Participants: Pr. Kenneth Cox
Series Code: GMTB
Program Code: GMTB000023
|
00:19 Hello and welcome to Give Me the Bible,
00:21 and thank you for joining us today. This is a live program. 00:24 And thank you for your love 00:26 and your prayers and financial 00:28 support of this ministry 00:29 and Elder Cox... that we'll be introducing 00:31 in just a few moments. And it's just great to 00:34 be with you today. I was just telling the audience 00:36 here it's amazing that in these closing moments 00:39 of earth's history God has given us tools - equipped us 00:42 as Christians - to take the gospel into all the world 00:45 so quickly. 00:47 Literally around the world. I think this signal is traveling 00:50 at the speed of light. 00:51 And so we're thankful for multi- multi millions of people 00:55 that are watching today. 00:56 And we're praying for God's blessings in your life. 00:59 We're praying for Kenneth Cox as he presents truth to us. 01:02 And Elder Cox is a person that when I was impressed 01:05 to build a television station... this year will be - 01:07 I can't hardly believe it, Shelley - but it's going to be 01:10 25-year anniversary of the idea, the concept of 3ABN 01:14 1984 in November. 01:17 But I didn't know Elder Kenneth Cox. 01:19 I had heard of him, but after I had this dream 01:22 to build a station to reach the world, within a matter of weeks 01:26 the impression came to me one night that Elder Kenneth Cox 01:29 should be a part of this ministry... should be preaching. 01:32 So I was able to go to Texas and meet him for the first time. 01:36 Here I didn't have anything... 01:38 only an idea, a concept. What I felt God was doing. 01:41 As I presented this to Elder Cox he immediately said 01:44 "I believe this is of God. You can count me in. 01:47 I want to support you, and when that station's up and running 01:51 I want to be one of those speakers. 01:53 If that's what God wants me to do, 01:54 that's what I'm willing to do. " 01:55 And so we're thankful for our association with Kenneth Cox 01:58 for the ministry that he has given 02:01 literally around the world. 02:03 And before we introduce him... or before he comes out today... 02:06 we have some special guests. We have Dona Klein. 02:09 Dona, thank you for being here today. 02:11 And we have our own Jill Morikone. 02:13 And you guys are going to be playing a duet for us today, 02:16 right? And I believe it's entitled "Gentle Shepherd. " 02:19 So we want to thank you all for being here. 02:21 Once again, for those of you at home, 02:23 right after this you'll be introduced to Elder Kenneth Cox. 05:45 Amen. 05:48 Thank you. Thank you very much. 05:50 Dona Klein and Jill Morikone. We appreciate it! 05:53 Marvelous music. Welcome. 05:56 Glad to welcome all of you to Give Me The Bible. 05:59 And this particular series we're dealing with 06:02 Bible prophecy. 06:04 Taking a look at what the Bible 06:05 has to say about many great nations. 06:09 You'll find that nation after nation has been mentioned 06:13 in God's Word. And they're mentioned in the scripture 06:17 primarily for two reasons. 06:19 One: the control, of course, they have upon the world. 06:23 And also how they have affected God's people. 06:27 Those are the reasons you find them mentioned in scripture. 06:30 And we've been taking a look at those. 06:32 We have looked at Babylon 06:34 and saw what the scripture said about its time that existed. 06:39 What it did and accomplished, 06:41 and how it came to an end. 06:43 Then we looked at Medo-Persia. 06:45 And their... where they went in and conquered and took over 06:50 and all the things that they accomplished there. 06:53 And how they came to their end and was overthrown by Greece. 06:58 And what we're looking at today is the country of Greece. 07:03 We're going to see what it did, how it spread 07:07 and all the things that took place. Some very dramatic things 07:11 happened during this period of time. 07:13 Things that changed the outcome of history 07:19 and the outcome of humanity for centuries. 07:23 And so you want to watch as we take a look at Greece 07:26 here this morning. And we hope it will be 07:29 helpful to you. And then our next presentation 07:34 will be on pagan Rome. 07:37 Pagan Rome. 07:42 And we'll see how it moved in and the control that it had. 07:48 And pagan Rome did things for the world 07:53 that had never been done before. 07:55 I'm talking about things that were helpful 07:59 in a very definite way. And so we're going to look 08:02 at those in our next presentation on pagan Rome. 08:05 But this morning we're taking a look at Greece 08:09 and what it did, what it accomplished. 