Episode Transcript
Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, go therefore, and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Welcome to go teach all nations, bringing you Christ teachings through australian and international speakers. And here is today's presenter, Doctor John Hammond.
Today I have a story that is so remarkable that if it wasn't true, you'd have trouble believing it. And we're used to the biblical version, which is riveting enough on its own, but when you combine it with secular history, it absolutely springs to life and it reveals that the Book of Esther is truly a prophetic book. So the best place to start is at the beginning.
If you're not sure where Esther is, go to the middle of your bible and turn left. And it's just before the book of Job, and I think it's after Nehemiah. And thank you to my friend Greg for a glass of water.
If I say Xerxes in one breath and Ahasuerus the next, it is the same person. Ahasuerus was his greek name and Xerxes was his persian name. And this is what happened during the time of Xerxes, the Xerxes who ruled over 127 provinces.
It was a world empire stretching from India to Ethiopia. And he was throwing a party. He was trying to avenge the defeat of his father at the battle of marathon a few years previously, four years previously, and he wanted to gather the largest army ever seen.
And so he called in all the kings, the satraps, the princes, the rulers from all 127 provinces. It would have been quite an undertaking. And they came to the royal palace in the city of Susa.
And I don't know if you've been to a long party. This one lasted 180 days, six months, if you please. I went to an indian wedding in Fiji once and that lasted for three days and three nights.
And we went home full of hot curry the first night and didn't come back. And at the end he threw a special. The big party.
We talk about parties in our modern society. We're going to beat this one. And they were all given golden goblets and the instructions were to the waiters, let everybody drink exactly what they want to drink and as much as they want to drink at the same time.
The queen Vashti was giving a party for the ladies in her palace about 300 metres away. On the 7th day, when King Xerxes was in high spirits from wine. Who would be surprised? In the modern vernacular, we'd say he was about as drunk as a skunk, he commanded the seven eunuchs who served him.
I'll read their names because you might be expecting a little bundle of joy in the near future and looking for a name from the Bible. Here's some. Mehuman, Biztha, Habona, Bigtha, abagtha, zither and carcass.
Oh, that's a good one. Carcass Smith. In his drunken state, he commanded that they bring the queen before him.
Now I'll read the text. To bring before him Queen Vashti wearing her royal crown. Now, the rabbinical scholars claim that there is a word missing.
It is a modifier only that his command in his drunken state was she was to appear before this drunken mob wearing, wait for it, only her crown. You can imagine the shock and the shame and the risk because nobody would disobey the king. But she refused.
But when the attendants delivered the king's command that queen Vashti refused to come, he became furious and burned with anger. Well, immediately, his closest advisors gathered close to him and they said, oh, this is serious. He had a problem.
Vashti was the daughter of the most powerful of the 127 kings, and it would not look good if he had killed her. That would normally be the immediate result of disobeying the king. And so, look, she's done wrong, said Mihmerkan, not only against the king, but against the nobles and the wives.
For the queen's conduct will become known to all women, and they will despise their husband. It'll be the beginning of the women's liberation movement in Persia, and we cannot allow that. So why don't we.
Why don't we make a rule? You can't kill her, that she will be banished, she can no longer see your face and send it out really quickly, because when these guys get home, the 127 kings, they're not going to talk about your gold and ivory throne. They're not going to be talking about the gold, solid gold plane tree that stands next to your throne. It was given to him by a king called Pythias, the lydian 127.
We'll come back to him. All they're going to do is say, hey, did you know the king commanded the queen to come and she wouldn't. Terrible.
So we want to send a message out to all the nations, the whole world empire, before they get home and give them the message. And so the king and his nobles were pleased with this advice. So the king did as Menmuchin proposed.
He sent dispatches to all parts of the kingdom. They had a. It was called the royal persian post.
It could get to any part of the empire in three weeks, which is still quicker than Australia post. He sent dispatches to all parts of the kingdom, to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language, proclaiming in each people's tongue that every man should be ruler over his own house. Big deal.
It was then, believe me. Now, there is a fascinating four year gap between the end of chapter one and the beginning of chapter two. And xerxes gathered together the largest land army ever seen before.
D day 80 odd years ago. 524,000 soldiers, not counting cooks and bottle washers and attendants. That's a big army.
And they all assembled on the plain at Susa. And the Greeks got a little bit interested. They sent over two spies.
The spies were caught and they were brought, shivering with fear, into the presence of Ahasuerus. They knew what to expect. They would be tortured until every last bit of information was gleaned from them, and then they would be executed.
