Anchors of Truth

God's Answer to Daniel's Prayer is the Messiah

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Ralph Ringer

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Series Code: AOT

Program Code: AOT000110


00:13 Welcome to Anchors Of Truth, live from Plantation, Florida.
00:17 God's Answer To Daniel's Pray Is The Messiah,
00:20 with Ralph Ringer.
00:23 Well, we're coming down to the last of five Anchors
00:28 on a very special week.
00:31 We have done, I think we're up around 110
00:33 individual Anchors programs.
00:35 And these last four have been among the most memorable,
00:38 the most spiritual.
00:39 And as far as the take on the Bible, really just
00:43 fun to hear and very spiritually uplifting.
00:46 It really is.
00:47 And, you know, it's an amazing thing how we are learning
00:52 so much, I am, I'm learning so much, about the flow of
00:57 God's plan of salvation.
00:59 God was never caught, never caught, unexpected.
01:03 I like the way Alex put that this morning, yeah.
01:05 It wasn't a surprise to God, didn't pop up on Him.
01:07 - No, that's right. - He never had a plan B.
01:09 No, He didn't have to.
01:10 He went with plan A all the way.
01:11 That's right.
01:12 And that His people have carried the message all the way through,
01:15 a remnant of His people.
01:17 And you know something?
01:19 It's going to be a remnant of His people
01:21 that finish the work as well.
01:25 So we are not unaccustomed to the remnant.
01:28 Now we don't want to take all of Brother Ralph's time
01:31 here this afternoon.
01:32 And we'll take as much as we feel like we need to,
01:36 Ralph, but we want to leave him plenty of time
01:39 to cover the message that he has for us.
01:42 Indeed, our speaker is Ralph Ringer.
01:44 He of NAD Jewish Ministries.
01:46 And he is the anchorman of the Anchors series
01:49 for this particular time.
01:51 And we're happy to welcome you here to this last
01:53 presentation from Plantation, Florida.
01:55 The sun has come out finally after a couple days of rain.
01:58 The sun is out and it's a beautiful Sabbath day.
02:00 And we're so pleased to be in this church.
02:02 We've had ten solid days of rain and we were starting
02:06 to get an ark ready almost by now.
02:08 But we are so happy to see the sun.
02:13 And what a great beautiful Sabbath we're having here today.
02:18 Just before we begin, let's have a word of prayer.
02:21 Father in heaven, we thank You in Jesus' name
02:25 for the wonderful truth of Your Word.
02:28 Father, every day when we come, we find something fresh.
02:35 Help us to again find Jesus afresh in Your Word
02:41 as we study today.
02:43 Thank You, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen.
02:46 Amen, amen.
02:48 We want to take this opportunity to thank the 3ABN crew.
02:50 They've been in Florida away from their homes for many weeks
02:53 with GYC, and now this Anchors.
02:55 Ralph Ringer is going to be speaking on,
02:58 God's Answer To Daniel's Prayer Is The Messiah.
03:01 And that's another intriguing topic, Jim.
03:04 But before he does, we get to hear the first family
03:08 of this church.
03:09 Pastor and Sister Schlussler are behind us there.
03:13 And the song that they're going to be doing is,
03:17 Mikamocha.
03:19 And then after that, our speaker Ralph Ringer.
03:38 Who among the gods is like You, O Lord?
03:42 Who is like You, majestic and holiness,
03:46 awesome and glory.
03:49 Working wonders, O Lord.
03:53 Mi chamocha
03:57 ba'elim Adonai?
04:08 Mi chamocha
04:15 nedar bakodesh,
04:25 nora t'hillot,
04:33 oseh feleh,
04:41 oseh feleh?
04:58 Mi chamocha
05:04 ba'elim Adonai?
05:15 Mi chamocha
05:21 nedar bakodesh,
05:31 nora t'hillot,
05:39 oseh feleh,
05:48 oseh feleh?
06:04 Who is like Thee,
06:10 O Lord, among the gods?
06:21 Who is like Thee?
06:27 Lord, there is none else.
06:37 You are awesome in praise,
06:45 doing wonders, O Lord.
06:53 Who is like Thee, O Lord?
07:09 Mi chamocha
07:14 ba'elim Adonai?
07:25 Mi chamocha
07:31 nedar bakodesh,
07:41 nora t'hillot,
07:49 oseh feleh,
07:57 oseh feleh?
08:25 Thank you for the music.
08:28 God's answer to Daniel's prayer is the Messiah.
08:35 Many people have a very difficult time understanding
08:40 Daniel chapter 9.
08:42 And we're going to look at Daniel 9, a deeper look.
08:49 We are especially looking at verses 24 through 27.
08:54 But to get the setting, let's go back to verse 2.
08:59 And we're just going to summarize now
09:01 the first part of the chapter leading up to verse 24.
