Prophecy and Mystery Contrasted - Prophecy 29

[0:00] Gracious Father, once again we bow to you for your authority and for your enlightenment, and we ask that as we engage the truths that are set before us this morning, you will provide us with the understanding that you intended us to have when you inspired men of God to write the record that we call the Bible. We are grateful for it, and we look to you now for the enlightenment and the understanding that is necessary. Thank you for our gathering, for the presence of each one here. Thank you that you are with those who are not here, just the same as you are with us, and we are grateful. We commit this time to you with thanksgiving in the name of our Lord. Amen.

[0:40] In your bulletin, which we will be referring to a little later, the nine o'clock adult hour says, few things in scripture are as plain as our Lord calling the twelve disciples and commissioning them to deliver a message exclusively designed for the nation of Israel. Despite the clarity of this, there remains considerable confusion. We must understand why this is. Today we shall. Could a man named Miles Coverdale, who lived five hundred years ago, have anything to say about it? Indeed, he does and we shall see once more. And we will, but that's going to be reserved for the 1015 service when we'll be looking at the counterpart of what we are going to be considering here at the nine o'clock hour. And that message will be entitled, 12 to the 12 and one to everyone. And as I was thinking about that title, you know, that's just about the opposite of the way that man would plan it.

[1:53] What we have are 12 apostles sent to a relatively obscure tribe, and I mean relatively obscure, in light of the whole nation's population. Israel is very, very tiny. There are 12 messengers sent to these 12 tribes, and only one that is commissioned to go to everybody else. Now that doesn't seem equitable.

[2:23] If it were me, I would just reverse that. I would make one go to the 12, and 12 go to everyone else. And it is as the Lord would be saying to me, yes, Marv, that's the way you and other humans would do, but I don't operate that way. Because the wisdom of man is foolishness with God. And you will find so many areas of life where God's viewpoint and God's actions and God's desires are the complete opposite of ours. And once again, all that does is emphasize the vast difference that exists between us and the Lord.

[3:04] So in Matthew chapter 10, and I want to remind you again, at the expense of being repetitive, but I'm not apologizing for it because repetition is the mother of learning. We are pursuing those basic distinctions that make the Bible truly understandable. You would be amazed. You would be amazed how many people do not regard the scriptures as being intelligible. That means capable of being read, appreciated, and understood. Many people believe that the book is mysterious, that it's got something to do with God. And it's filled with a whole lot of information that nobody really understands. But do you not see how that attitude would actually defeat the whole purpose of it even being given? The Bible is given to us with the intent that we be able to understand it, comprehend it. Because if you can't, understand it, then there is no way that you can engage an intelligent response. If you have no idea what it's saying, no idea what it's requiring, no idea what it's providing, how do you respond to that?

[4:29] It's just a big fat question mark. That's all it is. And for many, that's the way the Bible is. But that's not the way God intended it. This book is intended to be understood. And we emphasize that we approach the Bible from a plain, literal, grammatical, historical, cultural perspective, intending it to make sense.

[4:55] Because it does make sense. Granted, there are numerous places where there are cultural things mentioned that really don't communicate with us. And when you talk about, for instance, the whole concept of marriage. In the Bible, the common way of going about establishing a new family was for a male and a female to have a betrothal, an announcement. And they are betrothed to each other.

[5:27] They're not married, but they're promised to each other. And the promise is for a whole year. They live in their separate homes during that time. I'm sure they're able to see each other from time to time in what we would call a courtship. But each has their own place of residence. And they do not come together for the actual marriage ceremony until a year, a year after the betrothal period. And then they have the wedding. Then they exchange their vows. And then they consummate the marriage at the end of the day, at the end of the wedding feast or whatever. And they get on with life. How different is that from us?

[6:13] So when we read that Joseph discovering that Mary, his wife, is with child. People look at that and say, well, there you go again. See, there's just one more mistake in the Bible.

[6:28] Because the Bible calls Mary Joseph's wife and they're not even married yet. See, you can't really rely on the Bible. It's just not all that accurate. Well, if you understand the culture, that's why we have to dismiss our culture.

