1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,000 Season two of Love in Context podcast welcomes you. 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:10,600 Get ready for engaging unscripted conversations with your host, Ben and Spencer. 3 00:00:10,600 --> 00:00:17,120 Our mission remains unchanged to explore the Bible through the powerful lens of love. 4 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:21,060 In this new season, we'll embark on a journey together, unearthing fresh insights and gaining 5 00:00:21,060 --> 00:00:25,440 deeper understanding of how we can love God and live out our faith in practical ways. 6 00:00:25,440 --> 00:00:30,200 So let's dive into this season of Love in Context, where love in the context of the 7 00:00:30,200 --> 00:00:34,680 Bible intersect to transform our lives. 8 00:00:34,680 --> 00:00:37,240 Welcome back podcast, Love in Context. 9 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:42,480 I said that in like, it was like a Yoda version with a very horrible impression of his voice. 10 00:00:42,480 --> 00:00:45,480 No, that was, that was a perfect, that was a perfect Yoda. 11 00:00:45,480 --> 00:00:46,960 You ever heard my Chewbacca? 12 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:47,960 Hi Spencer. 13 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:48,960 How are you? 14 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:54,280 Disney, if you're looking for a replacement voice actor. 15 00:00:54,280 --> 00:00:57,440 We found, we found a candidate for you. 16 00:00:57,440 --> 00:01:00,240 So well, Kings and Kingdoms, week number four. 17 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:02,380 Yeah, let's go. 18 00:01:02,380 --> 00:01:07,560 If you are with us today, what do you mean if they're with us? 19 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:10,720 They're literally watching the video or listening if you're with us today. 20 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:12,840 So if you're listening today, I'm tired. 21 00:01:12,840 --> 00:01:13,840 Okay. 22 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:14,840 I just want to let you all know this. 23 00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:15,840 I'm tired. 24 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:20,680 Haven't got much sleep lately, but well, I will say if you, if you are watching, you'll 25 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:25,600 notice that Spencer cut off a lot of his beard and his, his wakefulness was actually in his 26 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:26,600 beard. 27 00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:27,840 So when he cut it off, he got much more sleepy. 28 00:01:27,840 --> 00:01:28,840 Yes. 29 00:01:28,840 --> 00:01:29,840 Yes. 30 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:30,840 100%. 31 00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:33,400 So we're going to be talking about Nebuchadnezzar today. 32 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:34,400 Nebuchadnezzar. 33 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:35,400 Yeah. 34 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:39,920 So there's some references, good old nebby, but really Daniel is probably the place you're 35 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:41,640 going to want to hang out with. 36 00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:42,640 Right. 37 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:46,200 And, and then, so before we jump into this, just a reminder of where we are in the series, 38 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:50,720 we're talking about the, the non-Israelite Kings and their impact on culture, their impact 39 00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:55,080 on the Bible, the impact on the world around them and how God was working in and among 40 00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:56,080 that area. 41 00:01:56,080 --> 00:01:57,080 Yeah. 42 00:01:57,080 --> 00:01:58,080 Amongst that area. 43 00:01:58,080 --> 00:01:59,080 I forgot the G on that. 44 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:02,760 And you'll notice as we go further and further into the series that you might be listening 45 00:02:02,760 --> 00:02:06,840 and be like, wow, they keep pulling up more and more cultural context for each King, the 46 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:08,480 further and further they go. 47 00:02:08,480 --> 00:02:09,480 There's a reason for that. 48 00:02:09,480 --> 00:02:10,480 Yeah. 49 00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:11,880 It's actually really simple. 50 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:15,360 The further back you go in time, the less written record we have about stuff. 51 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:21,000 And so, so you might hear us reference some different cultural context, contextual pieces 52 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:23,600 for these Kings moving forward. 53 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:24,800 And that's just how it is. 54 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:25,800 Yeah. 55 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:28,360 In a few weeks, we're going to be on like Herod the great and Caesar Augustus. 56 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:30,200 And there's so much, there's so much information. 57 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:33,120 I wouldn't even be surprised if those episodes are a little bit longer, about four hours 58 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:34,120 long. 59 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:35,120 Yeah. 60 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:37,760 We're not going to do a four hour episode though. 61 00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:38,760 Yeah. 62 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:39,760 Yeah. 63 00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:40,760 Somebody would listen. 64 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:41,760 Somebody would. 65 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:44,920 There is, by the way, if you're the listener, like just welcome, but there is a listener 66 00:02:44,920 --> 00:02:48,320 that we have in Singapore that has listened to every episode. 67 00:02:48,320 --> 00:02:49,320 Yeah. 68 00:02:49,320 --> 00:02:50,320 Yeah. 69 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:51,320 I don't know who it is, but welcome. 70 00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:52,320 We love that you're here. 71 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:53,320 Yeah. 72 00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:54,320 All right. 73 00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:55,800 So let's jump into Nebuchadnezzar's life. 74 00:02:55,800 --> 00:03:01,840 So as far as time period, we're looking at about 605 to 562 BCE. 75 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:07,120 That's before the common era, era, era, era, era, era. 76 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:10,560 And episode already. 77 00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:16,480 And Nebuchadnezzar is known historically, like beyond how he's known in the Bible. 78 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:17,480 He's known for a couple of things. 79 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:22,920 He's known for his military conquest, his archaeological, or sorry, architectural achievements. 80 00:03:22,920 --> 00:03:24,920 That's different than archaeological. 81 00:03:24,920 --> 00:03:27,040 And then the third is actually his role in Jewish history. 82 00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:31,520 So I want to touch briefly on some things historically, talk about his architectural 83 00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:33,880 achievements. 84 00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:41,400 So he had these massive building projects, the two that have survived, right? 85 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:44,080 Because there were others, but these are the two that have survived. 86 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:46,160 There's the Ishtar Gate and the Hanging Gardens. 87 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:49,520 Now if you've heard Hanging Gardens before, you know that's actually one of the seven 88 00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:51,000 wonders of the modern world, right? 89 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:53,920 Or ancient world. 90 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:59,640 And they symbolize, yes, innovation, but there were so much about wealth, sophistication 91 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:03,120 of Babylonian culture, being like, hey, we can do this better than anybody else can. 92 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:08,920 Well, and the Hanging Gardens were also in a desert wasteland, right? 93 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:11,400 The city that they were in was surrounded by nothing. 94 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:15,800 So you had Nebuchadnezzar being like, I can do anything I want. 95 00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:18,040 It basically is a power status. 96 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:21,600 He's basically claiming that he's on the same level as a god. 97 00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:22,600 Yeah. 98 00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:26,760 And I mean, if you need to think of a modern example, think about Las Vegas. 99 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:30,420 It's literally in the middle of the desert and there's no reason a city should be there. 100 00:04:30,420 --> 00:04:32,680 And there's like, we're going to make it happen. 101 00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:33,680 Yeah. 102 00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:36,320 And then we're going to have a city, we're going to have a city like a thriving city. 103 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:38,920 Now it has a football team, right? 104 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:44,800 And it's not a thriving football team, but you step outside of the city and you're reminded 105 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:45,800 almost immediately. 