The Role of Israel in History and Prophecy

We've been going through a series of sermons, once a month I've been giving a sermon, on a major theme or a template of prophecy. And the reason I've been going through these, I said we have to start with what we build off of. You have to start with your foundation. And we've been going through a number of very basic concepts. And in going through these basic concepts, we don't supply all the details, but we supply what you build off of, what you start with in our understanding of prophecy. And so far, just a few of the concepts that we've really dealt with is the concept that salvation history, we understand salvation history through the series of covenants that God has made with individuals and with nations and with mankind. And in those covenants, we see the step-by-step process in which God is carrying out His plan of salvation. And so we understand prophecy in that context. And one thing that's common through all those covenants, and we even touch on some of those covenants today, what we're going to talk about, is the concept that God was going to bring about a Messiah, a chosen one, an anointed one, the Christ. That He would come two times, you don't understand that in the first covenant. It takes time for that to develop in those eight covenants, major covenants in the Bible. But you eventually get to the new covenant. We begin to realize through the divinity covenant, through other covenants, that, hey, there's two covenants in this Messiah. He eventually sets up God's kingdom on this earth. And so we talk about how that is the most primary foundational understanding of prophecy, is what God is doing through Jesus Christ. But we also covered that in order to understand we have the prophecy, we have to look at certain templates. We have themes, we have templates. One of the templates we used was Daniel chapter 2. Daniel chapter 2 gives us a reference point for understanding Daniel 7, which gives us a reference point for understanding the book of Revelation. And so if we start with Daniel 2, we come to an understanding of prophecy that if you start someplace else, you have a totally different understanding of prophecy. So Daniel 2 is a template that we build off of, which, by the way, shows just those two alone. If we use Daniel 2, we use the Messiah. That's one of our themes, one of our templates.

All prophetic roads lead to Jerusalem. We end up in Jerusalem. So the third template we talked about was Matthew 24, or the second template, it was the third of the series, was about Matthew 24, and how Jesus, all of that prophecy, gives us an understanding of explaining parts of Revelation about His Second Coming, what the world will be like, and what will happen leading up to and culminating in His Second Coming.

We were able to derive a number of different principles for that. I won't go through all the principles, but what I'm actually going to do here sometime in the next month or two, I'm going to take one of the weeks where we have the services in a Bible study. I'm going to take that day and take both the services and the Bible study, and we're going to just go through and show how all these things we've been talking about fit together.

We're going to take all the sermons and put them into a singular viewpoint so we can see how the pieces of the puzzle fit together. But we still have a few other things to do before we get there, a few other themes we have to mention. Now, we've also been going through the Bible studies on the minor prophets, and we've learned a number of basic prophetic principles by going through the minor prophets.

But one of the themes that we have to understand and once again today, all I'm doing in an hour's sermon is I'm taking a huge subject and bringing it down to its very basic building blocks. This is where we start. We have to understand the role of Israel in history and prophecy, the role of Israel in history and prophecy. So we'll be going through a large number of scriptures. Sometimes these sermons are more like Bible studies than normal sermons, but I think as we go through these, once we build this series of templates and themes, then we'll be able to tackle what it means by the abomination of desolation.

What do these prophecies mean? We have to have all these things in place first before you can even discuss those things. God chose Israel for three reasons. There were three things that that nation was supposed to do. And we're going to go back and come back to Abraham and even back a little bit to the Abrahamic covenant to build this theme and start looking at this theme. This theme runs through all of the major prophets and most of the minor prophets.

Some of the minor prophets don't have this theme entirely in it, but this runs through all the major prophets and most of the minor prophets. What was God's purpose for Israel? First of all, Israel was the family in which God was going to produce the Messiah. Israel was the family in which God was going to produce the Messiah. We know that Israel was the descendants of Abraham. We go back to that Abrahamic covenant. We won't go there since we already covered that in that two-part series of the covenants.

But we do know that God came to him and said, and you, all nations, will be blessed. Now when we get to the New Testament, let's go to Acts 3. Acts 3 and verse 25. Peter here is speaking to a large collection of Jews. There are probably some proselytes among them, predominantly they're Jewish people.

We're breaking into the middle of his sermon here. Verse 25, he says, "'You are the sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham.'" So he goes back to that Genesis 12. Now the first few verses of Genesis 12, he goes back and he quotes it and he says, "'And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'" Now he's talking here about who Jesus is. That Jesus is the Christ.

That's the theme of what he's talking about. And he says, "'Now let's go back to that covenant, let's go back to that promise that all nations will be blessed through your seed,' one of Abraham's seed, verse 26, "'to you first.'" Now he's talking to a group of Jews, this is important. "'To you first, God having raised up his servant, Jesus sent him to bless you, turning away every one of you from your iniquities.'" What he's saying is Jesus is that promise. He's the fulfillment of that promise. He is the Messiah.