[6:44] Don't bring our Western culture to the Bible and expect to understand it. You've got to learn something about the Eastern culture. And when you do, guess what? There's no contradiction. It makes perfect sense. But when we try to apply our standards and our routine of marriage to it, it doesn't compute. So we say, well, something's wrong here. What's wrong?

[7:07] Well, it can't be us. It's got to be the Bible that's wrong. And of course, there are people who approach it that way. So I say all that to say this. The vast majority of times when you read something in the Bible, it is intended to be taken at face value, quite literally.

[7:26] And when you do, it almost always makes good sense. When it doesn't, then you need to look for figurative language.

[7:39] You need to look for an expression that was common to them, but is not common to us. And you need to learn what that is. And so that's enough about that. But let's look at Matthew chapter 10. Here is a perfect example of what we're talking about.

[7:53] This is one of the most key passages for understanding and rightly dividing the word. Having summoned his 12 disciples, he gave them authority. Now these guys are actually getting a promotion.

[8:09] They're being promoted from disciple to apostle, which is really a very big deal. The word disciple in the Greek, mathetes, simply means one thing. It means a learner, a follower.

[8:26] Jesus had thousands and thousands of disciples. And we are all disciples of Christ. We are learners. There's a whole denomination in Protestantism that is called the disciples of Christ.

[8:41] And they take that name, of course, from the scriptures. So a disciple is a learner. An apostle is a considerable step up from that.

[8:52] An apostle is one who is sent, who also has the authority of the one who sent him. Perhaps our best expression of that would be an ambassador.

[9:06] We all know that in our government, we appoint ambassadors. We have an ambassador to England, an ambassador to France, an ambassador to Germany.

[9:17] And these people are appointed by the president. They are sent to a foreign country to represent the position of the president and the United States of America.

[9:29] So that when that ambassador speaks, it's just as if the president is speaking because he carries that kind of authority with him. So we're reading here in Matthew 10 that Jesus gave them authority.

[9:45] They didn't have it. They were just ordinary people. He gave them authority, which is quite remarkable in itself because you can only imagine the kind of authority that this person had to have himself in order to dispense it to others.

[10:04] And he gave them authority over unclean spirits. I wish I knew more about this. Unclean spirits, they are referred to as demons.

[10:15] We don't know their origin other than the fact that, well, I call it a fact. I accept it as a fact. I don't know where else they could have come from. They appear to have been that one-third of the body of angelic beings that God created that decided to link up with Lucifer and follow him in the rebellion against God.

[10:39] And these have become the demons. They are fallen angels, demons. There's only one devil. Many times the King James Version translates a word for demon and translates it devil.

[10:55] And that, too, is a little confusing because there's just one devil, but there are many demons. And the devil was formerly Lucifer. And these unclean spirits are spirits as best as I can determine.

[11:11] They are spirits that promote, that propagate, and that are involved with licentious sexual living. They appear to be sexually oriented.

[11:24] And when the text calls them unclean, it's not talking about they haven't had a bath for a long time. This has nothing to do with physical dirt or physical contamination.

[11:36] These spirits are spirit beings. They are invisible, just like angels. But they have a reality to them that makes them objectively just as real as a human being with a body.

[11:50] I don't understand exactly how they work or how they communicate. But we do know that even though they do not appear to be so prominent today, they were very prominent during the life of Christ's ministry on earth for those three or three and a half years.

[12:07] And I don't know. So I'm not sure why that is, other than the possibility that it was nothing more than Satan, the devil, who is in charge of these demons.

[12:20] If he sent more of them into the fray during the lifetime of Christ in order to provide as much opposition as possible, I don't know. That is a distinct possibility because they do fade in number and activity as you move on through the Bible.

[12:36] The apostle Paul will deal with demons when he comes to the church at Philippi, well, establishes the church at Philippi. And this woman who, with her prophesying, produced much gain for the local silversmith operators.

[12:55] And they put, when Paul cast demons out of her, she no longer could do it. And it ruined the business. It was an economic blow to the community. And the silversmith got together.

[13:07] This is all in Acts 17. They don't want to go there. But anyway, they're demons. So these have authority over unclean spirits to cast them out. And of course, the question then is, how did they get in?

