0:02
t.com and today again we are going to
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authenticate a passage of scripture and
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our Focus this morning is Isaiah 45 this
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is a prophecy and we are going to see
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how that prophecy was authenticated or
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corroborated by King Cyrus cylinder now
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Cyrus cylinder was discovered in an
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exavation in 1879 and he has some pretty
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interesting facts and I want to dive
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so let's go into my introduction and
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let's get ready for this so basically uh
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Isaiah 45 is a prophetic passage and In
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this passage uh the prophet Isaiah
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predicts the freedom of the people of
0:45
God from Babylon by the hand of Cyrus
0:47
the king Cyrus was a Persian king and
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critics of course they Point their guns
0:52
at this passage and they claimed that it
0:55
was written after the liberation of the
0:58
Jews and basically they are saying that
1:00
the Jews kind of made up the story to
1:02
make it seem like God actually predicted
1:07
so they they kind of say that the Jews
1:09
are trying to deceive people so what I'm
1:11
going to establish at the outset is that
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the main aim of critics is always to
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discredit the veracity the truthfulness
1:19
and the power of biblical prophecies or
1:22
the Bible itself now if they agree that
1:24
his prophecies are legitimate it means
1:27
that the Bible is indeed the word of God
1:29
and the Bible is true and they don't
1:30
want that because that means he has
1:33
Authority so they find cunning ways to
1:36
reject the historicity of the Bible but
1:39
time and time and again archaeology has
1:41
come in handy and archaeology has pretty
1:45
much authenticated and corroborated uh
1:47
biblical prophecies and facts so today
1:50
we are going to analyze Isaiah 45 and
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we're going to show that is indeed an
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authentic prophecy so let's buckle up
2:00
Sirus cylinder like I said uh siren
2:03
cylinder was discovered in um an
2:06
excavation that was done in 1879 and he
2:09
has been very instrumental in
2:11
corroborating biblical events and
2:13
prophecies so one of those important
2:16
discoveries like I said was the
2:18
excavation of Cy cylinder so he issued
2:22
uh the famous decree it's called the cus
2:24
decree that allowed captive peoples to
2:27
return to their own land
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so um and critics claim that Cyrus never
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mentioned the Lord but he mentioned Muk
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now Marduk was a foreign deity he was
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the Babylonian God and he was the
2:43
national god of the Babylonia of
2:45
Babylonia and he was Muk was believed to
2:49
be the chief god of the city of Babylon
2:52
so he was eventually called b or Lord
2:56
they called him there so again I myself
2:59
was taken back cuz I went to the Bible
3:01
Museum and I saw a document when I was
3:03
there that claimed that King Cyrus
3:05
mentioned Muk while the Jews claimed
3:09
that Cyrus was sent by the Lord so I
3:11
kind of like got a little bit like
3:13
fearful I'm like okay was the Bible
3:16
telling the truth or was the Bible
3:18
telling the lie so I kind of got a
3:20
little bit frightened I went home and I
3:22
dog through this I went and researched
3:25
the information I looked at Isaiah 45
3:27
pinned against s cylinder and it's made
3:29
aming the kind of discovery that you
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make when when the Lord himself uh leads
3:34
you into this Quest so let's dive into
3:37
that so we are going to take a close
3:40
look at uh the words written on the
3:43
cylinder and we're going to pin those
3:44
words against the biblical text found in
3:46
Isaiah 45 that's what we are going to do
3:49
so what I'm going to do now is I want to
3:51
read Isaiah 45 I want to read like like
3:55
a chunk of it not going to read all of
3:57
it but a chunk of it and we are going to
3:59
go back and then pinned pinned against
4:02
um the cylinder words so let's pause for
4:05
a second and let's go to Isaiah 45 so
4:09
ESV now I'm going to take it one at a
4:12
time and you can follow on my screen so