But to their astonishment, they heard the king say, I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to let you go and you can get your stylus or recorder, whatever they had in those days, and you go around and look at everything. You can watch all the manoeuvres, you can go into the armoury and count all the spears, swords and shields.
And when you've seen enough, go back and tell the Greeks what you saw. So they did. They told them about this massive army and the thracian soldiers with their fox skin capes, the indian soldiers with their doughty's and cane bows.
The ethiopian soldiers who had manes of horseheads over their heads. The persian soldiers with armour that looked like fish girls. And they said, you will never beat them.
They went home. Well, they gathered the army and they were practising, and Xerxes lined them all up. Remember the golden plane tree? Pythias, king of Lydia.
He came to the king and he said, your majesty, I'm coming to help you. And I've got seven sons and we're all coming to help you too. But I'm a bit worried.
If they are killed and if I am killed, there'll be nobody left to rule in Lydia. So what? Said the king, please, can my oldest son remain behind? And Xerxes said, let him stand here before me. He looked at him and he called a soldier, he said, cut him in two.
Put one piece on a pole there and one piece on a pole there and he made the whole army march through the middle. Then he said, nobody, nobody is going to get out of this campaign. Now.
I've got some slides here. I hope they're going to come up. He assembled this army today.
You can drive between Asia and Europe across this bridge. This is one of the longest bridges in the world. But it wasn't the first because Xerxes had a boat bridge made.
They had 2000 boats side by side. And he had planks put on the top and strawberry and then dirt. And they were to walk across.
But the night, it was to take a week, by the way, the army was so big. But the night before they were to walk across, a storm came up and wrecked it. The king was not happy.
He executed the bridge designer. He sent down 300 generals with whips and they whipped the water to teach it a big lesson. And if that wasn't enough, he sent them down the next day with 300 red hot branding irons and really taught it a lesson.
Then he had another bridge built. And this time he did the customary right thing. He went to the middle of the bridge with a goblet of wine, toasted the gods and threw it in the water.
When the first pope crossed a pontoon bridge on the Tiber river to get into Rome, I'm told that he did the same thing and tossed the goblet into the water from the pontoon bridge. And from that day to this, he'd be known as the pontiff. I hope it's true.
Well, they walked across and if you look at the map at the top, there's a little slit. That's where they crossed. And the greek kings, they were worried.
Normally there's about a dozen of them. Normally, they would squabble and fight with each other. But now there was a threat to the whole lot.
And so they met and they looked around the table and they said, there is only one of us who has the courage to defeat and save us. And they all looked at the one man King Leonidas, or Leonidas, king of Sparta. Will you lead us? He said, I will.
The Spartans loved a good fight. He said, they will either come right around through the vale of Tempe, but I think because they've got a navy with them, they all come down along the coast and there is a pass called the pass of the hot gates. Thermopylae.
Thermopylae. And there is a pass there that is so narrow it is less than the width of this room. And you give me 300 of my best spartan soldiers and no armies ever going to get through.
And so on the 7 August, 480 BC, this army of 524,000 fighting men arrived at the pass of Thermopylae. And there they saw what looked like an enormous turtle. And they looked closely.
It was the interlocking shields of 300 spartan soldiers. They stopped and Xerxes sent a message forward. We will fire so many arrows at you that it will blot out the sun.
And a few minutes later, Leonidas sent back a response. That's okay by us. We fight better in the shade.
One of the greatest land battles of history happened at that spot. The sea has receded by about 16 kilometres, but in those days it came right up to that roadway. And one of the greatest land battles of history took place.
That's the persian soldiers. And they got into them and they just couldn't get through. And it was a somewhat discouraged Xerxes who was drinking in his tent that night when the unthinkable happened.
A greek traitor by the name of Epialtes came to him and said, if you save me and my family, I will show you a secret pass up in those cliffs called the calendronus, and you can come down behind and youll be on both sides and youll have them trapped. And the battle was engaged. They heard the sound of feet on dry leaves and they knew that they had been betrayed.
And Leonidas and his men knew they were trapped. He said, if you want to go, you go, because we'll have a good breakfast, but tomorrow night you'll eat in hell. And no one would leave.
He finally had to send one at spear point with a message. And the message is engraved on a rock. You know, when their spears were broken, they fought with their swords.
