ASI 2009: By Knowing Him

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ASI 2009 Seminar: Affirming Our Foundation

Michael Hasel

Archaeology, Evangelism, and Personal Faith: Why the Past Matters to Our Future

Let's bow our heads for prayer before we begin today.

Heavenly Father, we want to thank you that we can come together to ASI this weekend to reflect on the amazing things that you're doing, to reflect on the mission of this church, the gospel commission that you've given us in your word, and to encourage 1 another in the faith.

We pray that you would bless us in our session here today, in Jesus' name, amen.

Today's presentation focuses on an individual who in the historical narrative of the Bible is mentioned more frequently than any other individual in Scripture.

This particular individual is known to us from the earliest books of the Bible clear down to the last chapter of revelation.

We may think to ourselves, who is this person?

Is it Abraham, the founder of the Jewish faith?

The founder, 1 of the founding fathers of the great 3 monotheistic religions in the world today?

Is it Moses, who led the people of Israel out of captivity and brought them to the brink of the promised land?

Is it Joshua who led the people into the Promised Land and conquered that land for Israel?

Even Jesus is not mentioned as frequently in the Bible by the name Jesus, he's mentioned of course by other names as well, than this individual.

This individual was a person who was a poet.

He put together most of the songs and liturgy that is still used today in synagogues and churches around the world.

He is a person that was a great statesman.

He was a hero of the Old Testament, and he is mentioned over 1, 100 times in scripture.

David was an incredible, incredible person of history.

Not only was he a poet, not only was he a statesman, not only was he a great thinker and philosopher, having composed much of the book of the Psalms, not only was he a great king and leader for his people, David was also the person that God said, he's a man after my own heart.

He was also a simple person who came from simple origins, a shepherd boy who was anointed to be king of Israel.

But David is more than all of these things.

David is more than simply someone who is mentioned more often than any other person in the Bible.

He is more than simply the founder of a capital and he holds the unique position of anyone in the world to this point in history that founded a capital at Jerusalem which still serves as a capital today, 3, 000 years later.

I was there in 1996 as Jerusalem celebrated the 3, 000 year anniversary of the city.

You have not seen fireworks like that on the 4th of July anywhere else in the United States.

And sure enough, on the walls, I don't know who they hired to do this spectacular program, but on the walls of the Israel Museum, with laser lights, was the famous battle of David and Goliath.

But David is known for something more important than that.

He is also known as the progenitor of the Messiah.

He is known as the 1 through whose line, through the line of Jesse, his father, the Messiah would 1 day come.

He records as much in several of the Psalms, the Messianic Psalms.

He also tells us later on in other writings that the Messiah is to come.

Matthew, of course, and Luke mention David specifically by name in the genealogies of Jesus, and Matthew goes so far as to indicate David in the narrative of when the angel comes to Joseph.

He says, Joseph, the angel says, Joseph, the son of David, when he announces to him that he is soon to become the father, the adoptive father of the Messiah.

And so, even in the last chapter of the book of revelation, Jesus himself refers to himself as the root of David.

David's such a crucial person in history.

And so it may come as a surprise to some of us that David in today's culture and in today's world, David's historicity as a person is under more attack than perhaps any other person in history.

Today in the secular world, in the world of biblical scholarship even, David is maligned.

David is, of course, in earlier critical scholarship, David's story, the story of David and Goliath, which we all know very well, was often thought to be somewhat of an exaggeration.

You know, Goliath being that tall, David actually having beaten him with a simple stone.

But today, it is not only the stories that seem to be exaggerated, it is the entire history of David and the United Monarchy itself that is under increasing skepticism in the post-modern world in which we live.

In 1993, I'm sorry, in 1992, This story was in the US News and World Report in 2001, The Fight for History, and in that fight, of course, the story of David comes up.

In 1992, a book was published, In Search of Ancient Israel, where the writer, a biblical scholar at the University of Sheffield in England, writes the following, the Israel of the biblical literature is at least for the most part, not an historical entity at all.

