North Bible Recap
Walk through the Bible, each week, with clear explanations and practical takeaways.
North Bible Recap
Episode 44: Revelation and 2 Chronicles
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In this episode, Pastors Christian and Sawyer explore Revelation chapters 6-10, discussing the significance of the seals, the nature of God's wrath, and the importance of engaging with Scripture. They also delve into the themes of God's justice, love, and mercy, and how these relate to our understanding of faith and obedience.
Hello, friends. Thank you so much for joining us for the North Bible Recap. I'm Christian Vellis. I'm here with Pastor Sawyer.
SPEAKER_00That's right. Pull out the pull out the Puerto Rican here.
SPEAKER_01I almost said the whole how we say it.
SPEAKER_00Every once in a while we get a special special treat. I like that. How you doing? I'm doing good, man. It's good to be here. Excited to talk about God's word. It's been fun reading the Bible with the church and how many people are reading and listening to this podcast. And it's awesome. Yep.
SPEAKER_01We'll like for you if you can like, subscribe, comment wherever you are, whether you're on Facebook, you're on YouTube, you are on Spotify, Apple, wherever you listen, rate this podcast. It helps tremendously, not only for people to see it, but even for people to find it quicker as well. So uh make sure that you do that. And we're gonna jump in. We're reading Revelations chapters six through ten. If I hope that you have already done the reading, uh, this podcast is like a supplement, not cannot be the main course for you. Right. Main thing you need to do is read the Bible every single day, the way that we have done it. How long you've been reading or scripture reading plan?
SPEAKER_00Um I've been I've read North Church Scripture Reading Plan every day since July 3rd, 2019. So seven years.
SPEAKER_01Amazing.
SPEAKER_00Seven years.
SPEAKER_01Amazing. Let us know in the comments how long you've been following uh the plan. So uh I'm very grateful for this plan, and uh, we're gonna jump in. So Revelation chapter six through ten, second chronicles one through fourteen. We cannot cover everything, but we're gonna cover a few things in both uh in as well. We're gonna um talk about Psalms 91 through 92 and Proverbs chapter 16, which is a full, full, full of wisdom. So, Revelation chapter 6. This is a time of the revelations that everything starts shifting, and there is, you know, we're gonna talk about, you know, not necessarily everything, but as it talks about the seven seals, uh, how Israel is selected, the great multitude from every nation. There is going to be a lot of images now from now on, and a lot of things. So, and I just wanted to claim I don't know everything here, right? I don't think you know everything either, Pastor Sawyer. But here's the beauty about the word of God. What we want you to do is to engage with it, even if you don't understand everything that you're reading, because as you continue to read it, you're gonna understand and learn more every single year. I'm sure that in this past seven years, you have no one understood the Bible more than you did year one.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, yeah, absolutely. God's word is so rich, you could read you could read the same thing every day for the rest of your life and have new revelation and fresh word from God every day. So yeah, one of my one of my accountability partners for scripture when we got to Revelation, like chapter four or five, was like, can we go back to the the letters to the churches in the first couple chapters? Because this is this is crazy, but it's been good. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So if you haven't watched last episode, you know, Pastor Ronnie and I we talked about and laid down the foundations of Revelation, we're gonna go in. So Revelation chapter six, here's what you start seeing, and even in language, the wrath of God. And I think that often people either they want they even want the wrath of God or they don't want the wrath of God at all. And here is something, um, again, other other things that I listen to in order to understand this passages better is the Bible project. Those videos and courses are great. And Dr. Manny Orango with the Bible department, I listen to those and also I do the courses that uh that he teaches. But one of the things that um that that I that I heard about Revelations, especially Revelation chapter six, is that when it comes to the wrath of God, we actually want a God who has wrath. And it's like say often people don't want that wrath, but what that shows us is how much he loves us. Yeah, you know, if some if I go to your house and I spank your son, are you gonna have a wrath?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. Right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so it's it's like that actually shows that you love your child, right? And you're gonna protect now. All of this has to do because all of the people that have been killed.
SPEAKER_00That's really good. That like the opposite of loving someone is not hating them, it's being indifferent.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00Um, and and God's wrath, like you said, is an act of love and and it's mercy still to us, you know.
SPEAKER_01Yep. So this is proof that God, you know, that God to get gets angry because he loves us, and and especially when humans do things to destroy other humans. We have seen that through history. We see that in the book of Exodus. The people, the children of God are crying out to Yahweh. And what does God say? I have heard their cry, and he comes and judges Egypt. Why? Because he loves his children, he loves his people, and and and also God um has wrath when people destroy creation, destroy what he has blessed us with. So, a world, a world with no wrath would mean that God is not a God of justice. Wow. I heard that I read that and I was like, wow, I actually want that, you know, like I just I just don't want it against me.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but we all need to be correct.
SPEAKER_01So, anyways, this whole point everything that is happening in chapter six is because of all this persecution that this churches are facing, and now we're gonna see a lot of like visions uh that John is having now. In chapter seven, if you have anything, you feel free to stop me at any time. Uh, but chapter seven, in my head, my heading says, the 144,000 of Israel sealed. Now you're gonna see uh opening this sealed uh as you are reading, and it has every tribe, every single tribe is listed in there in the amount uh of people. Well, what I love um about about chapter seven is chapter uh verse nine that says, After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number from every nation and from every tribe and people and languages standing before the throne and before the land. So you know, this is an a a beautiful vision and and an image of what heaven is gonna be like. Yeah, when you and I are in front of the Lamb of God, there's gonna be people from every tribe, from every nation, from every language. Now, this is the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham in the book of Genesis that through Abraham the whole world will be blessed. And really his blessing was this blessing of salvation, yeah. How God grafted us into his family and adopted us because of what Jesus is. Now, John is having this vision when we are in front of the Lamb of God. I think it's just a beautiful picture, and all the chapters are gonna say, okay, these things are really weird, but we can see like something beautiful as well, and all of that. So you need to know in there that in that day, people from every tribe, every nation, every language, and from all people will stand before uh the Lord. So this is the fulfillment of the promise.
