(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Now, the part of the chapter that I'd like to focus on is there beginning in verse number 25 where the Bible reads, Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. Yet they hearken not unto me, nor incline their ear, but hardened their neck, they did worse than their fathers. Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them, but they will not hearken to thee. Thou shalt also call unto them, but they will not answer thee. But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord their God, nor receiveth correction. Truth is perished and is cut off from their mouth. And what I want to preach about this morning is the subject of the major prophets. Now this is where God is talking about sending a huge amount of prophets to the children of Israel all throughout their history. From the time they left Egypt he said, unto this day, which the book of Jeremiah has written right before they go into captivity to the Babylonians, he says he keeps on sending the prophets. And as you study the Bible there are all kinds of prophets mentioned that we don't really maybe know their names readily. You know, Micaiah the son of Imlah for example, you know he doesn't have a book of the Bible named after him. But there are all these prophets that came. Now go to Hebrews chapter 1 and before I get into the subject of the major prophets and I'll explain to you what that means in a moment, let me just explain to you the concept of prophets in general in the Bible. Go to Hebrews chapter number 1 and beginning in verse number 1 the Bible reads, God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets. So what the Bible is telling us here in Hebrews 1-1 is that in the past God's method of speaking to man was through the prophets. And he says, hath in these latter days spoken unto us by his son, talking about Jesus Christ of course, appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the worlds. So throughout the Old Testament and even before Moses, before the books of the Old Testament began to be written down, God was speaking to man through the prophets. Go to Jude, the book of Jude right before Revelation, Jude and we're going to start reading in verse 14 of the book of Jude, God spoke to man through holy men of God and the Bible tells us that the scripture came not in old time by the will of man, and scripture is the written word, but the Bible says the scripture came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. So what I want you to see is that in Hebrews 1-1 the Bible says God spake by the prophets. It wasn't that prophet that was talking, it was God talking through him. You say how is that possible? Well because the prophet was using his voice but he was speaking not his own words, but God's word. Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost and that's what a real prophet is. A prophet is someone who speaks God's word, not just their own word but they speak God's word and it's actually God speaking through them. You say are there prophets today? Well of course there are because simply the word prophet means preacher. For example if you look at Proverbs 31, the Bible says the words of King Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him. A lot of people when they hear the word prophecy they think we're just talking about predicting future events, but that's not always what prophecy is because in Proverbs 31 who knows what that chapter is about? The virtuous woman. It's a really famous chapter. No foretelling of future world events there, just preaching about the virtuous woman. And so prophecy or prophets just refers to a preaching or a preacher and it's just someone who is speaking God's word. Now let me say this, if I read to you directly from the Bible, that's not me talking, that's God talking because it's his word. Now obviously when I'm preaching there's a mixture of my words and a mixture of God's word mixed in, but when I'm speaking God's word that's God talking. That's why when we read the book of Revelation he says, he that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches, when those words are read in the churches. And so look at Jude verse 14, the Bible reads, and Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these saying. So Enoch was a prophet, he was before the flood, long before the scripture was written down. And here's what he prophesied, behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. Now that is preaching that Enoch did before the flood. Now is that written anywhere in the Old Testament scripture, what we just read? No, there's no written record of that. So what I'm trying to show you is that there was a lot of preaching going on in the Old Testament of men of God speaking as they were moved by the Holy Ghost that was not necessarily written down at that time. Some of it was written down later, like for example, this example in the book of Jude. It's still God's word, it's still in the Bible because it's in the book of Jude. But Enoch was actually preaching a portion of the book of Jude before it was written down, long before it was written down. And so God's word was always given in spoken form before it came in written form. It was spoken before it was written, that's what the Bible teaches. And so all throughout the Old Testament a lot of prophets were preaching God's word. We don't really know exactly what they were preaching. We know that they were drawing some things from the New Testament and preaching that. Obviously they weren't preaching any scriptures that mention the name of Jesus or anything like that because we know that that name had not yet been revealed to our knowledge. But they were preaching New Testament scriptures even in the Old Testament because God's word is eternal. And so God's word was being spoken throughout the Old Testament by the prophets. Now go to 1 Kings 11. This is all by way of introduction before we get into the major prophets. Go to 1 Kings 11 and let me just explain to you what I mean by the major prophets. Now the Bible is broken down not in chronological order but by subject or by type of book. For example, when you're in the Old Testament the first five books of the Bible are called the Law, right? The Law of Moses, the five books of Moses. Then after that you get into the historical books that tell the story of the Old Testament. You've got Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther. Those books tell a chronological story from the time that the children of Israel have left Egypt and wandered in the wilderness all the way until they go into captivity and then come back from captivity. Basically the whole story of the Old Testament is going to be found from Genesis all the way to Esther. You know, you get all the stories there and how it all plays out. So first you have the Law of Moses, then you have the historical books, then you get into the five books Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. And those five books don't really tell a story as much as just give a lot of wisdom and principles and Psalms of course is a song book, Proverbs is a book of wisdom, Ecclesiastes is a book of wisdom, Song of Solomon is a love song about a husband and wife. So those books are often known as like the poetic books or the books of wisdom. Just books that are just kind of outside of the scope of time or outside of any chronology. They just are timeless books that are placed there for all of mankind for all time. And so Job through Song of Solomon is that little section right there. Then you get into what's called the major prophets, which is Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel. Those five books are called the major prophets. Then you have 12 small books known as the minor prophets, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, and so on and so forth. And so that's how the Old Testament breaks down. What's interesting is that the New Testament breaks down the same way because in the New Testament you've got Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, that's your four gospels. Then you've got your historical book, the book of Acts, the Acts of the Apostles. Then instead of, you know, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, you've got the epistles, you know, both of Paul and others. And then you