Published: November 17, 2024 | Speaker: Mark Freitag | Series: The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit 1 - Part 9 | Scripture: Genesis 3:15
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last time just uh a little bit of summary um the the what I see is the main works of the Holy Spirit
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the truth but specifically the truth of the promise of the seed
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also declaration Declaration declaration Declaration of who God is God revealing himself um and Declaration of who the
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people are and who they they ought to be um and we're going to hopefully talk about this as the um probably won't get to it today today but as the week uh
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weeks go along um some more of the content of the of the prophecy that we see um because that's the main work of
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the spirit um Beyond moving men and using men for Mighty acts and
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for um accomplishing the purposes of God we we see um this gift of Prophecy as the direct work of the Holy Spirit um again
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reminder from second Peter 1 Peter writes but know this first of all that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation for no prophecy was ever
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made by an act of human will but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God but it's
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one of the questions or one of the things that I was looking at over the last couple of weeks is the variety of ways in which the Holy Spirit moved men
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um and I don't think it's just in terms of um at least as we see in scripture uh just their their minds or or their souls
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but we we see that the Holy Spirit speaks to these men spoke to these men um in in a variety of ways uh not just
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speaking and um having them right which we want to we want to look at but um Visions giving
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them Visions giving them dreams um giving them uh in in one case um kind of dram itic uh that hopefully
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we'll look at here in Ezekiel um that he's um he's transported he's carried by the Holy Spirit um and
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I'm not sure that I know exactly you know the depth of that but the holy spirit's work in in Prophecy is is not just um a man sitting in a room with
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parchment and scratching out things that he hear there there are voice the the voice of the Lord but there's also dreams and visions and
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Transportation uh involved in these things and um it's kind of interesting to just read some uh longer passages of scripture to kind
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of get a feel for what this was about so uh that's what I want to do uh today um explore some of these these
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things obviously there is the the voice telling them you know doing doing doing doing writing but um the Holy Spirit inspired the the mind of the prophets yes
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um so the holy spirit's work and
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um is this it's I think we see a continual um I'm trying to think how to how to
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phrase it I go back to uh Sinclair
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power presence um in all of these things that we'll that we'll look at um that there
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this preparation by the Holy Spirit to be able to receive the receive the Revelation and to some extent understand it we saw even in
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Daniel the things made his mind kind of spin made him internalize those things and wonder about what he was receiving
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but preparing the mind of the Prophet not only to to to know it but to be able to um tell somebody tell and communicate it
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to to others and so we see that that um this involved taking that uh the word and writing it down I'm going to read
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from uh and again these are some lengthy passages so um but I I think to get the context and just jump into these things just reading a single verse didn't seem
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adequate to this but this is from Jeremiah couple of sections um to illustrate the the writing in Jeremiah
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26 we read these words in the fourth year of Joakim the son of Josiah king of Judah this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying take a scroll and write
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on it all the words which I have spoken to you concerning Israel and concerning Judah and concerning all the nations from the days that I first spoke to
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you perhaps the house of Judah will hear all the Calamity which I plan to bring on them in order that every man will turn from his evil way then I will
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forgive their iniquity and their sin and Jeremiah called baroo the son of Niah and baroo wrote on a scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words that
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the Lord had spoken to him and then later baroo testifies to this because there were those who were coming against them and saying what is this that you've
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done and he said that Jeremiah he said dictated to all these words to me and I wrote them with ink on the book and so
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they had um Jeremiah taking the word of the Lord and actually physically telling uh Baro to physically write down these
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these words so that we have these words recorded but how did Jeremiah receive this he re received it from the voice of the Lord that the
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Lord the Holy Spirit spoke to him um and they they heard actual words they didn't uh make these things up or
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were not interpreting something but these are the words um in Ezekiel um or sorry Exodus 33 Moses used
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to take to the tent and pitch it outside the camp a good distance from the camp and he called it the tent of meeting and everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting which was
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outside the camp and it came about whenever Moses went out to the tent that all the people would arise and stand each at the entrance of his tent and gaze after Moses until he entered the
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tent whenever Moses entered the tent the P pillar of cloud would descend at and stand at the entrance of the tent and the the Lord would speak with Moses when
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all the people saw the pillar of clouds standing at the entrance of the tent all the people would arise and worship each at the entrance of his tent thus the
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Lord used to speak to Moses face to face just as a man speaks to his friend um pretty pretty dramatic pretty um
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intense um even the people recognizing this as a a special work uh a special thing that Moses spoke face to face uh
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with the with the Lord and then further in Numbers Chapter 12 reading about the same kind of thing
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then suddenly the Lord said to Moses and Aaron and to Miriam you three come out to the tent of meeting so the three of them came out then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the
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doorway of of the tent and he called Aaron and Aaron and Miriam when they had both come forward he said hear now my words if there is a prophet among you I the Lord shall make
