all right guys welcome to um this second part of um the spiritual realm and Spiritual Beings and all this good stuff so today we're going to talk about the gods of the Nations all right so coming out of the teaching about the Divine assembly how God governs with sons um we're going to talk today just about the gods of the Nations and how this understanding is throughout scripture and throughout a supernatural worldview um so looking through history there has you know seldom been a question among the peoples of the Earth right um until recently um Age of Enlightenment um that is there a god right this that's not really been a human question rather the question is more who is God right or who are the gods um what is their nature like are they good are they evil what and what do they want from us right so that's more been the question how do we relate to the gods and what is required of us for peace for stability for um you know crops for fertility for the different things that we need in our life what what's our relationship to these spiritual Powers so people in the time of the early church were not necessarily impressed that Jesus and his followers had Supernatural power um and that they were associated you know with with with God that wasn't so much impressive here's what the impressive thing was that Jesus was Supreme over every other God that's what's impressive that he had lordship and supreme power over every other spiritual being this was what made Jesus who he is the fact that he's been given all authority right as Paul talks about in Ephesians and in Colossians all right so the supremacy of Yahweh over all the gods of the Nations all right so throughout the old Covenant we see Yahweh consistently emphasizing his superiority Supremacy and authority over all the other gods right often times in um the ancient near East you know in the Mesopotamian culture um throughout Canaan there would be specific attributes you know that would be um you know qualities of the different gods that people worshiped in their Nations and you see throughout scripture God exhibiting his superiority and his authority over their other gods for example Baal um one of the Bales was one who rode on the clouds so Baal the son god um the Supreme father God was the one who rode on the clouds so you'll see throughout scripture Psalm 1043 Isa Isaiah 19:1 and Deuteronomy 32:26 a comparison to Yahweh the one who rules and rides on the clouds right he's he's illustrating that I rule above Baal then we have through Exodus throughout the entire uh encounter you know that Moses has with Pharaoh you have judgment being executed on the gods of Egypt with each of the plagues with Yahweh showing his superiority over their gods then you have the account of deeon how many of us remember when deeon uh the god of the Philistines um his Temple basically was uh in the the territory of the Philistines and when they stole the Ark of the Covenant they brought it into the Temple of deeon all right now deeon was the Canaanite um l or the equivalent of Bale equivalent of Zeus equivalent of Jupiter um the son God the predominant father right the predominant father God and so in 1st Samuel 5 the Philistines they put the Ark in the temple of deeon they leave it there they come back in the morning and the statue of deeon is faed down before the ark right which is the the symbol or the the very presence of God and so he's forced to face down so they fixed Aon they put him back up right go out they come back and Deon is not only face down on the floor in front of the Ark but his head is severed and his hands are severed off and so we constantly see God exhibiting God being Yahweh exhibiting his superiority and authority over the gods of the Nations all right so who are all these other rulers are they you know mythological beings I grew up more with that sort of understanding you know you'd hear mythology and you think oh all of these fake gods that people used to worship like Zeus and Apollo and Athena and you know you hear these stories and they're like fairy tales you're like of course those aren't real things see but why would these all of these nations continue to worship a fake being we have to actually reconsider our understanding of what some of us actually believed were fairy tales see these stories were not just conc out of the imaginations of man now surely some of the ways that the stories are told and the origins and the various you know things of course like a lot of that would be out of imagination but the the the entities themselves they're not made up these are actual demons actual rulers that interact with the people in the lands and had expectations right but how did we get there let's talk for for a few minutes about the gods of the Nations and how we even get to this understanding like we we talked about in the council right the Assembly of the Gods where did these beings come from well we understand they were cast down from heaven and that there are many different ranks and rulers right so now we have that understanding but let's go to Genesis 11 to understand the Tower of Babel all right in Genesis 11 we have an account of all of the people gathered together speaking one language in one area um and apparently so powerful that it says that that everything they do would Prosper right so in Genesis 10 right prior to Genesis 11 we see that it's talking about all the peoples of the Earth where they went you know these people became seafaring people these people went out to this area this people with their own language went here and then we have the sons of Noah and it's listing the sons of Noah and see to that you know which is a different conversation the the power of the curses and the blessings that are you know come from Noah over his sons but what I want us to focus on is um Genesis 10 first verse 8 where it says Kush was the father of nimrod that name Nimrod be means Rebel who became a mighty warrior on the earth he was a mighty Hunter before the Lord this is why it said like Nimrod a mighty Hunter before the Lord the first centers of his kingdom were B Babylon and then it lists some other lands like Assyria where he built Nineveh right so we have this ruler and it says a warrior a mighty warrior a mighty Hunter before the Lord now in Hebrew a lot of Scholars would actually consider that's not saying before the Lord as though Nimrod was serving God we know that that wasn't the case it's almost like set up in opposition to so Nimrod a mighty warrior set in opposition to Yahweh right most people would uh or most Scholars would agree from my understanding that Nimrod was the ruler the first ruler of Babylon the one who set up the city and also the one who inspired the building of the Tower of Babel which would have been a part of Babylon right because it says here or sorry which would have been a part of um this whole construction that was going on we know that it becomes Babylon but it says here in verse three of chapter 11 they said to each other come let us make um make bricks and bake them thoroughly and they Ed bricks instead of sewn and then in verse four then they said let us build ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens so that we might make a name for ourselves does that sound familiar make a name for ourselves otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth and so they're attempting to make a fortress out of Pride right the building of Their Own Mountain all right so demonically inspired people building with their own hands a high place so that they can reach to the heavens it says to make a name for themselves and to keep themselves from being scattered all right so Babel is is it becomes throughout scripture we'll see um Babel obviously becomes Babylon eventually all right the city of Babylon but Babylon itself becomes a symbol and you know as we'll continue to talk about as we go