Participants: Sasha Bolotnikov
Series Code: AOT
Program Code: AOT000108
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00:13 Welcome to Anchors Of Truth, live from Plantation, Florida.
00:17 From The Old To The New, with Sasha Bolotnikov. 00:22 Good evening and happy Sabbath. 00:26 We welcome you once again to the beautiful 00:28 Plantation Seventh-day Adventist Church 00:30 here in Plantation, Florida. 00:32 We have been having a wonderful time, 00:35 an exquisite time, a beautiful time in the Lord as we have 00:38 concentrated on Jewish ministry, and really those things that 00:45 appertain to the Jewish community, reached into 00:48 the Christian community. 00:49 And we've seen that over the last couple of nights, Jim, 00:51 in a very, very beautiful way. 00:52 We really have, and last night we learned a lot. 00:55 We had a one hour session, then we had two hours 00:58 of more just talking about things. 01:01 And I got a call today from my friend David Adderley. 01:04 And David is a wonderful man, loves the Lord, 01:07 loves the Word of God. 01:09 He said, "I learned more last night about the Jewish people 01:13 and the way that it fits into Christianity than," he said, 01:18 "I've ever learned in my life." 01:20 And we're hearing that from all over the world. 01:23 And people are surprised at the outreach that 3ABN has. 01:27 We're on ten satellites around the world. 01:29 Plus we have 150 stations in the U.S. that are local stations. 01:34 Plus we are on Dish Network and 1200 cable outlets. 01:41 There are a lot of people watching this, 01:43 and we are getting a wonderful response. 01:46 And we are pleased to know that so many people are 01:49 really interested in the interwoven connections 01:53 between Jew and Christian, and how one does not 01:56 supplant the other but one grows into the other, 01:59 one is part of the other. 02:00 They are really inseparable. 02:02 And I got a couple of calls from New York today also. 02:06 Very, very fine response on last night's program, 02:08 and on this series in general. 02:09 Yes, and we are looking forward to the next three sessions. 02:15 Tonight, we have Sasha Bolotnikov, 02:18 Alexander Bolotnikov; Dr. Sasha. 02:21 And he is going to present the subject, From Old To The New. 02:28 And then tomorrow morning, we have another session 02:31 with Pastor Alex, the pastor is this congregation. 02:36 And then tomorrow afternoon, Ralph Ringer will sort of 02:38 bring it to a head, put a little cherry on top of the sundae, 02:40 and will close our five meetings series. 02:44 And this has been very, very good. 02:46 Under the title, One In The Messiah, we've learned a lot. 02:49 That is right, we really, really have. 02:51 Well listen, why don't you lead us in prayer 02:53 before we have our music. 02:55 Shall we pray. 02:57 Gracious Father, again we come to You now during 03:00 the sacred Sabbath hours. 03:02 We thank You for this temple in time, this respite from the 03:06 cares of this world whereby we have been called to 03:11 lay down our work, our trial, our trouble, 03:14 those things that perplex us, and rest in the arms of Jesus 03:18 even for a little while. 03:20 And so we pray, dear Lord, that You would be the center 03:22 and circumference of all that happens in this house 03:25 on this night. 03:27 Be with the speaker, be with the singer, 03:29 be with those here and around the world 03:32 who will hear and listen and watch and consume 03:35 what we have to offer. 03:37 May Your Spirit bathe Sasha Bolotnikov as he speaks, 03:41 but may it also go into the hearts and homes 03:43 of those who will sit and hear and listen and see. 03:47 And may their lives be touched by You tonight. 03:50 We put ourselves in Your hands and thank You for what we 03:54 know You are going to do in answer to the prayer of faith. 03:57 - In Jesus' name, amen. - Amen. 04:00 The pastor is going to be singing for us now. 04:04 And I'm told that this is an original composition, 04:09 one of his very own; Sh'ama Israel. 04:12 And when he shall have concluded this beautiful 04:15 message in song, the next voice you will hear 04:17 will be that of Dr. Alexander (Sasha) Bolotnikov. 