SPEAKER_00It it makes me think, you know, how am I treating people who are different than me? Yeah, you know, in our world, there's so much um hate and even fear of people that are different, look different, talk different, come from a different place, speak a different language than us. But this is what the kingdom of God is like. Um it's it's make me think, you know, am I loving people because God loves them, or am I loving people just because they're easy for me to get along with? And it it shows me the sense of urgency that we have to fulfill the Great Commission, to preach the gospel to all nations and um make disciples so because that's what heaven is gonna look like.
SPEAKER_01I think it's very important that we always keep that in the forefront. Why? Because Jesus said, you know, to love your God with all of your heart, all of your mind, all of your soul, all of your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. Right. When we love our neighbor as ourselves, it's not that we want to make the lab our neighbor like us, it's that we are gonna love them like we would love us. Yeah, and I think it's just so important that it's not that you know, I'm Latino, right? I live in America. I don't have to change who I am, you know, just to fit in this culture. I think the beauty of this nation is that we should accept each other. Right. Like I don't, I my this is often in my family. My wife is from Mexico, I'm from Puerto Rico. Now, with our children, I want our children to understand and know that they are both of that, and I want them to be proud of that. But we cannot forget also that we're citizens of heaven, amen. Right. So it's important that people don't need to look like us and we need to love the people that are around us. This is an a beautiful scene where we see that this. So chapter eight uh talks about the seven seals and the uh uh golden uh sensor. Uh, I think I'm pronouncing that right now. Chapter eight, when I was reading, if you look at my Bible pastor so you're gonna see I have so many words, word circle, and the word that I circle around was a third. Because as you're reading, it says, uh, I'm just gonna read one. It says, then the first angel blew his trumpet, and therefore follow hell and fire mixed with blood, and this word thrown upon the earth, and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burnt up, and all the green grass. So as every other angel is sounding this trumpet, a third has been you know burnt up or it's been destroyed, which it tells us that uh also like this is well, this third has a uh has a meaning for sure, because anything that is meant uh there's a if there's a word that is repeated often, uh it's important that we uh pay attention to that. I kind of want to share with you what I what I share with uh my accountability partner because I was so interested on this third. He says um the repeated emphasis on a third throughout Revelation chapter 8 creates a pattern of uh partial rather than total devastation, meaning that this judgment is not gonna destroy everything, it's just gonna destroy specific uh time. So to me, it was like, okay, what is why do I keep hearing third? So I want to suggest you when you're reading the word of God and there is something that is being repeated, repeated, repeated, ask yourself what does this mean? You know, go and find commentaries that explain some of these things. I use uh logos that is a Bible software, and I love their AI. Their AI actually only uses their commentaries and their books, so nothing for the website, it's just academic work, and that's where I got this today. And it was so helpful is that to understand that uh what does that mean? So, anyways, um that's really interesting.
SPEAKER_00It's it's it's amazing because it's like it's just making me think um it's it's God's wrath, but also his mercy. Yeah, like you said, not everything is being destroyed. A third is a some significant amount, yeah. Like if we had a plague or a war, something that wiped out a third of people, that's a lot, that's billions of people, yeah. But then there's also two-thirds, which is more than the majority that remains. So I think we see, like you said, God's wrath, his mercy, and justice all all of the same time.
SPEAKER_01Yep. Chapter nine. Um, we have in here, and I want to if you could read what what what translation?
SPEAKER_00I have the NIV, but I can pull up anything on my iPad.
SPEAKER_01I'm just kidding. I do love the NIV. I was recommending N L T, NIV, and ESV are my like my three top. I use I read ESV, so but could you read um verse? Revelation chapter nine, verse 20.
SPEAKER_00Yep. Revelation 9, 20. The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands. They did not stop worshipping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, idols that cannot see or hear or walk.
SPEAKER_01Verse 21.
SPEAKER_0021, nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality, or their thefts.
SPEAKER_01So, as I was doing some studies, uh, this is significant because where else do we see plagues in the Bible?
SPEAKER_00In Exodus, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01And we have this plagues that they didn't really destroy everyone, but it was a way that God was judging uh a people. Now, one thing that we see is like in Exodus, they did not repent. You know, and sometimes that's one of the things that God is looking for is repentance. Right. I'm listening to a great book right now, it's called The Gospel Comes with a House Key. Highly recommended. Okay, and uh she talks about grace in a way that and I and I just read this yesterday that really opened my eyes of what grace really means. And she said, Grace, it's an opportunity to bring a safer space for somebody to repent. So grace grace is just not you're okay with everything that you have done. It's like I need to create a space that is safe for you to confess and to repent.
SPEAKER_00That's good.
SPEAKER_01If we don't repent, what that's the main thing is that repent and believe, you know. So I I think that when we see uh all of this wrath of God, why because people did not repent.
