Israel – The Impossible Miracle

Israel – The Impossible Miracle

Subject – The Miracle of Israel’s Existence

By Rick Welborne

Deuteronomy 30:1-3 (NLT2)
¹  “In the future, when you experience all these blessings and curses I have listed for you, and when you are living among the nations to which the LORD your God has exiled you, take to heart all these instructions.
²  If at that time you and your children return to the LORD your God, and if you obey with all your heart and all your soul all the commands I have given you today,
³  then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes. He will have mercy on you and gather you back from all the nations where he has scattered you. 

1. We Read with Modern Eyes

--Have you ever thought about what it would have been like to hear the Bible’s prophecies at the time they were first spoken? 

--Imagine you were there, over 3300 years ago, when Moses spoke the book of Deuteronomy, a series of speeches delivered to the children of Israel in the five weeks before he died. 

--How would these words have sounded to you at the time? When we read the Bible, whether we realize it or not, we read it through modern eyes. 

--We read the biblical stories with the benefit of hindsight, knowing exactly how things turn out. The people at the time of the prophecy didn’t have that luxury. 

--And when we read prophecies of the future, we do so with knowledge of everything that has happened since the words were first spoken. We can look at Biblical history. 

--Often, we understand details of the prophecies that those who were alive at the time could not have understood. But there’s also a downside to reading the Bible through our modern lens. 

--Because of the changes that have taken place over the past 3000 years, the world we live in is not the same as the world in which the Biblical prophecies were spoken and written. 

--As a result of how much has changed in our world, we can easily miss the full power and intent of the words we are reading.

2. The Context of Deuteronomy 30

--Deuteronomy 30 is a perfect example of this phenomenon. To fully appreciate what this prophecy is saying, let’s review the chapters leading up to it.

--In Deuteronomy 28, Moses related the blessings that would be bestowed on the nation of Israel as a reward for faithfully observing God’s covenant, as well as the terrible punishments when they strayed from God. 

Deuteronomy 28:1-6 (NLT2)
¹  “If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the world.
²  You will experience all these blessings if you obey the LORD your God:
³  Your towns and your fields will be blessed.
⁴  Your children and your crops will be blessed. The offspring of your herds and flocks will be blessed.
⁵  Your fruit baskets and breadboards will be blessed.
⁶  Wherever you go and whatever you do, you will be blessed. 

--The final verses of the punishments describe the nation of Israel being scattered into exile.

Deuteronomy 28:64 (NLT2)
⁶⁴  For the LORD will scatter you among all the nations from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship foreign gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods made of wood and stone!

--Then, in chapter 29, Moses continues by telling the nation that when they are in exile, the land will lie desolate. 

--Moses even describes how in the distant future people from other nations will see the destruction of the land and the exile of the Jewish people and conclude that God has done this because the Jews turned their backs on God. (Deuteronomy 29:22-28) 

Deuteronomy 29:22-28 (NLT2)
²²  “Then the generations to come, both your own descendants and the foreigners who come from distant lands, will see the devastation of the land and the diseases the LORD inflicts on it.
²³  They will exclaim, ‘The whole land is devastated by sulfur and salt. It is a wasteland with nothing planted and nothing growing, not even a blade of grass. It is like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD destroyed in his intense anger.’
²⁴  “And all the surrounding nations will ask, ‘Why has the LORD done this to this land? Why was he so angry?’
²⁵  “And the answer will be, ‘This happened because the people of the land abandoned the covenant that the LORD, the God of their ancestors, made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.
²⁶  Instead, they turned away to serve and worship gods they had not known before, gods that were not from the LORD.
²⁷  That is why the LORD’s anger has burned against this land, bringing down on it every curse recorded in this book.
²⁸  In great anger and fury the LORD uprooted his people from their land and banished them to another land, where they still live today!’ 

--Then comes Deuteronomy 30. Here, Moses tells the people that after many generations of exile, scattered to the four corners of the earth, the people of Israel will return to the land. 

Deuteronomy 30:3-5 (NLT2)
³  then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes. He will have mercy on you and gather you back from all the nations where he has scattered you.
⁴  Even though you are banished to the ends of the earth, the LORD your God will gather you from there and bring you back again.
⁵  The LORD your God will return you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will possess that land again. Then he will make you even more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors!

