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Series Code: TIJ
Program Code: TIJ001103A
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00:06 The German city of Nuremberg is over 950 years old and is 00:10 located in the very heart of Germany. For centuries Nuremberg 00:18 was the unofficial capital of the Holy Roman Empire. 00:21 Successive German kings or emperors resided and held court 00:26 here. It was a place of power and prestige. Adolph Hitler and 00:38 the Nazis saw Nuremberg as the perfect stage for their 00:42 activities. Huge fanatical Nazi rallies were held here From this 00:47 platform Hitler delivered his fiery speeches that stirred the 00:52 emotions of his people. Nuremberg became a center of 01:01 Nazi idealists. Here plans were made and strategies finalized. 01:07 Adolph Hitler planned to unite Europe and establish an empire 01:11 that would last for a thousand years. The Thousand-Year Reich. 01:17 He plunged the world into the largest, most destructive, most 01:21 violent and most widespread war the world has ever seen. But 01:27 Adolph Hitler could have saved himself, his people and the 01:32 world a lot of heartache and agony if only he'd taken note of 01:37 an ancient prophecy cast in stone above the entrance to 01:42 the Old Town Hall or Rotthaus right here in Nuremberg. This 01:48 amazing prophecy written 2600 years ago accurately predicted 01:54 the future of Europe, the outcome of World War II and the 01:58 fate of Adolph Hitler and the Nazis. And it also contains a 02:02 message for us today. Don't miss it. 02:06 ♪ ♪ 02:48 Nuremberg is a city of castles, cathedrals, and canals. Here 02:53 German emperors were crowned, saints were buried and the most 02:57 famous and talented German artists in history created awe 03:01 inspiring works. Today Nuremberg is the second largest city in 03:06 State of Bavaria after Munich which is about 170 km south. 03:13 Nuremberg held great significance during the Nazi 03:18 era. Adolph Hitler 03:20 and the Nazis saw Nuremberg as the perfect stage 03:24 for their activities. Because of the city's relevance to the Holy 03:28 Roman Empire and it's position in the center of Germany, the 03:32 Nazi party chose the city to be the site of huge Nazi party 03:37 conventions. In 1933, Adolph Hitler declared that Nuremberg 03:43 should be the city of the Nazi party rallies. The Nazis 03:49 constructed monumental buildings arenas and roads for these mass 03:53 rallies, events and parades. These fanatical party rallies 03:58 became huge Nazi propaganda events. From this very platform 04:04 Adolph Hitler delivered his passionate and fiery speeches 04:08 that raised the hopes and stirred the emotions of his 04:12 people. (mass cheering) Nuremberg became the center of 04:21 Nazi idealists. Here plans were made and strategies finalized. 04:26 Adolph Hitler planned to unite Europe and establish an empire 04:31 that would last for a thousand years. The Thousand Year Reich. 04:36 He plunged the world into the largest, most destructive, most 04:45 violent and most widespread war the world has ever seen. It was 04:51 the first truly global war. Every continent participated. 04:55 World War II involved 61 countries with nearly two 05:01 million people, three-quarters of the world's population. 05:05 Sixty-two million people lost their lives. Hitler arrogantly 05:10 believed he could conquer Europe with the strength of his armies 05:13 and establish a world empire that would last for a thousand 05:20 years. But there was one German soldier, Franz Hassel, in the 05:23 elite company 699, who boldly told his superiors that Hitler 05:29 was doomed to failure. Franz Hassel was absolutely certain 05:34 about this. And you know the reason he was so sure. This 05:39 prophecy cast in stone above the entrance to the Old Town Hall 05:43 here in Nuremberg. These stone images depict a prophecy from 05:48 the Bible book of Daniel written 2600 years ago. It predicted the 05:54 outcome of World War II and the fate of Adolph Hitler and the 05:59 Nazis. At the risk of death, Hassel told his commanding 06:03 officer, Captain Rickers, that Germany would never unite Europe 06:08 under the Nazi swastika and control the world. He boldly 06:13 stated that Hitler and his plans were doomed. As Unit 699 drove 06:19 deep into Russia, Captain Rickers believed what Hassel was 06:24 saying and carried extra fuel and supplies hoping for a safe 06:27 retreat. They were among the very few who returned home 06:31 safely from the Russian front. So what is this prophecy from 06:39 the Bible book of Daniel? Well let's take a closer look at 06:42 these prophetic images cast in stone above the entrance to the 06:47 Old Town Hall. The first image is of a lion with eagles