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[0:00] Well, thank you for being here. Let's pray, shall we? Father, we are so grateful for truth that you make available to us that we would never in this world be able to obtain.

[0:11] And yet, in your gracious disposition toward a fallen creation, you have made information available that provides us not only with understanding, but with comfort, with hope, with confidence, assurance, with everything that really matters for living in this world. And we are so grateful for the revelation.

[0:33] We ask that as we engage the content that you will give us instruction that is beyond our own. And we certainly need it, and we have no difficulty admitting that. Thank you for it all in Christ's name. Amen.

[0:46] We are continuing to try and pair these two concepts and show you what we believe to be the obvious and very important difference between what is commonly referred to as mystery and prophecy.

[1:03] And when we use those terms, they need to be explained because at first hearing, most people simply do not understand them. When you use the word mystery, they think in terms of a murder mystery or something like that that nobody knows.

[1:15] And the biblical definition of a mystery is probably best given by a synonym that maybe even more closely defines it, and that is the word secret.

[1:27] Secret. A mystery, like a secret, is something that if it is truly a secret, only one person knows it. Only one.

[1:38] And the only way that anyone else can understand or know that secret is if the one knowing it chooses to reveal it.

[1:49] Then it is available to others. That's what a mystery is in the Bible. It is content that God has revealed that man would never, ever be able to figure out or imagine or plan or program or understand, except God in His graciousness has revealed it.

[2:09] And that also means we really, what it boils down to, we really have no excuse for not understanding it, simply because He has revealed it. And how would you feel if you were estranged from someone that you really cared about, and you were waiting and waiting to meet them and see them again, and you couldn't get to them and they couldn't get to you, but they sent you a letter, and you let it lie on your desk and don't bother to open it.

[2:41] Well, what kind of a relationship is that? Of course you wouldn't do that. You want the information that's in that letter, and you know the only way to get it is to open it and read it.

[2:52] And on the other hand, prophecy is primarily what we are considering in the 10-15 hour, although this morning will be different because being Valentine's Day, we've got a different message for Valentine's Day.

[3:05] But when we use the word prophecy, we are not simply talking about things that are yet unfulfilled, so that we're looking forward to their fulfillment.

[3:16] That's included. But the basic term of prophecy and mystery as we are using it is anything that God has been pleased to reveal in advance, much of which has already been fulfilled, like the birth of Christ, death, resurrection, all of that.

[3:35] That was all prophecy, but it's fulfilled prophecy. Yet there is a great deal of prophecy that is unfulfilled. And as we have told you in the past, the best guarantee we have that what has been predicted will be fulfilled is on the basis of all that has already been fulfilled that was predicted.

[3:57] That gives us a real heads up and a real basis for our confidence. So we are coupling these two terms, and we are showing you, or at least attempting to show you, the vast distinction that exists between prophecy and mystery.

[4:12] Prophecy is what was revealed before intentionally with the idea that people who read it would know about it, but mystery has to do with that which nobody would ever imagine or think of unless the one who knew the secret dropped it in our midst.

[4:33] And that's exactly what Ephesians chapter 3 is all about, and explains it probably better than any place else in the Bible in a short space and distance, and that is that this mystery was not made known, deliberately was not made known to the sons of men in times past, but was hidden in the secret recesses of God himself, preparing to disclose them when the time came.

[5:10] And we believe, the scriptures make it very clear, the time came when God raised up one particular individual who had to be the least likely individual on the whole planet for the job, and that was Saul of Tarsus.

[5:28] And he commissioned him with this secret that was never before known, and the secret consisted primarily of Jews, Gentiles constituting one new person with Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Israel and Savior of the world, as the head of that union.

[5:52] So Jew and Gentile are bathed together in one body by their common faith in Yeshua HaMashiach, and Christ is the head. And that, trust me, is a concept totally unimagined, especially by the Jew, especially by the Jew, because if the Jew prided himself on anything, it was his separateness, his distinctness, his being a chosen people of God, very, very special.

[6:25] They were, and contrary to what a lot of people think, they still are. But Romans 9, 10, and 11 makes it clear that that coveted nation has been set aside in their unbelief, and God is doing a whole new thing that began with the rejection, with the final rejection of Jesus as their Messiah, and as a result of that, God has started this new thing where he has put Jews and Gentiles together in one body.