106 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:47,040 Oh yeah, we're in a desert. 107 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:48,040 Uh huh. 108 00:04:48,040 --> 00:04:49,040 Yeah. 109 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:50,040 And they're real hot. 110 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:51,040 Yeah. 111 00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:52,040 Yeah. 112 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:56,400 So beyond that, there was like I said, the East Stargate, the Hanging Gardens, and there's 113 00:04:56,400 --> 00:04:59,640 a number of places that you can actually see some of his achievements. 114 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:02,040 There's a thing called a cuneiform. 115 00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:06,860 It's basically an ancient tablet, but there's inscriptions that detailing his victories 116 00:05:06,860 --> 00:05:08,240 and his various building projects. 117 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:13,240 And so while they can't always find all the building projects because time, right? 118 00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:17,760 And conquest and you know, all those different things that happen over the, over man, I'm 119 00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:18,760 getting a ton of emails. 120 00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:19,760 I mean, yeah. 121 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:20,760 All right. 122 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:25,560 I'm going to have to all the conquests and all the things that happen over time. 123 00:05:25,560 --> 00:05:28,920 There is a list of a bunch of different things that he has said to have done and it would 124 00:05:28,920 --> 00:05:31,500 just radically shaped the world. 125 00:05:31,500 --> 00:05:35,960 So to Spencer's point, like you said, he's like, Hey, I'm like God, I can just turn the 126 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:40,000 world into whatever I want to do, which is very common with dictators. 127 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:41,000 Yes. 128 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:42,000 Right. 129 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:43,560 With Kings that are conquest Kings. 130 00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:45,520 We're going to see this a lot with Nebuchadnezzar. 131 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:46,880 We're going to see again with Darius. 132 00:05:46,880 --> 00:05:48,560 We're going to see it with Osu! 133 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:49,560 Areas. 134 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:52,720 You're definitely going to see it with Caesar Augustus, right? 135 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:57,920 Like this whole like status piece on the military side of things. 136 00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:00,200 They he greatly expanded Babylon's territory. 137 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:03,440 I mean, they became one of the most powerful empires of the Near East. 138 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:08,960 It included Judah, Syria, parts of Egypt, and it established Babylon as a dominant political 139 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:09,960 force. 140 00:06:09,960 --> 00:06:13,760 And then beyond that, he started to establish alliances and vassal states. 141 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:18,720 Now we've talked about vassals in the past when we were talking about covenants, right? 142 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:22,680 But essentially what a vassal is, is it's a state that's run independently. 143 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:25,320 You pay tribute to. 144 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:33,320 But if you have a country and let's just call it Spencer Stan, that's a great name for it. 145 00:06:33,320 --> 00:06:36,800 It's Spencer Stan and he is he is a vassal of Babylon. 146 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:43,080 He says Babylon says I will send you X amount of my exports every year in tribute. 147 00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:46,320 But if I get invaded by one of my neighboring countries, you're going to come and back me 148 00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:47,320 up. 149 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:48,320 Yeah. 150 00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:53,200 And so while you're technically free and you haven't been placed subservient, you're basically 151 00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:56,040 a servant of the more powerful nation. 152 00:06:56,040 --> 00:07:00,120 It's the equivalent of being in like Army Reserve or something like that. 153 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:01,120 Yeah. 154 00:07:01,120 --> 00:07:02,120 Right. 155 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:05,760 And now it's good for these countries because one, they don't get run roughshod over and 156 00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:08,360 like Babylon could have just wiped them out completely. 157 00:07:08,360 --> 00:07:12,440 But the other piece is now they actually have this protection because they're paying tribute. 158 00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:17,460 They're paying their subscription fee to Babylonian army that if somebody comes in and tries to 159 00:07:17,460 --> 00:07:20,760 challenge them or tries to wipe them out in other country, Babylon will step in and say, 160 00:07:20,760 --> 00:07:22,240 nope, these are our guys. 161 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:23,240 Right. 162 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:30,000 So that was a that was a that's a very different move, by the way, at this time of warfare 163 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:31,680 because it was about controlling the territory. 164 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:35,040 But like Babylon is now like, hey, we're going to take some of your supplies, but then we'll 165 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:39,680 back you up with our might where they're going to let these people continue to be independent. 166 00:07:39,680 --> 00:07:40,960 But really, they're underneath their thumb. 167 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:45,100 Like that's just a shift in military warfare. 168 00:07:45,100 --> 00:07:53,880 Now, the Babylonians, they actually were one of the first nations to really try diplomacy. 169 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:57,920 And this was like kind of the method they were did it through was like, hey, like a 170 00:07:57,920 --> 00:08:00,080 little bit barter trade and you're going to back us up. 171 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:02,160 We'll give you this, so on and so forth. 172 00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:06,080 Well, and because of that, you have a lot of like cultural intermingling going on. 173 00:08:06,080 --> 00:08:07,080 Right. 174 00:08:07,080 --> 00:08:13,640 So you have people, the conquered people blending traditions, languages, religious practices. 175 00:08:13,640 --> 00:08:19,520 It starts to really just shift in and and and change like the art that's being created, 176 00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:23,080 the literature that's being written and the philosophy of the ancient world. 177 00:08:23,080 --> 00:08:24,080 Right. 178 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:29,000 And Babylon actually specifically was became like the center for like knowledge, too. 179 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:35,200 Like they started having libraries and scholarship and preserving advanced knowledge, specifically 180 00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:39,320 three areas, astronomy, mathematics and literature, which isn't surprising if you're actually 181 00:08:39,320 --> 00:08:43,400 going to be involved in a lot of building that those would be the big ones. 182 00:08:43,400 --> 00:08:47,200 And so you're having this this massive shift, like to your point, why don't we have these 183 00:08:47,200 --> 00:08:51,840 things with like Neco the second and like the previous people we've talked about? 184 00:08:51,840 --> 00:08:53,480 They weren't writing things down like that. 185 00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:54,840 Like there's no printing press. 186 00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:58,920 There's no established process to write these things down. 187 00:08:58,920 --> 00:09:00,920 And it's also a lot longer ago. 188 00:09:00,920 --> 00:09:01,920 Yeah. 189 00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:04,880 So things sometimes survive and sometimes they don't. 190 00:09:04,880 --> 00:09:05,880 Yeah. 191 00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:06,880 Yeah. 192 00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:10,960 And so Babylon, they really they really kind of operated in a little bit of a different 193 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:11,960 way. 194 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:16,520 And the other thing to mention with them going back to like military conquest, they were 195 00:09:16,520 --> 00:09:18,360 brutal in the war tactics. 196 00:09:18,360 --> 00:09:19,360 Yeah. 197 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:21,720 Like they they had a diplomacy about them. 198 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:22,920 But when they're like, yeah, we're done. 199 00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:24,080 We're going to take you out. 200 00:09:24,080 --> 00:09:27,000 They were ruthless. 201 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:29,160 They did a lot of siege warfare. 202 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:33,640 So so instead of just going in and wiping the city out, which they actually had the power 203 00:09:33,640 --> 00:09:37,440 to do, they're like, no, we're going to starve them out and torture them. 204 00:09:37,440 --> 00:09:38,440 Yeah. 205 00:09:38,440 --> 00:09:39,440 Right. 