And the Bible reads Jacob went on his way and the angels of God met him when Jacob saw them
He said this is God's hosts
They called the name of that place Mahanayim and Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of seer and
the country of Edom
And he commanded them saying thus shall you speak unto my lord Esau thy servant Jacob saith thus
I have sojourned with Laban and stayed there until now
And I have oxen and asses flocks and men servants and women servants
And I've sent to tell my lord that I might find grace in thy sight
The messengers returned to Jacob saying we came to thy brother Esau and also he cometh to meet thee
400 men with him then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed
And he divided the people that was with him and the flocks and the herds and the camels into two bands
And said if Esau come to the one company and smite it then the other company which is left shall escape
And Jacob said Oh God of my father Abraham and Lord and God
God of my father Isaac and Lord which said his son to me return unto thy country and to thy kindred and I will
Deal well with thee
I'm not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which thou hast showed me unto thy servant
For with my staff I passed over this Jordan and now I've become two bands
Deliver me I pray thee from the hand of my brother from the hand of Esau for I fear him lest he will come and smite
Me and the mother with the children
Now saidest I will surely do thee good and make thee seed as the sand of the sea which cannot be numbered for multitude
And he lodged there that same night and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau's brother
200 she goats and 20 he goats 200 ewes and
20 rams 30 milk camels with their colts 40 kine and 10 bulls 20 she-asses and 10 foals
And he delivered them into the hand of his servants every drove by
Themselves and sent into his servants pass over before me and put a space betwixt drove and drove
He commanded the foremost saying when Esau my brother meeteth thee and asketh thee saying whose art thou and whither thou goest thou
And whose art these before thee then that shall say they be thy servant Jacobs
It is a present sent unto my lord Esau and behold also he is behind us
and so commanded he the second and the third and all that followed the droves saying on this manner shall you speak unto Esau when
You find him and say you moreover behold thy servant Jacob is behind us for he said
I will appease him with the present that goeth before me and afterward. I will see his face per adventure
He will accept of me
So went the present over before him and himself lodged that night in the company
And he rose up that night and took his two wives and his two women servants and his 11 sons and passed over the Ford
Jabok and he took them and sent them over the brook and sent them over that he had
And Jacob was left alone
There wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day
And when he saw that he prevailed not against him
He touched the hollow of his thigh and the hall of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him
And he said let me go for the day breaketh and he said I will not let thee go except thou bless me
And he said unto him
What is thy name and he said Jacob and he said thy name shall be called no more Jacob
But Israel for as a prince has thou power with God and with men and has prevailed
Jacob asked him and said tell me I pray thee thy name
and he said wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name and he blessed him there and
Jacob called the name of the place Penuel for I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved and
As he passed over Penuel the Sun rose upon him and he halted upon his thigh
Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sino which shrink
Which is upon the hollow of the thigh unto this day because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh and the sino that shrink
Let's pray dear Lord God. Thank you for everything that you bless us with Lord
Just thank you for the King James Bible Lord and just thank you for pastor
We pray that you bless him right now as he preaches unto us your word Lord and just pray that we could take these
truths that
Pastors prepared for us and apply it to our lives Lord. We pray this all in Jesus name. Amen
Amen
Okay, we're in Genesis chapter 32 this evening and I'm gonna preach on the subject of the eras of Israel the eras of
Israel and this evening
there's gonna be more so of a teaching type of a sermon and
So you're gonna have to discipline yourself to pay attention and make sure that you are
Grasping a lot of the truths are gonna be said tonight because of the fact that I'm really gonna just give you a synopsis
of the history of Israel, okay, and
You know, obviously I might get preachy and some of the parts because I can't help it however, no promises
I'm just gonna give you a lot of information and just go through literally Genesis to Revelation
Regarding the history of Israel now, why is a sermon like this important?
well because of the fact that you know, a lot of Christians today think that everything is about Israel and
They think that Israel is essentially the centerpiece of the Bible. It's the centerpiece of
Christianity and it's all about Israel
But no, sorry, you know, the Bible is all about Jesus Christ and Jesus is the centerpiece of Christianity
He is the centerpiece of the Word of God and even of the history of Israel
Old Testament and New Testament. He's the most important person in the Word of God
And so sometimes people give this inordinate amount of affection
Towards the nation of Israel and the people of Israel
even though they're simply a tool that God used to get the Word of God out there and
Really the most important person as the Bible puts it in Colossians chapter 1 the preeminent one is Jesus Christ
Okay, and all of Israel's history is for the purpose of pointing us towards
Jesus Christ and the work of Jesus Christ. That's what it's all about
And so I want to go through the history of Israel and I'm gonna cover about seven different eras briefly and
Spend most of my time in the latter end of the list
But we're gonna talk about Israel the person the nation the monarchy the divided Kingdom
the remnant the Israel of God and ultimately the restoration of
Israel so let's start off by talking about Israel the person now what's funny about this is that
You know when you talk to people who are very much pro-zionist
They're pro Israel and they think that the Bible is all about Israel
You know
He kind of points you like what's your text verse and they always go to where Genesis chapter 12
But the thing is is that Israel actually isn't mentioned until Genesis chapter 32
And in fact Israel that even exists in Genesis chapter 12 Genesis chapter 12 is all about Abraham
Who is obviously that patriarch? He is Jacob's great-grandfather
Excuse me
He's his grandfather, but yet people seem to point to Genesis chapter 12
Promises made to Abraham and to his seed as though it somehow applies to the current state
Of Israel and it has nothing to do with it. We find the first mention of Israel in
Genesis chapter 32 now hold your place or go to Genesis chapter 25 if you would Genesis chapter 25
So let's look at the person Israel and of course prior to him being called Israel by God
His name was Jacob look at verse 22 of Genesis 25
It says here and the children struggled together within her and she said if it be
So why am I thus and she went to inquire of the Lord and the Lord said unto her
Two nations are in thy womb and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels
the one and the one people shall be stronger than the other and the
Elder shall serve the younger and obviously what's being mentioned here is the fact that
Jacob and Esau would be born from her right and
Essentially what he's referring to what God is referring to here is that Esau though
He's the elder will be serving Jacob the younger now
I believe that that was God's original intent
But yet when you read the story of Jacob
He kind of obtains those promises by deceitful means right by taking the birthright deceitfully
Which is one of the reasons why he's essentially referred to as a supplanter. He's somewhat of a deceiver
He has unjust balances and you look at Jacob as a person
Before he really starts getting serious about the things of God. He's really dishonest. He's really conniving
He's just not necessarily a good person and obviously he's not a necessary evil person
But he's not someone who is noble or honorary in the Old Testament prior to his encounter with the Lord
And so, you know, he is that nation
That would be served by Esau, but he went about it his own way and did it unjustly now go to Genesis chapter 32
Genesis chapter 32 and
We're not gonna read throughout the whole the whole story of Jacob, but obviously he's obtaining the birth rights unjustly
He's being dishonest and these types of things come with consequences
So it gets to a point where Esau wants to kill Jacob his brother for
Robbing him of his birthright and he's very bitter towards Jacob. He's very angry towards him
He's threatened him. So Jacob flees for a time. He ends up getting married
He becomes a polygamist unfortunately, and he ends up getting married to Rachel and Leah
Okay, Laban's daughters and of course, he ends up having children
Well when he finally realizes that Esau is coming to meet him he has in his mind. Oh, man
Esau's coming to kill me. He's gonna destroy me. And so therefore, you know, I need to appease him, right?
