The Jewish Final Solution to the World's Problem - The Abrahamic Covenant in History

[0:00] And just before Gary comes to read the scripture for us, and by the way, we'll be reading from Psalm 100. If you want to open your Bible to that portion, that's where he'll be reading. I want to say a word of thanks to the decorating committee.

[0:15] The place looks absolutely splendid. Thank you. Inside and outside. You decorators outdid yourself this year. This is beautiful.

[0:26] Thank you so much for your efforts, the creativity, and ingenuity. We will enjoy it. Clear into the new year. Bless you for it. Good morning.

[0:46] Psalm 100. Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness.

[0:58] Come before him with joyful singing. Know that the Lord himself is God. It is he who has made us, and not we ourselves.

[1:11] We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise.

[1:22] Give thanks to him. Bless his name. For the Lord is good. His loving kindness is everlasting, and his faithfulness to all generations.

[1:37] Thank you. And I would emphasize that last statement, his faithfulness to all generations. Whatever and to whomever God has made promises about whatever, you may be absolutely assured that it will be fulfilled.

[1:58] It will come to pass. And we are going to see that, I think, in a dramatic fashion this morning. Because for many of the previous Sunday morning services over the past year, we have engaged a comprehensive undertaking of the plan and program of God as laid out in the Bible.

[2:20] In this book of books, which Christians regard as the very word and revelation of God himself, we find a strategic element involved in all of this plan and program that the world scarcely, if at all, even recognizes.

[2:39] This strategic element to which I refer is none other than the state of Israel and the people of Israel, rather living in the land thereof or scattered throughout the world and referred to simply as Jewish people.

[2:57] We have depicted these people as the Bible depicts them, namely, as the chosen people, or the apple of God's eye, as referenced in Zechariah 2.8, Deuteronomy 32.10, and Psalm 17.8.

[3:15] If you're wondering about the expression, the apple of God's eye, actually, that is a word in the Hebrew that refers to the pupil of the eye.

[3:28] And it is rendered apple of the eye in most of the translations. So the pupil, of course, is the very center part of the eye. And the Jewish people are referred to as the apple of God's eye.

[3:41] And that places on them a supreme kind of importance. The world at large has never recognized this special status of the Jewish people, nor does the world today.

[3:57] The world's estimation of Israel has been one of disdain and persecution of unparalleled proportions throughout human history, extending to the present time.

[4:09] Opposition from Gentiles, aided and incited by Satan himself, reached its epitome in Jewish persecution during our relatively recent World War II.

[4:24] The Holocaust was the most brutal and extensive slaughter of innocents ever known in the annals of human history. The intent was to eliminate the Jewish people from the earth.

[4:38] It was an attempt at genocide, pure and simple. While it was the most recent, it is not the last.

[4:51] There is another yet coming that will be motivated by a like-minded hatred, and the perpetrators will experience the same fate as those before.

[5:02] They themselves, not the Jews, will be destroyed. Strangely enough, although the history of past attempts to destroy the Jew, and the subsequent failures that followed are clearly laid out in Scripture, the world at large pays no heed to these revelations.

[5:23] What is more, the future failure to destroy the Jew is also laid out in several prophetic portions we will soon undertake. The world at large pays no heed to these either.

[5:38] We will see in no uncertain terms how the upcoming campaign of Armageddon will be another realization and fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant.

[5:51] For now, we are going to retrace the unmistakable and undeniable pattern of promise and fulfillment as regards the Jewish people from an early and biblically historical perspective.

[6:07] It all begins in Genesis chapter 12, the first three verses, a passage we have visited before and will visit again and again before this series concludes, which we have entitled, The Jewish Final Solution to the World's Problems.

[6:27] So, if you will please, let's go there to Genesis chapter 12 and see how this has played out numerous instances in history.

[6:42] I've said this before and it bears repetition. You'll probably hear me say it again. If there were some way that I could exaggerate or overemphasize the importance of the Abrahamic covenant, I would do so.

[6:57] But I can't. It is of incredible importance. In fact, it is safe to say that it is a centerpiece of all that God plans to do, has done, and will do as regards his plan and program for all of humanity.

[7:16] So much of it is embodied in these few verses here in Genesis chapter 12 that unfortunately are very easy to overlook. Beginning with verse 1.

[7:27] Now the Lord said to Abraham, whose name will later be changed to Abraham, Go forth from your country, and from your relatives, and from your father's house, to the land which I will show you.

[7:44] And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, and so you shall be a blessing, and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you, I will curse.

[8:03] And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Two words that I want you to especially focus on, and you will see them surfacing again and again in the subsequent passages to which we'll be referring.

[8:17] And they are the words, the blessing, and the cursing. This is going to be a pattern established all throughout Scripture, Old and New Testament, and it will result in God blessing those who bless the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and God cursing those who curse the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

[8:45] You have already been given a sheet in your bulletin this morning by way of a handout that exemplifies how the plan and program of God has played out over history.

[8:57] And as you look at that, it will give you a brief idea of what we are talking about. But we want to consider it more this morning from a biblical standpoint. So the first passage that I would have you turn to after having laid this brief foundation in the Abrahamic covenant is chapter 12 and verse 10 where we're presently located.

[9:24] If you'll just drop down a few verses to verse 10 and we will read as follows. Now there was famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there for the famine was severe in the land.

[9:39] And it came about when he came near to Egypt that he said to Sarai, whose name will later be changed to Sarah, his wife, See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman.

