Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina.
The school was founded in 1927 by the evangelist Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. His intent was to make a school where Christ would be the center of everything, so he established daily chapel services. Today, that tradition continues with fervent biblical preaching from The University Chapel Platform. Today's message will be preached by seminary professor, Dr. Gary Reimers.
I'm very pleased to be a part of this series. Eschatology is very important, not just so that we know what's going to happen, but God's Word, all of God's Word was written so that we will know how to live today. That includes the parts that are past history and those that are about the future.
In every instance, God's Word guarantees there's a message of something that He wants us to know and something He wants us to change, something as a result even of a topic about the future of Israel that He wants to be different in your life this morning. Last week, Vice President Pence visited the World War II death camp in Auschwitz. Alongside the president of Poland, he laid a memorial wreath in memory of the one million Jewish people who were murdered at that site. That formal ceremony was another opportunity to draw worldwide attention to the Nazi effort years ago to exterminate God's people in the Holocaust. That was a horrible period of time, but in reality it was just one of many attempts to get rid of God's people throughout world history. Villages, nations, even entire empires have tried to eliminate the Jewish people, from the Egyptians in the time of Moses to the Russian pogroms in the 19th century to the rising anti-Semitism of the 21st century.
That's a real issue in our day. Now that's not just a string of bad luck for the Jews. There's something going on behind all of this opposition and attempt to destroy.
What's going on behind it all is the bitter hatred and opposition for everything that God stands for on the part of Satan and all of his forces. So what hope is there for the future of the nation of Israel? So what hope do you have for the future?
What hope do you have to resist all of those attacks and all of that opposition? This morning we're going to look at several passages of scripture, passages that tell us that God has given some special promises to his people about the future. And yes, that future is stated in terms, in the passages we'll look at, in terms of the future of Israel. But there are parallel promises for all of God's people today. And the reality is that our God keeps his promises. He's given specific promises for us today. And in fact, some of these promises for the nation of Israel, he has graciously expanded so that we are now included even if we're not Jewish.
That's just the grace of God. So let's get started. We have several passages to look at in a few different categories. First, to realize that the Lord has promised his people in Genesis chapter 15, I encourage you to turn there if you would. Genesis 15, the Lord has promised his people a permanent home in the land.
A permanent home in what the Old Testament refers to as the land of Canaan. Genesis 15 has a very peculiar ceremony going on. God instructs Abraham to take a set of animals, a cow and also a goat and also this is listed in verse 9, also a ram and a turtledove and a young pigeon. And he tells Abraham, I want you to slaughter these animals and for the larger animals divide each of them in two and put them parallel to each other and then the two dead birds just put them opposite each other. So that's the setup for something God is going to do. This seems really weird to us but this was a known ceremony in that day of somebody that was about to enter into a solemn covenant.
He was about to promise something. A few verses later in verse 17, God conducted then this formal ceremony where it says that it came to pass that as the sun went down and it was dark behold a smoking furnace, that's a fire pot, a pan of, so a mobile furnace and a burning lamp or a torch passed between those pieces of the animals. What's going on here is that God is about to transfer the ownership of the land of Canaan to the Jews.
That transfer is through this formal ceremony where he conducted this ceremony all by himself. Abraham has just awoken from a deep sleep that God put on him and he wakes up in time to observe what God is doing. God does not invite Abraham to walk in between those pieces with him.
God does it by himself. That is a unilateral covenant. God is giving a promise and that promise has no conditions.
Abraham has nothing that he has to do in order to earn that covenant. God is simply giving it to him and ratifying that promise through this ceremony. Verse 18 he tells us what this promise is. He says on the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham saying unto thy seed have I given this land and then he names the territory by its extremities.
He says from the river of Egypt in the southwest unto the great river Euphrates, that's in the northeast. He's just described the land of Canaan. What he has just done was confirmed an earlier promise. He had said to Abraham a few chapters earlier I am going to give this to you but notice the wording in verse 18 again. Unto thy seed have I given.
That is it was a promise earlier now it's a done deed. I just gave you that land. We have to acknowledge that all land belongs to God.
It is his to give. He has here bequeathed this land to Abraham and his descendants even though there were other people currently living there and they would continue to live there for hundreds of years and later he was going to bring Abraham's descendants back and they were actually going to have the opportunity to possess it. So an important fact about the future of Israel is that God gave them this land way back then and it still belongs to them today.