09:06 In verse 2, Daniel understood Jeremiah's prophecy
09:11 of the 70 years of desolation for Jerusalem.
09:16 However, Daniel realized it was at his time
09:23 in writing this that the time was about to end,
09:28 or had ended about that time.
09:32 And he had had a vision.
09:34 Verses 3 through 15, Daniel's prayer for his
09:39 and his people's sins.
09:42 Now why was he praying for their sins?
09:46 Back in chapter 8 and verse 14, he had this vision about,
09:51 2300 days, then the sanctuary was to be cleansed.
10:00 He was troubled by it.
10:01 It said he was sick certain days.
10:03 He just couldn't get this out of his mind.
10:05 He didn't understand it.
10:07 But some way in his mind, I think that he was thinking
10:11 this 2300 days was added to the end of that
10:16 70 years of Jeremiah.
10:18 So some way, that time of 70 years of Jeremiah
10:23 was going to be lengthened maybe by this 2300 days.
10:27 And he didn't want that to happen.
10:30 A prayer of intercession in verses 3 through 15.
10:36 He prays for his sins.
10:38 He prays for the sins of his people.
10:41 And in verse 16, he says, turn the anger from Jerusalem.
10:47 Jerusalem had gone away from God and they had been taken
10:53 captive in Babylon.
10:54 And now he's saying, "Lord, turn Your anger away
10:57 so that we can get back to Jerusalem."
11:02 Verse 17, he asks for God's face to shine on the sanctuary.
11:07 Remember, it was 2300 days then the sanctuary
11:11 was to be cleansed.
11:13 So the sanctuary; he wanted the temple to be built
11:17 back again in Jerusalem.
11:20 Then in verse 18, he talks about not delaying
11:26 "for Your city and for Your people" the blessing
11:28 and the restoration that was promised.
11:34 God's answer to Daniel's prayer was the Messiah.
11:38 There was no one else in Israel or all of Israel
11:43 that could fulfill what needed to be done
11:46 to get back right with God.
11:50 Only the Messiah could do that.
11:53 And so, what we find starting in verse 24...
11:56 In fact, this was so important that God sent the angel Gabriel
12:01 all the way from heaven down to Daniel to tell him
12:04 what this vision that he had seen should mean.
12:08 But more than that, to answer his prayer
12:12 about his sins,
12:17 the sins of Israel,
12:19 and the restoration of God's people.
12:24 In verse 24, we read...
12:33 Now, we're going to come back to that,
12:34 but let's read the rest of the verse.
12:47 Now, when we talk about the 70 weeks for his people
12:52 and for his city...
12:54 And it goes on and finishes that verse by saying,
12:57 "...and to seal up the vision and prophecy,
13:01 and to anoint the Most Holy."
13:03 Now the 70 weeks, we're going to come back to
13:07 the rest of the verse and look in detail about it.
13:11 But the only part of verse 24 that deals just with the people
13:17 and the city of Jerusalem, the Israelites and the city,
13:23 was the first line.
13:25 "Seventy weeks are determined upon your people
13:28 and upon your city."
13:30 The rest of it, we will see, directly refers to the Messiah.
13:35 That was God's answer to the prayer.
13:39 You want reconciliation for sin, you want your sins forgiven
13:44 that you've prayed for in the first part of this chapter.
13:47 You want God's people to be back in Jerusalem.
13:51 And you want them to be secure.
13:53 You want them to be restored in harmony with God.
13:56 That's only going to happen in one way.
13:58 And that's the Messiah coming.
14:00 And so he goes down, and we'll see the breakdown of such.
14:05 But let's look at the 70 weeks.
14:07 Daniel 9:24-27 is the most complete Messianic prophecy
14:14 in all the Scripture.
14:17 It has all kinds of details, which we'll see.
14:20 But it even has a timeline exactly when He's coming,
14:24 how long, and what He's going to do while He's here.
14:28 And so, let's notice in Ezekiel 4:6 to understand
14:32 Daniel and Revelation.
14:35 Both are apocalyptic literature.
14:37 That's a big word meaning it's written in symbols.
14:40 That's why you have so many beasts and seals, and all the
14:43 other kinds of things.
14:44 It's written in symbols.
14:46 Remember, Daniel was a captive in Babylon
14:51 as the book of Daniel was written.
14:53 John was on the isle of Patmos, a prisoner,
14:57 when the book of Revelation was written.
14:59 And so it was written in symbols to get the word out.
15:04 And I don't have time to go into more of that.
15:07 But the symbols are found in the rest of Scripture.
15:10 In Ezekiel 4:6, and also Numbers 14:34
15:15 that's not listed on the screen here, tells us,
15:18 "each day for a year."
15:22 That was just like, Israel wandered in the wilderness
15:26 for 40 years, and each day for a year.
