Eden to Eternity | Ep. 2

Hey everyone, welcome to episode two of Eden to Eternity, where we're walking through the story of the Bible and seeing how our lives fit into the story God has been telling since the beginning of time and even into the end of time. Last week we began by looking through the book of Genesis, talking about God's desire to save us from our sin, that he created the world perfectly and everything fell apart. And in Genesis 3.15, we get this promise that he is going to bring a deliverer and he hones that promise in on the family of Abraham through the book of Genesis. And as we talked about last week, we see them at the end of Genesis in the land of Egypt where things are going to go a little sideways. But again, we're going to get, I think, a clearer picture this week of God's plan to free us, to save us, to bring us out of the bondage that sin has led us to. Not alone in this study, got Derek and Sarah back with me again this week. We're going to be talking through a lot of Israelite history today, going from the Exodus to the establishment of the kingdom, the nation of Israel. So I think about four or 500 years of biblical history. But what we're really going to see this week, I think, is we're going to begin to understand how the Bible, despite its 66 books, is one story. Like each story is like a branch. Each book is a branch telling a part of the story to help us understand like, hey, this is... It's a big tree. It is a big tree. Or would that not be... Nevermind. Forget it. Books are trees. Okay. Well, there you go. There you go. We really got off there.

But anyway, off topic. So we left last week with the nation of Israel in Egypt. And what happens after the end of the book of Genesis is 400 years pass. So the family of Jacob becomes incredibly numerous over those 400 years. And then the nation of Egypt begins to enslave them, begins to oppress them as they're foreigners in this land. So as you guys think about where Exodus opens up, like what are we going to learn in this story about God's desire to ultimately free us? How God is a God of liberation? Well, I mean, it's a bummer for Israel at the time. Oh, for sure. Yeah. Well, it's interesting too, because they are being obedient to what God has commanded them to do, because they're being fruitful and multiplying the earth and it kind of backfires on them, which I think is such an interesting point of Exodus, because sometimes like you're being faithful to what God is calling you to do and it doesn't end up the way you want sometimes. And so I don't know. I mean, just think about that in the first part of Exodus is like God tells them to be fruitful and multiply and they are, but that causes their enslavement. Yeah. Well, sure. Well, you know, this generation of leadership in Egypt passes away and that doesn't know Joseph, you know, and like that's a bummer, right? Because you'd figure this family of Jacob that has moved to Egypt and I mean, golly, the fact when they finally figure out that like this is Joseph and he forgives them, like for me, I would be feeling like, oh, thank the Lord. Like he has worked through like all of my mistakes and he did, no doubt. But this generation of leadership passes away in Egypt and what we're going to find is that like gosh, the king of Egypt, Pharaoh didn't like that and so he starts using them kind

of for his own advantage, for their own advantage and they get put in a real tough place. But even in the midst of that, God is going to deliver them himself. He's going to use Moses, but he's going to deliver them himself. He's going to combat Pharaoh and all of their Egyptian, you know, gods, you know, in quotation marks directly through these plagues, but this is this idea again that we see over and over and over again in scripture that God himself will deliver us. Yeah, I think that's so true that we look at that and we'll see throughout Exodus that certainly Moses is a vehicle for some of what God does, but there are things that happen during their deliverance that Moses could not do. Like Moses, he can't figure this stuff out, but it's in the midst of it that God meets them there and saves them from them. So we talked about the nation of Israel kind of being in a tough spot. Let's unpack that a little bit because I think, you know, the picture that Exodus paints for us is pretty stark and dark about how they're being oppressed in Egypt. We see that they're being forced to, you know, build, do all these building projects for Egypt where we read that eventually they become so numerous, like you said, Sarah, that Pharaoh is like, well, we got to kill all the Hebrew boys, you know, as soon as they're born. But it's in the midst of even that, that Moses is saved, right? of the Israel, or some of the midwives are like, well, we're not gonna be a part of this. Moses ends up being spared. He ends up being adopted into the household of Pharaoh and being called by God to be this deliverer to bring the people out of Egypt. So one of the things that God says to Moses, and I almost said Abraham, we're in a different book. And one of the things he says to Moses in 3.7, it says, the Lord told Moses, I've certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress

