| April 28, 2002 | Thy Kingdom Come | Matthew 6:10 |
Notice anything different? Maybe some of you are wondering why
we have a different sort of banner hanging here today, the flag
of Israel? Because Israel is God's time clock to prophecy,
to end time events, what the Bible calls the Last Days, to the
2nd Coming of Jesus Christ.
There has been a lot of controversy in the media lately about
Israel, the Palestinians, the west bank, a Palestinian home land,
and a lot of that controversy comes from certain Christian denominations.
This is an article from the Times of London, April 4th, the Pope
accuses Israel of humiliating the Palestinians, and the Vatican
calls on Israel to withdraw from Palestinian areas.
Here is one from the Jerusalem Post, March 22nd, the Pope says
the Palestinians have the right to a national home land.
This is a press release from a group called the Churches for a
Middle East peace, which calls for Jerusalem to be shared between
Israel and the Palestinians, and calls for Israel to withdraw
from East Jerusalem. This group includes the Quakers, Catholic
Conference, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Church of
the Brethern, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Mennonites,
Presbyterian Church (USA) Unitarian Universalist Association,
the United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church.
Well that's all very nice, but what does the Bible say?
And this is one of those times when I am going to need to go off
in about 4 different directions, and bring several things into
the picture, and then tie them all together, so hang in there
with me.
If you have your Bibles with you today, and I hope you do, turn
to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6 and verse 9, and let's see
what it says. Jesus is about to teach His disciples how to pray,
and this is what He tells them: "After this manner therefore
pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth,
as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead
us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine
is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.
Amen."
Jesus gives those of us who belong to Him a very simple outline
of how to pray, and what to pray for. Remember who He is, and
what He is like: He is our heavenly Father, He is Holy and sinless,
He is perfect. He provides for our needs, He forgives us, and
He tells us to forgive others. We also need to ask Him to keep
us from temptation, and deliver us from the evils that are part
of this fallen, sinful world.
But notice the emphasis that is put on God's Kingdom. We
are to pray for it to come to earth. It is not just a heavenly
kingdom only, it is also to be an earthly kingdom. OK
- but where? And when? And how?
Within Christianity today, there are several different doctrinal
teachings, and they all involve some reference to a millennium,
a thousand year period when God literally rules the earth during
a time of peace and safety. Some Christians believe that Jesus
will return before the millennium, they are called pre millennnialists.
Some believe that Jesus will come back after a thousand year period
of peace and safety, they are called post millennialists. And
some believe that there is not really a thousand year period at
all, it is just symbolism, the Bible's references to a millennium
are just an allegory, and those folks are called amillennialists.
They say there is no millennium.
For the benefit of those of you that have not heard it before,
our position here is the same historic position that the early
church had, what the Bible refers to as a time period called the
last days, and the sequence is this:
There will come a time; unknown, imminent, could
happen at any moment, when Jesus returns briefly, invisibly, and
takes up, removes His church from off the earth, straight to heaven.
All those true believers who have trusted Him as Savior, who have
received Him as their atonement for sin will be taken away in
a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. This is what the church
calls the rapture, it is found in 1st Thessalonians 4:13, the
harpazo, the catching up, the snatching away of
believers from off the earth.
Then follows 7 years of tribulation, God's judgement on Israel
and the earth, climaxed by the literal, physical, visible return
of Jesus Christ. At that time, Satan is bound, and Christ rules
the earth for 1,000 years from the throne of David. At the end
of the 1,000 years, Satan is loosed for a little season, multitudes
follow him and revolt against Christ. He deals with them, and
then comes the last judgement, which is a judgement only of unbelievers,
followed by the creation of a new heavens and a new earth, and
entrance into eternity.
For those of us that understand the Bible literally, that is a
very brief summary of what the Bible teaches concerning the last
days, end time events, and the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ. There
are 1,845 references in the O.T. to Christ literally, physically
ruling and reigning on the earth. There are 318 in the N.T. Are
those promises true? Can we trust God to say what He means, and
mean what He says?
Let's talk about God's promises. Our God is a covenant making
God. Some of you already know these things, bear with me for the
sake of those who are not familiar with what I'm about to say,
because this will affect your whole way of looking at the Bible,
God, and His promises.
Turn back to the Old Testament book of Genesis chapter 12. I want
us to see how God's promises to Abraham, promises made to Abraham
thousands of years ago, affect us today, how they affect the way
we look at the Israeli/Palestinian situation, and even the Bible
itself.
