The Minor Profits

[0:00] All right, we are going to go first of all, very quickly, I trust, to Acts chapter 3. And this will be, at least it is intended to be, our final session dealing with this particular subject.

[0:14] And it has to do with the covenants. It started out to be a one-time thing and ended up two, and now this is the third. But I am intent on returning to our prophetic study and the prophecy of Zechariah next Tuesday.

[0:28] So you can put that down and I would expect you to hold me to it. But I want to just begin with a few introductory remarks. I'll keep it as brief as possible so we can have more time for Q&A.

[0:40] I do want you to understand that there are covenants throughout Scripture. There's the Mosaic Covenant. There's the Davidic Covenant. There's the Palestinian Covenant.

[0:52] There's the Old Covenant, the New Covenant. These are all covenants, but they all have one thing in particular. All except one is for the Jew and the nation of Israel exclusively.

[1:05] And the one that is for everybody is the covenant that God made when He put the rainbow in the sky and said that He would not again destroy the earth with water or with a flood.

[1:18] That's a universal covenant. All of the other covenants, Old Covenant, New Covenant, Palestinian, David, etc., they are all exclusively between God and the people of Israel.

[1:33] We who are in the body of Christ, who constitute the church which is called the body of Christ, is not covenantal. We don't belong to any of the covenants.

[1:45] We are completely different. We are an aside. And the best commentary on that, that I would encourage you to read at your leisure, is Ephesians chapter 3.

[1:57] We as the church, the Christian church, made up of Jews and Gentiles, who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ, belong to the church which is the body of Christ, the spiritual body of Christ.

[2:12] But it is not part of a covenant. And the reason is because all of the covenants are subjects of prophecy. They are predicted. The church is not predicted anywhere in Scripture.

[2:26] It just all of a sudden pops up. And it's just there. And people might well say, What is this? Where did this come from? And the Apostle Paul makes it clear that this is brand new.

[2:38] This is something that was never thought of. In fact, Ephesians 3 says that it was hidden in God from eternity past and was not revealed until after Christ ascended and then revealed it to Paul.

[2:58] And on that basis, he wrote his epistles, church epistles. So we are not people of a covenant. We belong to what the Scripture calls mystery. The mystery.

[3:10] And we'll look into that more later. But I just wanted to make that observation at the beginning. Because the new covenant that we've already examined from Jeremiah 31, the new covenant says, God is speaking and he says, The days are coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made before when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke.

[3:39] He's talking about the Mosaic covenant and the law. And they fractured it. They fractured it with the very first commandment that they broke when they slipped into idolatry. And he is saying that the new covenant will be different because I will put my law in their hearts and in their minds and they will obey in a way that they never did with the Mosaic covenant.

[4:03] And when Jesus died on the cross, fellas, he shed his blood. And we've already looked at the passage where the night before he was betrayed, we are told that he took the cup and he said, This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

[4:25] And that is, as opposed to the covenant made with Moses in animal blood, this is the covenant that is going to be made with the blood of Christ.

[4:37] Best commentary on that is the whole book of Hebrews in the New Testament. So what we've got is Christ dying on that cross, paying the sin penalty for the entire world, provided the basis for the new covenant to be established.

[4:56] In other words, he laid the groundwork. And he did that by giving himself, by paying the penalty for the sins of the world. That was the basis for establishing the new covenant.

[5:08] But in the same way as in the old covenant, the people of Israel were required to sign off. And Moses presented the terms of the covenant to the people of Israel and said, If you will do thus and so, and thus and so, and thus and so, I will be your God, and you will be my people.

[5:30] And you alone will be my peculiar people. What do you think? And the people said, You've got a deal. The people said, All that the Lord hath said will we do.

[5:45] But they didn't. And they repeatedly violated the covenant. And God says, when he rebuked them, he said, I took you unto myself like a man would take a wife.

[5:58] And I was like a husband to you. And I was faithful to you. And I provided for you. And I cared for you. And I protected you. And what did I get in return? You turned a harlot.

