So, are the Jewish people still God's chosen people? That and answers to all your questions. The phone lines are open. It's time for The Line of Fire with your host, biblical scholar and cultural commentator, Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity. Call 866-34-TRUTH to get on The Line of Fire.
And now, here's your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome to The Line of Fire. We are here today to infuse you with faith, the truth, and courage to help you stand strong on the front lines. Any question of any kind, be it a follow-up to the debate from Wednesday night, be it some theology question you've been wrestling with, be it some cultural issue you differ with me on, if you want to make a point and challenge me, 866-34-8-7-8-8-4 is the number to call. Friend, follow, critic, phone lines are open to you. 866-34-TRUTH. So, we are now putting together our material for the next frontline newsletter scheduled to go out early next week or by the middle of next week. We'd love to get it to you. You'll be blessed, edified, encouraged, helped, strengthened.
It's rich, it's free, it's digital. Go to thelineoffire.org, thelineoffire.org. Click subscribe. We would love to get that right out to you. 866-34-TRUTH. The first question I want to address today is the question of the debate Wednesday night, are the Jewish people still chosen? And as I said, out of the gate, my opening statement that salvation is only found in Jesus, Yeshua, for Jew or Gentile. Everyone who rejects Jesus, the Messiah, Jesus the Savior, Jesus the Lord, everyone who rejects Him is lost, is outside of God's grace, is outside of salvation, is under God's judgment, will not receive eternal life. It is only found in Jesus. So, I made that statement out of the gate and that we all come the same way, Jew and Gentile. And in Him, we are one.
No caste system, no class system. Now, remarkably, even though I repeated that over and over and over and over in the debate and have never made any other statement wavering from that ever in almost 53 years in the Lord now, there are people saying, oh, you believe Jesus is going to be saved without Jesus? It's kind of remarkable, isn't it? I mean, it really is remarkable when you can say the same thing repeatedly without varying ever in every imaginable different context for over 50 years and say it to people's face 10 straight times and this is going to misrepresent it.
But what can you do? It's just sad on them. So, I made that very clear. And then out of the gate, I also said this, that the Jewish people are chosen for service. It does not guarantee the salvation of a single individual. God chose the Jewish people to bring the Messiah into the world through them, to be a witness nation, be it under blessing, be it under judgment, and ultimately, to bring the Messiah back, to welcome the Messiah back as the Jewish Jerusalem will receive Him. So, the Jewish people have a mission in the world.
It does not guarantee the salvation of a single Jew through history or any special privilege. It's explicit throughout Scripture. Rather, just as God said about Israel in the Old Testament, B'ni bakar Yisrael, Israel is my son, my firstborn, even those who were in disobedience, even those who were not following Him, observing the Sabbath, keeping the dar of the Lord, they were still considered His son, but in disobedience, and therefore under judgment. And the same way He called them My people, even in judgment and disobedience. In Isaiah chapter 1, heavy words of judgment against His people, He says, My people don't understand.
He still called them My people, even though they were in sin and in disobedience to God. So, it's no mystery that chosen can have different meanings in Scripture. Just like calling can have different meanings. For example, Matthew 22, 14, many are called, if you are chosen, that's just the call of the Gospel to be saved. Many are called, but few are chosen. Yet, the same word called is used, for example, in Romans chapter 8, verses 29 and 30, speaking of those who are elect and saved in Jesus, those He predestined He called.
So, that's an effectual calling to salvation. So, in that respect, the word called can be used different ways. The same with the word chosen or elect, it can be used different ways.
Interestingly, when Paul emphatically reinforces the ongoing calling and election of Israel, he does it in a way using vocabulary that is also used, and there's really no ambiguity in terms of what he's saying. As I pointed out in the debate, so to say it again, yes, you can be chosen for service and be in disobedience. You can be chosen for service and be in judgment. Under judgment, you can be chosen for service and be separated from God and lost and not saved, but God's still giving you a mission. You're gonna have to be accountable for it.
You may have gone AWOL, but there's still an accountability. And as far as the nation, God promised to preserve the Jewish people, otherwise we wouldn't have been wiped off the earth. So, again, it's really pretty simple. I don't mean to insult someone who struggles with the concept, but if you just try to absorb it rather than argue against it, so there is an election to salvation in Jesus for Jew and Gentile alike. The only way to be saved through Jesus, Yeshua, the Messiah, the Son of God, the Word made flesh, the only way to be saved is through Him. No one comes to the Father but through Him. John 14, 6, there's no other name unto heaven given to men among we must be saved. Act 4, 12.
So, explicit through Scripture, what I've always preached, what I've always believed, no ambiguity in that whatsoever. And that is the ekklesia. That is this new people of God, Jew and Gentile together in Jesus. But even the word ekklesia is used one way in the Old Testament in the Greek and the situation, and another way mainly in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, it could refer to the edah or the kahal, the entire congregation of Israel.