have your prophetic book, the book of Revelation. So you see the same four sections are kind of mirrored in the Old Testament and the New Testament. So there's only one prophetic book in the New Testament because we're so far into history there's not a whole lot left that needs to happen. Most things have already been fulfilled and Revelation gives us the final prophecies of what's left. And then in the Old Testament we've got these 17 prophetic books at the end of the Old Testament. Five known as the major prophets, 12 known as the minor prophets. And what I want to preach about this morning is the subject of the major prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel. So let me first of all explain to you where these fit in in the timeline of the Bible. Because remember I told you it's broken by subject, not necessarily by chronology. Now one thing that's helpful is that the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel, those are in chronological order. That set right there of five books, they do come in chronological order, okay? Go to 1 Kings 11, did I have you turn there? Look down at verse 26 because this is a critical thing in understanding where these books fall and where these books take place. In 1 Kings 11, 26 the Bible reads, And Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephrathite of Zerudah, Solomon's servant, whose mother's name was Zeruiah, a widow woman, even he lifted up his hand against the king. And this was the cause that he lifted up his hand against the king. Solomon built Millo and repaired the breeches of the city of David his father. And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor, and Solomon seeing the young man that he was industrious, he made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph. So let me explain to you what's going on here in our chronology. Of course the children of Israel, we saw that nation originate in the book of Genesis, Exodus records them being enslaved in Egypt, coming out of the land of Egypt, and then they go into the promised land. They're ruled by the judges by the space of about 400 years, then of course they cry out to God for a king. The first king is King Saul, Saul reigned for 40 years. The next king is King David, David reigned for 40 years. The third king is Solomon, he reigned for 40 years. So for that 120 years you have a unified kingdom of all the tribes of Israel, the whole nation of Israel, and of course there were times when they had, you know, civil war and different rulers rising up. Pretty much in general you have the whole kingdom united for that 120 years under those three kings. Well Solomon, remember how he did wickedly in the sight of the Lord? Solomon started building temples unto other gods because he married all these heathen women and those heathen women turned his heart away from the Lord and caused him to compromise and to build these temples to false gods in the land of Israel. So because of Solomon's great sin which he sinned, God wanted to take away the kingdom from Solomon since he was not worthy of his descendants sitting on that throne, but because of the promises that he had made to David to always have one of his seed upon that throne in Jerusalem, he only took 10 tribes away from Solomon. So Solomon ruled over the whole kingdom in his lifetime of 40 years of reigning, but when he died and his son took over, his son's not going to take over that whole kingdom because 10 tribes are going to be taken away. You say well how many tribes were there? Well there were 12 tribes in one sense, but one of the tribes of Joseph was split into two, Ephraim and Manasseh, because Joseph got the double portion of the inheritance. The land was divided into 12 pieces because the Levites did not get an inheritance. So really if you count the Levites and you count Ephraim and Manasseh, there were really 13 tribes, but there were only 12 that inherited the land because the Levites were just basically scattered throughout the entire land serving the Lord and the other 12 tribes inherited the land. So 10 of the tribes are taken from Solomon and his son and they're given to Jeroboam. That's what we're reading about here about how Jeroboam is rebellious against King Solomon and here's why. The Bible says in verse 28 that Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor. He's a great warrior the Bible is saying. And Solomon seeing the young man that he was industrious made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph, which is the preeminent tribe in the northern part of the kingdom. And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem that the prophet Ahijah the Shiloh knight found him in the way and he had clad himself with a new garment and they too were alone in the field. And Ahijah cut the new garment that was on him and rented in 12 pieces. Don't you hate it when you get a brand new garment and somebody just rips it off and tears it up in 12 pieces? Well that's exactly what happened here. And it says, he said to Jeroboam, take thee 10 pieces. Well that was generous, you know, it was his garment. He tore it up and gave him 10 pieces. For thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, behold I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and I will give 10 tribes to thee. But he shall have one tribe for my servant David's sake and for Jerusalem's sake the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. Now you say, wait a minute, this math is not adding up. It's not that cut and dry is why, because like I said, there's kind of 12 tribes, there's kind of 13 tribes. The one tribe of Judah is the main tribe, and that's what he means by one tribe. The one tribe of Judah is the main tribe that he's going to be ruling over, even though he gave him two pieces of the garment and so on and so forth. So you can't get too nitpicky with that. He says, because, why is he taking away the kingdom? Because that they have forsaken me, verse 33, and have worshipped Ashtaroth, the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh, the god of the Moabites, and Milcom, the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways to do that which is right in my eyes and to keep my statutes and my judgments as did David his father. Howbeit I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him prince all the days of his life for David my servant's sake, whom I chose because he kept my commandments and my statutes. And I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand and will give it unto thee even ten tribes, and unto his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant may have a light all way before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen to put my name there. And I will take thee, and thou shalt reign according to all that thy soul desireth, and shalt be king over Israel, and he explains, you know, if you do what's right, if you serve me, if you obey me, you will remain king. And he said in verse 39, and I will for this afflict the seed of David, but not forever, Solomon therefore sought to kill Jeroboam, and Jeroboam arose and fled into Egypt unto Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon. So all that to say this, the kingdom after Solomon is divided into two portions. The northern kingdom, or the ten tribes of Israel, that land is known as Israel. And then the southern kingdom is going to be known as Judah, and that split is going to remain in place all throughout the rest of the Old Testament, and really all throughout history in a way. Because you've got the ten tribes in the north, you've got the kingdom of Judah in the south, and then later the kingdom of Israel is going to start being called Samaria. Because of course Jeroboam did not serve the Lord as he was supposed to, and so his descendants only to the fourth generation sat on that throne. Then the kingdom was taken from him, and it went to some other people, and it got switched around quite a bit in fact. But a man by the name of Omri became king of the northern kingdom, and he built a capital city known as Samaria, and so later the northern kingdom just becomes known as Samaria. That's what it's called. And then when you get to the New Testament, that kingdom is only referred to as Samaria, because by then the Assyrians had taken them captive and intermingled, and those