Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 1176 | The Robertsons Cling to Truth in a World of Lies

Episode Date: September 30, 2025

In this episode: John 6, verses 26, 32, 38–40; John 10, verse 10; John 17, verses 12, 15–23, 26; John 18, verses 20, 23, 36–37; Acts 2, verses 24, 27, 29–33; Ezekiel 36, verses 25–27, 30, 35–37 Chapters: 00:00–12:27 Jase Gives Manliness Lessons 12:28–22:21 Who Determines Truth? 22:22–31:13 The Truth Protects Us From Evil 31:14–47:15 Where It All Went Wrong for Mankind 47:15–57:22 From Eden to Gethsemane: Biblical Gardens — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashame. We were back from our road trip. We were just talking about it. Yeah. A little road trip to Nashville. Well, it's hard to call it a road trip if your whole life seems like a rest.

I totally understand. Well, the production value was incredible. It was, I mean, you guys had the red carpet laid out for you all, for sure, right? At no time in Nashville did I see it. If that's all a red carpet, it's because there was blood on it, did you ever see a red carpet? No, I did not. Al, you had one of the best state dinners you've ever had.

I did enjoy a nice meal. I didn't pay for it. But I did. Zach enjoyed it. Yeah, he showed up with a plus one. But yeah, we had a, that was our good friends that I am second, Angie and Greg, that took us out to eat. It was fantastic.

I missed six days of till season. to go on that trip. And, you know, we got this from our dad, Al. He always used to feel uncomfortable in a city like that. And because you just take for granted every day people go through traffic. Oh, man. That causes a lot of... I will quit complaining about Westman Road traffic after being in Nashville.

Isn't it strange just to see? It's not many, but just so many people not paying attention. Yeah. On their phones and causing so much. And all it takes is one, like we had a little bit of weather that that first day. And so just a little bit of rain thrown in the mix. And it was not good. Yeah, there's a lot of people out there who basically drive as in they're playing chicken.

It's either, I want this spot and I will risk my life and yours. Yeah. And they'll go to the distance. Oh, yeah. Go to the distance. I think the most frustrating thing is when it goes to one lane. And then you have all these people who are passing you. Zooming by.

They're going to cut in. Yeah. And they go literally to the road runs out. I saw people get in the grass. Yep. And then they just forced their way in or you have a wreck. Right. It's really.

Does it make you, because sometimes I get over there to block them. Have you ever played the blocker role? Well, I have tried, but only the 18-wheeler's can pull it at all, which they do, and I'm thankful. There's a few truck drivers out there who are making the roads at least tolerable. Yeah. Because they'll just stop. Yeah. Let everybody get out of the way.

You're not getting around them. Right. So we've got a lot of truckers that listen, so we're grateful for you guys. I've seen it before. I try to do your right. I try to do it my truck, but they'll just go around the shoulder. I realize why people have told me now that they listen. to our podcast in traffic.

That would be good. Yeah. Because it would help with your overall attitude. Calm you down a little bit. I've been working on my patience. Since I've gotten back, I haven't had much time to study, so we'll see how this goes. But we had, because my other son, which we just had Reed and his lovely wife on the podcast in Nashville. And they're a big hit because I've gotten several notes from people that have loved what,

what they taught, their story and everything about. People have reached out. And so, yeah, I'm so happy because they're, they inspire me. Yeah. And just at their age, loving to study the Bible. Brighton is a self-proclaimed number one listener of the Unashamed podcast. She did awesome. She was great.

This woman studies the Bible and has this passion. And she has three kids, three and younger. Under three, yeah. And one on the way. Four. Are you kidding me? So I need to stop complaining. So she really inspired me because when we got back,

when my other son, he's finished getting married. Yeah. Well, what I didn't know is his fiancé's family were here when we, they were waiting on us. When you got back. Yeah, and they stayed the whole weekend. Yeah. They did like a shower, a wedding shower, which was what's surprising is most of them are women.

It's a family of women. They had the dad and it was all women. Yeah. And so I was like, I bet I know y'all's favorite movie. Because this is right when I met everybody. I mean, the grandmals and the sisters and the... So they're all here. They're all there.

And they were just looking because I thought, I'm trying to joke. This is a bold movie. I said, I bet I know y'all's favorite movie. Everything stopped and it got quiet. And I said, a few good men. It was a three-second awkward pause, and then everybody laughed. And then they left there and said, I wonder what he meant by then. Cole was looking at me like, I don't know if that landed there.