SPEAKER_00That's so good.
SPEAKER_01We don't want that to happen to us, and that's why we repent for our sins and we confess Christ as Lord. So uh I thought that was very interesting that even there it brings the theme of the plagues because that it's connected to the book of Exodus and those plagues as well.
SPEAKER_00That is really interesting. It's it's interesting how these um the mankind in this vision that that John's having, even after all of these incredible things, they're still not repenting and and turning, turning to the Lord. Their hearts are are so hard. I hope that you know our hearts are never hard to miss what what God is trying to do um you know in our in our lives and in our world.
SPEAKER_01Can you read uh this is where we're gonna end with Revelation chapter 10, verse 8 through verse 11? Sure.
SPEAKER_00Then a voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: Go take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land. So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey. I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then I was told, You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.
SPEAKER_01So a really weird command is like uh go look at the book of the light and eat it.
SPEAKER_02Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01Right. So I was doing something like this is I I always want to read the Bible. Like when things are like this is just weird. There is a lot of significance to those things. So I don't just skip through those things. I would just suggest you if you don't have a study Bible, use logos or anything, a commentary. Uh, and if you need help finding those, come and talk to us. We want to help you and guide you through that because what we don't want is just to just read the word and like, oh, that's weird, I don't understand it, or just turn to us for all of the answers. We also want to teach you to find these things for yourself. But something that's very interesting says, eat it. It says, now it's gonna ruin your stomach, yeah, but it's gonna taste sweet. So I'll say, Well, I I would have just said it the other way. Yeah, when you eat, when you have it in your mouth, it's gonna be sweet, then it's gonna upset your stomach. But the whole significance of this is that that that's what the word of God is to us. When we read the word of God, the word of God tastes good, but our flesh has to digest the word, and that process brings friction. Yeah, so this is the beauty of the word of God. I don't know if this has ever happened, I know this has happened to you because I know you're a man of God. When you read the Bible and you are like, I am not leaving that way.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, 100%. The that um that burden or that um conviction really of of reading it.
SPEAKER_01Yep. So that process never feels good, uh, but it doesn't mean that we shouldn't do it, right? It means that I should come to the word of God to let the word of God read me, to let the word of God change me and challenge me and transform and bring sin up in my life. Yeah, that's the beauty. Now, it says the the words taste like honey, but when it starts doing the work in you, you will have to make a decision whether you're gonna obey or disobey the word of God. And I think that's true. I like what Dr. Manny Orango says. This is a this is a timeless truth. It was true then, and it's a truth, it's true today, and it will be a truth forever. The word of God, we need it every single day.
SPEAKER_00Amen.
SPEAKER_01This is why we want you to be in the word of God daily, uh, because we want the word of God to transform you to become the person that God created you to be.
SPEAKER_00So after he after he had taken it in and it was sour in his stomach, they they told him the angel told him, then you must go prophesy again, right? So this may be a little bit um of a of a weird illustration, but if you have eaten something bad and it it's hurting your stomach, you got to get it out somehow, either through the top hole or the bottom hole. Probably shouldn't have said that on the bore Bible recap, but it's okay. We'll we'll maybe leave it in. But you got to get it out somehow. Um, so it's the same way with the word of God. When we take it in to us and it has such a fire or a burning inside of us, we have to get it out and to share with other people. Um this quote here from somebody last name Johnson, I don't know who it was, but on the commentary I'm reading, um, it says, the action of John eating the word of God uh it symbolized it being taken into his innermost being as a necessary prerequisite to proclaim it with confidence. We can't share God's word with people if we don't have God's word inside of us.
SPEAKER_01If the word of God has not changed us and transform us, and I think that's what happens when people, you know, might say, like, I just don't know how to how to share scripture, is because sometimes we just haven't spent enough time and the word has not really done the work inside of us. Uh but I heard a pastor many years ago that was in a pastor's conference and he was saying that often people uh normally angry Christians will use Bible verses just to attack people. But people who have really been processed by the Word of God, they might not know very many scriptures, but they will share with love the ones that they do. Why? Because they want people to experience what the freedom that they have experienced, you know. And I just want you to think about kind of like in John refers to this in the first couple of chapters, that you know, one of the churches have lost their first love. You know, have you lost your first love that you're not even passionate about sharing what God has done in your life? I pray right now that as you are listening, that the word of God brings that love back to you, and as you are reading the word of God, that that desires grows to share the gospel with people because this is what I know. I don't know when the end of time is. When I read this, I feel like it's gonna happen next week. But I do not want to promise later today, right? I have to promise right now. So I'm not gonna think when can I share this two years from now, but when I'm gonna share this today with someone, yeah. So um, yeah, so that's Revelations. Any other thing you want to add?
SPEAKER_00Or no, that's that's all that I have. I think just my reminder to people is don't be intimidated by this book. Like you said, we don't know all the answers, but nobody, nobody does. If somebody tells you, your a friend, a teacher, whoever tells you they know what all of these things are mean, they don't. You might you might want to run from them and not listen to them. Um, but just remember that it's a it's a book of hope. Um, it's all about Jesus and that that Jesus is victorious and that he has defeated um the enemy and that we're victorious in him. So keep reading it.
SPEAKER_01And this book should not bring fear because that's that's the whole thing. We already have victory, so we're just learning to walk in it now.
SPEAKER_00So good.
SPEAKER_01Second Chronicles chapter one through chapter 14. Uh, didn't you just preach a message on this?
