Participants: Pr. Tony Moore
Series Code: OTR
Program Code: OTR000709
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01:01 Welcome back to the Prophecy seminar.
01:04 We're glad that you're here this evening. 01:05 Have you had a good day? 01:07 And I'm glad, 01:08 it's a little bit cooler, aren't you? 01:10 I mean you don't want to be digging-- 01:12 doing archeological things when it's so hotter. 01:14 So we're glad this evening 01:17 that its a little bit cooler here 01:18 and we're glad though that even though 01:22 it's can be warm or hot outside 01:24 because we've air conditioning and heat hear 01:26 the, the temperatures kind of controlled 01:29 and that's a blessing. 01:30 Well, let's just ask the Lord to be with us this evening, 01:34 as we again study little bit about archeology 01:36 but now making the shift into Bible Prophecy. 01:40 Let's bow our heads and ask the Lord to be with us. 01:42 Father in heaven, we're thankful this evening 01:44 that You have promised 01:45 were two or three are gathered in Your name, 01:48 You will be in the mist. 01:51 And we come in Your name asking for Your presence to be here, 01:56 asking for Your Spirit to guide 01:57 each part of tonight's presentation. 02:00 And we give You all the glory and all the praise, 02:03 and we come in the all powerful name of Jesus, amen. 02:08 We've been blessed each evening 02:09 by the music of Rafael Scarfullery 02:12 and again this evening, 02:14 we're going to be blessed with a special number by Rafael. 07:57 I just want to say big thank you to Rafael. 08:00 Amen. 08:01 Now I'm going to tell you a little secret. 08:04 I think it was just yesterday or the day before I said to 08:07 actually its Dr. Scarfullery 08:09 he is, he is a trained guitarist, for performance. 08:12 I said look "I would like to have this song." 08:15 He says "well I haven't played that before 08:17 but I will see if I can come up with a composition for you 08:19 and an arrangement of that." 08:21 And so the next thing I know he had all of this scores out 08:24 and he was writing out the music. 08:26 And that's the first time 08:27 it's been performed just for you. 08:29 Aren't you special? 08:31 What a blessing and that was just great. 08:35 Thank you, so much. 08:36 And Tony is coming up now, I want to, 08:39 especially welcome him back this evening. 08:42 And this is actually the last evening 08:45 and I'm so delighted 08:47 that you have been here in Wichita with us. 08:50 Thank you so much for coming and coming 08:52 and being part of this seminar. 08:55 Well thank you for inviting me, pastor. 08:56 I have enjoyed being here very, very much. 08:58 It's been terrific. 09:00 Great, you know, 09:01 how many of you think it's been great 09:02 that he is been here? 09:06 And we are gonna listen of course tonight with, 09:09 with rapt attention. 09:10 But at the beginning of the break, 09:12 how many of you think he would like to get back 09:13 home to his wife? 09:15 We're gonna take up an offering to see 09:17 if we can get him half way there. 09:19 And we're just gonna take a love offering 09:21 at just before the next thing. 09:23 And I already warned you of that last night 09:25 so you now have been planning. 09:26 So thank you so much 09:27 and we're are looking forward to tonight talk. 09:28 Well, thank you, pastor. 09:29 It's been great to be with you. 09:31 We've been able to survey some of the great 09:33 civilization of the past. 09:35 We've been to Egypt and we've been to Jerusalem 09:37 and all through the, the world of Jesus. 09:41 And tonight we're going to ancient Iraq. 09:43 And tonight it's gonna typical 09:44 because we're gonna go back to ancient Iraq 09:46 and we're gonna look at, 09:48 where the beginning of human civilization 09:50 really develops in Ancient Iraq. 09:52 And then it's gonna kind of come down 09:54 and we'll see a transition to the future 09:58 because the name of this seminar has been Digging up the Future. 10:01 So we've been digging up quite a few artifacts 10:04 and looking of some facts or anythings from the past. 10:06 And we're gonna do that again this evening 10:08 and then we're gonna transition to some things of the future. 10:11 So anyways it's been a joy to be with you 10:12 and to spend this time here in Wichita 10:16 in the centre of the nation. 10:19 It's been a real delight. 10:20 Well, this evening we want to go to the map 10:23 and as we go to map 10:26 I'm asking the question where is Iraq? 10:28 Now before August of 1990 10:31 less than one in four Americans 10:33 could find the Persian Gulf on the map, all right 10:36 and even fewer could find that nation called Iraq. 10:41 Even though it was in the news everyday 10:43 because of the long and bitter and bloody war 10:46 with its neighbor Persia to the east or Iran. 10:50 But that all changed when Saddam Hussein 10:52 invaded the oil rich country of Kuwait 10:55 and George Bush Sr. drew a line in the sand. 10:59 Pretty soon all of our attention was focused there. 11:01 And that is only continued at our time today. 11:06 Before the invasion of Iraq, before the invasion of Iraq 11:10 it was only an Arab country on the other side of the world 11:13 were they outspoken leader who had an ego larger than life. 11:17 But then came Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm 11:21 and with over 500,000 American troops 11:25 transported to the deserts of the Persian Gulf, 11:27 Saddam Hussein in Iraq became a household word 11:31 in the United States. 11:32 And since the U.S. led invasion of Iraq 11:36 the map of Iraq has become an all too familiar side 11:38 in most of our homes. 11:40 Now the juries still out on the long term effects of 11:43 replacing the Ba'ath Party which by the way meant 11:46 renaissance or the democratically, 11:49 democratically elected government. 11:52 Because of the charged political nature of this current conflict 11:55 I'm going to avoid the present 11:57 but I want tonight to pull back the curtain of time 12:00 and look back into the past 12:02 because this is a very important part of world 12:04 its where civilization actually developed. 12:08 Now Saddam Hussein had a grand vision 12:10 of presiding over a Pan-Arab Empire. 12:14 During the 20th century 12:16 the Arab countries had been very, very divided. 12:18 I can still remember doing the first intifada 12:20 being in Jerusalem. 12:21 And during the first intifada the, 12:24 the young people made the shopkeepers 12:26 close their shops at 11 o'clock. 