Monthly Study

[0:00] I don't think it should come as a surprise to anyone who is in the least observant that mankind is simply incapable of governing himself with righteousness and justice and equity on a consistent basis.

[0:22] Now, humans are able sometimes to exact justice and righteousness, but to be able to do it consistently escapes us. And the reason it does is because those who are administering the righteousness and the justice are just as contaminated with the old sin nature as are those to whom they are administering that justice.

[0:47] So corruption always plays a part, and it is absolutely impossible to avoid it. So we do the best we can. We make laws and rules and regulations, and some of them we follow and some of them we don't.

[1:08] And any time, by the way, a nation engages in selective law enforcement, they're in big trouble. And we're doing a lot of that now. It's selective enforcement of our laws.

[1:22] And some of them are enforced and some of them are not. And it all depends usually on who's in power and who calls the shots as to whether they are enforced or not. But this morning's session is going to put all of us on notice that that is going to change.

[1:38] It's going to change radically because there is going to be on the scene not only a dictator, but a benevolent dictator who will also rule with a rod of iron.

[1:54] And that expression that is used in the Bible is in reference to our Lord Jesus Christ, which simply means that he is going to be the governor of the planet.

[2:04] And he is going to rule with a very precise kind of justice and equity that has always escaped us.

[2:16] And it will be because he is who he is that he will be able to do that. So, for the time allotted to us this morning, we're just going to spend these moments in examining the government of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

[2:33] We'll be both in the Old Testament and the New, probably more in the Old than the New, but nonetheless, you will be able to make the connections between the two. And the whole concept of Bible study is, of course, our willingness and the necessity to compare Scripture with Scripture, to use one text to shed light on another text, and to ever engage in a comparison and back and forth, because that's the only way you get a full picture.

[3:07] Otherwise, you're just taking something out of context. And I'm not suggesting that we're going to compare every verse that deals with these issues, but I think we'll be able to utilize enough of them so you'll be able to connect some dots and see how this thing is going to work out.

[3:22] So, the first thing we need to do is turn to Psalm number 2 for a reference that probably has been read by millions and understood by very few.

[3:33] And I'm not claiming by any manner of means to have the full insight on this passage, but I do think you will see it perhaps in a new connection that you had not seen it in before.

[3:46] It's a familiar passage, and it's a familiar passage, and it is Psalm 2, and we will begin with, well, let's just read a psalm.

[3:57] It's very short anyway, but the only verses that we're really going to elaborate on now are the last two or three. Psalm 3, verse 1.

[4:33] Psalm 3, verse 1.

[5:03] I have begotten thee. Ask of me, and I will surely give the nations as thine inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as thy possession.

[5:15] Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron. Thou shalt shatter them like earthenware. And he's talking about the ability of the ruling monarch to deal with the rebels that are going to arise in the world community.

[5:31] And there will be. because during the millennial reign of Christ there will be a huge number of people who are not regenerated and are not glorified in their bodies.

[5:44] They will have the same kind of bodies that we have. They will have been born during that time. And they will eventually mount an insurrection that will be dealt with in Revelation chapter 19 and 20 when Satan is loosed from his pit after the thousand years of confinement and he will go about the earth recruiting followers and will be somewhat successful only this time there will not be any battle of Armageddon or anything like that but they will be summarily executed in accordance with what the reference says there in the latter chapters of Revelation chapter 20.

[6:24] So what we have here is the father that is speaking to the son and this is one of those famous messianic passages that relates to the person of Christ and he says in verse 6 I have installed my king upon Zion my holy mountain.

[6:45] Now that sounds very much like an accomplished fact and it is because many times in the scriptures Old Testament and New we find references given that insofar as time is concerned they have not yet occurred but they are spoken of in the past tense and in each instance it is a reference to God's point of view God is speaking with whom there is no past, present, or future there is just the ever-present now and he speaks of a number of things as if they are already accomplished for instance and there are so many that we could give but Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world well what in the world do you do with that?