So what he does is he essentially sends three companies
Previous to him going to Esau to go and bring Esau gifts essentially to kind of ease the wrath of Esau
So that when he finally sees Jacob, he's cool with him, right?
What he doesn't know is that Esau is actually pretty happy to go and see his brother
He hasn't seen him in a couple years, but Jacob obviously has a guilty conscience
Okay, he has a guilty conscience for what he's done. He understands that what he's done is wrong
And so he sends that company. Well previous before
Right before he meets Esau. He meets God. Okay, and
This is where he picked up in verse 27. It says he said unto him, of course, he begins to wrestle with him
He says he said to him. What is thy name?
He said Jacob now
It says here that he's wrestling with the angel
But we know based upon the latter end of the chapter that he's actually wrestling with God himself and more specifically
We would say Jesus Christ now
How do we know that?
Because of the fact that he sees him face to face and no one can see the face of God the Father and live
Right. So this is a
Incarnate Christ so to speak where you where you have the angel of the Lord
Appearing he's wrestling with Jacob and it's not that you know, the Lord isn't strong enough
It's not like the Lord couldn't just snap them in two
Obviously this has a purpose behind it and that is that he needs to wrestle with God and really be changed through that encounter
Okay, because Jacob is not necessarily an honest person and God's trying to make an honest person out of him
So in order for him to do that, he has to break him
He has to change something physically within him so that he comes out a different person
And so as he's wrestling with him, he doesn't prevail against him
He wrestles with them throughout the night and then what the Lord does is he touches the hollow of his thigh
To the point where he makes some handicap for the rest of his life
He has a limp somewhat of a limp when he's walking and it is a perpetual sign
That he had a meeting with the Lord that God essentially broke him and humbled him for his pride
Arrogancy deceitfulness and it says in verse 28. He said thy name shall be called no more Jacob, you know the
deceiver the supplanter
This guy who is just dishonest
but Israel
For as a prince has now power with God and with men and hast
Prevailed and it goes on to say look at verse 29 says Jacob asked him and said tell me I pray thee thy name
And he said wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name and he blessed them there and Jacob
called the name of the place penuel for I've seen God face to face and my life is preserved now obviously when you look at
The story there's a lot of principles that we can learn from this
And one of the main principles that we can learn from Jacob's encounter with the Lord here is the fact that you know
Ask Christians in order for us to change
Maybe we have bad conduct or bad habits or as we mentioned this morning bad ideologies
You know, we need to wrestle with God and sometimes God has to kind of take the carpet out from under us
Kick us off our high horse in order to humble us so we can change right because sometimes, you know Christians
For whatever reason because of our sin nature we become prideful arrogant. We think we know everything
We think that we're just all that and sometimes God has to humble us
He has to touch these the hollow of our thigh and shrink that sin you and essentially
Affect you for the rest of your life in order to get your attention and so you could be humbled
And so we see that that that's essentially the principle there that you know
Even though previous to getting serious about serving God you might be a dishonest dishonest person
You might be a lazy person
You might be a person who's just carnal, but you can become like an Israel right where God essentially changes your name
He changes your reputation as being a supplant from being a supplanters to being a prince
God can make a prince out of you, right?
and so it's important for us as Christians that we are looking for that type of encounter with with the Lord as we read the
Word of God and wrestle with God through prayer
Wrestle with God through reading the Bible wrestle with God as we strive for that process of sanctification
To be what the Lord wants us to be which is essentially that new man
Okay
And so we see that there now look at Genesis chapter 35 Genesis 35 if you would and look at verse number one
Because that's the first time that God tells Jacob thy name shall no more called Jacob, but Israel, right?
But here's the second time look at verse 1 of Genesis 35
it says God said unto Jacob arise go up to Bethel and
Dwell there and make there an altar unto God that appeared unto thee when thou fled us from the face of Esau thy brother
Then Jacob sent into his household and to all that were with him
Put away the strange gods that are among you and be clean and change your garments and let us arise
And go up to Bethel and I will make there an altar unto God who answered me in the day of my distress and was with
Me in the way
Which I went and they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in the land in their hand and all their
Earrings which were in their ears and Jacob hid them under the oak
Which was by Shechem look at verse number nine if you would verse number nine and God appeared unto Jacob again when he came out
Of Pendan around and blessed him and God sent him thy name is Jacob thy name shall not be called any more Jacob
But Israel shall be thy name and he called his name Israel now. What's the principle there?
Well, you know what? So one of the things when it comes to
Encountering God wrestling with God having God change your reputation of who you are
You know requires you to kind of like let go of some things, right?
We see that Jacob had to put away the strange gods they changed their garments and then he went to Bethel
What does Bethel mean the house of God?
One of the sure ways to change into what God wants you to be is you got to be in the house of God
And you can't really become what God wants you to be and
Uphold the reputation that God wants you to have without being in the house of God
I know those people out there they want to minimize the importance of church attendance
but folks being in God's house being in church is
Essential for Christian growth. It's essential for transforming you from being Jacob the supplanter to being Israel
Okay, and so we see the good Exodus chapter 1 if you would Exodus chapter 1
So we have that story with Jacob and
That is the first mention of Israel is when his name is completely changed. You know, God does this throughout the Bible
Abraham became Abraham
Sarah became Sarah Jacob became Israel and in fact the Bible even says that in the new heaven a new earth
We're all gonna receive new names. Okay
Likened unto our new nature. So God wants to change your name your reputation who you are and
That is a beautiful picture there that we see with Jacob
So Jacob, you know, he's not a perfect guy
Made a lot of mistakes one of which is the fact that he became a polygamist
You know, he married Leah and Rachel and obviously we can say well, you know, I was layman's fault
You know what I mean? Because he wanted Rachel but they gave him Leah who's the older sister and he ended up just taking both
well
Throughout that turn of events those turn of events
He ends up having 12 children 13 to be exact because if you include Dinah in that number and
Rachel gives birth to two of his children
Bilhah her maidservant who he also marries ends up having two children by him
So, you know, what are you doing?
you know and it's one of those things where it's just like don't you think that God could have just done it if
He if he told you he was gonna do it if he told you he was gonna bless you
you know, you could have gone about it God's way and
You would have arrived to that specific destination of God's blessing the twelve tribes and you could have got him from one woman
Right, but of course all things work together for good
And so he has two children by Rachel two of which are Joseph and Benjamin
through Bilhah his mate or his wife's maidservant Dan and of Tali and then Leah had six children, okay
Six sons should I say the seventh being Dinah that's Reuben if Simeon Levi Judah Issachar and Zebulun and
Then of course, he also ended up marrying her handmaid Zilpah and had Gad and Asher
So collectively these are the twelve children of Israel. Okay, and
this is not a
Blueprint of how we should be doing things
Okay, oh man Jacob's such a great man of God God blessed him so let me go ahead and get myself four wives
Well, here's the thing folks is that you know, there's a lot of problems that came with this
Okay, and it's funny how people want to exalt these men as examples of you know, oh man, you know
That guy had four wives. So I'm gonna get me four wives. Well, first of all, how are you gonna afford four wives?
