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00:12 ♪♪♪ 00:14 CC by Aberdeen Captioning 1-800-688-6621 www.abercap.com 00:16 ♪♪♪ 00:35 Jean Ross: Good morning, friends. 00:36 We want to welcome you to "Sabbath School Study Hour," 00:38 coming to you here from the Granite Bay Seventh-day 00:40 Adventist Church in Sacramento, California. 00:42 I'd like to welcome our many online members and those who are 00:45 joining us across the country and around the world. 00:47 I know a number of our regular members are still home due to 00:50 the pandemic, but we are so glad that you're joining us for 00:53 our study time. 00:55 We've been looking at a really great book in the Old Testament 00:58 for our study time, the book of Isaiah, 01:01 and that's what our lesson is all about. 01:02 Today we find ourselves on lesson number 10 entitled 01:06 "Doing the Unthinkable." 01:08 And so we're excited to look at a beautiful chapter that we find 01:12 in Isaiah, and we'll be getting to that in just a moment. 01:15 I'd like to remind you of our free offer today. 01:17 We have a book entitled "Down from His Glory," and we'd be 01:20 happy to send this to anyone for free. 01:22 If you're in North America, all you need to do is call 01:25 866-788-3966 and you can ask for offer number 154. 01:31 We'll get that in the mail, and they'll send it to you. 01:33 If you're outside of North America or even in North America 01:37 and would like to receive a digital download of the book, 01:42 all you have to do is text the code SH139 to the number 40544 01:49 and you'll be able to get a digital download. 01:51 Again, welcome. 01:53 We're glad that you're here, part of our "Sabbath School 01:55 Study Hour" this morning. 01:57 But before we get to our lesson, we're going to lift our voices 01:59 in song. 02:01 We're going to be singing hymn number 272. 02:03 It's "Give Me the Bible." 02:05 ♪♪♪ 02:45 ♪♪♪ 03:45 ♪♪♪ 04:33 Jean: Let's bow our heads for prayer. 04:35 Dear Father in heaven, what a joy to be able to gather 04:39 in Your house to worship You. 04:40 And as we always do, Father, we ask Your Spirit to come, 04:43 especially as we open up Your Word and we look at just 04:45 a beautiful passage, a passage that points to the Messiah, 04:49 to Jesus. 04:50 And, Father, we pray that Your Spirit will come and guide our 04:52 hearts and our minds and just impress upon us those wonderful 04:55 truths that You would want us to know. 04:57 For we ask this in Jesus's name. 04:59 Amen. 05:00 Our lesson today is going to be brought to us by Pastor Doug. 05:05 Doug Batchelor: Morning. 05:07 I want to welcome our friends that are watching online, 05:10 or on satellite, or Amazing Facts Television, 05:14 the Hope Channel, 3ABN. 05:16 We're glad you're joining us for Sabbath School. 05:17 Here in California at this point things are beginning to ease up 05:20 a little bit, and so we're really glad that we have 05:23 a little bit of a local class here as well as we continue in 05:26 our study of the book of Isaiah. 05:29 And today's lesson, as you heard earlier, 05:32 is lesson number 10, and it's titled "Doing the Unthinkable." 05:37 Lesson number 10 in your quarterly, 05:39 "Doing the Unthinkable." 05:41 And, you know, I didn't adhere. 05:43 They may have already mentioned that. 05:45 For those who are watching, if you're wondering what we're 05:47 doing is--it's typically the pattern in the Adventist Church 05:50 that we have a quarterly. 05:52 Once every quarter we have a different study guide, 05:55 and the objective is is that we sort of go through the panorama 06:00 of the entire Bible in a 5-year period. 06:03 And this lesson, of course, is dedicated to Isaiah. 06:06 If you want to get one of these, you can read it online, 06:09 or you can go to your local Seventh-day Adventist Church and 06:12 I'll bet they'll be happy to supply one for you for free. 06:15 Now, there's a memory verse for today's study, 06:17 and it's taken from the book of Isaiah 06:20 chapter 53, verse 5. 06:22 You're going to want to find your way to Isaiah 06:25 chapter 50 and 53. 06:27 That's the main study we're going to go through today. 06:30 Isaiah 53, verse 5. 06:33 If you want, you can read this out loud with me. 06:35 "But he was wounded for our transgressions, 06:38 he was bruised for our iniquities; 06:42 the chastisement of our peace was upon him, 06:45 and with his stripes we are healed." 06:49 It's one of the most magnificent passages in all of Scripture, 06:53 is what we have the task of talking about today. 06:57 And I really feel like I am on holy ground. 06:59 And so pray for me as I do my best to unpack some of these 07:03 beautiful trues that are in this passage of prophecy. 07:08 Now, again, our assignment--there's really 07:11 two verses we're looking at for the whole lesson today. 07:12 Isaiah chapter 50, verses 4 through 10; 07:16 and then it will jump to Isaiah 52 starting with verse 13, 07:20 reading through chapter 53 to verse 12, 07:23 one of the great messianic prophecies in the Bible. 07:27 And so if you've got your Bibles, 07:29 let's start with Isaiah chapter 50, 07:31 and we're going to start with verse 4. 07:33 And I'm just going to read and do my best to expound 07:36 as we do that. 07:38 "The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned, 07:42 that I should know how to speak a word in season to 07:46 him who is weary." 07:48 And here, Isaiah--these are prophecies not only of Isaiah 07:50 the prophet, but he's really prophesying about the Messiah 07:54 and how he would have the Spirit of God. 07:57 That's how God gives us the tongue of the learned, 08:00 that we can know how to speak a word of encouragement to him 08:03 that is weary. 08:04 Now, this is one of the hallmarks of a Christian. 08:08 You want to encourage the discouraged, 08:10 and it's only the Lord that can give you the tongue and 08:14 know what to say to a person. 08:16 We don't know what a person is going through. 08:18 Always is amazing to me. 08:19 Very amazing. 08:21 Sometimes after church I go to the door and I greet the people 08:24 and visitors in particular, and folks will come up and say, 08:28 "How did you know that's exactly what I needed to hear today?" 08:32 Well, I had no idea that's what they needed to hear, 08:36 and--or sometimes they're a little upset they say, 08:39 "Pastor, I know you were singling me out today." 08:42 I say, "I can promise you--" Except a few rare occasions in 08:45 the small church, but otherwise I'll admit there's a couple 08:49 times I had a someone in mind with a particular sermon. 08:52 But most of the time it's just expounding the Word. 08:55 But the Holy Spirit, you know, he guides you in what to say, 08:59 and--amazing how that works. 09:03 "That I might speak a word in season to him who is weary. 09:08 He awakens me morning by morning." 09:12 You know, I think of that verse "Great is His faithfulness. 09:15 His mercies are new every morning." 09:18 And he goes on. 09:20 "He awakens my ear to hear as the learned." 09:24 So you notice he's got the tongue to speak. 09:27 It says the tongue of the learned, 09:30 and the ear of the learned. 