His Voice Today

Israel and Jesus Christ

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Steve Wohlberg

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Series Code: HVT

Program Code: HVT000022A


00:12 What is the New Testament Truth about Israel and Jesus Christ?
00:17 The answer will shock you on His Voice Today.
00:24 Welcome to another His Voice Today
00:26 with Steve Wohlberg.
00:32 We are continuing a special series
00:34 dealing with controversial Israel issues.
00:37 I'm Steve Wohlberg,
00:39 the Speaker/Director of White Horse Media,
00:41 as I had mentioned before, I'm Jewish
00:43 and we are going to tackle issues
00:46 in the New Testament concerning Israel...
00:48 concerning the Nation of Israel
00:50 and today our topic is called, "Israel and Jesus Christ"
00:54 This is going to be an amazing Bible Study.
00:58 I'd like to start with the book of Luke chapter 24
01:03 at the end of the gospel of Luke,
01:05 after the resurrection of Jesus,
01:07 Jesus met with His disciples and He gave them a Bible Study
01:11 and in Verse 27, the Scripture says that,
01:24 So, Jesus... in His
01:26 post-resurrection appearance to His disciples...
01:29 He gave them a Bible Study
01:31 from the prophets and from all the Scriptures
01:34 showing how these Scriptures pointed to Himself,
01:38 how He was really the center of Bible prophecy.
01:43 In verse 44 continuing...
02:04 So, again, Jesus went back to Moses,
02:08 He went back to the prophets, He went to the Psalms,
02:12 and He showed how everything in these books
02:15 really pointed forward, in all the Scriptures, to Him.
02:20 He is the center of everything
02:21 and then in verse 45, the Bible says,
02:34 Jesus put a little key into their heads and turned the key
02:39 and He opened a lock inside their minds,
02:41 and then, they were able to understand the Scriptures
02:45 that Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms...
02:48 ultimately pointed forward to Him.
02:52 Jesus is the great center of the whole Bible.
02:56 He wants to be the center of your life,
02:58 He wants to be the center of my life,
03:00 and the only way that we're going to get ready for
03:03 His return, is if we are centered in Him.
03:07 Now, we're going to go back to the Old Testament,
03:09 we're going to do a study on Israel
03:11 and then we're going to go to the New Testament,
03:13 and we're going to talk about Jesus,
03:14 and we're going to put some amazing pieces together
03:18 that are extremely eye-opening just like Jesus says,
03:22 "He opened their minds,
03:23 so they could understand Scriptures. "
03:26 Going all the way back to the book of Genesis,
03:30 the first book of the Bible,
03:31 let's talk about the word, "Israel. "
03:34 The very first time the word "Israel" is ever used
03:39 is in Genesis chapter 32 verse 28.
03:45 The great British Statesman, Winston Churchill, once said,
03:50 "The farther backward we look,
03:52 the farther forward we can see. "
03:55 And it's certainly true in Genesis
03:58 that if we go back to Genesis and try to really understand
04:02 what it's saying,
04:03 it will help us to understand the future
04:06 and the big issues in the days ahead.
04:10 Genesis chapter 32 verses 24 to 28,
04:15 describes a wrestling match between a man named Jacob
04:20 with an angel,
04:22 verse 24 says:
04:39 And then the man said, this was an angel of God...
04:43 the man said, 'Let me go, for the day is breaking. '
04:46 and Jacob said, 'I will not let you go except you bless me. '
04:52 And the man said to Jacob, 'What is your name?'
04:55 And he said to Him, 'My name is Jacob. '"
04:57 Now, the name Jacob actually means deceiver or crook.
