Chronicles of the End Times
Occasionally, people say, are we really in the last days? How do we know? Does it matter one way or another? We will try to answer these questions and many others in this study. But the most important question may be, how can we reach others with hope in these changing times? One part of prophecy is often emphasized over another, causing us to lose perspective and miss the blessing and beauty of prophecy in scripture. I have taken the information in this study from many authors and teachers who have their lives studying God's word. I have added some insight that the Holy Spirit taught me. With God's help, I have endeavored to keep the whole counsel of the word of God in full view to give us an accurate picture of Christ and His great love for a lost world. I pray that this will challenge you and cause you to grow in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, as it has me preparing it. Let's begin!
Chronicles of the End Times
Dispensations, Truth, and the Tower of Babel: Understanding God's Plan
The unfolding drama of human history follows a revealing pattern - one where humanity repeatedly rebels against God despite His patience and provision. In this episode of Chronicles of the End Times, we delve into the fascinating post-flood dispensation, examining how quickly mankind returned to rebellion after witnessing the most catastrophic divine judgment in history.
From the Tower of Babel to God's scattering of nations, we trace how human government formed and failed when separated from divine guidance. The parallels to our modern technological "Babel" are striking - as global connectivity through the internet and AI creates new challenges that mirror ancient patterns. How should believers navigate a world where, as Daniel prophesied, "truth is thrown to the ground"?
We explore why discerning truth matters more now than ever before. In an age of deepfakes, manipulated media, and competing narratives, how can we know what's real? The answer lies in returning to Scripture with renewed dedication. Not casual reading, but genuine study that anchors us amid deception. As Jesus declared Himself the embodiment of truth, we find our bearings by aligning with His word.
The episode bridges from Noah to Abraham, revealing how God's plan advanced through each dispensation despite human failure. We witness the critical transition where God "divorced" the nations as they descended into idolatry, setting the stage for His redemptive work through the patriarchal line. This historical understanding illuminates our current moment and prepares us for what's ahead in God's unfolding timeline.
Have you considered how these ancient patterns might be repeating in our technological age? Share this episode with someone struggling to find solid ground in these confusing times, and join us next week as we explore God's covenant with Abraham and the beginning of His redemptive plan through Israel.
Welcome everyone. This is Russ Scalzo Chronicles of the End Times. Thank you for being with me today. Today we're going to continue to look at the dispensations, the different periods of time that God tested man and, as we found out last week, it didn't work out too well, for the human race has the ability to continue to fall away from God and to seek their own way. Last week we brought it up to Noah getting into the ark. The flood came and wiped out every living creature on the earth and God started over and Noah got out of the ark and one of the first things he did was offer a sacrifice to God. So even at this time, he understood that the proper sacrifice was a blood sacrifice for sin and also for giving thanks to God for deliverance and provision.
Speaker 1: 1:14
Before we get into that, which is the post-deluvian dispensation, or the time of human government, where the human race begins to set up their government and how it's going to run, who's going to be in control and what they're going to try to accomplish, I just want to comment on a few things that I feel are very, very important In the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination. There have been some good things and there's been some evil things because people cannot deal with the truth, they don't want to have the truth, they run from the truth and, as we know, in the age in which we live, we make up our own truth and we're good with it, even though deep down inside we know there can only be one truth. What really matters is it makes us comfortable and allows us to choose the lifestyle that fits us. I know, when I was doing my own thing playing in the clubs, recording in the city I had my life. I wanted my life, I wanted it my way, and when people started sharing Jesus with me, I didn't like it. I was a Catholic. I went to church every Sunday even though I was living like the devil. I didn't want to hear the whole truth.
Speaker 1: 2:22
And in preparation for the coming of the Antichrist, in the book of Daniel, chapter 8, verse 12, for it reads it prospered in everything it did and truth was thrown to the ground. That is reference to the little horn that rises up in the last days, referring to the Antichrist. The scripture in Isaiah, chapter 59, beginning with verse 13, I believe, describes where we are to a T Transgressing and denying the Lord and turning back from following our God speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving, and uttering from the heart lying words. Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away, for truth has stumbled in the public squares and uprightness cannot enter. Truth is lacking and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. That speaks to my heart, and I know it must speak to yours as well. What an amazing prophecy and picture of where we are right now, when you think of those who declare the truth are looked down upon and, in Charlie Kirk's situation, killed for speaking the truth. This battle is not over. Good will come from it, we're already seeing it, but this battle will intensify. Remember this, we've talked about it before that truth and righteousness and evil and rebellion are going to rise together until we get to the coming of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: 3:54
The scripture from the book of Daniel, chapter 8, seems to imply that in order for Satan to work through the Antichrist, so powerfully and so deceitfully that it's imperative that truth must be first cast to the ground. Then, once the idea of truth is destroyed and stomped upon, then this evil ruler can prosper, at least for a time. So, we're not living in a time when that is for the future. It's happening now. So how do we know what is the truth? That's my question.