So that was good, and we had little man. And so I got to show a lot of patience, but I was so inspired by Brighton's story and all her kids and because I thought there was a couple things I wanted to do. One, I wanted to teach him how to play baseball. I mean, he's three and a half. It's time. Yeah. But he didn't want to do it.

And so it took three days. And this morning before I came up here, I actually threw a ball and he whacked it. Really? It took three days. Yeah. So I'm proud of that, you know? And so what we did last night. is when we catch a fish that's not a croppy, he throws him back.

But he caught his first crop, he reeled it in by himself. And so I took that cropy, cleaned him. Have I told this story? I cleaned him because I said, no, we're keeping him. This is the holy of holies of fish. Because he likes throwing him back because that's his job. That's his job. He feels like that's his job.

And he puts his gloves on, he grabs them, and he throws him back. I was like, oh, no. So I showed him the whole process. I took the fish. I cleaned the fish in front of him, which was a bit traumatic. But he's three. So I'm like, we're going to throw him back. We're taking his meat.

We're going to throw him back. He hasn't figured out this fish, his life, was given for us, and it's over. But the fact that we then threw him back after we took the meat off, he's thinking in his mind. Okay. He's good to go. Yeah. I said, he might be okay. But then he wouldn't eat the fish.

He was like, I think it was too traumatic watching the whole process. So then I fried the fish. He's watching it. I was like, okay, here you go. You caught this fish. Wouldn't do it. So this weekend, we were playing, you know, going through what we do. We went over.

Well, I had a huge cropy, and he broke my line. and should have changed my line before I went. Yep. My fault. And so when I got him back, because he was completely a mess, we had played, you know, he was dirty. While he was getting a bath from Lulu, I decided to go back over there because I thought, I hadn't been able to catch these cropy. I thought maybe I have caught them all.

You know, Willie said I caught all his fish. Yeah. But last two months, it's been dry on the crop. That one crop is the only one we caught. I went over there and caught five in less than five minutes. So then when I come back, he's had his bath. You know, he's sitting on the couch, and I just get outside the window,

and I started tapping on the glass. So they both looked, and I held up all the crappie, you know. He would come running out of there. How did you catch all the crappies? So I cleaned them all, because that's Missy's favorite. And I cooked them. I mean, it's like 8 o'clock here. Yeah.

I mean, we've already eaten. But she's like, this is bonus meal. I was like, babe, this has, I went back to my dad. I was like, this, enjoying the process. This is, we pulled it off. Fresh cropping. We're back in. And so me and her are just eating them and just gushing over them.

Just, oh. And he's like, I think I want to try one. Because he watched the whole process again. He ate that and was like, I want some more. so he can't eat him if he didn't catch him i guess he's good no i think he just got it was a process is my point well they say they always say they always say if you see how the sausage is made then you don't want to eat it that's that's that's like a common what's the word saying that people use idiom but yeah but i've seen how sausage is made and i still eat it yeah but that's what

i was thankful that my dad taught me to enjoy that process this is god has given us authority over the earth. I mean, in the beginning, the garden was created. And it's biblical. He put Adam and Eve in charge of this. Actually, kind of what I want to get to today because we're in John. Are we going to get to John 18 today? No, we're 17.

We just barely dipped into 17. We kept saying we were going to do John 17. We threatened to do it the entire time. we were in Nashville. Nah, we kind of, we got in the first six verses with the reading. Well, I'll say that story, but I just wanted that process. I want to pass that on to this young man. I mean, you don't, so two things were accomplished.

You don't want a game to break out as he's going through life, like a baseball game. And then he gets up there and has no idea how to swing a bat or throw a ball. I mean, so I'm trying to save him from embarrassed. It doesn't have to be the greatest place. Right. But just get the basics down. Because at that stage your life, you're wanting to impress, you know, maybe a young lady that's watching and saying, oh, that boy, he just, he's got skills. And then to know how to survive, to go out and catch a fish and learn the process.

That's right. And you're never going to eat anything better because Missy said, why is this so good? She kept saying that. We've eaten these thousands of times. And I said, let me just give you the short version. Because this fish was alive five minutes ago. Yeah, the freshness. We are now eating that.

