Episode Transcript
Are you ready to embark on a thought provoking journey of discovery? Curious to explore an alternative narrative that challenges the theory of evolution? What impact has the war in heaven had on our planet? And what are the implications for humanity? What can we learn from this epic battle that is unfolding between good and evil? Here is your opportunity to unlock a treasure trove of spiritual insights from the Bible that will answer these and many other pressing questions, illuminating the path to eternal life which lies just a choice away. Here is Bill Gates presenting from the Garden of Eden to the Exodus. This presentation today is called the big picture, part two.
And we ended part one of the big picture with this question. How does the battle between good and evil, between God and the devil, continue on planet Earth? We get the answer to this question today as we trace the progress of the great controversy here on earth from the time of Adam and Eve. Genesis one, verse 28, reveals that it was a part of God's plan that Adam and Eve help him to govern this planet.
And you'll see this as we read this slide from Genesis one, verse 28. And God blessed them and said unto them, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it and have dominion. Genesis one, verse 28.
The word dominion means sovereignty or control, according to the Oxford Dictionary of English. What a privilege here is one of the potential and ultimate rewards for mankind. But obviously it would require loyalty to God for that privilege to continue.
Sadly, God's enemy began to trick Adam and Eve into an act of disobedience, which, of course, is the opposite of loyalty. The Book of Genesis tells us that Satan deceived Eve, and then Eve tempted Adam into eating the fruit of the only tree that God said not to eat. God had provided plenty of trees with fruit in the garden for them to eat.
The test was so small for them, and therefore the act of disobedience was very great. Referring to this matter, the gift of prophecy, writings reveal that Satan could only have access to Adam and Eve at the one tree, just the one tree that God said they should not go near. Patriarchs and prophets, chapter three, page 53.
Satan was not to follow them. With continual temptations. He could have access to them.
Only at the forbidden tree can you see the love of God here. He was trying to stop Adam and Eve going to a place where they could be tempted, yet he left them with the freedom of choice. God does the same for us today.
He gives us the freedom of choice, as it says here, should they attempt to investigate its nature, they would be exposed to his wiles. But in order for us to make these choices, we need knowledge that can only be gained from topical Bible study. When Adam and Eve disobeyed, what did God do? Well, Genesis 323 24 tells us that God had to kick them out of the garden of Eden.
Women would struggle in childbirth. Men would have toil by the sweat of their brow to get the earth to produce a harvest that had previously been supplied by God free of charge. After God kicked the sinners out of the Garden of Eden, what did Satan do next? Well, he deceives Cain into thinking that vegetables would be adequate for a sacrificial offering to God.
Genesis four, three to seven tells us that God had specifically asked for a blood sacrifice. Now here's a question. Why a blood sacrifice? Because God was teaching them that one day an innocent lamb of God would die as a ransom for the world's population, all of whom had sinned.
And so that by the shedding of his blood, that innocent blood of Jesus would pay the price for mankind's sins. God could then pardon all who repented and turned away from their sins, thus giving us all a second chance to live forever, but still on God's terms. And so Romans 623 says, for the wages of sin is death.
Remember that God said to Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden that in the day they disobeyed God, they would die. They disobeyed. And all mankind has been dying ever since.
I need to make something very clear, and that is that the Bible talks about two deaths, not one. Firstly, the sleep of death that both non believers and christians suffer. This at least has a resurrection for both of these groups.
The first resurrection is for the saved christians at the second coming of Jesus. The second resurrection is for the unsaved. And that happens 1000 years later at the third coming of Jesus Christ.
God's plan would ensure the integrity and justice of his law, which could not be changed whilst at the same time demonstrating God's great love and compassion for repentant sinners by providing a ransom. But the promised innocent ransom. Jesus Christ was 4000 years away when that plan began.
And so God had a plan that gives mankind a second chance. He asks Adam's two sons to bring a blood offering in order to demonstrate through that ceremony as to how God would reconcile man and give salvation to mankind. But Cain disobeyed God by bringing the produce of his garden.
How could Cain learn the lessons God was trying to teach him? Because I have never seen blood in the cabbage, have you? Disobedience was the problem here as well. Hebrews nine, verse 22 confirms that blood is the requirement for an atonement. As our next slide states, Hebrews nine, verse 22 and almost all things are by the law purged with blood and without shedding of blood, there is no remission.