[6:59] And that's been going on now for about 2,000 years. It is still basically rejected by the Jewish element.

[7:10] Most Jews today do not accept this at all. And there are differences of opinion that exist even between Gentiles and between Christians, and we'll be getting into that a little bit later.

[7:21] But I want to, I just want to try to get this fixed in your mind so well that you'll be able to, when you hear these things and see these references, that they will kind of jump out at you and you'll be able to place them in your mind.

[7:34] First thing I want you to turn to is someplace that we've already been, but it needs to be repeated, and it is in Acts chapter 1. And while you're turning there, let me tell you this. It was, I think, with great misunderstanding that so many people, particularly Christians, particularly Christians, came to the conclusion and still have come to the conclusion that Israel's final answer and final opportunity to embrace Jesus as their Messiah ended with the crucifixion.

[8:16] Now, I can see that. I can understand how they could arrive at that conclusion. And by the way, that is just one more faulty assumption that we've been talking about. And the planet, the planet Earth is loaded with faulty assumptions.

[8:32] They swirl all around us every day, ancient and modern. A faulty assumption is something that people at the time believed and accepted, usually in good faith, to be true.

[8:46] But it wasn't true at all. It was a faulty assumption made in good faith, but still not correct. And a major faulty assumption is to believe that when Israel said no, crucify him!

[9:04] We'll not have this man to reign over us! And Pilate complied. Jesus was on the cross. Israel was finished.

[9:18] They had their final opportunity, and they blew it. That's pretty common in most minds, that that opportunity for Israel ended with the crucifixion.

[9:31] And most have never contemplated the possibility that it didn't end there at all. God is still reaching out to Israel. In fact, listen, this is a bitter pill for most of Christendom to swallow because what I'm going to tell you now is probably not believed by 99% of the Christians, but I am totally convinced that it is true.

[9:57] And that is, when the day of Pentecost came in Acts chapter 2, and the people were speaking in tongues they had not learned or understood, and the Spirit of God came down and bathed that whole group of people in a miraculous way, and 3,000 accepted and believed Peter's message, which consisted of God sent Jesus as the Messiah, but you and your rulers by wicked hands have crucified and slain the Lord of glory, but God raised him from the dead.

[10:36] And what you see happening here, these men are not drunken as you suppose, but this, this that you are hearing and seeing, this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel.

[10:52] And it is absolutely stunning, stunning! How many people assume Peter is saying, these men are not drunken as you suppose?

[11:05] This is the birthday of the church. This is a whole new thing. This is a church that is beginning now. And everybody since knows that the church began on the day of Pentecost, except it didn't.

[11:23] Well, yes, it did. What am I talking about? All I'm saying is, there are multitudes of churches in the Bible. We will see that eventually, there are at least a half dozen different entities, beginning with the children of Israel coming out of the land of Egypt that are referred to by Stephen in Acts chapter 7 as a church, a church in the wilderness.

[11:51] Are you kidding me? How could you call that a church? A church, isn't a church that beautiful stone building with the stained glass windows on the corner of 4th and Main? That's the church.

[12:03] No, it isn't. That is an edifice. That is a church building. The church, the church is made up of people.

[12:14] The church is the spiritual body of Christ. And when we come together and meet in this building, the church is meeting, and when the building is empty, we've got an empty building, and the church is packed up and left.

[12:29] It's gone. So church, the ecclesia, in Acts 2.47, in the King James Version says, and the Lord added to the church, 3,000, such as believed.

[12:47] But in the original Greek, it simply says, and the Lord added to their number. But even if it is a church, and by the way, it is a church because you know what the definition of a church is? The definition of a church is a called-out assembly for a specific purpose.

[13:06] That could, that could accurately describe a whole lot, that could describe a lodge. That could describe a lodge meeting. And we don't think of the local Elks meeting as being a church.

[13:17] We wouldn't call them a church. No. But technically, they are an ecclesia. They are a group that is called out for a specific purpose. And when Stephen referred to Israel as a nation, a couple of million people, a couple of million people on foot, traipsing out of Egypt, and Stephen says, the church in the wilderness?