[9:54] We don't have any pictures, of course, of Sarai. But I guess in our terms today it would be fair to say that this lady was a dish. I mean, she was probably drop-dead gorgeous and a woman that any man would be infatuated with.

[10:08] And Abraham knew that. And he also knew the culture of the Egyptians of that day. And it was one that prevailed throughout the world. And it simply boiled down to this.

[10:20] It was unthinkable that a man would steal another man's wife. That was unacceptable. But if you were sufficiently taken with a particular female who happened to be married, you could always arrange for the demise of her husband.

[10:42] And then she would be a widow. And then you could comfort the widow by marrying her. That was the plan. And it was done on an almost regular basis in the culture in which Abraham lived at this time.

[10:57] So, verse 12 says, Abram knowing that says, It will come about when the Egyptians see you that they will say, This is his wife.

[11:13] And they will kill me. They will let you live. Please say that you are my sister. So that it may go well with me because of you.

[11:24] And that I may live on account of you. Now, this is a simple case of unbelief on the part of Abraham and of cowardness on the part of Abraham.

[11:35] He is willing to lie, save his own skin here. And what he is telling is half true, but it is also a half lie.

[11:46] Because Sarai was his sister, but not his full sister. she was his half sister. And the lie is going to give the Egyptians the impression that it was a full brother, full sister kind of relationship.

[12:05] And the reason I say that this was unbelief on the part of Abraham is that God had already promised Abraham that he was virtually indestructible because God had things that he was going to fulfill in his life and he wasn't about to allow the Egyptians to interfere with that or cancel that.

[12:22] So, if he would have simply trusted God like he should have, he wouldn't have had to lie. But, let me stop here to point out something. Abraham's faith was meager at the time.

[12:37] He was what we would call a new believer. His faith is going to grow and strengthen over time. But right now, it's like the faith of a new believer. Very shaky at the beginning and very uncertain of a lot of things.

[12:51] Abraham had not yet really learned that God could be trusted and probably would not until the time came that he will be offering Isaac his son.

[13:03] That's an indication of Abraham's tremendous growth in grace and in faith. But here he didn't have it. And here he was convinced that he had to kind of help God out in this thing.

[13:15] So, he concocts this lie and we read in verse 14 that it came about when Abraham came into Egypt the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful and Pharaoh's officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.

[13:36] I can just see some of Pharaoh's officials saying, hey, your majesty, you ought to get an eyeful of this lovely young thing that just came in from the land of Israel.

[13:47] I mean, she is a knockout. I'm sure you would go for her. Oh, really? Well, bring her to me. May I see her? Therefore, he, Pharaoh, treated Abraham well for her sake, thinking, of course, that Abraham was her brother, and gave him sheep and oxen and donkeys and male and female servants and female donkeys and camels.

[14:12] But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.

[14:24] Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say she is my sister? So that I took her for my wife.

[14:36] Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go. Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him and they escorted him away with his wife and all that belonged to him.

[14:51] So, Egypt here and Pharaoh was not really at fault in this fiasco if you look at it from the standpoint of pure and simple honesty because Pharaoh wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary.

[15:07] the one who was at fault was Abraham and he lied. And here is my point. Why would God feel obligated to support and back up and undertake on behalf of his chosen servant Abraham who lied to him lied about him.

[15:36] Why would he do that? Why would God feel obligated? For one very simple reason and don't ever forget it because God had promised.

[15:52] God was committed to Abraham and his seed. Committed to Abraham and his seed unconditionally. that does not mean Abraham and his seed have to do everything right or God won't come through for them.

[16:12] No. It means God will come through for Abraham and his seed no matter what. That's what makes the covenant unconditional.

[16:26] It is dependent solely upon God not upon the faithfulness of the one who received the promise. It is dependent upon the integrity of the one who gave the promise not the one to whom it was given.

[16:41] This was a very one-sided transaction and Genesis 15 and 17 emphasize that even more.

[16:52] We'll not have time to go there because we've already devoted time and attention to it in the past. Egypt is not at fault here. The Pharaoh is not at fault. But they suffer consequences anyway.

[17:04] Now, while we're in Genesis, come if you would please to chapter 20. Chapter 20 and verse 1.

[17:18] It's going to be deja vu all over again. Now Abraham journeyed from there toward the land of the Negev and settled between Kaddish and Shur and then he sojourned in Gerar.

[17:32] And Abraham said of Sarah, his wife, She is my sister. Here we go again.

[17:45] So, Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent and took Sarah. this gal must have really been something. All of these men focusing on her and all of them desiring to have her, she must have been drop-dead gorgeous.

[18:05] But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night and said to him, behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken for she is married.

[18:24] Well, we've got a repetition. What do these poor guys have to do anyway? I mean, they aren't doing anything out of the ordinary.

[18:36] They aren't doing anything immoral in that particular culture. And yet, they are paying a heavy price. Abimelech had not come near her.

[18:47] He had not touched her sexually. But no doubt he was thinking of it. And he said, Lord, wilt thou slay a nation, even though blameless?

[18:58] Did he not himself say to me, she is my sister? And she herself said, he is my brother? In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands, I have done this.

[19:11] Abimelech is saying, not guilty. It's not my fault. Why are you blaming me for this? I didn't do anything wrong. The man lied to me. Now, therefore, restore the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, that is Abimelech, and you will live.

[19:34] But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours. Now, I want to point out something here that is not all that obvious on the surface, but if you stop and think about it, it becomes very key, and that is, if Sarai is taken from Abraham for any other reason, given to any other man, do you understand the implications of that?

