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

1 Kings chapter 5. Let's jump right in here. We're going to go through each verse. Look down at verse number 1. Bob reads, And Hyrum king of Tyre sent his servants unto Solomon. For he had heard that they had anointed him king in the room of his father, for Hyrum was ever a lover of David. So Hyrum, of course, he's a king of Tyre, and previously you read earlier in the books of 1 and 2 Samuel, Hyrum, and David. It's not like a huge history there, but when David was the king and when he was ruler, Hyrum just really liked David, the way he ruled or whatever, and David had made a deal with him previously where Hyrum had helped build David's house. So they had helped, he had used their skill and their resources to help build David's house. So now it's come time, of course, for Solomon to build the temple. And he kind of explains this to Hyrum. Verse 2 says, And Solomon sent to Hyrum, saying, Thou knowest how that David my father could not build an house unto the name of the Lord his God, for the wars which were about him on every side, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet. But now the Lord my God hath given me rest on every side, so that there is neither adversary nor evil occurrence. And behold, I purposed to build an house unto the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord spake unto David my father, saying, Thy son whom I will set upon thy throne in thy room, he shall build an house unto my name. Now therefore command now that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon, and my servants shall be with thy servants, and unto thee will I give hire for thy servants, according to all that thou shalt appoint. For thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like unto the Cydonian. So basically what he's doing is hiring the Cydonians, the people of Tyre and Sidon. He's talking to the king of Tyre and saying, he knew David very well. He loved David. And he's going to see how things are going with Solomon. How's everything going? And Solomon reports back to him and saying, hey, we need to build this great temple. God has instructed me, now that David has passed, he wasn't allowed to build the house, but I'm going to take over and build this house. So he wants to use the skill and the labor and the resources of the Cydonians, the men of Tyre and Sidon, because apparently they were very cunning and skillful in the work that they did. So they were good loggers. Sarah, be quiet. Hush your mouth and sit in your chair right now. So this is what's going on. This first part of the chapter, you know, this whole chapter in general, when you just look at it, there's not a whole lot happening within Chapter 5. But one thing I want to point out here is, and this is just, I just realized this relatively recently, so hopefully I'll be able to expand on this a little bit more in the coming weeks, but I haven't had that much time to fully prepare and find all of the various aspects of this. This period of reign, I'm convinced about this, this period of reign of Solomon is like a foreshadowing or a type of the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. And there's a lot of things that line up just perfectly with the way things are going to be when Jesus Christ rules and reigns on this earth for a thousand years. And the first part I want to point out here is in verse number 4 where the Bible reads, And now the Lord my God hath given me rest on every side, so that there is neither adversary nor evil occurring. So he uses that word adversary, and of course another name for adversary is Satan. Satan's name means he's an enemy. He's the adversary. He's the opponent. And during this reign, during Solomon's reign at a time of peace, prosperity, no war, there's no evil, there's no one attacking, everybody is living completely safely within the kingdom. And there is no adversary. Of course, during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ, during that entire thousand years, Satan's bound up and he's in hell for those thousand years until he's loosed at the end of those thousand years and then brings all the ends of the world together against Jesus Christ. And as I was just reading, look at verse number 3, because this isn't even in my notes, but as I got to this realization, just finding all the type and the various analogies, look at verse number 3, the Bible says, Thou knowest how that David my father could not build an house under the name of the Lord his God, for the wars which were about him on every side, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet. And when Jesus Christ comes to rule and reign, every enemy is going to be put under his feet during that time. And even in this chapter, there's so much here that can line up and we see this foreshadowing and this imagery of that millennial reign of Christ. So, like I said, I'm going to try to really study a lot more into this topic as we get going in the next few chapters just to see how well this lines up. Turn if you would to Isaiah chapter 2, because I want to expound on this a little bit more. Keep your finger in 1 Kings chapter 5, we're coming right back, but go if you would to Isaiah chapter 2. Isaiah chapter 2 is another prophecy of this time during the millennium. Verse number 1 of chapter 2, the Bible reads, The word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills and all nations shall flow unto it. This is