So just from what we've gone through in the covenants, and we know that the Messiah is one of the great themes, we understand that Israel was the family in which the Messiah was supposed to come into the world. A second reason for God's use of the people of Israel was that Israel was to be a witness of the true God to all people. They were supposed to be a witness of the true God to all people. When people came from all over the world to the land of Israel, there was a temple there where they worship the true God.

Any other country, there were all kinds of temples throughout the ancient world, all kinds of altars, all types of high places, and wherever you went, there were gods and goddesses being worshipped in temples. But when they came to Israel, there was something different. There was a temple to the one true God.

Their religion, their way of life, everything about them was centered around the one true God. It's one of the reasons why, by the way, the Romans persecuted them after a while. They didn't persecute the Jews primarily at first because of their religion. The Jews were simply accepted into the empire like everybody else. But it was like these stubborn people have the weirdest religion. You know why it was so weird? They denied all the gods except one. And so they looked down on the rest of us.

That's why they persecuted them. They were supposed to be a witness to the one true God. It got them persecuted. Isaiah 43. Now, once again, I'm just going to Scriptures that make these simple points so that we can build this premise. We get to look at this theme that runs throughout Scripture. If you understand what I'm talking about today, there's passages like Romans 11 that will make a whole lot more sense. A whole lot more sense. But Isaiah 43 verse 1, But now thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, twelve tribes.

That's the family tree. He says, Fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name. You are mine. So he says, You people are mine for a special purpose.

Now let's go to verse 10. You are my witnesses, God tells them, says the Lord, and my servant, whom I have chosen, that you may know me and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after me. I, even I, am the Lord, and besides me there is no Savior. He says, You are my witnesses. So they were called to be God's witnesses.

We can tell you about the one true God. We worship the one true God. Now part of the problem that happened in ancient Israel was they became, they got to the place they didn't want to share the one true God. He's ours. He's our God. And they didn't necessarily want to share Him with others.

So that's the second reason, the purpose for the nation of Israel. The third is that they were to preserve the teachings of God. They were called as a people to preserve the teachings of God. Let's go to Deuteronomy 4.

Deuteronomy 4 verse 5.

Moses says here, "...surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land in which you go to possess.

Therefore be careful to observe them, and this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who will hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." Now not only did he say, Remember, you have been given God's commandments, it's you that are supposed to protect them. He says, Other people are supposed to look at you. We're going back to that witness. Other people should look at you and say, This is a wise and understanding people. These people are different. So God says, You're my shining light in this dark world, and you are to keep these things and remember these things. And not only do that, you have to pass them on for generations and generations. Verse 7, For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the Lord our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him? And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all the slal which I sent before you this day? Let me take heed to yourself, and diligently keep them, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, lest they depart from your hearts in all the days of your life. And teach them to your children and your grandchildren.

They were given the laws of God, and it was their commission from God to teach it from generation to generation. He did not expect them to say, Okay, well, I taught the first generation. The second generation may stick around, but the third generation, and I forget it, there was to be taught as a people generation after generation. This is why, even to this day, family is so important in the Jewish world, and traditions are so important in the Jewish world. It goes back to this, that they were to pass this on. They were the ones God had given something special to, and they were to take care of it. This now helps us understand what Paul says in Romans chapter 3.

I know we're going along a lot of scripture today, but we have to set this premise to show that this is one of the foundational principles of understanding and themes that run through about prophecy.

Israel was supposed to be the family that God, or was the family that God was going to bring about the Messiah. They were supposed to be God's witnesses, and they were the ones who were supposed to preserve the teachings of God. Romans 3 verse 1. What advantage, then, have the Jew, or what is the prophet of circumcision? Well, much in every way. Now, Paul, we're in a midst of a passage where Paul is saying Gentiles don't have to be circumcised. He says, I know there's Jews that are going to be reading this and say, well, then why were we circumcised? He says, well, no, wait a minute. Wait a minute. That's important. You have played a part in what God is doing, chiefly because to them we're committed the oracles of God, chiefly because what was given to them was the oracles of God. You know, what's very interesting about this, you know, most of you, one of the Greek words that everybody knows is logos. We don't know much Greek, but we know that one, right?

The Word of God, the expressed Word of God. Well, the oracles there is a Greek word, logilith.

