection, this is what is written, that Christ would suffer and rise from the dead. And repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. So the Magi were the first fruits from the Gentiles. Secondly, the star represents supernatural testimony to God, to Christ. God crafted the heavens and made a normal communication of his glory and the stars and the planets and the sun, the moon. And the heavens are telling the Glory of God, it says in Psalm 19, day and night, they display knowledge. Day after day, there's no language where their speech is not heard. So that's natural theology, that's the communication of the existence of a great God. But then, there is one night for the Magi, supernatural, unearthly testimony. Supernatural in breaking to the natural order that led them to change their lives and their way of thinking, their way of worship. And that represents the supernatural communication that is in the scripture. And we are given the word of God to know who Jesus is and what he came to do, how he was born of a virgin, how he was an incarnate God, how he lived a sinless life and did all these signs and wonders and miracles and how he died on the cross and rose from the dead, and how if you believe in Him, if you put your trust in Him, all your sins will be forgiven. That's supernatural, and the two come together. Thirdly, dreams, unusual guidance. I began the sermon with a couple of illustrations of this. I was reading a book called, "Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus", Nabeel Qureshi. I would commend it to you. A tremendous story about how this very intelligent, capable college student, a Muslim, came to faith in Christ. God used three different dreams to kind of finish Nabeel's doubts and concerns coupled with a Christian friend who was continually sharing the gospel with him. So when we get to heaven, we're gonna hear these stories of the streaming of the nations, supernaturally uphill. Can't wait. Fourthly, the prophecies of scripture are God's clearest guidance. Micah 5 tells us where Jesus is to be born. But the most important prophecies in the Old Testament don't have to do with the physical details of Jesus's life, how he was Jewish, how he was born in Bethlehem, etcetera, it has to do with why he came, what he came to do. And of all of the prophecies that described what he came to do, Isaiah 53 is the most important. There it says in verses 2-6, "He grew up before him like a tender shoot and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him. There's nothing impressive, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds, we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." That's why he came. There's no text in all the Bible that says it more clearly than that. Jesus came to die in our place that we might live forever. So the question for you is, do you know Him? Have you trusted in Him? That text, Isaiah 53, begins with these words, "Lord, who has believed our message? Or to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" Has the arm of the Lord been revealed to you, to your heart? Do you see in Jesus, your Savior, from the wrath of God? Fifth, the priests represent Jewish indifference. As I mentioned, they couldn't be bothered to go from their study of the scripture to actually see the fulfillment there in Bethlehem. And Paul says that even to this day, a veil covers their hearts whenever scriptures are read, for the greater part of the Jews do not yet believe that Jesus is their Messiah. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive Him. And yet, someday we believe that God is gonna do a supernatural work in the Jewish people and remove that heart of stone and put in a heart of flesh. He's gonna take that veil of blindness away from their eyes and they're gonna see in Christ the glory of God. Sixthly, the king represents royal hostility to the gospel. We live in a world set against Christ where kings and prime ministers and lowly government officials use their positions of influence to try to stop the spread of the Gospel, it's happening in nations all around the world: Communist nations, Muslim nations, atheistic, secular nations, Hindu nations, rulers use their positions to try to hinder and stop the spread of the Gospel. It is a futile battle. Psalm 2 says, "Why do the nations conspire and rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One." They say, "Let us break their chains and throw off their fetters." The One enthroned in heaven, what does He do? He laughs. There is nothing these low-level kings can do to stop the spread of the Gospel, but we as Christians, we need to be mindful of that battle and prayerful. When Peter was arrested and put in jail by another King Herod, the church gathered and spent the whole night in prayer for him. So also we Christians who know nothing but religious freedom, at least right now, we do, we should be mindful of the fact that brothers and sisters in Christ are incarcerated in other countries and pray for their release. There are ministries that talk about the persecuted church, find out more, and pray for them. Seventh. The slaughter represents spiritual warfare. I thought I would never have mentioned Revelation 12 in a Christmas sermon again, but here I am, I'm mentioning the fact that Revelation 12 reveals behind the scenes that the slaughter of the innocents in Bethlehem was motivated by Satan. He hates Jesus, he hates Jesus's people, he hates all humans, and he orchestrated the slaughter of the infants and that struggle is still going on. It is Satan that is moving and pushing these low-level kings and officials and all that to do what they do, he's the puppet master. And so we need to be mindful of the spiritual warfare involved in the Christian life and put on our spiritual armor. IV. Application: The Real Gift of Christmas Eighth. The gifts represent sacrifices of love. Psalm 72, 8-11 says, "He will rule from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth. All the Desert tribes will bow down before Him and His enemies will lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and distant shores will bring tribute to him, the kings of Sheba and Seba will present him with gifts. All kings will bow down to him and all nations will serve him." So here are these Magi picturing that, Psalm 72, they're all bowing down before Jesus. And the gold to me represents tribute, the most precious metal there is brought in tribute to this king. It's a sacrifice. And the incense was frequently mingled with sacrifices and would go up in a fragrant offering to God, and this, I think represents the deity of Christ, they're mindful of the deity of Christ. And then the myrrh, of course, was there at Jesus's death when Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus used it to wrap him up in cloths. The evidence of his physical resurrection still smelled of myrrh. All of these things are very expensive. They're very costly, they represent the principle of sacrifice and worship. We can't give to Christ a sacrifice that costs us nothing. So you have to ask what does your Christianity cost to you? What costly patterns of service are you involved in? What patterns of outreach and service to alleviate suffering among other people in the world, especially eternal suffering of hell, are you involved in? And if you must answer honestly, not much, if any, at all, then I would urge you to pray. Then in the year 2018, God would give you a pattern of ministry, a regular ministry that will cost you something. It will cost you time, energy and money and will result in the alleviation of suffering, especially eternal suffering through the preaching of the Gospel. Pray for God to give you an identifiable ministry so that a year from now, if I were to say, "What ministry would you say cost you something in sacrificially giving on your part", you'll be able to tell an answer. So if you don't have one, ask God to give you one. One way you can sacrifice now, and we've said it all month, is 'The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering'. I'm a trustee of the International Mission Board, and the missionaries need funds to stay on the mission field, it's literally true that with insufficient funds missionaries are called back and have to enter a different pattern of service here in the States. That's what happened two years ago to balance the budget. So I'm saying going forward, the budget balanced, it's healthy, the IMB is on solid financial ground, but it depends every year on the gifts of Christians like you. So give. Ask the Lord what he would have you to give and give sacrificially. Ninth and finally. Worship is the ultimate purpose. They came to worship Him, they bowed down and worshipped Him. I would suggest that tomorrow, set aside some time to worship Christ. At the name of Jesus, every knee is gonna bow and every tongue is going to swear that Jesus Christ is Lord. Set aside time to worship Christ tomorrow. I just wanna finish with these words. The real gift of Christmas has nothing to do with what you bring to him, has nothing to do with your version of gold or incense or myrrh. The gifts the Magi brought, they were a nice touch and they symbolized our giving to Christ, but honestly, what's far more important is what he gave you or came to give you. The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. And out of Jesus's death flows every gift you'll ever need, full forgiveness of sins. By the shedding of his blood, all your sins are forgiven. Adoption as sons and daughters of the living God. A guaranteed place at the banqueting table with Christ in the new heaven, new earth. Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, a lifetime of good works that he wants you to do. And then a resurrection body just like his that will shine like the sun in the kingdom of your Father. That's what he came to give, far more important than any gift you could ever give to him. Close with me in prayer. Lord, thank you for the time we've had to celebrate with great joy, the truth of Christ being born, the truth of Christ, God incarnated, walking amongst us, the truth of Christ dying in our place on the cross, the truth of his physical resurrection from the dead, his ascension to the right hand of God. Oh God, I pray that you would now fill each of my brothers and sisters in Christ with a sense of supernatural joy, that despite anything they may be going through right now in their lives, that they feel a foretaste through the Holy Spirit, a foretaste of their heavenly inheritance, which is joy in Christ. And Lord, I finally pray for those that walked in here as yet unconverted, speak to them, speak to their hearts, let them know, Lord Jesus, that you are a tender-hearted and merciful Savior and that you can and you will save them of sins if they will simply call on the name of the Lord. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen.
When the sun came up on May 28 in the year 585 BCE, the Medes and Lydians were still at war. They had been at each other's throats for years, and it looked like there was no end in sight for their conflict. But something extraordinary happened on the battlefield that day, which changed everything. This episode also features an interview with Dr. Fred Espenak, an astrophysicist, and scientist emeritus at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
A Flyover of Isaiah Amen. So this morning, just right before worship, I was talking to a young man and he looked at where I usually put the sermon outline, and he said, "Are you preaching about nothing today?" So, I'm not preaching about nothing, there's going to be a lot. I just couldn't give an outline for the Book of Isaiah. About six years ago, I was invited by Danny Aikin and David Platt to do a commentary on the Book of Isaiah. And they said two things, they said you can have five years to do it and that it's not supposed to be a verse-by-verse commentary. Well, I knew right away I was going to take the whole five years, that was a given. But the thing that was an agony to me was that I wouldn't be able to go into every verse like I love and to celebrate the truth and wring the truth out of each verse. But sometimes I think it's valuable to do that. For us, the saying of an individual, you can't see the forest for the trees. They're so focused on details, they can't see the big picture. But the beauty of the word of God is that both the trees, the individual details and the whole glorious forest are radiant with truth and that the tiniest details can bear the closest scrutiny and investigation but so also the big overarching story is worth studying as well. So this morning we're going to go through the whole Book of Isaiah, as Chris said, a kind of a flyover. Some years ago I was at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, and I saw an IMAX movie which was a kind of a flyover of the continental US, and it was really cool. They timed it so that the length of the movie, I think an hour. They began in New York Harbor looking at the Statue of Liberty and then went across, and you're just moving it at just the right pace to get across the entire span of the continental US, and you're seeing the hills of Pennsylvania, the farms of Pennsylvania and then the coal mining district of Western Pennsylvania, then on and you know, the cities like Cincinnati and then as you kept going across the corn fields of Indiana and then across the... You know, swung down to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, the gateway to the west and then you're moving across all the wheat fields of Kansas, it was just beautiful, the deserts of Nevada and Utah. And then, Yosemite, the Half Dome and finally the sparkling sea, the Pacific and the Pacific Northwest, and how beautiful that was along that coast, and I'll never forget it. And I thought it might... It's just an amazing thing to be able to figure out how to do that, what height to fly at, how high, how low, and what you could see, when to go faster, when to slow down. And it was really cool. So I want to try to do some of that with the Book of Isaiah today, the most visionary of all prophets. That's how Isaiah begins. The word of the Lord that Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw. So he's just a visionary prophet. Toward the beginning of my Christian life, I heard one of the best sermons I ever heard from John McArthur and he's been a role model and a mentor for me in terms of verse-by-verse exposition and sequential exposition which I believe in. But this sermon was entitled, A Jet Tour Through the Book of Revelation. And it was really cool because he went through the whole book of Revelation in one hour. It's ironic because that's where we're going, God willing, next. And I'm not doing any jet tour next week. We're going to begin to go through those chapters. But I love the way he gave a fascinating overview of the entire book in one hour. Now if anything, the Book of Isaiah would repay even more that kind of handling and special handling as we study through the themes that are so rich and so full. And I have less than one hour with you today. Now there are lots of ways that I could do this, this overview of the whole Book of Isaiah but it seems best for me to focus on how the prophecy of Isaiah unfolds salvation, or foretells really, salvation in Christ. That's going to be the center piece of what I'm looking for. Now, I could go topically and logically through the book in a theologically and a logically organized manner, letting the topics dictate what verses I would bring out. But that would result in a confusing jump around through the book from this chapter up ahead to this one, and then back again to this and then zeroing on this and then... It's like, it'd be jumping all around. And I thought it might be better to go in consecutive order, honoring the way that the Holy Spirit has given us the book, beginning at chapter 1 through chapter 66. My goal is to present or see how the book presents the amazing grace of God in Christ as the savior of the world. Now, what I'm going to do is I'm going to project on the screen these cross references so that you don't have to jump around. We're going to be going fast and I want you to be able to see it so that you're free from having to jump ahead in the book and just look and read or just listen as you do it. But I know that Mark is happy to try to stick with me. You're ready, brother? But the first verse that I wanted to share is actually from Revelation 19:10, and it says there, "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. In other words, the essence, the spirit of prophecy is to give witness to Jesus. So the central purpose of the majestic sprawling complex vision of the Book of Isaiah is to give testimony of Jesus. Now, John says this incredible thing about Isaiah in the Gospel of John, in John 12:41, that Isaiah saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him. Now essential to that is the ability that God alone possesses to predict the future and this sets Christianity apart from every other world religion. God challenged the idols of Isaiah’s day You heard Chris focus on this just a few minutes ago, but these are some amazing verses. God challenged the idols of Isaiah's day with this challenge. Isaiah 41:22-23, it says, "Bring in your idols to tell us what is going to happen. Tell us what the former things were so that we may consider them and know their final outcome or declare to us the things to come. Tell us what the future holds so that we may know that you are gods. Do something, whether good or bad, so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear." The idols can't do it. There's no way the idols can predict the future, only God can. And again, Isaiah 41:26-27, "Who told of this from the beginning, so that we could know or beforehand, so we could say, he was right. No one told of this. No one foretold it, no one heard any words from you. I was the first to tell Zion." And then skipping ahead to Isaiah 46:9-10, "Remember the former things those of long ago, 'I am God and there is no other, I am God and there is none like me, I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times what is still to come. I say my purpose will stand and I will do all that I please.'" So God in the Book of Isaiah makes plain that he is the only one that can predict the future. He's the only one that has that power. God alone can predict the future because he alone is sovereign over the unfolding events of human history. He decrees what comes to pass and then he makes it happen. What makes Isaiah so amazing and so challenging is how God weaves together events from planet Earth, things that were current in that day and things that were unfolding in at that time, including the rise and fall of nations at that time, together with his spiritual plans for the redeemed of all nations, of all time, he weaves that together. So the coming of Christ was predicted and unfolded in great detail in the Book of Isaiah. Now, when I first went through Isaiah in its entirety with the idea of doing this sermon, I zeroed in on 36 passages to highlight, and I just started to do the math, and I said, "Okay, that's less than a minute for each one." I'd barely have enough time to read them so I reduced it somewhat, but as I was going over this sermon this morning, I realized I barely have enough time to talk about each of them. So this is definitely a jet tour flyover. However, this is my 80th sermon in the Book of Isaiah, and I think all of them are online. So if you want to go back and dive into some of the more details I think they're available online. The Sinfulness of the Human Race and God’s Call to Repent We're going to begin in Isaiah 1:2-4 with the sinfulness of the human race and God's call to repent. The prophecy begins with these words, "Hear O heavens, listen O Earth, for the Lord has spoken. I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner's manger. But Israel does not know, my people do not understand. Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption. They have forsaken the Lord. They have spurned the Holy One of Israel, and turned their backs on him." God called a nation, the Jews, Israel to represent the entire human race. God gave them many blessings, but they refused to trust him, they refused to obey him, so God had to bring judgments on them. Now, the depravity of the entire human race is taught with great clarity throughout the book. But the focus is first and foremost on the Jews on Israel, and their sinfulness. So God calls on the people to repent of their sins and to reason with him. Right there in that first chapter, Isaiah 1:16-20, there he calls on the people, "Wash and make yourselves clean, take your evil deeds out of my sight. Stop doing wrong, learn to do right. Seek justice, encourage the oppressed, defend the cause of the fatherless. Plead the case of the widow. Come now, let us reason together says the Lord, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow, though they are red as crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you'll eat the best from the land, but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." Now, this sets the stage of the whole book really. The people actually cannot obey those commands, they cannot. They cannot wash and make themselves clean. They cannot take their evil deeds out of God's sight, they cannot stop doing wrong, they cannot learn to do right. But Christ can do all of those things for us. Indeed, he has done all of those things for us. Christ can change our rebellious ways. Christ has the power to remove the heart of stone and give the heart of flesh. He has the power through his shed blood to atone for our sins, and to give us a new nature, and enable us to walk in God's ways. The Vision of the Entire World Streaming to Salvation in Christ Now, the next is the vision of the entire world streaming to God in Christ. In Isaiah 2:2-4, it says, "In the last days, the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as chief among the mountains, will be raised above the hills and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, 'Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways so that we may walk in His paths. The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, He will judge between the nations and settle disputes for many peoples, they will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.'" Now, this is one of many verses in Isaiah that speak of the gospel spreading to the ends of the Earth, beginning in Jerusalem. It's going to spread to all nations and in this text, it says they're going to stream up Mount Zion effectively. You have this incredible image of a supernatural streaming of the nations uphill, counter to all laws of physics and gravity. And they're going to stream to Mount Zion by faith in Christ. And they will both come and they will say, "Come." In other words the spiritual pilgrimage that we are on as we follow Christ who is the way and the truth and the life, and we come to the Father through Him, as we're streaming to the heavenly Jerusalem, we are also evangelists and missionaries, we're not only coming but we are saying, "Come," to the nations, and we have both of those roles to play. The Vision of the Preincarnate Christ on His Throne Next, we have already the vision that's been read for us this morning by Jason. The vision of Isaiah's call and the pre-incarnate Christ on his throne. When the Apostle John said that Isaiah saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him, we can think first and foremost of Isaiah 6. In verse 1-4 it says, "In the year of the King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted. And the train of his robe filled the temple, and above him were seraphs, each with six wings. And with two wings, they covered their faces, and with two, they covered their feet, and with two, they were flying and they were calling to one another, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty, the whole Earth is full of his glory.' And at the sound of their voices, the doorposts and thresholds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke." This is a vision of the pre-incarnate Christ, seated on his throne, worshiped by angels and by spiritual beings, holy angels and they're crying out. And this brings a tremendous sense of guilt in Isaiah himself, verses 5-7, he says, "'Woe is me, I am ruined, for I am a man of unclean lips. And I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the king, the Lord Almighty.' And then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar, and with it, he touched my mouth and said, 'See this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away. Your sin is atoned for.'" Now, this is Isaiah's calling to be a prophet to the nations. But he's told right away that the people wouldn't listen to him. Verses 8-10, "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' And he said, 'Here am I, send me.' And he said, 'Go and tell this people, be ever-hearing but never understanding, be ever-seeing but never perceiving. Make the heart of this people callous, make their ears dull, close their eyes, otherwise they might see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.'" Isaiah would take in and absorb the vision of the holiness of Christ, Almighty God and of the people's sinfulness, he that lived in a land of people of unclean lips, and he would take that message also of Christ's atonement how sin can be atoned for and removed. And he'd take it out to his own people, but they wouldn't accept it, they wouldn't believe it, they would reject it. The Promise of the Birth of a Son Called Immanuel Next, in the very next chapter, we have the promise of the birth of the savior, of a son called Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14, "The Lord himself will give you a sign, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." This is the mystery of the virgin birth of Christ, how he had a human mother, but no human father that God, Almighty God was his father. Fully God, fully human. That foreshadowed here in this prophecy, not just the assertion, the virgin will be with child, but the very word Immanuel, which means God with us. That he came to Earth to live with us in a physical human body. This is even more heightened by the next famous passage in Isaiah 9:1-7, there it says, "In the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan-- The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian's defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. Every warrior's boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this." This is the prediction of a great light that's shining in a land, not just a land but a world of darkness. People walking in darkness who have no hope. Of a great victory won and of plunder of spoils from that victory, given to us. Why? Because to us a child is born. And so the birth of a child speaks to the humanist. But the titles, Wonderful Counselor, literally miracle counselor, Mighty God. A child that's born who is called Mighty God in a fiercely monotheistic setting, this is the incarnation of Christ, the God Man, the deity of Christ, established centuries before Jesus was even born. And it satisfies our yearning for a righteous government, a government that's perfect and upright that will last forever. And the increase of his government and peace there will be no end, it will go on for eternity. The Picture of the Greatness of Christ’s Kingdom Next, in Isaiah 11:1-9 we have a picture of Christ's kingdom and of that government, it says there, " A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him-- the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD-- and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears;but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wickd. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea." This predicts the future, perfect righteousness of Christ's reign. The removal forever of the curse from nature. Animals will no longer be red in tooth and claw, ripping and shredding each other, living for death. And there will be a perfect peace, a peaceful Earth on which he will reign. Now, in that same chapter, we have the prediction of missions, which is a theme again and again in the Book of Isaiah. This message has to be taken to the ends of the Earth. And Isaiah predicts it again and again. Isaiah 11:10-12, "In that day, the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. In that day, the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the sea. He will raise a banner for the nations and he will gather the exiles of Israel, and he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the Earth." Now, next comes a regular theme in Isaiah, and that is the wrath and judgment of God on all the nations. There is continually woven together God's saving purpose for his people, and his wrath and judgment on his enemies. And we see this again and again. Isaiah 13:9-13 focuses on this wrath, his judgment. In those chapters, Isaiah focuses on Babylon first and Assyria next, but the implication is all the godless nations of the Earth will come under God's judgement. Isaiah 13:9-13 says, "Behold, the day of the LORD is coming--a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger-- to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it. The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless. I will make man scarcer than pure gold, more rare than the gold of Ophir. Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the LORD Almighty, in the day of his burning anger." It is because of this terrifying wrath to come that we must flee to Christ. There is no other refuge, there's no other place. God Controls the Unfolding Plan of Human History So, we see how God unfolds and controls his unfolding plan of human history. Again, Chris quoted this in his prayer, Isaiah 14:26-27. "This is the plan determined for the whole world; this is the hand stretched out over all nations. For the Lord Almighty has purposed and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out and who can turn it back?" This is the plan, this is the hand. The plan is God's sovereign plan crafted before the creation of the world for all nations, all people established before the foundation of the world. And then his hand is his sovereign power, the right hand of omnipotence, moving out over the nations, moving out over human history. He is the Alpha, he is the Omega, he will make it happen. This is the plan, this is the hand. Isaiah 14:26 and 27. Now, in Isaiah 13-26 there are many oracles of nations, and these nations were these small nations that lived around Israel and Judah at that time, but it becomes representative of God's sovereign control over all the nations, over all the surface of the Earth throughout all of human history. And it culminates in this vision in Isaiah 24:1-6, it says, "Behold, the LORD is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it; he will ruin its face and scatter its inhabitants-- it will be the same for priest as for people, for master as for servant, for mistress as for maid, for seller as for buyer, for borrower as for lender, for debtor as for creditor. The earth will be completely laid waste and totally plundered. The LORD has spoken this word. The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the exalted of the earth languish. The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt. Therefore earth's inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left. So, God is going to destroy all his enemies and the enemies of his chosen people. But the last enemy to be destroyed is death. Death itself. And that is clearly predicted in Isaiah 25:6-9, one of my favorite oracles, it's also not well-known. Isaiah 25:6-9, it says there, "On this mountain, the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine, the best of meats and the finest of wines. On this mountain, he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the Earth. The Lord has spoken. In that day, they will say, 'Surely this is our God, we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.'" Isn't that marvelous? There'll come a day in which death will be swallowed up forever, and that began to be revealed at Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, the destruction of death in the death of Christ. Hope of the Resurrection of the Dead! And by simple faith in Jesus, we have access to that banquet, that feast that's spread for all nations. By just simple faith in Christ, we trusted in him, it says, and he delivered us. And so, Jesus' resurrection is our great hope that someday death itself will die. So Isaiah 26:19, it says, this is speaking of the general resurrection, "Your dead will live, their bodies will rise, you who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the Earth will give birth to her dead." Now, one theme we see again and again in Isaiah is how often the Jewish people resorted to religious machinery to try to save themselves. We see it right in the first chapter when they're bringing this trampling of God's courts and this bringing of animals and bulls and sheep and all that, and God was sick of it. But then in Isaiah 29:13, he talks about what God, what his problem was with it. And Jesus quotes this concerning the Jews of his own time, Isaiah 29:13, the Lord says, "These people come near me with their mouth, and they honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is only made up of rules taught by men." This is a great danger for religious people around the world, even for us who have heard the gospel of Jesus, for us churchgoing Christians as well, to trust in the religious machinery rather than trusting in Christ, to trust in our own religious works and to have no genuine heart after Christ. Instead, God tells us what true salvation is, Isaiah 30:15, This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: 'In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.'" That's justification by faith alone apart from works, that's what that is. In repentance and rest and trust and quietness, that's salvation in Jesus. But the people didn't want it, they weren't interested in it, they rejected it. Terrifying Predictions of the Coming Wrath Now, of all the predictions of wrath that's going to come on the Earth, perhaps none is more graphic and terrifying than Isaiah 34:1-10. It's hard to read these words and not tremble inwardly if we believe they're really going to happen. Isaiah 34 says, "Come near, you nations, and listen; pay attention, you peoples! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, the world, and all that comes out of it! The LORD is angry with all nations; his wrath is upon all their armies. He will totally destroy them, he will give them over to slaughter. Their slain will be thrown out, their dead bodies will send up a stench; the mountains will be soaked with their blood. All the stars of the heavens will be dissolved and the sky rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree. My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; see, it descends in judgment on Edom, the people I have totally destroyed. The sword of the LORD is bathed in blood, it is covered with fat-- the blood of lambs and goats, fat from the kidneys of rams. For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah and a great slaughter in Edom. And the wild oxen will fall with them, the bull calves and the great bulls. Their land will be drenched with blood, and the dust will be soaked with fat. For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of retribution, to uphold Zion's cause. Edom's streams will be turned into pitch, her dust into burning sulfur; her land will become blazing pitch! It will not be quenched night and day; its smoke will rise forever." Now, God is fully able to carry out this wrath, but he gives us dress rehearsals throughout history to see what it might look like. I think about what Europe look like in May of 1945, what Germany looked like, Berlin. I think about what Tokyo looked like in August of 1945. Just completely leveled, totally destroyed. We get images of this again and again throughout history. One of the clearest indications of God's power to do this is when the Assyrian surrounded Jerusalem and threatened to wipe out the Jews from the face of the Earth and extinguish the lineage of David that would trace down to Jesus. And God will that it would not take place, it would not happen, and he dispatched the angel of the Lord, who many commentators, including me, believe it was pre-incarnate Christ, and Jesus went out and killed 185,000 troops. Look at Isaiah 37:36, " Then the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning-- there were all the dead bodies!" When the people got up the next morning there were all the dead bodies, this was not difficult for Jesus to do, it was easy to do, it did not cause him any physical difficulty. He can put to death people without any effort at all, by speaking with the sword that comes from his mouth, we'll talk about it, God willing, next week. The Turning Point: Isaiah 40 Now, Isaiah 40 marks kind of a turning in the Book of Isaiah, I believe Isaiah 40 is along with Isaiah 53, the two greatest chapters in the Book of Isaiah, maybe two of the greatest chapters in the entire Bible. And Isaiah 40 begins with a message of comfort to sinners, look at Isaiah 40:1-2, "'Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins." A word of comfort to broken-hearted sinners like us, that atonement, full atonement is possible in Jesus. And it speaks of the coming messenger of the Lord, fulfilled by John the Baptist. In verses 3 through 5, "A voice of one calling in the desert, Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low, the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places, a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." And speaks of the transient nature of all humanity. Kind of like the central message of Scripture to us as human beings. Verse 6-8, "A voice says, 'Cry out.' And I said, 'What shall I cry?' 'All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.'" The Proclamation of the Glory of the Lord It speaks of the proclamation of the glory of the Lord. And what's so beautiful about Isaiah 40 is you get infinite majesty in that chapter, and infinite condescension and humility and meekness. Look at verses 9-11, "You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout. Lift it up. Do not be afraid, say to the towns of Judah, 'Here is your God.' See the sovereign Lord comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See his reward is with him and his recompense accompanies him." I love verse 11, "He tends his flock like a shepherd, he gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart. He gently leads those that have young." Do you not feel as a Christian the tenderness and the gentleness of Jesus in caring for you? He is your good shepherd. He holds you close to his heart. But this is the same one that it said in that same chapter, in verse 12-15, is infinite in majesty. "Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance? Who has understood the mind of the LORD, or instructed him as his counselor? Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding? Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust." This infinitely majestic God who marks the heavens with the span of his hand. Verses 22-24, " He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff." This is the immense, infinitely wise, infinitely powerful, omniscient God, God the creator, God the ruler, God the judge who has come to Earth in the person of his Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The Unveiling of Christ, the Savior of the World! In the chapters that follow Isaiah 40, we have multiple visions of the coming Christ, they're called the suffering servant passages, and they begin in Isaiah 42:1-4, "Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his law the islands will put their hope." Don't you love that picture of Jesus? A bruised reed, fragile, he doesn't break it, he binds it back up and it gets healthy again. A smoldering wick, he doesn't snuff it out, he ignites it until it's a blazing bonfire of righteousness, that's Jesus. He's gentle with broken sinners like you and me, and he builds an empire not by crying out in the streets, but by gentleness, the proclamation of peace and forgiveness through faith in his name. And then Isaiah 49:5-6, this servant of the Lord will not merely be the Savior of Israel, but of all the Earth. Look at verse 5 and 6, "And now the Lord says, he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring back Jacob to him and to gather Israel to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord and my God has been my strength. He says, 'It is too small a thing for you to be my servant, to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the Earth.'" It's too small a thing for Jesus just to save the Jews, too small a thing. Now he is the Savior of the ends of the Earth. He's the Savior of Gentiles like you and me. He is the light of the Gentiles, he is the light of our lives and it was predicted long before he was born. But the price tag for that salvation would be high for Jesus, infinitely high. And so in Isaiah 50:4-10, this is Jesus speaking, I think, through the prophet; predicting what it would be like for him to suffer and die for us. Think of this as Jesus speaking, "The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught. The Sovereign LORD has opened my ears, and I have not been rebellious; I have not drawn back. I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame. He who vindicates me is near. Who then will bring charges against me? Let us face each other! Who is my accuser? Let him confront me! It is the Sovereign LORD who helps me. Who is he that will condemn me? They will all wear out like a garment; the moths will eat them up. 10 Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the word of his servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God." Again and again justification by faith, trust in this Jesus who offered his back to those who beat him; trust in this Jesus who didn't hide his face from mocking and spitting and from his beard being plucked out, who willingly laid down his life. Now the greatest single chapter in Isaiah generally called Isaiah 53 actually begins in Isaiah 52 and it portrays, I think it really is the theological center of the whole Bible, actually. Not just of Isaiah, the whole Bible. Begins Isaiah 52:13-15, "Behold my servant will act wisely. He'll be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him. His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness, so will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him, for what they were not told they will see and what they have not heard they will understand." Jesus's form was disfigured beyond any human likeness on the cross. As he suffered and died on the cross it would be hard to imagine that there was depicted the wisdom and the love and the mercy of God, but there it was. And by his death, he, it says, "will sprinkle many nations." That Levitical sprinkling of the blood brought cleansing, and even more infinitely more the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus brings cleansing to the nations. The Greatest Chapter on Substitutionary Atonement Then Isaiah 53:1-6. Now, I think this is the greatest single chapter on the topic of substitutionary atonement. It's the idea of a substitute who is sinless, who is innocent, who died in the place of sinners to remove judgment from them. It's taught again and again in these verses, and I would say it's taught no more clearly anywhere else in the whole Bible than here in Isaiah 53:1-6. Listen to this. "Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all." This is the clear prediction of substitutionary atonement, of a Savior who was sinless in and of himself, but took on our iniquities and died under the wrath of God. We have no other hope than this. What other hope is there that sinners like us that can stand before an infinitely wise, holy God and survive Judgment Day. This is our only hope. And it's a sure and certain hope because God sent him for this very purpose. This is the clear prediction seven centuries before Jesus was born of his death on the cross and of the transfer of guilt from sinners to a substitute, and there's no hope apart from that. This is how we are forgiven and healed by his bloody death. Isaiah 53:7-12, "He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." This is the gospel, this is the centerpiece of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We sinners have no other hope, but this is a sure and certain hope, isn't it? This is a message and it begins in 53:1, "Lord, who has believed our message?" And so, just by believing this message is our forgiveness. The Open Gospel Call and Missionary Success So you have an invitation, an invitation, but it's right from Isaiah 55:1-3, "Come all you who are thirsty, come to the waters. And you who have no money, come buy and eat, come buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend your money on what is not bread and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me and eat what is good and your soul will delight in the richest of fair. Give ear and come to me, hear me that your soul may live." That is a gospel invitation right in Isaiah 55, pleading with us to stop living our lives for things that don't satisfy, that will leave us empty and will condemn us on judgment day. Come to Christ, feed on Christ, drink and eat of Christ. But God also tells us this opportunity will not last forever. We have an opportunity now, today. Isaiah 55:6-7 says, "Seek the Lord while he may be found, call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God and he will freely pardon him." This is the gospel that's been going out, beginning at Jerusalem through Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the Earth and God promises that his word will most certainly succeed. It's going to bring in a great multitude from every tribe, language, people, and nation. Isaiah 55:10-11 says, "As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return without watering the Earth, making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth, it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." So the missionaries that bring the message of Christ to the ends of the Earth will most certainly succeed, verses 12-13 of Isaiah 55, "You will go out in joy and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands, instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, instead of briers the myrtle will grow, this will be for the Lord's renown for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed." This week I'm going to Richmond, I'm a trustee at the International Mission Board and I wanna just go and talk to the missionary candidates that we're going to appoint and give them verses 12-13 for hope. You're going to go out with joy, and be led forth with peace, and you will go in the name of the Lord whose word never comes back empty and you will lead people to Christ, Amen, hallelujah. Now, this gospel comes as an invitation from the high and holy God, Isaiah 57:15. This is what the high and lofty one says, "He who lives forever, whose name is Holy. I live in a high and holy place but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite, isn't that a great verse? It's like if you can memorize this one verse, I don't think this would be it, but it would be a great verse to memorize. It's a marvelous verse. The high and holy God of Isaiah 6, the one that the seraphim are covering their face, he's inviting you to his high and holy place to live with him forever if you'll just be humble and broken and ask for his salvation in Christ. The Glory of Zion, the New Jerusalem, Will Be Made Up of People All Over the World And this is going to happen, people from around the Earth are going to stream like we saw in Isaiah 2, they're going to stream into Zion, and Zion's going to become more and more and more and more glorious; bigger and bigger, more and more glorious. Isaiah 60:1-7, "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. "Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the arm. Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come. Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah. And all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the LORD. All Kedar's flocks will be gathered to you, the rams of Nebaioth will serve you; they will be accepted as offerings on my altar, and I will adorn my glorious temple." Some of those missionaries go out to the Arab-speaking world. Isaiah 60 tells them that they're going to be successful, there's going to be some elected that are going to come from those tribes and languages and peoples and nations and they will bring offerings forever in the heavenly Zion. Jesus was anointed to bring this message. He is our Messiah, he is the Savior and he said so in Isaiah 61:1-3, this is how he began his preaching ministry, "The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, he has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve in Zion." And he rolled up the scroll of Isaiah and he sat down and he opened his mouth in his hometown and said, "Today, in your hearing, this Scripture is fulfilled." This Jesus will never stop speaking until his bride, the heavenly Zion, is finished, beautiful, radiant. Isaiah 62:1-3, "For Zion's sake... " think of Jesus saying this, "For Zion's sake, I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem's sake, I will not remain quiet till her righteousness shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch. The nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory, and you will be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will bestow. You'll be a crown of spender in the Lord's hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God." That's the bride of Christ, that's the new Jerusalem. That's the heavenly glory that Jesus is going to keep on speaking until it's done. So the Book of Isaiah ends with a clear depiction of the new heavens and the new Earth and of hell, that's how the book ends. First, the new heavens and the new Earth, Isaiah 65:17-19, "Behold I will create new heavens and a new Earth. The former things will not be remembered nor will they come to mind, but be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people. The sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more." No more death, mourning, crying or pain, gone forever. The new heavens and the new Earth, that's where you in Christ are going, rejoice and be glad forever. Isaiah 65:25, you've heard this before, "The wolf and the lamb will feed together, the lion will eat straw like the ox, the dust will be the serpent's food, they will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain." Now, this beautiful new Jerusalem is not going to get built by human skill, human architects, human construction companies, human efforts will not build this. Isaiah 66:1-2, this is what the Lord said, "Heaven is my throne, the Earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? Or where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things and so they came into being?" We can't build the new Jerusalem, we can't build the new universe that's coming, only God can do that. Then he says in verse 2, "This is the one I esteem, he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and who trembles at my word." Again, justification by faith alone in Christ. Only humble believers in Christ will enter it and so the gospel will spread to the ends of the Earth to claim them, to bring them in. Isaiah 66:19-20, "I will set a sign among them, I will send some of those who survive to the nations, to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians, famous as archers, to Tubal and Greece and to the distant islands, who have not heard of my fame or seen my glory and they will bring your brothers from all the nations to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the Lord." The elect from every nation will spend eternity in God's presence, worshipping Him. 66:22-23 says, "As the new heavens, and the new Earth that I make will endure before me declares the Lord, so will your name and descendants endure from one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me," says the Lord. But the rebels will be destroyed forever. Verse 24: "And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me, their worm will not die nor will their fire be quenched and they will be loathsome to all mankind." Close with me in prayer.
Two Categories of Humans: True Worshipers and False Worshipers Alright, so we come this morning to the second last sermon, I'm going to preach in the Book of Isaiah, but the last chapter of the book of Isaiah, next week, God willing I'm going to give an overview of the whole Book of Isaiah I could go through this book all over again. I love the Book of Isaiah, I've loved this journey. But next week what I'm going to do is I'm going to trace out specifically Christ in the Book of Isaiah, and the Gospel, and we're going to go from Isaiah 1 to 66 one more time. But this is the last chapter, the final chapter in the book of Isaiah what a fitting conclusion it is Isaiah is the most visionary of all, the Old Testament prophets and take an average section of the Book of Isaiah, close your eyes and images come in vision right from the beginning, Isaiah 1:2 the word of the Lord that Isaiah son of Amos, saw it's a vision, And so this most visionary of prophets comes to an incredible and fitting end to his incredible book, and that is a revelation of the eternal state of both the righteous and the wicked, the final chapter of Isaiah divides the human race as we've seen again and again into two categories. I'm going to unify it around this one idea of true and false worship we're going to follow the idea of worship. There's different ways we could look at this chapter, but we're going to look at true worshipers versus false worshippers. And the outcome. It describes very plainly the heart and behavior of both the true worshippers, and the false worshippers, as well as their eternal destinies, heaven and hell, the Book of Isaiah, ends with the vision of the new heavens and the new earth with Zion the New Jerusalem eternally populated by true worshippers from every nation on earth who are going to be continually falling down before God and worshiping him. But Isaiah also ends literally ends with the last verse that you heard Joel just read, verse 24 it ends with a clear depiction of hell. The state of eternal death, in which rebellious human beings will suffer in plain view, of the redeemed for all eternity. And I think it's appropriate that this theme of worship, both true worship and false worship unifies this final chapter. Because the human race, we were created to worship. Our hearts our souls were made to find worth and value. And to esteem it and have it flow out in our words, we're made to worship. In Romans chapter 1, talks about how we have given over that heart to idols. We exchange the truth of God for a lie, and worship and serve created things rather than the Creator, who is forever praised amen Romans 1:25, the clearest the best definition of idolatry in the Bible. Idolatry has been front and center throughout the Book of Isaiah. We've seen it again and again. As has God's work of redemption his plan of redemption in reclaiming ex-idolaters healing us of our idolatry and bringing us over to worship God in spirit and in truth. I. True Worshipers Delightful, False Worshipers Detestable (vs. 1- 4) And so we come to this final book and we begin in an amazing way verses 1-4, we're going to see true worshipers delightful and false worshippers detestable. True Worshipers Tremble Before the Throne and Word of God Let's begin at 66:1-2. "This is what the LORD says: 'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?' declares the LORD. 'This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.'" So God declares right at the beginning of this chapter, once again he is ineffable he is immeasurable. He is infinite majesty, this immense God has been the center of the whole Book of Isaiah, and here He declares the impossibility of finite man, making anything suitable, any place suitable for him to dwell any suitable place for us to worship Him, and the impossibility really of making a finite container for this infinite God. The Jews were continually tempted to be overly impressed with their temple, their own structure, that they built for worship and with the religion that flowed from it. Before the exile, the Babylon after the time of Isaiah, but right before the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple, in the book, of a book of Jeremiah, the Jeremiah the prophet had to stand at the gates of the temple and say to the Jewish people "Do not say in your hearts, we have the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord." Three times they said it, why? Because they were clinging to it, "God would never allow this city to be destroyed, he would never allow the temple to be destroyed." Religious people are always tempted to trust in their religion. To trust in their habits, the habits of piety and the beauty of their sanctuaries, that they made with their own hands, and they think that those actions make them righteous. But Solomon himself when he dedicated his beautiful temple, and he stood and he spread out his hands to pray. It came to a certain point I think, through the Spirit working on his heart, a point of humility First Kings 8:27 "But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!" Well, that's just a beautiful humility that King Solomon had saying, "What is this structure?" And I love what he says "heaven, even the highest heavens cannot contain you" there's no container for God. There's no barrier, no boundary line to which God goes up and reaches and that barrier says, "This far, you may go God and no further." There's no such thing. God fills heaven and earth with his complete presence. This is the doctrine of God's omnipresence. We could also say the doctrine of God's immensity. They're really probably the same thing in the end. God is 100% present everywhere in the universe with all of his being. "Do I not fill heaven and earth?" He says. And so he declares his sovereign dominion over heaven and earth. "Heaven is my throne," he says, "It's the place where I sit to dwell." "The earth is my footstool." The Heavens, the physical heavens that we can see with telescopes are in-comprehensively immense. The astronomers tell us that the observable universe is 46 billion light years across. That's something that we have no conception of. They tell us that light year's the distance that light can travel in one year. Physicists tell us that light is the fastest thing there is in the physical universe. So 46 billion years, it would take light to go from one side to the other, but they don't really know. They don't really understand what they're talking about and neither do I, but the creator of the universe fills all that space with all of his being all the time. So any earthly temple, any soaring stone cathedral built over two centuries with European limestone or marble or anything like that with beautiful, majestic, stained glass windows or any modern steel and glass worship center, state of the art technology doesn't really matter. Any man-made place of worship anywhere on the face of the earth is as nothing to God. He asked in effect in this in this verse, "Where in the world could there be anything that you could make that would possibly house me?" He really does mean to put us in our place here. The Hebrew is emphatic. It puts us in our place. We desire to glorify God by building soaring edifices, mighty cathedrals, flying buttresses, all of that. And you go to some of those cathedrals in Europe and they'll just take your breath away. We are impressed, but God is not impressed. There's nothing about them that impresses him. He actually to some degree, says, "I have a hard time finding them. I'm not able to see them. That's not where I'm looking. Heaven is my throne. The earth is my footstool. If you were to decorate the place that where my feet rest and you were to find gold and silver and costly stones and pearls and all that kind of thing, it would still not catch my eye at all. It wouldn't captivate my gaze." Actually, all of the building materials you would use are already God's before you even started. They belonged to him. Look at verse two, "Has not my hand made all these things. And so they came into being." They all belong to me, God is saying. Every atom in the universe is already God's, including every atom in your brain and every item in your hands. So the brain by which you would come up with the blueprint for the dwelling place for God, and the hands by which you would build that dwelling place for God and the building materials that you would use. All of it already belong to God already. All of it, for from him and through him and to him are all things, to him be the glory forever. So what captivates God's attention? What holds his gaze? What is he looking for? Well, he tells us here. This is the one to whom I will look. This is what radiant beauty looks like to me. You want to be beautiful. You want to capture God's gaze? He who is humble and contrite in spirit, and who trembles at my word. Humble and contrite and spirit means you're deeply aware, first of your creatureliness, you're created. He's the creator. And you're humble about that. There's an infinite gap between you and the creator, even if you have never sinned, but you have sinned. So secondly, that you're deeply aware of your sinfulness and God's holiness. You're deeply aware that your righteous acts cannot save you. And so Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount with this statement, "Blessed are poor in spirit [the spiritual beggars] for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." You are destitute spiritually and you know it, and you tremble at his word. God's resting place is here. It's among his humble, brokenhearted people who have been saved from their sins by his grace in Christ. God is searching out such a resting place. He is seeking such a place where he will settle down finally and worship and live with his people. So what he really wants from us is humility here in this text, brokenness. And he says, those who tremble at my word. What does this mean to tremble at God's word? Trembling is a physical physiological reaction, can be caused by a lot of things, could be caused by disease. Physiologically, your nervous system could be sending signals to your muscles and you're trembling. But this seems to be a trembling that comes because of thoughts, ideas, something that you're thinking about. Well, in that case you could be trembling because you're a thief about to get caught. You're surrounded and you're trembling with fear of getting caught or you could tremble because the best thing in your life that you never thought could happen is about to happen. Maybe your wedding day, or maybe your husband was a POW and he's been released and you can't wait for him to come down the gangway. And you see him and your trembling and you run and embrace after years of being apart. There's a lot of different reasons that we tremble. I think the thing here is that we're trembling concerning our own sinfulness and God's holiness. We're trembling concerning the just wrath of God that we deserve. But we're also trembling with expectation and how great and majestic and beautiful this God is. And we want to see him. And so there's this trembling at all of these deep themes of God's word. But either way, no matter how you look at it, what it means is by faith, you're taking this word seriously. You know this isn't merely the word of man, but it is the word of God as it actually is at work in you who believe. So you tremble at it and you take it seriously and you're humbled. That's the one that God looks to. Does this Characterize You? Now, let me just stop and ask you a question, does this characterize you? This is my application right in the middle of the sermon. Does this honestly characterize you? Are you humble and contrite in spirit, and do you tremble at God's Word? Are you deeply humbled by your sin and God's holiness? Do you understand that if you are to be saved, it will only be by the grace of God in Christ, His shed blood on the cross, is the only way you're going to survive Judgment Day. Are you aware of that? Do you seek also dynamically humility more and more? Do you seek to be more humble, a year from now than you are now? Do you see actually pride as a big problem in your life. It's an ongoing issue. Do you see that actually its corrupting your relationships? If you're married, it's corrupting your marriage. The biggest problem you have in your marriage, is your pride. It's corrupting your friendships, it's corrupting everything you touch. The pride is there, it's like, "Oh God, would you humble me?" It's like you cling to the promise, no longer a threat but a promise. At the end of the Book of Daniel that Nebuchadnezzar learn when God changed his mind to the mind of an animal, then turned it back after seven years. Those who walk in pride, He is able to humble. Then do it, Oh God, humble me. I want to be genuinely broken and contrite in spirit, and I want to tremble at your word. Begin every day, say, "Oh God I want to capture your gaze, I want you to like looking at me, I want you to enjoy looking at me, I want to be beautiful to you. Would you please make me humble and contrite in spirit? Would you give me a heart of trembling after your word?" False Worshipers Make Detestable Sacrifices Now conversely, in verse 3, we have false worshippers. Who are making detestable sacrifices. And if I can just stop, the dynamic as we've seen again in Isaiah, it's going to go back and forth from the righteous to the wicked and back again. It weaves all the way through the chapter as it does all the way through our experience. This is a world of wheat and weeds, of good fish and bad fish, all gathered by the same dragnet. We are mixed together in this world, and so this chapter is mixed together as well. Look at verse 3, "But whoever sacrifices a bull, is like one who kills a man, whoever offers a lamb, like one who breaks a dog's neck. Whoever makes a grain offering is like one who presents pig's blood and whoever burns Memorial incense is like one who worships an idol." Now here God is condemning the false worship of Israel. Now, there's two possibilities in my mind as I look at that, either he's condemning the Pharisee, type person, who outwardly is following the laws of Moses, through these right sacrifices but inwardly is