05:02 And Jacob had been a deceiver,
05:05 he had deceived his father, Isaac,
05:06 he had pretended to be Esau,
05:08 and that got him into a lot of trouble,
05:10 he had to leave his family, and go spend years with Laban,
05:13 and then he got married, he had two wives now
05:16 and lots and lots of children
05:17 and they were on their way back
05:19 he got word that Esau was coming to meet him with 400 men
05:23 and there was probably a battle ahead of him
05:26 and Esau was angry
05:27 and he was probably going to try to kill him,
05:29 so Jacob realized that it was his own sin
05:31 that had gotten himself into this mess,
05:33 that's why Esau was so upset with him
05:35 and so that night under the stars he prayed
05:38 and then... a man wrestled with him,
05:40 he thought the man was probably Esau
05:42 but it wasn't, it was God's messenger,
05:45 God's holy messenger...
05:46 and they wrestled all night
05:47 and finally the messenger touched Jacob's thigh,
05:51 knocked it out of joint
05:53 and that put Jacob down on his knees
05:55 as a broken man,
05:57 needing all the help that God could give him
06:00 and he said, "Let me go,"
06:01 and then Jacob said, "No, I will not let you go
06:03 until you bless me, you've got to bless me
06:05 and then he said, "What's your name?"
06:07 And Jacob acknowledged, "My name is Jacob...
06:09 I'm the deceiver, I'm the crook"
06:11 and that basically was Jacob's acknowledgement
06:15 of himself and of his sin and then as a broken man,
06:19 down on his knees, realizing that his own life
06:22 and his family's life was at stake from Esau
06:25 Jacob held on for dear life
06:27 and then the messenger looked at him
06:29 and he said, something amazing, he said in verse 28
06:49 God changed Jacob's name because he was now a humbled man
06:54 he was a broken man, he was a trusting man,
06:56 he was a repentant man, and God changed his name
07:00 and gave him a new name and the new name was "Israel. "
07:03 And the word "Israel" literally means: Prince of God,
07:07 and so the messenger said,
07:09 "You're name is, now, Israel for as a prince
07:12 you have had power with God
07:14 and with man and have prevailed. "
07:16 Now, here's my point, it's very important to recognize
07:19 that the very first time
07:20 the word "Israel" is used in the Bible,
07:22 it was a deeply spiritual name given by a messenger of God
07:26 to a broken man
07:27 and who was now trusting the Lord with his whole heart
07:29 and it meant that he was now a "Prince of God. "
07:33 He was now fully God's man who was on God's side
07:38 and whose life had been changed.
07:40 So the word "Israel... " first time in the Bible...
07:43 Genesis 32:28 right here... originally...
07:47 the first time it applied... not to a people
07:50 but to one particular person...
07:53 to Jacob whose name was now Israel.
07:58 Now, when you go on in Biblical history,
08:01 we discover that, as I mentioned,
08:03 Jacob had kids, he had a lot of kids
08:06 and these became known as
08:08 "the children of Israel" his new name.
08:10 When you go to Exodus chapter 1, farther on in Biblical history
08:15 it talks about the names of the children of Israel
08:18 who were the children of Jacob, who came into Egypt
08:22 and it lists their names and then it says in verse 5
08:26 that Joseph was already in Egypt.
08:28 Now, remember this, Joseph is mentioned here.
08:30 Joseph was the man who had dreams
08:32 that were fulfilled in Egypt that God gave him,
08:35 I'm going to come back to that point.
08:37 So, Israel and his children go to Egypt
08:40 and they begin to multiply
08:42 and they eventually run into trouble with Pharaoh
08:45 and God raises up Moses, sends him to Pharaoh,
08:48 with a message and in Exodus 4:22 in the name of God,
08:57 Moses addresses Pharaoh and he says,
09:00 in verse 22, "Thus shall you say to Pharaoh,"
09:03 God said to Moses, "Thus says the Lord:
09:07 'Israel is my son, even my firstborn and I say to you:
09:11 Let my son go, that he may serve me in the wilderness. '"
09:15 Now, here, through Moses, God is telling Pharaoh,
09:19 "Israel is his son. "
09:20 So, first of all Israel was one man
09:23 but when they got into Egypt and multiplied,
09:26 then God looked at the whole nation
09:28 and He called them Israel.