You can't go to a restaurant and replicate that. That's right. I agree. So it was very exciting for me. There's hope. Three and a half. That's when they turn the corner. Wow, you're coming in town next week.

Al's going to be preaching at our church. Have you got your sermon? I do not. I do not. I'm too busy doing podcast, so it's going to be one of them Saturday night specials probably. Preach from the overflow. We had baptize. yesterday, which was really cool.

He went down to the creek and had about 10 or 12 bribal. Josh got baptized over here beside me. Really? Yeah. I was impressed with Josh. Josh is the exact version of our Maddie. He's the off-camera guy. And I finally got to meet him when we were doing podcasts because we kind of merged our

crews together. And very impressive young man you have there. He indirectly heard the scheme of redemption just over and over. And he's been listening to this podcast. Yeah. And then one day he says, you know what, let's go. Well, he asked the question. He said, I don't, I can't remember if I've been baptized.

I was going to call my mom and ask her. I said, if you got to call your mom to ask if you've been baptized, you haven't been baptized. It's a good point. Good point. But, you know, it's interesting. It's been a kind of crazy week, too. I was, because I've been sitting in John 17. Obviously, y'all saw the story that happened in Michigan with the church shooting and the guy had the bombs.

And man, just absolutely horrific what went down there. And, you know, you think what leads to something like that. I think it's what this text here is about that we're going to read. It's a, when you get separated from truth itself, it can lead us into all types of depravity. Yeah, it's interesting because the guy's mother, she had a Facebook post just a few days before. And she was talking about defending, you know, her truth, you know, and her boundaries. It's defending my truth. I think there's something in this.

It's like when you pursue your own version of truth that's outside of reality, it does lead to these incredible kind of things that we're seeing. Like there's a truth that is beyond us that we have to submit to. And that's the one thing that all of these killings and murders have in common is on some level, this is us pursuing a version of our own truth. And that's like it is us pursuing our own truth. and we think that by doing so that we're going to somehow construct some kind of reality. When in the end, no, there's a truth that we submit to. And the devil always wants to attack truth because if he can attack truth and undermine what truth is, then ultimately he can do what he came to do, which is kill, still, and destroy.

I actually think John 17 is the answer for kind of where we're at in the world of that one. And let's see if you guys kind of saw that story. Well, I don't know a whole lot about the story because I just, saw the flash stuff that came up yesterday. But it is amazing, Zach, how it always winds up back, which if you think about all the verses that we've studied in the book of John, where Jesus keeps, every time he brings up the prince of the world, the evil one in John 8, he's a murderer. He's a killer.

You know, it's always, it's a death thing. And it's exactly what you see with what you just described with these. self-reflective truths about someone who gets in their mind, but it isn't amazing how it ends in the death of other people as a result. I think it's so interesting that y'all are bringing this up because now I was, I thought we were in John 18. That tells you where I'm at. But as I read ahead, because there is definitely a transition here of in the book of John where all of a sudden this kind of turns into a narrative.

Here's what happened. But the conversations and the words Jesus is praying in John 17 and then the subsequent conversations, it's all revolving around this truth. And even when he was, he had been arrested, which I'm slightly moving ahead, but just to answer your question, when he says in John 18, in the high, priests, they're questioning Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. So the things he says. Yeah. And Jesus

says, I have spoken openly in the world. I always taught in synagogues or at the temple. This is verse 20. 20 of John 18. I said nothing in secret. Why question me? Ask those who heard

me. Surely they know what I said he's going into this is all about speaking of truth yeah you've heard everything i've said which we know he is truth he said i am the truth he embodies truth he never sinned he's always right all these things so when jesus said this one of the officials nearby struck him in the face which you brought that up about death well now well This truth that they're representing is shown in violence. Yeah, yeah. And because he struck him in the face, and it's like, did that happen?

I mean, I'm just reading between the lines. The truth is, we have the power, and you're sitting here. Yeah. So truth is whatever we tell you it is. And if we don't like it, we hit you in the face. Yeah, and we'll kill you. That's the truth. Because that continues after he hits him, he says in verse 23,

if I said something wrong, testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me? So here's the, he contrasts those two things. You're using violence over my words, which he knows he's right and what he's saying is true about what about anything everything everything he says is true and so then you see this play out when you get to verse 36 and now he's talking to pilot and he says my kingdom is not of this world if it were and he makes the same illustration my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the jews he says

I'm involved in, which is from the origin, he's not saying like the kingdom can't be in this world, it's not from this world. Well, we would fight like you're doing, because ultimately that's their view of truth. Whoever has the most power is the one who dictates truth. But he says, but now my kingdom is from another place. So he's like, so you are a king.