Genesis 12:1 "Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee
out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's
house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
:2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee,
and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him
that curseth thee: -hold that thought- and in thee shall
all families of the earth be blessed."
Chapter 13, verse 14: " And the LORD said unto Abram, after
that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look
from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward,
and westward:
:15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give
it, and to thy seed for ever.
:16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that
if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy
seed also be numbered.
:17 Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and
in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee."
Notice the emphasis on the land.
Chapter 15, verse 5: "And he brought him forth abroad, and
said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able
to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
:6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness."
Did you know that this was when Abram got saved? And that he got
saved the same way that we do? Abram believed God's promises concerning
him, and God counted it to him for righteousness. If we believe
the promises of God, just like Abram did, then God counts it to
us as righteousness.
What is God's promise to us? That He sent His Son, Jesus Christ,
to die on a cross for us, to die in our place, an exchange of
His righteousness for our sins. He took our sins on Himself, He
was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. If we believe that, if receive it just as Abram received
God's promise to him, then God counts us as righteous for Jesus'
sake. When we believe and receive Jesus Christ as our substitute
for sin, God puts our sins on Him, and puts His righteousness
on us.
Is there anything that we have to do to earn it? Is there something
we need to do to pay for it? Look at how God sealed His covenant
with Abram:
Verse 7: "And he said unto him, I am the LORD that
brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land
to inherit it.
:8 And he said, LORD God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit
it?
:9 And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old,
and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old,
and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.
:10 And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst,
and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided
he not.
:11 And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove
them away.
:12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram;
and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him."
Then in verses 13 through 16, God makes a prophecy concerning
Israel going under bondage in Egypt, skip to verse 17:
:17 "And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and
it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that
passed between those pieces.
:18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying,
Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of
Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:"
Then in the next three verses, God also includes the peoples of
that land, including the Canaanites.
What we need to see, there was a cultural practice back then that
when two people made a most solemn covenant, they would make a
sacrifice, and cut the animals in half, and lay the two halves
of the animal on either side of a trench so that the blood ran
into the trench. Then they would both walk barefoot together through
the trench, and declare that if either of them broke the covenant,
then let their blood be as the shed blood of those animals.
God has Abram lay out the divided sacrificial parts of the animals,
but then God puts Abram to sleep and goes through it by Himself;
the smoking lamp and burning furnace. Think about what that means.
God is saying that He will keep the covenant all by Himself without
Abram's help.
It is a unilateral covenant. Abram is a party to
it, but he is not required to do anything, he
is not even permitted to do anything, God is going to
do it all. All Abraham is required to do is accept it and believe
it. And that is the same kind of covenant that God makes to us
in Jesus Christ. Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe, sin had
left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow. Without my help.
The work on the cross has been done, the price has been paid,
our responsibility is simply to believe it and receive it. We
cannot add to it or take away from it, we are merely responsible
to believe it and tell God that we want to accept it, become a
part of it.
Notice that God is going to take the land away from those peoples
mentioned in verses 19 through 21, and give it to Abraham's children.
Notice especially that in verse 21, one of those tribes are the
Canaanites. Yassar Arafat is on record as stating that the Palestinian
people are the descendants of the Canaanites. At least Arafat
is being honest for a change, because the Canaanites actually
are related to the Philistines, that's even where the word Palestinian
comes from, Philistine. For 3,400 years, the Philistines and the
Israelis have contended about that particular real estate, but
the bottom line is that God made an everlasting unconditional
covenant with Abram and gave the land to him.
God also made other covenants with Israel when they came out of
Egypt, covenants relating to keeping God's laws, but those
covenants were conditional covenants. If
you will do this, then I will do that.
If you will keep my laws, then I will bless
you, if you break my laws, then I
will run you out of this land and give this land to the Babylonians,
or the Romans, or whoever.
God temporarily put Israel out of the land at various times because
they broke His conditional covenants, but that doesn't effect
God's long term unconditional covenants. God made conditional
covenants for temporary situations, and He made unconditional
covenants that are eternal. Don't confuse things by thinking that
the temporary overrules the eternal, because it doesn't. When
God says forever, that is what He means: forever.
Let me ask a question: the part in verse 3 about God blessing
those who bless Abraham's people, and cursing those who curse
them: what implications does that have for us today? What effect
does that have on the United States' political relationship with
Israel today? Does that part of the covenant still count for anything?