[20:07] That removes Sarai from the possibility of being impregnated with Abraham's seed, because Abraham will no longer have access to her.

[20:24] Now, we do not know how long they had been married at this time, but we know when it comes to child bearing, Sarai is still childless, and you will recall that they are going to become desperate over that situation, and that is why Operation Hagar is going to come into focus, and Ishmael will be born.

[20:47] So, this is well before her pregnancy with Isaac, and yet, God has promised to Abraham that through him and his seed, all nations of the earth, would be blessed.

[21:03] It is imperative that Sarah be available to Abraham through whatever steps God has to take in order to make that a reality.

[21:14] So, we continue reading, and if you are in chapter 20 as I am, in verse 8, Abimelech arose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their hearing, and the men were greatly frightened.

[21:33] In other words, the divine axe is about to fall on this whole nation. And Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, what have you done to us?

[21:45] And how have I sinned against you that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done. And Abimelech said to Abraham, what have you encountered that you have done this thing?

[22:01] And Abraham said, because I thought surely there is no fear of God in this place and they will kill me because of my wife. Besides, she actually is my sister.

[22:13] She is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother. And she became my wife. Now, of course, today, we would look upon this as being illegal to marry a half sister.

[22:27] But you've got to remember, this is some 4,000 years ago and was not looked upon as an illegality. And not only that, but from the time Adam and Eve were created, relatives were marrying relatives because relatives were all that relatives had.

[22:41] You had to marry a relative. And I don't know whether you realize it or not, but everyone who is sitting here today is related to each other. We are all relatives. everyone is related to everyone.

[22:54] And that's true of people who are on the other side of the world. Everyone is our brother and sister. Everyone is a member of humanity. Someone said this is why we fight so much.

[23:05] We're all family. It came about, verse 13, when God caused me to wander from my father's house that I said to her, this is the kindness which you will show to me.

[23:19] Everywhere we go. I can just see Abraham soft. Honey, can't you do this one thing for me? I'm not asking for a whole lot, but I'm asking, won't you back me up on this when I tell people that you're my sister?

[23:30] I mean, my skin could be at risk here, and you wouldn't want anything to happen to me. Well, she's going to go along with it, like a dutiful wife. Abimelech then took sheep, and oxen, and male, and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, trying to Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before you, settle wherever you please.

[23:55] And to Sarah he said, Behold, I have given your brother, and your husband, a thousand pieces of silver. Behold, it is your vindication before all who are with you, and before all men, you are cleared.

[24:10] And Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maids, so that they bore children. And verse 18 is significant.

[24:25] For the Lord had closed fast all the wombs of the household of Abimelech because of Sarah.

[24:39] Why was she so important? Because she's married to Abraham, recipient of the covenant, Abraham's wife. the closed wombs is a curse that God imposed upon that society because of their involvement with Sarah.

[25:03] And we look at that and we say, but that doesn't seem fair. Let me emphasize something. What God is doing is making good on the Abrahamic covenant, covenant.

[25:16] And what doesn't seem fair to us, you may be sure, is eminently fair to God. And here, by the way, is where an important principle needs to be injected.

[25:28] And it is this. God does not do what is right. right. What God does is right.

[25:44] The difference between those statements is monumental. God does not do what is right. What God does is right.

[25:55] Because when you talk about doing right, you are talking about rightness in connection with a specific standard. And it either measures up to that standard and is a judged right, or it doesn't, and it is judged unrighteous.

[26:14] But the point needs to be made that God himself is the standard. He not only sets the standard, he is the standard.

[26:25] So what he does is right, just because he does it. And there are things that God does that that do not appear right to us at all. Because we are using human standards and a human perspective to judge and evaluate right and wrong.

[26:42] And sometimes we're right, and sometimes we're wrong. Because we don't have a full perspective, but God does. So what God does is right, rather than God does what is right, what God does is right.

[26:59] And here in Genesis, well, there is another. Let's come over to chapter 30. And by the way, I am satisfied that none other than Satan himself is involved in a rather clandestine way in all of these shenanigans.

[27:14] It just isn't all that obvious, but in the final analysis, when we see how this plays out in the book of the Revelation, you will understand then that Satan has been involved in all of this.

[27:26] and in Genesis chapter 30, beginning with verse 25. Now it came about when Rachel had born Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, send me away, that I may go to my own place and to my own country.

[27:45] Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served you, and let me depart, for you yourself know my service, which I have rendered you. But Laban said to him, if now it pleases you, stay with me.

[28:00] I have divined that, I want you to look at this, I have divined. In other words, Laban has said, I have figured it out. I have come to the conclusion that the Lord has blessed me on your account.

[28:18] Laban is acknowledging that he's not worthy or deserving of the blessings that God has given him. But he has abundantly blessed him. Why? Because Laban was such a nice guy?

[28:30] No, Laban was a skunk. Laban was a cheat and a liar. And he cheated his own son-in-law. And he lied to his own son-in-law. And he lied to his own daughters.

[28:42] Laban was a rascal. I mean, he was... And you know, in some respects, Jacob wasn't much better. The word Jacob means the deceiver of the supplanter. I chuckled at J.

[28:54] Vernon McGee when I was listening to him on the radio one time. And he said, Jacob was such a crooked individual. When he died, they had to screw him in the ground. Well, that's the way Laban was.

[29:04] And Laban taught Jacob well, because he was crooked as they come. And yet, he recognized, why would God bless a man like this? Well, who was Jacob?