Okay, one wife is expensive enough a man
Two is like really and then you got three or four is a good night and then you got twelve kids on top of that
I mean, you know, it's a lot but here's the thing people want to exalt that as like, you know
An illustration of how we can do it
But they never really want to talk about all the negative stuff that came attached with it
Which is why God told us from the beginning that he made a male and female
Right and they twain shall be one flesh
Not they three not they four not they five they twain and you know
We're getting to a point in this country
Where we got to talk about that again because of the fact that now, you know
Not only is polygamy being from being permitted in society
But even just a dude, you know dating like two girls or something where they're all worth all three of them
Are just living together. Okay, they call it like a throuple or something. Okay, it's disgusting
But you know you talk to those people they want to point to the men of God in the Bible
Who did these things and say oh, well, they did it. Oh, well, just let's just forget everything that God said
Regarding marriage and regarding what is what is permissible according to the Word of God and let me just remind you that just because
God was silenced regarding these things. It doesn't mean that he put a stamp of approval on it
Don't mistake God's permissible silence as his stamp of approval when people did stupid stuff like this
Okay, you know these are given to us as an example of what not to do
He allowed people to make these mistakes so that when we read the Word of God, we see their examples
We're like, well that was dumb
Well, I'm not gonna get man. I I'm just gonna stick to one wife
I'm definitely not gonna get it
I was thinking about getting a second one, but you know after reading about Jacob and Abraham and all these wonderful patriarchs
I'm not going down that route because God already gave me all these clear examples of men who married multiple wives and
You know, they had horrible lives thereafter now obviously God blessed them
He blessed their descendants and he worked it out together for good because he obviously loves them and these people love the Lord
But folks that does not mean that they didn't suffer some severe consequences because of it. Okay, so he has these 12 children
So now we go from Israel the person to now Israel the nation
Okay, and this is God's original intent
He wanted to create a nation of these 12 tribes because out of these 12 tribes one particular tribe
Would end up producing the Messiah the Christ. Okay now you're an exodus
chapter one
Look at verse number one says now
These are the names of the children of Israel which came into Egypt every man and his household came with Jacob now
Let me just give you a synopsis here of what's taking place
So from the time that Jacob had his 12 kids up until this point you have of course the 12 children of Israel
they've grown up they have families of their own and
One son in particular named Joseph was hated amongst his brethren
So when it comes to Israel the person the main focus of that story is Jacob
But when it comes to Israel the nation the main focus of that is actually Joseph
Okay
And the reason we know that is because of the fact that when you read the story of Joseph
You see how much it parallels the Lord Jesus Christ and how many symbolic representations we get of the Lord through Joseph
Okay, because Joseph is hated of his brethren. He's sold into slavery. He's sold into Egypt
He basically receives a lot of persecution at the hands of his brothers at the hands of Egypt and Potiphar
But then ultimately he ends up becoming the vice-pharaoh of Egypt through those turns of events
He becomes an important person and he ends up saving not just Egypt throughout the famine
But even his own family who are back in Canaan land from the famine as well his father and the twelve tribes and their children
Okay, because at this point the twelve children of Israel have grown to be large families
You know, they have lots of children and so they're growing
Well, he ends up saving them because they come to Egypt to buy corn
They find out that Joseph is the vice-pharaoh and then they all end up moving to Egypt
So this is like the golden era so to speak of the twelve tribes, right? Because they're in Egypt
They're there's they're dwelling in the fat of the land. They have Pharaoh's favor. They have they have a Joseph's favor
I mean, they're kind of living large in spite of the fact that there's a major famine. Okay?
And
It's because of Joseph
Now Joseph has two children Ephraim and Manasseh Ephraim and Manasseh essentially ended up getting adopted by Jacob, which is why?
When the twelve tribes are distributed their particular inheritance and lots Ephraim and Manasseh get their own lot
Essentially Joseph is split in two. Okay
But there are they are in Egypt and when that Pharaoh was alive
I mean everything was good, but then that Pharaoh dies and another Pharaoh arises which knew not Joseph
Okay, so now we're entering into a new era of the history of Israel. It's no longer favorable towards Jacob
It's no longer favorable towards his children. Now. They become the enemy of the state so to speak
Okay
This is a verse to Ruben Simeon Levi Judah is to car Zebulun
Benjamin Dan and enough to Ali Gaddon Asher and all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were 70 souls
For Joseph was in Egypt already
and Joseph died and all his brethren and all that generation and the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly and
Multiplied and waxed exceeding mighty and the land was filled with them now
There arose up a new king over Egypt which knew not Joseph. So now we're no longer talking about
The twelve children of Israel like the physical children of Israel that came from Jacob now
We're talking about the descendants of those men because those men are dead now, they're gone, right?
I'm talking about, you know, Joseph's gone Levi's gone Judah's gone the actual people they're gone themselves
but they produce these tribes of people that make up collectively the nation of Israel and
You know, they came into Egypt with 70 people
But now as we're as we will see it towards the the exodus of Egypt now
It's like a million people. Okay, so you have tons and tons of Israelites and of course, they're having babies
They're you know married and given in marriage and because the Egyptians
Practice abortion and the Israelites do not the Israeli numbers are overpowering the Egyptian numbers
So Pharaoh is very much against this. He wants to kill him off
He wants to kill off the first males and this is where we find the story of Moses
And of course Moses ends up growing up delivering the children of Israel out of the hand of
Pharaoh and
This is essentially where God's promise comes into play to deliver them into what's known as the promised land
Okay. Now this is very important. I'll go to first Sammy chapter 8 if you would first Sammy chapter 8
You said well, how do they go from 70 people?