04:21 He is the director of the Shalom Learning Center 04:24 in the Oregon Conference. 04:25 Hear ye him. 04:32 Hear, O Israel, Adonai our God; 04:39 Adonai is one. 04:46 Sh'ama Yisrael, 04:53 Adonai eloheinu. 05:01 You shall love the Lord your God 05:07 with all your heart, all your soul, and strength. 05:14 Keep these words that I'm commanding you today; 05:21 keep them in your heart. 05:28 Hear, O Israel, Adonai our God; 05:35 Adonai is one. 05:42 Hear, O Israel, Adonai our God; 05:49 Adonai is one. 05:57 Teach Torah to your children 06:03 when you are at home, when you're away. 06:10 Bind them to your hand, and your forehead too; 06:17 in everything you think and speak and do. 06:24 Hear, O Israel, Adonai our God; 06:31 Adonai is one. 06:38 Hear, O Israel, Adonai your God; 06:45 Adonai is one. 06:52 Sh'ama Yisrael, 06:59 Adonai eloheinu. 07:06 Sh'ama Yisrael, 07:13 Adonai echad. 07:20 Adonai echad. 07:27 Adonai echad. 07:46 Thank you, Alex, for this beautiful song. 07:51 It is really... 07:54 It feels really good to hear the words of 07:59 the central Jewish prayer; Sh'ma Yisrael, 08:05 "Hear, O Israel, the Lord is your God, the Lord is one," 08:10 at the beginning of His holy Shabbat. 08:14 And I wish every one of our viewers and everyone who 08:21 have come here at Plantation on this beginning of the Shabbat, 08:28 I wish you Shabbat shalom. 08:35 The topic today which I would like us to contemplate on 08:41 is a very, very debated matter 08:47 in the history of biblical studies. 08:53 It is about the difference between the old covenant 09:00 and the new covenant. 09:04 How many of you... 09:07 Before I ask this, let me ask you this. 09:11 Why do you think God gave the new covenant? 09:21 How many of you believe that God gave the new covenant 09:27 because the laws of the old covenant 09:33 were too hard to keep? 09:39 In Hebrew tradition, 613 commandments of the Torah. 09:47 And by the way, you count them, you can read through the 09:50 five books of Moses, you count them. 09:55 That's going to depend how you consider sentences; 10:00 between 590 and 630. 10:04 That's why on average it's considered 613. 10:08 So, is it because of in the beginning God gave that many 10:17 commandments to Israel? 10:22 And now He decided, "Oh, I overdone a little bit. 10:29 Let Me make a new covenant so it will be a little bit easier." 10:37 Well what about this, how many of you think 10:42 that God gave the new covenant because Jews were so unfaithful 10:51 to the Lord that God finally said, "I'm through with you. 10:58 And I'm going to pick new people. 11:01 I'm going to pick pagans and Gentiles. 11:05 Oh, by the way, since they're so pagan, 11:08 they won't be able to keep up with so many commandments. 11:12 I better reduce the requirement a little bit." 11:19 You see, all these thoughts are floating around 11:25 in different books. 11:27 And they all are rooted way back in the ideas 11:35 of the late second century, presented by the early 11:42 Christian leader known as Marcion. 11:47 Marcion postulated that there are two different Gods. 11:54 The God of the Jew, YHWH, who is the God of the old covenant; 12:03 who is basically evil, harsh, loveless God. 12:15 And God Jesus, the God of the new covenant; 12:21 the God of Christians, 12:23 who is kind, accepting, and loving. 12:30 So for many centuries the tradition was, 12:36 "Oh if you don't understand Old Testament, that's fine. 12:41 Start with New and you will understand the love of Jesus. 12:46 Don't read the Old Testament because it will tell you about 12:51 the harsh and militant God of Israel." 12:58 And what we have, we have a connection here. 13:03 We have a negative view of Israel, together 13:09 with a negative view of God of Israel. 13:14 Contrasted by the high view of Jesus, opposite 13:23 to His predecessor; God of Israel. 13:27 Basically... 13:29 And it has many implications to the point that many people 13:35 believe that God the Father needs to be pleased 13:40 and appeased by Jesus. 13:43 Because He's that harsh God of old covenant. 