wings 06:53 together with a statue of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. The 06:58 second is a bear along with an image of Cyrus the Great of 07:02 Medo-Persia. A closer look at the other image shows a leopard 07:07 with four heads and is matched with a statue of Alexander the 07:11 Great of Greece. The fourth is a nondescript beast with 10 07:16 horns and is matched with Julius Caesar of Rome. So what do 07:23 Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome have to do with Adolph 07:28 Hitler and the Third Reich symbolized by these Nazi 07:32 megastructures behind me? Well, let's find out. 07:41 Our investigation starts in Babylon. Babylon was once the 07:45 golden city of the ancient world. A great warrior king, 07:49 Nebuchadnezzar, ruled it from 605 to 562 B.C. His rule 07:58 stretched through most of the middle east and at the time this 08:02 was the center of the world. In 605 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar and 08:08 his armies struck out westward on a mission of conquest. 08:11 As part of their mission they attacked the city of Jerusalem. 08:16 They besieged and plundered the city looting the temple and 08:21 carrying off many of the sacred golden vessels. Daniel, a young 08:26 Jewish prince, was taken captive and with the cream of the city's 08:31 youth carried off to Babylon as a war hostage where he was 08:34 trained to be a servant of the king and one of the empire's 08:37 wise men. Now we pick up this story in the Bible book of 08:43 Daniel in the second chapter. Soon after Daniel's appointment 08:47 to the royal staff, strife broke out in the palace. 08:50 Nebuchadnezzar had gone to bed worried about Babylon and the 08:55 future of his kingdom. As he slept that night the king had a 09:01 dream that seemed to contain omens. And because of the great 09:05 importance he placed on dreams, he had to know what the dream 09:10 meant. But then a peculiar thing happened. Nebuchadnezzar forgot 09:16 his dream. In his desperation to recall it he brought in his 09:28 magicians, astrologers, sorcerers and wise men that 09:32 claimed to be able to read minds and foretell the future. To this 09:36 assembly of the wise men of Babylon Nebuchadnezzar brings 09:41 his strange demand: 09:52 These astrologers and magicians claimed to have psychic powers 09:56 and contact with the gods. They claimed to be able to read the 10:00 stars and foretell the future. Now it was up to them to either 10:05 prove their claims or expose their deceit: 10:15 They figured they could analyze the dream and then just make up 10:19 any old interpretation they wanted. He recognized what they 10:23 were trying to do. So notice what he demanded: 10:31 Well the so-called wise men failed miserably. Notice what 10:37 they nervously confessed: 10:53 The wise men couldn't meet the king's demands and so were 11:00 exposed as frauds. In a moment of anger Nebuchadnezzar 11:04 commanded that they all be killed. Execute them he 11:08 commanded. Execute all the wise men of Babylon. Now although 11:14 Daniel knew nothing of this incident the soldiers came for 11:17 him as well because he was considered a wise man. Desperate 11:22 he prayed for Divine intervention because, well 11:27 without it he was going to be killed. According to the text 11:30 God revealed the king's dream and its interpretation to Daniel 11:35 He then got to speak with the king. Notice what he said in 11:38 Daniel chapter 2:28. 11:50 He then told the king there was only one dependable source of 11:54 information about the future. Daniel's God. The king leaned 11:59 forward as if inpatient to hear the dream and its interpretation 12:04 Then Daniel went on to outline the entire dream: 12:34 Well, very simple. The king's dream was of a large statue. Its 12:39 head was of gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and 12:43 thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet a mixture of iron 12:49 and clay. Notice as Daniel continues in Daniel chapter 2 12:54 verses 34 and 35. 13:30 Now here comes the action. The statue was standing there when a 13:34 stone comes down and smashes it to smithereens and then a wind 13:39 comes and blows away the remains and that stone becomes a 13:45 mountain that covers the whole earth. Now what could this 13:50 strange dream have to do with Adolph Hitler and the Nazis, you 13:54 say. And what message does it contain for us today? Well as we 13:59 will discover the dream outlines the future in an amazing way. 14:05 In only 150 words the dream sketched the main course of 14:10 history from Babylon's day, 600 B.C., to the climax of 14:16 earth's history including the period of the second World War. 14:20 It starts in Nebuchadnezzar's day and stretches