[29:19] Jacob was the son of Isaac. So, who was Isaac? Isaac was the son of Abraham. Bingo.

[29:30] There you go. And it's going to be that way with Abraham's descendants down through the years. People, individuals, and nations are going to be blessed because they blessed the seed of Abraham.

[29:49] And they are going to be cursed because they cursed the seed of Abraham. If now it pleases you, stay with me. I have divined, I have understood that the Lord has blessed me on your account.

[30:06] Chapter 39, if you would please. A lot of this is in Genesis, and I think that's important because that's the origin of it. They don't call the book of Genesis, Genesis for nothing.

[30:18] Chapter 39, and verse 1. Joseph had been taken down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an Egyptian officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the bodyguard, bought him from the Ishmaelites, who had taken him down there.

[30:33] And the Lord was with Joseph, so he became a successful man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. And by the way, when the scriptures say that God is going to bless the descendants of Abraham, it doesn't mean that they're never going to face tough times.

[30:54] Joseph faced some really tough times, falsely accused, falsely imprisoned, falsely cheated. He took a lot of lumps, even though he was a direct descendant of Abraham.

[31:06] Abraham. So, the Abrahamic covenant doesn't mean that God is going to make sure that those descendants always have smooth sailing. You would have to be out of your mind to think that the seed of Abraham have always had smooth sailing.

[31:23] There isn't any single people on the face of the earth that have gone through rougher or more turbulent waters than the Jewish people. Nobody else even comes close.

[31:37] How then can we say that God is blessing the seed of Abraham? And the answer is God blesses from his perspective, not from man's perspective. God blesses in accordance with his timetable, not in accordance with human timetable.

[31:53] And that's an important principle to keep in mind. Verse 2, The Lord was with Joseph. He became a successful man. He was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. Now, his master saw that the Lord was with him, and how the Lord had caused all that he did, that is Joseph, to prosper in his hand.

[32:12] So, Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal servant, and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he owned he put in his charge. And it came about that from the time he made him overseer in the house and over all that he owned, the Lord blessed the Egyptian house.

[32:27] Look at this. The Lord blessed the Egyptian's house. Why? On account of Joseph. Not because the Egyptians were deserving, but because of Joseph.

[32:42] Well, who was Joseph? Joseph was the son of Jacob. Who was Jacob? He was the son of Isaac. Who was Isaac? He was the son of Abraham.

[32:53] Abraham. This is where it always goes back to. This is where it began. This is where it always goes back to. And listen, when we get to Revelation 19 and Armageddon, we will see it goes all the way back to Genesis 12.

[33:15] Verse 6 says, So he left everything he owned in Joseph's charge, and with him there he did not concern himself with anything except the food which he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.

[33:28] Well, I'm going to have to skip some of this for time's sake, so let's just come down if we may to verse 23. The chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph's charge because the Lord was with him, and whatever he did the Lord made to prosper.

[33:50] While we're in the neighborhood, let's come over to Exodus chapter 1. Exodus chapter 1. May we begin with verse 8.

[34:05] Now a new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. This is many generations later, and this king was not privy to all that had taken place with the years of feast and the years of famine, and how that Joseph was single-handedly the superhero that resulted in the sparing of the whole nation of Egypt.

[34:25] This king didn't have a reference for that at all, and he did not have appreciation for the descendants of Joseph, so he said to his people, behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we.

[34:39] Come, let us deal wisely with them. Actually, the word should be deceitfully or shrewdly, lest they multiply, and in the event of war, they also join themselves to us who hate us, to those who hate us, and fight against us, and depart from the land.

[34:54] In other words, they had these people under slave labor, and they said, you know what, we don't really trust these people. If we were attacked by a foreign enemy, I bet it wouldn't take anything for them to jump ship, join hands with our enemy, and fight against us.

[35:08] We'd better find a way to pare down their numbers. They are gaining. I tell you, these Israelites multiply like rabbits. We'd better find a way to curb that.

[35:21] So, we read, they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard labor, and they built for pharaohs, storage cities, Pythom, and Ramesses, but the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied, and the more they spread out, so that they were in dread of the sons of Israel.

[35:41] And the Egyptians compelled the sons of Israel to labor rigorously, trying to kill them off with hard labor, made their lives bitter with hard labor, and mortar, and bricks, and all kinds of labor in the field, all their labors which they rigorously imposed upon them.

[35:58] And then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shipra, and the other was named Puah. And he said, When you are helping the Hebrew women to give birth, and see them upon the birth stool, if the baby is a boy, then you shall put him to death, but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.

[36:25] Do you know what this is? This is the first attempt at genocide. First recorded attempt at genocide. Who are they trying to annihilate?

[36:38] The whole nation of Israel. Because the whole nation of Israel was comprised in 70 souls that came down from the land of Canaan into Egypt 400 years earlier, and they've been there multiplying, and now they reach a significant number, and it scares the Egyptians, so they decide they're going to have to take matters into their own hands, and we are going to eliminate the Jewish people.

[37:05] How are you going to do that? Well, you kill off all the males. You let the females live, because you can use the females as servants and as sex objects, but you don't have to worry about a military insurrection.

[37:21] from the females, only the males, and besides, if we kill off all the males, then there is no sperm, there is no seed to impregnate the females, and the whole race dies out.

[37:37] Voila! No Jews! And we have all of these women. Sounds like a brilliant plan. But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded them, but let the boys live.