13:49 You know what the problem is? 13:51 The problem is... 13:54 The root of the problem is that we actually 13:59 talk about something we don't understand the meaning of. 14:05 We talk about the new and old covenant. 14:09 We understand what "new" and what "old." 14:15 What we don't understand is what the covenant is all about. 14:21 You see, I specifically framed the question at the beginning 14:27 of our discussion to highlight the fact that the majority of 14:35 the people think of covenant as something legal. 14:42 And indeed, this is true. 14:45 If you look at the usage of the word, "covenant," 14:50 in today's English, according to Webster and Oxford dictionary 15:02 95% of the usages are in legal documents. 15:09 The other five is in the Bible. 15:13 The question is, do we bring outside definition to the Bible, 15:19 or do we try to understand what is "covenant" in the Bible? 15:25 In order to understand this, I invite you to open the book 15:29 which is not very frequently read. 15:32 But this is my favorite book. 15:34 The book of Deuteronomy. 15:39 And this is one of the last chapters. 15:43 Deuteronomy 29, and I'm going to read from verse 9. 15:52 From verse 10, sorry. 15:54 "All of you stand today before the Lord your God; 16:00 your leaders and your tribes and your elders and your officers, 16:05 all the men of Israel, your little ones and your wives, 16:09 also the stranger who is in your camp..." and so forth. 16:14 Verse 12, that's the key. 16:17 "That you may enter into covenant with the Lord your God, 16:26 and into His oath which the Lord your God makes with you today, 16:37 that He," verse 13, "may establish you as a people 16:42 for Himself." 16:45 This is the key text. 16:50 If you look at it carefully, you will see a very 16:55 important repetition of two phrases in verse 12. 17:02 It says first here, "Enter into covenant with the 17:08 Lord your God." 17:10 And the second phrase, "And into His oath." 17:19 These are very similar phrases. 17:22 They are expressing the same idea in different words. 17:32 So this text is the only text among so many verses 17:41 across the Old and the New Testament 17:44 that uses the word "covenant." 17:46 This is the one that gives the definition. 17:50 Covenant is, "divine oath." 17:57 That's what the covenant is. 18:01 It's nothing about us. 18:03 It's nothing about our obedience, obligation, 18:10 attempts to be good. 18:12 Covenant is a divine oath to make His people. 18:23 That's what God is doing. 18:25 In fact, God is contrasting the covenant 18:30 with the ancient ritual; the ancient Hittite ritual. 18:34 Abraham knew about this. 18:37 Back in his day, in the third and late second millennium, 18:43 the king would attack a city and the city would surrender. 18:52 The ruler of the city that surrendered wants to enter 18:58 into a covenant with that victorious king. 19:03 So what does he do? 19:05 They have a road that leads to the gate of the city. 19:10 The king which is victor sits at the throne 19:16 at the gate, and the ruler that is defeated 19:21 stands at the beginning of the road. 19:25 And they take seven donkeys. 19:27 They split their carcasses in half and lay them 19:33 on both sides of the pathway. 19:36 And the king that stands at the head of the procession 19:41 and the ruler that surrenders walks between these donkeys 19:47 making an oath. 19:49 "This and this shall be done to me that if I break 19:57 my promise, my covenantal promise to you, 20:02 oh gracious king who defeated me." 20:07 You know what happened? 20:10 Back in Genesis 15, God gives promise to Abraham saying, 20:16 "Your reward is great." 20:19 And Abraham doubts a little bit, says, "How do I know 20:23 that my reward is great? 20:25 I'm getting old." 20:27 And God takes him outside and shows him the stars in heaven. 20:31 And He says, "This is how many descendents 20:33 you're going to have. 20:34 But now let's do this. 20:36 Let's do..." 20:39 And to Abraham, it sounds like the Hittite's do. 20:43 Because Abraham wanders in the land which is in the sphere of 20:47 influence of a Hittite kingdom. 20:50 Which is located in Turkey, north of the Canaan. 