09:32 You know, if you want to have the tongue of the learned, 09:35 you need to have the ear of the learned. 09:37 You need to be able to listen to be able to speak. 09:39 "And the Lord God has opened my ear, 09:42 and I was not rebellious." 09:43 Now, does Jesus talk about those who are having eyes 09:46 they do not see? 09:48 I'm going to talk a little about that in the sermon later today. 09:50 Having ears they do not hear? 09:52 Jesus actually quotes from this prophecy in Isaiah, 09:55 saying, you know, "I'm preaching the truth and so many of the 09:58 scribes and the Pharisees rejected his message. 10:01 Even though they had eyes, they did not see. 10:03 They had ears, they could not hear." 10:05 In Revelation, when Jesus is giving the message to 10:08 the church, he says, "He that has ears, 10:11 let him hear what the Spirit says." 10:14 I remember I had an English teacher in school, 10:18 and he became a little exasperated with me. 10:21 I was not a great student, not in English anyway. 10:23 And--if you could only see me today. 10:29 I went to a Catholic school. 10:30 This is one of the brothers there. 10:32 And I used to always say--he'd asked me a question, 10:34 I'd say, "I didn't hear." 10:35 And he'd say, "You heard. 10:37 You weren't listening. 10:39 You've got selective hearing." 10:41 My English teacher and my wife tell me that. 10:45 Selective hearing. 10:46 "You're not listening." 10:48 Sometimes the Holy Spirit tells us stuff and 10:49 we're not listening. 10:51 I remember years ago reading about the great preacher 10:53 George Whitfield, and he had an incredible voice. 10:58 You know, unfortunately they did not have recordings back in his 11:02 day, but Whitfield--they wrote a book about him I read called 11:06 "The Trumpet of the Lord." 11:08 And before he became a minister he was actually an actor 11:10 in England, and he had a tremendous voice for projection 11:14 and resonance, and it was such a marvel. 11:17 This one man's voice was so amazing that Benjamin Franklin, 11:21 who was good friends with Whitfield, 11:22 did an experiment. 11:24 And when he was preaching at some point in Philadelphia, 11:26 Franklin went to hear him preach, 11:29 and he said, "I've never heard a voice like that. 11:31 You can hear him distinctly from anywhere in the crowd." 11:33 And so Franklin began to walk further and further away and 11:37 see how far he could go--he was a very curious man, 11:39 always doing experiments. 11:40 How far away he could go and still clearly hear his voice. 11:44 And he was a quarter mile away and he could still hear him. 11:47 That's quite a ways. 11:49 He said, "Now I believe the rumors that 30,000 people--" 11:52 'Cause they used to say 30,000 people would come to hear him 11:54 and they could all hear him. 11:56 And he says, "Now I believe the rumors I'd heard that 30,000 12:02 people could be in one gathering and everyone could hear 12:04 him distinctly." 12:05 Well, one--you know, Whitfield would go through towns and he'd 12:08 preach and there'd be great revivals. 12:09 And they close all the bars and saloons, 12:12 and a couple of men in the bar were saying, 12:15 "Yeah, the preacher, Whitfield, is coming to town." 12:16 He says, "You better enjoy your drink. 12:18 They're going to close--they'll probably close the bar after 12:20 he gets done with his revival." 12:22 And one fella said, "Well, I'd like to see the guy, 12:24 but I don't want to hear him because I don't want 12:27 to quit drinking." 12:29 So he went to the field where Whitfield was gathered, 12:33 and he--they had a makeshift podium. 12:35 And he was up there and he was preparing to speak, 12:37 and this guy climbed a tree like Zacchaeus 'cause there were 12:39 so many people who wanted to see him, 12:41 but he didn't want to hear him. 12:43 So he got up in the tree, and he kind of leaned against the tree 12:45 and wrapped his legs around the branch he was sitting on 12:47 and then he put his fingers in his ears. 12:50 And Whitfield got up and he started to preach, 12:54 and a horsefly began to buzz around this guy's face. 12:59 Now, horseflies are not regular flies. 13:02 They bite. 13:03 And the horsefly landed on his nose, 13:06 and he pulled his fingers out of his ears to swat at the fly. 13:09 Right when he pulled his fingers out of the ears, 13:11 Whitfield said with that booming voice, 13:13 "He that has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says," quoting 13:18 from Revelation, and the man was so stunned that those would be 13:22 the first words that he would hear. 13:24 That's a story--once he fell out of the tree and was converted 13:26 like Zacchaeus. 13:29 But sometimes we don't want to hear what the Holy Spirit says. 13:32 It says, "He awakens my ear to hear as the learned. 13:36 The Lord God--" I'm in verse 5, Isaiah 50. 13:40 "The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious nor did 13:45 I turn away." 13:47 Now here's where you'll begin to recognize the messianic part of 13:49 this prophecy. 13:51 "I gave my back to those who struck me." 13:55 Doesn't say they held him down. 13:57 It's--he's offering himself. 14:00 "I gave my back to those who struck me, 14:02 and my cheek to those who plucked out the beard." 14:06 You know, you'll see some accounts of Jesus's sufferings 14:09 they talk about them not only hitting him. 14:11 We know he was whipped on the back, 14:13 but they talk about him having--they pulled out his 14:17 beard, and this is where that comes from. 14:20 It's not actually in the New Testament. 14:23 "I gave my cheek to those who plucked out the beard." 14:26 You know what else that would imply? 14:28 Jesus had a beard. 14:31 "I did not hide my face from shame and spitting." 14:36 So they beat him, they spat upon him. 14:42 It was extremely humiliating. 14:44 "For the Lord God will help me. 14:47 Therefore, I will not be disgraced. 14:50 Therefore, I have set my face like a flint." 14:53 You know, when Jesus made up his mind to go to Jerusalem and die, 14:57 it tells us that he set his face like a flint. 15:00 It's what "Desire of Ages" tells us. 15:02 He had made up his mind. 15:04 The devil tried to detour him. 15:06 Jesus told the disciples in the book of Matthew, 15:08 he said, "I'm going to Jerusalem--" I think this is 15:11 in Matthew 16. 15:12 Right after Peter says, "You are the Christ, 15:13 the son of the living God," he said, 15:15 "I'm going to Jerusalem. 15:16 I'll be betrayed into the hands of sinners. 15:18 The son of man will be beaten, crucified, 15:21 and rise the third day." 15:22 And Peter took him aside and said, 15:24 "Not so, Lord. 15:25 Don't even talk like that. 15:27 That's being negative. 15:28 God's got great plans for you." 15:30 And Jesus said to Peter, "Get thou behind me, Satan." 15:32 He knew the devil was trying to discourage him from his mission. 15:37 He had set his face like a flint. 15:38 Now, flint is not pliable. 15:40 Flint is a very brittle stone. 15:44 It's why they used it to make arrowheads because you could 15:47 sharpen it and it won't indole. 15:49 It was very brittle. 15:51 And so he had made up his mind to go and to die for the sins of 15:54 the world, to go forward with his sacrifice. 