it it's not just a symbol but an actual embodiment of what it means to rebel against the leadership of Yahweh and to lead according to your own authority so to lead and to operate in Rebellion to to Yahweh and to his his authority and lordship all right so Babel is this temp templ for false worship the construction of our own Mountain to dwell on all right we know that the Tower of Babel and this whole city they were building was in the plain of Babylonia um or the plane of chener which becomes Babylonia which becomes the city of Babylon all right um now we've talked before I believe in the last session if we didn't then don't quote me but I believe I've talked before about Deuteronomy 32 right or we talked about the sons of God but we did not share I didn't I didn't talk yet about how did the sons of God become you know principalities Powers rulers because these these Spiritual Beings cast down to the Earth clearly we have here all of the Nations and peoples being scattered all over the Earth and being scattered to different places and then immediately as we begin to read scripture throughout Genesis and then throughout all of the Old Testament you begin to see that all of the Nations have their own Gods right you have Moab and their God is Chamas and then you have the amorites and their God is MC and then you have you know and on and on it goes that every single area took on a God and usually multiple gods and goddesses um typically at in the in the same pattern as what we discussed when we talked about Spiritual Beings so the goddess of the moon the sun god the Stars you know and all of the beings that would make up this Pantheon this the starry hosts of celestial gods and goddesses all right so every nation had these Gods now now they didn't all have the same names um now some of them are the same entity but manifested in different cultures in different names and slightly different you know personalities or whatever but across the Nations you see similarities between these different entities all right now how did these entities have different jurisdiction you know even when we talked about principalities Powers dominions rulers um we noticed right and and I Tau about how there is actual jurisdiction within those um types of classifications if you will so it it's not just you know so and so is the principality over everything no each area that you are in there is an actual sphere of authority where these demonic beings have have the right to rule have the right to affect culture affect people all right now where did they get these rights from I want us to look at Deuteronomy 32 now Michael Heiser is a great um a great scholar when it comes to this topic and he actually wrote quite um extensively about particularly the sons of God and the Divine Council um I've read a little bit of his work um but he talks about the sons of God as listed in Deuteronomy 32 and it's a really really important conversation because most of us if we turn right now which we're going to so if you have your Bible turn to Deuteronomy 32 and as we turn there you'll notice as we begin to read it that several of the scriptures well you probably wouldn't notice this until now but several of the scriptures in this chapter were actually translated from a different manuscript than the ones that are oldest and I would say most reliable and the the translation is a big deal because the the meaning is shifted so here's here's the difference so there's different I'll read I'll read actual Michael heiser's literal words regarding this he says Deuteronomy 328 is a textbook example of how later scribes sometimes changed the biblical text in a misguided attempt to protect God's reputation other parts of Deuteronomy were also Changed by scribes and then he gives an example Deuteronomy 40 um 3243 which we'll also talk about when you line up the Dead Sea scroll reading with the mtic text and what the mastic text is is it's the traditional Hebrew text that most English translations are based on so remember that most English translations come from the master etic text all right now we can see when we compare the master text against the subagent and against the Dead Sea Scrolls that what is in those two documents Dead Sea Scrolls and subagent is different than what is in the mastic text all right now in Deuteronomy 32:43 the Dead Sea Scrolls have three poetic pairings now this is really common in Hebrew literature especially in poetry like what Deuteronomy 32 is it's the song of Moses all right now since this is a poetic section he says symmetry is not only important it's expected the master EIC text reading has removed or altered parts of two out of the three pairings the first as in Deuteronomy 328 eliminates references to other Divine beings I.E the sons of God ins 328 and it changes it to uh Heavenly ones or sorry it takes away sons of God Heavenly ones and gods all right in that passage of scripture I'm going to show you this in a minute if you're like wait what just keep going keep following all right at some point a scribe thought this reference to other gods was theologically offensive and the first line of the final pairing was removed because someone hating God is also offensive so let me read this to you in both um versions okay now remember if you are reading an English Bible it is most likely that your scripture has been translated from the mtic text all right now let's read what it says there in Deuteronomy 32 I'm going to read from verse 7 but verse 8 we're going to hone in on so verse 7 says remember the days of old oh let me give you context as well so Deuteronomy 32 is the song of Moses and this is basically Moses is about to to pass on the community he's about to go and as he goes he's saying let me recount to you the story right the story of our people so that as you continue on you won't forget what God has done where you've come from and you won't forget your own idolatry basically and so let's read from 30-7 it says remember the days of old consider the generations long past ask your father and he will tell you your elders and they will explain to you when the most high gave the Nations their inheritance when he divided all mankind he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel for the Lord portion is his people Jacob his allotted inheritance all right now I read 7-9 there now here's the problem all right in verse eight now here's what verse eight says in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the subagent when the most high gave the Nations their inheritance when he divided Humanity he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God according to the Elohim now that is a very different meaning than saying the sons of Israel that's that doesn't even that doesn't even mean the same thing right and so it says that God gave the Nations their inheritance when he divided Humanity now when did he divide Humanity when he sent them out from the Tower of Babel and Confused their languages he sent them into the Nations that's when the nations were formed he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of of God all right now in Deuteronomy 32:43 it goes on this is another passage this is the one that we were talking about when I was quoting Michael Heiser where they were changed the most dramatically okay this scripture was changed most of it was changed all right I'm going to read it first in just a Standard Bible um Deuteronomy and I'm going to read from I'm going to read from uh chapter sorry verse 40 all right right or actually verse yeah verse 40 I lift my hand to heaven and solemnly swear as surely as I live forever when I sharpen my flashing sword and my hand grasp it in judgment I will take Vengeance on my adversaries and repay those who hate me I will make my arrows drunk with blood while my sword devours flesh the blood of the slain and the captives the heads of the