4:16
thus says the Lord to his anointed to
4:18
Cyrus whose right hand I have grasped to
4:22
subdue Nations before him and to lose
4:25
the belts of Kings to open doors before
4:28
him that Gates may not be closed I will
4:31
go before you and level the exalted
4:34
places I will break in pieces the doors
4:36
of Browns and cut through the bars of
4:39
iron I will give you the treasures of
4:42
darkness and the HS in SEC secret places
4:46
that you may know that it is I the Lord
4:49
the god of Israel who call you by your
4:51
name for the sake of my servant Jacob
4:54
and Israel My Chosen I call you by your
4:57
name I name you though you do not know
5:00
me I am the lord and there is no other
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besides me there is no God I equip you
5:07
though you do not know me that people
5:09
may know from the rising of the Sun and
5:11
from the West that there is none besid
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me I am the lord and there is no other I
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form light and create Darkness I make
5:21
well-being and create Calamity I am the
5:23
Lord who does all these things shower oh
5:27
heavens from above and let Cloud rain
5:31
down righteousness let the Earth open
5:33
that salvation and righteousness be bear
5:35
fruit let the Earth cause them both to
5:37
sprout I the Lord have created it wo to
5:40
him who strives with him who form him a
5:43
pot among Earth pots does the clay say
5:46
to him who forms it what are you making
5:49
or your works or your work has no
5:52
handles wo to him who says to a father
5:55
what are you begetting or to a woman
5:57
with what are you in labor thus says the
6:00
Lord to the Holy One of Israel and the
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one who formed him ask me of things to
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come will you command me concerning my
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children and the work of my hand I made
6:10
the Earth and created man on it it was
6:13
my hand that stretched out the heavens
6:15
and I commanded all their host I have
6:18
stirred him up in righteousness and I
6:20
will make all his ways level he shall
6:22
build my city and set my Exiles free not
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for a pricee or a reward says the Lord
6:29
of hosts and I'm going to stop here and
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pause for a second and then we're going
6:32
to look at the side of cylinder we're
6:35
going to look at the translation of
6:37
it now you have to understand that when
6:40
this the cylinder was discovered it was
6:42
fragmented so there was fragment there
6:44
was some pieces that were missing so
6:45
when they translated it you will see
6:47
that it's kind of spotty so I'm not
6:49
going to read all of it I'm just going
6:51
to um focus on some key things here
6:54
number one say when and then two of the
6:57
four quarters and incompetent person was
7:00
installed to exercise lordship over his
7:03
country and then you have that that that
7:06
he imposed upon them a counterfeit of
7:09
isaga he made for her and the rest of
7:13
the cultic centers a ritual which was
7:15
improper to them an Unholy display
7:18
offering without fear he daily recited
7:22
irreverently he put an end to the
7:24
regular offerings and he interfered in
7:27
the cultic centers he established in the
7:29
secet sacred centers by his own plan he
7:32
did away with the worship of Mok the
7:34
king of the Gods he continually did Evil
7:38
against Muk City Daily without
7:41
interruption he imposed the corvy upon
7:44
his inhabitant unrel unrelentingly
7:47
ruining them all upon hearing their
7:50
cries the lord of the Gods became
7:53
furiously angry and their
7:55
borders the gods who lived among them
7:58
forsook their dwellings
8:00
angry that he had brought them to
8:02
Babylon Muk he exalted the lord of the
8:06
God turned towards all the habitations
8:09
that were abandoned and all the people
8:12
of su and aad who had become corpses he
8:16
was reconciled and had mercy upon them
8:19
he examined and checked all the entirety
8:22
of the land all of them he searched
8:25
everywhere and then he took a righteous
8:27
King his favorite by by the hand he
8:30
called out his name Cyrus king of ansan
8:34
he pronounced his name to be king over
8:36
all the world he made the land of gutium
8:40
and all the uman Manda bow in submission
8:43
at his feet and he i e Cyrus shepherd
8:47
shepherded with Justice and
8:49
righteousness all the blackheaded people
8:52
over whom he had given him Victory Muk
8:57
the great Lord guardian of his his
8:59
people looked with gladness upon his
9:02
good deeds and upright heart he ordered
9:05
him to go to the city he set him on the
9:07
road to Babylon and like a companion and
9:09
a friend he went at his side his vast
9:13
Army whose number like water of the
9:15
river cannot be known marched at his
9:20