Let me rephrase the question: why does our nation seem blessed
above any other nation in the world? This nation has some serious
problems with sin, why has God's judgement been withheld? Even
if you disregard all the other sins that go on in our nation,
the millions of babies that have died in this country from abortion
would call for judgement from God, but why does He delay in judging
us? Why does He still seem to continue blessing our country above
all other countries in the world? Because this country has
been a friend to Israel since Israel became a country.
Not as good as might have been, but still very helpful, very consistent
in blessing Israel, and I believe that is why God
continues to bless our country. I believe that when the time comes
that our country turns it's back on Israel, God will turn His
back on our country.
Does that mean that Israel is a perfect place, that they can do
no wrong? Of course not. Spiritually, the are still blinded to
their Messiah, Jesus. Politically, socially, morally, Israel is
about average. But Israel's morals or current spiritual blindness
do not change God's covenant with Abraham. Remember, God went
through the blood by Himself, Abraham didn't.
The eternal covenant doesn't depend on the faithfulness of Abraham
or his heirs, it depends on the faithfulness of God. Therefore,
when God's timetable of the last days requires it, when God starts
to put things in place for the Last Days to start to come into
alignment, then God can also put unbelieving Jews back into their
promised land even in their unbelief.
Because God honors His covenant, those nations -like the United
States- who honor even an unbelieving Israel, God will honor.
Those who bless even an unbelieving Israel, He will
bless. Not because Israel is worthy, but because God honors
His covenants, God keeps His Word.
Which gets us back to where we started. Why is it that some denominations
within Christianity do not recognize the current nation of Israel,
in the land of Israel, as something that God is doing? Because
of how they interpret the Bible. It makes a huge difference
whether you believe the Bible means what it says and says what
it means, or whether you think it is a collection of spiritualized
allegories. Let me show you why:
Back in 325 AD, Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity. Two
emperors later, Christianity became the state religion of the
Roman Empire. That was not entirely good. Picture yourself as
a preacher way back then, and as one of your sermon topics, as
you preach your way through the Bible, one day you need to get
up in the pulpit and preach that soon Jesus is going to return
and overthrow all earthly powers and rule the earth from the throne
of David. Ever heard of job security? That kind of preaching was
not politically correct. The Roman government would take a very
dim view of pastors teaching such a doctrine. So the church changed
it's teaching.
During that time, the church had turned away from a literal understanding
of the Bible, the thinking was, that most all the writings in
the Bible were allegorical, they were not intended to be taken
literally, instead they had a deeper, mystical, spiritual meaning.
Consequently, it became very easy to rethink their doctrines of
the last days, and instead of Jesus Christ coming literally to
rule and reign on the earth, instead He comes only to
rule and reign in the hearts of believers.
The eternal promises that were made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
and their heirs were erroneously transferred totally to the church.
Instead of God's promises to Abraham's heirs being fulfilled to
his literal heirs, the promises were now to be fulfilled only
to the church, the church had become the spiritual heirs of Abraham,
and the natural heirs -the Jews- were set aside.
By the time of the middle ages, the official doctrine of the church
was amillennialism, there was not going to be any literal return
of Christ to rule and reign on the earth, the church
had become spiritual Israel, the inheritors of God's
promises to Abram, and national Israel - the Jews - had been evicted
from all of God's plans for the future. The church taught that
when the nation of Israel rejected Christ, then God rejected them.
This is how anti-semitism in the church got started, and continued
to increase until the Spanish Inquisition, when more than 1,000
Jews were burnt alive, and nearly 200,000 were persecuted and
had their property confiscated. Did you ever wonder how Ferdinand
and Isabella financed Christopher Columbus's ocean voyages? Now
you know.
Church anti-semitism continued with the Pope ignoring what went
on during WW2, the holocaust, when roughly 6 million Jews died.
And today the Pope is calling for Israel to divide it's land up
with the Palestinians. The point I am trying to make is
that the way that you understand the Bible will determine your
world view. If you believe that God uses the Bible to
say what He means, and means what He says, you will have one world
view. If you believe that God uses the Bible to speak in mysteries
and hidden riddles, then you will have a very different world
view.
So today we have some segments
of the Christian church that believe that God is done with the
Jews, and others -like us- that believe God still has plans for
the Jews. Turn to Romans 11, the apostle Paul is
speaking here.
Verse 1: "I say then, Hath God cast away his people?"
-and the references to His people in this chapter refers to the
Jews- "God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed
of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
:2 God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew."