Every single Israelite, whether they were an idol worshiper or worshiper of Yahweh, was considered part of the ekklesia, part of the congregation of Israel. In the New Testament, it's used specifically for believers, Jew and Gentile. So, the same word but with a change in meaning as often happens through Scripture.
Again, no mystery there. So, when Paul speaks of the Jewish people still being elect, he means that they're calling for service, they're calling for a purpose, they're still being loved for a certain mission and purpose in God because he loved the fathers, that that remains because of the constancy of God, because of the faithfulness of God. Then there is a calling and election in Jesus to salvation, which is very individual Jew or a Gentile that comes to know Him.
So, the word election, the word calling, chosen, used in a few different ways. Again, this is not uncommon in Scripture. What I pointed out in the De Beto, I didn't give every Scripture reference, I just summarized, I gave the overall truth without citing every reference for time, but let me just take a moment more to do that. So, in Romans 11, verse 25, Paul, as he's coming to the end of this lengthy discussion about Israel, Romans 9, 10, 11 is about Israel. The whole purpose there is to say, well, what happened to Israel? And you have a congregation of Jew and Gentile that are in Rome, what about their promises to Israel? Predestination is a subtopic to the larger question of what about Israel? So, Paul goes on to explain that there's always been a remnant chosen according to grace, the children of the promise, rather than just the children of the flesh, the children of the flesh, that's Israel as a whole, the children of the promise, that's the Israel within Israel.
Then he goes on from there to talk about what about Israel as a whole, what about Israel as a whole, what about Israel as a whole? He says, well, there's an ongoing remnant chosen by grace, and at the end of the age, as the fullness of the Gentiles comes in, on the heels of that, provoked by that, so all Israel will be saved. And this is what is written, quoted from Isaiah 59, that the Redeemer will come from Zion to Zion in Isaiah 59, from Zion in terms of the heritage and background in Romans 11. He'll come from Zion, take away godlessness from Jacob, this is my covenant when I take away their sins. And then he says, as far as the gospel is concerned, they who? The Jewish people who do not currently believe, their enemies for your sake, meaning their rejection of the gospel brought the gospel to you Gentiles. As far as election, same word is used elsewhere, which will show you the moment, as far as election, they are loved because of the fathers. Remember in Malachi 1, which is quoted in Romans 9, God says, Jacob, I loved, but Esau, I hate it.
It's not the love for individual salvation. Was every Israelite in the days of Malachi saved? No. Was every Edomite, descendant of Esau damned in the days of Malachi?
No. So what does it mean, Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated? In terms of Jacob, Israel was chosen for a mission and purpose, and that mission and purpose remains, still have a calling in the world, and Esau was rejected. It doesn't guarantee the salvation of an individual Israelite, descendant of Jacob, or guarantee the damnation of all descendants of Esau. So they're still loved.
They're still loved in that unique covenantal way for the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. So the Greek word for election there in 1128 is ekolge. So elsewhere in the New Testament, it's used for the choosing of Saul, Paul, in Acts 9 and 15, for God's sovereign choice of Jacob over Esau and 9-11, quote, in order that God's purpose in election might stand. Not to individual salvation, but to national calling. In 11-5, about the Jewish remnant chosen by grace, also in verse 7, describing the elect in Israel, then in 2 Thessalonians 1-4, regarding their election to salvation. So with overwhelming clarity, election is used over and over and over and it applies to Israel. If you say to Paul, the Jewish people are still chosen? Yeah, of course.
They're still elect? Yeah, of course. Does that guarantee the individual salvation of a Jew?
No, of course not. Then the word klesis, calling, in 11-29, it's used elsewhere in the New Testament to refer to our calling to be believers, 1 Corinthians 1-26 and 7-20, Ephesians 4-4. We are exhorted to understand our call in Ephesians 1-18 and walk worthy of it, Ephesians 4-1, 2 Thessalonians 1-11. We are called to a holy life, 2 Timothy 1-9. Paul speaks of his heavenly word calling in Jesus, Philippians 3-14. And Hebrews 3-1 speaks of our heavenly calling, both calling and election, same Greek words used in 2 Peter 1-10, which is written, therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. Now we reread Romans 11-28 and 29. As far as the Gospel is concerned, there are enemies for your sake, but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable. This is not the general calling of the Gospel, many are called if you were chosen, but calling for a specific purpose and mission, and God will not go back on his word, which is why the overwhelming number of exegetes, and I get them from a wide perspective, Catholic, Protestant, etc., understand Paul saying exactly what I'm saying. So the Jewish people still chose yes, of course, absolutely, chosen for mission, for purpose, promised preservation from God, regathering to the land even in unbelief, but it doesn't guarantee their salvation.