ten tribes became so intermingled with the heathen that those ten tribes hardly even existed by the time the New Testament comes around, and those people aren't even thought of as Israelites in the New Testament anymore, the ten tribes, because they were so mixed in with the Assyrians that they're pretty much just known as the Samaritans, and they're looked down upon and disdained and they're not considered full-blooded Israelites by any stretch of the imagination. Now there were some people who lived in those northern tribes that came down into the southern kingdom. If you remember when men like Hezekiah and men like Josiah brought great revival to the southern kingdom of Judah and put on the Passover. The Bible talks about people flocking in from the northern kingdom from the ten tribes, trying to get away from the wickedness of the northern kingdom and the heathen worship of golden calves that was going on in there, and to come down into Judah, which is why in Judea at the time of Christ you have a woman like Anna the prophetess, one person mentioned in the whole New Testament that's of one of those tribes, of the tribe of Asir. Because she was obviously the descendants of those who had come out of Samaria before it had completely been destroyed by God and intermingled with the heathen and dispersed abroad into all nations. Okay, so the major prophets, where do these fit into the timeline? Go to the book of Isaiah, let's start with the first of the five, we're just going to briefly cover these five this morning. You say why cover this? The major prophets and the minor prophets are probably the least read section of the Bible, probably the section that's read the least. People read the first five books of Moses probably just because, you know, if you start at the Bible, you start at the beginning and that's about how far they get sometimes. They start reading the Bible, it's really interesting, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, you know, it's like whoa man, and they don't always get much further than that. And then people read, you know, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, why? Because there are exciting stories about battles and kingdoms and warfare and all kinds of actions going on. And first and second Samuel, first and second Kings, first and second Chronicles, there's action, there's stories, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther. People read the book of Psalms obviously because it's, you know, just a great book that covers a whole scope of information, Old Testament, New Testament, everything in between. And then you've got Proverbs, of course people read Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, but you know probably the most daunting books in the Bible, right, that people are just unsure what it's even about, have trouble understanding. Probably Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Micah. You know if I asked you to tell me about those books you might not be able to tell me much about it because they are some of the probably heaviest books of the whole Bible, the deepest. But because they're so heavy it makes it a little bit daunting to the reader, but at the same time because they're so heavy it's one of the most exciting parts of the Bible to read and study because you can read it and read it and read it and read it and you've barely scratched the surface because it's so deep. There's so much there to learn. And you know even once you've read the Bible many times you're still, when you approach Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel you feel like a little child approaching it because it's so heavy. But let me just talk a little bit about these books briefly this morning. Isaiah chapter 1 verse 1, let me show you first of all where this fits into the timeline. The Bible says this in Isaiah 1.1, the vision of Isaiah the son of Amos which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. So let me ask you this, which kingdom is Isaiah preaching to? That northern kingdom or the southern kingdom of Judah? He's preaching that southern kingdom of Judah, not the heathen northern kingdom. And let me say this, all 5 of the books of the major prophets really deal with the southern kingdom. Now some of the minor prophets are addressed to that northern kingdom, but the 5 books of the major prophets are all going to be primarily addressed and dealing with the southern kingdom of Judah. Look at the timeline, it's given right here. He preached it concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of who? Isaiah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. So this allows us to pinpoint exactly when Isaiah preached because we can go to 2 Kings and we can go to 2 Chronicles, figure out when those 4 men reigned, and we can place Isaiah exactly in that timeframe where it belongs. Now here's what's interesting about Isaiah. Who knows how many chapters Isaiah has? 66. And what's significant about the number 66? There's 66 books in the Bible, right? So many people have called Isaiah the little Bible, and I've heard that growing up that Isaiah is like the little Bible and that the 66 chapters of Isaiah actually mirror the 66 books of the Bible. A lot of people laugh at that and scoff at that and think that's silly, but I don't think it's silly at all. I heard that and I did some study on my own. And so I, just through the years as I'm reading Isaiah, it's kind of a fun way to read Isaiah is when I'm in chapter 1 I'm looking for correlations with the book of Genesis. When I'm in chapter 2 I'm looking for tie-ins with the book of Exodus. And it's amazing, just my own personal study, I've never really read a book on this or talked to other people about it, but I've just done my own personal study and I've noticed a lot of parallels. Let me just give you a couple of parallels just quickly. First of all, in chapter 1, which would be like Genesis, you find right away he's mentioning the heavens and the earth, which is kind of like the creation, and then later he starts mentioning Sodom and Gomorrah, which are events covered in the book of Genesis. That's pretty interesting. Another interesting thing is that, go to Isaiah 5, you're in Isaiah. Go to chapter 5, which, what's the 5th book in the Bible? Deuteronomy, right? Well here's what's interesting. The word hell is mentioned for the first time in the Bible in the book of Deuteronomy. The first mention of hell in the book of Deuteronomy, in the whole Bible, is chapter 32 verse 22, stay in Isaiah, but it says, "...for a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains." Isn't it interesting that in the very first mention of the word hell in the Bible, God gives us so much information about hell. He said number one, it's fire. And you know a lot of preachers today have backed down on that and they say, oh hell's not fire, hell's just a place where you're separated from God. No, hell is a place of fire. It says it's flaming fire. It says it's a furnace of fire, later it's going to be the lake of fire, and God tells us over and over again that hell is everlasting fire, and if a person does not believe on Jesus Christ, they will spend eternity burning in the fires of hell. Not only that, he said in Deuteronomy in that verse, he said he has set on fire the foundations of the mountains, showing us that hell is beneath, that hell is in the lower parts of the earth, the center of the earth. He talks about the lowest hell. So there are various levels of hell. There's a lower hell and an upper hell. I mean there's just a lot in that verse, and thus it says it's the result of his anger or his wrath. It's a punishment. It's God's anger and wrath being poured out on sin in hell. So a lot of great teaching. Well here's what's interesting. The first time the Bible ever mentions hell is in Deuteronomy, the first time the book of Isaiah ever mentions hell is in chapter 5. That's an interesting correlation. Deuteronomy verse 14, therefore hell hath enlarged herself and opened her mouth without measure and their glory and their multitude and their pomp and he that rejoiceth shall what? Descend into it. Again a reference to the fact that hell is in the center of the earth, the core of the earth, the heart of the earth, the lower parts of the earth. So that's an interesting correlation. Well