08:11 So you want to follow Bible prophecy. 08:14 You know, what says the Bible, the blessed Bible? 08:17 This my only question be. 08:20 Search the scriptures for the waymarks... 08:24 the great prophetic waymarks. 08:26 What says the Book of God to me? 08:29 That's what we want to know. 08:31 That's what we want to see as we study God's Word. 08:34 During this series we've been enjoying beautiful music 08:38 of Emily Felts-Jones. I hope you have enjoyed it. 08:42 This morning she's going to sing for you 08:44 My Jesus, I Love Thee. 09:01 My Jesus, 09:04 I love Thee, 09:08 I know Thou art mine; 09:14 For Thee all the follies 09:20 of sin I resign; 09:26 My gracious Redeemer, 09:32 My Savior 09:35 art Thou; 09:39 If ever I loved Thee, 09:45 my Jesus, 'tis now. 09:52 I love Thee 09:55 because Thou hast first 09:59 loved me, 10:03 And purchased my pardon 10:09 on Calvary's tree; 10:15 And I love Thee for wearing 10:21 the thorns on 10:24 Thy brow; 10:28 If ever I loved Thee, 10:34 my Jesus 'tis now. 10:42 Jesus, I adore You. 10:47 I lay my life before You. 10:53 How I love You. 11:01 I love Thee in life 11:06 I will love Thee 11:10 till death, 11:13 And praise Thee as long 11:18 as Thou lendest me breath; 11:23 And I'll say when the death dew 11:29 lies cold 11:32 on my brow; 11:37 If ever I 11:42 loved Thee, 11:44 my Jesus 11:48 'tis now. 12:09 Our Heavenly Father, 12:11 This morning we beseech Thee 12:15 that You will be present. 12:17 That Your Holy Spirit may give us eyes that see. 12:23 Ears that hear. 12:26 That we might understand Your greatness. 12:31 That we might see Your leading and guiding 12:34 in the affairs of men. 12:37 And that as we trace down through time 12:42 the prophecies that You've given 12:43 and see with what accuracy they have been fulfilled, 12:49 we pray Lord that our faith may reach out 12:54 and respond, and that we might surrender our hearts to You. 12:58 For this we pray in Christ's name, Amen. 13:08 We've entitled this series Five Have Fallen. 13:13 And the reason for that is because of a text over in 13:17 Revelation... Revelation the 17th chapter 13:20 and verse 10... And it says here: 13:33 Now as you notice in the picture there, 13:36 there's a woman riding on a beast. 13:39 And this beast has seven heads which are these seven kings. 13:44 And the scripture says that five of those have fallen. 13:48 That one is; one is yet to come. 13:51 And that's what we're identifying 13:54 as we're going through here. 13:55 And the reason this is important, folks, 13:58 is because this is the last beast 14:01 that's mentioned in the scripture. 14:04 It's the last one in the book of Revelation, 14:06 and it just kind of takes all 14:08 the prophecies and brings them 14:11 down to the end and shows you and I exactly where we are 14:15 in the stream of time. 14:17 So I hope that you have been able to tune in 14:20 and see exactly what's happening and taking place 14:24 as we've been looking at it and studying it. 14:27 If you're watching by television, 14:29 we hope that you're tuning in each time and watching 14:32 as we go through this because it will help you 14:35 put the Word of God together and to understand it. 14:38 If you're listening by radio, be sure and tune in. 14:42 Follow it step by step as we study this amazing prophecy 14:47 in Revelation and as we take you through kingdom 14:50 after kingdom that has happened and what took place with it. 14:54 So we have looked at so far... we've looked at Babylon. 15:00 Babylon was the first one, 15:02 and you remember in Daniel the 7th chapter it's pictured as 15:06 a lion... a lion that had eagle's wings. 15:10 That lion is the head that's on the beast in Revelation 17 15:16 representing the kingdom of Babylon. 15:19 And you remember as we studied it, 15:21 we found out that Babylon fell to who? 15:26 To Medo-Persia. Babylon fell to Medo-Persia 15:30 And Medo-Persia is pictured in the scripture 15:34 in Daniel the 7th chapter as a bear. 15:36 This represented the country of Medo-Persia, the bear that 15:40 raised itself up on one side, had three ribs in its teeth. 15:44 That bear represented Medo-Persia. 15:46 And on the beast of Revelation 17, 15:50 one of those heads would be a bear 15:52 representing the kingdom of Medo-Persia. 15:56 So those are the two that we have looked at so far, 15:59 and this morning we're taking a look at the third one 16:02 which is the country of Greece. 16:06 Now, rather interesting... 16:10 Greece doesn't amount to anything. 16:14 You're looking at on a map here... 16:17 that in blue that you're looking at 16:19 is the Aegean Sea there. And this is Greece at this time. 16:24 This is a bunch of little cites, states, 16:28 and there's no organization or anything to them. 16:32 It's also known as Macedonia. 