To like a million. Well, they were in Egypt for 430 years
Okay
From the time that
Jacob and his sons went into Egypt to the time that they literally stepped out of Egypt
They were forced out of Egypt because they became essentially I want to say a plague unto them
But they essentially became like a thorn in their side because of the plagues because God was chasing Egypt and Pharaoh
It's literally four hundred and thirty years to the day
And in fact the Bible says you don't have to turn their exit is 1240 says now the so journey
Which is kind of funny because so journey means like you go there for like a short time, okay
430 years is not a short time, you know now the so journey of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was
430 years and
It came to pass at the end of 430 years even the self same day
It came to pass that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt
So even now you can kind of see God's hand in all this
Situation
Because God's original will was not that the children of Israel would be in Egypt. He doesn't want them to be in, okay
That's not the land that he promised unto them
Egypt is a picture of the world
Pharaoh is a picture of the devil that is not the land that he wanted him to inherit but he wanted them to be
there
Temporarily to grow them as a nation because is or excuse me Egypt at that time
Was very much fruitful as a fat land. It's a land where they can increase in numbers
So he wanted to use that but ultimately he wanted to take him to what's commonly referred to as the promised land
Okay, which would later be the land of Israel. Okay
Canaan land as it's referred to also
So what you have is the Exodus and then it's been 40 years in the wilderness of sin
God punishing them because of the rebellion against God and then you have
Joshua and judges essentially dealing with the children of Israel going into the promised land Joshua mainly dealing with them
Inheriting their lands and their lots things of that nature. So when they actually go into the promised land
It's already inhabited by a bunch of heathens and pagans. Okay
Houses already built there wells already exist. You have vineyards there pretty much
It's like a Airbnb type thing. You know, I mean, it's like oh, it's just like a really massive Airbnb foods
The fridge is already stocked. I don't know if Airbnb's yeah, but you know the fridge is stocked, you know, there's fruit everywhere
It's just like already made for you
That's how God wanted it and he basically told the children of Israel you're gonna go into this land
But you're not just gonna inherit it like you have to like work for it though
Like you have to destroy all these people. Okay remove all of the inhabitants of the land you take over and
Then that'll be your land
So essentially what Joshua does is he designates specific areas of Canaan land for each particular tribe and
What you have is that all of the tribes?
Except for Levi actually get a lamb. Okay, so you have all the tribes we're talking about Ruben Simeon Judah
Dan they all get a particular plot so to speak
Okay
but the only ones who don't get it is is Levi the reason for that is because Levi is
The tribe that God selects for the priesthood and the only inheritance that they were gonna receive was the Lord
Okay, their job was essentially to they oversaw the work of the house of God
So they were essentially scattered throughout the twelve tribes of Israel
They kind of lived everywhere, but they didn't really have an inheritance themselves. So to speak
Okay, and then of course Joseph was split in two
So you have Manasseh and Ephraim getting their own little plot there as well. Okay, so you have
Israel the person who produces the twelve tribes of Israel those twelve men die
But they produce an entire nation throughout the four hundred and thirty years that they are in Egypt that nation
relocates to Canaan land
Where they inherit the land then you have the history of the judges and this is a really dark time in the history of
Israel, okay
Because essentially what's taking place throughout the system of the judges is there's no earthly King
But they have men who essentially teach them the Word of God. They're judging Israel
But you have generations of the children of Israel during this time who are getting involved in paganism
They're getting involved in idolatry
So God ends up delivering them to foreigners to oppress them to take them captive
To persecute them they cry on and to God because of it then God raises up a deliverer
We get a cool story like a HUD
He delivers them and then the cycle essentially continues over and over again in the book of Judges
That's what judges is about the judge being that particular deliverer
Okay
And it gets so dark during that time that you have even a tribe of Israel known as the tribe of Benjamin
Who ends up being just this reprobate tribe who is raping and they're killing
They're just the worst scum of the earth
They're children of Belial because they're so far removed from the Bible
They end up getting involved in some of the most wicked things ever. That's Judges chapter 19
So the system of the judges though working
Wasn't necessarily optimal per se because they're not they're just kind of like doing their own thing
And in fact the Bible literally says that every man was doing that which is right in their own eyes
They're not doing that which is right in God's eyes. They're not necessarily adhering to God's Word. That's what you have there
So it goes from Jacob or Israel the person to Israel the nation
Now we're gonna switch over to Israel being the monarchy and this is very much different because
Israel the nation is like a nomadic nation
You understand what I'm saying? Meaning like they just they live in tents
They're living in the wilderness
You know
They're just kind of going about and they don't really have a particular place when they're in the in the land
In the wilderness of sin, excuse me, but then when they're in the land of Israel, they finally settle
They don't have a monarch
They don't have someone ruling over them and
It gets to a point where the children of Israel don't really like the system of the judges
They want to be like the other nations, okay?
Now look what it says in first Samuel chapter 8 in
Verse number 5. It says and said unto him behold thou are old and thy sons
Verse number 5 and thy sons walk not in thy ways now make us a king to judge us like all the nations
So they're coming to Samuel and they're basically saying like hey dude, you're old
We love you
Your sons kind of suck. They're not like you
So what we'd like is for you to make us a king so we could be like everyone else
Not a good request
Because that wasn't God's original intent
God is their king
You know the Lord they're under a theocracy
Essentially from the time of Joshua to the system of the judges God is their king
But they're just not operating well under that system and you know
It's almost as if they're asking for earthly accountability
Because the king is not you know to be to be like the other nations
you're basically saying we want someone to rule over us is what they're asking for and
Samuel is essentially the last of those judges and he's a righteous judge
He he does a fantastic job. He's a righteous man
Look at verse 6 says says, but the thing displeased Samuel when they say to give us a king to judge us
And Samuel prayed into the Lord and the Lord sent it to Samuel one of the saddest verses in the Bible
Harken unto the voice of the people and all that they say unto thee for they have not rejected thee
But they have rejected me that I should not reign over them. Isn't that sad?
He's like don't take it don't take it personal Samuel and I really against you really what they're doing
They don't like me as their king, you know, they haven't rejected you
They've rejected me and essentially this will be the stigma of Israel for the rest of their lives
Is that they're rejecting the Lord, you know, they don't want God raining over them
And in fact, even to the point where the Word of God is made flesh and goes among them
They don't want him to reign over them. That's not what they want. Okay, and it goes back all the way to here
He says the first aid according to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up
Out of the out of Egypt even into this day where what they have forsaken me and served other gods
So do they also unto thee now therefore hearken unto their voice?
How be it yet protest solemnly unto them and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them
So we're looking at the monarchy
Collectively known as Israel and this is essentially when Israel although it is a nation now
It is a kingdom. Okay under one particular ruler now it starts off with a
good ruler
But then he becomes bad at Saul. Okay, who's of the tribe of Benjamin?
Then after Saul David takes over and then of course after David you have Solomon and of course you have many others
But those particular three kings are probably the most important because of the fact that they were the monarchs
When Israel still united?
Okay, so they ruled over that kingdom under when Israel was a united kingdom
Which is very important and obviously when you really study Saul and David you see a lot of foreshadowing of
New Testament truths and doctrines in particular end times doctrines, right because you have
Saul who is a king but then the real King shows up later, which is David
Okay, and obviously that's figurative that's symbolic of the fact that the Antichrist will appear
But then the real King comes afterwards, right which is Jesus Christ, you know
The Antichrist is this fake King and it also pictures, you know Jews and believers in the New Testament as well
Because you know
Samuel tells Saul that the kingdom of God shall be taken that the kingdom shall be taken from you and give it to someone
Who is better which echoes what we read in the book of Hebrews?
that the kingdom of or excuse me in Matthew chapter 23 that the kingdom of God is taken from
the Jews and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof and the reason he says
Someone better is because Jesus Christ it pictures Jesus who's a better mediator of a better Testament established upon better promises
So you see a lot of parallels there?