[13:40] Are you kidding me? Well, it's an ecclesia. It's a group of people, a big group, no doubt, a great big group, but it was called out for a specific purpose that was deliverance from Egypt. And there is that motley crew in Acts chapter 19, and they have a big riot going.

[13:58] This is when Demetrius' silversmith stirred up things, and Paul, and he had had some success there in Ephesus in winning people to Christ, and they were in this temple, the temple of Diana, and Paul wanted to go out and meet them, and the brethren wouldn't let him.

[14:16] They said, they'll tear you to shreds. You can't do that. And there was a whole crowd of people that started pouring in because they knew there was a big hubbub going on in the temple. What's going on in the temple? And when they got there, and they saw that Paul and these others were there on the platform, and the text says, and they saw that they were Jews.

[14:38] They wouldn't let them speak. And Paul wanted to go and address the crowd, and they started to chant. You know what it was? Great is Diana!

[14:49] And on the other side, the crowd would respond with, of the Ephesians! And this crowd over here, Great is Diana! Of the Ephesians!

[15:00] And that's called a shout-down. That's so you will not allow the speaker to speak. You shout him down. That's going on today all over our college campuses. There are those who will not give freedom of speech to those who disagree with them.

[15:21] They will not allow them to speak and make their arguments. And my reason for that is they know they can't answer their arguments.

[15:35] So don't let them make them. Shut them up. And that's exactly what they did with Stephen. When they could not resist the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke, we've got to get rid of this guy.

[15:49] What are we going to do? Leave it to me. I'll take care of it. Someone went out into the marketplace, hired a couple of bums, a couple of ne'er-do-wells. Listen, what we want you guys to do is be willing to say that you heard Stephen blaspheme God.

[16:09] And we'll take it from there. And they paid them whatever they agreed on. And they held a little court. They gave a testimony. And this first liar said, yeah, yeah, Stephen, yeah, I heard him blaspheme God.

[16:22] And the second one said, yeah, I did too. I heard him too. The law of Moses says, in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall a thing be established. You heard him.

[16:33] You heard the witnesses. What's your verdict? Death. Kill him. And the leading men of the area, the Sanhedrin, shakers and movers, most respected, well-established individuals in the whole area, cast the stones that took Stephen's life.

[16:55] And the one who held their coats while they did it, was Saul of Tarsus. My, oh, my. So, you're in Acts chapter 1. We're looking at the kingdom.

[17:08] Verse 6, when they had come together, this is right before the ascension, they were asking him, saying, Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?

[17:21] And I just... why do you suppose Jesus didn't say, kingdom, kingdom, kingdom, is that all you guys think about?

[17:35] I mean, good grief, there are other things too. You are so fixated on the kingdom. Get off of it, will you? He didn't say anything like that. Nor did he say, fellas, you've got it all wrong.

[17:48] There is going to be a kingdom, but it's going to be a spiritual kingdom where I am going to rule and reign in the hearts of individual people who put their faith in me.

[18:06] They will have a personal kingdom. That will be the king. He didn't make any effort to explain it. He didn't indicate that you've got it all wrong.

[18:16] You're misunderstanding the kingdom. No, no, no. All he said is, it is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put in his own power.

[18:26] But, there is something for you to do in the meanwhile. And that is, you are to tarry in Jerusalem until you are endued with a special kind of ability.

[18:42] And when you are, then you will be able to testify to me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth.

[18:53] And then he was taken up from them. Now, a very important point that I want you to make right here and now. When we're talking about the kingdom here in Acts chapter 1 and verse 6, it is apparent.

[19:08] The question makes it, I think, quite obvious. the disciples are asking primarily restore the kingdom to Israel.

[19:25] I do not know that they were all that concerned about all the rest of the world, although they may have had more knowledge about the universal nature of the kingdom than what I'm giving them credit for.

[19:37] But it would appear to me, and this is just a Wiseman opinion, that in the context, you see, Israel has been without their own king to sit on the throne since the Babylonians deposed Hezekiah, I'm sorry, Zedekiah, deposed Zedekiah.

[20:04] He's the guy that rebelled against the Babylonians and Nebuchadnezzar brought his army in, they besieged Jerusalem, they tore down the city, they destroyed the temple, they carried the people away in captivity, they captured Zedekiah who was the king, they made him witness the execution of his sons, and after they had murdered his sons, then they put his eyes out and they made him with thousands of other Jews walk all the way to Babylon.