Why is this so? Well, Leviticus 17, verse eleven answers that question for us. It says, for the life of the body is in its blood. I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the Lord.
It is the blood given in exchange for a life that makes purification possible. And so people's sins can be atoned for by the blood of an innocent substitute. And of course, this is the key.
That innocent substitute was Jesus Christ, the only man who ever lived who never sinned. Hence, one needs to repent of their sins and accept that ransom and then worship him who is so worthy, being a member of the Godhead in heaven as well. From the time of Adam and Eve to the patriarchs and then to the israelite nation and their levitical priesthood, the second part of the plan of salvation was revealed.
The saving of the willing members of the human race was illustrated through the God given ceremonial services. God had said that sinners die. Mankind and all living creatures have been dying ever since.
But Satan, God's enemy, said in Genesis three, verse four, you shall not die. And through spirit mediums, he has been trying to deceive mankind ever since his first lie in the garden with Satan. Seeking to gain control of this world, he will naturally stoop to lying and cheating and deceiving to get his way.
But God invites, he does not force, and he plans to save all who accept Christ's sacrifice. This is an act of his mercy. God also plans to destroy all who refuse to accept Christ's sacrifice.
This is an act of his justice. The choice is ours to be saved or to be lost. There is no middle ground, no fence to sit on when it comes to choosing eternal life or ending up with an eternal death, which is the second death.
The solution is to make the choice to be saved and affirm that choice by a public declaration through baptism. And that way you enter into God's kingdom of grace. As Jesus said, you are either for me or against me.
There is no fence to sit on. And the beautiful thing about the holy Bible is that the Bible reveals that God wins this war over his enemy, Satan. And those of us who join God's family here on earth and follow him faithfully will end up being winners too.
Therefore, focus on that glorious thought and choose to belong to the winning side. After Satan tempted Eve and thus brought sin, evil and death into the world, what did Satan do next? Well, after Cain's expulsion into the wilderness, Satan encouraged Cain and his descendants into a life of violence. Over 1500 years, this violence became very bad.
As our next slide states, the earth was filled with violence, according to Genesis six, verse eleven. So the choices of the people living in Noah's day consisted of living a life of violence. Was this choice which we see so many making today representative of obeying the laws of love, whereby we are all concerned for the well being of each other here on earth? No, it wasn't.
So what would God finally do to solve this problem of violence and law breaking? Well, Genesis 613 tells us, and God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. And Genesis 719 to 20 tells us about God sending a flood that destroyed this earth, just as he said he would. That flood covered the highest peaks of planet earth and killed off all except Noah's family of eight people, Genesis 719 says, and the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth.
And all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered. To the critics who say that it would be impossible for water to cover the highest peaks of planet earth, please explain how there can be a ring of seashells around Mount Ararat in Turkey. They are at 16,000ft, or 5300 metres up on that mountain.
The flood did take place, as the Bible says. And the seashells at high levels of the various mountains around the world testify to this fact. And a beautiful thing is recorded in Genesis six, verse eight.
The only family that did things God's way and who accepted and obeyed God's will, found grace in the eyes of the Lord. I've heard people say Old Testament people were saved by keeping the law. The New Testament people are saved by grace.
This is an Old Testament verse, the very first book of the Old Testament, and it says that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. If you are a seeker for truth, then ask yourself this question. Have I found grace in the eyes of the Lord? It is there for the taking.
Just ask God to forgive you for your sins and then you can have his peace. Now. Yes, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
But the rest of the world's entire population perished in the flood of waters that came up as huge geysers from under the ground and as torrents of water from the heavens above. God was willing to save all people, but only Noah and his family were willing to be saved. But with so many humans being filled with pride and blind prejudice, it is likely that humans will make the same mistake today unless they learn from the mistakes people have made in the past.
Yet when invited to get to know God through the Bible, they say no to the invitation, and as a result they still do not know for themselves what the Bible teaches and therefore they do not know what they are saying no to. This is a classic example of blind prejudice that leaves them willfully ignorant. The invitation today get into the ark of safety before it is too late.