totally corrupt. He's a white washed tomb that looks good on the outside, but inside full of dead men's bones and everything impure and unclean. Full of pride and lust, and covetousness and murder and idolatry. But outwardly, he's doing what the law requires. "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." Or he's talking about a syncretism, it was a big problem in Israel, where they mixed together, the pure religion that they got from Moses and the Canaanite religions that were there in the land, and they mixed them together. The Jews did this as well, syncretism, mixing together, the religion of the Bible with the religion of the world. Either way, it's a remarkable list, making lawful mosaic sacrifice is compared to the most vile things you could ever imagine to offer to God, to offer a bowl, if your heart is wrong, if you don't have that broken humble, contrite spirit, trembling at God's Word, and you're offering, a sacrifice that the law of Moses commanded, its corrupt to offer a bull, something as costly as a bull, that's an expensive animal, to offer a bull is as bad as killing a man to God. To offer a lamb is as bizarre as breaking a dog's neck. To present a grain offering is as repulsive God, as presenting pigs blood. To burn sweet smelling incense is as repulsive as bowing down to an idol. It's an interesting mix there. So the religious pattern, the external pattern means nothing if the heart's not right behind it. Now, this is a warning to us as Evangelical Christians. Again, I just want to stop and apply this right here. We have our own sacred list of biblically mandated duties, we have the Bible in the New Testament telling us to do certain things and we can become proud of them, and have corrupted lives and corrupted hearts, pray the sinner's prayer, realize that you're a sinner, water baptism follows, church membership, church involvement, attendance at worship, weekly attendance, daily quiet times. And then even some of the more advanced aspects of the Christian life, you could memorize scripture, you could be out doing street evangelism, you could be committed to missions, all of these things are good and right and beautiful but if they're done from a corrupted heart, they're not acceptable to God any more than these were back in the old covenant. So, it's a warning to us. None of these things can save us. False Worshipers Judged for Not Heeding God’s Word Now, the false worshippers. Are judged in verse 3 and 4 for not heeding God's word. "They have chosen their own ways and their souls delight in their abominations. And then further on, when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, no one listened. They did evil in my sight, and shows what displeases me." So the essence of false religion is independence from the Word of God. God told them what to do, He called, but they didn't listen. He made it very plain in His word, what He wants from us, but they crafted their own religion. This goes all the way back to Cain, remember where Cain offered up something God hadn't told him to offer. And he said, "If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?" He did what was wrong in offering that, he made up his own religion. So their punishment is extreme. Verse 4, "So I also will choose harsh treatment for them and bring upon them, what they dread." They chose their path, they made up their own religion. But God is going to choose their end and it will be terrifying. Fundamentally, they did not tremble at His word, but they were deaf to his calls. Now, for us in the new covenant era, the call is this: believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, repent and believe the good news. That's the call. And so God is now calling He's saying, "Call on me while I'm near. Seek the Lord while I may be found. This is the day of salvation. Now is the time." But, people hear that and they go their own way, they have their own answers to life's ultimate questions. II. False Worshipers Persecute, True Worshipers Prosper (vs. 5- 14a) Now, in Verses 5-14, we see false worshippers persecute and true worshippers prosper. The rest of this chapter, God directly addresses His children. It's written to them, but He never stops talking about the wicked, the false worshippers are much in view but they're always referred to in the third person for the rest of the chapter. Their punishment is clear for His elected children to see. So true worshipper or false worshippers persecute the true, look at Verse 5, it says, "Hear the word of the Lord you who tremble at His word." So, He's talking to the believers, talking to the children of God, "Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at His word, your brothers who hate you and exclude you because of my name have said, 'let the Lord be glorified that we may see your joy, yet they will be put to shame.'" There is a deep-seated enmity between the children of God and the children of the devil, they're at war with each other in world view if not physically, even. We have radically different ways of looking at everything in the world, and we have to be in the same world. God addresses those who tremble at His word, the true followers of Christ. And He speaks of brothers, your brothers who hate and exclude you. Now, obviously that happened from the very beginning with Cain when he killed his brother, Abel over matters of religion because Abel's offerings were offered by faith and Cains were not, and he hated him. Now in redemptive history, the first followers of Christ were all Jewish so also were the first persecutors of Christians. And so we could really just stop right there with this verse, but we could make it more universal just in terms of other human beings who do not believe in the Lord. But here, within in the issue of Jews, Jesus said it was going to be this way. In John 16:2 & 3, speaking of Jews who do not believe in Christ, to the true followers, he said, "They will put you out of the synagogue. In fact, your time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a sacrifice to God, they will do such things because they have not known the Father or me." So he's predicting Jewish persecution of followers of Jesus. Now, here in Verse 5, these false brothers so to speak, hated them who trembled at God's Word and they cast them out and they excluded them because of God's name. For Christ's name sake, ultimately, they excluded them, they kicked them out and they mocked them. Now, what they say is interesting, "Let God be glorified that we may see your joy." I don't know what that means, it sounds good to me, but in the context it's clearly mockery. So they're using this kind of religious slogan to mock their faith but look at the outcome. False Worshipers Destroyed by the Lord The false worshippers will be destroyed by the Lord, verse 5 & 6, "Yet they will be put to shame." Verse 6, "Hear that uproar from the city, hear that noise from the temple, it is the sound of the Lord repaying his enemies all they deserve." So in the end, God brings judgment on these mocking adversaries. He did it in the time of Jeremiah by destroying the temple, He did it after the New Testament era in 70AD by destroying the temple again. And so it's a double fulfillment of this prophecy, hear the uproar from the city. Listen to the noise from the temple, what is the noise? What's the uproar? Destruction, wrath. So also is the final condemnation that comes at the end of the chapter. In the new universe, the eternal destination of the wicked, that also a clear display of the wrath of God. True Worshipers Born Instantly by the Lord Now we go back to the true worshipers verse 5:7-9 he says, by contrast, even while the markers are persecuting in the church, the church is exploding in size among the gentiles. There is a nation getting born in an instant, miraculously. Isaiah 7-9, "Before she goes into labor, she gives birth, before the pains come upon her, she delivers a son." Now all you women who are mothers or future mothers, you're like, "Amen, let it be, Lord, minimize my labor pains, oh please." Pray the prayer of Jabez concerning that, "Oh God, minimize my pain." But here we have this incredible image, "'Before she goes into labor she gives birth, before the pains come upon her, she delivers a son. Who has ever heard of such a thing? Who has ever seen such things? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet, no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children. Do I bring to the moment of birth and not give delivery?' says the Lord, 'Do I close up the womb when I bring to delivery?' says your God." Now for me, I just am doing all the work that we've done in the book of Isaiah to understand this properly. Jewish people could just say, "this is talking about the restoration, the Jew is back," I think this is so much bigger than that. We've seen this image before. Isaiah 54 talks about a woman Zion who's going to be in labor and give birth to more children than she can possibly imagine. She has to have a bigger tent. Enlarge the place of your tent, you're going to have more children than you can count. So this I think is the same image, this must be friends, the explosive spread of the Gospel from Jerusalem, through Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth, that's what we're talking about here, a nation born in an instant. And the effects of the curse are gone, the woman Zion gives birth instantly and seemingly with no labor pains, she gives birth to an entire nation in a single day. So we got to go to the beginning of the church age, the day of Pentecost, remember that day began with 120 believers in the upper room ended with 3000, plus 120 believers. What a day. Perhaps the greatest single day in gathering, nothing ever like it of its kind. And who was it that came in? Their geographic spread was laid out for us in Acts 2, 9-11, "Parthians, Medes and Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus in Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs." All over the Mediterranean, they were there. They had Pentecost came to faith in Christ, a nation born in a single day with no labor. And so the Gospel started spreading like wildfire across that region, across Rome conquered Rome spiritually within three centuries, really short time and it's been spreading ever since. And these Gentile converts that are in view here, being brought in, they become sons and daughters of Abraham. Galatians 3:7, even better. There's sons and daughters of the living God. It is written in John 1:12-13 that Jesus "came to that which was his own, but his own people did not receive him.. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, He gave the right to become children of God. Children who are born not natural descent, nor of human decision or of a husband’s will, but born of God." And so a nation gets born spiritually in an instant. And the sovereign power of God's on display here. Look at verse nine. "'Do I bring to the moment of birth and not give delivery?' says the Lord. 'Do I close up the womb when I bring to delivery?'" There's no miscarriages here. No one... No stillborn. No one dies in labor. When God pours out His Spirit on the elect, they will come to faith in Christ. No one gets left behind. No one gets lost. Jesus said in John 6:37, "All that the Father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me, I will never drive them away… and I will raise them up at the last day." Isn't that beautiful? So he said, "I'm not going to bring to the point of birth and then they don't get delivered." They're going to get born again because God is powerful. True Worshipers Prosper Richly in Zion Now in verses 10-14, these true worshipers prosper richly in Zion. The river of converts are going to be flowing into Zion, the new Jerusalem. Making her amazingly wealthy. Again verse 10 through 14, "Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice greatly with her, all you who mourn over her. For you will nurse and be satisfied at her comforting breasts; you will drink deeply and delight in her overflowing abundance. For this is what the LORD says: 'I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees. 13 As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem. 14 When you see this, your heart will rejoice and you will flourish like grass; the hand of the LORD will be made known to his servants.'" So it's just a river of blessing flowing into Zion from the ends of the earth. These Gentile converts, these adopted sons and daughters of Abraham, adopted sons and daughters of God are going to become delighted in the new Jerusalem, ultimately. Paul says very plainly in Galatians 4 that it's not the Jerusalem that's below. She's in bondage with her children. But we're talking about the Jerusalem that's above. And we'll be delighted in it and we can't wait to see it. This radiant city that will last forever. And this river of converts coming from every tribe and language and people and nation are going to be deeply, richly, comforted by her and they will enrich her with all of their hearts, all of their souls, giving the treasures of their heart to Christ ultimately in worship. And as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also the comforts of Christ flow over and we are comforted. And we know we're going to a world where there'll be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. We will be comforted by that and we will see the glory of God in all of those things. Verses 10 through 14, that's what's coming. III. False Worshipers Condemned, True Worshipers Commissioned (vs. 14b-21) But halfway through verse 14, we switch again to the false worshippers that are condemned. The wicked continue to be in view in this chapter, but this is a world of both wheat and weeds. And so look at 14B, "The hand of the Lord will be made known to His servants, but as fury will be shown to his foes." Verse 15, "Behold, the Lord is coming with fire and his chariots are like a whirlwind and he will bring down his anger with fury and there's rebuke with flames of fire." Verse 16, "For with fire and with his sword, the Lord will execute judgment upon all men and many will be those slain by the Lord." God's mighty hand to save will be on display to his servants. They will see how He will save them but they will also see the judgment and wrath will bring to his enemies. So these verses speak with terrifying clarity of the future vengeance of the Lord on the wicked. God's going to pour out His fury on them. The Book of Revelation to which God willing, we're going to go next after next week's sermon on Isaiah one more. But then we're going to begin a journey through the Book of Revelation. And it depicts more clearly than any book of the Bible what this verse is talking about. Like when the sixth trumpet blows in Revelation 9:18. It says "A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths." A third of mankind. Two or three billion people dying at one time. It staggers the mind. And then at the second coming of Christ, Christ comes back with the sword coming out of His mouth. Not literally, but metaphorically because that's the weapon. All he has to do this is to say to His enemies "Be dead and be damned" and that's it. He has that kind of power. And so Revelation 19:21, it says "The rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse and the birds came and gorge themselves on their flesh." This is terrifying. This is the terrifying wrath and vengeance of God and it's real and it's coming. And the elect are the only ones who take it seriously. The elect are the only ones that take this seriously and this is part of what it means to tremble at his word. Pagan worship of the enemies is singled out here. Look at verse 17. "Those who consecrate and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following the one in the midst of those who eat the flesh of pigs and rats and other abominable things, they will meet their end together." I think this is just talking about the disgusting religions of the world. The religions of the world have led people to do bizarre disgusting things. And I think to some degree, you'll get Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, the animistic religion, the tribal religions, they lead people to do repulsive disgusting things. I think it's Satan's mockery of us who are created an image of God. He can deceive us and get us to think clever thoughts and do degrading, degrading things. But the end will be judgment from the Lord. But then we turn back to true worshippers, in verse 18-21, these true worshippers are commissioned to bring in the nation. So here we have missions again, one last time in the book. There have been many examples of great commissions in the Book of Isaiah. Jesus said this after his resurrection, he rose from the dead, he goes to the upper room. Luke 24: He opened their minds, so that they could understand the scriptures, [including Isaiah] He told them, 'This is what is written: that Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day. And repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem, you are witnesses of these things.'" it's written. So here we have this prediction plainly. Look at verse 18: "And I, because of their actions and their imaginations, am about to come and gather all nations and tongues, and they will come and see my glory. I'm going to gather them and they're going to see my glory. Look at verse 19: "I will set a sign among them. And I will send some of those who survive to the nations, to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians, famous as archers, to Tubal, and Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. And they will proclaim my glory to the nations." Friends, that's missions. Do you see it in Verse 19? |I'm going to send a remnant out to the ends of the Earth, and they're going to proclaim my glory. I'm going to set a sign among them. Verse 20: "'And they will bring all your brothers, from all the nations to my holy mountain in Jerusalem, as an offering to the Lord, on horses and chariots, and wagons, and mules, and camels,' says the Lord. 'They will bring them, as the Israelites bring there grain offerings to the temple of the Lord in ceremonially clean vessels. And I will select some of them also to be priests and Levites,' says the Lord." So God, I think speaks plainly in these verses about the spread of the Gospel from Jerusalem through Judea and Samaria to the ends of the Earth. And God's going to assemble all the nations and tongues to come and see. But we learn from John 4, Jesus said to the Samarian woman, "Neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father." You don't need to go anywhere geographically. We don't have to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. We don't have to go anywhere physically. The coming and seeing is done by faith alone. We come to God when we see the glory of God in Christ, when we hear the Gospel. That's how we come and see. And God's going to set a sign among the nations, and that sign, a sign is like a miracle, something like that, that sign is Jesus, the life of Jesus. From His miraculous conception, the virgin conception, virgin birth, through his sinless life, through the river of miracles that he did, all of the healings, the raising of Lazarus from the dead, the healing of a man born blind, the walking on water, the feeding of the 5,000, and the final capping greatest miracle all, his own bodily resurrection from the dead. I'm going to set a sign among the nations and they're going to believe, they're going to believe. And some of the survivors, the remnant, the Jews chosen by grace, they're going to be sent out. Salvation is from the Jews. So all the 12 apostles were Jews and the apostle Paul was a Jew. And they were sent out of this remnant as messengers. And they're going to be sent out to these distant lands. Look at the small sampling of those nations listed in Verse 19, Tarshish is distant Spain. Put and Lud or Lydia is Northern Africa. Tubal is North in the caucuses, like maybe the Republic of Georgia or on up into Russia. And they're described as archers, they're really good archers. They're warlike and scary, but some of them are elect. I'm thinking you're going to have martyrs that will be necessary to die, but the elect will be brought. The gospel is going to spread. And these Gentiles, what they have not heard about them, they will see. And then what they were not told, they will hear. Isaiah 52:15: They're going to hear about Christ, and they're going to begin their spiritual pilgrimage. And how are they going to come? Well, I know it says on horses and chariots, and litters, mules, and camels. I didn't say that every word was easy to interpret. I've never been on a litter. I have been on a mule. I've never been on a camel. But again, there's that physical language. But we know based on the New Testament teaching, you don't need to go anywhere. And so, this just might talk in symbolic language of the different ways that people come to Christ. They're just different stories, and we're going to hear them on testimony night, or day, or whatever in Heaven, that'll they'll be going on forever. I want to hear those stories. Tell me how you came to Christ. I want to hear those stories. Now, the ministry of the Apostle Paul, they're going to come as offerings, it says, like the Israelites used to bring grain offerings. The Apostle Paul said, "That's what my ministry is like, I'm Apostle to the Gentiles." Romans 15 and 16: With the priestly duty of proclaiming the Gospel to them, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. He's like, "I'm offering the Gentiles up to God." This is a direct fulfillment of the words here. Do you not see the harmony of the Bible? This is staggering. By the way, I knew when I practiced the sermon this morning, I would be laying on you something like 196 ideas. Just go back and listen and look at it carefully. This is a river of truth, this one chapter. It's incredible. And verse 21: "'I will select some of them, [the Gentiles] to be priests and Levites' says the Lord." What does that mean? The resources for the multiplication of the harvest, the harvesting is in the harvest. The future laborers are present harvest field. And so you go and you share the gospel, and those people come to Christ, and then they multiply, and they go out to their own people. Some time ago, I was watching an incredible video called EETaow! It's one of my favorite missionary stories ever, magnificent. And it's a story about New Tribes' missionaries, Mark and Gloria Zook, who went from rural Papua New Guinea. And they led the Moke people to faith in Christ. A careful, patient explanation of redemptive history culminating in Christ, death on the cross, his resurrection. Finally, the Holy Spirit opens their eyes, they understand why the Zook's are there, and they believe in Christ. And they go crazy. And for something like an hour, they start chanting, "Etah, etah. It's true, it's true." And they realize that they're freed from their dark pagan religion, they're free from animism and fear of the spirits, and they are just celebrating their forgiveness and they're going crazy. But that wasn't the end of the story. The sequel is in some ways even more beautiful. They sent some of their own people out to the neighboring villages and some of them went across some language barriers in Papua, New Guinea to reach the next villages. "I will select some of them to be priests and Levites." That's what it says, and they're going to do that priestly duty of proclaiming the Gospel. IV. True Worshipers Eternally Live (vs. 22-24) And so we finish in verse 22-24 true worshippers eternally live, but false worshippers eternally die. This is the new Heavens and the new earth. Verse 22 and 23, "'As the new heavens and the new earth that I WILL make will endure before me,' declares the LORD, 'so will your name and descendants endure. From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me," says the LORD.'" The New Heavens and New Earth Endure Eternally So this text says two things will endure eternally. The new universe will endure eternally, and the people of God will endure eternally. "As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure, so will your name and your seed endure forever. Now this is the universe that God in some ways has yet to make. But I believe it's related to the present universe as our bodies are related to our future resurrection bodies. I think it's a direct analogy. We will be raised from the dead. So there's continuity but difference. This universe will be raised from bondage to decay into a glorious new universe. I believe that. Others think God's going to create a whole new universe. I get that too. Either way, we're going to get a new universe. And unlike this present creation which has been groaning in bondage to decay, winding down, breaking down, constantly dying, always dying. No, those days are over. The living things will live forever and only become more robust and more glorious and more worthy of study as the display of the glory of God that they are. And in the same way, so will His people endure forever before him. Your seed and your name will remain forever, the seed of the people. And their name will remember... Will endure forever. What does that mean? Name is reputation. This is what I think. We'll be discussing one another's name. And what does that mean? What you did, your works. The ones that survive Judgment Day. Your gold, silver, costly stones, not the wood hay straw. That's gone. But we're going to celebrate your crowns and your emblems of faithful service and I'm going to find out your stories, you're going to find out mine, we're going to talk to a multitude greater from anyone could count from every tribe, language, people, and nation and their name will endure forever, and we're going to learn their stories and see how God was glorified in their lives. I could go on about this forever. This is amazing, but we're going to say, "Not to us, to our name, but to Your name be the glory," Psalm 115:1. We're going to celebrate our name as a subset of God's glory and his name. V. False Worshipers Will Die Eternally (vs. 24) Conversely, and here we end. False worshippers will die eternally. Verse 24, "They will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me. Their worm will not die. Nor will their fire be quenched and they will be loathsome to all mankind." Now Jesus, our Savior, used these very words to describe the eternity of Hell, eternal, conscious torment in Hell. That's what He taught. Mark 9:43-48, "If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into Hell where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you sin, then cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than have two feet and be thrown into Hell, and if your eye causes you to sin, then pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown in Hell, where their worm does not die and their fire is not quenched." Jesus is quoting the last verse of the Book of Isaiah. Eternal, conscious torment. That's what the Bible teaches is the future of the wicked. When it says the worm does not die, the worm gnaws on a corpse. It gnaws on the dead body and it keeps eating until there's nothing left to eat, and then the worm dies. Jesus said the worm will never die. So God sustains existence and the fire, it never goes out. Some people teach annihilation, even some good teachers in the church have been deceived in this regard. It's hard to understand, but this is what the Bible teaches. It's what Jesus taught. And it says, "They will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me." Who's they? The worshippers, the redeemed. We will be well aware of them. And why is that? Well, we know in Revelation 14, it says in verses 10-11, "He too will drink of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath and he will be tormented with burning sulfur." Listen to this, "In the presence of His holy angels and of the lamb, and the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever. There is no rest day or night." The holy angels see it happening. It goes up before them, they know what's going on and the Lamb, Jesus knows about it, and it goes up before Him. It doesn't say it openly, but it does here in verse 24, They will go out and look. We will be well aware of them. And there's no grieving, none. There'll be no mourning in Heaven. But this is what's taught, because it's a display, an internal display of the justice of God. And for us, the redeemed, it's an eternal display of the mercy of God, isn't it? And forever we will realize that we were saved by grace. We were saved by mercy. It teaches us in Romans Chapter 9. You might ask, "Why does God create people who end up in Hell? Why would he do that?" Romans 9 is the answer, the chapter that answers, especially verses 22-23. It says, "What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath-- prepared for destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory." At least in part, they're there for our education, and we learn that we are saved by grace. And when you're in Heaven, seeing Heaven's version of Amazing Grace, you'll know exactly what you're talking about. VI. Applications Alright, applications, we've already done some. I just want to do a few before we go to the Lord's Supper. The first is flee to Christ now. I don't know if I am speaking to any who is as yet un-redeemed, but I expect that I am. This is the time, a window of opportunity for you to drink of God's mercy and grace and favor through Christ. God sent Jesus Christ, his only begotten son, to live a sinless life and die on the cross for sinners like you and me. He shed his blood that we might be forgiven that the wrath of God might be pro-pitied, might be removed from us. All you need to do is trust in Him. Repent of your sins and trust in him. Secondly, for you Christians, humble yourself before God and worship Him. I can't get enough of verses 1-2, "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my foot stool. What kind of house will you build for Me?" I love that, I love to be humbled. Where will my resting place be? Has not My hand made all these things. And so they came into being... This is the one I esteem. he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and who trembles in my word." Just say, "Oh God, make me beautiful, make me holy, make me humble, let me tremble at your word. I cast myself down before you. I think you should do it daily, in your quiet time. Work humility in me, Oh God. Thirdly, despise nominal religion. It's danger for us as it was for them, the outward machinery of religion without any heart behind it. Despise it, it's dangerous, God hates it. He looks behind it and says, "Offering of a bull, it's like killing a man to me, if your heart's not in it." Fourthly, tremble at the fate of the wicked. It's hard to read the final verse of Isaiah. It's hard. It should make us cry. Paul said, "I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart." This is the time to grieve over it, it won't be grieving in heaven, not at all. But now's the time to have sorrow and unceasing anguish, and be motivated in evangelism and missions. Fifthly, embrace missions. This is the story, this is what is happening in the world. He's going to send out messengers to people who have not heard of His fame or seeing His glory, and they will proclaim His glory, He will set a sign among the nations and they'll believe in that sign, Jesus, and have eternal life. We need to be a missions-church, we are, we need to be even more. Send more missionaries, more money, more prayer, more focus, more concern. And we need to be more passionate about evangelism here in the Triangle region as well. Let's share the Gospel. And finally, as I've said many times before, let's yearn for the New Heavens in the earth. Let's set our hearts on things above and things to come. And we get to do that now with the Lord's Supper. For me, when I go to the Lord's supper, I eat it in a kind of an eschatological or end-time perspective. I look forward to feasting with Jesus with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. I look forward to that. And so we're about to partake of this, and as we do, we get to... We get to look upward to God and see his greatness, we get to look inward and see our sinfulness and confess it, we get to look back to Jesus who died on the cross for us. We get to look around to brothers and sisters in Christ who are partaking with us. And we get to look ahead to the second coming and the new heavens, and new earth, and feasting. Now, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, and you've testified to that by water baptism, you're welcome to come. If not, we ask that you refrain, and we hope that you'll partake next time. Having come to faith in Christ, we would love to have you. But I like to ask the Deacons to come now, I'm going to close the sermon in prayer and we'll partake in the Lord's Supper. Father, thank you for what we've learned through the journey of 66 chapters in Isaiah. It's been overwhelming and amazing and as we have one more chance next week to look at it, give us grace to take in the message. As we turn now to the Lord's Supper, we pray that you would send forth your sovereign Spirit to make this not a bare memorial, not an empty ritual, but something in a genuine experience of God's grace through Christ and His sacrifice in his name, we pray, Amen.