another thing that's interesting, go to chapter 40 if you would, Isaiah chapter 40. So this already makes you want to read the book of Isaiah, doesn't it? Just to kind of look at that and notice that and to see the correlations because I've found a lot over the years. It's a really interesting book. Again Isaiah is preaching to the southern kingdom of Judah during the reigns of those kings that are listed there. But look, what's interesting, if you think about it, the Bible's got the Old Testament and the New Testament, right? And the Old Testament's 39 books. So basically chapter 40 would be like the beginning of the New Testament of Isaiah. It would match up with the book of Matthew and what's interesting is that the book of Isaiah has a major major gear change between chapter 39 and chapter 40. You know it's very negative and talking about God's judgment and a lot of hopeless chapters in the first 39. Then it becomes more positive beginning of chapter 40 and it starts to have a lot of prophecies about Jesus Christ as you get past chapter 40. That's interesting, kind of the New Testament of the book of Isaiah. But not only that, right there in chapter 40, what's the first thing that he brings up in verse 3? He says the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Who's that prophecy about? Yeah, in Matthew chapter 3 is where John the Baptist is first mentioned and here it is in Isaiah 40 verse 3, a prophecy of John the Baptist that's quoted in Matthew 3. Isn't that interesting? And then jump forward if you would to chapter 43 and I'm just giving you the highlights. There's a lot more than this than I've found. I just want to give you some of the highlights just to spark your interest here. What book would chapter 43 correspond to? If 40 is Matthew, right? Mark, Luke, John. This would be like the book of John, wouldn't it? Look down if you would at verse 10 and see if this reminds you of the book of John. It says in verse 10, ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen that ye may know and believe me and understand that, watch this, I am he. Before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me, I even I am the Lord and beside me there is no Savior. But listen to what Jesus said in the book of John, I said therefore unto you that ye shall die in your sins for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. So if we want to know what Jesus meant by that, because when Jesus said if you believe not that I am he, you'll die in your sins, what did he mean by that? Well this verse makes it clear in Isaiah 43. You know what it means? It means you believe he's the only Savior. It means you believe that before him there was no God formed, neither shall there be after him any God formed. Tell that to the Mormons that there's only one God and this right here gives us the best interpretation of John 8.24 when Jesus said if you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sins. That's what he's saying in Isaiah. Look I'm he, I'm the only Savior is what he's saying and this is what Jesus was quoting. So isn't that interesting that that lines up? Go to chapter 45. What book would chapter 45 line up with? Not Acts. 44 would be Acts, 43 would be John, 44 Acts, what would 45 be? Romans, right? Let's see if we can find something that reminds us of Romans. Look at verse 9. Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker. Let the potsherds strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it? What makest thou? Or thy work? He hath no hands. So here God's saying that it's ridiculous for a man to try to fight against God. You know he said fight against the people of this earth. He said let the potsherd, or piece of a clay pot, fight with another piece of a clay pot, but you can't fight the potter. He's the one who made us all, he's the one who died. Now listen to this from Romans 9. You're in Isaiah 45 verse 9. You think that's a coincidence? Yeah, it's all coincidence, right? Romans 45, or Isaiah 45, which is the Romans of Isaiah, verse 9, listen to Romans chapter 9. It says this, Nay, but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it? Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay? Does that remind you of this? He says of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor. And this is just my own personal, just looking this stuff up, and I found a lot more. And if you look at it, let me just show you one more for sake of time. Go to chapter 66, which would tie in with which book? Revelation, right? Let's see if we can find some stuff from Revelation in chapter 66. And again, there's a lot more, but I want to get to the other books of the major prophets. It says in verse 15, tell me if this sounds like the book of Revelation. For behold the Lord cometh, I'm sorry, for behold the Lord will come with fire and with his chariots like a whirlwind to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh and the slain of the Lord shall be many. And even, that even lines up with chapters 15 and 16 of the book of Revelation about basically the fire being poured out, the vials of his wrath, and so forth. Look at chapter 22, or I'm sorry, verse 22. It says, for as the new heavens and the new earth, is that something talked about in chapter 22? Oh yeah. For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord, and they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me. For their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh. Further proof right there that hell exists even after the new heaven and the new earth have been created. Isn't that proven right there? Because people try to say, oh death and hell are casting the lake of fire and then it's just over. No, wrong. He says it's going to go on. It continues on. And so what I'm showing you here, obviously the correlations are not always this strong and they don't always match up the verse and the chapter, but sometimes they do. And a lot of times the correlations are very strong. It's a very interesting book in the Bible, Isaiah's The Little Bible. Go to Jeremiah chapter 1. I'll just briefly touch on Jeremiah because I just preached about Jeremiah recently. So I'm not going to spend much time on it. The Bible says in verse 1, the words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. So notice he's in the land of Benjamin. That was one of the tribes of the southern kingdom, the kingdom of Judah. He says, to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah, the son of Ammon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. So again we can pinpoint exactly when this book is taking place. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, under the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, under the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month. So that right there tells us the whole time span of Jeremiah. Three kings. He prophesied during the reigns of three kings that are mentioned, Josiah, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah. Now you say, well how does that fit in with Isaiah? Well if you remember the four kings that were mentioned in Isaiah were Uzziah, Jotham, Achaz, and Hezekiah. Well between the book of Isaiah and the book of Jeremiah, there were two kings that reigned in there. You've got Manasseh reigning for 52 years, and you've got Ammon reigning for two years. So there's at least a 54 year gap between Isaiah and Jeremiah, but it's still chronological. So you go through Isaiah, and there's at least a 54 year gap, more than that, but I'm just saying at a minimum, because those two kings are not covered. And then you get into the events of Jeremiah, and the events of Jeremiah are going to take us from King Josiah's reign all the way through to the end of the kingdom of Judah when they're carried away captive into Babylon. That's how the book ends. Now an interesting thing about Jeremiah is that it's not written in perfect chronological order. Turn to chapter 39 and I'll prove that to you. Go to chapter 39 of Jeremiah. So Jeremiah, the events in Jeremiah, all of the events in Jeremiah take place after the events in Isaiah. So that makes it easy to understand. First we have Isaiah, then we have Jeremiah. But go to Jeremiah 39, and then I want you to keep a finger there, and I want you to put a finger in Jeremiah 52, and I'm going to show you how