When their swords were gone, they fought with daggers. When their daggers were gone, they fought with their teeth and fingernails till there was none left. In one of the great land battles of history, I've been to the spot and there is a plaque, and on the plaque is written these words, go tell the spartan stranger passing by that here, obedient to their laws, we lie.
And if you go to that part, you will see a large statue of King Leonidas. And it is a sacred spot. Well, the Greeks realised that they were done for.
And they got a new leader, themistocles. He was a naval man. They said, what are we going to do? And he said, well, we can't save Athens.
They cleared the city out. Every woman and child and old person. They put on an island out in the Mediterranean Sea and they burnt the city.
It took two weeks for Xerxes and his men to slaughter their way across the countryside. And then he fell for a simple trick. I don't think he was the sharpest pencil in the box, Xerxes.
He was told that if he took his huge navy of 2000 boats and went into the Bay of Salamis, which is the port, sort of Athens, he would find the greek fleet of only 420 vessels waiting at the end of the bay to surrender. And so he rode in with his feet, with his fleet. He was so confident, he got on Mount Agelos and he set up a portable throne so he could watch what happened.
It happened. All right. Now there is a persian boat.
I think there's about 120 oars there. You can count them if you're very quick because I'm going on to the next slide. The greek boats were smaller but faster and they had sails.
And if you're going to fight somebody in their backyard, you better be careful because themistocles and his men were waiting, because they knew that about 10:00 every morning a breeze would spring up from behind. And when the two fleets were only a few hundred metres apart, the breeze sprung up, hoisted the sails, charged as fast as they could. And they had a secret weapon at the front of the boat.
It's called a dieg plos, an underwatering battering ram. And what they did was they broke through the line of boats, spun around and then charged. And they charged mainly for the stern where the steering mechanism was.
And then they quickly backed off and fired and flaming arrows. And before the horrified gaze of King Xerxes, his fleet was destroyed. Four months later, the Battle of Plataea.
He was defeated again and he returned home after four years with only 4000 soldiers. And that's between the end of chapter one and the beginning of chapter two. So let's pick up the story again later.
When the anger of King Xerxes had subsided, it had been thrashed out of him. He came home and his attendants realised that he was getting a bit love sick again. He remembered Vashti also.
You couldn't change the laws of the Persians and the Medes, so there was no hope that she could ever come back. So they quickly got together and they proposed an idea that would really suit a vain king. And they said, why don't you have an international beauty contest and marry the winner? Oh, yeah, that's good.
And so they set out now and a little aside, verse five of chapter two. Now there was in the citadel of Sousa, a jew of the tribe of Benjamin named Mordecai. Son of Jair, son of Shimei, the son of Kish, who has been taken into captivity.
He had a cousin named Hadassah, which means Myrtle, whom he had brought up because she had neither father nor mother. The Bible doesn't often say this. This girl, who was also known as Esther, was lovely in form and feature.
She must have been absolutely smashing. I don't know what she was doing. Maybe she'd gone down to the well to get some water or something, but she was spotted by the king's talent scouts and taken.
You had no choice. Do you know that? By the time they had gathered all the contestants and put them in the royal harem, there were 900 girls? And once you went into the royal harem, you never left until the day you died. And so they are, before a girl came to go into the king, they had to complete, I think it was, six months of one beauty treatment and six months of another.
I've got a couple of granddaughters who do that every sabbath morning. Now, if you prefer Uncle Arthur's version of the story of Esther, just put your fingers in your ears for a minute. He tested them one by one.
I won't say any more than that, but when the turn came for Esther, he was so smitten with her looks, so smitten with her intelligence, her personality. He declared the contest over. Too bad.
If there was another 740 to go, she was made queen. You know how old she was? Girls? 16. Well, the story goes on.
Morikai, her cousin, he had a job in the kingsgate. Everybody who came in and out of the city came through that gate, a great place to pick up a rumour. And he heard that the two guards who gathered the king's bedroom door, big Thad and Tirish, were planning to assassinate the king.
He told Esther, Esther told the king it was checked out and they found the truth and they executed the two men. I don't want to dwell on the gory bits, but execution in Persia was a sharp pole and they would impel them. It was written up and apparently forgotten.
Part two. In comes the baddie. In the story, his name was Haman.
Not Haman. Haman. I just thought I should point that out.
I have preached a story once in samoa and little old lady, are you really descended from Haman? She was a bit disappointed with my response. He worked. He was a thug, by the way.