16:35 And that's what... there. And it's just not much 16:38 organization or anything happening there or taking place. 16:42 But you remember in our study 16:45 it said concerning Medo-Persia 16:48 that they would turn their riches against Greece. 16:51 And for some reason the kings of Macedonia 16:55 began to concentrate on this part of the world 16:59 trying to bring them into subjection. 17:02 And there rose a king by the name of Philip, 17:07 Philip II, and he decided that they would fight. 17:12 And so he began to go around and to organize 17:16 one of these Greek states and all after another 17:20 bringing them together to defend themselves. 17:23 Defend themselves against the Medo-Persians, 17:25 and this is what was taking place. 17:28 And so this little area where there wasn't much taking place 17:33 all of a sudden began to come together and organize. 17:39 And Philip was fighting these, taking care of them. 17:43 Philip had a son. 17:46 His son's name was Alexander the Great. 17:51 Alexander... a very, very bright person... 17:57 very, very intelligent. 17:59 Very, very capable. 18:02 Great, great ability of leadership. 18:06 And as a young person, Philip... 18:10 I don't know how he did it. But maybe it was just luck... 18:15 maybe he knew what he was doing, 18:16 but he hired the brightest mind 18:21 in all the country to teach Alexander. 18:25 And he hired Aristotle to be his teacher. 18:30 And Aristotle taught Alexander the Great 18:34 and evidently he gave him much of the ability that he learned 18:40 from Aristotle, and he began to develop. 18:44 In fact, he developed so much that Philip - who had to defend 18:48 the Greek cities here - was out fighting. 18:53 And because he couldn't be there at the headquarters and all 18:56 he asked his son, Alexander... 16 years of age... 19:02 to take care of it. 19:05 Sixteen years of age... sixteen years. 19:08 And Alexander took the city there and began to care for it. 19:14 And since Philip was out fighting somewhere, 19:17 some of the folks that were opposed to what was happening 19:21 decided they would take the city. 19:25 But they didn't realize that they were facing Alexander. 19:30 And Alexander defended the city 19:32 and was able to overcome them. 19:35 And so he began to develop. 19:37 At the age of 18 years of age 19:40 his father made him one of his generals. 19:44 Eighteen years of age. 19:47 At 19, Philip died 19:51 and Alexander the Great took over the kingdom. 19:57 Nineteen years of age. 20:00 Now, since all these wars have been going on 20:04 and everything, it has depleted the country financially. 20:09 And so when Alexander the Great gets it, 20:12 the finances aren't in very good shape. 20:16 And, of course, one of the ways that they help themselves 20:21 financially was by warring against another power 20:25 and taking the loot and all this. 20:27 So Alexander the Great figured his only way of pulling it out 20:31 was he was going to have to go out and fight. 20:34 And so you find Alexander the Great 20:37 takes 45,000 soldiers 20:41 and heads out 20:44 to face the Persians. 20:47 Now folks, this is when something very, very dramatic 20:52 takes place. 20:53 Because Alexander the Great takes these soldiers 20:57 and they step out and they go here. Watch this... 21:01 Because if you look at it 21:03 you'll see up there the Aegean Sea. 21:06 If you can read it there, 21:08 this is the dividing place. Now please listen. 21:12 This is the dividing place between the continent of Europe 21:16 and the continent of Asia. 21:19 That's where it's divided is right there 21:21 at a place called Helsport if you can see it. 21:24 Right there. And that's where Alexander the Great came 21:28 and taking those 45,000 soldiers 21:32 they're marching and they're crossing the water right there 21:35 at Helsport to make their way into Asia. 21:38 And Alexander the Great as he was on the ship 21:41 took a spear and threw that spear from the ship to the shore 21:47 saying that they were going to take all of Asia. 21:53 Now this is when... what I'm trying to tell you here, 21:57 folks, is this is when in history and in time 22:01 you have a shift of the central of power 22:05 moving from Asia. It's been in Asia all this time 22:09 we have talked about. They have been the central 22:12 of the power for the world. 22:13 All of a sudden now it is shifting from Asia 22:18 to Europe. 22:20 And Europe is going to become the central power 22:25 of the world over the next 2,000 years. 