They were given the expressed words of God, and that's what they were. That's part of what they did in history. It wasn't just the Messiah. It was the expressed words of God they were to protect. And believe me, what we call the Old Testament cost the lives of a lot of people over the years to hold on and pass on with that book. There's been many attempts to destroy both the Old and New Testaments over the years by people who want to destroy it. There were people who paid a price, and many times it was Jewish people for that Old Testament, not the New Testament, but the Old Testament, paying the price of protecting that. So we have those three reasons that God said, I'm going to use these people. That helps us begin to understand that thread, that scene, throughout Scripture, and it ties the Old and New Testament together. Just like what God told them in Deuteronomy helps us understand why Paul would say what he said. It ties those things together.

Most people think, well, the Bible, the Old and New Testament are so disconnected. Remember, we're always looking for continuity where they fit together. Deuteronomy and Romans are tied together because Paul is only stating, 1400 years later, what God had told them there. This is part of your purpose as a people, why God had called them. Now, we go back to the origins, of course, in history of Israel. The word Israel comes from the time when Jacob wrestled with the one who would become Jesus Christ. We know that because he says, I wrestled with God. He doesn't say I wrestle with an angel. And he changed his name to Israel. And so, from that point on, his children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren became known as the children of Israel. So, that's where the name Israel comes from. That's in Genesis 32.

We have a fascinating prophecy in Genesis 49. I just want to touch on this prophecy because this is part of our template. God's purpose for Israel would not end in 70 AD. Now, there are lots of people who believe God's purpose for Israel ended in 70 AD. In fact, that was the major teaching throughout Christianity until recently. That's being changed by some teachers because they're starting to look at end-time events and saying, wait a minute, they were supposed to be, as I mentioned in one of the sermons on prophecy, they have to be Jews in Jerusalem when the Messiah comes. They have to be there to fulfill certain prophecies.

So, let's go to Genesis 49. I just want to touch on this because this shows that the purpose of God working through the physical descendants of Abraham. Now, we have to do a whole sermon on the church and prophecy. The purpose of the church, why God started the church, what the church is supposed to do and accomplish, what God is doing in the church.

The church has nothing to do with physical genetics. The church has to do with spiritual genetics. The church is made up of all kinds of people who God calls and gives his spirit to.

So, the church has a different function in history, although some of the functions are the same as ancient Israel. So, when we go through the prophecies and the purpose of the church, you will be able to show that. But let's look at Genesis 49.

And Jacob called his sons and said, Gather together, and I shall tell you what shall befall you in the last day. That's a real important phrase in the last days, because that doesn't mean next month. It doesn't mean when you die.

It doesn't mean that last days was not fulfilled. I've seen arguments, well, that was fulfilled at the time of Joshua. No, it wasn't, because Joshua wasn't the last days. Well, that was fulfilled under the united monarchy of Saul and David and Solomon. No, it wasn't. It was not the last days. This prophecy looks down to the time the last days are references of the Old Testament to the time when the Messiah comes to establish God's kingdom on this earth. So this prophecy goes clear down to that point. And he says, you will become tribes, and your tribes will become nations. And this is what will happen. And so all those people, all the descendants of Abraham, most of which, by the way, don't know who they are today, right, because the ten tribes were lost.

But they still are playing a purpose, not in salvation, but in the plan of God and what He's doing. And so even the physical descendants of Abraham today, no matter who they were, what tribe, whether it be Issachar or Manasseh or Judah or Levi or Ephraim, they still have a purpose they play today. Now, the purpose that becomes obvious to us is the tribe of Judah, which includes Benjamin and Levi was with them. And because why? Well, they're still obviously on the world stage.

We still see them. Those are the people who, for the most part, you know, many of them, well, half of them, are in Israel today. Actually, a little less than half. There's more Jews, I think, in the United States than there are in Israel. But those people kept their identity, and they still have a purpose that they're playing, a purpose they don't know, by the way, to a great extent that they're playing out. But they are. What's very interesting here is when we jump down to verse 8. Now, here we have what God says about Judah. Judah, you are he who the brothers shall praise, your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies, your father's children shall bow down before them. Judah is a lion's wealth, from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down, he lies down as a lion, as a lion who shall rouse him up. So, here we have this description that Judah would be like a lion. But notice verse 10. The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, till Shiloh comes, and him shall be the obedience of the people. Now, this is very interesting because this is telling of a king, the scepter, right? Which is that the symbol of rulership. A king shall be from Judah forever. Remember what is one of the major themes, or primary things, the Messiah. This is why, if you remember, I gave a sermon here about three months ago on Jesus as the second Adam. And we didn't go into any detail, but we were in Revelation chapter 5. I said, notice, it says that Jesus is the Lamb and the Lion of Judah.