So now Israel is no longer just a person. It's not just a nation from those 12 tribes
now it is a united monarchy made up of the 12 tribes of
Israel okay now go to first Kings chapter 11 if you would first Kings chapter 11
Now the rule this era of a United Kingdom is very short-lived. It's only 75 years actually
Saul came
Started off good
Finished bad. Okay
He ends up killing himself. Just put it just you know, that's a summary of his life right there
Okay, David comes though and David is one of the strongest
Symbolic representations of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament
he's from the tribe of Judah and
You know, of course Jesus Christ is also from the tribe of Judah
but David is so makes such a
Powerful impact as a king in the Old Testament that essentially he ends up becoming this perpetual symbol of Jesus Christ
Throughout the Old Testament even up until the New Testament. Okay, very powerful
Representation of him
well
David is a warrior right? He's a man of war
He knows how to fight. He knows how to conquer. He knows how to lead
He loves the Lord with all his heart. And even though he did some pretty stupid stuff
like, you know adultery and murder stuff like that and
A lot of other stuff like his heart never really departed from loving the Lord is God
you know, he's the sweet psalmist of Israel and
He does a lot of great exploits, but obviously he has a lot of mistakes
But at the end of it at the end of the day like at the end of his life
We can summarize his life and say that's a man who was after God's own heart. He's the sweet psalmist of Israel
David like we all want to strive to be like David
To have a heart like David and you can when you read a be like man
David loves the Lord and I want to love the Lord like David loves the Lord. He has this just
unwavering passion of love for God, which is wonderful
But then, you know, you know David has a lot of sons and a lot of them are bad and
one particular son he ends up having which is essentially kind of like a byproduct of
Of an adulterous relationship with Bathsheba. He ends up producing Solomon and the Lord loves Solomon
Well, Solomon ends up taking over the kingdom
So he is the successor of this united monarchy that we're looking at known as Israel, right?
But Solomon didn't really experience those same battles that David experienced
He didn't really experience rough times and he is a man who loves the Lord though
And he is definitely a man who essentially submits to the instructions and commandments of his father
Because when David is dying David's like David's about to pass off the scene
He tells Solomon is like I want all these guys dead right here
Write it down before you forget, you know, and he gives them like a hit list of all these guys
And they're all wicked people
He tells them he's just like make sure they don't go down to the grave in peace
And he's just like, you know one in particular is Joab, right?
I think we all kind of enjoy that story where Joab gets it
Whereas he's holding on to the horns of the altar and Benaiah just comes and slays him
He's just like fall upon him there, you know
And so Solomon is very much thorough in his execution pun intended of you know
His father's commands, you know, and in fact once all of those men are destroyed
Then the kingdom is established in the hand of Solomon obviously picturing the fact that you know
Revelation 19 when Jesus Christ comes once the enemies of God are destroyed then the kingdom is established the millennial reign
So you have those right and Solomon is essentially like his father
His father's we could say is the godliest man in the Bible
He's almost likened unto one of the most godliest men in the Bible whereas Solomon is like the wisest man of the Bible
Right in the book of Proverbs, you know, he has the book of Ecclesiastes
Song of Solomon. He spoke of many Proverbs and songs very wise man, and he was a very righteous man
It was only just one little problem though. And the little problem is just that he likes women
multiple women
he's got that problem of polygamy and
The issue is is like, you know, it wouldn't necessarily be an issue if
He wasn't so rich about it
Because you know, he has all this money so he could afford all that
You know if he was a man who's just like I want multiple wives, but you couldn't afford it
Who cares if you want it? You're not gonna have it, but this man can have it he had like 700 of them
And you know, there's dudes there like oh man sounds great. No, it doesn't
no, it doesn't and
Again you read his story and look God was displeased with him because of the fact that he knew
That if you're picking up 700 wives the vast majority of them are probably pagans
He thens women who don't love the Lord
And what they're gonna end up doing is they're gonna end up stealing your heart away from the Lord
Which is exactly what happened to Solomon
his heart was turned away from serving the Lord his God and
Ended up not necessarily worshipping idols, but kind of basically because his wives are worshipping idols
He's building altars for his wives to worship these idols and that made God really mad
Because you know God endowed Solomon with such unique and anointed wisdom and
You know you read the life of Solomon then you read his writings. It's like
Like
They don't match
you know you you it's like you pull out socks from a drawer you know and
They're they're like black socks, but one shade is like lighter than the other and it's just like
He's like you know hopefully no one sees it, but we all see it. No, I'm just kidding
It's just like you know what you're writing in Proverbs chapter 6
chapter 7
You're not really practicing that Solomon you got 700 you know
And it's like all this stuff that you wrote about you're actually like violating
But you know what you'd be surprised what people do when they go down that road of disobedience towards God
It's like the sermon this morning. It's like he put on those little shades again
He's not looking at the world and the service of God through the lens
Of the Bible so he begins he begins to become very disobedient his heart is taken away
And God is very much displeased with it go to first Kings chapter 11. Are you in first Kings 11? Okay cool?
All right, so we have listen we have Israel the person then we have Israel the twelve tribes, which is the nation
After the nation now you have Israel the United Kingdom under one monarch with
Jacob with Israel the person Jacob is the most important person in that story and
When you come to when it comes to the tribes Joseph is the important person
When it comes to the United Kingdom David is the most important person so when we talk about Israel
It's like Israel is just a kingdom. That's under the king which is David David is the most important person
So this lasts for 75 years, but then of course
Solomon is disobeying so now God is gonna rend the kingdom from Solomon
And he's gonna split it in two parts look at first Kings 11 28
it says the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor and
Solomon seen the young man that he was industrious
He made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph
And it came to pass at the time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem that the prophet Ahijah the Shiloh night found him
in the way, and he had clad himself with a new garment and
They too were alone in the field and Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him and rented in 12 pieces
And he said to Jeroboam take thee ten pieces for thus saith the Lord the God of Israel behold
I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to thee
But he shall have one tribe for my servant David's sake and for Jerusalem's sake the city
Which I have chosen out of the tribes of Israel because that they have forsaken me and have worshiped
Ashtaroth the goddess of the Zidonians
Chemosh the god of the Moabites, Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways
To do that which is right in mine eyes and to keep my statutes and my judgments as David did his father
Habed I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand
But I will make him prince all the days of his life for David my servant's sake
Whom I chose because he kept my commandments and my statutes last verse
But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand and will give it unto thee even ten tribes
So what you have here is
God
essentially giving
Ten tribes of the twelve to Jeroboam this essentially becomes the northern kingdom
Okay, so it's no longer United Kingdom. It's no longer Israel the United Kingdom now
It's Israel the northern kingdom and Judah the southern kingdom
Israel the northern kingdom is made of ten tribes Judah is made up of Judah and
Benjamin and of course you have Levi
It's kind of scattered in both and you even have some people from the northern kingdom
Fleeing to northern kingdom to come to Judah because of the apostasy that's taking place in Israel in the northern kingdom
But it's not necessarily a large group of numbers where it where it's just like, okay cool
We have Issachar here or something, you know, they're just kind of integrating into
the southern kingdom
Jeroboam becomes the king of that northern kingdom
Rehoboam who's the son of Solomon takes over the southern kingdom
Now you are in first Kings yellow go to chapter 12 go to chapter 12 and look at verse 19 of chapter 12
It says in verse 19
So Israel rebelled against the house of David unto this day and it came to pass when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was come
Again that they sent and called unto the congregation and made him king over all Israel
There was none that followed the house of David but the tribe of Judah only
So go to second Kings 17. So why did God split the kingdom?
