Answers Bible Curriculum: Lesson 6 - God Speaks Clearly

Well, good morning. Why not? Let's go ahead and, and get started with our class today. And so, if you're Still looking for your seat.

We do have a few left in here. And let's start with a word of prayer and get into our, our class today. Holy Father, you are the God of all of creation. You're the one who, made everything and you're the one who put us here and We are your creatures.

And so Father as we learn and talk about who you are and, and And really what, may our, our minds be opened to, to learn more and to, to have a better picture of how it is you work and may our faith be strengthened as we, learn these things and, and truly, be able to, walk by faith in a much better way, in a clearer way. In Jesus' name, Amen. We'll be looking at this idea that to try to actually answer that question, how much does God know? And be looking at it from a standpoint of really two words that we'll discuss a little bit today.

one word is prophecy, the other word is omniscience. So, let those, words roll around in your head, and when we get to them, we'll talk a little bit about them. we're doing, this, this, series of lessons, called God's justice and mercy. We're looking at, how God deals with people, in particular the nation of Israel, but we do get, a picture of, of how God has dealt with the other nations as well, and, how God really deals with, the people in, in implementing his plan and, and making his, making progress toward what he is, his ultimate goal is.

And so, but we're looking at this, this aspect of God today, or this is in the series and part of our, our discussion today is deals with God's justice and mercy. we are a, pair family ministry, in And what we do is just try to support the family as they make their journey, from, from brokenness to wholeness. That's the, the goal of our church here to, to help people on that journey. We have a theme verse for this part of the sessions.

It comes from Isaiah 42, it's Isaiah 42:8, where God declares something about Himself, and this is in light of, nations and even the nation of Israel, worshiping other gods, gods of their own creation. And God is stipulating something here. He says, I am the Lord, that is my name. I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to graven images.

And, and so God is stipulating this idea that That the glory and praise and worship belongs to him. Not two man-made objects, and God doesn't share, nor would it be appropriate for God to share, because God is about the truth and we also ought to be about the truth too, and he's trying to draw us to the truth. And so he stipulates that. And we're in less than 6 in this series of studies, and today we're looking at God speaks clearly.

So, just as a way of a little bit of a review, we'll do a short review here, but we started this, this series of lessons talking about the divided nation. That after Solomon died, his son Riaboam became king and through a series of events, the nation split apart. And so Riaboam remained king of the two southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and then the rest of the tribes went to the north, led by a man named Jeroboam, who we'll be actually looking at today. In, in, in one of the prophecies that we're gonna be looking at.

But these two nations split apart and and so And, and God was, was behind that, because of the sin of Solomon. God had declared that he was going to, to divide the nation and so he did that. And the northern kingdom right away went into idolatry. And the southern kingdom for their history, went back and forth.

Sometimes they were following Yahweh, sometimes they were following other gods, and so it depended upon the leadership and so on. And what God did was send prophets. And these prophets went to the two nations. That now existed to declare certain things.

We'll be looking at some of that. We've been looking at some of those profits in the last few weeks, and we'll be looking at some of the particulars of, of what their role was and so on today. The three of the prophets that we've looked at so far in this series of lessons, we looked at Amos a few weeks ago, where that God sent Amos to warn Israel, and to, to actually also to, to issue declarations against them, to confront them for their sins. And so, that was one of the, the purposes of sending a prophet to confront.

And to try to awaken people to what they're doing wrong. You just can't carry on and do what feels good, but that there are certain ways of, of, of righteous living that they were not living up to. So God sends Amos to do that. Hosea, was, was sent by God and, he, he was in a pictorial way to, to show how God loves Israel, in spite of their idolatry.

which God pictured through Hosea as adultery. God demonstrated to Israel how much he loved them and how much he was willing, in fact, to the lengths he was willing to go to, to bring them back, to call them back. And so through Hosea, we looked at a few weeks ago, God's willingness to do all of that. Last week, looked at Nehem.

And how, God judges the nations. not only is Israel underneath the watchful eye of God, and not only is Israel, held responsible for their, actions for what they do, but God is also paying attention to the other nations too. Even though Israel is God's chosen people and, and so they have particular responsibility to be light bearers to the rest of the world. God also holds the other nations accountable as well, because we're all underneath the eye of God, and we all have responsibility and God demonstrates that through this message of Nehem to where God is judging the other nations as well, in particular, in this case was going to be Assyria and how God was going to send judgment against Nineveh.