[6:09] You went after other gods. The gods that are worshipped by your neighbors around. The very ones that I warned you against and told you not to be involved with. And that's exactly what you did.

[6:20] So they fractured the old covenant. And the new covenant was instituted with the blood of Christ. And it is presented.

[6:31] I've got a problem and I have to admit it. It is presented, I believe, in Acts chapter 2. On the day of Pentecost. Because the entire audience, without exception, were Jews.

[6:46] The feast of Pentecost and the temple. In fact, Gentiles were not even allowed there. They were all Jews. And Peter preached that message. And 3,000 responded.

[6:57] And as I've said before, we tend to become enamored with that. Because that's a huge number. Any preacher would be glad to have 3,000 people respond. But I am convinced, and I cannot prove this because the text doesn't reveal it.

[7:09] I am convinced that the 3,000 constituted a tiny minority of the number that was there. Most of them did not respond. So Peter is going to preach essentially the same message again in Acts chapter 3.

[7:25] And I want you to turn to it and look, if you will, at his second sermon. It begins in chapter 11. And it is in connection with Peter and John having healed this man who was laid at the gate lame.

[7:40] Had not walked a day in his life. He was 42 years old. And he was born lame from his mother's womb. And everybody knew this guy. He was a permanent fixture there. That was his begging spot.

[7:52] And Peter and John were used of God to heal that man. And he gets up. And he's standing and walking and jumping around. And he's hugging John. And he's hugging Peter. And all the people are starting to gather because there's a big crowd gathering.

[8:05] What is going on here? We know this guy. He can't walk. He's been crippled for years. What's he doing? What's happened? And they are amazed. And the bigger the crowd gets, the bigger the crowd gets.

[8:17] And people are coming in from everywhere where all the excitement is trying to figure out. What's going on? What's happening? And people are talking about, hey, that's old so-and-so. Well, he can't walk.

[8:27] He's a cripple. Look at him. He's jumping up. He's walking. What's happened to this guy? What's going on? And Peter is going to take advantage of that audience. And we are told in verse 11, while he, the healed man, was clinging to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them at the so-called portico of Solomon, full of amazement.

[8:49] They are awestruck. What is going on here? What happened? How did this? And Peter saw this, and he replied to the people, men of Israel.

[9:00] Note the audience. They're men of Israel. There are no men who are not of Israel there. Men of Israel. Why do you marvel at this?

[9:10] Or why do you gaze at us as if by our own power of piety we had made him walk? And here he presents his case for Jesus being Israel's Messiah. Israel crucified him.

[9:22] God raised him from the dead. And I want you to come on down, if you will, to verse 16 for time's sake. On the basis of faith, in his name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man, whom you see and know, and the faith which comes through him, that is Christ, has given him, the healed man, this perfect health, in the presence of you all.

[9:47] And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance just as your rulers did also. That is, in connection with the crucifixion. But the things which God announced beforehand, by the mouth of all the prophets, what did they announce?

[10:07] That his Messiah should suffer. That is so clearly set forth in Scripture. And there is a passage that really spells it out in Isaiah 53, about the suffering Savior.

[10:21] That his Christ, his Messiah, should suffer. He has thus fulfilled. In other words, that which was prophesied about the Messiah, suffering, is done.

[10:34] That's over with. That's been fulfilled. It's another way of saying, God has done his part. He sent the Messiah. Israel crucified him.

[10:46] But little did they know that in his death, and the shedding of his blood, he provided the basis for the redemption of the entire human race.

[10:59] Now he's saying to these people of Israel, God has done his part. Israel, now it's your turn. What are you going to do about what God has already done?

[11:14] And look at the text. He has thus fulfilled. Repent, therefore. Hey, this is the same message John the Baptist preached. Same message Jesus and the Twelve preached.

[11:27] Change your mind. Change your thinking. Reverse yourself. Why? Because the evidence requires it. Get on board.