20:56 Today's Turkey. 20:57 So God says, "Take the three year old sheep, 21:02 three year old bullock, three year old male goat, 21:07 and cut them in half." 21:10 And so he does. 21:11 And so he sits at the beginning of the road and waits 21:17 for God to stand at the other end of the road 21:21 so that he could walk between the animals 21:25 he just sacrificed and split. 21:27 And he waits and he waits and he waits. 21:29 And you know what happens? 21:32 In the fiery flame like a furnace fire, God Himself 21:40 walks among the split carcasses of animals. 21:47 The fact that given the promise to Abraham 21:51 that if Abraham falls off from the covenant, 21:56 He, God, is going to be split like that dead animal. 22:05 Do you see that even in this, in the very beginning 22:10 in the book of Genesis, in the Torah, 22:13 we have the same message as in the gospel. 22:19 So covenant is divine promise, divine oath. 22:26 What else can we learn from this word, "oath?" 22:31 This word in Hebrew is very rare. 22:36 You know, the word for "oath" appears many times, 22:40 but it's a different Hebrew word. 22:42 That particularly in Hebrew, "alah," occurs only three times 22:46 in the entire Bible. 22:49 It occurs one other time in the context, which definitely 22:57 speaks about the sacred oath of faithfulness 23:05 that wife and husband give each other at their marriage. 23:13 That's what the covenant is all about. 23:19 Have you ever heard the term, "Church is the bride of Christ." 23:26 Do you understand where the roots come to? 23:30 It goes all the way down to the Torah to the 23:34 definition of the covenant. 23:37 In other words, God making covenant with Israel; 23:44 the word is the same as God had married Israel. 23:53 Let me ask you a question. 23:56 Raise your hand, those of you, who believe 24:02 that you are holy. 24:09 What! 24:11 Okay, I see you having problem. 24:17 Okay, let me ask you a very similar but a 24:21 different question. 24:23 Raise your hand, those who believe that you are sinless. 24:33 Do you see the difference? 24:36 Holy is not sinless. 24:40 You need to know a little bit of the background here. 24:48 Tell me the word which is in your opinion 24:52 opposite to the word, "sinless." 24:58 Sinful. 24:59 Right? 25:02 What would be the word which is opposite to the word, "holy?" 25:12 Well, Unholy. That's true. 25:14 But let me give you another word. 25:16 It's a good idea. 25:19 Let me give you another word. 25:20 In Hebrew, the opposite to "holy" is "adulterer." 25:27 You know why? 25:28 I'll tell you why. 25:30 You've got to observe a Jewish engagement and wedding ceremony 25:36 to understand that. 25:39 You see, the word, "holy," "kadosh," is used elsewhere 25:45 in the context of betrothal. 25:49 In Hebrew, betrothal is making a future bride holy. 25:58 What happens is this... 26:01 A young man at the betrothal ceremony 26:06 approaches the young lady, gives her a piece of gold, 26:12 and declares, "Now behold, you are holy to me 26:19 in accordance to the law of Moses and Israel." 26:25 What does it mean? 26:26 If a young lady accepts this piece of gold, 26:33 she becomes forbidden to any man 26:40 except the one from whom she took that piece of gold. 26:48 Do you understand now the New Testament terminology 26:53 why the church is holy bride of God? 26:58 You see, anybody who accepts God's invitation 27:07 to become His bride, to enter the covenant, becomes holy. 27:17 Now it doesn't mean you become sinless. 27:21 You know what? 27:24 Is there anybody here who is married over 30 years? 27:31 Alright. 27:33 Okay, tell me something. 27:36 I want to hear that. 27:39 "I was married for 30 years and we never disagreed 27:45 or quarreled." 27:48 Tell me that. 27:50 I want to hear that. 27:53 It doesn't happen, does it. 27:57 Well, well. 27:59 But do you understand the difference between 28:01 disagreement, or even quarrel, and divorce? 28:06 See, that's the difference. 28:09 We're not sinless in our relationship with God. 28:14 But we are committed the same way as if somebody has 28:23 disagreement with his wife. 28:26 And even walks to the street to cool down. 28:30 He is not going to the lawyer... 