Participants:
Series Code: IIWSS
Program Code: IIWSS025018S
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00:14 >>Eric Flickinger: Welcome to "Sabbath School," 00:15 brought to you by It Is Written. 00:17 We're glad that you are joining us today. 00:19 We are looking at how to study Bible prophecy. 00:22 And today we are looking at part 2 00:24 of a two-part miniseries of studies in this, 00:27 looking at the nations, how politics and the history 00:30 of the world and geography all relate 00:33 into history and a better understanding of the Bible 00:36 and God's plan for salvation. 00:39 We're glad that you're here with us. 00:40 Let's start with prayer. 00:42 Father, we ask that You'll bless us again today as You have 00:44 in the past, that You would continue to give us mercy 00:47 and grace and understanding. 00:50 Pour into us a knowledge of Scripture and a knowledge of You 00:55 so that we may come away from our study today 00:57 trusting You more. 00:59 And we thank You, in Jesus' name, 01:00 amen. >>Shawn Boonstra: Amen. 01:02 >>Eric: Our guest this week once again is Pastor Shawn Boonstra. 01:05 He is the author of this quarter's 01:07 "Sabbath School" lesson. Shawn, good to have you here. 01:09 >>Shawn: Thank you. And it was just because 01:12 you couldn't get anybody else. (laughing] 01:13 >>Eric: Well, we're glad that you were at least available. 01:16 It says something when someone is available. 01:18 >>Shawn: I'm always available. >>Eric: There we go. 01:19 (Shawn laughs) So this subject, though, 01:21 the subject of the nations, 01:23 this is something that you are particularly interested in, 01:25 you're passionate about. It's part of your history. 01:29 And so this means a lot to you. 01:31 >>Shawn: It really does. 01:32 I come from a life of politics. 01:34 It was my life's ambition to run for office one day, even though 01:37 I'm an introvert and I don't even like public speaking, 01:39 but it's all I wanted out of life until God turned me around. 01:43 And I have firsthand experience 01:45 in the contrast between the kingdom of God 01:47 and the kingdoms of this world, I really do. 01:49 >>Eric: And we're starting to see some of that. 01:50 It's very valuable insight as we're going into it-- 01:53 last week, certainly, and this week, again. 01:55 In the second part of our study of the nations, why do you think 01:58 there's so much space given to Israel's interaction 02:01 with foreign nations in the Bible? 02:03 >>Shawn: Yeah, it really is fascinating. 02:05 I think if I were to give one answer, and there isn't 02:08 just one, but if I were to give one answer, 02:10 it's for the sake of contrast. 02:12 Israel was supposed to be something else. 02:14 Israel was supposed to be the seeds of God's kingdom 02:18 bearing fruit in this world already. 02:19 Here's a group of people that are aligned 02:21 with the coming Messiah, the seed of the woman. 02:24 It's a different type of kingdom. 02:26 Even though we are sinners and we're forced to live 02:28 in the world systems, God invites us, even now 02:31 ahead of the Second Coming of Christ 02:33 to live as if we're already in the kingdom. 02:35 And Israel was supposed to be that. 02:37 And when Israel is behaving, we get a great illustration 02:40 of what it's supposed to be like. 02:41 I mean, even Ezekiel ends with, here we go, everything restored. 02:45 But then when Israel goes astray and starts chasing 02:48 the kingdoms of this world that we saw last week, 02:50 asking for a king, we want to be like them, then we get contrast 02:54 and we start to see in Israel, too, 02:57 how the influence of these foreign entities started 03:02 to change the makeup of God's people. 03:03 So we really see the great controversy in, up close-- 03:07 it's a case study in it, 03:08 kingdom of God versus kingdoms of the world-- 03:10 kingdom motivated by the love of God and the person of Christ 03:14 and kingdoms motivated entirely by self-interest, selfishness, 03:17 and pride. 03:18 And that, I'm surprised it's only 66 books. (laughs) 03:23 >>Eric: Yeah, we'd expect it to be much, much longer. 