THE SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD
Psalm 40:5
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: It's Free, This is Heaven
1. An 85 year old couple Christian couple, married 60 years, died in a car crash. They lived so long because the wife was strict on nutrition.
2. When they got to heaven, St. Peter took them to their mansion which was spectacular. As they "oohed and aahed," the old man asked Peter how much all this was going to cost. "It's free," Peter replied, "this is Heaven!"
3. Next they went to survey the championship golf course & prime fishing lake behind their mansion. The old man asked, "what are the green fees?" "This is heaven, you play for free and no cost for fishing!"
4. Next they went to the club house and saw the lavish buffet lunch with 5-star cuisines laid out. "How much to eat?" asked the old man. "Don't you understand yet? This is heaven, it is free!"
5. "Well, where are the low fat and low cholesterol tables?" the old man asked timidly. Peter said, "That's the best part...you can eat as much as you like of whatever you like and you never get fat and you never get sick. This is Heaven."
6. With that the old man went into a fit of exasperation, throwing down his hat and stomping on it, and yelling.
7. When his wife tried to calm him down, he said, "This is all your fault. If it weren't for your blasted bran muffins, I could have been here ten years ago!"
B. TEXT & THESIS
1. “Many, Lord my God, are the wonders you have done, the things you planned for us. None can compare with you; were I to speak and tell of your deeds, they would be too many to declare” Ps. 40:5.
2. If you’ve ever gotten to travel, you know there are certain places tourists like to go: great wonders of nature and great architectural or monumental works of mankind.
3. Tourists before the time of Christ were no different; in fact, they had their “A-List” of attractions to see, which they called the “Seven Wonders of the World.”
4. We’re going to take a quick look at those and then see the Seven Wonders of God’s World.
I. THE SEVEN WONDERS OF THE NATURAL WORLD
1. The earliest known version of the list of the Seven Wonders of the World was compiled in the 2nd century BC by Antipater of Sidon.
2. “I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the colossus of the Sun, and the huge labor of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus; but when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, 'Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on anything so grand." (Antipater, Greek Anthology [IX.58]).
3. The Seven Wonders were the most popular tourist destinations and were the seven most impressive man-made monuments. Even as early as 1600 BC, tourist graffiti was scrawled on monuments in Egypt.
A. THE PYRAMID OF KHUFU(EGYPT)
1. It covers thirteen acres and had an original height of 481 feet. The apex of the pyramid was probably covered with gold. It is 756 feet long, 450 feet high and is composed of 2,300,000 blocks of stone, each averaging 2 ½ tons of weight.
2. Amazingly, no side is more than 8 inches different in length than another. Until the nineteenth century it was the tallest building in the world and it is 4,500 years old.
B. THE WALLS OF BABYLON AND THE HANGING GARDENS
1. It was built by Nebuchadnezzar in the 6th century B.C. "In addition to its size," wrote Herodotus, a historian in 450 BC, "Babylon surpasses in splendor any city in the known world."
2. It’s outer walls were 56 miles in length, 80 feet thick and 320 feet high. Wide enough to allow 8 horse-drawn chariots to run abreast. Babylon had a similar inner wall. Inside the walls were fortresses and temples containing immense statues of solid gold.
3. The hanging gardens of Babylon were a ziggurat-shaped building with each level planted with flowers, scrubs, and trees from all over the world. Water machines pumped large amounts of water to the top, from which it descended to all the lower levels.
C. THE STATUE OF THE OLYMPIAN ZEUS
1. The Statue of Zeus at Olympia was carved by the famed Classical sculptor Phidias (5th century BC) circa 435 BC in Olympia, Greece. The seated statue was 40 feet tall, but if standing would be 80 ft. tall.
2. Zeus was seated on a magnificent throne of cedarwood, inlaid with ivory, gold, ebony, and precious stones.
D. THE TOMB OF MAUSOLOS (377 B.C.)
1. The Mausoleum of Mausolos was a tomb built between 353–350 BC at Halicarnassus (present Bodrum, Turkey), for Mausolos (in Greek, Μαύσωλος), a provincial king in the Persian Empire, and Artemisia II of Caria, his wife. The structure was designed by the Greek architects Satyrus and Pythius.
