The Watershed Moment That Changed the World (Walk Thru the Bible Week 1)

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Welcome to Out of Zion with Susan Michael, an exploration of the Bible and the land of

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Israel.

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From ancient biblical sites to the story behind the stories, join Susan on a journey through

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the most exciting book on the planet.

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Hit the subscribe button for future episodes, which will deepen your faith and bring the

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Bible to life.

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And now, here's our host, Susan Michael.

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Well, hey there, and welcome.

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This is week one of the Walk Through the Bible series.

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This week, we're going to be covering Genesis 1 through 11 and the beginning of the story

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of Abraham.

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Now, this is found in your daily Bible, pages 1 through 39.

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So, let's get started.

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We have a lot to cover today.

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My goal is that each week we keep this podcast to about 20 minutes.

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Today I'm not going to make it.

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There is so much to cover.

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So give me a few extra minutes this week.

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But we cover Genesis 1 through 11, which in itself is so rich and so full of stories.

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But then to begin the story of Abraham, we can't gloss over any of this.

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So please, stick with me just a few extra minutes this week.

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Now, we start with creation.

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As you know, there's a lot of debate about the biblical account of creation.

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I'm not about to get into all of that.

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We would need a whole an hour together at least to get into some of the different theories

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of creationism, evolutionism, etc., etc.

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I just want to make this point that the Bible is not a science book.

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It wasn't written by scientists.

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It's a story book.

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It's telling the story of creation.

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Now it's my personal opinion that one day all of science is actually going to line up

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and verify the account that we have in the Bible.

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But for today, I'll just say that keep in mind, it wasn't written by scientists or with

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a science perspective in mind, but to tell a story.

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There are theories, and as we know in our schools, there's a battle against the creationism

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version of the story of creation versus evolution.

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They like to portray it that science is behind the theory of evolution, and it's not behind

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the story of creationism.

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And I beg to differ because I think there's a lot of gaps in the evolutionary Darwinian

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theory.

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Like I said, we're not going to go there today, but I am going to bring out one very interesting

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point.

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And this is, you know, science itself is evolving.

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And science takes interpretation, which a lot of times it's the mindset of the person

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interpreting it, what they want science to prove.

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And there's a whole new area of study and science in our lifetime called the genome.

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They're studying the genetic makeup of the body.

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And through the study of genes, they have come to a very, very interesting conclusion.

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And I'm going to read to you a few sentences out of the book called Flood Gates.

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And I'm going to link to this in the show notes as a great resource.

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If you want more information about the creation, about the flood story, it goes into a whole

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lot more than that.

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But in the beginning of the book, it covers the story of Noah and the flood.

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But here's a really interesting piece of information.

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It says, research into the human genome has revealed some startling new facts about the

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human race.

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Recent DNA analysis, which they didn't do 200 years ago, indicates that our race is

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extremely young rather than the product of millions of years of evolutionary change.

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And they have come up with the term of mitochondrial DNA.

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And what this is, it says they're coming to the conclusion that all humans came from

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one woman dubbed mitochondrial Eve, a mere 6,000 years ago, just as the Bible says.

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They've also studied the Y chromosome in men.

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It says that both studies found that all humans can trace their ancestry back to at least

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one of three males who lived about 5,000 years ago.

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So this means we all come from mitochondrial Eve, one woman 6,000 years ago.

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But then we also all come from one of three men from 5,000 years ago.

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Some scholars call this the Noah's Ark theory in reference to Noah's three sons, the survivors

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of the flood.

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Thus, both male and female chromosomes tend to corroborate the biblical accounts of man's

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origins and the flood.

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Interesting stuff.

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If you're interested in knowing more, I link to floodgates later on.

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Let's keep moving.

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So that's creation coming from Adam and Eve.

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And then of course we have the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

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And I want to say this was God's will for man that we live in a state of innocence and

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that we live in fellowship with him and that we live in enjoying the creation around us

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due to sin and the disobedience of man.

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We lost all of that.

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But God's goal is that we would come back to that point of innocence before him, of

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walking in fellowship with him and enjoying the creation.

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But of course man falls into sin and we lose it all.

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And then we have the story of this global flood and the Ark that Noah built.

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This will tell you that there's no evidence of a global flood.

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However, there is evidence.

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It depends on how you're going to read that evidence.

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And once again, the book Floodgates goes into some of that.

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But I'm going to keep moving through what we're reading this week.

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So after the flood and we have the survival of Noah in his three sons, and then we have

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the beginning of a genealogy from them, then we have the story of the Tower of Babel, which

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was that man was building this tower to the heavens and God confused their language.

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And this is known as the beginning of the dispersion of humankind and the beginning

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of the creation of nations and people groups.

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But I want to take a minute here just to point out that the story of the building of this

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tower is actually quite consistent with archaeological finds from the time.

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So during this time of Genesis 1-11, it's sort of what we call prehistory history.

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It's ancient history before things were being written down.

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There's just not a lot of evidence to go by here.

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But there are some archaeological finds.

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And what we do know is that there were two great centers of civilization.

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One was in Mesopotamia because of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

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You had to have water to live.

