Participants:
Series Code: AU
Program Code: AU000055S
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00:00 - Today on Authentic.
00:02 I'm gonna take a stab at helping you find out what you're 00:04 really looking for in this life, 00:06 and I think I'm gonna take you 00:08 in some really surprising directions. 00:11 [soft rhythmic music] 00:32 I don't know if you ever read the Arabian Nights when you 00:34 were a kid, 00:35 and I guess there are some parts 00:36 that aren't exactly kid friendly, 00:38 but somehow I managed to get a copy as a kid and I read it, 00:42 [eastern inspired music] 00:44 and of course, the stories were so fabulous. 00:46 They peaked my imagination, 00:47 which is appropriate because 00:50 that was the original point of the book. 00:51 It was supposed to be irresistible, 00:53 it was supposed to fire up your imagination, 00:57 and it was originally designed that way 00:59 to save the life of a young queen. 01:02 The story goes that the Persian king Shahryar 01:05 a fictitious king, discovered that his wife 01:08 had been unfaithful, 01:09 so he had her executed. 01:11 Then in order to keep that from ever happening to him again, 01:14 he decided to marry a new girl every single day and then 01:19 have her behead in the morning. 01:21 Well, eventually the court officer in charge 01:23 of finding all these women 01:25 started running out of candidates, 01:27 and that's when the officer's own daughter Shahrazad 01:31 volunteered to marry the king, 01:33 and she was determined 01:34 she would not be executed in the morning. 01:37 So it turns out that Shahrazad was a brilliant historian 01:41 who spent a lot of time reading stories 01:43 from ancient cultures. 01:44 So what she did was tell the king a fascinating story 01:48 in the evening, but she would never finish it. 01:51 And she promised the ending tomorrow night, 01:53 and she was such a good storyteller that of course, 01:56 the king spared her life over and over and over and over, 02:01 just so he could hear the end of the story. 02:03 That supposedly turned into this book, 02:05 1,001 Nights, the Arabian Knights. 02:08 It's a collection of stories from all kinds 02:11 of ancient cultures, the Egyptians, the Persians, 02:14 the Babylonians, and so on. 02:16 And over the years, 02:17 the collection has grown to include stories like 02:20 Sinbad the Sailor, Alibaba, and the 40 Thieves, 02:23 and of course, Aladdin in his Magical Lamp. 02:26 What we have here is a book 02:27 that comes from the Golden Age of Islam 02:30 when the Middle East 02:31 became the world's premier center for learning. 02:33 And Western Europe at that time, unfortunately, 02:35 was wallowing around in the woeful ignorance 02:38 of the dark ages. 02:40 And let me tell you, 02:42 the Golden Age of Islam really was a Golden Age. 02:45 While European surfs were working the fields 02:47 for their medieval overlords 02:49 and the state of learning here in the West 02:51 was all but nonexistent. 02:53 The Middle East was flourishing, 02:56 and the Arabic speaking world produced some of the most 02:59 fantastic scholastic achievements. 03:01 And they also produced something else 03:04 that I find really fascinating. 03:07 Let me read you a little description from a history book 03:09 that was penned about oh, 03:11 a hundred years ago, back in 1922, 03:15 and it's about the city of Baghdad. 03:17 During the Abbasid Caliphate. 03:19 It was a dynasty that lasted from about 750 AD 03:23 when the Abbasids overthrew the previous Caliphate 03:26 to about the middle of the 13th century. 03:29 And I just wanna read you this one description of a palace 03:33 that was built by one of the caliphs 03:35 who started ruling in the year 908. 03:37 Here's what it says. 03:39 "Among the most famous buildings erected by Muktadir 03:43 was the Palace of the Tree, 03:45 so-called from the tree made of silver 03:47 weighing 500,000 dirhams or about 50,000 ounces, 03:53 which stood in the middle of its palace, 03:55 surrounded by a great circular tank filled with clear water. 03:59 The tree had 18 branches every branch having numerous twigs 04:03 on which sat various kinds of mechanical birds in gold 04:06 and silver, both large and small. 04:09 Most of the branches of the tree were of silver, 04:12 but some were of gold, 04:14 and they spread into the air 04:15 carrying leaves of diverse colors. 