[7:35] slain before the foundation of the world? well from whose perspective? only from God's perspective that was all part and parcel in the plan and program of God that Christ should come into the world and that he should die for the sins of man who hadn't even been created yet in fact the world hadn't even come into being yet but it is spoken of as if the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world because that's from God's perspective and many things in the Bible are written that way so you simply have to pay attention to the tenses that are used whether it's Hebrew or Greek in the New Testament and there are a number of references here that refer to this and of course what this is saying is that in the first few verses there will be opposition against Christ in his rule and reign but it will come to naught because he is going to rule with a rod of iron and in verse 9 thou shalt break them with a rod of iron thou shalt shatter them like earthenware that's like dishes breaking and the reason of course this is going to be the case is because this righteous ruler who will be reigning then is going to execute virtually immediate justice there is no reason to believe there are going to be law courts and long strung out trials and things of that nature justice is going to be rather swift and certain in fact there is a verse in Ecclesiastes that says and I wish our whole judiciary

[9:13] I wish our judiciary could pick up on this there is a verse that says because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily therefore the hearts of the sons of men have set in them to do evil and the whole idea of course is man thinks that he can get away with the crime that he is going to commit and sad to say many times they do many times they do get away with it so we come far short of exacting anything like consistent justice so while we are in the Old Testament I want you to keep that reference in mind in Psalm 2 and let's go over if we may to Isaiah chapter 9 and feel free to interrupt at any point if you have a question or comment you wish to make we would be glad to entertain that Isaiah chapter 9 a verse that is very often associated with the Christmas season and in verse 6

[10:21] I'm reading from I don't know what translation you have but this is the New American Standard for a child will be born to us a son will be given to us and a careful distinction needs to be made here as has been made before and that is the son is not born the son is given it is the child that is born the child is born in humanity the son is given in deity so the son is not born because the son is the eternal son of the eternal father and has never been born in his deity but in his humanity of course he has so we read that a child will be born to us a son will be given to us and bear in mind this is approximately 700 years before the birth of Christ and the government will rest on his shoulders what government is that well it's the government of Israel for one thing but it extends far beyond that it is the government of the globe will rest on his shoulders this is going to be a world wide rule and reign that will be headquartered centered in Jerusalem where the throne upon which this messiah king is going to sit will be located the government will rest on his shoulders that means he is going to be the embodiment of law and order and it will be perfect something that this world of course has never known and his name will be called wonderful counselor mighty god eternal father prince of peace there will be no end to the increase of his government or of peace on the throne of david and over his kingdom now that's very significant the throne of david and we'll be looking at that as we go along and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore the zeal or if you will the energy or the capability of the lord of hosts will accomplish this and while we're nearby let's come over to isaiah 16 isaiah probably is probably more than any of the prophets has a greater abundance of messianic passages and in the old testament and isaiah in particular is just filled with these things and let me inject here a comment that needs to be understood by way of perspective and that is what we are dealing with this morning has to do with the assumption that the second coming of Christ has already taken place

[13:41] Armageddon has already taken place and now what we are talking about is the installation of this worldwide government over which Christ will rule and reign and that needs to be kept in mind that's the perspective that we're looking at and as regards that issue the old testament speaks far far more of the second coming of Christ and what occurs after that than it does of the first coming now they are all messianic but they relate to two different comings and the first he comes as the lamb of God to be sacrificed to take away the sin of the world but that was not the concept and not the idea that the Jewish religious establishment anticipated they anticipated a coming monarch reigning king actually of the two comings in Christ both of which are very clearly set forth the

[14:55] Jewish people focused almost exclusively on the description of the second coming which has all the power and pomp and glory and all that goes with that package and they virtually overlook the references that have to do with his first coming and both are set forth very clearly in the Old Testament but the second coming passages by far outweigh the first coming and it may be because they are a lot more action oriented despite what Christ did on earth but you've got to remember he only had three and a half years in which to do it but what we're talking about here with this rule and reign will encompass a period of a thousand years as Revelation chapter 20 makes quite clear so in Isaiah 16 and let's just look at verse 5 a throne will even be established in loving kindness and a judge will sit on it in faithfulness in the tent of

[16:06] David moreover he will seek justice and be prompt in righteousness never in the annals of human history have we ever been able to point to anything that identifies with this this has never occurred it shall but it has never occurred that a judge will sit on this throne and it will be in the tent of David that's an interesting expression because as these passages many of them were written much of Israel at the time much of Israel lived many of them a nomadic kind of life and by the way this is perpetuated in Israel even today they call these people Bedouins and most of them are Arab but they live in tents and they ride camels but it is really humorous to go through the countryside in certain areas of

