Participants: Ralph Ringer
Series Code: AOT
Program Code: AOT000110
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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. |
Revised 2014-12-17