04:17 The leaves moving is the wind blew, 04:19 while the birds through a concealed mechanism 04:22 piped and sang." 04:25 Now the question that comes to my mind is this, 04:28 Why a mechanical silver tree? 04:30 Why was that in the middle of the palace? 04:33 What exactly did it represent? 04:35 And why did everybody find it so completely fascinating? 04:39 Well, to answer that, 04:41 let me take you to another magnificent structure that just 04:43 about everybody knows about. 04:45 One that was built by one of the Muslim Mughal who ruled in 04:49 the north of India. 04:50 [Indian inspired music] 04:52 The Taj Mahal is easily one of the most recognizable 04:54 buildings on the planet, 04:55 and I'm guessing that some of you have probably been there. 04:59 It was built in the 17th century, 05:00 so really after the Muslim Golden Age, 05:04 and it's a product of personal grief. 05:07 The story goes at the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan 05:10 lost his favorite wife, 05:11 Mumtaz Mahal while she was giving birth 05:14 to their 14th child. 05:16 He was so overcome with grief that he disappeared 05:19 into his chambers for eight days. 05:21 And when he finally reemerged, 05:23 they say he was stooped over like an old man, 05:26 and his hair had started to turn white. 05:29 The Taj Mahal was commissioned as a tomb 05:31 for his beloved bride. 05:33 And I've got to say, it's easily one 05:34 of the most stunning buildings I've ever seen. 05:38 I mean, most of the time tourists, 05:39 attractions are a real letdown when you finally lay eyes on 05:42 them, but not the Taj. 05:45 In fact, I don't think I've ever actually seen a photo 05:48 that does this place justice. 05:50 It's made out of white marble inlaid with precious stones 05:54 and calligraphy done in black marble. 05:56 And the calligraphy, frankly is astonishing. 05:59 If you run your fingers over it, 06:01 you will never feel the seam where the white marble meets 06:04 the black marble. 06:05 And what they did was widen the calligraphy as it goes up 06:08 the column to account for perspective so that when you stand 06:12 at the base of the column, 06:13 the writing looks perfectly parallel all the way up. 06:17 It's absolutely breathtaking, 06:19 and if you ever get a chance to go, 06:22 this is one place you should go see. 06:24 It's worth the airfare, 06:25 but it's not the famous mausoleum 06:27 that really peaks my interest there. 06:29 It's the garden in front of the mausoleum. 06:31 Most of you have seen this garden in pictures. 06:33 It has waterways that reflect the Taj Mahal, 06:36 which means you can get really incredible photos if you take 06:39 them from the other side of the garden. 06:41 The design of the garden predates the 17th century 06:45 by thousands of years 06:47 The Mughal emperors borrowed it 06:49 from the ancient Persians who borrowed it 06:52 from the ancient Mesopotamians before them, 06:55 which makes this one of the oldest landscape designs 06:57 anywhere on the planet. 06:59 Now they called it a walled garden 07:01 because obviously it's a garden that has a wall around it. 07:05 In the middle of the garden you have a fountain, 07:08 and then you have four canals filled with water that run 07:10 from that fountain to the edges of the garden, 07:14 kind of like they're running to the four points 07:16 of the compass. 07:18 And here's what's so significant about it, 07:21 apart from the fact that, well, 07:22 the garden's pretty easy on the eyes, it's highly symbolic. 07:26 The fountain in the middle of the garden 07:28 is sometimes called, the fountain of life, 07:32 and you have four rivers that run from that fountain 07:34 to the edges of the garden. 07:37 It matches the description of Eden that you find 07:39 in the Book of Genesis. 07:40 I mean, just just listen to the Genesis account. 07:43 It says this, 07:45 The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, 07:48 and there he put the man whom he had formed. 07:50 And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow 07:53 that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. 07:55 The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden. 07:58 So it's not a fountain of life, 08:00 it's a tree of life. 08:01 And the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 08:05 Now, a river went out of Eden to water the garden, 08:07 and from there it parted and became four riverheads. 