And that ark is the Bible believing, Jesus believing and ten commandment believing christian church as our next slide teaches acts 1631 believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. He never turns anyone away who honestly seeks him. But I can imagine that because christians die as well as nonchristians, you might be thinking, what's the big deal over being saved? The next few slides will answer that question for you.
Agreeing in your mind that Christ lived on earth is not enough. The devils also believe and tremble, as James 219 says. The book called revelation talks about a second death.
You'll notice it here in revelation 20, verse five. You may care to read it in your own bibles, it says, but the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection. On such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. Who of the unrepentant sinners wants to be resurrected from the first natural death to acknowledge the justice of God, only to face a second death? The God they have rejected they have to face.
And when they do, they need to acknowledge that God was right in leaving them out of heaven. And then God honours their acceptance that he was just in denying them eternal life, and then God is forced to eradicate them out of the universe. Remember, there is no resurrection from the second death.
This fire is organised for the destruction of God's enemy, namely Satan and the evil angels. It was never designed for humans, simply because anyone in their right mind would surely choose to be saved. As revelation 20, verse 15 says, and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Even if I'm not a believer in God, is there anything else that I need to be saved from? According to the holy Bible, yes. The end of the world. God destroyed the world by water when violence became the normal way of life 4400 years ago, the Bible says he will do it again, but this time with fire.
But coming back to Noah's time, what did Satan do next? Well, at a later date, Satan tempted some of the descendants of Noah to doubt God's promise that he would not destroy the world again by a flood. And so when the people chose to believe Satan and disbelieve God, God therefore confused their speech. And this is how and why God introduced new languages.
This forced a dispersal of the people by their new languages to new regions of planet earth. And then God destroyed the rebellious people's tower. Let us see what Genesis eleven six to nine says.
And the Lord said, behold, the people is one. They have all one language. And this they begin to do.
And now nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do. Go to. Let us go down.
And there confound their language that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel, because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth.
And from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the whole face of the earth. One of these scattered groups was the Chinese. Ever since the flood, many chinese People have worshipped the true God.
They call him Shang d. In fact, the great love affair the Chinese have for the number eight is because of the eight people in the ark from which they have descended. In fact, as have all of us descended, for that matter, what did Satan do next? To antagonise God and to follow his theory that angels and mankind don't need an objective standard of right and wrong.
Well, Satan led the people of Sodom and Gomorrah to live a life of debauchery and wickedness. Notice the sins that are on this page here. We have pride, we have gluttony, we have greed, we have homosexuality, adultery, fornication.
This was the fruitage of having no law or setting up their own subjective law in defiance of God's objective law. That was Satan's plan all along in opposing God and his law. But look where it got the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.
And look where it'll get modern man too, for he is doing exactly the same thing today. What would God do about this debauchery? Firstly, God sent angels to cheque the place out. Secondly, God listened to Abraham's appeal to spare the cities if there were ten righteous people.
But there were not ten righteous people. And that's sad. But there was one righteous family, just as there was in Noah's day.
And then the angels ushered this special family out of harm's way. The man's name was Lot, the nephew of Abraham. And there was Lot's wife and their two daughters.
They were advised to flee out of Sodom and Gomorrah, and quickly, because judgement Day had arrived for these cities. Genesis 1922 tells us that they fled to a little town called Zor, which was speared. And once Lott and his two daughters were safe, then according to Genesis 19, verse 24 and 25, God rained fire and brimstone down on the inhabitants of the four towns called Sodom, Gomorrah, Admar and Zeboam.
This was an act of God's justice and only happened because the sinners in those cities had rejected God's teachings and God's mercy. I have personally burnt some of the leftover Brimstone. It produced a blue flame on the teaspoon.
But the Bible also teaches there is to be a day coming when all must give an account of their decisions and actions to God. Obviously, those who accept Jesus as their advocate in the courts of heavenly judgement, they have nothing to worry about. But as two corinthians five, verse ten says, for we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that which he hath done, whether it be good or whether it be bad.
If we love people as Jesus loved people, we will show respect for the decisions that all humans make. Yet we will also warn them, just as Jesus did, that there are consequences for the decisions and lifestyles that they choose to follow. Jesus warned people about this and his warnings were extended out of concern for the well being of those caught up in lifestyles that could keep people from receiving their real and eternal rewards.
