Participants:
Series Code: ICJ
Program Code: ICJ190016A
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00:01 A short meaningful piece of poem
00:03 was written in a newspaper, and it went like this, 00:06 "How odd of God to choose the Jew?" 00:11 And then somebody responded and said, "Oh, no, He's not. 00:16 He knows what's what." 00:40 Some people feel that there's a mystery 00:42 or mystique about the Jewish people, 00:45 and I'm not so sure that they're necessarily 00:46 wrong about that. 00:48 And let me add before I get into this program, 00:50 that there are many wonderful Jewish people, 00:53 and certainly people 00:54 that God loves and that we love. 00:56 But we want to understand their role in biblical history 01:01 and in the future of the world. 01:04 If there's one thing that keeps people's attention, 01:06 maybe I should say two things nowadays 01:09 that keep people's attention. 01:10 It's the papacy, the pope and what he does, 01:15 and everybody's eyes are also on 01:17 that little nation called Israel. 01:21 We might ask ourselves, 01:23 "Why is it that the Jewish people 01:24 seem to have suffered so very much?" 01:28 I mean, when you look at their sufferings, 01:30 it's heart rendering. 01:31 And today is going to be a little bit 01:32 of a history lesson, 01:34 as we move toward the future. 01:36 But I want to back up and take a look, first of all, 01:40 at the origins of the Jewish people. 01:43 And in the Book of Genesis 12:3, 01:49 Abraham is pictured there, and really as the father 01:53 of the Jewish people. 01:55 In fact, Jesus' lineage 01:56 was not only traced back to Adam, 01:58 but it was also traced back at one place to Abraham, 02:01 because He's considered 02:03 the father of the Jewish people. 02:04 In Genesis 12:3, it says, "I will bless those, 02:07 " God says to Abraham, making him a promise, 02:10 "I will bless those who bless you, 02:12 and I will curse those who curse you. 02:14 And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." 02:17 Now that's quite a statement. 02:19 He's saying that all the families of the earth 02:21 will be blessed through Abraham 02:24 or through the people that he begets. 02:26 In Genesis 15:4-6, 02:29 that promised baby had not come. 02:31 Abraham had not received that new baby 02:34 that the inheritance and God's promises 02:37 were all going to come through. 02:39 And so he said to God, "Look, 02:42 I've got this wonderful servant, 02:43 Eliezer, let him be my inheritance. 02:46 And God says, "No, no, 02:48 it's going to be somebody from your own body." 02:50 Genesis 15:4-6, "And behold, 02:53 the word of the Lord came to him, 02:55 'This one shall not be your heir, 02:58 but one who comes from your own body, 03:00 shall be your heir.' 03:01 Then he brought him outside and said to Abraham, 03:05 'Look now toward heaven, and count the stars 03:09 if you are able to number them.' 03:11 And he said, 'So shall your descendants be.' 03:15 And he believed the Lord, he trusted the Lord." 03:19 That's where it's always at. 03:21 At the end of the day is do we trust the Lord. 03:23 He believed the Lord, even though 03:25 he didn't have that promised baby, 03:27 even though he was getting older, 03:29 he believed the Lord, and it was counted to him 03:33 as righteousness. 03:34 Now, when Moses showed up, of course, as you know, 03:37 through Jacob and his sons, they all went down into Egypt, 03:40 and they lived down there for many years, 03:41 400 and some years, 03:43 and then the Egyptians enslaved them. 03:46 And then God talk to Moses. 03:49 And these are the promises that God made to Moses. 03:54 Exodus 3:6-8, just before 03:57 the marvelous story of the Exodus, 03:59 which is one of my most favorite stories 04:01 in all scripture, and I'll be tempted 04:03 to talk about it a little bit. 04:04 But let's go to Exodus 3:6-8. 04:07 God says to Moses at the burning bush, 04:11 "'I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, 04:14 the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.' 04:16 And Moses hid his face, 04:18 for he was afraid to look upon God. 04:20 And God said to him, 04:21 'I have surely seen the oppression of My people,' 04:24 God knows what's going on, 'who are in Egypt, 04:28 and I have heard their cry,' He's heard their prayers, 04:32 'because of their taskmasters, I know their sorrows.' 04:36 " And then He says, " 04:38 So I have come down to deliver them out 04:41 of the hands of the Egyptians.' 