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myself known to him in a vision I shall speak with him in a dream so here we see speaking and the dreams and the Visions
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um not so with my servant Moses he is faithful in all my household with him I speak my MTH to mouth even openly and
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not in dark sayings and behold the form of the Lord and He beholds the form of the Lord why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant against Moses
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so again you get the context there how they had spoken and he's going to bring leprosy upon Miriam there but
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um he's giving us a hint that sometimes it's in Visions sometimes times it's in dreams sometimes dark sayings things that um there are Illusions to things or
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their metaphors for things uh that we'll look at here but to Moses it was face to face um again um a special Revelation
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for Moses uh not given to all of these prophets and yet a hint of yes he does speak he does does communicate but
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through other through other means um he speaks to Elijah in First Kings 19 uh then Elijah came there to a cave
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and lodged there and behold the word of the Lord came to him and he said what are you doing here Elijah he said I have been very jealous for the Lord the god of hosts for the sons of Israel have
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forsaken your Covenant torn down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword and I alone am left and they seek my life to take it away so he said go
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forth and stand on the mountain before the Lord and behold the Lord was passing by and a great and strong wind was rening the mountains and breaking in pieces the Rocks before the Lord but the
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Lord was not in the wind and after the wind and earthquake but the Lord was not in the earthquake and after the earthquake of fire but the Lord was not in the fire and after the fire a sound
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of gentle blowing when Elijah heard it he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave and behold a voice came to him
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and said what are you doing here Elijah and he said I have been very zealous for the Lord the god of hosts for the sons of Israel have forsaken your com
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Covenant torn down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword and I alone am left and they seek my life to take it away a voice came uh that he heard um and
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Drew him out of the the tent his cave and stood and and listened to the voice um again not to all but to some
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hearing the Lord speaks in a language that they could understand and
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um many of the people that we read about in the scriptures uh had Revelations given to them in dreams even Pharaoh uh had
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dreams Nebuchadnezzar Joseph um had dreams um and even uh when Peter speaks
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in in Acts chapter 2 um at Pentecost um he recites from uh Joel um that this would be um one of the
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ways that God um communicated his himself to people he said in it shall be in the last days God says that I will
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pour forth of my spirit on All Mankind and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream
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um Abraham was one of those who received uh the dreams um Genesis chapter 15 now when the sun was going down a deep sleep fell upon Abram and behold
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Terror and great Darkness fell upon him God said to Abram know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs where they will
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be enslaved and oppressed 400 years but I will also judge the nation whom they will serve and afterwards they will come out with many possessions as for you you
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shall go to your fathers in peace you will be buried at a good old age then in the fourth generation they will return here for the iniquity of of the Amorite is not yet complete
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um he saw a dream uh or in a dream he had the Lord telling him and you know the things that he recited that they
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would be um Strangers In a Strange Land and their descendants would be there for 400 years they would be it it's enslaved
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oppressed but then the nation would be judged and they would be freed they would come forth um and we know all of that from from The Exodus um and yet
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Abram saw it well before all of these things happen communicating what God communicating what he would do uh in a
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um I think as John Owen says um there are two types of visions and um it is um I'm not sure that
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I yeah say it this way I'm not sure I can see what he saw um in these Visions but he said there are those that are of physical sight and those that are seen by
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um Let me give yeah I don't really have room here I'm GNA I'm going to go over
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um this is from from Owen to be able to recognize Visions as Divine Revelations so for the prophets to be able to understand that this vision is
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divine revelation he says there are two things that are that are required first is the holy spirit had to prepare the minds which we've talked about some prepare the minds of the men
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to receive the Visions they had to know the Visions were truly Revelations from God so
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God so um similar to this um he uses this word
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and secondly he says the Holy Spirit had to enable them to Faithfully remember the Visions they had seen and then be able to accurately
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report or declare the vision to others
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so you you might think well that's self-evident they had to remember the dream the div
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Vision um and certainly there are some uh communication from God to to men that was just for them um but normally it was reported to others it was either to be written down
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or to be spoken uh to others and so again maybe these are are self-evident but um they had to know that was coming from
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God and then remember and report so he cited um Ezekiel chapter 40 I'm going to read uh these words in the
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25th year of our Exile at the beginning of the year on the 10th of the month in the 14th year after the city was taken on the same day the hand of the Lord was upon me um keep
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that phrase in mind Abigail um asked me about it last week I the hand of the Lord appears um in many of these um visions and
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dreams so we want to we want to talk about that the hand of the Lord was upon me and he brought me there in the visions of God he brought me into the
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land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain and on it to the South there was a Structure like a city so he brought me there and behold there was a
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man whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze with a line line of flax and a measuring rod in his hand and he was standing in the gate way and the