because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. So as you guys think about that, what assurance does it give us to look at Israel in this moment and to know that God hears them and sees them even in the midst of this difficulty? Yeah, I just think there's so many moments of our lives where we're going through, whether it's a mundane season or a hard season or a good season, but especially the hard and then the mundane seasons where it feels like, man, like maybe the person watching this right now is thinking like, gosh, I have prayed this prayer for so long, and this thing is not being answered. The diagnosis is still the same, if not worse. That child I've been praying for maybe is even further away than what I want them to be. And it's that reminder that God sees us, right? And His timing is always good. And that word good can be difficult for us because oftentimes good for us kind of equates to, well, what we want in our timing and kind of what our desire is. But I think what we're gonna continue to learn throughout scripture as we go through this journey together is that God's timing is His own. His ways are above our ways and His understanding is greater than ours. But while God is infinitely wise

and big and magnificent and powerful, He still has the ability to see you in the midst of all of it. And so He saw His people, but especially the individuals, that He can do this. He can see the people as a whole and know people one at a time. Yeah, to be honest, that passage, this passage always makes me a little angry because it's been 400 years, right? Is that right? How many years has it been? It's been about 400 years. Yeah, and the Lord is just now saying like, oh, I hear you, I see your cries. And that's like, that fires me up a little bit because I'm like, well, what the heck, God? Like, why didn't you do this earlier? However, when you pull back and see what Derek was talking about, the timing of Moses, I still don't understand why Moses as a Hebrew boy was brought into Pharaoh's household. When Pharaoh himself said that he was gonna kill all the Hebrew boys. Don't know why. Like, that's so fascinating to me. But for some reason he did. And so Moses becomes the deliverer of his people. And so I'm like, okay, well, this is like frustrating because it feels like the Lord is like

not working as fast as we want Him to. However, like you said, like the timing is perfect to where Moses had to be born at a certain time. All of these events had to play, had to be put into place in order for the eventual deliverance of the people. And so like, on one hand, I'm like, well, Lord, you could work a little faster. But on the other hand, I'm like, okay, I see your plan. And so I think that's just, even in my own life, I'm like, oh, why aren't you working as fast as I want you to work? But we don't see what he sees. Yeah. Yeah, I think even as we'll see here in just a little bit that, you know, in my, we're talking about like God's ways versus our ways. Like, in my opinion, like having this, you know, Hebrew boy being put in this, you know, little basket and kind of going down river and just randomly being found by Pharaoh's daughter, is that who it was? Yeah. Yeah. That's like, okay, well, it's like, this is the time. Like, that's it. Let's go. God found a way in, baby. Like, this is how he's going to influence Pharaoh and push him out. But no, like Moses kills an Egyptian

for mistreating a Hebrew. It's banished from Egypt. And it's when he is in the wilderness, not under Pharaoh's roof, it's when he's in the wilderness and he's called to go back. Yeah. Fascinating. Yeah, it's interesting. Cause God kind of uniquely prepares Moses for this because he grows up in the household of Pharaoh where he obviously has connections. And for some reason, I'm stuck on thinking about Prince of Egypt right now. I love that movie, it's so good. I gotta stop. But he grows up with these connections in Pharaoh's household. So when God calls him to go be a deliverer, like they'll let him in. Sure. But then he also grows up or he goes out in the wilderness for 40 years where he learns to shepherd and to be a leader. Yeah, 40 years. Like he is, yeah, it's incredible to think like God has uniquely prepared this whole plan. And Sarah, I love that. I never really thought about that. The idea that, hey, we're going to kill all the Hebrew boys. Except for this one that's in my head.