It is not a choosing to salvation and election in Christ, it is a choosing for national service, as the whole of the Bible affirms. Hey friends, Michael Brown here. Many of you know about the radical health transformation in my own life, starting August of 2014, went from 275 pounds to 180 pounds, less than eight months, not by dieting, but by radical lifestyle transformation, getting rid of the bad, unhealthy things, eating only healthy foods. I've kept it up by God's grace now for nine years, going from three headaches a week to no headaches in nine years, blood pressure as high as 149 over 103, now maybe 105 over 70 on average, I mean, radical transformation, and I encourage you to look at your life, look at your diet, ask are you going in the right direction, or do you need to make some changes?
I also want to help you on a very practical level. I have added into my life as well some great supplements from our co-sponsor, Triveda. In fact, that's why we work with them, because I have personally benefited from these as well. I want to commend to you three in particular, nitric oxide, which helps with blood flow, oxygen, energy level, myo health, which helps with skeletal structure, muscle, which is really important as you get older, and nopalea, which deals with chronic inflammation. In fact, I've learned that that's the number one killer worldwide, chronic inflammation. I take these three supplements every single day, as I travel around the world, I travel with these, and I want to encourage you strongly, check them out for yourselves, 800-771-5584, get your free online health consultation, 800-771-5584, or go to triveda.com, use the code BROWN25, you will get a 25% discount on your entire order, whatever size it is, and 100% of your first order will go to support the line of fire, and more than a tithe of all subsequent orders.
I use these, I commend them to you, 800-771-5584. Welcome back to the line of fire, 866-348-7884, any question of any kind, as long as it relates in any way to the line of fire, phone lines are open, we will start in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Nick, welcome to the line of fire. Hey, Dr. Rohn, nice to talk to you. Hey.
Hey, I have a question for you. I was watching the debate the other night with Gabe, and you know, I was kind of taken aback by the way that he was just being aggressive, arrogant, you know, and I know the replacement theology is dangerous, but I felt like what was even more dangerous was just the rhetoric he was using, the way that he was speaking, the way that he was being disrespectful, you know. I feel like that really brings up, like, just anti-Semitism even more, so my question is, how do we confront that, how do we deal with that as Christians, especially on a public platform like this, you know, like, he's claiming to be Christian, but he's acting very arrogant.
I didn't sense any love in his heart, you know, so does that make sense? Yeah, so first I had no idea that he would act like that in public. I thought we'd have some fun kind of, you know, going at it in a friendly way, so I wasn't put off when he starts the, you know, he's going to correct my theology, etc. I thought, okay, he's just being a little silly here, but as the debate degenerated and, you know, he blatantly bore false witness against me and refused to recognize that and then just started to act like a child, I was totally surprised, and had I known he would have behaved like that, of course I wouldn't give him a platform, I wouldn't agree to debate or dignify, forget the position, we can debate the position, but to dignify behavior like that on whatever platform we could help provide.
That being said, I'm glad it happened because it did reveal some things, and I did hear from folks saying, that's just, that's what he is, and his brother is, etc. The only conversation we had by phone was very, very gracious and friendly and respectful, you know, so again, I guess that behavior, that's kind of his shtick, but it's totally off-putting, it's very much not Christian, and I don't mean to be Christian that you have to just roll over and play dead. We can be bold and strong and courageous, some of the strongest people I know on the planet have literally risked their lives for the gospel, they're very meek and gracious people, but they have literally preached the gospel knowing they may die for doing it, and have done it boldly, so you don't have to be nasty to be bold, you don't have to be arrogant to be bold. What's going on in this heart, God knows, and I pray for God's best for him, and for him to grow into the fullness of Jesus as I pray for myself, but to the extent that that attitude ties in with the theology, all the more do alarm sounds go off, all the more do we see the danger. It is, the idea, for example, that you could say Judaism is a blasphemous religion because it doesn't recognize the hypostatic union of Christ, and not realize that one major reason for centuries that Jews have not considered the possibility of Jesus being a messiah has been the awful activity of the church, even violent behavior of the church, even giving Jews a choice of baptism or death, and that that's what many Jews know about Jesus in church history, and to say well you're blaspheming because you won't recognize the hypostatic union of Christ, hang on, if you're a faithful Jew reading the scripture, you're reading the Torah, you're reading the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible, what are you seeing teaching about the hypostatic union of Christ, but in other words there is the replacement arrogance, we are the new people, the old people have been displaced, God is through with them forever, that's the very thing Paul was warning about in Romans 11, and then the mischaracterization, all Jews are of the synagogue of Satan, et cetera, those kinds of things, they have fueled the fires of anti-Semitism through the centuries, and normally I don't follow up on comments, I don't look at comments on other sites and things like that, there's no time for it anyway, but