[13:19] What is it that provides an entree for these unclean spirits? There is no indication that they can just rove about and settle on and indwell anyone that they wish.

[13:33] So that's just one more puzzle that I personally have. I don't know how they get in. I do know how they get out, at least in so far as the scriptures are concerned.

[13:43] And we'll read about that as time goes on. Over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.

[13:59] That is stunning. And the tendency, the tendency of a number of people is to read that and say, oh, come on.

[14:12] Really? I don't think so. And where would they get an idea like that? Simply because it isn't common to us. We don't see anybody healing all kinds of diseases.

[14:22] So the logical conclusion, quote unquote, I put marks around logical, is that this isn't true. This didn't really happen. And because we don't see it happening today and it's scientifically impossible and blah, blah, blah.

[14:39] But I take this quite literally. Our third president did not. Thomas Jefferson, brilliant though he was, one of our more brilliant presidents, although probably not as brilliant as the one who is generally declared to be the most intelligent president that we ever had.

[14:56] And that was John Quincy Adams, who was reading and studying Latin and Greek when he was six years old. But that's another issue. Anyway, let's go on.

[15:07] Every kind of sickness. The names of the 12 apostles are these. Simon, who's called Peter. Andrew, his brother. James, the son of Zebedee. John, his brother.

[15:18] Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, and Matthew, the tax gatherer. James, the son of Alphaeus and Thaddeus. Simon, the Canaanian. And Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him. These 12 Jesus sent out after instructing them, saying, Do not go in the way of the Gentiles and do not enter any city of the Samaritans, but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

[15:47] And as you go, this is the message you are to preach. You preach saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick.

[15:59] Raise the dead. Cleanse the lepers. Cast out demons. Freely you received. Freely give. I can see these apostles looking at each other and saying, You hear what he's saying? We're going to be able to do that?

[16:12] What? How is this going to work anyway? Well, they were perplexed as what you and I would be. And this is at the very beginning. So they do not, at this point in time, they've seen Jesus in action.

[16:25] They've already seen some of the miracles that he's done. And our men's class on Tuesday morning is just beginning to study the subject of the miracles.

[16:35] And it's going to be a stretch for them to believe, You mean we're going to be able to do what you do? How can that be?

[16:48] Well, the only way it can be is if the one giving them that authority has the ability to do that. You know, that in and of itself is quite miraculous.

[16:58] It's one thing to be able to do these things yourself. But to be able to delegate that power and authority to another person, Boy, that's even more so.

[17:10] And that's exactly what's taking place. And he says in verse 6, Now, the question that I'm asking you, and I trust that somebody out there has got the answer, why is this limitation to Israel?

[17:34] And why are they not to go to the Gentiles? Anyone? The kingdom's given to Israel. Okay? The kingdom. The kingdom and the whole concept of the kingdom is an orientation exclusively for Israel.

[17:54] This does not mean Israel is the only ones that are going to have the kingdom. But it does mean Israel will be the spearhead.

[18:05] They will be the ones under whose authority the kingdom will be established. And it will result in this kingdom being worldwide in scope.

[18:18] This is going to affect the whole globe. Every nation and every person on planet Earth will be a subject of that kingdom when it comes into being.

[18:33] And Jerusalem will be the center of the world government. And Christ, the king, will be ruling and reigning from Jerusalem.

[18:46] David, a thousand years earlier than Christ in his earthly ministry, will be ruling in Israel. Israel and the twelve tribes will be ruled over by the twelve apostles.

[19:03] And the whole world is going to come under the government of this kingdom when it is established. But there will not be any kingdom until Israel recognizes that the king has delegated this authority to them and that they are to receive this king as their rightful ruler.

[19:28] And that, of course, will be the Lord Jesus Christ. And when that happens, the millennial kingdom will be set up and the government will affect the entire globe for one thousand years.

[19:40] That's millennial content. I cannot tell you how big a deal this is. This is when a broken, sin-cursed world gets fixed.

[19:53] This is when evil will be driven out, eliminated. The judgment will have taken place. It will be a time of refreshment.

