Restoring the Fortunes of Zion (Walk Thru the Bible Week 39)

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Welcome to Walk Through the Bible, Susan Michael's 12-month journey through the most exciting

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book on the planet.

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It will transform your life one page at a time.

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Be sure to subscribe for future episodes that will ignite your faith and bring your Bible

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to life.

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Now, let's join our host, Susan Michael.

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Hey there, welcome back.

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This is Walk Through the Bible Week 39.

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We read this week from the dates of September the 24th to the 30th, or pages 1238 to 1226

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in the Daily Bible.

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So last week we had the exciting development that King Cyrus of Persia allowed the first

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group of exiles to come back.

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And within two years they had rebuilt the foundations of the temple.

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And so this week now we are going to end the ministry of Daniel, and then we're going to

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continue with the rebuilding of the temple there in Jerusalem.

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So let's go back to ancient Babylon, now Persia, and see what happens here at the end of Daniel's

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ministry.

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So right about the same time the foundation has been laid in Jerusalem, Daniel is in

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Persia, and he is fasting for three weeks.

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And an angel comes to him with a message, and he tells him, it's a very well-known passage.

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Many of us have read this over the years, many times, where the angel says, look, I

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would have come when you first started praying three weeks ago, but I was detained by the

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Prince of Persia.

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And Michael had to come and help me, and so here I am, but when I have to go back and

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continue this fight with the Prince of Persia, and so it's like, what?

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And so it seems like here that the Lord is allowing Daniel to see that there is a spiritual

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reality.

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It's every bit as real as what we see here on earth.

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And in fact, I think that what happens here on earth is very much a reflection of what

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is happening spiritually.

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For many of us, we just go about our daily lives thinking everything about the natural,

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about today, about food, about sleep, about taking care of this, and all in the physical.

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And it's moments like this in reading Daniel that we need to remind ourselves that there's

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a very, very spiritual reality out there.

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And so as this vision is talking about politics, really, and the fall of Persia to the Greece

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and this and that, it shows us, though, that there is this spiritual realm.

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And in this long vision, Daniel talks about this contemptible king that he comes in like

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against God's holy covenant.

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And it describes how that he goes down to fight the king of the south, and then on his

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way back through, he stops and fights against the holy covenant.

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Well, this is really a very good description of what happened later under Antiochus Epiphanes,

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the fourth.

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And so we'll get to that story in a few weeks from now.

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But the story really does take place the way Daniel sees it here.

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Now, I do want to mention here that in Daniel 12, verse 4, it refers here about that this

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is set for a time of the end.

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And it says that in verse 4 that many will go here and there to increase knowledge.

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Well, if ever there was a description of this point in the history of the earth, it is this

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description that we are all running here and there, flying everywhere, traveling everywhere,

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running everywhere, seeking knowledge because this is the information age.

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And whereas our earth has gone through many different seasons of development, and we've

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gone through the iron age and the bronze age and the this age and the that age and the

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industrial revolution and all these phases of history, now we are in the information

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age.

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And it just so happens that the information age goes with technology and technology allows

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for much greater travel than the earth has ever seen before.

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I mean, we're getting into these metal tubes and we're flying all over the earth.

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It really is quite amazing when you stop and think about it.

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And so when Daniel refers to the end, the time for the end, and describes it this way,

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I can't help but think that that means we're in the end time.

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Now it's here that we see the ministry and the voice of Daniel come to an end.

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And then Daniel 12 at the end, verse 13, it says, as for you, go your way till the end.

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You will rest.

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And then at the end of days, you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.

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So the Lord is telling Daniel here, you know, you're going to finish out your days.

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You're going to die, which is probably what rest means, but you will be raised again at

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a certain time to enter into eternity.

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And this is the end of Daniel's ministry.

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We don't hear from Daniel or of Daniel anymore.

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Now at the same time that Daniel has probably been having this final vision and this final

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word from the Lord.