3. Deuteronomy 30 is Happening Now.

--As I write this, the modern state of Israel is prosperous and populated by millions of Jews from every corner of the earth. Yes, their prosperity has helped them defend themselves. 

--Every detail of the verses I just read has been fulfilled in our time. Think about that. Here is a biblical prophecy spoken over 3300 years ago. 

--Ever since then, everyone who read the Bible read these verses as a future prophecy. And today, we live in a time when every word of these verses is a reality. Only God!

--The Jewish people have returned in mass. They have taken possession of it in the form of Jewish sovereignty. Israel is a prosperous nation. And there are more Jews in the land than at any other time in history. 

4. How Deuteronomy 30 Sounded Back Then

--But what did the people who first heard this prophecy think? When Moses spoke these words, many nations existed that are no longer around. Where are the Hittites? Or the Assyrians? Or the Amorites? 

--What happened to these nations? The answer is that they were conquered by invading empires. 

--In what historians refer to as “the age of empires,” powerful nations swept across the earth, conquering smaller nations along the way. 

--The Assyrians, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans all conquered numerous peoples. And after conquering them, these empires would not simply try to rule over these peoples in their own lands. 

--They would first kill most of the men of fighting age. And then they would send the rest of the population, or much of it, into exile. 

--Having conquered many peoples, these empires would mix the populations throughout their empires, teaching them a new language and culture, and assimilating them into their empires. 

--The point I am making is that exile was a common feature of the ancient world. But here’s what never happened. Get ready for this!

--None of the smaller nations that were conquered and exiled by these empires ever returned to their homeland after many generations scattered to the four winds. 

--In the ancient world, going into exile meant the end of your national identity.

5. An Impossible Prophecy

--With this context in mind, we can more fully grasp the enormity of Moses’ prophecy. Moses declared that the nation of Israel would go into exile, scattered to many different corners of the earth. 

--To anyone living at the time who heard these words, this could mean only one thing: the end of the nation of Israel. 

--When Moses then prophesied that the nation of Israel would return from this exile in the very distant future, he was describing something impossible. 

--Who would still be around to return after thousands of years? How would a national identity be preserved as a scattered nation in exile over so many centuries? 

--The absurdity of Moses’ prophecy would have been clear to someone hearing it at the time. And yet, this is exactly what happened. 

--The miracle of Israel’s rebirth as a prosperous and independent nation after thousands of years of exile is on par with the greatest Biblical miracles that we read about in the Exodus story. Maybe even greater. 

Deuteronomy 30:3 (NLT2)
³  then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes. He will have mercy on you and gather you back from all the nations where he has scattered you. 

Israel – Past, Present, and Future

Israel – Past, Present, and Future

Subject – Israel, God’s Chosen People

By Rick Welborne

Romans 9:1-3 (NKJV)
¹  I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,
²  that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.
³  For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, 

Romans 10:1 (NKJV) ¹ Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. 

Romans 11:1-2 (NKJV) ¹ I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
²  God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. 

--Important questions to ask. Are the Jewish people God’s “chosen people”? If so, why have most Jews not accepted Jesus as Messiah? 

--Has the church “replaced” Israel in terms of promises God made to her that now belong to the church? 

--In these three chapters, Paul addressed the subject of Israel and the Jewish people, and how they fit into God’s redemptive plan. 

--In chapter 9, Paul pivoted from talking about the human race generally to the Jewish people specifically. 

--As a Jew, Paul grieved that many of his people rejected their Messiah, believing that their heritage meant they were saved already. In our text we will discuss how Israel fits into God’s eternal plan.  

--Questions: Are the Jewish people God’s “chosen people”? If so, what does that mean? Is God done with Israel since the Jews rejected Jesus and played a role in His crucifixion? 

--Has the church replaced Israel in terms of promises God made to her that now belong to the church? Do Jews have an automatic path to salvation? 

--Israel’s rebirth. The United Nations determined there should be a Jewish state in the Middle East in 1947. Israel was reestablished as a state following the War of Independence on May 14, 1948.

--The British mandate officially ended over what was then called Palestine. 

Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion stated on May 14, 1948 - Israel will reclaim the Biblical homeland God promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

--US President Harry S. Truman supported Ben-Gurion’s proclamation eleven minutes following the announcement. The Jews returned to their homeland, but the Arab nations opposed it. 

--On May 15, 1948, seven Arab nations (Egypt, Transjordan, Iraq, and 4 other nations) sent twenty-five thousand troops against Israel while Israel still had no military. Israel won. 