In this episode, we discuss the life, influences, drawbacks, and positives of the “Father of History”, Herodotus; and the political events of the Near East in the 7th and early 6th centuries BC, including the rise of the Medians and Neo-Babylonians and their destruction of the Assyrian Empire, and culminating with a young vassal king from Anshan, named Cyrus, who overthrew the Medes and elevated the Achaemenid Persians among the other chief powers of the time (the Lydians, the Neo-Babylonians, and the Egyptians) Show Notes: http://www.thehistoryofancientgreece.com/2017/01/030-herodotus-and-rise-of-persia.html Intro by Alison Innes and Darrin Sunstrum of the MythTake Podcast Website: mythtake.blog Facebook: www.facebook.com/mythtake Twitter: twitter.com/InnesAlison and twitter.com/darrinsunstrum
From his modest beginnings in southern Iran, the Persian king Cyrus II went on to conquer three of the dominant kingdoms of the ancient Near East those of the Medians, the Lydians, and the Babylonians and establish the first world empire. In Discovering Cyrus: The Persian Conqueror Astride the Ancient World (Mage Pub, 2013), Reza Zarghamee draws upon the available written sources and archaeological record to provide the first comprehensive biography of Cyrus written since the middle of the 19th century. In it he describes Cyrus's background, the context for his rise to power, and the empire he built. By detailing the forces he used, the organization of his empire, and his relationship with various groups, Zarghamee provides us with a portrait of a bold conqueror and shrewd ruler who understood the effectiveness of cooperating with the local elites in conquered lands and who established a multicultural realm that would endure for the next two centuries and serve as a model for future empires. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
From his modest beginnings in southern Iran, the Persian king Cyrus II went on to conquer three of the dominant kingdoms of the ancient Near East those of the Medians, the Lydians, and the Babylonians and establish the first world empire. In Discovering Cyrus: The Persian Conqueror Astride the Ancient World (Mage Pub, 2013), Reza Zarghamee draws upon the available written sources and archaeological record to provide the first comprehensive biography of Cyrus written since the middle of the 19th century. In it he describes Cyrus’s background, the context for his rise to power, and the empire he built. By detailing the forces he used, the organization of his empire, and his relationship with various groups, Zarghamee provides us with a portrait of a bold conqueror and shrewd ruler who understood the effectiveness of cooperating with the local elites in conquered lands and who established a multicultural realm that would endure for the next two centuries and serve as a model for future empires. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
From his modest beginnings in southern Iran, the Persian king Cyrus II went on to conquer three of the dominant kingdoms of the ancient Near East those of the Medians, the Lydians, and the Babylonians and establish the first world empire. In Discovering Cyrus: The Persian Conqueror Astride the Ancient World (Mage Pub, 2013), Reza Zarghamee draws upon the available written sources and archaeological record to provide the first comprehensive biography of Cyrus written since the middle of the 19th century. In it he describes Cyrus’s background, the context for his rise to power, and the empire he built. By detailing the forces he used, the organization of his empire, and his relationship with various groups, Zarghamee provides us with a portrait of a bold conqueror and shrewd ruler who understood the effectiveness of cooperating with the local elites in conquered lands and who established a multicultural realm that would endure for the next two centuries and serve as a model for future empires. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
From his modest beginnings in southern Iran, the Persian king Cyrus II went on to conquer three of the dominant kingdoms of the ancient Near East those of the Medians, the Lydians, and the Babylonians and establish the first world empire. In Discovering Cyrus: The Persian Conqueror Astride the Ancient World (Mage Pub, 2013), Reza Zarghamee draws upon the available written sources and archaeological record to provide the first comprehensive biography of Cyrus written since the middle of the 19th century. In it he describes Cyrus’s background, the context for his rise to power, and the empire he built. By detailing the forces he used, the organization of his empire, and his relationship with various groups, Zarghamee provides us with a portrait of a bold conqueror and shrewd ruler who understood the effectiveness of cooperating with the local elites in conquered lands and who established a multicultural realm that would endure for the next two centuries and serve as a model for future empires. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
From his modest beginnings in southern Iran, the Persian king Cyrus II went on to conquer three of the dominant kingdoms of the ancient Near East those of the Medians, the Lydians, and the Babylonians and establish the first world empire. In Discovering Cyrus: The Persian Conqueror Astride the Ancient World (Mage Pub, 2013), Reza Zarghamee draws upon the available written sources and archaeological record to provide the first comprehensive biography of Cyrus written since the middle of the 19th century. In it he describes Cyrus’s background, the context for his rise to power, and the empire he built. By detailing the forces he used, the organization of his empire, and his relationship with various groups, Zarghamee provides us with a portrait of a bold conqueror and shrewd ruler who understood the effectiveness of cooperating with the local elites in conquered lands and who established a multicultural realm that would endure for the next two centuries and serve as a model for future empires. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Is the World Falling Apart? The current issue of World magazine, you may have seen it recently, (World magazine is a Christian form of Time magazine) has as the cover article Is the World Falling Apart? Thankfully, the magazine answers no, praise God, but we get a strong answer to that question right from Isaiah 45 this morning. Now, the issues that are on the minds of the authors of the article there and of the editors of World have to do with events going on in the Ukraine and events going on in the Near East, events going on in Syria and Iraq and in Israel. It doesn't mention Ebola, but you could extend that as well, as that's reaching a crisis level in parts of the world that are hard to even imagine. I read an article this week, Seven Rational Reasons to Panic About Ebola; it was a very depressing article. Well, I thought throughout history, you could say seven rational reasons to panic about the rise of communism, or before that the invasion of Hitler and Poland, or seven rational reasons to panic about the beginning of World War I, or seven rational reasons to panic about Genghis Khan. Again and again throughout history there have been, it seems, rational reasons to panic. And again and again, God stands in the pages of Scripture and testifies that he is sovereign over all of this. The nations are churning like a roiling sea, and there's all of this discontent, and there's all of this disorder and this sin. But God rules over all of it for his glory. And this morning, we're going to look at how God raises up a temporary empire under Cyrus the Great to serve his purposes in raising up an eternal empire in Jesus Christ. And we need to train ourselves to look at world events, look at world history, the things that are happening, whether crises of a biological nature like Ebola, or a crisis of a political, geopolitical nature like ISIS, or what's going on in Ukraine, or even crisis of weather, like Hurricane Katrina or other things like that, and look at it differently through the eyes of the sovereignty of God over all of these things. And Isaiah 45 is going to give us some significant insights into all of that. The amazing message of this chapter, and indeed of the whole Bible, is that God actively rules over every single event on the surface of the Earth; everything. He actively rules over the rise and fall of nations in particular, and that's something we need to keep in mind. God raises up empires, he raises up emperors and he brings them back down again. And as a matter of fact, no one can be a king, no one can be a ruler, no one can raise up an empire without the power of the sovereign power of God, whether that individual acknowledges God or not. As in this text, it said several times that Cyrus doesn't acknowledge God. And it is very helpful and encouraging and strengthening to our faith to know that God does this, that God is the one that raises up empires and nations. He's the one that determines how long they'll last and when they will sink back down into the dust of history, as the Medo-Persian Empire has done. How do we know that? Well, there are number of places. Isaiah 45, that we're going to look at today, I think teaches it. But for me, probably the number one verse in the Bible that teaches this in a very succinct way is Acts 17:26. This is where the Apostle Paul, speaking at Mars Hill, talked about human history in this way: "From one man he made every nation of men that they should inhabit the whole Earth. And he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live." Now, I'll tell you, if you meditate on that long enough, you'll understand how significant that statement is. God determines how long people live, where they live, what is going to be the extent of their domain. God rules over all of these things. It's amazing, in Deuteronomy 2:20-22, he talks there about some various people; this is where Moses is getting the Jewish nation ready to invade the Promised Land and take from it those Canaanite nations, to take it militarily, and God's going to go before them and give them military success. But God actually says, "I've been doing that with other nations, too, not just your own." He talks, for example, about the Ammonites, who drove out a people called the Zamzummites. And you're like, "Huh. What in the world do the Ammonites and the Zamzummites have to do with me?" Well nothing, they have sunk, as I said, back into the dust heap of history. But this is what Deuteronomy 2:21 says concerning the Zamzummites: "They were a people strong and numerous, as tall as the Anakites." Listen, "The Lord destroyed them from before the Ammonites, who drove them out, and settled in their place." Do you not realize the significance of that statement? That God was going before the Ammonites and driving out the Zamzummites. He's been doing that ever since. God rules over all of these things. And so here in this chapter, Isaiah 45, God is saying that he gives to Cyrus a kingdom, that he's going to go ahead of Cyrus. That image is powerful, like the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire before the Jews. He's going to go ahead of Cyrus and go before Cyrus and give him a kingdom. He's going to give him military victories. And he's going to do it and he's going to speak of him... God is going to speak of Cyrus as his servant and his shepherd, even his anointed one, his Christ in the Greek translation. Though he does not acknowledge him. And why is he doing all this? I say we step back and look big picture, God is doing this so that his elect people will know him and worship him and come to him for salvation and be saved even to the ends of the earth. That's what God is doing. He's ruling over history for the salvation of his chosen people. That's what this chapter's about. I. God Grants Cyrus an Empire for the Salvation of His Elect (vs. 1-8) So now let's dig in and look verses one through eight, God grants to Cyrus an empire for the salvation of his elect. Now, who is this individual Cyrus? For the second time, we have Cyrus the Great specifically identified by name. We've been looking at this for weeks now. These are the two chapters Isaiah 44 verse 28, "The Lord says of Cyrus," Koresh in the Hebrew, "he is my shepherd, and will accomplish all that I please. He will say of Jerusalem, "Let it be rebuilt and of the temple let its foundations be laid." And then again, we have Cyrus mentioned in 45 and verse one. Who was Cyrus the Great? So we have this individual mentioned by name, Cyrus, called in history, Cyrus the Great. Notice he's not called Cyrus the Great in the pages of scripture, because he is not great compared to the true king, who is coming, Christ, Christ is great. But Cyrus was a, according to the ancient historian, Herodotus, the grandson of a Median king named Astyages, ruler of the Median empire. Astyages had a dream about his baby grandson that one day he would overthrow him. So similar to King Herod, he sought to kill Cyrus the Great. But he officially delegated the task to an official but he couldn't do it, he couldn't kill this baby, and he gave him, he hit him with a shepherd instead. Wasn't until Cyrus was 10 years old, that king Astyages learned about this deception. But by then Cyrus' qualities had become known and he didn't want to kill him, Astyages didn't. And so he let him and his mother live in exile. Well, in 554 BC, Cyrus led a revolt against his grandfather Astyages in fulfillment of the dream, and we would say in fulfill of the prophecies here in this chapter. He led a revolt and overthrew Astyages and effectively ended the Median empire. He then consolidated the Persians, and the Medes together into one world empire, the first of its kind in world history. And so it's called the Medo-Persian empire. He drew these officials together and they set out to begin conquest. He moved out to control the Mediterranean coastline, smaller kingdoms like the kingdom of Lydia ruled by the fabulously wealthy king Croesus who is one of the... Said to be one of the wealthiest kings in history, conquered all of them, one after the other. They allied themselves to try to stop the Medo-Persian onslaught, but they couldn't do it. On October 12, 539 BC, Cyrus annexed the Chaldean or Babylonian empire, and on October 29th, he entered Babylon and arrested the king and assumed the title, their king of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the four corners of the world. I believe that put it all together that's the story told in Daniel 5. That very night, Belshazzar died in direct fulfillment of prophecy. Almost immediately then Cyrus the Great extended his control over the Arabian Peninsula, and over the middle east. They all submitted to Persian rule. Although Cyrus did not conquer Egypt by 535 BC, all the lands right up to the Egyptian border had submitted to him, and they began giving tribute to him. So that's who Cyrus the Great was in history. Cyrus also had some enlightened policies for ruling his empire. He was the first empire to realize that it was in his own best interest to make everybody under his rule as absolutely happy and autonomous as possible. He wanted them to be content under Persian rule. The Romans would perfect that with the Pax Romana. It was a combination of their overpowering military strength, so if you revolt you're going to get crushed. Plus, "Hey life, isn't so bad. Things are going well. We have our own rulers really under the Caesars etcetera." And it was really Cyrus that saw the wisdom of doing that and that extended especially to religion. He wanted the people to be able to worship their own gods and goddesses in their own way, and so he sent money from the treasury to allow temples of gods and goddesses to be rebuilt, and for religions to be established. Now, it was part of this policy that extended to the Jews and enabled them to go back to Palestine and re-build the temple of Yahweh, of Jehovah God. And this is directly recorded for us in Second Chronicles 36:22-23. It says there, "In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah," we would add and Isaiah, "The Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing." Verse 23, "This is what Cyrus king of Persia says, 'The Lord, the God of Heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his people among you may, the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up, let him go up." Now, Cyrus was a Pagan, he was a polytheist, he was a syncretist. He tried to mix as much religion together as possible. The idea of this is, "Who knows whatever gods or goddesses might be upset, let's appease them and make them happy." And you get this, I think, especially in something known as the Cyrus cylinder, which was discovered by an archaeologist in 1878. It's now in the British Museum in London. It's been translated and it shows how Cyrus seemed to believe in all the gods and goddesses. So while the Scripture does show Cyrus giving honor to the Jewish God, he seemed to do the same for every god. The Cyrus cylinder says something like the victorious Cyrus portrayed as having been chosen by the chief Babylonian god, Marduk, to restore peace and order to the Babylonians, that Cyrus was welcomed by the people of Babylon as their new ruler and it appeals to Marduk to protect and help Cyrus and his son Cambyses. The cylinder also says that, he repaired the ruin temples in the various cities that he conquered, restored their cults, their religions, and returned their sacred images as well as their former inhabitants, so that those gods and goddesses could be worshipped. So, as Isaiah says plainly in our text, Cyrus did not acknowledge the true and only, the living God, but God still used it. Do you see? God ruled over this for his own sovereign purposes. God Calls Cyrus His “Anointed” and Grants Him an Empire Now, let's look very specifically at verses 1-3, there it says, "This is what the LORD says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name." Well, right in verse 1, do you not see how amazing this is, "This is what the Lord says to his anointed"? This is language reserved for a Davidic king. For us as Christians, this is language we reserve for Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah. But he says he's going to take his anointed, Cyrus, by the right hand. He's going to lead him and give him success, and he's going to enable Cyrus to subdue every nation that opposes him. He's going to be able to cut through bars of iron and break down gates of bronze. He's going to be militarily successful. And God, he says, is going to go ahead of Cyrus, he's going to go before him to guarantee these victories. Like I said, the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire leading the Jews, so God would lead Cyrus to victory, and he'll give him treasures hidden in darkness, maybe that's Croesus's gold down in some vault somewhere. He's going to give him all of the spoils of victory, everything that a pagan emperor could ever want, he's going to hand him the treasures of darkness. But he does this so that Cyrus and Israel and indeed all the earth may know that he alone is the true God. God Does This So That Cyrus, Israel, and All the Earth May Know Him So look at verses 3-6, he says, "I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name. For the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen, I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor, though you do not acknowledge me. I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me, so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting men may know there is none besides me. I am the LORD, and there is no other." And Isn't it powerful how God is speaking directly to Cyrus, talking to him? "I am God and I'm talking to you so that you may know me," speaking very powerfully and directly. That's the goal of all of this, that we may know the only true and living God that there is in the world. "That you may know me, that I have summoned you by name." We know that at the beginning of these conquests, and as he received all of this military victory, Cyrus did not know the Lord. But is it possible that once Daniel got to be the second highest ruler in the Persian kingdom, that he might have evangelized him? Wouldn't it be delightful to find Cyrus up in heaven? Wouldn't it be delightful that God's purpose stated here, "So that you may know me," actually comes true, and that Cyrus is worshipping the true and living God for all eternity? Wouldn't you love to be Daniel rolling open the Isaiah scroll and saying, "Hey here's your name. And it was written a century before you were born." I would think that would have evangelistic power. Amen? Talk about using fulfilled prophecy to win a convert. I would think Cyrus would be easy at that point. Cyrus had not acknowledged him. But do you see the significance of this big picture? God uses the movers and shakers of world history, whether they know him or not, whether they acknowledge him or not, whether it's Julius Caesar or Attila the Hun or Genghis Khan or Tamerlane, or all the way up to the 20th century, all of the great movers and shakers of the terrible events of the 20th century, God ruled over every one of them, whether they knew him or acknowledged him or not, all of them. God gives them power, and then holds them accountable for how they use it. God rules over all of these things. Again, this is taught so plainly. You remember in Daniel chapter 4, when one of those mighty rulers, those emperors, the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, did not know God, did not acknowledge him. And so God gave him an education in that chapter. You remember the dream he had of the great tree that was cut down and all that? It led eventually to his mind being changed into that of an animal for seven years? Well, the point of the whole lesson in Daniel 4 was this, the angel said it, "So that you might know, that you might acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men, and gives them to anyone he wishes." Well, he learned that lesson. And at the end, Nebuchadnezzar said these words of God, "His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: "What have you done?" That is the sovereign God. So, no, the world is not falling apart. God is ruling over every single event. God Alone Creates Success and Disaster (vs. 7) And Verse 7 is one of those "meat" verses that you can take the rest of your life chewing on, and you'll never fully comprehend it. But we must embrace it, we must read it, and we must take in its truth. Verse 7, "I form the light and create darkness. I bring prosperity and create disaster. I, the Lord, do all these things." This is one of the most difficult concepts in the Christian religion, it's under the heading of God's providence, God's sovereign rule over the events of everyday life. And it goes right to the issue of light and darkness, prosperity and disaster, right to that issue. And it says directly that God does all these things. So, let's stick right with Cyrus's Medo-Persian conquests, and bring in the picture... Remember I said it's as though God were leading them as he was leading Israel with the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire, you remember? You remember the night of the Red Sea crossing, how the pillar stood there and separated out God's people from the Egyptians, who wanted to kill them. You remember that? And how it said in that one night, the same pillar gave light to the one side and darkness to the other. You remember that? And so it is the same event in human history, can be light to the one and darkness to the other. So let's just put it in simple terms. Let's say you were a soldier in the Medo-Persian army. Your conquest of Lydia or of the Scythians or of the Chaldeans, would have been light for you, and would have been prosperity for you. But if you were one of the Lydians or the Scythians or the Chaldeans, it would have been darkness and disaster. It's the same event, and God does it, and he knows exactly the impact it's going to have on your life. He's very well aware of that. This destroys, I think, the immature, the doctrinally immature view of God that he only ever brings prosperity and light and sweetness and happiness to people. This is that "health and wealth" doctrine that we hear about, but I think it lurks in all of our minds. And if you think it doesn't, how do you act when you get what some call an adverse providence? Something comes that crosses you somewhat, that causes you inconvenience... Could be an illness, could be losing your job, a financial issue. It could be some major repair on the car, things that trivial really. Or it could be matters of life and death... And how it is that we are challenged by this statement. But look at it again, "I form the light and create darkness. I bring prosperity and create disaster; I the Lord do all these things." Now, here we must be very careful what we're saying. It says in 1 John 1:5, "God is light, and in him, there is no darkness at all." So God never does evil, ever. But he brings disaster, he kills people, he takes possessions away from people. It's just not evil. It's just a different way of thinking. We have to understand this. God never does evil. I think when Hurricane Katrina came in, all of the bad theology that flowed after that, I couldn't believe it, on all sides of the equation. Those that said that God did bring the hurricane, and those that God... Said God didn't bring it. I'm not sure which hurricanes God brings and which ones he doesn't, which winds he controls. As far as I'm concerned, in the Bible, God's sovereign over weather, over all things. But it's simplistic to say that, let's say because of the great wickedness, specifically of New Orleans, that he brought Hurricane Katrina, as some theologians and pastors said. It's just simplistic. On the same street there are flattened houses, and some of those people are godly people, and some of them are unbelievers, and some of them are nominal Christians, and everything. And they're all getting the same thing. It's just too simplistic. But to say, "God would never do anything, it's only the devil, let's say, that would ever do something like that." It just isn't true. So we have to grow up, and we have to read a verse like this verse 7, and say, "I understand it." The Lord Rains Down Righteousness and Makes It Spring Up Now, look at verse 8, how he couples it. He says basically that everything God does is righteous. It's never evil, it's always righteous. Look at Verse 8, "You heavens above, rain down righteousness. Let the clouds shower it down, let the earth open wide. Let salvation spring up, let righteousness grow with it. I the Lord have created it." So, God does all these things, the Medo-Persian invasion, Cyrus, all that, hurricanes, earthquakes, everything. Everything that God does, he does so that he can bring about righteous salvation for his elect. That's the ultimate end, that God would be glorified by raining down from heaven whatever is necessary to let righteous salvation spring up. Isn't that beautiful? So, keep verse 7 and verse 8 together. What God is doing, it's apparently light and darkness to us, apparently prosperity and disaster, but look more deeply. In the midst of it, God is working out his saving purposes. He's causing righteous salvation to spring up from the earth, verse 8. II. God Rebukes Arrogant Human Questioning of His Plans (vs. 9-13) Well, verses 9-13, God says, "Okay, now I know you're ready to argue with me. I know you're ready to argue with me because you don't like what I'm saying to you. " This is God saying it, this is not the pastor saying this right now. I'm just saying, this is where we're going in the text, because he's very well aware that a verse like verse 7 is troubling. The idea, to the Jews, that God is going to raise up a pagan and give him the promised land and everything else and go before him and give him all this military success, "God, if you're so mighty and do that, why don't you do it for a Davidic king, a Jewish king? If that's what you can do, then do it for one of us." And God says in verse 9 and 10, "Woe to him who quarrels with his maker. To him, it is but a potsherd among the potsherds of the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, 'What are you making?" Does your work say, 'He has no hands?' Woe to him who says to his father, 'What have you begotten?' Or to his mother, 'What have you brought to birth?'" So I think the immediate context here would be Jews, shocked to hear that God is going to use this pagan man to do all this. It's just difficult for them to hear God say to Cyrus, a pagan, "My servant, my anointed one, my shepherd," to call him that? It's difficult. "I don't understand what you're doing, God." And so, they start to question it. Now, more broadly applicable, when we have verse 7 kind of come down on our heads, and God, it seems, is bringing calamity to us, he's bringing darkness into our lives, and we're going through hard times, it is so easy to quarrel with your maker, isn't it? And so God proclaims a woe on those who quarrel with God, argue with God. He challenges us. He calls us "potsherds on the ground" of the workshop, the potter's workshop. What's a potsherd? It's a piece of broken pottery. How is that like us? We were formed from the clay, from the dust of the Earth. And a potsherd's like something broken on the ground. We've been shattered in many ways by sin. And so for us, as a broken piece of pottery on the ground, to argue up to the potter himself is arrogant. Now, the apostle Paul picks up on this exact verse in Romans chapter 9, when he talks about God's sovereignty and salvation. And you remember that passage where God's going through, "Why are some Jews believing and some Jews aren't believing?" and that very deep passage? Romans 9 stands like Mount Everest over the theological landscape, and it's just got so many challenging statements in there. But in Romans 9:18, it says that God has mercy on whom he wills to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wills to harden. And then Paul, the great teacher, says, "Now, one of you will say to me, one of you is going to argue back with me, why does God still find fault? Why does anybody ever get judged, for who resists his will?" But Romans 9:20, "Who are you, oh man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?' Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes, and some for common use." Friends, that's grown-up theology. If we just take it simply at this point, don't argue with God. God is very patient, but in this text, he's saying, "Woe to you who does it." So don't argue, submit. And if you're going through a terrible trial, adverse circumstances, the quicker you bring yourself humbly and quietly under God's mighty hand, the quicker the healing will flow. The more you resist and fight and chafe and talk back to God, the longer that's going to take. You're just doing damage to your own soul. Woe to Him Questions God About His Plans And so, it's telling us not to argue with him, and not to question him about his plans. Look at verse 11 and 13, "This is what the Lord says, the Holy One of Israel, and its maker: Concerning things to come, do you question me about my children? Do you give me orders about the work of my hands?" Notice, verse 11 focuses on his children, his elect. God does everything for them. So he's saying, "Are you going to question me, what I'm doing with my children? Do you have the right to do that?" And then Verse 13, "I will raise up Cyrus in my righteousness. I will make all his ways straight, he will rebuild my City." That's Jerusalem. Isn't that beautiful that God calls it "my city"? "He will rebuild my city and set my exiles free, but not for a price or reward, says the LORD Almighty." So, God does everything for the sake of his elect, for his children. He knows exactly what he's going to do. In verse 12, he says, "Don't forget who I am, don't forget my power." Look at Verse 12. He says, "It is I who made the earth and created mankind upon it. My own hand stretched out the heavens. I marshalled their starry hosts." So never forget who I am. III. God’s Mysterious Plans for Gentile Salvation (vs. 14-17) Now, in verses 14-17, God speaks of his mysterious plans for gentile salvation. Look at verse 14, "This is what the Lord says, 'The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, and those tall Sabeans, they will come over to you and will be yours. They will trudge behind you, coming over to you in chains. They will bow down before you and plead with you, saying, 'Surely God is with you, and there is no other. There is no other God.''" Now, this is not an easy verse. To a Jewish nationalist, let's say a Jewish zealot, they be like, "I love that verse. We've got the Gentiles trudging behind us in chains, and they're bringing us all their merchandise." Yes, but understand. God's purpose, his saving purpose has always been extending to the ends of the earth. Remember the original call of Abram in Ur of the Chaldees? What does he say? He says, "I will bless those who, what? Bless you. And if one of these Egyptians or Cushites or tall Sabeans falls down in front of them, and says, "Truly God is with you, and there is no other, there's no other God," they're going to get blessed, friends. They're going to get blessed with salvation. Paul quotes this very thing in 1 Corinthians 14. You remember about the whole speaking-in-tongues thing? And if an outsider comes in, and they hear prophecy, they hear a clear proclamation of the Word of God, they're going to fall down in your midst and say, "Surely God is among you." he's quoting this exact passage. So ultimately, we're talking about gentile salvation, the Corinthians were Gentiles. And God in their midst, because they repent and believe in Christ. God is a God Who Hides Himself Now, your head may be swimming, saying, "This is just too complicated. This is too deep. God's ways are too high. I don't understand all the things he does. Well, look at the next verse, verse 15 is amazing, "Truly, you are a God who hides himself, oh God and Savior of Israel." So this is, I believe, Isaiah's editorial comment, saying, "Boy, I don't get it." [chuckle] Just like Paul in Romans 11, saying, "Your paths are beyond tracing out." "So you're doing all this stuff with Cyrus so that the people in Cush and the Sabeans can come to faith in Christ, and fall down and worship God?" "Yeah, that's exactly right." "Wow, your ways are difficult." If you look at Verse 15 carefully, we're saying that God is a hidden God. He's a God that must reveal himself, or you will never know him. If God does not reveal himself... If you're, right now, a non-Christian, and God does not reveal himself to you, you'll walk out of here a non-Christian. But if God chooses to reveal his glory to you, in his Son crucified, and resurrection, you'll walk out of here saved. It's up to the sovereign plan of God. God is a hidden God who reveals himself in Scripture, and by the proclamation especially of the gospel. So this hidden God is mysterious. And God's plan is shame for the idolaters and salvation for Israel. Verse 16 and 17, "All the makers of idols will be put to shame and disgrace. They'll go off into disgrace together. But Israel will be saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation you'll never be put to shame or disgrace to ages everlasting." Sheep and goats dear friends. It's just wheats and tares, wheat and weeds, good fish and bad fish. God is going to separate out the committed final idolaters and they'll go off into everlasting shame from those who are truly saved, his people, his Israel, whether Jews who have come to faith in Christ, or Gentiles who have been grafted into a Jewish olive tree come to faith in Christ we will be saved with an everlasting salvation to ages everlasting. And how beautiful is that? IV. God’s Gospel Call to the Ends of the Earth: Turn to Christ! (vs. 18-25) And so there is a Gospel call to the ends of the earth, verses 18-25, God's purposes will be fulfilled and all the earth will be filled with worshippers, isn't that awesome? 18 and 19, "For this is what the Lord says. He who created the heavens, he is God, he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it. He did not create it to be empty but formed it to be inhabited." Do you hear that? God didn't make this Earth with all of its beauty to be a howling wilderness. He didn't create all of the mountains and the valleys and the rivers and oceans, and all that to not be seen, he wanted the beauty to be seen by people who will immediately worship him for it. He didn't form it to be empty or desolate, he wanted it to be inhabited, inhabited with who? With people created in his image, to know him, to love him, and to worship him. And so he says, "I am the Lord and there is no other. I have not spoken in secret from somewhere in a land of darkness. I have not said to Jacob's descendants, seek me in vain. I the Lord speak the truth. I declare what is right." Now here, a moment ago in verse 15, we had a God who hides himself, but now he says to Jacob, "I've not said to you, seek me in vain." And I'm going to put the two of those together, in just a moment. But God hasn't spoken off here in secret, he has given us this incredible book, and he's very, very good at getting it out. Do you realize what percentage of the Earth's population can understand the scripture in some language that they know? It may not be their heart language, Wycliffe will say, not their heart language, but what percentage of the world population can hear and understand the scripture? 98% of the earth's population. 98%, there's 180 million people left who can't right now hear it in any language and so, Wycliffe's working on that. But God has done a very good job getting this book out. How many Bibles do you think there are on earth? The internet doesn't know. I looked this morning. They have no idea. They're guessing six billion Bibles. How could we even know? The book sale tell you it's about 100 million a year in America. That's amazing. So all over the world, just hundreds and hundreds of millions of these, God is getting this word out. And Isaiah 45 is included, isn't that cool? Right there, God says, "I've not spoken this off in secret. I've gotten the word out." As it says in Romans 10, "Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world." People are hearing about this and God is saying, and he's saying, "Though I am a hidden God, if you seek me, you will find me, if you seek with all your heart." Isn't that beautiful, as Jeremiah talking to the exiles out in exile he said, "I'm going to send you to another land, and there you will bow down to foreign gods, but if in that land," Deuteronomy 4 says you seek me with all your heart, you will surely find me. God’s Clear Challenge to Idolaters: God Alone Predicted These Things So God gives a clear challenge to the idolaters. We've seen this before, so we don't have to spend much time on it. Verse 20 and 21, "Gather together and come; assemble, you fugitives from the nations. Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood, who pray to gods that cannot save. Declare what is to be, present it-- let them take counsel together. Who foretold this long ago, who declared it from the distant past? Was it not I, the LORD? And there is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but me." So I would love to have been there when Daniel was evangelizing Cyrus and say, "Oh great king. It isn't Marduk, that predicted the future. It isn't Baal or Nebo or any of those false gods, it is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he's the only God there is." And we can say the same thing in the 21st century scene, it's not the god of the Buddhist or the god of the Hindus or the god of Islam, that's predicted the future, God is the only God who has done this, who has said the name Cyrus. He is throwing down the prophetic gauntlet and saying, "No one else can do this." And why does he do this? So that the ends of the earth will turn to him and be saved for there is no one else. Now, here in this I hear the language of Acts 4:12, don't you? Peter saying to the Sanhedrin, "Salvation is found in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." And so God sends this Gospel call to the ends of the Earth, and I'm going to say it quite plainly, "Turn to Jesus Christ and be saved all you ends of the earth." That's what he's saying. The Exclusivity of Jesus Christ In the fullness of time, we understand what this prophecy is saying. Look, 22 to 25, "Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other. By myself, I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked. Before me every knee will bow, by me every tongue will swear. They will say of me, 'In the Lord alone are righteousness, and strength, and all those who have raged against him will come to him and be put to shame, but in the Lord all the descendants of Israel will be found righteous and will exalt." Well, in the language of American evangelicalism, friends, verse 22 is the altar call of this chapter. Calling on people who have heard these things to turn to the true and living God and be saved, all the ends of the earth. Turn means repent of your idolatries, repent of your sins, and your wickedness. Be saved means saved from the coming judgment and wrath of God. "Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth," and God makes a pledge. He swears it by himself, "Before me every knee will bow." And "By me every tongue will swear." Now we don't understand this in terms of universalism, "everyone's going to be saved." But there will come a time that every human being will recognize that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the only true God. Now, again, if you're a Christian, these verses will sound familiar. Have you ever heard this before? Speaking of, Jesus Christ, "who being in very nature, God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing. Taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place, and gave him the name that is above every name. That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the father." Now, I believe Isaiah 40-49 is the most fiercely monotheistic section of scripture in the entire Bible. God is determined to say he's the only God, and there is no other. He says it again and again and again, multiple times in this chapter. Yahweh, Jehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that God, the God of the Jews, is the only god there is. But along comes Paul, and takes that and ascribes it to Jesus. That would be blasphemy if Jesus weren't God. V. Applications And so here's the application of this chapter. Look to Christ, turn to Christ and be saved. He is the only savior there is. This is Charles Spurgeon's conversion verse, by the way. When you get to heaven, you can say, "What was your conversion verse?" And Charles Spurgeon will say it's Isaiah 45:22. It was a specific snowy Sunday morning, and a primitive Methodist was there, the ordinary preacher was laid up or couldn't go or something. So they got this guy, Spurgeon... You got to read it. It's one of the funniest accounts in church history. And he just reads about how this thin guy gets up, without any training, and just says in the KJV, "Look unto me and be saved, all the ends of the earth." And he said, "You look with eyes of faith, you look to Christ, you turn to Christ and you'll be saved. And Spurgeon, at once he said, "Suddenly the scales were gone from my eyes. I looked and I looked, until I could look my eyes away." He finally saw Christ crucified and resurrected as the only savior there is. Now, I don't know what your spiritual condition is, what brought you here today, but I know this. This Gospel is still powerful today. Look to Christ, there is no other Savior. And then, for us as Christians, we have a responsibility to take this same message out to the ends of the earth, even to the college campus, to the workplace through this week. Now, other applications we've seen along the way, I'll just mention them briefly. Learn not to argue with God when things are going badly. Don't question him. Don't argue with him. Quickly humble yourself under his Hand, trust in him no matter what's going on. Don't argue with him. He knows what he's doing and he loves you. And understand that God brings both prosperity and disaster. Let's not be juvenile or immature in our theology, saying foolish things like that at hurricane times or earthquake times or invasion times. God forms the light and creates darkness. He brings prosperity and disaster. He does all these things. And then finally meditate on the hidden-ness of God. Understand if God doesn't want you to know him, you won't know him. If God doesn't reveal himself, you'll never know him. But God has revealed himself in the Scripture and in Christ. So, though God is a God who hides himself, we are told later in the chapter that he has not told us to seek him in vain. Seek him with all your heart. Make it the daily bent of your life to seek this hidden God and know him. Close with me in prayer.