12:29 But someone like me, 12:30 who would just find a shopkeeper he wanted to talk to 12:32 and so he would invite me in for tea 12:34 and we go in and we sit down 12:35 and we drink tea and discuss politics. 12:39 And I can still remember the shopkeeper talking about 12:43 his dreams for Pan-Arab Empire 12:46 and I said "how could you have a dream like that? 12:48 You guys are fighting all the time. 12:49 All these Arab Nations are fighting." 12:51 And he looked at me with very prosaically 12:53 and he said don't you know, where this comes from? 12:57 And I said "well, obviously not, tell me." 13:00 And he said this goes back to Lord Balfour, 13:02 the Balfour Codes. 13:04 The British created all of these little different kingdoms 13:07 and put different tribes in charge of countries 13:10 so they would fight against each other. 13:12 But this is not our history and the past 13:14 and we don't want it to be our future. 13:17 Well, it was a history lesson for me. 13:19 And it was true. 13:20 In the past there was a great Pan-Arab Empire. 13:23 It stretched from Pakistan in the east all the way to, 13:28 to Turkey in the west and it reached down into Egypt 13:31 and part of North Africa and it was ruled 13:34 by one leader over a great period of time. 13:37 Yes, Iraq used its oil revenues 13:42 to amass the fourth largest army in the world. 13:47 It hoped to reunite Muslims from all these different countries 13:51 and backgrounds especially throughout the Arab world. 13:54 It hoped to unite them to become a major player 13:57 in world politics. 13:59 Like Salahadin and Suleiman the magnificent before him 14:03 Saddam Hussein hoped to forge people 14:05 from diverse backgrounds 14:07 put down by a common religion 14:10 into one nation into one cohesive power block 14:12 that it will be difficult for the west to control. 14:14 Now the Ottoman Empire was a last Muslim empire, 14:17 the last great Pan-Arab Empire. 14:20 And it's not really Pan-Arab 14:21 because the Turks were not really Arabs. 14:23 But it was the last great Muslim empire 14:26 and it came to an end during World War I. 14:29 But so many Arabs especially the Middle East 14:33 the poor nations, 14:34 they longed for their former glory to be revived. 14:38 And they believed that Saddam Hussein 14:40 would be the one to unite all different groups 14:44 together under one flag. 14:46 That's why the Palestinians were siding with him 14:49 during the first into the first Gulf War. 14:52 And they were hoping that this would be their moment 14:54 of renaissance, a movement of revival. 14:58 Well, Salahadin Hussein appealed to their imagination 15:01 by comparing himself to Nebuchadnezzar 15:05 and Salahadin the two great Iraqi leaders of the past. 15:09 Now this harkened back to a far more glorious period 15:12 when an indeed Iraq ruled the world. 15:15 You see Saddam conspired himself to Saladin the great warrior 15:20 who was also from the village of Tikrit interesting enough. 15:24 Now Salahadin became the Sultanate Egypt. 15:27 And he would be destined to rule over the whole Arab world. 15:30 He led a Muslim army right to the gates of Jerusalem 15:34 and defeated the crusaders 15:36 and took Jerusalem from the Christians 15:38 and placed it into the hands of the Muslims. 15:42 Saddam also styled himself as the Neo Nebuchadnezzar 15:48 the new Nebuchadnezzar who was also from Iraq down. 15:51 Nebuchadnezzar who was he? 15:52 Well, he was a king back in the 6th century BC 15:56 who conquered most of the world at that time. 15:59 He was the king who went down 16:00 and defeated the Jews in Jerusalem 16:03 and captured Jerusalem in the days of Jeremiah. 16:06 And so here with these two great military leaders of the past 16:10 and Saddam Hussein styled himself in their traditions. 16:14 Babylon was once the most beautiful city upon the earth. 16:18 The hanging gardens of Babylon 16:20 were one of the seven wonders of the Ancient world. 16:23 Saddam Hussein restored the Ancient Palestinians 16:26 in city of Babylon. 16:29 They're laid desolate for over 2,000 years. 16:32 Now he wasn't doing it because he was really 16:33 in the archeology and art. 16:36 He was doing it as a political statement. 16:38 He was styling himself as the new birth of Nebuchadnezzar 16:43 and he even had a great festival 16:45 when he host of the Babylon festival. 16:47 It drew tens of thousands of visitors every year. 16:50 People from around from world would come in 16:52 and they'd be in hotels in Baghdad and they would go out 16:55 and get into their buses, their air condition buses 16:57 and shoot down 50 miles down to Babylon. 17:00 Yes, its just 50 miles from Baghdad on the Tigress 17:05 to Babylon on the Euphrates. 17:06 They would go down and it was a great time of propaganda. 17:10 Now Iraq has a lengthy and rich culture. 17:12 It dates back to the very dawn of human civilization. 17:16 The arid land was watered by two rivers 17:20 the Tigress and the Euphrates River. 17:22 The soil lying between them is known as Mesopotamia. 17:26 It's a Greek word and it means the land between the two rivers. 17:28 And here we can see the Euphrates River 17:31 and the Tigris River coming down 17:33 and this territory in between was very, very fertile. 17:37 Now to the north of the Tigris River 17:40 there are mountains high, high mountains. 17:42 Today is the Kurdistan and most of if you wanting to-- 17:45 that kind of put into modern times. 17:47 Down in the south side of Euphrates it's all desert. 17:50 And then we can see there is the Persian Gulf. 17:52 So there is only one little strip of arable land 17:55 and it's between these two rivers. 17:57 And so this is where civilization 18:00 actually develops the land between the rivers. 18:03 Now you can see on the map that the both the Euphrates 18:07 and the Tigris river flow out of the mountains of Turkey. 18:13 They flow from the north in the west 18:15 they flow nearly a 1000 miles before they unite 18:19 and dump into the Persian Gulf near Basra. 18:23 If you're following modern times, 18:25 it was called Ur back in Ancient times. 18:28 And so we can see on the screen again 18:31 there is a little green strip 18:32 and it's kind of a term that was coined 18:35 at the turn of the last century the Fertile Crescent. 18:38 You see mountains here, water here, desert here, 18:42 mountains here, water here and there is one little strip 18:46 of fertile territory that goes across. 18:49 Starts down in Mesopotamia 18:51 comes up goes across part of Turkey 18:54 comes down through Syria and Lebanon 18:55 and then down through Israel and then down the Nile Valley. 