armed he made him enter his City Babylon
9:23
without fighting or battle he saved
9:26
Babylon from hardship he delivered
9:28
nabonidus the king would did not reveal
9:30
him into his hands all the people of
9:32
Babylon all the land of su and aad
9:35
princes and governors bowed to him and
9:38
kissed his feet they rejoiced at his
9:40
kingship and their faces shown Lord by
9:43
whose Aid the dead were revived and who
9:46
had all been redeemed from hardship and
9:49
difficulty they greeted him with
9:51
gladness and praised his name I'm going
9:53
to stop here again you can see how
9:55
spotty this whole thing is but you can
9:57
understand there's some key things here
9:58
that I will show you in a little bit so
10:00
let's go back to uh the presentation and
10:03
we're going to look at those things that
10:05
I wanted to mention now I put them in
10:07
highlight okay my phone is ringing just
10:10
minute so this is Isaiah 45 ver 3: 5 so
10:15
we are going to pain this against uh cus
10:18
cylinder the words okay I'm just going
10:20
to read the Highlight we'll call you by
10:23
your name though you do not know me
10:26
though you do not know me right now
10:30
let's go back to let's go now to um the
10:35
the cylinders words had mercy upon them
10:39
took a righteous King his favorite by
10:41
the hand he called out his name he
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pronounced his name I'm just reading
10:45
again the highlighted uh portions now
10:49
God said in Isaiah 45 even though you do
10:52
not know me I call you by name King
10:56
Cyrus let's understand that he did not
10:59
so the only term that he was familiar
11:02
with is the appalation
11:04
Muk and this is like something that is
11:07
customary of a lot of pagan Kings even
11:10
Nebuchadnezzar and many other foreign
11:12
Nations did the same thing like we will
11:16
see that in scripture they always called
11:18
the Lord Mighty gods or they used a
11:20
different term or different terminology
11:22
because they did not know the Lord
11:24
intimately they did not know his name
11:26
okay now let's look in 1st Samuel 4:8
11:30
scripture says this is the Philistines
11:32
talking woe to us who can Deliver Us
11:35
From The Power of these Mighty Gods
11:38
these are the gods who struck down the
11:40
Egyptians this is what the Philistines
11:44
okay so in Daniel 3: 24 then King
11:49
Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and Rose
11:51
up in haste and he declared to his
11:53
counselor did we not cast three men
11:56
bound Into the Fire and they answered
11:58
and said to the king true oh King and he
12:01
answered and said but I see four men
12:03
Unbound walking in the midst of the fire
12:06
and they are not hurt and the appearance
12:08
of the fourth is like a son of the Gods
12:11
now Nebuchadnezzar throws Shadrach Mish
12:15
and abedo in the fire and he sees four
12:17
people and he called the fourth person
12:19
the son of the God he is referring to
12:21
the angel of the Lord as the son of the
12:23
God because that's all he knows he
12:25
doesn't know that this is the Son of God
12:27
so he says the son of the god
12:29
Gods this is something that a lot of
12:32
pagan Kings did let's go to Daniel 5
12:35
verse4 now this is B shaza talking this
12:39
he's having fun drinking wine with his
12:42
buddies and the finger appears on the
12:44
wall and is a right on war and he wants
12:46
to understand what is being written so
12:48
he calls upon Daniel and this is what
12:51
happens now Bel shaza says I've heard of
12:55
you that the spirit of the Gods is in
12:57
you and that light and understanding and
13:00
excellent wisdom are found in you now
13:03
King Bel bazer refers to the spirit of
13:06
the Lord as the spirit of the Gods you
13:09
see he's talking about the spirit of the
13:11
Lord but he calls him the spirit of the
13:14
Gods CU he doesn't know any better he's
13:17
a gentile Pagan King so he doesn't know
13:20
that he not the spirit of the Lord but
13:22
he's a spirit of the Lord or the spirit
13:24
of God he's using the term Gods just
13:27
like his father used this the term son
13:30
of the Gods and this is the same thing
13:32
that King Cyrus is doing here okay we
13:35
are going to so that's nothing new like
13:38
I say because Pagan Kings they may still
13:41
have been God's instrument but they
13:43
didn't know him by name they only knew
13:46
him by character and that's important to
13:48
understand and this is what king Cyrus
13:51
is doing if you're a true biblical
13:54
scholar you will understand that the
13:56
only God who calls people by their name
13:59
and take them by their hands is the god
14:02
of the Hebrews this is how he basically
14:06
isolate himself from any other gods of
14:09
any other nations he's always saying
14:11
this these terminologies I'll call you
14:12
by name and I'll take you by your hand
14:15
this is a term that God the god of the
14:18
scripture uses all the time and then now
14:21
we're going to look at the character of
14:23