going to happen in the last days. All nations will be coming to the feet of Jesus Christ where he's ruling and reigning. And it says in verse 3, And many people shall go and say, Come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways. And we will walk in his paths, for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. This is where Jesus and Christ is going to be ruling and reigning. He's going to be ruling and reigning with that rod of iron. The law is going to be instituted when Jesus Christ is on this earth for that thousand years. And it's going to be the best. It's basically going to be God showing us this is the way I intended things to be. Jesus Christ physically, literally is going to be ruling and there will be peace at this time. There will be world peace during this time of Jesus Christ reigning. Now, what we have to be aware of is that the Bible lays out an order of events where the Antichrist is going to try to come first and bring that world peace. And there's a lot of Christians that get confused about this because they think Jesus Christ is going to be coming first and then the Antichrist. And this is one of the reasons why people are going to be deceived is because when Jesus Christ does come to rule and reign, he is going to have peace. There is going to be world peace. Everyone will be submitting to the command of Jesus Christ. But see, that's what Satan is going to come, or the Antichrist is going to come, claiming to be the second coming of Jesus Christ, claiming to be from God and instituting, bringing forth this notion of world peace. He's going to have a one world religion, one world government. Now, we know that this is going to happen first and we need to be aware that that's going to happen because what he's doing is he's mimicking Jesus. He's trying to copy basically everything about Christ to fool people and to get them to worship him. But we see here in Isaiah chapter 2, it says, you know, it's saying that everyone's going to come, they're going to want to teach us of his ways, we're going to walk in his paths, out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, verse number 4, and he shall judge among the nations and shall rebuke many people and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. Because this could be a time of complete peace. There's going to be no reason for these instruments of war and these weapons because there is going to be perfect peace during this time. Now, the other thing that's interesting and I think that matches up in the previous chapter, we saw that the other kings of the earth were going unto Solomon to learn of his wisdom. Remember the queen of Sheba came and was learning, she was just astounded by the wisdom of Solomon and how his servants were all happy and they all were in their place and everyone was serving him so well and the whole kingdom was run just magnificently. Again, the foreshadowing of what's going to happen when Jesus Christ is ruling and reigning. And this passage in Isaiah chapter 2, there's actually a parallel passage found in the book of Micah, which these few verses that we just read are essentially repeated. They're almost verbatim, they're real similar. But then it adds one more verse and you don't have to turn there, but Micah 4 says, But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree. You're all going to have your own property, you're going to have your own vine, your own fig tree. It says, And none shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it. Well, flip back now to 1 Kings chapter 4, from last week. If you remember this verse from last week in 1 Kings chapter 4, verse number 25, the Bible reads, And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba all the days of Solomon. I don't think that's a coincidence at all. It's showing us, definitely. This is the exact same terminology, but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree in Micah 4. Same exact phrase in 1 Kings 4.25. I think that's really interesting, showing just all the parallels to what the way it's going to be in the end times. Go back to chapter 5 now, 1 Kings. And we already read these verses, but as Solomon now is dealing with the king of Tyre, we see some more of his wisdom demonstrated. And this is just good knowledge to have. We can see some of his skills in negotiating with Hyrum. Verse number 6, and this is a real basic principle, but it's good to understand anyways. Verse number 6, Now therefore command thou that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon, and my servants shall be with thy servants, and unto thee will I give hire for thy servants, according to all that thou shalt appoint. So he needs these resources from Hyrum. He also needs their help in doing a lot of the work. So what he's saying here is that, well, I'm going to hire you, I'm going to give you some food, and I'm going to pay you, but I'm going to send my servants and your servants, who will be working together, to do this work. And then he ends it by saying, For thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like unto the Cydonians. So he's complimenting him, right? I mean, he's telling him how great they are. Like, you guys are great at this work. I need your help with this because nobody can do the job that you guys can do. And that's just wisdom to have when you're dealing with people anyways, and you want to, you know, you're trying to negotiate things, get people to work