15:29 Because they had searched the land out 40 days, remember.
15:32 And so, this symbol was used.
15:36 We can make sure that it works out, as we will see
15:39 in a few moments.
15:40 So the 70 weeks, they were 70 prophetic weeks.
15:45 How many days are there in a week?
15:48 Seven.
15:49 So 7 times 70 is how many?
15:52 That's 490 prophetic days.
15:56 Each day equaling a year would be 490 literal years.
16:03 But when did the prophecy start?
16:05 Now we need to remember...
16:07 And sometimes, there are many Bible students
16:10 that will try to jump for the 2300 days immediately
16:15 and use the 70 weeks as a jump off point.
16:18 But they have really missed some of the deepest
16:21 prophecies about the Messiah, and the importance.
16:25 Yes, it is the beginning, the first 490 years
16:29 of the 2300 years of the prophecy of Daniel 8:14.
16:35 But now let's notice when it starts.
16:38 Starting in verse 25 of Daniel 9...
17:01 Now let's stop right here for a moment.
17:03 Why do we have it saying, "seven weeks and sixty-two weeks?"
17:11 Very simple, Jerusalem would be built in the 7 weeks.
17:15 And then you go 62 more weeks to the Messiah.
17:20 That's a total of 69.
17:22 And by the way, Messiah the Prince just mentioned there
17:26 in verse 25, now notice it mentions Messiah another time.
17:33 "...and the wall, even in troublous times..."
17:44 Do you get the picture?
17:45 Seven weeks or 49 years, Jerusalem is
17:49 going to be rebuilt.
17:51 Okay?
17:52 And then, another 62 weeks until the Messiah will be cut off,
18:00 but not for Himself.
18:02 That's the Messiah the Priest, or the Savior.
18:07 So the Messiah the Prince, Messiah cut off but
18:11 not for Himself, and the anointed One.
18:13 We're going to come back to that anointed One.
18:15 Three times in this passage it refers to the Messiah.
18:21 By the way, "three" just happens to be one of the
18:24 numbers for God.
18:26 And so let's go on now.
18:31 So when did that decree to go and build Jerusalem...
18:35 We can look in Ezra chapter 7.
18:37 There was more than one decree.
18:39 But there was only one that not only was made,
18:43 but the provisions and the monies to do it were given.
18:47 And it was accomplished.
18:48 That's the one we have in Ezra 7.
18:51 And that happened in 457 BC.
18:55 If we fast forward...
18:57 And some of you mathematicians, 69 times 7 is how much?
19:03 Well you've got it on the screen if you're not a mathematician.
19:06 It's 483 years.
19:09 483 years; 457 to AD 27.
19:16 Now the word, "Messiah," means, "the anointed One."
19:22 At what time and at what point was Jesus anointed
19:27 by the Holy Spirit?
19:31 It was at His baptism, wasn't it?
19:33 The Holy Spirit came down in the form of a dove.
19:35 The voice from heaven saying, "This is My beloved Son,
19:38 in whom I am well pleased."
19:41 So here... Oh, wait a minute.
19:44 If you follow this through, now if you're a real
19:46 technical person, there's no year zero from BC to AD.
19:51 That's why it's 27, if you're doing the math.
19:58 But wait a minute.
20:00 At His baptism; His anointing.
20:03 He lived 30 years as an average man.
20:08 In His day, 30 years was the average lifespan of a person,
20:14 of a man.
20:17 He lived as the average person a perfect sinless life
20:22 before He had the three and a half years of ministry.
20:27 He was baptized, He was anointed,
20:30 and He had three and a half years of public ministry.
20:33 And so let's go back to Daniel 9:24 though,
20:37 what it said about the Messiah.
20:40 There are six prepositional phrases in verse 24.
20:46 And the antecedent to those prepositional phrases
20:50 is in Daniel 9:27.
20:55 Now, being the Director of Jewish Ministries,
21:00 North American Division, I go to the World Jewish Advisory
21:05 that happens about every couple of years.
21:08 I have learned a tremendous amount.
21:10 And scholars from four continents, Jewish scholars,
21:16 that really study the issues.
21:20 And in 2006, 2008, and especially this last year, 2013,
21:30 there were some special things that I learned
21:34 from those that Hebrew is a native language.
21:39 They are there.
21:40 And in 2008, I remember learning about these phrases and how
21:48 all these phrases refer to the Messiah.
21:51 And then in 2013, that all the verbs...
21:58 Because in these three day meetings, we have
22:01 a couple days where it goes deep into some of the things
22:05 of Scripture.
22:07 And I came back...
22:09 Especially when I learned all these phrases.
22:12 Because they were talking about them in Hebrew,
22:14 and things were so deep.
22:15 These were all Ph.D. Jewish scholars.