what I did find interesting in looking at some of the comments to the debate, overwhelmingly people saw it as you did sir, and were grieved over Gabe's behavior, and whatever points he was trying to make disqualified him from being taken seriously. On the flip side, I am seeing anti-Semites weigh in, Brown is more loyal to his people than to Jesus, he can't admit that his people aren't saved, you know just this crazy stuff, or yeah the Jews murdered Christ and they deserve whatever they get, those aren't exact quotes but those kinds of sentiments, so I see what's being stirred up here, even the Christ is King mantra, the words Christ is King are beautiful and wonderful, and if you're saying in Hebrew, the Messiah is King, how can the Messiah not be King, he's King by very definition in nature, but the way it's weaponized, and if you're not in Christ's kingdom therefore, oh okay, yeah if you're not in Christ's kingdom you're lost, we agree, but there's the weaponizing of it, so it is very dangerous, I was just writing an article last night again, the same thing when American Gospel put out a video by Chris Roseborough downplaying the anti-Semitism of Martin Luther, and I put out a video very very strongly responding to it, rebuking it, and to my knowledge they never pulled the video, which says something there, very indicting, so even though it was mild mannered, not with Gabe's behavior, I told them, you just watch, you watch the people that will fall behind you, even more aggressively saying, yeah Luther wasn't so bad, hey what Luther said is pretty good, I've got a whole file of post after post after post that people put in responding to my video, and basically standing up for Martin Luther, actually saw on X Twitter yesterday, of course we blocked the guy, but 1689 Baptist, so Orthodox Baptist, abortion abolitionist, strong Christian, saying yeah the Jews, they're the people of pornography and trans activism and so on, I'm gonna go with Luther on this one, so it is stirring up all kinds of anti-Semitic trash, the bad news is it's there, the good news is it's coming to the surface, and what we do is we overcome evil with good, we overcome lies with truth, we overcome arrogance with humility, we overcome impatience with patience, and know that the Lord will make a difference. That's very good, I just feel like we need to tread so lightly when we're discussing this and a lot of Christians do not do that, so I appreciate your response. Yes, thank you so much, and let's pray for those involved for a softening of the heart and an opening of their eyes to truth, I appreciate it, 866-348-7884, all right, I'm going to uh, okay, let's take, I think I can get to another call here before the break, hey Ray in Texas, welcome to the line of fire. Hi Dr. Brown, I love you so much, and I really want to see you at the Holy Spirit Conference, Lord willing. So my question is, I was reading Romans, and chapter 8, and I was talking about those dominated by the sinful nature, and um, I just want to ask like, how exactly do you know if you were born, because I have given Jesus my life, I have asked him to be the Lord of my life, but I feel like, I feel like, to be honest with you, like, I feel more bad than good, like I feel like I sometimes am bombarded with uh, like unholy thoughts, or like I'm in anger, or like greed, or lust, or all those things, and I'm like, if I really have the Holy Spirit in me, why?
Like how can this be? And I've given that to God, and it hasn't changed. Right, okay, so there are two separate questions, one, how we can know we're saved, and two, how we can grow in holiness and grace. Two separate questions, we know we're saved because we put our trust in what Jesus did for us. God says if you will put your trust in me, if you recognize your own sin, your own failure, your own wickedness, recognize that salvation is only found in the blood of Jesus, that he died for your sins, rose from the dead, that you confess him as Lord, if you've done that, and had to witness in your heart that your sins are forgiven, you can rest in that assurance, salvation is based on what he does, not on what we do.
What we do is in response to what he did. So you rest in that, even on your worst day, he's the Savior, his blood was shed, he can be trusted, I'm looking to him, not to me. The other question is how can I grow in grace, how can I take hold of all the promises? And remember that throughout the New Testament, the letters that are being written are written to believers struggling with sin and other issues.
So this is nothing new. And if you weren't struggling at all in any way, I question how in touch you were with reality. So other side of the break, we'll talk more about this, how can we grow in grace, grow in holiness, and find a deeper walk with the Lord. Hey friends, Michael Brown here. My delight to serve as your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity. We are living in such urgent times today, friends, that all of us are in the line of fire.
There's a target on your back, there's a target on my back. If you simply seek to live by biblical values or just conservative moral values, you could be canceled, you could be cast out, you could be put down, you could be silenced. I'm here to say, friends, that I am not about to be silenced, and I don't believe you are either. It is time for us to stand up, it is time for us to say enough is enough, it is time for us to push back in Jesus' name.
Not fighting the way the world fights, no. Overcoming evil with good, overcoming hatred with love, overcoming the flesh with the power of the Spirit, overcoming lies with truth, and that's what we're here to do on the Line of Fire broadcast. And friends, it's not just a broadcast, it is a movement of people around the world, God's people standing up saying, enough is enough, and saying, Lord, here we are, send us, use us. I want to urge you today to join our support team, because we are on the front lines together, and we are literally touching people around the world, in America, in the nations, in Israel.