03:26 You also spend some time in this week's lesson talking 03:30 about the triumph of God's system, how ultimately His plan 03:34 is going to succeed. 03:36 And unfortunately, though, we've been seeing God's plan 03:41 work out, for better or for worse, over the course 03:43 of several thousand years now. >>Shawn: Yeah. (laughs) 03:45 >>Eric: And there's a lot of suffering, a lot of pain, 03:48 a lot of discouragement that goes along. 03:50 Why doesn't God just kind of go, 03:51 "Hey, you know, let's finish it"? 03:53 >>Shawn: Yeah, why doesn't He just pull out a chart and say, 03:55 "Here's the difference, godly kingdom and"-- 03:58 it's because we're now tainted. 04:00 We are self-oriented, and a chart and a graph 04:04 aren't going to do it, until we figure this out for ourselves. 04:07 Isaiah calls, in Isaiah, chapter 10, 04:10 all these other nations "the nations of the idols." 04:12 And that's not so much-- the idol is not so much 04:18 a foreign entity, a foreign deity 04:20 as it is a picture of yourself. 04:22 Idols are gods made in the image of man 04:25 instead of man being made in the image of God. 04:27 It's still worship of self, and it's a shortcut to intimacy. 04:30 I've often found it interesting--a little sidebar. 04:33 Why is it that so many of these ancient cults 04:35 had temple prostitutes? Well, it makes good sense. 04:39 A prostitute is a shortcut to intimacy that cheats you 04:42 of the real thing, all right? It's just a transaction. 04:45 Same thing with idol worship, just a transaction. 04:47 I'll pay off my god and go do what I want for the next week. 04:51 They're both shortcuts to intimacy. 04:54 And until we figure this out for ourselves, the hardest thing 04:58 in the world--I have no problem pointing out your faults. 05:01 I have an awful lot of trouble finding mine, right? 05:04 Have you ever noticed how sin seems so horrible in other 05:07 people, but then we start to downplay it when it's-- 05:10 "Ah, it's not all that bad. You know, all I did was"-- 05:12 no, you sinned. 05:15 And I think what God wants--here, Psalm 46, verse 10: 05:21 "Be still, and know that I am God. 05:23 "I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted 05:26 in the earth!" That's coming in the future. 05:28 But God's non-coercive. 05:31 He wants you to figure this out for himself. 05:33 There's a pattern in the book of Mark that I think 05:37 illustrates what I'm trying to get at. 05:39 There's something scholars call the "messianic secret" 05:43 in the book of Mark. I don't know if you've noticed 05:44 Jesus keeps saying, "Okay, don't tell anybody who I am. 05:46 Don't tell anybody who I am." Why not? 05:49 Are You afraid of a little publicity, Jesus? 05:51 Now, there's a logic to it. 05:53 The Gospel of Mark is fascinating. 05:55 It actually gains in physical elevation as you go along. 05:59 It starts at the Dead Sea, down below sea level, 06:01 and it ends up on the Mount of Transfiguration. 06:03 And then from there it goes all the way downhill 06:05 to Jerusalem and the Crucifixion. 06:07 But every succeeding story gains a little higher, 06:09 a little higher, a little higher in elevation 06:11 until they get to Caesarea Philippi. 06:15 And when you get there-- this was a pagan hot spot. 06:18 There are little niches in the wall above the river there 06:21 that are still there to this day. 06:22 There was a statue of Pan. What is Pan? 06:26 Half animal, half man, but it's a deity who's part-man, right? 06:29 A part-man-god, really? 06:31 And then it's named for Caesar, Caesarea Philippi. 06:35 What is the Caesar? By this point, 06:37 since Augustus Caesar, 06:38 we started to deify the Roman Caesars. 06:41 So he's part-man, part-god. 06:43 He's a man who's said to be a god. 06:45 And that's the spot Jesus turns to His disciples and said, 06:48 "Who do people say I am?" 06:50 "Well, some say John the Baptist." 06:51 "But who do you say I am?" 06:55 "Well, You're the Son of God." 06:57 He lets them, over all those chapters, 07:00 come to that conclusion themselves. 07:03 He doesn't spell it out. 07:05 They follow Him, they listen to Him, 07:07 and they come to that conclusion themselves. 07:09 Children are the same way. 07:12 It's a famous one, right? 