enemy leaders Rejoice you nations with his people for he will venge the blood of his servants he will take Vengeance on his enemies and make atonement for his land and people now that's not what it says in the Dead Sea Scrolls now I'm going to read verse 42 and then I'm going to read verse 43 from the Dead Sea Scrolls and now watch how the meaning of this scripture changes verse 42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood while the sword devours flesh the blood of the slain and the captives the head heads of the enemy leaders Rejoice oh Heavenly ones with him bow down all you Gods before him for he will avenge the blood of his sons he will exact Vengeance on his adversaries he will repay those who hate him and make atonement for his people's land that is a very different meaning so essentially what this is saying in Deuteronomy 32 is that the Fallen Gods the Elohim the ones that were cast down to the Earth that as Humanity enters into Rebellion Yahweh gives them over to their gods who they want to worship and he says okay if you want to be an idolatry I will hand you over to these Gods however and we see this pattern with Israel as well right as they gave themselves to idolatry God would hand them over to their idolatry over to their false worship now this is the original instance of this happening God hands them over and he says as they were handed over they came under the jurisdiction of the sons of God the false gods the demon Gods Elohim they came under their Authority dependent on the Nations and where they were scattered to but yet God is saying that still even though he has handed over his people which is also referred to as the dispossession of the Nations Yahweh has handed over people to the false gods and to the idolatry in their hearts but he says but I will reather you right he says I will take Vengeance on my enemies so who is God's enemies God's enemies are the ones who are falsely ruling over his sons his people and he says I will take Vengeance for the blood of my sons right I will repay those who hate me and he says I will make atonement for my people's land this is powerful this is God saying I'm going to repay you for the harm that you have done to my people and I will rescue them from your hands and take Vengeance on you so we've got to understand this or nothing like this whole thing doesn't really make sense unless we understand that in the dispossession of Nations we were given over to the false gods came under their Authority and in Jesus is the repossession of the Nations right that's why throughout scripture he says the nations are my inheritance right all throughout Isaiah the prophetic literature he's prophesying right through prophecy God is saying I will bring the Nations back into myself I will bring them back into relationship ship and reather the Nations so what does God do he dispossesses the Nations he sends them over into their own Godless rulers and these are the gods of the Nations but then what does he do in Genesis 12 just the next chapter what does he do after the nations are dispossessed he calls someone out from Babylon who is that Abram right so just one chapter later after Genesis 11 already see God moving into action for Redemption cuz he's that good he doesn't even waste one chapter he's like all right well this has happened and now I'm going to put in action my plan to reather the Nations again and so what's God's plan in chapter 12 it says the Lord said to Abram go from your country your people and your father's house to a land that I will show you now Abram lived in what is known as Babylon okay so we see this first example of God calling someone out of the place of wickedness saying separate yourself from Babylon separate yourself from your father's house your people your land I'm going to take you to a new place that you've never been that you don't understand and you're going to have to trust me to get there right he says to a land I will show you right so Abram had to come out in order to go in to the promised land which was Canaan so G so so God he calls a people to himself from among all of the dispossessed Nations he says I'm going to make a people out of you Abram and Sarah which become Abraham and Sarah I'm G to make a people out of you and through you what does he say in the first Covenant to Abram through you all of the Nations on the earth will be blessed right so what does that mean all the nations on the earth will be blessed as I call them out from you I will set up again a nation of people who love me who honor me who serve me right this is why idolatry is such a big deal and this is why God was so specific about the way the people were to serve him the way that they were to live how they were not to intermar or mix at all with the other nations why God isn't racist he said don't marry them because I don't like those other people no he's saying don't mix at all because it will compromise our relationship and it will compromise your worship don't mix with the other gods do not worship them be set apart for me why because what was his plan it was always to reveal himself through a people so he sets up Israel as a people who will will reveal him as a good God who is not like these gods of the Nations and as those who look to him they would see Israel and they would see their God who is good and who is loving and who's not like the gods that they have and what would this do it would provoke the Nations to jealousy so they would long for the god of Israel that they would see his character and his nature right so the plan has always been to reveal himself through a people and obviously we know that his ultimate plan through Jesus is to reveal Jesus through a people that all the nations might be regathered into himself right so that's why Psalm 2 says judge your enemies right it's speaking again about the Messiah who will come and it I have installed my king on Zion kiss the Sun or I will be angry with you right and he says God judge your enemies for the Nations are your inheritance all right I want to talk about Covenant because in Genesis 15 to18 God makes a series of blood covenants with Abraham to establish a people right so he's establishing a people through Abram and Sarah that was his promise and in the ancient NES Covenant was common right this is this is something that today we kind of only understand in one context like for example marriage would be the most living example of Covenant from the ancient NES that we would see and understand today but covenants were very very common for trade protection for common interests between individuals and Nations all right so a common type of Covenant ceremony would be the following so terms would be set um and declared in the presence of witnesses so you'll start to like correlate oh I've seen a marriage Ceremony this makes sense so terms would be set and declared in the presence of witnesses an animal would usually be sacrificed it would be split into two parts a part on this side a part on this side with an aisle between now the parties would exchange gifts or valuable items like Rings staffs coats you know signs of the Covenant is what these things would be so if somebody saw that person saw The Ring they would know they're in a covenant with so and so don't mess with them right it would be a sign of the agreement that would be visible to other people who might threaten but they know those people are behind me or I'm in Covenant with so and so I'm in a relationship with them and if you mess with me you're messing with them so it was a permanent thing like that but the the sign of the Covenant was something that also told everyone else I'm in Covenant right now then they would walk down the center aisle together of the pieces so the two animal pieces they'd walk down the aisle of that broken animal as a declaration that if they broke their vows let it be to them