[11:37] Look at what's happened. Repent. Change your mind, therefore. And return. He's talking about a spiritual return. It has nothing to do with physicality.

[11:49] Return that your sins may be wiped away. That's the same message that John the Baptist was preaching. Repent. Be baptized for the remission of sins.

[11:59] In order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. What are those? That's the rule and reign of Christ.

[12:11] That's when Christ will return and rule the earth with a rod of iron. And the earth will undergo a revitalization, a renewing, a reestablishment.

[12:22] It will be the thousand year reign of Christ. It will be the millennial rule and reign of Christ on earth. And Jesus will be the one to bring it. When the king comes back, he will bring the kingdom with him.

[12:34] And he will establish that. And he goes on to say that he may send, verse 20, that he may send Jesus, the Messiah, appointed for you, whom heaven must receive.

[12:49] And where was Jesus as of the time Peter was delivering this message? He was already in heaven. The ascension took place in Acts chapter 1. He's in heaven. That he, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things.

[13:07] The broken world will get fixed. And Jesus will be the one to fix it. Man is not able to fix it.

[13:17] Fellas, if we could have fixed, if humanity could have fixed a broken world, we'd have fixed it a long time ago. And it's just getting worse and worse. It's getting more and more broken, isn't it?

[13:30] And this period of restoration in verse 21, I believe, is synonymous with the times of refreshing in verse 19, speaking of the same thing, of which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from ancient time.

[13:45] And Peter goes on and he gives these people in the audience an option. He's saying, you can repent, change your mind about Jesus, who he is, why he came, what he did, why it matters.

[13:59] You can get on board with this. And if you do, if Israel will repent, God will send Jesus back.

[14:12] When? Upon your repentance. But he'd only been there. He'd only been in heaven a few weeks. Yes. But he would come back.

[14:22] What this is contingent upon is the embracing of Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus as their Messiah, by the nation of Israel.

[14:34] And Peter is saying, you've got one more chance. What are you going to do? And, fellas, when you get into chapter 4, Israel, from the top leadership on, gives their answer.

[14:51] Here, the persecution begins. It will intensify. It will culminate in the stoning of Stephen in Acts chapter 7, which is kind of like Israel's final answer, because of the ones who threw the stones.

[15:08] The murder of Stephen, the stoning of Stephen, was carried out by the most respected, elevated, austere men in all the nation of Israel.

[15:19] The Sanhedrin. That was the equivalent of our Congress. Seventy men presided over by the chief priests. They were the ones who physically carried out the stoning of Stephen.

[15:32] After they arranged for some ne'er-do-wells to bear testimony against Stephen, and lie through their teeth that they had heard Stephen blaspheme God, and the penalty of which was death, and they were carrying it out.

[15:46] That is kind of like Israel's final answer. So what we've got is the new covenant has been provided, paid for, set up, ready to be established, but what is lacking?

[16:02] Israel's compliance. Israel is saying, no thanks, but no.

[16:14] And the persecution intensified. And by the way, the chief persecutor, you know who that was, Saul of Tarsus, who's going to become Paul the apostle, he is going to be the one whom God is going to use to bypass Israel and bring in a whole new thing that nobody had ever imagined or heard of, and it is called the church, the body of Christ.

[16:39] And the most unique thing about it is that it is made up of Gentiles and Jews bonded together as one.

[16:53] And if there is anything that the Jew was known for all the way up to this time, more than anything else, it was their utter separation from anything Gentile.

[17:04] And now Paul is saying, hey, there is no difference for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, for there is no difference between Jew, Gentile, bond, free, male, female, you are all children of God by faith in Jesus Christ.

[17:21] And the wall, the wall of petition that had separated Jew from Gentile, broken down. When Jesus died on that cross, God the Father ripped the veil in the temple from top to bottom, and he was saying, I'm through with this.

[17:38] Fellas, Judaism is a defunct religion. It has no credentials. It has no legitimacy. Big difference.