07:13 "Don't touch it. It's hot. Don't touch it. It's hot." 07:17 They're going to touch it. 07:18 And that's when they learn why you said, 07:20 "Don't touch it. It's hot." 07:22 If God were to just push the reset button, 07:24 gather us all into heaven, and say, 07:26 "All right, let's just try again," 07:29 would we really understand why it was wrong to go our own way? 07:33 Would we? 07:34 Or is God allowing us to go our own way? So we get to the point 07:37 where we say, "Okay, God, it's time to blow the whistle. 07:40 "Let's get all the kids out of the pool. We need a reset. 07:43 "We get it now. We see that what You said was right. 07:47 "We don't want to live in the kingdoms of the idol 07:48 "and worship self anymore. You belong on the throne. 07:52 We mess up every time we grab the throne." 07:55 I think we're getting close to that point now. 07:58 >>Eric: We're getting closer. 07:59 Unfortunately, we're not there yet, or depending 08:01 on how you want to look at it, fortunately or unfortunately, 08:03 we're not there yet. 08:05 But we're getting closer, to be sure. 08:07 A while ago at an ASI convention, 08:08 you talked about something interesting 08:09 with respect to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil 08:13 and something that underlies 08:15 this whole issue with the human heart. Open that up for us. 08:18 >>Shawn: Yeah, we touched on this in a previous lesson 08:20 a little bit. I kind of gave my hand away, but let me repeat it. 08:24 In Genesis, chapter 3, our translation is pretty good, 08:28 but it's not accurate. 08:29 This I referred to--I don't know if it was last week or a couple 08:32 of weeks ago--where the devil comes and asks this question: 08:35 "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat 08:37 of any tree in the garden'?" 08:38 Well, yeah, the devil's method is not to just contradict God, 08:42 it is to raise questions, and we still do that: 08:44 "Okay, I know the Bible says-- but what about...?" 08:47 And we love to put question marks over it, 08:49 but only when it steps on our toes. We do that. 08:52 So that's not a horrible translation, 08:54 but one rabbi I know who really is sort of the-- 08:58 reincarnation is the wrong word-- 09:01 that would betray my theology, but he's the reincarnation 09:03 of a lot of the medieval rabbi theologians like Rashi 09:08 and Maimonides and others. He translated this differently, 09:11 and I brought this up a few weeks ago. 09:12 He translated this, "Even if God said, 09:15 'Do not eat from any of the trees of the garden.'" 09:19 That's the devil's entire statement. 09:21 Why? Well, it's an unfinished thought. 09:24 He's, like, finishing it with, "So what? Okay, God said that." 09:28 Clearly, he's not going to convince Eve 09:30 God never said that. 09:31 So what? And in another lesson I made reference 09:34 to the fact that God just went through this exercise with Adam 09:37 to prove, "You're not an animal. You're not an animal. 09:39 Go try and find a mate." 09:41 And we all know when we read that story at the beginning-- 09:43 come on, Moses, really? He's going to find a mate 09:46 among the zebras or, you know, the banana slugs? Gimme a break. 09:49 We know the end of the story before we read it, 09:51 so why is it there? 09:53 The story talks about the garden and the trees 09:55 in the midst of the garden, and then it pivots 09:58 to these animals and then comes back to the tree. 10:00 It's like an interlude. 10:01 And the interlude leads Adam to the conclusion, 10:04 "There's no mate for me among the animals. I'm different." 10:07 Now the devil shows up like an animal, a serpent. 10:09 He says, "So God said, 'Don't eat from the tree.' So what? 10:12 "Didn't God create the animals? 10:13 "Didn't He create them with all their appetites and passions? 10:16 "And look, that gazelle's eating from the tree right now, 10:19 nothing happening. Aren't you also designed by that same God?" 10:22 Yeah, except there's different rules. 10:24 Here's an interesting statement. 10:25 This is from "Patriarchs and Prophets," page 53. 10:28 I think it's a keen observation. 