[20:03] This is what Peter's talking about in Acts chapter 3. It will be a time of refreshment for the earth. It will be a time of restoration. It will be a time of cleansing.

[20:13] It will be a time of incredible prosperity and benefit and well-being and everything because Christ will be ruling.

[20:24] And we are told that he will rule with a rod of iron. That means no nonsense. That means corruption will not be tolerated.

[20:35] Do you realize how big this corruption thing is right now? I mean, the corruption in Washington, D.C. is overflowing. Not only that, but so it is in Paris and in London and in Berlin and everywhere.

[20:53] Why? Because people are people. That's the way we operate. And it's just standard operating procedure for a fallen humanity. But that's all going to be changed.

[21:04] And it will be a time of physical and spiritual health and well-being and prosperity for the entire world such as the world has never seen before. And the nation that is to be the catalyst for that, again, another way that God has of doing things the opposite of our way, is the tiniest, the most persecuted, the most rejected nation on the face of the earth in the history of humanity, that's the one that God is going to use to start this whole thing.

[21:39] That is amazing. Now, you would think that, well, the United States of America is the world leader and it ought to be us who's heading that up.

[21:50] Well, that's the way we operate and that's the way we think. But that's not the way God thinks. For the ways of the Lord are different from our ways. So, anyway, this message that they are to proclaim is to be specifically to Israel.

[22:04] And the idea is, the idea is, once Israel is in God's program, then the other nations are going to come along.

[22:16] But until that happens, what we've got is what we've got. Corruption, deceit, misery, conflict, death, disease, all of these things, part and parcel of this fallen world.

[22:33] But that's all going to change. And Israel will be the spearhead nation because the promise that God gave originally to the woman was the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent.

[22:50] And the promise that God gave to Abraham, beginning in chapter 12, reinforced in chapter 14, and in 15, and in 16, and in 17, the promise that God gave to Abraham, that's where this started, is that you and your seed shall be the blessing of the earth.

[23:10] And I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you. And Israel has had, Israel as a nation, you know, started in Egypt. And when they subjected the Jewish people to their slavery and tried to eliminate them, you know, and keep the boys from being born and so on, and what happened to Israel?

[23:30] What happened to Egypt on behalf of Israel? Well, you can ask Pharaoh about that and his chariots in the Red Sea. That was them. So, eventually, they're going to be dominated by the Babylonians.

[23:43] And what's going to happen to the Babylonians? Well, they're going to be, and God is going to use the Babylonians to rebuke his own people, and the Babylonians are going to be overpowered by the Medes and the Persians, who are going to be overpowered by Alexander the Great, and who are going to be, who's going to be overpowered by the Romans, and on and on it goes.

[24:05] And Israel has been under the heel of all of these nations, of all of these world empires. And what has happened to all of them? Where are they? Gone!

[24:16] Down the tubes. No longer dominant. And where's Israel? Where's Israel? Well, 2,000 years later, a nation reborn.

[24:31] These people are indestructible. And that's why Jesus is concentrating the ministry that these 12 are going to preach with a limitation to the nation of Israel.

[24:45] Because if it doesn't get off the ground there, it's not going to go to the other nations. Now, when this happens, we see, well, let me just kind of morph into, if I may, into the book of Acts.

[25:00] Keep this in your mind now. We'll put the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ behind us. And when you come into the book of Acts, the very first chapter gives our Lord's marching orders, once again, right before He ascends.

[25:19] And they are concerned about this kingdom. Because after all, that's what they've been preaching. That's their message. That's their message. And they thought, the passage that we've examined earlier, I think it's in Luke 19, that when they drew near to Jerusalem, Jesus gave this parable because they thought, they, the apostles, thought the kingdom of heaven was going to be established, was going to come.

[25:52] When is it going to be established? Well, this is Palm Sunday and Jesus is riding on this donkey in Jerusalem and when He gets in there, boy, everything is going to break loose and that's what He's going to do.