Seeing From the Karakoram Mountains So, in the summer of 1987, I went on my second mission trip, I had been the year before, in Kenya, but this time I went to Pakistan, and toward the end of that summer, we made an incredible trip across the Karakoram mountains along the Karakoram Highway, into China. And the part of that incredible journey was a trip through the Khunjerab Pass, which is the highest pass in the world, in terms of altitude, it's the highest I've ever been while standing on terra firma, almost 16,000 feet. And I remember distinctly that day, it was one of the most spectacular days of my life, because I took my life in my hands and rode on the luggage rack of the van, down the Karakoram Highway, for hours. The kind of thing I wouldn't do now, as a married man with children, but I'm glad I did it, at the time. And I can't even describe, I can't put into words the scenery that I saw from that lofty perch, from the Khunjerab Pass. You can see mountains as far as... It was a clear day, and just row upon row of mountain ridges, that were just going out before my eyes. It was just amazing, and I stood there and just soaked it all in, and I just thought about it. And then it occurred to me as I was standing there, that these mountains look like they're touching each other, but they're, really, probably 20-50 miles apart. Maybe even more. And this gives me, this morning, as I begin this overview of the last section of Isaiah 40 through 66, a kind of an analogy of what it was like for Isaiah, the prophet, touched by the supernatural power of almighty God, touched by the Spirit of God, to be able to stand at a certain point in history, 7th century BC and to describe, to write down, in timeless words on a scroll, things that wouldn't be fulfilled for centuries. And they're just, literally, side by side with each other, in the words of this scroll. You go from one chapter to the next and from one theme to the next, and they're just one chapter on top of each other, but these events are separated by centuries, even by millennia. And so, Isaiah, supernaturally endued by the sovereign Spirit of God is able to write about things that were only beginning to happen in his time, or that wouldn't even happen for a long time. He prophesied, for example, the return to idolatry of Judah and Jerusalem under Hezekiah's son, Manasseh, and how that idolatry would lead to the invasion of Judah by Babylon, and how Babylon would destroy Jerusalem and the Temple. The Temple of Jerusalem would be razed by the Babylonians, leading to a small remnant of Jews, exiled to Babylon for their sins. But then, subsequently, the destruction of Babylon, by the Medes and Persians under Cyrus the Great whom he names specifically by name, in two chapters, Isaiah 44 and 45, and how Cyrus the Great would issue a decree to rebuild the ruins of Judah and Jerusalem and let the foundations of the temple be laid. He named Cyrus the Great 100 years before his parents were born, Cyrus's parents. I've often wondered if they had free will in the naming of their son. Or if there was somebody whispering, "Cyrus would be a good name. Why don't you try Cyrus?" But how this specific prophecy had been written down a century before that. And then, how this small remnant of Jews 42,000 of them, he didn't say the number, but a small remnant of Jews would return to the rubble of Judea, the rubble of Jerusalem and rebuild it? And re-establish a Jewish presence in the Promised Land, leading to the greatest single event in redemptive history, and that's the life-death resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, who's ministry, he saw more clearly than any other Old Testament prophet. Isaiah wrote, very, very plainly of the coming of the Messiah, and his bloody death on the cross, his piercing for our transgressions, and of his bodily resurrection from the dead. All of these things seen seven centuries before Christ was born. And then, the coming of the Holy Spirit, poured out in abundance like rain on the people of God, and how, as a result of the sovereign activity of the Spirit of God, the sons and daughters of God would spring up like plants from a field. And there are a lot of different ways to look at that prophecy, and we'll talk about them, about the coming of the Spirit, and how Jesus was going to be a light for the Gentiles, that he might bring the salvation of God to the ends of the earth. And how the Gospel would spread to the ends of the earth and be successful there and there would be Gentiles who would believe in this Jewish Savior. And they would repent of their sins and trust, and they would call on the name of the Lord while he was near and find salvation in Jesus, how this would happen even to the ends of the earth and to the ends of time. But how the final wrath of God would be poured out on the earth, for its wickedness and its sins, leading to the second coming of Jesus Christ. And debatably, we can talk about it, but possibly, the millennial kingdom. And if there's any Scripture that describes in detail the thousand years reign of Christ on earth, it would have to be Isaiah, although that's debated. But how people live to unnatural old age before they die, and how there's an astonishing flourishing of agriculture in the land, and all of these things. And then, what's not debatable is judgment day beyond all of that, and the separation of the entire world into believers and unbelievers and a clear depiction of the final place of condemnation, hell, in language that's right there to the very end of the book of Isaiah, but then also a depiction of the New Heavens and the New Earth, the home of righteousness is coming. All of these things, like those mountain ridges, one on top of the other, you just can reach out and touch them all as you read this book. But separated in actuality by dozens, hundreds, even thousands of years, and Isaiah saw it all. So I have a different image from another mission trip I made. A number of years later, I was preaching in Poland, and we were in a very beautiful area, rolling green hills, lakes, and I was in a hotel I was writing on the balcony of the hotel. And I looked out from where I was on the sixth floor, and just so pretty there, in Northern Poland, and there was this ultra light, you know those little planes that people fly they're like powered hang gliders? Those guys are maniacs. But I would love to have been that person. He was just barely missing the high tension power lines which I was grateful for, but he was just soaring out over this lake and just... And I'd like to kind of do that, but without any danger today and just move out over these mountain ridges of prophecy. And I want to draw out seven grand, glorious themes that are going to be recurring in these 27 chapters. Kyle said I'm going to be preaching for the next few weeks, is that what you said Kyle? Is that all I have? I better get going. I've got a few weeks. But just amazing journey that we're going to be on as we begin in Isaiah, and I want to draw out seven grand themes, that we could refer to again and again, I wonder if we need laminated cards in the pew back and as I preach chapter after chapter after chapter, in Isaiah 40 through 66. Setting the Context Okay, this morning we're going to be looking at themes one, four, six and seven. Alright, the next week will be themes two, five, and seven, next week, we're going to do one, two, three and five, it's just going to keep coming up again and again, these same seven themes. So that's the task in front of us. I want to set the context, I already done it briefly, but Isaiah is standing at this juncture, Isaiah 1 through 39, the central kind of drama there has been Assyria, and the Assyrian invasion of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and their deportation of the Jews in Israel, the Northern Kingdom. And then he goes on into the Southern Kingdom of Judah and is stopped right at the walls as we saw when I was preaching last time how the Lord sent the angel of the Lord and he killed 185,000 Assyrian troops in one night. And Sennacherib king of Assyria, turned and went back, God sovereignly led him back to his home city of Nineveh and there he died. And so you get a feeling that Assyria's done now. And though the Assyrian empire would continue for another hundred years or so, it was ever waning in power from that point on. And now we have the rise of the next great power in that region of the world, the ancient near east and that is Babylon. At the time that Isaiah lived, it was a city in the Assyrian Empire, a conquered little city state, but Isaiah saw with the eyes of prophecy, what was coming, and that was that Babylon would rise to be a mighty empire, reach its zenith, and then in a very short time, be toppled itself by the Medes and Persians under Cyrus the Great. He saw all of that. Now you may ask how does he see all this? How does he know what the future holds? How can he predict so clearly what is coming? Well, 2 Peter 1 said this, above all, you must understand this is about prophecy. This is what sets Christianity apart from every other world religion. Fulfilled prophecy specifically focused on the person and work of Christ. This is what separates Christianity apart. So those of you in the college campus, you're going to face this again and again, What makes Christianity different than Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism? Fulfilled Prophecy Start with this, "Fulfilled prophecy." Fulfilled prophecy. And so, 2 Peter 1:20-21, "Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture ever had its origin in the will of man." Prophecy never had it's origin in the will of man, "but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." And so the Holy Spirit came into Isaiah the prophet, and he sat down and wrote on a scroll these timeless words about all of these things that were coming. And I want to draw out these themes now and make them plain. God is able to predict the future and no one else can because God is sovereign over the future that he predicts. He is the ultimate self-fulfilling prophecy or prophet. He says, in effect, "This is what I'm going to do and nothing can stop it." And He is the King of the universe, and so he can make predictions. And he challenges the idols and he has them come in again and again on this very issue, "Bring in your idols," he says in Isaiah 41. "Let's see what they can do. All right, idols, tell us the former things if you can, and what their final outcome would be, and then predict to us, the future things. Yes, tell us what the future holds. Do something, good or bad, so that we may know that you are gods." And so he does this again and again in Isaiah 41, Isaiah 44, Isaiah 45, Isaiah 46, 48. "I can predict the future and no one else can." And so he has this power to do this in detail. I. The Infinite Greatness of God And so, now let us bring forth these themes and let's begin with the first and greatest. And it's a central theme of the Bible, it's a central theme of the universe, it should be the central theme of your life and that is, The infinite majestic greatness of Almighty God. We're going to see a celebration of the attributes of God in these 27 chapters of Isaiah that will take your breath away, strengthen your faith, give you courage to face the trials that you will face in your lives. First and foremost, the infinite greatness of God over all creation. God is majestic and powerful and infinitely greater than the creation he made. We'll see this in Isaiah 40:12, where it says, "Who has measured the water in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket? Or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance?" God is also infinitely majestic over all the idols and the gods. Isaiah 40:18, 20 says, "To whom then will you compare God? What image will you compare him to? As for an idol, a craftsman crafts it and the goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashions silver chains for it. A man too poor to present such an offering selects wood that will not rot. He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple." Well, our God isn't made of gold or silver or wood and He will never topple. He doesn't need to be nailed down, no chains need to be put on Him to support Him. He is an infinite and mighty God and all of the idols and gods of the nations are nothings. God is also infinite, and majestic over all the nations themselves including their kings and princes and rulers and all the mighty men and women of the earth. So he says in Isaiah 40:20-22, "He sits enthroned above the circle of the Earth, and its people before him are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. He brings princes to nothing and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground then he blows on them and they wither and the whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff." And so because of this God is infinitely great and majestic over all of time and history. He rules over history. In Isaiah 41:4, he says this, "Who has done this, and carried it through calling forth the generations from the beginning." Listen to this. "I the Lord with the first of them and with the last, I am He." God calls forth each generation by His sovereign power. He knits each generation of people together in their mother's wombs and he is with them as they rise to their, the zenith of their power and their strength and their energy, and then they fall off, age, and die. He's with every generation, he was with the first and he will be with the last. He rules over all of human history. He is omnipotent. He is absolutely immeasurable power. Again, Isaiah 40:26, "Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens, who created all these? He who brings out the starry hosts one by one and calls each of them by name. Because of his great power, and his mighty strength, not one of them is missing." He is also infinite in his wisdom and knowledge. Again, Isaiah 40:28, "Do you not know, have you not heard the Lord the everlasting God, is the creator of the ends of the Earth, he will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom." And yet how incredibly gentle and tender is this infinitely majestic God with sinners like you and me. How it says in Isaiah 40:11, "He tends His flock like a shepherd. He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart. He gently leads those that have young." So the scope of this God is immeasurable. The scope of Almighty God from his tenderness, all the way up to measuring out the Cosmos with the breadth of his hand. So Isaiah pictures a God who is both terrifyingly immense in His power and knowledge, but also meek and lowly and tender-hearted in dealing with sinners. The display of the glory of this great God is the center piece of Isaiah 40 through 66. And so it says in Isaiah 40:9, "You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain you who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, Lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up. Do not be afraid, say to the towns of Judah, behold your God." That is my privilege today, I get to do that. I get to just say to you the towns of Judah spiritually, Zion, spiritual Zion, "Open your eyes and behold your God. And there is no problem in your life that even comes close to his capacities and his power and his grace, and his love, for you. So just behold, your God." How are you going to do that? Listen to the Word. Because faith is the eyesight of the soul, and by hearing God's Word, we see our God who cannot be seen. First theme. II. The Sinfulness of the Idolatrous Human Race Second theme. The sinfulness of the idolatrous human race. The wickedness of idolatry is a major theme of Isaiah 40 through 66. He mentions it again and again. This great God of ours, this great God of Isaiah 40-66 is a jealous God. He created each of us to love him, to cherish him, to worship him, to live openly for him. That's why He created you and me. And so he says in Isaiah 42:8, "I am the Lord, that is My name. I will not give My glory to another or My praise to idols." He's jealous over his glory and over his place in your heart. But instead sadly, tragically the human race, all of the human race, not just the Jews, under Manasseh and not just the Babylonians, with Bel and Nebo and all that, not just them, not just those totem pole worshipping Aboriginal tribes or whatever, not just all people apart from his sovereign grace are idolaters. Here, I'm going to reach to Romans 1:25 for the best definition of idolatry. "They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the creator who's forever praised. Amen." That is idolatry. When you exchange the worship you should be giving to God and you're worshipping, living for, ultimately living for some created thing, you are an idolater. And all of us were idolaters apart from the saving grace of God. God is at war with the idols in Isaiah 40-66, at war with them. He hates them and he's fighting them. Idols are mentioned 19 times in these chapters. So again and again, he brings them up. And as I mentioned, he challenges them probably four or five times to a duel. He wants to take them on. I love that part that I already quoted to you where He says, "Do something. But you're nothing, you don't even exist." But our God is the living God and so he wants to challenge the idolatry that is rife in our culture, our time. And let's be specific. The idolatry that tempts your own hearts, too. It is dangerous to read about the idolatry of the Jews or the idolatry of the Babylonians and say, "What wicked people, they are, glad I'm not like that." So God through Isaiah the prophet mocks the idols, makes fun of them. We've already seen that some of it, how these idols have to be nailed down or they'll topple. You remember the memorable passage in Isaiah 44, where you've got this guy who goes out and selects a worthy piece of wood, drags it home, cuts it in half and uses half of it to cook his dinner, and warm himself in his workshop, and then uses the other half and carves it and makes it into an idol and he bows down and worships it and says, "Save me, you are my god." And in case you missed the details, he goes back over it. Half of it he used to cook his meal and the other half he bows down and prays to it. It's just mockery. So, idolatry is exposed. God's hatred for idolatry is revealed, but the idolatry of the entire human race is also clearly unfolded as well. You know that Hezekiah led the Jews of Judea in a revival of true religion, biblical religion. Got rid... Finally got rid of the high places. Had everyone worship in the pattern of the Law of Moses. But then he died and his son Manasseh took his place and vigorously led them all back into wicked idolatry, including to the point of sacrificing one of his own sons, a descendant of David, a son of David, in the fire to Molech. Well that brought about the exile to Babylon, it brought about the punishment of God. Judah indulges in idolatry, and this is the very reason why Judah will be sent into exile. Listen to Isaiah 42:17-19. "Those who trust in idols, who say to images, you are our gods will be turned back in utter shame. Hear you deaf, look you blind and see. Who is blind, but my servant, and deaf like the messenger I send? Who is blind like the one committed to me, blind like the servant of the Lord?" Well, that's Judah. But all the nations are doing the same thing. And Isaiah 46:1, the prophet exposes the gods of Babylon, Bel and Nebo. You know Bel from which you get the name Belshazzar, the final king of Babylon. Nebo from which you get the name Nebuchadnezzar. These were the two key gods of Babylon. And they are exposed as the false burdens that they are, they're heavy, made of gold and they have to be loaded on ox-carts and the oxen, they're stumbling under the weight of these things. And it's saying, the crushing idolatry of the world will destroy everyone who worships those idols. So this is a problem to the ends of the earth. III. The Wrath of God in the Judgment of Sins Theme number three. The wrath of God in the judgment of sins. This is a major theme throughout the Bible, but in Isaiah 40-66. God is actively involved in human history. He's not the absentee god of Dius who started the universe up like a complex clock mechanism, wound it up and let it run. That's not the God of the Bible, it sure isn't the God of Isaiah 40-66. No, he gets involved, he moves out and one of the number one things that God does in these chapters, is pours out his wrath on idolatrous, wicked, sinful, nations. His just judgments on them, for their sins. God will judge, first his own people and purify them of their sins by slaying the wicked. Isaiah 51:17-20 says this, "Rise up oh Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord, the cup of His wrath, you who have drained to its dregs, the goblet that makes men stagger. Of all the sons she bore there was none to guide her. Of all the sons she reared there was none to take her by the hand. These double calamities have come upon you. Who can comfort you? Ruin and destruction, famine and sword, who can console you? Your sons have fainted, they lie at the head of every street, like antelope caught in a net. They are filled with the wrath of the Lord, and the rebuke of your God." So God's judgment began with the house of God, with the Jews, as he pours out his wrath on them, who said that they were Jews, but they really weren't, only in name, only. But they were generally... They were genuinely idolaters and God poured out his wrath on them. And because of that, he destroyed Jerusalem and his temple, the place where he wanted his name to dwell forever but he destroyed it, God did, by the Babylonians. So it says in Isaiah 64:11, "Our holy and glorious temple where our fathers praised you has been burned with fire. All that we treasured lies in ruins." Why? Because of the judgment of God. But God in his grace, and in his mercy, restrained his wrath completely from the Jews and by his sovereign grace left them a remnant, chosen by grace, he didn't completely exterminate them. The sons and daughters of Abraham, still exist, and God reserved for himself a remnant. He left a remnant. Now, beyond the issue of the Jews, Judah and Jerusalem, we have the consistent activity of God in judging this nation, or that nation, or the other nation for their sins. He's not just a national tribal deity, just the God of the Jews, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but he is the God of the entire world. And he is just and righteous and will judge every nation on earth for their sins. This is the God of the whole world. Not just of the Jews. And so, in Isaiah 63:6 he says, "I trampled the nations in my anger. In my wrath, I made them drunk and poured their blood on the ground." And then 66:15-16, it says, "Behold the Lord is coming with fire and his chariots are like a whirlwind, he will bring down his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire, for with fire and with his sword the Lord will execute judgment upon all men and many will be those slain by the Lord." So we have many cities devastated, many people slaughtered. And the culmination of the righteous judgment of God for sin is hell and that is also pictured in the words of Isaiah the prophet. If you were to go to the very last verse in the book of Isaiah, Isaiah 66:24, you don't have to turn there now, but just listen, this is the very last verse, this is the last word. Isaiah 66:24. "And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me. Their worm will not die nor will their fire be quenched and they will be loathsome to all mankind." That's the end of the prophecy. Well, Jesus picked up on those same words and used them to describe hell. In Mark 9 he says, "If your eye cause you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched." Isaiah 66:24. IV. The Atonement of Sins by the Redeemer, the Suffering Servant—Jesus Christ Theme number four. The wonderful good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen. The good news that there is a Savior from this just wrath of God and his name is Jesus. Jesus the atoner of sins, the Redeemer, the suffering servant, Jesus Christ. No one in the Old Testament saw the ministry of Jesus Christ more clearly than Isaiah the prophet. No one. It was Isaiah that saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of His robe filled the temple. John 12 tells us, Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about Him. But he saw most specifically the promise of a full payment for all of our sins. Now it's going to begin and I'm going to start with this next week. Isaiah 40:1-2. I'm going to preach three sermons on Isaiah 40. After that, I will try, not promising, but I'll try to keep to a chapter a week. We'll do our best. But I can't do that in Isaiah 40. And look how Isaiah 40:1-2 begins. "Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins." Well, there's only one way that sin gets paid for in the Bible and that's with the shed blood of Jesus Christ. There is no other atoning sacrifice, no other atoning sacrifice. So, how then did Jerusalem's sins get paid for? How then is there forgiveness? Well, the servant of the Lord, so called in the book of Isaiah, this is Jesus. And Isaiah 49:6 says that he is the light for the Gentiles. There's an Intra-Trinitarian conversation there in Isaiah 49:6. God the Father says to God the Son, what his mission is going to be. He says, "It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth." That's Jesus' mission to be the light for the Gentiles that He may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. And so we have this term Redeemer, or redeem. The term redeem or Redeemer is used 22 times in these 27 chapters. Again and again, we have this idea of redemption or redeeming. The word means to buy a slave out of slavery by the payment of a price or to buy a captive out of captivity by the payment of a price. That's what redeeming is. Now Judah and Jerusalem, the Jews will be captives in Babylon, they have to be bought out from Babylon, they have to be redeemed. And so this is the language used in Isaiah 48:20. "Leave Babylon, flee from the Babylonians. Announce this with shouts of joy and proclaim it. Send it out to the ends of the earth; say, 'The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob.'" So when the remnant went back to the promised land, when they went back, they were redeemed. Yeah, but the payment hadn't been made yet. It's like a big, grand, glorious redemptive history IOU. An Intra-Trinitarian IOU. Jesus would shed his blood to pay the price of that redemption. That's the only payment there could ever be. And then Isaiah 52:9-10, it says, "Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God." The whole world is in slavery to idolatry and to sin. The whole world is under the righteous judgment and wrath of God. We all deserve it. And Jesus Christ is the Redeemer. Not just for the Jews, that's two small a thing, said God. But a Savior to the ends of the earth for every tribe, and language, and people, and nation, everyone. And so it says in Isaiah 59:20, "The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins." So the Redeemer is coming. Now, Isaiah 53 is the clearest depiction of how that redemption would come about. Without the shedding of blood there's no forgiveness, the book of Hebrews tells us. And Isaiah 53 tells us who's going to shed his blood. And it says, in Isaiah 53:4-6 of this suffering servant who is Jesus. "Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet, we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted, but He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds, we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." But that's not enough there in Isaiah 53, you also have a clear depiction of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. He wouldn't merely die, he wouldn't merely be pierced for our transgressions on the cross and shed his blood, but on the third day, God would raise him from the dead. And so we have also in Isaiah 53:9, "He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth." Verse 11. "After the suffering of his soul he will see the light of life and be satisfied; and by his knowledge, my righteous servant will justify many." He was put to death for our sins but raised to life for our justification. How awesome is that. V. The Spread of the Word and the Call of the Gospel to the Ends of the Earth Theme number five. The spread of the word of this gospel, and the call of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. this is the powerful Word of God. You've already heard it alluded to. "All men are like grass and all their glory is like the flower of the field." Isaiah 40:6-8. "The grass withers and the flowers fall when the breath of the Lord blows on it. Surely, the people are grass. The grass withers, and the flowers fall, but the Word of our God stands forever." And then you heard Damien read so beautifully Isaiah 55:10-11 "As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth. It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and will achieve the purpose for which I sent it." So God's going to unleash this powerful force in the world called his Word. What we know is the gospel of Jesus Christ, he's going to unleash it. And he's going to let it do it's powerful work and it will not come back empty, it's going to come back with what he intended to achieve having been done. And he has in mind the ends of the earth. What do we mean by that? Every tribe and language and people and nation. Isaiah is the prophet of the Gentiles. You could call him that. He's talking again and again about us. And he says, there in Isaiah 42:12, "Let them give glory to the Lord and proclaim his praise in the islands." What are the islands? Far away places. If you're living in Jerusalem, the islands means the ends of the earth. We've already seen that in Isaiah 49:6, "That you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth." Isaiah 52:15 says, "So will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of Him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand." This is the spread of the Gospel predicted in the Book of Isaiah. It's going on right now. And so there are these messengers of good tidings. Isaiah 52:7, "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, 'Your God reigns.'" How beautiful are the feet of those who bring that good news. And then listen to this Isaiah 66:19, "I will set a sign among them and I will send some of those who survive to the nations." I'm going to send them out to the nations, "to Tarshish," that's Spain, that's like Gibraltar. That's a long way away from Jerusalem when you don't have very good sailing vessels. "I'm going to send them "to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations." That's clear missions, friends, in Isaiah 66:19. And at the center of that message is a call to repentance and faith. Isaiah 45:22, "Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth." That's repentance. Turn, turn away from your idolatries, turn