as it was to the animal so that's why they would say until death because the Covenant was an agreement until death now blood has always been the thing required to seal Covenant right God tells Abraham if you do not listen to me or when God told Adam in the beginning if you do not obey me you will die right in other words if you rebel against our covenant you'll die now there's a physical death of the body which we know that Adam eventually did die but we know that true death is not your physical body wasting away but true death to Adam was his loss of the Divine Essence his loss of connection with Yahweh to be cut off from spiritual life right now God is Holy the levitical law illustrates this concept of being set apart or holy that's what holy means to be other to be set apart now sin brought contamination into the seed of man so from Adam forward that's when we talk about all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God all of us are born from a corruptible seed right a seed that has been born and has been has come into contamination all right now that seed had to be redeemed to enter again into Union with God because God cannot be in Union with corruption he cannot be contaminated he's holy which is why he had to separate himself from Adam now if blood seals the Covenant blood a sorry a covenant can only end with death which is blood now Adam didn't keep the Covenant he brings his bloodline under a curse which includes all of humanity right this is the basic gospel but I wish more of the church had had this grasping of the basic gospel one time this is just an aside but I mean I remember once in our church this is probably you know 12 13 years ago I remember just asking people like tell me the gospel and it was shocking how few Christians could even explain why Jesus had to die on the cross so he's bringing us back to some of these basic teachings and basic Elementary understandings of the blood of Jesus and the power of the blood of Jesus and why it mattered so deeply because we must understand Covenant and why Covenant with other gods matters and we're going to get there in a minute but I want us to have this understanding of Covenant because it's going to make idolatry make sense a whole lot more all right so everyone in Adam's bloodline came into a curse right it came into a bloodline curse now God instituted a temporary sacrificial system so it required death but God said yes it requires death it requires blood because you broke the Covenant but I'm going to put in a temporary system that will atone for physical death required as a substitution for human life until the promised time of redemption when he himself became the Covenant lamb when he himself became the atonement or the sacrifice for you and for me from a different seed which we'll talk about in a minute so when Jesus became the substitute right the atonement through his physical death he endured death in our place which he swallowed up death in himself because he is life and he instituted a New Covenant through his blood which could not be broken so he defeated death because he himself could not die he was resurrected he became the resurrection and the life right he says I am the resurrection and the life God himself came into Covenant on our behalf with himself and God himself cannot die therefore he defeated death and we are now a part of a new blood Covenant because God knew that in order to install a new covenant he himself would have to die cuz the old Covenant had to be broken completely but we were the only ones who sinned so the old Covenant had to be completely done away with which required God himself to die which is why Jesus in essence of the Divine died was resurrected and now we can enter into New Covenant with God through him right in Revelation 138 it says the lamb Jesus the Lamb of God was slain before the foundation of the world so what does this mean before we even sinned and broke our covenant with God he already had enacted a plan to bring us back into full restoration with him he's so good right Revelation 5 4-10 speaks about the lamb the only one worthy the only one worthy to open the scroll the only one worthy and that's why we worship Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world right it says in Revelation 56 then I saw a lamb looking as if it had been slain standing at the center of the throne encircled by the four living creatures on the elders and the lamb had seven horns and seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God sent out into the Earth and he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne and when he had taken it the four living creatures and the 24 Elders fell face down before the throne each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers of God's people and they sang a new song saying you are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because you were slain and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe language and people and nation and you have made them to be a kingdom and Priests to serve our God and they Reign on the earth come on see remember that we're part of a new priesthood Without End right with Jesus as its mediator we are no longer dependent on our own ability to keep the Covenant man failed to keep the Covenant but he Jesus eternally keeps the Covenant and we enter into it and remain in it in him right this is the entry back into Eden coming back into the vine dwelling in Union with Christ this takes us out of the old bloodline and puts us into a bloodline that is uncorrupted and into a covenant that cannot be broken with God right in Hebrews 10 3-10 it says but in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins right that was a temporary atonement consequently when Christ came into the world he said sacrifices and offerings you have not desired but a body you have prepared for me in burnt offerings and sin offerings you take no pleasure and then I said behold I've come to do your will oh God as is as it is written of me in the scroll of the book and when he said above you have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and burnt offerings and sin offering offerings these were offered according to the law and then he added behold I have come to do your will he does away with the first in order to establish the second and by that will will um and by that will we have been Sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all so Satan dealt the final blow to himself and his kingdom when he shed Jesus's blood because he did not understand what he was doing right Jesus's blood was to seal a covenant that cannot be touched and it's a way out of the rebellion and the kingdom of Satan's leadership and torment the New Covenant can only be entered by choice by exiting The Curse Of The Bloodline of death and participating in his death right we come into the New Covenant through the death of Jesus being given the spirit of Life as we are welcomed back into Eden now to eat of the tree of life which is eternal right so Jesus the new adom is The Incorruptible seed right his bloodline cannot be brought into Rebellion so now in the context of blood and Covenant I want us to understand why idolatry is such a big deal right the source of all evil is found in Rebellion to God's wisdom right Isaiah 55 8-9 my thoughts are not your thoughts my ways are not your ways as the heavens are higher than the earth so my ways are not your ways my thoughts are not your thoughts right so God's ways and thoughts are both higher and different than ours right and that was a summary of that scripture point is his ways are higher and different his wisdom is higher and different than the wisdom of man and so when we rebel against the wisdom of God and we choose the wisdom of man which essentially is demonic wisdom we come in to Rebellion right so from the pride of the Spiritual Beings who fell in heaven to the