I was like, this kid's fine. Talking about his 40 years, um, I kind of made this connection for my brain a couple of years ago, but my favorite part of this story is that in, uh, when the Lord appears to Moses in the burning bush, he, what does he say to throw on the ground and use as a sign when he goes back is a staff and he's had that staff for 40 years. And so it reminds me that that 40 years was not wasted with Moses. Like he was doing the Lord's will in a different way. Like even when he felt like everything had been lost, like God didn't waste those years. And so I love that he carries that staff with him as a reminder. And that's exactly what God uses. And so it's like, it's my favorite part of the story because it seems like sometimes in our lives, when things happen, like Moses murders, a guy gets banished to the wilderness and he's like, okay, well, I'm just going to do this now, but God doesn't waste those years. I'm just going to be a shepherd, you know, but he liked, I love that. God like connects those moments of his life and like takes that staff with him. And that staff, like not only serves as the sign of the plagues that we'll talk about, but it will part the red seat. Like literally his staff does that. And so I just love that part of the story. Yeah. I like that.

Yeah. That probably felt like an incredible demotion. Like you're a prince of Egypt and now you are a shepherd out in the desert. Yeah. Yeah. That's not upward mobility, but God was still using it and preparing Moses for what he had. Well, yeah. Cause there's, that's a great point to make what both of you just said, because there are so many times, like, even, even when we look at movies, like there is this, like, almost like crescendo of events that happen. That gets really stuck on movies that I don't want. Like it kind of gets the main character to a place where it's like, they overcome their problem. They get that thing. And then they're so excited. Everybody's celebrating. And then the movie ends and you're like, this is awesome. Especially Christian movies tend to be like that. Right. Yeah. But God doesn't always work in this, uh, almost like linear upward trajectory that we would have for our life for Moses. Perfect example. Yeah. Well, and actually we're going to get into a lot of that in this story today, because the whole, the whole story of Israel is not a linear, like you are becoming my people up and down.

You guys are all over the joint. More down than up. But occasionally there's, there's a little glimmer of light. So, so God sends Moses back into Egypt to deliver his people. And I think here we get a picture, Derek, as you've said of, of what freedom and deliverance look like, like it's the power of God, right. Who is, who is coming on behalf of his people. And we see that in so many things. There are the 10 plagues, uh, of Egypt, which we don't have time to go into all of them, but they are all not just assaults on the nation of Egypt, but the gods of Egypt, I think about the plague of darkness, for example. Well, their most powerful God was Ra, the God of the sun. And you know, the God of the Hebrews is like, no, like I'm going to, I'm going to blot out the sun. Uh, it culminates in, you know, the 10th plague, the death of the firstborn, uh, which even affects Pharaoh's house, Pharaoh was considered a God. So God is, is proving his superiority, his dominance over not only the ways of Egypt, but the gods of Egypt just saying like, no, I am, I am the ultimate God. I am the one who has power over all things. But on the night of the death of the firstborn, uh, God institutes, uh, a way of deliverance, but also something that becomes a festival for the Jewish people, uh, the night of Passover, when God, uh, delivers them, when he tells them to offer the sacrifice of a lamb, put its blood on the doorposts. And that way, you know, the, the angel of death or however you want to phrase that up, who comes to claim, he'll see the blood on the door and know, well, this is the house of one of God's people. Yeah. Passover and Passover. Yeah.