08:12 Now, that is not an accident, 08:14 but right now I've got to take a break. 08:17 So don't you go away because I'm about to unpack this 08:20 mysterious garden in India. 08:21 Well, just a little bit more. 08:27 - [Announcer] Dragons, beasts, cryptic statues. 08:32 Bible prophecy can be incredibly vivid and confusing. 08:36 If you've ever read Daniel a Revelation and come away 08:39 scratching your head, you're not alone. 08:41 Our free focus on prophecy guides are designed to help you 08:45 unlock the mysteries of the Bible and deepen your 08:48 understanding of God's plan for you and our world. 08:51 Study online or request them by mail and start bringing 08:54 prophecy into focus, today. 08:57 - The Taj Mahal has been called a teardrop 09:00 on the cheek of time because it's one 09:01 of the most heart rending love stories ever told. 09:04 And here's what's really fascinating about the Taj Mahal. 09:08 The garden in front of it is known as a walled garden. 09:12 But of course, as we've already said, 09:14 the design was borrowed from the Persians. 09:15 And the word they used for a walled garden was paridaiza, 09:19 which is where we get the word paradise. 09:22 I mean, literally they called this a paradise garden 09:26 as and as we saw a moment ago, 09:27 it resembles the Garden of Eden. 09:31 That is not an accident. 09:34 What you have at the Taj Mahal is a beloved bride who died, 09:38 and she's just outside the garden, 09:40 symbolizing this hope that one day she will 09:43 return to paradise with her husband, the prince. 09:46 And that is the story of the Bible. 09:50 God's people are known as his bride 09:51 and they're living under a curse. 09:53 The wages of sin is death, 09:55 and you and I no longer live in paradise, 09:58 but the rest of the Bible describes the love of a great 10:01 prince and has planned to redeem us from death and bring us 10:04 back as the bride of Christ. 10:07 So the story of the Taj Mahal turns out to be the story of 10:11 the entire human race. 10:14 So now I want to talk about the concept of paradise itself 10:18 because the human race seems to have this collective memory 10:22 of a better time and a better place, 10:25 even though you and I have been taught that we climb the 10:27 evolutionary ladder over millions of years, 10:30 and our plight today is better than it was in the past, 10:34 that tooth and claw existence of the prehistoric world. 10:37 Well, in spite of all of that, 10:39 we still sense that somehow we lost something once we all 10:43 kind of know that at some point in the distant past 10:46 life was better than it is now. 10:49 And and we somehow realize we need to get back 10:51 to where we were in the very distant past 10:54 if we're ever gonna feel complete or be happy. 10:58 And this is such a strong impression 11:00 that over the last few thousand years, 11:01 we have spent untold amounts of money, time, 11:05 and energy trying to rebuild 11:07 what we lost in the distant past. 11:10 And what we do is construct artificial paradises. 11:14 Now, I'm almost hesitant to do this because, well, 11:18 I'm about to quote Aldous Huxley describing one of his 11:21 hallucinogenic experiments, 11:23 but he does say something very interesting at one point 11:26 as he's comparing the natural world to the artificial world 11:30 that human beings have built. 11:32 He writes this, 11:33 "We walked out into the street, 11:35 A large, pale blue automobile was standing at the curb. 11:40 At the site of it, 11:41 I was suddenly overcome by enormous merriment. 11:44 What complacency, 11:45 what an absurd self-satisfaction beamed 11:48 from those bulging surfaces of glossiest enamel! 11:52 Man had created the thing in his own image." 11:55 Now in Huxley's account, 11:57 he found the whole thing ridiculous 11:59 to the point of laughter. 12:00 And of course, 12:01 that's because he was stoned out of his gourd. 12:03 So we need to take what he said with a huge grain of salt. 12:07 But you will notice 12:09 that his observation's not entirely wrong. 12:12 While the human race was made in the image of God. 12:15 A lot of what exists on the planet today was made 12:17 in the image of us, of human beings because we designed it. 12:21 We built it. 12:22 For thousands of years, 12:24 we have been building solutions to the problem described in 12:27 the Book of Genesis. 