That second part becomes clear if we turn to chapter 17. Chapter 17 we see that God extended their ownership to continue forever. He gets explicit about this in chapter 17 beginning in verse 7. He says I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee and I will give unto thy seed and thy seed after thee unto thee and thy seed after thee the land wherein thou art a stranger all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession and I will be their God. What he promises here then is that he will continue to maintain his promise to the Jews and that they will continue to own the title to that territory even if other people might inhabit that territory from time to time as has happened throughout history. Now you notice there is one part of that promise from God that he has not fulfilled yet. He says at the end of that verse I will be their God. Well that is not true for the nation of Israel today. The reality there is that it is largely a godless society although in many ways very religious but God the God of heaven is not their God today not as he has revealed himself further in the New Testament. And so as I make that statement based on these passages that God has given the land of Canaan to his people the Jews forever that is not to justify how the current nation of Israel obtained control of that land in recent history. The conflict between the Jews and the Arabs is not part of our topic today but the point is whoever is living there now and whatever mixture there might be now there is coming a day when the rightful owners as God has designated them will in fact take full control of their land. Now if you know Christ as your savior and he has made a very similar promise to you as well he has promised you a home forever.
Jesus himself gave that promise in John chapter 14 verse 3 where he says I go to prepare a place for you and if I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there ye may be also. No doubt you have a great number of trials that you are going to face through the rest of this semester through all next year and for the rest of your life. There will be times that it seems like it's just too hard. This is just too much.
I'm going to give in. I don't think there is a future here but God has promised that if you will persevere he will be faithful. He will be faithful even if we all experience times of failure and he has promised to you that whatever this life looks like there's a home in heaven prepared for you. Now to know that we have a place in eternity to live that's great but I guarantee of eternal life with nothing much to do while we're there that doesn't sound so exciting but in fact it's not God's plan that we lay back on clouds and strum harps and wonder what we're going to do the next day. He actually has a plan of a role for his people and that includes the Jewish people. The Lord has promised his people a permanent role in the world.
An important role in the world. We're still in Genesis this time chapter 22 a familiar passage of scripture. A passage of scripture where Abraham has just passed a test, a horrible test from Abraham's perspective. This is where he was commanded by God to offer his son Isaac as an offering on an altar. Abraham's about to obey he's about to do that and it's unthinkable from our perspective.
God stopped him and in verse 16 he says in response to what Abraham did he said by myself have I sworn saith the Lord for because thou has done this thing and has not withheld thy son, thine only son that in blessing I will bless thee and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is upon the seashore. And now notice the last part of that verse. And thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. Now at first thought that might appear that God is saying that they will be gatekeepers. But this goes far beyond just keeping a gate and giving people access. The gate of a city in the ancient world was the city hall and if it's the capital city then it's the capital it's where all the transactions of significance take place.
Legal, professional, political, the city gate and that is the area right inside the gate the courtyard in that city gate that's where the king would sit and issue his rulings that's where the judges would sit and rule on legal cases. So what does it mean that your seed will possess the gate of his enemies? Well if the gate is the center of government what he's promising the Jewish people is that they will conquer their foes they are going to control the government of all their enemies and that's pretty much every other nation in the world. Israel has remarkably few true friends they're going to conquer all of their enemies they're going to do so for one reason Abraham decided to obey the Lord and in response to that the Lord decided to bless his offspring. Here is an absolute certainty God has this future role for the people of Israel they will control the governments of all of their enemy nations. Furthermore another passage that we tend not to look at too often apart from Christmas time but these are familiar verses in Isaiah chapter 9 these are good verses for Christmas but they're good at other times as well Isaiah 9 verse 6 says for unto us a child is born unto us a son is given we know from the New Testament this child is Jesus and the government shall be upon his shoulder he's going to be in charge his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor the Mighty God the Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David. There is Jesus' qualification to rule the world. He's the son of David and so the promise in this verse is that the son of David will govern the world and that kingdom as he says in that verse is going to be everlasting.
There will be no end to the kingdom that Christ establishes as the son of David. One more verse on that topic from the book of Daniel. Daniel chapter 7 actually two verses verses 13 and 14 Daniel 7 says verse 13 I saw in the night visions this is Daniel speaking and behold one like the son of man.