So, uh, Derek, as you kind of think about that, what, what is, what do we see about what freedom looks like in God's liberation in these, in these stories? Yeah. Golly, like God's so intentional even back then of giving us some foreshadowing of what he was going to do through the blood of his son, Jesus, that by his blood on the cross, I mean, golly, that was, you know, just... it literally, it covers our life. It covers our sin. It covers our iniquity. And like the, like, again, like the craziest thing, like blood, you'd think like it would stain, right? Obviously they're putting this over this door frame, but like, like for the, through Christ's blood, we are made pure, right? We are made clean and that we will go from death to life because of the blood of Christ, and that's what we see here regarding Passover, that they would put, you know, this blood of this lamb over the door, and that as this, what, angel of death, is that what we're saying? What was the, what's the official phrasing of that in your translation? That may be more Prince of Egypt. And, uh, uh, it's hard to remember what's movie and what's Bible. Uh, let's, I don't know, regardless, not the point, but that he would pass over the house because of the blood of the lamb on their house. And that's what the blood of Jesus does for us as believers, that it's through his blood, not our good works, not just the, even for them, not even just the sheer fact that they were God's people. It was, it was the blood of the lamb that allowed them, uh, to be passed over, um, by death that their firstborn had to be saved. Um, and he would eventually deliver them. There's such a good hint of the gospel there too. And what you're saying, because, you know, you think back to Genesis

three and God's saying, well, you know, if you sin, if you eat this tree, you're going to, you're going to die, you're going to have to die. Uh, and Passover is just kind of this first hint, like, Hey, you know, if something else dies for you, if someone else dies for you, like the, the curse and the penalty can pass over. Yeah. And we saw that we didn't talk about this in week one, but we see this concept of blood or sacrifice requiring blood, um, way back in Genesis three, when the Lord says he made garments of clothing for Adam and Eve. And so like an animal had to die in order for them to be covered. And so this has been a concept that existed even from the third chapter of the Bible, and we will see that continued like this blood of payment. Um, and then there's so much symbolism too, when we get to Jesus of like him being the firstborn, like him dying for us, like him going first. Um, and there's even like the blood on the doorpost, like doorposts were wooden. And so he dies on a cross. So his blood seeps into the wood. Like there's just so many connections, um, that the Lord kind of sets up here as the Passover of saving us, like eventually pointing to Jesus. So it's on that night that Pharaoh lets the Israelites go. Let's this work force leave. He's had enough. Uh, they leave Egypt, uh, they leave, uh, so quickly that they're not able to put yeast in their bread. Uh, so they, they have unleavened bread, which is part of, of the Passover celebration from there on out. Uh, Pharaoh changes his mind though, after a couple hours of thinking about it, he pursues them, it's a common theme for him. Yeah. He's like, you know what?

I shouldn't have let my workforce leave. Uh, and so he pursues them out to, uh, the red sea and it's there, Sarah, like you said, they have this, this great moment of deliverance that they look back on for the rest of the old Testament really, and say, Hey, God saved us at the water, like we were, we had our backs to the red sea, Pharaoh was chasing us. Moses, you know, uh, uses stuff, parts, parts of the red sea. And we walked over on dry ground. Uh, and it's just an incredible, another picture of deliverance. You can't, you can't go out and, you know, like we can't go part the Ohio river, uh, cause we're definitely not swimming, but you know, there's this picture of deliverance, but it's still not enough for the Israelite people. Cause the, the moment they get out, out of Egypt, they start complaining. They start grumbling. Um, so let's, let's kind of walk through that a little bit. Cause God takes them out into the desert with the intention of showing them, Hey, this is what it means to be my people. Uh, this is what it means to live in and walk, uh, with me. And yet they kind of, they kind of, uh, delay themselves off of that. They, they distract themselves from that with their grumbling and complaining. So Derek, as you think about that, uh, how, how does that look like in the Israelites? Like, what does that look like in our life? As, as we see what God has done and, and still continue to complain about what he hasn't. Well, I think for the generation of Israel, that's there in the desert, they have all grown up in a culture in Egypt where there are many gods. There are many things to, to worship, to bow down to. And you see that like is, uh, you know, when things get hard, kind of where do they try to figure things out? Well, that's where we see is as Moses is up on this mountain talking with the Lord