12:28 We've chosen to go our own way, 12:31 and we have been removed from the paradise where there was 12:34 no pain or suffering. 12:36 So what we've done since then is try to rebuild paradise 12:40 one little bit at a time by inventing solutions 12:43 to the hard reality of living. 12:46 We've spent thousands of years building 12:48 an artificial paradise. 12:50 And while life is certainly more convenient today than it 12:53 was even a hundred years ago, 12:55 I think we'd all have to admit that we've hardly constructed 12:58 what you could honestly refer to as paradise. 13:02 Let's go back to the beginning of recorded history 13:04 for just a moment. 13:06 And let me show you the way that the book of Genesis 13:08 describes the situation. 13:10 This takes place right after the famous story 13:13 of Cain and Abel 13:15 where Cain murders his brother in a fit of jealousy, 13:17 and he commits the first recorded homicide. 13:21 It says, 13:22 "Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord 13:24 and dwelled in the land of Nod in the east of Eden. 13:28 And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch, 13:31 and he built a city and called the name of the city after 13:35 the name of his son, Enoch." 13:37 This is the earliest record we have of urbanization. 13:42 And what's interesting about this is the fact that it's not 13:44 presented in a positive light. 13:46 Cain was living near the gates of Eden where the presence of 13:50 God could still be detected. 13:52 But after committing this unspeakable crime, 13:54 he was forced to leave. 13:55 He had to go somewhere else. 13:58 The rest of the family stayed in the vicinity of Eden 14:01 where they could see the two cherubim 14:03 and the brilliant flashing 14:04 presence that dwell between those cherubim. 14:08 So now the human race was divided up 14:09 into two basic categories. 14:11 On the one hand, 14:13 you had those who tried to stay close 14:14 to the presence of the Lord 14:15 because well, they knew based on God's prediction, 14:18 a Messiah would eventually come 14:21 and restore them to paradise. 14:23 They were clinging to the hope of deliverance. 14:25 But then on the other hand, 14:27 you had a branch of the human race 14:28 that struck out on its own 14:30 completely away from the presence of God. 14:32 And one of the first things they did, they built a city. 14:37 Now, back in the day, 14:38 those cities usually had walls around them just like they 14:41 did until fairly recent history. 14:43 And what you had inside that wall was something 14:46 of an artificial paradise, a place of relative safety, 14:50 because living in a city was really, really convenient, 14:53 and it still is to this day. 14:55 It turns out when you get enough people together in one 14:58 single center, you have more of just about everything. 15:01 You have more goods and services, 15:02 bigger and better hospitals, public transit, 15:05 you have all sorts of stuff that makes life 15:07 just a little more convenient. 15:10 But at the end of the day, 15:12 it is still an artificial paradise. 15:14 And what usually happens is that we get 15:16 what we call big city problems 15:19 because in addition to all the convenience, 15:21 you also get more violence, more vandalism, more pollution, 15:26 and more potential for devastation when disaster strikes. 15:30 And so you have to weigh all the convenience 15:32 against the problems that inevitably go with cities. 15:35 And while those problems existed almost anywhere you go 15:38 in history and still do to this day. 15:41 They're always more prominent and more concentrated 15:44 wherever you put an awful lot of people together. 15:48 And that's because artificial paradise does not solve the 15:52 biggest problem we have, 15:54 and that's the broken condition of our human hearts. 15:57 What you get when you bring a whole bunch 15:59 of fallen people together 16:00 is a bigger concentration of the very thing 16:02 that plagues us the most, our tragic imperfections, 16:06 our selfishness. 16:07 So no matter how you plan to make life easier, 16:10 no matter how spectacular your new city, 16:13 there's still a serpent in the garden. 