The biblical empire of David and Solomon has not the faintest echo in the archeological record.

And then he adds the 2 little words, as yet.

Because you see what Davies and many others are doing, they're simply arguing on the basis of silence.

We haven't found David or the mention of David in the archaeological record yet, therefore he must not have existed as an historical figure.

And other scholars have gone down similar routes with other individuals and other entire peoples in history.

We can remember, of course, in the 1700s, there was great skepticism over the Hittites, who are mentioned 28 times in the Bible.

Today, we know they had a vast empire all over Turkey and that they were the major rivals to the Egyptians further to the south.

So arguments of silence are dangerous in any discipline.

In archeology, it's extremely dangerous to make such an assertion that something doesn't exist.

You never know what might be found the next year or the next 10 years in that particular field or in that particular aspect.

And that's exactly what happened the year after Davies published this book.

In 1993, 1 year later at the site of Tel Dan in northern Israel, and this by the way is the high place that was found at Dan.

You remember Jeroboam I, after the divided monarchy, the united monarchy was split into the divided monarchy, he established a center at Dan and at Bethel.

He had golden calves made and the Bible says he told the Israelites for fear that they would go back down to Jerusalem and worship there and he would lose his control over them he told them this is the God that brought you out of the land of Egypt.

This is Dan and sure enough the Hebrew Union College excavations there in the 1980s and 90s uncovered the high place which undoubtedly Jeroboam had built.

That is a reconstruction of the four-horned altar that once stood there.

Because we found 1 of the horns of that particular altar.

I'm standing here in front of the high place where undoubtedly the golden calf probably stood originally.

Historically, remember the borders were always described in the Bible as from Dan to Beersheba.

So this is the northernmost city and you're looking into the hills of Lebanon.

And if you were looking a little bit further to the east, you'd be looking into the Golan Heights, which of course used to belong to Syria and is still under dispute today.

So here we're standing, but it wasn't here in this location at the site that the discovery was made.

It was at another location outside the city gate.

Outside the city gate, a volunteer, a college student, was working on an ancient wall and happened to cause 1 of the rocks in the wall to tumble out.

And as the rock tumbled out, that student noticed on the bottom there an inscription on that rock.

It had been reused as a building stone in the wall, but originally was no building stone at all.

It was part of a huge stela that commemorated an event in history that is also recorded in the Bible.

What the student found was the part there on this side, and the following year in 2004, these 2 fragments were found not very far away.

It records a campaign by the king of Aram against Israel and Judah.

It dates to about 150 years after the time of David, but what does it say?

It says that the campaign took place against the house of Israel, the Northern Kingdom, and the house of David, which is the Southern Kingdom, which is exactly the way the Bible describes that kingdom.

It refers to it as the house of David again and again.

Now do you think Davies and others accepted this inscription?

They said, well, first of all, the inscription, Hebrew doesn't have vowels in ancient Hebrew, and so how do you know it was an A and an I?

They didn't have A's and I's back then, but anyway, how did you know there was an A and I in there?

Just add a T at the end there, house of Dowd, right?

House of Dowd, no, that's what they said, the house of Dowd.

Now, there's no house of Dowd that exists that we know of anywhere.

We have Bet Shemesh, the house of the sun.

Nathan Renner

The Three Angels’ Messages: The Essence of Seventh-day Adventist existence - Part 1

Father, thank you for a chance to talk about the 3 angels' messages.

And we ask, God, that you would bless us, that you would teach us, and that you would really inform our understanding of the text, and Then give us a passion to live the message of the text.

If you have your Bible, I'd like to invite you to open it to Revelation chapter 12.

In order to have a proper understanding of the 3 angels' messages, we actually need to back up a bit and we need to go to Revelation chapter 12 because Revelation chapter 12 really lays out the foundational issues that we need to understand in order to really understand the significance of the 3 angels' messages.