and receiving, um, well, you know, we call the 10 commandments, they're down, you know, building this golden calf, getting ready to worship it. Um, but it's, it's so typical of the human spirit of all of us where, um, especially in seasons of wandering. And I mean, they're wandering for 40 years and like it, we become so discontent with what we have and God met their need every single time. He met their need every single time, but there's always that next thing. That's like, well, like I know you answered that prayer, but like today I'm actually struggling with this. Um, and I don't know if you're going to come through for me, you know, like have I used up all my like prayer coupons or what does it look like? But that's how it feels sometimes. right? That you're like, oh man, I don't know. But I think I can identify, because what's hard is that for us we can read about this period in history with the Israelites and think like, man, how they should have known. They saw God leading them. Gosh, He parted the sea for them. How could they not have faith? Well, we're very broken and infallible and forgetful people of what God has done for us. Yeah, it's kind of funny to think about, but it's not really that funny, because I think we would be the same in this situation. But I mean, it's not like 10 minutes since they have crossed the Red Sea and they're like, Moses, we want to go back to Egypt. We were better fed. But they were enslaved. And so we are just so quick to forget God's faithfulness and what He's done. And we are so used to our comfort. It's not that they were comforted in slavery, but it's what they were used to. It's more of like, oh, I'm just used to this. But when the Lord is calling us to do something different or go a different way, it's like, oh, no, I want to go back there. I want to go back to Egypt. I was better there when they clearly weren't. But it's just kind of funny to think about, because I think our attitudes are the same so many times in our lives. We're like, oh, no, I'm good. I'm good in this here. I don't want to go where the Lord's calling me to. I don't trust that yet. Yeah. Well, and how many times do we see in Scripture, especially here, God pulling His people out into a season where here, literally, He's creating them in the beginning. He's creating them to be a nation for Him. And He's pulling them out of what they're used to. He's pulling them out into this uncomfortable, sandy, hot environment to grow

them into the people He wants them to be. And how many times in our life? I just thought about that when you were talking. How many times in our life does God pull us out of seasons? And we can think, there ain't no way God wants me to be here. Right. Ain't no way. It doesn't feel good. Doesn't feel peaceful. But maybe this is the season that God is forming you in. Yeah. Just maybe. That's good. So they get out of Egypt, and they immediately begin grumbling. They grumble like, oh, we don't have water. God gives them water. We don't have food. God gives them food. It rains down food from the sky. It rains down sky bread called manna in the desert. Every day they have food, but then they complain about that. Uber Eats doesn't deliver that. Then they get meat. Yeah. We want something else. We want quail. And God's like, oh, you want quail. I'm gonna give you some. And He gives them so much quail that they're like, well, this is making us sick. So they just continue to grumble and grumble and grumble, which, like having kids, I totally understand. But their grumbling kind of reaches ahead and gets them in real trouble when they send some spies out to see the Promised Land. God is taking them back to Canaan, the land He promised Abraham. And they go there, and they see what they... 12 spies go out, 10 come back and are like, hey, there are giants in the land. Like, no, we're not gonna do... We know what God did in Egypt. We don't think He's gonna do it here. Two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, they try to talk them out of it, but the report of the 10 wins out, and God punishes them by saying, well, you guys didn't trust in me in this, so now you're gonna spend 40 years wandering through the desert until the generation that didn't believe they'd die off in the wilderness. So 40 years they spend wandering. And that's kind of the rest of the story of the first five books of the Bible. Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy tells us about this period of wandering and going through the wilderness. And I got to imagine God's specific words were, we got to wait for this generation to die off before you guys can go take the promise. You got to imagine they got down to that last guy. And everybody's looking at one another. Like, please die. Like, wait, hold on. Like, we need Frank to get out of here. Right, right. Holding on, man, holding on, just in defiance. As soon as Frank is gone. Yeah, as soon as he's gone. Even Moses ends up dying in the wilderness because of some of his own disobedience. So it comes the time after this 40 years for them to finally take the promised land. And it's Joshua, one of the two good spies of the 12 who ultimately is chosen to lead Israel out of that. And Joshua is where we really get to, hey, everything is, they're finally getting