Why is he bringing up a king? Yeah. Because that's who has the power to dictate what is true. Yeah. The truth in their world in a monarchy system is whoever has the power. They tell you what's true, which is why he... There was a book written by a Scottish Presbyterian minister, and the name of the book was called Lex Rex.

and what that means in Latin is that the law is king. But he wrote this around the same time that John Locke wrote a book called The Treatise of Two Governments, which is kind of the foundation for our whole political system. And what he was doing is the phrase up until this point in history was actually the opposite. The phrase that they would use in Latin was that they would say the king is law. And so whatever the king said to your point is law. But when he wrote this book, which gave birth to our modern political movement, he actually, this Presbyterian minister wrote a book.

He said, no, no, no. There is a law above the king to which all men are beholden. And it's really, that's what you get from Scripture. But you're right. And if you look at any system of a monarch, then the truth is actually determined. The law is that whatever the king says, that's what goes. Because in the absence of God, it actually ran for Congress on this actual slogan, In the absence of God, man becomes the determiner of all things.

But it's not just any man that gets to determine it. It's the one that's got the biggest stick. So the guy that's got the most power, he gets to determine what truth is. And if you look at history, it's littered with just violence and death. Millions and millions, hundreds of millions of people have been murdered under brutal regimes when they believe that power ultimately comes from a king. when truth comes from. The truth is the front line of the argument, right?

It's the front line of the battle. The most amazing thing about the context of what we're talking about here is these people that are striking Jesus and, you know, questioning him. The whole thing was a farce anyway. Their king was impotent as a king. I mean, their king was just in name only. Rome was ruling the whole country. Well, that's why I went to pilot.

But he, I mean, just to finish this text I was reading, when he said, when Jesus said in verse, what is that, 37 of 18, when he says, you're a king then, asked by it, and he said, you're right and said, I'm a king. In fact, for this reason I was born. And for this, I came into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me. It doesn't mean a truth.

Yeah. But even you see that in our so-called democracy. It's the same thing. Whichever political party is in charge dictates what the truth is. Right. This is because we're in charge. Right. And so we set up laws and it goes in that vein.

But then when he says, what is truth? I think this, the background of what we just discussed makes you realize why he asked that question. Because he thought, who are you? I'm the one that can kill you. Right. Which he says that later. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, I love that. I love the question, though, and it's actually answered in John 17, the answer to that question, what is truth? Jesus answers it before pilot actually says this. And I think it has everything to do with it. Because you think about, man, you got this guy that killed Charlie Kirk, murdered Charlie Kirk. And what was the reason? why he murdered him because Charlie Kurt was speaking truth about a particular issue on gender that offended this guy. And so he killed him for that. I think one of the reasons why he may have

actually engaged in this horrible act was because he believed these people, these Mormons, to be the Antichrist. Again, you're disassociating with reality itself. You're disassociating with truth itself. And I don't know what all this guy had going on in his life, but I know this, that he on some level had to, he had to disassociate himself from truth. I think it's one of the things that all of these horrible events have in common, if you look at the people that are the perpetrators of these crimes, is again, they all have a disassociation with the truth. And what Christ is offering us is to bring us back into truth.

He's revealing it to us. He's revealing reality to us, to sanctify us, to bring us into the abundant life, into oneness with him, as he's experienced in his inner life with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So this idea of truth, this is what Jesus says in John 1715. He said, I do not ask that you take them out of the world. And we think about that. Man, sometimes I would like to be out of this world when you see how much evil is going on, right?

But Jesus said, I didn't ask you to take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world just as I am not of the world. And then here's the thing, sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. And for their sake, I consecrate myself that they may also be sanctified in the truth. So the reason why God gives us the truth is to keep us from the evil one. Truth is liberating.

Truth, like what is truth? Truth is the revelation. When Pilate asks, what is truth? It's right here. Truth is the revelation from the Holy Spirit that will keep you from the evil one. What does that mean? Truth will keep you from death. And truth will move you into life in the abundant life that he talked about just a few chapters earlier in John 15 when he says that we live and abide in the spirit.