[17:13] Israel and you see a tent and their Bedouins live in this tent and the tent is pretty good size it's about the size of this whole area it's not a little tent that you go out and pitch on the weekend this is a big tent and they live in that and it is humorous as I said to see a camel or two tied to a hitching post outside the tent and the side is a Ford pickup and maybe television antenna it's really kind of strange but in many respects these people maintain this kind of life and Israel got very accustomed to the tents because they dwelled in tents all the time when they left Egypt and came out of Egypt into the promised land so the tents of David simply has to do with the household of David with the ordering of David and the house of David is a very very important concept and we'll be looking in a moment at the covenant that God established with David and understandably it's called the Davidic covenant and very very important and

[18:25] Christ of course is a absolute direct son of David the king born a thousand years after David but in that direct bloodline so we will see the connection between that as we go along now let's go if we may to the next prophet Jeremiah chapter 23 Jeremiah chapter 23 and verses 5 and 6 behold the days are coming declares the Lord when I shall raise up for David a righteous branch and this righteous branch of course will be none other than the Messiah will be

[19:25] Christ himself and he will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land in his days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely and this is his name by which he will be called the Lord our righteousness this is Jehovah Tzitkenu in the Hebrew Yahweh Tzitkenu the Lord the righteous one and this of course is speaking of that same rule and reign and he will descend from David and he will reign as king just as is stipulated here I don't know I don't know how the Jewish people today look upon these passages and understand them my guess is and

[20:31] I say this with sadness and with regret but my guess is in most cases they are virtually ignored it is it is too bad that most of the Orthodox Jews who study today they study the Torah which is the five books of Moses and the Jewish breakdown of the scriptures of course is the law the writings and the prophets those are the three categories so far as a Jew is concerned and they comprise the totality of their Bible which of course leads them to reject the whole idea of the New Testament and I think that they probably spend very little time although there is a group in Israel today and they've been there for quite some time and they are called the

[21:39] Hasidim the Hasidim H-A-S-S-A-D-I-M the Hasidim and they're the ones that wear the back garb and have the curls down you know they're the ultra orthodox and they devote their entire time to the study of the Torah that's all they do they raise families they have children raise families but they study the Torah that's all they do and they have no livelihood except what people send in by way of contributions and they derive virtually all of their livelihood from Jews who live in Brooklyn this huge concentration of Jews live in Brooklyn and they send money to the Hasidim and support them and they too are orthodox they believe that when there are enough Jews studying the Torah the Messiah will return well

[22:39] I misspoke the Messiah will not return they don't believe he's ever come they believe that the Messiah will come for the first time when there are enough studying the Torah and we visited that place when we were over there and it's unlike anything else in Israel it's kind of like a little settlement called Mia Shurim and for all practical purposes I guess comparatively speaking we would almost call it a slum here in the United States comparably speaking but they study the Torah and what they do with passages like this I don't know and if you've ever read any of these articles the Menos V he was born Jewish came to faith in Christ and contributed an article in Israel my glory every time the issue came out and he was always confronting his own countrymen with the scriptures and they never know anything about the scriptures he would take the text right out of the

[23:45] Bible but about all they study is is the five books of Moses and the writings of the rabbis and their rulings and so on but very little of the actual scriptures so and he always of course gives them Isaiah 53 and when he reads Isaiah 53 this is kind of humorous you need to hear his B tell it but he says when he would read Isaiah 53 to them they would object and say but we don't believe you're a New Testament really well let me tell you where this is found you know and then they are just kind of dumbfounded what do you think of that well well well we'll talk to our rabbi about that and that's usually as far as it goes but this passage and those like it are just dynamite to their cause Jeremiah 23 and verses 5 and 6 behold the days are coming declares the

[24:48] Lord when I shall raise up for David a righteous branch and he will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land in his days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely and he uses both of those names because at the time that that Isaiah penned this Israel was a divided nation the ten tribes of the north had seceded from the union and pulled away and they took the name and are thereafter designated as Israel probably because they comprise the vast majority of the original state ten of the twelve tribes and then the two tribes in the south Benjamin and Judah are referred to as Judah probably because Judah is so much larger than Benjamin that it was just called Judah Benjamin was the smallest of all the twelve tribes and Judah of course is the kingly line and

[25:49] Benjamin is where the temple is located and that's where the throne of David is located there in the tribe of Benjamin so let's go to another reference if we may while we're in Jeremiah and let's look at chapter 33 chapter 33 and verse 14 thus 33 14 behold days are coming that's a phrase the prophets use time and again the days are coming the days are coming and all I would add to that is yes they are still coming they're not here yet but the days are still coming and I have no idea I have no idea if Isaiah had any idea how long it would be for those days to come because you'll recall when you go all the way back to the promise of the