generation 14:25 after generation right down until the time of modern Europe 14:30 and beyond. But what does it all mean? Well breathlessly the king 14:36 waited for the interpretation. Here it is in Daniel chapter 2 14:40 verses 36 to 38: 14:51 How clear, how plain. We'll find out as the prophecy unfolds that 14:58 each part of this metal image represents a world empire or 15:02 nation that follows one after another. So notice what Daniel 15:07 went on to say in Daniel chapter 2 verses 39 and 40: 15:37 Pretty self-explanatory isn't it? After Babylon came a second 15:42 kingdom though inferior to Babylon. After that a third 15:46 kingdom and finally a fourth one made of crushing iron. So the 15:52 bottom line is that this was indeed a dream about the rise 15:58 and fall of great world empires starting with Babylon. Now just 16:03 as this prophecy predicted three other great world empires arose. 16:07 History shows that after Babylon fell the Medo-Persian 16:11 empire came. It was the second empire. After Medo-Persia came 16:18 the vast Greek empire which expanded under Alexander the 16:23 Great. The Jewish historian Josephus documented how 16:27 Alexander the Great knew his destiny as a result of being 16:31 shown the prophecies of Daniel. And then the predicted fourth 16:36 kingdom, the Roman Empire, followed after the fall of 16:40 Greece. All this just as Daniel had predicted. So there we have 16:47 them. Four great world empires following one after another; 16:54 Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. Now do they ring a bell? 16:59 Well of course. They are the very same four empires cast in 17:05 stone above the entrance to the Old Town Hall in Nuremberg. Now 17:11 here is where this gets very interesting. The iron of the 17:15 legs symbolized ancient Rome. But the iron of Rome continues 17:20 down into the feet where the iron was mixed with clay. 17:24 Remember its legs were of iron its feet partly of iron and 17:29 partly of clay. Now all the other metals remained where they 17:34 were. The gold in the head, the silver in the arms and chest, 17:40 the bronze in the belly but the iron, the symbol of Rome, began 17:45 in the legs and continued all the way to the feet where it was 17:50 mixed with clay. Clay. We think of clay as brittle especially in 17:56 contrast to iron. What does this mean? Well Daniel explains in 18:02 Daniel chapter 2 verse 41-43: 18:41 Now, look at what you have here. When Pagan Rome fell it was not 18:46 going to be replaced by a single empire like the ones that 18:50 preceded it. Remember each empire was replaced by a 18:55 different metal symbolizing a new one. In contrast, Rome had 19:01 been divided up, carved up, in what had become and are still 19:06 now the nations of modern Europe. And that's why the iron 19:09 remains all the way down even into the feet and toes where it 19:15 was mixed with clay. This prediction was made about 600 19:20 years before Christ and look how accurately it depicts the 19:24 situation in Europe to this day. The Roman Empire was divided 19:29 into different powers that ultimately became modern Europe. 19:34 But notice what else it said about them in Daniel chapter 19:37 2 and verse 43: 19:54 You notice is says they will not adhere one to another. That is 19:59 these nations will never be united. Two world wars in the 20:05 last century alone were nothing but these nations massacring 20:09 each other. And even today in many places things are still 20:14 very touchy. Sure there'd be a European Union and a single 20:18 currency, at least in part of Europe but even all this is in 20:23 danger of fraying. You only have to look at what's happening in 20:27 Greece and Britain to see how unstable, uncertain and divided 20:32 Europe really is. The Bible predicted that the nations of 20:37 Europe would mix together and try to unite. However, the Bible 20:41 also predicted that no matter how hard they'd try they would 20:47 never become fully united: 20:53 The most powerful military men in history have tired. 20:56 Charlemagne tried and failed. Charles V tried and failed. 21:02 Louis XIV tried and failed. And Napoleon Bonaparte tried and 21:09 failed. And then came Kaiser Wilhelm II. He set out to unite 21:14 Europe in 1914. But we all know the tragic end of the Kaiser's 21:20 story. He plunged the nations into World War I with terrible 21:25 consequences. Over 16 million soldiers and civilians lost 21:31 their lives. And then came Adolph Hitler with an army of 21:43 five million Hitler promised to do what the Kaiser couldn't. 21:45 Here he was building the largest indoor arena the world had ever 21:50 seen. He promised his people to unite Europe and build an empire 21:56 that would last for a thousand years, a Thousand Year Reich. 