[17:51] Nobody is saying that Jews are defunct because they're not. They play a very strategic role in the plan and program of God, particularly in the last days.

[18:03] But Judaism, as a religion, is kaput. It's done. What's the heartbeat of Judaism, anyway? It's animal sacrifice.

[18:15] Animal sacrifice. Required. And the Sabbath. And circumcision. What happened to those things? They're gone. They're all gone. They're wiped out. Now, circumcision is optional.

[18:29] Before, you couldn't even think of being a Jew, a male Jew, if you weren't circumcised. You don't have any Jewishness. But that's gone. All of that's gone. The kosher diet's gone.

[18:40] All of it. But Jews still observe that. Jews still have their synagogues. Sure they do. And do you know what the basis for it all is? Tradition! That's it.

[18:51] It isn't because God requires anything like that. He doesn't. He put an end to that. Now, when Peter gives this message here, in chapter 4, they are arrested and the time begins to shut things down.

[19:07] And the next thing you know, a completely unexpected individual, the last guy in the world that you would expect to be a promoter of Jesus Christ was formerly his chief persecutor.

[19:26] Saul of Tarsus is going to become Paul the apostle. And the Damascus Road experience changed everything. And what it did, fellas, it turned a whole new page in the divine playbook and something entirely unimagined, unprophesied, unthought of, has come on the scene in response to Israel's national rejection.

[19:51] Now, what we've got is this. We've got the new covenant bought and paid for by the blood of Christ. But we don't have a recipient for it because the recipient has said, we will not have this man to rule over us.

[20:08] So the basis for the covenant has been made, laid, provided, but the reception of it hasn't. It's just like you want to sell a piece of property and you draw up a deed and the name of the seller goes here.

[20:26] He's the seller and you sign it that you're willing to sell it for X number of dollars. And then the contract is passed to the buyer and the buyer refuses to sell. He refuses to sign.

[20:39] So the contract lays there and it's signed by one party, but the deal isn't complete because the buyer isn't selling it. He's not buying it.

[20:50] He's not putting a signature there. So what we've got is a contract and a sale that is already provided for, ready to go. All it needs is the signature of the other party.

[21:03] And he says, I'm not signing. So the thing is in limbo. That's where we are right now. We're in this interim period. And I want you to go to 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and we'll see how this is working.

[21:18] 2 Corinthians chapter 3. It isn't as though the blood of Christ has gone to waste because Israel is not signed on. Because something else is being done.

[21:30] And Paul is explaining that here in 2 Corinthians chapter 3. And for lack of time, I'm just going to have to jump in here.

[21:41] In verse 5, let's start with verse 5. Paul is saying, Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves.

[21:52] Our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant.

[22:03] Not of the letter. What does he mean by the letter? He's talking about the law. The law of Moses. Not of the letter, but of the spirit.

[22:14] For the letter kills. How does the letter kill? Well, the law kills. You see what? The law expresses its demands.

[22:26] But if you don't meet them, you're dead. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. And what was it that provided life for these people when they sinned?

[22:39] And how they sinned? What was it? It was animal sacrifice. Animal sacrifice. But wait a minute. How can the blood of bulls and goats take away human sin? Well, it can't.

[22:49] It can't. And that's why they had to do it over and over and over again. And it never atoned for sins. What it did was it covered them. It never took them away.

[23:01] But when Jesus came on the scene, John announced him as the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. And that means never have to be done again. What has God done with your sin?

[23:13] If you are in Christ, you are forgiven. You are established. Your sins are cast behind his back. They are buried in the depths of the deepest sea.

[23:23] And Vance Habner used to say, And God hung out a sign that said, No fishing. That's what God has done with your sin in Christ. And that's the basis.

[23:33] The basis for our forgiveness is the shed blood of Christ. And even though it is not being applied to Israel as a nation with the new covenant and them buying on, It is available for everyone because the price has been paid.