22:30 This is when the shift takes place. Right here 22:34 as Alexander the Great steps into Asia to take it 22:39 for Greece. 22:42 Now, Darius of the Persians 22:46 is very, very much aware that Alexander the Great 22:50 is on his way. 22:52 And he meets Alexander the Great just off the shores there 22:56 at a place called Granicus. 22:59 And there he met Alexander the Great... 23:02 The first battle, and Alexander the Great defeated him. 23:07 And Darius fled... went on his way. 23:11 So now, Alexander the Great is coming along here, 23:15 folks, and he's coming down Asia Minor. 23:18 That's where he's coming: down Asia Minor 23:21 and he's taking one city after another like Ephesus 23:27 and those different cities that you study about. 23:29 You know... the seven churches. 23:32 That's where he's at. 23:33 He's coming down and he's taking one of those cities 23:35 right after another and claiming them for Greece. 23:40 A historian had this to say about Alexander the Great: 23:59 How very, very true that is! 24:03 So with that, let's move in and see what some of the 24:07 prophecies had to say about Alexander the Great. 24:11 First one: Daniel the second chapter. 24:14 Now we've looked at Daniel the second chapter on two nights 24:18 because Daniel the second chapter talks about Babylon. 24:21 It also talks about Medo-Persia. 24:24 But it also talks about Greece. 24:27 So listen to what it says here: 24:43 We found out that that represented who? 24:46 Babylon. 24:48 The head was Babylon. OK. 24:50 It's chest and it's arms of silver which represented? 24:55 Medo-Persia... because Medo-Persia was made up of 24:58 a coalition of two powers: the Medes and the Persians. 25:02 And they came together to form one power. 25:04 That's why the image has two arms. 25:07 Arms and breast of silver, and the scripture says 25:09 that it would be inferior to Babylon. 25:13 So just like silver is inferior to gold 25:16 so exactly as the scripture says. 25:18 But then it says: "its belly and its thighs of bronze. " 25:24 That was the next kingdom 25:25 was the bronze kingdom. And Greece is known 25:29 as the bronze kingdom. 25:32 "But after you, " that is referring to Medo-Persia, 25:40 Inferior to silver. 25:47 And so we have Greece coming on the scene of action. 25:51 Rather interesting statement here, folks. 25:53 Don't know if you caught it, 25:56 but you need to watch it carefully because some things 25:59 that God's Word says... extremely important. 26:02 Of all the things that we have studied so far, 26:05 Babylon, Medo-Persia and so forth, 26:07 this is the only one 26:10 that says "which shall rule all the earth. " 26:15 "Shall rule all the earth. " 26:19 Alexander the Great went out to take everything 26:25 that was before him. 26:27 He didn't know any end. 26:30 So we have the kingdom of Greece... bronze. 26:33 Greece is going to go 26:35 from 331 BC 26:39 to 168 BC. 26:43 This is the time that it is going to rule and all. 26:47 Alexander the Great, folks, is going to march 26:52 his army now for seven years 26:57 without ever going back home. 27:02 Seven years... taking everything that he touched. 27:07 Watch. The scripture describes this. 27:11 Can you see the Mediterranean Sea there 27:14 up in the left-hand side of the picture there? 27:17 Well, he's coming right along the Mediterranean. 27:20 That's' where he's coming. He's coming down 27:22 and he comes down here and on down 27:25 and comes to a place called Tyre. 27:28 Now Tyre... how should I put it? 27:34 It's just off the coast of Syria. 27:36 It's an island setting right there. 27:41 Tyre has developed over the years because it is a... 27:46 How should I put it? a fishing port. 27:49 And also it is a port for ships and trade. 27:53 And so Tyre has become famous world-wide 27:57 because of their shipping ability and all. 28:01 So they're off the coast. They're an island off the coast. 28:05 Alexander the Great gets there and sends word out 28:09 to them to surrender. 28:12 Sends to them the conditions of surrender. 28:16 And they send back to him a note telling him 28:20 they're not going to surrender. 28:22 Now folks, they have lots of ships. 28:26 The chances of them being taken are minute. 28:31 And so for them to tell Alexander 28:35 "Forget it. We're not going to surrender" 28:37 was probably very logical. 28:40 But listen. God had said hundreds of years 28:45 before Alexander ever existed... 28:48 He told him exactly how it would be done. 28:50 Listen: 28:51 Ezekiel 26:3: 29:37 Alexander, since they didn't surrender... 29:42 Alexander took his men and they began to make a ramp 29:46 from the shore, Syria, out to that city. A causeway. 