09:30 So you've got Israel as a man, and Israel as a nation
09:34 and also, it's significant that God called Israel His "Son. "
09:39 As we keep reading
09:42 Old Testament History
09:44 of course, lot of things happened
09:45 and you can read your Bible, and you can discover
09:47 what the history is, of the Nation of Israel,
09:50 but I want to bring out a number of Scriptures
09:53 that clearly talk about Israel and we'll draw some parallels
09:58 when we get to the life of Jesus.
10:00 In Psalm 80 verse 8,
10:04 Psalm 80 verse 8 it's clearly talking about the Exodus,
10:08 and about Israel coming out of Egypt,
10:12 and in verse 8... Psalm 80 verse 8,
10:16 David wrote in his prayer, he said,
10:25 So when God brought Israel out of Egypt,
10:27 and then brought Israel into the land...
10:29 the "Promised Land," David referred to Israel
10:32 as a vine,
10:33 so, Israel was God's son, and Israel was a vine.
10:36 When we look at Isaiah 41 verse 8
10:42 and these may seem like
10:44 insignificant texts
10:46 but they're going to have a lot of meaning
10:47 in just a little bit, so stick with me,
10:49 in Isaiah 41 verse 8... this is what the Bible says,
10:58 God refers to Israel,
11:08 So Israel is called "God's servant"
11:12 and Israel is the seed of Abraham.
11:17 Very clear...
11:18 Israel was God's son... Exodus 4:22,
11:21 Israel was God's vine... Psalm 80 verse 8,
11:24 and Israel is also called the seed of Abraham.
11:28 Now, when we go to Hosea 11:1, there is an amazing statement
11:36 and actually will become amazing
11:39 when we look at it in the New Testament
11:42 but Hosea 11:1, in its historical context
11:46 it's a statement about Israelite history.
11:49 Verse 1, Hosea 11:1 says,
11:56 and this is in reference to the exodus...
11:59 Israel was God's son,
12:01 as we already saw, in Exodus 4:22,
12:03 God called Israel His son, he told that to Pharaoh,
12:07 and this verse says, "When Israel was a child,
12:09 I loved him, and I called my son out of Egypt. "
12:11 God brought His son, Israel,
12:13 out of Egypt in the time of Moses.
12:16 Now, are you ready for this?
12:19 Here we go... when we go to the New Testament,
12:24 the very first sentence of the New Testament,
12:28 Matthew chapter 1 verse 1 says,
12:30 "This is the book of the generation of Jesus Christ,"
12:32 this book is about Jesus Christ, Jesus is the center of prophecy,
12:36 He's the center of everything.
12:38 In chapter 2, verse 1 says,
12:40 "When Jesus was born in Bethlehem...
12:42 in the days of Herod the king,"
12:44 somebody once said, "The hinge of history
12:46 is a door to a Bethlehem stable. "
12:49 When Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the days of Herod the king,
12:54 quite a bit happened in this chapter,
12:58 Herod was threatened when he got the news
13:02 from the wise men about the birth of this child,
13:04 and when the wise men did not come back
13:08 to tell him where the baby had been born,
13:11 he sent his soldiers to Bethlehem
13:15 to kill all the male baby boys under two years' old.
13:17 Now, God was watching out for His Son
13:20 watching out for Jesus,
13:22 and it talks about how
13:25 Jesus' earthly dad...
13:28 his name was Joseph, and verse 12 says that
13:32 he was warned of God in a dream...
13:35 actually, I'm sorry,
13:38 verse 12 talks about the wise men
13:40 being warned of God in a dream,
13:42 verse 13 says that when the wise men departed
13:46 the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream,
13:49 so here's Joseph having a dream and He said,
13:51 "Arise, take the young child and his mother
13:53 and flee to Egypt" go to Egypt...
13:55 "because Herod is going to try to destroy this child. "
13:57 And so Joseph, who had... he was having dreams himself,
14:00 he took Jesus to Egypt and the Bible says
14:04 that they were there...
14:05 verse 15... they were there until the death of Herod.