206 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:41,360 You got to get a real like step up of a Syrian vibe. 207 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:42,360 Yeah. 208 00:09:42,360 --> 00:09:43,360 Yeah. 209 00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:44,360 Yeah. 210 00:09:44,360 --> 00:09:45,360 They took what the Assyrians were doing. 211 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:50,120 Like we can do this better and anything you can do, I can do better, says the Babylonians 212 00:09:50,120 --> 00:09:52,200 to the Assyrians. 213 00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:57,680 But and so like when they but like when they did the siege on Jerusalem, like it was a 214 00:09:57,680 --> 00:09:59,720 siege that lasted a long time. 215 00:09:59,720 --> 00:10:00,720 Yeah. 216 00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:01,720 It lasted I think it was years. 217 00:10:01,720 --> 00:10:02,720 Yeah. 218 00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:03,720 Yeah. 219 00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:04,720 It was not a short one. 220 00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:05,720 No. 221 00:10:05,720 --> 00:10:08,680 And so and they basically starved the city out into some into submission. 222 00:10:08,680 --> 00:10:12,240 And one of one of the things we haven't necessarily talked about these, but a lot of times like 223 00:10:12,240 --> 00:10:15,600 these cities that are being Jerusalem and different cities that are being like where 224 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:19,560 they're being put in the ancient Near East is because they're actually near a water source 225 00:10:19,560 --> 00:10:20,560 of some sort. 226 00:10:20,560 --> 00:10:21,560 Yeah. 227 00:10:21,560 --> 00:10:25,720 So to actually starve out and like a city under siege takes a while because you actually 228 00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:29,040 a lot of times inside the city walls will have food and you'll have water and you'll 229 00:10:29,040 --> 00:10:30,360 have protection. 230 00:10:30,360 --> 00:10:34,080 And so you have to be have great supply lines and different things to be able to actually 231 00:10:34,080 --> 00:10:36,020 siege that place. 232 00:10:36,020 --> 00:10:41,760 So it's just a it's a it's a growing modernization of warfare. 233 00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:42,760 Yeah. 234 00:10:42,760 --> 00:10:43,760 Right. 235 00:10:43,760 --> 00:10:44,960 And but the brutality isn't getting any less brutal. 236 00:10:44,960 --> 00:10:45,960 It's still brutal. 237 00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:46,960 Yeah. 238 00:10:46,960 --> 00:10:48,680 One of Babylon's key things was cut off the water. 239 00:10:48,680 --> 00:10:49,680 Yeah. 240 00:10:49,680 --> 00:10:54,560 Like they when they would go into a place to lay siege to it, they would they would actually 241 00:10:54,560 --> 00:10:58,800 go set up camp around the water supply so they would have all the water they need. 242 00:10:58,800 --> 00:11:01,560 But they would also cut off the supply to the rest of the city. 243 00:11:01,560 --> 00:11:02,560 Right. 244 00:11:02,560 --> 00:11:07,240 And we have you don't have water, you don't have food, you're not going to last forever. 245 00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:08,240 Yeah. 246 00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:13,480 A couple of places you can actually read about Nebuchadnezzar specifically is in the Babylonian 247 00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:16,600 Chronicles and then of course in the Hebrew Bible, which we're going to be talking about 248 00:11:16,600 --> 00:11:17,800 today. 249 00:11:17,800 --> 00:11:22,220 But those are those are some of the places that you can actually read about him historically. 250 00:11:22,220 --> 00:11:27,940 And then of course, the geological evidence, archaeological evidence of himself. 251 00:11:27,940 --> 00:11:33,120 So the let me grab my Bible here. 252 00:11:33,120 --> 00:11:38,000 So in the in the Hebrew scriptures, though, the place that he is most prominently talked 253 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:40,080 about is actually in the Book of Daniel. 254 00:11:40,080 --> 00:11:41,800 And so we're going to we're going to turn to Daniel. 255 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:46,800 So if you have not been in Daniel in a while, why don't you just pause and flip over there 256 00:11:46,800 --> 00:11:48,680 with us so that you can read it as well. 257 00:11:48,680 --> 00:11:52,880 Let's go ahead and look here in the beginning of Chapter one in Daniel, it says here in 258 00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:55,920 the third year of the reign of Jehoiachem, king of Judah. 259 00:11:55,920 --> 00:12:01,080 Now we remember Jehoiachem because that was Necho the second Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, 260 00:12:01,080 --> 00:12:03,120 came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 261 00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:06,280 And the Lord delivered Jehoiachem, king of Judah, into his hand, along with some of the 262 00:12:06,280 --> 00:12:08,480 articles from the Temple of God. 263 00:12:08,480 --> 00:12:12,280 These he carried off to the temple of his God in Babylonia and put the treasure in the 264 00:12:12,280 --> 00:12:16,400 treasure put in the treasure house of his God. 265 00:12:16,400 --> 00:12:22,800 So this is at the end of Necho the second Babylon has come in and attacked Egypt. 266 00:12:22,800 --> 00:12:28,520 And now they've come into Jerusalem and they actually are taking over Jerusalem and getting 267 00:12:28,520 --> 00:12:30,880 ready to take over the southern kingdom overall. 268 00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:31,880 Yes. 269 00:12:31,880 --> 00:12:32,880 Right. 270 00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:36,600 So this is Jehoiachem, who was actually reappointed by Necho the second, which, by the way, I'm 271 00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:38,800 just saying this to connect you to last week's episode. 272 00:12:38,800 --> 00:12:45,360 So now we're now we're being introduced in this book of Daniel that this is a book about 273 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:46,360 that's going to be about captivity. 274 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:47,360 Right. 275 00:12:47,360 --> 00:12:52,120 Because this book is Daniel and his friends are being taken out of Israel and they're 276 00:12:52,120 --> 00:12:55,360 going to a foreign land and they're going to be serving in their court. 277 00:12:55,360 --> 00:13:01,560 And it's going to be how do you remain faithful to Yahweh in a foreign land? 278 00:13:01,560 --> 00:13:02,560 Yeah. 279 00:13:02,560 --> 00:13:06,480 And if you guys aren't familiar with the story of Daniel, go get familiar with it. 280 00:13:06,480 --> 00:13:08,680 We are tackling the side of Nebuchadnezzar today. 281 00:13:08,680 --> 00:13:09,680 Correct. 282 00:13:09,680 --> 00:13:12,840 We're not tackling the Daniel side as much today, which we will still reference it because 283 00:13:12,840 --> 00:13:13,840 it's part of the story. 284 00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:14,840 Right. 285 00:13:14,840 --> 00:13:15,840 Right. 286 00:13:15,840 --> 00:13:16,840 But that's not going to be the focus. 287 00:13:16,840 --> 00:13:19,400 I'm going to recommend the Bible Project overview of the book of Daniel. 288 00:13:19,400 --> 00:13:23,800 They have a lot of really good short clip videos that will help you get the context 289 00:13:23,800 --> 00:13:24,800 of what's going on there. 290 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:28,080 So if you want, if you're not familiar with the book of Daniel, I'd recommend going over 291 00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:32,520 to the Bible Project and doing the read scripture on Daniel before you come back and listen 292 00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:33,960 to what we're talking about. 293 00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:37,840 So we got to talk about Daniel a little bit just so we know that where he's at in the 294 00:13:37,840 --> 00:13:40,240 story in relation to Nebuchadnezzar. 295 00:13:40,240 --> 00:13:43,760 So Daniel was brought to Israel. 296 00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:45,540 His name is actually Daniel. 297 00:13:45,540 --> 00:13:47,520 And then they actually changed it to Belshazzar. 298 00:13:47,520 --> 00:13:48,520 Yeah. 299 00:13:48,520 --> 00:13:49,520 That's just going to roll off the tongue. 300 00:13:49,520 --> 00:13:50,520 Roll off the tongue. 301 00:13:50,520 --> 00:13:51,520 Yeah. 302 00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:53,800 If you're having kids, just start reoccurring. 303 00:13:53,800 --> 00:13:57,600 And then there's a few other prominent players, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 304 00:13:57,600 --> 00:14:01,920 Also known in the Hebrew names as Hananiah, Mishrael, and Azariah. 305 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:08,400 And so Daniel is shown as someone who is faithful to God and gentle in his approach. 306 00:14:08,400 --> 00:14:09,400 Right. 307 00:14:09,400 --> 00:14:13,680 Like he's not shown as someone who is this mighty warrior. 308 00:14:13,680 --> 00:14:16,880 He's not shown as someone who is going to go take over the nations. 309 00:14:16,880 --> 00:14:22,800 He is someone who's I'm going to be faithful to God, lobby so I can follow his decrees, 310 00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:27,960 and show that he's going to be blessed through his faithfulness to God. 311 00:14:27,960 --> 00:14:32,560 And so what happens is through a series of events, Nebuchadnezzar starts to see this 312 00:14:32,560 --> 00:14:33,560 in Daniel. 313 00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:34,560 Yeah. 314 00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:37,640 I think in chapter one, what you see is when they come to this thing about the diet, because 315 00:14:37,640 --> 00:14:41,040 they want to fatten everybody up to be part of the king's court. 316 00:14:41,040 --> 00:14:46,360 And Daniel says, no, we need to actually hold to our ways, the Yahweh ways, and God will 317 00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:49,680 take care of making us the way we need to be. 318 00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:56,640 And so they start to, in chapter one, you see them starting to trust Daniel's instincts. 