[23:48] And God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. Wow. That's everything.

[24:00] And we are made the righteousness of God in Christ. This means that as a believer, You cannot and you will not show up in heaven with one single sin put to your account.

[24:20] Because if you do, You are excluded. Jesus paid it all. Not most of it. And he didn't leave something for you to pay.

[24:32] He paid it all. This is positional truth. And it's radically different from practical living. In our practice, we are far from perfect.

[24:43] We all know that. And anybody who thinks differently, I just want to spend a couple minutes with your wife. We are not perfect. But the point is, Your position is perfect.

[25:00] Because you are in Christ. That is your legitimate, legal, forensic, judicial standing. And you are there, uncondemned, because of what Christ did for you.

[25:14] So what we've got is Paul and his apostle friends being ministers of a new covenant that is provided for all of humanity. And even though Israel has not signed on, the death of Christ has still tremendous power for forgiveness and accomplishment.

[25:35] And that's exactly what he's talking about here. He is not saying that the new covenant has been enacted because it hasn't. But the provision for it has been made. And that's what we use when we tell people, Christ died for your sins.

[25:51] He died to make a way of access available. And it's a beautiful, beautiful concept. Now, there's, well, I'm not finished, but I quit.

[26:01] I know you probably have some questions or comments, and we'd like to hear them. Anybody? Joe. Going back to where you started, in defense of the Jews for not accepting Christ when he died on the cross, most of the prophetic stuff in the prophecy talks about his second coming.

[26:21] There's way more talk about him coming and setting up a kingdom and ruling and so forth. That's what they all had their eyes on and looking for. Absolutely. The message in the prophecy about suffering is always kind of just, they just kind of forgot and kicked it aside and said, that's not good stuff.

[26:37] We don't really want to hear that. So they were looking for a Christ that would come and set up a kingdom for them now. And when that didn't happen, he's not the one. Absolutely. He didn't say that.

[26:48] Good point, Joe. I appreciate that. And you know, when Jesus, after his resurrection, when he was on the Emmaus Road and he confronted the two disciples, and they were walking, they were all depressed and downtrodden, you know, and he came alongside.

[27:02] They didn't know it was him. And he said, what's the problem, guys? You look like you're downcast. What's wrong? And they said, you must not be from around here. Don't you know what's been happening the last few days?

[27:14] And he said, what are you talking about? And they said, well, Jesus of Nazareth, man approved of God with signs and wonders. And we trusted, we trusted that it was he who would deliver Israel.

[27:26] But now, this is third day and he's gone. They crucified him. They killed him. All of our dreams and hopes have been dashed. They had no idea they were talking to the Lord.

[27:39] And when he revealed himself to them, he opened the scriptures. Well, one of the first things he said to them was, Oh, foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all.

[27:57] Boy, there's a big word there. Three letters. Three letters. A-L-L. To believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not.

[28:07] And here's what Jesus told him. Ought not the Messiah to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory.

[28:18] What was Israel's problem? Joe just pointed out. Israel just paid attention to those scriptures that revealed his glory, not his suffering.

[28:29] Who wants the suffering Messiah anyway? Nobody. But when the Messiah comes, and it's so true, both comings are clearly predicted in the Old Testament.

[28:41] They are huge subjects of prophecy. Both his first coming as a babe, born in Bethlehem, but thou, Bethlehem Ephrata, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, who is ruler, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

[28:57] What can come out of Bethlehem? Nothing can come out of Bethlehem. Well, absolutely. And they think that he was born. Later they say, well, he's Nazarene. That's Galilee. Can anything good come out of Nazareth?

[29:09] Can anything good? And they didn't realize the prophets predicted that Jesus, the Messiah, would be born in Bethlehem, the city of David.

[29:20] But he would be reared in Nazareth, in Galilee. Galilee of the Gentiles. It was called Galilee of the Gentiles because it bordered Gentile territory.