That goes clear back. Revelation chapter 5 and Genesis 49 are connected that Jesus is that Messiah. He is the fulfillment of this prophecy. He is the Lion of Judah because he came through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Judah. It was through Judah. A descendant of Judah was David. A descendant of David was Mary. That's pretty intricate, carrying out a prophecy that God is doing to make sure that Mary is in the right place at the right time at the exact moment.

That person was there, and that person being there started with Abraham.

Between Abraham and Mary is almost 2,000 years.

That's prophecy. This is part of the prophetic theme that's not finished yet.

It's not finished yet because Revelation 5 and the events being described in Revelation haven't been finished yet. So actually where we are here in Genesis 49 verse 10, is it done yet?

Shiloh is interesting. Shiloh is a place. This is the only place in the Bible where Shiloh is a person.

It really means, uh, rest. Interesting, Jesus said, come, you know, I will give you rest.

Shiloh comes. We're waiting for Shiloh to come back.

We're waiting for his return to set up God's Kingdom on this earth.

Now, if we go through then the Scripture, we go through the Old Testament, we have the history of Israel. You know, the 12 brothers, Joseph, Joseph has two more, or two sons. Basically, that breaks down into 13 tribes, the 12 tribes, and then Ephraim and Asa, which are both from Joseph. They end up in Egypt. Moses comes along through God's direction and takes them out of Egypt. They go back to the Promised Land. They lived under the period of Judges. Then they ask for a king and he gives them Saul. They have Saul and David in Solomon. And then Israel and Judah can't get along, so they divided into two countries. For hundreds of years, there are two countries.

Until Israel finally fails so miserably as a witness of God, and the people were supposed to obey and protect his teachings, that God let Assyria destroy Israel.

Then, it only takes a couple generations after that, where Judah is so messed up that God allows the Babylonians to destroy Judah.

Now, does that mean God has abandoned those people?

Because, you know, if you get to Malachi, well, Judah is brought back. You're only at the end of the Old Testament. By the time Jesus comes along, Judah is there, and Levi and Benjamin are all mingled together. The rest of the tribes are scattered all over the place. And what happened since 70 AD? The Temple is destroyed. And when 30 AD Judah is destroyed, it's gone. It doesn't appear on the world scene again until 1948. It's gone. That period between 130 AD and 1948 led many Christians, for generation after generation, to believe God had abandoned the Jews. In fact, for many, many hundreds of years, the most common teaching about prophecy concerning Israel was that all the prophecies concerning Israel now apply to the Church. There's a problem with that, because that would make God a liar. Oh, I said it to you, but now I'm giving it to that person.

I'm making a promise to you, but I'm making my promise to giving it to that person.

So what is it that God promises the physical descendants of Abraham in the prophecies yet to come? Now, what I've covered in 20 minutes is the entire Old Testament. I've got you through the Old Testament. Well, I've taken you up to 130. So I've got the Old Testament, the New Testament, and even beyond. But what I just talked about, if you read the Old Testament with that understanding of those three purposes, you will understand more and more of the prophecies, and you will see how many of them were fulfilled. There's an awful lot of prophecies about Israel fulfilled in the Old Testament and the New Testament. But there are things that have not been fulfilled. Now, those are very important, too. When God gave them the Sinai covenant, He did not promise them salvation at that time. It doesn't mean that salvation wasn't going to be offered to them. Remember when I went through the the the covenant, I said, we can't divide the covenants, as some people do. Okay, this covenant started, then it stopped. Then this covenant started, then it stopped. These covenants have threads that run all through them, and there's a reason why. God is a plan of salvation, and each covenant is what He's doing in the next step.

So even though the Sinai covenant did not promise them eternal salvation, it did promise them, if you obey Me and you fulfill your roles, I will bless you. You have good rain, you have good crops, you have good children, everything will work out. He promised the physical blessings. He did not promise them at that time. But there is, throughout the Old Testament, promises I will someday offer you eternal salvation. Did He abandon those people? Ezekiel 37. Verse 1, Ezekiel says, The hand of the Lord came upon me, and brought me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley. Oh, we all know this one, right? The valley of the dry bones. We all know this prophecy. And this prophecy is read many times on the last great day, the eighth day of the Feast of Tabernas. But I want to read it now in the context of what is the promise to the people of Israel throughout the years, whether they're Jews, whether they're people of Gad, whether, you know, Napkali, whoever they're from, wherever they are, wherever they've been over history, not knowing who they are, there's still a promise to these people.

And let's look at that promise. They made me to pass by them all around this valley full of dry bones. Behold, there was very many in the open valley. Indeed, they were very dry.

Many of them have been dead for a long time. And He said to me, Son of Man, can these bones live? So I answered, which is really good. If God ever asks you a question, the best thing to do is say is, I don't know, but you do. Best answer you can give. O Lord, you know, he said to me, prophesy to these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, and hear the word of the Lord. And of course, we know the story.

