The Difficult Sayings of Jesus #4

[0:00] While you are turning in your Bibles to Matthew's Gospel, Chapter 4, let me reiterate some propositions that we have considered in the previous sessions, bring you up to speed, and make a connection with what will follow.

[0:18] A few sessions ago, we introduced a new subject of study entitled, The Difficult Sayings of Jesus. We gave you a few examples of seemingly uncharacteristic expressions of our Lord and asked, why would Jesus say such a thing as that?

[0:39] In response to the rich young ruler in Matthew, Chapter 19, when he asked Jesus what must he do to inherit eternal life, Jesus ended up telling him, sell all your goods, sell all of your possessions, convert it to cash, give the money to the poor, and come and follow me.

[1:00] We marvel that he gave that kind of advice. Is that what we would tell people today? When they ask, what must I do to be saved? Do you tell them? We'll liquidate all of your assets, sell your home, sell your car, sell whatever you've got, turn it into cash, give it to the poor, and go follow Jesus.

[1:19] Well, if Jesus said that's what was supposed to be done, why isn't it? And why aren't we doing it? And why don't you hear that preached today? The Canaanite woman in Matthew, Chapter 15, sometimes referred to as the Syrophoenician woman, she was not a Jew, but she was a mother with a mother's heart.

[1:43] And she appealed to Jesus because she was aware that he had actually performed miracles. And she approached Jesus on behalf of her daughter and said that, My daughter is sorely vexed, demon-possessed.

[1:59] Can you heal her? Jesus looked at this woman and said, It is not appropriate for me to take the food that is intended for the children and give it to the dogs.

[2:10] What was he calling this woman and the Canaanite clan from which she came? Dogs.

[2:22] Is that a nice thing for Jesus to call somebody? Doesn't that seem uncharacteristic of him? And then in Matthew, Chapter 10, And by the way, we haven't considered any of these yet.

[2:34] I've just given them to you as examples, but we will explore them and explain why he said what he did. And in Matthew, Chapter 10, when he chose the twelve apostles to follow him and be with him for the next three years, he told them, Do not go to the Gentiles.

[2:54] Don't go to the Samaritans. Confine your ministry to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. In other words, Limit your preaching and your mission to those who are Jews only.

[3:10] And Jesus made that very emphatic. Why would he say such a thing? Didn't he care about anybody else? The Jews, the only ones he was worried about?

[3:24] Later on, we're going to see in Matthew 28, where he makes the statement, Go into all the world, Proclaim the gospel to every creature, Teaching them to observe all things that I've commanded you.

[3:37] What's responsible for the change? At the beginning of his ministry, Don't go to anyone who is not a Jew. And that's exactly why Jesus turned down the Canaanite woman.

[3:52] And her persistence paid off in a result, because he did cast the demons out of her daughter, but only after he first refused.

[4:04] Now, there has to be a reason for this exclusivity. And it will not do, and it is terrible, terrible scholarship to just look at it and say, Well, I don't know why Jesus said those things, but we know he's really a nice guy and the Son of God, and he never intended to hurt anybody, and I don't have any idea why he said that, but I guess it's okay.

[4:27] Well, I need to know why. It needs to make sense. There has to be a reason why the kind, gentle, lamb-like Jesus would make a statement like that.

[4:41] And we do ourselves no service when we just shrug our shoulders and say, Well, I have no idea. Well, we ought to have an idea, because when we learn the rationale behind statements like that, and behind events like that, it helps us get a comprehensive picture of the whole of the Word of God.

[5:05] Because as I've told you many times, everything in Scripture fits with everything in Scripture. And we just need to know how and where it fits.

[5:15] And once you understand that, it makes this book just throb with new life and meaning, because you are able to connect some dots.

[5:29] And it will spur you on to further study, which will lead to further investigation and further answers. And it simply makes the Word of God grow in leaps and bounds in appreciation.

[5:45] So, all we are doing now, and this is introductory material to those particular issues, they are understandable statements, and they make very good sense, and take on an undeniable appropriateness when you understand the backdrop.

[6:10] And the backdrop we speak of is the historical setting that was in place when Christ arrived, that coupled with the promises that God made to Abraham and his offspring 2,000 years earlier.

[6:23] So, in our previous session, we emphasized the message of the kingdom, the kingdom of heaven, and why this was the primary message of John the Baptist and of Jesus.

[6:37] And we were just singing about it. The last hymn we sang ends up in the chorus with the line, And Christ's great kingdom shall come on earth, the kingdom of love and light.