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We have the exiles are back in the land.

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A few of them went back and began rebuilding the temple.

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And last week we finished the foundation of the temple.

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And I laugh because it said that they were weeping just as loud as they were rejoicing

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over it because they missed the splendor of the first temple and of the previous Jerusalem.

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So this week we read about the building of the temple, the rest of the temple.

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And in Ezra 4 through 6, you know, this is now 16 years after Cyrus has made his decree

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and there is still no temple because what happened is after they laid the foundation

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and the people got very busy building their own houses.

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I mean they needed places to live.

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They needed to plant crops.

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They needed to fix up the broken down vineyards and provide for themselves.

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But you know, months become years and years become decades and here it is 16 years later

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and no one's worrying about building the temple.

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And this is where we have the prophets Haggai and Zechariah come into place.

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And they began to speak to this and they speak to it as apathy in the people about the things

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of God.

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And so they began rebuilding and then they suffer opposition to the rebuilding.

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And finally King Darius has to go and research the annals to find that King Cyrus had issued

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this decree because once it's decreed, it's decreed.

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And so this allowed for the building of the temple to be restarted after they had had this

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opposition to it.

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So and not only did they allow it to be rebuilt but that they reaffirmed that Persia is going

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to pay for the rebuilding of the temple.

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So now let's look at the prophet Haggai.

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And so he begins to prophesy it's now been 16 years since Cyrus's decree and so it's

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now 520 BC and his book begins to address the apathy of the people and that God is not

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pleased with this.

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And it says here that the prophet Haggai and the governor Zerubbabel and the high priest

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Joshua speak to the people that the Lord speaks through them.

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So here we see here coming together and being resurrected and raised up the ministry of

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the prophet, priest and king except that you're not going to have a king at this time because

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Persia another empire they're not going to allow you to have a king but they will allow

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you to have a governor.

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So we have here the prophet, priest and governor and they speak to the people and they rebuke

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the people for saying that now's not the time to be rebuilding the temple and they address

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this as apathy and not doing what God has called them to do.

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And so here it says that God's blessing has not been on the people that their crops haven't

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been doing well, their provision hasn't been there, their income hasn't been there and

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it's because they have not tended to the house of the Lord.

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So the people responded and said okay and the Lord says well I am with you and the work

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begins on the rebuilding of the temple.

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And then in Haggai 2 verses 1 through 9 he begins to deal with the discouragement of

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the people.

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You know it's very hard work and it is very discouraging because they know the grandeur

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of the first temple and they have this opposition of sometimes from some of the outsiders there

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and so the prophet here deals with their discouragement and he says here to Zerubbabel to not be fearful

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and to not be discouraged and in a way it kind of mirrors the language that we read

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back in Exodus to Moses and in Deuteronomy and in Joshua to Joshua where the Lord says

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do not be fearful and to have courage and be strong because I am with you and this is

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the same kind of language that he was using to Zerubbabel the governor here it was to

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be strong and to fear not to not be discouraged because I am with you and that there is a

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day when the glory of this house he says will be greater than that of the former house.

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Wow that's quite a promise.

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Now God's provision is then tied to their obedience and if they'll do what he tells

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them to do he will bless them and this is what he encourages Zerubbabel with I am with

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you and the message here for all of us for Zerubbabel that all of us can take away from

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this is do not despise the day of small beginnings don't think that what you're doing is not

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important enough or it's not big enough.

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We are part of a magnificent tapestry throughout all of history that God has been weaving for

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generations and generations and it's so important that we play our part today that we weave

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our part of the tapestry for today and if we will God will provide he is there with

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us if we will not get discouraged and not be fearful and give up but do our part and

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one day we're going to see that we were part of something that is so much bigger than us

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that the glory of this temple will be even greater than the glory of the former temple.