the events in Jeremiah 39 are the same events as chapter 52, proving that the book is not written in total chronological order. Look at Jeremiah 39, the Bible says in the ninth year of Zedekiah, king of Judah, we're in verse 1 of chapter 39, in the tenth month came Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, and all his army against Jerusalem, and they besieged it. And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was broken up. So here is where we see Nebuchadrezzar's armies invading Jerusalem. Let me show you a key event that takes place also. The Bible says in verse 7, moreover, he put out Zedekiah's eyes and bound them with chains to carry him to Babylon. So he invades Jerusalem, and they take Zedekiah, the king of Jerusalem at that time, and what do they do? They poke his eyes out, they burn his eyes out. Go to chapter 52, flip over to chapter 52 there, look at verse 1, same thing as chapter 39. Zedekiah was 1 and 20 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah, and he did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord according to all that Jehoiachim had done. You look at verse 4, it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, that's the exact thing given in Jeremiah 39.1, in the tenth day of the month that Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, came, he and all his army against Jerusalem, and pitched against it and built forts against it round about, and then of course we see Zedekiah's eyes are going to be put out in verse 10, it talks about, listen to how horrible this is in verse 10, and the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. He slew also all the princes of Judah and Ribla, and then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah. So we see that the same events take place. So basically Jeremiah is roughly in chronological order as you're going through it, but when you get to chapter 39 you reach the end, well then you jump back and you build up to that end once again. So not quite in chronological order. Now go if you would to Lamentations. Let me say one other thing about Jeremiah the prophet. He's often known as the weeping prophet, and the reason why he's known as the weeping prophet is because Jeremiah is such a sad and doleful book, but not only that, he also is believed to have written the book of Lamentations. To lament means to weep or to be sad or to be sorry for something, and so the Lamentations of Jeremiah caused him to get that name, the weeping prophet. Now Jeremiah in the New Testament is called Jeremy, and that's where we get our name Jeremy today. It's the same person, and in Matthew 27 the Bible says, then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet saying, and they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value, and gave them for the potter's field as the Lord appointed me. Now that quote is never found anywhere in the book of Jeremiah. Does anybody know what book that quote is found in about the thirty pieces of silver in the Old Testament? Zechariah, exactly. Now you say, wait a minute, what's going on with that? That's why the Bible is very clear in Matthew 27. It doesn't say it was written in Jeremiah, it says it was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah. Just like it said in another place in Matthew that it was spoken by the prophets, he shall be called a Nazarene. That wasn't found anywhere in the Old Testament. You'll not find a verse in the Old Testament that says he shall be called a Nazarene. That's why it says sometimes it was written, and whenever the Bible says it was written in that prophet, you'll always find that quote there. But when it says it was spoken by the prophet, not everything that they spoke was written down. And let me just take a little rabbit trail here for a moment about those who are dispensationalists who think, oh in the Old Testament they didn't know about this, they didn't know about this, they didn't know about this. Here's my question, oh thou dispensationalist, how do you know what they knew in the Old Testament? How do you know? Because it appears to me that especially prophecies about Jesus Christ were being spoken by prophets stuff that wasn't written down. Stuff from the New Testament about him being a Nazarene. Stuff from Zechariah. Because here's the thing, Zechariah in the timeline comes long after Jeremiah. Do you get that? Think about that. Zechariah is one of the final prophets of the Old Testament that comes after the Babylonian captivity. Isn't Jeremiah before the Babylonian captivity? So we're talking probably a hundred and some years before Zechariah penned down the words about Jesus being sold for thirty pieces of silver. Hundred and some years before that Jeremiah was preaching it. I wonder if Enoch preached it. See what I mean? We don't know. So don't pretend to know what level of knowledge they had about the New Testament and the Old Testament because prophecies of Jesus especially were being spoken by a lot of prophets besides what you read in the Bible. You know God gave us a perfect Bible, it's perfect. In its perfection he chose to not include all of the Messianic and New Testament style prophecies in the written Old Testament. He chose to include certain portions of it. But a lot of it's found in the New Testament and to avoid redundancy, he doesn't put it in both places, in his infinite wisdom, in his perfect knowledge. But you cannot deny the fact if you're a Bible believing Christian that believes every word of God is pure, you cannot deny the fact that Jeremy the prophet was preaching about Jesus being sold for thirty pieces of silver a hundred and some years before the book of Zechariah was even written. And that Enoch was quoting the book of Jude thousands of years before it was written. So don't get too mixed up in, well this is what they knew at this point, this is what they knew at this point. You don't know what all the prophets were saying. Holy men of God were speaking as they were moved by the Holy Ghost and saying all kinds of things. Now look, make something very clear. I don't believe that there's any God's word that did not get included in the Bible. I don't believe that for one second. When I say that they were speaking things that were not written down, I'm saying they were speaking things that other men of God would write down later. So when Jeremy the prophet was preaching about the thirty pieces of silver, okay, that's not some other revelation and whoa, what else did Jeremiah not write down? No, it was written by Zechariah and is written by Matthew. It's all there folks. I hope you understand what I'm saying right now because this is critical doctrine. You say, oh you're going too deep. Well grow up man, we need to learn this because we need to understand the doctrines of the word of God. Let me tell you something, everything that God said is in this book. I believe that from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet that everything that God said by the prophets is in this book. Some of it wasn't written down until later, like in the New Testament or like in the book of Zechariah, which is shortly before the New Testament. Does everybody understand that? I hope you understand what I'm saying there. Okay, so Lamentations. Now Lamentations is a really interesting book. Let me show you something that you may not have noticed. How many verses does chapter 1 have? How many verses does chapter 2 have? 22. How many verses does chapter 3 have? 66, which is a multiple of 22, isn't it? Three times 22. Okay, how many verses does chapter 4 have? And how many verses does chapter 5 have? Now that's not coincidental, there's a reason for that. And the reason why is because if you look at, well yeah look there, go to Psalm 119. Keep your finger in Lamentations. Go to Psalm 119. And Psalm 119 is an interesting chapter. First of all, it's the longest chapter in the Bible, but you'll notice how it's broken out into sections. Your Bible should have it broken out. Is there anybody who has a Bible that does not separate Psalm 119 into these alphabetic sections? Yeah, so everybody's Bible is doing it, okay? Well notice, see how the first section says Aleph and it has that little letter that we don't know anything about there next to it? Does everybody see that? It's got the little symbol and it says Aleph. And then the next one says Beth and it has a little symbol. Everybody see that? Okay, guess how many sections there are in Psalm 119? 