[29:31] And there was some rub off from the Gentiles into the Jews. And the rest of the Jewish nation down south and Israel or Jerusalem kind of looked down their nose at those northerners, you know.

[29:44] And yet that's where all of the disciples were from with the exception of Jews. So what we've got here is Jesus is chiding them for not believing all that the prophets have spoken.

[29:55] Because the first coming is there. And the first coming includes his suffering. The second coming, totally different.

[30:07] In his second coming, he comes to collect on what he paid for in his first coming. And it's going to be something. And when the scripture says that Jesus, the Messiah, is going to rule the earth with a rod of iron, that means it's going to be a no-nonsense government.

[30:33] And corruption with which we are so familiar, with which the world is so... There is not a government on this planet that is not corrupt.

[30:45] Beginning with ours. State, local, federal, you name it. Because corruption is bred into the heart and actions of humans.

[30:57] That's part of our fallenness. That's what's wrong with this world. And Jesus is going to fix it. And I tell you, it's going to take him to fix it because we sure can't.

[31:07] And you know what the mantra is among most politicians today? You elect us and we'll fix it. Those other guys, they can't fix it. They don't know what they're doing. But you put us in office and we'll fix it.

[31:19] Yeah, right. Yeah. They've been singing that song for a long time. And you know what? We've been buying it for a long time. And it's never happened. And it isn't going to happen. Because this world is so broken and so corrupt, it's going to take God himself to straighten it out.

[31:36] And that's what's going to happen. Now, other comments or questions? Dennis? The Holy Spirit, how does that help us to become more like Christ? The Holy Spirit is Christ living in us.

[31:48] Absolutely. And we are to go out to the public and show how Christ's life is to be. How do we? Excellent. Excellent point. Excellent point.

[31:59] When you receive Christ as your Savior, it is not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to his mercy he has saved us, by the washing and regeneration of the Holy Spirit.

[32:15] When you came to faith in Christ, God did something in you that I'm sure you were not even aware of at the time. In fact, he did a whole lot of things in everyone who comes to him in faith, and we are aware of virtually none of them.

[32:30] But that doesn't mean they didn't happen. And one of those is, the Spirit of God takes up residence within you. And, fellas, this is a Pauline truth.

[32:42] You do not find this in the Gospels. When the Lord talks about the Holy Spirit, and he shall be in you. But he wasn't then.

[32:53] He wasn't then. But he is now. Because things have changed. And when you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God, whom many refer to as the unknown God, the unknown member of the Trinity, he comes into your being, into your human spirit.

[33:14] And your human spirit is alive, but it is dead toward God. And he quickens that human spirit and makes you alive toward God.

[33:27] He is referred to as the first fruits. And that is the guarantee that what God has started in you, he's going to complete it. And the Holy Spirit is there to empower and enable us to surrender our lives on a daily basis to the authority of God and the availability of the Holy Spirit and let him use us and direct our steps.

[33:53] And that's how we become conformed to the image of Christ. And that's how we become the advertisement for Christ that we're supposed to be. Joe? You've got on a throne up here.

[34:03] Here's a throne in your life. And you've got the Holy Spirit and you've got your sinful nature. And they're competing for the dominance in your life. How you're going to act, what you're going to do, what you're going to say, how you're going to behave.

[34:16] There's a battle there between those. Who's going to be? Who are you going to put on there? Are you going to put the Holy Spirit on the top of that throne? Or are you going to lift your natural? They're still there. It's still there. That natural spirit.

[34:26] And that's why Paul said, if you walk in the Spirit, that means you conduct your life in the Spirit, in the power of God, then you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh.

[34:40] We all have desires of the flesh. Because even though we have a perfect standing before God judicially, there's nothing perfect about us in our behavior, in our attitude, in our actions.

[34:52] And that's where we grow. You don't grow in your position in Christ. You grow in your practice. You grow in your everyday life. That is growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ.

[35:05] And for all of us, fellas, we all know, we've got plenty of room for improvement. And that's what spiritual growth is all about. Peter says that we are to desire the sincere milk of the Word that we may grow thereby.