SPEAKER_00I did. I did. I we I I had I did the first verse of like the first five chapters. I didn't mean to do it that way, but I was like 2 Chronicles 1 and verse 1, 2 and verse 1. But yeah, Saul, the the beginning of this book is right after you're probably about to hit this. So sorry if I'm stealing your channel. No, you go ahead. King David has just died. And it's actually quite interesting. Uh, if you if you read the details of how Solomon becomes king, yeah. Um, because it doesn't, it's that's what's so cool about the Bible is we have the stories recorded in Samuel, we have the stories recorded in Chronicles, and when you piece them together, you really get the full story. Um, but what's really interesting is that there was other um sons of David that were trying to become king, right? Some some scholars believe that if you read and I'm getting way too deep, in Chronicles, Solomon is actually listed like fourth in his family. So some scholars believe that David and Bathsheba had other children before Solomon was born. Obviously, there was the one who passed away, but some believe that there was actually more and that Solomon was probably actually like fourth in line to the throne. But the Lord had told David, this is the one who's going to be king. And um, David was so old and and and and dying that he didn't really know what was going on while he was on his deathbed. But Bathsheba, Solomon's mom, um, realizes my son is supposed to be king. This is what the Lord had said. So she went and took the prophet with her and told David, and that was how Solomon um became king. And so good. That's what opens up chronicles. It's really incredible. Solomon is one of the most interesting figures in the Bible to me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Somebody that started really well and didn't end so well, but yeah, um, a couple of things that so a couple of things that we need to understand too about Solomon's reign. There was so much wealth in that kingdom during that time because of his wisdom, and we're gonna talk about that. Uh, but something that's very important, we also have to understand the audience of the specific book, right? Second uh first and second kings has a Different audience, and it's not that it's a different group of people, but it's like a different audience in the sense of what they are trying to get the people to understand. So first and second chronicles, uh, at least second chronicle for sure, uh, and first is that they believe it was Ezra who wrote this. So Ezra has a reason why, yeah, uh, as uh to why he's writing uh this book. So it's always important to understand because we're gonna and I'm I'm gonna touch on this. You just talked about a little bit of from David to Solomon in first in in Kings is very different. Yeah, the emphasis is different. Yeah, you don't hear about David and Bathsheba in the chronicles, right? Right here, and this is why Ezra, I believe, is in verse chapter uh chronicles, the very last chapter, 29, verse 29. It says, Now uh the acts of King David from first to last are written in the um in the in the chronicles of Samuel the seer. So meaning, like, I am not I'm not covering this. I his focus is very different.
SPEAKER_00For us, sometimes it feels really repetitive, especially if you're reading your Bible from cover to cover. You read Samuel and you read Kings and you read Chronicles, you're like, I just read this stuff, but our Bible's not ordered the same way that the Hebrew Bible was ordered. And like you said, Ezra most likely wrote this. It would have been what centuries, centuries later. Chronicles, because it was one book, first and second chronicles were together. It was at the end of the Hebrew Bible, and it was meant to summarize.
SPEAKER_01If I'm thinking it was after the exile, so very long time after that.
SPEAKER_00And then in their in their canon, it was the last book. So it was meant to summarize everything from their all of the the Torah, the law, everything that they had um was meant to be summarized, which is why it feels repetitive to us, but it is very important.
SPEAKER_01Yes, very, very important. So um there is a transition from David to Solomon, very different transition. So um we have in verse one, if you can read it, so uh uh chapter one, verse one.
SPEAKER_00Yes, Solomon, son of David, established himself firmly over his kingdom, for the Lord his God was with him and made him exceedingly great.
SPEAKER_01Exceedingly great. My Bible also says exceedingly great. I was wondering what yours would say. So we have here in chapter one, verse one that it says that uh the his that his uh reign began exceedingly great. Now we know after you know and you read the story, it did not end that way. Um there is it goes from excellence to exile after that, and the kingdoms are divided, and there is war between the people. So another way, and I believe this was uh Dr. Manny Rango that talks about this. He says it went from quality because it was excellent to captivity. And uh, we have in Chronicles, we have that story where Solomon started uh you know, very wise. He asked for wisdom and all of that, uh, but it did not end well for him. So we have that line where it's like from excellent, you know, to exile or from quality to captivity. So the the the stories are very different, even though they seem repetitive. You're like, I just read about this in Kings or even in Samuel. Yeah, very different stories because of the audience and what they need is very, very, very different. So um 1st King verse 3. Sorry, first King chapter 3, verse 3 says this about Solomon in the in the very in the in the first part of that verse. Solomon loved the Lord. Oh, there's translation with it, Solomon love Yahweh in 1st King chapter 11, verse 1, which is what what is that uh eight verse chapters after it says Solomon loved many foreign women. Even King shows you the same thing that started loving Yahweh and then had a different desire and passion. Um, then we see the Solomon's love for the Lord declined. Yeah, and that is something that you and I need to be careful, yeah. 100% our love for the Lord does not decline. That's what I always tell people. You need to have accountability because the first people that will notice is, hey, you haven't sent me your scripture lately. Yeah, hey, I haven't seen you at church lately. Yeah, that is the beauty of accountability, is that you have people that will help you that your love doesn't decline for the Lord, yeah, because life is gonna happen, yeah, and things are gonna come your way, whether you want it or not, you know. Yeah, I always heard people saying, You need to save for a rainy day, you need to save for a rainy day. Yeah, uh, a rainy day is gonna come, it is so whether you're ready or not, so you might as well get ready. Yeah, why accountability is important, and one of the things that as I have my accountability partners out tell them it is your job to protect me that this doesn't happen to me because it brings that um um responsibility to pay attention to how you're living your life because guess what?