18:59 This was the Fertile Crescent, this was the only place 19:02 where you could sustain life by agriculture. 19:04 So it was very, very important-- 19:06 wars that they fought through out centuries 19:08 and millenniums over that area. 19:10 So there is a floodplain here sweltering deserts to the south 19:14 towering mountains to the north water 19:16 and so the Fertile Crescent was the place 19:19 with a constant flow of water. 19:22 The rich fertile fields in the mist of desert 19:24 it was a perfect for agriculture. 19:26 Spreading northward from the delta marshes 19:28 of the Shatt-al-Arab waterways, 19:30 settlements of farmers developed. 19:32 And they were organized into communities. 19:35 With the invention of irrigation 19:36 the civilization quickly developed 19:38 and they were able to grow more and more to crops 19:40 to have surplus of their crops 19:42 along the bank of the two rivers. 19:43 Most scholars believed this convergence of the rivers 19:47 to be the location of the Garden of Eden 19:50 because two of the four rivers are mentioned in Genesis 19:53 as Tigris and Euphrates. 19:56 According to the Bible another major event took place here 19:59 and that is to the north of the mountains of Ararat. 20:03 And so when Noah's Ark would have come to rest 20:06 then the people would have descended 20:07 down from the mountains 20:08 and it have would come down into the plain 20:10 between the rivers into Mesopotamia. 20:13 And indeed we find that this is where 20:15 human civilization first develops 20:18 in the land between the rivers. 20:21 The Bible actually says "As men moved eastward 20:24 they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. 20:27 They said to each other, 'Come, 20:28 let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly.' 20:31 They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar." 20:34 Now Moses had to write that because down in Palestine 20:37 it's all rocks. 20:39 But when you go over to Iraq or Mesopotamia 20:41 there're no rocks, okay. 20:43 And so they had to use clay and make bricks. 20:46 And so he said come let us make bricks 20:48 and bake them thoroughly. 20:49 They used bricks instead of stones and tar for mortar. 20:53 "Then they said, 'Come let us build a city, 20:56 with a tower that reaches to the heavens, 20:58 so that we may make a name for ourselves 21:01 and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.' 21:04 " This of course is a fascinating story 21:07 of the tower of Babel. 21:09 It was located near the Euphrates in Babylon. 21:13 Now for the information as I said to the readers. 21:15 Moses said "hey, you know, they don't have stones there, 21:17 they had to use, they had to use clay, make bricks." 21:21 And indeed that's what the buildings were built with. 21:24 According to the Bible Noah's descendants moved into a plain 21:27 of Shinar or Sumer, a Shinar or Sumer. 21:33 They began to built cities with great towers in them. 21:36 And indeed the spate of the archeologist 21:38 has confirmed that indeed this took place, 21:41 civilization develops on this plain. 21:43 Well, the introduction of irrigation, 21:46 vast quantities of grain could now be produced 21:49 to be more efficient and irrigation 21:52 that people had to work together. 21:53 Various clans came together 21:55 and they were loosely organized into villages 21:57 and then into cities and towns. 22:00 The surplus of agriculture permitted people 22:02 to diversify their occupations. 22:06 Some emerged as artisans 22:07 and some were working in a metal works and textiles 22:11 and ultimately some are managing trade. 22:14 As life became more prosperous 22:17 they needed to keep track of their surplus 22:19 so the Sumerians invented writing. 22:22 Since they had virtually no wood or stone or metal 22:25 they build their cities out of abundant clay 22:27 and sealed it with pitch or bitumen 22:30 which seeps to the surface in this part of the world. 22:33 Clay was pressed into molds and then it was taken out 22:35 and baked in the hot sun 22:36 and then they could use it for building their buildings 22:38 for their houses and their city buildings, temples 22:42 and that's the way it developed. 22:44 Here another major invention happened, 22:47 as they developed the pottery wheel 22:49 to make more uniformed containers. 22:52 And then some enterprising individual was looking at that 22:56 pottery wheel spinning and they thought 22:59 what if we turned it side ways and put another wheel on it 23:03 and hooked it to few oxen. 23:06 And then they discovered that they could not carry five times 23:09 what the oxen could drag on sledge behind it. 23:12 And so they invented the wheel here in Sumeria. 23:16 And so the culture developed and it grew 23:19 and now they could grow more surplus crops 23:22 and the traders now could export their surplus crops 23:25 to foreign distant markets, for raw materials 23:28 not available in the plain. 23:30 From the north they were ever to import lapis lazuli, 23:34 copper, gold, from Persia they imported copper and tin, 23:38 from India they imported wood and ivory and carnelian. 23:42 The cities of Mesopotamia grew and prospered. 23:45 To assist the farmer they developed calendars 23:48 based on the lunar month and the solar year. 23:52 Now they where now able to know when to plant 23:55 and how to predict their harvest 23:57 and as I looked up into the night sky 23:59 they began to see the outlines of the various animals 24:02 and they gave them names. 24:03 You know them today as the zodiac. 24:06 And so this developed here in ancient Sumer. 24:09 To keep track of their trade 24:11 they invented mathematical system based on 60. 24:13 We still have the reminiscent of it in our 60 minute hour 24:16 and in our 360 degrees circle. 24:18 This all developed right here in Mesopotamia. 24:21 They also invented writing using the raw material 24:24 that was so abundant there clay. 24:26 This happened down at Uruk around 3000 BC. 24:29 At first it was very simple. 24:30 What they did is they would, they would use a round ball 24:33 to represent a token 24:35 and so if they were sending somebody 24:36 with the five loads of grain, 24:38 they would have five little round balls or tokens 24:41 and they would put it into a clay envelop. 24:43 And so the person would then go down and, 24:45 and but had he lost anything along the way, 24:48 the person was unsure. 24:50 And so they would break the envelop 24:52 and open the envelop up 24:53 and then find the five little tokens. 