[26:52] Messiah for the first time it's in Genesis 3 and verse 15 and yet it was 4,000 years before God delivered on that promise so Jeremiah and Isaiah probably had no idea that it would be that long the days are coming and verse 14 when I will fulfill the good word which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and the house of Judah in those days and at that time I will cause a righteous branch of David now remember a branch is like an offshoot and Christ is an offshoot he's an offshoot of David a descendant of David will cause a righteous branch of David to spring forth and he shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth in those days

[27:56] Judah shall be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell in safety and this is the name by which she shall be called the Lord is our righteousness for thus says the Lord David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel now that is quite a statement David will never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel so on our way to the New Testament stop by Zechariah Zechariah chapter 14 and verse 9 and the

[29:02] Lord will be king over all the earth in that day the Lord will be the only one and his name the only one all of these references that we've been looking at of course do not resemble anything that has ever happened in history we can't look back and point to anything that even remotely fulfills what these promises say and this of course has led a number of people particularly those of what shall I say particularly those of the replacement theology position to spiritualize these verses and say well they don't actually mean what they seem to say there is a deeper hidden meaning behind that and they are not to be taken literally but they are to be taken figuratively or spiritually you say okay what then is the spiritual interpretation well what would you like it to be because there are no limits imposed upon anything that is not a literal interpretation it is simply open to the fanciful ideas and preferences and desires of the interpreter once you get away from the plain sense then the meaning is up for grabs and there really isn't any way to nail it down because it says one thing to you and it says something else to you and while

[30:39] I get out of it something entirely different and that's just the way people see things but when you take it literally you have a built in kind of safeguard that it says what it means and it means what it says and I don't want to wax eloquent about the use of figurative language because I think we've already established that figurative language is very legitimate and it is very frequently found in the Bible and figurative language is never intended to be taken literally and it is usually rather obvious when you confront it but by and large when the plain sense makes good sense seek no other sense that's a pretty good rule to follow and here in Zechariah 14 and verse 9 says the Lord will be king over all the earth in that day the Lord will be the only one and his name the only one I don't know how you would go about spiritualizing that if it isn't to be taken for what it says I just don't know how you can make any sense of it because like

[31:42] I said it is left to the imagination of each individual and the sky is the limit and I have got shelves full of commentaries in there and you would be surprised at some of the cockamamie stuff they come up with when they come interpreting this and some people look at that stuff and they say oh that is deep deep deep it is deep all right I say deep what well we're near the New Testament now so just come on over to the New Testament to Luke chapter one Luke's gospel chapter one this is just an indescribably wonderful passage Luke one and let's look at verse thirty this is the magnificat the angel said to her do not be afraid

[32:49] Mary for you have found favor with God and behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall name him Jesus he will be great and will be called the son of the most high and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will have no end now if you're going to spiritualize that like some of our friends do and by the way this doesn't have anything to do with anybody's salvation or anybody's love for the Lord but people see things honestly and differently and this is where the reform theology is coming from the reform theology covenant theology replacement theology whatever you want to call it they look at this and they say well this is to be interpreted here he will reign over the house of

[33:50] Jacob forever who is the house of Jacob and their answer is you are you have become the new house of Israel you are the house of Jacob I know it says the house of Jacob but it really means Christians that's spiritualizing that's allegorizing that's de-literalizing so that it doesn't mean what it says it means something else and what it means is and by the way when you look at this and the text says that he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will have no end well if the house of Jacob is really Christianity yeah well he is going to reign over that isn't he Christianity forever yes that's true so this is the kind of thinking and reasoning that gives him no difficulty in buying that because there is some semblance of sense to that and as you go on and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever his kingdom will have no end and they believe that that kingdom has already started that it is in force now this allows them to deny the literality of the kingdom and say it's going to be a spiritual kingdom whereby

[35:20] Christ will be ruling and reigning in the hearts of believers well he is isn't he indeed he is in fact one of the references that they would use to buttress that is the passage in Luke that escapes me now but in the in the King James translation Jesus is speaking to a crowd of Pharisees his opponents at the time and he says behold the kingdom of heaven is within you and that makes it look very much like a spiritual kingdom and it all depends on how you translate that preposition within the kingdom of heaven is within you and these dear folks say that means that it is a spiritual kingdom and it is in you it is in your heart because Christ is in your heart but when you look at the context and realize that Jesus is talking to his opposition whom he has already branded as blind leaders of the blind and children of the devil so it's inconceivable that he's saying the kingdom of heaven is in you because they are not the kind of people that would be accommodating the kingdom of heaven even in a spiritual sense what Jesus meant and I think a far better translation is the kingdom of heaven is among you and he was saying that regarding himself