Well, he split the kingdom
because the ten tribes
Are becoming
Apostate they're worshipping false gods. It's like why even call yourself Israel anymore
If you're not even worshipping listen to this the God of Israel
The worshipping all these pagans Kemosh, it's just like why call yourself a Christian if you're gonna worship the Virgin Mary
Right. Why car yourself a Christian if you are going to worship some saint
It's like you might as well just car yourself. I don't like a Catholic and not a Christian, right?
Because they don't you don't remember the socks. It's like that doesn't really go together, right?
So it's it's of my opinion that the reason he split those ten is because it's those specific ten
They're actually involved in pagan worship
He's kind of like just just removing them and you have Judah obviously Benjamin's a smaller tribe
And there might be Benjamin's there who are worshipping the Lord. That's why they stayed there. But Judah is
Cleaving unto David. They're cleaving unto the Lord. Okay. So now you have this split Kingdom which eventually becomes the
Remnant, okay, so you have Judah the person
Then you have Judah the Nate are excuse you have Israel the person you have Israel the nation Israel the United Kingdom
Then you have Israel the divided Kingdom. Now you have Israel the remnants referring to those who ended up staying and
Essentially being blessed of God. They're still worshipping the Lord things of that nature. Look at 2nd Kings chapter 17
And
verse number 1
It says in the 12th year of a has king of Judah began Hoshia the son of Elah
To reign in Samaria over Israel nine years and he did that which was evil on the side of the Lord
But not as the kings of Israel that were before him against him came of Shalman ester king of Assyria and
Hoshia became his servant and gave him presents and the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshia
Free had sent messengers to sow king of Egypt and brought no presence to the king of Assyria as he had done year by year
Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison
Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land
went up to Samaria and besieged the three years in the ninth year of Hoshia the king of Assyria took Samaria and
carried Israel away into Assyria and
Placed them in halah in habor by the river gozan and in the cities of the Medes now what's taking place here?
Now this is very important. Okay, because this is a major turning point in the history of these Israelites. Why?
Well, remember you have those ten tribes that northern kingdom you have the two tribes at the bottom the southern kingdom
Well, the southern the northern kingdom have become so wicked
That God basically allows them to go into captivity and we kind of hear that a lot right when you read the Bible
You hear me preaching. Well, we often talk about the captivity of Israel and Judah
This particular captivity was for the Israelites because the capital of the northern kingdom is Samaria so you have the Assyrians coming
Besieging it taking it over and then taking all ten tribes captive into Assyria
Now about 200 years later is when you have the Babylonian captivity for Judah, okay?
Now
The Assyrians after they took the northern kingdom captive
They try to do the same thing to the southern kingdom
But it didn't work and the reason why is because God was with them
They had a righteous King named Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord and they were delivered from them
Okay, we talked about that in our Bible study in the book of Isaiah
but here's the thing is that when
Judah is taken captive by the Babylonians. They actually still exist as
People who are from Judah and Benjamin even while they're in exile and
He what is what does God tell them in the book of Jeremiah?
I know the thoughts that I think of you thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end meaning that
He was gonna return them after what does anybody remember the years?
70 years
You say well, what's what's your point? Here's the point the ten tribes never come back
They go into captivity and guess what they remain in captivity
And never come back
Bye it's like like this is the last time you'll ever be Israelites ever those ten tribes
He's like, you know what Judah is just like you're going into captivity, but for 70 years
You know you're going out there for 70 years then you'll come back and obviously they still had issues when they came back
But they were still somewhat of a righteous people when they came back
There's people who still wanted to serve the Lord
Whereas those ten tribes went into a Syrian captivity, and they never came back
Ten entire tribes never came back, and this is what's commonly referred to as the lost tribes
meaning
It's a car who?
Some Jew tells you today. I'm of the tribe. He'd be like dude. You're no you're not those tribes are gone
tribes are lost
You know what are you doing here? You should be in a Syria?
Now
Just to further prove this in the New Testament
When Jesus Christ is in his ministry he tells his disciples
Go on to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but don't go into the way of the what?
Samaritans and the Samaritans are the descendants of the Assyrian and the ten tribes mixing together
You know because they're me remember if you're if you've read the Gospels you see that you know the Israelites
You know those of actual Israel. They were not very fond of the Samaritans why they call them like dogs
They're like you guys are mixed people
Because they actually were
There are mixed with Assyrians and with the ten tribes
so by that point
By the Lord's ministry the ten tribes didn't exist they were just kind of mingle you might have had a like a couple people
Who were still abiding in the land of Israel you know you you have?
What's her name the prophetess
Who knows here come on shout it out in the New Testament come on what Anna did you say Anna?
Did you say yeah, Anna the prophetess and
You know she's she's of one of the lost ten tribes, but here's the thing though. He said well there you go
Yeah, but she she's in Israel
She's one of the ones that state because there's some that actually stayed
When Israel the northern kingdom was going to posse and they're like nah forget that I'm not being a part of that
I served the God of the Bible and and here's proof that Anna
You know didn't just come from Assyria. She's worshiping Jesus Christ
The ten tribes do not worship Jesus Christ they worship Kimahash and Asherah, that's their gods
So essentially those ten tribes were were made reprobate he's like oh, oh you like those gods, okay, then get out of my land
Get out of here. I'm evicting you from the land and when can we come back never?
hit the road Jack and never come back and
They never did
They never came back so Judah and Benjamin that southern kingdom
Retained the title of Israelites
Why because they are the true Israel
At that point you understand they're part of the nation of Israel, but really they're like the only ones they are the remnants
Okay, they are the house of Israel when Jesus Christ was on this earth preaching the Word of God
He said go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He's talking about those
Jews and Benjamites and people who retained that particular pedigree so to speak okay
Does that make sense to everyone I know it's exciting I know you love this stuff, so I'm gonna I'm gonna keep going here, okay
Let me see did I miss anything
By the way, you know the the
That's actually where the term Jew comes from it's from the Assyrians. He's the one who actually started calling them Jews
Okay in the book of the Kings because Jews are from Judah
So if you have a Jew is just like well, I'm from Instacart like then you're not a Jew
What are you talking about well, I could trace my lineage back to the tribe of Dan then don't call yourself a Jew
Cuz Jews are from Judah. Why are you on the book of Revelations 144,000 Jews?
No, there's not
What in the world doesn't say 144,000 Jews of Israel?