22:00 Well, we've already seen the results of his attempt to unite 22:04 Europe. His mega complex is nothing but a pile of ruins and 22:10 he perished amidst the ruins of his own bunker. Hitler could 22:15 have saved himself, his people and the world a lot of pain and 22:19 heartache if only he'd taken notice of the prophecy cast in 22:24 stone over the entrance to the Old Town Hall in Nuremberg. You 22:29 see, it's another of Daniel's prophecies. It's found in Daniel 22:33 chapter 7 and builds on the foundation provided by Daniel 22:38 chapter 2. It follows the same historical outline as Daniel 2. 22:42 It's a parallel prophecy. It also predicted the same four 22:47 great world empires: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. 22:53 But instead of using metals to represent these empires it uses 22:58 animals. So the lion with wings is matched with the statue of 23:02 Nebuchadnezzar symbolizing Babylon and the gold head of the 23:07 Daniel 2 statue. The bear is matched with Cyrus the Great 23:11 symbolizing Medo-Persia and the silver chest and arms of the 23:15 great statue. The leopard is matched with Alexander the Great 23:20 symbolizing Greece and the thighs of bronze in the statue 23:24 and finally the beast with 10 horns is matched with Julius 23:28 Caesar symbolizing Rome and the legs of iron of the statue. Like 23:34 Daniel 2 and the great metal image, Daniel 7 and it's animal 23:39 symbols predicted that there would only be four great world 23:42 empires: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. That's it. 23:48 There wouldn't be a fifth one. Now why is this ancient king's 23:54 dream relevant to us today? Simply because it shows us where 24:00 we are living in the stream of time. Where are we living? Not 24:04 in the time of the head of gold, not in the time of the chest and 24:09 arms of silver. Not in the time of the thighs of bronze and 24:13 not in the time of the legs of iron, but in the feet and toes 24:18 of iron and clay. Where are we living today? In the toenails of 24:24 history. So what's going to happen next? Well the prophecy 24:28 gives us the answer in Daniel chapter 2 and verse 44: 24:49 You'll notice it says, in the time of those kings. Which 24:55 kings? The nations of today. The nations of modern Europe that 25:01 have been attempting to unite. In the time of those nations, 25:05 the God of heaven will set up a kingdom symbolized by the stone 25:10 cut out without hands. The next current event on the stage of 25:14 history is the coming of Jesus and the setting up of his 25:19 kingdom. The Bible predicts that it will be Jesus who will set up 25:24 his kingdom. The next world empire will be the kingdom of 25:28 Jesus Christ. And the best news of all is this kingdom of peace 25:33 and happiness that will last forever. Do you remember Franz 25:39 Hassel, the German soldier who believed God's word with simple 25:44 faith. He believed the predictions of Bible prophecy. 25:46 He trusted in a God who is in control of the future no matter 25:52 what. He accepted the promise of Jesus found in Luke chapter 25:55 12 and verse 32: 26:07 Jesus is coming soon. He's coming to set up his kingdom. He 26:12 wants you there. Are you ready? Why not make a decision to be a 26:16 decision to be a citizen in God's kingdom right now while we 26:22 pray. Dear heavenly Father, we thank 26:27 you for the great prophecies of the Bible that clearly tell us 26:31 that Jesus is coming soon to establish your eternal kingdom. 26:36 We all want to be ready when Jesus comes. Please grant each 26:42 of us a place in your kingdom we pray in Jesus' name, Amen. 26:52 If you'd like to know more about Bible prophecy and what the 26:56 future holds in store for you and your family, then I'd like 27:01 to recommend a free gift we have for all our viewers today. It's 27:06 a booklet called A King, A Dream and You. This booklet is 27:13 our gift to you and is absolutely free. There are no 27:16 costs or obligations whatsoever. This booklet will give you a 27:21 fresh understanding of Bible prophecy and provide you with a 27:26 new insight into your future one that is filled with hope. Here's 27:31 the information you need: Phone us now on 0481315101 or 27:41 text us on 0491222999 or visit our website 27:48 theincrediblejourney.tv to request today's free offer. 27:53 So don't delay. Contact us right now. 28:00 Until next week remember the ultimate destination of life's 28:04 journey. Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth. And God will 28:09 wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more 28:13 death nor sorrow nor crying. There shall be no more pain for 28:17 the former things have passed away. 28:19 ♪ ♪ |
Revised 2020-08-05