[6:54] Well, this isn't it. It shall come on earth, but it hasn't.

[7:05] The kingdom of heaven does not now exist. And understand this point, please.

[7:16] This is very, very important. We're not talking about the kingdom that is heaven, and we are not talking about the kingdom that is in heaven.

[7:29] We are talking about the kingdom from heaven that will come to earth. It never has. It was anticipated.

[7:42] They thought that that's why Jesus came, was to establish that kingdom. But it wasn't established. Righteousness does not reign on the earth.

[7:56] There is unrighteousness everywhere you look. The knowledge of the Lord does not cover the earth as the waters cover the seas. There is great ignorance of God everywhere you look, all over the earth.

[8:10] This is not the kingdom. In fact, this is not even close. This is a broken, fallen world, presided over by a rebellious, fallen angel.

[8:26] By the name of Satan. And he is the God of this age. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. He delights in blinding the minds of those who believe not.

[8:39] And that's exactly what is in force today. There's incredible spiritual, moral blindness out in this world all around us. This is why believers are to let their light so shine.

[8:51] So, in Matthew chapter 4, and I want you to look at verse 12, and it is important to note that Christ has just been qualified to function as the Messiah.

[9:05] How was he qualified? His moral and spiritual fitness were validated when he went up against the adversary in the wilderness temptation, where he was subjected to everything Satan had to throw at him for 40 days, including being without food, being challenged to turn the stones into bread so that he could eat.

[9:35] And when Christ came victorious from that wilderness temptation, he validated his claim to be the Messiah of Israel and the Savior of the world.

[9:47] He passed the test of moral, spiritual fitness. He did not succumb to the temptation. The observation has been made that Christ was not tempted of Satan to see whether or not he would sin.

[10:05] He was tempted of Satan to prove that he could not sin. And indeed, he did not. That's what qualified him to die as our Savior.

[10:17] Had Christ been contaminated with any immorality or any flaw at all, he would have been disqualified.

[10:28] But because he was a perfect, spotless Lamb of God, he could make the payment that no one else could make. And that, by the way, is another reason, another argument for the exclusivity of Jesus Christ.

[10:44] Now, I want you to look while we are here in chapter 4 and verse 17. From that time, what time? Well, you go back just a few verses, and you will see that in verse 12, he heard that John, that's John the Baptist, had been taken into custody.

[11:07] John the Baptist had been arrested, taken out of commission, out of circulation. And it wouldn't be long, and his life would be taken, because Herod would have him beheaded.

[11:21] And then we come down to verse 17, and from that time, from the time that John is no longer functioning, Jesus began to preach and say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

[11:37] That sounds exactly like what John was preaching. Well, of course it is. That was the message. Understand now, the message is not the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

[11:50] That's not the message. That will be the message later. After the basis for proclaiming that message has been fulfilled, namely, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

[12:04] Then that will become the core message. But before the death of Christ, the message is, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

[12:15] And, there is a key to be realized in the phrase, at hand. Jesus is not saying, Repent, this is the kingdom.

[12:27] Here it is. He's not saying that. What he is saying is, it's near. It's close. It's right around the corner. It is virtually upon us.

[12:39] But it is not here. That is absolutely essential to understand. This is anticipation of the kingdom.

[12:49] Not realization of the kingdom. They are still looking for it to happen. And now, if you will, come over to Luke's gospel. We're in Matthew 4.

[13:01] I want you to come to Luke chapter 1. We've got a lot to consider. I want to get it in one sitting, rather than hold it over for another session, because the cohesiveness of it is really important.

[13:15] Luke chapter 1, and verse 33. This is in the angelic announcement that Gabriel is giving to this young virgin girl, Mary, who is going to be the mother of our Lord.

[13:37] And it is an absolutely stunning, stunning announcement. It is an announcement that the whole world had waited for for 4,000 years. Well, I won't say the whole world, but the Jewish world.

[13:51] The seed of Abraham had been looking for it for 4,000 years. Probably some thinking that it would never happen. I mean, it's gone on so long.

[14:03] And the one that God promised to send has never shown up. After 4,000 years of promises and waiting and watching and longing and sighing and hoping and praying and He hasn't come, maybe we don't understand.

[14:17] Maybe we've been mistaken. Maybe He isn't going to come. Maybe it's something else. No, the angel said in verse 31, You will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall name Him Jesus.

[14:31] 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.

[14:45] Jesus was a direct descendant of David the king. This is the shepherd lad who came to the throne. How long ago had that been that David slew Goliath and came to the throne of Israel?