319 00:14:56,640 --> 00:15:01,440 Because Daniel has instincts and his God is in his corner, which then leads into chapter 320 00:15:01,440 --> 00:15:05,160 two, which is where Nebuchadnezzar has his dream. 321 00:15:05,160 --> 00:15:11,720 So I think probably it's important to really emphasize, we talked about this a little bit 322 00:15:11,720 --> 00:15:15,560 in spiritual gifts, but in the Bible, dreams are much more significant than we treat them 323 00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:16,560 today. 324 00:15:16,560 --> 00:15:17,560 Yes. 325 00:15:17,560 --> 00:15:18,560 Yeah. 326 00:15:18,560 --> 00:15:23,880 And that was all cultures, like their dreams, especially dreams that were significant. 327 00:15:23,880 --> 00:15:27,240 And I always think it's crazy that these guys wake up and they remember everything about 328 00:15:27,240 --> 00:15:29,120 their dream. 329 00:15:29,120 --> 00:15:32,700 And I've had a couple of those and they've always been related to God speaking specifically 330 00:15:32,700 --> 00:15:34,520 in my life. 331 00:15:34,520 --> 00:15:35,800 But most of the time, yeah. 332 00:15:35,800 --> 00:15:40,200 I've also had times where I've woken up and my wife's been like, man, you must have been 333 00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:41,200 having a bad dream. 334 00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:43,840 I was like, I don't know. 335 00:15:43,840 --> 00:15:47,640 Like I've just, yeah, I've had those times too. 336 00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:48,640 Right? 337 00:15:48,640 --> 00:15:49,840 So, so remember what we said? 338 00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:52,600 Nebuchadnezzar has been accumulating. 339 00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:54,840 He's been accumulating systems of knowledge. 340 00:15:54,840 --> 00:15:56,000 He's been accumulating people. 341 00:15:56,000 --> 00:16:00,800 He's been accumulating wise men and all these different cultural experiences, all these 342 00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:02,480 different cultural perspectives. 343 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:06,320 So then he has a dream and he brings all the smartest guys to come and talk about it. 344 00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:07,320 Right. 345 00:16:07,320 --> 00:16:10,880 And, and he asked everybody, Hey, I need you to interpret my dream. 346 00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:12,320 And nobody can. 347 00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:13,320 Right. 348 00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:14,320 Right. 349 00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:17,640 And even if they could, some of them don't want to take a shot at it just in case they're 350 00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:23,600 wrong because, well, Nebuchadnezzar Babylonian King, most powerful person in the world. 351 00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:28,720 You don't want to give him wrong information because I usually, it ends up with your head 352 00:16:28,720 --> 00:16:30,400 being on, right? 353 00:16:30,400 --> 00:16:31,640 Which was common practice. 354 00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:37,040 Like if you went into a King's court, like Nebuchadnezzar and gave misleading information, 355 00:16:37,040 --> 00:16:41,000 it was common practice to be like, all right, prison, the rest of the life or death. 356 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:42,000 Yeah. 357 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:43,000 Like one of the two. 358 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:44,000 Right. 359 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:45,000 Yeah. 360 00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:49,120 So, so in the, in the story, Nebuchadnezzar, he's like, he's like, man, is there nobody 361 00:16:49,120 --> 00:16:51,640 that can give me a solid answer here? 362 00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:52,640 Right. 363 00:16:52,640 --> 00:16:55,400 Nobody who can give me a solid answer. 364 00:16:55,400 --> 00:16:59,400 And which point they, there are somebody gets wise and they say, Hey, you know, there's 365 00:16:59,400 --> 00:17:03,200 this guy by the name of Daniel and maybe they're throwing him under the bus because he's a Jew. 366 00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:04,200 Right. 367 00:17:04,200 --> 00:17:06,200 Well, may I? 368 00:17:06,200 --> 00:17:07,200 Yeah. 369 00:17:07,200 --> 00:17:08,200 Great. 370 00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:09,200 Great. 371 00:17:09,200 --> 00:17:12,240 I personally, like when I read this story and it wasn't till last couple of times I've 372 00:17:12,240 --> 00:17:15,640 read it where I was like, Oh, his wise men were making a political move. 373 00:17:15,640 --> 00:17:16,640 So they want to get killed. 374 00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:17,640 Right. 375 00:17:17,640 --> 00:17:19,720 Like they're like, there's this guy who seems to know something. 376 00:17:19,720 --> 00:17:20,720 Let's throw him under the bus. 377 00:17:20,720 --> 00:17:22,720 Cause he's just a Jewish outsider. 378 00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:25,040 So who cares if he gets it wrong and gets killed. 379 00:17:25,040 --> 00:17:26,040 Right. 380 00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:27,040 Right. 381 00:17:27,040 --> 00:17:28,040 Like that's on them. 382 00:17:28,040 --> 00:17:31,080 That's on, that's on him for getting it wrong. 383 00:17:31,080 --> 00:17:32,900 And we were just giving misinformation. 384 00:17:32,900 --> 00:17:36,800 So there's this, there is this piece of like, their wise men be like, we're going to just 385 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:38,120 throw them under the bus. 386 00:17:38,120 --> 00:17:39,120 Yeah. 387 00:17:39,120 --> 00:17:40,880 And metaphorical cause they didn't have buses. 388 00:17:40,880 --> 00:17:46,840 But we're going to throw them under the chariot, the chariot, throw them under something that's 389 00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:47,840 going to kill them. 390 00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:48,840 Okay. 391 00:17:48,840 --> 00:17:49,840 Yeah. 392 00:17:49,840 --> 00:17:52,560 And, and we'll let him take the fall for our incompetence. 393 00:17:52,560 --> 00:17:53,560 Yeah. 394 00:17:53,560 --> 00:17:55,480 No, that's, that's 100%. 395 00:17:55,480 --> 00:17:58,160 Well, that's 100% what I feel is going on. 396 00:17:58,160 --> 00:18:02,320 We can't say it definitively, but you go read the story and see what you think. 397 00:18:02,320 --> 00:18:04,080 That's my interpretation. 398 00:18:04,080 --> 00:18:08,200 So then Daniel gives the interpretation and I want to read, not Darius, Nebuchadnezzar's 399 00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:10,060 response to what Daniel has to say. 400 00:18:10,060 --> 00:18:16,000 So as this here, verse 46 chapter two, then King Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel. 401 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:17,000 Okay. 402 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:18,000 Stop. 403 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:23,760 The king of the most powerful country in the world just bowed down to Daniel, who is a 404 00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:25,720 slave, Jewish slave. 405 00:18:25,720 --> 00:18:26,840 Okay. 406 00:18:26,840 --> 00:18:31,760 And he paid him honor and ordered that an offering and incense be presented to him. 407 00:18:31,760 --> 00:18:32,760 Okay. 408 00:18:32,760 --> 00:18:35,040 First of all, Daniel probably doesn't want this, but that's okay. 409 00:18:35,040 --> 00:18:40,040 The king said to Daniel, surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of Kings and 410 00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:44,080 a reveler of mysteries for you were able to reveal this mystery. 411 00:18:44,080 --> 00:18:47,180 Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavish many gifts on him. 412 00:18:47,180 --> 00:18:51,000 He made him ruler over the entire Providence of Babylon and placed him in charge of all 413 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:52,000 its wise men. 414 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:57,400 Moreover, at Daniel's request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and ministers 415 00:18:57,400 --> 00:19:02,400 over the Providence of Babylon while Daniel himself remained at the royal court. 416 00:19:02,400 --> 00:19:03,400 Okay. 417 00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:05,680 That's going to be important because that has to do with the one in the next stories 418 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:07,240 of King Nebuchadnezzar coming up. 419 00:19:07,240 --> 00:19:08,240 Yeah. 420 00:19:08,240 --> 00:19:13,400 So you've got this ultimate dictator, right? 421 00:19:13,400 --> 00:19:14,400 Has this dream. 422 00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:15,400 Nobody wants to touch it. 423 00:19:15,400 --> 00:19:16,400 Right? 424 00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:18,040 What about this Jewish slave? 425 00:19:18,040 --> 00:19:19,040 Right? 426 00:19:19,040 --> 00:19:24,600 We heard he's got some thoughts and then he comes in, he delivers this interpretation 427 00:19:24,600 --> 00:19:26,480 of the dream and he's like, yep, that's it. 428 00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:27,480 That's it right there. 429 00:19:27,480 --> 00:19:28,480 Right? 430 00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:31,520 And some of us would be like, oh, you know, Daniel's just, you know, putting pieces that 431 00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:36,280 would fit, that would, you know, please the, no, that's not what's happening. 432 00:19:36,280 --> 00:19:41,360 What's happening is God is saying, okay, you guys are going to try to like, this is my 433 00:19:41,360 --> 00:19:42,360 interpretation. 