22:20 And it was so deep, I got the gist of it.
22:24 But the Hebrew was a little deeper than I could
22:26 fully understand, but I got the message.
22:29 And I said, I've got to get this into the English language
22:32 and other people can understand.
22:34 And I'm all excited sharing with my English professor daughter
22:39 about these Hebrew verbs.
22:41 And not only that, there were six of them.
22:44 And not only six, there were sets of two, two, and two,
22:48 and three and three.
22:49 And that was more...
22:51 And with the antecedent, that seventh one made it
22:53 even more impressible and more important.
22:56 And I was trying to share this.
22:58 And my daughter, who has Medieval English
23:00 Literature Ph.D., who had to have a reading knowledge of
23:05 Hebrew, Greek, a whole bunch of other languages,
23:07 about seven languages...
23:09 And I'm sharing with this about the Hebrew,
23:11 because she knew some Hebrew.
23:13 And she says, "Well, Dad..."
23:14 You know how our kids are.
23:16 "Well, Dad, it's in the English too."
23:19 And I said, "What do you mean?"
23:21 You see, I never did good in English.
23:22 I gave her everything I had, so that's why
23:24 I didn't have any English.
23:26 I tease her of that, but it's really, I never had any.
23:29 And she got it from her mom, but don't tell her that.
23:33 And she says, "There are six prepositional phrases."
23:38 I said, "There are?"
23:39 And she says, "Yeah look, it says,
23:41 'to finish...', 'to make...', 'to make...', 'to bring...'"
23:45 "Oh, hey, they are prepositional phrases."
23:49 Except the antecedent is in verse 27.
23:53 So we've got the same thing in English.
23:54 So I don't have to teach her a Hebrew lesson.
23:57 I wouldn't be a good teacher anyway.
23:58 Sasha would have to do that.
24:00 But let's look at all six of these and how no Israelite,
24:04 except the Messiah, could fulfill it.
24:06 Let's look.
24:07 "To finish the transgression."
24:10 I don't have time to go into detail.
24:12 "The transgression," is refering to the rebellion
24:17 of sin that happened in the Garden of Eden.
24:21 Eve and then Adam, and their rebellion.
24:24 Every person since Adam and Eve sinned on this earth
24:29 has sinned in rebellion against God, except the Messiah, Jesus.
24:38 So Jesus finishes the sin.
24:41 Daniel had been praying for his sins and the sins
24:45 of his people.
24:46 And God is saying, "Okay, I'll answer that.
24:51 But the only way I can answer it is in the Messiah.
24:54 I'm going to send the Messiah."
24:56 Secondly...
24:58 And you see there in the parenthesis there, the numbers.
25:02 The numbers aren't in the original verse.
25:04 That's what I put in so you can see how the six are there.
25:09 And the second one, "To make an end of sins."
25:15 Jesus was the...
25:17 Not only did He bring about the end of the rebellion,
25:20 because He was totally in harmony with God,
25:23 but He lived the sinless life.
25:26 He was tempted in all points like us, but without sin.
25:33 So now we have the perfect sinless life.
25:40 Thirdly, "To make reconciliation for iniquity."
25:45 "To make reconciliation for iniquity."
25:49 Well, wait a minute.
25:51 How was reconciliation made?
25:54 If you find, and I don't have it on the screen,
25:57 Romans chapter 5 and verse 10.
26:01 I wish we had time to go through a lot in Romans chapter 5.
26:05 But in verse 10 it says, "For if when we were enemies
26:10 we were reconciled to God through..." What?
26:14 "...the death of His Son..."
26:18 Oh, we're reconciled by the death of Jesus.
26:21 So when we look at that third one, this is the cross.
26:27 The Messiah that came to die for us.
26:31 The fourth one, "To bring in everlasting righteousness."
26:34 Notice the last part of that verse.
26:38 It says, "...much more, having been reconciled,
26:42 we shall be saved by His..." What?
26:46 His life?
26:49 Wait a minute.
26:50 We're reconciled by His death, by His blood.
26:54 We're saved by His life.
26:56 Oh, have you heard of righteousness by faith?
27:00 The apostle Paul is always talking about how we're
27:02 saved by His righteousness.
27:04 That's why Jesus had to live the perfect life,
27:07 before He died the perfect death.
27:10 So not only does He wash away our sins, His perfect life
27:15 stands instead of our sinful life.
27:21 That's how we're perfect before God;
27:23 by Jesus' death and by Jesus' life.
27:28 So here, "to bring in everlasting righteousness;"
27:31 there has never been and never will be
27:34 any Jew, anyone of Daniel's people, of Daniel's city,
27:39 that lived the perfect life except the Messiah.
27:44 And this prophesied the Messiah.
27:48 Then number five, "And to seal up the vision and prophecy."
27:52 "To seal up..."