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But the other center of civilization was down in Egypt along the Nile Valley.

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So you have Egypt and you have Mesopotamia.

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And that's where civilization is really growing and advancing and cities are starting up.

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So in Egypt, they began building pyramids in honor of the deceased kings.

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But it was a way of building some kind of mediation between heaven and earth on behalf

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of this king.

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In Mesopotamia, they were building a tower to go up to heaven in honor of the gods.

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And it was in a way to provide a stairway for man and gods to meet.

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And they were called a ziggurat.

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And there are 32 uncovered known ziggurats in the area.

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And it was like a pyramid shape, but it was different from the pyramids of Egypt in that

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it would go up a little and then there would be a plateau.

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And then on that plateau, they would build again and then they would plateau.

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So it was a series of platforms.

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So the top platform was in a peak.

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It was a flat surface.

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So this story of Babylon is actually very in keeping with what was being done in that

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day.

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So that's kind of our quick little run through of Genesis 1 through 11 where we've seen

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the creation of man in a state of innocence, but his fall into sin and he falls deeper

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and deeper into sin so bad that God actually decides to wipe out mankind.

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There seems to be some kind of joining spiritual uncleanliness here with man.

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And so he just he wipes them out with his flood.

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But then he says that he will never do that again.

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And yet man keeps falling into idolatry and going after other gods and building these

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platforms to reach the gods and things that just were in defiance of the universe.

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And then we start in Genesis 12.

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And this is known as the watershed moment in the whole Bible because from here, from

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Genesis 12, the story begins that you follow through the rest of the Bible and it begins

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with the man named Abram, who God chose.

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And he chose Abram to start a nation through whom God was going to redeem the world.

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The only thing it required is that Abram get up and leave his inheritance and leave his

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father's family, leave it all behind and follow God to a land that he would show him.

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And we all know that Abram did that.

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And so he leaves his family home and his inheritance and he follows the Lord to the land of Canaan.

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Now the covenant that God creates with Abram is, as I said, the goal is that it's going

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to bring redemption to the world.

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It says that all the families of the earth would be blessed.

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It's the apostle Paul who said that verse was referring to redemption through Christ Jesus.

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And if you want to know more about the Abrahamic covenant, we're going to link in our show

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notes to a little booklet.

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So one hour read, it's really easy to read called The Bases of Christian Support for Israel.

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But the basis for Christian support for Israel is actually understanding the Abrahamic covenant.

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And so this little booklet will tell you more about the Abrahamic covenant.

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I also covered it in the 3D Bible series and more than once.

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But I recommend you get this little booklet.

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If you want to understand more, because it's the Abrahamic covenant that brings redemption

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to the world, that brought Jesus to the world, that you and I are grafted in through the

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Abrahamic covenant.

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So it's so important that we understand that.

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But here in the story that we're reading this week, after God tells Abram that he's going

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to do this, and Abraham then comes to the land of Canaan.

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And what happens?

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But there's famine in the land of Canaan.

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So we have this interesting story where Abram goes to Egypt for food, and he ends up lying

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and saying that his beautiful wife is his sister and not his wife.

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God has to rebuke him for this.

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But he leaves Egypt and comes back to the land of Canaan.

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Now once again, this story is very, very common.

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If you lived in the land of Canaan, and there was a famine, there was nowhere to go, but

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either Egypt or Mesopotamia.

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That's where all the people were, where the food was, and that's where you had to go.

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And so Abraham sojourned on down into Egypt.

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He comes back, and he and Lot then have to make a decision.

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He's got his nephew with him, Lot.

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They have too much cattle, they've gotten too wealthy.

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Their herdsmen are struggling with each other.

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There's not enough space.

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And so he gives Lot his choice.

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Where do you want to go?

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And Lot, of course, chose the very, very lush land of the Jordan Valley.

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So he goes down into that lush area, which includes the more dry area of the Dead Sea,

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and ends up living in Sodom.

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There's a war, and the inhabitants of Sodom are taken into exile, you could say.

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They're abducted, and Lot was one of those that was abducted and taken way up north of

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Damascus.

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And so Abraham rallies his men, and he goes after them.

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And I want to take just a minute here.

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I want you to listen to this because in Genesis 14, I think verse 13 or 14, it says that Abraham

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went as far as Dan.

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Now when this was being written, the city was called Dan.

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But in the days of Abraham, when Abraham actually went up north as far as this northern city

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of Dan, it was called Laish in Abraham's time.

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And it says that during the night, Abraham reorganized his men, and then the next day

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they went on farther north past Damascus, and they retreated Lot, and they defeated these

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kings.

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Why is this such an important story?

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Because today, when you go to Israel with me, we're going to go to that ancient city

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of Laish, and I'm going to show you a mud brick entrance into the city, a gateway into

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the city that has been uncovered.

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We call it Abraham's gate because it's so highly likely that Abraham entered that gate

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and spent the night inside the city that night.

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If not, he for sure went inside the city for supplies.

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And so we call it Abraham's gate.

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It's amazing.

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You can see the steps going up to the gate.

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It's the oldest archway gate that they have found in Israel.