[37:55] So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, why have you done this thing? And let the boys live. And the midwives said to Pharaoh, the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women.

[38:07] They are vigorous, and they give birth before the midwife can get to them. I'm telling you, they birth babies like you wouldn't believe. None of this 12, 14 hours of labor for them.

[38:18] No, no, when the baby starts, it's all over. We just can't get there quickly enough. So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and became very mighty.

[38:31] Why was God good to the midwives? Because the midwives were good to the Jews. It came about because the midwives feared God that he established households for them.

[38:44] Do you know what that means? God blessed them. What's the formula? I'll bless those who bless you. I'll curse those who curse you. This is nothing more than the Abrahamic covenant worked out over 400 years later.

[39:02] And God has not forgotten it. It's still good. And Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, Every son who is born to you, you are to cast into the Nile, and every daughter you are to keep alive.

[39:18] and we all know what happened in regard to Moses and the bulrushes and so on. We must hurry on through this. I want you to look at Exodus chapter 11 while we're in the neighborhood.

[39:31] What we're doing here is laying a foundation for a principle that is going to be played out all the way through human history, including to our present day, and it will even take things like the Holocaust into consideration.

[39:46] Exodus chapter 11. May we begin for time's sake with verse 4. Moses said, Thus says the Lord, about midnight I am going out into the midst of Egypt, and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of the Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the millstones, all the firstborn of the cattle as well.

[40:11] Moreover, there shall be a great cry in all the land of Egypt, such as her has not been before, and never again. But against any of the sons of Israel, a dog shall not even bark, whether against man or beast, that you may understand how the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.

[40:40] And why will God make this distinction? God make this because the Israelites are all direct descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

[40:53] They are all beneficiaries of the Abrahamic covenant. and all these your servants will come down to me and bow themselves before me, saying, Go out, you and all your people who follow you.

[41:07] And after that I will go out. And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger. And then the Lord said to Moses, Pharaoh will not listen to you, so that my wonders will be multiplied in the land of Egypt.

[41:19] And Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, yet the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the sons of Israel go out of his hand. We've dealt with this, the Lord hardening Pharaoh's heart before, and we saw a number of times that it is simply God confirming the hardness of Pharaoh's heart.

[41:38] He is the one who hardened his own heart, and God is saying, so be it. And in chapter 12 and verse 29, Exodus chapter 12 and verse 29, Now it came about that at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle.

[42:11] And Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants, and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead.

[42:23] And he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, rise up, get you up from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel, and go, worship the Lord as you have said, take both your flocks and your herds as you have said, and go, bless me also.

[42:41] We don't know how many Jewish babies lost their lives, tossed into the Nile River, and offered as a sacrifice to the crocodile God. the crocodile God was one of many deities that were worshipped by the Egyptians.

[42:56] We are not told. We know that Moses was spared, however many may have been sacrificed, we do not know. It isn't likely that those midwives could have gotten away with saving the lives of all of those boys.

[43:09] Probably a great many of them perished, and it is significant for Egypt's cursing of the Jews through the demand that the boy babies be put to death.

[43:23] What is it that Egypt is now experiencing on this Passover night, but the death of all of their firstborn throughout the land?

[43:36] What is that? That is nothing more than the outworking of the Abrahamic covenant, where God is committed to bless those who bless Israel, and to curse those who curse Israel.

[43:54] Chapter 14, Exodus chapter 14, verse 26, Then the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the waters may come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots and their horsemen.

[44:13] So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak, while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it. Then the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea, and the waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even Pharaoh's entire army that had gone into the sea after them, not even one of them, remained.

[44:42] And how did they die? They drowned. What was the cursing that the Egyptians had imposed upon the Israelites?

[44:53] It was to drown the boy babies. And God took their firstborn on that Passover night, and here God is decimating the entire Egyptian army by drowning them in the Red Sea.

[45:11] Is that not a payback cursing for having cursed the people of God? And in chapter 17 of Exodus, are you beginning to see a pattern?

[45:26] I think so. Exodus chapter 17 and verse 8. Then Amalek came and fought against Israel at Rephidim.

[45:39] So Moses said to Joshua, Choose men for us and go out. Fight against Amalek tomorrow. I will station myself on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand. Joshua did as Moses told him.

[45:51] And by the way, who's Joshua? Joshua is a direct descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He's one of those Jew boys. fought against Amalek and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

[46:05] And who are these people? These Amalekites. They are a group of pagans who are fighting and warring against the Israelites. And I just want you to keep in mind who these people are, the Amalekites, because they're going to surface again 400 years later.

[46:27] Matter of fact, let's look at verse 13. Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

[46:40] And then the Lord said to Moses, write this in a book as a memorial and recite it to Joshua that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.

[46:58] When is God going to do that? With our perspective, in our time frame, we would be thinking, well, maybe tomorrow or next week or whatever.

[47:10] Well, not exactly. If you will come to 1 Samuel 15, I love to hear the rustling of the pages.

[47:25] 1 Samuel 15 and verse 1. Samuel said to Saul, the Lord sent, and by the way, this 1 Samuel 15 is 400 years after what we were just reading about Amalek.

[47:50] 400 years later, the monarchy is in place now. And Saul is the king, first king of Israel. The Lord sent me to anoint you as king over his people, over Israel.

[48:02] Now, therefore, listen to the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt.

[48:16] When did he do that? 400 years earlier? Amalek has been living and thriving for 400 years and multiplying and they are no doubt a considerable number of people by now.