pride of man in the garden Rebellion to God's leadership is always the beginning of the end right but the nature of Yahweh is Covenant Love and so he was even willing to experience death for his children that he created to bring them back into Covenant with himself so the Fallen spiritual rulers are not like Yahweh and they desire worship for themselves and they hate the sons of God Deuteronomy 12 30-32 sayso not inquire about their gods asking how do these nations serve their gods I will do likewise you must not Worship the Lord your God in this way because they practice for their gods every abomination which the Lord hates they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods see to it that you do everything I commanded you do not add to it or subtract from it and so that's talking about the way that God desired his people to worship him because the worship that the gods of the Nations desired was Abomination to God and so let's talk about the worship to these false god gods and the absolute reign of terror that the peoples of the earth were handed over to when they were given over to the worship of these false gods see every nation served the gods of their territories right so you have the Bales you have MC jamash isar um so many right without listing them all it doesn't matter but essentially each of them would have requirements for worship or what or the well the people would suffer the people would suffer punishment from these Gods sickness death Famine barrenness enslavement of other nations loss of battles loss of territory there were very real consequences for not living in obedience to the requirements that were set out by these gods and they hate Humanity so that's quite unfortunate as you can imagine the requirements they have would not be kind to people see Yahweh is the only God who loves us see Yahweh is the only God who loves Humanity these other gods hate us and so their purposes and their ways of leadership are treacherous and actually involve the blood of people see God made substitution for the blood of people and instead put animals as an atoning sacrifice where the gods of the Nations required human blood for their covenants all right so they desired to corrupt the image of God and to torment and trap the bearers of the image of God in Rebellion with them and so sure they give some people some things they want okay well if you want a crop give me your firstborn child right so there was negotiation but there was an inherent hatred right the contamination they want to contaminate the seed they want Generations not indiv individuals and just as God is a god of generational blessing the Devil in his kingdom seeks generational bondage they want to enslave the generations their leadership is brutal and they required human blood to maintain order for example MC required the blood of babies so infants sacrificed in the fire while priests played loud drums to drown out the screaming babies the sacrifice of the sons and daughters kept peace in Leviticus 18:21 and in many other places in scripture but it says this you must not give any of your children to be sacrificed to MC for you must not profane the name of the Lord your God I am the Lord right Chamas required the firstborn children to be sacrifices on the city wall for protection or military success so as we see the king of Moab offers his own child in 2 Kings 3 which we'll look at in a minute Ishtar required sexual ories and the castration of males and on and on it goes to destroy those in God's image and to prevent procreation a friend of mine was telling me about his polonian uh Polynesian Heritage and in his tribe the gods would command that as they would approach certain islands for the Harvest or for different ceremonies that as they were coming in in on their canoes they would have to sacrifice a human every specific amount of feet and so they would go a couple feet they would have to kill someone and dump them in the water and on and on and on until they got to the shore if they did not do this they would be wiped out and so the gods of the Nations required brutally human blood in their agreements with people because their hatred is toward Yahweh and his sons so now we can understand a little bit better when God is saying I will avenge my sons I will avenge their land and I will avenge their blood all right we have to understand the Wrath of the Gods right these people feared these gods for very good reason and they did what they said for very good reason they had to appease them or they would be punished but they would remain in favor as long as they obeyed them this will also give us context in regards to Rome right because in the Roman Empire they had their gods right they had Jupiter they had um Athena they had I mean so many gods right but they didn't care who the people worshiped as long as they also worshiped their gods Rome took on you know most of the known world at the time right the Roman Empire spanned most of the known world and so obviously with that would come many other belief systems and not every part of the Roman Empire was forced to you know take on the worship system of Rome to the same degree but they didn't care who people worshiped as long as their gods were happy but if something began to go off in the Empire they would look to how the gods were displeased and they would immediately try to rectify that situation because to upset the gods was to disrupt the stability of the Empire This Is How They saw it this was their perspective so any sign of things going wrong was immediate analysis how have we displeased the gods and what do we need to do to make it right right the Romans cared about maintaining power and they aggressively crushed any group or person that they believed was upsetting the agreement they had with the gods right so for example the the mass persecution that took place against Christians in the mid2 200s so the middle of the third um the [Music] third so the mass Christian persecution that took place in the mid2 200s uh it wasn't actually personal it wasn't personal against Christians um there was about 200 years prior to that of relative you know strength and peace there's still persecutions that had that went on but at the same time it was not as intense as what began to happen in the m mid 200s because the Empire began to experience a rapid onset of issues economic trouble invasions political assassination Civil War and so suddenly Rome was looking how have we displeased the gods and so there was immediate and Rapid Crackdown on worship and so this wasn't aimed at the Christians for I mean we know obviously that's what's going to happen because most people would also be worshiping the Roman gods and so who would this affect the most will those who believe in the one true God and refuse to engage in idolatry and false worship and so in this rapid Crackdown on worship there were papers that were forced you had to um sacrifice to Jupiter and you had to have your papers if you will your proof that you had given your sacrifice or you would be tortured or killed and so this was one of their ways of trying to reinstitute proper Worship in Rome and get rid of the instability in the Empire so you can see how this would play out in the ancient world another example of this would be from the Hittites so we're familiar with the Hittites in scripture and they understood their relationship with the gods as being you know even that the gods would judge Civic matters and judge court cases you know as people would bring disputes especially within royalty they would bring those disputes before the gods for settlement right we have in um a writing from the hit type people it's a letter sent from hatasi or hatas silli hope I'm saying it right he sent a letter to Yuri chub challenging him to battle in a manly way I declared to him you oppose me you are great king whereas I am the