the god sarus is mentioning we're going
14:25
to look at it more there's a lot more
14:27
things that we need to look at like
14:30
the word justice is used 138 times in
14:33
the Bible and righteousness is used 273
14:37
times and then Justice and righteousness
14:39
together they occur 41 times in in in
14:43
scripture now if you look at SAR
14:45
cylinder in verse 13 He says I.E I put
14:48
I'm just going to read the red version
14:51
uh shepherded with Justice and
14:53
righteousness all the blackheaded people
14:55
okay now the god of the Bible always
14:59
defines himself as the God of Justice
15:01
and righteousness I'm going to show you
15:03
some scriptures in Isaiah 45 itself turn
15:07
to me and be saved all the ends of the
15:09
Earth for I am God and there is no other
15:12
by myself I have sworn for my mouth has
15:15
gone out in righteousness a word that
15:18
that shall not return okay First Kings
15:22
10:9 blessed be the Lord your God who
15:25
has delighted in you and set you on the
15:27
throne of Israel because the Lord loved
15:30
Israel forever he has made you King that
15:33
you may execute Justice and
15:37
righteousness this is the Queen of Sheba
15:39
the Ethiopian King she is praising
15:41
Solomon she's a gentile King and but
15:44
look at the words she's using to
15:46
describe God and His anointed King
15:49
Solomon she's using Justice and
15:52
righteousness now let's look more
15:54
there's more to come Psalm
15:56
33:5 he loves righteousness and justice
15:59
the Earth is full of the steadfast love
16:02
of the Lord now the psalmist is praising
16:09
89:14 righteousness and Justice are the
16:13
foundation of your throne let me say
16:16
that again righteousness and Justice are
16:19
the foundation of your throne steadfast
16:21
love and faithfulness go before you
16:25
basically the only God who found
16:28
Foundation is Justice and righteousness
16:31
is the god of the Hebrews so what do you
16:33
think Cyrus is talking
16:36
about make your conclusions okay sarus
16:40
did not know the name but he knew the
16:41
character so you know some of them by
16:44
their character okay so he's talking
16:46
about a God who administers Justice and
16:49
righteousness so what do you think sarus
16:51
is talking about let's keep
16:55
going the Good Shepherd okay now in ter
16:59
again cus used the term Shepherd
17:02
shephered right so again the shepherd
17:07
terminology is a very familiar term used
17:09
by the god of the Hebrews who calls
17:11
himself the only good and true Shepherd
17:14
now the term Shepherd is used 87 times
17:16
in the Old Testament and 24 times in the
17:19
New Testament this is based on what I
17:21
researched now L listen to this in Psalm
17:25
23 famous Psalm the Lord is my shepherd
17:29
I shall not want he makes me lie down in
17:31
Green Pastures he leads me beside Still
17:34
Waters he restores my soul he leads me
17:37
in path of righteousness righteousness
17:39
again for his name's sake this is
17:41
David's famous ssal everybody knows
17:43
about it Genesis 48:15 and he blessed
17:47
Joseph and said the god before whom my
17:49
fathers Abraham and Isaac walked the God
17:52
who has been my shepherd all my lifelong
17:54
to this day and this is Jacob He blesses
17:57
Joseph before he dies again again the
18:00
Shepherd and then 2 Samuel 5 in times
18:03
pass when Saul was King over us it was
18:06
you who led out and brought in Israel
18:09
and the Lord said to you you shall be
18:11
Shepherd Of My People Israel and you
18:13
shall be Prince over Israel again God is
18:16
very close to his people hence the term
18:19
the term Shepherd okay I'm going to see
18:21
one more thing and there are many more
18:23
use of this term and it's always
18:25
indicative of the Lord's like heart and
18:28
love for his people and he extend that
18:30
love to other nations now if you look
18:34
like there's two things that I want to
18:35
talk about right now I just want to
18:37
focus on that God is always close to his
18:39
people he has like a closed relationship
18:42
with his people and this is the
18:43
difference between theism and theism now
18:47
the theism is spelled t he i s m this is
18:51
the judeo Christian world view we
18:53
believe in one God who is invested and
18:56
involved with his people the is a god
18:59
that is distance he creates the world
19:01
and he just lets it run itself basically
19:05
he's not involved he's not actively
19:07
involved in the world that he created
19:09
now if you look at a good shepherd and
19:11
how cus is talking he can only be
19:14
talking about the judeo Christian God
19:16
because this is the god who is a
19:18
Shepherd who loves his sheep who is
19:20
involved in their lives I want you to
19:23
really pay attention to that let's keep
19:29
now if you look again on 15 he said he
19:32
ordered him like a companion and a
19:35
friend he went at his side he made him
19:37
enter his City Lord by whose Aid the
19:40
dead were revived who had all been
19:43
redeemed from hardship and difficulty