with you. You don't want to come in, you know, notice he says, he's telling him, you know, Command your people to do this, but he's also at the same time lifting them up, you know, and praising them. In verse number seven, it says, And it came to pass, when Hyrum heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly. He knew how to speak with Hyrum. He knew how to deal with them, so that he was happy to hear this type of a commandment from him, saying that, Hey, why don't you go ahead and get these guys to help us out here and do this great work unto the Lord? And said, Blessed be the Lord this day, which hath given unto David a wise son over this great people. Another reason why Hyrum probably liked David so much is he had respect unto the Lord, because he said right there, Blessed be the Lord this day, which hath given unto David a wise son. So Solomon demonstrated a lot of wisdom in his negotiation with Hyrum. Let's see here, verse number, I'm on the wrong page, here we go. Verse number seven, And it came to pass, yeah, we just read that, verse number eight, And Hyrum sent to Solomon, saying, I have considered the things which thou sentest to me for, and I will do all thy desire concerning timber of cedar and concerning timber of fir. My servant shall bring them down from Lebanon unto the sea, and I will convey them by sea and floats unto the place that thou shalt appoint me, and will cause them to be discharged there, and thou shalt receive them, and thou shalt accomplish my desire in giving food for my household. So he works out the logistics there, they're going to send him down the river, they're going to send him down and kind of meet him halfway in getting them to Jerusalem. Verse 10, So Hyrum gave Solomon cedar trees and fir trees, according to all his desire. And Solomon gave Hyrum twenty thousand measures of wheat for food to his household, and twenty measures of pure oil, thus gave Solomon to Hyrum year by year. So as long as this work was continuing for every year, he was just giving him all this food as payment for him doing the work for him. Verse number 12, And the Lord gave Solomon wisdom as he promised him. And there was peace between Hyrum and Solomon, they two made a league together. So as they made a league, basically they just joined forces saying that, you know, if anyone attacks you, you know, we're on your side, we'll be there to defend you. And their allies, they allied with one another, that's what it means when they made a league. They made a deal with each other that they'd be looking out for one another. Verse number 13, And King Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel, and the levy was thirty thousand men. A levy is basically just a tax, so this is how he was going to get everything done, is that he's going to be taxing the people. Now, we already learned from Samuel, you know, when the people wanted to have a king over them, and he was upset, and he kind of rebuked them, and he said, look, you don't want to have a king over you, this is the way that a king's going to be, you know. And he warned them that he's going to take the best of your sons and of your daughters, you're going to bring them to himself, and to work in his vineyards and do all this work for him, and you're going to end up being taxed. Whereas, with God being their king, and not setting up a man to be their king, and to be their king, they had a lot more freedom, and it made a lot more sense. But this is what happens when you establish a king. Now, I want to point out here, though, that what Solomon's doing, what I believe he's doing here, and I'm going to prove this, turn if you would, I'm going to keep reading here in 1 Kings chapter 5, but turn if you would to 2 Chronicles chapter 2. 2 Chronicles chapter 2. I'm going to demonstrate that Solomon taxed the foreigners in Israel, not the natives, not the children of Israel themselves, but any of the foreigners that were in their land. If you remember, when the children of Israel took over the Promised Land, they never fully got rid of the Canaanites and the Jebusites and the Hivites, all the nations that they were supposed to completely destroy and wipe out, they never fully accomplished that. So there was a lot of people left still in the land that were supposed to have been destroyed, but they weren't, and they became their tributaries or their servants as a result of losing the war, of course, but then still being alive, they were under bondage, essentially, to the children of Israel. And these are the people who we're going to see is who he got the levy from. And look at verse number 17 in 2 Chronicles chapter 2, where Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel, after the numbering where David his father had numbered them, and they were found in three thousand and six hundred. One hundred and fifty three thousand six hundred strangers, or foreigners, were in the land at that time, verse number 18, and he set threescore in ten thousand of them. So it says there, he sent seventy thousand of them to be bearers of burdens, and four score thousand to be hewers in the mountain, and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a work. And we didn't read these verses yet, but in 1 Kings chapter 5, verse number 14, it says, and he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses, a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home, and Adoniram was over the levy, and Solomon had threescore