In this vision, he cries out, and the bones come together. And God says, now prophesy that they will receive flesh, and they become, you know, human with organs and flesh.

He says, do you think they can live again? And He says, I don't know, you know. And He says, prophesy, and they come alive. This prophecy is about who?

Verse 11. And He said to me, Son of Man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.

They indeed say, our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off. Therefore, prophesy and say to them, Thus says the Lord God, behold, O my people, I will open your graves that cause you to come up from your graves and bring you to the land of Israel. Israel rebelled. Israel was destroyed. Judah rebelled. Judah, as a country, was destroyed. They're no longer in the land of Israel. Well, there are some Jews back now, a couple million. But most of the people, Israelites or Jews throughout history, haven't lived in the land of Israel. He's going to resurrect them. Why is He doing this? Because He told Abraham He would. That's why. Not because they rebelled. This is in spite of them. He told Him, now, this is what He would do. And this is what He's still going to do. This prophecy hasn't been fulfilled, and this is literal. He's going to do this. Verse 13, "...that you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up from your graves." Verse 14, now, we'll put My Spirit in you. That's what was missing in the Sinai covenant. Very few people out of the Sinai covenant received God's Spirit. A few did. There's a place in the Bible where it says someone received God's Spirit.

David did. Moses did. Saul did. But those people did not. It was not poured out in the way it's been poured out upon the church. It's why the church has a bit of a different function. There's a spiritual aspect of salvation in the church that wasn't in ancient Israel.

But He says to them, "...I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it, says the Lord." This hasn't happened yet. Has God abandoned those people? Is Israel no longer? Did it send a physical descendants? Yeah. Now, they failed miserably in what they were supposed to do.

They missed something. And by the way, when we get into the church, this is something we're supposed to do. As the witnesses of God, we're supposed to bring all people to God because all people are the children of God. Israel became convinced of their own superiority. If we ever get convinced in our own superiority so that we don't believe that it is our purpose to witness to others, to our lifestyle, then we'll make the same mistake they did.

We'll make the same mistake they did. This is why I wanted to go through Israel before I go through the church, because there are lessons from ancient Israel that the church needs to learn.

Because some of our function is the same. Now, let's pick this up again when he says here in verse 15, Again the word of the Lord came to be saying, As for you, Son of man, take a stick for yourself and write on it for Judah and for the children of Israel, his companion. Then take another stick and write on it for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions. Well, remember, they had been divided into two nations. During the lifetime of Ezekiel, Israel was destroyed. He says, okay, take a stick. This is for Judah and all the people of Israel that are with them, and this is for Israel and all the people of Israel that are with them. Okay, there are two sticks. They're divided. He says, Then join them into one another, for yourself into one stick, and they will become one in your hand. And when the children of your people speak you, saying, Will you show us what you mean by this? They say, Well, what's that mean? We're two different peoples now. We're separated. We can't come together. Israel's been destroyed.

What does this mean? Say to them, Thus says the Lord God, Surely I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions, and I will join them with it, the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in my hand.

And the sticks of what you write will be in your hand before their eyes.

Then say to them, Thus says the Lord God, Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations. Now, some people say, Well, that's what happened in 1948. He took the Jews from among the nations. This isn't what he said. I will take all the people of Israel that has been scattered from among the nations. This hasn't happened. Wherever they have gone, we'll gather them from every side and bring them into their own land. And I will make them one nation in the land, on the Mount of Israel. And one king shall be over... will be king over all of them. And they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they be divided into two kingdoms.

One king over them. Who is that king? Verse 23 says that they will become his people again, and he will be their God. And verse 24 says, David, my servant, shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall also walk in my judgments, observe my statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob, my servant, where your fathers dwelt, and they shall dwell there. They, their children, and their children's children forever, and my servant David shall be their prince forever. And I will establish a covenant of peace with them, and it should be an everlasting covenant. And I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set my sanctuary in their midst forever. That hasn't happened yet.

Now, there are a lot of commentators that take Ezekiel 37 and try to make it into a spiritual allegory. I believe that the lessons here are to be taken literal. There is coming a time in the future where God takes all those descendants of Abraham, wherever they are, whoever they are, and He gives them the land that God said He would give to them.

Not by the way. They say, oh, does that make people of Israel or Jews superior to everybody else?