And because of our time constraints, I'm going to assume that you guys know a lot about, at least something about Revelation chapter 12, because we don't have time to read all of Revelation 12, all of Revelation 13, and all of Revelation 14.

So, Revelation chapter 12, just to kind of give you the big picture.

Revelation 12 is this picture of the cosmic conflicts between good and evil that originated in heaven between Christ and Satan.

Now, that war in heaven was eventually transferred to earth.

Satan was cast out of heaven down to the earth.

And that war then continued to rage on earth.

And let's look there in Revelation chapter 12 verse 9.

The great dragon was thrown down that ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.

He was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him." Now here we see Satan is thrown down or if you have the King James cast out.

And in verse 10, it helps us to understand when Satan was cast out.

Look there in verse 10, Revelation 12, verse 10.

And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come.

For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God." Notice there in verse 9, it says, the great dragon is cast out.

And then in verse 10, you have the location of when that took place in time.

In verse 10, when Satan is cast out, The announcement is made, now has come salvation.

Now has come the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ.

Okay, it was promised from the foundation of the earth, Jesus is the Lamb slain, but when was the Lamb slain?

And it's interesting because John not only wrote Revelation, but he also wrote the Gospel John.

And go with me to the Gospel of John, John chapter 12, and you'll want to notice something really significant there in John chapter 12.

And we're going to look in verse 31 and 32, 33.

Jesus here is facing the cross, and He says, Now is the judgment of this world.

Now will the ruler of this world be cast out.

And the ruler of this world in John's writings here is Satan.

Now will the ruler of this world be cast out?

And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.

He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.

Notice here in John chapter 12, according to John 12, when was Satan, the prince of this world, when was he cast out, John 12, 31?

At the cross, when Jesus was lifted up, drawing all humanity to Himself.

Humanity had given their allegiance to Satan, and Jesus came and broke that allegiance and drew humanity to Himself and cast Satan out of His representative role of humanity.

John 12 tells us Satan was cast out at the cross.

Now certainly Satan got the boot before the cross.

And yet when we read Job chapter 1, Satan continued to have access.

Job is there, God is there, and the angels are there, the sons of God is there called, And Lucifer is there, Satan is there.

Well, he says, I've just been wandering around on the earth.

You see, even after the fall, Satan continued to have access to heaven.

But According to Revelation chapter 12 and John chapter 12, at the time of the cross, Satan was cast out of heaven at that time that salvation wasn't just promise, but that time when the salvation was accomplished for humanity.

We'll read it again in verse 9, now that you have the background of John 12.

The great dragon was thrown out, cast out, the ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, he was cast out to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

For the accuser of our brothers has been cast out, who accuses them day and night before our God.

And they have overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they love not their lives unto the death." Now, if you were an angel and you lived in heaven and Satan has now been permanently expelled from your neighborhood, how would you feel?

Now if you live on earth and Satan has been permanently exiled to your neighborhood, how would you feel?

Verse 12, Satan has been cast out, verses 9 and 10.

Verse 12, therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them.

But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because He knows His time is short." You see that, yes or no?

After the cross, Satan's time, his days are numbered.

You see, at the cross, Satan was permanently expelled from heaven.

He was cast down to the earth, and heaven is rejoicing.

Satan no longer has access to our neighborhood.

Unfortunately, earth, the devil is exceptionally upset with you.

He is very angry and he knows that his days are numbered.

When the devil just sort of woke up 1 day and realized, oh, I've been kicked out of heaven and I can't go back at all.

And when the dragon saw that he had been cast down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child." Isn't that interesting?

It's like he just like, I can't believe it.

I know I will pursue the Woman the woman I will pursue her the woman of course Represents the people of God.

And this is an interesting thing and maybe this is just a little side note.

What is it that turns a woman into a wife and a man into a husband?

When the church, the bride of Christ, is faithful to the covenant, her vows, she is a pure woman.

When she is unfaithful to the covenant, she is an adulteress.

Now, Satan pursues the woman and the woman flees from this Satanic attack.