Absolute thug. He rose to the top by the simple process of eliminating the opposition. He was appointed prime minister, and the day he was appointed prime minister, he invoked the rule that he either made up or found in the logbook somewhere.
The statutes. When I walk through the city, unless you are a member of the royal family, you will bow down and worship me as I walk past, not just as bowing, not just a genuflex, but head to the ground. And apparently he had an emblem of a God on his coat.
And that might have been why Morakeia refused to bow down. But it wasn't long before Haman's attendants came to him and said, next time you go through the gate, just swing your eyes around. There's somebody there who doesn't bow down.
Really? Who is it? There's Mordecai the jew. He looked all right and he was so angry. You know, he could have gone to the king and said, I want his life right now.
He would have got it, but he decided not just to kill Mordecai, not just to kill his immediate family, not just to kill his clan, not just to kill his tribe, but to kill the entire nation of the Jews in captivity. And so he cast lots called pur. They were bean pods.
And to this day, the Jews celebrate the feast of purim, or purim. And he went to the king, and here was his measly little speech, and I'm transliterating here, chapter three, verse nine, verse eight. Then Haman said to King Xerxes, there is a certain people dispersed and scattered among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom whose customs are different from those of all other people, and they do not obey the king's laws, your majesty, they eat wheat, beets and nutmeat.
And I've got the department of statistics to do some work, and I worked out that it is the best thing we can possibly do is to get rid of them. Bang, like that. And the king, who I said wasn't the smartest fella, he did something absolutely extraordinary.
He gave him his ring. Now I've got here a ring from ancient Persia from the same date, 480 BC. How did I get it? The stone is a new one, but the ring is original.
I went to the British Museum and I was told that if I went to what they call the fragment room, that I would find there a piece of clay that had the actual impress of King Xerxes signet ring, the ring he gave to Haman to carry out his decree. So I went there and I kept two attendants going for 2 hours until they found it. And they pulled out some white gloves and they said, we're going to let you hold this fragment.
It is very precious. On one condition. I said, sure.
What's that? The condition is that you never come back to the British Museum. I think they were joking because one of them said, just around the corner opposite the museum, my brother in law has an antiquary store, and he is just been given a tray of rings from Persia, exactly the same date from a jeweller's shop that was burnt to the ground. I paid a fair deal of money for this and I got 16 of them later, very cheaply.
But I don't wear it, it's far too big for me anyway. But it's not quite the same as Zaxie's ring, which had his signature on reverse. Well, he had said to the king, just to make this work, I've got semi trailer loads of silver.
And they made this decree that on a certain day anyone could pick up a stick or a stone or a sword and kill a jew, keep their property. And the city was perplexed. The last verse in this chapter says, the king came and sat down to drink.
But the city of Susa was bewildered. And when Mordecai learned of all that had happened, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes. Have you ever seen anybody on sackcloth and ashes? I have.
I grew up in Malaysia, Penang. My dad was a doctor at the hospital and we would sit out near the morgue to watch the ceremony. And I was sitting in a rambutan tree when I was seven.
And around the corner came a group of mourners, crying and wailing, wearing sackcloth and ashes. A seven year old boy is very soft hearted. And I was crying up in the tree with them until the leader looked at his watch, blew a whistle, and they all sat down and had coffee.
And I'm still crying up in the tree. But let me tell you, there were no crocodile tears with Mordecai. He walked up and down the royal palace of the queen.
No one was allowed in, particularly if you're wearing sackcloth and ashes. And she sent out Hatash, her servant, to find out what was going on. And the message came back, don't you think that God has appointed you as queen of Persia just to further your own ambition? And he said, you will die.
For if you remain silent, relief and deliverance for the jews will arise from another place. But you and your father's family will perish. And who knows that you have come to a royal position for such a time as this? And she said, I will go before the king in the illegal way.
Here's how it works. There's the king. You notice the sceptre he's got in his hand.
It's not a sceptre that long. It's long enough for me to reach you without my. I was going to say without you contaminating me.
It'd be the other way around. In other words, he would keep his distance. He had a building construction, this is called the epiderma, and it was 100 metres by 100 metres, and it was supported by 36 columns.
And in front of each column there are, by the way, 14 still standing. In front of these columns would stand a soldier with a battle axe or a spear. That's what it would have looked like when it was built.
And the deal was anybody in the kingdom could walk in and step into the empty space before the throne. The 36 soldiers whose eyes were always watching would spot you. Didn't matter whether you were the king, the prime minister, sorry, the queen, the prime minister or a common peasant, you had the right to go in immediately.