and ten thousand that bare burdens, and four score thousand hewers in the mountains. And so it says here that he had the same amount of people basically doing the work. And it even says in 1 Kings chapter 9, if you want to skip back to 1 Kings, in chapter 9 verse 21, the Bible reads, their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel also were not able to utterly destroy, upon those did Solomon levy a tribute of bond service unto this day. But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bondmen, but they were men of war, and his servants, and his princes, and his captains, and rulers of his chariots, and his horsemen. So he was using these foreigners to basically tax them and to get this work done. And this concept actually lines up with what Jesus said in Matthew 17. So we're almost done with the sermon tonight, there's not a whole lot that we're going over, so just bear with me, turn if you would to Matthew chapter 17. While you're turning to Matthew 17, I just want to point out one more foreshadowing of the thousand year, the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. Because during that time when Jesus Christ is the king, and he's ruling out of Jerusalem, we're literally going to rule and reign with Jesus Christ. Because believe it or not, after God's even done with the tribulation, and then the wrath that gets poured out, there's still going to be people left over that not everyone on the earth is going to be destroyed. So when Jesus sets up his kingdom, there are going to be unbelievers still in this world. There's going to be people that didn't get saved, that there's going to be people getting saved throughout the millennium, but there's going to be people that Jesus Christ is going to be ruling and reigning over, and that we, as his saints, those that are doing the works of God, he's going to reward us with being rulers over the people during that time. And this is seen here in verse 16 of 1 Kings chapter 5, beside the chief of Solomon's officers. So the chief of Solomon's officers, which were over the work, 3,300 which ruled over the people that wrought in the work. So they were basically the chief rulers and leaders that were overseeing all this work being done. And I believe those that are faithful, and that earn their crowns by living a righteous life for Jesus Christ, are going to be in charge of the work and the ruling and reigning basically with Jesus Christ. The more that you've done for him, I think a higher position you're going to have in Jesus' kingdom. It's not all just equal when we get to heaven. You're going to receive rewards based on the things that you've done in this lifetime. So there's a lot of reasons to do good in the work for God in this life. Now, I had you turn to Matthew 17, where I see here the story of where they asked Peter, you know, don't you guys pay taxes? Look at verse number 24, Matthew 17. Matthew 17, 24, and when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter and said, doth not your master pay tribute? So the tax collector comes by and he says, hey, doesn't your master pay tribute? And Peter, kind of foolish to answer, he said, yes. And when he was coming to the house, Jesus prevented him saying, so before Peter could even say anything, Jesus says, what thinkest thou, Simon? Of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? Of their own children or of strangers? Peter saith unto him, of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, then are the children free. And this is the same concept that we saw being acted out in 1 Kings 5, where Solomon's raising a levy to get all this work done for the house of the Lord and everything else, but he was using the strangers in order to do all that work and setting them off to be all the laborers to do the work for them because that's who he was taxing with those people because the children were supposed to be free. And you read this and it lets me know, you know what, we're not free today. We supposedly live in a free country. Now, if you want to compare it to every other country in the world, sure. We have more freedoms. We have more things that we can do and thank God for that. Thank God for the freedom of our religion and being able to do and assemble and worship and do the things that we're able to do here, to own the firearms and have the freedoms that we have today. But I'll tell you what, as long as we're just being taxed, we are embodied. We're servants, slaves, basically, to those that are in power. But Jesus Christ says, and I want to point this out also in verse 27, because in verse 26 in Matthew 17, Jesus explains that they are not obligated to pay any taxes. So they're collecting the tax wrongfully against Jesus and Peter because they were children of the land. They weren't strangers, they weren't foreigners, so they shouldn't have been taxed. But look what he says in verse 27. He says, notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast and hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up, and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money, take that take, and give unto them for me and thee. He's saying, look, we don't need to fight this battle. We shouldn't be paying these taxes. And there's a lot of taxes that I don't think we should be paying at all. I don't think they're just. I don't think they're right. Even when you look at the laws on the books, they're not right. You know, supposedly the income