And I don't think you can separate this stuff. But we're coming to the end of this worldview where people are following their own version of truth. and we're seeing now the end of it. And the end of it is absolute evil and death every single time. Yeah, at every level. I mean, whether it's abortion before you even get here, to people, you know, worship in a church building, to whatever. And it's bipartisan.

I mean, that's the thing that we have to realize that the enemy really here is. It's not a political fix, Zach. I mean, we just said, that all along, which is why I'm so glad you didn't win when you were running for Congress, because I felt like your influence has been way bigger doing what we're doing here over that, because it's just, it's not going to be a political fix, and that's the problem we can't really agree on any of that, and Jay's right, it just cycles every four years. That's not, but it didn't, it wasn't a fix here either. I mean, it's the same political back and forth, and the whole idea

of Rome here, they were just trying to appease the Jewish leader. to keep them at bay. It was all just about control. And so that was the whole thing. The reason Pilate thought he was in charge, and he was in the sense of, from Rome's perspective, but he really wasn't because what he didn't realize is he was about to unleash a movement that 2,000 years later would be stronger than ever. He was actually working inside the sovereign will of God, which is so interesting, though,

when you think about Pilot, because this is like pre, we have terms like, we use them called postmodernism or or moral relativism. Like we have these like these phrases that we use to describe our current cultural moment where truth is subjective, at least we're told that. But it's not new. We act like this is a new philosophy. It's actually not a new philosophy. I mean,

this is the philosophy of pilot in this interaction with Jesus. What is truth? Who determines truth? Is there even such a thing as truth? It's the same like argument that we're having the day 2,000 years later. Yeah. What is truth? And we're still having this argument.

Jesus obviously is the truth, which is interesting about that book I mentioned that says that the law is king. And it was a Christian response to the idea that the king is law. But in reality, actually, the king is law. You just got to make sure you know which king you're talking about. Yeah. Yeah. I want to just to back up. So when he said in John 1712, to your point, which was awesome, when he says sanctified,

them by the truth. Your word is truth. And in the vein of protect them from the evil one now and you brought up the death, which I looked up that word where it says sanctify, it has the Greek word in my margin. And it says, set apart for sacred use. Yeah. Or make holy. Because the next verse says, as you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

For them, I sanctified. sanctify myself. He set himself apart from the world that they too may be truly sanctified, set apart. I mean, that's so deep and thick, but it's very inspiring. And it's foreshadowing, too, what he's about to do. But he had said in verse 12 when he said, while I was with you, while I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me, which we talked about when we were in Nashville,

that name is more than just a name. It's the presence of God. And then it says none has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that the scripture would be fulfilled. But look, this is something he spoke about earlier, and I wanted to go back and read John 6. And just to show you, because you tend to not realize how this is, all connected unless you go back and look.

But when he gave the little sermon about I'm the bread of life, look in verse 26 of John 6, Jesus answered, I tell you the truth. In verse 32, Jesus said to them, I tell you the truth. It's not like he's just throwing this in here saying, sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth.

I am the truth. So look down in verse 38. of six for i have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me and this is the will of him who sent me that i shall lose none of all that he has given me but raise them up at the last day well you see this that that's a direct quote of 1712 about keeping them safe right and i think most people think from a spiritual standpoint point, but he's like, no, I'm going to raise you up at the last day, which is why all of this makes sense once you get to the resurrection.

Because it's like, I'm not going to lose them. Hang in there. This is going to be tough. They're going to hate you. There's a plan. You're going to be like me in this world. And I'm not going to lose you because when he says protect from the evil, and you're right. It's like, because his mode of operation is to keep.

kill and to destroy. Think where this, you know, this John 10, the thief comes to kill and destroy, but I've come and how does he do that? How does he do that? He does it through lies. When he speaks, he only utters lies. That's his native tongue, is to lie. So the way that the evil one captivates us, the way that the evil one destroys us, the way that the evil one kills us, is through lies. So if we're, if we are put to death through a lie, then, then, then, the way that we're going to escape that is through the truth. And so the whole point that Jesus is making in these three chapters, four chapters in John, is that the spirit is going to be the agent, the person of God, the person inside the Trinity, who will reveal the truth to us. And so this is

so key when we think about being sanctified by the truth, because what does it mean to be sanctified? To be sanctified, yes, it means to be set apart, but what does that mean? To be sanctified is different than to be justified. To be sanctified is to be freed from the power and the grip that the lies have over us, that sin has over us. The way that we are released from the power of sin is that we actually see the lie for a lie. And therefore, I'm not tempted by that anymore. Why am I not tempted by it? Because I know it's a lie. If you tell me, Zach, do not touch a hot stove. I'm actually not tempted by that anymore. Now, maybe as a two-year-old kid, I see how red and glowie is. it is. Man, that looks cool and I touch it. Now, I'm not tempted by that because I know what it is.