[26:02] Well, we know that had a terrible ending. As far as we're concerned, a terrible ending. It ended in His crucifixion. So after the crucifixion, after the resurrection, after six weeks with the apostles, after His resurrection, Jesus is gathered with them on the Mount of Olives, recorded in Acts chapter 1, and they are really excited because now they have a resurrected Lord and they turn to Jesus and they ask this question that makes sense only if you understand what we've already told you about the kingdom.

[26:40] And they said, Lord, is it now at this time that you are going to restore the kingdom to Israel? How long had they been without a king?

[26:55] The last king was, well, they'd been over 500 years without a king. They'd been dominated by everybody and all these nations that had trumped through Israel and subjected them and enslaved them and demanded taxes from them.

[27:11] And Israel hadn't had a king since Zedekiah. Got his eyes put out. And they're concerned. They said, you're going to establish a kingdom now? You're going to restore the kingdom to Israel now?

[27:21] And Jesus said, it's not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put in his power. But you shall receive power when the Spirit of God has come upon you if you are to tarry until the Spirit of God comes upon you not many days hence and you will be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth.

[27:41] And then he ascended right before them. Now they've got this message and it's a kingdom message and they are commanded to preach it. And they are commanded to preach it in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the uttermost parts of the earth.

[27:56] So where are you going to start? You start in Jerusalem. Of course. That's the beginning point. So they start in Jerusalem and what are they preaching? They use that huge crowd that's gathered on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 and they're saying, what is this?

[28:15] These people are speaking in languages. They haven't learned what's going on here. What is this? Somebody says, oh, they're drunk. These guys are just hung over from last night. They were celebrating. And Peter stood up and said, man, brethren, men of Israel, these men are not drunken as you suppose.

[28:33] It's only the third hour of the morning. Good night. It's only nine o'clock in the morning. They're not drunk. And then he says, but this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel.

[28:46] And then he quotes Joel about the young men and seeing visions and dreams and languages and everything. And Peter says, this is what Joel's talking about.

[28:58] What's happening right now? And then he went on and preached that Jesus was the Messiah and Israel was complicit with the Romans in his death, but God raised him from the dead and he is alive now.

[29:15] And by the way, folks, you know that passage in the Psalms where David writes and talks about thou wilt not allow my soul to see corruption? Yeah, well, they all knew that.

[29:27] He said, do you think David was speaking of himself? We know where David's buried. We know where his tomb is. He did see corruption. His body by now is just a mass of dust and bones.

[29:41] But what that prophecy was speaking of is messianic. And these people are looking at each other and going, wow, boy, that fits. That fits.

[29:52] And he talks about Jesus being resurrected from the dead. We are eyewitnesses and now you are called to account. And these people look at each other and say, you know what?

[30:05] This guy's right. He's right. It all fits. It all, we blew it big time. What can we do about it now? We can't, what can we do?

[30:17] Peter says, you can change your mind. From what to what? You can change your mind from rejecting Jesus as not being the Messiah of Israel to being the Messiah of Israel and you can embrace him as your Lord.

[30:34] And 3,000 did. And it looks like they're off to a flying start. That's a great beginning, isn't it? And they had already had hundreds and hundreds, maybe even thousands of disciples because listen, those people who were among the 5,000 and the 4,000 who ate of the bread and the fishes, you think those people weren't impressed?

[30:57] Those who saw multitudes healed of all kinds of diseases, you think they weren't impressed? Of course they were. And what did many of them believe? Many of them believed just the same thing Nicodemus believed.

[31:12] No man can do these miracles that you do unless God is with him. They were believers. They were already on board. They had accepted Jesus as Israel's Messiah.

[31:23] The problem is headquarters hadn't. And headquarters is where the shakers and movers are. Headquarters is where the decisions are made.

[31:34] Headquarters is the seat of power in Israel. And this headquarters consisting of 70 Jews presided over by the high priest served at the pleasure of the Romans.

[31:51] Well what do the Romans have to do with the Jews? They are their victors. They are their occupiers. And they tell the Sanhedrin, look you guys are the religious authorities.

[32:02] We know that Israel is very religious. We know that you people worship just one God. We know that you have a lot of power and authority over these people because religion imposes power and authority and people are scared to go against it.

