Participants:
Series Code: PJU
Program Code: PJU190009A
|
00:02 Were the people in the Bible any different to us today?
00:07 Were ordinary people like you and me 00:22 What can we find out from their lives that would help us? 00:28 Find out with Pr. Geoff Youlden and Rosemary Malkiewycz 00:32 here on People Just Like Us. 00:35 Throughout history there have been powerful people who've been 00:41 willing to do anything to stay in power. But because some are 00:46 jealous and scheming they live without peace. They quickly 00:50 dispose of anyone they think could be a threat to them even 00:55 their own family members. Their behavior is like the one who 00:58 rules their heart, Satan. One such person was Herod the Great. 01:04 A great builder, he was also a great tyrant and schemer. Tell 01:10 us about this man and the power behind him, Pastor Geoff. 01:13 Well, Rosemary, I guess everybody's heard of Herod the 01:16 Great because of his infamous action in killing all the babies 01:20 in Bethlehem. 01:21 I certainly did because when we went to Israel we learned a lot 01:24 about him. He was a great builder. 01:26 Yeah, well there are lots of monuments today to his ability 01:31 to build but not his ability of having a good character. 01:34 That's right. Let me tell you about some things he built 01:39 though because that's what he's known for by many people. He 01:43 built Masada, the fortress and palace of Masada. Here's a 01:49 picture of the model of his palace. Then there's now today 01:54 the ruins that you get to see of Masada. Quite a fascinating 01:58 place. It was a wonderful place that he built there, swimming 02:03 pools and all sorts of things out in the desert. 02:07 He built Herodian. He actually 02:09 moved a whole mountain and built this monument to himself and 02:13 called it after himself. He rebuilt the temple, extended 02:19 the temple and renovated the temple in Jerusalem and built 02:23 a wall around it. Here's part of the wall today and there's a 02:28 model of it in Jerusalem. It was massive and he built that. This 02:35 is the most famous part of the wall, the wailing wall. 02:37 That's what 02:39 everybody knows today. He built Caesarea by the Mediterranean 02:45 sea. (The aqueduct). Well he did those too, but this is the 02:49 amphitheater at Caesarea. You can still, go and see these things. 02:52 And he had a hippodrome there for chariot races. He had his 02:56 swimming pool. He loved swimming pools. But he built the 02:59 aqueduct and that is still standing today where he got 03:03 fresh water, 40 miles, to put fresh water in his swimming pool 03:08 because he didn't like salt water. He builds caldarium's, 03:13 solariums, frigidariums, tepidariums, where people could 03:16 get hot and cold water treatment He built the amphitheater, he 03:20 built the hippodrome. He built massive things that are still 03:23 available for us to see 2000 years later. But he didn't have 03:27 a good character to go with it. 03:29 He certainly didn't and that's what we want to talk about 03:31 today. We do. Rosemary. It is true that when you go to Israel 03:34 today he stands out as a big character but... 03:38 It's the character that's the problem. 03:41 He's not a good man. No. And killing all the babies in 03:45 Bethlehem is an illustration of his character. You know 03:48 one of the things that interests me in the Bible is the contrasts 03:51 that we have with characters in the Bible. I mean you take the 03:56 characters of Cain and Abel, the difference. In the Bible you 04:02 know it's in juxtaposition and it's Jacob and Esau. As you 04:07 think about all of these contrasts, Pharaoh and Moses. 04:10 And how the Bible puts them against one another. And then we 04:14 have Elijah and Jezebel is another illustration. John the 04:19 Baptist and Herod Antipas. Now he's another Herod, different to 04:23 Herod the Great. This is the Herod at the time of John the 04:25 Baptist who took his head off. Then there's Judas and John. 04:30 You know what a contrast there is between those two individuals 04:35 Paul and Nero. And then we have of course the two kings of the 04:40 Jews. One Herod the Great that we were talking about today and 04:45 of course Jesus. Now you have to admit that whatever Herod the 04:52 Great was good at he was certainly good at killing people 04:56 You know, he murdered his three sons and gave the order to kill 05:00 his third son while he was on his death bed of all things. He 05:05 drowned the high priest and the brother of his queen. Then he 05:09 strangled his queen for which he suffered torture and remorse for 05:13 rest of his life. 05:14 You know, the son-in-law the king murdered, he actually 05:18 drowned him, had him drowned in one of his swimming pools. 