27:53 That's to ratify, make sure.
27:58 To ratify. Oh, wait a minute.
28:00 All the Messianic prophecies throughout the Old Testament,
28:04 and especially this one, are all going to be confirmed
28:09 and ratified in the life and ministry of the Messiah.
28:15 Number six, "And to anoint the Most Holy."
28:20 Now I have the New Kings James here, and that's why
28:22 "Most Holy," both words are capitalized.
28:28 In the New King James, the pronouns and
28:30 any other titles or names that refer to the Father,
28:34 to Jesus, or the Holy Spirit are capitalized.
28:37 When the translators look and they see that direct lineage.
28:42 And I'm going to refer back to that later.
28:44 But showing the "Most Holy" refers to the Messiah.
28:48 Now I know there are some scholars that say,
28:50 "Well, that was anointing the Most Holy Place
28:54 in the sanctuary, the temple."
28:57 But wait a minute.
28:58 That whole temple was a symbol, and especially the Most Holy,
29:03 was a symbol of God and God's presence among His people.
29:07 Wasn't it?
29:08 And why was Jesus...
29:09 One of His names is called, Emmanuel.
29:12 Which means what?
29:14 God with us.
29:16 And so what we have is, He was here.
29:21 And He was in the temple.
29:24 He said, "Destroy this temple, in three days I'll rise again."
29:30 He was that Most Holy.
29:33 Do you see, everyone of these verbs and of these phrases
29:41 all point to the Messiah.
29:43 And only the Messiah could fulfill them.
29:47 No one else could.
29:48 This is God's answer to Daniel's prayer.
29:53 And if you look at the texts on the screen there, Luke 3:21,
29:58 etcetera, those are pointing about the anointing of Jesus.
30:04 Now let's go to verse 27, the antecedent.
30:07 Now just in case some of you read the last part of verse 26
30:10 and the last part of verse 27; seem to be talking about
30:16 not the Messiah but the enemy.
30:20 This is a typical Jewish thing.
30:22 And I'm glad the scholars said that.
30:25 I've said it for a long time, but now I'm glad to have
30:28 some scholars backing me up on it.
30:30 The Jewish way is, they talk about this and then
30:33 they show the contrast.
30:34 And then they come back to this.
30:35 That's just the Jewish way of doing it.
30:37 And that's why it was done that way.
30:39 And I won't say any more about that.
30:40 Let's go to the first part of verse 27 of Daniel 9.
30:59 Now let's stop right here just a minute.
31:01 He's going to confirm the covenant with many.
31:04 Now wait a minute, who is the "many?"
31:07 That goes back to verse 24.
31:09 Daniel and his people and his city, right?
31:12 He's going to confirm that He's going to fulfill what He said
31:18 He would do, but He's going to do it in the Messiah.
31:21 Because, now as the antecedent to those
31:24 six prepositional phrases, "In the middle of the week
31:29 He shall bring the end of sacrifice and offering."
31:33 What does that mean?
31:36 Now Alex, this morning I saw that you didn't sacrifice
31:39 a lamb at the worship service.
31:42 Why didn't you do that?
31:44 Oh, you couldn't catch him.
31:46 I think there's a better reason than that.
31:51 As John the Baptist said, "Behold, the Lamb that
31:55 takes away the sin of the world."
31:58 Twenty-seven times in the book of Revelation,
32:02 Jesus is referred to as the Lamb.
32:07 He is the sacrifice.
32:11 Daniel was praying for his sins and the sins of his people.
32:15 And the only way those sins could be washed away
32:19 is the Lamb of God, the Messiah.
32:22 The Priest died on the cross of Calvary.
32:27 This is the antecedent to those six prepositional phrases.
32:32 He did it in the midst of that week.
32:35 Remember, 69 weeks took us down to the time of the baptism.
32:41 It left one more week.
32:43 And in the midst of that week, He causes
32:47 the sacrifice to cease.
32:50 We don't sacrifice lambs now because the Lamb of God,
32:53 Jesus Christ, has died on the cross of Calvary
32:56 for the sins of all the people, for reconciliation
33:00 for not only Israel, but also for the Gentiles.
33:07 Now when we look at this, there are some people...
33:12 When I started ministry, there was almost no one doing this.
33:15 There were no ministers, no really denominations,
33:19 talking about this at all.
33:22 But now with the idea, and Alex referred to it this morning,
33:26 the idea of a pre-tribulation rapture,
33:30 or catching away at some point.
33:32 And they try to throw this...
33:35 And this is the verse they use for seven years
33:37 of tribulation, or whatever.
33:39 And they throw it clear over to the end of time.
33:43 But wait a minute.
33:45 If that is correct, there is no Messiah
33:48 and there never can be.
33:51 Think about it.
33:52 He had to fulfill.