king of a single Fortress that you left me so come Ishtar and the storm God nark and they will judge us it is significant that hat toly framed the conflict as a lawsuit for the gods to judge as HJ hock 10 Kate noted according to hittite ideas a process before the court of divine Powers underlies every conflict situation in history so by winning the battle hatli was not just accountable for sin but merely the recipient of the God's will in what I believe is the definitive statement of the apology hetto Suli broke the narrative to write if someone speaks thus why did you first install Yuri T subin kingship but why do you now declare war on him in writing I will answer if he had in no way opposed me would they I.E the gods as they had called ishar and nark to judge between would they really have made a great king succumb to a petty King because he now opposed me the gods have made him succumb to me by their judgment thus hatli made it to the throne legitimately and without sin and his subjects could rest easily knowing their leader action would not bring Wrath of the Gods and history tells us that that King was in power until his death because the gods decided in his favor and not in the favor of the other king now that was a lot of words I know here's the point ancient cultures understood the power of the Gods to decide their fate and they very much were relying on a real life situation this is not fairy tales this was their experience now let's look at a Biblical account of this in Second Kings now there's an account of the moabites okay now in 2 Kings this is when we're in the transfer of power between Elijah and Elisha so this is right when Elisha becomes the prophet all right so we've got Ahab who has just died which we know about him now Ahab has died and Moab was one of the other nations that was a subject Kingdom right so Israel was ruling over Moab and anytime you had a death of a leader oftentimes any conquered nations would take it as an opportunity to rebel and to stop paying tribute and to come out from under the grasp of the Kingdom that they were enslaved to so it says in 2 Kings 1 after ahab's death Moab rebelled against Israel so he basically gathers the king of Judah and the king of Edom and they form an alliance and he goes out to battle with the king of Moab to basically defend their um upper hand or his his kingdom and so to make a long story short they call in Elisha to prophesy the will of the Lord Elisha says the will of the Lord is for them to win okay so they're going to win dig ditches they're going to see the water um just a lot of stuff go read it but 2 Kings um 1 through3 basically here's the point I want to make it was God's will for Israel to win this battle now then what happens I want us to read from verse 26 okay verse uh chapter 3 verse 26 when the king of Moab saw that the battle had gone against him he took with him 700 Swordsmen to break through to the king of Edom but they failed then he took his firstborn son who was to succeed him as king and he offered him as a sacrifice on the city wall the fury against Israel was great so they withdrew and returned to their own land so do you notice here Israel did not win the final part of the battle they withdrew from Moab and returned back to their own land why well the king of Moab was chimos now what did chimos require chimos required the sacrifice of the children on the city wall and so what does the king of Moab do it says he took his son who was to succeed him as King this is a big deal big sacrifice and offered him as a sacrifice on the city wall and the fury against Israel was great so they withdrew to their own land now why would have power over Yahweh because the Israelites supposedly were worshippers of Yahweh well we have to understand that in First Kings 11 now we have to rewind see oftentimes we have to rewind the story to understand which has happened in First Kings 11 Solomon begins to allow worship to the Queen of Heaven and among lots of other people but he builds specifically in 11 it talks about how he builds an altar to Chamas in Israel and so Israel was in all kinds of idolatry and mixture and so when a sacrifice was offered to appeal to Chamas Israel had an altar to Chamas in their own nation and so they couldn't overcome they couldn't break through because they were not pure they themselves had mixture with that God and so they had to retreat and go back to their own land because they came under Fury in 1921 French archaeologists excavated Carthage um now Carthage was a settlement where as Israel actually drove out the Canaanites from the land tons of the Canaanites actually moved South so if you are looking at a map you'll see you know Israel and kind of underneath that land Canaan kind of all around here and as they drove them out of this area they went down and across to this upper plane in Northern Africa and a settlement of the Canaanites began there called Carthage all right now thousands of babies were found in Carthage um in a mass grave in 1921 now before that they were oh like you know the Bible is the only place that talks about infant sacrifice and you know a lot of people are trying to disprove at that time um all of the you know sacrifice that had gone on to MC and Baal in that area and so they found this Mass grave with thousands and thousands of babies who were only a few months old and all of the babies were about the same age um and there were ears that they dug up in this Mass grave that were really helpful to understand what was going on so some of them recorded vows to tanet uh which tanet is um a Queen of Heaven type which was in that area of Canaan and balaman which balaman was a like a Marduk or a deeon um it was L right of the Canaanites so that same you know father God image so the Sun and the Moon as we've discussed and so all of these child sacrifices were to tenet and to bimon and they were she's known as ashth in the Bible right the Queen of Heaven first king 11:23 and so in one of the uh earns specifically there's a woman who gave her infant to tanat or tanette and she wrote on the N she heard my voice and blessed me so in exchange for giving her infant daughter tanette heard my voice and blessed me see you see there's an exchange that had to take place God's people were to have nothing to do with the gods of the Nations they were to not intermar or intermix with these gods in any way because he wanted a people of Purity without mixture so we see this pattern of Israel constantly failing in this regard and being given over to their idolatry and this would mean the curses associated with engaging with these evil Gods right so this means Exile famine war with enemies God would always promise though to rescue them and bring them back and punish their oppressors so he was not just talking about people and Nations but he was talking about the spiritual Powers behind those peoples and Nations for example Isaiah 47 speaks of the Queen of Heaven the one where the baby was sacrificed in Carthage this speaks of the Queen of Heaven and the punishment that she will endure for the punishment that she has Afflicted on God's people and yes it speaks of a city but also speaks of a power behind that City okay let's turn to Isaiah 47 it says in verse 6 I was angry with my people and desecrated my inheritance right refer to Genesis 11 I gave them into your hand and you showed them no mercy Deuteronomy 32 even on the Aged you laid a very heavy yoke you said I am forever the Eternal Queen but you did not consider these things or reflect on what might happen now listen you lover of pleasure lounging in security and saying to yourself I am and there is none beside me and then it goes on you have trusted in your wickedness and said no one sees me but your wisdom and knowledge must lead you when you say to yourself I am and there is none besides me disaster will come upon you and