Our next slide shows you the evidence of what happened at Sodom and Gomorrah, the two largest cities of the plains. This is what the ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah look like today. You see the buildings, but what you won't realise is these buildings are all compressed ash.
But something is missing. What is it? Because of shortness of time, I will tell you. It's eternal burning fire.
You don't see that there, do you? And as Jude one, verse seven says, even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh are set forth, for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. So Sodom and Gomorrah are examples of receiving eternal fire. When you look at the buildings of compressed ash at Sodom and Gomorrah, you don't see flames burning so eternal.
Everlasting fire simply means that it cannot be put out until the flames have done the job. Once that happens, then the fire goes out. But Jude one, verse seven also said that Sodom and Gomorrah were examples of what happens when one gives themselves over to a life of fornication.
The Bible says that there was a heavy, heavy price paid by those citizens. As our next slide states, do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites will inherit the kingdom of God.
One corinthians six, verses nine and ten the Bible says that those who chose to live a deviant lifestyle will not get to enjoy eternal life, unless, of course, they repent and forsake their sins. Notice that it is God who says that in his holy word. It's not me saying that this text is a sad text because it will be the above people's faulty decisions and choices that will keep them from enjoying the fabulous future that God promises.
And that future is offered only to those who repent of their sinful ways and accept and follow Jesus and his teachings on earth. God has the kingdom of grace, and all people can join that kingdom once they are willing to repent of their sins and consent to begin a new life that is pleasing to God and is empowered by God. And this empowering will enable us to live a different and happier lifestyle.
But the second kingdom, the kingdom of glory, which is the third, heaven only has people going to it who have abided by the conditions of entry. And those conditions are one, they repent of their sins two, they accept the sacrifice of Jesus three, and then obey God's ten commandments as an expression of love for God. This will happen once God empowers us to do that, and he promises to empower us once we make a committed decision to follow him.
And the rewards are fabulous. Revelation 20 214 blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the city. So it's commandment keepers, not commandment breakers, who will receive eternal life.
Sadly, the Bible has to mention a group of people who will never see the inside of heaven unless they repent. Loving parents warn their children when those children are seen to be making wrong decisions and God is the same. He warns us all.
He does this so that we can have the opportunity of correcting our wrong choices and instead start making wiser choices. Now, as the preacher, I'm not sitting in judgement on the people described in this Bible text, one corinthians six, verses nine and ten, for that is God's role. It is simply a case of me as the preacher alerting them to what is coming in the future.
They miss out on eternal life unless they repent and seek forgiveness and the power of God to change their lifestyles. Although God is the judge on these matters, I have read that some of these people claim that the deviant homosexual lifestyle is due to them being born that way. However, recent scientific research contradicts their assertions and we will look at this in a moment.
But I also have a point of view which is based on logic. If the idea that these people cannot help being homosexual because they are born that way was correct, don't you think then that God would have to write a letter of apology to the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah for making a mistake and zapping them out of existence? But God does not make mistakes. So let us now look at the second reason.
We now have a scientific report from the John Hopkins University two distinguished scholars at the John Hopkins University have released a lengthy report in 2016. Their conclusion was that there is insufficient evidence to prove that deviant lifestyles, as practised by such people as homosexuals and transgenders, are born with that condition. Commenting on this report, Melanie Wood said basically that she was a member of the Heritage foundation, and she says the report is based on science, not on politics.
In other words, there's no gay gene, and therefore the idea that people are born that way is not supported by scientific or medical evidence. This is a critical finding, according to the second report by Peter Labarbera of Americans for Truth about homosexuality. Yes, the people who practise the deviant lifestyles claim to want the legal right to marry members of the same sex because they love each other.
Love may well be their claim motive, but in the eyes of God, it is still an abomination. As he states in Leviticus 20, verse 13, if a man also lie with mankind as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall be put to death, their blood shall be upon them, and therefore they are wrong to ignore the maker's manual and push for the legal recognition of that which God condemns.
You see, if God declares that something is morally wrong, then it can never be legally right. This is something that modern day legislators seem to be overlooking as they seek to pass laws that are contrary to God's eternal laws. And this is because God's laws are objective in their framing and are not subject to negotiation by man, or the devil, for that matter.