what God has promised. They're finally getting the land. They're finally moving into that. So kind of walk us through what happens when they take the promised land through the story of Joshua and kind of what happens in those next few books as we go from them just coming into the land to becoming a nation in the land. Yeah. Well, I want to pause just real quick because there's a verse and probably a collection of verses that maybe we've heard before, like if you're watching this podcast, this episode, or it's one that like if you're walking through a store, like maybe you see it. It's a Hobby Lobby sign. Hobby Lobby sign. Yeah. This be strong and courageous. Oh yeah. Right. Specifically in like a little boy's room. Right. Like it's, you know, with the sun and the moon, you know. Right. Well, so in the first chapter of the book of Joshua, you know, it's called God's charge to Joshua, like as he's about to lead them. So he is Israel's new leader. Yes, yeah. Right, and Moses is gone, he's about to die, or has died, and he's given him this charge. And he's saying, hey, God's saying, hey, only be strong and very courageous. Another verse, be strong and courageous. Towards the end, have I not commanded you?

Be strong and courageous. Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever they go. Yeah. And hopefully that kind of just shines a light for people that are watching this or listening to this, knowing that like this is where that verse intersects into this story. Yeah. That you kind of have this nation that's like, oh, I don't know, we have all these giants that are out here, I'm not sure, but yet God is giving this new leader, this charge of like, be strong and courageous, be strong and courageous, be strong and courageous. Why? Because I am with you. And that's gonna be a theme that we're gonna see throughout Judges, Kings, Saul, David, it's gonna be there. And those that kind of take heed of that advice are successful and ones that aren't are not. Yeah. When you said Hobby Lobby sign, I got worried there for a minute, because I was like, hey, Joshua, live, laugh, love, right? Like, no, it's, you know, but I think that's so true, because we live in a day where we largely think, you know, have confidence because you are enough. Right.

And that is not at all what happens in the taking of the promised land, or even in Exodus, is like, no, have confidence because he's with you, because he's enough. Right. And there's a big difference there. So basically, they enter into the promised land, like there are people groups there that obviously are not following the Lord. And so kind of by territory by territory, God uses Joshua and the people to conquer this promised land back for God's people. And there are some other kind of maybe, I don't like using the phrase slogs of scripture, because that's not true. Slogs? Is that even the right word to use? You're right, I understand, but there are portions of scripture that are difficult to read, that are just hard to concentrate through. I did not know what you meant by slog. Because they're going to start assigning land. Land allotments. Land allotments. It's like just reading a property tax. Land allotments to the tribes of Israel, but it's setting up some great geographical context to what God's kingdom is gonna look like. Well, but it's also so important

because it reminds us that these things happened in a place and at a time. Like this isn't some mythological metaphorical story. This happened at 1031 Jericho Drive, right? Like these things happened. And Jericho doesn't exist anymore. Well, that's true, but still. Like it happened in real place in a real time. Yes, absolutely. And so they allot in all this land and Joshua comes, passes away. And over the course of time, like there's this need for leadership, right? That, I mean, I love the family I get to be a part of, for sure. But even in the family that I love so much, we still have quarreling, right? Or that's in my Bible more than a few times. We have some fighting, we have some disagreements. And so there needs to be judges, right, in this land. And some are good. Some aren't great. Right? But then ultimately it leads us to a place in Israel's history where they're like, you know what, we're kind of done with this. Yeah, yeah. When they get into the land and they decide to have judges, the book of Judges is not so much a slog as it is a just, there's some really terrible things