No. That means they had a purpose, and they failed in their purpose. And God doesn't like failure. And guess what God's going to do? He's going to make them do what they were supposed to do. Where they have one King, David, over them. And the King from the divinic line. Remember we went through the divinic covenant? Jesus Christ is the divinic King. I mean, this is David himself is going to be resurrected, but we also know there will be a divinic line over them forever. Who's that going to be? That's going to be Jesus Christ. So this prophecy hasn't been fulfilled yet. You know, it's interesting when you get to Jeremiah 31, he says they're going to make a covenant with them. You all know, I mean, Jeremiah 31 through 36 is one of the most quoted scriptures of the Old Testament. The promise of the New Covenant. And he says, I will take Israel and I will take Judah and I will write my laws in their heart. I will make a New Covenant with them. And I will write my laws in their minds, in their hearts. That's what he's talking about here, this New Covenant. Now, as members of the Church, you and I, no matter what our background, right? No matter what our background, we're already members and participants of the New Covenant. We're already there. You know, most of the physical descendants of Abraham aren't there.

So, the gospel isn't about, you know, just the physical descendants of Abraham. No, that's a prophetic message to show what God is doing. The gospel is about how all of us are the children of God. How all of us were created for the purpose of being His child, every one of us. But the Bible shows us how He's doing it. And He does it through individuals. He does it through families. The Bible also contains all kinds of stories about people God called and chose, many of them not Israelites. In fact, most of the New Testament is about non-Israelites, right? That God uses, because that's not what He's doing through the Church. And we have to remember that. What He's doing through the Church is a whole lot greater than what we're talking about here. But this is amazing. God has not abandoned those people, even though they abandoned Him. Jeremiah 33 is interesting. Let's go to Jeremiah 33.

These major scriptures that don't need a lot of explanation, we just take them at face value, begin to form the theme that we understand and now can study scripture through. Jeremiah 33 and verse 19.

The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, thus says the Lord, If you could break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that there shall be no day or night in their season, then my covenant may also be broken with David my servant, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levite and the priests, many ministers. He said, I promised David there would be someone to sit on his throne. Who is it? Well, and we went back to Genesis 49 to find out who it was. Tied down here in Revelation 5, it's the Lion of Judah, of the Lion of David. And he says, you would have to stop day and night. The universe would have to cease to exist, but my covenant with David will still exist.

As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, verse 22, though the sand of the sea measured, so I will multiply the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister to me.

Whereover the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, have you not considered what these people have spoken, saying, the two families which the Lord has chosen, He has cast them off. Who are the two families? Judah and Israel. He says, God has thrown them away. Now, remember, Jeremiah lived in a time when Judah was destroyed. Israel had already been destroyed. He went to sad parts of Jeremiah's. He ends up, him and Veruq, walking through the desolation of Jerusalem and basically saying, so God said He would protect us.

Everybody else is gone, but there's thus. This is it. We live in this burnt-out city. Well, then they found out there were other peoples who had survived. So they got them together, and they kidnapped them and took them to Egypt. I mean, that's the book of Jeremiah ends with poor Jeremiah being kidnapped and taken to Egypt by people. We kept saying, don't do this. God doesn't want us to do this. And there he goes. So he lived during that time period when Judah was destroyed. And God says, you know, people are saying, oh, these two families, Israel and Judah, I guess they weren't that important to God after all. He has cast them off.

Thus they have despised my people as if they should no more be a nation before me.

Like I just give them up. Thus says the Lord, if my covenant is not with day and night, and I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, then I will cast away the descendants of Jacob. That's very important. He just doesn't say David. Jacob. He's come up, both families.

Both families. He says, then I will cast away the descendants of Jacob and David, my servant, so that I will not take any of his descendants to be rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For I will cause their captives to return, and we'll have mercy on them.

We just read in Ezekiel 37, the captives are going to return.

When we covered one of the Sermons on Prophecy, I showed in Zechariah how part of the captives returning started when the Jews started going back to Israel. They have to be there. But that's just the beginning of this migration. This migration that when the Messiah comes, they come. And then there's a resurrection, a physical resurrection of Israel, the Great White Throne Judgment.

And they come.

Because God promised Abraham. Now you talk about, we worry, you know, will God keep His promises?

Think of what, right through the Bible, and how most of the Israelites treated God through history.

And God's still doing what He told Abraham he would do. God's going to keep His promises to you. That's the one thing prophecy teaches us.

God keeps His promises. In spite of Satan, in spite of us, He keeps His promises.

It carries out what He says He will do. In fact, in Romans 11, when we go through the church, maybe we have time to get into Romans 11 and show the relationship between the church and Israel. When in Romans 11, Paul says, verse 1, I say then, has God cast away His people? Now, He's talking here, by the way, about Israel.

And they're trying to figure out what is the relationship between the church and Israel. That's a problem they're having in the early church. What is the relationship? Especially as the Jews started to kick them out of the synagogue. It was real easy when the early church met in the synagogues, which they did for a long time, for years. And then they started to get kicked out of the synagogues. And okay, what is the relationship between the church and Israel?

