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[0:00] Well, we are taking a brief hiatus from studying anything verse by verse, but I do want to remind you that very shortly now, we will be engaging our verse by verse analysis of the book of Hebrews, and I can promise you some really extraordinary things that are found in that book that are very often misunderstood by the Christian community simply because they have such an intense Jewish flavor to them.

[0:33] And after all, what would you expect from a letter that is written to the Hebrews? It is as Jewish as you can get, and we will be able to extract from that some things that I think you will find to be really startling and comforting and enlightening, at least it has been to me.

[0:56] And I also want to assure you that I have not forgotten the subject that we were going to deal with that was brought up some time ago regarding venturing out on faith and trusting the Lord as opposed to being presumptuous and jumping into something and then expecting the Lord to bail you out.

[1:21] And there is a lot of that. There is a lot of that that is going on, too, and I can speak to some of that from personal experience, and I am sure some of you can as well. So we want to deal with the aspects of that as well.

[1:32] But for right now, we are considering just briefly, maybe for just a couple of more sessions, a concept that I personally refer to as a breakthrough thing, at least for me.

[1:46] And I don't know whether it will be for you or not, but it has been an enormous eye-opener for me. And the concept that I am going to share with you is one that has given me, personally, some insight to the cohesiveness of Scripture and the way things fit together that I could never make fit before.

[2:11] And they fit now. And I'm not saying I've got all of the I's dotted and all of the T's crossed, but I can say that my level of satisfaction and confidence in Scripture and its inspiration has enormously increased as a result of this.

[2:32] And we've already broached the subject just a little bit, but let me run by you the major concepts, and we will get into it, and we'll welcome your Q&A.

[2:44] I've got my Bible right here, and if yours is like mine, probably similar, I have a whole page that is dedicated to New American Standard Bible.

[2:58] At the bottom it says, New Testament. And there is a similar expression at the beginning of what is called the Old Testament.

[3:09] And I think it is safe to say that everybody pretty much knows and has adopted this concept of the Old and the New Testament. And I am going so far as to tell you that I challenge that concept that has stood for so long, simply because I don't think it is at all correct.

[3:33] And I think that it does obscure the truth of what we really have here. And what I mean is this. When we consider what we call the Old Testament, it begins with Genesis, and it ends with Malachi.

[3:54] 39 books commonly referred to as the Old Testament. And if you would, please, let's turn to the very last one of those books, which is, of course, Malachi.

[4:08] The prophet Malachi in the Old Testament. Now, in the Hebrew Bible, Malachi is not the last book in the Hebrew Bible.

[4:20] Second Chronicles is. But the content of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible regarding the Old Testament is the same.

[4:33] In other words, we have the same content, same verbiage. It's just that in the Hebrew Bible, they are arranged a little different. And they have a total of 25 books.

[4:46] We have 39 books. They have only 25 because they put 1 and 2 Samuel as one book. 1 and 2 Kings as one book. And we count them as two.

[4:57] We count the 12 minor prophets as 12 books. But in the Hebrew Bible, they're counted as one book. All of the minor prophets. And a few other variations like that.

[5:08] But overall, the same number of books and the same content is there in the Christian Bible as opposed to the Hebrew Bible.

[5:18] Very same content. Just arranged a little differently and numbered a little differently. Now, when you look at the very last chapter of the book of Malachi, in chapter 4, we read verse 4, Remember the law of Moses, my servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel.

[5:45] Now, I want to emphasize again at the expense of sounding like a broken record, note the exclusivity of those people involved. It is for all Israel.

[5:57] It is not for all the world. Not for the Assyrians. Not for the Egyptians. Not for the Babylonians. For Israel.

[6:09] For the Jewish people. Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord.

[6:22] Now, where is Elijah the prophet at the time Malachi was writing this? Gone.

[6:35] Taken from heaven in a chariot of fire. Remember that? But he is well off the scene. And had been for hundreds of years. Now, Malachi is saying through the inspiration of the Spirit of God that Malachi is going to return in this capacity.

[6:56] I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. And he will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers lest I come and smite the land with a curse.

[7:20] Now, that's where what we normally call the Old Testament ends. And when you come over just a couple of pages, we have what is referred to as the beginning of the New Testament.

[7:37] And that's where I think we have gone astray. It is not the beginning of the New Testament at all. It is a continuation of the Old Testament.