16:16 But now he has a bigger field to play in 16:17 because he followed us from the gates of Eden 16:20 into all those artificial paradises. 16:22 And our hearts are just as corrupt as they were before, 16:25 if not worse. 16:27 This is a story that plays out again and again and again. 16:30 Throughout the pages of the Bible. 16:32 Abraham and his nephew Lot were traveling together, 16:35 and at one point, 16:36 they decided to pitch their camps in two separate places. 16:39 It turns out the land that they were on was too small to 16:42 support both families. 16:44 So Abraham gave Lot his pick of the land. 16:47 "Look," he said, 16:48 "Look, if we're gonna still be friends, 16:49 we need to solve this crowding problem. 16:52 So you go ahead and pick first, 16:53 and then I'll go the other way." 16:55 Well, here's what happened. 16:57 According to the Bible, it says, 16:58 And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, 17:03 that it was well watered everywhere, 17:05 like the garden of the Lord, 17:06 like the land of Egypt as you go towards Zoar. 17:09 So Lot is eyeballing the most convenient place to live. 17:14 Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan 17:17 and Lot journeyed east. 17:18 And they separated from each other. 17:21 Now, so far it seems like a reasonable proposition, 17:23 but there is more to the story 17:25 because it wasn't just the nicely irrigated land 17:28 that was attractive to Lot. 17:30 It says Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan 17:34 and Lot in the cities of the plain 17:36 and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. 17:38 But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful 17:42 against the Lord. 17:44 So where does Lot go? 17:46 To the city, to an artificial paradise. 17:48 Because it's more convenient. 17:50 And of course, 17:52 we all know that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah 17:54 were legendary for their wickedness. 17:56 I mean, yeah, they had all the conveniences 17:58 that come from living in a larger population center, 18:01 but that also meant they had a higher concentration 18:04 of human depravity. 18:06 Which means that more people 18:07 were feeding off of each other's wickedness. 18:11 Now, I don't want you to think I'm saying 18:12 that all city dwellers are evil, 18:14 because I really don't think that, 18:15 and to be quite honest, 18:17 I kind of enjoy the conveniences 18:18 of living in larger population centers. 18:21 But there is something in this story that you 18:23 and I need to pay attention to. 18:25 And I'll be right back after this to tell you what that is. 18:31 [light music] 18:32 - [Announcer] Here at the Voice of Prophecy, 18:34 we're committed to creating top quality programming 18:35 for the whole family. 18:37 Like our audio adventure series, Discovery Mountain. 18:40 Discovery Mountain is a Bible based program 18:42 for kids of all ages and backgrounds. 18:45 Your family will enjoy the faith building stories 18:48 from this small mountain summer camp and town. 18:50 With 24 seasonal episodes every year 18:53 and fresh content every week, 18:55 there's always a new adventure just on the horizon. 19:02 - Let's go back to Aldous Huxley for just a moment 19:04 because in that same passage I read you before the break, 19:07 the one where he was looking at the world while he was 19:09 stoned and thought it was ridiculous, 19:11 we'd made the world in our own image. 19:13 Well, he says something else 19:15 that I find really, really fascinating. 19:20 Now, again, let me give you a huge disclaimer here 19:22 because this is the second episode 19:24 in which I've made reference to psychedelic drugs. 19:26 And some of you might be wondering, 19:28 why does Shawn think that's so fascinating? 19:30 Well, it's because I'm convinced 19:32 that people who use these things are looking for something 19:35 the drug's never actually going to give them. 19:37 They're playing around 19:39 with another type of artificial paradise. 19:41 It's a way to escape the pain and suffering of real life 19:44 and pretend for a few hours 19:45 that you don't actually live in this place. 19:48 And of course, if you're a disciple of the Bible like I am, 19:51 you've got to take the worlds of Aldous Huxley 19:54 with a massive, massive grain of salt 19:57 because he was playing around with hallucinogenic drugs. 