[20:40] And it's 586 BC and it's going to be the 70 year period of captivity. That's the last time Israel had a king to sit on the throne. Now when Jesus was born, Herod was the king, he wasn't the king of Israel, he was the king of Judea.

[20:58] Judea. That's just one small tribe out of all of Israel. He was the king of Judea. And the only reason he was a king is because Caesar of Rome put him in power and made him king to rule over the people, but Herod was answerable to Caesar like everybody else was.

[21:22] So that was the king that was on the throne and he didn't deserve to be on the throne. He was not in the line of David. In fact, he wasn't even a Jew.

[21:33] He was a New Jumean. Herod the king, one of the most evil men who ever lived, was a direct descendant of Esau, brother of Jacob.

[21:50] And he was an Edomite. He was not a Jew. So Israel had languished for hundreds and hundreds of years. Meanwhile, when they came back, they didn't come back from the Babylonian captivity, but it was only because the Medes and the Persians let them come back because when Babylon had conquered Israel and took the Jews to Babylon and enslaved them there for 70 years, they themselves got invaded.

[22:21] And they were invaded by the Medes and the Persians. Remember the writing on the wall? Many, many, tekel, you've been weighed in the balance and found wanting. And the Medes and the Persians were knocking at the gate.

[22:32] And they defeated the Babylonians. And that meant that the Jews were now captive of the people who had captured them, and the people who had captured them have been captured.

[22:48] So they kind of had sympathy for them. And this, by the way, is during the time of Esther also, chronologically. And it was a wonderful thing because the Medes and the Persians actually bankrolled and provided a huge amount of cash, financial resources, and entrusted the money to Zerubbabel, who was going to be installed as the governor of Israel when they returned to the land, and he was going to allow them to return to their land.

[23:17] And that's what Nehemiah was all about, and building the wall, and building up the fortress again. Zerubbabel was the governor, the walls were being built, the city was being built, the temple was being built, there'd be a new temple, a new dedication, and all the rest of it.

[23:30] And the Jews have been ruled over by the Babylonians, then by the Medes and the Persians, then by Alexander the Great and the Greeks, and then by, eventually, by the Romans.

[23:45] So they have been a subjugated people under the foot of some other nation for hundreds of years. And the legitimacy of the question becomes obvious.

[23:57] Lord, is it now that you're going to restore the kingdom to Israel, the kingdom we've been without for hundreds of years? And they were thinking primarily of Jesus returning and being on that throne where he rightfully belongs.

[24:14] so he tells them, it is not for you to know the times of, in other words, he's saying, no, this is not the time. They thought it was the time before when he got to Jerusalem, but they knew that that wouldn't be true when it ended in crucifixion.

[24:30] Now the crucifixion and resurrection is over. Now, I suppose, now he's going to start. No, not now, because what he's going to do is continue. Listen, get this now. What Jesus is going to do is continue making his overtures and offers to Israel even after he ascends to heaven, he has still in his grace not written them off.

[25:04] They still have an opportunity. They are not going to utilize it, but it is going to continue well on into the book of Acts.

[25:15] And as you read Peter's follow-up message in Acts chapter 3, in many ways it's reminiscent of what he said on the day of Pentecost, the chapter before, and he is addressing Israel, and he says, you men of Israel, and listen, there weren't any other men there.

[25:32] There weren't any other men who were even allowed to be there. He was in the temple. You're not in the temple if you're a Gentile. You're subject to death if you're in the Jewish temple as a Gentile.

[25:44] These are all Jews. And Peter says, you men of Israel, and you that fear God, God has provided two things necessary for the establishment of the kingdom.

[25:59] And the first one is that Yeshua must pay the price for recapturing the fallen world, that which has come to ruination under Satan.

[26:18] And Jesus will do that. In fact, he has done that because God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.

[26:30] That's God's part. And Israel, I'm here to tell you, God has done his part. Jesus has picked up the tab. He's paid for it.

[26:41] The only thing that remains to be done for that kingdom to be established is for you, Israel, to get on board.

[26:53] God, repent. Change your mind. And you change your mind from your previous conviction that Jesus was not the Messiah to the reality that he is the Messiah and that God sent him and that God sent him to redeem you.