29:52 They took all, everything they could find, 29:55 and dumped it in the ocean. 29:57 It took them seven months 29:59 to build that ramp out to that island. 30:03 They even scraped the ground 30:07 and put it in the ocean just exactly as the scripture said. 30:12 And he built that ramp out there 30:14 and they took the city. 30:16 Overthrew it just exactly as the scripture said it would be. 30:19 And to this day that ramp is still there. 30:23 Exists today. Not only that, but it said 30:28 that it would be a like a rock. And it's that way today, 30:31 and it's where fishermen spread their nets. 30:34 Just exactly as the scripture said it would be it took place. 30:39 You see, if you... How? How? 30:44 How can a person read these things 30:48 and they stand there as evidence today 30:50 and not believe the Word of God? 30:52 How can a person say "Well, I can't believe that. " 30:56 What do you mean? It's there! 30:59 Clear! God said this is exactly what he did, and he did 31:03 just that. God said he would. 31:06 Alexander the Great took it... 31:09 everything that was before him. 31:12 Well, as you can see from the map 31:15 if you follow on down the Mediterranean, 31:17 he came right on down and he came to Egypt. 31:21 Now, Alexander the Great was prepared. 31:27 He believed without any question of a doubt 31:31 that he was going to meet real opposition here. 31:34 But instead of finding opposition 31:37 the people came out in throngs, thousands of them, 31:42 welcoming him. 31:43 With open arms they welcomed him into Egypt. 31:47 Because they had been under Persian control, 31:50 they weren't happy with that 31:52 and they welcomed Alexander as a great, great deliverer. 31:56 But as far as I'm concerned, 31:59 this is where his fall began to take place. 32:03 Because you see, In Egypt they had a strange belief. 32:08 Their strange belief was that they believed that the pharaohs 32:14 were living gods. 32:17 And they worshiped them as gods. 32:20 And so when they took Alexander and welcomed him with 32:24 open arms, they received him as a god. 32:30 And that was pleasing to Alexander. 32:34 In fact, even the priest - 32:37 Egyptian priest - recognized him as a god. 32:41 And so all of Egypt came under his control 32:45 and he went about doing his work. 32:49 Uh, how should I say it? 32:52 With that concept in mind, 32:55 he leaves Egypt and heads out. 32:59 Now folks, he intends to take 33:04 everything he can take. 33:06 There is no question about this. 33:08 And he comes up here, and this where he meets 33:12 Darius of the Persians for the third time. 33:17 He's met him twice now 33:19 and both times he's defeated him. 33:21 And each time Darius has gathered an army and faced it. 33:25 And now he's facing Darius on the plains of Arbela. 33:31 Darius has 1,000,000 men. 33:36 Get that clear. 33:39 Has 1,000,000 men. 33:41 Alexander the Great has 40,000. 33:47 That's the difference. 33:50 And Alexander the Great used a new type of warfare 33:55 that hadn't been used before. 33:58 And that's where he took and lined up a row of soldiers 34:04 with spears and shields. 34:08 And then he put another row of soldiers behind them 34:13 with spears and shields. 34:16 But the spears this time in the second row 34:19 were longer than in the first row. 34:22 And then he put another row behind them. 34:25 And they did that until some of those spears were 34:29 as long as 18 feet. 34:31 And so they had just a row of spears there. 34:36 And he took those men and marched them. 34:38 And marched them through Darius' soldiers 34:42 one place after another until he defeated him. 34:45 1,000,000 men. Defeated him at Arbela. 34:49 And that really brought the end to the Persian Empire. 34:53 Darius fled. 34:55 I don't understand why that Alexander had such a... 35:01 How shall I put it? Such a burden on his heart 35:04 to get Darius. 35:06 But he chased him all over everywhere trying to find him. 35:10 And finally his own people killed Darius. 35:14 And when Alexander the Great 35:16 heard about it, 35:18 he had them go and get his body 35:21 and take it back to the capitol at Shushan 35:24 and had it buried there and given an honorable burial. 35:27 But nevertheless now, without any doubt, 35:31 Alexander the Great has everything before him. 35:35 And so he takes his army and he marches them. 35:39 And he marches them to one place after another 35:43 taking it... overthrowing it... 35:45 until he has taken them - if you can look at it here - 35:49 clear to the borders of India. 35:54 When he gets to India, his men have had enough. 