It's been revealed to me. I've absorbed that truth. And so that has no allure over me. And in the same way, we're actually sanctified by the truth. But if we make truth of our own accord and it comes from within, then what happens is it terminates on itself inward. And all of a sudden, it ultimately ends in a death work. And you end up like one of these guys that go in and up a Mormon church or they or kill a political figure that you disagree with or shoot up a school or all kind of evil stuff. And you become a slave to your own depravity in that case. Well, and you think about it, way before that sort of final act of some of these people,

as Jesus mentions when he first started this conversation with the beatitudes and, you know, the story behind the law. you crossed over long ago in your own heart and soul to be able then to one day go in and think it's a good idea to blow up a bunch of people at a church. You see what I'm saying? I mean, way back down the line, which is interesting that the whole concept we're getting into, as you say, as you described the narrative of what Jesus is about to do, death is a part of what we talk about as well, but it's death to ourselves.

It's that bearing of the old person and this newness comes to life with the whole. Spirit of God living in you. You wouldn't even think about somehow harming someone else. You don't even want to, you're trying to lead them to someplace better. You know, it's just, it's a completely different mindset. That's what's so awesome about this narrative, which, because when you go back to where this all started, starting in a garden, and you assume that since the presence of God is there. Well, his entourage is there in the celestial being world, which, and one of them has

obviously rebelled against what he was supposed to image in God creating him. And what was the result of it? Death. Even after the garden, you have the first murder. I mean, it doesn't, it's next chapter. Yeah, next verse. Yeah, Kane kills Abel. And so what is the What's interesting about this and really what I'm excited about is because when you get to John 18, the first verse, and all of a sudden you see this, the back end of verse one says, on the other side, there was a garden, or some translation says, say olive grove, but if you look up the Greek, it's garden. And he and his disciples went into it. Well, this is going to keep coming up the rest of the way. even when he dies and is buried. Well, where is he at?

He's in another garden. And then here's Mary post-resurrection. He sees the gardener. And people just read over that. They're like, the scholars get so hung up on why she didn't recognize him. And that's what, if you go look at all the theologians and scholars, they're all hung up on that question. Why is she thinking he's the gardener?

And when you There's a rabbit hole that I'm not going to go down to But I encourage people to do it Because it goes all the way back to the first garden And the first creation That there's an idea of royalty That is linked to people who have a garden Because think about like even when the promised land

It's a land flowing with milk and honey And you're in charge of being able to sustain life. And that's what gardens do. I mean, even now when we were kids and poor and didn't have anything, we had no money. And I remember when we all went out there

and planted that garden with our grandparents, I mean, they used to say, this is guaranteeing our survival. Which seemed crazy to me. I'm like, you're just saying this so I can go out of here to work all day. We were thinking more of the child labor laws. If you really think about that,

it was true. We can sustain life through this garden. That garden was viewed as sacred with my grandparents. It was. And you worked it. And this is, because they were from an era where that provided food year around. Remember because we canned everything and put everything up and all the whole process?

But I looked at numerous occasions where this idea of being a king and having your own private garden. and then they buried kings in gardens. Even its reference in David in his life, you know that little subtle thing in Acts 2? In Peter's first sermon, he's talking about where his tomb, and then he links it to David being buried, but, you know, he died. He's still there.