And here is a vital point. God's law, which defines deviant lifestyles as an abomination, is not suddenly able to be ignored simply because the parties claim to love each other. For the objective laws of God preceded the subjective laws of men and therefore have precedence and cannot be changed or ignored by mankind.
So Satan's greatest weapon is man's ignorance of God's word. But I can imagine a critic saying, bill, you do not know your bible, because doesn't the Bible say that love is the fulfilling of the law? Yes, it does say that in Romans 13, verse ten, love does no wrong to a neighbour. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
If love is the fulfilling of the law, then it means that people live their lives in harmony with God's law of love, which is the ten commandments. This law of love does not command us to be tolerant of evil as the deviants seek, but provides objective social boundaries that were established 6000 years ago. And think for a moment, don't you think that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah loved each other that didn't suddenly make right the wrong they were doing.
Love doesn't overrule objective law. Otherwise the police could not arrest anyone for a crime if their defence is, oh, I love doing it. The Bible tells us what the solution is.
Jesus replied verily. Truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. John three, verse three.
And so that's the cure for our carnal traits, to be born again. It's a choice that people can make. And it's a choice that many have already made, including people who used to practise a deviant homosexual lifestyle.
And the promises in Matthew 1128. Come unto me, all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Not only will your troubled mind receive rest, but you will receive acceptance by God, forgiveness, peace of mind, an eternal purpose and future, and a happier life here on earth.
Now I also have a message today for the critics of the Holy Bible. Critics intent on following their own ways, seek to destroy our Bible arguments and logic by trying to belittle the Bible as an ancient relic of the past. But in the schools of jurisprudence, it is a wellestablished fact that Christian does not need to answer any of the sceptics questions regarding the credibility of scripture.
This is recorded in a book with a very long name. The testimony of the evangelists examined by the rules of evidence, administered in courts of Justice, 1903, by Simon Greenleaf. So who was Simon Greenleaf? He was a sceptic atheist, challenged by one of his students to prove that the resurrection of Christ was a myth.
So he sets out to prove it, but he ends up becoming a committed Christian. And his conclusion was that the holy Bible itself has been put to the test and passed with flying colours. Did you get the significance of that? He'd studied the Bible and turned from being an atheist into a firm believer in the Bible and his promised Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And as this says here, every document, apparently ancient, coming from the proper repository or custody, and bearing on its face no evident marks of forgery, the law presumes to be genuine and devolves on the opposing party the burden of proving it to be otherwise. So it is Onus is on the critics to prove their criticism, rather than the Christian to answer or defend Bible truth. And Simon Greenleaf was a man who established the Harvard school of law.
And so this is great news for christians. For many, a court case has been won by appealing to what is called case precedent. But Jesus could not do that, for he was the promised Messiah and came to die rather than defend himself against the unjust charges that he had to face.
I repeat, it is the duty of the critic to prove his criticism rather than for the Christian to answer or defend truth. After the judgement meted out by God on Sodom and Gomorrah, what did Satan do next? After the death of the good pharaoh that was on the egyptian throne in the time of Joseph, a new egyptian pharaoh ascended the throne. In time, he became concerned at the prosperity and the ever growing population of the Jews who had been given the whole fertile land of Goshen to live in.
And so, Exodus one, nine to eleven tells us that Satan arraigned through the egyptian pharaoh for God's people to be put into slavery in Egypt for 430 years. During that time, of course, they'd lost sight of God's objective standard for living. And so what did God do next to counter Satan's repressive actions spread over those long 430 years? Well, Exodus, chapters nine and ten tells us that God poured out seven plagues on the Egyptians until their pharaoh finally agreed to let God's people go.
God then organised a miraculous exodus of his people to the edge of the Red Sea. So what then did Satan do next? Well, he got the Egyptians all riled up because they no longer had the services of these hebrew slaves. And so Exodus 49 tells us.
But the Egyptians pursued after them and overtook them, encamped by the Red Sea. This is a map from the back of my Bible. And it shows the traditional site of Mount Sinai as being here, down towards the bottom of the Sinai peninsula.
Millions of bibles must have this map. But there is something terribly wrong with this map. Notice where they were camped.
They're camped by the Red Sea, on the seashore of the Gulf of sewers. So God opens the Red Sea. And where do the people end up going to? Back into Egypt.