35:59 They said: "We're not going any farther. " 36:02 And they went against him right there and said 36:05 "We're not going to go any farther. 36:07 This is as far as we're going to go. " 36:10 And Alexander had to turn back 36:13 or else he probably would have kept going 36:15 throughout India taking it also. 36:18 But he turned back and headed back. 36:20 Alexander the Great now... I think has decided 36:24 since they can't go any more 36:26 that he needs to try to solidify the kingdom. 36:31 And so he heads back to the city of Babylon. 36:37 That's where he's headed: the city of Babylon. 36:40 I want you to watch what the scripture has to say: 36:56 Now, this is Daniel the seventh chapter. 36:59 In there you remember we had the head of a lion - 37:03 which represented Babylon. 37:04 We had the bear which represented Medo-Persia. 37:08 Now we have a leopard which represents Greece. 37:11 And the four wings on the back of this beast 37:15 represents the swiftness with which Alexander the Great 37:20 took everything. Folks, in seven years 37:23 he conquered everything. 37:26 In seven years. 37:28 Died at 32 years of age. 37:32 And so this was the swiftness with which he went across 37:36 the whole world... took everything that was before him. 37:40 But it also gives you an insight 37:43 that the kingdom was going to be divided 37:48 because this leopard beast has four heads... not one... 37:53 meaning that the kingdom would be divided. 37:56 Alexander the Great makes his way to Babylon 38:01 where he intends to set up the kingdom, establish it, 38:06 and basically rule from there. 38:10 Uh, this idea of being a god has gone to his head 38:14 and he's doing some things that are very, very foolish. 38:18 He's killed lots and lots of people. 38:22 Some of his own generals he's killed. 38:26 He's done some very, very foolish things. 38:29 But the scripture gives us an insight into what is 38:33 happening here and it says in Daniel the 8th chapter now. 38:36 We've looked at the 2nd chapter. We've looked at the 7th chapter. 38:41 Now let's look at the 8th chapter of Daniel. 38:51 Now folks, this is a vision that's given to Daniel. 38:54 This is given to him before Greece has come 38:57 on the scene of action. 38:59 In fact, this is given to Daniel before 39:02 Medo-Persia has come on the scene of action. 39:04 This is back during the time of Belshazzar 39:07 which was the king of Babylon. 39:09 He's given this vision and he says this is what is happening. 39:12 OK, here we go: 39:19 He's there in vision. 39:28 In other words, in vision he is in Medo-Persia. 39:33 That's where he's at in vision. 39:49 Now, he's seeing a ram. 39:52 This ram has two horns. 39:54 This represents the kingdom of Medo-Persia. 39:57 Said that the horns were high meaning power... 40:01 great power. But it says that one was higher than the other 40:05 and it came up last... which represented 40:07 the Persians. The Persians were stronger than the Medes. 40:12 They came up last; that's why it's pictured that way. 40:22 There was nobody that could go against him. 40:25 Ruled everything. 40:34 So Medo-Persia became a great, great, great power. 40:38 Now watch: 40:47 While he's look at this vision 40:49 all of a sudden here comes this male goat. 41:02 So we find that this goat is coming. 41:05 He is moving so fast, folks, 41:09 that is says he doesn't even touch the earth. 41:12 And it says that he has a great, great horn 41:17 between his eyes. 41:29 I hope you can catch a little bit 41:32 of the strength and the power that's being dealt with here. 41:47 This male goat running at this ram, 41:52 knocking him down, 41:54 breaks his horns. 42:06 Alexander the Great 42:10 destroyed Persia. 42:14 Alexander the Great, folks, was so powerful 42:20 and did so much here. 42:22 Is the Greek language became the nation 42:26 of the... language of the world at that time. 42:29 Because of the spread that he did, 42:32 he... the power that he carried was almost unbelievable. 42:55 So it says in the height of Alexander the Great's power 42:58 this great horn was broken 43:04 and in place of it came four of them. 43:07 Alexander is in Babylon. 43:11 He's actually lying sick 43:16 on a table in the very banquet hall 43:22 where the bloodless hand had written 43:25 Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin. 43:28 That's where he is; he's lying on a table right there. 43:31 Dying. 43:34 He's suffering from drunkenness. 43:37 He's been drinking for days. 43:39 He's also suffering from epilepsy. 