04:44 " So we know the story of the Exodus. 04:46 It's an amazing story. 04:48 I mean, I'm still just amazed at it. 04:50 Not only did God destroy Egypt with 10 plagues, 04:54 and some people say, "Well, how can He do that, last one, 04:57 where He destroyed all the firstborn children 05:00 of the Egyptians?" 05:01 Let me tell you that it started out this way. 05:03 God said to Pharaoh, "Israel is My firstborn." 05:07 Doesn't mean He doesn't love all the other families 05:08 of the earth, but the firstborn 05:10 always has special responsibilities, 05:13 and the privileges that go with that. 05:15 And God said to Pharaoh, 05:18 "Israel is My firstborn, let him go. 05:21 And if you don't let him go, 05:24 then I'm going to take your firstborn in exchange." 05:27 Now that was both a promise and a threat. 05:31 Pharaoh's one of most stubborn people 05:33 that ever existed on the face of the earth. 05:35 And then, of course, 05:36 there's the story of the Red Sea 05:38 where Israel walks through, and is delivered on dry ground. 05:42 Marvelous! 05:44 Later, Moses as he gets ready to pass away 05:47 and to turn the reins over to Joshua. 05:51 In Deuteronomy, he makes some startling things about it. 05:55 He promises them both blessings and curses. 05:58 He promises some blessings and curses 06:00 based on one little tiny word, 06:02 and you can read it over and over again in Deuteronomy, 06:04 the little word, if. 06:07 If you will do what I've asked you to do, 06:10 you're going to get the blessings. 06:11 But if you don't, you're going to get the curses 06:14 and the curses included being dispersed 06:17 all over the world. 06:19 But God would promise, He says, "But I'll bring you back if, 06:23 if you keep My statutes and My laws." 06:26 Now, some people think that there's no condition 06:29 to the Jewish people going home. 06:31 Now, I want to say this, and I say it kindly, 06:33 hope I'm not misunderstood, and I'm certainly not against 06:36 the nation of Israel, have nothing negative there. 06:39 That's not my point. 06:41 But many people misunderstood and they think that Israel 06:45 going back to Palestine 06:47 is the fulfillment of these promises. 06:50 But these promises are based on an if and if. 06:54 We're going to see that if when we're going to get 06:56 into the New Testament at some point here. 06:59 So that if came into play, but God said something very 07:03 fascinating when He talked about all these promises 07:07 of blessings and curses, and the ifs, 07:09 the conditions that went along with them. 07:12 And then He said this, "For instance, 07:14 if you don't obey Me, 07:16 if you don't be faithful to Me, if you don't keep the faith, 07:19 if you don't be loyal to Me, 07:21 this is what's going to happen." 07:22 You have to understand that we are in a world 07:26 where Satan claims ownership, 07:28 'cause he claims he got it from Adam. 07:31 And our protection, Israel's protection 07:34 was based on their loyalty to God. 07:37 If they're not going to be loyal to God, 07:39 then God's going to have a very difficult time 07:42 against Satan and his accusations 07:46 that he has the right to oppress this people 07:49 and to take them out from underneath 07:50 the protection of God. 07:52 Do you need protection of God in your life? 07:54 I needed in my life. 07:55 I want God's hand over my life. 07:58 Well, coming back to ancient Israel, again, 08:01 this was what God said to them, 08:03 if they didn't go along with him, 08:06 he says in Deuteronomy 28:37, it's an amazing thing, 08:11 "And you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, 08:17 and a byword among all the nations 08:21 where the Lord send you." 08:23 Where do Jews, where are they? 08:26 The fact is, they're all over the world, 08:28 because they've been dispersed all over the world. 08:30 We'll go through a little bit of that history. 08:34 But God said, "Look, whether you obey Me, 08:37 or whether you disobey Me, 08:40 you are going to be a fulfillment of prophecy." 08:44 And people are going to look at you, 08:46 and they're going to say, 08:47 "What is really going on here?" 08:49 I want to go back to Deuteronomy 08:51 for just a moment here, 08:53 into that same place that we were at in Deuteronomy. 08:57 In Deuteronomy Chapter 30, 09:00 we were actually in 29, while ago. 09:01 But I want to go back to Deuteronomy Chapter 30, 09:04 and I want to look at this verse 19 and 20. 