you will not know how to conjure it away and then he goes on in verse 15 all of them will go on in their error and there is not one that can save you in other words and you can read the whole chapter but he's speaking about the punishment that will come on her for the punishment that she has Afflicted on his people and in Revelation you know 17 and 18 it talks about that much more deeply which this teaching is not about the Queen of Heaven but I would recommend that teaching as well all right now we see Deuteronomy 32 Echo this as well that God will avenge the blood of his sons and enact Vengeance on his enemies right this Echoes the Dominion Mandate of Genesis right what was meant to happen when God placed Adam and Eve in the garden and he said be fruitful and multiply subdue the Earth take Dominion right he didn't say rule harshly over anything Dominion is about what the leadership and the of the kingdom of God and so he placed his sons made them rulers by sons I mean Humanity he placed us he made us rulers and he said take dominion and expand out from this place of governance Eden expand Eden until there is no longer any Darkness right now what happened that got reversed so instead of us expanding Eden into the darkness until there was no longer any Darkness We Were cast out of Eden into the place of rebellion right but we see that that is regathered and placed back into order when Jesus says go into all the nations and make disciples in Jerusalem Samaria and the ends of the Earth right go with the gospel of the kingdom and so this Dominion has been reinstated right and we see Jesus of course like I will build my eklesia the gates of Hades will not withstand it I have given you the Keys of the Kingdom to bind and to loose there's a reestablishment of dominion over the Earth that he has given his people in Colossians 2:15 and in Ephesians 4 even there is a insinuation there's there's a there's an example that's being used in the writing here from Paul and I I'm going to read Colossians 215 real quick it says then Jesus made a public spectacle of all the powers and principalities of Darkness stripping away from them every weapon and all of their Spiritual Authority and power to accuse us and by the power of the Cross Jesus led them around as prisoners in A procession of Triumph he was not their prisoner they were his right and this is what it's referencing in Ephesians 4 where it says Christ descended and then ascended right that he went into the depths of Hell or Hades right and that he has taken taken all of the powers and the principalities of Darkness he has stripped them of their Authority and made them a spectacle the procession right the triumphal procession that's spoken about in in scripture is referencing the Roman triumphal procession where they would take their enemies the leaders from among the enemies and they would parade them through the street as a defeated Foe and the people would basically stand as this parade of defeat went by and so it's saying Jesus has stripped and disarmed all the powers and authorities and he has led them through the street as captives for us to stand and to see that they are totally and completely defeated this is the return of dominion that he has given to his body that just as Ephesians 3:10 says through my Ecclesia I will enforce right the manifold wisdom of God to the rulers and the principalities of the air that through his body through his people he will enforce his judgment against his enemies and I'm going to talk about one last thing the war for worship the war for the discipleship of the Nations because even now yes Jesus came he has reinstituted Dominion he has given us back keys of authority but we understand that the whole world is not yet under the Dominion of Christ there are many peoples and Nations that do do not worship Yahweh and even within the church we understand that right now there's so much mixture in the church and that's why God is calling out his eosa Gathering them to himself so that he can present a people that are not living in constant idolatry with the gods of the world that he's calling us out to be set apart but there's a war still for worship and there's still a war over who will disciple the Nations whether will be Yahweh enthroned because of the strength of the people of God who push back darkness and take the Dominion that belongs to Jesus or will demons continue to disciple the people through the culture that they set because remember what do principalities and powers do they affect the beliefs the behaviors the culture in Galatians 4:7 through 11 it says so you are no longer a slave but God's child and since you are his child God has made you also an heir formerly when you did not know God you were slaves to those who by Nature are not Gods but now that you know God or rather are known by God how is it that you're turning back to these weak and miserable forces which means heavenly bodies or first things again do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again you are observing special days and months and seasons and years I fear for you that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you this is Paul speaking to the Galatians about you have been rescued you have been made a son and you're purposefully going back to these miserable Gods worshiping them and becoming enslaved all over again how have I wasted my time he says I've wasted my efforts right so Believers still have a choice to be enslaved all over again to the idols that Jesus has given us or given himself to set us free from in Romans 12:2 it sayso not be fashioned by the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind when it says to Fashion yourself this is the word SAS kimat Tio sasat Tio and this word means to be identified with it says to assume an outward form or expression by assuming the same pattern so to come into a pattern it's from two words sin which means to identify with and schemo which means having outward shape so when Paul is saying do not fashion yourself it's saying do not assume a form of something by being modeled into it it has nothing to do with what you are on the inside the form and the pattern of the world has nothing to do with an embodiment it just has to do with assuming a certain pattern but then he says don't do that instead be transformed by the renewing of your mind what is he saying the word transformed is metamorph to transfigure so this word metamorph it means to become externally what you already are internally to be transfigured so when he's saying to be transfigured by the renewing of your mind in order to be transfigured we become what we already are so he's saying as we embody the Christ and as this takes form inside of us he says become externally what's already in you what you already are in him by the renewing of your mind this word transfigure is only used in three different instances it's used to describe Jesus as he is transfigured Before Peter James and John right and what happens Jesus is revealed as he actually is right to become externally what you already are and so this also is used only to refer to Believers being called into this Glory that reflects Christ by being the embodiment of Christ that then begins to take on external form 2 Corinthians 3:18 this is the only other scripture that uses this word other than Romans 12:2 where it says for all of us who have had that Veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord and the Lord who is the spirit makes us more and more like him as we are transfigured into his glorious image right with unveiled faces we reflect the glory of God this is referring to Moses remember when he goes up to spend time with Yahweh he goes up Mount Si and it says as he came down his face would reflect the glory of God so he would have to Veil his face because of the brightness and The Shining as he was reflecting Glory right