[32:21] So we know that these people that we are governing as Rome we know that they have no use for us. We know they hate our guts. We're the occupiers.

[32:33] We're the enemy. We know what they feel about us. But I'll tell you what we're going to do. We're going to let you guys stay in power exercise your authority your religious authority over the people but you're going to answer to us.

[32:51] You got that? And what was their great fear? When Jesus was doing these miracles we're told in John I think it's John 7, 8 something like that where they had confronted Jesus and they came to this conclusion they said Jesus has got to go.

[33:11] and the reason he's got to go is because he's getting too popular and that means too much power too much authority and Rome is going to start getting uneasy and Rome will come and take away our position and our perks and our power and we'll be just a bunch of nobodies like everybody else in this land.

[33:38] so they were doing this from the standpoint of protecting their own turf and they were thus in cahoots with the Romans and you understand these people these same people being Jews what did they think of the Romans?

[33:54] They hated them. They hated them. The main reason they hated them is because they come in with all these graven images and all these stupid pictures of their gods and things like that and we know there's only one God.

[34:06] Rome being in Israel was a total insult to the whole people. In a way it was kind of like American GIs in Germany after World War II.

[34:17] You know they didn't exactly love us for being there although and the same way with Japan when we sent occupation troops into Japan eventually they learned that American soldiers were not going to eat their babies like their own government had told them and some of them even brought home Japanese war brides but by and large those who occupy a nation that they have conquered are hated by the people who are conquered and it's no different in Rome but here you've got these people in cahoots so when they begin preaching in Acts 2 and thousands believe and then the number is growing in Acts 4 and then what happens?

[34:59] The hammer comes down and the persecution starts and the Jews are saying we have got to nip this thing now so they arrest them they beat them they execute they execute James the brother of John who wrote the gospel of John execute him and they're going to execute Peter too and the angel comes miraculously releases Peter from prison and he goes out and he continues his ministry so what we've got here is the message that was to go to and did go to Israel has been short-circuited by Israel's rejection and you've got to remember this is so important because Israel is the key and can you imagine can you imagine how this rankles the feathers of the anti-Semitic people they see Israel as being the dredging of the earth and undesirables and they oughtn't even be able to live a la Hitler and all the rest of it you know and to say that Israel is the key to this whole thing is just something they cannot abide but it is true it is true

[36:24] God has a special place for Israel and Israel continues in a mode of rejection even after the resurrection after all of this after the miracles of the apostles in the book of Acts as you move on through and it is continually one rejection after another and some are of the opinion and I don't know if this is valid but it is a position that I once held and maybe I still do I don't know I vacillate on this thing but the stoning of Stephen was tremendously significant and it is recorded in Acts chapter 7 and the reason it is so significant is because of who stoned him it was these same men these 70 men now we don't know that all 70 were present but we know a lot of them were and sometimes they are referred to as the council this is the Sanhedrin these are the shakers and movers of Israel religiously not politically remember who is in charge politically the Romans but who is in charge with all the religious folio and the sacrifices and the offerings and the temple and everything that is the Jews and the Romans let them have that latitude because you give them a few things and they are easier to rule you take everything away from them and all the demands you make upon them then you are going to have ongoing conflict with them and do you know what Rome really valued as much as anything peace the pacromana the pacromana the peace of Rome

[38:04] Rome wants peace and we will kill you to get it that is their idea and they wanted to everyone who objected to Rome's rule paid Rome's price and the ultimate price of course for the really dangerous people that presented a real threat to Rome is crucifixion crucify them you have any idea what kind of an impression that would make on a person to see a human being in such incredible agony day after day because most of these people live for days upon that cross and it's going to make anyone who has any ideas of nationalism of friskiness of overthrowing the government brother you're going to think twice and can you imagine a thousand people crucified at the same time screaming and moaning and agonizing in pain 500 on this side of the road and 500 on that side of the road and the only real problem that Rome had was coming up with enough crosses let me tell you that'll make an impression on people anybody thinking about rebellion anybody thinking about challenging