28:35 ...to sign papers. 28:39 You see, this is how our relationship with God is. 28:45 We are not perfect. 28:47 But God wants from us commitment. 28:52 And if we are committed, we're holy. 28:58 And we grow in this relation. 29:02 Well, Israel had rough edges with God. 29:13 Let's go to the book of Exodus chapter 24. 29:18 You know, we cannot idealize things. 29:25 But in Exodus 24, it says here in verse 3... 29:34 That's when Moses comes down from Mt. Sinai 29:39 and receives the Ten Commandments. 29:44 And plus some commentary on the Ten Commandments. 29:50 So verse 3 says he comes down and tells the people 29:55 "all the words of the Lord and the judgments. 30:00 And all the people answered with one voice and said, 30:05 'All the words which the Lord has said we will do.'" 30:15 That's commitment. 30:17 What otherwise do you expect, you know? 30:22 You come to your... 30:28 ...beloved lady, whom you think you should marry. 30:36 You stand on your knee and you say, "Shall you marry me?" 30:43 You know, there has to be one of two answers. 30:48 There is no in the middle. 30:51 She must either say yes or she must say no. 30:58 But you can't say, "Maybe yes, maybe no." 31:04 Cannot be. 31:05 Or, you know, some idea, "Oh they have to say 31:09 with the help of God." 31:10 "I'm going to marry you with the help of whom?" 31:15 Doesn't work. 31:16 You've got, at some point, you've got to commit. 31:21 That's not bad. 31:23 But, things happen. 31:26 You know, what we see in Exodus 24 is nothing else 31:33 but God's wedding with Israel. 31:39 This is making of the covenant. 31:43 Look how it says here, "And Moses wrote 31:48 all the words of the Lord. 31:51 And he rose early in the morning and built an altar 31:56 at the foot of the mountain... 31:59 And then he sent young men of the children of Israel, 32:04 who offered burnt offerings and sacrifices. 32:09 And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, 32:14 and the rest he sprinkled on the altar. 32:17 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read 32:23 in the hearing of the people." 32:26 That's making of the covenant. 32:28 That's marriage. 32:29 You ask me, how do I make this assumption? 32:34 Let's go with me to the book of Ezekiel. 32:40 The book of Ezekiel is very clear on terminology. 32:47 Ezekiel chapter 16. 32:56 Hear how it says. 33:05 Verse 8, we're not going to read all the details. 33:10 Verse 8, "When I passed by you..." 33:15 And it's talking about Israel. 33:17 And in verse 1 it's clear. 33:20 "...again and looked upon you, indeed your time 33:27 was the time of love; so I spread My wing over you, 33:33 I covered your nakedness. 33:36 Yes, I swore an oath to you and entered into covenant with you." 33:45 You see again these two words. 33:49 "And you became Mine." 33:55 That's what making a covenant. 33:59 God makes covenant with Israel is the same as 34:04 God marries Israel, or betroths Israel. 34:09 Well, but unfortunately things happen rough. 34:17 The book of Jeremiah is very clear on this. 34:25 Look with me at chapter 3. 34:30 And this is interesting text. 34:34 It says here in chapter 3 starting from verse 1, 34:41 "They say, 'If a man divorces his wife, 34:48 and she goes from him and becomes another man's, 34:51 may he return to her again?'" 34:55 I don't have time to spend too much on this subject 34:59 of law of divorce in the Old Testament 35:03 in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 24. 35:06 Many people think that the old covenant 35:10 permits the divorce while Jesus and the new covenant 35:14 forbids the divorce. 35:16 Look at how Jeremiah interprets the law of Deuteronomy. 35:21 It's very clear that Jeremiah understands that the law 35:26 in Deuteronomy 24 does not legislate the divorce. 35:33 But it address the situation of remarriage. 35:38 And here it is. 35:40 "May he return to her again? 35:44 Would not that land be greatly polluted?" 35:48 And then he addresses Israel and explains. 35:51 "But you have played the harlot with many lovers." 