that happen in Judges. Kind of depressing. Yeah, Judges is not- It's that sin and brokenness. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, like I've heard Judges described as a cycle, right? Like things are bad, they cry out to God, God raises up a judge, the judge saves them, things are good, they turn away from God. But it's not so much a cycle as it is like a spiral. Yeah. Because it starts out bad and gets worse, right? Like you start with judges like Deborah, who is fantastic and a wonderful leader. And then you, like the final judge you kind of read about is Samson. And he is just a hot mess of a leader. So yeah, it gets, it all kind of comes to a head where the book of Judges ends with that note, right? That in those days, Israel had no king and everyone just did what they wanted. So there's this concept that, hey, if we're gonna be a people, if we're gonna be a nation, we need a king to lead us. We need somebody to step up. What they fail to recognize in that moment is they have a king. God wants to be the king. He's been clear on that when he brought him out

and gave him the 10 commandments. I want to tell you how to live. I want you to follow my laws. But after getting through this spiral of judges, things don't seem to get that much better with their first king, King Saul, who's a little bit of a mess as well. But you kind of walk through those first three kings of Israel. We get King Saul, we get King David, we get King Solomon, who really, it's David and Solomon that really establish Israel as a nation. Bring Israel up onto the national stage, or not the national stage, the international stage at that point in time. So as you guys think about this time as Israel's establishing themselves as a monarchy, like what lessons do we see there? I think it's really interesting that, you know, the Lord has established himself as king, like so many times, but they get kind of confused because they're like, okay, well, there's also been these promises that there's gonna be, you know, his kingdom on earth. And so, which makes sense, because I think if you're hearing that, and you're them, you know, who have walked through all of this history with Israel, you're like, okay, well, I think I want a king.

And in his grace, like the Lord's like, okay, like, it's almost like, well, I'll give you what you want, but it's not gonna be what you want kind of thing. And so, you know, Saul's a little bit of a hot mess. They choose him based on looks, I think, rather than personality, you know, not a great thing when you're choosing a king or a mate, I think, but, and then David comes up. And so I just, I think it's so interesting, like just the way that they are wanting more, like they're always wanting more. And that's just true of our hearts too. Like when you see it from immediately, when they leave Egypt to here, they're like Jesus, or Jesus, God is never enough for them, like never enough. And he's saying, okay, well, like, if I'm not enough for you, I'll try to give you what you want, but it's still not really what they want. And it's just this, you know, discontentment of their hearts that continues to lead Israel like down this really dark path. That's good. Yeah, and you know, what I think of when I look at it as like, as people, like we can, depending on who we're around, we can get pretty worked up over some stuff, right? So there's probably some advice here of like, you know, be careful who you're listening to,

be careful who you're around, because like, again, like this is, these are God's people, like stories of God coming through for them, Passover, the sea parting through the desert, even conquering the land that they're in now had to have been a part of their culture of their life. And yet it never occurred to them in this spot that like, oh, well, God is ultimately our King, right? Like ultimately. And that's why for us, like it's important to be around people that are following God genuinely and are absolutely in scripture. And for us to be in scripture, because this is where we learn in seasons of life where it's like, oh, like maybe I'm trying to control what I want for my life rather than letting God be the King of it, be the master and Lord over my life. And I think this is one of those examples, but on a larger scale for the nation of Israel, where Saul comes, makes several mistakes, is disobedient, and God chooses a new King in David. And like, we see how God uses this boy with great faith in the Lord. And even when we see David stepping into this valley to fight against Goliath, when Saul won't, when he's still King, you kind of have the Philistines on one side,

you got the nation of Israel on the other side, this massive man, Goliath in the middle. And then there's this like boy coming down. And it's not David's incredible ability with a slingshot that kills this giant, right? It's the power of God working through David in this moment, right? And again, it's one of those scenes where it's like, we tend to glorify David in the moment. And I just think he should be praised to a certain regard that he had the faith to do that. But I have a strong belief that he stepped into that valley in the power of God, in that this whole nation, these Philistines and Goliath were not only challenging Israel, but they were challenging their God. And it was another moment where God shows up and puts the, ends the fight. He may not have started it, but he ended it by his power, not David's. You know, I think that's such a good word and it ties in so much to these first, well, I guess we've been through a lot of books of the Bible now. But there's this theme developing, I think throughout the Bible that we are so often gonna be tempted to do it. way. We're going to be tempted to think we can do it under our own power. We're going to be tempted to think we deserve certain things because of what we've accomplished or whatever, that we can make it on our own. And that always ends in trouble. That always ends in destruction. It's like, you