05:21 He had three palaces at Jericho and one of them was where he 05:28 killed his brother-in-law who was the high priest. He was only 05:31 17 years old, but he was so handsome and regal looking that 05:36 Herod felt like he was a threat to his empire, that he may be 05:42 made king because Herod wasn't a real king in the fact of being 05:45 born into the kingship. He was made a king by the Romans and 05:49 so he was afraid all the time he was going to lose that power and 05:53 someone else was going to take his place. 05:54 Well that's typical of Herod because that's why he was 05:57 jealous of the Babe in Bethlehem, killed the babies. 06:00 He was a very insecure man even though he did all these 06:05 buildings, very, very insecure. And these are just a few of the 06:09 crimes and the bloody deeds of this evil king who was 06:14 supposedly king of the Jews at the time when Jesus was born in 06:18 Bethlehem. He had an incurable suspicion, and this is part of 06:21 his character that I find interesting. He trusted nobody. 06:24 And was full of jealousy. 06:26 How could you live like that? I mean it would be so unhappy. 06:32 You would wonder wouldn't you? And finally he developed an 06:34 incurable disease from which he died. And when he was dying, 06:39 Rosemary, Herod was lying in his misery in his ivory palace down 06:44 there at Jericho and he realized that when people heard of his 06:48 death they would rejoice. You know, that would be so happy 06:51 that finally he was dead. So what he did, the evil, conniving 06:56 man that he was, he gave orders that all the representatives of 07:00 the chief families of the land be shut up in the hippodrome 07:05 and at the very moment of his death they were all to be killed 07:10 and his reasoning was that there would be then mourning and 07:15 sorrow in the land. 07:16 Yeah, throughout the country. Isn't it good to know though 07:18 that those who were put in charge of that knew Herod so 07:22 well that they didn't do it. They didn't carry out that wish 07:27 of his. Yes, well so this is the man 07:29 we're studying about today. When the wise men came from the east 07:33 and everybody knows the story, and wanted to worship the 07:36 newborn king of the Jews, he wanted to find out about this 07:41 baby. And when he learned that the baby King was to be born in 07:45 Bethlehem, as the prophet Micah had prophesied, remember, what 07:50 was it? 500 years before. He asked the wise men to come back 07:55 and tell him where he was so that he could supposedly come 07:59 and worship this newborn king. 08:02 But he knew it was going to be in Bethlehem, because that's 08:05 what the Israelites told him, but he just didn't know where. 08:12 Correct. But we all know the story. After giving to Joseph 08:15 and Mary their gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh, God 08:18 warned the wise men in a dream not to go back and rather go 08:27 back a different way, not go back via Herod. When Herod 08:31 realized of course that he'd been deceived by the wise men, 08:34 his cruel and criminal mind ordered all babies under the age 08:38 of two to be killed in Bethlehem and the surrounding district. 08:41 Perhaps you know we can begin to imagine the mourning and the 08:47 sorrow that would be taking place in Bethlehem at this time. 08:52 And not only that, it would be a continual reminder to them 08:55 that there were no male children at least in that age group in 08:59 Bethlehem. They were missing. So it's not something that will 09:04 happen and you're upset and it's a dreadful time of mourning. It 09:08 will continue on because there's always a constant reminder. 09:10 Yeah. The one child that he wanted to kill escaped because 09:17 Joseph and Mary had been warned to leave Bethlehem immediately 09:20 and go down to Egypt. And there the child was safe from Herod's 09:24 hands, you remember Rosemary, as Moses was from Pharaoh 1500 09:29 years before that. In fact, it's interesting to read the 09:33 statement in Matthew. I'm sure many of our viewers will know 09:39 the statement, some may not. This is the book of Matthew, 09:42 the second chapter and verse 19 where it says now when Herod was 09:49 dead, if you were living back in those days would be a good thing 09:55 When Herod was dead, behold an angel of the Lord appeared in a 09:59 dream to Joseph in Egypt saying arise, take the young child and 10:03 his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the 10:06 young child's life are dead. This verse, to my mind, 10:12 illustrates the age-old struggle that's gone on between right 10:18 and wrong, between good and evil between Christ and Satan, light 10:23 and darkness. Because the kingdom of God and the kingdom 10:26 of Satan are continually at war against one another and really 10:31 the Bible stories are stories that illustrate that war that's 10:37 continually going on and that's why the Bible says here when 10:41 Herod was dead. As I said down through the ages there are 10:48 always some who are the Herod's, who arise against God. But 10:56 always the Herod's die and the plans of God continue. 