But it's this same idea of this garden and that having a kingly role. I mean, I'll look up all the, the verses because I went through it all. But it just really gives you a picture of what Jesus is introducing here after this prayer. He kind of sums up, here's why I'm here. He goes back to creation. I want to have that love that we had before the creation of the world, and I want to pass that on to them. And then all of a sudden he's crossing this Kid Ron Valley, which has a lot of meaning in Old Testament of like this is where they had all these idols and all these enemies of

God and it was like a burial ground. And you really see the picture that John is portraying here that Jesus is establishing a new creation and he's going to rid the world, the world, of all his enemies. Yeah. Death, idolatry, life. and you see that picture develop. And by the time you get to the eighth day of what's fixing to happen in the next week,

you literally have a new creation. Yeah. And that's something that we, I think, should go do some rabbit holes. Because I'm kind of laying this narrative out, but I'm telling you, if you go look at this, you're going to see gardens and you're going to see kings. I just thought about one that you may or may not look at

that just popped into my mind. back when they were, the Israelites were in Babylonian captivity, which is when Daniel had his vision and wrote about this son of man, pointing to this day. You know, that became a time where Israel was almost completely lost. There was just a very small remnant of people left. They were holding the dream. And, of course, Daniel was one of them. But you know what Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Empire was known for?

Gardens. I mean, the hanging gardens of Babylon is... It's all over the place. Exactly. I went through this rabbit hole, which it was about a six-hour rabbit hole. I was shocked because I really realized that why Jesus keeps going back to the beginning, or John, you know, portraying Jesus in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, then it's like the Word became flesh.

Because it's mirroring basically the betrayal that happened in the first garden and the lies. You're seeing that play out here. He's in a garden. Here comes the betrayer. It's just everything's flipped. You know, when God in the first garden came, he's looking for the humans who have now betrayed him, but he's looking for them. In this setting, here comes this mob with little lanterns, and they're looking for the son of God,

but they don't realize he is the son of God. Right, right. And he does the exact opposite. He doesn't hide. They're like, he's like, who are you looking for? And he's like, I am he. And then just even him saying that. The mob draws, you know, they fall back.

Right. It's a lot of debate on what that means. But you're seeing a picture of exactly what happened in the first garden, happened in this garden, but the roles are reversed, and Jesus is conquering where it all went wrong and betrayal in the first garden to hear. Go ahead, Zach. And the centerpiece of it is that Jesus is establishing himself as the king, the truth, the way, the life.

he is I mean he's all of it he's the whole centerpiece of the entire thing he's what the scriptures pointed to he's everything it's all in him and I think what it's such a good message for our current cultural moment because we we can get into a lot of different solutions for like Western

civilization or the world as a whole but the truth is is that if you get off of the the truth is God's truth that he reveals to us who we are. And we are made in his image. I mean, that is the basis for our entire society. You get off of that, and then all this other wickedness ensues,

but I think there's such a hope here that Christ wants to liberate us, and he doesn't want us to live in that type of wickedness. And what he wants us to liberate us to is a fruitful garden to where we can actually, and that's the picture in Revelation 22 at the end. It's what you see a picture, you see a tree, you see fruit, you see leaves that are a healing bomb for the nations. And it's such a powerful word for our current cultural moment. Yeah, I just wanted to introduce this narrative because I think that is the narrative that

John is showing. When you go back to the first two people being created in the image of God, which to your point, he created them male and female, which what does that mean? They're mirroring him. Well, what did he do? He created a garden. They have everything they need as far as a food source. You have these rivers that is flowing so they got all the water.

And he put them in charge, rule over. There's the kingship idea. And it's a garden. And God is present there. And so now you see through truth, his truth, embodied truth, as Jesus as a human, making everything that went wrong after that right. And to do that,

you've got to address all these enemies of God, whether it's death, the evil one, which is why you're seeing that language in this prayer, protect them from the evil. Why is he praying that? Because that's where it all went wrong. And he's going to not only disarm them, but ultimately destroy them,

and even death itself by making it right. a garden setting where instead of the result of Adam and Eve, when they betray God and death ensued, his death is now going to bring life. It's the same concept. And he's going to be hung on a tree where they ate of a tree that brought death. Him dying on a tree is going to bring life. You're going to see that constantly. And I think that's the more moving part.

it's hard to wrap your head around unless you kind of realize that is the narrative John is portraying. And then as you read, you're like, oh, I mean, I'm going to give you all the verses. But there's subtle verses, even like you remember Ezekiel, I remember this one off top of my head, 36 and 37, where he's talking about one day there's going to be, I'm going to give you a new heart and, you know, a new flesh and then the valley of the dry bones and all. that. But there's an interesting verse in Ezekiel 36. I'll get the verse here in a second, the exact verse. But he basically goes back to it'll be like a garden of Eden. Now why is he bringing up the Garden of Eden way over in Ezekiel as he's pointing to Jesus coming to restore Israel and the error

of their ways? Right. And I think you see that in all the little details of the narrative moving forward. So let me read this last section here in the last few minutes we have on the podcast. So he's prayed. First, he talks about himself and almost, you know, this last idea that I'm the father. The father's in me. Then he prays for the 11, because he mentions Judas is the 12 that obviously has betrayed him. And then he expands this last section. I want to get it in in verse 20.