And this time, his, his wrath would not be withheld. He would not. forgive their sins as he did when he sent Jonah to them. And so, This time they would not escape.

Now, when we come to the word profit. prophet that hopefully that word stirs up thoughts in your mind. So, I'd just like to get some feedback. What is, what comes to your mind when you hear the word prophet?

OK. Speaking God's word to the people. What else? OK, describing something that, that's a future event.

OK. So if it, if the prophecy doesn't come true, then he's not from God? Anybody else? What is a prophet?

Or what does that bring up to your mind, that word prophet? OK, it's particular to Old Testament. All right. OK, good.

That, that a prophet is someone who who declares God's intentions. That's right, with all of God's authority. So a prophet is, is a mouthpiece really for God, right? someone that, that God is using to declare his will.

And so, Those are, those are all good things. The role of the prophet. was, there it is. one of the, the things is to comfort or to confront wickedness, as we talked about already, with Amos, but to, God would send a prophet to, to confront.

to confront someone, we'll be looking at an example of that today, but, that was one of their jobs, to confront wickedness. Now, think about that from, personalize that a little bit. What if God came to you? This, this is something I've thought about and it's a little terrifying to me.

but what if God shows up, to you, in your, to you in your bedroom when you're alone, and he says, Daniel, I want you to go. To that guy down there, maybe it's the mayor of the city, and I want you to confront that person. For the things that they're doing. Now, that's how, how that's gonna be received, right?

that's not gonna be a fun job. And, and this is something that, that God called them to do. it, it, sometimes, at least growing up, see, I grew up as a Christian, in a Christian home, learning about the scriptures, reading about these stories and, and, and all of that. When I was a kid, thinking about how great it would be to be able to go tell people off.

That's, that, that's, that's what a great job this would be. as I've gotten older and had more experience in telling people off, and realizing that, this is such a great job and, and, I don't think this is what I'd really want to do and, and, and yet God uses this, this instrument, this person to do that, to, to actually, this is one of their roles, to confront wickedness. another one is to warn of coming judgment. To give warnings and so they would, that's what one of the things they would do.

and usually it went with the confronting of wickedness, but it was to give a warning. And so what is God doing here? Well, God is acting in love, right? Both in the confronting of wickedness, which is an act of love.

And also the warning of coming judgment. Why? Because he's trying to help them change, to, to actually to spare them. And so there is this warning of coming judgment.

Also, one of the roles of the prophet was to provide comfort. So one of the examples of that, that we'll be looking at in later weeks, but is, is Hezekiah, who, who had a prophet come to him when the armies of Assyria were out, threatening to destroy Jerusalem, and the prophet says, don't worry about it. God's with you. God's got your back.

God's going to protect you. So one of the things that, a prophet does is provide comfort, And also to lead people onto paths of obedience. a prophet would be providing that role to help people as they are making changes in their lives. To, to help them to walk in the ways of righteousness.

And then, also to describe the mysteries of future events, that they, they would be the person. God would use to project what's gonna be happening in the future. And so this is some of the things that, that prophet would do. Now, the religion and history of Israel are, are fundamentally prophetic.

if, if you go actually and you read through the Old Testament, for instance, You will see that it's not just history, right? there's, there's this, this mixture within the history of God's hand always being involved, that God is doing things. So it's, it's, it should be viewed as revelation, not just a, a recounting of events that took place. These are not just events that just happened and you just go on.

No, these are all purposeful. events that are leading to a certain direction. And that's what makes it prophetic, that it's, it's all designed. It happens to, according to a design.

God is always working. So the writers of Old Testament history were writing more than a story of people. But they were writing the story of God and how he was executing his plan. In all of these writings, we find that God is revealing Himself.

And whether it's from the Genesis through in, in from Adam to, to Joseph. God is revealing Himself. God is revealing Himself later in, in Exodus and through the judges and, and Joshua and, and through, really through all of the Old Testament history, the kings, the period of the kings and so on. God is revealing Himself continually revealing Himself.