15:57 "Therefore, I set my face like a flint," still finishing verse 7, 16:01 "and I know that I will not be ashamed. 16:04 He is near who justifies me, who will contend with me. 16:10 Let us stand together. 16:11 Who is my adversary?" 16:13 Now, what is an adversary? 16:15 You know how you say the word Satan? 16:17 Satan is adversary. 16:19 That's what that word means. 16:21 "Let him come near me. 16:22 Surely the Lord God will help me. 16:25 Who is he that condemns me?" 16:27 The Bible says Satan comes, and "He has nothing in me," 16:30 Jesus said. 16:31 He had lived without sin. 16:33 "Indeed they will all grow old like a garment. 16:36 The moth will eat them up. 16:38 'Who among you fears the Lord? 16:40 Who obeys His voice like His servant?'" 16:42 Now, in your Bibles you notice the word servant. 16:44 I see you all looking at me, and you're really good students, 16:47 but I want you to also look at your Bible. 16:48 But it says right here, "Who obeys the voice of His servant?" 16:55 That's His, capital H, capital S. 16:58 Is that right? 17:00 They understood this is the Messiah. 17:03 He's often referred to as the servant. 17:05 We talked about this last week. 17:07 "And who walks in darkness and has no light?" 17:10 You know, one of the signs of Jesus was that he said no sign 17:15 will be given to this generation, 17:17 except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 17:21 "As Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three 17:24 nights, so the son of man will be in the heart of the earth 17:27 three days and three nights." 17:29 And that's Matthew chapter 12, and start with verse 38. 17:31 Was Jonah in the darkness? 17:34 Can you get darker than being in a fish? 17:38 I scuba-dive. 17:41 Karen and I and the boys are all certified. 17:43 And, you know, the deeper you go, 17:47 the darker it gets. 17:49 And a few years ago, we went to look at the whale sharks in 17:52 Belize, and I'll tell you that's really something. 17:55 But you go down about 80 feet and you look down and it's pitch 17:58 black, and you look up and you see the light. 18:01 Jonah went down, where he would have normally needed 18:04 a decompression chamber coming up, but he--the Lord supplied 18:06 that in the fish. 18:08 But he was in the dark, and that describes the sufferings 18:11 of Christ. 18:12 Christ went through that darkness. 18:15 When the Father left Jesus, it was at night. 18:17 When he was betrayed, it was night. 18:20 Jesus said, "Now is the hour." 18:22 It was the hour of darkness. 18:24 The Father withdrew His protection, 18:26 His presence. 18:28 "Who walks in darkness and has no light? 18:30 Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God." 18:33 And he in the end, of course, said, 18:36 "Lord, into Your hands I commend my spirit." 18:38 "Look, all who kindle the fire, who encircle yourselves with 18:42 sparks, walk in the light of your fire and the sparks 18:45 you have kindled. 18:46 You shall have from my hand--this you shall have 18:49 my hand. 18:50 You will lie down in torment." 18:52 That's talking about the religious leaders that were 18:55 walking in the light of their own kindling, 18:57 their own sparks, worshiping their own god. 18:59 They weren't walking in the light of God. 19:01 It talks about the sun, the moon, 19:03 and the stars, that's God's light. 19:05 They were walking in manmade fire. 19:07 And so this is just one of the prophecies here that outlines 19:10 the sufferings on the Messiah. 19:13 Now we're going to jump to--go with me to Isaiah chapter 52, 19:17 and we're going to start with verse 13, 19:21 which is where this prophecy begins; 19:24 that is, again, taking up the prophecy. 19:27 You know, I probably ought to say something at this point 19:30 that's important. 19:32 Prophecies like Daniel, Revelation, 19:37 Ezekiel, Isaiah, Zachariah--there are a lot 19:41 of these apocalyptic prophets in the Bible. 19:44 They do not tell their prophecies in 19:46 a running discourse. 19:48 It's not a chronological story. 19:51 They are taken in prophecy from scene to scene, 19:55 and they write what they're being shown. 19:57 And so you've got sound bites of these prophecies that are not 20:02 always connected, and I think I shared with you before 20:04 in Isaiah 14. 20:06 He starts out and he talks about the king of Babylon, 20:08 and then all of a sudden he's showing the devil who is 20:11 manipulating the king of Babylon behind the scenes. 20:13 And then you read in Revelation 12 about this dragon about to 20:17 devour the woman. 20:19 It's talking about Herod who kills the babies in Bethlehem, 20:24 tries to devour the child, but it's talking about the Roman 20:26 power that is being manipulated by the devil. 20:29 And then you read in Ezekiel, it says, 20:31 "Give this message to the king of Tyre." 20:33 Starts out talking about the king of Tyre, 20:35 and then it goes to the devil, says, 20:37 "You are in need in the garden of God. 20:39 Every precious stone was--" Talks about the devil behind 20:41 the king of Tyre. 20:42 And so Isaiah, he's commingling his prophecies about what Israel 20:49 was going through in their day when the king of--well, 20:52 I should say what Judah was going through in that day when 20:55 the king of Israel and the king of Assyria were harassing and 21:01 warring against them from the north. 21:03 And then he goes back and forth, and then he talks about the 21:06 ultimate deliverance that would come from the Messiah 21:09 when he came. 21:10 So here in the midst of chapter 52 suddenly he begins to talk 21:16 again about the Messiah, and you see if you don't agree. 21:19 "Behold, my servant will deal prudently." 21:21 All right. 21:23 Now, we're going to go through some of these little by little. 21:26 Who is this servant? 21:28 Tell you what, let me read a few verses then back up. 21:30 "Behold, my servant will deal prudently. 21:33 He will be exalted and extolled and very high. 21:36 Just as many were astonished at you, 21:39 his visage was marred more than any man and more than 21:41 the sons of men." 21:43 Christ was beaten in his visage, meaning his 21:46 appearance was marred. 21:48 He suffered. 21:50 "So he will sprinkle many nations--" 21:52 This is what a priest did. 21:53 He would sprinkle the blood to make atonement for the people. 21:58 "He would sprinkle many nations--" 21:59 Not just for Israel, but even for the Gentiles. 22:02 "Kings will shut their mouths at him; 22:04 for what has not been told them they will see, 22:08 and what they had not heard they will consider." 22:10 And so this is talking about the sufferings of Christ here. 22:14 Now, let me just--let me back up and kind of establish something 22:19 before we dive into this. 22:23 The Jewish nation misunderstood a lot about the coming 22:26 of the Messiah. 22:28 The New Testament church was born out of a 22:31 great disappointment. 22:33 Did you know that? 22:34 The disciples--not just the 12 apostles, 22:37 but all the disciples of Jesus when they walked in front of 22:39 Jerusalem and he rode the donkey down into Jerusalem, 22:46 they shouted hosanna to the son of David, 22:50 what were they thinking was going to happen? 