And together with your help, we're going to amplify this voice and spread this movement around the globe. So I encourage you, go right now to thelineoffire.org, thelineoffire.org, click donate monthly support, when you do, you become a torchbearer, we immediately send you two great, life-changing books, we immediately give you access to many classes I've taught, others have to pay to take those, you get them for free, exclusive video audio content, a new audio message every month, an insider prayer newsletter, 15% discount on online bookstores, so much more. Join our support team today, go to thelineoffire.org, donate monthly support, and we're going to go to thelineoffire.org, donate monthly support. It's The Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on The Line of Fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH.
Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks for joining us on The Line of Fire, 866-34-TRUTH. Thanks to our new torchbearers that just signed up, our monthly supporters, to join our support team, a dollar a day or more if you can, go to thelineoffire.org, click donate, or any one-time gift, especially through the summer months, let folks get busy and kind of neglect ministry giving.
So if that's you, and you can help, that is awesome, it helps us get through, because we actually accelerate pace during the summer, yeah, because I'm not teaching at so many schools during the summer, we actually accelerate the pace of what we put out, even my own travel. So Ray, I want to also remind you that Romans 6, Paul talks about we have to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God, and recognize that the members of our body are not weapons for sin, but for righteousness. So it's something that has to be consciously renewed. But then the seventh chapter is the famous chapter where he says the things I hate, I do the things I want to do, I don't do. And there's a debate. Is he talking about struggling as a believer? Is he talking about how he felt before he was saved? Is he talking about walking in legalism as a believer?
Either way, however you read it, it is there talking about the struggle that many of us relate to. I want to pray more, and I'll pray enough, I'll fall short here, have a wrong thought there, etc. And then in the eighth chapter, we learn about walking in the Spirit, and as we do, we put to death the deeds of the body. If you were in the flesh and controlled by your sinful nature, you would not want God, you would not want to be praying, you would not want to read the Word, it would be dead to you. When I was shooting heroin and partying, I was very happy to do it.
I wasn't resisting it or feeling guilty over it, I was very happy to do it. When I got born again, I knew those things had to go, and they went instantly, but then other areas, to this day I'm still seeking to grow in and walk more closely to the Lord. So a lot of it has to do with renewing your mind, however you feel, whatever is going on with your own life, whether the ups or downs you're having, having that you confess that you're a new creature in Him, that you've died to sin, that you're alive to God, that you speak what the Word says, renew your mind to it.
Another thing is memorizing key scriptures and bringing them before yourself, and then praying over yourself on a daily basis that God would help you to walk in greater intimacy and holiness, and you will see change. And sometimes you kind of hit a wall, and there's an error in your life that seems like a stronghold, and that forces you to press in more, and then when you press in more, the breakthrough comes. Do you have my book, Go and Sin No More? No, I don't. Would you read it if you got it? Yes, yes, yes, definitely.
All right, so tell you what, stay right there. Our call screener is going to get your name and address, and we want to send you the book as a gift, Go and Sin No More, Call to Holiness. It's practical, it talks about the power of grace, living without condemnation. So Truth, if you will get Ray's address, we will send you a copy of Go and Sin No More.
I don't want to tell you to get a book and force you to buy it. I believe it'll help you grow in these very areas. So go ahead, Truth, in the book, Go and Sin No More. Thanks. 866-3-4-TRUTH is the number to call. Let me open something up for you in Romans.
Romans chapter 11, Romans chapter 11, and Truth, are you there? Don't see you on with our caller. Anyway, Ray, stay right there. They'll get to you momentarily.
866-3-4-8-7-8-8-4, we got a couple of open lines if you want to join in. I want to share something with you that I didn't get to in the debate. Just for lack of time, obviously, you always come in over prepared with more material than you can actually use. But Romans chapter 11, verse 16, is one that you often don't hear a lot of teaching on. Romans 11, 16, where Paul says, if the root is holy, so also are the branches. Well, what does that mean? He's talking about Israel. He's talking about the nation of Israel and then Israel in its unbelief.
And yet there's still this sense of being set apart by God for a purpose. So what does it actually mean? If the firstfruits are holy, so is the whole batch. What does it mean? So let me read to you from a few different commentaries.
The Jamieson, Fawcett, and Brown commentary, which was popular decades ago. The argument of the apostle is that as the separation unto God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob from the rest of mankind, as the parent stem of their race was as real an offering of firstfruits as that which hallowed the produce of the earth, so in the divine estimation it was as real a separation of the mass or a lump of that nation in all time to God. The figure of the root and its branches is of like import, the consecration of the one of them extending to the other. So God calling the patriarchs, calling Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and then through them the seed, then the whole is set apart.
Douglas Moo, again, leading Romans commentator today. Both of the metaphors in verse 16 then assert that the holiness of the patriarchs conveys to all Israel a similar holiness. Their holiness, in quotes, consists of their having been set apart by God for this salvation historical role.