434 00:19:42,360 --> 00:19:43,440 There's going to be people who disagree with me. 435 00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:46,640 There's lots of actually debate about Daniel chapter two. 436 00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:49,280 One of the nice things about the love and context podcast is you're welcome to disagree 437 00:19:49,280 --> 00:19:50,280 with us. 438 00:19:50,280 --> 00:19:51,280 That's yeah. 439 00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:52,280 Yeah. 440 00:19:52,280 --> 00:19:54,020 You have Daniel being thrown under the bus and then God being like, how would I just 441 00:19:54,020 --> 00:19:56,960 make fools out of them? 442 00:19:56,960 --> 00:20:01,280 And so through the end of through the end of chapter two, what you see is you see, okay, 443 00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:03,880 you're going to throw my boy, Daniel under the bus. 444 00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:08,640 Daniel is now going to be your boss and he's going to appoint three more Jewish slaves 445 00:20:08,640 --> 00:20:10,720 as administrators for the province. 446 00:20:10,720 --> 00:20:11,720 Yeah. 447 00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:18,240 And so, um, yeah, the King bowing down to Daniel, the most powerful person. 448 00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:22,880 And then, uh, Daniel is actually rising from slave to ruler over an entire Providence. 449 00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:24,920 It feels like I've heard this story before. 450 00:20:24,920 --> 00:20:28,680 I feel like in the book of Genesis, there's a guy by the name of Joseph and under very 451 00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:31,320 similar circumstances that God does a story. 452 00:20:31,320 --> 00:20:35,520 And by the way, you should be connecting this story and Daniel back to the book of Genesis. 453 00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:41,080 That is not to say that the story is, uh, is, uh, that the author is, is he's putting 454 00:20:41,080 --> 00:20:44,460 pieces in there to connect you back to this truth back in Genesis. 455 00:20:44,460 --> 00:20:48,080 That's going to be very common in these books to connect back to Torah. 456 00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:49,680 Yeah. 457 00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:52,360 And I point that out because I'm actually going to point something out later that connects 458 00:20:52,360 --> 00:20:53,800 back to Genesis as well. 459 00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:55,840 Um, that's very common in the book of Daniel. 460 00:20:55,840 --> 00:21:00,840 So then, uh, Daniel suggests that, Hey, we should appoint Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 461 00:21:00,840 --> 00:21:01,840 Right. 462 00:21:01,840 --> 00:21:07,400 Or as a pastor Tyler would say at Abednego, uh, that is an inside joke and he may or may 463 00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:09,840 not listen to this ever, but I love it. 464 00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:15,280 Um, so the next story, the next story, literally the next chapter, next verse is coming in 465 00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:20,360 here is this story that a lot of you are probably familiar with, but, um, but that's probably 466 00:21:20,360 --> 00:21:21,360 from veggie tales. 467 00:21:21,360 --> 00:21:25,400 Uh, the rack shack and Benny episode where it talks about the, which by the way, contextually 468 00:21:25,400 --> 00:21:26,960 they get a lot of stuff wrong. 469 00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:27,960 So many things. 470 00:21:27,960 --> 00:21:28,960 Yeah. 471 00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:30,960 So, so we'll, we'll address a little bit of that. 472 00:21:30,960 --> 00:21:31,960 Yeah. 473 00:21:31,960 --> 00:21:37,480 Um, so there is, uh, there is this, this, uh, decree that now kingdom of Knesser, he, 474 00:21:37,480 --> 00:21:40,840 uh, once again, very full of himself, King, right? 475 00:21:40,840 --> 00:21:45,800 He makes a, uh, image of gold and he says, you know what? 476 00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:48,480 I think everybody needs to worship this. 477 00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:49,480 Right. 478 00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:55,000 Uh, and most people fall in line, but there's three guys who won't fall online and it's 479 00:21:55,000 --> 00:22:01,440 a problem because they're also very powerful people now because of the previous story. 480 00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:05,520 So he has three powerful people who refuse to bow to, which is one thing veggie tales 481 00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:06,520 gets wrong. 482 00:22:06,520 --> 00:22:07,520 Yeah. 483 00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:08,520 Yeah. 484 00:22:08,520 --> 00:22:09,520 One thing. 485 00:22:09,520 --> 00:22:10,520 Also, it wasn't a chocolate bunny. 486 00:22:10,520 --> 00:22:14,320 So, uh, I'll quit calling veggie tales. 487 00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:15,320 I love veggie tales. 488 00:22:15,320 --> 00:22:19,360 Yeah, no, it's, and it's made for kids to kind of like understand like pieces of the 489 00:22:19,360 --> 00:22:20,360 story. 490 00:22:20,360 --> 00:22:24,520 So, um, you have, you have three powerful people in his province being like, no, I'm 491 00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:25,840 not going to bow down to that. 492 00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:26,840 Yeah. 493 00:22:26,840 --> 00:22:29,800 And so he's like, well, this isn't going to work because you, you, I, you really need 494 00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:34,040 to understand, like you need to contextualize who Nebuchadnezzar is. 495 00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:36,040 He is the guy you do not say no to. 496 00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:40,320 And he's got three people who will say no, by the way, Daniel at this point hasn't said 497 00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:41,760 no to Nebuchadnezzar. 498 00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:45,720 I'm sure there's something he said no to, but you know, but like he hasn't said no in 499 00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:47,280 the text, right? 500 00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:50,200 Um, he has given him advice. 501 00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:55,760 He at one point has interpreted a dream, but, uh, everybody has said yes to Nebuchadnezzar. 502 00:22:55,760 --> 00:22:59,480 Now there's three people appointed by Daniel and that he says everybody has going to have 503 00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:00,600 to bow down and worship this. 504 00:23:00,600 --> 00:23:02,960 And they go, no, we're not going to do that. 505 00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:04,760 And specifically, I want to point out what they say. 506 00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:06,560 Let's see here. 507 00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:10,760 Well, and while you're, while you're looking that up for the person who's typing on the 508 00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:14,320 keyboard being like, well, Daniel's not mentioned in chapter three. 509 00:23:14,320 --> 00:23:16,200 I was like, that doesn't mean he's not present. 510 00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:17,200 Correct. 511 00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:19,200 It just means he's not mentioned. 512 00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:20,200 All right. 513 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:23,640 So take a look here. 514 00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:24,640 He talks to them. 515 00:23:24,640 --> 00:23:28,960 He says, is it true Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego that you do not serve my gods or 516 00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:31,360 worship the image of gold I have set up. 517 00:23:31,360 --> 00:23:35,960 Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, or any, all kinds 518 00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:39,240 of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. 519 00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:44,520 But if you do not worship it, you are going to be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. 520 00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:47,080 Then what God will be able to rescue from my hand. 521 00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:48,480 Now what is the blazing furnace for? 522 00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:50,360 It's probably for consuming sacrifices. 523 00:23:50,360 --> 00:23:51,360 Right? 524 00:23:51,360 --> 00:23:53,960 So in other words, I'm going to sacrifice you to my gods. 525 00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:54,960 Right? 526 00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:58,920 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend 527 00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:00,880 ourselves before you in this matter. 528 00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:04,880 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from 529 00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:07,880 it and he will deliver us from your majesty's hand. 530 00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:12,840 But even if he does not, we want you to know your majesty that we will not serve your gods 531 00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:16,040 or worship the image of gold you have set up. 532 00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:20,840 So one of the things I always like to point out about these guys and the way they answer, 533 00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:23,800 they have absolute trust in God. 534 00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:25,280 Right? 535 00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:29,880 They were slaves, they were elevated to positions of authority, but their authority is not so 536 00:24:29,880 --> 00:24:32,280 important to them that they forget where they come from. 537 00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:34,120 They don't forget their story. 538 00:24:34,120 --> 00:24:37,440 And they say God is perfectly able to do this. 539 00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:41,640 But if he doesn't, I'm still not going to do it. 540 00:24:41,640 --> 00:24:47,440 And I think sometimes when we're living in a culture where it is not Christian, or living 541 00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:52,720 in a place where it's not Christian, and we have difficulty with that statement, it's 542 00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:57,860 like, even if it costs me, I'm not going to change what I believe. 