22:52 Were they thinking, "This is great. 22:54 He's going to die in two days." 22:56 Well--it was actually about a week later. 22:59 Or were they thinking, "He's now going to be coroneted 23:02 as the king, the son of David. 23:05 He will sit on the throne. 23:07 He's going to use his miraculous power to multiply bread 23:09 and feed an army. 23:10 We're going to rise up against the Romans. 23:12 We'll become an international power again. 23:14 Israel will be a world nation." 23:16 And they had all these glorious ideas. 23:18 Why do you think the disciples came to Jesus, 23:20 and James and John said, "When you come in your kingdom, 23:22 we want to sit on your right and your left?" 23:25 And Jesus just probably pulled them aside and said, 23:27 "I'll be the treasure." 23:29 And they were all thinking about places in an earthly kingdom. 23:33 Isn't that right? 23:35 Because they misunderstood the prophecies. 23:37 See, there's two prophecies about the Messiah coming. 23:40 One has the Messiah coming as a lion. 23:42 That's the second coming, with a roar. 23:47 The other is have him coming as a lamb. 23:50 Isaiah is now talking about when he comes like a lamb. 23:53 The disciples got the comings mixed up. 23:55 They had Jesus coming as a lion first. 24:00 They didn't even really know much about the lamb. 24:01 They didn't understand that. 24:03 You know what the church is doing today? 24:05 A lot of evangelicals have Jesus coming quietly the next time, 24:07 secret Rapture; are getting the lion and the lamb mixed up. 24:11 No, he came quietly the first time. 24:14 He did not damage a bruised reed. 24:16 He came quietly. He came meekly. 24:17 He even said, "I am meek and lowly." 24:19 He's coming next time. 24:20 He's a lion. 24:21 He's coming with triumph. 24:23 So they didn't understand he's coming like lamb. 24:25 Look here, for instance, in Matthew 11:3. 24:29 "And they said to him, 'Are you the coming one?'" 24:33 John the Baptist sent his messengers. 24:34 "Are you the Coming One?" 24:36 Capital Coming One. 24:38 "Or do we look for another? 24:39 Are you the one we've been looking for?" 24:41 John couldn't understand. 24:42 Even John the Baptist. 24:44 "How come you're just teaching these nice things and you're 24:47 healing people, and that's all wonderful, 24:49 but I'm waiting for you to, you know, 24:53 overthrow the Romans, to establish yourself on 24:56 the throne of David." 24:58 You can look in Luke 24. 25:01 When he rose from the dead and he met the two disciples on the 25:03 road to Emmaus, Cleopas said, "We were hoping that it was 25:07 he that was going to redeem Israel." 25:10 What did they think redeem Israel meant? 25:11 You and I think of redemption as forgiveness for sin. 25:15 They thought redeem Israel meant, 25:16 "You're going to save us from the Romans." 25:19 "We thought he was the one who was going to redeem Israel." 25:21 He just did on the cross. 25:23 "Indeed, beside all this, it's the third day." 25:25 He told them what was going to happen even 25:28 after the Resurrection. 25:30 Acts chapter 1, verse 6: "Therefore, 25:33 when they'd come together," just before his ascension, 25:35 "they asked him, saying, 'Lord, will you at this time restore 25:39 the kingdom to Israel?'" 25:41 Now, can that be misunderstood? 25:42 What were their expectations? 25:44 That Jesus was going to restore the kingdom to Israel. 25:49 It wasn't going to be under the Babylonians, 25:50 or the Persians, or the Greeks, or the Romans. 25:52 They had been under oppression ever since the days of 25:54 Nebuchadnezzar. 25:56 Someone else had been ruling them. 25:57 They wanted to be another world power as it was back in the 25:59 days of Solomon. 26:00 They thought the Messiah was going to come riding in 26:02 on a white horse. 26:04 That's, you know, the future, and establish his kingdom. 26:08 They said, "All right, Lord, you died on the cross. 26:10 That's kind of--we're not too clear of why that all happened. 26:12 Now are you going to overthrow the--now do we get to sit down 26:16 on the right and the left of you and help rule 26:19 the tribes of Israel?" 26:21 And Jesus said, "It's not for you to know the times 26:24 or the seasons." 26:26 They still did not get it. 26:27 By the way, the Seventh-day Adventist Church was also born 26:31 out of a great misunderstanding of prophecy, 26:34 a great disappointment. 26:35 So it's biblical that movements begin that way. 26:38 Are we clear on that? 26:40 All right. 26:42 So now we're going to Isaiah chapter 52 again, 26:45 and he says, "My servant--" This is verse 13. 26:49 "My servant will deal prudently." 26:51 Jesus is called the son of David, 26:53 and one of the characteristics of David was that 26:55 he dealt prudently. 26:58 You're looking 1 Samuel 18:14. 27:01 "And David be hazed--behaved himself wisely in all of his 27:05 ways, and the Lord was with him." 27:08 Going back to Isaiah, it says, "He will be exalted and extolled 27:13 and be very high." 27:15 Does that fit the description of Jesus? 27:18 Paul says in Philippians 2, verse 9 through 11--I'm looking 27:24 forward to when we get to the other side of all these 27:27 pandemic restrictions. 27:28 I like the days when we would have different people read 27:30 the verses in the audience. 27:33 We'll try and find a way to make this more interactive, 27:35 but in the meantime, this has got to be speeching--kind of 27:38 preaching teaching mixed up. 27:40 It says he's exalted and very high. 27:43 Philippians 2, verse 9: "Therefore, 27:45 God has also highly exalted him and given him a name which is 27:49 above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should 27:52 bow, of those in heaven and those on the earth and under the 27:56 earth, and that every tongue could--should confess that 28:00 Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." 28:03 Well, does that fit the criteria he will be exalted and extolled 28:06 and very high? 28:08 Jesus fits that. 28:11 Go to verse 14. 28:12 I'm in Isaiah chapter 52. 28:14 "Just as many were astonished at you, 28:17 so his visage was marred more than any man and his form 28:20 more than the sons of men." 28:22 Here, Jesus is suffering like Job. 28:24 Now, Job had boils from the crown of his head to the 28:28 sole of his foot. 28:29 His visage was marred. 28:31 The sufferings of Job are a type of the sufferings of Jesus. 28:34 You read in Matthew 26, verse 67, 28:37 "And they spat in his face." 28:40 Did we read that in Isaiah? 28:42 "And they beat him, and others struck him with the palms 28:45 of their hands." 28:47 And we learned something else that happened, 28:49 as they pulled out his beard. 28:51 They abused him in just about every way imaginable. 28:54 Of course, they mocked him, they put a robe on him, 28:58 and they took a reed. 29:00 They said, "Here's your scepter." 29:01 They put it in his hand, and they took the reed and they beat 29:03 him about the head after putting the crown of thorns on his head. 29:07 So all these sufferings Jesus said, 29:10 "I offered myself. 