As Jay Barclay puts it, the root is the calling or election of God that constituted them as patriarchs and thereby constituted Israel as a whole. Moreover the word holy, hagios, is taken from Old Testament sacrificial language. The word will not then have the technical sense of set apart by God for salvation, that it usually hasn't Paul, but we can know the being set apart by God for special attention in a more general way. Paul is not here asserting the salvation of every Israelite, but the continued special identity of the people of Israel in the eyes of the Lord. What's interesting, a friend of mine brought this to my attention in the New Catechism of the Catholic Church, so I'm not Catholic, I don't represent Catholics, but the New Catechism of the Catholic Church, this is post-Vatican II, paragraph 674 says this, the glorious Messiah's coming is suspended at every moment of history until his recognition by all Israel for a hardening has come upon part of Israel in their unbelief toward Jesus. St. Peter says to the Jews of Jerusalem after Pentecost, repent therefore and turn again that your sins may be blotted out that times of refresh you may come from the presence of the Lord and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for establishing all that God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old. St. Paul echoes him, for if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? The full inclusion of the Jews in the Messiah's salvation in the wake of the full number of the Gentiles will enable the people of God to achieve the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ in which God may be all in all. So here's a Catholic confession saying that it is only when the fullness of the Gentiles comes in, so a massive harvest around the world, and the mass turning of the Jewish people worldwide, then the body will come into the fullness of the measure of the stature of Christ.
Quite interestingly. Let me read you a little bit more on Romans 11 16. Charles Hodge, famous Calvinist commentator, the connection of this verse with the preceding, its import and bearing on the apostles object are therefore clear. The restoration of the Jews, which will be attendant with such beneficial results for the whole world, is to be expected because of their peculiar relation to God as his chosen people. God, in selecting the Hebrew patriarchs and sending them apart for his service, had reference to their descendants as well as to themselves, and designed that the Jews, as a people, should to the latest generations be specially devoted to himself. They stand now therefore and have ever stood in a relationship to God which no other nation ever has sustained. And in consequence of this relation, the restoration to the divine favor is an event of itself probable and one which Paul afterwards teaches, verse 25, God has determined to accomplish.
Study Romans 11 16 in the context of Romans 11 through 16. Also, I do this every so often. If you're watching on YouTube and would like to post a question for me to respond to, go ahead and do it and our team will be quick to grab that. So if you're watching on YouTube, go ahead and post a question if you'd like me to address it and we will do so. One of the things that I found very, very peculiar, and this comes up all the time, people always want to put you in a category and then dismiss you from that category. Oh, you're just an American or you're just white or you're just this or you're just that as if it influences everybody. For example, let's say I'm watching a baseball game with you and it's New York Yankees versus the Baltimore Orioles and there is a bad call, which everybody recognizes is a bad call. People are flipping out. It's a bad call against the Yankees. Even the Baltimore Orioles players kind of hang in their head because they know the call is going to be reversed. I say, that's the worst call I've ever seen and you say, that's just because you're from New York. Well, it would be easy to dismiss it as bias, but in that case, there's a bad call and they almost overturn it when it's challenged.
Okay. But we like to put people in this, oh, you're just a Democrat, you're just a Republican, you're just this, you're just that. That's why you hold to that view. And so the moment we talk about Israel, we're just dispensationalists. No, I haven't been a dispensationalist for 48 years. Wrote a book with Professor Craig Keener explaining why I don't believe in a pre-trib rapture called Not Afraid of the Antichrist, so that doesn't work. Well, it's similar to a dispensationalist. Oh, hang on, hang on, hang on. I can show you plenty of people who lived hundreds of years before dispensationalism ever existed who held to these same views.
So you don't get to do that. Well, a lot of people you quoted lived in the last 200 years, and that's when dispensationalism rose. Huh?
Hang on. So you quote a fine scholar or a great preacher who lived 200 years ago, say 25 years before dispensationalism began and rose up, but because it rose up some decades later, somewhere in the world, then anyone you quote in the last 200 years is disqualified? Seriously?
Are you kidding me? But that's the kind of rhetoric we're hearing. Okay, so we quote the Puritans from the 1600s, well, they don't mean the same thing you mean. Oh, actually, they do, word for word, quote for quote. In fact, some of their quotes are very inspiring in terms of how strongly they saw the ongoing calling and election of Israel, even in unbelief.
You know what God says in Amos chapter three, verse two to Israel, you only have I known, you only have I chosen out of all the peoples on the earth, therefore I'll visit you for your iniquities. There's a responsibility. There's an accountability. That's why there's been so much judgment on us.
But these bizarre arguments that people raise rather than dealing with difficult texts, it's almost an admission out of the gate that they don't have an argument or an answer when they come up with ridiculous cheap shots like that, they just completely miss the point. It's sad. There's someone who loves the word.
It's sad to see. We'll be back. We'll be back in just a couple of days to talk about the radical lifestyle change in my own life when I went from two hundred seventy five to one hundred eighty pounds in less than eight months.
I was nine years ago. It was a radical change in my diet and lifestyle. And I encourage all of you put healthy eating, healthy living as a top priority in your life. We want to see a healthy you and a healthy church.