10:30 "While everything in nature is governed by natural laws"-- 10:34 we know that--"man alone, of all that inhabits the earth, 10:38 is amenable to moral law." Only us. 10:41 "Man, the crowning work of creation, God has given power 10:43 to understand His requirements." 10:46 This might be the reason. 10:48 When you get to Daniel, chapter 7 and you see 10:51 all the kingdoms of this world, what are they? 10:53 Well, we've got a lion with eagle's wings. 10:55 It's an animal. It's an unclean animal. 10:58 We've got a bear raised up on one side. 11:00 We've got a leopard. We've got this loathsome beast 11:02 with heads and horns. They're all animals. 11:05 What do they represent? 11:07 Represent the kingdoms of this world. The devil comes and says, 11:10 "Are you so sure you're not an animal, Eve? 11:12 You know, follow your passions." 11:14 The kingdoms of this world in Daniel 7 are those that follow 11:18 their own passions, took the throne for themselves, 11:21 drive-by passion, and at the end of the day, 11:23 we all know that's how we are. 11:24 You will always cave to your passions in a hot moment 11:28 before anything else, right? 11:30 If you're really tired--here's a simple one: cheesecake. 11:34 Not all that good for you, a slice, no harm. 11:36 The whole thing? Bad idea. 11:38 But if you've been on a plane for four days 11:40 and the only thing sitting there is cheesecake, 11:41 you stare at that thing--"I'm just going to eat a little"-- 11:43 and you eat the whole thing. 11:45 Your passions will almost override everything in a crisis. 11:48 And God knows there's a crisis coming, 11:50 and He's trying to remind us, why don't you build 11:53 your knowledge on what I say instead of your passions? 11:56 The kingdoms of this world are animals. 11:59 They build on passion. You I intend to be different. 12:02 That's a convoluted-- that's a long way around. 12:04 But I think that might be one of the reasons 12:06 God illustrates the kingdoms of this world as animals. 12:08 >>Eric: Yeah, I think you're right. 12:10 If somebody wants to dig further into this, 12:12 there's a companion book. Tell us a little bit about it. 12:14 >>Shawn: The companion book-- written by me, 12:16 so don't get your hopes too high. 12:17 However, there's additional material. 12:19 We are rattling through this stuff. 12:21 There's more in there to keep you studying 12:23 and find some things maybe you've never seen before. 12:25 >>Eric: And there are going to be people 12:27 who might want to study this. Maybe somebody who teaches 12:29 a Sabbath school class might benefit from the companion book. 12:32 Somebody who's participating in a Sabbath school class, 12:35 they want to appear like the smart kid in class, 12:37 perhaps, perhaps. (Shawn laughs) 12:39 Or maybe there's somebody who's not part of a Sabbath school 12:42 class, per se, but they just want to better understand 12:45 how to study the prophecies of the Bible 12:47 and get something out of it. 12:48 Anybody who falls in there, and maybe a few other people, too, 12:51 would benefit from this companion book. 12:53 So if you would like to pick up the companion book, 12:56 you can find it at itiswritten.shop. 12:59 Again, that's itiswritten.shop. 13:02 Just look for the companion book 13:03 to this quarter's "Sabbath School" lesson. 13:05 You'll be blessed if you pick it up and delve into it. 13:08 We're going to be back in just a moment as we continue looking 13:10 at how we can study the prophecies of the Bible, 13:13 specifically the role that the nations play. 13:16 We'll be right back. 13:18 ♪♪♪ 13:22 >>John Bradshaw: Read the book of Daniel and you 13:24 read about dreams and visions, about kings and kingdoms, 13:28 and you encounter prophetic symbols, 13:30 beasts that represent kingdoms, 13:33 days that represent years, winds that portray strife 13:37 and warfare, and oceans that represent people. 13:41 But the book of Daniel is a book of salvation, 13:45 and Daniel, chapter 4 makes that clear. 13:49 Don't miss "The Fall and Rise of Babylon's King." 13:54 In Nebuchadnezzar's last appearance 13:56 in the book of Daniel, the king has another dream. 14:00 Again, it's interpreted by Daniel. 