24:55 Well, that wasn't efficient and so someone said, 24:58 "why don't we just draw five tokens 25:01 on the piece of the envelop 25:02 and then we don't have to break it all." 25:04 And so they did that. 25:05 And then they said well, 25:06 why do we even put the tokens inside the envelop 25:08 lets just draw five on the outside of a block 25:11 a little peace of clay. 25:13 And that's the way writing developed 25:15 here in Sumer down at Uruk 25:19 many thousands of years ago around 3000 BC. 25:23 As writing became more abstract 25:25 they no longer used the stylus 25:28 they began to use a little wedge, 25:31 wedge to read and they were able to use that 25:33 and they developed writing. 25:34 And you can see it up on the screen. 25:36 It kind of looks odd, doesn't it? 25:38 This was very unusual whenever they first these, 25:43 these they first began appearing in European museums 25:45 they began to say it looks like birds 25:47 walking on wet sand. 25:50 And the wedge is, in Latin is cuneus 25:53 and that's word comes down cuneiform writing. 25:55 And this is what they did. 25:56 Now even though the writing looks very strange, 25:59 it is very interesting that often times in messages 26:02 meant the same thing. 26:03 Here's a little piece of clay that had writing on it 26:06 and it say's "your loving wife who has had a child," 26:10 it was signed by her. 26:11 Well, you know it's a same kind of communication 26:13 that we do today. 26:14 But the methods might have changed. 26:16 Now we might email but there they're writing 26:18 these little wedges in the cuneiform style. 26:21 Here we have a photo of scribal school 26:24 from a place called Marah. 26:25 You can see the long benches 26:27 where the scribes would sit in training. 26:29 You can see the little basins here on the side, 26:33 these basins would have clay in them. 26:35 They could take the clay and mold it. 26:37 It was very writable and they could do their little writings. 26:39 This is where they do practicing, 26:41 learning how to write and read. 26:44 And so it was very, very important 26:46 as it develops here in this area. 26:48 Well, there were no natural barriers in the valley. 26:50 There was nothing to prevent bands of raiders 26:53 from coming out of the deserts and attacking along the river. 26:56 So they to defend themselves they had to built cites 26:59 which in time became more and more important 27:01 because they had things to loose and so the cities developed, 27:05 they became more and more bureaucratic. 27:07 So to protect themselves they elected a big man 27:11 a chief that's where it comes from. 27:13 They elected a big man or a chief. 27:16 And now the city state had some one to lead them. 27:20 Now the city states were weakened 27:22 because they were constantly fighting 27:25 with the next city state. 27:26 And so we're not one unified people there in the plain, 27:28 many different peoples they are fighting over irrigation 27:31 and land rights and it goes back and forth 27:34 until around 2340 BC. 27:38 There is a man by the name of Sargon of Akkad. 27:42 He sweeps through Mesopotamia. 27:44 He is not Sumerian but he is of somatic origin. 27:47 He raises from low humble origins 27:51 lowly breathy conquerors all of Sumer. 27:54 He extends his empire all around to the Mediterranean Sea. 27:57 He rules for 50 years. 28:00 And he builds many cities including the city of Nineveh 28:04 which is near Mosul today. 28:06 Alternately he unites all of Mesopotamia 28:08 as a single nation under one ruler. 28:12 Now somewhere along the Euphrates 28:14 he built his capital or Akkad. 28:17 The Akkadian rulers would be ultimately assimilated 28:20 by Samarian culture. 28:22 Although they writing was Akkadian was used as to write 28:26 the writ of royalty and commerce 28:28 for centuries to come Sorgan city was lost. 28:34 You see, he defiled the chief Sumerian god at Nippur. 28:38 The God's according to the legend 28:40 wound to obliterate Akkad for all time 28:43 and so far there curse is lasted for 40 centuries 28:47 we still don't know where Akkad is. 28:50 The descendants of Sorgan ruled for 100 years. 28:53 They were then overran by fierce warriors. 28:56 They came down from the Zagros Mountains. 28:59 The Zagros Mountain this is modern day Kurdistan, okay. 29:04 They came down from the Zagros Mountains 29:06 and they overran the area 29:08 and it was a very, very difficult time for them. 29:12 The empire was broken into little tiny city states. 29:16 But around 2100 BC 29:18 there was one last cast of Sumerian dominants. 29:21 There was another king who developed down here 29:24 near Ur the very important city down by the Persian Gulf. 29:28 His name was Ur Narru. 29:30 Ur Narru revitalizes ancient Sumerian culture. 29:35 He was a great king, he build a giant Ziggurat in the city. 29:40 Now the Ziggurat was a high place. 29:42 And he built a giant Ziggurat to the moon God. 29:45 And this was trying to go 29:46 and just imagine this its totally flat land 29:49 where they're trying to get up high up to the heavens. 29:52 And it hovered some 70 feet above the plain. 29:55 Today, it is the most perfectly preserved 29:59 Ziggurat in Iraq or in Mesopotamia. 30:02 I listened with of great interest 30:05 during the first Gulf War 30:06 because Saddam Hussein parked many of his MIG jets 30:09 right around that Ziggurat down by Ur. 30:12 He was hoping the Americans wouldn't risk sending a bomb 30:15 and blowing up one of the great archeological treasures 30:18 of the past and of course they didn't. 30:21 And so it is still there. 30:22 Well, this Ur was also the city of Abraham, 30:30 Abraham. 30:32 I thought Abraham was a Jew, say Abraham a Jew. 30:40 Who do Jews come from anyway? 30:44 Who would be the first Jew? Judah, okay. 30:49 So Abraham-- Judah 30:50 that would be where Jews come from the tribe of Judah, okay. 30:54 Was Abraham an Israelite? 30:57 Who would be the first Israelite? 30:59 Jacob because his neighbors changed from Jacob to Israel. 31:03 So what in the world was Abraham? 31:06 He was an Iraqi right? 31:08 Now they call him an Ur of the Chaldeans 31:11 but actually he was from the region of Iraq. 31:15 He was an Iraqi. 31:16 It must be the God loves Iraqis right? 31:18 I believe God loves Iraqi, don't you? 31:20 Yeah, I believe God loves all peoples. 31:22 And so Abraham comes down from Ur 31:24 but he is called Abraham the Hebrew. 31:30 And as many scholars say that Hebrew means to crossover 31:36 because Abraham crossed over. 31:39 Now in Abraham's day Ur was a great city. 31:43 They had running water, they had sewers, 31:46 they educated their children. 