19:48
now the word of God is the only word
19:51
that can create by his word the universe
19:53
was formed and at his word syus the king
19:56
entered Babylon basically God Word is
19:59
Alive and God word can break things into
20:01
existence this is the only God that can
20:04
do that he can give an order that can be
20:06
that can create an action okay so pay
20:09
attention to that the next
20:11
thing like a companion and a friend he
20:14
went at his side this is syus talking
20:18
now in Exodus 33:11 what are we told
20:21
scripture says thus the Lord used to
20:23
speak to Moses face to face as a man
20:26
speaks to his friend again again a god
20:29
that is personal a god that is involved
20:32
this is not a a this is not deism but
20:35
this is theism okay T he e i s m when
20:39
Moses turn again into the camp his
20:41
assistant Joshua the son of Na young man
20:43
will not depart from the tent the god of
20:45
the Bible is the only one who has that
20:47
type of close relationship with his
20:50
people even Jesus called his his
20:52
disciples friends okay if you look at
20:55
John 15:15 what does it say no longer do
20:58
I call you servants for the servant does
21:00
not know what his master is doing but I
21:03
have called you friends for all that
21:05
I've heard from my father I have been
21:07
known to you again that personal Clos
21:10
neat relationship a god that is involved
21:16
okay and then if you look in 19 Lord by
21:20
whose Aid the dead were revived who had
21:22
all been redeemed from hardship and
21:25
difficulty again this is cus cylinder
21:26
this is cus talking now what other God
21:29
can raise the dead but the god of the
21:31
Hebrews the god of the Holy scriptures
21:34
what other God redeems like the god of
21:37
the scriptures okay these are
21:38
terminologies that are like that are
21:41
like typical of the god of the
21:42
scriptures if you true Bible scholar you
21:45
will know that in First Kings 17:22 we
21:49
are told and the Lord listened to the
21:51
voice of Elijah and the life of the
21:53
child came into him again and he revived
21:55
this is when Elijah raised the Gentile
21:59
from the dead at the commands of God
22:02
okay and in in Psalm 856 will you not
22:06
revive us again that your people may
22:09
you I mean this is incredible John
22:12
2:22 when therefore he was raised from
22:15
the dead this is Jesus his disciples his
22:18
disciples remembered that he had said
22:20
this and they believed the scripture and
22:22
the word that Jesus had spoken again
22:25
this is Jesus rising from the dead what
22:28
God does that the gaed the scriptures
22:31
and and so like I said the evidence is
22:33
overwhelming and you know that Cyrus was
22:36
definitely referring to the god of the
22:38
scriptures even though he did not know
22:40
him by name he knew him by character and
22:43
The Best Is Yet To Come CU I have some
22:45
more proofs for you guys like this is
22:48
incredible I'm a mathematician okay and
22:51
before I get into it I want to show
22:53
something else like I we are not called
22:55
to speculate when it comes to scriptures
22:57
but I can't resist the temp a just like
23:00
the late Dr R scroll used to say like
23:02
this is something that I want to kind of
23:05
speculate about the next thing that I'm
23:07
going to say now you have to remember
23:09
that Daniel was a high official in
23:12
Babylon and he served under
23:14
Nebuchadnezzar and also under the
23:16
Persians So Daniel was like highly
23:19
respected and I believe he was very
23:21
close to the king so he probably showed
23:25
45 and can you can imagine what Cyrus
23:29
felt like probably fear and trembling
23:32
the first time he hears he hears that
23:34
his Conquest was prophesied before he
23:37
was even born could you imagine Daniel
23:39
going to Cyrus and say look this was
23:42
written about you in Isaiah 45 and he
23:44
shows it to him I mean back then he
23:46
wasn't like numbered he wasn't like
23:47
Isaiah 45 he wasn't numbered so he went
23:49
to him and show him the prophecy and you
23:51
can see Cyrus probably shaken cuz he
23:55
knows Daniel's character he knows that
23:58
this is a a man of his word this is a
23:59
man that he's respected so when he reads
24:01
those things he probably is fearful and
24:03
trembling because he has like the utmost
24:07
reverence for God I just wanted to
24:09
speculate on that so this is just my own
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speculation okay don't take this this
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take this as a grain of with a grain of
24:15
salt this is my own speculation now this
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is what I wanted to tell tell you now
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you can choose still to reject my
24:21
explanation this is because if you if
24:23
you have like a a Harden heart uh you
24:26
can say this is not sufficient evidence
24:28
but I'm going to show you something El