SPEAKER_00My flesh don't want that, I don't want no one paying attention because I want to do and then our job is to be honest with those people too. Exactly on on the Solomon thing, it reminds me somebody that's a mentor to both of us. He always tells us, keep your hands off the gold, the girls, and the glory. And it it reminds me of the rules that God laid out for the kings of Israel, Israel. Um, I think it uh I don't I can't remember exactly what book it was in. I think maybe in um Deuteronomy or something, he lays out these rules and essentially says, The kings that you're gonna have, it was before Saul became king. They they must not gather many horses, many wives, or a lot of money. Literally, word for word, Solomon does all of those things. He loved many wives. He's the one of the richest men who ever lived. Yeah, uh, they think that his net worth, if it was in today's US dollars, would be close to uh like 10 trillion US dollars.
SPEAKER_01I mean, the way that the peace that it was during that time in in the in the kingdom, yeah, it was the wealthiest that it has ever. I mean, when you read about the temple, yeah, you know, we're not gonna get too touching all of that, uh, but I have it here, chapter uh three, chapter four. Um the construction of the temple, especially in the holy of holies, all gold. One of my one of the guys that I share scripture, uh, because this this week we read this, he send me, he sent me like I was just curious about the temple and found like a 3D like view on YouTube of what the temple would look like. I was that was shiny.
SPEAKER_00Did you ever see the one that uh Pastor Pastor Nick Harris had? He had he had one, like a model, Amy, Amy's dad. He had one. It was really cool. She showed me pictures of it one time.
SPEAKER_01Wow, yeah, and it was like he he brought that wealth. But here's the thing, God will have not given him that if if he knew that it was gonna destroy him, right? Chapter one, um, we see here that chapter 10 it says, uh, give me now wisdom and knowledge to go out and come in before the people. For who can govern this people of yours, which is so great? God answered Solomon, because this is what your heart um and what you have not asked for possessions, wealth, honor, or a life of those who have hate you. And I have not even asked for it for long life, yeah, uh, but have asked for wisdom and knowledge for yourself, um, that you may govern my people over whom I have made you my king. Salomon Sahar was in the right place in the beginning. It's like he knew, like uh my dad tried to lead these people, and it was not easy. I and he asked for the right thing. Imagine that if he could have asked for anything. That's a blank check. Yeah, yeah. And he goes, Give me wisdom. Now, when you understand wisdom, wisdom will lead you toward all of those things. Yeah, which he asked for the right, for the right thing, but um, and what something that I want to say here is that his heart was in the right place, he was really seeking what the Lord wanted for his people, just like in Matthew chapter 6, verse 33 says first the kingdom of God, and he says, All these things will be added. Yeah, we see it how he didn't ask for gold or any of that, yeah, but because he seeked the right thing, God brought all those things into his life.
SPEAKER_00So good.
SPEAKER_01And in Matthew, Jesus said the same thing seek first the kingdom of God, all these things will be added. It's not that you're not gonna have them, right? It's like, but the main thing needs to stay the main thing. So we have that in um in Chronicles. So he asked for wisdom to govern his people. Uh, chapter two, something very interesting is that in chapter two, uh, they start preparing to build a temple. And as you read that chapter, the whole nation of Israel was behind Solomon to build a temple, just like the whole nation of Israel was behind David when he was preparing and gathering all of the things. And I it also reminded me of like even when Moses was building the temple. Yeah, there is there's a verse uh in in uh can't remember where it says if Deuteronomy, one of those that he says that it was so much that God told them that don't bring anymore, yeah. Supplies for building just shows us anytime that a man of God or woman of God is building something for the Lord, we should come alongside and be participants of that. So, anyway, it was very interesting that that everyone was about yeah.
SPEAKER_00There's a there's a quote, I can't remember who it was. It's uh a missionary, maybe Hudson Taylor or somebody said, God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply. Um, when we do what God has called us to do, He will He will pay the bill.
SPEAKER_01Yep, yep, yep. Um so again, chapter three or chapter four is the construction of the temple. You see a lot of gold in chapter five. Um, this is where we have um when they bring the Ark of the Covenant. Now, the Ark of the Covenant, if you're not familiar with this, the Ark of the Covenant is really where the presence of God was. It was the it was in the Holy of Holies in the temple that the day that Moses built in Gibeon. Now, fast forward all this time forward, there is a tent where this um uh the Ark of the Covenant is at. Yeah, and uh they're bringing it back now because now the temple is almost ready, and they that's the presence of God. No, I sorry if you're watching, I I did this. No, that is the presence of God. Uh it's it's in the Ark of the Covenant. So now they are bringing it uh back. So but uh it was before in a tent because that's where it was. They moved that forever. Now it's going to be in a permanent place. Now the the the the temple, which what he's building is what the tabernacle right uh was what Moses uh builded, and all of that in that tent. So um now there's a new house where the real presence of the Lord is there uh with them. Um and in uh I have here chapter five, verse one. Can you read the first part of that?
SPEAKER_00Yes, when all the work Solomon had done for the temple of the Lord was finished, he brought in all the things his father David had dedicated.