14:02 And although the news for the Babylonian monarch 14:04 is not good, God ultimately does something 14:07 no one would have thought possible. 14:10 "The Fall and Rise of Babylon's King," 14:13 hope in the heart of Daniel's remarkable book, 14:15 brought to you by It Is Written TV. 14:22 ♪♪♪ 14:26 >>Eric: Welcome back to "Sabbath School," 14:28 brought to you by It Is Written. 14:29 We're continuing our study of looking at the prophecies 14:32 of the Bible and how we can better understand them, 14:34 especially as they interact with the kingdoms of this world. 14:39 Shawn, on Monday's lesson, you talk about Daniel revealing 14:43 the fact that the kingdoms of this world are never 14:45 going to solve our problems. 14:47 And we want to be optimistic, 14:50 as human beings. >>Shawn: Right. 14:53 >>Eric: But we know that they're all going to fail. 14:54 What's--how do we balance this? 14:56 Do we just look at the world and say, "Oh, woe is me; 14:59 it's all going to pieces"? 15:02 I mean, there's a temptation there, but I don't think, 15:04 necessarily, that's what God wants. 15:06 >>Shawn: I think that there is appropriate optimism 15:11 and inappropriate optimism. 15:12 There's also inappropriate pessimism, 15:15 which some Christians are prone to. 15:17 Inappropriate optimism-- 15:19 if we go to the Paris Exposition-- 15:20 whatever year that was, 1890-something or other-- 15:22 it was brimming with optimism: 15:25 "We are going to conquer science, technology. 15:27 Rationality is gonna conquer all of our very worst problems." 15:31 If you go back to the Hansard in England, 15:33 the Hansard is the actual written record of what's said 15:36 in the House of Commons every day. 15:38 Oh, people were standing up making speeches: 15:40 "We have advanced so far. 15:42 That's the end of war and the end of famine" 15:44 and the end of this and the end of that-- 15:46 brimming with optimism. 15:47 And by 1914, the world's first world war, 15:51 and then a few years later, a second world war, 15:53 and we haven't had a moment's peace since. 15:55 Two hundred million people died in warfare of some kind-- 15:59 civil war, international war-- during the 20th century. 16:04 It's an atrocious number. 16:07 It's like a fifth of a billion people. 16:09 And when we went into the camps of Auschwitz 16:12 at the end of the war in 1945, that really drove home 16:17 postmodern philosophy in a deep, deep way. 16:19 We'd already been told since the late 1800s, 16:22 "There really is no meaning to life. There is no pattern. 16:25 "There's nothing you can trust. 16:26 "Just, you know, your senses can't really make sense 16:29 out of this world. So you live your narrative." 16:32 I'm using modern language to describe what they're-- 16:34 we go into Auschwitz-- we've never seen evil like that. 16:38 Auschwitz was to us what the Lisbon quake was 16:40 to that generation. How could something this awful happen? 16:44 Maybe nothing means anything. 16:46 So we were inappropriately optimistic 16:48 going into the 20th century, because God said, 16:50 "No, it doesn't get better as time goes along." 16:52 Then there's the flip side of the coin: 16:54 the inappropriate pessimism. 16:56 I had a woman come to me shortly after 9/11. 16:58 "I can't sleep." I said, "Why?" 17:00 "Well, 9/11, it was so horrible." 17:01 I said, "I understand. It is horrible, 17:03 and I can't get that picture out of my head, either." 17:06 She says, "It's terrible. The world's going nowhere." 17:08 I said, "You need to understand that Jesus offers the peace 17:11 "that passes understanding. You're going to be fine. 17:15 "Even if you were in the Twin Towers, 17:17 you're going to be fine." 17:19 I said, "What you need"-- she's terrified of death. 17:21 I said, "Here's what you need to understand. Maybe it'll help." 17:23 This is terrible what I'm about to say, but, 17:26 "You're going to die, guaranteed. 17:29 "If Jesus doesn't come first, you're going to die. 17:30 "It's not if, it's when, and it's just a matter of how. 17:33 "So why don't you live your life knowing that's going to happen 17:36 and let that happen when it happens?" (chuckles) 17:39 And she said, "What?" Inappropriate pessimism. 