14:08 Now, listen to this... Matthew 2:15
14:10 "He was there until the death of Herod:
14:24 This is amazing... first book in the New Testament
14:29 Matthew chapter 2 verse 15, Jesus goes down into Egypt
14:34 and then Jesus comes out of Egypt,
14:37 and Matthew... under inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
14:40 said that when Jesus came out of Egypt,
14:44 this was fulfilling the Scripture which said
14:49 "Out of Egypt I have called my son"
14:53 which is a quote from from Hosea chapter 11:1
14:57 that applied to the Nation of Israel
14:59 which Matthew in chapter 2 verse 15
15:02 is now applying as fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
15:07 Now, this is just the beginning
15:09 of a whole host of amazing parallels
15:14 that I would like to share with you for your consideration.
15:19 Think about these parallels.
15:22 In the Old Testament,
15:24 Israel is mentioned in the book of Genesis... the first time.
15:29 Israel was a man and then Israel was a people...
15:33 "The Nation of Israel"
15:35 and Israel went down into Egypt and there was a man named Joseph
15:39 who was one of the children of Israel,
15:41 and he was already there in Egypt,
15:43 and he had had many dreams.
15:45 In the New Testament,
15:47 first book of the New Testament,
15:48 we have in the book of Matthew,
15:49 we have another Joseph who was the earthly father of Jesus,
15:52 and he is also having dreams.
15:54 In the Old Testament, Israel goes down into Egypt,
15:57 in the New Testament, Jesus goes down into Egypt.
16:00 In the Old Testament,
16:02 God's son, Israel, comes out of Egypt,
16:05 and in Matthew chapter 2,
16:08 Jesus Christ, God's Son, comes out of Egypt,
16:11 fulfilling Hosea chapter 11 verse 1.
16:14 In the Old Testament,
16:16 when Israel came out of Egypt they went through the sea,
16:18 they promptly went through the Red Sea,
16:20 the water opened up...
16:21 and in the New Testament,
16:23 in Matthew chapter 3 verses 18 and 19,
16:28 what happens is... I'm sorry verses 13 to 15,
16:32 Jesus Christ is baptized
16:34 and Jesus told John the Baptist when He went into the water,
16:38 that we must do this
16:40 because we must fulfill all righteousness.
16:43 It's also interesting that in 1st Corinthians chapter 10
16:48 when Paul talked about Israel coming out of Egypt
16:51 and going through the Red Sea,
16:53 he said that Israel was baptized
16:55 unto Moses and in the cloud and in the sea,
16:59 so Paul referred to Israel going through the water
17:02 as a baptism and in Matthew chapter 3
17:06 Jesus Christ, God's Son, was baptized
17:09 and Jesus said,
17:11 "I'm doing this to fulfill all righteousness. "
17:14 In the Old Testament, when Israel came out of Egypt
17:18 and they went through the water,
17:20 then they wandered in the wilderness for how many years?
17:23 For 40 years...
17:25 in the New Testament, after in Matthew 3,
17:28 Jesus goes through the water and He's baptized
17:32 in the very next chapter, in chapter 4, Matthew 4,
17:35 the Bible says that Jesus was
17:39 led up of the Spirit in the wilderness
17:41 to be tempted by the devil and He fasted...
17:45 and how many days did He fast? 40 days and 40 nights
17:49 and then He was hungry,
17:50 so Israel was in the wilderness for 40 years,
17:53 and Jesus, after His baptism was in the wilderness for 40 days.
17:59 Forty... forty... now, why was that?
18:03 Now, why wasn't it 50 or 30, well, there's a reason,
18:06 specific reason and I'll build this case as we continue on,
18:10 that Jesus was fulfilling the history of ancient Israel.