SPEAKER_01So when all the work of Solomon did, it was finished. Does that remind you of something the creation? When everything was finished, everything started. Yeah, uh what did you Jesus say at the cross? It is finished. Here we have the same word when all the word that Solomon has done was finished. Um now we are we have a we're building a new building, right? Uh uh in our okay, right? That is not operating how it's supposed to be, right? We're building it, it's not finished yet, right? It doesn't work right now. We're going into this place where Solomon now is finishing um this work, and now this is the the the the Estra, is what I'm bringing it. Estra is making a festival to celebrate, uh to to talk about these things because he is helping the audience to understand what all of these things mean. As you said, this is probably known as the last thing that was in the Hebrew Bible. So very important that now it's just not the temple has been prepared or it's been built, now the temple is finished, so good, and we're gonna see that throughout, and then we have the glory uh of God, how it fills, yeah. You know, the temple, the holy of holies. Uh, you have you know fire from heaven coming in chapter seven, which says it also mirrors the prophet, uh, the asked for fire, uh, and he came and destroyed all the false prophets as well. Famous uh chapter, if uh chapter seven, verse eleven. Um, it says, For uh, if my people pray, right? This is something that you're gonna hear the people often.
SPEAKER_00Verse 14.
SPEAKER_01Verse 14, yes, yes, yes, yes. Can you read it?
SPEAKER_00Yes. Um, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
SPEAKER_01So here we have you know the dedication of the temple.
SPEAKER_00That's the Lord speaking.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the Lord speaking. So this is where we find it here, and we have to see it all in context. This is the Lord speaking. If if my people will humble themselves. Now, that was then that is true today as well. Uh, so chap that's kind of chapter seven. Um talks about Solomon's accomplishments, and then the Queen of Sheba. I always loved kind of reading this. If you have not read it, take a pause and read it because it's really interesting. The Queen of Sheba, she's from Egypt, but they said she brought so much stuff for Solomon uh because she wanted to gain his knowledge. I think that there's something very uh that we kind of forget often. Uh Proverbs, you know, above all things, seek wisdom, you know, get wisdom at all costs. Often we, especially in the Christian circles, we want uh things for free. We want things like we want podcasts like this to teach me all of the things, we won't be able to do that, right? But here we have the queen of Sheba that goes to Solomon that pays him all this money because she wants to gain wisdom, and she learned so much, and then other kings come. This is why it Israel was so wealthy, uh, because of his wisdom. Uh, but it's I I just think it's like just make sure that you're seeking wisdom, whatever that is. You know, like I went to Bible school because I wanted to learn, I didn't need to, but I went because I wanted to learn more wisdom and all of that. So I think it was just it's a beautiful kind of like pictures, and then talks about Solomon's wealth, which he was wealthy, very wealthy. Yeah, so then we have, you know, as it goes on, there is some uh now. I think uh Solomon's reign kind of like stops here. We're gonna move on. Keep reading second chronicles. We're gonna finish it, I think, next week.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so yeah, it gets it gets crazy after after Solomon dies. There's the the division of Israel and everything, it gets it gets really interesting. So that's that's Chronicles. We're gonna get into uh some psalms and and proverbs. Let's do the proverbs first today, since it's actually most likely written by um Solomon. So this week we have Proverbs 16. Um, and this is kind of in the meat of the book of Proverbs. On that note, when you were talking about Solomon having all this uh uh wealth, it's interesting when you read some of his writings in Proverbs, and then many people think he wrote Ecclesiastes. It's clear that the wealth didn't satisfy him. One of the wealthiest people that ever lived, and he wasn't satisfied. Yeah, and he wasn't satisfied by money. We think that the more that we have, the more that we get, we're going to be satisfied, but that is not necessarily true. So Proverbs 16 um just has a lot of Solomon's practical wisdom, and like you said, we don't have time to get into everything, but there's one that I think kind of summarizes um the chapter, and it's Proverbs 16 and verse 9. It says this in their hearts, humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps. I'll read it one more time because it's so good. In their hearts, humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps. Uh, what this what this tells me and reminds me is that I would rather walk in steps that are established by the Lord than steps that are in my heart. In in Jeremiah 17, verse 9, in the King James Version, it says, The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So I'm like, would I rather be led by God, or would I rather be led by my my wicked heart? And using Solomon as an example, we see times when he was led by God. We see times when he was led by his heart and his desire for wealth, for for women, for for power, influence, all of these things. I want to be led by God. It actually reminds me last night we had a small group at our house for for our north group, little groups push here. So make sure if you're not in a group, you talk to Pastor Christian and the team about joining a north group. We have one for you. But we were talking about last night in our our small group about following God's way uh versus following our way. And it kind of made me think this is kind of a silly example, but uh of when I was a senior in high school playing football on like our it was either homecoming or senior night or whatever, they had like a bio for all of the seniors. And mine said, like, I was gonna be a WWE wrestler, and I was going to be on Dancing with the Stars, and I was going to be president of the United States, all of this stuff. So far, none of those things have happened. I would I would be shocked if any of those things happened in my life. Um, but I never thought that, you know, I wasn't serving the Lord at that time, uh, but God had plans for me to to give my life to him, um, to fall in love with him, to um start serving him, to become a pastor, to be a husband, to be a dad, to have the community that I have. None of those things were in my plans, but they were in God's plans for me. And it's much better. Yeah, this this life um that God has blessed me with, I never would have planned it myself. But because God established my steps, uh, I'm I'm blessed and I'm living a an amazing life. So God's way is better. Yep, yep. So good. You have any thoughts on on Proverbs?