[48:28] Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has and do not spare him but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.

[48:43] As long as they are Amalekite, they die. then Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Talaam, 200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 men of Judah.

[48:57] And Saul came to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the valley. Now we've got a problem. It isn't just Amalek that's there, but the Kenites are there too.

[49:14] The Kenites are an entirely different tribe but they are aligned with Amalek. They are in force with Amalek.

[49:27] And as you read the text, we read in verse 6, Saul said to the Kenites, go, depart, go down from among the Amalekites lest I destroy you with them.

[49:50] He's saying, I don't have an issue with you people. I've got nothing against you people. But I do the Amalekites. But if you do not separate yourself from the Amalekites, then you will have to pay the same price that they are going to pay.

[50:11] Because the Lord has ordered their extermination. And that's what we're going to do. Now it would be in your best interest to take all of your people, all of the Kenites, and separate yourselves from the Amalekites.

[50:30] Pull out. Save yourselves. We don't have a bone to pick with you. Got nothing against you. You're free to leave. But we won't be responsible for your safety if you stay.

[50:45] Why? Because the Kenites had treated the people of God earlier with blessing and decency.

[50:59] And God is going to reward them here. For you, you Kenites, you showed kindness to all the sons of Israel when they came up from Egypt.

[51:12] So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. And Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as you go to Shur, which is east of Egypt.

[51:23] And he captured Agag, the king of the Amalekites alive, utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. Four hundred years later.

[51:34] You see, God always settles his scores. He just does it with his timetable, not anybody else's. The last one I want you to consider is in the book of Esther, chapter three.

[51:50] The book of Esther, chapter three. After these events, oh, by the way, we need to go back just a little bit.

[52:05] Verse 21 of chapter two. In those days, while Mordecai, who's Mordecai? Mordecai is a Jew. Well, what's the significance of being a Jew? As a Jew, you are a direct descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

[52:19] And Mordecai, the Jew, who was sitting at the king's gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king's officials, from those who guarded the door, became angry and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.

[52:29] Who was King Ahasuerus? He was the king of Persia at the time. The Medes and the Persians had overthrown the Babylonians and Ahasuerus was the king.

[52:43] He was on the throne. And two of these men, they are the king's officials, named Bigthan and Teresh, they contrived, a conspiracy, and they are going to assassinate King Ahasuerus, which was not unusual because they had a lot of assassinations back in these days, and they were going to do away with the king, but the plot became known to Mordecai.

[53:07] Now, Mordecai is the Jew, and by the way, he is a prisoner. He's like a captive there, because he's actually a captive of captives, and he told Queen Esther, and Esther informed the king in Mordecai's name.

[53:20] This is a little intelligence operation that's going on. Mordecai got wind of this conspiracy to do harm to the king, and Mordecai went to his niece, Esther, who had already been enthroned as the queen, and she said, your husband's life is in danger.

[53:36] There is a plot out to assassinate him. So the king took appropriate action, of course, and dealt with these men, Bigtha and Teresh, and the plot was investigated and found to be so.

[53:50] They, the conspirators, were both hanged on a gallows, and it was written in the book of the Chronicles in the king's presence. And after these events, King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, the son of Hamadatha, the Agagite, and advanced him and established his authority over all the princes who were with him.

[54:10] This guy is like a secretary of state or a very highly placed executive in the government. And all the king's servants who were at the king's gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, for so the king had commanded concerning him.

[54:31] In other words, this is paying obeisance to this guy. You bow down to him, and in doing so, you are acknowledging his superiority over you and your obedience to him.

[54:43] It was an act of supreme honor and respect. The only problem is Mordecai wouldn't do that. And the reason he wouldn't do that was because he was one of those damn Jews.

[54:59] He just wouldn't do that. Because the scriptures forbade a Jew to pay that kind of obeisance to any man or to any idol. So Mordecai just respectfully declined.

[55:10] He didn't make a big issue of it. He didn't yell out and say, I'm not going to do it, or in your face, or in your ear, or what, no, he just wouldn't bow. And this guy, Haman, had an ego bigger than Donald Trump's.

[55:28] And this is going to be quite an ego. Mordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage. And the king's servants who were at the king's gate said to Mordecai, why are you transgressing the king's command?

[55:43] Now it was when they had spoken daily to him and he would not listen to them. In other words, they warned him every day. You know, Haman would come out with this big pomp and celebration in his chariot and rumbling along and everybody, and they would bow down to him, and he would just eat it up.

[55:59] It was just like adulation and worship, you know, like a rock star. He just eat it up. And he looked out there in his crowd and there was this one insignificant Jew who was standing erect.

[56:12] I don't know if he was standing there with his arms folded or not, but he was just standing and he stood out like a sore thumb because everybody else was bowing down. And here's old Mordecai. And they told him about it every day.

[56:25] Hey, you better get with the program, buddy. You better bow down. And he would not do it. They told Haman to see whether Mordecai's reason would stand, for he had told them that he was a Jew.

[56:44] And when Haman saw that Mordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage to him, Haman was filled with rage. This is what a guy who has a real big ego, who isn't kowtowed to by people, will react.

[57:04] How dare he? Doesn't he know who I am? How important I am? How dare he? But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him who the people of Mordecai were.

[57:24] Therefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews. Here's another effort, anti-Semitism, with the intent on eliminating the entire Jewish population.

[57:37] And they were all living here in Persia at the time, because they were all still in exile. Throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, and this is a big territory.