22. Because there are 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. So God in our English Bible is giving us the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet in Psalm 119. Now even our word alphabet comes from the first two letters. Look at the first two letters. Aleph, Beth. Does that sound like Alpha, Beth? Exactly. Because these became Greek letters later, they went from Aleph and Beth to become Alpha, remember God said he's the Alpha and Omega? Alpha and Beta, right? Alpha, Beth. Aleph, Beth. Same thing. So we see here God's making the Bible real easy to understand for us. He's showing us the Hebrew alphabet, Aleph, Beth, right there, the 22 letters. Well here's what's interesting. Now I'll be honest with you, I don't speak Hebrew, okay? I know you're shocked, but I don't speak Hebrew. And I don't read Hebrew and I can't, you know, if you put Hebrew in front of me I can't read it. I know you read it from right to left instead of left to right. And I actually do know a lot of Greek. I don't go back to the Greek in my preaching because I don't believe that we should have to go back to the Greek. I think we should just be able to preach the word of God in English and that we have a perfect English Bible. So even though I have studied a few years of Greek, I don't use that in my preaching. I don't think it's profitable to speak in an unknown tongue. But let me say this, even if you don't know Hebrew, if you look at the book of Lamentations in Hebrew and then you look at these symbols in Psalm 119, you'll see that in chapter 1 of Lamentations, the first verse starts with an A, in Hebrew I'm saying, it starts with an Aleph, the second verse starts with a Beth, the third verse starts with a Gimel, and so on and so forth. And so you can just look at it, even if you don't know Hebrew, you can just look at it and compare the symbols and see that the reason that it's in 22 verses is because the first verse starts with an A, it would be like A, B, C, D, E, so it's like a poem where each verse starts with one letter of the alphabet. So that's how chapter 1 is, that's how chapter 2 is, and then when you get to chapter 3, the reason that they broke it into 66 verses is because actually the first 3 verses all start with an Aleph, the next 3 verses all start with a Beth, the next 3 verses all start with the third letter, and so on and so forth. And then chapter 4, you have it back to the same thing, A, B, C, you know, one for each, but then when you get to chapter 5, notice the difference in chapter 5. It's a really interesting book, isn't it? Because in chapter 1, you have 3 statements per verse. In chapter 2, you have 3 statements per verse. In chapter 3, you have 1 statement per verse, but there's 66 verses. In chapter 4, you have 3 statements per verse, and then in chapter 5, you just have 1 statement in each verse, just 1 short statement, and chapter 5 is not alliterated at all, nothing significant with the letters, it just has 22 verses. So pretty interesting book, huh? And it's a very sad book just about the destruction of Jerusalem, because remember, how did Jeremiah end? How did the book of Jeremiah end? With the Babylonians coming in, destroying Jerusalem, destroying the temple, destroying the walls of the city, taking all the people captive, and they're going to go into captivity to the Babylonians for 70 years is what Jeremiah prophesied. That's what happened. Well, Lamentations is just being sad about that, about that that took place, so that makes sense, right? Okay, let's go to Ezekiel, Ezekiel chapter 1. I'll hurry up, I've got 2 more books to just blow through here. Ezekiel, you say, well you're not covering everything about these books. Well that's your job to go home and read these books, that's the whole point, just to learn the basics and hopefully this will make you want to tackle these books. You know, I bet you there are a lot of people in this auditorium right now that have never read these books all the way through, that have never read the whole book of Isaiah, that have never read the whole book of Jeremiah, and have never read the whole book of Ezekiel. And look, unless you've read the Bible cover to cover, you probably haven't. You probably aren't turning to these and saying, oh that's where I'm going to read. But Ezekiel's pretty interesting also. Now Ezekiel has 48 chapters, let me just hit some highlights with you. Chapter 3 is a highlight, and again, everybody could choose their own highlights, but let me just give you my highlights. These are my favorite parts of the book of Ezekiel. Now where does Ezekiel fall on the timeline? Well in chapter 1 verse 3, the Bible says, the word of the Lord came expressly unto Ezekiel, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans. The Chaldeans are the Babylonians. So he is a prophet that's prophesying after they're already in captivity. So Isaiah was long before the captivity in the divided kingdom of Judah. Jeremiah was the final days leading into captivity, and now with Ezekiel you're in captivity. So it is chronological, thank God. So in Ezekiel, here are some highlights. Chapter 3 verse 18 says this, this is a famous portion, when I say unto the wicked thou shalt surely die, and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thy hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul. So this is a really famous passage, this whole chapter, about Ezekiel being the watchman. The preacher, the prophet, is likened unto a watchman that sits on the wall watching for enemy invaders, and when he sees the sword come, when he sees the enemy coming, he's to sound the trumpet, he's to sound the alarm, and to warn people that the enemy is right. Well God compares preaching to that, he says you're to warn the wicked to turn from his wicked way. That's why the Bible says in Isaiah 58, cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, he's talking about the volume of the voice there, because trumpets are loud. Did you catch that this morning, how loud trumpets are? So trumpets are loud. He said lift up your voice like a trumpet, he said show my people their sins. It's a warning. You say, Pastor Anderson, why do we come to church and hear you scream and yelling about sin? Why don't you preach something that will make us feel good? Why don't you be an encouragement? Because look, we need a warning today. There are people today that are living in sin, that have no regard for the commandments of God, that do not care what the Ten Commandments are, they don't care what the New Testament teaches, they don't care what Jesus commanded or Paul commanded, and they do what they want, they do what's right in their own eyes, and if it feels good they do it, and let me tell you something, somebody's got to get up and warn them and say, you are wicked, you're a sinner, you need to get right with God, God's going to punish you, God's going to destroy you, but they're not hearing it today. People aren't being warned so they go out and do stupid things. People aren't being warned so they violate the commandments of God without even knowing it sometimes. Because their preacher has not warned them, and you know who God holds responsible? The preacher. He said if you don't warn the wicked to turn from his wicked way, he said his blood will I require at thy hand. I will hold you responsible. Now do you think I want to be held responsible for all the stupid things that you do? I've done enough stupid things of myself, you know. I don't want to be held responsible for all the bad stuff that you do, but you know what? When I get up and preach and scream and holler and yell that fornication is wicked, that you're to be pure and virgin on your wedding day, and that drunkenness is a sin, and that idolatry is a sin, that adultery is a sin, that covetousness is a sin, and I go on and on about all these sins, you know what I'm doing? I'm just covering myself. I'm just making sure that God doesn't hold me responsible. You know what? And I'm going to tell you something. There are a lot of people who go out and get divorced and go out and fornicate and go out and get drunk, and you know what? God's holding pastors responsible. And