as he was being transfigured but this transfiguring was different because it wasn't a reflection of something from the inside he was reflecting something in externally that Fades away the Bible says but as Moses was reflecting a glory that Fades we don't reflect a glory that Fades we we or that Fades we have an ever increasing Glory that is continually becoming brighter and brighter and brighter as we are transfigured to become like the sun as what is internal continually becomes greater on the external we continually are becoming who we are him so this is what it's talking about in 2 Corinthians 18 We Have unbuild Faces and we reflect the glory of the Lord so this Veil right is being removed over regions as we reflect the glory of God because it's not just individuals that are called to be transfigured but it's Nations right so as we're not just saying a message but being a message right that's how we carry the glory of God but in Greco Roman understanding I want to talk about this for a minute cuz there really is a battle for who will disciple the Nations will it be this body of Christ that has been transfigured that is matured into the sun right Paul in Colossians talks about his his administration or his stewardship to present a body full of the logos full of the mystery of God fully matured right that he wors and intends in the spirit to present a sun to present a body full of the sun fully mature why because the presentation of that body fully mature is what draws the Nations to Christ it's what draws the Nations out of their idolatry and false worship into the sun it's his reflection his transfigured he's transfigured through his body right now in in GRE or Roman understanding every everything came from the gods right artistic ability music um ideas philosophy right all of this came out of the Divine logos the essence uh of everything right and everything was bestowed by the gods so when we understand a prophet or the prophetic witness of the body of Christ right we are meant to be something that speaks for God so not just talking about an individual Prophet but the body itself is meant to embody the prophetic witness of Jesus we speak for God so when we are like him we will sound like him we are the prophetic voice but they understood that a prophet is one who speaks for God one that communicates divine revelation right so there are ones who can communicate the culture of God out of Kingdom Revelation right the body can communicate the kingdom from the revelation of the spirit but there's other Revelation that can be communicated which is demonic Revelation right you can see what gods influence the culture by looking at the people you can see what spiritual powers are discipling the people right because discipling is renewing their mind changing our minds into a way of p a pattern of believing a pattern of doing so you can see who is discipling what nations by looking at the culture in scripture the Greek word for prophet and poet is used interchangeably because the Greek poets and philosophers were understood as speaking as prophets right under divine revelation and so you see who tells the stories you see who brings the media they are the ones inspired by the culture they're the ones setting the culture and you see that the powers behind these things are what sets the culture of the peoples one of my friends Dr Wayan Henderson talked about was was having a conversation with him the other day and he was talking about the muses right the Divine goddesses who would influence all forms of artistry and they were known to influence all music literature and the Arts right and he was the one who actually was bringing me into this whole idea of who will disciple the culture they having this conversation but even in Titus 1112 a Creon philosopher is named a prophet of cre now in some in some translations it will say poet but it's because that word is interchangeable you see so they understood that the poets and The Artisans and the ones who were bringing the story of the culture were influenced by the gods of that culture and at the same time we're discipling the culture to believe and behave in a certain certain way who is enthroned Will disciple the culture theophilis of Antioch in 18 ad says the Greek poets were inspired by demons this is clearly evidenced by the fact that even today demons were exercised are exercised from the possessed in the name of the true God and then the deceiving Spirits confess themselves that they are the demons who once worked in the poets that's a quote from from 180 ad this is why it matters that the church is free from the idolatry and influence and the culture of the world and in Romans 122 when he talking about do not be conformed to the pattern that is being set by the world but be transfigured let yourself come into Christ so that you can embody him and reflect him into the world otherwise you will be under the influence of the same demonic rulers that are discipling the culture we are to be set apart we are a people called out and set apart for himself I'll end on this we understand that the good news right the the gospel that we preach the gospel in Matthew 18 right go into all the world and preach the gospel of the Kingdom what's the gospel the gospel is not just the message Jesus rose from the dead He's Alive you can be saved come into Christ that that's yes that's the gospel that is the gospel but what is it actually saying when he says Proclaim this good news of the kingdom of God see in Rome good news was the Proclamation from Caesar now the kingdom there was an Apostolic Envoy that was sent when Caesar would conquer a new territory they would send the apostolic Envoy right it was a ship that would go out you know if there's water otherwise on land but it would go out carrying the culture poets artists the the plants from Rome the you know it was essentially Roman culture in a bag all the things so that wherever you go there it's Rome right the Roman Empire was meant to be Rome everywhere you go and so when they would conquer a new territory they would come in with their Apostolic Envoy and establish the culture of Rome so this is the concept that Jesus is speaking about the gospel of the Kingdom the Dominion of God right the apostolic kingdom of God when we go out we are carrying a kingdom this is what it means to embody the kingdom of God wherever we are and as a people we're not inviting people to come to our little thing everywhere we are we are meant to resemble the kingdom wherever two or three are there that saying is actually a Roman saying when Jesus says where two or three are gathered in my name there I am in their midst the saying was wherever two or three Romans are there is Rome why because they carry Rome they are Rome right so this is the understanding that we're meant to have about the kingdom of God within that everywhere we go we are discipling people into the kingdom of God because it's under our dominion and it's all that we carry it's what comes out of us so this is why there is a war for the true eklesia to be set apart from Babylon to come out of the culture and to be set apart for God because we are a part of the envoy that Apostolic Authority the apostolic people the one sent with the blueprints of the Kingdom to teach and instruct a foreign culture to look sound and come under the Dominion of a king to come out from their idolatry and out from their false rulers right the new win skin is not simply do this change your services change your name from church to HUB do these other things the new win skin is coming into Christ and out of Babylon to be transfigured into the sun it's not about revealing a structure it's about revealing a people who have been been transfigured to reflect the glory of God so the strength and the maturity of the local eklesia will decide who is enthroned and who gets to disciple the Nations