17:42 I got in trouble on TV a while ago because I said, 17:45 "Look, America started as, really, a godly republic." 17:49 We touched on that in a previous lesson. 17:52 It was the only place the remnant church 17:54 really could be born. 17:56 Was it a Christian nation? Yes, it was. 17:58 Not in the sense that many modern Christians say that. 18:00 It was meant as a place where the individual could answer 18:03 directly to God with his or her conscience 18:06 without a king in between calling the shots. 18:10 That's what America-- that's what Israel 18:11 was intended to be, every individual answerable to God, 18:14 bring your own lamb to the sanctuary. 18:16 The same thing was true here. 18:17 It was supposed to be a place where--and we didn't do it 18:20 perfectly; you know, we hung a Quaker in Massachusetts 18:23 for coming to town and daring to preach. 18:25 We didn't execute it perfectly, but it was intended to be 18:27 a place where you answered directly to God again. 18:31 Today that's come to mean something different. 18:33 It's almost like we want another theocracy and the church 18:36 will call the shots, thank you very much. 18:38 That's not what I mean by "Christian nation." 18:40 But I dared to say, you know what, 18:42 it's starting to fall apart. 18:44 The Lamb that you find 18:45 in Revelation, chapter 13 and verse 11, 18:48 with two horns, eventually speaks like a dragon. 18:50 And there's no reversal of that. 18:52 And what we're seeing take place here in the Western world now-- 18:56 I'm not pessimistic; my hope is just anchored 18:59 in the coming of Christ. 19:01 We were told that the world's kingdoms, the world's nations 19:03 are going to fall apart, including the best example 19:06 we ever had of a godly republic, going to fall apart. 19:08 And I got an angry letter. 19:10 It was like, "How dare you say we can't fix America?" 19:13 Of course you want to do what you can to preserve liberty, 19:16 and you want to contribute the best you can. 19:19 But prophecy tells me it's going to fall apart. 19:22 If you anchor yourself in that, it's like a sandcastle. 19:26 Build it, work on it, tide's going to take it away. 19:29 I don't care how hard you worked on it. 19:31 You can work on the kingdoms of this earth with-- 19:33 you can devote your entire life to it. 19:34 At one point I was doing that. 19:37 We know the end result. Help where you can. 19:40 Live in the context you live in. Be a light in this world. 19:43 But understand you're going to lose it all. 19:45 And the only thing that lasts is the kingdom of Christ. 19:48 Revelation--is it 11? "The kingdoms of [this earth have] 19:51 become the kingdom of our...Christ." 19:52 Become the kingdom of our Christ-- 19:54 there's optimism. It's going to be okay. 19:57 No matter what they do to me, it's going to be okay, you know? 20:02 So they behead me. Pfft! (laughs) 20:05 And don't live in terror of that. 20:07 I see so many Christians living in terror. 20:09 Nah, nah, nah. God shows us 20:10 so that we're not shocked when it comes. 20:12 And sometimes we sit and we make all these charts. 20:15 Here's the time of trouble, and this is going to happen here, 20:17 and this is going to happen here, and this is gonna-- 20:19 is it useful? Sure. 20:20 But Jesus was really clear at one point that prophecy 20:23 is not about predicting the future. 20:25 "I have told you these things now so that when they 20:27 come to pass, you may know that I am He." 20:29 It's recognizing it as it happens so you know 20:32 which signpost you just went by. 20:34 If you're spending your entire life making the charts-- 20:37 and they're fun; I make prophecy charts; believe me, they're fun. 20:41 But that's not the job we've been given, 20:43 is to obsess about the future and what's coming. 20:46 We've been told to share Christ. 20:48 And the only way you grow is not by obsessing 20:50 about what might go wrong. 20:52 It's about obsessing about finding God's missing children. 20:54 >>Eric: You know, Jesus spoke directly to that. 20:57 He said, "It's not for you to know the times 20:59 or the seasons, but you're to go and be my witnesses." 