[35:18] And he's not talking about putting on weight, growing that way. We don't have any problem with that, do we? He's talking about growing spiritually. And, well, let me put it this way.

[35:30] Has anybody ever mistaken you for Jesus Christ? If not, then you still have room for growth. Yeah, that's about as simple as we can put it.

[35:42] And nobody's ever mistaken me for the Lord yet. So that means we all got our work cut out for us, don't we? Beautiful thing, though. So other thoughts or comments?

[35:52] Feel free. Anybody? As long as the food isn't here, I'm just going to keep talking. Any other thoughts? Anyone? When you're talking about Israel, are you talking about all 12 tribes or are you just talking about the Jewish tribe itself?

[36:11] Well, it's really, that's an excellent point. Thank you for bringing that up. because in 941, 941 years before Christ came, the man, Solomon's son, Rehoboam, came to the throne.

[36:33] And he got all the people together and he told them, my dad really accomplished some things here in Israel. Boy, he brought everything, you know, up to a level nobody could imagine.

[36:46] Well, I want you to know I'm going to outdo my dad, but it's going to cost money. And I just want to put you on notice I'm raising your taxes. And people said, no, you're not.

[37:00] We're getting out of here. We're seceding from the union. And they did. Ten tribes, ten tribes of the 12 says, we're pulling out. To your tents, O Israel, what interest have we in Jesse?

[37:15] And Jesse, of course, was David's grandfather. So, or David's father. And they seceded from the union. And now we've got Israel in the north, ten tribes.

[37:29] And Judah in the south, two tribes, Judah and Benjamin. And that's where the throne is. And that's where the temple is. So they had a strategic position.

[37:40] And what happened was in 741, the Assyrians came in, overran the north, carried the people off into captivity, planted a bunch of their own people there who intermarried with those Jews.

[38:00] And the intermarriage resulted in a half-breed race called the Samaritans. And they are going to occupy that area. And the two tribes in the south held out against enemy in the midst of great apostasy.

[38:15] The north was an apostasy. The south was an apostasy. Jeremiah was raised up to tell the people, God is going to judge you and He's going to send the king of Babylon to do it. And that's exactly what happened.

[38:26] So, the tribes have been divided into ten and two. But the interesting thing in connection with Dennis' statement, when Judah, or when Jeremiah makes that statement in chapter 31 and verse 31, he says, the days are coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

[38:50] They're going to be reunited. And these twelve tribes are going to be very prominent and dominant in that millennial reign. And David the king is going to be resurrected to rule over them.

[39:03] And it's going to be an incredible thing. Okay, what, Joe? The southern king, and they held out longer because they had a treaty with Egypt. Egypt was their partner to drink.

[39:14] And until the Babylonians defeated Egypt, that's when they finally defeated Egypt, then they took over the southern kingdom. Yep. And Israel, Israel was carried off into captivity.

[39:26] And by the way, the last king, the last king to ever sit on the throne of Israel was Zedekiah. And Zedekiah is the one that they made him watch while they executed all of his sons.

[39:42] Then they put his eyes out and made him march all the way to Babylon. He was the last one to sit on the king, on the throne. And this is very, very important because when the monarchy was destroyed because the country was invaded and taken over and the throne was taken away from them, the disciples asked a very important question at the transfer, at the ascension of our Lord when they asked a question, they said, Lord, is it at this time that you are going to restore the kingdom to Israel?

[40:22] What was he talking about? He's talking about resuming the kingdom, the throneship in Israel that hadn't been in existence since Zedekiah was king. And Jesus is going to do that, but he wasn't going to do it then.

[40:36] And the food is here and I've lost my audience. Thank you, guys. Next week, we're going to return to the prophetic portion in Zechariah.

[40:49] And there's a whole lot more that could be said about this, but I trust that we've adequately dealt with it. Maybe not fully, but sufficiently.