Yes, and I'll explain that what that means in just a bit now
Go to Matthew chapter 10 Matthew chapter 10 actually skipping Matthew 10 go to Romans 9 Romans chapter 9
All right, so we have Israel the person
Israel the nation
Israel the United Kingdom Israel the divided Kingdom
which ends up becoming Israel the remnant and
That essentially carries over to the New Testament
And now we have Israel the Israel of God
Okay, because the Bible talks about the book of Galatians the Israel of God now
There's a major turning point from Old Testament to New Testament when it comes to the term Israel
When it comes to the term Jew Israel, there's a major turning point and that is you know, Jesus
He kind of just he's like the wrench
That is thrown into this Judaism and the superiority complex of the Israelites because he essentially
Does away with the Old Covenant?
not the moral law the Old Covenant and
He brings in the New Covenant through his death he is the testator of that New Testament bringing in the New Testament and
redefining what it is to be an Israelite and a Jew
according to the Bible and
You know, I know people want to ignore that and they don't like when Jesus says things like that
But who cares what people think let's go with what Jesus says
He redefines what it is to be an Israelite
He redefines what it is to be a Jew and his disciples and the Apostle Paul are also preached the same exact thing
Okay
Now in the New Testament the Israel of God is referring to believers
because of the fact that
the transition of Old and New Testament when it comes to Israelite is the fact that those
Who were Israelites in the Old Testament were considered the people of God based upon that Old Covenant
But once they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
transitioning into the New Testament now they retain the title of people of God and anybody who's a Gentile who believes on Jesus Christ
Adopts that title as well as being the people of God now look at Romans 9 if you would Romans chapter number 9 and verse number 1
He says I say the truth in Christ
I lie not my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart
For I could wish that myself were a curse from Christ for my brethren my kinsmen accorded to the flesh
Who are Israelites to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the service?
of God and the promises
Whose are the fathers and of whom as concern in the flesh Christ came who is overall God bless forever. Amen
So what is Paul saying? He's basically saying like I really want my Israelite brothers to be saved
Because unto them were committed the oracles of God they got the Bible they had the promises and so I want them to be
saved and
Then he kind of like switches gears here in verse 6 and he says not as though the Word of God had taken
Out of fact for they are not all Israel which are of Israel
Now people hate people were Zionists hate this passage
Because they want Israel to only be Israel, but it's saying here. There's some who are of Israel who are not of Israel
He's not being like, you know
He's not he's not being crazy. He's not speaking in a crazy manner
He's not going through a state of psychosis. He's implying that there are certain Israelites
Who even though they think that they're Israelites have not retained the title of an Israelite because they have not believed on the Lord
Well, you know the Apostle Paul, yeah, but the Apostle Paul retained the title of Israelite
Because of the fact that he believed
He says in verse 7 neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children
But in Isaac's shall thy seed be called that is they which are the children of the flesh
These are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are accounted for the seed look at verse 27
Isaiah's also cried concerning Israel though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea a
Remnant shall be saved. So just as God
spared a
physical remnant during the time of Isaiah
Meaning Judah that remnant from the judgment that came upon the northern Kingdom, which is Israel in like manner
We see that today and I'm speaking in Paul's day and obviously even today there is a remnant of Israelites who are actually saved
Who Peter John?
James many of the disciples
Paul
That's the remnant. Well, that's only a few that's what a remnant is a
Remnants like only a few group of people
So that means that if only a remnant is saved
That means the vast majority of the people who claim to be Israelites are not Israelites
Because Israelites according to God's new standard of definition in the New Testament is that they are
believers in the Christ of the New Covenant if
They reject the Christ of the New Covenant then you may no longer be an Israelite
We will remove that title from you because you don't deserve it because you don't believe on the Lord
Turn in your uniform turn in your badge
You know, you're you're you're fired
So either you you know make McDonald's burgers or give us the uniform
You're trying to make you know big not big max. Well, if you try to make whoppers here
This ain't Burger King
You have to do what the boss says
You can't be like well, you know, I'm a whopper employee and I'm so I'm gonna make whopper burgers here at McDonald's or something
Like that. It's like no we only make double cheeseburgers and Big Macs here. You know, we don't make stale burgers
Nasty or how about let's do a bit of better illustration. Okay, I
Like the illustration I'm gonna give right now, you know, it's just like well, you know what?
I think I'm gonna make water burner at in and now
Water burger being like those who are not Israelites and in and out being the true the Israel of God
Okay, the true Jews the people of God
Because you know the scripture on the actual food itself
It's always nice to be able to look at scripture references as you're enjoying a fine meal
Water burger is just the Texas version of
Burger King it's crazy what it is
And so, you know, so it's like a water burn well back a water burger. We used to do it this way
This is in and out
You know, we don't use styrofoam cups over here
We serve good food here
So here's the thing, you know, you can you know, these Jews can say why I'm a Jew. No, you're not
You can you can say that as much as you want, but we don't believe in the power of positive thinking or so
You can't manifest
You can't manifest that thought just because you say it enough times
Because at the end of the day in order for you to remain an Israelite if you want to be grandfathered
Into the New Testament as an Israel as a Jew you have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
If you don't then you can't go join those 12 tribes. They got lost hundreds of years ago
Go join Chemosh and Ashtoreth and all these false gods if you want to remain if you if that's what you want because you know
What at the end of the day, you know the true believers are those who recognize that Jesus is the Christ
Okay
So he's leaving that remnant go to Romans 11 if you would Romans chapter 11
Now, you know when you talk about the subject people get really uptight if they're Zionists
And they're like Romans 11 though
You know as if that like scares us or something, but Romans 11 is a powerful chapter to prove Zionism
Or excuse me to prove anti-zionism
You don't let me finish to prove Zionism is whacking garbage and un-biblical
And now how is it how does it work in their favor?
Well, the only way it works in their favor is if they only quote the first verse
Right because it says in verse 1 I say then hath God cast away his people God forbid
Not even the first verse they only quote that part, right?
God forbid
Well, let's keep reading for I referring to Paul am also an Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin
God hath not cast away his people
Which he foreknew and to define foreknew according to Romans 8 it's referring to people who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ
Now what's funny about this is that if you read what is it?