And he's, and it's showing how he's executing his plans. Israel's religion, Unlike that of her contemporaries, was grounded in a revelation through historical events rather than a metaphysical speculation, superstition, or philosophical reasoning. This is something that sets apart the worship of God. Of, of Yahweh.

that God is revealing Himself. Other, other, cultures and, and religions, excuse me. are, are really the other part. They're metaphysical speculation.

or superstition. Or philosophical reasoning, just people trying to get together and come up with the ideas of, of why we're here, who we are and where are we going. And God had revealed Himself through certain vigils, and, and through them, he was revealing Himself to the world. But these historical events, think of certain people like Seth, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, all the way to the Messiah.

We see this, this train of, of men that God has, has spoken through and has demonstrated that he is involved in the affairs of mankind and he has a plan and he is working his plan. And so there, the, in this sense, it is, again, prophetic. prophetic thought includes a philosophy of history. Which interprets its course and predicts its ultimate outcome.

It means that there is a directed purpose and destiny ordained by God. Furthermore, not only the history of Israel, but also the history of all nations is under God's sovereign control. So we, we see other nations talked about and actually used by God for certain things. We have Egypt, Syria, Babylon, and then there's others that come after that.

These are all significant nations, significant players in the plan of God as he's executing and taking mankind to a certain destiny. God has this plan. So all history. is an arena for the demonstration of his wisdom, power, and glory.

And these last few slides I, I should have given credit, but these are from Freeman. Who, is a writer of, Old Testament prophets. And so this arena, as we look at the history of mankind, we see God's hand in there. If, if we're willing to see it.

We can see his hand there and see it working. That's why, You've probably heard history is called his story. It is really God, implementing his will, doing his thing, within the affairs of mankind. We have the rise and fall of leaders and nations, but it's all moving toward a targeted goal.

And And with, and part of that goal is the, the redemption of mankind. And taking them into the kingdom of God. And so we have the revelation then, ultimately of the Son of God, the King of the universe, King of kings and Lord of lords, and that is the ultimate goal, the glory of Christ. All right.

We have another word When you see that word omniscience, What does that make you think? What's that? have. He knows everything.

That's right. I asked my son that this week and he said, that just sounds like a theological word. He knows the real science. OK.

What else? Then what? OK. Yeah, that's a que a question I'd love to get into, but But, but that does come to our mind and it actually should.

It should be part of, of, the equation and, and, and so. In fact, we did cover some of that back when we did the study on Job. And like for instance, in human suffering, why is there human suffering? so several months ago, we did a session on Job and, and, talked about some of that.

but yeah. What else with omniscience? That's good. OK.

OK. And God says, yes, they will. Exactly OK, so So in a particular situation with, with David as he's, he's strategizing for battle, he asked God, about the strategy, God says, it, it gives him the indication that he needs to have a different strategy. And so he does do the different strategy, which I think was to divide his, his troops and that, and, and God would deliver the enemy into his hands that way.

And, and so, yeah, you, you can see that God knows what the, what everyone is thinking. That's part of omniscience. OK. Well, hopefully, when you see this word, your mind just doesn't go blank.

I, I, I hope, hope that's not what it is. this is a great word because it really explains the whole idea of prophecy. It's, it's buttresses the whole idea. First of all, God knows, what does God know?

Well, God knows his creation. In, in When I, I started thinking about that particular thing and, and that can be seem trite until you actually explore it, mentally explore that idea. Remember what Jesus said in the sermon on the Mount, that, that, he, he, even knows about the sparrows. Remember, that God is paying attention to all of his creation.

All of it. And when you begin to examine the depths of that, he knows where all the planets are. He knows where they were yesterday. He knows where they'll be tomorrow.

He knows, he knows all about all of this space. He knows about what's, what's here too. He knows where every molecule is. He's the God who sees between the molecules.

He's the one who designed it all and, and, and he holds it all in his hand and he, he understands it, he, he made it. And his design was, was purposeful and, and, and it is also apparent as we, as we get to examine the creation, as we get to look at it, we get to see and discover designs that are there, that are not haphazard. They don't, when we look at the designs, we don't see something that looks like it just, just came out of nothing, but actually was, was made with intent.

and unless of course you're gonna look at the cockroach or something like that and you go, well, God, what were you thinking?

but, But his creation all has purpose and, and it's all well designed, and he knows all about it. that's one of the things God knows. He knows his plans for redemption. He's been working these plans.

from the beginning, right? And so from the foundations of the world, he's been working on these plans and, and we see, through history, as, as we go back and read the, the text of scripture, we see his plans and how they're coming about and how they fit together, and we begin to see the beauty and the symmetry and, and the, the love, the emotion that's, that's connected with all this and how much God cares. About, about his, his creature that he made in his own image. And then we understand also that God creates, cares about all of what he has created.