31:48 It was a fabulous city. 31:50 Children had learned to read and write 31:52 its royalty were buried in great style. 31:55 I want to bring up couple of pictures here 31:56 from the royal cemetery of Ur 31:59 excavated by Sir Leonard Woolley in 1922. 32:03 Here we can see some fabulous things 32:05 that were discovered there. 32:06 This, this head dress of the queen 32:09 isn't that fabulous? 32:10 But look at this bull 32:11 this was a bull harp the lapis lazuli eared. 32:15 It's just fabulous and they found all kinds 32:18 of wonderful artifacts there in the tomb. 32:21 They also found 74 skeletons in the death pit 32:25 and its amazing that one of the individuals 32:29 who was buried with the royalty actually was buried was alive 32:34 and they had music until the end 32:36 because they had the fingers 32:38 right on the strings of the harp playing 32:41 until they expired in the tomb. 32:44 Well, there was some other wonderful finds 32:46 that include this golden helmet dated back to 2100 BC. 32:50 But in spite of all their vast commercial 32:53 architectural and artist accomplishments 32:56 the people turned away from the one true God, 32:59 the Creator of the heaven earth. 33:01 They turned their back and began to give homage 33:03 to gods of stone and wood and clay. 33:07 And since the immortal worship of Ishtar was based here 33:10 God called Abraham the son the Terah 33:13 to leave Ur to crossover, to become a Hebrew 33:18 and to follow him to the Promise Land. 33:21 And so he it took from Ur this great city of learning 33:24 and Abraham left and followed 33:27 the true God to the land of Canaan. 33:29 Now Abraham and his clan 33:31 would have journeyed up to the Euphrates River. 33:33 They would have passed ancient Babylon with its ziggurat, 33:36 there the tower of Babel. 33:38 They would have passed that some ziggurats was over 300 feet high 33:41 they say was composed of seven stories going up 33:45 and then on the top there was a an altar 33:49 to Bel Marduk with chief Babylonian God. 33:54 Abraham didn't stay in Babylonian he pressed on 33:58 but the family reached the caravan city of Horan. 34:02 And as they reached the caravan city of Horan 34:04 they paused there until his father died. 34:08 His father died and then God called him, "Abraham, 34:10 this is not the place." 34:11 And so he continued his journey and he journeyed 34:14 on down into the Promise Land to the land of Canaan 34:18 and God established him in the land of Canaan 34:20 where his descendants would ultimately settle. 34:23 Abraham is known has 34:24 the friend of God the khalil of God. 34:27 He is looked upon as a spiritual father 34:29 of the three manifesto religions in this part of the world 34:32 Judaism and Christianity and Islam. 34:34 This was a last era for ancient Sumer 34:38 where people learnt to read and write 34:40 and they foundation there it calmly began to crumble, 34:44 agricultural fell into decline, 34:46 the soil was reached to its fertility, 34:48 fruits surpluses dwindled and soon there was unrest 34:54 and once again they were battling and fighting. 34:57 And around the time of Abraham's birth 35:00 sumatic nomads began to come down 35:03 and overrun the area. 35:05 They established their capital 35:07 down at Babylon, down at Babylon. 35:10 Now the Sumerians and their culture would vanish 35:13 for thousands of years. 35:15 The very name Sumer was not known until the end 35:18 of the 19th century by modern people. 35:22 Vanished from the face of the earth, 35:24 vanished from the face of the earth. 35:25 However the sixth king 35:27 of this dynasty was very, very important. 35:29 His name was Hammurabi. 35:31 Hammurabi ruled Babylon for 42 years. 35:34 He was unusual 35:35 because of all of the laws that he established. 35:39 He had a code over 300 royal decisions covering offences 35:43 ranging from adultery to murder, 35:45 with holding wages from employee 35:48 or felling a neighbor's date palm. 35:51 He forged the Babylon Empire 35:53 that swallowed up old Sumerian civilization 35:56 and once again Mesopotamia was a single nation. 36:00 Now this plain was so much like Egypt 36:02 that we looked at previous presentation. 36:04 Remember, Egypt it had no, 36:07 it had all these natural defenses, 36:09 it had the deserts on each side 36:11 and it had the cataract down at the south of Aswan, 36:14 the Mediterranean at the north. 36:15 But there were no natural defenses here. 36:17 And so whoever got stronger 36:19 and whoever had the best armaments, 36:20 they would come and overrun the other people 36:22 and so was constantly going back and forth, back and forth. 36:25 Nomads swarming out of the desert, 36:28 other times armies descending down from the mountains. 36:31 Sumerians gave way to the Akkadians 36:34 who gave way to the Babylonians 36:35 then surely after the death of Hammurabi 36:38 the Babylonian empire began to disintegrate and once again 36:41 there was a chaos and turmoil in the land between the rivers 36:47 until a new people rose in the banks of the upper Tigris 36:52 they were called the Assyrians not Syrians 36:55 but the Assyrians a ferocious people, a violent people. 37:00 Their very professional was war. 37:03 They had little trouble overcoming the people there. 37:07 They came down and attacked, 37:09 they have very little arable land 37:10 they came from the mountains and so they came down 37:12 and overcame the people their profession was war. 37:17 They were disciplined, they worshipped a god Asher 37:22 who was the very god of war. 37:24 This God was symbolized by tree represent fertility 37:27 but first and foremost he was the god of war. 37:30 And war became part 37:31 of the national religion of Assyria. 37:34 Yet until the archeologist began to uncover the remains 37:38 of their cities and palaces knowledge of the Assyrians 37:42 was based mainly upon accounts that you read in the Bible. 37:45 They founded the cities with the extensive cities 37:48 of Nineveh and Nimrud when they were discovered 37:50 and excavated frightening relieves 37:53 of their warfare were found. 37:56 Cities being sacked under the watchful eye of a king, 38:00 prisoners being impaled upon sharp spikes, 38:03 enemy rulers being flayed alive or they were tied to the ground. 38:07 Birds flying away with heads, 38:09 decapitated bodies floating down the rivers, 38:11 it was a terrible scene, a terrible scene. 