[7:53] With, and this is the thing that throws us, with a 400 year time gap in between the writing of Malachi and the opening of Matthew.

[8:09] And that, I think, really tends to throw us off. But what I am suggesting is that the Malachi prophecy regarding Elijah is potentially fulfilled in John the baptizer.

[8:31] Now, where in the world do we get that? These are two different entirely personalities. But, and I don't know if it's Matthew or Luke.

[8:42] Maybe somebody could look it up. But the disciples ask our Lord, Why do the prophets say that Elijah must come first?

[8:55] And Jesus answered and says, John is Elijah if you will accept it.

[9:07] And the key is, the Jewish people to whom John came and preached the gospel of the kingdom and baptized people and baptized Jesus, John was not received, was not accepted by the Jewish establishment, the hierarchy.

[9:29] They regarded John as a false prophet. One whom they should not believe. And they didn't believe it.

[9:40] And these are they of whom John the baptist said, Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? You brood of vipers. And he really read them out. They delegitimized John even though he was definitely sent from God.

[9:56] And John's gospel, this is by a different John, this is John the son of Zebedee that wrote John's gospel, made it very clear there was a man sent from God whose name was John.

[10:11] And that was John the Baptist. That was John the son of Zebedee talking about John the Baptist coming. And the Jewish people as a nation rejected John.

[10:21] And they rejected John's message. And it was John who introduced Jesus as the Messiah to Israel. And he said, That's the reason I come baptizing.

[10:34] That I may introduce to Israel the Messiah. And Israel's final answer was, We will not have this man to reign over us. And they rejected him.

[10:45] So, what I am suggesting is, and hold on to your seats because this is going to be a, this is going to be a difficult one for you to buy.

[10:56] But I am totally convinced of its truthfulness. What we have in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, in the first few chapters of the book of Acts, is a continuation of the Old Testament.

[11:14] It is not the introduction of the New Testament at all. And there's one really, really important word that I wish we could adopt and get burned into our brains because it is very, very important.

[11:29] and that is the word Testament has no legitimacy at all in the Old or in the New.

[11:40] The word we ought to be using consistently is translated directly from the Greek and from the Hebrew. I don't know what it is from the Hebrew because I don't know Hebrew, but I do know a little Greek and it's diatheke.

[11:53] And diatheke in the Greek, every single time the word is used means covenant, not testament. Covenant.

[12:05] And that's a big difference because a covenant is a kind of contract that is entered into. A testament, as we think of it in our terms, is entirely different because a covenant is always between two parties.

[12:20] A testament is the kind of thing that the testator leaves in a will when they know they're going to die sometime and they want to leave certain things to those who are left behind so they draw up what we call a last will and testament.

[12:41] And that is a one-sided thing. The person who is the recipient who is going to inherit the things really has nothing to say about it.

[12:52] And they have no legal recourse. And sometimes they're even surprised by what the testator left them because they didn't even know they were going to be included. That's different from a covenant.

[13:04] And we will see how dramatic that difference is a little bit later. Now, nobody has any difficulty, I don't think, of seeing the covenant that God made with Abraham as a covenant, the covenant that God made with David as a covenant, as a promise, the covenant that God made with Moses, it's called the Mosaic covenant that contained the law and all of the promises.

[13:33] None of these are testaments. These are covenants. And that's the way the Jewish people accepted them, read them, understood them, and activated them. And in Jeremiah, let's go to Jeremiah 31.

[13:48] We've been there before just a little bit, but it is so critical that we've got to touch on it again. And I want to remind you that Jeremiah was written approximately 600 years before Christ was born.

[14:05] And in Jeremiah 31, in verse 31, I'm skipping some of this for time's sake, but verse 31, Jeremiah says, Behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

[14:31] Now, at the time he said that, Judah and Israel were divided, northern and southern kingdom. And what Jeremiah wants to make clear here is that this covenant is going to include all of the Jews.

[14:46] Not just the ten tribes in the north or the two tribes in the south, but it's going to be. In other words, it impers that there's going to be a reuniting of those ten tribes into one unit again, even as they are today.

[14:59] So, we read that a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.

[15:18] And this is clearly a reference to the Mosaic covenant that God delivered through Moses. My covenant which they broke.

[15:30] And they broke it consistently and continually. and it got them in a whole lot of trouble. Although, I was a husband to them, declares the Lord.