[37:04] Jesus in the three and a half years that he was here on earth was the personification of that kingdom and everywhere he went he took kingdom conditions with him and brought kingdom conditions along because in the kingdom the lame shall leap as a deer the blind will receive their sight the deaf will hear and people that die at the age of a hundred will be thought to be young these are kingdom conditions and Jesus authenticated his claim to be the Messiah by bringing those conditions with him and he exercised control over the elements the wind and the rain and animals and everything else and in that sense the kingdom of heaven was with him and in three of the four gospels we read that Jesus told his apostles verily I say unto you there be some standing here who shall not see death until they see the kingdom of heaven come in power and great glory and you continue reading in the context and it says something like and six days later he took those to whom he was speaking into a high mountain

[38:18] Peter James and John and there he was transfigured before them and the radiance of his glory shone forth and they were absolutely overwhelmed with what they saw and what Jesus did was he just pulled back the mask of his humanity and flooded that scene with the Shekinah that glory that left the apostles dazzled and and Elisha Moses and Elisha were there with them where did they come from well they were brought in for a special assignment at that time and that was a manifestation of the glory of God and it's that Shekinah and that glory that is somehow going to be imbued in you when you receive your glorified body and this is what Paul meant when he talked to the

[39:24] Colossians and said Christ is in you that is your confidence your hope of ultimate glory you're not going to be wearing this body you're going to be wearing a glorified body and there'll be a body like that that Christ had when he came out of the tomb so all of these things come together here let's read on if we may you will bear a son verse 31 and you shall name him Jesus he will be great and will be called the son of the most high and the Lord will give him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will have no end and Mary said to the angel how can this be since I am a virgin and the angel said well we won't take time to read that but but you can you probably recall having been read not every

[40:29] Christmas anyway Mary's response is just wonderful besides so let us come if we may now while we're still in the New Testament and we'll slip back to the old a little bit and tie these things together Revelation chapter 19 passage that we've already dealt with on Sunday mornings but we'll revisit it for at least a few minutes Revelation 19 and verse 15 this is the second coming of Christ coming in power and great glory and from his mouth well let's read verse 14 well let's read verse 13 and he is clothed with a robe dipped in blood and his name is called the word of God the word is the essence words are the essence of communication cannot communicate without words even if you use sign language signs stand for words so we communicate with words and

[41:42] Jesus is the expression of God his name is called the word of God and the armies which are in heaven clothed in white fine linen white and clean were following him on white horses and from his mouth comes a sharp sword so that with it he may smite the nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron and he treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God the almighty and on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written king of kings and lord of lords and of course we we just of necessity say this has to be future there's no way that you can read anything that has ever happened into the past into this I don't care how active your imagination is you just cannot make it fit so it is yet future and I think there's little question about that now to wrap this up I want to go back again to some

[42:45] Old Testament references and let's stop off if we may at Psalm 72 and we'll open it for some Q&A Psalm 72 Give the king thy judgments O God and thy righteousness to the king's son may he judge the people with righteousness and thine afflicted with justice let the mountains bring peace to the people and the hills in righteousness may he vindicate the afflicted of the people save the children of the needy and crush the oppressor let them fear thee while the sun endures and as long as the moon throughout all generations may he come down like rain upon the mown grass like showers that water the earth in his days may the righteous flourish and abundance of peace till the moon is no more this is all this is all millennial stuff this is all messianic may he also rule from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth let the nomads of the desert bow before him and his enemies lick the dust let the kings of Tarshish and of the islands bring presents the kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts and let all kings bow down before him all nations serve him this is not just wishful thinking on the part of