SPEAKER_01Oh no, I like that. I like that. I have I have high highlighted in my in my Bible, you know. I think is um the thing that I think when I read that is two things can happen in your heart, right? Is okay, well, I'm gonna I'm gonna wait on the Lord. Yeah. Or people use the excuse, I'm waiting on the Lord to not move either, which I think that it's often uh we mean well, but also we're just too scared to take a step. Yeah, and the Lord sometimes will put you in a position that you will have you will be forced to take a step, um, because otherwise you're you're not gonna fulfill your calling in life. But I I think there's more times now in my adult life that I feel like I read verses like this, and I just go like, Well, those are my plans, those are not the Lord's plan, but really it's fear. I just don't, I don't want to be, I don't want to, I don't want to face the unknown. Yeah, so the thing is we have to be careful, you know, just make sure you're not just ambitious and just thinking about you, but also not like fearful to make a uh a to take a step.
SPEAKER_00Right. I feel like there's that that balance between God does want us to be to be bold and to make decisions and to take steps, but we also need to be patient and discerning and all of those things. So I think it's like the the application practically of that is when God tells you to move, move. Um, and if God is not, if you feel like God's not speaking to you, get in the word, get in prayer, seek seek wise counsel, and do the last thing he told you to do before you ask him to tell you something else to do, right? So that's Proverbs um 16. And moving over to Psalms, we got two Psalms this week: Psalm 91 and 92. This is in book four of Psalms. If you don't know, um it in in your Bible, your paper Bible, it probably has headings of the five books of Psalms, just kind of dividing these up into different categories. It's really interesting, Pastor Christian. A lot of scholars believe that the five books within Psalms, whoever it was that compiled the Psalms into this one book, uh, correlated them with the five books of the Torah. Um, so book four would be Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. So book four of Psalms would correlate with numbers. What's oh, how soothing here.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00It's the only psalm uh that is like 100% attributed to Moses, and it's in the one that is about numbers. The reason that people think that this book is correlated with uh uh numbers is because these psalms highlight Israel's failure and time spent in the wilderness, hence Moses echoing the theme of the book of Numbers. The book of Numbers deals with Israel's relationship to other nations, and book four of Psalms also deals with God's kingdom as a whole and relation to other nations. Wow, this is really, really interesting. So even the way that the psalms are compiled is is for a reason. So speaking of Moses, Psalm 91, the author is technically unknown, but I was researching, like, because you know, when things are unknown, people have all of their theories. One theory is actually that Moses wrote some of these psalms. So, in some Jewish um rabbinic tradition in the Talmud, actually, it says that Moses wrote that psalm, and some of the ones that come after. They believed that if, for example, Psalm 90 says Moses, they believe that then until another psalm says written by David, all of the following are also Moses. So they believe that these ones were written by Moses.
SPEAKER_01Um, but however, the style is also that might not make sense for us because that's not how we do things, but probably how they did the literature, that was a common knowledge of like until somebody else was incoming the scene, yeah, they all are attributed to that.
SPEAKER_00100%. Yeah, yeah. So in the style of this psalm, too, though, could be similar to to some of David's um writings as well. So maybe Moses, maybe David, maybe somebody else, but the type of psalm it's about trusting in God. Um, it's it's about putting faith over your fear of of what you have to face. And uh a couple key Verses I want to share verses three through eight of Psalm 91 says this Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge. His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. And what this psalm actually, when I was preparing for this, was reading it, thinking about specifically verse five, you won't fear the terror of night. Um it made me think when I was younger, I actually had like night, you know what night terrors are like terribly vivid, horrifying, bad dreams. I went through a phase, probably from the time I was like, I don't know, eight to twelve, eight to thirteen years old, where I just had terrible uh nightmares at night. I know probably a lot of people can relate. And uh I don't don't know what caused it, don't know why, but man, it was terrifying. I would wake up screaming, crying. Sometimes I would sleepwalk with it too, which those are whole other stories. Um, but I remember going to bed at night, and my parents would pray for me to have not have bad dreams, to have sweet dreams. Um, and now when I put my sons to bed, a prayer that I pray for, part of the prayer that I pray for both of them every night is I put my hand on their head and I uh I say, Lord, would you bless their minds that every dream they dream and every thought they have would be from you? And this psalm just reminds me that whether it's day, night, light, dark, good, bad, we can trust in God and know that He is with us no matter what. So finding comfort in those scary moments of life for me as a as a as a young boy, it was at night having those bad dreams. And maybe as an adult, there's some of us that are facing some dark moments, um, dark situations, conversations we have to have, places we have to go, things we have to do, but know that you can trust in God no matter what you face. Good. That's Psalm 91. You got anything?