[27:17] That's what you need to change your mind about. God, and some did, and most did not. And when they began preaching this, this is just in Acts 3.

[27:28] This is just right after Pentecost. Peter's preaching this, and they're making an emphasis on the resurrection. And the problem is, people are starting to believe it.

[27:40] And the rulers and shakers are getting nervous, and they call them aside, and they demand, listen, you've got to stop teaching this stuff. It isn't true.

[27:51] And we don't want the people being hoodwinked by you. You must remain silent. And Peter said, whether it is right in the sight of God to hearken to you or to hearken to him, that's something you're going to have to decide.

[28:03] We've already made up our minds. We know what we have seen and heard, and there is no way that we can be silent about what we have seen and what we've heard. And they threatened them, and then eventually, they're going to beat them.

[28:15] And when you read in Acts chapter 4, the persecution begins. And it is Jews persecuting Jews. It is those in the rulership establishment who rejected Jesus as the Messiah, persecuting those who accepted him as Messiah and were proclaiming his resurrection and so on.

[28:38] And they were determined to shut them down. And the persecution began, and it's very important to note, they're in Acts chapter 4. And the chief persecutor was Saul of Tarsus.

[28:51] Wow. Now, what I want you to understand is this concept. What we are talking about with the establishment of the kingdom and the restoration of the kingdom of Israel is not just for Israel.

[29:08] It's for the whole globe. Now, to what extent Israel understood that, I don't know, but I think the Old Testament prophets made it quite clear that it would be a worldwide proposition.

[29:19] When Jesus returns as Messiah, he is going to rule over Israel, but it won't be just Israel. His headquarters will be Israel. He's going to rule over the entire planet.

[29:30] That's the thing to keep in mind. So, for all practical purposes, what we are saying is the kingdom restored to Israel is synonymous with the coming of the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God to planet earth.

[29:46] They are one and the same. There is no way that Israel could be restored in a monarchy without the rest of the world experiencing it and benefiting from it. And so many passages in the Old Testament that I eventually will get to explain what it's going to be like in the millennium.

[30:03] That's the thousand-year reign of Christ. And Christ will be ruling and reigning. He will be activated from Jerusalem. David the king will be resurrected. And others will be there.

[30:15] You will be there. I will be there. Who knows? There will be coming and going. We don't know what the assignments will be. They'll be all over the globe. It's going to be incredible. It's going to be for the first time since Genesis chapter 2 that the world will be as it ought to be.

[30:32] And that will last for a thousand years. And then something happens. And that's the final insurrection.

[30:43] We're talking a lot about insurrections today. This is a final insurrection. And it will be on behalf of those people who have been born during that thousand-year reign of Christ.

[30:56] Who have bodies just like yours and mine. They will not be glorified bodies. They will not be resurrected bodies. They will be bodies just like ours. But they will be far, far healthier and more benefited than ours.

[31:08] And yet, after a thousand years, they are going to rebel against authority. And this time, there will not be a battle. Christ will simply call down far from heaven.

[31:19] That will be the end of it. And then, for all practical purposes, that thousand-year reign of Christ extends into eternity. And it becomes the final state.

[31:32] The eternal state. And this is Revelation chapters 21 and 22. So, I want you to turn to, well, let's just, I want to have some Q&A and I better quit before we won't get there.

[31:46] Come to Deuteronomy chapter 28. Going back a long ways now, but this is, this is really, really important stuff. Deuteronomy chapter 28.

[31:58] This, this study, at least for me, I don't know what it has or will mean for you, but for me, it has caused my appreciation for the interconnectedness of the Bible to just mushroom all the more.

[32:15] I mean, you and I have little or no idea how incredibly amazing this book is that we have in front of us.

[32:28] I mean, we're so used to it and we're so accustomed to it and we think we know a little bit about it, but few of us recognize that it is the treasure that it is.

[32:42] But let's, let's go first to Deuteronomy 28 and verse, verse 13. Well, we'll start reading with verse 15, but I just want you to see there, there are Gerizim and there's, this is the time of the blessings and curses and Moses is delivering his swan song.

[33:04] He's going to be taken in death shortly after this. And verse one of chapter 28, Moses says, now it shall be if you see that condition, if you will diligently obey the Lord, your God, being careful to do all his commandments, which I command you today, the Lord, your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.