So in Romans we read about creation groaning and, and looking forward to that day of redemption, that day when, when man will be finally completed and brought, brought back to restoration. God cares about all this. He knows about it all, and he has plans for it. He knows our struggles and sorrows.

He knows all that stuff that we go through. he knows our achievements, and he knows our failures. that's part of his omniscience. He knows all about it.

He also knows about his enemy's rebellion. That he, that he's paying attention to all of that. All of the affairs of mankind, he knows about those things. God is outside of time.

And, when he made the creation, he made, the universe that we, we call it the universe. where everything that, that, that we live in has space and time. That those are the dimensions that God created all this to be in. He's outside of all of that.

He's what we call transcendent. He doesn't, he's not in the box like we are in the box. He's outside of the box. And he looks into this creation that he has and so his ability to disclose future events should be completely credible.

It shouldn't be a problem for him to, to say, in such and such a year, this and that are gonna happen. Because he already knows about it. in 50 years from now, When, some of us are young enough that we might make it there., if my children survive, they, they will make it there. anyway, when they get there, You're gonna find out that God's already been there.

God has already been there. so it's like when you are walking through this, This, wilderness area, and you think, This is so beautiful, and I'm so glad that I'm the only one that's ever been here. and you get along, you're walking along and it's just beautiful area and then you stumble over something, you fall and you pick it up and it's an old beer can, what? I was, I can't, I, how could that be?

I'm not the first one here. Well, that's how it is with time, like, as we get, go through time, we discover God's already been here. God already knows about this. And so he knows.

What's going to happen and for him to reveal it to Certain men for certain plans, for certain purposes is not a big deal to him. And, and I say that because The prophecies in the Bible, a lot of times people have issues with it. They have issues and so they wanted to change the, the paradigm and say that, well, no, the prophet wrote after the event. Or they, they wanna say that, well, the prophet is just a wise guru who understands his times and so he's a pretty good prognosticator.

But the problem with, with those ideas is they don't fit reality. For one thing, as far as the timing goes, the prophets did right before the events. And it would take a really good prognosticator to, to, come against Israel in their in the time where they're, they're the wealthiest. Such as the time when Hosea and Amos came and, and made their prophecies and prophesized judgment against this nation, when that nation, the northern Kingdom of Israel was at its wealthiest that it had ever been.

They were, they had peace with other nations. They had made treaties. They'd even made treaties with Assyria. They, they were, they were in good condition.

And so it would, it would take a pretty good prognosticator to for down the road, more than 100 years. That will happen when Assyria will come and destroy the nation. That, that's, that's not reasonable. and, and there are many, many other examples like that, where the only thing that fits is when God is revealing it.

It's revelation. That's the only thing that, that fits. So I want to look at a couple of prophecies. first of all, let's look and turn to 1 Kings chapter 12.

And we'll pick it up in verse 26. This is gonna be the story of Jeroboam and be referring back. We've talked about Jeroboam for the last several weeks. We've talked about the sin of the, of the northern kingdom.

This is gonna be the, the particular text of it and what God does about it, the prophecy and then what happens. So verse 26. Jeroboam said in his heart, now the kingdom will now the kingdom will return to the house of David. So you understand, the kingdom has been divided and Jeroboam has led the northern kingdom to separate.

And now he's already expressing fear that that separation won't be able to be maintained. So he devises a plan. If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will return to their Lord, even to Riaboam, king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Riaboam, king of Judah. So the king consulted and made two golden calves, and he said to them, it is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem.

Behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt. He set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan. And he made houses on high places and made priests from among all the people who were not of the sons of Levi.