He says, has God cast away His people? It's a big deal in Israel. Certainly not. For I also have an Israelite on the seat of Abraham, on the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people who be for do. Or do you not know that the Scripture says of Elijah, how He pleads with God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars, and I alone have left, and they seek my life. Elijah went to God and said, why do you keep sending these people? They're all rebellious. They all are pagans. They're trying to kill me. You know, because Elijah was in Israel, he sent to Israel, and nobody would listen to him. And so he goes to God and says, why are you having me do this? These people don't want to learn about you. Verse 4, but what does the divine response say to him? What did God tell him? I have reserved for myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Elijah didn't even know there were 7,000 men, plus their families in Israel, who were still following him. They were a remnant, a small number. Verse 5 is very important. Even so then, at this present time, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. All through history, there had been descendants of Abraham that God has brought into the Church. Probably at times it's been a minority of people of the Church, but there's always been people, descendants of Abraham, brought into the Church. We know there's whole congregations, like Corinth. Corinth was not a Jewish Church. Other places of the New Testament, some of those churches were almost entirely gentle. But he says there's always a remnant God's working with. Always a remnant of those people, because God told Abraham he would work with them. They're not a nation anymore, but the nation was reestablished in terms of... I mean, the Ted tribes, they don't know who they are, so they're nations, but they don't know it. But when we look at the Jews, they know who they are. And they're there. The remnant has begun. That's what's so important about that.

But the remnant is also in the Church. There's always a remnant of Israelites in the Church.

Let's go back now to our first three premises to build this template that we're working on.

Israel was the family God was going to use to produce the Messiah. Isaiah 11. Isaiah 11.

That hasn't been totally fulfilled. Yes, he came the first time, but he hasn't come back yet. And that's why Isaiah 11, he says, there shall be come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David. He's given the lineage here. This prophecy by Isaiah is important because it's saying, remember, for the siah comes through David. Now, if you lived at the time of Paul, they were saying, look, he's already come, but he's going to come back a second time.

And a branch shall grow out of its roots, and the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon it. The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might. The Spirit of knowledge, the fear of the Lord. And it goes on and talks about, in the Gentiles, he will rule with all this righteousness. Verse 6 says, the wolf shall dwell with the lamb. There will be an entire change of the environment with this descendant of David is here. Verse 10, and there shall be a root of Jesse.

He shall stand as a banner to the people for the Gentiles, everybody, all the nations. Gentiles just means peoples. God is life. That's just a word for people that weren't of the descendants of Abraham. For the Gentiles shall seek him, and his resting place shall be glorious.

Remember the Messiah is for all people. God chose a family. He said, this is who I'll bring the Messiah to. But it's for all people.

And here we have a prophecy that has not yet been fulfilled.

He doesn't stand on the earth ruling yet, but this is part of the thread.

And he is physically came, spiritually he came from because he gave up his divinity and came to the earth. That's what Paul says. But his physical being, that part of it, came from what? Mary.

And they send it on Abraham. And he's coming back. So Israel was the family God was using to produce the Messiah. That's still important. That's still important, too. Israel wants to preserve, or Israel wants to be a witness of the true God to all people. Isaiah 55.

He said, why would God just bring all the Israelites back together at the end and put them back in the land? What's the reason?

Verse 3 says, verses 1 and 2 talk about God saying, listen to me. I'm going to tell you something very important here. So verses 1 and 2 is all about getting your attention. Then verse 3 says, Incline your ear, come to me, here and your soul shall live. And I will make an everlasting covenant with you. So wait a minute. He already made a covenant with Israel. Well, there's the new covenant that is made with all peoples that is also made with Israel. And he says, a covenant, the sure mercies of David. This has to do with the covenant I made with David and the ruler that would come from him and the scepter of Genesis 49. And if you remember, one of the sermons I gave, and the seat of the woman of Genesis 3.15, say, person's Isaiah 11. Surely, I'm sorry, verse 4, indeed I have given him as a witness to the people, a leader and commander of the people. Ah! Christ is a witness to the people. Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, and nations who do not know you shall run to you because of the Lord your God and the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. So people will run to the people of Israel, because the covenant was made with Abraham. Why is God bringing them back into that land? Well, because the Messiah will be there. And the Messiah, the physical side and the sin of Abraham. But they're going to fulfill what they were supposed to do all along. They're going to be witnesses of the physical sense of God's way. You know, when Christ comes back and his world is in such a mess, the Church will be changed into spirit beings to serve Jesus Christ. But he also is going to have a physical group of people to help serve him. They will be children of the Church, who haven't been changed, and they will be the physical people of Israel.