29:12 I gave my back to those that beat me." 29:15 Jesus said, "No man takes my life. 29:17 I lay my life down." 29:20 Christ was a sacrifice, but he was a willing sacrifice. 29:23 He was like the son of Abraham. 29:25 What was his name? 29:27 Isaac. 29:29 Do you really think Abraham at 118 years of age jumped up 29:33 on Isaac, wrestled him to the ground, 29:35 and tied him up like a cowboy with a calf? 29:38 No. 29:39 He explained to his son what God had called him to do, 29:42 and Isaac offered himself. 29:44 He was a willing sacrifice. 29:45 Indeed, he carried the wood on his back as Jesus carried 29:48 the cross on his back. 29:49 Psalm 71, verse 7: "I am a wonder unto many." 29:54 They were astonished. 29:57 "So over--" Now I'm in verse 15, Isaiah chapter 52. 30:01 "So he will sprinkle many nations." 30:03 We talked about that. 30:05 That's talking about the sacrifice of the priests. 30:08 An example would be--go to Numbers 19, 30:10 verse 18. 30:12 "A clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water, 30:16 and sprinkle it on the tent and all the vessels and on 30:19 the persons who were there." 30:21 The clean person shall sprinkle the unclean, 30:23 and on the third day he will be clean. 30:26 That's Numbers 19:18 and 19. 30:29 And so that's sprinkling to the Jew represented someone who 30:33 is clean through this ceremony cleansing the unclean. 30:38 Jesus through his sacrifice--you know, 30:41 not only did blood come out of his side. 30:42 What does John say came out? 30:44 Blood and water. 30:46 And Jesus said to the woman at the well, 30:48 "I'm offering you living water," artesian water, 30:51 "that will satisfy and that will cleanse." 30:55 In our sermon later today, we find out about a man who washed 30:57 and came away sin. 31:00 And there's a cleansing. 31:01 So he sprinkles many nations, and they are made clean. 31:06 "Kings will shut their mouths at him; 31:08 for what had not been told them they will see, 31:11 and what they had not heard they will consider." 31:14 Revelation 6:15, "And the kings of the earth, 31:18 and the great men, and the rich men hid themselves in the caves 31:21 and the rocks of the mountains." 31:23 And Jesus when he was tried before Pilate and Herod, 31:28 they weren't able to condemn him. 31:32 Pilate said, "I find no fault in him." 31:35 Now we're going to Isaiah 53, Isaiah 53. 31:40 And if you look--we'll start with--we're going to go through 31:42 this whole chapter here. 31:44 Isaiah 53, verses 1 and 2: "Who has believed our report, 31:48 and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 31:52 For he will grow up before him as a tender plant. 31:55 And as a root out of dry ground, he has no form or comeliness. 31:59 And when we see him, there's no beauty that we should 32:01 desire him." 32:03 It says here in John 12:37, "But although he had done many signs 32:08 before them, they did not believe him, 32:11 that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled which 32:14 he spoke, 'Lord, who has believed our report, 32:17 and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?'" 32:19 Now, did you catch what we just did? 32:22 We are actually reading from Isaiah 53 in the New Testament. 32:26 John is quoting Isaiah 53, saying Isaiah is 32:30 a fulfillment of Jesus. 32:33 So we don't need to be wondering or doubting who does 32:35 this represent. 32:37 This is how the New Testament writers understood 32:39 this prophecy. 32:40 And then it says there's no beauty, 32:42 no desire, no outly form or comeliness. 32:45 Have you ever seen an ugly painting of Jesus? 32:49 Not too often. 32:51 And I'm not saying Jesus was ugly, 32:53 I'm just saying he looked like a normal person. 32:56 Now, how do we know that? 32:58 When they wanted to betray Jesus, 33:01 they had to get one of the apostles and say, 33:03 "You know, he looks like everybody else. 33:05 Which one is he?" 33:07 Now, if Christ looked like your, you know, 33:09 typical striking movie star, that'd say, 33:11 "There he is." 33:13 But he looked like a normal man. 33:17 He looked like a carpenter. 33:20 There's no outward beauty that we should desire. 33:23 What is it about Jesus that changed the world? 33:26 Is it a photograph, is it a painting or a sculpture, 33:29 or is it his words? 33:31 It's what he said that changed the world. 33:34 "There's no beauty that we should desire him." 33:37 Verses 3: "He is despised and rejected by men, 33:41 a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. 33:45 And we hid, as it were, our faces from him." 33:48 Now, when it says that Jesus is a man of sorrows and acquainted 33:53 with grief, some people think that means that Christ 33:57 was always in a bad mood, always sad, 34:00 never smiled. 34:01 No, that's not true. 34:02 Jesus--you know, children were attracted to him. 34:05 He smiled. 34:06 I'm sure he laughed. 34:09 But because he was holy, the son of God, 34:13 living in an unholy world, he was often saddened by the 34:17 suffering of humanity and by the sins that were hurting people. 34:23 You know, Jesus tells a parable about his second coming, 34:27 and he said it'll be like a shepherd who separates 34:31 the sheep from the goats. 34:33 And he'll say to the sheep on his right hand, 34:35 "Well done, good and faithful servants. 34:38 Enter into the joy of the Lord because I was hungry 34:40 and you fed me. 34:41 I was thirsty, you gave me drink. 34:43 I was a stranger and you took me in. 34:45 I was naked and you clothed me. 34:47 I was a prisoner and you came to me. 34:49 I was sick--" Now, I got those out of order, 34:51 but the six things I got them all. 34:52 "I was sick and you visited me." Okay? 34:55 Can any of you here name any suffering of humanity that 34:59 does not fit into one of those categories? 35:03 You realize that covers all the suffering of man: 35:06 hunger, thirst, loneliness, sickness, cold, 35:13 stranger, imprisonment. 35:16 I mean, it really--any suffering that you could think of would 35:19 fit, and a lot of you right now are thinking, 35:20 "I fit the sick category." 35:23 "I'm in the lonely category." 35:26 But all the suffering of humanity is in that. 35:29 Jesus in that parable describes the suffering of humanity, 35:33 and he said, "In as much as you have ministered to the least of 35:36 these, you did it to me." 35:38 Why does God say that? 35:40 Because God is not only omnipresent, 35:43 God is omnipotent. 35:45 He's all-powerful. 35:46 He can be everywhere. 35:48 He's omniscient, he knows all things. 35:49 And here it is, God is omnipathic. 35:52 Omnipathic means you feel everything anybody feels. 35:56 That goes along with being all-knowing. 35:58 But there's no sensation, no impulse, 36:01 no feeling, no pain anywhere in the universe God 36:03 is not aware of. 36:05 Is that right? 36:06 So when Jesus is in the world and he's experiencing all the 36:09 suffering of humanity, can you understand why it says he's 36:12 a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief? 36:15 In spite of that, he was still able to rejoice at times, 36:20 and Jesus often rejoiced and marveled when he 36:23 saw people of faith. 36:25 And so it goes on and it tells us that he will go 36:33 before him--still in verse 2. 