--650,000 Jews were in Israel at the beginning of the war. By the end of the war, 800,000 Jews had fled to Israel. They absorbed their own refugees despite their numbers doubling quickly. 

--The Arabs numbered fifty million people. They did not absorb their own refugees, but put them in refugee camps which their descendants live in to this day.

Ezekiel 37:21-22 (NKJV) ²¹  Then say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land;
²²  and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; 

--The re-establishment of Israel was prophesied twenty-five hundred years earlier in Ezekiel and in Isaiah it tells us Israel was reborn in a day.

Isaiah 66:8 (NLT2) ⁸ Who has ever seen anything as strange as this? Who ever heard of such a thing? Has a nation ever been born in a single day? Has a country ever come forth in a mere moment? But by the time Jerusalem’s birth pains begin, her children will be born. 

--Most Jews have not accepted Jesus, just as it was in Paul’s day. 

Romans 9:3 (NLT2) ³ for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them.  

--Paul said the Jews were more accountable because of their knowledge. 

 Romans 9:4-5 (NLT2)
⁴  They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God’s adopted children. God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave them his law. He gave them the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises.
⁵  Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors, and Christ himself was an Israelite as far as his human nature is concerned. And he is God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.

--Many Jews stumbled then and even now on Jesus, the “stumbling stone”

 Romans 9:30-33 (NIV) ³⁰ What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;
³¹  but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it.
³²  Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the "stumbling stone."
³³  As it is written: "See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame." 

--Those who do not break under their sin and come to faith in Jesus are crushed by Him for rejecting Him.

Matthew 21:44 (NKJV)
⁴⁴  And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder." 

--Everyone (including Jews) must understand there are no shortcuts to salvation.

Romans 10:9-13 (NKJV) ⁹ that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
¹⁰  For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
¹¹  For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."
¹²  For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.
¹³  For "whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved."  

--Jews and Greeks (Gentiles) alike must believe in Christ to be saved and go to heaven. 

John 1:11NKJV “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” 

--Why are the Jews God’s people if most of them reject Him? They are God’s chosen people because through them, God revealed the Messiah Jesus and His redemptive plan for the world.

Deuteronomy 7:6 (NKJV) ⁶ "For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.

Genesis 12:3 (NKJV) ³ I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." 

--We bless Israel and honor the Jewish people because of the role God chose for them in the same way, we honor Mary for the role God chose her for. We respect Mary as the mother of Jesus.

--When we honor Israel, we honor our Lord.

Matthew 25:40 (NKJV) ^40…inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'  

--There is no favored status regarding salvation just because they are Jews. We are all saved by grace. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

 --Paul was saying national identity does not translate to spiritual identity. Misinterpretation of this verse has led to a false doctrine called replacement theology. 

--This school of thought claims the church has superseded Israel. It argues that God transferred the promises and blessings from the Jews to the church because Israel rejected and crucified Christ.

--The church has not replaced Israel; God still has a plan and purpose for them.

Romans 11:1-2 (NKJV) ¹ I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
²  God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew…

--Paul was saying he was a Jew, and God had not cut him or his fellow Jews out of His plan. The damaging effects of replacement theology has led to Antisemitism. 

--This theology led Catholics to commission the Crusades and slaughter Jews and Muslims for their holy war. Martin Luther wrote Anti-Semitic content because of his belief in replacement theology.

--Adolf Hitler hailed Martin Luther in his book Mein Kampf and quoted him as one of the reasons for slaughtering the Jews in World War Two. But antisemitism is rooted in Satan.

Revelation 12:4 (NIV) ⁴ The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born.  

--This child can refer both to Jesus and Israel. God’s plan for the future of the Jewish people is that “all Israel will be saved.” 

Romans 11:25-27 (NLT2) ²⁵ I want you to understand this mystery, dear brothers and sisters, so that you will not feel proud about yourselves. Some of the people of Israel have hard hearts, but this will last only until the full number of Gentiles comes to Christ.
²⁶  And so all Israel will be saved. As the Scriptures say, “The one who rescues will come from Jerusalem, and he will turn Israel away from ungodliness.
²⁷  And this is my covenant with them, that I will take away their sins.” 

 --“The full number of Gentiles come to Christ”. The only prophecy that needed to be fulfilled prior to the rapture was Ezekiel 37, the 1948 rebirth of the Jewish state.