[33:29] And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you. If you will obey the Lord, your God, blessed shall you be in the city, blessed shall you be in the country, blessed shall be the offspring of your body, on and on and on.

[33:43] Blessings, blessings, blessings, blessings. You know, Israel has never fulfilled this kind of obedience. I mean, they never have. They never have. But they shall.

[33:55] And those who shall, and I believe the only ones who ever will, will be that small end time remnant of Jews who during the tribulation period will come to faith in Jesus as Messiah, perhaps, perhaps largely because of the 144,000 who will have their ministry then.

[34:22] And what, Joe? The law is going to be written on their hearts. Right. The law will be on their hearts. And it'll be a different, there'll be a different people. And this will be that small remnant.

[34:32] And they will fulfill those qualifications. And, and as a result, look at verse 13 or verse 12. Let's start verse 12. The Lord will open for you, his good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in the season.

[34:46] Bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations. You shall not borrow. This is if they, this is if they fulfill all of these conditions during time. And the Lord, verse 13 is very significant.

[34:58] And the Lord shall make you, Israel, you, the head and not the tail. What's that mean? It means just what it says.

[35:10] The head is the position of authority. It's the position of prominence. The tail is the lesser. The tail is, the tail is the bottom of the line.

[35:24] The tail is, is, is, is the end and the head is the beginning. The power and the authority and all that goes with it is in the head.

[35:36] And it's very clear in the statement that he makes you shall be the head, not the tail. And you shall only be above and you shall not be underneath.

[35:50] And by the way, where has Israel been since their first invasion? Underneath, underneath, underneath, persecuted, driven from land to land, persecuted, driven from land to land.

[36:08] There is a good reason why the Jew has been dubbed the wandering Jew. They've gone and settled in so many places that would accept them only to not tolerate them a generation or two later and the pilgrims would start and the persecution would begin and here they are, they're packing up, moving out again, trying to find a land someplace that will accept them.

[36:32] that's called being the tail. Alright? Now, in connection with that, following in this same passage, look at chapter 28 and verse 44.

[36:48] He shall lend to you. This is talking about but you shall not lend to him.

[37:04] He shall be the head and you will be the tail. Moses is saying there's two possibilities, Israel, and it depends on you and your behavior.

[37:16] What are you going to do? You want to be a head? You want to be a tail. One is to be desired. The other is to be avoided. Your behavior and your submission to Israel will determine which you are going to be.

[37:31] And then in verse 45, he says, So all these curses shall come on you and pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed because you would not obey the Lord your God by keeping his commandments and his statutes which he commanded you and they shall become a sign and a wonder on you and your descendants forever because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and a glad heart for the abundance of all things.

[38:04] Therefore, oh my, look at this, you shall serve your enemies. To how many nations has Israel been enslaved?

[38:19] A bunch of them. You shall serve your enemies whom the Lord shall send against you in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in the lack of all things.

[38:31] And he, the Lord, will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you. And the Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you shall not understand, a nation of fierce countenance who shall have no respect for the old nor show favor to the young.

[38:56] Moreover, it shall eat the offspring of your herd and the produce of your ground until you are destroyed, who also leaves you no grain, no wine, or oil, or increase of your herd or the young or of your flock until they have caused you to perish.

[39:10] And it shall besiege you in all your towns until all your high and fortified walls in which you trusted came down throughout your land and shall besiege you in all your towns throughout your land which the Lord your God has given you.

[39:23] That's what the nations that are surrounding Israel right now want to do. And Israel lives under a continual threat under a continual state of alert.

[39:34] Do you realize this tiny little nation devotes 90% of its income resources to defense?

[39:47] And they've got some of the most sophisticated stuff in the world to defend themselves to. And they know they know every every war Israel has been involved in since reestablished in 1948 beginning with the War of Independence and then the War of 1967 and the War of Yom Kippur and the War in 73 Israel won every one of those wars.

[40:20] They were not supposed to win any of them. And the point has been made very clear. And Israel I think it was I don't know which it might have been it was probably Netanyahu but anyway somebody was remarking and said it's truly amazing that Israel has been able to win all of the conflicts that it has been in.