36:35 "He'll grow up as a root out of dry ground." 36:38 Why does it say that? 36:39 Jesus grew up quietly. 36:41 You know, there's no miracle that Christ performs until he 36:43 begins his ministry and he's anointed at 30. 36:47 That first 30 years, he lived as a holy person among humans 36:51 without using any miraculous power to save himself 36:54 or to prove who he was. 36:55 He lived a meek and a quiet life. 36:58 Matter of fact, it's so meek and quiet that a lot of people just 37:01 can't accept that Jesus actually didn't learn at the feet of 37:05 some great guru or teachers. 37:08 And they say, oh, during those years he disappeared and he 37:11 went to India and he studied from the Maharajis, 37:14 or he went to Egypt and he studied from the leaders there, 37:17 or he went--and they've got all these theories about where did 37:20 Jesus go during those quiet years. 37:22 It tells us he went home and he was subject to his parents. 37:25 He worked with his father in the carpenter shop. 37:27 And so, you know, don't believe--I remember when I was 37:30 a new Christian someone gave me a copy of "The Aquarian Gospel 37:34 of Jesus Christ," talking about how Jesus went and studied 37:37 under all the masters of the East. 37:40 That's where he got all his wisdom. 37:41 No, he got it from the Bible. 37:44 He got it from his mother reading the Bible to him, 37:47 he--from the Holy Spirit. 37:49 He went to the temple. 37:50 He asked them questions, and he listened, 37:52 and he learned. 37:54 "Who has believed our report?" 37:55 They did not believe. 37:57 "He's despised and rejected of men, 38:00 a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. 38:02 And we hid, as it were, our faces from him." 38:06 For most of humanity, they did not want to accept who he was. 38:10 "He's despised and yet we did not esteem him. 38:13 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." 38:18 Every time we pray, we're casting our cares upon God. 38:21 Is that right? 38:25 "Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, 38:28 and afflicted. 38:31 He was wounded," why, "for our transgressions." 38:34 I mean, how can that be mistaken? 38:36 "He was bruised for our iniquities. 38:38 The chastisement of our peace was upon him, 38:41 and with his stripes we are healed." 38:43 Stripes doesn't mean like on a barber pole or on candy cane. 38:46 Those stripes are talking about--that's a word--when you 38:48 were whipped in Bible times, it left stripes on the back, 38:52 either from the rod or from the whip. 38:55 And it's saying that the punishment that 38:57 we deserve he took. 38:59 With his stripes we are healed. 39:01 He has borne our griefs. 39:02 He's the great substitute. 39:04 See--and this is the thing that should--when you really believe 39:07 it, it should really make you love the Lord, 39:10 when you realize that he took the punishment for all of your 39:13 sins and your eternal loss. 39:16 Because he loves you so much, he wants you to be saved. 39:19 That ought to touch us all. 39:21 Amen? 39:22 I think we ought to be moved by that. 39:24 "All we, like sheep, have gone astray. 39:26 We've turned everyone to his own way, 39:29 and the Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all." 39:33 Who can miss that? 39:34 John the Baptist points to Jesus, 39:36 says, "Behold, this is the lamb of God that takes away the 39:37 sin of the world." 39:39 "All of us have gone astray, but this is the lamb that 39:41 takes away our sin. 39:43 He's punished for us." 39:44 Now, you might be wondering, how in the world does a Jew 39:50 read this passage and not see Jesus? 39:53 Well, first of all, there's a lot of Jews who have not read 39:56 the New Testament and so they're really only vaguely acquainted. 39:59 You can take it from me. 40:00 I have a lot of Jewish family. 40:02 They're only vaguely acquainted with anything about 40:04 the ministry of Jesus. 40:06 The other thing is Jewish rabbis. 40:07 When they read this, they say, "Oh, 40:09 this suffering servant." 40:10 This is describing Israel's suffering because 40:12 of the Gentiles. 40:14 "Because we are a nation of kings and priests, 40:16 we are sprinkled in many nations." 40:17 And they just say it's all applying to Israel. 40:19 But, you know, this last part here, 40:21 it just--it can't be anything other than the Messiah. 40:27 It says, "He was taken from prison and judgment, 40:31 and who will declare his generation? 40:33 He was cut off from the land of the living; 40:35 for the transgressions of my people he was stricken." 40:38 It's talking about an individual who is punished not for a man-- 40:43 I might--you might think that one man might die for the sins 40:45 of one man, but this is someone who dies for the sins of people. 40:48 Many. 40:50 He died for the sins of all the world. 40:52 "They made his grave with the wicked." 40:55 He was crucified between two thieves. 40:57 "But in the rich in his death because he had done no violence 41:01 nor was any deceit in his mouth." 41:03 Now, if you have your Bibles, if you have any doubts about 41:06 what this means, you go to Acts chapter 8, 41:08 verse 30; Acts 8, verse 30. 41:14 And so Philip is told by the Holy Spirit to go down to 41:17 the deserts of Gaza. 41:19 And while he's there, he sees that there's this wealthy 41:22 Ethiopian treasure for Queen Candace. 41:25 And he's maybe riding along slowly or he's parked in his 41:29 chariot and maybe have an umbrella over him, 41:31 and he's reading from the scroll of Isaiah. 41:34 And God tells Philip, "Go near to him." 41:37 "So Philip ran to him, and he heard him reading 41:39 from the prophet Isaiah. 41:41 And he said, 'Do you understand what you're reading?' 41:44 He said, 'How can I?'" He's frustrated. 41:47 He said, "This seems deep." 41:48 "How can I unless someone guides me?" 41:50 This is a wise man. 41:52 He's not too wise to have someone else instruct him. 41:54 "And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. 41:58 The place in Scripture where he read was this: 'He was led as 42:02 a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its 42:05 shearer is silent." 42:07 Now, we're reading New Testament, right? 42:08 In the New Testament, it's telling us about this Ethiopian 42:11 treasure who's reading from Isaiah 53. 42:13 He's wealthy. 42:14 He's got a scroll. 42:15 Not everybody could afford a scroll back then. 42:17 "'So he opened not his mouth, in his humiliation his justice 42:20 is taken away. 42:21 And who will declare his generation? 42:23 For his life is taken from the earth.' 42:25 So the eunuch answered 42:26 Philip and said, 'I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, 42:29 of himself or of some other man?' 42:32 Then Philip opened his mouth, beginning at this Scripture, 42:35 and he preached Jesus to him." 42:38 Philip found this was a perfect Scripture to preach Jesus. 42:42 'Cause doesn't this passage talk about the sufferings of Christ 42:45 for the sins of the world? 42:47 That's what it's all about. 42:49 And it says he kept silent as a lamb before her shearers. 42:53 Look in Matthew chapter 26, verse 62. 42:56 "And the high priest arose and said, 42:58 'Do you answer nothing? 