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Well then Haggai goes into dealing with some of the sins of the people and very interesting

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section here starting with verse 10, chapter 2 verse 10 where he says that he gives us

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this little story and what the story that he's telling the takeaway is that whereas holiness

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doesn't just automatically spread and make other things holy but sin spreads, sin contaminates.

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So if you are unclean and you touch something it becomes unclean and this is a real warning

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for all of us that since bread has been likened to leaven and bread or yeast you put just

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a little bit of yeast in there and it begins to grow and it begins to take over the whole

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loaf of dough and this is what Haggai is warning them of to purify themselves because any impurity

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makes great impurity in the end.

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Now the other prophet for this period is the prophet Zechariah and he's a contemporary

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of Haggai in the very beginning and so he has a message here, he begins out with the

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message of repentance and Zechariah is needing to encourage the people and to give them hope

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while Haggai kind of focuses on the rebuilding of the temple, Zechariah focuses a bit more

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on the people.

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And so in chapter 1 with verse 7 through chapter 6 the prophet has a series of eight

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visions and these visions are really quite interesting and quite complex in terms of

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how they kind of pair up and all but I just want to treat the eight visions as one through

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eight and kind of what their message is.

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And so the first is that Israel is to be restored in prosperity and second vision that Israel's

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oppressors will be punished and the third vision is that God will be with his people

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and the fourth vision is that the sins of the people will be removed by the branch capital

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B, the messenger that God is going to send.

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The fifth vision that God will complete the temple and through two anointed ones, the

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sixth vision is that wickedness will be punished, the seventh vision that the nations will be

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brought to their knees and then the eighth vision is that at last that there will be

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rest.

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Now a very interesting section here after the visions is where Zechariah is told to

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put a crown on Joshua's head.

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Now Joshua is the high priest and in the past king and priest were separate positions

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and now here under the Persians or under any other conquering kingdom you're not allowed

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to have a king and so here the high priest is being crowned and the offices are in a

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way being brought together which this will be important to remember this later on when

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Jesus comes and we have the symbol of the Messiah as both priest and king over the people.

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So this is a little bit of a shift in how God is going to lead his people now and the

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high priest becomes very important and so by the time of Jesus when he comes the high

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priest are very important and they have the Sanhedrin which acts as a government for the

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Jewish people not a government that opposes or replaces the Roman authority over them

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but the Sanhedrin sees to the people and makes the decisions for them and so here we see

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how the high priest had become so powerful it begins here in this period.

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And in Ezra 614 it says that they continued to build and prosper under the preaching of

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Haggai and Zechariah.

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So these two prophets were very very instrumental in keeping the people focused and keeping them

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in line with what God wanted which was the rebuilding of the temple and the rebuilding

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of Jerusalem and it took a lot of hand holding a lot of encouragement but that is the role

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of Haggai and Zechariah and it seems from this verse that they did a good job.

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So this week we read about the completion of the temple.

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It is finished in 516 BC.

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Now make a note that that is exactly 70 years since it was destroyed in 586 BC and I find

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this to be so interesting.

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We sit here and we look at the affairs of the world and we feel like they are just completely

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out of control and where is God?

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And when we read this story and we see how God prophesied ahead of time that it would

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be 70 years under Babylon and that Jerusalem would be destroyed 70 years and true to his

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word Babylon only lasted about 70 years and then it is replaced by Persia.

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How did he do that?

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How did he know that?

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How did he bring that about?

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And then Jerusalem here was destroyed and it was rebuilt 70 years later.

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That meant that there had to be a change of empires, there had to be a royal decree that

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they could go back and build this thing.

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The Persians actually had to pay for the rebuilding of it.

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All of this, all of this, God knew from the beginning exactly how it was going to happen.

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And I think that we just need to take a minute and say, wow, God, you are the God of history.

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History is nothing but his story.

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God is busy at work behind this history that seems so overwhelming to us.

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Now I want to mention about the rebuilding of the temple.