33:54 This is the antecedent to all six of the ones
33:58 listed in verse 24.
34:00 And if this doesn't apply there, what Jesus came and did
34:05 on earth is all a waste.
34:10 It shows this.
34:12 And where else in the Bible do we have a continuous prophecy
34:16 that you break off one part and you throw it way over there?
34:20 That doesn't make sense just to a common person,
34:24 let alone a scholar looking at prophecy.
34:28 But it's like so many other things.
34:30 There are so many teachings today where people,
34:34 they already believe something.
34:35 They look at the Bible to see if they can prove
34:38 what they already believe.
34:39 They're not interested in knowing truth.
34:41 They're trying to prove their point.
34:44 And that is what has happened.
34:46 People today, you know...
34:48 Many of the Jews, because they were looking for a King,
34:51 when a Savior came they didn't accept Him.
34:55 Many did, as we pointed out.
34:57 But the majority did not.
35:01 And Revelation points out, the same thing is
35:04 going to be at the end of time.
35:05 They're looking for a Savior, a rapture, and not for a King
35:11 that's going to settle all the scores.
35:14 And so what we have, the devil deceives the Jews.
35:18 And the Christians, the majority of professed Christians
35:23 the same as the majority of the Jews,
35:26 that they don't accept Him as Savior or as King.
35:30 But this Daniel 9 prophecy said He's going to come
35:34 as a Prince or a King, and He was the Messiah that is cut off
35:39 but not for Himself; our Savior.
35:42 We need to accept Him as both, and the sequence that was given.
35:47 And by the way, Aaron was anointed before the first king,
35:51 in the Old Testament.
35:53 That's should have given a little light.
35:55 The fact that; wait a minute, hey.
35:58 The Savior comes and then the King comes.
36:01 And they got it backwards.
36:04 And today, many Christians are getting it backwards as well.
36:08 So what we look at here, from 457 to AD 27,
36:12 Jesus died on the cross in AD 31.
36:16 But what happened three and a half years later?
36:19 You see, that only takes us half way through this last week.
36:24 Well, "the gospel goes to the Gentiles"
36:26 was mentioned in this series.
36:28 In AD 34 and we look at the stoning of Stephen...
36:31 And we're going to look at that a little more
36:32 closely in a moment.
36:34 But they say the gospel goes to the Gentiles.
36:36 And that's right.
36:39 And so what happened?
36:41 In those three and a half years, the words of Jesus
36:45 in Acts 1:8 are fulfilled.
36:48 He said, "You'll be My witnesses..."
36:50 Do you remember where it starts?
36:51 Jerusalem.
36:53 Then He says Judea.
36:55 Then He says Samaria.
36:57 And then where?
36:58 The uttermost parts of the world.
37:01 You see, it starts in Jerusalem and Judea.
37:04 And for three and a half years, the gospel went
37:07 just to the Jews.
37:08 So all of the early church, 100%, were Jews.
37:15 And then as we go on, let's look at Acts 7; Stephen.
37:21 By the way, there was a transition.
37:23 In the four gospels, the word, "disciples," refer basically
37:27 to the twelve, and a little later to the seventy.
37:30 The same in the first five chapters of Acts.
37:34 That's basically the way it was used.
37:36 But in Acts 6, the word, "disciple," changes.
37:39 And it's for all the church, all the believers.
37:43 And those who had been called disciples
37:45 are now called apostles.
37:46 The rest of the book of Acts, every time it says, "disciples,"
37:50 refer to the whole church.
37:51 And when it says, apostles...
37:54 That's why Paul was an apostle, Apollos was an apostle.
37:58 They were leaders.
38:00 Apostles are leaders.
38:01 And the whole church were disciples.
38:05 And that goes along with what Peter talks about,
38:08 the priesthood of all believers.
38:10 You see, the priests were to share the symbols of the gospel.
38:13 They were to show how Jesus came to save them from their sin.
38:19 We are all commissioned to share the gospel.
38:22 So we are priests, the priesthood of God,
38:26 under the High Priest, that we'll look at in just a moment.
38:29 But in Acts chapter 7 verse 55, Stephen, a deacon,
38:34 was called on the red carpet of the Sanhedrin.
38:37 It was a super Sanhedrin.
38:39 Seventy people, men, and the Sanhedrin.
38:43 And there were about 50 priests.
38:44 So there were about 120 there.
38:47 All the hierarchy of Israel, as a nation and as a religion.
38:55 And he tells them the liturgy of what had happened.
38:59 And they didn't like it, because he pointed out
39:02 the things that they had done wrong, and the history,
39:05 and how they had...
39:07 But they kept their mouths shut and sat in their seat
39:11 until starting verse 55.
39:15 This is Acts 7:55.
39:54 What was it? They saw him standing...
39:57 He says, "I see Jesus standing at the right hand of God."
