0:00:00 - 0:00:20 And again, that was mid, mid explanation, midpoint there. So talking about the meaning of astonish in the scriptures or words that were the concept of being astonished or to marvel, there's a lot of uses of this idea. So it's, it's not a pleasant surprise. That's what I wanted to get across. Like if 0:00:20 - 0:00:38 someone says, oh, I, I bought you a Corvette and you're like, what? No way and then they drive it up, you, you, it's like, oh, I'm astonished. That's not what the scriptures mean. When they say, Marvel astonished, whatever you look up the word, there's this sense of loss. So it's when something some 0:00:37 - 0:01:05 previously unbelieve or not considered truth is presented to you in such a way that it it it uh it robs you of meaning and joy that you previously had, right? There's a sense of being stricken with panic, right? So who here thinks that if God appeared to them, they'd be stricken with panic. We don't 0:01:04 - 0:01:27 like we don't make kitschy art that has pictures of like people having panic attacks as a result of Jesus appearing to them. We draw like these cheesy pictures of Jesus holding up druggies and stuff and look, you know, if people get worth out of that, that's fine. But um and I don't object to, to that 0:01:26 - 0:01:55 of people getting value out of some share of good with the concept of God, but he is holy. He is the epitome of good. And we glorify him by recognizing that and drawing towards it, not by bringing him down to us. Um Now he, his arm is extended and he reaches out to us in so many ways, uncountable ways 0:01:54 - 0:02:21 and at every level and he does help the people who are really struggling in life, aren't we all? But um goodness folks there are, there's a lot more to it. And anyway, if we wanted to be more realistic about how an interaction with God would go, we would not be drawing pictures like that we'd be or like 0:02:20 - 0:02:46 the oh there's one set of footprints in the sand and all this stuff that, that accentuates what God does for us, which is real and massive. But like I said in a previous video, if you want to glorify God, do what he says, show him your gratitude by doing what he says, don't celebrate this idea of what 0:02:46 - 0:03:13 He does for you without you doing anything. That's not the point because it has nothing to do with how you change He is all about how you change His goodness is because um it's tied to are becoming good, right? Not, not tied to like we can't bring him down, but you can't really quantify, you can't appreciate 0:03:12 - 0:03:45 his goodness without also recognizing his power to make anyone good. Anyway, um, stricken with panic. That's how we got onto that side note. So no one draws art like that. Um, unfortunately, I would, I would like it, um, or unable to act because the magnitude of shock is so great. Ok. Now I won't go 0:03:45 - 0:04:06 down that I was about to say something really ruffles some feathers. Um, ok. Uh So sometimes our experiences with God are like having a trusted business partner where you're really investing everything you have your whole working life. And then right about the time you think you're gonna retire, he comes 0:04:06 - 0:04:23 in the office with a giant gas can and just totally calm, totally normal demeanor. He just starts splashing everything and you're like, what are you doing? And he's like, come on and you go outside and you're like, what, you know, just shouting like what is going on? He strikes a match and he throws 0:04:23 - 0:04:38 it into the building and your money's in there, the building, like your warehouse, whatever, it's all in there, your whole life, everything you've worked for as far as, you know, it's in that building and he just puts his arm around you and you're just shocked. Right? That's what this is. You're just 0:04:38 - 0:04:57 shocked. You can't believe it. Everything of meaning is gone. Everything you worked for is gone. And he says, well, that wasn't the point of all this. This is just for what comes next. Come on. And he's just as happy as can be. So I don't care who you are and how much you trust your business partner 0:04:56 - 0:05:19 , who your business partner is. You're probably not gonna react really well to that. Right? And that's the greatest way I can try to explain this without overtly religious themes. Uh how it is to be astonished at the revel, a greater revelation of God. And this again, we come back to why Moses is such 0:05:18 - 0:05:41 an impressive person, right? Because that's not how he reacted. He turned into the fire, he, he turned towards it. He started walking that way. Um That's crazy. He people, if you know, if you knew Moses, you would say that guy is bananas. Um You'd say it because he's so different than you are. And if 0:05:41 - 0:06:07 you didn't say it in a bad way, you'd, you'd be equally it, it'd be an equal magnitude in a good direction like he's so far beyond what anyone would do that. I know. So um shutting them out. So um the righteous interpret greater revelation of God as an outpouring of his love as a path to climb higher 0:06:07 - 0:06:33 as a gift. Um No matter how bad it makes him feel, they feel good about it. That's a weird concept, but it's true. Um The wicked, they interpreted as a loss and as that. That's the best way to say it because both groups can experience pain, but the wicked, there's no meaning in the pain. It's not pain 0:06:32 - 0:06:57 that brings greater meaning like having a baby for a woman. It's uh it's uh it's just pain, it's just loss. It's, it's pain that comes with the loss of something that they valued and it's a, it's a decrease in meaning, not an increase in meaning. Um So um there's this scripture in Isaiah and I'll talk 0:06:57 - 0:07:20 about it and we'll, we'll leave this as the, the last thing I I talked about in this series. So Isaiah 5215. So shall he Sprinkle? So shall he Sprinkle many nations? The kings shall shut their mouths at him for that which had not been told them, shall they see? And that which they had not heard, shall 0:07:19 - 0:07:52 they consider uh massively paring down what I'd like to say about a lot of things with this. Um Have you ever asked why the scriptures are so hard to understand? So an honest prayer would go something like this. Lord. So many people of such great faith has sacrificed so much, many their, their lives 0:07:51 - 0:08:30 to bring us these words, to preserve them, to capture them in the first place. Why is it that they're so hard to understand among the answers to this question are the idea, sorry. Is the idea um is the idea that they are encoded, meaning happens on levels and when meaning is plain, it comes with consequences 0:08:29 - 0:08:59 . And that's probably as far as I can say for now on that without making this video series 200 hours long, at least. Um But suffice it to say when you read what was written by the translator and whatever translation you read, uh or even if you read it in uh you know, the Old Testament in Hebrew or the 0:08:59 - 0:09:37 New Testament in Greek, um You are writing the limited reduction of an infinite idea to a finite recording. And I mentioned many limits that we place on God in what he can tell us and how a lot of those limits are how he can tell us. And um one of those limits we place is that is how close the meaning 0:09:36 - 0:10:04 he can teach us about the idea. He can teach us about how close it has to be to the literal words on the page. And when you just sever that link and you say like the lepers, we started with the lepers. Uh I'm not actually here to be healed of leprosy. I am here to encounter God. And he says, your faith 0:10:04 - 0:10:38 has healed, you go on thy way. You say, where are we to go? Only? You have the words of eternal life. Doesn't matter how hard this is. You're the way my way is your way, Lord and you cling to his feet. So it's a good practice to ask lots of questions when you're reading the scriptures. And one of those 0:10:37 - 0:10:54 questions can be Lord if I trusted you completely and you were sitting here with me, how would you tell me what's in this verse?