[15:03] How much time has transpired between David and the birth of Jesus? A thousand years. A whole millennia had passed.

[15:15] And now this angel is making this electrifying statement. Notice, if you will, will give Him the throne of His father David. Jesus has never sat on that throne.

[15:27] He never has. Well, the text says that God will give Him the throne of His father David.

[15:41] He never has. It is true that Jesus ascended to heaven and sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

[15:53] and it is a type of throne that Christ is occupying in heaven but it isn't David's. Where is David's throne? Right now doesn't exist.

[16:07] It was in Jerusalem where the monarchy was established. Where the temple was. But, Hezekiah was the last king ever to sit on it.

[16:22] I'm sorry, not Hezekiah, Zedekiah. Zedekiah was the last king to occupy that throne. And it's been vacant ever since.

[16:34] Israel today doesn't have a king. They have a prime minister. If they were to have a king, of course, he would have to be of the tribe of Judah. That's the royal line.

[16:46] But, there is no throne. There is no throne of David. And Christ is not on the throne of David. But look, read on. Verse 33, And He will reign reign over the house of Jacob.

[17:02] What does that mean? What is the house of Jacob? Jacob's twelve sons, they comprise the whole house of Israel.

[17:13] Or the whole house of Jacob. Jacob and Israel are one and the same. I mean, Jacob was a man. He was one of the sons of Isaac and Rebekah. And his brother was Esau.

[17:26] And you're familiar with that. But, his twelve sons provide the paternity, each of them, for the twelve tribes of Israel.

[17:43] And all of the descendants of Israel originate from the loins of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob. And the angel says, this angel Gabriel says, He will reign over the house of Jacob forever.

[17:58] Is He reigning over the house of Jacob? Now, someone would say, well, yes, He is spiritually. Nonsense. How does that translate? He is not reigning.

[18:10] I'll tell you one thing. If Jesus is reigning over the house of Jacob, the house of Jacob doesn't know it. It would be nice if someone was reigning over someone and the subjects of it knew who was reigning.

[18:25] That would be nice, wouldn't it? You will not find a Jew anywhere in the world, I dare say, who would believe that Jesus Christ is reigning over the Jewish descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

[18:37] They don't even acknowledge His Messiahship, much less submit to His Lordship. They don't even believe that Jesus was the Messiah. Can you call that reigning over them?

[18:48] That's nonsense. Words mean things. And then the text goes on to say, He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. Forever?

[19:02] But He never has. And furthermore, and His kingdom will have no end. Well, if His kingdom will have no end, then doesn't it have to exist now?

[19:25] no! Well, then how can you say that it has no end? Because what the text means is that once the kingdom is established, it will have no end.

[19:42] But it cannot have no end until it has a beginning. It's never had a beginning. there has never been a kingdom.

[19:53] It has never been established. What do I base that on? At the ascension, and I won't ask you to turn there, but at the ascension of our Lord, when He is on the Mount of Olives, they don't know that Jesus is leaving.

[20:14] They are all gathered there, probably in a familiar place where they've been many times before, and the disciples were really questioning because now the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ are past.

[20:29] They are history. He has been with the disciples on the earth for 40 days after the resurrection, and He is teaching them all kinds of things, one of which is, He's going to leave.

[20:51] They don't know that He's going to leave right then, but He has told them before that He'll be leaving, and that this Comforter, the Holy Spirit, will come in His name.

[21:02] It is essential that I go away, for if I go not away, the Spirit of Truth will not come. That's the Holy Spirit. He will come after Christ ascends. And as the disciples are standing there talking about this together, one of them says to Jesus, now hear me, this is so important, one of them says to Jesus, Lord, is it at this time, now, that you will restore the kingdom to Israel?

[21:39] What does that imply? First thing it implies is, He hadn't. They're asking, are you going to do it now?

[21:53] Do you know when they thought Jesus was going to establish the kingdom? Palm Sunday, when He rode into town, on the donkey, and crowds lined the streets, and threw palm branches in His way, and were saying things like, Hosanna, Hosanna to the Son of David, which means, deliver now, rescue us now, save us now, from whom?

[22:17] Well, the Romans, of course, that's all they could think of. They wanted a political deliverer. They wanted somebody who would run the Romans into the sea, and reestablish Israel, and its independence.

[22:30] That's what they wanted, and that's what they thought Jesus was going to do. And they paved the way for Him, threw their palm branches and their coats down, that's the equivalent of rolling out the red carpet, and here He comes, Hosanna, Hosanna to the Son of David.