35:59 You see? 36:00 And by the way, what Jesus teaches? 36:03 Anyone who divorces his wife except the adultery. 36:09 So here is how Jeremiah the prophet lays out 36:15 God's accusation clearly. 36:18 And by the way, if you read the entire chapter of Ezekiel, 36:21 you will see the same thing. 36:23 You will see God starting divorcement procedure 36:28 with Israel, because Israel committed adultery. 36:34 In which sense? 36:36 English is kind of word play here. 36:40 Adultery...idolatry. 36:43 That's what it was. 36:47 In fact, look at the Decalogue. 36:51 There are two commandments in Decalogue 36:54 that deal with faithfulness. 36:58 We all know commandment number seven, right? 37:01 Well what about commandment number one? 37:06 "Thou shalt not have any other god in front of Me." 37:11 That was the problem. 37:14 Well, but is this all? 37:19 Is this all? 37:23 Look how the verse ends. 37:29 God lays out the accusation to Israel that Israel 37:34 played with many lovers. 37:35 But then it says, "Yet return to Me." 37:43 "Yet return to Me." 37:49 That's the grace. 37:52 You know, things happen in life. 37:56 Things happen when in marital life the situation 38:02 becomes that two spouses divorce. 38:07 But sometimes after they separate, they realize 38:11 they made wrong and they can... 38:14 ...go back. 38:16 Of course, if they haven't formed new families 38:22 they can still go back. 38:25 And this is what God is saying to Israel. 38:31 "Israel, I divorce you and you deserve to be sent away. 38:36 But in My grace, come back. 38:43 Come back." 38:46 This is the God of love in the old covenant. 38:53 Now let's go to Jeremiah's view of the covenant 38:58 and the new covenant. 39:00 And famous Jeremiah 31:31. 39:05 Oh how many things are said about this text. 39:10 But it is interesting how, in this same chapter, 39:17 God says that, "I love you with eternal love." 39:26 And here is verse 31. 39:32 Hear how it says. 39:37 "'Behold, the days are coming,' says the Lord, 39:42 'that I will make new covenant...'" 39:46 With Gentiles. 39:52 Is this how it says? 39:55 Does your English Bible say Gentiles? 40:00 Let's read. 40:01 "...with the house of Israel and the house of Judah." 40:06 Oh, I expect somebody jump up and say, "Of course, 40:11 who is Israel today? 40:13 The church." 40:15 Okay, let's read the context. 40:18 "Not according to the covenant I made with their fathers 40:25 in the day I took them by hand out of the land of Egypt." 40:30 Wait a second. 40:31 Was a church taken out of the land of Egypt? 40:36 Which fathers is he talking about here? 40:39 The church fathers? 40:42 Give me a break. 40:44 We need to read the text of the Bible. 40:51 "My covenant which they broke..." 40:57 It's very clear it talks about Israel who broke 41:00 the covenant with God. 41:03 And look, "...though I was a husband to them." 41:12 You see what's happening? 41:15 I mean, today there are so many speculations about 41:23 what the destiny of Israel people, 41:27 talk about someday, it's 1948 or 1967, you know. 41:33 All this political confusion which is going on there. 41:39 I'm not going to touch on this. 41:40 But the Bible here is very clear. 41:46 God makes new covenant with Israel. 41:50 In the context of Jeremiah, God is remarrying... 41:58 ...Israel, whom He divorced. 42:01 He did. 42:03 But He remarries them. 42:07 That's the message for Israel. 42:10 This is the message that God sends to Israel and says, 42:15 "I'm going to remarry you. 42:16 Even though you were not faithful, I was faithful. 42:21 I am a suffering party. 42:24 I have arrived to declare, 'Look, you betrayed Me. 42:28 But no, I am making new covenant with you.'" 42:36 You see, it makes no other sense if we're talking about 42:42 the church; there was no old covenant with the church. 42:51 The new covenant can be made only if there was old. 42:58 The new covenant is with Israel and Judah. 43:04 You're going to ask me, "How?" 43:07 Because now I feel this idea blows somebody's mind. 43:12 But let me do some explanation here. 43:17 Not going to leave you like this. 43:20 We need to see how this prophecy is fulfilled. 