[40:48] How do you account for that? And he simply said well we cannot afford to lose a war. All of those nations that we defeated they could live with their defeat but if we are defeated we cease to be.

[41:06] We're gone. We're out of business. We're done. First war we lose it's over. They know that and that's why they fight like they do. They're fighting for their survival. The other nations the seven Arab nations that surround them hate them despise them and are pledged to stamp them out.

[41:23] They could lose who knows how many wars and they have and they just go right on. It doesn't affect them that much but it would affect Israel eternally. I've got to quit but you've got some cute we've got to quit too.

[41:36] Time's almost up. Who's got a comment or a question? What Joe? You mentioned about God not giving up on the Israelite people first they rejected the father then they rejected Jesus at the cross and even after he was resurrected and came back he still tried to get them to accept him to be the king and say he hadn't given up on them yet until they rejected the third part of the triune God.

[42:11] They rejected the father the son and then they rejected the holy spirit and Stephen's message. Once they rejected all three of the triune gods that's when God said put them on hold you are off the scene for a while and I'm going to the Gentiles.

[42:30] Thank you Joe and the main reason don't ever lose sight of this the main reason that God still has a thing for the Jew and Israel that he cannot get over is because of the covenants that he made the unconditional covenants he made to Israel these are called unconditional because they were not made based on Israel's obedience obedience they were made based on God's faithfulness and that makes all the difference in the world and this by the way separates a great body of Christendom from itself because there are those who see the covenants that God made with Israel as being conditional and that Israel would have to fulfill them or God would reject them permanently well we fully agree

[43:31] God has rejected them temporarily but because we see the covenants as unconditional that means they are dependent on the faithfulness and integrity of the God who made the promise not upon the faithfulness of Israel to whom the promise was made that makes all the difference in the world between the conditional and the unconditional and those who say Israel is out of the picture permanently because they failed God they disobeyed God they rebelled against God God has written them off permanently and he has replaced them with the Christian church and we are now the new Israel we are the new chosen people and our contention as grace people is no we are not we are a highly favored highly honored highly blessed people but we are distinct from the covenants God made with Abraham we are not a people of covenant we are not covenant at all we are a grace people we're not linked with the covenants covenants are for

[44:38] Israel we are the mystery that's different that's an entirely different entity altogether marvelous marvelous I find it astounding that Israel has won all these wars and the the countries that have gone against them and the Christians who think God doesn't want anything to do with them anymore and they look at the reality of what happened and they don't have a clue to me it's got to be a satanic blindness or just a total self-centered I want it my way and I'm going to believe it this way and that's how it is yeah well and I appreciate that and you know in the series that I'm working on now on Christianity Clarified I don't remember which volume it is because they all kind of run together but I know it's in the 50s and I relate to and discuss how this concept of the church replacing Israel got started and I can see very easily how it happened

[45:47] I just want you to picture this and I'll be as brief as I can be because our time is gone but with the destruction with the destruction of Jerusalem and the annihilation of so many Jewish people in 586 and then God lets them come back to the land and then he allows a new neighbor well not a neighbor but a new world power to defeat them again and subject them and that's Rome in 70 AD and they leveled the city and they destroyed everything hey these are God's chosen people these are the people that's the apple of God's eye and he allows that to happen and then in 70 AD with the destruction of the city by the Romans and then captivity and then in Rome in one in 134

[46:49] AD while they were under the rebellion while they were under the authority of Rome they rebelled again under a man by the name of Bar Kokba who claimed that he was the Messiah and many Israelites got behind him and they rebelled against Rome and Rome came in again this time with a hammer and boy they leveled everything and they even changed the name of Jerusalem to Capilatina and they issued an edict that if any Jew sets foot in Jerusalem he's immediately to be put to death and if you are looking on all of these calamities and things that are happening to the Jew and these are God's chosen people what does God do with people he doesn't like if he's allowing all this to happen to the Jew what and their conclusion was faulty assumption it is very obvious look at what has happened God is finished with the Jew permanently

[47:50]  I can understand how they reached that conclusion and you know something I'm willing to admit if I had been living back then witnessing the same things I would have probably come to the same conclusion but it would have been a faulty conclusion and I'm sorry our time has gone I get excited about this stuff because it's all connected it's all connected and it's connected to where we're going thank you we've got to dismiss you we're all out of time