But the Bible also says that they were already out of Egypt when they arrived at the sea. And our next slide proves this. Exodus 1411.
And they said unto Moses, because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us to carry us forth out of Egypt? So, therefore, they were out of Egypt. So as a result, the Gulf of sewers could not be the sea that God parted. Therefore, this placement of Mount Sinai is not correct.
Now, maps are not inspired, but God's Bible is inspired. So don't lose confidence in the Bible because of a problem with maps. Soon you will see that the evidence for the total inspiration of scripture is found when we locate the real Mount Sinai.
For over 1300 years, people have believed that Mount Sinai was in the Sinai peninsula, but they were wrong. Tourists, therefore, have been spending money to see Mount Sinai. But they were looking at the wrong mountain.
So where is Mount Sinai? Notice that there are three routes that travel towards the east from Egypt. There's this one through the Philistines. But they were a war hungry people.
There's this way of Shur and this way to Arabia. After Moses was forced to flee Egypt after killing one of their citizens, he fled eastward through the wilderness of the Red Sea and ended up in the land of Midian. So he took this route through here and then came down here.
This map shows the route he took. He eventually stays for 40 years at a sheep station owned by Jethro in the land of Midian. Jethro becomes Moses father in law after Moses married Jethro's daughter Zipporah, and they all lived in Midian.
And that is where Moses found a burning bush that was never consumed. So on this map, where do you see Midian? Here it is here. The land of Midian, now known as the land of Saudi Arabia.
40 years later, Moses goes back to Pharaoh in Egypt at the command of God, and eventually succeeds in leading the children of Israel out of Egypt. Notice the slightly different route that Moses took under the direction of God as he led the Israelites away from Egypt. This means that the Gulf of sewers, which is the left hand arm of the Red Sea, was not the waters that God parted for.
Moses took the people across here and eventually God asked them to take a shortcut. There's a turning off. This is where they turned off.
Instead of going across the top of the Gulf of Akabar and then down, they took a shortcut. And God instructed Moses as follows. Exodus 14, one and two.
And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, speak unto the children of Israel that they turn. So God instructed Moses to turn off the second main route to Canaan. And as a result, they travelled through high mountains until they came to the sea.
This is the crossing site where approximately 1 million of God's people arrived, only to find their way blocked by the sea. But nothing is impossible for God, for when he was ready, God opened up the sea. The yellow arrow shows you how their route came out of the mountains and onto a huge beach.
Once God parted the waters of the Red Sea, all of God's people were thus able to cross over on dry land. This enabled them to take a shortcut to the land of Midian, now known as Saudi Arabia. And that was an act of God's mercy.
But there is a massive problem to be addressed here. High winds create high seas. So how do we solve this problem? We don't have to, for the Bible has solved it for us.
The problem involves the powerful wind that God used to blow the sea apart and create a channel for his people. This must have been a very strong wind. So how could God's people walk against such a fierce wind and not be blown over? We find the answer in Exodus 15, verse eight, and we'll read it here.
And with the blast of his nostrils, the waters were gathered together. The flood stood upright as an heap and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea. So what does the word congealed mean? Well, the Oxford dictionary tells us that it becomes semi solid.
An example of this would be ice. So once the water became semi solid, the wind did not need to blow and the Israelites could cross over. The 13 miles stretch easily in just a few hours.
Exodus 1421 tells us that they crossed over the Red Sea at night. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. And the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night and made the sea dry land and the waters were divided.
But when the sun arose the next morning, the ice melted. And lo and behold, God closed the waters of the Red Sea again. But this time the waters crashed down on the chasing egyptian army, who consequently drowned.
This destroyed Pharaoh's army and was an act of God's justice. The green tick shows you where the Bible says Mount Sinai really is. The red x shows you where the false Mount Sinai is chosen by Queen Helena for her son, the emperor Constantine over 1300 years earlier.
Notice the green tick again. There's Mount Sinai. If you look on a modern map, it's known as jebel el laws, the mountain of the law.
And the Bedouins refer to this also as the mountain of Moses. And in their language they call it Henna Musa. So why are people so wrong about the whereabouts of the real Mount Sinai? Let us backtrack for a moment.