know, if we're going to be a people, if we're going to be individuals who follow God, like, we're not, it's not going to be under our own power. It's not going to be under our own accomplishment. It's going to be because God meets us there. And it's going to be because we trusted in Him rather than trusting in ourselves. Well, and what we're going to see here in David's life shortly is that even for someone like him, who, gosh, I mean, so many of the Psalms that we see of his heart, of how God has delivered him from Saul or people chasing after him or even his own family at a certain part, that even David, right, in a moment of just bad decisions, even he was one bad decision away from kind of making a mess of his life. Yeah. You know, all of the kings of Israel, in a sense, ultimately have their downfall, right? Like Saul's is pretty apparent. Like he just generally doesn't trust in God. David has his sin with Bathsheba where his kingdom begins to unravel and fall apart. His son Solomon will fall into much of the same trap as well, allowing his heart to be pulled away by political power, by, you know, his hundreds of marriages to like daughters of foreign kings, like he'll get pulled into idolatry and all that. And like, it's just this reminder, I think to us that no human king is perfect. Like there's only one king who's worth... I guess ultimately we need a better king is what it all comes down to, right? We need a better king to lead us, to show us the way, to help us be who it is that God wants us to be. So Sarah, I'll give you kind of the last word on this. As you think about God leading Israel from a nation enslaved in Egypt to its own... like they're slaves in Egypt to players on the world stage. Like what lesson do you take away from that? What do you see in the story of Israel? Gosh, I think there's a lot of lessons we can learn to be quite honest, but I just continue to see the Lord just continue to rescue his people. You know, even going back to Exodus, like he rescues them out of slavery in Egypt. He sustains them through the wilderness. He does give them the promised land. It's not easy, but they get there. I mean, he just continues to be their people, even when they might not claim him, when they're wanting him to be... they're wanting their own kings and, you know, even falling away in so many different ways. But I mean, there's that underlying current of God's still there. He's still faithful. He's still working, even when it seems like when you at first glance, it's just a big hot mess, because it is a lot of the times, but there's this slow undercurrent of God's continuing to work. And then we will eventually talk about how Jesus comes from the line of David. And so he is the fulfillment

of that king that they're really wanting and looking for. And he is that perfect king. And just the way that God is weaving together all of these stories, because not only is Jesus from the line of David, but it traces all the way back to Abraham, too, and that promise that we see in Genesis. So it all is just this one story of God's faithfulness and sustaining this people through some really terrible times, and sometimes by their own choices, right? And so I just see that for us as well. Like, I think if we all look back on our lives, we can see this undercurrent of God's continuing to work. He's continuing to be faithful. Even at first glance, it seems like we might be in the wilderness, or we're enslaved in sin, so to speak, like we're in our own Egypt. He's still gonna work to redeem us through all of it. I love that. I love that, Sarah, because it makes me think if we looked at our lives on a graph, we'd have ups and downs, just like Israel. We'd be all over the joint. But the faithfulness of God is the constant line, and the thread that runs through all of it. It's like no matter where we're at in life, he's always there right beside us. So. Good. Well, thank you all for joining us for week two of Eden to Eternity. I know we covered a lot going through the history of Israel, but next week we still have a little bit to walk through talking about what happens when Israel finally does get their own way and how their exile ends in not only devastation, but in a renewed sense of God's promises. So I hope you'll join us as we continue on walking through the story of the Bible and what it means for our own stories. We'll see you next time.