[22:46] And He headed for the temple, and they thought, oh, this is it, this is wonderful, we are making history, the kingdom is going to be restored. Where had the kingdom been? It had been defunct for centuries.

[23:01] Ever since they were carried off into Babylonian captivity in 586, Zedekiah, the king, was forced by Nebuchadnezzar to watch the execution of all of his sons.

[23:16] And after he witnessed that, they put his eyes out. And they bound him in chains and made him walk all the way to Babylon.

[23:29] That was the last king of Israel. Well, didn't Israel have a king when Jesus was here? Wasn't his name Herod? Ah, the guy was as phony as a three dollar bill.

[23:41] He wasn't of the tribe of Judah. He wasn't eligible to sit on the throne. You know who he was? He was a descendant of Esau. He was an Edomite, an Idumean.

[23:54] And he was on the throne as king, Herod, king of Judah, because the Roman emperor put him on the throne and allowed him to use the title king.

[24:09] Wasn't God's king. Wasn't the king of Israel. This is why when the wise men came and said, we are looking for him who was born king of the Jews, and Herod said, oh, now wait a minute. I'm supposed to be the king of the Jews.

[24:23] Who's this guy they're talking about? And then he said, well, when you find him, I'd love to worship him too. Come, let me know when you find him so I can come and worship him. So I can come and put a knife to his throat and end his life.

[24:39] And consequently, he ordered the execution of all the baby boys born in Bethlehem, two years of age and under, thinking surely he would get him. So that was the king.

[24:50] But here in our text in Luke 1, his kingdom will have no end. But it has to have a beginning before it can have no end.

[25:05] And it has never had a beginning. And look, if you will, this is just wonderful. I tell you, this makes my juices flowing.

[25:16] Look at 154, while we're still here in Luke. 154, and this is in the Magnificat, this is a wonderful song.

[25:28] of Mary that she is expressing when the angel gives her this announcement that she is going to be the mother of the Lord. And she says, my soul exalts the Lord, my spirit is rejoiced in God my Savior.

[25:43] And he goes on. And I want you to notice, and look at verse 53, if you would. Verse 54, speaking of God, he has given help to Israel, his servant, in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers.

[26:04] Mary is acknowledging, do you know what this is all about? God is making good on his promise. He made promises to our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and now he is fulfilling them.

[26:24] Yeah. But now, how long has Abraham been dead? 2,000 years. 2,000 years. Since God told Abraham, through you and your seed, all nations of the earth will be blessed.

[26:44] And speaking, of course, of the provision and the coming of the Messiah, God's Son. 2,000 years they've waited.

[26:56] And you know something? I must confess. God has never done anything as quickly as I wanted him to. Do you believe he has the audacity to have his own timetable?

[27:12] And he really isn't concerned about mine? Not in the least. I assess situations and I say, now, Lord, this would be a good time for you to thus and so and thus and so. And you know what he does?

[27:25] He just turns a complete deaf ear. Just like I didn't say anything. There are times when he just doesn't pay any attention to me at all. And you know what? Sometimes it gets frustrating, but in my heart of hearts, I'm really grateful that he is in charge and he knows the way that I take and he knows that I am but dust and he will perfect that which concerns me because sometimes I am so ignorant and stupid about what I ask about how I assess things and I get it all wrong and I ask God to do this and so and thus and so and that's not what God wants to do at all.

[27:58] And that's I had it all wrong. I had it all wrong. I can't tell you how many times I've experienced that. And it keeps bringing me right back to the same place. You know, God knows what he's doing and he also knows when to do it.

[28:15] so Marv, just relax. Let your request be made known to God and then just take comfort in the fact that God will do the right thing.

[28:29] Even when you ask for stupid things, God will do the right thing. I take great comfort in that. And as he spoke to our fathers, verse 55, to Abraham and his offspring forever.

[28:45] And, look across the page, and we've got the song of Zacharias. This is the father of John the Baptist, who of course was the first cousin of Jesus.

[28:59] And Zacharias says in his hymn, verse 73, verse 72, to show mercy toward our fathers. Our fathers, our fathers, our fathers.

[29:12] You find that all throughout scripture. To whom does it refer? Almost every time, without exception, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they are the fathers.

[29:25] They are the fathers of Israel. And in order for someone to be a bona fide Jew, it isn't enough to be born of Abraham. You could be an Egyptian and born of Abraham through Hagar, the Egyptian.

[29:42] and it isn't enough to be born of Isaac because you could be out of Esau and not Jacob.