21:02 I paraphrase, but it's share the message. 21:05 It's good to know what's going on, 21:07 where we are in the timeline of earth's history. 21:09 >>Shawn: Yeah, I can turn on the news, and I smile. 21:11 "A-ha, there it is." 21:13 >>Eric: Yep. >>Shawn: I can see it happening. 21:15 But if you start to get too specific, and especially 21:17 if you're fear-driven, have you noticed the attitude of Jesus? 21:22 "Let not your heart be troubled." 21:23 "Fear not." 21:26 You know, Paul, when he's describing the Second Coming, 21:28 starts out by saying, I think I gave you the wrong impression 21:32 "n 1 Thessalonians. 21:34 There are some things that need to happen first. 21:36 Please don't fear. 21:39 If your Christianity is always fear-driven, if that's what 21:42 you're getting out of prophecy, you're doing this all wrong 21:44 because Jesus, Paul, the Bible, it's not fear driven. 21:48 Is it realistic? Yes. 21:49 God doesn't sugarcoat what we did to this place. 21:51 He holds out reality because He loves us enough to hold up 21:54 a mirror and say, "Here's where you went on your own. 21:57 Here's my solution." 21:58 I live in the solution. The solution's guaranteed. 22:02 >>Eric: And that you can do with an appropriate measure 22:05 of optimism. 22:06 >>Shawn: Oh yeah. So people are like, 22:08 "How can you be happy, Shawn?" 22:09 Well, because I'm fine. >>Eric: Yeah. 22:12 >>Shawn: It doesn't even matter what happens now. 22:14 I could die a slow, lingering death; I could be 22:16 suddenly beheaded--I don't know. 22:17 I'm going to die anyway if the Lord doesn't come. 22:19 I used to think, "Oh, no, Lord will come before I die." 22:21 Well, now I'm getting to the point where maybe He does, 22:23 maybe He doesn't. (both laugh) 22:25 That's going to happen anyway. 22:27 Why obsess about that? Why obsess about it? 22:29 Just mark it on the calendar: "One day, gonna die. 22:32 Live for Jesus." That's not the end. 22:34 If you're obsessing about what can go wrong, 22:37 you might be living in the wrong paradigm. 22:39 >>Eric: So we know that these kingdoms 22:41 are not going to survive. 22:42 >>Shawn: That's a zero chance. 22:44 >>Eric: Yeah, let me touch on something briefly: politics. 22:47 How much of a role should we as Christians play in politics, 22:50 and four hours later, we'll be done discussing this, 22:54 but the program's much shorter, so. 22:56 >>Shawn: All right, so, listen. 22:59 I'm a preacher, so let me start there. 23:01 You must never, ever, ever preach politics from the pulpit. 23:07 Why would you? And listen to me-- 23:09 even if you're not a preacher, you're a member in the pews. 23:12 Why? Why in Sabbath School would you start talking politics? 23:15 Why would you do that? 23:16 We live in the most sharply divided, 23:18 polarized society that I think America's ever seen 23:22 maybe outside of the Civil War. We are sharply polarized. 23:26 Why would I issue one word-- 23:29 and you might do it inadvertently; I'm sure I do-- 23:31 but why would you deliberately issue one word 23:33 that would immediately shut off half of your audience 23:36 to the gospel? Why would you do it? 23:38 "Yeah, but we've got to be obsessed about politics." 23:40 Let me read one quick statement. 23:42 This, I think, is the best comment I've ever seen on this. 23:45 "Great Controversy," page 610: 23:47 "[As] long as Jesus remains man's 23:50 "intercessor in the sanctuary above, the restraining influence 23:52 of the Holy Spirit is felt by rulers and people." 23:55 What's that tell me? Leave that to God. 23:57 He's got the nations. 23:59 "It still controls, to some extent, the laws of the land. 24:01 "Were it not for those laws, the condition of [this] world 24:03 "would be much worse.... 24:05 While many of our rulers are active agents of Satan"--oh, 24:07 I want to put names there, but you can't, not as a Christian-- 24:11 "God also has His agents among the leading men of the nation. 24:13 "The enemy moves upon his servants to propose measures 24:16 "that would...impede the work of God; 24:18 but [God would have] statesmen who fear the Lord." 24:21 He'll stop it. I don't have to worry 24:23 about the condition of government. 