43:00 What is it that these men testify against you?' 43:04 But Jesus kept silent." 43:06 Matthew 27, verse 57: "Now when evening had come, 43:10 there was a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, 43:13 who himself also had become a disciple of Jesus. 43:16 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 43:20 Then Pilate commanded the body to be given him. 43:22 When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in clean linen, 43:26 cloth, and he laid it in his new tomb, 43:29 which he had hewn out of the rock. 43:32 And he rolled a large stone against the door of 43:34 the tomb and departed." 43:35 Now, how could you ever prophesy so specifically that this person 43:38 would be beaten for other people's sins, 43:40 he'd be counted with the wicked, he dies with two thieves, 43:43 and yet he's buried with the rich? 43:46 It's kind of hard to plan that, but this is what happens here. 43:51 He's buried in a rich man's tomb. 43:53 Jeremiah 11:19: "But I was like a docile lamb brought 43:59 to the slaughter. 44:01 I did not know that they had devised schemes against me, 44:04 saying, 'Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, 44:06 and let us cut him off from the land of the living, 44:09 that his name may be remembered no more.'" 44:11 It's not just Eze--Isaiah. 44:14 Even in Jeremiah, he talks about that same passage. 44:16 Now go to verse 10, Isaiah 53. 44:19 "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. 44:22 He has put him to grief. 44:24 When you make his soul an offering for sin--" 44:27 Now this is what we do. 44:29 We actually choose to consciously say, 44:32 "Lord, I am accepting the sacrifice of Jesus for my sins." 44:36 "When we make his soul an offering for sin, 44:39 He," God, "will see His seed. 44:41 He will prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord 44:45 will prosper in his hands." 44:46 He will bless those who make the soul of Jesus our lamb 44:50 that takes away our sin. 44:52 Says it pleased the Lord to bruise him. 44:55 Jonah 1:14: "Therefore, the sailors cried out and said, 45:00 'We pray, O Lord, please do not perish for this man's life and 45:03 do not charge us with innocent blood; 45:05 for you, O Lord, has done as it pleased you." 45:08 Saying they--the Lord was pleased that Jonah would die, 45:13 that they might have peace. 45:15 What Jesus said is an allegory for his own sacrifice. 45:19 And then it just makes a beautiful statement 45:23 here at the end. 45:24 You go to Isaiah chapter 53:12. 45:26 "Therefore, I will divide for him a portion with a great, 45:30 and he will divide the spoil with the strong because he 45:32 poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered--" 45:37 Christ said, "It is finished" and then he died. 45:38 "He was numbered with the transgressors." 45:41 It says that twice. 45:42 "He bore the sin of many." 45:44 That can only mean Jesus. 45:46 "And he made intercession for the transgressors. 45:49 He even interceded from the cross, 45:50 saying, "Father, forgive them. 45:52 They do not know what they do." 45:54 He made intercession through his whole life. 45:56 John chapter 17 is the great intercessory prayer of Jesus. 46:00 This is a perfect picture of the Messiah and his sufferings here 46:05 in this passage, and--you know, anyone who wonders about the 46:08 inspiration of the Bible, we know Jesus lived, 46:10 we know he died. 46:12 You read this prophecy in Isaiah, 46:14 and it's just hard to deny that the Bible is an inspired book. 46:18 But you've got the whole gospel in this prophecy, 46:21 in this passage. 46:22 Amen? 46:24 Now, for those who have joined us a little late, 46:25 I want to remind you we do have a special offer. 46:27 It's a book called "Down from His Glory," and we'll give this 46:30 to you for free. 46:32 All you've got to do 46:33 is call 866-788-3966. 46:37 That's really 866-Study-More. 46:39 Might make it easier to remember. 46:41 And ask for offer number 154. 46:43 And you can even read the book now. 46:45 We can send it to you via download if you simply text 46:48 the code SH139, SH139. 46:53 Text that to 40544, and you can read the book now. 46:57 Or go to the Amazing Facts' website. 46:59 Under our free library, you'll find "Down from His Glory" 47:02 inspiring book. 47:04 Thank you very much for joining us. 47:06 God bless you, friends, and Lord willing we'll study His Word 47:09 together again next week. 47:12 male announcer: Don't forget to request today's life-changing 47:15 free resource. 47:17 Not only can you receive this free gift in the mail, 47:19 you can download a digital copy straight to your computer 47:21 or mobile device. 47:22 To get your digital copy of today's free gift, 47:25 simply text the keyword on your screen to 40544 or visit the web 47:30 address shown on your screen. 47:32 And be sure to select the digital download option 47:35 on the request page. 47:36 It's now easier than ever for you to study God's Word with 47:39 Amazing Facts wherever and whenever you want, 47:42 and most important, to share it with others. 47:49 announcer: Amazing Facts. Changed lives. 47:56 Christine Vanodor: I was born into a family of criminals. 47:59 When I got older and I started breaking the rules, 48:02 no one ever taught me about "Thou shalt not steal. 48:05 Thou shalt not lie. 48:06 Thou shalt not commit adultery." 48:08 Anything like that. 48:10 When I became a runaway at 14, I was just a wild and lost child. 48:16 I had somebody tell me, "Hey, you want to earn some money 48:19 cleaning this guy's kitchen?" 48:21 So I went to this house on a different side of town than 48:23 I was used to. 48:24 Someone kept giving me alcoholic drinks. 48:27 And being 115 pounds and 14 years old, 48:31 it really didn't take much time before I was so inebriated that 48:34 I had no control over what was going on around me. 48:38 He took me to another location, another town, 48:41 and I was put in isolation. 48:43 I would come out to be abused between three 48:45 and eight times a day. 48:47 I was degraded. I was humiliated. 48:49 I had no value as a human being, and I learned very quickly that 48:54 what I felt and what I thought and how this made me feel 48:58 did not matter to him at all. 48:59 If I even thought about not doing what he wanted me to do, 49:04 I would have a gun to my head, a knife to my throat. 49:10 There was one time in particular where he had been tormenting me 49:16 psychologically, and one day he said, 49:19 "Oh, you'll never kill yourself. 49:21 You'll never do it." 49:23 And almost defiantly I was like, "Yes, I will." 49:26 And he handed me a big old handful of pills, 49:28 and I took them. 49:30 While I was overdosing and I had been overdosing all night, 49:33 I cried out to a God that I didn't even believe in. 49:36 And at that very moment in the most powerful way, 49:39 God shone his light on me and he gave me peace of mind like 49:43 I never had; and he let me know right then and there while I was 49:47 on that bathroom floor that he was real, 49:50 and that he was love, and that I did not know how at that time 49:53 but he was going to help me. 49:56 A little less than a year later, I became pregnant, 49:58 at 15. 