[29:55] And Jacob is the godly line, not Esau. Esau is the Edomites and they are perpetual enemies of Israel to this day, as we've seen in our Wednesday evening studies.

[30:08] So it isn't enough to be born of the seed of Abraham and of the seed of Isaac. You have to be born of Jacob also.

[30:21] Our fathers are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You have to be a descendant of all three to be a bona fide physical, biological Jew.

[30:36] To show mercy toward our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he swore to Abraham, our father.

[30:47] And on what basis did God swear that oath? We're told in Hebrews, God said, well, I swore an oath to myself because there was none higher.

[30:59] Whenever we take an oath, if you go into a court of law and you are administered an oath, you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you, God.

[31:13] Except when God makes an oath, he says, I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me, me. Because there isn't anybody else by whom he can swear.

[31:28] He is the ultimate. And it's just another way of saying that God's promises and God's oaths are impeccable and irreversible.

[31:40] And if God makes an oath, consider it done. It may take thousands of years to get it done, but it will be done, and it will be done in his time.

[31:54] And in Luke 1, 67 through 70 or actually through 80, we find this reinforced here about the promises that God made to the fathers.

[32:08] And we've emphasized that in regard to the kingdom that John the Baptist and Jesus both preached, they never defined it. Remember we're talking about that?

[32:19] They never explained what the kingdom was. They never defined it. They never spelled it out. They never said, now, by the kingdom of heaven, what we mean is, never did that.

[32:32] Nor is there any record that anyone ever came up to them and asked, Lord, you've been talking about the king of heaven. What is that? What does that mean?

[32:44] How are we to understand it? They never asked the question. They never gave an explanation. And I am confident there is only one reason for that, and that is because everybody knew.

[32:59] If you were a Jew, you knew what the kingdom was. You knew that the kingdom is something that your nation used to have a long time ago.

[33:12] But you no longer have. And the reason you no longer have it is because God brought the hammer down on idolatrous Israel and carried you into captivity where Jeremiah the prophet said you're going to be for 70 years.

[33:34] And you will not have a prince or a throne or an ephod. You are going to be royally out of business.

[33:46] That's why the twelve asked Jesus in Acts 1, is it at this time that you are going to restore the kingdom to Israel?

[34:03] They hadn't had it for hundreds of years. Zedekiah was the last one. Now they have a horde of Roman pagans overflowing their land, imposing their laws upon them, demanding taxation from them, mistreating them, brutally.

[34:25] That's what they were looking for deliverance from. Are you going to restore the kingdom? Now, I have made a big deal of the kingdom, but I want to tell you the issue of the establishment of the kingdom of heaven coming to earth is what everything is all about.

[34:56] You heard me right. I'm not exaggerating. The establishment of the kingdom of heaven come to earth is what everything is all about.

[35:15] It's what everything is moving toward. It's what the culmination is going to be. The kingdom is what Genesis 3.15 is all about in the proto-evangelium, which is the first proclamation of the gospel, that the head of the serpent will be crushed by the seed of the woman.

[35:36] That's the first promise that God gave of a coming deliverer, and it's found all the way back in the third chapter of Genesis, just after the fall took place. Because God is telling them, way back there, the time is coming when you, Adam and Eve, have messed up everything.

[35:59] You have changed the whole world that I've created. By the introduction of disobedience and sin into the world, you've colored everything.

[36:11] changed everything. You've made it into a world that I did not make. This is now a world of your doing. And the ground is going to bring forth thorns and thistles to you.

[36:27] And you are going to have pain in childbirth. And Adam, you're going to have to go out and work the land with the sweat of your brow, and fight the land for your food.

[36:42] It's not going to come easy to you anymore. Everything is changed because of the introduction of sin. And man is born in fallenness.

[36:55] we all have this old sin nature. Every one of us has a terminal disease. We are all infected with this malady called sin.

[37:10] And today, it's just the butt of jokes. Comedians poke fun of it. Make fun of it. There are some who aren't even sure that such a thing as sin exists. But it is because of that, that God promised a Messiah, a deliverer.

[37:28] The establishment of this kingdom is what the promises and prophecy is all about. The establishment of the kingdom of heaven come to earth is what the incarnation and the birth of Jesus Christ and Bethlehem is all about.

[37:42] That's why there was a Bethlehem. The kingdom and its establishment is what the crucifixion is all about. That's why Christ was on that cross.

[37:53] Because there, he was paying the price for the restoration of the world to what it is supposed to be. And it is going to come about through the instrumentality of the nation of Israel.