some of these pastors have a lot of blood on their hands. Some of these pastors have a lot of guilt in the eyes of God. That's why the Bible said that whosoever shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so, the same shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. Why? Because he's basically having all the sins of his followers held against him because he failed to warn. It's like that woman who spilled coffee on herself in the McDonald's drive-thru and sued for millions of dollars. You know what she sued for? Failure to warn. Now that's a stupid example, isn't it? But let me tell you something. A lot of pastors are going to be held liable, and it's going to be worse than millions of dollars. They're going to be held liable for failing to warn God's people. Why? Because they want to be popular. Nobody likes the screaming preacher. Nobody likes the mean, face-ripping, leather-longed, pulpit-pounding. You know what? They want smooth things. You say, no, I think people do like it. Okay, is that why Mr. Smooth has thousands of people in his auditorium today? Is that why Mr. Smooth could start a church and two years later he's running 2,000? Why? Because the Joel Osteens of this world are telling people what they want to hear, but they are failing to warn. And God says, you, Mr. Watchman, are asleep on the job. You have failed to warn the people. Their blood is on your hands when they're judged for their sins because you didn't warn them. And so that's a powerful chapter. That's a powerful concept in Ezekiel 3 that says you better warn, pastor. You better get up and preach and yell. You better lift up that voice like a trumpet. You better show people their sins. And he said, look, if they continue sinning, that's their problem. Go ahead, go out and fornicate. I'm not responsible because I already warned you that God killed 23,000 people in one day because of fornication. I already warned. Not my problem. I'm free from the blood of all men. I'm not shined to declare unto you all the counsel of God. And that's what a preacher is supposed to do. And boy, that's a powerful chapter in Ezekiel 3. And if you're ever going to be a preacher, you better learn Ezekiel 3. You better learn Ezekiel 33 because both of those chapters cover the Watchman, 3 and 33. But here's another highlight. Chapter 8, and I've got to hurry, man, I'm running out of time. Chapter 8 is another highlight. I don't think we're going to read it for the sake of time, but what's interesting about chapter 8, this is where Elijah is grabbed by the hair of his head and the spirit, and he's carried away and shown the abominations of the house of Judah. And he sees these abominations, and then there's a very interesting prophetic passage in chapter 9 where he sees a vision of people being killed who do not have a mark in their forehead. Now this is pretty interesting. Look if you would at verse 1. He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice saying, in chapter 9 verse 1, cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand. And behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand. And one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side. And they went in and stood beside the brazen altar, and the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's inkhorn by his side. And the Lord said unto him, go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the forehead of the man that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. So who is he marking, the good guys or the bad guys? He's marking the good guys, right? He says set a mark in the forehead of everybody who's mad about all the sin, who's mad about all the filth and abomination. Look at verse 5. And to the others, he said in mine hearing, go ye after him through the city and smite. Let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity, slay utterly old and young, both maids and little children and women, but come not near any man upon whom is the mark, and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house. You say, Pastor Anderson, why don't we read Ezekiel, it's boring, preach the New Testament, it's too hard to understand, I don't want to hear it. You better listen to what I'm saying in the next 30 seconds right now. This passage is describing people being killed because they don't have a mark in their forehead. This is the passage that Satan will counterfeit in the book of Revelation when he requires people to get the mark of the beast in their forehead. Let me tell you something, 99.9% of Christians have never read this passage and do not know that it's in the Bible. If I told them, you know there's a part where God's killing everybody who doesn't have the mark in their forehead? They're going to say, no, that's the anti-Christ. See, here's what the anti-Christ is going to do, he's going to use this passage. Because Satan's a counterfeiter. He loves to take God's word and twist it, and he'll use this passage as a justification to kill young, old, man, woman, boy, and girl who will not receive his mark in their forehead. Because he's claiming that he is the Lord. He's claiming that he is the second coming of Christ. He will use this passage, Ezekiel 9, as a justification for what he does. Because in Revelation, this is a foreshadowing of in Revelation when the 144,000 are sealed with God's name in their foreheads in chapter 7, remember? And in chapter 14 they're mentioned as being sealed in heaven with the mark in their forehead. Now listen to this. Chronologically in the book of Revelation, the anti-Christ comes first and puts his marks in the forehead of the wicked, of those who are worshiping the beast and his image, those names whose names are not found in the book of life will worship him. Well that comes first in chapter 13. Then in chapter 14 we see the servants of God with the seals in their forehead. Right after the tribulation, when the sun and moon are darkened, after the tribulation, which is the time where the mark of the beast is being handed out, then that's where it's said right after the tribulation, but before God's wrath is poured out, the sun and moon are darkened, just like in Matthew 24, Revelation 6. He says, wait a minute, hurt not the earth, neither the sea nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of God and therefore it. And I heard the number of them which were sealed, and they were sealed in 140 and 4,000 of all the tribes of the children of Israel, of the tribe of Judah were sealed. Now a lot of people will teach, oh that's Jews getting saved in the end times. False. Because the tribe of Zebulun no longer exists. The tribe of Issachar no longer exists. So if you're going to take the Bible literally, those are Old Testament saints from those literal tribes, and I don't have time to go into that this morning, but if you take the Bible literally, they're really of those tribes, those tribes no longer exist, and there are already sealed in heaven before the rapture even takes place. So that right there proves it. But anyway, I don't want to go into that for the sake of time. So that's a really key chapter, and I'm going to move on to chapter 28 of Ezekiel. But chapter 9 is a key chapter, compare it to Revelation 9, where the only people who are immune from God's wrath are the ones who have the mark in their forehead of the Lord. So the devil's going to use people's ignorance of the book of Ezekiel to catch them off guard with scriptures that they're not prepared to understand. And they're going to, wow I didn't know that, oh we're supposed to take the Bible, I've never even seen that, wow that's a really interesting passage. And who knows what kind of phony Bible version he'll come out with just to kind of make this passage read just right. You know what I mean? And the new NIV that comes out, you know the Antichrist edition or whatever, you know what I mean? The special commemorative Antichrist edition of the NIV will maybe just make a few little changes to Ezekiel 9 just to dial it in perfectly for him. But chapter 28 is significant, we don't have time to read it, but in verses 12-19 he talks about Satan being in the Garden of Eden and the Garden of God, he compares the king of Tyre or the prince of Tyre unto Satan, because the king of Tyre thought that he was God. He was a Mormon basically. So