[39:31] Rome there's your end Jesus was an example Pilate didn't want to crucify him because in the midst of it all hard as it may be believed Rome not only had a thing about peace but she also had a thing about law Rome was famous for its law and the drafting of laws and the enacting of laws and all that went with it and Pilate looked at this situation from a legal standpoint and he says I find no cause of death in this man I'm going to and I think my guess is and I can't prove this but I think Pilate just wanted to set him free but he knew that would not satisfy the Jews there had to be something done so I'm going to scourge him I'll have him scourged and then set him free so they scourged him and that was an unbelievable lashing of whips that lacerated the back and the torso and just laid huge gashes and blood flowing and oh you just you just cannot imagine how that would weaken and deteriorate the whole human body in just a matter of hours and then he used to carry this cross well he couldn't do it physically couldn't do it so they grabbed this

[40:56] Simon visiting just in town and they made him carry the cross and he carried it and this is another reason why Jesus only lasted three hours or six hours on the cross three hours of which he was separated from his father he was put on the cross at nine o'clock in the morning he was taken down three o'clock in the afternoon in the midst of the earthquake the darkness Joseph of Arimathea secret disciple Pharisee and a fellow Pharisee by the name of Nicodemus went into the court Pontius Pilate and said sir we'd appreciate it if you would allow the body of Jesus to be given into our custody Pilate said well okay after he dies and he said well he's dead already oh it's only

[41:59] Ben saying he's not dead already yes he's dead well Pilate probably had someone go there and confirm it text doesn't say that but he came back and said yeah yeah he's dead and the Sabbath was coming on you gotta do something if you're a Jew you gotta respect the religion of these Jews and the Sabbath is coming on and you can't you can't have these bodies on the cross on the Sabbath that desecrate the Sabbath so what are they going well the soldier says it's getting late you know it's about three o'clock we're going to have to finish these guys off because of the Jewish Sabbath you know Pilate says we gotta kowtow to these stupid Jews so they take their hammer and they crack the legs right across the knee can't just smash the knee and of course both legs means that you can't hold the body up anymore you can't breathe because they would push themselves they had a little pedestal at the bottom down that cross that they could put their feet on and they could push themselves up on that pedestal and get some air and then they couldn't stay that way very long and they had to slump back down again and then when they couldn't breathe again they push themselves up and they agony with those nails in your feet push themselves back up and breathe again and when your legs are broken you can't do that you just hang there in a couple minutes you're gone you suffocate came to

[43:45] Jesus ready to break his legs and somebody said hey he's dead already Roman soldiers said really well I don't know about that but I'll make sure and he took that Roman spear and he put the tip of right where he knew it would penetrate right through the ribcage right into the heart and lunge forward with that spear and the text says and forthwith there came out blood and water serum what did that prove it proved that death had already occurred the blood and the serum were separated that's a sure sign there's no life in this body so they didn't break his legs that it might be fulfilled by the psalmist not a bone of him would be broken wow and Pilate gives permission to Nicodemus and Arimathea and Arimathea says I've got just the place my family

[44:55] I've just had a new tomb hewn hewn out of solid rock for my family burial plot and nobody has been placed in it we'll put Jesus there and they did and you know the rest of the story and I'm sorry but our time is gone so Israel is a catalyst this is so important to understand and the reason it's important to understand is because Israel and the kingdom constitute constitute the prophecy portion that we are trying to emphasize remember prophecy and mystery this is the prophecy part this is why it is so important and it the whole prophecy thing is going to come to a screeching hall and put on hold just like that and it's going to be temporarily replaced with a whole new thing that nobody had ever even imagined and it's called the secret the mystery and it has to do with a whole new entity being brought in that does not focus upon Israel as a nation but focuses upon Jews as individuals and

[46:23] Gentiles as individuals one message for both of them and it is not the kingdom the problem with so many in Christendom today is they are still trying to preach a kingdom message and it doesn't fit because it isn't supposed to that's a message that is passe it will come back again when the mystery is removed then here comes the kingdom again and it will be established this time because Israel will be on board thank you for your kind attention once again I'm sorry I didn't give you some time for Q&A but we'll try to do that next week and it is time for our coffee break and thank you Brenda for bringing the goodies this morning we appreciate it very much you all enjoy them thank you