43:29 First of all, I want us to read the context. 43:35 This is how it says, verse 33. 43:41 "'But this is the covenant that I will make with the 43:45 house of Israel after those days,' says the Lord. 43:49 'I will put My law into their minds and write it 43:54 on their hearts.'" 43:58 Is this a metaphor? 44:01 No. 44:03 Believe me, the prophets of the Old Testament 44:09 did not write in Greek style with metaphors and epithets. 44:15 They're very concrete. 44:18 "I will write My Torah in their hearts." 44:23 The question is, where was the Torah before? 44:29 Well, very easy. 44:33 The Torah before was inside the ark. 44:36 Well the Ten Commandments with two tablets 44:38 were inside the ark, and the Book of the Law, 44:41 according to Deuteronomy, was sitting beside the ark. 44:45 In fact, the Lord's presence was in a very specific 44:53 geographical location. 44:56 Deuteronomy 12. 45:01 Deuteronomy 12 says... 45:08 ...in verse 5, "But you shall seek the place 45:16 where the Lord your God chooses, out of all your tribes, 45:22 to put His name for His dwelling place; and there shall you go." 45:30 Torah is very specific about the place 45:35 which Israelites needed to attend. 45:38 I'm very careful not using the word. 45:40 Worship; because they worshiped in different places, 45:44 in towns; Levitical laws. 45:46 But that was the place where they sacrificed. 45:51 That's where the place of the presence of the divine glory, 45:56 the Shekinah; that was a very specific place. 46:00 And that's why sanctuary or altar or anything 46:03 could not be duplicated. 46:07 That place or location was disputed later on 46:12 by the people known as Samaritans. 46:16 Remember the discussion Samaritan woman had 46:20 with Jesus, as is described in the Gospel of John 46:30 chapter 4. 46:34 And here it says in verse 20 she asked Him a specific question. 46:42 "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain." 46:46 And she points to Mount Gerizim in today's Samaria. 46:51 "And you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place 46:56 where one ought to worship." 47:00 Listen to the response of Jesus. 47:03 "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither 47:10 on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father." 47:15 Then He makes a remark. 47:18 "You worship what you do not know. 47:21 We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews." 47:29 So Jesus affirms that, as of His time, as of the time 47:37 when He's speaking with Samaritan woman, 47:40 there is only one place in Jerusalem 47:43 where divine glory resides. 47:46 But now He continues, "But the hour is coming, 47:50 and now is, when the true worshipers will worship 47:54 the Father in spirit and truth." 48:01 This is a fundamental prediction that Jesus makes 48:07 that gives a pivotal difference between the old covenant 48:12 and the new covenant. 48:15 The old covenant was centered, and Paul, when he comments 48:20 on Jeremiah 31, is very specific that the old covenant 48:25 was centered on geographical location of the sanctuary. 48:31 Jesus says that the time is coming when the worship will be 48:36 in truth and in spirit. 48:41 What does it mean? 48:43 Again, this is not a metaphor. 48:46 Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 16. 48:54 It says, "Don't you know that you are the temple of God 49:03 and the Spirit of God dwells in you?" 49:06 What's happening? 49:09 We see a transition of divine glory, of divine spirit, 49:16 from the place on top of the ark of the covenant 49:22 into the hearts of the believers. 49:27 That's your difference. 49:29 There is nothing about some legal issues what the 49:34 old covenant; easy law, hard law. 49:37 This is where the Holy Spirit is. 49:41 The old covenant places the Holy Spirit in specific 49:46 geographical location. 49:49 The new covenant makes us the temples of God. 49:57 How did it actually come to fruition? 50:01 Very simple. 50:04 Look at Acts chapter 2. 50:09 The Jewish Feast of Pentecost. 50:13 The number of Jews, thousands and thousands of Jews, 50:18 from all over place. 