2. It was 135 feet in height, and each of its four sides was adorned with sculptural reliefs created by one of four Greek sculptors — Bryaxis, Leochares, Scopas and Timotheus[3]. The finished structure was considered to be such an aesthetic triumph that Antipater of Sidon identified it as one of his seven wonders.
E. THE COLOSSUS OF RHODES
1. After the death of Alexander the Great, one of his generals, Antigonus I, tried to invade the city of Rhodes with an army of 40,000 in 305 BC. However, the city was well defended and the siege failed.
2. To celebrate their victory, the Rhodians decided to build a giant statue of their patron god, Helios. The structure stood on fifty-foot high white marble pedestals near the harbor entrance. The statue itself was over 110 feet tall and took twelve years to construct and was completed in 280 BC.
F. THE TEMPLE OF ARTEMIS, EPHESUS
1. The Temple of Artemis, also known as Temple of Diana, was a temple dedicated to Artemis completed around 550 BC at Ephesus (in present-day Turkey) under the Persian Empire. The temple was a 120-year project.
2. Philo of Byzantium: “I have seen the walls and Hanging Gardens of ancient Babylon, the statue of Olympian Zeus, the Colossus of Rhodes, the mighty work of the high Pyramids and the tomb of Mausolus. But when I saw the temple at Ephesus rising to the clouds, all these other wonders were put in the shade.”
3. Pliny describes the temple as 377 feet long and 180 feet wide, made almost entirely of marble. The Temple consists of 127 Ionic-styled columns, each 60 feet in height. The Temple housed many fine artworks and sculptures by renowned Greek sculptors Polyclitus, Pheidias, Cresilas, and Phradmon adorned the temple, as well gilded columns of gold and silver.
G. THE LIGHTHOUSE OF ALEXANDRIA
1. The Pharos of Alexandria was a tower built in the 3rd century BC (between 285 and 247 BC) on the island of Pharos in Alexandria, Egypt to serve as that port's landmark, and later, its lighthouse.
2. With a height variously estimated at between 383 - 440 ft, it was among the tallest man-made structures on Earth for many centuries, and was identified as one of the Seven Wonders of the World by classical writers.
3. It ceased operating and was largely destroyed as a result of an earthquake in 1375 AD.
II. THE SEVEN WONDERS OF THE SPIRITUAL WORLD
The great works of man ultimately crumble and fall. Even the pyramids will turn to dust. We’ve looked at the 7 greatest monuments of ancient man, but I want us to look at the 7 greatest Wonders of God, that will amaze the people of God through all eternity!
A. THAT GOD WOULD DECIDE TO SAVE MAN
1. It’s not a wonder that God would make man. But it was a wonder that God decided to redeem man.
2. If I had been God when Adam & Eve disobeyed and fell into sin, and I looked ahead and saw all the misery in store for the human race, I would have just taken that opportunity to pull the plug on the human race and quit while I was ahead.
3. You see, God didn’t need us; there’s nothing worthwhile about us that he should see the need. His choice – to redeem us - is a deep mystery.
B. WONDER2: THAT JESUS WOULD VOLUNTEER
1. Why in the world would Jesus, the Prince of the Universe, who stood to gain nothing and to lose everything by His choice, volunteer to die in order to save a depraved race of idolaters?
2. What was in it for Him? Why would He, the Lord/Master allow Himself to be made into a servant? To be completely dependent – a helpless baby – placed into the power of twisted humanity? Truly amazing!
C. WONDER 3: THAT THE FATHER WOULD LET JESUS SUFFER SUCH EXTREMES.
1. The extreme of becoming human. Imagine a human becoming a bug to save the bugs. Then allowing the bugs to torture him to death!
2. Jesus’ sacrifice was the greatest sacrifice the world has ever known. Genuine love.
3. Think how it must have grieved the Father to see His only, innocent and holy Son (His very heart) slapped and whipped and crucified at the hands of wicked men in a frenzy of hatred & triumphal glee!