10:59 That's a relief. 11:01 Well it is and I've often thought just as well we do die. 11:06 Imagine if human beings didn't die and the evil people who have 11:11 done such dreadful things down through the ages 11:13 lives eternally. 11:14 Mmm. They just keep on living and as more evil people were 11:23 born they would be fighting each other but they would also be 11:25 confederating together. 11:27 Well it would get worse and worse as they got older 11:28 and older. 11:30 But anyway God has well cared for that. You know, when I 11:32 first began to study the Bible I was shocked, literally shocked 11:37 to find out that the first war that was ever fought was not 11:42 down on this earth, it was actually in heaven. And I wanted 11:46 to read that Rosemary because this struggle as I said, we're 11:50 talking about Herod. This illustrates the age-old struggle 11:57 between good and evil. And this is Revelation 12 and we want to 12:03 pick up in verse 7 where it says this and war broke out in heaven 12:13 Imagine, it says war broke out in Europe. 12:20 Ah, you expect that. 12:21 It would be terrible but it would be terrible to send the 12:23 shudders down your back. But here the Bible says the 12:25 first war began in heaven. Michael and his angels fought 12:29 with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought. Now we're 12:34 very clear. In verse 9 it tells us that the Dragon is the Devil. 12:38 So here Michael, Christ, and his angels fought against the Devil 12:46 who deceived one-third of the angels. So he had quite a lot 12:51 of angels on his side too. 12:52 But there were still two-thirds that were close to God remained 12:57 loyal. 12:58 The text goes on to say, but they did not prevail, nor was a 13:01 place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon 13:06 was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, 13:10 who deceives the whole world. And that's what we've always got 13:14 to remember that our world is deceived and when we talk to 13:17 people we've got to remember that all of us are deceived. 13:22 Unless we have the enlightenment of God's word we are deceived. 13:27 Our minds have been interfered with. 13:29 And that's where Paul writes that spiritual things are 13:33 spiritually discerned. It's only the Holy Spirit that can give 13:37 you the understanding, because you're not allowing Him to help 13:40 you, you will be deceived by evil. 13:43 Yes, well, we'd better remember that the whole world is being 13:46 deceived. He was cast to the earth and his angels were cast 13:49 out with him. Verse 10 goes on to say: 14:10 And so the Bible is very clear here that this war began. So 14:17 what's happening in the world today between good and evil, 14:20 and we see it every time you read the newspaper or listen to 14:23 the television or the radio, wherever we are seeing out 14:27 working the good versus evil. It often appears Rosemary 14:34 that evil seems to triumph, doesn't it. 14:36 It seems that way, but the Bible tells us that that's not the end 14:40 of the story. 14:42 Now, well thankfully this verse goes on to say in verse 13... 14:55 Now this is where the war that began in heaven now comes down 15:01 to this earth and he's persecuted the woman. 15:05 Now in Bible prophecy in the Bible the Bible uses to word 15:09 woman to illustrate the church both good and bad. In fact, in 15:13 Revelation if you read it through there are two women pictured, a 15:17 pure woman which represents His pure church and a harlot, fallen 15:21 woman who represents the fallen church. So there were two in 15:26 contrast. 15:28 And he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child but 15:30 the woman... The male child being Christ. 15:32 That's right, yes. 15:45 Now this is a reference, and we haven't got time to go into all 15:48 the detail now but this is the period of what history referred 15:52 to as the dark ages, the 1260 year period of when the medieval 15:59 church dominated and ruled Europe and the world. 16:04 and that's mentioned in the book of Daniel, the time, times and 16:07 half a time. 16:10 In fact it's mentioned several times, yes. So verse 15 says: 16:19 In other words, he was trying to kill the woman and her seed. 16:24 And verse 16... 