That sound familiar? That's actually where Jesus got his self designation he continually referred to himself as the son of man. He is the son of man that Daniel saw in this vision. He came with the clouds of heaven came to the ancient of days that's the father and they brought him near before him and there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people nations and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. A little additional information then from Daniel who tells us that not only will Christ's kingdom be everlasting his kingdom will be universal. All peoples, all nations, all languages and there are the Jews in that future kingdom with a role helping in the government of not just their own nation but of the entire world. So the Jews of the nation of Israel and Jews mostly Jews all across the country all across the world are in desperate need of spiritual transformation. We have a promise in God's word about that as well and that is that the Lord has promised a permanent place in his heart. There is a spiritual future for Israel and for that to turn back to Jeremiah chapter 31. Jeremiah 31 a very important passage beginning in verse 31 saying that God is going to offer a new covenant to the people of Israel. He says the days come saith the Lord that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
That's very specific. That only applies to the Jewish people. Not according to the covenant I made with their fathers when he took them from the land of Egypt he says which my covenant they break although I was then husband unto them. But it's going to be a new covenant he says in verse 34 they shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every man his brother saying no the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them saith the Lord and I will forgive their iniquity and will remember their sin no more. They are going to receive this new covenant and God says when he offers that to them and they accept it in fact it's already on the table as far as God is concerned they haven't accepted it yet. But they are going to and at that time God guarantees their forgiveness of sin. And furthermore in the following verses he also guarantees their existence as a nation. Not just as God's Old Testament people that will be blended into his New Testament people the church but he guarantees here their existence as a distinct nation a people. It's exactly what God's word says in verses 35 to 37 and he says that guarantee is just as certain as creation itself. We have one New Testament passage to consider and that's Romans chapter 11.
Romans 11 where the Apostle Paul answers an important question. The question is if God's given all these promises to the nation of Israel why is it that they aren't responding? Why is it that there are so few Jewish people that have trusted Christ as Savior? We thank God for each one of them.
Why aren't there more? It doesn't look like God is actually fulfilling his promise. But in Romans chapter 11 verse 25 Paul knows that we wonder about these things so he says I would not brethren that ye should be ignorant of this mystery that ye should be wise in your own conceits as if we are better than they are. That blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in. There is going to be a time when they accept his Messiah. Right now God is primarily saving Gentiles in this age. We thank God for the exceptions for the Jews that respond to the Gospel in faith but this is the time of the Gentiles right now and we are to take full advantage of that by preaching the Gospel to everybody who will listen. Verse 26 goes on to say that when that time is complete he says and so at that time all Israel shall be saved.
When is that going to happen? Scripture tells us elsewhere that it's going to happen as Jesus returns to this earth. They are going to according to Zechariah's prophecy they are going to see the one that they pierced and they are going to mourn and repent and respond in faith.
And all Israel that is all those Jews living at that time are all going to turn to Christ as Savior. That's a promise. God's telling us how this is going to work. He is going to fulfill all these promises in the millennium and then that is going to continue on into what we call the eternal state. He's going to fulfill all his promises because he always keeps his promises including his promises to you. He's promised you a home in heaven. He's promised you a permanent role in this world. Scripture says we will live and reign with Christ. We will also participate in his worldwide kingdom and he also promises a permanent place in his heart.
If you've trusted Christ as Savior you are always going to be his child. Why does he tell us all this? He knows you have some difficult exams coming up soon. He knows there may be a looming school bill waiting for you. You've got decisions to make about the future.
Sometimes this can be overwhelming. God says but I have promised I'm going to help you through those times and I've got better times in store. Will you trust him? The test is trusting him when things are hard. Trust him because you look to God's word and you tell the Lord I believe that you will keep your promises.
Now you don't have to worry about the future. Just trust him to give you wisdom and grace to sustain you through every trial in the meantime. I urge you right now tell the Lord you want his help to trust him even in the hard times that you believe his promises. Let's pray. Father we are thankful that you have issued clear promises in your word that you have a plan not just for this age but for our long term future. Father we need your help to trust you through it all. Would you help us we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. You've been listening to a sermon preached at Bob Jones University by Dr. Gary Reimers which is part of the study series about the second coming of Christ. Join us again next week for more sermons about the second coming here on The Daily Platform.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-03-23 13:34:28 / 2024-03-23 13:42:28 / 8