[57:48] In fact, the Persian empire exceeded with more expanded borders than any conqueror had either the Babylonians or the Egyptians or anyone else prior to that time.

[58:00] The territory and the geography involved with the Persian empire was incredible. And they had a mail delivery service that was much like our pony express that could take the word from the king urgently and send it to all of the divisions or all of the states.

[58:17] Sometimes they're called satraps, all of the colonies around, and everybody would get the word that came from headquarters. And as the word went out, because of Haman, we read that the first month, which is the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, poor, that is the lot, was cast before Haman from day to day and from month to month until the twelfth month, that is the month Adar.

[58:43] And Haman said to King Ahasuerus, Your Majesty, there is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom, and their laws are different from those of all other people.

[58:59] They do not observe the king's laws, so it is not in the king's interest to let them remain. And Ahasuerus says, well, you're right, they don't observe our laws, you're right, they don't have any right to exist.

[59:16] How dare they not observe our laws? And Haman says, if it is pleasing to the king, your majesty, if you would be inclined to agree with this and go along, what he's doing is he's conning the king, he's setting him up.

[59:30] The king doesn't know all the truth, he just knows part of the truth, and that will get you in trouble every time. If it is pleasing to the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who carry on the king's business to put into the king's treasuries, and the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman.

[59:51] That is giving power of attorney from the king to Haman. There was only one king's ring, and the king wore it.

[60:03] And when the king put the seal of his ring on any document, it was considered cast in stone. It was irrevocable.

[60:14] The king takes off his ring and hands it to Haman and says, you take care of it. And Haman, about to burst with pride, leaves the king's present.

[60:35] And the king's scribes, verse 12, were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and it was written just as Haman commanded to the king's satraps, or colonies, or provinces, to the governors who were over each province, and to the princes of each people, each province, according to its script, each people, according to its language, all of these documents were sent out in the language that was appropriate, being written in the name of the king Ahasuerus, and sealed with the king's ring.

[61:07] That made it official. No one, no one in the kingdom would even think of violating what was in that decree that was signed by the king's ring, because to do so was to sign your own death warrant.

[61:22] The letters were sent by couriers to all the king's provinces to destroy, to kill, to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to seize their possessions as plunder.

[61:40] In other words, what we're going to pay you for killing these miserable people is whatever these miserable people owned. By way of all their possessions, any jewelry, any animals, whatever, you take it for your own.

[61:55] Those of you who kill them, you can have to the victor belongs the spoils. As many Jews as you kill, the more plunder you will have. Well, for a lot of people, that was all the incentive they needed.

[62:06] This was going to be a cloud with a silver lining for them. Copy of the edict to be issued as law in every province was published to all the people so that they should be ready for this day.

[62:19] The couriers went out and impelled by the king's command while the decree was issued in Susa, the capital, while the king and Haman sat down to drink. The city of Susa was in confusion. And Mordecai learned all that had been done.

[62:31] He tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, went out into the midst of the city and wailed loudly and bitterly. And he went as far as the king's gate, for no one was to enter the king's gate clothed in sackcloth.

[62:43] And in each and every province where the command and decree of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, fasting, weeping, wailing, many of sackcloth and ashes. And Esther's maidens and her eunuchs came and told her.

[62:58] And the queen writhed in great anguish. Why? Because she was a Jew. Did the edict include her?

[63:11] Yes. But she's the queen. She's a Jew. And that was all that was needed. She sent garments to clothe Mordecai that he might remove his sackcloth from him, but he did not accept him.

[63:32] And Esther summoned Hatak from the king's eunuchs, whom the king had appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what this was and why it was. Verse 7, Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact amount of money that Haman had promised to pay to the king's treasury for the destruction of the Jews.

[63:52] He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict which had been issued in Susa for their destruction that he might show Esther. And inform her and to order her to go into the king to implore his favor and to plead with him for a people.

[64:06] And Hathak came back and relayed Mordecai's words to Esther, and Esther spoke to Hathak and ordered him to reply to Mordecai, all the king's servants. All the king's servants and know that for any man or woman who comes to the king to the inner court who is not summoned by the king, even if she is the queen, if she is not summoned by the king, he has but one law that he be put to death unless the king holds out to him the golden scepter so that he may live.

[64:39] And I have not been summoned to come to the king for these thirty days. And they related Esther's words to Mordecai, and Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, Do not imagine, Esther, that you in the king's palace can escape any more than all the Jews.

[65:01] Honey, you won't survive either because you are a Jew. Don't forget it. And Mordecai said, If you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place.

[65:23] What does that mean? What place? The implication is, it would arrive from a place that God designates.

[65:40] Do you know, the book of Esther is the only book in all of the Bible that does not mention the name of God in any way?

[65:55] Not Jehovah, not Yahweh, not Elohim, not the Lord, not God, not the Creator. He's never mentioned. mentioned. And the book of Esther is the only book in all of the Bible where he is not mentioned.

[66:11] May I submit, he is mentioned. He is another place. Another place. Why would it have to be so?

[66:24] Because of the Abrahamic covenant. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. I'm sorry to keep you over, but I cannot contain this for next week.

[66:38] I cannot break it here, so I'll have to take a few minutes. If anybody is under obligation to leave, please feel free to do so. No one will think you are rude, will think you have an important meeting someplace else.

[66:51] You can be excused without any question, and I will not be offended, I can promise you, but I have to finish this. Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, Go, assemble all the Jews who were found in Susa, and fast for me.