And the physical people of Israel will be brought in and God is going to say, Christ is going to say, you get it now? We've got a world to convert out there.

We've got people to love who have been messed up by Satan. We have people to teach that I love them just as much as I love anybody. That God wants them just as much as he wants anybody. And they're kind of going to trust anybody. They're going to be afraid. They're going to be hungry and poor and cold and frightened. This guy's going to take these other hungry, poor, frightened people and say, you know, you're the descendant of Abraham? Really? Now, you're going to do what generations of Israelites have failed to do. You're going to represent me to everybody else. You're going to be my witness. You're going to help people of my name. You're going to serve people of my name. And God doesn't get to be your exclusive God. You're going to go witness to Him to everybody. So that's why He brings them in. He brings them back. They have a job yet to fulfill.

That last one was Israel to preserve the teachings of God. Zechariah 8 is a prophecy about when the Messiah rules on earth. Let's go to Zechariah 8. I'll read a little bit of the context so we can see what this is about. Zechariah 8 verse 1. Again, the word of the Lord of hosts came saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, I am zealous for Zion with great zeal, with great fervor, I am zealous for her. Thus says the Lord, I will return to Zion and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Okay, so this is the time when God sends the Messiah and He's dwelling in Jerusalem.

And Jerusalem shall be called the city of truth, the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain. He goes on and talks about how wonderful it'll be. People will live in peace.

Many times this scripture is read during the days or during the Feast of Tabernacles, when we talk about the millennial reign of Jesus Christ.

Verse 6 says, Thus says the Lord of hosts, If it is marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days. Notice what He said? So be marvelous in the eyes of what? The remnant of these people. Zechariah is written to Israel. Now it has a greater context, because all the prophets keep saying, and this will go out to the Gentiles. All nations, all peoples, in other words. This is going to be going out to everybody. Everybody's going to be participating in this. Everybody becomes part of this. But I find the rest of verse 6 here very fascinating.

Would it also be marvelous in my eyes? It's almost like God says, you think you're excited.

You can't imagine what this is going to be like for me. But I take this remnant of people who are the descendants of Abraham, and I bring them together and say, well, you've had a job to do for thousands of years, and we're going to get down to doing it right this time. He says, I will save the people, verse 7 and 8. 7 and 8 talks about how He's going to bring back the descendants of Abraham, all back to the land again. Now let's go down to verse 20.

Thus says the Lord of Hosts, people shall yet come, inhabitants of many cities.

The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, let us continue to go and pray before the Lord and seek the Lord of Hosts. In other words, He says, all over the world. All over the world. Christ comes back. When we get to the church, the church has changed. The descendants of Abraham are brought together and said, okay, let's start serving and helping the world and bringing them to Christ who is here and we'll bring them to the Father. And all over the world, people are going to be saying, let's go find God. Remember, they've been through the tribulation when this happens.

Let's find God. Let us continue and pray before the Lord and seek the Lord of Hosts. I, myself, will go also. And the people are saying, look, I'll go. You want to go? Let's go together. Let's go find God. Yes, many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem and pray before the Lord. They're going to come there because Christ is there.

Then verse 23, Thus says the Lord of Hosts, For those days ten men from every language of the nation shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. He gave you the oracles. Give them to us. He gave that to you. He gave you this understanding. Now, when you get into the church, it's even going to be more amazing in the church, because the church will have been changed into spirit beings. It's one thing to run up to a person and say, hey, God gave you something. Give it to me also. Share it with me. You're a witness. You have the logi on. You have the words. It's another to have a spirit being a peer before you'd say, let me teach you.

That's our calling. That's our calling. But to understand what God has done through Israel, we have to understand that God isn't done with those people. And God's going to still do something with those people. And they're still going to fulfill their role. And there's going to come a time when everybody will know that Jesus came from... His physical nature came from the descendants of Abraham. It was through that family that God was going to do that. Everyone will know that those physical people are supposed to be a witness of God. And everyone's going to know that they were the ones that God said, take care of my words, take my teachings, protect them. And that's going to happen in the future. That is one of the great templates and one of the great themes of prophecy.

We still have more themes to go through. We still have more templates.

There's a lot of details I didn't cover. Hundreds of passages in the minor prophets that we could have gone through. Many of them were fulfilled partly when Israel and Judah was destroyed. Some of them have not been yet fulfilled. And you'll always see... One of the things to look at in all your study of Israel, a remnant. There's always a physical remnant of those people that God's working with. And there's always a physical remnant, as Paul said in Romans, that he actually brings into the church. There's always people he's working with. Why?

Because he's fulfilling the promises that he made to Abraham.