543 00:24:57,860 --> 00:25:01,520 I have faith in what God has done in my life. 544 00:25:01,520 --> 00:25:07,180 And so it can cost me everything and God is perfectly able to see me through the storm. 545 00:25:07,180 --> 00:25:10,360 If he doesn't though, it's not going to change what I believe. 546 00:25:10,360 --> 00:25:11,480 Yeah. 547 00:25:11,480 --> 00:25:16,640 So you have Nebuchadnezzar's response to this, which is he's like, it says he was furious 548 00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:19,960 and heats the furnace up a lot. 549 00:25:19,960 --> 00:25:20,960 Yeah. 550 00:25:20,960 --> 00:25:21,960 Right? 551 00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:22,960 He was like, okay. 552 00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:26,640 He's like, so burning you alive is not good enough now. 553 00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:28,300 We're going to make sure it really hurts. 554 00:25:28,300 --> 00:25:33,440 It's so much that literally people die trying to throw them in the fire. 555 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:34,440 Yep. 556 00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:38,080 And which, by the way, should show your regard, like Nebuchadnezzar's regard for human life. 557 00:25:38,080 --> 00:25:39,080 Right? 558 00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:43,840 He's like, he's so furious at the people who said no to him that he's like, I'm willing 559 00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:48,660 to lose people who are loyal to destroy the people who are not loyal to sacrifice them 560 00:25:48,660 --> 00:25:49,660 to my gods. 561 00:25:49,660 --> 00:25:50,660 Yeah. 562 00:25:50,660 --> 00:25:51,660 I'll show you. 563 00:25:51,660 --> 00:25:52,660 Yeah. 564 00:25:52,660 --> 00:25:54,680 And so you have, many of you know the story. 565 00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:58,320 So then you have, there's a fourth person that shows up in the fire after Shadrach, 566 00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:03,040 Meshach, and Abednego get thrown in and they walk out unscathed. 567 00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:04,040 Yeah. 568 00:26:04,040 --> 00:26:05,040 Right? 569 00:26:05,040 --> 00:26:06,040 And then you have Nebuchadnezzar. 570 00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:07,040 Let me find it here. 571 00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:08,040 I should have... 572 00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:12,120 Before you get there real quick, while you're looking for that, I want to give people a 573 00:26:12,120 --> 00:26:15,360 couple of tidbits because I think it'll be fun for you to research. 574 00:26:15,360 --> 00:26:23,560 There is actually a story in the Mishnah that talks about Abraham being in the fire, in 575 00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:26,560 the furnace, as a fourth man. 576 00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:31,880 So I just think it's interesting because that is a piece that has been around prior to the 577 00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:33,040 book of Daniel being written. 578 00:26:33,040 --> 00:26:34,040 Yeah. 579 00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:36,740 And so this fourth person in the fire is not a new piece. 580 00:26:36,740 --> 00:26:39,800 And so I always wonder if there's a little bit of connection back there to some of the 581 00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:40,800 oral tradition. 582 00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:41,800 Yeah. 583 00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:46,480 And then later, since you're going to the Bible Project anyways, I'm going to tell you, 584 00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:48,840 like, they have a lot of stuff on the son of man. 585 00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:52,440 Check out some of those videos because it's going to be really interesting if you track 586 00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:54,160 that theme throughout the Bible. 587 00:26:54,160 --> 00:26:57,600 And then when Jesus comes as the son of man, what's actually being said. 588 00:26:57,600 --> 00:26:59,760 We're not going to talk about it today, but it's really cool. 589 00:26:59,760 --> 00:27:01,360 So do check that out. 590 00:27:01,360 --> 00:27:02,360 Yeah. 591 00:27:02,360 --> 00:27:09,520 So when Nebuchadnezzar sees a fourth man walking in, he reverts back to his response that he 592 00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:12,080 gave Daniel in chapter two. 593 00:27:12,080 --> 00:27:14,240 And this is verse 26. 594 00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:19,200 Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening to the blazing furnace and shouted, Shadrach, 595 00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:26,600 Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the most high God, come out, come here. 596 00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:27,600 Okay. 597 00:27:27,600 --> 00:27:34,720 So you have the guy who was just pronouncing himself as God saying, okay, I can't do that. 598 00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:39,280 So you guys who serve the most high God, I want to see you now. 599 00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:40,280 Yeah. 600 00:27:40,280 --> 00:27:46,600 You have Nebuchadnezzar who just tried to pronounce himself as God saying, okay, I'm 601 00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:49,440 not, I can't do what your God just did. 602 00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:51,160 Your God's the most high God. 603 00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:56,720 And then you jump over to verse 28 and Nebuchadnezzar says, praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, 604 00:27:56,720 --> 00:27:57,720 and Abednego. 605 00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:02,520 I feel like we've heard this before already in the book of Daniel, right? 606 00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:05,000 Where he's already praising God. 607 00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:09,880 You already see this kind of wave of Nebuchadnezzar's life where he's like, I'm a God. 608 00:28:09,880 --> 00:28:10,880 Nope, you're the God. 609 00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:12,040 And then, nope, I'm the God. 610 00:28:12,040 --> 00:28:16,160 So you kind of see that wave happening here. 611 00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:18,880 Who sent an angel and rescued his servants. 612 00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:26,640 They trusted him and defiled the king's command and were willing to give up their lives rather 613 00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:32,440 than serve or worship any God except their own God. 614 00:28:32,440 --> 00:28:37,000 Now any God there, interestingly enough, he's referring to himself because that's what he 615 00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:39,800 was trying to give him to worship. 616 00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:47,600 Therefore I decree that any person of any nation or language who says anything against 617 00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:52,520 the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses turned 618 00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:54,800 into piles of rubber, rubble. 619 00:28:54,800 --> 00:28:55,800 Rubber. 620 00:28:55,800 --> 00:28:56,800 Rubble. 621 00:28:56,800 --> 00:28:57,800 Yeah. 622 00:28:57,800 --> 00:29:03,400 For no other God can save in this way. 623 00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:05,840 No other God can save in this way. 624 00:29:05,840 --> 00:29:09,520 By the way, you skipped over this verse, but I just want to point out when they came out 625 00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:15,640 of the fire, the sat traps, prefects, governors, and royal advisors crowded around them. 626 00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:21,680 So they come out right in the middle of all the most powerful people in the nation. 627 00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:23,480 And there's not a mark on them. 628 00:29:23,480 --> 00:29:24,480 The ropes are gone. 629 00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:27,400 The guards who throw them in, they're gone. 630 00:29:27,400 --> 00:29:30,120 And they walk out completely unscathed. 631 00:29:30,120 --> 00:29:32,600 Right? 632 00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:37,120 And by the way, if you're wondering, you're like, hey, you've talked about repeating text 633 00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:38,120 before. 634 00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:39,360 I wonder if there's a chiasm in Daniel. 635 00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:40,360 There is. 636 00:29:40,360 --> 00:29:43,740 There's actually multiple chiasms in the book of Daniel. 637 00:29:43,740 --> 00:29:47,340 We're not going to get into them today because that's not really the purview of this episode. 638 00:29:47,340 --> 00:29:50,600 But it is a really good place for you to go start looking into. 639 00:29:50,600 --> 00:29:55,000 Yeah, so they walk out into the most powerful crowd in the world, right? 640 00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:59,840 The world elites and Nebuchadnezzar makes this proclamation of like, do not speak ill 641 00:29:59,840 --> 00:30:01,760 of their God. 642 00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:06,020 And then he, and it's really interesting because he's like, oh, praise be to this God. 643 00:30:06,020 --> 00:30:09,600 By the way, if you speak ill of this God, I'm going to do what I just tried to do to 644 00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:11,080 them. 645 00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:12,080 Yeah. 646 00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:13,080 Right? 