Speaker 1: 4:28
I think that is so important for right now that this moment in history, with AI coming on so strong, how do we know what video is real? How do we know what report is real? How do we know what audio report we're listening to is real? Did that person really say that? Did that really happen? Is that really true?
Speaker 1: 4:48
And then people in positions of authority in different industries. You hear them talk out and say terrible things about Charlie Kirk and what happened to him. What kind of people are they? There are some real evil people in this world, but I'm not so sure I would do a dance if they were brutally killed. This reveals the heart of God concerning the wicked. In Ezekiel, chapter 33, verse 11, it says Say to them as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn. Turn from your evil ways. Why will you die, o house of Israel? So, should we rejoice at the death of the wicked? No, should anyone rejoice over the assassination and killing of a young man with a family? No, I'll leave it at that.
Speaker 1: 5:44
It is imperative that we read our Bibles. Not a verse here and there and walk away but study our Bibles Somewhere along the line. Christianity and I've been saved for over 50 years. Somewhere along the line, we've decided that it's not necessary. Oh, I read a chapter last month, or I saw this verse. I read this verse today. We need to be more than that.
Speaker 1: 6:09
Jesus said I am the truth, not a truth or some truth, or a truth in certain situations. No, I am what embodies truth. That's who I am. I myself am the truth. So that's where we have to start. There are roughly 8.2 billion people on this planet, and I can assure you that there's no lack of opinions on who God is or why we are here. So, we need to look to the Word of God, or we will lose our way. Now, that sounds scary, but it is the truth. We can no longer be satisfied with going to church a couple times a month or maybe not at all, like I hear some people say. Well, you know, I have my own altar, you know I go outside. I love nature, I thank God for the birds that are singing, but you need the truth. The truth is available to us.
Speaker 1: 7:11
Now we're going to talk about these dispensations, and in some places, there was no word of God written out like we have. But they knew God in other ways. Paul addresses this in Romans, chapter 2. He says and when the Gentiles who have not the law do, by nature, the things that contained in the law, they show that they have the law written in their hearts. For not the hearers of the law are justified before God, but the doers. Have you ever gotten that question? Well, what about the people in the Amazon? I've never heard of the gospel.
Speaker 1: 7:39
The Bible also tells us that nature cries out to the glory of God In us. No matter who we are, what education we've had or where we have grown up, there is something inside us that tells us what's right and what's wrong. We look at John, chapter 15, we look at verse 24. It's kind of alarming, because Jesus said If I had not done among them, the works no one else has done, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, yet they have hated both me and my Father. We will be judged by the light we have. We can't compare ourselves to those in the deepest, darkest places of this world, for in God's time they will be reached. Many have already. No one in the world will be able to stand before God and say you're not fair, because God has given us a conscience and the Lord can speak to that conscience. So, just as we're looking at all these dispensations where there was no gospel, there was nothing written down, they didn't have a Bible to check on, but they knew about God because of his presence and because what they had verbally been taught it was handed down through the years.
Speaker 1: 8:49
Now, if there was ever a time when the human race could get it right and form a human government that worked and that honored God, it would be right. After the flood, I mean, look what they experienced. The whole world was wiped out, except for eight people. Just imagine how dark, how violent that society must have been for God to do that. Because look how we are today. We are not a righteous people by any stretch of the imagination. Look what's going on all over the world the murders and the cruelty and the starvation. Yet God hasn't wiped us out. So, the time of Noah must have been even worse, and Jesus tells us that the last days will be as the days of Noah. So, this is where we're headed in our time. So here we are after the flood.
Speaker 1: 9:39
Noah was an old man, over the age of 600, full of wisdom and experience, hearing the voice of God, his family, all of whom had reached manhood and womanhood by this time. Shem was 98 years old. They were all certainly qualified for self-government. Behind them, think about it was all the flood, its warnings, in addition, all the accumulated knowledge that they had from Adam right on through to their day. And we look at the timeline, it's really fascinating. We talked about this earlier that there was 1,656 years from Adam's creation to the flood. Now Adam lived 930 years. Noah was born in the year 1,056. Adam had only been dead 126 years, and so all that information passed down didn't have to go through too many people before all those stories got to Noah, and yet he was the only one left at the end. So now here we are.