20:00 And I will never, ever be willing to hang my assessment 20:04 of reality on the words of someone who speaks 20:07 from a chemically compromised perspective. 20:10 A lot of what he says is just sheer nonsense 20:12 as you might expect. 20:13 But every once in a while, 20:16 he throws out an interesting thought that makes me wonder 20:18 what he was really looking for in life. 20:20 I mean, listen to this. 20:21 He says, "That humanity at large 20:24 will ever be able to dispense 20:26 with artificial paradises seems very unlikely. 20:29 Most men and women lead lives at the worst, 20:31 so painful and at the best, so monotonous, poor 20:34 and limited, that the urge to escape, 20:37 the longing to transcend themselves, 20:39 if only for a few moments is and has always been 20:43 one of the principle appetites of the soul. 20:46 Art and religion, carnivals and saturnalia, 20:48 dancing and listening to oratory, 20:51 all these have served an H.G. Well's phrase, 20:54 as Doors in the Wall. 20:56 And for private, for everyday use, 20:58 there have always been chemical intoxicants." 21:03 What what does he mean by doors in the wall? 21:05 Well, what Huxley believed 21:07 was that the brain filters out most of 21:09 the information that comes in through our senses. 21:11 It, it puts up a safety wall. 21:13 And well, he's essentially correct. 21:15 If your brain didn't do that, 21:17 you'd go crazy trying to assess the impossible flow of data 21:21 that comes at you every single moment of the day. 21:24 So your brain makes choices about what's important 21:28 and it sloughs off the information 21:30 you didn't really need. 21:32 So in that regard, Huxley was correct. 21:34 There is a bit of a wall. 21:36 But from his perspective, 21:38 which was really an occult perspective, 21:41 the filters in his mind were cutting him off from access to 21:44 something he called quote the mind at large. 21:47 Now, what he meant by that 21:49 was the great cosmic consciousness 21:51 that you find in a lot of Eastern religions. 21:54 You also find it in the teachings 21:55 of the ancient gnostics who believed 21:57 that our physical bodies were traps 22:00 that prevented us from ascending 22:01 to the great non-material oneness of the universe. 22:05 So Huxley is looking through doors 22:07 through this physical wall 22:09 so that he can become part of that great cosmic mind 22:12 in the sky. 22:13 And its perspective that is radically at odds 22:16 with the teachings of the Bible. 22:18 But what you do find here is a pretty good description of 22:20 what motivates us as fallen human beings. 22:24 The world we live in reminds us on a daily basis 22:28 something certainly is wrong. 22:31 And so we build all these artificial paradises, 22:33 little gimmicks to try and alleviate our pain. 22:36 We gather in the artificial gardens of urbanization 22:39 trying to mitigate the inconvenience 22:42 of living in a broken and painful world. 22:45 And sometimes when that proves to be a bigger concentration 22:48 of suffering, 22:50 we look for other ways to get back to the garden. 22:52 And some people use chemical substances to create yet 22:55 another artificial paradise, 22:58 a sense of euphoria trying to assure themselves 23:01 that the pain they feel in life isn't real. 23:05 But more than 50 years after the drug culture 23:08 swept across North America, 23:09 we can now see that it really was 23:11 just more artificial paradise. 23:13 It might be beautiful, seeing that way 23:15 for a couple of hours, 23:16 but in the end, it's a horrible substitute. 23:19 Another artificial tree with mechanical birds 23:22 pretending to be the real thing. 23:25 Go to any large urban center and you'll find yourself 23:27 stepping over people on the sidewalk who tried 23:29 to go back to Eden the wrong way. 23:32 Some people looked for liberty in the sexual revolution, 23:35 convinced that the moral boundaries we used to honor in 23:38 society were actually making them unhappy. 23:41 And the end result of that more misery, more broken people, 23:47 more broken homes, 23:48 because the real problem 23:49 is not the institutions that we live with. 23:52 The real problem in this world isn't the government 23:54 or the education system or the lack 23:56 of services in your city. 23:58 The real underlying problem is right here 24:00 in the human heart. 