647 00:30:13,080 --> 00:30:16,440 So he hasn't had a heart fully turned yet, but he's like recognizing there's this powerful 648 00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:17,440 God. 649 00:30:17,440 --> 00:30:18,880 Oh, by the way, if you diss him, I'm going to kill you. 650 00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:19,880 Right. 651 00:30:19,880 --> 00:30:23,800 Which actually leads us into the next chapter, which is the last place in Daniel that we're 652 00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:25,280 going to see Nebuchadnezzar. 653 00:30:25,280 --> 00:30:28,520 So Nebuchadnezzar has this great dream of this great tree. 654 00:30:28,520 --> 00:30:32,200 And, and, and ultimately Daniel translates this for him. 655 00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:37,360 That's going to be a subsequent humiliation and restoration of what's going on to him. 656 00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:40,320 He shares his dream and Daniel and he explains it. 657 00:30:40,320 --> 00:30:46,280 He says, so that Nebuchadnezzar is going to be like a wild animal in the field. 658 00:30:46,280 --> 00:30:49,080 He's going to eat grass and he's going to be crazy basically. 659 00:30:49,080 --> 00:30:51,600 And then that actually happens, which by the way, it makes you wonder what's going on in 660 00:30:51,600 --> 00:30:53,640 the government in Babylon. 661 00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:54,780 Right? 662 00:30:54,780 --> 00:31:00,240 That aside, he comes back and he makes this statement here at the end, written from the 663 00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:03,720 perspective of Nebuchadnezzar in verse 34 of chapter four. 664 00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:09,180 He says, at the end of that time, I Nebuchadnezzar raised my eyes toward heaven and my sanity 665 00:31:09,180 --> 00:31:10,440 was restored. 666 00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:11,640 Then I praised the most high. 667 00:31:11,640 --> 00:31:14,700 I honored and glorified him who lives forever. 668 00:31:14,700 --> 00:31:16,560 His dominion is an eternal dominion. 669 00:31:16,560 --> 00:31:19,200 His kingdom endures from generation to generation. 670 00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:21,260 All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. 671 00:31:21,260 --> 00:31:24,940 He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the people of the earth. 672 00:31:24,940 --> 00:31:27,880 No one can hold back his hand or say to him, what have I done? 673 00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:31,340 At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor were returned to me 674 00:31:31,340 --> 00:31:33,000 for the glory of my kingdom. 675 00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:36,400 My advices are noble, sought me out and I was restored to my throne and became even 676 00:31:36,400 --> 00:31:37,720 greater than before. 677 00:31:37,720 --> 00:31:43,600 Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and exalt and glorify the king of heaven because everything he does 678 00:31:43,600 --> 00:31:46,260 is right and all his ways are just. 679 00:31:46,260 --> 00:31:50,960 And those who walk in pride, he is able to humble. 680 00:31:50,960 --> 00:31:54,000 This is quite the story, right? 681 00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:59,160 It's just a crazy story, right? 682 00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:03,040 Because I think even though we've tried to explain how big of a deal Nebuchadnezzar is 683 00:32:03,040 --> 00:32:07,140 at this point, he's it, right? 684 00:32:07,140 --> 00:32:10,720 He is the most powerful human on earth at that point. 685 00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:13,200 There's nobody else. 686 00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:17,560 And he has this dream and he starts acting like a wild animal, loses his sanity and he 687 00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:22,040 just disappears and apparently nobody goes to look for him because God's going to do 688 00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:23,040 what he's going to do. 689 00:32:23,040 --> 00:32:24,360 He's going to humble the proud. 690 00:32:24,360 --> 00:32:25,640 Right. 691 00:32:25,640 --> 00:32:29,200 And he brings back Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful human in the world. 692 00:32:29,200 --> 00:32:33,120 And he goes, yeah, I got nothing on God. 693 00:32:33,120 --> 00:32:35,320 This guy, this guy knows what's going on. 694 00:32:35,320 --> 00:32:36,320 Right. 695 00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:40,940 Well, you see the story of Nebuchadnezzar and this, this is what the history books and 696 00:32:40,940 --> 00:32:46,240 archeological achievement people will, won't tell you, but you see the story of where first 697 00:32:46,240 --> 00:32:48,480 encounter with God, he's like, okay, this God's real. 698 00:32:48,480 --> 00:32:50,560 And then he immediately reverts back to him. 699 00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:53,920 His old self second counter is like, okay, I'm going to praise this guy because he can 700 00:32:53,920 --> 00:32:55,020 do stuff I can't do. 701 00:32:55,020 --> 00:32:59,060 But by the way, if you diss him, I'm going to cut you into pieces. 702 00:32:59,060 --> 00:33:02,920 And then this, then this third encounter and he probably had more than just these three. 703 00:33:02,920 --> 00:33:04,700 This is just what we have written down. 704 00:33:04,700 --> 00:33:09,980 This third encounter, he gets to a point where he's like, man, I was at the top of my game 705 00:33:09,980 --> 00:33:16,000 and I got cut down and the Lord's going to restore me and I'm going to praise and worship 706 00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:17,840 him, give him everything I have. 707 00:33:17,840 --> 00:33:22,120 And here's the interesting thing throughout this whole story. 708 00:33:22,120 --> 00:33:25,840 Where in this story does the text say God was mad at Nebuchadnezzar? 709 00:33:25,840 --> 00:33:28,840 There's no indication that that's the case. 710 00:33:28,840 --> 00:33:32,640 No, the indication is that you have a God that was seeking him out. 711 00:33:32,640 --> 00:33:33,640 Yeah. 712 00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:36,920 It'd be very patient and drawing him in. 713 00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:40,240 I'm actually going to, I'm going to take that idea and poke it a little bit further because 714 00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:43,040 I'm going to come into Jeremiah 25. 715 00:33:43,040 --> 00:33:49,960 And I want to read something that God says about Nebuchadnezzar through the prophet Jeremiah. 716 00:33:49,960 --> 00:33:54,240 Therefore, the Lord Almighty says this, because you have not listened to my words, I will 717 00:33:54,240 --> 00:34:03,520 summon all the peoples of the North and my servant, Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, my 718 00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:04,520 servant. 719 00:34:04,520 --> 00:34:08,880 Jeremiah mouthpiece for the Lord calls Nebuchadnezzar, who's servant? 720 00:34:08,880 --> 00:34:10,760 God's servant. 721 00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:12,000 Interesting. 722 00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:15,200 And then in chapter 27, he says this of Nebuchadnezzar. 723 00:34:15,200 --> 00:34:21,200 He says, now I will give you all your countries into the hands of my servant, Nebuchadnezzar, 724 00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:22,200 King of Babylon. 725 00:34:22,200 --> 00:34:26,120 I will make even the wild animals subject to him. 726 00:34:26,120 --> 00:34:27,120 Okay. 727 00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:30,760 Can you remember anywhere in the text where the wild animals were subject to a single 728 00:34:30,760 --> 00:34:36,480 demon? 729 00:34:36,480 --> 00:34:37,480 I'm being facetious. 730 00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:38,480 Yeah. 731 00:34:38,480 --> 00:34:40,480 Was that back in Genesis? 732 00:34:40,480 --> 00:34:41,480 It was back in Genesis. 733 00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:42,480 Oh, okay. 734 00:34:42,480 --> 00:34:43,480 Yeah. 735 00:34:43,480 --> 00:34:47,520 In other words, it's almost like he's giving him the mandate of Adam, right? 736 00:34:47,520 --> 00:34:51,440 That he's to rule this area and subdue it. 737 00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:55,960 Now of course, the media thing that you should be in your life, I hear it. 738 00:34:55,960 --> 00:34:56,960 I hear it, right? 739 00:34:56,960 --> 00:35:00,600 People type in to us is like, but you just said Nebuchadnezzar was brutal. 740 00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:02,920 And you said that he did all these different things. 741 00:35:02,920 --> 00:35:03,920 Yes, he did. 742 00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:05,340 Yes. 743 00:35:05,340 --> 00:35:09,180 And God still wanted him. 744 00:35:09,180 --> 00:35:12,680 And God still used him. 745 00:35:12,680 --> 00:35:16,040 And God still worked through his life. 746 00:35:16,040 --> 00:35:21,160 And God still revealed himself to him, right? 747 00:35:21,160 --> 00:35:25,520 We have a God who's like, I'm going to show you that no one is beyond redemption. 748 00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:29,880 Well think back to season one when we're talking about this conflict between God and Pharaoh. 749 00:35:29,880 --> 00:35:33,920 And God is bringing the 10 plagues and he's judging the gods of Egypt, right? 750 00:35:33,920 --> 00:35:39,080 And there's this interplay where God is pursuing Pharaoh and the people of Egypt and inviting 751 00:35:39,080 --> 00:35:42,600 them to something. 752 00:35:42,600 --> 00:35:46,840 Now ultimately they reject it, but God's invitation is still there the entire time. 753 00:35:46,840 --> 00:35:48,320 Well some of the Egyptians go. 754 00:35:48,320 --> 00:35:50,080 Some of the Egyptians go, yeah. 755 00:35:50,080 --> 00:35:54,800 And so one of the things that I've always loved about this story and I try to pass on 756 00:35:54,800 --> 00:36:01,440 to other people is don't write off the horrible people, right? 757 00:36:01,440 --> 00:36:05,320 The Lord wants to reach them and wants to redeem them. 758 00:36:05,320 --> 00:36:13,320 There is a difference between not appreciating but not accepting the actions. 759 00:36:13,320 --> 00:36:14,680 You can absolutely look at the actions. 760 00:36:14,680 --> 00:36:20,960 For example, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego say, listen, we're not going to bow, right? 