There's no substitute for that. But let me tell you, there are some great supplements that can help you along the way. And these are supplements that I use daily. That's why I'm so excited to tell you about them so you can benefit as well. Right here is listeners to the line of fire. I'm talking about our friends at TriVita TriVita dot com.
The number to call is eight hundred seven seven one fifty five eighty four eight hundred seven seven one fifty five eighty four on a daily basis. I take three TriVita supplements. One is nitric oxide, which helps with blood flow, oxygen, energy level. I've seen direct results in terms of my own energy, in terms of my own workouts in life. And then mild health, especially important as you're getting older, skeletal structure, muscle.
I'm actually getting stronger now at the age of 68 with my workouts, with the help of mild health. And then nopalea, which deals with chronic inflammation, which I learned since using this is the number one cause of death in the world. This is putting money in the bank of your own health every single day. So you can get these supplements and others by calling TriVita at eight hundred seven seven one fifty five eighty four. You'll get a twenty five percent discount as a listener to the line of fire and get this one hundred percent of your first order will be donated to the line of fire.
And a tithe of all subsequent orders will be donated as well. You can also go to TriVita dot com and use the code brown twenty five. This gets you healthy and strong. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the line of fire by calling eight six six three four truth. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.
Welcome back to the line of fire. Eight six six three four truth question from Deoxy on YouTube, Dr. Brown, when the prophet of Daniel translates the name and name to Kayla for a scene for King Belshazzar. So Belshazzar in in Daniel five. Is that an example of supernatural tongues in scripture? Is that natural language? No, that was natural language. It would basically like be saying dime, dime, quarter and two nickels.
What? What does it mean? And then each word could also have another meaning. So it could just sound like you're talking about currency, monetary things, or the words could have the meaning of weight and balance, et cetera, which is how they are now interpreted.
So there's a dual meaning. But it was Aramaic. It wasn't tongues. It was.
It was Aramaic. But thanks. Thanks for the question.
Let's go over to Gregory in Tennessee. Come to the line of fire. Hey, thanks, Dr. Brown. Thanks for what you do. My wife and I recently became torchbearers. Thank you so much.
Oh, what a joy. Thank you. So just just a quick question. You know, I'm on board with the all Israel will be saved after the fullness of the Gentiles. And as a Gentile myself, shouldn't that be kind of motivation for me to know that at 65 years old, I don't have much time left? Or if the fullness of the Gentile takes place, I don't have much time left. So I should get busy.
I should I should be out doing more things. Yeah, I think there's a positive motivation in that every life matters, that we're moving towards a holy destiny, right? That that whatever whatever the case is, if let's say you're running with the Olympic torch, however many miles it is until you get to the Olympic Stadium, and then it's put in, finally, that each step is a step closer, each step is a step closer. So as the church grows in maturity and unity, we're getting closer as as more and more people turn into the faith from every tribe and tongue and language, we're getting closer as more Jewish people are turning, as Israel gets provoked to holy jealousy by the testimony and life of the church, that we're getting closer and we're moving towards something.
So even though we can all feel like I'm just one person, what can I do? When you realize that each step is a step, right? Each step is going in a certain direction.
That encourages me. And then we never really know when the pace will accelerate, that God will move suddenly with great power. It's certainly worldwide, the pace of the gospel in the last 75 years, say post-World War II, has been a massive acceleration of the gospel worldwide, completely unprecedented in history.
Many would say that the last 75 years more people have come to faith than virtually the previous 19 centuries combined. There's this tremendous acceleration of what's taking place. So even though we might think, hey, it could be 300 years before Jesus returns at this pace, on the other hand, God can accelerate the pace.
It says in Isaiah 60, 22, in Hebrew, I am the Lord. I will hasten it in its time. So there is God moving, God moving, and then we get into those sacred times and seasons and suddenly we see in a month, which would only take a year or 10 years, or in a year what would only take 50 years, being in the Brownsville Revival, as I served there from 96 to 2,000, the revival overall roughly 95 to 2,000, that as I served in that, we saw things happen in weeks that we normally wouldn't see in years. And even the fruit raising up a school that went from zero to over a thousand full-time students in two years, and after four years had grads serving as missionaries in more than 20 nations, it was remarkable. And I've never seen anything like it before or since.
So it was the hand of God. So be encouraged. Every step matters. And last point, so we don't know how much time we have, but we know it's limited as human beings. Even if we're there to be 90 years old, healthy and strong, it's limited. So let's run our race. Let's make our lives count.
And especially the older we get, let's make our lives count all the more. Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. God bless you.
Appreciate it. By the way, as you know, God graciously intervened in my life, August to make 10 years, 10 years ago, and changed my lifestyle. Nancy and I were just chatting today. It's the mercy of God, the mercy of God, the mercy of God that he intervened in our lives the way that he did and helped us the way he did. And I was hanging out with my grandson, Andrew, today, just pouring into him. He's such a young man of God.