43:45 And as they see that he's not going to survive, 43:49 he has his generals 43:51 come in before him. 43:53 And one after another they march in and pass before him 43:57 and they ask him: "To whom will you give the kingdom? " 44:02 And he said: "I'll give the kingdom to the strongest. " 44:08 And thus Alexander the Great's kingdom was to be divided 44:12 among his four generals. 44:14 Now it makes it very, very clear in scripture 44:17 exactly who these represent. 44:20 So you don't have to have any doubt 44:21 as to who the ram represented and who the goat represented. 44:24 I mean that is clear as can be. Listen: 44:33 So you don't have to be in doubt about that. 44:45 So don't have to be any doubt about that either. 44:48 You know exactly who those... that ram, that he goat... 44:53 represented. OK. 44:55 So, Alexander the Great has said he's going to give his kingdom 45:00 to the strongest. 45:31 So the scripture is telling you clearly 45:32 that out of what Alexander did 45:35 there's going to four that are going to rise. 45:38 Those four were the following: 45:48 Those were the four generals of Alexander the Great. 45:53 And history tells us that when... war broke out, folks. 45:58 A lot of things happened here back and forth. 46:00 But when it finally settled down 46:03 these four generals were the ones that took over the kingdom. 46:07 Now, we've look at Daniel 2, 46:10 Daniel 7, Daniel 8. Let's look at Daniel 11. 46:32 This is talking about Alexander. 46:34 This is talking about what he would do. 46:36 And it says the kingdom would be broken up, 46:39 and that's exactly what happened 46:41 and it was given to the four generals. 46:53 In other words, it was not passed to his children. 46:57 No children received this from Alexander the Great. 47:03 That's what it's telling you. 47:10 Lysimachus. He took over this part of the world. 47:16 You can see it there. He ruled... 47:20 took over that part of the country. 47:23 Was divided up. 47:25 Ptolemy. 47:27 Ptolemy went down and took over Egypt... 47:31 began to rule Egypt. 47:34 Cassander. 47:37 Cassander went up and took over what had been 47:41 the Grecian nations or Macedonia. 47:44 He took that over and began to rule there. 47:47 And Seleucus took over this part of the world. 47:53 That's the way the kingdom was divided up 47:56 and used that way. 47:57 So it became a nation of Greece 48:02 and it's to rule now, folks, until 168 BC. 48:08 So for hundreds of years it's ruled. 48:11 Uh, had tremendous influence 48:14 on culture, on arts. 48:18 You know, the period of time that Greece ruled 48:21 you have a period known in history as the Pergamum period 48:24 in which there was great, great architecture and sculpturing 48:29 and all that came into play. 48:31 This all takes place at this period of time. 48:34 This is why the Greek language was used. 48:37 Because these men took over all these places 48:40 and ruled and Greek became the language of the world 48:44 at that time. 48:46 But... scripture tells something begins to happen. 49:04 We talked about those 49:05 four that came up towards the four winds of heaven 49:09 and how they ruled. 49:27 It says that four winds took place there. 49:31 And it says that out of one of them 49:34 would come a little horn. 49:37 That is the next kingdom, folks, that's developing: 49:41 this little horn to come up is the next power that's rising. 49:47 It's different. It's different. 49:50 You see, the three powers that we've studied 49:54 had great men: Nebuchadnezzar, 49:57 Cyrus, Alexander the Great. 50:02 Not the fourth one. 50:05 So we're going to take a look at the fourth one. 50:08 We've taken a look at these powers. 50:11 We've looked at Babylon and how it ruled. 50:15 We have looked at Medo-Persia and its rule. 50:19 And this morning we've looked at Greece and its rule. 50:23 You see, you can trust the Word of God. 50:26 You can follow what it says. 50:29 It's as a light that shines in a dark place. 50:37 Open my eyes, that I may see 50:44 glimpses of truth 50:47 Thou hast for me. 50:50 Place in my hand 50:54 the wonderful key 50:57 that shall unclasp 51:00 and set me free. 51:06 Silently now I wait for Thee. 51:12 Ready, my God, 51:16 Thy will to see. 51:19 Open mine eyes, 51:23 illumine me, 51:28 Spirit 51:32 Divine. 51:38 Let us pray. 51:39 Father in Heaven, 51:42 we come to You this morning 51:45 as we have traced through Your Word 51:49 the prophecies concerning the nation of Greece. 51:53 How that in case after case 51:57 it's been fulfilled to the very letter. 52:02 That nothing has been left out. 52:06 Lord help us that we might sense and understand 52:12 anew Thy strength and Thy power. 52:16 That we might come in confidence 52:20 and place our faith in You... 52:23 realizing that if You can direct nations 52:30 and tell exactly what's going to happen 52:32 and what's going to take place 52:34 you certainly can take care of us 52:37 and lead and direct our lives. 