18:14 When Israel was in the wilderness,
18:16 it says in Deuteronomy,
18:18 the Scripture there says in chapter 8,
18:21 that Israel was to learn through their history in the wilderness
18:25 that man does not live by bread alone but by every word
18:27 that proceeds from the mouth of God
18:29 and in Matthew chapter 4 during the 40 days
18:32 Jesus was tempted three times by the devil
18:35 there were three temptations,
18:36 and every time Jesus was tempted by Satan,
18:39 He answered with a Scripture, He said, "It is written... "
18:42 "it is written... " "it is written... " three times,
18:43 where were those Scriptures from
18:46 that Jesus Christ quoted in Matthew chapter 4?
18:49 Believe it or not, every single one of those verses
18:53 is from the book of Deuteronomy
18:56 which was the book that God gave Israel
18:58 when Israel was in the wilderness.
19:00 Same texts... when Israel came out of Egypt,
19:04 they also went to Mount Sinai, and God made a covenant
19:08 with the Nation of Israel and that's where He gave them
19:11 the Ten Commandments to the 12 tribes
19:13 in the New Testament,
19:15 at the end of Jesus' life,
19:17 He met with His 12 disciples
19:19 and He made a new covenant with them in Matthew chapter 26,
19:22 we've already read that Israel was called "God's vine"
19:27 in Psalm 80 verse 8,
19:29 and in John chapter 15, verse 1,
19:32 Jesus said, "I am the true vine,
19:35 and my father is the husbandman. "
19:38 So Jesus implied the "vine" to Himself.
19:40 In Isaiah 41 verse 8,
19:42 we read that Israel is the seed of Abraham
19:45 and in Galatians chapter 3 verse 16,
19:49 we have an amazing statement from Paul,
19:52 Galatians chapter 3 verse 16,
19:57 about the seed of Abraham, Galatians 3:16,
20:01 Paul wrote,
20:03 "Now to Abraham and his seed"
20:05 in the Old Testament "were the promises made.
20:08 He does not say, 'seeds,'" there's an "s" on there,
20:14 "... as of many, but as of one,"
20:19 and then he quotes the Scripture that says, 'And to your seed,'
20:23 the promises were made to Abraham and his seed,
20:26 in the Old Testament, not "seeds" Paul says but "seed"
20:29 and then Paul gives us the punch line,
20:32 but he drops a bomb, a "spiritual bomb"
20:36 "... 'And to your seed,' which is Christ. "
20:39 Which is Christ... which is Christ...
20:41 So Paul says, God made promises to Abraham
20:44 and his seed... he does not say "seeds"
20:47 but he says "seed" and that "seed" is Jesus Christ,
20:52 Jesus Christ Himself.
20:54 He is the seed, "the seed"
20:56 the seed of Abraham.
20:59 In the Old Testament Israel started out as a man,
21:04 and then it was a people,
21:05 Paul said the "seed" is Christ
21:08 but going on in Galatians 3:29,
21:11 he said, verse 29 says,
21:14 and to Gentiles Paul wrote, "And if you be Christ's,
21:16 then are you Abraham's seed,
21:19 and you are heirs according to the promise. "
21:22 Just like it was a man and a people,
21:23 so in the New Testament, it's the seed... is Christ...
21:27 and then it's those who belong to Christ,
21:29 those who are in Christ, whether it's Jews or Gentiles,
21:32 they are in Christ and they become part
21:36 of the seed of Abraham.
21:38 So, just to summarize this history,
21:40 in the Old Testament there was a Joseph,
21:41 in the New Testament, there's a Joseph,
21:42 in the Old Testament he had dreams,
21:44 in the New Testament there were dreams,
21:45 in the Old Testament, Israel went to Egypt,
21:47 in the New Testament, Jesus went to Egypt,
21:49 then in the Old Testament, Israel came out of Egypt,
21:52 in the New Testament, Jesus came out of Egypt,
21:55 in the Old Testament,
21:56 Israel was baptized in the water
21:58 in the New Testament, Jesus Christ
22:00 was baptized in the water
22:01 in the Old Testament, Israel was in the wilderness
22:03 for 40 years, in the New Testament,
22:05 Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days,
22:07 using the same text that Israel got in Deuteronomy,
22:11 12 tribes in the Old Testament, 12 apostles in the New...