[15:42] Now, he's using this analogy because what he is charging Israel with is infidelity. Spiritual infidelity. He is saying in the same way that a wife can leave her faithful husband and take up with another man, that's the same way Israel has left their faithful God and has taken up with other gods which are no gods.

[16:14] They're idols. This is paganism, heathenism. And they were infected by the false religions of the neighbors who lived around them. And that's why he is saying he's going to bring a new covenant.

[16:28] This, verse 33, this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my law within them and on their heart.

[16:41] I will write it and I will be their God and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach again each man his neighbor and each man his brother saying, Know the Lord.

[16:52] For they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more. Now my question is this.

[17:08] Has that covenant ever been activated? No, no, no. Not to the second covenant. Not to the second covenant. Okay. He's going to lay it on the heart. He says in Revelation he's going to put the law on their hearts at that time.

[17:18] Okay. It's got to be the second covenant. Now, let's go to Matthew let's see near the end Matthew 26 Matthew 26 verse 28 this is the last supper.

[17:55] This is the night that Jesus was betrayed in a matter of hours he's going to be on the cross. And he knows that but the twelve do not.

[18:06] They do not realize that. In verse 26 it says while they were eating Jesus took bread and after a blessing he broke it and gave it to the disciples and said take eat this is my body.

[18:24] and he took a cup this was a common cup and he gave thanks and gave it to them saying drink from it all of you for or because this cup is my blood of the covenant my blood of the covenant which is to be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins.

[18:59] Now here is a really really important distinction that I want to make guys and that is this when Jesus died on the cross and shed his blood he made provision for the establishment of the new covenant in the same way that Moses took the blood from animals he sprinkled it on the books of Paul and he sprinkled the people and that was the ratifying of the covenant that cemented the deal between Israel and God and it was it was it was ratified with animal blood that lends a degree of solemnity to it because that blood represents a life that had been surrendered a life that had been sacrificed to produce that blood and that's what joined those together and when Jesus said this cup represents or is the new covenant in my blood not the animal blood he was laying the foundation he was providing the basis for that covenant to be established he laid the groundwork for it and

[20:25] God his father was already on board with that concept Christ the son was going to pour out his life and his blood to provide the basis for establishing that new covenant and because a covenant is always between two parties party of the first part the Lord Jesus Christ with God the father having supported it having sent him for that very purpose the party of the second part who Jews Israel Jeremiah 31 they are the recipients of that new covenant now here is the question when did Israel sign on they haven't yet does anybody believe they have pardon no of course not not as a nation what was the response of the nation when they were presented with the benefits and the accomplishment of the death of Christ what was the response of the nation yeah they rejected now what I'm saying is this this being the case the new covenant has never yet come into force it is still held in abeyance now let's go to

[22:10] Hebrews chapter 8 Hebrews chapter 8 chapter 8 chapter 8 and we're going to read begin reading I'll begin with verse 1 but I'll read fast so follow along Hebrews 8 1 the writer says now the main point and what has been said is this we have such a high priest of course he's speaking of Christ who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched not man for every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices hence it is necessary that this high priest meaning Christ also have something to offer now if he were on earth he would not be a priest at all since there are those who offer the gifts according to the law who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things just as

[23:20] Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle for see says he that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown to you on the mountain that's Mount Sinai but now he has this is Christ he has obtained a more excellent ministry by as much as he also is the mediator of a better covenant what's the better covenant it's the new covenant as opposed to the old covenant which has been enacted on better promises for if that first covenant that was Moses had been faultless there would have been no occasion sought for a second in other words if the first covenant the one established through Moses had been able to accomplish everything that needed to be accomplished there wouldn't be any need for another covenant but it was lacking now this does not cast dispersion upon the covenant or the

[24:29] God who gave it but it does cast some dispersion upon those to whom the covenant was given because remember what Paul said in Romans 8 for what the law could not do in that it was weakened through the flesh there was nothing wrong with the law but the law was given to faulty human beings who were unable to keep the law that's the main reason God gave the law it wasn't so that you live by the law you keep the law and you have eternal life that was never the intent by the law is the knowledge of sin God's law is perfect but the people to whom it was given was not and it was designed to show these people that they fall short of the standard of God and that they cannot keep what