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You see it all boarded up today.

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It's filled in with mud bricks to keep it up.

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But in those days, it was an open gate that Abraham would have entered, a 4,000-year-old

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gate at that city that it says Abraham went to.

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Now after Abraham defeats the kings, he heads back down south, and then we have another

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really interesting story that the king of Sodom comes out and actually thanks Abraham

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for what he's done.

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And then the king of Salem comes out of the city of Salem, and more than likely this

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is the ancient city of Jerusalem because Yair Shalim means Yair Shalom.

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So it's the city of peace.

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So the city of Salem, Shalim, Shalom, the king was named Melchizedek, and it says that

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he was a priest to the Most High God.

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And he comes out and he blesses Abraham.

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And so Abraham then gives a tithe of everything to Melchizedek.

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So Abraham is recognizing the kingly and priestly role of this man to the God of Abraham, to

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the Most High God.

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Well, it just so happens that today in Jerusalem where the archaeologists have been digging

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down farther and farther down into the Canaanite level of the city of Jerusalem, it's all

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underground, but you can go there and you can see stones of the Canaanite time of Jerusalem.

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And then you can see the stones of the Israelite time and the Nehemiah wall.

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You can see these various stones of the different strata of history of Jerusalem, but going

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all the way down to that initial Canaanite city of Jerusalem, they have found what looks

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to be an altar to the Most High God.

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Now how do we know that?

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Because pagan altars were built in certain ways and in certain places in the city.

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This was not built in that way.

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Instead, it was built for animal sacrifice.

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You can see where the animals were skinned and the blood was drained.

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You can see where the supplies were kept.

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You can see a stone that was often used as a marker, as a place where they met with the

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God of the universe, the Most High God, and you can see that stone there.

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So the archaeologists that uncovered this is convinced that this is the altar of Melchizedek

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in the ancient city of Salem.

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Is that not amazing?

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So you've got to go with me so we can see these things.

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After the story of Abraham and Melchizedek, then we have the years are going by and Abraham

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says, God, you promised me a nation and that it would be a blessing to all the families

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of the earth, but I don't see anything happening.

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And so God confirms the covenant with Abraham and he gives him a sign of the covenant and

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the sign is circumcision.

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And so from then on out throughout the Bible, circumcision is a part of the right of the

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Jewish people because it is a sign of God's covenant with Abraham.

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And he promises him that Sarah is going to have a son.

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And it's at this point that Abraham says, oh, but God, may it be Ishmael, you know,

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and he has the son Ishmael and Ishmael is now approaching 13 years old.

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And God says, no, it's going to be from Sarah.

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That's going to be the appointed line.

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That's who I'm going to confirm the covenant with.

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But don't worry, I will bless Ishmael.

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And then the final story that we read this week is the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.

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And of course, we know the sins were just mounting up in this area of Sodom and Gomorrah

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and Lot was there and Abraham pled with God to save the city.

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But finally, destruction comes and it says that God rained down burning sulfur on the

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city.

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Well, archaeologists have looked for any kind of evidence that any such thing may have happened

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and what they have found is evidence throughout the area of a major earthquake accompanied

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by burning.

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So maybe that was it.

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We don't know.

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But it's very interesting that there is a certain archaeological site there.

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They call it Tel El Haman.

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And it was of a town that grew quite large and it had very high walls around it.

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So this was a well-known community.

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It was there for many, many years.

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And it seems that it was destroyed by some kind of fire.

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And you can see down in the bottom of the archaeological tell the remains of this.

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But the archaeologists have decided that there was some kind of a meteor burst or a meteor

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right that fell there.

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Now isn't that interesting?

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Could that not be what the Bible was describing?

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And it brought destruction.

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You might say, well, yeah, but there's a natural explanation for a meteor.

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Okay.

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At that exact time in history, that's when you know God is orchestrating the story.

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He is behind all of this and his ways are so true.

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So that ends our reading for this week.

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We read the story of the fall of mankind into sin in Genesis 1 through 11.

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And then God's plan to redeem mankind and to bring us out of our sin beginning in Genesis

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12 with the man named Abram.

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So I want to remind you, go down in the show notes below where it says, read more or see

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more.

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On the topic, we've got links for you there to purchase the book called Flood Gates, which

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it goes into a lot of the scientific studies that relate to creation and the flood story

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and lots of related subjects to that.

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We also are linking to this little booklet, The Bases of Christian Support for Israel,

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to study more about the Abrahamic Covenant and what God was initiating with Abraham in

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this story.

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And if you haven't bought it yet, please pick up your copy of the Daily Bible so that each

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week you can read through with us.

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The Daily Bible actually has 365 daily readings.

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You'll see that the Bible starts, they date the readings beginning January 1.

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You're beginning on February 1.

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You can begin any day of the year by using our reading plan that goes along with the

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Daily Bible.

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We want to encourage people to read the Bible, start reading it any time of the year.

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Don't feel like you have to wait for January 1.

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So that finishes our first week of Walk Through the Bible.

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I'll see you back here next week when we'll be talking about our reading for next week.

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So see you back then.

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God bless.