40:01 What did that mean?
40:03 Well, very simply.
40:07 That meant that Caiaphas was no longer the leader.
40:12 And neither was the Sanhedrin.
40:15 We're going to get to that in just a moment.
40:18 But let's look at Acts 9:4-5 when Paul, as Saul he was then,
40:27 the light came down and struck him.
40:28 He said, "Who is it, Lord?"
40:31 And He said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
40:35 It is hard for you to kick against the goads."
40:38 Or the pricks, or the thorns.
40:40 Well what was He talking about?
40:42 Saul heard Stephen, saw his face as an angel's face.
40:47 He was convicted and he was pricked in his heart.
40:51 Oh, wait a minute.
40:52 And so the stoning of Stephen started the process
40:56 of converting Saul to Paul, who was the apostle to the Gentiles.
41:05 This is what started the process of the gospel
41:09 going to the Gentiles from a leadership position.
41:16 Then let's go on.
41:27 In Romans 11:13, he said he was the apostle to the Gentiles.
41:36 Change of leadership.
41:54 A change of leadership.
41:56 By the way, this fits in the whole pattern of Daniel.
42:00 Daniel chapter 2, God changes the governmental leadership.
42:04 You know, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome,
42:08 the divided condition.
42:09 Daniel 7, He uses beasts.
42:12 And it even involves religions.
42:15 Daniel 8, the same thing.
42:17 God sets up and takes down nations and religions.
42:23 And so we find that in Daniel 9, it is perfect harmony for
42:28 the high priest and the Sanhedrin
42:31 to be changed by God to Messiah the Prince
42:35 and Messiah the Priest.
42:40 You see, that fits in with and answers Daniel's prayer.
42:43 He wanted God's people to be back in harmony with Him.
42:48 The Messiah brings it all about.
42:53 And let's see, even as He talked to Pilate, before Pilate,
42:57 Pilate asked Him, "Are You King, then?"
43:01 And notice Jesus' words.
43:15 "Everyone that is in the truth hears My voice."
43:22 Now let's go on and notice what He says before
43:28 Caiaphas the priest, the high priest.
43:49 Oh, when He said, "The right hand of power,"
43:53 you see, the Sanhedrin realized it, and the high priest.
43:57 That's when he said, "He has blasphemed.
43:59 He's claiming to be God."
44:00 And that's when they took Him off to Pilate.
44:04 He said he's going to see Him, the next time he saw Him,
44:06 he's going to see Him come in the clouds of heaven.
44:09 So the right hand of the throne, the right hand of God,
44:12 or power, etcetera, referring to Jesus,
44:17 five times in the book of Hebrews
44:19 and 25 times in the Bible; all referring to the Messiah.
44:26 Now as we go on, Hebrews 12:2...
44:44 There we find it in Hebrews.
44:46 Notice in Revelation 3:21.
45:00 And then in Revelation 19:14-16.
45:37 And some say, "Why is the wrath of God here?"
45:40 Because those who have the mark of the beast were going to
45:43 kill His people.
45:44 He is protecting His people.
45:46 He is bringing an end to this great rebellion
45:49 and this great controversy.
45:51 And this, He comes back as King to rule with a rod of iron,
45:55 that was prophesied, to take care and settle this
45:58 situation once and for all.
46:02 Hebrews chapter 9 verse 11.
46:18 And then in verse 24...
46:32 Jesus is referred to in the book of Hebrews sixteen times
46:37 as the High Priest.
46:42 If we go on in Hebrews chapter 6 verses 19 and 20...
46:50 That's the Most Holy Place.
47:04 Now we find that Melchizedek is mentioned nine times
47:08 in the book of Hebrews, eleven times in the Bible.
47:11 And one of those in Psalm 110 verse 4.
47:21 And I wish I had more time to go into all of that.
47:24 But let's go on, Hebrews 7 verses 11 through 17.
47:51 Notice, the priesthood being changed.
48:30 You want eternal life?
48:32 That comes only through the Messiah, the Priest.
48:36 The High Priest that brings endless life.
48:46 Now let's notice, there are three things that brought
48:49 separation between Jews and Christians.
48:55 And especially between the Jewish believers and the
48:58 Christians in the second through the fifth century.
49:12 Because of the persecution, because the Christians
49:17 were looked at as a sect of Judaism, and for the first
49:22 century basically, the Jews outnumbered the
49:26 Gentiles in the church.
49:28 While Gentiles came in, there were still more Jews.
49:30 But that transition about the turn of that century,
49:33 a little before, a little after, changed so that there
49:36 were more Gentiles than now Jews in the church.
49:41 And Rome had persecuted the Jews.
49:46 And the Jews were causing trouble and bringing up
49:50 rebellion, and many of them wanted to bring separation.
49:53 Well I won't go through all the history of all of that.