16:34 And this is a reference, of course, to the people who were 16:38 like Waldenses and the Huguenots in France and the Waldenses in 16:42 Italy and the Albigenses who were faithful to God through 16:47 this period and some of the most gruesome stories that you can 16:51 read are the attacks of this people, this apostate church, 16:57 upon these dear people who endeavored to be faithful to God 17:01 It was the dragon trying to send his flood of persecution and 17:08 death on the people of God. 17:10 Well and once again it's illustrating the age-old problem 17:15 between good and evil. And when we see evil going on in the 17:22 world today we've got to recognize that this is part of 17:25 this war that's going on. Finally it says in verse 17 here 17:34 that the dragon was enraged. Now that word really means very 17:41 angry. Your jugular. You know if you talk to someone and they get 17:43 really angry their jugular sort of sticks out and their face 17:46 goes red. That's what the word enraged means. And with 17:49 the woman, or the church, and went to make war with the rest 17:52 of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and the 17:57 testimony of Jesus. So God identifies his true 18:00 people as in the days right through they were faithful to 18:05 Jesus and faithful to His commandments. In fact in verse 18:14 12 of the same chapter, this is Revelation 12:12 it says, 18:17 Therefor rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Which 18:23 would indicate that there's more inhabitants in the universe than 18:27 merely our world because the rest of them were taught 18:31 Therefore rejoice, O heavens, (plural) and you who dwell in 18:36 them. Why? Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the 18:39 sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, 18:43 because he know that he has but a short time. 18:45 Really the only logical explanation that I think that 18:49 I think that you can give to the situation that we're living in 18:54 the world today, I mean. You tune into the television and 18:58 radio, newspaper and it's the biggest tornado, the most 19:01 destructive cyclone, the worst floods, (and fires) and the 19:08 most terrible fires. In other words these adjectives are 19:10 continually being used to describe events that are 19:14 happening today in the very days that we live and describing 19:20 events that have never happened like that from the fir...Earth 19:23 quakes. There's always been earth quakes, but there's never been 19:25 an earth quake like we are experiencing today. 19:28 And there's never been as many. (Correct) That's the point, 19:31 there's never been as many but there's also never been as huge 19:36 earth quakes (and destructive). 19:39 Yes. And so as we read here the Bible is saying as the devil 19:43 realizes that time is coming to an end and that Jesus, you know, 19:48 is about to return, with a fury of desperation he tries to take 19:57 as many people, kill as many people and destroy their lives 20:00 as he possibly can. 20:01 Because in doing so he gets people to not want to know God. 20:05 When destruction and things come up many people say where is God? 20:10 He must not exist. So if he can bring these things upon people 20:15 he makes them unready for Jesus' return. 20:17 Yes there's a statement over here in the book of Job too Rosemary 20:24 I think is very interesting on this very point. Job 38. That's 20:28 an interesting chapter actually. If you haven't read Job 38 I'd 20:33 like to encourage you to do it. It answers some of these 20:38 questions. 20:39 God says to Job, where were you when I laid the foundations of 20:41 of the earth? And so forth. But here in Job 38:11, it says: 20:56 In other words, we can be encouraged by the fact that the 20:59 devil does not have absolute power and God... this boundary 21:06 just like, you know, the story of Job himself where the Lord 21:09 said you can do anything to Job but you can't take his life. 21:12 And the devil tried everything he could to try to discourage 21:17 Job, but Job was faithful and I think that once again as he 21:21 points out, thus far you may come but no further, the text 21:27 says. He says that for everything on 21:29 this earth; situations that we are living in even the water 21:32 coming on the earth. It can't come farther than what God will 21:36 allow. 21:37 Yes. And then we see how, you know, we've been talking about 21:41 the cosmos and the universe, the fight that began in heaven, then 21:46 the world fight, but also there's a fight going on inside 21:50 every person's heart. That's right. And it says here... then 21:55 we see how the devil brings this very real battle into everyone's 22:00 life. We've all been inside of us. A part of our nature that 22:07 is like Herod's. You know, we're talking about Herod. Because 22:11 what evil Herod did is not just unique to Herod. No that's right 22:16 We all have that part of our nature. It may not be as 22:19 developed thankfully as Herod's was, but nevertheless we all 22:24 have a part of us that responds to evil. These evils in the 22:32 world appeal to people. That's why when it comes to getting 22:35 people to attend sports and things that are not of 22:40 really eternal consequence, you have no problems. 