[25:30] God required so a new covenant verse 7 for if that first covenant had been faultless there would have been no occasion sought for a second for finding fault with them that is the Israelites God says behold through Jeremiah here we've got a quote behold days are coming says the Lord when I will effect a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of what's he doing here he's quoting Jeremiah 31 that's what he's doing not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt they did not continue in my covenant I did not care for them this is a covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days I put my laws into their minds this is a whole new thing my contention is this has never yet happened not to this day now here is where the confusion comes in and this is big time confusion there are those in

[26:39] Christendom and they may even make up the majority who say ah the new covenant has been enacted it is being fulfilled it is being realized right now but it's not in Israel it's in the church this is the backbone of replacement theology this says the church has replaced the nation of Israel and the new covenant that was intended for Israel because they rejected it God has instead given it to the church and it is now being fulfilled in the church this is probably the majority view in Christendom today and I am satisfied that it is a complete error what I am suggesting is that

[27:50] Matthew Mark Luke and John are all just as Jewish as is Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy and as you read through the four gospels you find almost no mention of non-Jews at all and wherever a Gentile surfaces they are an anomaly this woman this this Canaanite woman that came to him said Lord I beseech you on behalf of my daughter that you will heal and she wasn't Jewish she didn't even call her a dog yes he said it is not appropriate for me to take the children's food which means food for the Jew and give it to the dogs what Jesus is calling this woman a dog well all of the Jews called all of the

[28:52] Gentiles dogs and the reason they did for one for starters is because dogs would eat anything and so would Gentiles but Jews had this strict diet you know they wouldn't eat pork they wouldn't eat seafood they wouldn't you know this kind of thing and Jesus said and she said this woman said she was persistent you know this is a mother's heart who was concerned for her child and she said she didn't argue with him she said I understand that Lord but but even even the little household dogs get to eat the crumbs that fall from the table and she said would you just think of me as one of the little dogs in need of a crumb and and Jesus said I have not found such great faith no not in Israel and he healed her daughter fellas that was a major exception that and when Jesus called the twelve remember in Matthew 10 he gave them strict words

[29:55] I can't believe I can't believe myself how I was able to overlook this for so long without asking the right questions called the twelve gave them authority over unclean spirits the ability to heal the sick and all the rest and he said I'm sending you to the house of and he said do not do not go in the way of the Gentiles don't go to Samaria confine your ministry to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and as you go preach the kingdom of heaven is at hand heal the sick give sight to the blind cast out demons he gave them authority they didn't have of themselves and all of this is in fulfillment of what the Messiah would do when he came Joe that woman who came and I that story that occurred with Jesus that made a great mother's day sermon yes it would there was a mother's heart there and a mother goes to bat for her kids like something that fathers don't know anything about because it's a special kind of bond there with motherhood and this is played out and there are other instances in the gospels where we find this kind of abnormality as well and this is exactly what I mean when I made the statement a number of times

[31:27] Jesus did not come to the world he came to Israel he came unto his own and his own received him not Jesus didn't come to the world he came to Israel for the world and Israel is to be the catalyst nation because that's the nation that's going to produce the Messiah and that will be applicable for the whole world for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son Joe in that story remember how he waited in silence he didn't respond to her why did he do that why did Jesus not respond to her right away and say give his statement he did later that you quoted there he waited he waited because he loves all men he loves everyone he loves us he loved her but it wasn't God's plan at that time for her it wasn't God's plan he wasn't ready for her so he had to follow his father he was obeying his father's orders

[32:33] God's orders by not responding and his disciples said send her away you know and that's when he responded finally when they got on him he was in a conflict within himself I love this woman I care but I can't do it that's not God's plan now because the Jews are the ones to win the Gentiles the Jews when I win them they are to win me and his treatment of her made that very obvious yes exactly appreciate that some other comment or question so now here's the thing when we go from the gospels into the book of Acts there is just there's less than two months involved because Jesus spent 40 days on earth after his resurrection and the general thought is and this too goes along with what I've been saying about why I think there's a great misunderstanding the general thought among

[33:36] Christendom is that when the Jewish people instigated contributed to connived to bring Jesus to Pilate for his execution that resulted in his death on the cross so many see that as the end of Israel right there that God was done with Israel because that was their final answer to the Messiah and God is saying alright you Jews I've had it with you you're gone I'm going to bring in a whole new people and they are going to be called Gentiles they are non-Jews that's the standard party line and I think that is where we go astray and I'll tell you why because this kingdom that was to be offered to Israel which they rejected the offer was not withdrawn with the death of