It's so serious about the Lord at 20 years old. And I was just doing a little workout with him. He may have to pitch in baseball tonight, so he couldn't work out with me. But we were talking, and then I do a little working out. And I'm 69 years old, and I don't do a lot of serious weight training, but being able to do what I did today, I say, hey, thank God, thank God, invest in your spiritual health first and foremost, but then invest in your mental, emotional health. Invest in your physical health, because it pays dividends. It pays dividends, especially as you get older, to not be on medication, to not be run down, to be able to run your race. And the way I look at it, the older I get, the more I have to share an offer, the more I want to have energy, vitality enough. I know it's out of our hands in certain ways, and we just lean on the Lord, but in other ways, it is in our hands. All right, let's grab another call.
Kiefer in Canada. Glad you got through. The line of fire. Hey, Dr. Michael Brown. Thank you for taking my call. Appreciate it. Sure. Yeah, I've just been recently kind of engaging with a lot of Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Christians, and I have seen your little brief video on why you are not Orthodox in any sense there, obviously speaking about the tradition, but I just wanted to get further clarity on how we can engage and kind of discuss with them how they have their historical developments, because they're consistently quoting church fathers, and sometimes we as Protestants struggle to keep up with that conversation, so just really wanted to get your take on that.
Yeah, so a few things. Number one, to be clear to my Eastern Orthodox listeners, I am not your representative. I'm not claiming to accurately represent your beliefs on every level, and I'm sure some of you saw the brief video we put out explaining why I'm not Eastern Orthodox or Greek Orthodox, and you're my response would have been, oh, you don't understand who we are or what we believe, et cetera, so I'm not claiming to adequately represent all Eastern Orthodox positions here, to make that totally clear. But what I have to evaluate always is the witness of scripture. And ultimately, for example, the Roman Catholic Church would claim to be the mother church. The Eastern Orthodox Church would claim to be the authentic church. I have Messianic Jewish colleagues who say, hey, we're the ones living the way the apostles lived. I have other colleagues that say, no, we can trace our own apostolic succession, and it's through this group or that group.
So we all have various claims, but what we all agree on, aside from Apocrypha or anything else, is that the 66 books of the Bible are the authoritative word of God. We all agree on that, and that later tradition doesn't have the power to overrule that or add to it in a way that contradicts what is written. And because of that, any faith that, for example, allows for physical statues in a building that are prayed towards, even as representatives, I have to reject that as being Orthodox, just to give one example. And by the way, I believe there are many rich and beautiful traditions in Greek Orthodoxy, and that some of the distinct spirituality of some of the Greek Orthodox fathers has much to offer, and is often coming from a different angle than a Protestant position or a Catholic position. So there's much wisdom and beautiful things that we can glean.
But just that one thing, it is an absolute violation of the Ten Commandments, and anything where you have physical statues in a building or icons that are prayed to or worship because of what or who they represent, that, to me, is a form of scriptural idolatry, which is a reason, of course, that I couldn't follow it, among other things. So to me, what we have to do is say, we all agree on scripture. Just like if I'm talking to a religious Jew, we agree that the Old Testament is God's word.
He rejects the New Testament, I reject the Talmud. But let's see what we can find from the scriptures. So that's what we do, is we have a conversation, respectful, first ask, what does salvation mean to you? Do you have a concept of being born again? How do you know you're in right relationship with God? Who is Jesus to you?
Is there salvation outside of the cross? Just ask questions to find out where the person's coming from, because they're going to be serious Greek Orthodox adherents and more nominal ones, or Eastern Orthodox, et cetera. Some that are closer to the historic faith than others who are not. Ask those questions, but always say, okay, let's compare that to scripture, because we all agree on scripture, that it is the final authority. If you say, yeah, but it's not up to us to interpret, well, we do have to give account to God for what we have here, and since this tradition claims authenticity, and this tradition claims authenticity, and that one does, well, we're going to have to sort this out with the word of God. As for church fathers, two responses there, number one, there's a vast literature with a lot of diversity in beliefs among church fathers, a lot of diversity, and therefore, you have Protestant site in the fathers, Catholic site in the fathers, Eastern Orthodox site in the fathers.
That's one thing. The second thing is, for sure, some church traditions have erred over the centuries, and James Parks, for example, a church scholar who wrote much about anti-Semitism in church history and the conflict between church and synagogue, he documents that the church fathers got off and were reactionary in certain ways and developed some doctrines that were downright dangerous. And then last thing, even if we're going to debate something like baptism, if you're going to say, well, church fathers helped with infant baptism, which is clearly not what was taught in the New Testament itself, well, you're going to have to decide, who do we follow? And then did all the fathers say it or some? So we learn, it's great, it's enriching, but we sift everything by scripture. We thank you for the call, have an awesome weekend, make sure you're getting our monthly frontline newsletter, thelineoffire.org.