09:07 This is Moses, giving some of his last words to Israel. 09:13 He says, "I call heaven and earth 09:15 as witnesses today against you, 09:19 that I have set before you life and death." 09:23 And I'm going to stop right there. 09:25 What happens to Israel is an example 09:28 of what will happen to every nation. 09:31 And let me get it more personal to every person. 09:35 God says, before you and before me, 09:38 life and death. 09:42 But we have the power of choice. 09:44 We can choose to go one way or the other. 09:49 Listen to what he says, "Set before you life and death, 09:53 blessing or cursing, 09:57 therefore, choose life." 10:00 He begs them, "Choose life, 10:02 that both you and your descendants 10:05 may live forever. 10:09 That you may," and then he gives 10:10 the basis for that, 10:12 "that you may love the Lord your God, 10:14 and that you may obey His voice, 10:17 " you cannot obey God without faith, by the way, 10:20 "and that for He is your life." 10:22 I want to say that to every person listening 10:24 to me, 10:25 I say to myself, God is our life. 10:29 And the devil is in the business, 10:30 whether it's through the mark of the beast, 10:32 or through with disobedience to his God's commandments, 10:34 he's in the business of separating us 10:37 from trusting God. 10:39 But God is our life. 10:43 And then he goes on to say, "That the length of your days, 10:48 and that you may dwell 10:49 in the land which the Lord swore 10:50 to give to your father's Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." 10:55 Let's go back to a little bit of the history of Israel 10:59 as we begin to trace this whole story 11:01 into the New Testament and into the end of time. 11:07 The first dispersion of the Jewish people 11:09 was under the Babylonians. 11:11 We know the story of Daniel and his three friends. 11:14 And Jeremiah said that they would be 11:16 there for about 70 years. 11:18 But Jeremiah gives the reason for that dispersion. 11:21 In Jeremiah 25:4-11, 11:25 "The Lord has sent to you all His servants 11:28 the prophets, 11:30 rising up early and sending them, 11:33 but you have not listened nor incline your ear." 11:38 There's the issue. 11:39 And that'll be the difference between eternal life for you, 11:42 and for me. 11:44 Will we incline our ear to listen to the Lord? 11:48 Will we trust Him? 11:49 Jeremiah goes on to say, "And this whole land 11:52 shall be a desolation and astonishment, 11:56 and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon 11:59 for seventy years." 12:02 Well, we know about that dispersion and, of course, 12:04 the Jewish people came back, they rebuilt the temple 12:07 and the city, Ezra, Nehemiah, we know the story of that. 12:11 But then you have the dispersion of the Romans, 12:14 as the Romans took over the land of Israel 12:17 and, of course, we know they're the ones 12:19 who crucified Christ 12:20 and persecuted the Christian Church. 12:22 But here's the dispersion and we find that dispersion 12:26 actually mentioned in the New Testament, 12:28 part of that dispersion 12:29 and the attitude of the Roman Empire. 12:31 We're going to trace the attitude 12:33 of the Roman Empire toward the Jewish people. 12:37 Now, listen to Acts 18:2, Aquila and Priscilla, 12:41 wonderful New Testament Christians 12:43 who were great witnesses for the Lord Jesus. 12:46 "And he found," Paul, "found a certain Jew named Aquila, 12:49 born in Pontus, 12:51 who had recently come from Italy, 12:54 with his wife, Priscilla." 12:56 And then he says, "Why?" 12:59 "Because Claudius, the Emperor had commanded all the Jews 13:02 to depart from Rome." 13:04 It seemed like the Roman Empire just waged war 13:08 not only against the Christians, 13:09 but also against the Jews. 13:11 I tell you, the devil not only hates Christians, 13:15 but he also hates the Jews, 13:17 because as long as the Jews exists, 13:19 whether they are faithful or unfaithful, 13:21 they are a testimony 13:23 to the power of the God of Heaven, 13:26 that He keeps His word, He keeps His covenant, 13:29 and He keeps His promises. 13:31 He will keep His promises to you. 13:33 And every time there are Jewish people, 13:36 they are a symbol of God's promise 13:40 that He keeps His promises. 13:43 Well, I want God's promises in my life. 13:46 I know you want His promises in yours, 13:48 and we're going to look at some more 13:50 of what the Jewish people have gone through. |
Revised 2019-08-27