Moses flees Egypt after murdering an egyptian. He ends up on Jesus'farm in the land of Midian. He tends sheep for 40 years, eventually decides to go up the mountain to see for himself what is up there.
God speaks to Moses from a burning bush that never burns up. And then God says something extremely important that proves that Mount Sinai is in Midian. And he said, certainly I will be with thee, and this shall be the token unto thee that I have sent thee.
When you have brought forth these people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain. Exodus three, verse twelve. God was saying that Moses wasn't just to take the Israelites out of Egypt and go straight to Canaan.
God was saying that Moses was to bring God's people back to the mountain where the burning bush was adjacent to Jethro's farm in Midian. The Sinai peninsula was never the land of Midian. And nor was Jethro's farm in the Sinai peninsula.
Here is an example of an egyptian axle and wheel encrusted with coral and lying vertically on the seabed of the Gulf of Akaba, arm of the Red Sea. They found nothing when exploring the Gulf of Suez, arm of the Red Sea. Here is another egyptian chariot wheel with hardly any coral on it at all.
And that is because it is made of wood, but covered in gold, and coral does not attach well to gold. So this must have been off a royal or priest's chariot. Here is the true split rock some distance from the true Mount Sinai in Saudi Arabia.
There were vast flat pasture areas where the animals could graze and for the people to camp. My son in law has been there. He has walked around the area and seen with his own eyes the true Mount Sinai and took a photo of this huge split rock where Moses organised for the water to come from.
Now there's a human there. You may not see it, but I'll point him out. There he is right there.
That'll give you an idea of the size of the rock, for he's dwarfed by the size of that rock. This is the blackened summit of the real Mount Sinai. I have held in my own hands a black rock from the summit of this true Mount Sinai and I was in awe and quite emotional about the experience.
Here's a close up of the cave on Mount Sinai, just below the summit, where it is believed that Moses and the prophet Elijah stayed in. Here is the view from the inside of the cave taken by my son in law and is looking out at the site of the camp of the Israelites. An angel of God is known to have talked with the prophet Elijah right at this site.
So this is holy ground. God's word can be trusted. For as our next Bible slide states, for this agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia.
So Galatians 425 has told us for 2000 years that Mount Sinai was in Arabia, which is now known as Saudi Arabia. That is why we encourage people to believe the true Bible, because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Romans 1017.
It does not come by following the traditions of a family or the traditions of a church or the so called experts in the field of geography. As we saw when we investigated the true and false site of Mount Sinai, the word of God can be found in the true Bible. And understanding that Bible is best achieved when we use God's torch.
That torch is the spirit of prophecy, writings which illuminates the Bible, as is demonstrated in our next slide. Patriarchs and prophets, page four, three, one. Faith is the gift of God, but the power to exercise it is ours.
Having demonstrated the dangers of following tradition, it is appropriate that I now ask us another question. Is our faith moulded by tradition or perhaps ancestral family religious memberships? Or is it moulded by the word of God? Have we made a decision to seek a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? That is an even more important question now. God's love is unconditional.
I don't believe there's any Christian in the world who would say otherwise, as greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. John 1513 and 14.
God's love is unconditional, but the plan of salvation is conditional. So God loves everybody without conditions, but he hates their sins, and so he invites us to come to him with a repentant heart, just as we are. And he will save us from the penalty of sin right there and then.
But we still need to be saved from the power of sin. And this is where the conditions for entry into heaven are progressively met. It is the work of a lifetime to be saved from the power of sin.
And Christ plans to give us the victory over sin by empowering us to meet the conditions of obedience, being the Ten Commandment law. With salvation so clearly presented in the Bible, it is understandable that God's plan to save only those who meet the conditions we read about and mentioned in John 1513 and 14. But the good news is that it is God that enables us to do what he wants us to do.
This includes making us holy if we're willing to cooperate with him. This leads us to understand this Bible verse better. Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.
Hebrews twelve, verse 14. But it is God who will gradually make us holy and thus help us to be able to enjoy the society of holy angels once we get to the third heaven and live forever. I mentioned that there were conditions to salvation, and here they are.
Deuteronomy 28 one and two if you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God. But then straight after that there is the question of disloyalty.
However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I'm giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you. Deuteronomy 20 816. You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.