52:39 May we be willing this morning 52:42 to surrender our lives to You. 52:45 To let You have control. 52:48 To not try to manage and do our own will, our own desires... 52:54 but to do Your will. 52:57 For the assurance of Your word, 52:58 for the hope that we have, 53:01 we thank you in Christ's name, Amen. 53:08 Well, our next presentation 53:12 will deal with pagan Rome. 53:15 Pagan Rome. 53:17 Now you're seeing how the 53:19 nations one after another 53:21 have fallen just exactly as God said they would. 53:25 Pagan Rome, of course, is no exception. 53:28 It's going to fulfill exactly what the scripture says 53:31 it would do. 53:33 That's what will happen. 53:34 And so we'll take a look at that one 53:36 and then our last one will be papal Rome. 53:40 Those are the five that are mentioned. 53:45 What you have to see is how they fulfill prophecy 53:48 accurately... exactly what God says. 53:51 And so, what we're getting after is it says 53:55 there are seven kings: 53:57 five have fallen. 53:58 So we're looking at these five that have fallen. 54:01 Our next series after this will deal with what's left. 54:06 "One is, one was yet to come. 54:09 When he comes he must continue a short time. " 54:11 Going to talk about that, and then it says 54:14 there's one is the eighth. 54:16 And so we're going to put all that together 54:19 as we take a look and see what prophecy has to tell us 54:22 about these beasts. 54:23 And, folks, the marvelous thing about it is 54:26 it takes you and I right up to the present day 54:29 and the time that we are living. 54:31 The time when Jesus is going to come back. 54:34 And so we hope that each of you stay close to the Lord. 54:37 God bless you. Have a great day! 54:41 The Bible says in Matthew 13:44 54:58 Every day we pass by ordinary places 55:01 that may be hiding something of incredible value. 55:04 Whether buried in a field or squirreled away in an attic, 55:08 or even an old, fallen-down house. 55:11 But imagine for a moment the thrill of stumbling 55:15 upon a treasure beyond your wildest dreams. 55:18 Will you eagerly sell everything you have 55:21 to gain something of much greater value? 55:24 Will you be willing to endure criticism of friends, 55:27 even family members, in order to obtain it? 55:30 This parable speaks of the most incredible treasure of all, 55:34 and it's hidden in God's Word. 55:37 That treasure is Jesus Christ himself. 55:42 But sadly, even those who claim Him 55:45 often don't recognize this infinite treasure. 55:48 Just watch how quickly they toss aside what the Bible says 55:53 when it becomes inconvenient. 55:57 Friends, the treasure of the gospel are hidden in God's Word. 56:01 Many of its readers have eyes, but they do not see. 56:06 They have ears, but they don't hear. 56:09 They never find its hidden treasure. 56:12 In fact, they may read it over and over 56:15 and never see it. 56:16 Even worse, many times they do see it 56:19 but think the price is too high. 56:22 Like the Jews of old 56:24 who rejected the Messiah because He was not in harmony 56:27 with their ambitious desires, 56:29 many won't seek heavenly treasure 56:32 because earthly treasure is more alluring. 56:35 They reason that if they could just obtain the things 56:38 which they desire they would have peace. 56:41 Sadly, they don't realize that they carry the disturber 56:45 of their own peace inside their hearts. 56:47 They pass by the One who declared: 56:50 "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. 56:54 Not as the world gives do I give to you. 56:57 Let not your heart be troubled, 56:59 neither let it be afraid. " 57:03 The treasure of the Bible are revealed only to those 57:06 who carefully study its pages 57:09 with a humble and searching heart. 57:11 Our whole ministry is dedicated to helping men and women 57:14 find the priceless treasure hidden in the Bible. 57:17 We pray that you will not be satisfied 57:20 with surface truths 57:22 but instead you'll want to unearth the precious gems 57:26 that others pass by. 57:28 Dig into the Bible as a miner digs into the earth 57:32 to find veins of gold. Don't give up 57:34 until you have found a relationship with God, 57:37 and then join us in spreading the good news to the world. 57:42 Please consider what you can do 57:44 for those who still don't know about Jesus. 57:46 As the Holy Spirit impresses, 57:48 please send your tax-deductible gifts to: 58:04 Your gifts help bring the Blessed Hope of salvation 58:06 to millions all around the world. |
Revised 2014-12-17