22:14 God's vine in the Old Testament, Jesus is God's vine in the New..
22:18 the seed of Abraham is Israel in the Old Testament,
22:21 Jesus Christ is the "seed" in the New Testament
22:24 and just like Israel was one man and then a people,
22:28 so, in the book of Galatians, the "seed... "
22:34 the primary seed is Jesus Christ
22:36 but it's not just Christ, it's those that are in Christ
22:39 whether Jews or Gentiles
22:41 who are brought in who become part of God's seed.
22:46 Galatians 6:16 then puts it all together,
22:52 Galatians 6:16 talks about the Israel of God,
22:57 it's not circumcision,
23:00 it's not uncircumcision,
23:01 Paul said, it's a new creature and then he said,
23:04 "mercy and peace be upon those who follow this rule,
23:08 and upon the Israel... the I S R A E L of God. "
23:12 The word Israel means "Prince of God. "
23:15 Jacob was a broken man God changed his name...
23:18 gave him a spiritual name, "Israel"
23:22 meaning... he had become a Prince of God.
23:24 In the New Testament, Jesus Christ is the primary
23:28 "Prince of God" He is the Prince of Peace
23:30 according to the book of Isaiah.
23:32 He is the center of everything.
23:34 Jesus, when He was resurrected
23:35 opened the minds of His disciples
23:37 gave them a Bible Study and showed them
23:38 how all the Scriptures ultimately point forward to Him.
23:42 Jesus is the center of everything,
23:46 the whole book points forward to Him,
23:50 the whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation,
23:53 points forward to Him.
23:55 According to the book of Galatians,
23:57 Jesus is the seed and those who are in Him,
24:02 are part of the seed.
24:04 Jesus Christ is the "Prince of God"
24:08 and that is the meaning of the word Israel.
24:12 Israel means "Prince of God. "
24:15 Now, let's... as we near the conclusion of this amazing study
24:21 let's go to the book of Revelation,
24:24 the last book of the Bible Revelation chapter 16 verse 16
24:30 describes the final war... a final conflict,
24:33 verse 16:16 says:
24:39 Armageddon is the last great battle...
24:41 it's the great battle between God and the forces of the devil,
24:45 now, I strongly believe
24:48 that Israel is going to be at the center of this war.
24:52 But this is the big question
24:55 and we talked about this in the last program,
24:56 we'll have a further Bible Study in the future program
24:59 as we deal with Israel, Babylon and Armageddon,
25:02 but this is the big issue,
25:03 when the Battle of Armageddon hits,
25:05 who is at the center of this battle,
25:07 who are the good guys and who are the bad guys
25:10 and I will build my case very clearly
25:14 that the center of this battle
25:17 is Israel and that Israel is the Prince of God.
25:21 It's in the "primary Israel... " Jesus Christ,
25:24 and it is also those who are in Christ,
25:28 Jews and Gentiles together
25:32 who believe in Jesus Christ as Messiah.
25:35 Revelation 17 verse 14 talks about the beast
25:39 and all of its world forces, and verse 14 says,
25:59 The Lamb is the center of the book of Revelation.
26:02 Jesus wants to put a key in our heads
26:04 and open the doors of our minds
26:07 so we can understand
26:09 that all the Scripture is centered in Him.
26:12 Jesus, the Lamb of God, is the center of the storm
26:16 and those that are in Christ,
26:18 those that are faithful to Christ,
26:20 those that follow Christ, those that believe in Christ,
26:22 that believe in the message of the Old Testament,
26:24 the message of the New Testament,
26:25 that put both Testaments together,
26:28 and see everything as centered in the Lord Jesus Christ.
26:34 We'll continue this, we've got more to come,
26:36 I hope you'll stick with me
26:37 for the next program of His Voice Today.
26:42 God bless you.
26:43 We hope you've enjoyed this timely message
26:46 from Pastor Steve Wohlberg and we want you to know
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Revised 2015-09-09