Speaker 1: 10:41
After the flood, god told them to replenish the earth, spread out, go out through the entire world. Let's pick it up in chapter 11. Now the whole earth had one language and the same words, and as the people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there and they said to one another come, let us make bricks, burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone and bitumen for mortar. And they said come, let us build ourselves a city and tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the whole face of the earth. So, right away, they're doing what God didn't want them to do. So, who were these leaders? At this point? Now, Noah is still alive because the human race began to build their cities. As soon as they had enough population, probably a couple hundred years, they started to settle where they wanted to settle, stay together, and they began working on building the cities and the tower. Now you notice that they had the knowledge on how to make bricks, how to use the tar coming from the pits to waterproof it the same waterproofing that Noah used for the ark, and they began to build this tower and other buildings.
Speaker 1: 11:58
Now Nimrod, who is mentioned in the scripture as a great warrior, great hunter before the Lord all these descriptions, but he was an evil person. Now it's interesting to read some sidebars to this. I've read a number of rabbinical writings from the verbal stories handed down through time, and we don't know if it's true, but it's an interesting concept that they've come up with that they believe that Nimrod was very angry at the Lord for killing all his ancestors and he wanted to go his own way and he became a very powerful man. He built many cities according to the Bible. So, he was a leader and he helped lead this project. So, the Lord came down to see what was going on and this is written this way so we can grasp it and he saw what was happening and he said well, they're disobeying me already. It's only been about 325 years at this point in time. So, he decided to disperse them according to family and language.
Speaker 1: 13:01
We pick it up in verse 6. And the Lord said Behold, they are one people, and they have one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. Nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down there, confuse their language so they may not understand one another's speech. So, the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of the earth and they left off building the city. So, God didn't break up any families because, you know, god is all about the family. In verse 5, the scripture tells us that from these, the coastland peoples spread in their land, each with his own language, by their clan in their nations. So, God knew what he was doing. He just didn't arbitrarily cause confusion. God is not the God of confusion.
Speaker 1: 13:50
Now there's another element to this. Remember, now the Lord said there's nothing to hold them back. Whatever they put their hand to do, they're going to get it done. And you might say, well, what's wrong with that? Look at our society. We've rebuilt the Tower of Babel, we've done it through the internet, we've done it through our technology and eventually AI is going to be a huge part of the whole world coming together. So, what's wrong with that? Just look at our society. Is this something that we want to live in forever? Do we want to be a slave to our computers, to this new entity that's coming, this AI? Do we want to be controlled by one person, that person who is not God but an anti-God? Because that's what's prophesied to come and that's what the Lord saw. And he also saw that it was way too early for that. But now he's not going to stop it, now he's going to let it go to its fulfillment and it will end and begin with the coming of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: 14:54
Now, this might seem odd to you, but this is where God divorced himself from the nations. There is no account that God had a witness during this time. Now he might have, but nothing is written about it. Now, god had another plan. He was going to create a family, a nation, a peculiar people, just for him. The rest of the nation’s we have to understand, went on to great idolatry. They created new gods, gods that were actual spirits, demon spirits. They created statues to them and eventually, of course, we know that Israel fell into this. But at this point in time, the rest of the nations of the world were divorced from God in the sense that they went on to serve all their own gods. So that brings us to the next dispensation, the patriarchal dispensation, or the dispensation of family. So, this is where God decides he's going to call Abraham and he's going to make Abraham the blessing to the rest of the world because of the nation that he's going to birth and the Messiah that's going to come through that nation to bless and bring salvation to the rest of the world.
Speaker 1: 16:14
Now you might say to yourself why is God doing this this way? Why didn't he just change it from the very beginning because we have to understand that God created us to be his children. We are created in the image of God. We are different than any other creation. Because of that, god set guardrails for himself. He says, okay, this is the way I'm going to do it, this is what I want these people to be like. This is the kind of relationship I want to have with my family. And so, he's kind of proving to us that, no matter what the situation was whether it was perfect in the Garden of Eden, there were no laws the human race could do what they want. They had their conscience as their guide. That didn't work.
Speaker 1: 17:01
Then the flood came, and now it's these generations from Noah. And now they rebel against God again. And we have to keep in mind that God obviously knew these things were going to take place, and I truly believe he did it to show his great love, his compassion, his patience with the crown of creation. That's you and me. That's what we are. And now he's going to move to the family. He's going to have his own family. That's what he wants. He handpicks Abraham. That's what we're going to get to next time. Love you all. I pray that you will dig into the word of God. Stay strong, be a witness for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, for the Lord says that if we declare his name, he will declare our name to the Father. This is Russ Scalzo for Chronicles of the End Times. Keep looking up. The King is coming.