4. What a sacrifice to make for us! How many of you would turn your child over to a murderer to be tortured and killed?
5. Jesus had to experience all sin! He had to be immersed in filth; all the rapes, murders, sodomies, incests, etc., ever committed.
6. He had to be separated from the Father – for the first time in history! Oh! The lengths God went to to secure our salvation!
D. WONDER 4: THAT GOD WOULD LET HUMANS LIVE IN HEAVEN.
1. Letting humans live in heaven forever is like having rowdy company move into your house – not for a day or week or month, but for eternity.
2. It’s like asking for trouble. Like having a bunch of hyperactive kids move into your house. They would definitely disturb your peace. Why would God do that?
E. WONDER 5: THAT HE WOULD LET US EAT FROM THE TREE OF LIFE
1. If I were God, living forever, and had the human race, living only short life spans; and knowing how bothersome they are, why would I want to give those selfish, faulty creatures a lifespan that was equal to my own?
2. God had it right the first time by placing an angel at the gate of the Garden of Eden to keep humans from reentering the Garden and eating of the Tree of Life and living forever. Why would He change His mind now? Even though we’re redeemed, we’re still so faulty!
F. WONDER 6: THAT GOD WOULD PUT HIS HOLY SPIRIT INSIDE US.
1. That’s getting too close for comfort! I like to be around people, but as evil as most people are in their hearts (Paul said that he “inwardly burned”) how could God subject the Holy Spirit to people who are often actively sinning? (simple ones like selfishness, pride, envy, coveting, unforgiveness, etc.)
2. Undoubtedly there was no other way; we had to have the Holy Spirit inside us to transform us from the inside out.
G. WONDER 7: THAT GOD LOVES US!
1. “6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” Rom. 5:6-8.
2. In Jer. 31:3, God said, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”
3. I John 3:1, “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us…”.
4. This is the greatest love story of all time. Why?
a. It is an incomprehensible love. Eph. 3:19, “And to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God.”
b. It is an undeserved love. Rom. 5:8
c. It is a sacrificial love. I John 4:10
d. It is a constraining love. 2 Cor. 5:14
e. It is an everlasting love. Jer. 31:3
5. God’s love is truly one of the greatest wonders of the world.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: The Sacrifice of Love
1. Solomon Rosenberg, his wife, his 2 sons, and his mother and father were arrested and placed in a Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust of WWII.
2. It was a labor camp and the rules were simple: "As long as you can do your work, you are permitted to live. When you become too weak to do your work, then you will be exterminated."
3. Rosenberg watched his mother & father be marched off to their deaths when they became too weak to work. He knew that his youngest son, David, would be next because David had always been a frail child.
4. Every evening when Rosenberg came back into the barracks after his hours of labor, he would search for the faces of his family. When he found them, they would huddle together, embrace one another, and thank God for another day of life.
5. One day Rosenberg came back, but he didn’t see those familiar faces. He finally discovered his oldest son, Joshua, in a corner, huddled, weeping, and praying. He said, "Josh, tell me it’s not true."
6. Joshua turned and said, "It is true, Poppa. Today David was not strong enough to do his work, so they came for him." "But WHERE is your mother?" asked Rosenberg.
7. "Oh Poppa," Josh exclaimed. "When they came for David, he was afraid and he was crying. Momma said, ‘There is nothing to be afraid of David,’ . . . . And then she took his hand and went with him."
8. The love of Mrs. Rosenberg pictures the sacrificial love Jesus has for US. In order to take away OUR fear of death, He went before us (Hebrews 2:14-15). He met death "head on" – He died for us so that we might have the forgiveness of sins and the hope of eternal life. [David A. Sargent]
B. THE CALL
1. Have you ever thought about how much Jesus Christ loves you? How far God has gone to make salvation available to you?
2. It would be a shame if, after all God has done, you didn’t accept what He’s done for you. He’s done His part, but we must do our part – to accept the blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins and to invite Jesus in.
3. As the music plays, I want to invite you to come stand with me if you want to make your salvation certain.
4. Prayer.