away from your wickedness and away from your sin, turn unto me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth. Isaiah 45:22. Isaiah 53:1, "Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" When God reveals his arm, people believe, that's what happens. They believe and in that belief they are saved from their sins. Simple justification by faith. Isaiah 59:20, "The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins." And so, we have going out to the ends of the earth this invitation to free grace which you heard again, read for us already. How beautiful is this? Isaiah 55:1-2, "Come to me all you who are thirsty, come to the waters. And you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me and eat what is good and your soul will delight in the richest of fare." And then later in that same chapter Isaiah 55:6-7, "Seek the Lord while He may be found, call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man, his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God, and he will freely pardon." So I just want to stop right now, this ultra light flying over mountain ridges, and just stop for a moment and say, have you ever done this? Have you ever called on the name of the Lord for the salvation of your soul? Have you sought the Lord while he may be found? May I say more accurately, are you seeking the Lord while he may be found? It's not just once, that's just the first time when you come to Christ, then you'll be seeking him the rest of your life while he may be found, and you're finding him day after day, by the Spirit. But have you done that? Do you know for certain that your sins are forgiven you through repentance and faith in Christ? You're included in all of this, you're included in Isaiah 40 through 66. You're among those nations that are there to the ends of the earth. Have you repented, and trusted in him? VI. God’s Restoration of Israel and of the Promised Land Itself Number six. God's restoration of Israel and the Promised Land itself. Real quickly. God is going to restore Israel, He's going to rebuild Jerusalem. He says it very plainly in Isaiah 44. Cyrus is going to allow the remnant to go back, he's going to say to the rubble filled towns of Judah, "Let it be rebuilt," and to Jerusalem, "Let it be restored," and of the temple, he will say, "Let its foundations be laid." By the way, that must have been a shock in Isaiah's day. "Oh, any word from the Lord?" "Yes. Yeah. There is." This is Hezekiah's day now, everything's going well. Things are flourishing, things are going really well. Everybody's high places removed. He said, "The good news is, God is going to move Cyrus the Great to rebuild the temple." "Rebuild it?" "Well yeah, he's going to... Well, he's going to have the foundations laid after him then it'll get rebuilt." "Lay the foundations of the temple." "But we have a good temple. It's running real well." "Yeah, well let me tell you what's going to happen to that temple." Well, God ordained that that temple be destroyed but he also ordained that it be rebuilt and that a small remnant of Jews would come back to that pile of rubble that was Jerusalem and under Nehemiah, rebuild the walls and the city itself, and under Ezra and Haggai rebuild the temple even though it was smaller. And why did he want to do all that? Because he was excited about a small number of 40,000 Jews returning? No, to set the stage for Jesus, so that Jesus could say to the Samaritan woman, "Salvation is of the Jews," and that would mean something. And so, he's setting up a play... A set on a play with curtains, and with everything needed setting it up, so Jesus could come and die there. He would restore it, but bigger than all that, the language of restoration of a remnant streaming back to Jerusalem, it's spiritual language for the success of the Gospel. And God is going to pour out his Spirit and it's going to rain down like righteousness, it says in Isaiah 45, that the Spirit is going to rain down and his, God's, sons and daughters are going to spring up by the sovereign power of the Spirit. If you're a child of God today, you're included in that prophecy, you're one of the sons and daughters of Abraham, you sprung up by the sovereign power of the Spirit and you are now flourishing for the glory of God. That's the restoration of the Jewish nation. So yes, physical, but ultimately spiritual. And in the end, he's going to be restoring the land itself. Lots of environmental verses in Isaiah. God has a lot of interest in what's happening to planet Earth and he's going to be restoring all of it. VII. God’s Glory in the New Heavens and New Earth Ultimately, number six or seven, the theme, "the New Heavens and the New Earth". Ultimately He's going to build a new Jerusalem, Isaiah 60, and the light of this new Zion will shine, and the glory of Lebanon will come and all of the glory of the gentile nations will flow in, and all of the Gentile converts, let's put it in that language, will beautify the New Jerusalem with their faith in Christ. And they will live there forever and ever as Peter calls us, living stones in that eternal sanctuary, that eternal temple, we're going to be there and we're going to beautify that place, every tribe and language and people and nation. And it's going to be majestic. And it says in Isaiah 60, "No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders but you will call your wall salvation and your gates praise. And the sun," listen to this, "The sun will no more be your light by day or the moon, your light by night." Does that sound familiar? Revelation 21 coming right from Isaiah. "For the Lord will be your everlasting light and your God will be your glory." And then finally, the New Heavens, and the New Earth, Isaiah 65, "Behold I will create New Heavens and a New Earth. The former things will not be remembered nor will they come to mind, but be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create. For I'll create Jerusalem to be a delight and it's people a joy, and I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take the light of my people, the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more." That's the new Jerusalem. Isaiah saw all of that? Yeah, and more besides. So come in the next number of weeks to hear some of these sermons from Isaiah because these themes are going to enrich us time and again. VIII. Applications Application number one, come to Christ, number two, stand in awe of fulfilled prophecy, stand in awe of it. Stand in awe of this Bible, this miracle that we carry around and underestimate all of it, stand in awe of what's in it, and be comforted that your God is such a mighty God that He can dwarf all of your problems. And so, as we sang earlier, when you pass through the fire you're going to make it all the way through, you're not going to be consumed. When you go through the waters you're not going to drown. The fire and the water are not for your destruction if you're a child of God, but for your purification, and he's going to strengthen you through all of that. So pray for me as I prepare for next week, I look forward to meeting you again on Isaiah 40 next week. Close with me in prayer.
Whether they are seen as acts of God, or as simple climate-related occurrences, natural events have always had a sizeable impact on military operations. At the small end of the scale are the little changes in terrain or weather that may affect a battle or a small war. For example, many armies have postponed their campaigns due to inclement weather conditions, and many militaries have suffered from rampant disease. On the other end of the scale are the times when nature has so much of an impact that the fate of an entire nation or civilization is decided upon it. In the words of Charles Darwin, these are times when “the war of nature? results in the downfall of one party and the rise of another. Thales' Eclipse: Halted the epic Battle of Halys River, thereby saving one or both of the participants (Lydia and Media) from destruction.Kamikaze (Divine Wind): Created a storm that destroying the invading Mongol fleets, thereby saving Japan from foreign conquest.Athenian Typhoid: Wreaked havoc throughout Athens, contributing to its downfall in the Peloponnesian War.Bering Land Bridge: Facilitated the "invasion" of North America.Clouds over Kokura: Obscured the primary target for the "Fat Man" atomic bomb, thereby saving Kokura but resulting in the destruction of Nagasaki.Legend of Quetzacoatl: Convinced the Aztecs that Cortez was the reincarnation of Quetzacoatl, thereby facilitating the Spanish conquest of Latin America. For more information, read: Darwin's Origin of Species Herodotus' Histories Mitchell's Eclipses of the Sun Lamont-Brown's Kamikaze Daniels' Almanac of World History Military History Podcast is sponsored by Armchair General Magazine
The Necessity of Planning Would it trouble you if I were up here without a plan? Would that bother you? If I just said, "What should we talk about? We got some time together. What should we do?" I know it would trouble me. That's not the way I'm put together. I like to plan out my messages. I like to think about it ahead of time. It seems reasonable to do so. I think we are planning beings, aren't we? Some more than others. My wife is definitely more than I am, more of a planner than I am. And that's a good thing. Everyday we make plans, and as we're looking at Romans 15:23-29, we're looking at the plans and priorities of the Apostle Paul. Paul reveals what he's intending to do, what his plans are, what he hopes to do, etcetera. It got me to thinking about the issue of planning. And it occurs to me that we hardly make it through life without being planners. We make plans for small things like putting together a grocery list. Woe to you if you ever go to the grocery store hungry and no idea what you're there for, okay? You'll buy far more than you ought to. We plan out a work day or a work week. We figure what's the best way to spend our time, Monday, Tuesday, all the way through Friday. From small things like that all the way up to larger things like career planning or financial planning or life planning. There are financial planners that will meet with you and talk about things like debt strategies or saving plans, investment plans, planning for college, long-term investments, even retirement. They'll talk to you about that, and they're skilled in that ability and that discussion to help you make those plans. And also world history has been formed by those who have made plans and have executed them. I was reading recently about the Marshall Plan. In 1947, the United States government Secretary of State George Marshall wanted to help rebuild Europe. Part of it was a buttress against encroaching communism. They wanted to see, especially Western Europe, strengthened and rebuilt so that those economies would be able to stand up and be vibrant. And so $13 billion was apportioned through the Marshall Plan to the rebuilding of Europe after World War II. Architects spend their whole career planning out buildings down to the very detail, kind of windows and structure and the artistic appearance, all of that. Engineers plan out projects down to the nuts and bolts. That's what it is, we do planning all the time. And in this way, I think, we reflect the character of God. We are created in the image of God, and our God is a planning God. We believe from Ephesians 1 that he planned out, before the foundation of the world, to call a people for himself, for his own name and his own glory, that they should be holy and blameless in his sight. And it says, "In love he predestined them and called them according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose or plan of his will." Our God is a glorious planner. And thanks be to God, all of us who are Christians can say this, "Thanks be to God that his plan extended even to me, and that God worked in history and orchestrated things so that I would come to faith in Christ." God is a planning God. And we are in his image and therefore we are planners as well. It says in Proverbs 22:3, "A prudent man sees danger coming and takes refuge, but the simple keep on going and suffer for it." So the ability to look on into the future, to use your imagination and to think what's coming, and then to make plans accordingly and carry them out, now that's in the image of God. Now, the ant in Proverbs 6 is held up as an example against the sluggard. "Go to the ant, O sluggard," we're told, and why? Because he stores up his food when there's an opportunity, in the summer. Stores it up so that when winter comes he'll have enough to eat. And so we're enjoined to be planners like that. But I tell you that human planning is at a much higher level. The Christian I think in this area of planning is trained to think in three senses. First of all, we're trained to think, "The Lord may return or I may die tonight. So I need to be ready right now to face my judge and maker unafraid." It could be that you came here today not a believer in Christ. You need to come to faith in Christ, and why? Because you don't know for sure what a day will bring about. You need to look to Jesus who shed his blood on the cross that you might have eternal life. You need to trust in him for your personal salvation, because you don't know whether you'll even be alive tomorrow. So that's the first sense a Christian is trained to think about planning. We need to be ready to die, we need to be ready to face our judge and maker unafraid now because we might not even have tomorrow. We need to think like that. But secondly, the Lord may not return tonight or I may not die tonight, and so therefore, after the ant who stores up when there's an opportunity, I need to make plans for the future. I need to think about the future as though I might live another 30, 40 years. Knowing all of that is in the hand of God, I might not, but I need to plan for it. I need to keep working and plan for the future. And there Isaiah 32:8 stands and helps us. There it says, "The noble man makes noble plans and by noble deeds he stands." So that's a planning verse for you. We are to make plans and we're to live and act out according to those plans. And those plans are to be noble plans, and by those noble deeds, we will stand righteous and with a life that's worth living. So that's the second way we're trained to think about planning. Thirdly, having planned, we're supposed to go back to the first concept that God is sovereign over all things and that he may overturn many if not all of my plans. And that that shouldn't frustrate us, it actually should delight us. I want my bad plans overturned, don't you? I want my lack of foresight not to be the final determiner in the end. I want God to make the final decision, and he does. He rules over all those things. Now, we'll talk more about some aspects of that, but I think that's a good way for Christians to think about planning. Now here in Romans 15, we're going to get a look at the Apostle Paul's plans. How he thought, what he planned to do, and how the Lord finally would dispose of those plans in the end, according to wise counsel of his will. I. Paul’s Plans: To Jerusalem, then to Spain Now first, we get a sense that Paul's planning to go to Jerusalem and then to Spain. Now, let's review Paul's relationship with the church at Rome. Back in Romans 1:13, Paul expressed a deep desire to visit the church at Rome. Romans 1:13, he says, "I do not want you to be unaware brothers, that I planned many times to come to you, but have been prevented from doing so until now in order that I might have a harvest among you just as I've had among the other Gentiles." So Paul had already made many plans but they weren't getting fulfilled the way he wanted. And now here in this text, in verse 23 and 24, he says, "I've been longing for many years to come, and visit you. I plan to visit you when I go to Spain. I hope to visit you while passing through and have you assist me on my journey there after I've enjoyed your company for a while." That's his plan, that's what he's planning on doing. Now, we already talked last time and the week before about why Paul hadn't visited Rome yet. We saw previously that Paul made clear his priority structure was to focus on unreached people groups. To be a frontier, trail blazing, church planting missionary or apostle to the Gentiles. That's what he was called to do. Look at verse 20 and 21, again by way of reminder, "It has always been my ambition," Paul says, "to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else's foundation. Rather, as it is written, 'those who were not told about him will see and those who have not heard will understand.'" This priority led to Paul's activity, and his activity is from Jerusalem all the way round to modern day Yugoslavia, Illyricum, he has been fully preaching the Gospel of Christ. He's been active in all these strategic urban centers, following the main perhaps Roman roads, going to places like Corinth and Athens and significant places, and also some that were a little bit smaller but that God led him to. In Asia Minor, in northern Greece, which is Macedonia, and down in Southern Greece, which is Achaia, he'd been faithful in preaching the gospel all the way to the border of the Adriatic sea. He's been faithful in doing that. Secondly, we also saw that the Roman church was a mature church. He says in Verse 14, "You are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to counsel one another." And the idea there is, therefore, you don't need me to come. I'm not saying that it wouldn't be a fully blessed time. He actually does say that in verse 29, "I know that if I come it will be with the full measure of Christ's blessing and that there'll be a good time of rich fellowship and there'll be harvest among those Romans that haven't heard yet, etcetera." But what he's saying is you're a healthy, strong church and I'm not going to spend a lot of time there. That's why he hadn't visited Rome yet, so Paul hadn't come. But now Paul makes an amazing declaration. Look at verse 23, he says, "But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions…" Wow, there's no other place to go if I'm looking for a frontier here in Asia Minor and in Northern Greece, Macedonia and down in Southern Greece, Achaia. There's no more place for me to go. The gospel has been fully proclaimed in all these areas. Oh, what an incredible statement that is, that is a rich and powerful statement. He's not saying that there's no one there that hasn't heard the Gospel, everybody's heard the Gospel. He's not saying that, but he's saying he can see the hand of God in laying out a strategy where there are centers of strong gospel preaching churches in each of these regions, and he wants to move on now to a place where there's no churches at all, that's what he's talking about. And so he wants to go to Spain. It was a new horizon of fruitful ministry, a new trail to blaze and we'll talk more about that in a moment. But that's his desire, he's going to go on because there's no more place for him to work. Now here he expresses his plans, he says, "But now, since I no longer have any room to work in these regions and since I've been longing for many years to come to you, I hope to do so in passing as I go to Spain and to be helped on my journey there by you once I have enjoyed your company for a while. At present however," verse 25, "I am going to Jerusalem, bringing aid to the saints." So there's the plan, first to Jerusalem bringing some aid to the saints, second to Spain. Going to stop by in Rome on my way through. Those are my travel plans. That's what he's talking about. But we know from scripture that all plans are subject to the sovereign will of God. There are many verses in the bible that teach us this. For example, Proverbs 16:9. Proverbs 16:9 says, "In his heart, a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." Or this one, again, Proverbs 16:1, "To a man belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the reply of the tongue." In other words, you can make your plans, but God's going to be sovereign even over the words you speak. All plans are subject to the throne of God, that's what it's saying there. Or this one, Proverbs 19:21, "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." So we make many plans, and we ought to, but it's the Lord's purpose that prevails. The strongest teaching on all this in the New Testament is in James Chapter 4, and there James is dealing with people who are confident, fully confident in tomorrow. They're actually more than that, they're fully confident in a year from now. And so James addresses this arrogant confidence that has this confidence that we'll be alive and be able to do business even a year from now, in some very strong words. James 4:13-15, he says, "Now listen, you who say today or tomorrow." Today or tomorrow is equally certain to these people. "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money. Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You're a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, 'if it is the Lord's will we will live.'" Stop right there. That there is careful meditation. If it is the Lord's will we will live. That's not morbid, it's theologically accurate. If it is God's will I'll be alive tomorrow. If it is the Lord's will we will live and do this or that. Even my own plans are in the hands of God. That's the way we ought to think. Now even the great apostle Paul, the one who is caught up to the third heaven and saw inexpressible things that man is yearning to know about but no one can put into words, is not even permitted to try; even the great apostle Paul who wrote the Book of Romans made plans that didn't work out. Planned to do certain things, and he's got to explain himself at least to one local church. Here he describes his plans to the Romans, but it's not clear he ever made it to Spain as we'll talk about it in a minute. But in 2 Corinthians, he's got to deal with the fact that he had planned to visit that church and didn't go anyway. And he needs to uphold his apostolic authority in light of that. And so in 2 Corinthians 1 he talks about the change in his travel plans. He said, "I planned to visit you first so that you might benefit twice. I planned to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia and then to have you send me on my way to Judea. When I planned this, did I do it lightly, or do I make plans in a worldly manner? So that in the same breath I say yes, yes and no, no? But as surely as God is faithful our message to you is not yes and no." The issue is that an apostle who changes his plans like this seems unstable, uncertain, unsure, unleader-like, unreliable, therefore not worthy of following. So he's got to deal with it in 2 Corinthians, his change of plans. Nothing could have been further from the truth in Paul's case, he's just establishing that God rules over our plans finally in the end. Knowledgeable that God rules over our plans, however, does not mean we ought not to plan. And so here Paul is making his plans. Five years ago on the morning of September 11th, 2001, I was packed up to go down to Washington DC to meet with some leaders, Christian leaders in Congress and Christian senators, for a meeting together with some pastors. So I was all packed up to go on the morning of September 11th. My car had the luggage in there, I had my suits with me, I was all... I'd planned to go, until I saw that a plane had crashed into the Pentagon, and that they had sequestered all the members of Congress and hid them in some secure places, and that the whole highway which I was going to travel on right by the Pentagon was closed down to all traffic. I knew immediately, among many other things, I wasn't going anywhere today. My travel plans had changed. And so it is in our lives. We can make plans, but in the end, it's God who decides what happens. They rescheduled the meeting for a month later, and so we went, I went, and that was the weekend of the anthrax scare. So I was there when there was plastic all over the air ducts and stuff. I came back saying to my wife, I was complaining of flu-like symptoms four or five days later, she didn't think it was funny. But I never did get anthrax and that was an amazing time. But just walking around through the Capitol building and looking at all that, and just the intensity was so strong at the time, and the time of prayer. But that was what God planned, not my original plan. You see, God makes the decisions in the end. We still need to plan. II. Paul’s Mission to Jerusalem: Serving and Uniting the Church So what was Paul's mission to Jerusalem? What was he going to do? Well, he wanted to serve and unite the church. Look at verse 25-26, "Now however, I'm on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the saints there, for Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem." The issue here is money. It's a love offering that was taken from Gentile churches in Greece. Macedonia as I've said is Northern Greece, Achaia is the southern part. Macedonia, that's where you get Philippi and Thessalonica, and all that. The southern part is Athens and Corinth and those cities. And he said both Macedonia and Achaia together these Gentile churches were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. Now this shows an attitude of fellowship. Paul... Actually the word contribution in the NIV is the word "koinonia." They're pleased to make a "koinonia", a fellowship is what it was. It's money, but it's coming out of a theology of oneness, that we're part of one body of Christ together, and Paul is there in service to the unity of the Body of Christ. Not like communism in which government decrees that everybody's stuff belongs to everybody else, but rather, from an open and glad heart, a desire to share. That was the fellowship they had. Now, the money was for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. These were Jewish believers who because of their faith in Christ were put at a great societal and social disadvantage or economic disadvantage. It was already declared in John's gospel in John Chapter 9. Remember the man that was born blind? And it said right there that they had already decided that if anyone said that Jesus was the Messiah, he'd be thrown out of the Synagogue. Well, you can't imagine what effect that would have if you're living in Jerusalem, if you've been thrown out of the Synagogue. Perhaps you're a Jewish shopkeeper and nobody comes to your place and buys anything. Maybe you're a Jewish farmer and nobody buys your crops. Maybe you're a Jewish merchant and you invest in a big caravan coming from some other place and they bring in all your wares, big investment, nobody buys them, or you have to sell them at bargain prices because nobody will take them. You've been shut out. You've been blackballed. And as a result of this societal problem because of their faith in Christ, they were poor, very poor. Now these were the very people that the leaders in Jerusalem begged Paul and Barnabas to remember as they went out in their mission to the Gentiles. In Galatians 2:9-10, "James, Peter and John those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship. When they recognized the grace given to me, they agreed that we should go to the Gentiles and they would go to the Jews. All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do." So one of the things they mentioned, these pillars in Jerusalem mentioned, these men, is please remember how much the saints here are suffering. Could be that there's some Gentiles who have come to faith in Christ, and they could help us out. And Paul says, "We are eager to do it." And so they went out, not only in the name of Christ, but once people were established and the churches were flourishing, and they said, "You know something, there are issues back in Jerusalem. Is there any way you could help?" And so they started taking a collection, money, from these Gentile churches. He mentions it in depth in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. If you want to know more about the offering, there's more reading about it there, but let me just read a few verses from that. It says in 2 Corinthians 8:1-4, "And now brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches." Now let me stop a minute again. Macedonia is the northern part of Greece, Achaia the southern part. Corinth was in the southern part. The northern churches have already given. What he's doing is he's saying look at the example of your brothers up there in the northern churches. Now you who are in the southern churches in Corinth, you ought to give too. That's what he's saying to these brothers in Corinth. He says, "We want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they pleaded with us urgently for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints." Oh, what a sweet attitude among these Macedonian Christians. They're poor, but they give everything they can for the saints in Jerusalem. And he uses that example to motivate the Corinthians to give as well. And Paul stresses here in verse 26, Macedonia and Achaia were pleased. So, apparently, they gave as well. The Corinthian churches, the church in Athens perhaps, they gave as well. And so there's this big offering collection that has been taken. And he stresses the pleasure that these Christians had in giving. They were pleased to do it he says. He says it twice, they were pleased to do it and yearned to do it. There was a pleasure in the giving. Oh, that's a heavenly attitude. I don't want to be chained to my money, do you? I like to send it on ahead by giving in the Lord's work. It's the only way you can really invest in heaven. You know how they say you can't take it with you? Well, that's true, but you can send it on ahead, you can wire it ahead. Give it by faith in the Lord's work as the Lord calls on you to give cheerfully and generously, because God loves a cheerful giver. Give. That's what he said the church in Macedonia and Achaia did. They were pleased. Now, back in those days, you couldn't send it on ahead, you couldn't wire it like you can do Internet banking these days or wire some money to an unnumbered or a numbered account in the Grand Cayman Islands or some private bank in Switzerland or something like that. You can do all kinds of stuff with money by electronic means. Back then, if you're talking about silver coins or even gold, you had to carry it, there wasn't paper money. And so, he's got this big amount of money and he's got to get it to Jerusalem. That's a big job, isn't it? And so it'd be on animal back in a caravan perhaps, or on one of those slow moving vessels that would go through the Mediterranean, hugging the shore and eventually get to Jerusalem. So Paul was going, he's going to bring that money, and he's got some brothers with him who can protect the money, perhaps somewhat at least, from highway robbery, and get it eventually there to the church at Jerusalem. That's what he says he's going to do. What Was Paul’s Motive in the Mission? Now what was his motive in the mission? Well, he