24:02 You and I are broken, 24:03 and not one of our utopian projects 24:06 has ever managed to fix that 24:08 because we're all looking in the wrong direction. 24:10 We're looking to places where there are no answers. 24:14 You know, it's not an accident 24:16 that our history books are full of these horror stories 24:18 that come from all these utopian settlements 24:20 or communes where people said, Man, 24:23 we are gonna finally create a manmade paradise. 24:26 From Waco, Texas to Jonestown Guyana, 24:29 to some of the utopian states 24:31 that popped up in Europe after the Reformation. 24:33 All of them, all of them ended in disaster. 24:37 I'll be right back after this. 24:41 [somber music] 24:42 - [Announcer] Life can throw a lot at us. 24:45 Sometimes we don't have all the answers, 24:48 but that's where the Bible comes in. 24:50 It's our guide to a more fulfilling life. 24:53 Here at The Voice of Prophecy, 24:55 we've created the Discover Bible Guides 24:57 to be your guide to the Bible. 24:59 They're designed to be simple, easy to use, 25:01 and provide answers to many of life's toughest questions, 25:04 and they're absolutely free. 25:06 So jump online now or give us a call 25:09 and start your journey of discovery. 25:11 - Most of us still have this collective sense that the world 25:14 is not supposed to be the way it is right now. 25:17 And most of us seem to remember a time way back when, 25:20 when things were a lot better. 25:22 And honestly, that's because they were. 25:25 You and I are remembering something quite real, 25:28 and we remember it because the Bible says God has put 25:31 eternity in our hearts. 25:32 I mean, that's what it says in Ecclesiastes three, verse 11. 25:36 And as you and I are busy trying to sew fig leaves together 25:39 to cover up our moral nakedness, 25:42 God is busy solving the problem, 25:44 the only way it can be solved. 25:46 He became one of us. 25:48 The Son of God became the Son of man, 25:50 and he now stands at the head of a new human race that will 25:54 once again walk into the garden of paradise. 25:58 Let me just read to you from my absolute favorite passage 26:01 of the Bible. 26:02 This comes from Revelation chapter 21. 26:04 It says, "Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth 26:08 for the first heaven, 26:10 and the first earth had passed away. 26:12 Also, there was no more sea. 26:14 Then I, John saw the holy city, 26:17 New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, 26:20 prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, 26:23 and heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, 26:26 the tabernacle of God is with men, 26:29 and he will dwell with them and they shall be His people. 26:32 God himself will be with them and be their God. 26:35 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. 26:38 And there shall be no more death or sorrow, nor crying. 26:42 There shall be no more pain, 26:43 for the former things have passed away." 26:48 You know, maybe it's time to take another look 26:50 at this very ancient book 26:52 because it's quite possible that 26:54 what you're actually looking for in life 26:56 is found right here. 27:00 You and I, we both do it. 27:02 We run through life building little paradises, 27:04 little conveniences that we think 27:06 will take the ultimate pain of living away. 27:08 And it's true. 27:10 We can make life a little more comfortable. 27:11 We can alleviate some of the problem, 27:14 but it never seems to solve the deepest problems 27:16 the human race has. 27:18 This book says It knows what the problem is. 27:20 It knows where you can find completeness and happiness. 27:23 And if it's been a while since you've picked up and read it, 27:26 I mean, I know you've heard people critique the book. 27:29 You've heard people say it's a collection of fairy tales, 27:31 but maybe read it for yourself. 27:35 Look at what it, 27:36 don't let other people tell you what's in this book. 27:38 Read it for yourself. 27:39 It's entirely possible 27:41 because you have eternity in your heart 27:43 that you're going to find 27:44 what you're looking for right here. 27:47 Thanks for joining me again today. 27:49 I'm Shawn Boonstra, and this has been Authentic. 27:53 [rhythmic music] |
Revised 2022-11-07