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man said to me son of man see with your eyes hear with your ears and give attention to all that I am going to show you for you have brought been brought
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here in order to show it to you declare to the house of Israel all that you see so it's I mean
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it that those four verses kind of encapsulate John Owen's Point um that he was um in a vision God brought him to the land showed him these things but
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he's also telling him see and hear and give attention because I I'm showing it to you deliberately but then he says go and
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and declare it to others I wonder
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right the spirit yeah yeah so yeah so the the comment kind of goes back to what we talked about a couple of weeks ago that um in this case it seems um in
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bezal those Craftsmen they had some skill but but God directed them for a specific purpose for the glory of the Lord to take the pattern that they Moses
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had seen and create this uh this work to to God um but there are other times when he we we saw that he takes people
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without those skills and gives them those skills give them the energy again that that power presence of moving them
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in things that they had real no real preparation for so it can be either or but yes the the underlying thing is is not is it a spiritual gift or not
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it's what is God revealing what is God doing uh in in his action yeah um so um again I I think this
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passage shows all of those things that that Owen wants us to see in terms of what the requirements for these Visions
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were um and and Ezekiel knew that it was the hand of the Lord upon him um in in doing this um under physical site um
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Owen gives this example from Genesis 18 so we'll put um
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now the Lord appeared to him by The Oaks of mamry while he was sitting at the tent Door In the Heat of the day when he lifted up his eyes and looked behold three men were standing opposite him and
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when he saw them he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the Earth and said my Lord if I have now found favor in your sight please do not
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pass your servant by um recognizing uh with physical sight um the presence of the Lord here
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um again um not a vision not a dream but physical sight here yes 's distinction might
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by CAU up the body out of the
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[Music] Abraham knew that he was in the presence of God here from what seen PA recognizes the possibility that he could have been as Philip was physically transed he also
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recognizes the possibility with eel that trans he just but he couldn't remember how many people he baptized either yeah
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so okay all right um yeah
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um you recognize this this passage in the year of King uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne lofty and exalted with the train of his robe filling the temple sarim stood above him
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each having six wings with two he covered his face and with two he covered his feet and with two he flew and one called out to another and said holy holy
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holy is the Lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory and the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out while
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the temple was filling with smoke um I I'm not sure that I've ever thought of
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this as just a spiritual vision uh somehow as as I would read it it it would be real to me that that
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Isaiah when when he falls down and when he's worshiping and and maybe again in his spiritual eyes it it was as if it were real or that he couldn't tell but
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um Owen uses this as a example of spiritual eyes but uh it's it's an awesome thing uh
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to there there are times in scripture where you you get the visual but with the voices you know one calling out to
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another and saying holy holy holy um is the Lord of hosts you you start to get um some sound uh obviously the sound of
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the voice but the flapping of the wings um and then the foundations of the thresholds trembling I don't know if you've ever been in an earthquake where the foundations of your threshold have
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have trembled um I thought the furnace in our basement was blowing up uh when we were in New Hampshire and felt and it was only a magnitude uh like two 2.1 or
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something like that but the whole house shook and all the you know all the uh dishes were rattling glasses in the in the cabinet um didn't know what it was
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but there you you get in some of these passages just how it's again I I want to make a distinction between just you know somebody sitting in a quiet room you
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know hearing something and writing it down there's there's power here there is a presence here that is there is we're trying to get some kind of
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feeling for yes
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yeah yeah you stole some of my thunder there but yeah um yeah um yeah invisions but also physical when you get picked up by the
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lock of your hair I I think there's a little more than just a voice yeah I think The Narrative of amount of transfiguration teaches the Cur between
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the physical and the spiritual is not very thi scientific world to make it into a wall an impenetrable wall yeah think that's
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actually reality of the
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eventin between the two as if one's real the other isn't yeah both very real and had we not had we not the corruption of
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as as um yeah I'm trying to think if there a passage where God says if I were to pull back the curtain you would see the
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the confrontations that go on Between Heaven and the powers of this world um
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to perhaps but yes I I think it's it's nearer than we think and it is obviously more real than we sometimes think about
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well it's the question of Joel does does Joel mean now you know Joel saying you're young men will see visions and old men will dream dreams uh is that for
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today um I don't think obviously there's not new revelation God is not adding to the cannon adding to his revelation of who
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he he um I've I've read about missionaries who you know they've been in a situation
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where it's almost as if God has pulled the curtain back for them to see that he is protecting them that his angels are guarding them uh they have they have
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reported that in in a dream kind of in a vision uh I'm not sure I can say that personal
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in my life but um I would think um that the Holy Spirit
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is obviously the holy spirit is is giving wisdom and insight and understanding to people but dreams and Visions I'm not sure not sure how to answer I have to think about that