Jeroboam instituted a feast in the 8th month of the 15th day of the month, like the feast which is in Judah, and he went up to the altar. Thus he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves which he had made, and he stationed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made. Then he went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the 15th day of the 8th month, even the month which he had devised in his own heart, and he instituted a feast for the sons of Israel and went up to the altar to burn incense.

So this is his plan.

His plan to maintain a distinct nation, that would not rejoin with Judah. That was his big fear. Now, in chapter 13, we'll see what God does about that. Now behold, there came a man of God from Judah to Bethel by the word of the Lord, while Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense.

He cried against the altar by the word of the Lord and said, O altar, altar, thus says the Lord, behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones shall be burned on you. Then he gave a sign the same day saying, this is the sign which the Lord has spoken. Behold, the altar shall be split apart. And the ashes which are on it shall be poured out.

Now when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, seize him. But his hand, which he stretched out against him, dried up so that he could not draw it back to himself. The altar also was split apart, and the ashes were poured out from the altar according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord. So here we have a prophecy given that is pretty particular.

has some details to it. it's not given in vague language. and if you picked up a packet in the back, there, it's got, I think we, we're not gonna have time to go through it, but it's on Nostradamus and it gives an example of one of his prophecies and so on there. And they're pretty, vague and, and can, can be interpreted in a lot of different ways.

And just so, that prophecy that's there, the, the Nostradamus Club, whatever they're called, has, has decided that that was a prophecy of 9/11. 2001. And so, just, just for your interest, But there, you, you, there's a big difference between those, his prophecies and, and what we have from God here. this is very particular.

So 300 years later, Let's see what happens. 2 Kings, chapter 23. Verse 15. We have here in this section, a whole series of events that King Josiah, who was of the line of David, goes in and introduces a bunch of reforms and he cleans house.

he, he decides to go in and, and he's tearing out all of the idolatry. he's the king of Judah, and he actually goes outside of Judah for this event that we're gonna be looking at and fulfills the prophecy. Verse 15, furthermore, The altar that was at Bethel and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he broke down. Then he demolished its stones, ground them to dust, and burned the ashra.

Now when Josiah turned, he saw the graves that were there on the mountain, and he sent and took the bones from the graves and burned them on the altar and defiled it according to the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed. Who proclaimed these things? When, then he said, What is this monument that I see? And the men of the city told him, it is the grave of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things which you have done against the altar of Bethel.

He said, let him alone, let no one disturb his bones. So they left his bones undisturbed with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria. And it goes on to talk about Josiah removing all of the high places in Samaria. So, here is a particular prophecy.

And the particular fulfillment of the prophecy, very detailed. this is, and, and is this too hard for God? No, this is a, a simple thing for God. He knows exactly what's gonna happen.

Not only does he know what's gonna happen, as we're gonna look at later, but he causes the things to happen. He makes sure they're fulfilled. he's very active in, in all of that. Another prophecy we'll look at is in Isaiah chapter 44.

And pick it up at the end of the chapter in verse 28. And then we'll go into chapter 45. It, and it says this, it is I who says of Cyrus, he is my shepherd. Now who, who knows who Cyrus is?

Who is Cyrus? King of Persia And Persia, the, the Medes and the Persians got together and they're the ones who overthrew the Babylonian Empire. And now the Persian Empire has taken over the, the, that part of the world, the Middle Eastern world, and in fact, they're spreading and making it even bigger. So this is Cyrus, and God is saying this, this is God speaking.

It is I who says of Cyrus, he is my shepherd, and he will perform all my desire, and he declares of Jerusalem, she will be built, and of the temple, your foundation will be laid. Now, it was Nebuchadnezzar who destroyed. He leveled and left rubble of Jerusalem. All was left was rubble and it had been to this time.

According to God's will. Going on in chapter 45, thus says the Lord to Cyrus, his anointed, whom I have taken by the right hand to subdue nations before Him and to loose the loins of kings, to open doors before Him so that gates will not be shut. I will go before you and will make the rough places smooth. I will shatter the doors of bronze and cut through their iron bars.

I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden wealth of secret places. So that you may know that I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name. And so, we'll stop reading there, but, there's this, this whole prophecy of, God expressing, his, work in the hand of a non-Jewish king. So it's, again, it's not just the, the people of Israel that God is gonna be working through, but it's also other nations and other kings.