[38:11] But Israel is not cooperative. they are set aside in judicial blindness. The time is coming when they will be cooperative. This kingdom of heaven is what the resurrection is all about.

[38:25] This kingdom of heaven is what the entire earthly ministry was all about. That's why they preached this message constantly. It was like having a fiddle with one string on it.

[38:36] And that's what they played all the time. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. The kingdom of heaven. heaven. That was all they heard. That was all they preached. And everywhere Christ went he brought with him kingdom conditions.

[38:53] And the common idea was well if you have come to bring this kingdom and this is what you're going to do and you're supposed to be the king. Why should we believe you?

[39:04] what proof do you have? And that's where the miracles come in. Do you understand that the miracles is what the kingdom of heaven is all about?

[39:19] The parables that Christ taught is all about the kingdom of heaven coming to earth? What will that be? It will be the time of restitution and restoration.

[39:32] it will be the reversal of the curse. It will be the time of blessing, of prosperity. Disease will be banished.

[39:43] Satan will be bound for a thousand years. Righteousness will cover the earth. Christ will be reigning in Jerusalem. This is the millennial reign of Christ. This is the kingdom of heaven come to earth.

[39:54] And this is not it. Is that hard to understand? I think not. This is not it. The kingdom of heaven is what the second coming is all about.

[40:13] That's why he's coming back. He's coming back to deliver his people that will be on the brink of annihilation and he's going to rout the enemies of the world at Armageddon and subsequently bring into fruition this glorious incredible kingdom and he will be installed on the throne of his father David and there he will reign forever and ever.

[40:50] Then there will be no end to that kingdom because then it will have a beginning. We are right now in a holding pattern.

[41:00] the kingdom is held in abeyance. Why didn't Jesus do this the first time? Why didn't he establish that kingdom the first time?

[41:11] Because first of all he had to die. He had to pay the penalty for sin which gave him the legal moral right to establish that kingdom because the sin issue had been dealt with in his own death burial and resurrection.

[41:31] That's why he came the first time. All throughout the Old Testament we find pictures of two comings of the Messiah. The first as a babe and the second which will be thousands of years later not as a babe but as a coming king.

[41:53] The king is coming. and he won't be in a good mood. It will be culminated with Armageddon and Christ will literally defeat the nations of the world.

[42:15] And this kingdom is what the millennium is all about. It is synonymous with it. This kingdom is what the eternal state and the new Jerusalem is all about. And this kingdom is common knowledge to every Jew when Jesus spoke about the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

[42:36] It set off alarm bells. It lit up people's minds because they were all thinking of Daniel chapter 2 when Daniel interpreted the dream of Nebuchadnezzar.

[42:53] and the image that had the head of gold which was Nebuchadnezzar. And then as you went on down the image it had the breast plates of silver and then on down further there was bronze and then down to the bottom and the feet were iron mingled with clay.

[43:14] So there is a depreciating asset from the top which is gold all the way down to the mix of iron and clay and then Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar you are that head of gold and all of these others represent kingdoms that are going to come after you and this is just electrifying stuff because Nebuchadnezzar was in power at the time.

[43:39] He was the only superpower that existed then and he was that head of gold Daniel told him and I suspect that we ought to take some time to develop this because it is absolutely fascinating now you'll note in the bulletin this morning I said that this would be our last session of introduction but what was the last word I used probably yeah well that was my out and I cannot leave this subject untreated and we're already over on our time so what I'm going to have to do is tell you most likely next session will be the last one by way of introduction hey because I don't apologize for the importance of this it is really super super important and you know what we're doing what we're doing is explaining the backdrop and when you get this when you understand this then when you read

[44:46] Jesus saying not appropriate to take children's food and give it to the dogs you'll know why he said that and when he says don't go to the Gentiles don't go to the Samaritans limit yourself to the lost sheep you'll know why he said that and when he tells the rich young ruler well sell everything you have bring all the assets get the money here and come follow me you'll know why he said that you'll connect the dots it'll fit together and nothing is so stimulating or so encouraging in the study of scriptures and just understanding it a little bit it's a beautiful thing thank you father for these passages that we've considered and we recognize the deficiency that we have used in expressing them but we pray that people may be able to understand the essence of it and be blessed by the meaning and the value of it thank you for having built into your word the truth that you have and for it all being reliable and interconnected in such a wonderful intricate way that only the

[46:06] God of heaven could do it we pray that you will use this time to stimulate us to further study in Christ's name amen