tax is supposed to be all voluntary. And you talk to the tax preventionist and they'll tell you, and they really dance around the subject and they use their words real carefully, but it's all a voluntary system. And that's the way it was set up. This income tax. But what's funny is that in this voluntary system, if you refuse to pay your taxes, what's going to happen? Eventually, you're going to get fined. If you continue to refuse to pay, refuse to pay, refuse to pay, someone's going to come and drag you away and put you into a cage. And that's what's going to happen at the end of the day if you refuse to pay your taxes in this country. And I think that Jesus probably would have faced something similar in that time had he refused to pay. And he says, look, it's not worth it. He says, pay him the stupid money. You know, because you could see how much Jesus cared about money anyways. He gave, the guy that was in charge of the money in his ministry was the traitor. It was Judas Iscariot. He was a thief. You think Jesus didn't know he was a thief? But that's who he had that was in charge of the money. He didn't care about the money. Now money served its purpose for the things they had to do, but it wasn't the focal point at all. So he says, you know what, we don't need to pay these stupid taxes, but just pay them anyways. Because it doesn't matter. It's not a big deal. It's not a fight that we need to be fighting. There's so many more important things that we need to be doing. You know, people that want to be tax protests and stuff, you know, I don't care. Go ahead. I'm for you. But as Christians, I don't think that that's something that we should be taking up arms about because we have so many other things to do. I don't want to risk my freedom over just some stupid money that when I've got all this other work to do and I've got all this freedom to preach the gospel and do all these other things. And look, people that do that, that's great, but I have the tendency to take the attitude that Jesus had and just say, you know what, let's not offend them. Just give them their stinking money and let them choke on it or whatever. I know he didn't say that, but I added that little part. Turn, if you would, to Mark chapter number 12. Mark chapter number 12. As long as we're going, because basically the last points here is who Solomon had used in 1 Kings chapter 5. It just goes through saying he raised a levy, he sent these people there and there was a smaller amount of people who were ruling over them. It says, I'm going to read the last two verses in 1 Kings chapter 5. And the king commanded and they brought great stones, costly stones and huge stones to lay the foundation of the house. And Solomon's builders and Hyrum's builders did hew them in the stone squares so they prepared timber and stones to build the house. And that's where the chapter ends in 1 Kings chapter 5. So I'm closing on this point of just kind of taxation and biblically what we could learn from this. I'm all about freedom. I'm all about having liberty. I'm all about extremely small government. I'm all about following basically what the Bible prescribes in godly government. But I don't think we should be taxed or taxed to death for sure. But I'm just going to throw out a few concepts here that we find in the Bible. That first one in Matthew 17 from Jesus Christ saying, you know what? We don't need to pay this. We don't have to pay this. It's not right for us to pay this. But we'll just give them their stupid money. And that was kind of the way he dealt with them. Mark chapter 12 verse 14. This is of course people trying to trap Jesus Christ and to lay a trap for him to get him in trouble either with the Bible or with the government. And they're always trying to do this because the people that hated him were trying to set traps for him. They're always trying to catch him in his words so that they could get him arrested and get him killed or put in jail or whatever to stop his ministry. So knowing that, let's read this verse 14. And when they were come they say unto him, Master, we know that thou art true and carest for no man. See how they butter him up. For thou regardest not the person of men, but teacheth the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not? Now again, they're asking the question about tribute. We just saw that in Matthew 17 that they said, doth not your master pay tribute? Right? And he explained to Peter, look, we don't got to pay this. The children are free. But look at how they answered him. And they phrased it a little bit different. Is it lawful? Right? Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not? Verse 15, shall we give or shall we not give? But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, Why tempt me? Bring me a penny that I may see it. And they brought it. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they said unto him, Caesar's. And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. And they marveled at him. And that's a great answer because he's not saying one way or the other, really. He's giving them a good answer back, saying that, you know what? Whatever belongs to Caesar, give Caesar the things that belong to Caesar. But give to God the things that belong to God. And by doing that, he was definitely giving them the truth. And he wasn't getting himself, though, into any trouble with the government basically for no reason. Right? Because they're trying to pin him down on some things and get him to just say, like, no, you don't have to pay your taxes. And then they're going to arrest him for being treasonous against Caesar or whatever they were trying to do to him. But this truth that he gives them, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's, lines up with the way that he even acted anyways. Because the money, he's like, who cares about this money? That's not what he's working for. That's not what we should be working for. That's not the point of this life. It's not the physical things, the money. The Bible says, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. When you're working for God, we're working to earn up treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not corrupt and where thieves do not break forth and steal because everything in this earth ultimately is going to be burned up and destroyed. It's all going to be brought to nothing. So who cares ultimately about this money anyways? And then Romans 13, as the last place we'll turn. Romans 13 gives a good explanation of what human government is for. Romans 13. Romans 13 also brings up a mention of paying tribute or taxes. This is actually an area I think a lot of Christians are a little mixed up on and have gone down the path of obedience to government pretty much at all times, and I don't think that's what the Bible teaches at all. It's really kind of weird because the mindset that a lot of Christians have today is like, they say that, well, whoever the ruler is is put there by God and you just have to just do whatever they say because it's the government and you'd be fighting against God if you fought against his government. So it's kind of a twisted outlook on the government in general. And basically what that would be is if you take that to its logical end, so what about Christians who are living in Nazi Germany or under Stalinist Russia or whatever in these communist regimes? So I guess as a Christian you should just do everything that the government says? I mean, just, okay, I'm going to go off and kill a bunch of people because you said so, whatever. Whatever the case may be, right? Just because you're an authority, no. There's righteous authority and there's wicked authority. And we have every right to rebel against a wicked authority that's not, that's exceeding the power that God has given unto them. Romans 13, look at verse number one, it explains this and explains the purpose of government and what the Bible's referring to as, you know, those that are in power and who we ought to be submitting to and who we ought not to be. Verse one, let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. And, you know, this is an important reason why we use the King James Bible. This isn't in my notes, but I'm going to bring it out anyways and just to show you what, I've got the non-inspired version right here and I'm going to turn here because I know that all the new, the modern perversions have changed this and every word of God is extremely important. If we want to know the meaning of things, you know, the words are what give us that meaning and when you start changing the words around, you come up with different meanings. Romans 13, one in the King James Bible says, it's talking about powers. God has ordained certain powers, right? There's a power structure that God has ordained. Romans 13, and notice it's subtle, but it's different. Non-inspired version says, everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities. Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities. It's different than saying God has established powers and being subject unto the higher powers, right? So the power of God and God's law trumps everything. So we ought not to obey man when it contradicts God's laws and he said there's powers that he's established and we need to be subject unto the higher powers. Everyone, this says, everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. And that's saying the authorities that exist. It's not, it's different from the powers. Verse 2, we're going to read from the, I just wanted to point that out, I don't want to get into that too deep. Verse 2, Whosoever therefore resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou not then be afraid of the power? So the purpose of having rulers, the purpose of these people is to be not a terror to good works, of doing good things and acting righteously. So let me ask you this, if there's a ruler that is a terror to, say, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, as it is in Communist China, as it is in the nation of Israel today, is that a ruler that is following the power of God? No, of course not. The rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou not then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. For he is the minister, again, talking about the ruler, verse 4, for he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that, which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain, for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. This is the God-ordained function of having a ruler. It's to execute judgment on the evildoers. Those that will violate somebody else, that will commit a crime, they need to be punished in a human sense. That's what God has ordained a human government to do that work. And actually the man that does that work, that is the power that God has ordained. That is what he has put them there for. And as long