SPEAKER_01I like I like here. Um, I think I maybe have said this in the past, but it talks about how he will cover us under his wings, uh, we'll find refuge in his faithfulness, and he is a shield. That is Hebrew imagery and language. It's like um, as you know, he'll cover you under his wings. This is the picture of if you see a mom with little birds or an eagle mom with little eagles, yeah. They that's the image is that he will protect us and he will do everything to and and he is our refuge. Other other other psalms will talk about he's her strong tower, you know, he's her fortress. Yeah, the it's it's it's nothing will move him. It's the the whole thing. We have hope in him. So good.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's good. So that's Psalm 91. Moving on to Psalm 92. I'll say this is just something interesting. I was telling my wife this. Psalms has always kind of been my least favorite book of the Bible. However, doing this is my fifth or sixth time doing North Bible recap, learning more about the Psalms has made me be excited about them. So, man, learn God's word, learn the context, like we've said multiple times today. So, Psalm 92, this is a song, um, all of them are specifically for the Sabbath day, um, is what it says in the heading. So, if you don't know what the Sabbath is, the Sabbath is part of the Ten Commandments. Um, it's a day of rest unto the Lord, is the simplest way to explain it. I want to read this from Exodus 20 um about the Sabbath. So this is within the Ten Commandments. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. It's kind of crazy and convicting to me to remember that the Sabbath is part of the Ten Commandments. I don't know about you, Pastor Christian, but I don't walk around murdering people. I don't, I don't worship foreign false gods. Um I've lied, I've I've I've um you know committed adultery in my heart and things like that, but we repent. But the Sabbath is probably the commandment that we being Western Christians, Christians in America, probably break the most, I think.
SPEAKER_01Um, which he is a pastor in New York City, I think he's New Life Fellowship. I can't remember the name. He's a big formation guy. He says in in a sermon talking about the Sabbath, he said the Sabbath is the one commitment that us in America break and boast about it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, 100%. Like we're working.
SPEAKER_01How I'm just so busy. We worship busy and working hard in the hustle that in his word, where he said it's like we we commit sin and we're actually proud of it. And it's very challenging because it is this is one of only the 10 commandments. We still should protect the Sabbath every single week, and every single week I find excuses to not do it.
SPEAKER_00Me too, 100%. And we my wife and I we try, I know that you you guys try as well. Um, and but here's the deal this is we don't say this from a condemnation point, but to encourage you to try something, and that's what we'll talk about um with this psalm today. What's interesting about the Sabbath is in the Ten Commandments, all the commandments before it are about our relationship with God. Like honor, don't don't Lord use the Lord's name in vain, all of those. Then you have the Sabbath, then all the rest are about our relationship with people. Yeah, so I've I've heard it taught that when we are resting in God, it allows us to take our relationship with God, the things that He's doing in us, and relate it to people. Now, do you want to get something really interesting here? So the author is unknown, but looking at the Jewish rabbinic tradition, they think that Adam wrote this psalm. Wow. Adam, the first man ever. They think that he wrote this on the first ever Sabbath day. And that is so interesting. I know I don't know about that. I'm not saying that's what I think, but I just I did a little bit of diving into that, and it is so interesting. More modern scholars think that it was most likely a group of Levites, some priests, um, probably around David or Solomon's time. So it's a really cool psalm. I wish we could read the whole thing. So make sure you go read it for yourself. Um, but I do want to just highlight one verse. I believe it's the shortest verse of the psalm. It's verse eight, and it says, You Lord, are forever exalted. You Lord are forever exalted. So uh kind of similar to what we read in Psalm 9192. Any time, any place, any day, Jesus is on the throne. Um, he is He is on high. And kind of the takeaway from this Psalm is actually more of a challenge for for me, for you, for everybody watching and listening. And it's to find a time this week to rest in the Lord, to refocus on God. And maybe for you right now, it's not practical to do a full uh my wife and I we try to do all day Saturday, as like our Sabbath day. Um, and and we we try to do that. Sometimes it doesn't always happen. Maybe for you with your family schedule, things like that, start with one afternoon, start with one evening, and use that as a time to refocus, um, to rest in the Lord. And if you're like, I don't know what to do on my Sabbath day. Uh JC Chapel told me one time he's like, if you work with your mind, Sabbath with your hands. If you work with your hands, Sabbath with your mind. So for me, sometimes I feel like most of our work, we're working with our minds. We're talking with people, we're reading content, we're writing, studying, all of these things. So for me on my Sabbath, I like to get outside and mow the lawn. Yeah, I like to work out, I like to do stuff like that, get active and all the while, you know, praising God for for what he's given me.
SPEAKER_01Rich Viotas, the guy that I quoted, he talks about that Sabbath is about delight, about worship. I think John Mark Comer also writes about this thing. So it's like you need to do things that bring joy. Like um, he even says that they do very little cleaning on that day because he is very into making sure that everything is clean. That's the one thing I'm still gonna trying to get used to.
SPEAKER_00That's hard, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Uh but one thing I would love to do, and this is like just to bring you into my life, is like I would like to not do any shopping. Yeah, meaning like the thing that stressed me on Fridays and Saturday when I'm off was there's no bacon. But there's no if there's no bacon, and then I'm like, I gotta go in the morning and gotta go to a store and get bacon, and I'm in a bad mood. But hey, just prepare for the Sabbath. That's the key. It's you have to prepare for the Sabbath. Yeah, what are the things that you know that you should not be doing? So do them beforehand, yeah, and communicate with your spouse if you have a spouse, because it is important that you guys are synced in that. Like this Saturday is not a Sabbath. I'm doing a wedding. So Friday needs to be something that I'm just enjoying and resting and having fun. And um, so uh that might be the day that you just you know let your kids have ice cream and things like that.
SPEAKER_00So, anyways, yeah that's awesome. I love it. So, yeah, so many things you can do, resources out there you can find for for Sabbath. So that's the Psalms for this week.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, let us know if you have any questions about the Sabbath as well when you see it. Thank you so much for joining the Pastor Sawyer. Thank you so much for uh your insight. Uh, and like, subscribe, leave a review, leave a comment. We'll see you in the next North Bible.