Skip to verse 11: "I say then, Have they stumbled that they
should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall
salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them
to jealousy.
:12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world,
and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how
much more their fulness?"
Paul is saying that the blindness of Israel toward Jesus Christ
right now is to the benefit of those of us who are not Jews, those
of us who are Gentiles. But Paul also speaks of a time when the
Jews will come into fulness. If that is true, and it is, then
the setting aside of the Jews was and is temporary, and God obviously
still has plans for them.
Verse 25: "For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant
of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits;
that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until
the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
:26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There
shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness
from Jacob:
:27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take
away their sins."
When Jesus Christ returns, at that time God will take away the
ungodliness of the Jews, they will be converted. God knows that
they are currently in unbelief, and He is using their unbelief
in Jesus for our blessing:
Verse 28: "As concerning the gospel, they are enemies
for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are
beloved for the father's sakes.
:29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance."
God has not and will not back out
of the eternal covenant He made with Abram.
Several important points: there is a spiritual blindness on Israel
at this time, it has lasted for more than two thousand years,
but it is not permanent. It lasts until what the Bible calls the
fullness of the gentiles has come in. Right now, the words of
Jesus about Jerusalem are being fulfilled, "...Jerusalem
shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the
Gentiles be fulfilled." (Luke 21:24) There is an Islamic
mosque sitting on top of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and Moslem
gentiles are trampling all through it. How much longer will it
continue? Who knows?
God is calling people to Christ from all over the world, primarily
the non-Jewish gentile world. Someday, that number is going to
be full. Nobody knows when. But at that time, when the church
is complete, then Jesus removes His church from this earth to
be with Him, and God's focus is then on dealing primarily once
again with Israel, not the church. His purpose then is to turn
them to His Son, Jesus Christ, Yeshua Ha'Masiach
- Jesus the Messiah, and to use them as witnesses to the rest
of the world that His promises, His covenants, and His judgements
will indeed come to pass.
That time is drawing closer. God has been putting that covenant
people back in His land, the land that He promised
to Abram thousands of years ago. God is keeping His promise, and
the land is part of that promise.
Lets take a look at that land. What exactly did God promise Abram?
How big a piece of land was God talking about? Where did it extend
to? And how does it fit in with present day real estate? And what
about the Palestinians? Where do they fit in?
We all know that the Romans ruled Israel during the time of Christ.
In 70 AD, there was a revolt against the Romans, by 73 AD it was
over, and the Romans were not happy. They trashed the country,
dug up the olive trees, destroyed all the villages, and renamed
it Palestina, which was a slap at the Jews, they named it after
the Philistines. They renamed Jerusalem Aelia Capitolina, and
gradually the country became largely uninhabited.
Everybody here has heard of Mark Twain, Mark Twain did other things
besides write about Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, he also traveled
the world. Here is his description of Israel as it appeared back
in 1867, 130 years ago: "There is not a solitary village
throughout its whole extent of the valley of Jezreel not for 30
miles in either direction... One may ride 10 miles hereabouts
and not see 10 human beings. For the sort of solitude to make
one dreary, come to Galilee... Nazareth is forlorn... Jericho
lies a moldering ruin... Bethlehem and Bethany, in their poverty
and humiliation...are untenanted by any living creature... A desolate
country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to
weeds... a silent, mournful expanse... a desolation...We never
saw a human being on the whole route... Hardly a tree or shrub
anywhere. Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends
of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country... Palestine
sits in sackcloth and ashes...desolate and unlovely...
Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad, 1867.
In 1917, Britain controlled all of present day Jordan, Israel,
and much of southern Syria. There was an agreement made called
the Balfour Declaration, which was intended to give all that land
to the Jewish people for a national homeland. It looked like this.
(Transparency showing present day nation of Israel and the present nation of Jordan, all of which was originally intended for the Jews)
But in 1939, Britain decided to cut back on the land available
to the Jews, and give the Arabs, the Palestinians, the whole plot
of land east of the Jordan River, called Trans-Jordan, as a home
land for the arabs, and also a large portion of what is present
day Israel, which you can see in this transparency.
(Transparency showing present day nation of Israel, showing Israel with West Bank of the Jordan area removed, Gaza strip removed)
Whenever the question comes up about a homeland for the Palestinians,
the original British plan was for them to have all of present
day Jordan, and Britain actually gave Jordan to an Arab Sheik.