[34:38] Christ and what I base that on was one of the things that Jesus said from the cross was father forgive them they don't know what they're doing of whom was he speaking I think he was speaking primarily of the Jewish nation these were the ones who stood in the crowd and said we have no king but Caesar crucify him crucify him those were not Romans that were saying that they were not pagan Gentiles that were saying that they were Jews that were saying that shall I crucify your king Pilate said facetiously we have no king but Caesar well what a lie and when Jesus asked his father to forgive them for crucifying him I cannot believe that the request for their forgiveness from the son to the father could go unheeded I think

[35:38] God did forgive them and after the crucifixion after 40 days on earth after another 10 days to Pentecost we've got 50 days after the crucifixion which by the way is the meaning of the word Pentecost means 5 or 50 Peter stands and delivers this message and when you look at Acts 2 it is very very apparent that out of all of these people from all over the Mediterranean world Parthians and Medes and Elamites and Mesopotamians and Jews and others they are all Jews and they are attending the Jewish feast exclusively for Jews in fact Gentiles were not even allowed and that was the feast of Pentecost and Peter delivered that message and it was accompanied by miraculous languages being spoken that these people hadn't learned because they had a language barrier between them they were all Jews in their religion but they came from all these different places in the

[36:48] Mediterranean world where they had grown up speaking their own dialect and their own language and when they got together in Jerusalem they couldn't communicate so God simply reversed the tower of people that confounded the languages and he unloosed them so that every man heard them in their own tongue which was tremendous miracle no question about it and there Peter was saying to the people that Jesus was the Messiah he was crucified God raised him from the dead and I want you people of Israel to know the door of opportunity is still open even after you crucified the Messiah God is still extending the hand of grace and peace to you and if you will now embrace this Jesus of Nazareth as your

[37:49] Messiah you can be saved and 3,000 of them responded I shudder to think how many did not respond because I think there were a lot more that didn't than did and all they had to do was repent and believe the Messiah that Jesus was the Son of God and be baptized physically baptized that was the program that hadn't changed the church hadn't been coming again and it would have been John's baptism it would not have been the introduction of a new thing called Christian baptism it would be the baptism that they were already familiar with that many of them had already rejected and remember Luke tells us that the leadership of Israel the scribes and Pharisees with whom Christ did almost daily combat it says it says they rejected the counsel of God against themselves not being baptized of John they rejected

[38:56] John and they rejected John's message and they rejected John's Messiah Yeshua Hamashiach and when Peter preaches that message he is opening the door of opportunity remember to whom was given the keys of the kingdom Peter he's using them he is saying repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus the Messiah the one whom you earlier rejected now if you will do a 180 and repent change your mind because you recognize you were wrong and to demonstrate that you have changed your mind you should be happy to be baptized for the remission of sin and 3,000 of them were and what happens as you move on through the book of

[39:59] Acts it is not Israel embracing Yeshua Hamashiach as their Messiah it is Israel that begins a campaign of persecution against the twelve apostles and eventually most of them are martyred well that means the basis for the new covenant has been laid in the death of Christ but the new covenant has never yet come into fruition it has never been activated because Israel has not signed on this last thing I want to close with and enjoy your breakfast and I let you go when Moses gave the terms of the covenant to the Jewish people their response was all that the Lord has spoken will we do in other words

[41:03] Moses you tell God he's got a deal sign on we agree but that has never been forthcoming in the book of Acts they have not signed on what I am saying is the new covenant promised by Jeremiah for Israel for Israel and Judah has never yet come into being because the second party to the covenant is lacking they have not signed on and they will during the tribulation period in the book of the revelation so that's something for you to chew on and what I would like you to do and I'm really serious about this if you can find some chinks in this armor if you can find a place where we have misunderstood misinterpreted misapplied this

[42:06]  I would be deeply gratified if you would let me know because I think we're under something here and yet I want to be thorough in this consideration and this presentation so if you have objections to this I do hope that you feel free to voice them and I promise you won't hurt my feelings and you won't offend me we're here looking for truth we're looking for information and besides I've been proved wrong enough times in my life now that my ego has gotten used to it and doesn't bother me like it used to