50:00 I loved my son with my whole heart. 50:02 He also became something that my abuser could use against me in 50:05 order to pump more fear and coercion. 50:09 I had finally got away from my abuser, 50:13 and I had finally built up a support system to help me 50:16 stay on the move and stay on the run. 50:18 And I was at my grandmother's house, 50:21 and on my son's third birthday he took my son. 50:29 And when I called the police, said, 50:30 "My son's just been kidnapped," they said, 50:32 "He's the father. 50:33 We can't do anything about it." 50:35 After my son was gone, I lost my mind. 50:38 I started doing drugs, and within a month of it and a half 50:41 I robbed a convenience store. 50:43 So I was sentenced to 70 months; 5 years, 50:46 10 months in prison, and it was the best thing that 50:51 ever happened to me. 50:53 I started attending the church services in prison 7 days 50:57 a week. 50:58 It blew my mind. I was hooked. 51:01 And then we went through--it was "Millennium of Prophecy" and 51:05 "Net 99" that just solidified my faith in such a powerful way, 51:11 and I knew God--that God was leading me. 51:14 Even the guards there commented on how much I had changed. 51:18 And since I started doing the studies on Amazing Facts, 51:23 I was so excited about what I was learning that I was coming 51:25 back from there and trying to convert my hardened criminal 51:30 friends with historicals of prophecy. 51:33 Every question I ever had, every worry, 51:35 everything that I ever wondered about, 51:38 the Bible answered everything, and it was so clear and so easy 51:43 to understand. 51:44 It's been 11 years since I've been out of prison. 51:47 I am married to an amazing, wonderful man, 51:50 my first non-abusive relationship in my whole 51:52 entire life. 51:54 Before we got married, we watched the "Millennium of 51:56 Prophecy" series together and it was just such a blessing to be 52:01 able to see him learn and see him grow. 52:05 And I feel like my life now is just a gift that every single 52:09 thing that happened to me bad in the past is nothing compared to 52:13 the joy and the happiness and the stability that I have now. 52:18 My name is Christine Vanodor, and my life has been changed 52:21 by Jesus Christ and Amazing Facts. 52:34 announcer: Amazing Facts. Changed lives. 52:43 Sue: I felt like I was receiving some angel messages 52:46 in around my son's death. 52:49 My son Jesse was just 31 years old, 52:51 so I didn't expect him to die before I did. 52:55 But in November of 2009 we decided to have Thanksgiving 53:01 with him, and we won't normally go to a family 53:04 to have Thanksgiving. 53:05 I didn't know that was going to be the very last time that 53:07 I would see my son alive. 53:09 And in April of 2010, I was urged to call him on the day 53:14 that he died. 53:15 I didn't make that call. 53:17 I was too busy. 53:18 I thought I had till the next morning to call him, 53:21 and it turns out that I didn't. 53:24 And then my husband's father was passing away in a nursing home 53:28 slowly, not eating, taking his medicine. 53:32 Just wasting away. 53:34 male: We were putting out Amazing Facts' Bible 53:38 study guides. 53:40 And we had sent out cards, and we had this card. 53:46 But when I knocked on Sue and Kirk's door by mistake-- 53:53 male: And we were convinced that this was the right house, 53:55 and it obviously turned out to our surprise to be 53:58 the wrong house. 54:00 Kirk: When they came by, we weren't expecting them. 54:04 They told me about these pamphlets, 54:07 this Amazing Facts that explain their doctrine. 54:13 male: Well, to our surprise, when they answered the door, 54:17 the gentleman, when he saw what we were doing, 54:20 he said, "Well, we would like to take these studies." 54:23 Kirk: Anything about the Lord increases my faith. 54:28 I'm always open. 54:31 Sue: These lessons came at a time when we didn't know what 54:35 were searching, we didn't know what we needed. 54:38 We were just hurting from the grief that we'd been through. 54:41 When I saw the studies by Amazing Facts about the Sabbath, 54:45 it struck a chord with me because I remembered when 54:50 I'd talked to my mother as a child about the Sabbath, 54:55 about seeing that truth when I was only 8 years old and asking 54:58 her why we didn't honor the Sabbath day, 55:02 and she told me that it was just not the way they did things. 55:07 Well, that wasn't a good enough expression, 55:11 a good enough explanation. 55:12 There was no scriptural basis for what she told me. 55:15 She just said to forget it. 55:17 And I'd went through all of the studies that we had gotten 55:20 and I wanted more. 55:22 So I decided that, "Well, if they put out these Amazing 55:26 Facts' Bible studies, there must be something online about them." 55:30 So I decided to check it out. 55:32 I went on the computer to Amazing Facts, 55:35 and it said it right down the bottom of the Bible studies 55:37 amazingfacts.org. 55:39 I checked it out, and there was free Bible studies there. 55:42 It was the very same ones that we had been studying. 55:44 After finding the Amazing Facts' Bible studies online-- 55:48 and I did them all. 55:50 I think there were 27, 28 Bible studies. 55:52 I felt like I was finally seeing the truth after all these years. 55:57 We ordered the Amazing Facts DVDs, 56:00 like "The Cosmic Conflict," and "The Final Events," "Prophecy 56:06 Foundations," and different materials like that. 56:10 Went through them, enjoyed all of them, 56:13 and they impacted our lives even more. 56:17 female: Well, I worked at the post office. 56:19 I knew Kirk and Sue for a very long time. 56:21 And she--I wasn't allowed to talk to anyone about the Bible 56:26 and Bible studies and things like that 56:28 'cause they told us not to. 56:30 But anyway, when Sue came in and talked about it, 56:33 she talked about the Sabbath. 56:34 And I told her, I said, "Sue, I go to church on Saturday." 56:38 Sue: So I invited myself. 56:40 She was excited, of course, to have me go. 56:41 My husband and I both started going that very next Sabbath, 56:45 and it wasn't but just four months after that that we 56:49 were baptized in this church and it felt like the most 56:53 glorious experience I could have ever had. 56:57 male: The thing that touches my heart the most is--and I 57:00 have been doing this for--over the last year and 57:04 a half for two years, and Sue is not the only one that has 57:07 responded to Amazing Facts. 57:09 We've had several others that have responded and 57:12 had been baptized. 57:14 So this is what really makes it exciting. 57:17 There's times it's discouraging, but the bottom line is 57:20 every time you see somebody in the water being baptized, 57:23 it's a thrill. 57:24 Sue: I know that Jesus loves me. 57:26 After all of the tragedy that I've been through, 57:29 he made sure that the two men came and brought the 57:32 Amazing Facts' Bible studies to me and my husband. 57:36 My life will never be the same. 57:39 It is forever changed, and I am forever 57:41 part of the family of God. 57:44 ♪♪♪ 57:54 ♪♪♪ |
Revised 2021-02-25