22:43 It's very easy for us as human beings because we're in the 22:49 great controversy, the devil has taken control of this human 22:53 heart through Adam and Eve giving in to his temptation. 22:57 It's very easy for us to have jealousy, to have envy, to have 23:04 malice towards people and bitterness, and all those nasty 23:08 characteristics because that's what the devil wants us to have 23:13 and that's his nature. Whereas because Christ came, because 23:19 Jesus came and died for us He has actually given us the 23:21 opportunity to be set free from that and to regain God's 23:26 character which Adam and Eve had at the beginning. And that's 23:30 what God wants for us all. He wants us to have the victory 23:32 over our evil character through the indwelling of the Holy 23:37 Spirit. And we can have that. But as we are in this world 23:42 we allow the devil to have that control. It's only through God 23:47 that we can have any victory over that. 23:50 You know, I like that text in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 23:54 8 where it says: Finally brethren, whatever things are 24:01 true, you know, whatever things are noble, whatever things are 24:07 just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, 24:12 whatever things are of good report, if there's any virtue 24:14 and if there's any praise, Paul tells us to think on these 24:20 things. And the more we think about the very things that you 24:24 were talking about, the evil, the carnal, the negative, the 24:29 more we become like it. All of us have a bias that way. It's 24:34 easy to go that way. But God doesn't want us to dwell upon 24:40 those things. But if we think about the pure, the good, the 24:46 wholesome then we become like that. 24:48 They have found through science now that has an impact on our 24:52 minds and on our whole being to change us. If we think on 24:58 those good things it can change our bad attitudes into good ones. 25:03 I have two verses that I really find very important to me 25:08 in my life. And it's Ephesians chapter 4 verses 31 and 32. So 25:16 well go from 31 and 32. So Ephesians 4:31-32. And it says: 25:22 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger clamor, and evil speaking be put 25:31 away from you, with all malice. And be ye kind one to another, 25:36 tenderhearted, forgiving one another just as God in Christ 25:40 also forgave you. So this is basically what you were just 25:44 saying, think on these good things as Paul writes in 25:49 Philippians, here in Ephesians he's saying the same thing but 25:52 in a different way. Leave all those negative things behind 25:55 all those evil traits of character and let God put 26:00 those good things in you. 26:01 Yes, you know that statement, be kind to one another. You know 26:07 in families and in life how much better it would be if we were 26:14 kind to one another. It would be a happy place. 26:15 Well it would be. Forgiving one another. Of course, you know, 26:21 all of us do the wrong things and sometimes people 26:24 misinterpret what we're doing. They put an interpretation 26:30 which is not 26:31 correct, but formulate an attitude and these things 26:37 develop. But God tells us that He pointed out, Rosemary, by His 26:41 grace and through His power God can give us victory over sin and 26:46 over malice and over being critical and over those 26:50 attributes that make bitterness and anger and clamor and evil 26:57 speaking. All of those things we can get victory over. I think 27:02 that's the exciting thing about it. The Gospel isn't that really 27:07 when you think about it. The Gospel is not just a feeling you 27:10 know that we're Christians and it's a theory. No, no, no, no, 27:13 It's a living experience. 27:14 The Gospel changes lives. If it doesn't change your life, you 27:18 haven't really got the Gospel. 27:22 That's the good news. That's the exciting news. As we summarize 27:27 Rosemary, God doesn't want us to have the nature of Herod. 27:31 That's right. He wants us to have the nature of Christ and 27:35 He promises that two-thirds of the angels on His side and the 27:38 Holy Spirit and the Godhead, that we can live a life of 27:42 victory and overcoming. 27:43 That's right. So I hope that in today's lesson, today's 27:48 stories that you have learnt that God wants to change you 27:51 See you next time. |
Revised 2019-11-19