as they're doing that work, those are the people that we should fear as far as, you know, hey, if you're going to do something bad, you're going to break the law, you know, one of God's laws, the righteous law, then you need to be afraid of these people that God has ordained to give you a punishment. Verse 5, Wherefore, for this reason ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For this cause pay ye tribute also, for they are God's ministers attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. It is right to pay a due to someone who is established as a ruler to punish evildoers. And according to God and God's system and God's government that he would have established is that, yeah, they are due some recompense for the work that they're doing because they're being ministers of God by bringing judgment upon people who need judgment brought against them. And filling that role and occupying that role of doing that job. And he says it's right for them to be compensated for their work, for they are the ministers of God. And that's, you know, it doesn't mean that we're just obligated to pay for all this other nonsense and garbage that the government wants to do and steal our money to pay for children to be aborted or whatever, drop bombs on other people that have no business with us at all and never attacked us but just go out and do this stuff and killing us and people. That's not, you know, that's not our due. But, like Jesus said, I think this is an important point. Lest we offend them, just go ahead and give them their stupid money. Even though we're not obligated to. The obligation on the Christian's part is for those that are actually doing that judgment against the evildoer, which is what God ordained government to do anyways. And see, that is what God ordained government to do. It's very limited in its scope. God did not ordain government to come and tell you what size sodas you could drink and to be a nanny to you or a big brother to you or anything like that. That is not what God ordained government to do. So, as the government grows and starts reaching into your life and telling you all these different things you can do, that's outside of the scope of God's given authority to them. So, it is not a righteous authority when they start acting and telling you all these things that you have to do with your life. The part that we recognize and observe and are completely in obedience to are the parts that are in obedience to God's law. Not stealing, not killing, not committing adultery, all this stuff. The government has authority to punish people for doing all those things. Of course we respect that and of course that's something that God has ordained and we ought to look out for. But all this other nonsense that government does these days, that is not power that's been given to them by God, that's been usurped by man. Put it this way, it's a real simple way to put an example of the way that government is overstepping their bounds. God has also established authority structure within the home. The Bible says that the man is the head of the household and that the wife is to be in obedience to her husband. And that is the way that God is ordained. That's the power that God has prescribed. Now is that the way in every family? No. In some families the wife is the head of the household, just acting and whatever. But that's not the authority that God has prescribed. And imagine this, in my household I'm the head of the household, I make the decisions, I rule the house. But what if I just decided to start telling Mrs. Tyburick what to do and start to be like, I'm completely overstepping my bounds. God didn't give me authority over every single wife or every single woman in the world. I have my own wife and God outlined that authority structure in per family. And that's the way that it is. And with the government too, God says, okay, here is your scope of authority. This is your scope of what you have power over. This is what I'm giving to you to do. And when you get outside of that, that is not something that you necessarily have to recognize. So I'm excited when you read through the book, especially 1 Kings, to read through the reign of Solomon, keep that in mind of that being a kind of a type of the millennial reign and look out for that and try to find other parallels that you know about how the millennial reign is going to be. And point them out to me, you know, bring it up. I'm interested to see more of this because this is something that's actually pretty new for me. This is something I hadn't thought about before. So I'm excited to really dig in now and see what else we could uncover just kind of in that regards. Let's bow our eyes, have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you so much for the depth of your word, dear Lord. How much everything fits together perfectly and all of the symbolism and all the foreshadowing that you have in your word, dear Lord. It is truly magnificent. I pray for you to open up our understanding, Lord. I know that right now I just feel like we're seeing through a glass darkly. I can't wait till we can see things as they truly are face to face, dear Lord, and where you will reveal all of these secrets unto us. I pray that now while we're in this world that you'd reveal just a lot more unto us. Help me to teach these passages and help us all to learn and to grow closer to you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.