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We are offering, we have a little DVD that we are offering for sale.

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Once again, this DVD was produced by our good friends at the Christian Broadcasting Network

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and it is called Written in Stone about the temple.

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And so this, you can go and see the temple mount today but you can also see what it would

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have looked like then and you can hear about the archeology of the first and the second

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temples.

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It is a great wonderful little DVD.

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And so we will put a link to it in the show notes, how you can go to our store and purchase

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that DVD written in stone, the temple.

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All right, then we are going to end today and this week is reading back in the Psalms.

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We love when we get to read some of the beautiful Psalms.

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They just minister to our spirit after such history and such events in history and to

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spend just a few minutes here back in the Psalms.

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So this week we read Psalm 118 which is out of what is called the Halel.

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And if you will remember, I already told you about the Halel.

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It is a series of Psalms, Psalm 113 through 118 that were read at many of the feasts of

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Israel and Jesus referred to Psalm 118.

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It is referred to many times in the New Testament.

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So I already covered this in episode, what was it, week 18.

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I talked about the Halel so I am not going to talk about Psalm 118 this week, although

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it is a really, really important Psalm.

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And so I advise you to go back and listen to week 18 if you haven't already.

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And then the other Psalms that we read this week, a number of them come from what are

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known as the Psalms of Ascent.

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And these were a series of Psalms that were also sung at the festivals of Israel, but

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they were often sung while the tribes made their way from their homes up to Jerusalem,

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which of course could have been a track of several days.

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They also were sung by the priests as they ascended the steps into the temple.

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So they are known as the Psalms of Ascent.

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But some of these Psalms were also sung by the exiles on their way back to the land.

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And so we have some of them appearing now in this week's reading.

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I just want to end with a few verses from these wonderful Psalms of Ascent.

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And as you read through them this week, picture the exiles making their way back to Jerusalem,

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making their way back to the land and repeating some of these Psalms.

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And they will just side of come alive for you.

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And let's read Psalm 126, verse 1.

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When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed.

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Our mouths were filled with laughter.

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Our tongues were songs of joy.

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Then it was said among the nations, The Lord has done great things for them.

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The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with joy.

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Wow, what a rejoicing.

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The Lord has restored the fortunes of Zion.

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They are back.

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They are coming back and they are back in the land.

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They are back in Jerusalem.

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And I says, we were like those who dreamed.

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Our mouths were filled with laughter and our tongues with songs of joy.

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As they sang these songs of ascent on their way back.

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And then it says, the Lord's name had been vindicated.

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Remember how we talked about that a couple of weeks ago?

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By bringing back the exiles, now it's being said amongst the nations, The Lord has done

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great things for them.

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God had vindicated his name amongst the nations.

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And then the psalmist says here, Yes, the Lord has done great things for us and we are

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filled with joy.

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Psalm 125, the first verse, is one of my favorite in the whole Bible because I so many times

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have sat there looking out over Jerusalem and thought of this verse.

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Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken, but endures

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forever.

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As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people, both now and forever

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more.

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And I'm going to end today with Psalm 128, verse 5.

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May the Lord bless you from Zion.

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And I hope that the Lord has blessed you out of Zion.

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And as a part of our teachings and I walk through the Bible this year, I do pray that the Lord

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has blessed you and blessed you right out of Zion, along with his children, the exiles

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who have come home.

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So enjoy your reading this week.

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I'll see you back here next week as we begin to wrap up our reading of the Old Testament.

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Wow, we are really making amazing progress.

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So be sure and look in our show notes, get your DVD about the temple.

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I'll see you back here next week.

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And until then, God bless.

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We hope you have enjoyed this episode of Out of Zion with Susan Michael.

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Be sure to subscribe to Out of Zion now on Apple Podcasts, cpnshows.com, YouTube, or

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wherever you like to listen and learn.

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Out of Zion with Susan Michael is a production of ICEJ USA All Rights Reserved.