If you read the book of Daniel, you see stories of God working in the heart of Nebuchadnezzar, right? And, and here we see God working in the heart of Cyrus, the king, and this is an amazing thing that God is doing. He's deliberate about it, and God, moves in, in the hearts of other national leaders. God does that because God has His purposes, God has his plans, and as I said before, he's always moving toward his goal.

Always moving toward his goal. He's always advancing the ball down the field. It's, he, he always is. And, and so he uses people from, from wherever he, he chooses to make that happen.

And that's the way he does his work. By the way, This is a, a, a good example, but it's, it, it's filled throughout scripture that God uses war. War is one of the implements that God uses. We, As human beings, we don't like war.

We hate war cause it's so destructive. And, and it's, it's really appropriate for us to have those feelings about war. But it's foolish for us to project what we think unto God. God has different ideas about things.

He sees things from a whole different angle than we do. And, and war is one of the tools that God uses to accomplish his purposes. And so that's what he's done with Cyrus. Cyrus has been a warrior king, and, and God is using that to accomplish his purposes, right?

Isaiah 55:8. Well, I go there, but I got to finish. I'm almost out of time. Gods.

OK. My thoughts are not your thoughts, My ways are not your ways. You're right. And so he, he sees things, a, a very different angle than we see them.

And so let's go on to Ezra 1411 to 4 and we see the fulfillment of this. This is approximately 150 years later. And I had Ezra in my Bible yesterday. I don't know why I can't find it, here we go.

OK, in verse one of chapter one, now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, Jeremiah, by the way, also made prophecies. They're just not as succinct as the ones in Isaiah, so that's why we use the ones in Isaiah, but Jeremiah also made prophecies. The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, King of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing, saying, Thus says Cyrus, King of Persia, the Lord, the God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has appointed me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

Whoever there is among you of all his people, may his God be with him.

Let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel. He is the God who is in Jerusalem. Every survivor. At whatever place he may live, let the men of that place support him with silver and gold, with goods and cattle, together with a free will offering for the house of God, which is in Jerusalem.

So, 150 years later, Cyrus, who, who comes from Persia, who, who comes from a place, he's not trained in, in, in theology. He's not a priest to the Most High God. But God works in his heart, and this is, is, is what he, this is the result of it. Cyrus has this sense of knowing that this is the destiny.

Now, it's, it is conjectured that, that he was influenced by Daniel. Maybe God used Daniel to awaken this. We don't know exactly because we're not told what it was that brought this about in Cyrus. But in the first year of his reign, He does this.

It's an amazing thing. And it, it also fits the seventy-year period. That God had said to Israel, you will be driven out of the land, but in 70 years, you will be brought back. And so that that all fits that, that, that prophecy as well.

But this is very distinct, again, very clear, specific. And, and it's not hard to understand when we know that God already knows it all. He's omniscient, and an omniscient God knows the future. He knows all of it.

And, and so this is, this is what we see with God. So, what are we to make of all this? Well, first of all, God knows everything, as we've said, he's not a passive observer. but as a sovereign, he, he brings his will to pass.

that's how God works. And even today, God is still working that way. We look at our world. With all the, the political things that are going on, with all of the, the threats of wars, with all of the atrocities that happen in different parts of the world, with people going crazy with, with, mass shootings in our own country, We see the craziness of, of the human heart.

And we wonder, is it all out of control? where's it all going? Well, God knows where it's going. God has not lost control, and God is working everything.

He's moving it toward the, the goal, his plan. It's, it's all about his plan, and he's always moving things to accomplish his purpose. Always. And even in the wicked heart, the heart of wickedness that does horrible things, God is using that.

To move events forward to accomplish his will. It's always that way. He is not a passive observer. As some in the past have said, some have, have seen God that way because of the question that you brought up.

If God knows everything, then why do these things happen? and, God has intents and purposes for all of it. not only on a small scale, like with our individual lives, but on a, on a huge international scale as well. God is always working.

And, when you go back to the Garden of Eden and where man made the choice. And this is what we chose. That to eat of the fruit of good and evil. We chose good and evil.

So that's where we are. That's what we live in. That's our environment. But God chose to go there with us.

And he's been working a plan of redemption ever since. To bring us back. And so, that plan is still on schedule, it's still being worked by his divine hand because not only is he omniscient, he's omnipotent too. And he can accomplish his will, and he will accomplish his will.