talks about the service to the saints. It's related to the word for deacon. He's a servant to the saints there in Jerusalem. He wants to serve them. But why? Because they have real needs. They're hungry, they need food, clothing, and shelter for their children, for themselves. They're not able to make a living and support themselves. And so they really have become wards of the church at this point. It's a very tough situation for them and he wants to serve them. But he also has a higher purpose doesn't he? We've seen throughout the Book of Romans, but especially here at the end, how much Paul yearns for Jew/Gentile unity to be put on display. And so he wants the Jews and the Gentiles, who both believe in Christ, to be openly and visibly together and one as Christians. He wants to show the power of the gospel to make former enemies brothers, friends in Christ. And so he talks about this, the unity that they have in Christ. A very open obvious tangible way to display this unity is for Greek churches, Gentile churches to give a lot of money to a Jewish church and help them out. And so he displays a rather remarkable attitude about this offering. He certainly describes how gladly willing the Greeks were to give, but he also goes beyond it and says they actually owed it to them. They actually owed it to them, they were pleased to do it, and indeed, they owe it to them. Huh. Wasn't it Bill Cosby that said, "After all, it's my money, okay?" Well, that's an attitude in our hearts, you look at it and say... We can relate to that. In one sense it's true, there is such a thing as possession. It is ours. As the Lord said to Ananias and Sapphira, "Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold?" "It was yours." But there's a sense of obligation here that Paul's talking about among the Gentile Christians. Well, what's his logic? Well, he says They're pleased to do it, indeed they owe it to them, for if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews' spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings." It's amazing logic. Basically, he's coming at it from this point of view. Remember how Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, "You Samaritans worship what you don't know; we worship what we do know..." You know why? Because "salvation is from the Jews." It's the very thing that had been said to Abraham way back at the call of Abraham, "Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed." It is a Jewish fountain that has opened up the river of living water for the nations to drink at. You have received lavish spiritual blessings. He already talked about this in Romans 11 with the image of an olive tree, remember? The Jewish olive tree has Jewish roots, the patriarchs, and it's been growing up, it's a cultivated olive tree. And you Gentiles you've been cut out of a wild olive tree and you've been grafted into a Jewish olive tree, and now you share in nourishing sap flowing from the Jewish root system. You have received spiritual blessings from the Jews. And therefore the Gentiles owe it to the Jews to share with them the lesser blessing of material things. That's the way he's arguing. That's an amazing thing. What Was Paul’s Reason for Telling the Church at Rome about the Mission? Now you might ask, Why is he telling the Romans about it? Well, could it be that he's trying to motivate them to think the same way about their money? Could it be he's motivating the Roman Christians to think that way about Jews and to evangelize Jews or to Jewish Christians to promote unity in the church at Rome? As we've already noted, it's a mixed church. And he's going to be... Oh, how shall I put it, hitting them up for money in a minute. He's going to be asking them to support his mission work, and if they're clinging to their money as though it's their own, they're not going to be open-handed and generous. They're not going to think about their money rightly. And so he wants to show them the example of Macedonia and Achaia. III. Paul’s Mission to Spain: Advancing the Church Alright, well, what's Paul's mission to Spain? We've talked about his mission to Jerusalem, for the unity and service to the church. What is his mission to Spain? Well, it's to advance the Church. Simply put, he wants to preach the gospel to people who've never heard of Jesus. Now, there's some good evidence that the Old Testament place known as Tarshish is actually Spain. Do you remember the story of Jonah? How Jonah didn't want to go to those nasty Gentiles in Nineveh? Didn't want to preach the gospel to the Gentiles so he said, "I'm going to run." Maybe he had never read Psalm 139. "Where can I flee from Your spirit? Where can I go from Your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there. Even if I go to the far side of the sea, you are there." And actually, you're never going to make it, Jonah. I'm going to send a storm, and you're going to go to Nineveh. You see? Many are the purposes of a man's heart, but it's the Lord's purpose that prevails. Where is he trying to go though? He's trying to go to Tarshish. That probably was Spain. You think about the Mediterranean, and if that's all they really knew, that is the distant most parts of the earth. That's the end of the world as far as they're concerned. Well, we have already learned from Scripture, The ends of the earth belong to Jesus. To the distant shores, it belongs to Jesus, the distant islands will worship him and praise his holy name. God said in Isaiah 49 to Jesus, "It is too small a thing for you to be the savior of the Jews only. I will also make you a light to the Gentiles, that you may declare my salvation to the ends of the earth." Paul says that's for me. I want to take Jesus' name to the distant most regions of the world, very different from Jonah. He's not running from God, he's not running from the Gentiles, he's running to Tarshish to preach the gospel there. There's another prophecy so beautifully in Isaiah 66:19, and such a powerful prophecy speaking to the Jews, of the Jews, the people of Zion, this is what he says. God says, "I will set a sign among them and I'll send some of those who survive to the nations. To Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians, who are famous as archers, to Tubal and Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations." Paul's a direct fulfillment of that prophecy. Isaiah 66:19. Look it up, "I'm going to send them to Tarshish I'm going to send them to Greece and they're going to hear of my glory, the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ." Paul says, "That's for me, I want to go. I want to take Jesus' name to the ends of the earth." And why? Because it's not just these two prophecies. There are many of them. Psalm 2:8, God the Father says, "Ask of me and I'll make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession," speaking to his son. Psalm 22:27, "All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of nations will bow down before him." Psalm 67, "May the peoples praise you O God, may all the peoples praise you. Then the land will yield its harvest and God our God will bless us. God will bless us, [listen] And all the ends of the earth will fear him." Isaiah 45:22, this was Charles Spurgeon's conversion verse. Isaiah 45:22, "Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other." So we look unto God and are saved, and this one gospel is good not just for Jerusalem, and not just for Judea and Samaria, but to the uttermost parts of the earth, to the ends of the earth. And Paul wanted to go to Spain. And what did he want to do in Spain? Well, he wanted to plant a church, actually many churches. He wanted to establish healthy strong gospel centers. And if the Lord had given him time, he'd have said, "Now, is there anything further than Spain?" Maybe history would have been changed. Christopher Columbus wouldn't think anything of it. Maybe the Lord would have led him to even distant shores, who knows? But he wanted to push the Gospel as far as he could go. He wanted to go to Spain and preach the gospel. Did Paul ever make it to Spain? Well, there is no New Testament evidence that Paul ever made it to Spain. Never got there. Some scholars reading some of the church fathers think he got there, but I think the church fathers are just reading Romans 15 and talking about it. There's really no evidence that Paul ever made it to Spain. As a matter of fact, as people put together the chronology of Paul's life, try to figure it out, New Testament scholars, it may be that that trip to Jerusalem was the last free trip he ever took. That he was put in chains, was brought through the shipwreck on Malta to Rome, and there he stood trial before Caesar and died for the gospel, and never made it to Spain. We don't really know. But either way, God eventually got the Gospel to Spain, didn't he? Eventually the Gospel made it there, and why? Because it is the Lord's will that the distant most parts of the earth, even to the furthest shores and islands hear of the glory of Jesus Christ. Even if the Apostle Paul doesn't have the honor of doing it. VI. How Rome Fit In: Understanding and Helping These Missions Now, how did Rome fit in? Well, it was their job to understand and to help Paul's missions. He wanted them to support him on the way. Look at verse 24, he says, "I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to visit you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there after I have enjoyed your company for a while." Verse 28 he says, "So after I've completed this task [in Jerusalem] and have made sure that they have received this fruit, I will go to Spain and visit you on the way." So he wants help from them. He wants financial assistance, maybe some personnel, some people who will go with him and help him plant that church in Spain. That's what he wants. He also wants somewhat to reduce their expectation. Since they're full of goodness, complete knowledge and competent to instruct one another, they don't need Paul to be their pastor, so it's like, "Oh, would you mind? We actually have a pulpit committee and we've been looking, and you are looking really good for us. Is there any way we could convince you to be our pastor?" Paul says, "Look, before I even get there, just know I'm passing through. You can help me, we'll have a good time together. We'll bless one another. There'll be some fruit. I trust that some Romans will come to faith in Christ, but then I'm moving on, I'm going to Spain. However, when I come, verse 29, "I know that when I come, I'll come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ." Wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to say that? Let's say a Christian family invites you over for dinner this afternoon. You say, "Well, I want you to know, I know that when I come I'll come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ. You'll be blessed to have me." You say, "Well that sounds arrogant." No, that's not it, it's just my desire is that you will be blessed in Christ by my coming. I yearn to have that kind of sweet fellowship. I yearn to leave the sweet savor of Christ after we left, not, "I couldn't wait for them to leave," but rather that it was a rich blessing of fellowship, and that's what he's saying in verse 29. V. Application Now, what application can we take from these verses? Well, can I urge you to be planners, godly planners? Can we start out at eternity with our planning? I would like you to plan for death. Because it's appointed to each one of us to die, and then to face judgment. So I want you to plan for judgment. I want you to plan to stand before the judgement seat of Christ, and to give him an account for everything done in the body, whether good or bad, plan on that. Plan on it, plan on giving Christ a full account and work backwards from there. Then I'd urge you to plan for 10 years from now. Say, "Lord, if you give me time, where do I want to be in 10 years?" We often talk in this church about the two infinite journeys. What kind of person do I want to be in 10 years, how do I want to grow, what are my habits, what do I want... Spiritual disciplines, what Bible chapters and books do you want me to memorize? How do you want me to develop as a prayer warrior? Right now I'm paying X amount of time, I'd like to pray three or four X every day. I want to be more of a prayer warrior. I want to be more faithful in evangelism. What kind of person you want me to be in 10 years? And in terms of the external journey, what do you want me to do for the kingdom? What's my mission, what's my calling? Plan 10 years down the line, knowing you might not ever even make it, but just plan for it and prepare for it. And then work backwards. What do you want to do next week? What do you want to do later this afternoon? Plan for eternity, plan for 10 years from now, plan for later this week and tomorrow. Be planners, but know that God holds all of those things in his hands. The noble man makes noble plans and by noble deeds he stands. Plan for that. Now, if you've come in here today and you're not a Christian, come to faith in Christ, don't plan for anything other than that. I don't ever want it to be said, Somebody came to this church and didn't know how to come to faith in Christ. They've been going to all these other churches, heard other messages, no one ever told them how to be saved. It's as simple as this. You look to the cross of Jesus Christ, the blood shed on the cross, trust in him and not in your own righteousness for your salvation. And then after that you can make noble plans by the power of the Spirit. Close with me in prayer.
An overview of the Book of Isaiah and the scope of the Kingdom of Christ that extends to the end of the world and the end of the ages. - SERMON TRANSCRIPT - I hope you've all gotten one of these green sheets, the ones at the bottom of the pile of white, and we haven't gotten there yet, so they're all green, if you need one, we've got some up at the front and you'll want them, you'll also want your Bibles, we're gonna be looking through the book of Isaiah. I did not put all the quotes in the green sheet, we're gonna have to follow along. Ordinarily, I'm going through the book of Exodus, and I hate to digress, but I just felt compelled, I was just so excited by this study that I did earlier. I was challenged recently as I was preparing for a talk that I'm gonna give to some ministers tomorrow, about the role of the word of God in the ongoing devotional life and healthy spiritual life of a pastor. By the example, I had forgotten, but of the example of George Muller, who read through the Bible 100 times in his life. Now, you may not think that's any big deal, but have you ever tried to read through the Bible once in a year? And he went, read through it 100 times, so that's on average, about twice a year for him, and maybe a little faster. That's incredible. And just the scope, what that does for you, you see, in-depth memorization of Scripture, memorizing whole books of the Bible gives you knowledge and depth, you take one book and you study it carefully and you go as deeply as you want with that one book. Reading through the Bible in a year or reading through it 100 times gives you the overall breadth, the scope of what God is doing, and you just keep learning new things, so I thought, "Well, I'll see if I can combine it,” and I've really never been able to do that before, is read through the Bible in a year and memorize books of the Bible, it's really hard to do, but I thought I'll keep going until I just can't do it anymore. And so I was going through Genesis again and some things started to click into place, and it started with the passage in Isaiah 42, which I preached on this morning. Now, you see in your outline there, this morning's quote from Matthew 12. In Matthew it reads, "Here is my servant, whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight, I'll put my Spirit on him and he will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not quarrel or cry out, no one will hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed, he will not break, and a smoldering wick, he will not snuff out, until he leads justice to victory. In his name, the nations will put their hope." Now, in the Isaiah passage, if you look, especially at verse 4, you see a difference, he says there, “He will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth.” And then it says, “In his law the islands will put their hope.” It's kind of interesting, isn't it? Matthew brings it over as nations, and really the scope, and it ends up about the same, but there's a detail or a specific understanding of islands in the book of Isaiah, I spent about a year and four months doing scripture memorization in Isaiah, and I'll tell you what, the things that are there, in the book of Isaiah, it's like I've likened it before to the new world, when Columbus landed, or when Lewis and Clark went across on their expedition, there's so much to learn in the book of Isaiah, so many details. And you could take one theme, like I've done here, this is really just a word study on the word island, in Isaiah, and you would see the riches there. But that's what we're gonna do this evening. “In his law,” it says, “the islands will put their hope.” Now, Isaiah, if you look at Isaiah 1:1, it's there on your sheet, or you can turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 1:1, either way is fine. But it says, “The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.” Now, this is important, in two senses, number one, that Isaiah is, I think of all the prophets, all the Old Testament prophets, the most visionary, by far, what I mean by that is, you could close your eyes, and listen to someone reading Isaiah and streams of visions, would come into your mind, pictures really. He was a very picturesque writer, you know, you're gonna see images of streams in the wasteland, of the desert blooming with crocuses, you're gonna see the shadow of a great rock in a dry and thirsty land, a voice crying in the wilderness, for example, or you're going to see great, mighty tall sailing ships with tall masts being toppled over, an image of the humiliation of human arrogance and pride, there's lots of images that come in, one of them in chapter one is the daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a field of melons, like a city under siege. You can imagine a melon field, and so it's just flat and there are vines everywhere and there's a hut, perhaps a shelter to rest in the middle of the field, and so you can imagine the starkness of that, there's this hut, sitting all by itself, and then just a field all around it with nothing else there, and that's Jerusalem when the Assyrians came in and conquered everything but that one city, Jerusalem, and there was nothing left, and so Jerusalem was left alone, isolated like a hut in a field of melons, like a city under siege. So you see the images there, or at the end, “You will be like an oak with fading leaves, like a garden without water, the mighty man will become tinder and his work a spark, both will burn together with no one to quench the fire.” Speaking of idolatrous Israel and their works being really like drying leaves ready to burn and crackle with a fire, and that fire is coming, so they're images. It's a visionary book, and one of the images he gives us again and again is this image of the kingdom of Christ, the overall glory of the kingdom of Christ, and he gives that probably most clearly, I think in Isaiah 9, very familiar to us. Verse 6-7, "To us, a child is born, to us, a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders, and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end.” And here it is, it says, “He will reign on David's throne, and over his kingdom.” You see that, now, the kingdom image for Christ and the Messiah is not strong in Isaiah, but here it is clearly taught, that the coming Messiah, the descendant of David, “will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness,” it says, “from that time on and forever, the zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” Accomplish what? Well the kingdom of Christ, from the time he comes, from that point on, the kingdom will reign and it will grow and get stronger. And so that's what we have in mind, the increasing glory and the eternal glory of the kingdom of Christ, and Isaiah gives us the scope of that vision, the geographical scope is what we're really kind of looking at tonight, to the ends of the earth or to the distant islands, will be his reign. We're gonna talk about that. The ethnic scope, it includes the Gentiles, the strongest verses on God's saving intentions to the Gentiles in the Old Testament are found in the Book of Isaiah. And we're gonna look at some of them tonight. The nations, he has in mind, the nations, and also the timeframe, he's going to go from that time on and forever, right to the end of the world. So we have the scope here of Christ's Kingdom, to the ends of the earth and to the end of the age. That is the scope of Christ's kingdom. "To the ends of the earth and to the end of the age; that is the scope of Christ's kingdom." Now, the roots of this are the beginning, namely the original creation mandate. In Genesis chapter 1, God after creating man, male and female, in his image and after his likeness, gave them this commission. “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it.’” Now, what does that mean, “Fill the earth?” It means, “Replicate, have more of yourselves, have lots of children who are also created in the image of God, and then just be there, be all over the world, everywhere that I've made, live there, and see what I've made.” The glorious creation, and be there as worshippers of God, those that take in the glory of God, that see it, that admire it, and that reflect it back up to him in knowing worship, something nothing else in creation can do, that's something we alone can do, we who have been taken from the Earth, physically, created out of the dust of the earth. We can stand on the ground and we can look around us and say, "This is my Father's world, God made this, and he's glorious, and he's majestic." That was our job. And so God intended, I believe, from the beginning, that the earth would be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea, and that we would do that, that we would have children and grandchildren, Adam and Eve would, and they would fill the earth with the knowledge of his glory, and that all over the world his image would be there, standing on this spot, or on that spot, or on this hill, or that mountain, we would be there all over the world, and we would see what God has made and we would honor him and we would give him glory and praise, for he made it. But sin ruined everything, didn't it? In one sense, sin interfered, sin stepped in and made us selfish and made us wicked so we could not see his glory, we became blinded because of sin, we were cast out of the garden of Eden. Genesis 3:23, "The Lord God banished him from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken." So we had to wrestle with the dust and with the thorns to make a living, and so everything changed when sin entered, we changed and our task changed. And so we see at this point, the idea of scattering coming in. Now this is very interesting, so I've only begun to have these thoughts over the last two days, so this is very undeveloped for me, but the idea I have here is that God still wants the world filled, even sinners that we are. And so what he's gonna do is he's gonna scatter people all over the earth. He's gonna spread them everywhere, even though they don't know him or acknowledge him, they're going to be there, but they're not going to acknowledge him. Then he's gonna go get them, with the gospel. That's the kind of the big picture here. He's gonna send them out there, they're gonna be there, and then the gospel is gonna come after them and transform them into worshippers of God. You see what's gonna happen. So that's his second plan, and obviously he knew that the fall would happen, I'm not getting into that, but the idea is he would scatter them to the ends of the earth, and they would populate those places, and then he'd come after them with the gospel. Cain was the first who was scattered, if you look at his situation, that he murdered his brother, over worship really, and it says "The Lord said, 'What have you done? Listen to your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground, now you are under a curse and driven from the ground which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand, when you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you,'" and then it says, "You will be a restless wanderer on earth." That's very important, isn't it? Who does that remind you of, a restless wanderer on earth? Isn't that the devil's role? You're very demonic, at this point; he's a restless roamer over the surface of the earth, that's what Cain would be like. But that's a sense of the scattering, he's gonna go out and move out at that point, and he's gonna have cities and he will, and his descendants will as well, and they're going to set up cities and they will populate them. We see the same thing happening after the flood, Noah's flood, in Genesis 9:18-19, “The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth, Ham was the father of Canaan. These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the earth.” do you see that? That's very interesting, Genesis 9:19, from these three sons of Noah came the peoples who are what? Scattered over the earth. What is he doing? He's spreading people all over the world, scattering them. Now, when did that happen? Well, in Genesis 11 it happened with the incident of the Tower of Babel, you remember that story? And they had the technology, they developed a technology on how to build bricks and bake them thoroughly, and when I preached on Genesis, you remember in Genesis 11, I talked about that, why is that important? Well, it had greater compressive strength, you see, as an engineer, I can stand here and tell it, and when you bake them thoroughly, and all the moisture gets out and you can stack one on top of the other, and when you can do that, you can build tall towers and great cities at that point. And so at this point, we look in and we see what is their motive? And in Genesis 11:4, it gives the motive, “Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may [number one] make a name for ourselves and [number two] not be scattered over the face of the earth.’" They're doubly thwarting the plan of God. Do you see that? They're not going to be spread or scattered all over the Earth, they don't want that, they wanna come together and be in this one place, and why, so that they could glorify themselves; make a name for themselves. And so in this way, it's frustrating the plan of God, who would have them fill the Earth with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Exactly the opposite, of what he intended, and then in Genesis 11:8-9, “So the Lord scattered them from there all over the earth and they stopped building the city, that's why it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world, and from there, the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.” that's twice now, in two verses and three times, in this account, in Genesis 11, this idea of scattering, the people are being scattered all over the Earth. God did it. It's not an accident. He intended it to be done. He scattered the people. Where did they go? Well, Acts 17:26 tells us where they went. What does it say? It says, "From one man, he made every nation of men that they should inhabit the whole Earth." What does the word, that, mean in that sentence? God intended that people be all over the earth, he intended that. “From one man, he made every nation of men that they should inhabit the whole earth, and he determined the time set for them and the exact places where they should live.” So where did they go? They went where God determined that they should go, they spread out, and they took their place on the earth where God intended. Alright, well, the descendants of Japheth were particularly interesting to me as I went through the table of nations, “The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, and Tubal and Meshech and Tiras, and the sons of Javan were Elishah, and then Tarshish, it says, Kittim and Rodanim,” now, Tarshish and Kittim are particularly interesting to me, but I'm gonna keep reading, “From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language.” These were the maritime peoples, what does that mean? They got into ships and sailed to places you couldn't reach except by ships. Well, how do they know how to do that? Well, Noah built an ark, a very impressive ship, I must say, and so it wouldn't be so shocking for his descendants, a few generations later to know enough to build sailing vessels that could take them anywhere on the surface of the earth, they could go anywhere. And so they did. And so they peopled, among other places, the islands, the distant islands, and there would be people there, and they would have their own culture, and their own language, it says. Now, Tarshish is the most distant populated colony of the Mediterranean Sea, perhaps as far as Spain. You remember Tarshish, in that Jonah tried to flee there from the presence of the Lord. Well, the problem was that he hadn't read Psalm 139, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” “If I go to Tarshish, you are there. It doesn't matter where I go, you're there,” but he thought he would flee from the presence of the Lord. Was he going as a missionary? No, it's more of that scattering. He's just going. He wants to get away. It has nothing to do with being a missionary; it has to do with just running away from the presence of the Lord. Well, God didn't intend that Jonah go to Tarshish at that point, he said, no. Alright, now, Kittim is the general term for the islands of the Mediterranean Sea, but especially Cyprus, I think, in particular Cyprus, that's gonna play in later, again, when we see the fulfillment of the islands, I'm just setting the table right now, say, “Well, when are we gonna eat the course?” I don't know, but we're getting there, we're getting there. Okay. So the descendants of Japheth peopled the islands of the sea. Now, Israel was called out. You know after that, shortly after the Tower of Babel, God called a man, Abraham, from Ur of the Chaldees and set his love on him and made a covenant with him, that through his offspring, all peoples on earth would be blessed, right? And so God would bless the whole world, all nations on earth blessed through Abraham, and he was the father of the Jews, the Jewish nation. And so he made a covenant with him and that they would have the Promised Land, but it wouldn't be until after the events of Exodus that we're studying, when God would lead them out with a mighty hand, outstretched arm, into the Promised Land, and they would take that Promised Land, but with a conditional covenant. What do I mean by conditional covenant? Well, there are