PART FIVE
All right, we left off last week with the point about David. These were the first points:
1. GOD MADE AN EVERLASTING COVENANT WITH THE CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM IN THE FLESH. (Genesis 17:7, 13, 19; I Chronicles 16:17; Psalm 105:10; Jeremiah 32:40; Ezekiel 16:60, 37:26)
Goodness there are so many scriptures and that’s just a few. There are eight of them up there right now.
2. THE PROMISE OF THE LAND OF ISRAEL IS GIVEN TO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. (Jeremiah 30:3, 22, 31:1)
Nobody else. Certainly not Yasser Arafat and his children.
3. GOD WILL NOT DISHONOR HIS AGREEMENT WITH DAVID. (Jeremiah 33:19-21, 32:38, 33:24)
And as we saw, as a matter of fact, I think it would be good, just in case any of you missed this last week. Let’s go over to Jeremiah chapter 33. This is a very key scripture. Jeremiah chapter 33, in verse 19 it says:
| And the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season; |
He’s saying this to Jeremiah. He’s saying if you can break my covenant with the day and the night so that there isn’t going to be day, there isn’t going to be night, if you can do that. Now just think about somebody pointing their finger at you and telling you “Can you stop the day, can you stop the night ?” If you can break that covenant that I’ve made, that agreement that I’ve made, that authority that I’ve issued, He says then in verse 21:
| Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers. As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me. |
In verse 25:
| Thus saith the LORD; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them. |
Now you’ll notice He’s saying that “If you can’t break this covenant then what I promised to David holds true. What I promised to David holds true.” So God will not dishonor his agreement with David. Now keep in mind there are quite a few people He had and agreement with, we have Abraham, we have Moses, we have Jacob, we have Isaac.
Let’s go over to Malachi chapter 4.
Now, one thing that is always brought up and I think it’s so interesting that people always do this they say “Oh, but the Jewish people nailed Jesus to the cross. That’s why God won’t have anything to do with them anymore.” Got news for you. It wasn’t the Jews that nailed Him to the cross, it was the Romans. The Jews cried “Crucify Him ! Crucify Him !” They brought Him to Pilate, but you have this group of international thugs, Roman Legionnaires who dug the hole for the cross, made Jesus carry it, mocked Him, scourged Him, inflicted this pain upon Him, drove the nails in His hands, drove the nails in His feet.
These people, not the Jews, if you want to look at who is responsible directly for the death of Jesus on the cross, so far as physical, immediate human beings, look to them. Now I know we can all say that all of us had a hand in it, because if we had not sinned Jesus would have no need to go to the cross, and that’s true. But I think it’s important to realize that while many people complain and say “Oh, God has cast out the Jewish people, there’s no hope for them anymore.” We need to realize that God gave certain promises to them, He called them knowing in advance what they would do. When He said “I will bless them that bless thee and curse them that curse thee” talking to Abraham, He knew that there would be a Jewish people coming out of Abraham. He gave the promise to bless them knowing what they would do. So how can we say that God was ignorant of what was about to happen ? We can’t. He gave that promise anyway. Now there are times, and this is what the Old Testament is filled with, where the Jewish people would be close to the Lord, and then they would get their eyes on other things. And they would start drifting away from the Lord, before very long they were pretty far away from the Lord. And then the Bible would say God would send the prophets with God’s Word. And the Word of God would convict the hearts of the people.
Rarely do you ever see a revival in Israel. Just because God gave His word and told them they need to repent, rarely do you ever see the Jewish people turning around simply for that reason alone. Instead God had to bring hardships upon them, He had to send them out into captivity. He had to make it really difficult for them, and when they were punished, sometimes over their entire lives, sometimes they could look back and see their great-grandkids punished, because of their sin. All the way through, then they came to realize “You know, we better get this thing straightened out with the Lord.”