[44:25] Jews this is the inspired word of God that is being revealed to his people as to what is coming upon the earth for he will deliver the needy when he cries for help the afflicted also and him who has no helper he will have compassion on the poor and needy and the lives of the needy he will save he will rescue their life from oppression and violence and their blood will be precious in his sight so may he live and may the gold of Sheba be given to him and let them pray for him continually and let them bless him all day long may there be an abundance of grain in the earth on top of the mountain its fruit will wave like the cedars of Lebanon and may those from the city flourish like vegetation of the earth may his name endure forever may his name increase as the sun shines and let men bless themselves by him let all nations call him blessed blessed be the Lord God the God of Israel who alone works wonders blessed be his glorious name forever may the whole earth be filled with his glory amen and amen this is what is coming upon the earth and I do not know to what extent modern day Jewry takes this seriously but part of the sadness is that they do not take their own scriptures seriously much less ours for the most part there are exceptions of course like I said there are the orthodox who pay more attention to it but this is a perfect picture of what is coming upon the earth and then for one last reference if we may in

[46:02] Psalm 24 well not the last but almost the last Psalm 24 and verse 7 you perhaps have not read this passage with this in mind but I suggest that you keep in mind what we've been talking about in connection with the second coming and the establishment of his reign verse 7 lift up your heads O gates and be lifted up O ancient doors that the king of glory may come in who is the king of glory the Lord strong and mighty the Lord mighty in battle lift up your heads O gates and lift them up O ancient doors that the king of glory may come in who is this king of glory the Lord of hosts he is the king of glory Selah wow all of this is yet to transpire upon the earth and then for what will be our last reference and then I promise to open the first

[47:10] MQ&A Isaiah chapter 11 Isaiah chapter 11 then and of course you have to wonder when is the then well the whole context will tell you and it has to do with the remnant returning in verse 20 of the preceding chapter this of course is the Jew returning to the land and that's been taking place for decades now I don't know if you are aware of it or not but there are now for the first time for the first time there are more Jews living in Israel than there are all the rest of the world put together I mean if you take all of Europe take all of the United States take all of Asia take all of add them all up there are still more Jews today living in Israel than there are in all the rest of the world combined and that's never happened before this generation and of course they still continue to come in under what is referred to as the Jewish right of return and the Knesset established that shortly after they became a state and the Jewish right to return simply welcomes anyone anywhere in the world who is Jewish to come home to make

[48:41] Aliyah to make the pilgrimage to come home and if you do we will sustain you financially until you can get on your feet and we'll try to give you a job they've got a huge amount of money set aside in their budget for the absorption committee and they absorb Jews from all over the world and for many many years I don't know if you were aware of it or not but for many many years Jews could not immigrate from the Soviet Union but they have been allowed to over about the past 20 years and there have been hundreds of thousands of Jews immigrate from Russia to Israel and there is a lot of really exciting things happening in Israel even now even as we speak so chapter 11 then a shoot will spring from the stem of

[49:41] Jesse and remember Jesse Jesse was King David's father so he started this if you will you know he had what seven sons and Samuel went through all of them he was going to anoint one the next king of Israel and Samuel says none of these none of these six these are all your boys Jesse said well actually there is one he is the runt of the litter he is out with the sheep he is out in the sheep hole and David says bring him in well it couldn't possibly be him you know and he brought little David in and the Lord told Samuel he is my guy he is the one and Samuel anointed him and thereafter you know you encounter that situation with Goliath that comes after that this is priceless shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse and a branch from his roots will bear fruit and the spirit of the

[50:43] Lord will rest on him spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of counsel and strength the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord and he will delight in the fear of the Lord and he will not judge by what his eyes see nor make a decision by what his ears hear but with righteousness he will judge the poor and decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth and he will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked also righteousness will be the belt about his loins and faithfulness the belt about his waist there has never been anyone like this and then he goes on to describe the millennial conditions the wolf will dwell with the lamb the leopard will lie down with the kid and there's an old story about the Russians claiming that through communism they were bringing in this glorious utopia on earth and that they had actually succeeded in making this passage come true so that the wolf dwells with the lamb and the leopard lies down with the kid and how are you able to do that it's very simple just every now and then you put in another lamb okay you just replace the lamb and it works yeah that's their version of the glorious communist revolution wonderful things coming to the earth okay so we've covered the waterfront pretty much with this government of the messianic claims that are set forth here have you questions or comments that you'd like to share with us anybody what do you know about the blacks that came from

[52:40] Africa and now I see that it's taking out some blacks I don't know they're taking out some they're well you mean they're okay I don't know I'm not aware of that that they were asking some to leave but I do know that the basis on which they accepted these Africans and they were at least at the time that I'm familiar with they were all from Ethiopia and when they first made application for Aliyah to Jerusalem to be accepted as Jews so that they could be absorbed the Israeli government was dumbfounded they said what is it with these people what makes them think they're Jews anyway and they initially turned them down and they protested and they said we are