49:56 But suffice it to say that the church wanted to make a change,
50:02 and many of the leadership did.
50:04 And so what happened is, in order to change the Sabbath,
50:09 they needed two things to help it to happen.
50:12 Number one, replacement theology.
50:14 The church replaces the Jews.
50:17 Now they're in charge and they can change.
50:19 Secondly, the clergy is over the laity.
50:22 It's no longer the discipleship of all believers.
50:24 The clergy is here and the people had to listen
50:27 to what the clergy said.
50:28 And with those two things helping to enable
50:33 the change of the Sabbath to happen.
50:36 And that's how it came about.
50:39 But not only was it the change of the Sabbath,
50:41 they threw out any of the things that dealt with
50:45 the feast days.
50:46 They threw out everything mostly of the Old Testament.
50:49 They brought in pagan things like Christmas and Easter,
50:55 the pagan ceremonies.
50:56 And they made them, you know, of the birth
50:59 and the resurrection.
51:01 Two wonderful things in the Bible, but they brought those
51:04 things in, and all of this turned away the Jews.
51:08 They didn't want anything to do with that,
51:11 the Jews that believed.
51:12 And pretty soon, as they died off through the Dark Ages,
51:16 things continued to go on.
51:18 But now let's come on into the New Testament.
51:20 We have just a short time and a long ways to go here.
52:00 Notice that.
52:01 Here, it's talking about his own countrymen
52:05 and how all these things, all these blessings...
52:07 That's been pointed out this weekend
52:10 during this series.
52:12 But going on in Romans 9 verses 2 through 8...
52:49 You see, what happened in AD 34, the gospel goes to the Gentiles.
52:54 They added to the Jews.
52:56 In other words, the Jews that already believed.
52:58 Now the Gentiles that believed were all added to them.
53:01 And we'll look at that a little bit more in a moment.
53:04 But I want you to notice it says here...
53:17 Notice the word "remnant" here in verse 27.
53:30 Notice, at the end of time when the work is finished,
53:35 he said a remnant of them will be there.
53:38 Now also in Romans 10 verses 1 through 4...
53:44 And I see my time.
53:45 You're going to need to read those verses on your own.
53:50 He's talking about they were trying to establish
53:52 their own righteousness instead of the righteousness of God.
53:55 But in chapter 11, and we want to look at especially
53:59 these first four verses...
54:04 A lot of people say they're gone, they're cast away.
54:06 Notice the next two words. What are they?
54:22 Notice he says, "Certainly not.
54:24 They haven't been cast away."
54:26 And God has not cast away His people.
54:31 When we say He has, then we're calling God a liar,
54:35 whether we mean to or not.
54:37 And then going on, he's using Elijah.
54:41 And Elijah says to the Lord, "I'm the only one left.
54:45 They're killing the prophets."
54:46 And notice what he goes on and says...
54:54 Notice these next two lines.
55:05 This is now probably close to between 20 and 30 years
55:12 after the gospel goes to the Gentiles after AD 34.
55:16 And he says there is now a remnant of Israel here.
55:21 Now as we go on, and since Pastor Alex did so well
55:25 with the first part of Romans 11 here, 15 on,
55:30 in his sermon this morning, I won't go to all of that.
55:33 But just mention this, here is the tree.
55:37 Branches were cut off of the olive tree.
55:40 Wild branches were grafted in.
55:44 And wait a minute.
55:46 The wild branches were grafted back in.
55:51 Just before, just before the end here...
55:56 And...
56:00 I'm not going to have a chance to read here in
56:03 Acts of the Apostles, 380 and 381.
56:05 I'm going to ask you to go home and read it for yourself.
56:09 We've got to wrap this up.
56:12 But it's the only...
56:13 It tells, at the end that the Jews, a special work
56:17 should be made for them.
56:19 In fact, there's one that you won't have very easy access to.
56:23 In a moment, we'll read it.
56:26 In Romans 11 verses 25 through 27,
56:30 he didn't want them to be ignorant about the
56:34 blindness of the Jews that help to bring in the fullness
56:41 of the Gentiles has come in.
56:43 And then it goes on and says, "So all Israel will be saved."
56:47 All of the believers, Gentiles believers,
56:51 all of the Jewish believer; they're all on the same tree.
56:54 You know, all the branches are put in together.
56:58 This Manuscript, 66, May 25, 1905,
57:02 "The time has come when the Jewish people
57:05 are to be given light."
57:08 And, "The Lord wants us to encourage and sustain men
57:13 who will labor in right lines for this people."
57:19 I have some more.
57:20 In the walls, over the gates; the names will be there.
57:26 It will be the believing Jews and believing Gentiles
57:30 that are going to finish the work in all the world.
57:33 Then Jesus comes.


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Revised 2014-12-17