And so we have the captivities. Now perhaps the largest captivity, the longest captivity, well without a doubt, the longest captivity took place beginning in 70 AD. When the Romans came into Jerusalem, burned the Temple, burned most of Jerusalem, scattered the Jewish people around the world. Some of them already had relatives up in the area today we call Iraq, Ancient Persia. And in that area they knew some people that were distant relatives and they moved up and they stayed with them for a while and eventually many of them moved across to Afghanistan, and then kept on going further and further. Some went into Russia, many of them went into Germany, into Europe, and then finally they made it across the Big Pond, they made it to New York City, and Miami. And so we have today and ongoing captivity, a dispersion of the Jewish people around the world.
And yet everyday more and more people are being brought back. It’s exciting, I try to keep up on this as much as possible and some of the tribes, the tribes over in India who have been there for many centuries, the Knesset, the ruling body of Israel said “Yes, we recognize that they are Jews. Bring them back.” And so just this week they gave the approval to bring back a few thousand Jews from India. This is happening all over the world where they are saying “Ok, if they’re there we’ll bring them back.” They also gave approval to bring the last remnant of Jews in Ethiopia, to bring them up, and bring them into Israel. But this is happening on a regular basis, where the Jewish people are coming back into the land because God gave a promise that He would draw them back.
He gave a promise that He would make Israel strong one day. Now we look at Israel today and we see a secular society, it isn’t deeply spiritual, you can look at any of the great leaders and yeah they wear a Kippah, they wear a Yarmulke, and they give lip service to God, all of them with very few exceptions. Maybe Benjamin Netanyahu is one of them. But for the most part they are all just playing the political game, and yet underlying all of this is a very powerful and strong faith in God that many Jews have.
When we were in Israel, even though the laws of Israel say that Israel must respect the Sabbath of anybody who’s there. That includes Muslim, Christian, whoever. They have to respect each other’s Sabbath. Yet, the Orthodox, we were at a hotel and we were in an Orthodox area but it wasn’t the most Orthodox area I mean there were some areas that were even worse than where we were. Where we were, when we wanted to go eat on the Sabbath, we were on the third floor and they had something called a Sabbath elevator, and you get into the Sabbath elevator and you could go down. And then when we were finished eating we went back to the elevator and they said “Oh, no it doesn’t work now. The Sabbath elevator only goes down, it can coast down but it can’t go back up.”
So they were Orthodox, but they weren’t as Orthodox as the people from a block away, we could see them from our window. There were constant police sirens wailing, there were constant ambulances being brought because the Orthodox Jews had set up barricades in the street. They said “We don’t want any taxis, we don’t want any cars, we don’t want anybody coming into our area and breaking the Sabbath.” And so they stopped everybody from entering in. Now even though that wasn’t the law of the land they got away with it, because they are that strong.
One area of spiritual fire that’s still there is that the Orthodox Jew still believes the Bible. The Conservative and the Reformed Jew, generally they’re kind of like the liberal Christians, they can just take it or leave it. “Oh, what Bible is that ? Doesn’t matter, I’ll just take whatever’s there.” They’re not concerned about accuracy, they’re not concerned about studying, they’re just concerned about “Well, I’ve got a Bible here, doesn’t matter as long as it’s called a Bible.” But the Orthodox Jew is very concerned, they want accuracy, they want to know what God said and they want to do it. And one day the blinders are going to be taken off and they’re going to see Who the Messiah really is. Along the way, many have already found Who the Messiah is, and this is a great disturbance to a lot of people. But in the Book of Malachi, in Malachi chapter 4. Let me just give you the context so you’ll see what time of history we’re looking at. In Malachi chapter 4, in verse 1 it says:
| For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts. |
Now, wait a second. Who’s He talking to ? Who was Malachi sent to ? The Jewish people. Israel. In verse 4, if you have any doubts about it, this kind of clarifies it.:
| Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, |
Now believe me that wasn’t sent to the Chinese. We’re getting things so mixed up in this world today. The other day I was in a shopping center, walked out and did a double take on a sign outside a Chinese restaurant. It said “Chinese Food – New York Style.” I’m serious. I thought to myself, what is the sense in that ? Chinese Food – New York Style ? ? I mean there’s no sense in going. When it talks about the laws of Moses, what people is He talking about ? The Jewish people. When it talks about what God . . .
| . . . commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel . . . |
who is He talking about ? The Jewish people. It says:
| with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. |
One of the very important areas of Bible prophecy to understand is that God in the last days is sending Elijah. Elijah was one of those few people who never tasted death, remember how Elijah left this earth ? The chariots of God took him up. Only one other person the Bible talks about two prophets, two witnesses, two olive branches in the last days. They’re going to bear witness, they’re going to make the world angry because they’re going to tell the truth. No compromise, the whole truth. They’re going to do miracles, they’re actually going to call fire down from heaven.
Things are going to be done as they haven’t been done in a long time. But one of the things that Elijah accomplishes is to get the hearts of the children to go back to the fathers. Not to the Rabbis. Not to the Mishnah. Not to all the commentaries that have been written. But to the fathers, who are the fathers ? Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Get back to their faith. And you know what ? You get back to their faith and you get back to the same faith that we have, in Jesus. Salvation is by faith, that’s what they believe. It wasn’t by works, but by faith. So Elijah’s going to turn the Jewish people, the Children, back to the Fathers. The Fathers to the children.
And here’s a promise that God gives. When is this going to happen ? Has it happened already ? No. But instead before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. That pinpoints it doesn’t it ? So when you look at this, you’ve got to understand God still has a plan for Israel doesn’t He ? I mean if He’s going to do this with the Jewish people, He’s sending back Elijah (by the way what was Elijah ? Was he an African ? Was he Mexican ? Was He a Canadian ? What was Elijah ? He was Jewish !). Number one He sends back a man who is Jewish to reach the people who are Jewish so that they can have the full blessing of their inheritance, in the end time. So is God finished with Israel ? Absolutely not. The Bible is very clear on that.
Ezekiel Chapter 37.
There’s a story that a lot of people like to talk about. I heard a Charismatic preacher preaching on this last year and I still cannot fathom, I’ve run it through my mind so many times trying to figure out how he can get, out of this particular thing – this is the valley of the dry bones – how he can get out of this that people should send him money so that they will get a hundred fold return. I cannot figure that out. But that’s what he was preaching. And I don’t know how other people may distort and change scripture but the Word of God says what it means and means what it says, and when it talks about a valley of dry bones coming together and being given life and then becoming a great nation again, I take it that that’s what God meant.
In verse 3:
| And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones |
Now get this. This is God speaking directly to Ezekiel, He says
| Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: |
Not just the lost tribe or two like some people are trying to make it out to be.
| these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. |
What is amazing to me is that some people try to symbolize it, explain it away. It means what is says and says what it means. The Jewish people are going to be alive again, brought back into the land of Israel as God said. Because God is not finished with them.
But I do think our time tonight is finished, so lets just wrap up and take a look at what we’ve seen.
The Promises of God, they don’t change, because God doesn’t change. If God knowing in advance what Israel would do still offered to Israel those promises, you can count on it, they’re still solid today. When God gave a promise to David, he said “You stand a better chance of changing night and day than for Me to break My promise with David.”
We have the prophecies about Elijah turning the Jewish people back to their roots. We see the valley of dry bones and yet people deliberately ignore what the Bible says because they like the loopholes they like all the consequential ideas that come from Replacement Theology and that’s dangerous. Because that includes Nazism, it includes New World Order nonsense, it includes White Supremacy, it includes all sorts of very, very dangerous doctrines.
Aren’t you glad we have the Bible and we can look at it. We don’t have to depend upon any individual, that you can see it for yourself. It’s there isn’t it ? Maybe there’s a reason they don’t want people in Charismatic churches carrying their Bibles. Or their leaders convince them to read Bibles with verses missing, or changed, such as the NIV. Maybe there’s a reason behind it. Actually I’m sure that there is.