The Three Angels’ Messages: The Essence of Seventh-day Adventist existence - Part 2

Our Father, what a joy it is to be together, to open Your Word.

And Lord, may we learn from You as we study.

May we hear Your voice, and may the simplicity of this message grab our hearts and minds.

Okay, so in our last lesson we learned that there was a battle between good and evil that began in heaven, that was transferred to this earth, And then when it was transferred to this earth, Satan began to attack the church.

And he attacked the church so successfully that the church was whittled down to a remnant.

And Satan says, I'm not satisfied with this remnant.

I must figure a way to destroy them." And so he has a counterfeit father, son, and Holy Spirit, and those counterfeits work together and those counterfeits work together to bring the people of God to worship in a way that is inconsistent with the commandments of God and an authentic faith commitment to Jesus.

Now At that, with that problem, God sends his message.

God sends a message, and that message we call the 3 angels message.

And the 3 angels message is designed to help God's people remain remnant.

And it is also designed to help the non-remnant become remnant.

And we learned that the first angel's message is the announcement of the everlasting gospel.

It calls us to proper reverence fear of God.

It calls us to give glory to God through a life of repentance.

It announces the beginning of the judgment and calls us to worship the Creator in the context of the Sabbath.

Now the second angel's message is found in Revelation chapter 14, verse 8, and let's read that real quick.

Another angel a second followed saying, fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.

Now this verse is kind of an interesting verse because John just throws out Babylon is fallen.

He hasn't talked about what Babylon means.

And he literally just announces Babylon is fallen.

Later in the book of Revelation, John spends time telling us who and what Babylon is.

If you have your Bible, go to Revelation 18 and we're going to look at verses 2 to 4.

He called with a mighty voice, fallen, fallen is Babylon the great.

She has become the dwelling place of demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt from every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast.

For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.

And the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her.

The merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.

Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, verse 4, come out of her, what?

Lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues.

Babylon is described as a place where many of God's people live and a place God wants them to leave.

Babylon is a city where God's people live and God wants them to leave.

It has an Old Testament backdrop and we don't have time to read it today, but 2 Kings 24 and 25, Jeremiah 25, describe this Old Testament background.

Basically, and It's so interesting when you get into it.

God's people got involved with basically 2 major sins, idolatry and Sabbath breaking.

And it's interesting, it's so interesting, because of their idolatry and their Sabbath breaking, God allowed the Babylonians to come and take them captive to Babylon.

It's so interesting, they've done a lot of archaeological research.

Do you know that they have not found a single Israelite idol after the Babylonian exile?

But before the Babylonian exile, they have found literally hundreds of, no joke, pornographic idols, that word Israelite idols.

Israel had totally degraded itself through really immoral idolatry.

And not only the immoral idolatry, but you can read there in the book of Jeremiah in several places, but in the book of Jeremiah, you'll read that they had begun to tread on the Sabbath.

And so God allows them to go to Babylonian captivity.

Now come with me to Isaiah 21 because this… this Isaiah 21 is actually where John borrows the concept of Babylon is fallen… Babylon is fallen.

Go to Isaiah 21 and I really, this is such a really interesting section of Scripture as well.

Where does this Babylon is fallen, is fallen come from?

Isaiah 21 6, Thus says the Lord to me, go set a watchman, let him announce what he sees.

A watchman is somebody who stands on the walls of the city and his job is to look and watch for enemies.

And when the enemy comes, He is to announce it and he is to let the world know that there is a problem.

So Babylon, here there's a watchman on the city and then notice he's to announce what he sees, verse 7.

When he sees riders, horsemen, and pairs, Riders on donkeys, riders on camels, let him listen diligently, very diligently.

Then he who saw cried out, Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord, continually by day, And at my post I am stationed whole nights.

And behold, here comes riders, horsemen in pairs.

Series

ASI 2009 Seminar: Affirming Our Foundation

Archaeology, Evangelism, and Personal Faith: Why the Past Matters to Our Future

Transcript

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