[67:06] Do not eat or drink for three days or night. I and my maidens also will fast in the same way, and thus I will go into the king, which is not according to the law, and if I perish, I perish.

[67:21] What a gutsy call. What an incredibly courageous woman. If I don't survive this, I don't survive it, but this is the right thing to do.

[67:33] You know, you can never go wrong by doing what you know to be the right thing, even though there may be a high price to pay for doing the right thing.

[67:44] Esther was prepared to pay it. So, I'll make this as brief as I can. What's going to happen is that the king is going to go to sleep, going to go to bed, but he's not going to be able to sleep, and he is restless, and he tosses and turns.

[68:09] And as is often the case when somebody can't go to sleep, they think that it will help if they read something or somebody reads to them. So, he asked one of his servants to bring a book of the Chronicles, and of course, these are the Chronicles of King Ahasuerus.

[68:25] He wants him to read to him about himself. So, he brings this book of Chronicles out, and he starts reading, and he comes upon this incident about the king's life being threatened, and about it being saved, because a man by the name of Mordecai revealed this plot that had been hatched, and the king's life was spared, and those who conspired were put to death.

[68:53] And now, as this account is being read, Ahasuerus is saying to himself, oh, yeah, well, yeah, I remember something about, hey, what did we ever do for that guy?

[69:05] What did we ever do to reward him? And the scribe looked at the document, and he said, well, your majesty, he said, we didn't do anything. Nothing was done.

[69:17] What? We didn't give him anything? No, there's no record here that we did well. We can't let that go on. I'm going to reward him, and reward him handsomely.

[69:33] Let me see now, what could I do? Well, I'm going to sleep on this. So the king goes back to sleep, and he awakens in the morning. And as he's contemplating, what am I going to do?

[69:45] How can I reward this man and show him my gratitude for actually saving my life? And in the door walks Haman, and he looks at Haman, and he says to himself, now there is a bright guy who's always full of ideas, and he's creative and everything.

[70:02] I'll ask him, what did he think would be an appropriate reward to give to this man who sent? So, Haman, come over here. I want to talk to you.

[70:13] Yes, your majesty, what is it? Listen, I want you to give some thought as to what I could do to reward a man whom I greatly esteem.

[70:27] What would be a fitting reward for him? Would you give that some thought? And Haman says, well, yes, your majesty, I will. I'll come back with a suggestion if I can.

[70:39] So, Haman walks away, and he begins thinking to himself, who is this guy that he wants to reward? Well, actually, it should be rather obvious.

[70:54] It is I. To whom else is the king so greatly indebted? I've been his right hand man, I've done this, I've done that, I've come up with this, I've instituted this program and that program, and obviously he's talking about me.

[71:10] So, I'm going to make this worth my while. I'm going to lay it on pretty thick. And then when the king says, okay, Haman, you're the one that I want to, then I'll have this real surprised look on my face.

[71:27] Me? Me? You want to do that for me? Beautiful story. Beautiful. Ugly story.

[71:38] If you think God doesn't have a sense of humor, you need to read the book of Esther. So, Haman comes in and he's talking to the king and the king says, have you come up with something?

[71:59] And Haman relates to the king what he thinks should be done, all the honor that should be bestowed on him, all the gifts and everything. And the king says, sounds good. Sounds really, really good.

[72:12] And I'm going to implement this. This is what is going to be done on behalf of he whom the king wishes to honor.

[72:24] And I want you to notify Mordecai the Jew that this honor is to be bestowed on him. and then there is the surprised look on Haman's face, but it isn't a faked look.

[72:40] It's real. And you know the rest of the story. The gallows 75 feet high that had been built in advance on which to hang Mordecai the Jew would instead hang Haman the Agagite.

[73:05] And the end of the story doesn't come for another 2,500 years.

[73:16] It took place in Nuremberg, Germany when a man by the name of Jerome Stryker had just been tried and found guilty by the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial for crimes committed against humanity during World War II.

[73:34] And he was one of the chief instruments in putting to death and gassing hundreds of thousands of Jewish people. And he was sentenced by the Nuremberg Court to be hanged by the neck until he dies.

[73:53] And the last words that Jerome Stryker uttered as he walked up the steps of the gallows was Purim 1945.

[74:14] Purim? Purim. That was the name of the feast that was given that resulted in the salvation of the Jewish people.

[74:26] Because even though the decree had gone out signed by the king's ring, which could not be reversed, not even by the king, another decree went out that said the Jewish people were permitted to take up arms to defend themselves and their possessions against anyone who would harm them.

[74:53] And thus the survival of the Jewish nation remained intact because they were able to arm themselves and defend themselves.

[75:04] and Julius Stryker was reminiscent of none other than Haman who had plotted to kill the Jews 2,500 years earlier.

[75:18] You see, God always settles his scores but he does it with his timetable and he does it his way. And it is nothing more than the outworking of the Abrahamic covenant which we will see as we develop this on through the New Testament and into present day history.

[75:38] So, if you will stand with me we'll close with a word of prayer. Father, we are so grateful that we serve a God who can be dependent upon whether you are dealing with Jews or Gentiles bond or free male or female your word is inviolate you can be utterly dependent upon to fulfill any and all of your promises and we are so grateful.

[76:05] Especially do we thank you for the promise of eternal life that we have through receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. If anyone here has not come to that reality and that position we pray you give them no rest and no peace until they find it all wrapped up in the person of Jesus Christ in whose name we pray.

[76:25] Amen. Amen.