38:13 The Assyrians became experts in war. 38:17 They combined the power of advanced military technology 38:20 with the ruthless discipline narrowly applied to one end 38:24 dominating the world. 38:25 They believed they were on a divine mission 38:28 as one of their kings 38:29 Assurhaden related in this inscription he said, 38:32 "The gods commissioned me against any land 38:34 that sinned against the god Asshur. 38:37 Asshur the father of the gods empowered me 38:39 to de-populate and re-populate, 38:41 to make broad the boundary of the land 38:44 of the God of Asshur." 38:47 Depopulation or deportation 38:49 became at trademark of the Assyrians. 38:51 It's estimated during the 9th centaury that they, 38:54 they move four to five million people from their homes 38:59 and put them in other places. 39:00 One of the people they moved was the Israelites 39:04 and they brought other people into the land of Israel 39:06 and they assimilated and they became the Samaritans 39:09 that we talked about in the last episode 39:12 the woman of the world was a Samaritan woman. 39:14 The Good Samaritan story we also talked about. 39:17 These people when they would the Assyrians 39:21 would just move people around 39:23 so they wouldn't have their bearings 39:24 and they would be very hard for them 39:26 to be able to fight against them. 39:28 And so they did this ethnic cleansing you might say. 39:32 Well they were terrible leaders that developed 39:35 Tigleth-Pilesser you know that would be a good name 39:37 for rottweiler isn't it here in Kansas. 39:39 Tigleth-Pilesser come, I mean, these were ferocious kings, 39:43 Ashur-nasir-pal, Ashurbanipal I should say. 39:46 Shalmanessar. 39:48 Sargon that we talked about earlier, 39:50 Sennacherib these were names that people shattered 39:53 when they heard their names uttered. 39:56 Sennacherib is of courses the king that we spoke about 40:00 when we talked about Jerusalem because he came down, 40:02 he conquered all of Judah 40:04 basically, took as we talked about. 40:06 He came to the very gates of Jerusalem. 40:09 And Hezekiah cut the gold off of the temple doors 40:12 and gave it as tribute to Sennacherib. 40:16 But remember Hezekiah he repented they had a revival 40:21 he also believed in faith and works as we saw. 40:23 Remember, he build the broad wall 40:25 and he dug tunnel underneath did all those things. 40:27 But he was praying and Isaiah led a revival 40:30 and the Lord delivered Jerusalem 40:33 from the hand of Sennacherib. 40:35 Its amazing it was 1,000 miles from Assyria down to Egypt 40:39 and yet Egypt paid tribute to Sennacherib. 40:42 But the city of Jerusalem was to delivered. 40:45 Sennacherib put this on his inscription of his prison. 40:47 He said I had "Hezekiah the Jew 'shut up like a bird 40:51 in a royal cage'" in a city Jerusalem. 40:54 But it was Sennacherib because he was unable 40:56 to conquer the city it was delivered. 41:00 Yes it was a terrible time a terrible time. 41:05 Great the higher the glory and power however 41:09 Sennacherib empire came to an end the Assyrians vanished 41:13 from history great military machine 41:15 has sworn through Iraq through out history. 41:18 Those strange name Shalmanessar 41:20 and Tigleth-pilesser and Sennacherib 41:22 they built some of the ferocious military machines of antiquity. 41:25 They swept the region destroying all who resisted 41:28 and demanding tribute from all who surrendered. 41:31 But when their cup became full 41:33 they too removed off the stage of history. 41:37 Nabopolassar brought the Neo Babylonian Empire to its height. 41:42 He built his palace at old Babylon. 41:45 He extended his empire 605 BC, 41:50 his son Nebuchadnezzar defeated 41:52 the Egyptian king Necho down at Carchemish in Syria. 41:58 Nebuchadnezzar brought the city 41:59 of Babylon to its zenith. 42:01 He decorated the city as no other city ever been decorated. 42:05 Those famed hanging gardens of Babylon 42:07 were one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. 42:10 He built the gardens to console a wife 42:12 from the mountains of media. 42:14 She longed for the green mountains of her youth 42:17 in that flat dry land of the desert valley. 42:22 Now the Euphrates ran through the ancient city of Babylon 42:25 provided water for drinking and irrigation. 42:28 The river also assisted in the defense of the city. 42:32 a lot of history tells us it had great double walls 42:34 some 85 feet thick, 11 miles long outer walls 42:39 and outer mode added to the defenses. 42:41 Babylon was the largest city of antiquity 42:44 sprawled over a thousand acres. 42:47 Nebuchadnezzar restored the glory of the ancient city 42:52 by creating what is known as the Neo Babylonian Empire. 42:56 And its interesting is we noted 42:57 that Saddam Hussein styled himself 43:00 has the new Nebuchadnezzar, 43:03 the new Nebuchadnezzar. 43:05 Like his name says Saddam 43:07 was dreaming of ruling over a great empire. 43:10 When Nebuchadnezzar attacked Judah 43:13 she turned to Egypt for help. 43:15 It was just a matter of time 43:16 until Nebuchadnezzar was the solo ruler 43:18 over the entire area including Egypt. 43:21 Its a interesting Bible verse Daniel 1:1 it says, 43:26 "In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, 43:30 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon 43:31 came down to Jerusalem and besieged it." 43:34 Now I often referred the Bible as a tale of two cities 43:37 because we first read about 43:38 these two cities in the Book of Genesis. 43:41 Its not called Babylon there is called Babel 43:45 where they built that tower. 43:47 It's not called Jerusalem its called Salem 43:50 where there was a priest king name Melchizedek 43:52 that Abraham paid tithe to. 43:54 So the first place to read about Babylon 43:56 in Jerusalem is in Genesis. 43:57 The last place to read about them is in Revelation 44:00 and in between we see this titanic struggle if you please 44:03 between the two cities or the two cultures 44:06 or the two gods Babylon and Jerusalem. 44:11 King of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 44:16 He took trophies back to Babylon. 44:19 He took vessels from the temple of Yahweh. 44:22 And he took living trophies from the princess of Judah. 44:27 Daniel and three of his friends were among the exiles in 605 BC. 44:32 Nineteen years later in the summer of 586 44:37 he returned to Jerusalem to put down a revolt. 44:40 He sacked the city. 44:42 He destroyed the temple of Solomon 44:45 and deported the people 44:46 who remained there including Jeremiah the prophet. 