[53:49] Jews and we have practiced Judaism for hundreds of years well this completely escaped Jerusalem they didn't have any idea about that and in fact they rejected the claim and they decided that the only way to settle this thing to prove it was through DNA analysis and they asked them to submit samples for DNA miracle of miracles they tested out they had Jewish blood Jews they had been practicing Judaism they had their own synagogues they kept kosher diet they circumcised their children the whole nine yards and Jerusalem was just dumbfounded they never knew that never heard of anything like that and on the basis of their being legitimate Jews they welcomed them to the land in fact what they did was they took a 747 jet passenger plane and took all the seats out of it and made this huge expanse in this 747 flew that thing down to

[55:11] Addis Addis Addis Ethiopia and loaded it up with Jews black Jews and they filled that thing sitting on the floor hundreds and hundreds of them and flew it back to Jerusalem or back to Tel Aviv and began the process of absorption and so far as I know most of them are still there but I haven't heard what Jerry's talking about some of them have been well that could very well be I don't know I don't know if they are all being subjected to DNA or not but that wouldn't be that difficult to do because Marie and I just kids gave us for Christmas a DNA kit you know and all you do is just put a little bit of saliva in a small test tube and send that thing off and in a couple of weeks they send back the verdict having tested your DNA she's like like 92%

[56:16] Scandinavian yeah yeah yeah and I haven't gotten mine back yet they look at mine and they probably say we don't know what to do this but this DNA thing is absolutely it is it is mind-boggling you know I mean what they could tell from DNA is just just amazing absolutely amazing so I'll have to research a little more about those that they are exporting I'm not aware of that and they've got tremendous problems too because you know they've got in addition to what they're trying to do with absorption Israel spends 90% of their budget on defense 90% and they say what else do we have that's better to spend it on because if we don't spend it on defense we will cease to be so every dollar that we spend on defense is just is just shoring up our perpetuity simple as that other thoughts or comments anybody well that too is probably it's sparked as much by tradition as anything but but sometimes sometimes tales of tradition have an element of truth in them and we cannot verify this for sure but it's entirely possible you've heard of the Queen of Sheba she was from

[57:55] Ethiopia and you're familiar with Acts chapter 8 and the Ethiopian eunuch who was the treasurer of Candace who at the time was the Queen of Ethiopia and of course this was in the time of Solomon and she came because she had heard all of these wonderful things and by the way King Solomon elevated the nation of Israel and everything about it to such a sublime height of accomplishment achievement and beauty unlike anything the world had ever seen and people were hearing about it for miles and miles away and the Queen of Sheba came to visit and she said remember the famous line she gave she said I heard about how great everything was here but the half has not been told when she saw it with her eyes and tradition says and take it with a grain of salt tradition says that

[58:58] Solomon who had an eye for the ladies which by the way was his downfall because he he took unto himself what the scriptures call many strange women worshippers of other gods and so on and they contaminated food just amazing how somebody as brilliant in one area can be so stupid in others but that's humanity for you and that one of his trophies was the Queen of Sheba now like I said that makes good tabloid stuff but we don't know if it has any fact or not but we do know that that there ended up a whole lot of Jews in Ethiopia and they would have had 2,000 years to multiply well not 2,000 years but well yeah almost 3,000 years to multiply and how many of those we don't know we don't know but we do know this in Acts chapter 8 we are told that the Ethiopian eunuch was in Jerusalem for one purpose the text says he had been to Jerusalem for to worship and that means if you are a Jew you are under obligation under the law of

[60:19] Moses to visit the temple and present yourself before the Lord at one of the feasts three feasts I think it's Pentecost Passover Tabernacles and you are to come and this is what they were doing the day of Pentecost that's why all those people were there from all over the world and the Ethiopian eunuch was there for to worship and he was obviously a man of high rank being the treasurer we could say secretary of treasurer and the only reason that he came to Jerusalem to worship was guess what he was a Jew that's why he was there in fact had he been a Gentile he wouldn't have even been allowed but he was a Jew and that supports the argument a little bit that literally thousands of Jews or practicing Jews with DNA Jewish DNA in their blood I don't know that is wild and woolly but there it is yes of the line of the tribe of