My prayer is not for them alone, talking about the 11, and then those that will come after. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message. So now he's talking about us. He's talking about anybody. Post Acts 1 as it goes forward. That all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. So he's the same unifying message. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

So that's the purpose going forward. It's about showing people who Jesus is. as you're sanctified and bearing his fruit. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one. So that's twice he's brought up this idea of unity. I in them and you and me, may they be brought to complete unity.

There's third time. To let the world know that you sent me. And here's the key, because we've been talking about this the whole time, and have loved them even as you have loved me. There's Jays, back to that idea of love. That's the unifying factor. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, where I am,

and to see my glory, the glory you have given me, because you love me, before the creation of the world. So this harkens back to John 1. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me, may be in them and I myself be in them, which is back to the Holy Spirit. So that's, I mean, what a, just the, I was so encouraged studying this,

just think about that the Lord and Savior and Creator of the cosmos is praying specifically for me because that's what he did. All right, let me, just the technical, because I throw this out there, I want to read Ezekiel 36, 25, just to give you the context. He says,

I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols, which is going to be referred to in that valley of the kid, Ron, that he's going to cross. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit in you. We just talked about three chapters.

He just said it. Well, I'm going to skip down to verse 35. they will say, this redemption story is given, and he mentions fruit. Let me read 30 before we read 35. I will increase the fruit of the trees and the crops of the field. Uh-oh, so that you will no longer suffer disgrace among the nation because of famine. Now we start talking about a garden setting. And then in 35, they will say, this land that was laid waste has become like the Garden of Eden.

This is Ezekiel 35. which is leading up to 37 after he gives a shepherd sheep illustration, verse 37 of 36, and then 37 he gets into the valley of dry bones. Can these bones live? Well, doesn't this sound familiar? I mean, I just thought that was fascinating. Yeah, it is. And my other reference was about David.

If you read, I think it's Neumai of all things. Nehemi 316, which says behind him Nehemi, son of so-and-so, a ruler around the area of so-and-so took possession as far as the garden of the tomb of David. Well, I didn't know David was buried in a garden. And that's why when I made that reference in Acts 2, because Jesus, who's the Messiah, came in the line of David, Correct. And of all things, was buried in a garden with a sign on the cross in three different languages that says, which I think it was done as a way to embarrass Jesus, the king of the Jews.

Yeah. But just think how history would prove that to be true. Because once he was raised, guess what? I think he might have been the king of the Jews. If you'd come back from the dead. I think he might be the king of everyone. And so when you read that sermon in Acts 2, and it brings up David when he says, this is 224, God raised him from the dead, friend him from the agony of death, it was impossible for death to keep its hold of him.

David said about him, I saw the Lord always before me, because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken, because he will not be abandoned to the grave. That's 27, nor will you let your holy one seed decay. then in 29, just an obscure verse. Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. And oh, yeah, it was in a garden. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him an oath that he would place

one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave. verse 32 God has raised this Jesus to life and we are witnesses to the fact exalted him to the right hand of God. I just think it's so powerful when you see the Old Testament and how all this plan came together and you see this idea of power in a garden. And you see it right, you see the role of the Holy Spirit in this as well. You mentioned Ezekiel 35 and 37 and right in the middle.

of that is Ezekiel 36, which is a prophetic word of what's actually, Jesus is actually talking about in this moment. And it says this is verse 26. And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put in you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit, this is a capital S, within you, and it calls you to walk in my statutes and be careful to be careful to obey my rules. And then he talks about this abundant fruit production and trees that will happen because of that. No, I read that earlier.

That is 36. Then in 35, he gives the reference to the Garden of Eden. So maybe I might have said 35, but it was 36. Well, so we're out of time. But we pick it up there. We'll get into John 18 days and then to this garden setting that you're talking about. So see you next time. Not a shame.

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