44:49 Here on the screen we see a section of the wall 44:53 from the days of Hezekiah. 44:55 This wall was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar 44:59 when he had a siege rams battering the wall. 45:03 And here on the screen 45:04 you'll actually see Babylonian spearheads 45:07 expended in that battle of 586 BC. 45:11 Yes, it happened, it happened 45:13 and it's very interesting to notice the commentary 45:16 that Daniel the prophet gives in Daniel 1:2. 45:20 He says, "And the Lord." 45:22 Notice it's capitalized it mean there is Yahweh. 45:24 "And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah, 45:28 into his hand, along with some of the articles 45:30 from the temple of God. 45:31 These he carried off 45:32 to the temple of his god in Babylonia 45:34 and put in the treasure house of his God." 45:36 Now that's amazing because to the naked eye 45:39 it looks like who is the strongest God. 45:42 Who is the strongest God of the naked eye? 45:44 Bel-Marduk because he has defeated 45:47 the god Yahweh down in Jerusalem 45:49 because they have been captured 45:51 and they had now been taken off in captivity. 45:54 And so to the naked eye when he was looking at it, 45:56 who is the strongest God? Bel-Marduk. 45:59 Because you always you know you haven't fall for your God. 46:04 And yet Daniel confirms what Jeremiah said. 46:08 And he said no the Lord delivered 46:12 Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand. 46:16 It wasn't because they were stronger 46:18 or better or had a better god, 46:20 our God delivered He allowed us to heaven. 46:24 He actually sent this as a punishment upon His people 46:28 because they turned their back on Him 46:30 and were worshiping idols. 46:32 And so Daniel says "wait a minute look deeper, 46:35 look deeper the Lord delivered 46:39 and we might wonder why on earth 46:41 with the lord Yahweh delivered the king of the Holy city 46:45 and delivered the vessels from the temple 46:47 the only temple that bore His name in the entire world 46:50 into heathen king from Babylonia. 46:53 A tyrant been on ruling the world. 46:56 Where Jeremiah 24-- Jeremiah 27:4-7 47:00 actually "God calls Nebuchadnezzar His servant." 47:06 His servant? Yes, His servant. 47:10 He says "Nebuchadnezzar is my servant." 47:12 He refers to Nebuchadnezzar 92 times in the Bible, 47:15 refers to his capital Babylon 165 times. 47:19 You know as I read this fascinating story 47:21 I'm convinced of God's love for Babylon 47:24 and for people who live there. 47:26 I'm convinced of God's love for the king of Babylon. 47:29 He sent a message of mercy to Nineveh and she repented. 47:33 God sent the prophet Daniel down to live in Babylon 47:37 so he could witness to this Iraqi king. 47:40 So he could share with him the good news 47:41 of the God of heaven. 47:44 Daniel was sent to reach 47:46 the kings heart with the good news. 47:49 The Book of Daniel chronicles how Yahweh the lord worked 47:53 and worked and worked 47:55 to try and reach the kings heart. 47:58 In chapter 1 there is a jihad there is a holy war 48:01 between Babylon and Jerusalem. 48:03 It appears as though the Babylonian god 48:05 is superior to the god the Hebrews 48:06 but Jeremiah and Daniel and far as we say no 48:09 it's not at a defeat for the God 48:12 because our God because He is inferior 48:14 our God is allowing us to happen 48:15 as a punishment on His people 48:18 who've turned their backs on Him 48:20 and are worshiping idols. 48:22 As Daniel walk 1,500 long miles 48:26 retracing the foot steps of Abraham 48:28 up through Lebanon, up through Syria, 48:30 around through Turkey down the Euphrates River 48:33 he must been asking why. 48:34 Can you imagine the soldiers? 48:36 Yeah, your god Yahweh he is some god isn't he? 48:39 Yeah, don't you think? 48:40 Yeah that's what being said as they were walking along. 48:43 And probably most of the exiles are totally demoralized by this. 48:47 But you see Daniel he would sit at the foot of Jeremiah 48:51 and the schools of the prophets. 48:53 And Isaiah had written some things about this earlier on. 48:57 And Jeremiah taught his students about that. 49:00 And Daniel remembered that and so 49:02 he was just praying as he was walking 49:03 those 1,500 miles back to Babylon. 49:06 He was praying Lord, why? 49:09 Use me as Your witness, use me to make a difference 49:12 there in the court of Babylon, use me Lord, use me. 49:18 Daniel settled into the school of Babylon 49:20 and soon he discovered 49:21 why he have been brought to the court of the king. 49:24 Here you graduate summa cum laude 49:28 from the University of Babylon. 49:29 He had been praying for the king 49:31 and as result to Daniels prayers 49:33 God sent a dream to the king 49:35 and it shook the king up. 49:36 He didn't knew what was going on. 49:39 God of heaven confronted an in Iraqi king in a dream. 49:43 The king was concerned about the future, 49:44 he didn't know what it meant. 49:46 Would his kingdom survive? Would he be overthrown? 49:50 Would his children be killed as it happens 49:52 so often in plain of Mesopotamia? 49:55 What would be the future? 49:57 And one night while the king was sleeping 49:59 the God of heavens sent a dream to him. 50:03 And the king was startled by. 50:04 He woke up and he couldn't remember the dream. 50:06 And so the king really what any of us would do 50:09 he called in all of his wise men, 50:10 all the people he pays to know the future 50:13 and he said "hey, you guys are smart 50:15 that's what I pay you for. 50:17 I dreamed something incredible last night 50:18 but I can't remember can you tell me what it was? 50:21 And they said it is a trap." 50:24 And, you know, how can we tell you 50:26 what you dreamed last night we weren't with you. 50:28 You tell us what's' your dream we'll tell what it meant. 50:29 He said, well it's gone from me but its really important. 50:32 And then he began to suspect a wrath because, you know, 50:35 he pays and to know the future. 50:36 And if they can know the future they must know the past. 50:38 And so he thinks it must really be bad news 50:40 because you're not telling them 50:42 what you dreamed about last night. 50:43 And so he says "you better tell me 50:45 or I am gonna kill each one of you and not only you 50:48 but your wives and children too. 50:50 And then I gonna knock your houses down 50:52 and your whole memory will be forgotten. 50:53 So you better tell me what I dreamed last night." 