All the 36 soldiers would point their spears and take a step towards you. And then it would go step for step, step for step, until you were all in front of the throne. Then the king, if he chose to ignore you, you had about 1 minute and you were taken away and hung, persian style.
If he did decide to listen to you, no guarantee that he would answer your request. He would extend that long sceptre and you would touch the end, very gratefully, I might add, and touch it. And then you can make your request that this is what Esther decided to do.
So she got ready. What do you reckon she wore, girls? I reckon the jeans with nothing left on the knees would look pretty fashionable. And a t shirt and a pair of sneakers.
Don't you believe it. She put on her wedding apparel. She must have looked absolutely gorgeous, just as my wife did and my two daughters did once upon a year.
How's your imagination? The king, sitting in his throat. Been a boring morning. Only 32 executions so far.
What's for lunch? And all of a sudden he hears a gasp from the crowd. It's the queen. He looks up and there is this gorgeous creature.
She stepped into the middle. The soldiers knew who they were looking at, but they had their orders and they stepped forward. And the king's curiosity level goes from about 30% through to about 180%.
And he extends the sceptre. You know what happened? According to the historians, she fainted. Oh, wouldn't you? And he had her placed on a stool next to the throne.
When she recovered, he extended the sceptre. What is your request, o queen? I will give you anything up to half the kingdom. Well, what would you say? I reckon I panic.
Please say, be the wife of the kids. Here's a little list. But she kept her cool.
And she said, if it pleases the king, let the king, together with Haman, come today to a banquet that I have prepared. Well, what a response. What a way to extend an invitation.
And there is a magnificent banquet that night. And Haman is absolutely full of himself. On the way out, he walks past the king's gate.
They're all bowing and scraping and worshipping, but Mordecai stood there, we're told he didn't even get out of the road. He didn't have to. He'd already had a death sentence on him.
The Bible says that. Nevertheless, Haman refrained himself. He went home, he gets his wife, Zirish and his ten sons out of bed, and he starts to boast, you know, I just went to a banquet.
You see, at the end of the banquet, the king had said, what's your request? And she said, your majesty, can you and Haman come again tomorrow night and I'll tell you my request. So he did. And then we see here in chapter five, verse ten.
Nevertheless, Haman refrained himself and went home. He called his friends and Zeresh his wife. He told them of all the things, the wonderful things on the king's favourite.
The queen likes me. That's a silly thing to say. And then he blubs.
All this avails me nothing as long as I see Mordecai the jew sitting at the king's gate. Now, now, darling, she says, zebras, I've got an idea. Why don't you have a gallows put up tall spike, 25 metres, 75ft, and you go to the king early in the morning and ask for just one body.
Mordecai, you'll get your request granted. The rabbis, I'm not sure whether they're exaggerating, but Susa was a very flat city, and the king had his palace built 15 metres above the plain so he could be elevated. And they say that Zerush said, put it up 25 metres, so that when you go to the banquet tomorrow night, you can look out the window and you can see Mordecai on the pole, and then you will really enjoy your banquet.
The king didn't sleep that night, so he couldn't read. So they read good or boring stuff to him, boring court records, and they just. Nothing with.
There's no coincidence with God. They just happened to read about big than and Tirish, who had attempted to assassinate the king. And the king says, oh, yeah, I've forgotten about that.
Who saved my life? There was a guy called Mordecai. Has he been rewarded? No. At that moment, somebody else who couldn't sleep early in the morning, he comes in as haman, and the attendants say, your majesty, the prime minister's here to see.
I'll bring him in. Haman. Haman, what would you do to reward somebody? I really, really want a reward.
Now, Haman, the poor blind steward, idiotic twit of a bloke, said to himself, who is there that the king would rather honour than me? He said, well, trying to look modest. Yeah, well, now that you ask me, the first thing I do would be to place the king's royal robe, the coronation robe on his shoulders. Nobody but the king.
You haven't seen anybody else wearing King Charles robe, have you? But this robe was just about made from diamonds and rubies. Let's put a value of about $100 million on it. Imagine if you took that to the dry cleaners in Hornsby.
He'd stay there all day. He said that was just the height of him to suggest that. Then I'd put him on the king's white horse, the royal charger with the royal crest on the front.
And then I would get a really high official to lead the horse with this honoured person on it. The king was so fascinated, he said, go at once, get the rope and the horse and do just as you have suggested, for he must have fallen over with absolute shock. Mordecai.