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um sometimes the language is is the voice but it's it's symbolic um and it's symbolic um
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[Music] or actions or actions so for example um Isaiah 20 and uh this is um well just read in
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the year that the commander came to ashdod when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him and he fought against ashot and captured it at that time the Lord spoke through Isaiah the son of
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Amos saying go and loosen the sackcloth from your hips and take your shoes off your feet and he did so going naked and Barefoot and the Lord said even as my
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servant Isaiah has gone naked and Barefoot three years as a sign and token against Egypt and Kush so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of
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Egypt in the Exiles of kush young and old naked and Barefoot with buttocks uncovered to the shame of Egypt then they will be dismayed and ashamed because of kush their hope and Egypt
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their boast so the inhabitants of this Coastline will say in that day behold such is Our Hope where we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria
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and we how shall we escape [Music] so it was an
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action um most of us would say I'm glad it was um Isaiah not me uh having to do that but it it hit the Holy Spirit spoke by
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having Isa isah do that action stripping down and then declaring this is a symbol of what you
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face um because you've you've hoped in other countries you've given Egypt as as your uh as your boast uh
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and they would say how shall we escape um if if this come true so again the Lord through the spirit the holy
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spirit is speaking uh with these things Jeremiah um you'll recognize perhaps Jeremiah 13 thus the Lord said to me go and buy yourself a linen waistband and
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put it around your waist but do not put it in water so I bought the waistband in accordance with the word of the Lord and put it around my waist then the Lord
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word of the Lord came to me a second time saying take the West waistband that you have bought which is around your waist and arise and go to the Euphrates and hide there in the crevice of the
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rock so I went and hid it by the Euphrates as the Lord had commanded me and many days at after many days the Lord said to me arise go to the eates
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and take from there the waistband which I commanded you to hide then I went to the Euphrates and dug and I took the waistband from the place where I had hidden it and lo the waistband was
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ruined it was totally totally worthless then the word of the Lord came to me saying thus says the Lord just so will I destroy the pride of Judah and the great
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pride of Jerusalem this wicked people who refuse to listen to my words who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts and have gone after other gods to serve them and bow down to them let them be
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just like this wa waistband which is totally worthless for as the waistband clings to the waist of a man so I I made the whole household of Israel and the
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whole household of Judah cling to me declares the Lord that they might be for me a people for Renown for praise and for Glory but they did not
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listen um pretty dramatic things only um he saw the waistband but it helped
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him again to understand the vision and then be able at least in in my thought this was this was a power um and a um I think
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a motivation for him as he as he prophesied to the people that he would see physically understand what that um
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the depth of that worthlessness that the Lord was talking about um need to find a stopping place so we'll we'll end with this one um a little bit
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of length but um it's uh to me uh just uh
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it's just the sovereignty of of God and the love of God for for people and what he wants to do Hosea uh one and then going into Hosea 2 um which actually
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starts in our English Bibles at verse 11 of chapter 1 but this is um hosea's experience of this symbolic um
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symbolic um prophecy when the L Lord first spoke through Hosea the Lord said to hoseah go take your to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of
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harlotry for the land commits flagrant har harlotry forsaking the Lord so he went into took Goomer the daughter of diblaim and she conceived and bore him a
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son and the Lord said to him name him jezrael for yet a little while and I will punish the house of juu for the Bloodshed of jezrael and I will put an
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end to the kingdom of the House of Israel on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel then she conceived again and
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gave birth to a daughter and the Lord said to him name her L ruhama for I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel
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that I would ever forgive them but I will have compassion on the house of Judah and deliver them by the Lord their God and will not deliver them by Bow
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sword battle horses or Horsemen when she had wean L ruhama she conceived and gave birth to a son and the Lord said name him Lo am me
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for you are not my people and I am not your God and then he continues yet the number of the sons of Israel will be like the sand of the sea
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which cannot be measured or numbered and in the place where it is said to them you are not my people it will be said to them you are the sons of the Living God
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and the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together and they will appoint for themselves one leader and they will go up from the land for great will be the day of jezrael say
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to your brothers Ami that means my people and to your sisters ruhama she has obtained
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compassion let us pray Our Father we do thank you for these things that we have seen in in
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your scripture that the Holy Spirit directing these prophets these men of old are the the words that were spoken
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the dreams the Visions the symbols are all things that still are meant to resonate in our souls even
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today that you have spoken that you have revealed yourself that you were true to your promise given so long ago that seed of woman which we know is our Lord Jesus
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Christ and so we thank you for these things we ask that as we read them as we study them that you would give us uh the connections to
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connections to our what we call the New Testament that we would be able to see and we would be able to Rejoice even more how you have Faithfully brought all these things to
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pass thank you for the work thank you for the Revelation thank you that you have made us your people and indeed you have had compassion in Christ's name we
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pray amen