50:55 And they said "this is too much. 50:56 You know no kings ever asked for anything like this. 50:59 You know we can't do this." 51:01 Well, Daniel was not brought in at this time 51:05 he was a junior wise man but he gets word of this. 51:07 And you know what devil was trying to do, won't you? 51:09 He was trying to kill Daniel, right before he ever got 51:12 a chance to witness to Nebuchadnezzar. 51:14 And so Daniel hears about and he goes to his friends 51:17 and notice what he says here 51:18 it is on the screen Daniel Chapter 2 51:20 "Then Daniel returned to his house 51:22 and explained the matter to his friends. 51:23 He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven 51:26 concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends 51:30 might not be executed with the wise men of Babylon." 51:33 Well, I can tell you one thing I bet that was some prayer 51:36 meeting to go don't you think. 51:37 And when your lives on the line tomorrow 51:40 and so they pray and they prayed. 51:43 And an amazing thing happened 51:46 the God of heaven answered there prayer. 51:50 It goes on to say "then was the secret revealed 51:52 to Daniel in a night vision. 51:55 Then was a secret reveal the Daniel in night vision." 51:58 Wow, I think it was not only a great prayer meeting 52:01 I imagine it was a great praise meeting 52:02 when that happened don't you think. 52:04 They were praising, thank you Lord, for revealing this to us. 52:07 And can't just imagine you know 52:09 when Daniel goes down and says "you know, 52:13 has anybody been able tot tell the dream to the king." 52:16 Well, no I think and it actually says 52:19 in the texts in the sorcerers, 52:20 magicians and all these wise men. 52:22 Oh, no, no. 52:23 He said "well, the God in heaven has revealed it to me." 52:26 You know now I remember these were poised from the same God 52:29 that have been taunting him on that 1,500 mile walk 52:31 but there was a, you know, the God in heaven Yahweh. 52:33 You know that god I serve, he revealed to him what it was. 52:37 I would go and tell the king about it. 52:39 Well, this is fabulous dream, a fantastic dream 52:42 because God not only answered the concerns of Nebuchadnezzar 52:46 about the future it actually unfolds the future 52:50 for over 2,500 years down to our day. 52:54 And Louis Torres has come here to tell us about that. 52:58 He has this he has to continue this seminars 53:00 and he unfolds them, come up, Louis. 53:02 I want you to introduce you to these folks. 53:05 Louis has actually come here and he's gonna be leading you 53:08 in a seminar as we unpack this dream. 53:12 And we talk about this incredible dream 53:15 as a matter of fact I think the next episode 53:16 is actually gonna be talking just about that isn't it. 53:21 And they have you mike up here. 53:24 Okay, Louie, welcome. Thanks so much. 53:28 I am a guest here just like you are 53:29 but it's a great group people to be with 53:31 and I know that you're gonna have a tremendous joy 53:35 unpacking this dream because it's tremendous. 53:38 I mean, God reaching down talking 53:40 to an Iraq king like that revealing it the dream 53:43 through Daniel it's just wonderful 53:45 but it actually reveals the future the world. 53:48 It's amazing, the dream is amazing. 53:50 In fact, some dreams do come true, is that correct. 53:55 Let me tell you about the dream I had, strange dream. 53:58 I usually don't remember dreams and I have to say that 54:02 I usually don't even remember I have dreams. 54:04 Sometimes it's better not to remember. 54:07 When I was a little boy I had terrible nightmares 54:11 but I was in the up city. 54:12 I had been a missionary in Palau. 54:16 How many of you know where the Palau islands are? 54:18 Anyone of you know? 54:19 Is in the Pacific Ocean, North Pacific. 54:22 And when I returned from Palau 54:25 I had a friend who was a governor. 54:27 I left him in charge of building a brand new church. 54:31 And what while I was in New York City 54:33 I had a dream about him 54:35 that he would become president. 54:38 So, when I woke up 54:41 I thought about writing to my friend. 54:44 Then I thought, silly me. 54:47 What if I write about the dream and it doesn't come true? 54:52 So I hesitated, didn't do anything about the dream 54:55 but it troubled me 54:56 and it troubled me and it trouble me 54:58 and finally I wrote to the governor. 55:02 And I said I had a dream that you would become president 55:06 but my biggest concern was that if he became president 55:10 he would not follow through with the building of the church, 55:15 he become too busy. 55:16 So I sent the letter never heard from him. 55:22 Two years later, I received a telephone call 55:26 asked me to go to Palau and to dedicate the church. 55:33 When I arrived there a senator came 55:37 to the airport and picked me up. 55:39 I didn't even have to go through customs. 55:41 And I thought it was just quite unusual. 55:44 Finally they took me too and the president place 55:50 and sure enough he had become president. 55:54 And I said to him why didn't you respond? 55:59 Why didn't you write back? 56:01 He said when I got the letter I got scared to death 56:06 and I did not know what to do. 56:07 So-- 56:09 Dreams do come true. Dreams do come true. 56:11 Well, I know you're gonna be talking to them about this dream 56:13 and in next episode, its gonna be thrilling 56:15 as you see the great prophecies of Daniel marching through time 56:18 and I want to encourage all of you here 56:20 and all of you watching to enjoy the seminar 56:22 that is going to continue as we dig up the future 56:26 and looking at Bible prophecy. 56:28 A tremendous dream you don't want to miss it. 56:30 Well, its time for us to have a closing prayer 56:33 for this episode before we wish you 56:35 good-bye, good-tonight. 56:37 Father in heaven, we thank You so much for this opportunity 56:39 to dig up the future to look into the past. 56:42 And as we are confronted by this incredible dream 56:45 of Nebuchadnezzar I pray that You will bless Louis 56:48 as he shares his dream and unpacks 56:50 the great prophecies of the Bible with us. 56:53 We, our hearts are thrilled by that. 56:55 We thank You that you love all people 56:56 and through Iraqis and Americans 56:59 that You're trying to reach every one 57:00 with the good news of Your love 57:02 and we thank You for hearing our prayer tonight 57:04 and for Your blessings upon us in Jesusname, amen. 57:07 Well, again it's been a wonderful to be with you. 57:09 Thanking you for allowing me 57:10 participate with you of a series here in Wichita 57:13 and may God bless all of you. |
Revised 2014-12-17