And then he says, do not neglect anything you have recommended. He was so upset, the rabbis tell us he pled with the king, please do not make me do this. Until the king lost his temper.
He said, you will do it. Furthermore, when he gets on the horse, you will get down on all fours and he will step on your back to get on the horse. And then you will guide him through the city and you will call out at every traffic light if they had them.
Intersection. This is what the king. Oh, talk about the worst day.
Not only the last day of his life, it was the worst. What would you do if you were Morike? I'd ring you all up and say, making sure you watch the news tonight. It'll be on all channels.
He just went back to his job. Haman, on the other hand, goes home with the worst recorded migraine in history. And Xerius, his wife, said, he told them what had happened.
If you have started to fall before this man, your history, you're done for you will die. Well, the second banquet. Are you with me? Let's pretend we're waiters watching and listening.
He said, Esther, what is it? What's your request? Anything up to half the kingdom. She gives one of the most beautiful speeches in history. Chapter seven, verse three.
Then Queen Esther answered, if I have found favour, you can just hear the emotion in her voice. If I have found favour with you, o king, and if it pleases, did your majesty grant me my life? This is my petition and spare my people. This is my request.
For I and my people have been sold for destruction and slaughter and annihilation. You can't get much debtor than that, can you? And the king says, who would dare to do that? First of all, a couple of slides of Mordecai going through the city. And then this scene.
She points across the table. Esther said, this man, the wicked Haman. You know, the Jews have done their arithmetic and they've added up.
And there is a numerical value to that phrase, the wicked Haman. You know what it comes to? Wait for it. 666.
Well, he allowed them to make a decree. Haman pleads for his life. He's shaking the queen.
And the king spots him. And how. Bona, one of his attendants, whispers in the king's ear, if you look out there, you'll see a stake, very tall.
That was for Mordecai to go on today. And this man Haman built it. And the king said, stick him on it.
So they made a counter decree, and the response was so great that on that day the Jews could fight back. 75,000 enemies of the Jews lost their lives. Now, let me ask you a question.
Why is such an unusual and unlikely story included in the Bible? Well, let me finish. Come across new bibles to revelation, chapter 17. Now, I'm drawing a long bow on this one.
Pastor Barron might have to give me a Bible study afterwards. From revelation. He had ten sons.
Let me tell you about his ten sons. And every year when they have the feast of Purim, the Jews recite the name of the ten sons of Haman. But you're not allowed to have a second breath in the middle.
You got to do it in one breath. I'm going to try to do it in one breath. You think I'm going to tell you where it is so you can cheque on me? All right.
It's in chapter nine and verse seven. They also killed Parashantha. Delphon, Apasta.
Paratha, Adelia. Aradatha, parashmata. Arasai, Aradai.
And Vyseida. Hey, I got it. Come over here.
To revelation and verse twelve of chapter 17. The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for 1 hour will receive authority as kings. Along with the beast, they have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast.
666 they will make war against the lamb, but the lamb will overcome them because he is lord of lords and king of kings. And that was the inscription on the crown of xerxes. And with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.
You know, when that death decree was issued to the Jews, their friends and enemies would have come to them and said, you're done for. Nothing under sun, moon and stars is going to save you. And at the last minute, God just flips history on his back.
We are to go through a little time of Jacob's trouble, and our friends and enemies will say, you're done for, you're finished. You can hide in the deepest cave or down with a titanic, but we'll know where you are and we will find you. And just when all seems lost, Jacob, he was fighting for his life.
At the very last minute, God's going to stand up and say, universe, you just watch what I'm about to do. And an absolute slaughter will turn into the most miraculous secondary turn of Christ, and we will meet him face to face. It is a prophetic book.
When all seemed lost, Jacob discovered he was in the arms of Jesus. You know, it's just a small group meeting here, and most people in Sydney are all out shopping or going to sporting events or the beach or doing whatever they want. And there's a small remnant who worships God.
He loves us and he's coming back to get us. Amen. Let me pray.
Dear Father, we thank you for your love. You planned everything from the beginning to the end. Amazingly, you have chosen us sinful, meek human beings to represent your face to our community, because that is a rebuke to Satan.
Praise the Lord. You lived, you died, you are resurrected, and you are coming again. Praise God.
Amen. This message was made available by the Waitara Seventh-day Adventist Church. For more resources like this, visit waitarachurch.org.au. This programme has been brought to you by 3ABN Australia Radio.