24:25 There's only one thing, I think, that is a political issue 24:28 that is open, especially 24:29 for Seventh-day Adventist Christians. 24:32 We should insert ourselves into the equation when we see 24:34 somebody's religious liberty being eroded. 24:37 "You can't preach because you are"-- 24:39 it doesn't matter that it's not us. 24:40 "Jehovah's Witness, you're not allowed here." 24:42 We need to defend that because, eventually, it'll come for us. 24:46 But that's it. It doesn't matter who takes office anymore. 24:50 Do I vote? Sure I do. 24:52 I can't completely--besides, you lose the right to complain 24:55 if you didn't participate. 24:57 I do my duty, but I leave the government to God. 24:59 I obey the government unless it asks me to run against God; 25:03 then I stand for God. 25:06 Religious liberty, I think, is the only legitimate issue 25:09 for us. I could be wrong. 25:10 You might know of other issues maybe we should be involved in, 25:13 but politics, don't preach it from the pulpit. 25:15 That's the nations of the world, and that's not who we represent. 25:19 It's not who we represent. Don't do it. 25:21 And sadly, a lot of us are becoming--we're falling to it. 25:26 And I hear it all the time in church. 25:27 Stop it. We preach Jesus. We preach Jesus. 25:31 >>Eric: You're never going to fail with that. 25:33 Never going to fail with it. 25:35 Touch briefly on the sea and the land, sea and the land. 25:39 We don't have enough time, but touch it. 25:40 >>Shawn: Yeah, in one minute, the sea and the land. 25:43 The sea is interesting. 25:44 John says there's no more sea in the new earth, 25:46 and I've often looked at that and said, "Well, you know, 25:50 the New Jerusalem is so big it covers the Mediterranean." 25:52 Nah, not really. 25:54 He's separated from his own people in Ephesus by a sea. 25:58 No more sea, no more separation. 26:00 Maybe, but in Daniel's day, we know this. 26:03 The Jews thought of themselves as an island of God's mercy 26:06 and grace in a sea of Gentile nations. 26:09 It was a well-known symbol. 26:10 That's why in Daniel 7, the sea is being whipped up, 26:13 and it's one Gentile nation going to war against another. 26:16 When Israel asked to live like pagans and have a king, 26:19 those start coming up on the shore. 26:21 Every one of those animals comes up on the shore, 26:23 and Israel has to live under their thumb. 26:25 When the Bible says, "No more sea," the nations 26:27 of this earth are finished. They're done. 26:31 No more warfare, no more strife, no more living under the thumb 26:35 of godless people who are interested in self. 26:38 There's my view of the sea. 26:40 Israel, an island in a sea of nations. 26:42 The sea was a common illustration 26:44 they used for Gentiles. 26:46 >>Eric: So there is hope. >>Shawn: Oh yeah. 26:48 >>Eric: There's plenty to hope for. 26:49 >>Shawn: "Peace, be still." Sea gets quiet. 26:52 >>Eric: Beautiful. Something to look forward to. 26:54 And the truth is, we don't have too much longer before we get to 26:57 see the reality of that, the fulfillment of that. 27:00 As we see what's happening in the world today, you can look 27:02 at Matthew, chapter 24, you can look at the wars and rumors 27:06 of wars and the famines and pestilences and earthquakes, 27:08 and you can get depressed and discouraged, if you choose. 27:11 But that's not why Jesus gives us that picture. 27:14 He says, "If you see all these things happening, 27:16 know that I am near, even at the doors." 27:18 And the truth is, that's where He is. 27:20 He is near, even at the doors. 27:24 So, "Look up, and lift up your head"--and your eyes-- 27:27 because "your redemption draweth nigh." 27:29 We're going to continue looking at the prophecies of the Bible 27:32 and how we can better understand them as we continue this journey 27:36 through this quarter's "Sabbath School" lesson. 27:38 We look forward to seeing you again next week here 27:40 on "Sabbath School," brought to you by It Is Written. 27:43 ♪♪♪ 28:24 ♪♪♪ 28:26 [Captions provided by Aberdeen Captioning www.abercap.com] |
Revised 2025-04-23