Look at verse 15 because when people say had God cast away his people God forbid
Okay, then explain verse 15 where it says for if the casting away of them
Be the reconciling of the world
Of course you don't
When it says had God cast away his people he's not gonna cast away believers
But he is casting away
Unbelieving Israel, why do you know that because he removed ten tribes and allowed them to go into captivity and never come back
Isn't that a great picture of how he just passed them away. He just got rid of a large chunk a large percentage of
Israel he just see ya
What is that? It's casting them away
Now go back up to
Verse 2 says God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew
What you not with the scripture saith of Elias how he maketh intercessions to God against Israel, how is that possible if
Elijah is an Israelite
How is he making intercessions against Israel because they're not all of Israel who are of Israel. That's why
So you have Elias praying against Israel
He says in verse
Three this is what he says Lord. They have killed thy prophets and dig down thine altars, and I am left alone
And they seek my life
But what saith the answer of God unto him I reserve to myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to the image
Of Baal, you know people seem to forget when they when we talk about the story of Elijah
Yeah, you know Zionists seem to forget this is that those prophets of Baal were Israelites
Did you know that you know those false prophets all those people who were against Elijah they were Israelites
Well, how can that be if they were worshipping the false gods because that's what they do
That's their manner
They're not worshipping the God of the Bible and people seem to forget that
Romans 11 teaches us that Elijah prayed against Israel the same Israel who are bowing down to Baal who's a false god
He says in verse number five even so at this present time. Also, there's a remnant according to the election of grace
Verse seven what then Israel hath not obtained that which is seeketh for but the election hath obtained it and the rest were
Blinded now, let me skip down a couple verses here
Look at verse number
Look at verse number actually we'll start in verse number 15 for if the casting away of them
Be the reconciling of the world what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead
For if the first fruit be holy the lump is also holy if the root be holy so also the branches
So you're saying, you know, if if they're attached to the vine and they're holy
So, you know what that means the Apostle Paul is holy
You know what that means James Peter John
Any Israelite that believes on the Lord they're holy because they're actually attached to the vine the root which is Jesus
And if some of the branches be broken off and thou being a wild olive tree were grafted in among them and with them
Partake us of the root and fattness of the olive tree boast not against the branches
But if thou boast thou bearest not the root, but the root thee now
What does that really mean there when it says don't boast against the branches in other words don't have a nationalistic
Superiority complex, which is exactly what the Israelites had
We're not better than Jews because of our
Nationality we're better off because we are actually believe on the Lord. That's what it's referring to
Verse 19 says that will say then the branches were broken out that I may be grafted in
Well because of unbelief they were broken off and thou standest by faith be not high minded
But fear for if God spare not the natural branches take heed lest he also spare not thee
What is that referring to well in the New Testament?
if you
Decide to live a life of disobedience to the Lord Jesus Christ, and you're not abiding in the in the vine
What does the Bible say in John chapter 15 you should be cast forth as a branch and they shall be burned
In other words you just become a useless Christian
cast out
Trodden under the foot of men you're just worthless. Okay, you'll be humbled is what it's referring to
Look what it says in verse 23 if they also verse 23 if they abide not still and unbelief
Shall be grafted in for God is able to graft them in again
So that leads me to believe that Jews can be saved today
So if a Jew believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, they'll be grafted in the promise is still available to them
All right, I'm gonna skip some of this because we already know the interpretation of all Israel being saved
It's not referring to that physical nation in the Middle East right now. And here's my last passage
I had a lot more to say but I must hasten because the time is right now go to Ezekiel 37
Ezekiel 37 and
This is in conjunction with what I wanted to say about Romans 11 because Romans 11 tells us that
When the fullness of the Gentiles become in it says that all Israel shall be saved
Right the Jacob that got ungodliness shall be removed from Jacob and then all Israel shall be saved and people will often take that
verse as an interpretation to say well what that means is that
In the end times Jews are gonna see Jesus Christ coming in the clouds and then they'll believe but that's not true because Jesus came
Physically in this world in the first century AD and they rejected them. And in fact, they crucified them
So that doesn't work. Okay
He said then what does it refer to when it says all Israel shall be saved
Well, if you remember in Romans 11 we read it
What shall be what shall be the receiving of them but life from the dead the Bible says
So, how is God gonna receive Israel? How is that promise of all Israel being saved?
Gonna be fulfilled exactly. Well Romans 11 told us that they shall be received life
They were she were excuse me. They shall receive life from the dead now look at Ezekiel 37
Because Ezekiel 37 is a powerful image that God gives Ezekiel the Prophet
He sees this great valley of dry bones an army of bones that have just they've been dead for a very long time
you know as indicated by the fact that they're dry and
Obviously, this is a vision that God is giving to Ezekiel and he's basically asking Ezekiel can these bones live
Can these bones come to life and Ezekiel is like thou knowest, you know
So God performs this miracle within this vision and he brings this army back to life. Look what it says in verse 10
so I prophesied as he commanded me and the breath came into them and
They lived and stood upon their feet and exceeding great army
Then he said unto me son of man these bones are the whole house of Israel
Behold they say our bones are dried. Our hope is lost. We are cut off from our parts
Therefore prophesy and saying to them thus saith the Lord God behold. Oh 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 and ye shall know that I am the Lord when I have opened your graves
On my people and brought you up out of your graves and shall put my spirit in you and he shall live and I shall
Place you in your own land
Then shall you know that I the Lord have spoken it and performed it saith the Lord
That is a prophetic statement of the rapture
Because he's given in the promise like you see these bones. They've been dead. Well, that's basically the house of Israel
Because there's plenty of Israelites from the Old Testament who were saved
Who love God they love the Lord, but they're dead their bones are in the ground and you know that
You know who's going to inherit the land not what's over there right now the jerry curl crowd over there
The jerry curl sideburn crowd over there
You so who's gonna do it? Well, it says here that he's gonna bring the bones out of the grave
Those who actually love the Lord from the Old Testament
Those Israelites who believed on Christ even though they didn't know the name of Jesus
They believed on the Lord and they look for his coming. That is a prophetic statement regarding
That because at the resurrection
The rapture not just believers from the first, you know last couple hundred years. We're talking about thousands of years
We're talking about even from Israel
Dan and you know Daniel shall stand in his lot the Bible says and
So God has given that vision to you is he get to tell him like hey
It doesn't matter how dry the bones are
They're still gonna get the promise. I
Don't care how long you know these Israelites these people of Judah and Benjamin have been dead for
I'm bringing them back and I will bring them out of their grave and
It says there and I will put them in their land. So this is obviously referring to that end times
Understand that's what it's referring to and that is of course the restoration of Israel. So what's the sermon this evening?
I just wanted to go through the history of Israel. So we have a clear understanding that when we talk about Israel
What are we talking about specifically?
Talk about the person we're talking about the twelve tribes the nomadic twelve tribes
Or we talk about the United Kingdom
Are we talking about the divided Kingdom or we're talking more specifically regarding the remnant and not the ten tribes who are kicked out
excommunicated and
We're never able to come back or we talk about the Israel of God
Or if you want to talk about the physical Israelites, then you must be referring to the restoration of Israel
Referring to the Old Testament Israelites that are gonna inherit the land in the end times
That's the only Israel Israelites that we should be talking about
According to the Bible. Let's pray father
We thank you so much for your word Lord
And we're so thankful for all the believers throughout history Lord biblical history who loved you they believed on you Lord
and
One day we're gonna meet them and we have so much in common with them Lord
We've read their story so many times and their lives have inspired us. It's gave it's given us instructions
Sermons and ideas Lord and helped us to live more righteously. I pray God that you'd help us to appreciate that but recognize
Simultaneously that the most important thing about the Bible is not Israel
It's it's the Lord Jesus Christ and help us to not soon forget that Lord bless us as we go on our way
We love you. We thank you. Pray these things in Jesus name. Amen
Turn the song book to song number four zero six
Four zero six who is on the Lord's side?
song number four zero six on that first verse
Who is on the Lord's side?
Who will serve?