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that's compelling okay now let's go to
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Isaiah 7:14 we're going to go to Isaiah
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7:14 and let's do that now so this is
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7:14 God says therefore the Lord himself
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will give you a sign behold the Virgin
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shall conceive and bear a son and shall
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call his name Emmanuel this is the the
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Virgin birth this was prophesied this
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was predicted by Isaiah the prophet this
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is when Mary was going to have a son and
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Isaiah predicted it now let's go back to
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uh this presentation I'm going to show
25:09
you a couple of things
25:14
basically which of these two prophecies
25:17
was written first Isaiah 7 or Isaiah 45
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I mean logically you know that it was
25:23
Isaiah 7:14 now Isaiah 7:14 was
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fulfilled because Mary gave ver to Jesus
25:29
the Messiah the Son of God now which one
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is harder to predict a closer prophecy
25:36
or a much farther one like if Isaiah
25:39
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit
25:41
and the Eternal God who is omniscient
25:45
can predict an event that will happen in
25:48
years how easy will it be to predict an
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event that will happen in a shorter
25:53
period of time basically King cus
25:56
Deliverance of the people of Babylon
25:59
like if I can predict something that's
26:00
going to happen in a thousand years how
26:03
easy it is for me to predict something
26:05
that's going to happen tomorrow this is
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my like I'm a mathematician so that's
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just my own mind going like this like if
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I can predict something that's going to
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happen in like 10,000 years then it's
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easy for me to predict something that's
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going to happen tomorrow because God is
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omniscient God knows everything he's he
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doesn't have he doesn't have a learning
26:25
curve he's not learning new information
26:27
because he is eternal so to laugh at
26:30
this biblical prophecy is actually
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ridiculous because we see them unfold
26:35
every time and the Bible has been tested
26:39
and he always standing strong so do not
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lose like your confidence like this
26:43
gives me more confidence in the word of
26:45
God because the more you scrutinize it
26:48
the more it comes out to be true and the
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truth so for me I love when the critics
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bring this things I'm like okay now you
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giving me more work to do and I know
26:57
because God promised in scripture he
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said the holy spirit will guide you into
27:01
all the truth every time I encounter
27:03
these difficulties and I search by the
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hand of God by the power of the Holy
27:08
Spirit the Bible always come out on top
27:12
but here's what's funny about these
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critics they don't submit their own
27:15
document and their own ideologies to the
27:17
same rigorous authentication process
27:19
because they know if they
27:22
do then they're going they're going to
27:24
be found to be a lie so they don't want
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to do that so I want to challenge you if
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you're a Believer do not lose hope and
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do not lose your confidence in the word
27:32
of God because the word of God is the
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truth and it's been proven time and time
27:36
in the game so don't lose your hope and
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I hope this helped you guys out and I'll
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see you next time thank you and have a