[61:34] Judah oh yeah well that too is part of the tradition and Ethiopia is in a mess right now and there's a lot of persecution going on there persecution of Christians and of course that means there also have to be Christians there in order to persecute them and and these and these are black Christians so what they're black Christians and black Jews in Ethiopia and years ago there was a man who was who was the king of Ethiopia and his name was Haile Selassie and he's deceased now but he claimed and again this is taken with a grain of salt he claimed to be a direct descendant of Solomon and the queen of Bathsheba and he took to himself the title line of the tribe of Judah well the

[62:34] Bible uses that reference in connection with Christ he is the line of the tribe of Judah but Haile Selassie claimed that for himself and do it what you will other thoughts or comments on you yeah I've argued mentioned before that the Jewish population has a proportionally larger amount of professional doctors lawyers chemists artists songwriters and Solomon was very skilled and had a great deal of godly knowledge in all these areas and he had how many wives and concubines a bunch a bunch well and my thought is you know if he had kids with all those passed along those characteristics you know that could account for the higher you know who knows that's a large dose of you're absolutely right you're absolutely right and we don't we don't understand how all of these things work now what you're talking about and I don't want to get too far afield here but this this happens to be a pet of mine that

[63:52] I've been digging into the problem is there isn't any physicality to it so how do you dig into something that isn't physical but I well just just indulge me a little bit another time is not going maybe I'll do this next time well since you twist my arm okay but this is just you know I cannot anchor this down I cannot say take it to the bank but we all know we all know how significant DNA is and it wasn't too long ago that we didn't even know there was such a thing are you with me and we are well aware of the incredible changes that it has made in the scientific community maybe more so in the field of what shall I say criminal justice than anything else you know I mean the

[64:56] DNA samples really nails a person or sets them free one of the two and it's pretty conclusive the evidence could there be such a thing as spiritual DNA DNA now we know that physical DNA needs physical properties through which and from which to transmit itself physical to physical well how do you transmit anything that is spiritual I have no idea but I do know this what God transmitted from himself to you when he regenerated you was not physical it was spiritual he made you a new person on the inside and it had nothing to do with your physical body it had everything to do with your human spirit and nobody has ever seen that but until just recently nobody had ever seen

[66:16] DNA either and there were probably some scientific minded people who would probably have told you that there was no such thing but now we know there is so we ought not to be too quick to dismiss some of these things because I know that the standard scientific quote unquote approach to all of this is that anything that cannot be placed in the laboratory and examined and measured and weighed and evaluated does not have objective existence and that's the standard party line in the scientific community and this is what leads some of our leading neuroscientists brain scientists to say you do not have the mind that's nonsense you have a physical brain that's all you have you do not have a mind the brain is responsible for everything you think the mind does and the

[67:17] Christian position is and we get this primarily from the scriptures because the Bible the Bible never uses the word brain but it uses the word mind hundreds of times so the mind is not physical the brain is and this very fact leads many to say therefore the mind does not exist never seen the mind you never weighed the mind you never measured the mind you can do that with the brain you can't do that with the mind so there is no mind you're out of your mind you've got a brain but you're out of you don't have a mind so anyway I think we do have a mind and what I base that on is the frequent use of the scriptures of the mind okay so the spiritual DNA I don't know but all I'm saying is and I promise to quit after this we know how very well how physical characteristics are transmitted from parent to child both mom and dad contribute certain properties color of skin eyes shape body build medical defects whatever transmitted carried over and there are also traits that people have that are not physical but are related

[68:49] I think to personality I think that there is something in the human spirit that is transmitted at the same time the physical is and and and yet we've got more questions with this than we do have answers but I think that these things are transmitted from one generation to the next and they include intellect personality temperament creativity conscience all of these things none of those are physical but who is to say none of them are real they're all real well how do you get them get them I think from your parents you get them from the same way that that you got the physical but like I said there are a whole host of questions about that that we don't have any answers for in fact you can't even prove what I just said is true because it's pretty hard to prove anything that's spiritual when you can't examine so anyway well thank you for your time this morning and as as per usual

[69:59] I went over isn't it nice to know there are some things you can count on you enjoy the rest of your day and by the way I do want to give you a little heads up because I really get excited about this material next week and I'm kind of excited about this too but next week we're going to see how David the king is going to be the vice regent of the earth under the authority of David's greater son the actual David king David is going to be ruling and reigning under Christ and it's going to be pretty exciting I'll be eager to share it with you and we'll get into that next time we meet and that will be that'll be the last Tuesday in March and it'll be here before you know it and in the meanwhile think spring okay you are dismissed and it'll and it'll but that's so you you