50:21 Because after the Babylonian captivity, Jews did not 50:27 live in Judea. 50:31 That is always neglected, that fact is always neglected 50:35 by many Bible students. 50:38 We often think that until the time of Christ 50:43 Jews lived exactly as described in the Torah. 50:49 Well the Torah, unfortunately, does not address 50:54 the phenomenon known as the Diaspora, 50:58 where a number of Jews did not return from Babylon. 51:02 A number of Jews settled in Egypt, 51:05 a number of Jews settled in Rome, and other places. 51:10 But they had their center location, Jerusalem, 51:14 where they would make pilgrimage. 51:16 And Pentecost, which is in the time of May/June, 51:21 is the best time to do it. 51:24 And what happens? 51:26 Well some of those Jews didn't even speak Hebrew. 51:33 They were in Diaspora for many generations. 51:38 They come to Jerusalem. 51:41 They needed a translation. 51:44 Usually, translation was made by learned scholars. 51:50 But this famous day, the Spirit of God 51:58 rested upon twelve Jews, 52:04 disciples of the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua Ha'Mashiach, 52:10 who began to translate to them the message of Pentecost. 52:19 And what is the Pentecost? 52:20 Pentecost is actually a celebration of the giving 52:24 of the Torah on Mount Sinai. 52:30 So the covenant was made on the Pentecost originally. 52:35 The marriage. 52:36 And remarriage happened at Pentecost. 52:43 God remarried Israel. 52:46 Who were these Israelites whom God remarried? 52:51 Three thousand Jews... 52:55 ...who, mellowed by their hearts after having heard the news 53:03 of Messiah, and said, "Brethren, what shall we do?" 53:10 And the Jew by the name, Shim'on, Simon the Peter, 53:17 said, "Repent and be baptized." 53:21 And three thousand Jews... 53:25 ...became the foundational stone of the new covenant. 53:33 You're going to ask, "Wait a second. 53:37 But after the stoning of Stephen, Jews no longer came." 53:45 But wait a second. 53:47 I want to show you something. 53:50 I want to show you the book of Acts chapter 11. 53:58 And you will see what happened after Peter. 54:02 The book of Acts chapter 11. 54:06 It says here, verse 19, "Now those who were scattered 54:13 after the persecution that arose over Stephen 54:19 traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, 54:25 preaching the word to no one..." but Gentiles only. 54:34 What does it say here? 54:38 Do you read the same text I read? 54:40 You see "Jews." 54:41 You testify that I am not making up the Bible as I go. 54:47 Well look, who were these Jews? 54:49 "Some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene." 54:53 That's those Jews who lived in Diaspora. 54:59 This is what happened after stoning of Stephen. 55:02 The gospel went from Judea, geographically, 55:12 into the Jewish Diaspora. 55:14 And hear what it says. 55:16 "And they had come to Antioch..." 55:19 So these Jews who received the good news came to Antioch. 55:23 "...and spoke to Hellenists..." 55:28 By the way, Hellenists are the Hellenized Jews too. 55:32 "...preaching the Lord Jesus. 55:36 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number 55:41 believed and turned to God. 55:44 And news of these things came to the ears of 55:48 the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas," 55:53 a Jewish missionary, "to Antioch." 55:57 And this is how the Christians came to be. 56:03 Foundation. 56:07 And the Hellenists and non-Jews stand alone. 56:13 This is the new covenant... 56:17 ...as always been. 56:20 The foundation is always staying. 56:24 You know why? 56:26 Think about this. 56:29 If we suppose that God decided to divorce Israel 56:38 and does not give it a second chance, 56:42 would He give a second chance to us? 56:47 Don't we all deserve a second chance? 56:54 The new covenant is not a new law. 56:59 The new covenant is a second chance. 57:04 God says to a broken marriage, "Let's try again. 57:10 Don't walk away from Me." 57:14 Isn't this a wonderful gracious God. 57:19 Let's pray. 57:21 Heavenly Father, we are so grateful for Your grace. 57:29 That is what Your grace says. |
Revised 2014-12-17