unconditional covenants, like the covenant that God made with Noah after the ark, he said, "Look at the Rainbow. There's the sign, I'm never gonna do this again." Okay, That's unconditional covenant. God makes it, that's it. We don't need to agree or disagree, obey or disobey, he's just not gonna flood the earth anymore, like he did that one time, that's what, a uni-directional covenant. Okay, but this one, when they entered the Promised Land was not like that. It was a conditional covenant that if they disobeyed, he would do what? He would scatter them. He would kick them out of the Promised Land and scatter them to the four winds. And so it says, in Deuteronomy 4:25-31, "After you have had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time, if you then become corrupt and make any kind of idol doing evil in the eyes of the Lord your God and provoking him to anger, I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, you will not live there long, but will certainly be destroyed." And here in Verse 27, "The Lord will scatter you among the peoples... " See that, kind of hard to miss, I put it in bold, underlined. But there it is, “the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the Lord will drive you. There you'll worship man-made Gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear, eat or smell, but if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you look for him with all of your heart and with all your soul. And when you're in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days, you will return to the Lord your God and obey him." Very big theme in the book of Isaiah, namely the re-gathering of Israel back to worship in the Lord and back to the promised land, very big theme, if from there, you turn, he will bring back... Now, we're studying this in Sunday school, aren't we? With the books we've been doing recently with Haggai and Zechariah and all these, but that was just a token, you have to understand that. You have to understand that's just the first fruits, that was not the ultimate, I think, re-gathering, that's prophesied in Isaiah, and others might disagree, but I think that the scope is so huge in the book of Isaiah that there's something else yet to come, and I'm excited about that. It's remarkable because, I'm just tipping my cards right here, you know who's gonna be bringing them back? It's the Gentiles who're gonna bring the Jews back. They're already out there, they're gonna hear the gospel, they'll believe it, and they'll carry the Jews back to the Promised Land. It's a remarkable thing, and Isaiah gives us the whole vision, but he says, "I'm gonna scatter you," and he did, didn't he? Song of Moses predicted all of it, they did rebel, they did become idolatrous, and he did scatter them, to the four winds, it was called the diaspora. And they were spread everywhere. The Jews went everywhere, and yet remarkably, they maintained their Jewish identity, in all the communities they went, whether it was Russia, or Greece, or Rome or whatever, they continue to be Jews, which is very interesting how God maintained that identity, and yet they're rejecting Christ, fascinating thing, but he scatters them out. Now, Christ comes, in the fullness of time, at the right time, he enters in the world, and one of the things he's here to do, I would say one of the ways he's here, that one of the ways we speak of his mission is that he is here to re-gather. And we're gonna get to this shortly, in Matthew 12, if you look down on the third quote there, Matthew 12:30, Jesus said, “He who is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me... " Does what? “Scatters.” So you're either, in one of two categories, you're either a gatherer or a scatterer. That's it. “Well, I like a third category. Some grey area. I mean, isn't it possible for me to be kind of an in-between? Kind of a semi-gatherer?” No, you're either a gatherer or a scatterer according to Jesus. Okay? Jesus came to gather. Well, what did he come to gather? Well, look at that verse in Isaiah 11:12, we'll get to that in a minute, but it's so fantastic, “He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel. He will assemble the scattered peoples of Judah from the four quarters of the earth.” Isn't that fantastic? He's gonna raise up a banner and say, “Here I am, I'm the Messiah!” and they're gonna come, from the four quarters of the earth, they're gonna worship Christ. Or in Matthew 3:12, “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering up his wheat into the barn but burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” What is he gathering? His wheat, just another image of the same thing: his people. Or then in Matthew 24:31, this is at the end of the age, “He will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect, from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.” Well, that's a big gathering, and you don't wanna miss that one, folks. Okay, don't miss that one. That's the final gathering, when the angels come. So through faith in Christ, he'll come and get you and he will gather you. But you see the gathering going on, he's bringing them back together, not only Jews are gathered, but Jesus has, according to John 10:16, other sheep as well. And you remember that passage? John 10:16, “I have other sheep that are not of the sheep pen, I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.” Isn't that fantastic? He said, “I've got sheep out there, I've got people that are mine, my chosen ones,” his elect, it says in Matthew 24:31, “but they're mine, I'm gonna go get them. They're not of this pen, but they will come and there will be one flock and one shepherd.” He has broken down the dividing wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile, there's one new man, believer in Christ, that's all, and so he's gonna gather them together into one flock, the gathering is only spiritual at this time, not physical. People stay where they are, and know God, aren't you glad? You don't have to go to Jerusalem like the Muslims go to Mecca? It would get really crowded if all Christians went physically to Jerusalem. And I'm so glad we don't have to do that. Now, the Jews did. You remember that? Physically, three times a year, they had to go up to Jerusalem. We don't need to do that. Jesus said so in John 4, “Woman, believe me, the time is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” What is he saying? You don't need to change your location. Not at all, God must change your heart, and if God changes your heart, you will be a spirit-filled knowledgeable worshipper of God, right where you are. And guess what, when that happens, what's gonna happen? The Earth will be a little more filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord because you are converted, you are transformed, and you'll just look at everything differently. "He has broken down the dividing wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile, there's one new man, believer in Christ, that's all, and so he's gonna gather them together into one flock." What do you mean everything? Well, the other day I was driving to a friend of mine's house, and as I was driving I noticed a turtle on the road, I don't know if they're out these days, 'cause I've seen three in the last two days. Now, I am not a tree hugger, okay? But I just felt a stewardship responsibility to pull over and move that turtle to the side of the road, and it was actually one of my more spiritual moments in the last several days, it was like an act of worship, "God, you made this turtle, I would hate to see it crushed." And so I picked it up and I moved it to the side, and I said, "Go on your way, off you go, whatever it is you do, you know? Go be a turtle somewhere, but just don't get crushed, this is not a good place for a turtle." And so I felt a sense of the glory of God in that turtle, and the Lord made it. And so that's it. I think the thing is, when the Lord transforms your heart, you see everything differently, “This is my Father's world, and we're here as stewards, we're not here to kill and to destroy, we're here to serve” like Adam was supposed to in the garden. And so there it is, we are transformed and right where we are, we can worship God, who is spirit and truth. But yet there is in a metaphorical sense, a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, our hearts face there now, don't they? There's been a streaming of the nations with the advance of the Gospel, and so in one sense, every new Christian, wherever they are, their hearts are moving towards Zion, we're looking there for our lawgiver, Jesus to give us the law and tell us how to live. He becomes our ruler. Now ultimately, we will be gathered in the New Jerusalem and yet filling the whole earth with the knowledge of God, and this I haven't fully developed yet. That cubicle, New Jerusalem, a thousand stadia, or 10,000 and all that, that's hard to understand, there are depths here that, see, we're all in one place, and yet we're filling the new heavens and the new earth, so we'll work on that later. Let's move on before we get too, whatever, the islands of Isaiah; let's look at the first one. Turn to Isaiah 11. Isaiah 11. And we're looking at verses 1-12. Now, my watch here says three till six, is that what you guys have? Is that? Okay, yeah? Okay, alright, now that's good, that's right, I appreciate that. Why are you laughing? Okay, alright. I don't know how we started so early to... And I'm grateful for it though; I think we did well starting at five and getting going, so I'm excited. Alright, Isaiah 11, it says, "A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him- the Spirit of wisdom and understanding- the Spirit of counsel and power- the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord- and he will delight in the fear of the Lord." Who is this? This is our Messiah, the anointed one. This is Christ, the shoot from the stump of Jesse coming up. “He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy. With justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.” He's a king. This is what he does, he rules; he reigns. “He will strike the Earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips, he will slay the wicked.” He's a righteous ruler. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness his sash around his waist. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together, and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Isn't that marvelous? What a prophecy. “In that day, the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the Gentiles;” or the peoples, “the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious.” So he's gonna stand up there and everybody's gonna rally to him, and it's gonna be a glorious place of rest. Look at verse 11, “In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim,” one could also say, re-gather, “the remnant of his people that is left from Assyria, from lower Egypt, from upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.” Wow, they've gone a long way, haven't they? Yes, he's gonna reach out and he's gonna reclaim them, he's gonna bring them back, “He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel. He will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth. And so the root of Jesse will come and establish his kingdom, the remnant of Israel, and God's chosen people from the Gentiles will be gathered from the distant corners of the earth.” Second, Isaiah 24:15, turn there if you would. Now, Isaiah 24 is a picture of judgment. The Lord's devastation of the whole Earth, “See, the Lord is going to lay waste to the earth and devastate it, he will ruin its face and scatter its inhabitants, it will be the same for priest as for people, for master as for servant, for mistress as for maid, for seller as for buyer, for borrower as for lender, for debtor as for creditor, the earth will be completely laid waste and totally plundered. The Lord has spoken this word.” and brothers and sisters, this is gonna happen. 2 Peter 3 talks about it, how everything is going to be destroyed in the fire, it's all gonna go. The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the exalted of the earth languish. The earth is defiled by its people, they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant, and therefore a curse consumes the Earth, and its people must bear their guilt, therefore earth's inhabitants are burned up and very few are left. The new wine dries up, the vine withers, all the merrymakers groan, the gaiety of the tambourines is stilled, the noise of the revelers has stopped, the joyful harp is silent, no longer do they drink wine with a song, the beer is bitter to its drinkers. The ruined city lies desolate; the entrance to every house is barred. In the streets they all cry for wine; all joy turns to gloom, all gaiety is banished from the earth. The city is left in ruins, its gate is battered to pieces. So will it be on the earth and among the nations, as when an olive tree is beaten, or as when gleanings are left after the grape harvest. They raise their voices, they shout for joy; from the west they acclaim the Lord's majesty. Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord; exalt the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, [Where?] in the islands of the sea. What's going on? There's this huge devastation, and yet there's celebration right in the middle. These are the people who love God; these are the worshippers of the Lord, and where are they? Well, first of all, there are as far as in the east and the islands of the sea, verse 16, “From the ends of the earth, we hear singing: ‘Glory to the righteous one.’” Stop there. What's going on? The ends of the Earth, the distant islands are praising the God of Israel, they're worshipping. They're giving honor to him. That includes us; I would think we'd be kind of like ends of the earth to Jerusalem. Durham, North Carolina. Where is that? If you had asked Isaiah and said, "We live in Durham, North Carolina." "Oh, that's the ends of the earth as far as I'm concerned." They're singing to God. Wow. Next, Isaiah 40:15. I'm actually gonna begin at verse 12, verse 11, sorry, “He tends flock like a shepherd and gathers his lambs in his arms,” isn't that wonderful? He's gathering them. “He who is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me, scatters.” He's gathering, gathering people together. “He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart. He gently leads those that have young. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales or the hills in a balance? Who has understood the mind of the Lord or instructed him as his counselor? Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him understanding?” Now look; verse 15, “Surely the nations, are like a drop in a bucket, they're regarded as dust on the scales, he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.” Isn't that remarkable? We'll just stop there. The basic idea here is clear. The nations are as nothing to him. He's immense, he's powerful, and he takes these distant islands and weighs them like they're dust on the scales. They're just small, compared to his immense power. Look at the next one, Isaiah 41, next page, verse 1-9. This is what he says, “Be silent before me, you islands! Let the nations renew their strength! Let them come forward and speak; let us meet together at the place of judgment. Who has stirred up one from the east, calling him in righteousness to his service? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to wind-blown chaff with his bow. He pursues them and moves on unscathed, by a path his feet have not traveled before. Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord- with the first of them and with the last- I am he” The islands have seen it and fear; the ends of the earth tremble. They approached and come forward; each helps the other and says to his brother, “Be strong!” The craftsman encourages the goldsmith, and he who smooths with the hammer spurs on him who strikes the anvil. He says to the welding, “It is good.” he nails down the idol so that it will not topple. “But you, O Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham, my friend, I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.” What is this teaching? Well, the distant islands are guilty of idolatry, most of them are idolaters, they're idol worshipers, and so they set up an idol, so it won't topple, they nail it down, and they encourage one another, but they're trembling in fear, why? Because God sends forth judgment, first of all, their own hearts condemn them, that their idolatry is wicked. But secondly, events happen. One from the east comes, who is this, well there's different interpretations, but I think it's a military conqueror, it could be like Cyrus who comes and he gives over the lands, the islands into their hands, and so there are under the sway of the rise and fall of history and of empires that rise and fall, and they're always afraid, they're idolaters, the ends of the earth, the islands. Let's not think of the islands of the earth as though they're the noble savage, who don't need the Lord, oh they're idolaters and they're wicked, and they're under the judgment of God if they won't repent, but God's gonna bring them the gospel, isn't that wonderful? They're gonna see the light, and they're going to believe. Look at the next one, Isaiah 42:1-12, this will sound familiar, I hope., Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight, I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed, he will not break, and a smoldering wick, he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his law the islands will put their hope. Stop there for a moment. Who are we talking about? Well, this is Jesus Christ, he's going to come, the servant of the Lord, and he's gonna establish his kingdom, and in his sovereign reign, in his law, the islands will hope. They'll find their hope. They will trust in him. Now, it's interesting, Matthew translates it, "in his name the islands will put their trust or their hope." But is there really a distinction between law and name? “Open up in the name of the king.” It's the same thing, right? And so the king, with his name and with his authority and with his law will come and the islanders are going to accept, they're going to yield. They'll submit to the king of the kingdom of heaven, Jesus Christ. Continue reading, verse 5, “This is what God the Lord says- he who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people and life to those who walk on it”. Verse 5 says, “I made them, I made the islanders. I created them. I formed them in their mother's womb.” Verse 6, “I the Lord have called you in righteousness, I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, and free captives from prison, to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. See, the former things have taken place and new things I declare; before they spring into being, I announce them to you.” Verse 10, “Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth. You who go down to the sea and all that is in it, you islands and all who live in them. Let the desert and its towns raise their voices; let the settlements where Kedar lives rejoice. Let the people of Sela sing for joy; let them shout from the mountaintops. Let them give glory to the Lord and proclaim his praise in the islands.” Isn't that wonderful? Let them praise and exalt God in the distant-most reaches of the earth. Will they? Is this a prophecy, a prediction? Is this actually going to occur? Oh yes, it will. I'm telling you it has. It's already happened. It's not done yet, but it's already happened, it's already occurred. Even over the last century and a half, these prophecies are being fulfilled right in our own time. But they're very specific, aren't they? Look at Isaiah 49:1, "Listen to me," it says, "You islands; hear this, you distant nations," by the way, who's writing this? This is Isaiah. Where is he? He's probably living in Jerusalem. When? Seventh century BC, and he's writing down on a piece of scroll or parchment or something like that, "Listen to me, you islands." Now what are the odds, humanly speaking, that they'll ever hear anything he says? The answer is zero, humanly speaking. What are the odds, divinely speaking, that they will read this and hear it and believe it? 100%. And so he's speaking to them, he's addressing them, "Hear, O Heavens and Listen, O Earth for the Lord has spoken." He says, "Isaiah, just write this down. Let me take care of the delivery. I'll get it there, you just write it down." Okay, alright, Isaiah, what do you say? "Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations." Now he is speaking as a prophet, and he's speaking Christ's words here. Isn't he? Listen. Before I was born, the Lord called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name. He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver. He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.” [Verse 4] But I said, “I have labored to no purpose; I've spent my strength in vain and for nothing. Yet what is due me is in the Lord's hand, and my reward is with my God.” And now the Lord says- he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring back Jacob to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord and my God has been my strength- [I love verse 6] he says: "It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth." Now, this has gotta be Christ. In one sense, you could say it's Isaiah who's writing it, but it's got to be Christ, because Simeon said that Christ would be a light for the Gentiles. And so Christ is the light for the Gentiles, and God, the Father has spoken to him and said, “It's too small a thing for you to save Israel only. It's too small; I will make you a light for the whole world. Even to the distant most islands of the earth.” Isaiah 51:5, look at verse 4-6, it says, "Listen to me, my people; hear me, my nation: The law will go out from me; my justice will become a light to the nations. My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation is on the way, and my arm will bring justice to the nations. The islands will look to me and wait and hope for my arm. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath, the heavens will vanish like smoke. The earth will wear out like a garment, and its inhabitants die like flies, but my salvation will last forever. My righteousness will never fail." So this is a strong exhortation to the islands to trust in Christ, why? Because they're vanishing like smoke, the heavens will disappear, there'll be no place to live any longer. And so come to Christ. Now, what's interesting is in Isaiah 51:1-3, it says, "Look to the rock from which you are cut, to the quarry from which you are hewn, look to Abraham, Your Father and to Sarah, who gave you birth." This is a Jewish Messiah. And so, “Salvation,” said Jesus, “comes from the Jews,” and so all the islands, the distant lands are gonna look to a descendant of Abraham, the rock from which they were cut, they're gonna look to him and trust in him and find their salvation there. Isaiah 59:18, now, Isaiah 59 speaks about sin. Verse 1, it says, "Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, so that you will not hear. For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken lies and your tongue mutters wicked things. No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments and speak lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil. They hatch the eggs of vipers and spin a spider’s webs. Whoever eats their eggs will die, and when one is broken an adder is hatched. Their cobwebs are useless for clothing; they cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their deeds are evil deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands. Their feet rush into sin, they're swift to shed innocent blood." That's quoted from Romans 3; he quotes it there. What is this talking about? It's talking about the universality of personal sin, and when they try to cover themselves with their deeds, cloak of righteousness, you're gonna stand before God on judgment day with your cloak of righteousness, it's gonna be like covering yourself with cobwebs. Your righteousness is nothing. You've lived the life of an adder, of a snake, and so there's no righteousness to cover yourself, and that's true to the ends of the earth. Look what it says in verse 18, "According to what they have done, so will he repay wrath to his enemies and retribution to his foes; he will repay the islands their due." Do you see that? Judgment comes even to the islands, to the Jew first, and then what? To the Gentile, and that includes the islands. So they have personal sin, and if they do not repent and trust Christ, if they do not accept the gospel, then they will come under vengeance, they will come under vengeance, 'cause judgment reaches to the ends of the earth. Nobody escapes. Isaiah 60, magnificent chapter, the glory of Zion. "Arise and shine, for your light has come and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dawn." This may be the most important chapter in our study tonight. Concentrate now on verse 4, "Lift up your eyes and look about you, all assemble and come to you, your sons come from afar and your daughters are carried on the arm. Then you will look and be radiant. Your heart will throb and swell with joy." What are we talking about here, Zion? What is Zion? Well, in one sense, it's Jerusalem, the center of Jewish worship. This nation that's been trampled by the Gentiles, stripped and ruined and the walls are cast down, what does he say here? You're gonna look good, you're gonna be dressed up and you're gonna be dazzling and glorious, You'll look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of nations will come. Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah. And all from Sheba will come bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the Lord. All Kedar's flocks will be gathered to you, the rams of Nebaioth will serve you; they will be accepted as offerings on my altar and I will adorn my glorious temple. “Who are these that fly along like clouds, like doves to their nests? Surely the islands look to me; in the lead, are the ships of Tarshish, bringing your sons from afar, with their silver and gold." Now stop there. This is fascinating. The people from the islands, Tarshish, are sailing to Zion, aren't they? And who are they bringing with them? Your sons, who are the sons? The Sons of Zion, they're Jews. And how... In what sense are they bringing them back to Zion? Well, who do you think is gonna lead the unbelieving Jews to Christ? Some Jews maybe, Jews for Jesus do that. It's mostly Gentiles though. We're the ones that make them jealous according to Paul, and we have the gospel. And who do you think in the end, when all Israel will be saved and there's a great in-gathering of Jews is gonna be, are gonna be the witnesses, the evangel, those that are taking the gospel? Is it not the inhabitants of the islands, among others, who will bring them to personal faith in Christ and bring them back home? Why don't you read the whole chapter when you have time, we're gonna finish with Isaiah 66:18-22, turn there. And it says there, this is the new heaven and new earth, "And I, because of their actions and their imaginations, am about to come and gather all nations and tongues, and they will come and see my glory. I will set a sign among them and will send some of those who survive to the nations- to Tarshish [that's that distant island], to the Libyans and Lydians (famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, [these are all Gentiles, by the way] and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations. [Now listen] They will bring all your brothers, [these are Jews] from all the nations, to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the Lord- on horses, in chariots and wagons and on mules and camels, says the Lord. “They will bring them, as the Israelites bring their grain offerings to the temple of the Lord in ceremonially clean vessels. And I will select some of them also to be priests and Levites,” says the Lord. “As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the Lord, 'so will your name and descendants endure.'" This is the eternal state, isn't it? And what's happening is, again, these Gentiles from the distant lands from Tarshish, from Lydia and all of these other places, are going to bring Jews back to Jerusalem to personal faith in Christ. Now, I wanna add a quick footnote on how this has been fulfilled. In Acts Chapter 13, when Paul and Barnabas went out on their first missionary journey, where did they go first? Does anybody know? They went to Cyprus; that was their first place, they left Joppa and went to Cyprus. That's Kittim, that's their first place that they preached the gospel, that's the beginning of the missionary endeavor of the church of Antioch, they go to the island of Cyprus and they begin preaching there. And then at the end of Paul's recorded life in Acts 28, he's shipwrecked and where does he end up? Malta, an island off Italy, you remember? And he gets to witness there to the governor and they come to faith in Christ because of a miracle he does there when he shakes off a snake and he heals some people there. Malta. Maybe that was even Tarshish, I don't really know what Tarshish is, just the distant islands in the Mediterranean, that's pretty distant. Paul intends to go even beyond there to Spain, and perhaps as far as what he intends in Tarshish. That's the apostle Paul. What about in our day? Well, perhaps you've heard of John Paton, he went to the New Hebrides in the 1850s and '60s, and led them to Christ. They were cannibals. They ate the last missionary that was there, you remember the story, and the ship that had left the missionaries on the beach sat there and watched from the shore or from the distance with their telescopes as these cannibals ate them, John Paton was the next missionary at that stop. Now, that took incredible courage, didn't it? He went there and he led them to Christ, they became an offering to the Lord and they worshipped God, and that beautiful island there that God had filled with his glory so long ago, those islanders, they knew his glory. The Earth was filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. And after World War II, when soldiers had gone island-hopping with General MacArthur, after the war was over, they said, "Hey, let's go back, let's go back as witnesses," MacArthur called for thousands of missionaries to go to Japan, we've been there, Jordan and I and others have gone to witness to that island, that counts, it's an island in the sea. And there are Christians there. And also Irian Jaya, like Don Richardson, brought those islands idol worshippers to faith in Christ. Now, there's still work to be done, isn't there? But this is... I'm arguing from the greater to the lesser. If God cares about little dots and islands in the ocean, he cares about every square inch of this earth, and the earth will most certainly be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.