This is simply the law of cause and effect in action. Well, let us get back to the progress of the nation of Israel under Moses leadership. Once God had got his people safely into the land of Midian and to mount Sinai, then he instructed them on how to worship him.
He also instructed them on the plan of salvation by having them perform their temporary ceremonial rituals at a portable tent sanctuary, which was modelled after the permanent fixture in heaven. After the exodus, there was instituted a service of slaying a spotless and innocent lamb. This lamb did not deserve to die for it was innocent of any wrong.
And that was a perfect illustration of God providing in the future an innocent substitute sacrifice who would do no wrong. God would call this substitute the lamb of God, who would be the world's messiah. We now know that this was Jesus Christ, but they didn't know it back then.
These services were designed to show them how to be forgiven, how to prepare themselves for Sabbath worship services, because it was always God's desire to be with his people. After all, he made us for mutual companionship. Always, however, on a creator creature level, this sanctuary on earth was.
There was to be an outer court, where they would slay the innocent lamb and the priest would take some of its blood and offer it as an atonement for the sins of the people. In the first department of that sanctuary, again designed to symbolise the work of the real sacrifice, Jesus Christ, who would come some 1500 years later. Then there was a second apartment of the sanctuary where the ten Commandments were stored.
That was the law written by God himself. This law defined sin and demanded the death of the sinner when any of these laws were broken. But above that law was God's mercy, seat made of pure gold, showing God's mercy for the repentant sinner.
And above that was the shekinah glory, light being the very presence of God himself. We have looked at what was inside the ark. Now we will note what was stored on the side of the ark, for stored there was the ceremonial law.
It was not written on tables of stone. Instead, it was written on parchment. Its function was to show the world that lived, then how to be saved, and pointed forward to a coming messiah who would provide the salvation they all needed.
Once that Messiah had arrived, then this temporary law was no longer needed. And I want you to notice something. The spotless sacrificial lamb was slain in the outer court of the earthly sanctuary.
Jesus, whom the lamb represented, was slain on planet earth, which was the outer court for the real sanctuary in heaven. And that makes sense. You can't have lambs being killed up in the third heaven where God dwells, could you? Because everything up there is sinless and perfect, and therefore there is no death in heaven.
Also want you to notice that the atonement is the work of a priest. It is not the work of the sacrifice, but the priest had to have innocent blood to offer in order to make the atonement. Hence the symbolism of a spotless and innocent white lamb.
The various aspects of the work of the coming messiah, Jesus Christ, was being depicted in these ceremonial rituals on earth, designed to portray Christ's work to save sinners. I want you to notice on the screen here, Jesus was our perfect sacrifice, our perfect example for holy living, our perfect high priest in the heavenly courts, our wise judge, and finally our coming king. But at that time, and for hundreds of years afterwards, the Jews lost sight of the meaning of the symbolism of killing a spotless and innocent lamb.
And of course, they then saw their salvation in the rituals themselves. But it became a lot clearer when Jesus turned up at the river Jordan and John the Baptist said these words, behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. John one, verse 29.
So how fortunate that we have Jesus playing all the parts so that we can be saved if we want to, because in the heavenly sanctuary we do have Jesus Christ as our high priest, and he ministers his own innocent blood shed at Calvary on planet earth on behalf of repentant sinners. And when he does that for the repentant person, a magic word is placed beside that person's record of sin in heaven, the word pardoned. And the repentant sinner has a peace of mind, knowing that he is forgiven.
Therefore, since Calvary, we no longer need the ceremonial sanctuary or the ceremonial law. It had a temporary function to point forward to Christ, the innocent lamb of God. This vital teaching God tried to convey to the jewish religious leaders and their people.
When the curtain in the temple on earth was ripped from top to bottom, and as it was about 16 metres high, no man therefore could have ripped it from top to bottom. If it had been ripped by man, it would have been ripped from the bottom up. This was heaven's highest signal that the earthly sanctuary services were now at an end.
And let us notice something else that is important. Just as the innocent four legged lamb did not deserve to die, neither did Jesus deserve to die. For both the lamb and Jesus were innocent.
Now, God having taught the Old Testament people how to be saved, they then began to follow God correctly. And this upset God's enemy, the devil, and he devised a new plan to derail God's people. What was that plan? Well, our next part will answer that question.
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