The present day kingdom of Jordan -which is largely uninhabited-
was created by Britain specifically for the use of the Palestinians.
Here on this map of the present day Middle East you can see all
the major players around Israel; Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan,
Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq off to the east.
(Transparency showing Middle East, includes Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Arab Peninsula of Egypt.)
And this is an overview of the land that God had promised to Abram.
And to his heirs forever.
(Transparency showing land belonging to Abram's heirs. Includes northern Saudi Arabia, Arab Peninsula of Egypt, Irag west of the river Euphrates, southern half of Syria, southern 2/3rds of Lebanon, northern 2/3rds of Jordan, and all of present day Israel)
So when the question comes up about Israel giving land to the Palestinians, maybe instead we ought to ask the question about Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan and Iraq giving their land to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob instead. But I wouldn't hold my breath.
What happens next? What should our attitude as Bible believing
Christians be? Pray for your leaders. Pray that God will give
them wisdom to bless Israel, and not curse them. Look at all the
countries in the world today that have stood against Israel: the
middle eastern countries, Germany, France, England, Russia, does
it appear that compared to the United States, they are being blessed
by God, or cursed? If the day comes that we turn our backs on
Israel, then we will be in the same boat as those other countries.
Not that Israel is helpless, far from it. The United States has
13 divisions of ground troops scattered all over the world, Israel
has 19 divisions in a country smaller than the state of Maryland.
Our air force is capable of flying 1,600 combat missions a day,
they have the capability of flying 3,000 combat missions a day.
They have three submarines; the Dolphin, the Leviathin, and the
Tekumah, with 24 nuclear tipped cruise missiles apiece, two of
them are on station continuously in the Mediterranean and the
Red Seas as a deterrent to their enemies. Jane's Intelligence
Review believes that Israel currently has 400 nuclear weapons
with short and long range missile delivery systems, so their problem
is not strategic defense, it is politics and terrorism. And media
lies. Did you know that Peter Jennings was once married to a Lebanese
Palestinian woman? So you know he's unbiased...
Several years ago, we were in Israel, and watched a situation
between some settlers and some Palestinians atop the Mount of
Olives. We also watched the CNN helicopter flying around taking
footage; that night we watched the news report on the incident
on CNN. A real eye opener for me. It was totally biased. Totally
one sided. Not news; propaganda. Anti-semitism is on the rise,
in lots of places, and even in parts of the church. Pray for God
to show His truth on the matter. Pray for wisdom not to be deceived.
Meanwhile, there is a continuously growing number of Jewish people
who are realizing that Jesus Christ is their Messiah, and they
have received Him as their Savior. It seems that most all of them
have a burden for their unsaved people. Pray for them, that they
would be able to make the Messiah known to their brothers and
sisters.
Pray for God's Kingdom to come soon. Everything is in place. Prophetically,
there is nothing lacking for Jesus Christ to return and take His
people away, and start the clock running for the last days, end
time events. Are you ready? After thousands of years,
Bible prophecy is as real as current events, the times of the
gentiles are drawing to a close, and God is preparing to put His
events of the last days into action. Are you ready?
If Jesus Christ returns for His church this year, this month,
or even in the next few hours, will you be outta here? Or will
you be left behind?
How do you know? And how do you know you know? Have you ever done
business with God? The Father and the Son have an eternal covenant
to redeem lost sinners, a covenant sealed with the blood of Christ,
shed on a cross, and Jesus tells us that all who come to Him He
will in no way cast out, but are you part of that covenant?
Have you ever received Jesus Christ as your personal Savior? Have
you ever bowed your knee before Christ and admitted that you are
a sinner, unable to save yourself, unable to make yourself acceptable
to a holy God, and asked Jesus Christ to save you? If not, why
not?
Do you believe that He died to save you? If you do, then you need
to tell Him you want to receive Him as your Savior, you want to
be a part of that eternal covenant, you want His blood to atone
for your sins.
Let me invite you to come and receive the free gift He offers
to you today, accept the salvation that He has provided for you.
It is a free gift, but it does you no good unless you receive
it. It is like a check made out to eternal life, it does you no
good until you endorse your name on it.
Would you like to come and receive Jesus Christ as your Savior
today? Is He calling on you to come? If you feel an impulse to
come to Christ, if there is an urging in your mind, in your spirit,
that is the Holy Spirit dealing with you, urging you to receive
Christ as your Savior. Will you do it? Is He speaking to you right
now? What will your answer be to Him?
Let's pray.