761 00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:22,840 I understand you're the most powerful person in the world. 762 00:36:22,840 --> 00:36:24,840 I understand you can squish us like a bug. 763 00:36:24,840 --> 00:36:28,120 I understand that you can heat that furnace up and try to toss us in. 764 00:36:28,120 --> 00:36:30,080 We're still not going to do it. 765 00:36:30,080 --> 00:36:33,800 And God's capable of saving us, but if not, we're still not going to do it. 766 00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:38,520 That is standing firm in the midst of chaos, right? 767 00:36:38,520 --> 00:36:40,440 And so there is a call to be able to do that. 768 00:36:40,440 --> 00:36:51,900 But when we're standing against evil, we still need to realize that God is pursuing people. 769 00:36:51,900 --> 00:36:57,360 So make sure you're standing against evil and not the people doing evil. 770 00:36:57,360 --> 00:37:02,600 Now you're going to split hairs there, and I understand, but God is still passionate 771 00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:03,600 about those people. 772 00:37:03,600 --> 00:37:09,200 Yeah, you just have to be able to distinguish between the people and actions, right? 773 00:37:09,200 --> 00:37:11,160 Because people can be redeemed. 774 00:37:11,160 --> 00:37:12,160 People can be redeemed. 775 00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:13,160 Right? 776 00:37:13,160 --> 00:37:16,120 Through the power of Christ, people can be redeemed. 777 00:37:16,120 --> 00:37:19,920 And you have to think like in your brain, listeners, I want you to think about that 778 00:37:19,920 --> 00:37:25,240 person who just can't do it. 779 00:37:25,240 --> 00:37:30,880 God loves that person as much as he loves you. 780 00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:35,280 And he feels about that person the same way that he feels about you. 781 00:37:35,280 --> 00:37:40,560 And if we're going to be followers of Jesus, we have to figure out a way to feel, not to 782 00:37:40,560 --> 00:37:45,040 say the same way, because I think it's going to be hard, but at least to live in such a 783 00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:50,200 way that we want to feel that way toward the people that have completely wronged us. 784 00:37:50,200 --> 00:37:54,520 What we're not saying is that the wrong is OK. 785 00:37:54,520 --> 00:37:55,520 Doesn't mean that it didn't hurt. 786 00:37:55,520 --> 00:37:58,840 Doesn't mean that it's not going to take time to get over. 787 00:37:58,840 --> 00:38:00,680 But God is a God of redemption. 788 00:38:00,680 --> 00:38:03,440 He's a God of restoration. 789 00:38:03,440 --> 00:38:06,120 He's a God of putting the broken back together. 790 00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:11,040 And that's the call of the Christian community, even in the midst of a tyrannical government 791 00:38:11,040 --> 00:38:15,000 like Babylon. 792 00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:19,120 If we live like Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we say, how do we live in the 793 00:38:19,120 --> 00:38:22,520 middle of a world where we're the remnant? 794 00:38:22,520 --> 00:38:27,920 And we stand completely firm in the middle of a lot of things that are against us. 795 00:38:27,920 --> 00:38:35,600 But we do so in love and compassion, but with unyielding, not unyielding, unwillingness 796 00:38:35,600 --> 00:38:39,720 to compromise our faith. 797 00:38:39,720 --> 00:38:41,640 And I think that's really hard. 798 00:38:41,640 --> 00:38:43,880 That's super hard. 799 00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:50,840 Well, and if we're just being honest, it's really easy to be selfish when we see that 800 00:38:50,840 --> 00:38:57,960 quote unquote horrible person that we despise be redeemed. 801 00:38:57,960 --> 00:39:05,920 That can be a really hard thing because in our selfish nature, we don't want to see that. 802 00:39:05,920 --> 00:39:12,120 And so when Nebuchadnezzar returns to power and he's like, I am following after the Lord, 803 00:39:12,120 --> 00:39:14,400 it was probably a shock to some people. 804 00:39:14,400 --> 00:39:18,640 And there's probably some people who he really harmed that they're like, we don't want to 805 00:39:18,640 --> 00:39:21,240 see him as a good person now. 806 00:39:21,240 --> 00:39:22,240 Right? 807 00:39:22,240 --> 00:39:23,240 Yeah. 808 00:39:23,240 --> 00:39:28,600 I mean, think about the countries that he literally carted off in his slavery, right? 809 00:39:28,600 --> 00:39:32,520 And I mean, take that concept and you could tie that to the one person that the Lord redeemed 810 00:39:32,520 --> 00:39:34,960 that you know that was a horrible person before. 811 00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:38,280 And you're like, I don't want to see them redeemed. 812 00:39:38,280 --> 00:39:40,360 And there's a heart check you got to do, right? 813 00:39:40,360 --> 00:39:43,800 You got to check your heart and be like, no, the Lord loves them just as much as he loves 814 00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:44,920 me. 815 00:39:44,920 --> 00:39:46,880 Just as he redeemed me. 816 00:39:46,880 --> 00:39:47,920 Right? 817 00:39:47,920 --> 00:39:51,000 He wants to redeem them or he's redeemed them. 818 00:39:51,000 --> 00:39:54,480 One of the things that they so one show that I've recommended multiple times is called 819 00:39:54,480 --> 00:39:55,480 The Chosen. 820 00:39:55,480 --> 00:40:00,760 I think that it does a really good job of helping you think about stories in a different 821 00:40:00,760 --> 00:40:04,400 light or think of them as real stories rather than just text on a page. 822 00:40:04,400 --> 00:40:05,400 Right? 823 00:40:05,400 --> 00:40:09,000 But one of the things that I had enjoyed enjoyed about that is this ongoing conflict of the 824 00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:14,720 disciples struggling with Matthew, the tax collector, you know, this guy who was like 825 00:40:14,720 --> 00:40:16,560 Jesus calls him. 826 00:40:16,560 --> 00:40:23,760 But he was the guy who literally exacted taxes from you on behalf of a foreign government 827 00:40:23,760 --> 00:40:27,360 and lined his pocket at the same time. 828 00:40:27,360 --> 00:40:32,680 And there are a lot of like, I mean, you see the Pharisees are like, he eats with tax collectors 829 00:40:32,680 --> 00:40:37,520 and sinners like they're so bad, you can't even listen with sinners, you know? 830 00:40:37,520 --> 00:40:43,760 And and yet Jesus calls one of them to be a follower of his and they leave everything 831 00:40:43,760 --> 00:40:44,760 to go do that. 832 00:40:44,760 --> 00:40:45,760 Yeah. 833 00:40:45,760 --> 00:40:49,160 Like those people who are on the outside are the people that God wants. 834 00:40:49,160 --> 00:40:51,680 And it's a really it's a really difficult thing. 835 00:40:51,680 --> 00:40:56,400 The last thing I would say here is we kind of emphasize Nebuchadnezzar is one of the most 836 00:40:56,400 --> 00:41:01,280 powerful people, probably the most powerful person in the world at that point. 837 00:41:01,280 --> 00:41:05,840 I think that there is a tendency when we read this story specifically in America to see 838 00:41:05,840 --> 00:41:09,640 ourselves as the remnant. 839 00:41:09,640 --> 00:41:14,140 I think that we need to be honest is that we actually exist in a much stronger position 840 00:41:14,140 --> 00:41:16,600 of power than most people in the world. 841 00:41:16,600 --> 00:41:20,380 I think about technology and authority and all these different things. 842 00:41:20,380 --> 00:41:24,760 And we are going to the story when we read it, I think there's a good question to ask 843 00:41:24,760 --> 00:41:28,520 yourself is with the power that's been entrusted to me by God. 844 00:41:28,520 --> 00:41:29,640 Yeah. 845 00:41:29,640 --> 00:41:34,640 Am I using it to promote justice and love, compassion, forwarding the kingdom of God, 846 00:41:34,640 --> 00:41:37,960 or am I building golden castles for myself to worship? 847 00:41:37,960 --> 00:41:38,960 Yeah. 848 00:41:38,960 --> 00:41:41,280 And that's a good question for you to ask. 849 00:41:41,280 --> 00:41:43,640 Like it is it's it can be humbling at times. 850 00:41:43,640 --> 00:41:46,380 And sometimes you'll be like, nope, I'm doing good job. 851 00:41:46,380 --> 00:41:50,200 Sometimes you're like, whoo, missed it with that one. 852 00:41:50,200 --> 00:41:57,000 But when we when we're born into America, we're born into a lot of power and authority 853 00:41:57,000 --> 00:41:58,920 and what we do with that matters. 854 00:41:58,920 --> 00:42:01,120 Yeah, absolutely. 855 00:42:01,120 --> 00:42:03,080 Yeah. 856 00:42:03,080 --> 00:42:04,080 Kings and kingdoms. 857 00:42:04,080 --> 00:42:10,480 Well, if you enjoyed it, keep listening, keep listening and tune in next week. 858 00:42:10,480 --> 00:42:13,480 If you didn't enjoy it, you probably didn't hear this message at the end. 859 00:42:13,480 --> 00:42:15,240 Yep, probably not. 860 00:42:15,240 --> 00:42:17,920 Have a good one. 861 00:42:17,920 --> 00:42:20,940 And that's a wrap for today's episode of Love and Context. 862 00:42:20,940 --> 00:42:24,860 We hope you enjoyed this engaging conversation and gained valuable insights into the powerful 863 00:42:24,860 --> 00:42:26,840 message of love within the Bible. 864 00:42:26,840 --> 00:42:29,960 We'd love to hear from you and continue the conversation. 865 00:42:29,960 --> 00:42:34,600 Join us with us by sending us your questions, thoughts and suggestions to love and context 866 00:42:34,600 --> 00:42:36,340 at Gmail dot com. 867 00:42:36,340 --> 00:42:40,960 We greatly appreciate your feedback and ideas for future episodes. 868 00:42:40,960 --> 00:42:45,240 Stay connected with us on social media for updates, behind the scenes content and additional 869 00:42:45,240 --> 00:42:46,240 resources. 870 00:42:46,240 --> 00:42:51,040 You can find us on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Facebook at Love and Context. 871 00:42:51,040 --> 00:42:54,040 Don't forget to hit that follow button to stay up to date with the latest episodes and 872 00:42:54,040 --> 00:42:56,160 join our growing community. 873 00:42:56,160 --> 00:42:58,560 Thank you for being part of the Love and Context family. 874 00:42:58,560 --> 00:43:01,320 Remember, love is at the heart of it all. 875 00:43:01,320 --> 00:43:06,400 Until next time, keep seeking wisdom, embracing love and living out your faith in the context 876 00:43:06,400 --> 00:43:29,400 of today's world.