he thought he was going to become God, he's going to be like the Most High, and basically in Ezekiel 28 God compares him to Satan and he talks, I mean it's a really interesting study on Satan in verses 12-19 about how he's a musical creature, he was in the Garden of Eden, he was the most beautiful of all of God's creatures and so on and so forth, he's wiser than Daniel, I mean there's a lot of interesting things. Then chapter 33 I already mentioned is the Watchman. Chapter 37 is the Valley of the Dry Bones. Chapters 38 and 39 are another highlight, they cover Gog and Magog. Now this is the most abused part of the whole Bible, because Gog and Magog are only mentioned in two places in the whole Bible, Ezekiel 38 and 39 and Revelation 20, which Revelation 20 is after the millennium. He says when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, the number of whom is the sand of the sea. So a lot of Zionists will try to use this Ezekiel 38 and 39 and say, see these things are about to happen, we can see it happen in the Middle East, everybody's against Israel. No they're going to be against Israel when Jesus is ruling and reigning after the millennium, because the only mention of Gog and Magog in the whole Bible is in number one, a genealogy, just who they were when they were born, and to tell us about it in Ezekiel 38 and 39, and Revelation 20, I mean look, if Revelation 20 is saying all nations are gathered, why bring up Gog and Magog? Why bring up two? Because he's pointing us to Ezekiel 38 and 39, and if anybody has any kind of understanding or knowledge they're going to connect those two things, but anyway I don't have time for that. Chapter 40 through 48 is probably, and I say this with all due respect of course, in most people's mind the most boring part of Ezekiel, because Ezekiel's super interesting. One through 39 of Ezekiel is very interesting, very exciting, but when you get to chapter 40 through 48 of Ezekiel, it gets a little bit quote unquote boring. I mean it's not boring as you study it and learn about it, but to the first time reader it's a tough passage. Why? It's describing a new temple, and it's plans laid for a new temple being built. Now a lot of people again will pervert this scripture and say, oh this is a new temple that we need to go build in Jerusalem, and let's all make a donation. Let's send in our check, you know, to John Hagee or whatever, he's going to help us build the new temple. But here's the thing, if you study the passage, and we don't have time, you're going to have to study it on your own, chapters 44, 45, 46 very clearly talk about animal sacrifices being offered in this new temple. That's not something for the New Testament folks, get over it. Jesus is the Lamb slain once and for all. Remember when, somebody help me out, when is Ezekiel writing? Where did we put him in the timeline? He's in Babylon, right? He's in what? Starts with a C, captivity. So let me ask you this, isn't there another temple that's going to be built after the captivity? In the days of Ezra, Nehemiah, Zechariah, Haggai, Malachi? That's what he's preaching about, okay? And so don't get into this thing of we need to build a new temple, that's false doctrine. Your body's the temple. Rightly divide the word of truth, my friend. You're sitting in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. One last book, Daniel. Daniel is also a captivity prophet. So remember Isaiah was way before the captivity, Jeremiah brought us into the captivity, leading up to the captivity. Daniel and Daniel are both writing from captivity, okay? The first six chapters of Daniel are the exciting, fun part of Daniel. That's the stories of the book of Daniel. Chapters 7 through 12 are the prophecies of Daniel. So chapters 7 through 12, they remind you a lot more of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel in style. But the first six chapters are all the really cool stories. Chapter 1 is the story about how they ate nothing but just beans and lentils and pulse and water, and they were stronger and healthier than the ones who were eating the meat and the wine and so forth. Chapter 2 is the one where Nebuchadnezzar has the dream of the giant image with the head of gold, the chest of silver, the loins of brass, and all the way down, and he interprets the dream. Remember that's where Daniel interprets the dream for Nebuchadnezzar? That's where he's promoted to great power and authority, and then also he gets his three friends promoted to great power and authority with him at the end of chapter 2. He gets them promoted with him as governors of the provinces of Babylon. Then in chapter 3 we have that great story where Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are thrown in the fiery furnace for refusing to bow down to the golden image, refusing to bow down to the idol that Nebuchadnezzar made. Then in chapter 4 we have God taking away Nebuchadnezzar's heart, giving him the heart of the beast, and Nebuchadnezzar goes out in the field and eats grass like an ox, and his nails grow like bird claws, because he's not taking care of any hygiene, he's living outside, his hair becomes like bird feathers, his fingernails become like eagle's claws until seven times Passover, I believe referring to seven years, because later in the book he talks about a time, times, and half a time, and how long is it? Three and a half years. So when it says seven times Passover, seven years. Why? Some people said seven days, seven weeks, seven months, but your nails aren't going to grow that long in seven weeks. Some of you have tried it, it didn't go that long, but anyway I'm saying it was seven years that he was insane, and he was out in the field, and at the end of it all he humbled himself before God, I believe he got saved. Chapter 5, his grandson Belshazzar sees the handwriting on the wall, remember the fingers of a man hand that write on the wall? Meeny, meeny, tico, eupharsin. And then in chapter 6 we have the great story about Daniel and the lion's den, where he's delivered from the mouth of the lion. So Daniel, if you're new to the Bible, Daniel 1-6 is pretty interesting stuff, pretty exciting stories. 7-12 you get into some really heavy Bible prophecy that ties in with Revelation. And so all that to say this, this part of the Bible, don't neglect it, it's interesting isn't it? I mean we saw some really interesting stuff about Isaiah, really interesting stuff about Jeremiah, really interesting stuff about Lamentations, Ezekiel's got a lot of great passages that we can apply today, Daniel's exciting, great for Bible prophecy, great for stories, I mean this is a fantastic part of the Bible, don't neglect it, don't be afraid of it, read it, study it. You say Pastor Harrison, I don't even know what you're talking about, all this went over my head. You know you need to get in the Bible and read it, you need to start in Genesis and read to Revelation, you need to read this book, because this book, the Bible says man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. And the Bible says that all Scripture is given by inspiration from God and is profitable for doctrine. And you, oh 2012 Christian, need to read and understand Isaiah, understand Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel and Daniel. These books contain valuable truths that you need. I hope I gave you this morning the tools just to kind of put these books in perspective, to understand where they come in the Bible and what they mean, and also I just hope that I kind of got your curiosity to the point where you're going to go home and read these books and learn this stuff. This is the Word of God, we need it to be read and preached in the day we live. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your Word, and we especially and specifically thank you for the books of the major prophets, the five major prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel and Daniel. Father, help us to study to show ourselves approved. Help us to read and pour over these books and to learn from them and to glean from them the unsearchable riches of Christ. We know that to him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him should receive remission of sins. Help us to study it and learn it and to look for the Lord Jesus Christ in every page. In Jesus' name we pray.