So he is a sovereign who will bring it to pass. The remarkable point about prophecy or revelation is not that some men have a special connection with God. But that God chooses to enlighten messengers who will faithful, faithfully declare his message. I was thinking about this, this week.

why is it That God does this. Why does God reveal? and, and, and the amazing thing is, it's not that you have these, these, men who have this, have their own private phone line with God, they can get these special messages, but that God would talk to them. And that God would enlighten their minds.

He would choose faithful men who are going to faithfully declare. What he has said. But God is using these people, and, and that's the right perspective to have about prophecy and about prophets, that God is, is using them as channels to declare his truth. And in a different sense, God does that still today.

We have his prophecy already. So God doesn't have to give special messages. We have his word, right? His word is his prophetic declaration.

And we have faithful people still today declaring that truth and, and, taking that truth, To congregations, maybe to mass gatherings, or maybe the family events where they're sharing it with, with family members around the Thanksgiving table, or they're sharing it with neighbors, neighbor to neighbor or co-worker, but faithfully sharing the message. that is the work of, of the prophet of, of taking the message of God in a, in a small sense, in an individual sense, but in, in our current time sense.

Of, of taking that message and God uses faithful people to declare his message and, and that's one of the ways we can, we can look at it. And then last, the question about foretelling should not be about its possibility., that's, that's one of the things we've, we've talked about.

Can it really happen? Of course, it can happen. God knows all about it. But it's about its purpose.

It's the why. Why does God reveal his plan to those who will listen? God doesn't have to, God could be silent if you wanted to be, right? God doesn't have to tell us what's gonna happen.

God doesn't have to tell us anything. He could have just said, OK, you chose to go there. you made your bed, sleep in it. He didn't do that.

So why does he do that? Why does he reveal his plans to those who will listen? Well, It's his grace, isn't it? That's, that's right.

He loves us and, and I was thinking of, of, John 3:16 of this, for God so loved the world, right? God has chosen to, to, to enter into this arena with us. And to bring hope, comfort, to bring a motivation for us, and also a warning. But I was also thinking about this, that we, it gives us confidence in his promises too, doesn't it?

The promises he's made, like in Romans 12 where he says, we are his workmanship. Created in Christ Jesus unto good works, that we can have confidence in that. there, there's a liar who comes against us. at least I hear this voice.

Who, who says, you're not worthy. You, you mess up. You're no good. God's not gonna love you.

There's that liar, that voice that's always chattering in our ear and And God says, no, you are my workmanship. And I can believe God's voice. Because he's demonstrated over and over and over that he's about the truth. And the truth is he cares about us.

He loves us, and we can carry that. We can hold on to those promises. Romans 8 talks about nothing that, that can separate us from the love of Christ. We can be confident in that.

There's nothing that can separate us from His love. And Paul talks about that eye has not seen nor his ear heard. The wonders of what God has awaiting us, right? those are things that we can be confident in.

John 14, Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you. I'm looking forward to that. Looking forward to that. There's a song That, sang in a men's choir back when I was in college.

love the words of this song. soon I will be done with the troubles of the world. going to live with God. And, there's, there's an attitude and a hope that's, that's enveloped in that message, that soon I'll be done with the troubles of the world.

why? Cause I'm going to live with God. That's a, that's a prophecy that, is given to us, that's a hope, that's something that we can hold on to, that this life isn't all there is. There's way more for us.

and so we get to live in that hope. All right, let's pray. And then after we pray, Mike has some things he's going to come up and share with us about the elders retreat. So please don't leave.

Thank you, Lord, for, your blessings and the, the promises that we have from you and what we have to look forward to. Thank you for the declarations of, of warning and of, confronting us of our sins, and thank you for, leading us into the paths of righteousness. thank you for your, your, gentle spirit, and I thank you, Lord, that we can trust in your love and your grace. You are really good to us, Father, and, and, so I just wanna rejoice in that and thank you for, all that you've given to us.

And may these, promises and the things that you give to us become more and more powerful in our hearts as we face a world that doesn't want to, receive you and may we be able to be your, your instruments in this world, in the lights in the darkness that will, accomplish your purposes that you have declared for us. Amen.