--The first part of the second coming is Jesus coming in the clouds for the rapture. The second part of the second coming is Jesus coming to establish the millennium.

--The Lord will come when the fullness of the Gentiles comes, which is a number only God knows. Jews can still get saved during this time, but this window is for the Gentiles.

-- “All Israel will be saved”. After the rapture of the church, those left behind will face great tribulation. The tribulation will refine the Jews.

--The first Holocaust killed one out of every three Jews. In the “second holocaust,” two out of every three Jews will die. The one-third that remains—the remnant—will see Christ and be saved. 

--The remnant of Israel will first pay a steep price.

Zechariah 13:8-9 (NLT2)
⁸  Two-thirds of the people in the land will be cut off and die,” says the LORD. “But one-third will be left in the land.
⁹  I will bring that group through the fire and make them pure. I will refine them like silver and purify them like gold. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘These are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.’” 

Wide Open Doors – 2

Wide Open Doors – 2 

Subject – A Furnace with a Door

By Rick Welborne

1 Corinthians 16:9 (NLT2) ⁹ There is a wide-open door for a great work here, although many oppose me. 

John 10:10 (NKJV) 10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. 

–Many of us would have never believed that we would live long enough to see such an attack on the Jewish people and on Christianity.

–Manger scenes forbidden, crosses removed from veteran memorials, the ten commandments are challenged because they are in our judicial buildings. Universities in lock down.

–On the other hand the United States seems to be very accommodating to other religions even though they may seem hostile to our system of beliefs...our founding principles.

–Jesus appears to be so offensive and God seems to be so controversial that one of our political parties tried to have them excluded from their platform.

–If you watched the actual vote the moderator actually said the vote passed in favor of God when that was not evident in the response. The anger was evident on the faces.

–I believe we may be moving into a time of Daniel where it may be against the law to worship our Christian God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

–Tonight I want to talk about being thrown into the fire and what our God can do! Open a door!

Isaiah 43:1‑2 (NIV) 

1 But now, this is what the LORD says‑‑ he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. 

2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.  

–Now is not the time to fear what is coming but to understand our God can take us thru the wide open doors even if He has to take you through the fire.

–Everything we hold dear to us is going to be challenged but understand our God holds us in His hand and He will glorify His Name in the midst of great tribulation and persecution.

--Nebuchadnezzar has set up a golden image and says everyone has to bow when the call is put out to the people. Three Hebrew young men decided not to bow. They were faithful to God.

Daniel 3:13‑15 (NIV) 

13 Furious with rage, Nebuchadnezzar summoned Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. So these men were brought before the king, 

14 and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, "Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold I have set up? 

15 Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?" 

1. We Must Face the Fire to Go Through the Wide Open Doors.

 

–Do not think that you are going to be given right of passage thru the doors without a fight...Satan is furious because his time is short and we are storming his gates.

--Nebuchadnezzar was furious with rage...have you noticed how angry people get when speak about biblical principles and defending Israel?

--If you attempt to stand against principalities, powers, and rulers of darkness get ready for the fire to be seven times hotter than usual.

Daniel 3:16‑19 (NIV) 

16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 

17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. 

18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." 

19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and his attitude toward them changed. He ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual

 

–O King, there is no need for us to answer you. Faith is alive in these boys.

–Our God is able to deliver from you and the fire.

–Faith says whether God delivers us or not we will not bow or compromise.

–This kind of faith causes the enemy to turn up the fire seven times.

--If you attempt to stand against the principalities, powers, and rulers get ready for strong men to come against you. 

Daniel 3:20‑22 (NIV) 

20 and commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace. 

21 So these men, wearing their robes, trousers, turbans and other clothes, were bound and thrown into the blazing furnace. 

22 The king's command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, 

–Not everyone will be thrilled that you are going against the flow - going after God!

–The strong Pharisees will lose control if the Holy Spirit takes over.

–They want to bind you up, shut you up, and throw you out. The fire will get them!

2. Trust God in the Fire and He Will Open the Door.

Daniel 3:23 (NIV) 23 and these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blazing furnace. 

–These three fell down bound right in the middle of the fire. Humility and Trust.

–Humble yourself because you may be right where God wants you to be.

–You may not have chosen to be in the situation you are in... trust that God is there. If you are cast into the fire you may find yourself in a close encounter of the God kind. 

Daniel 3:24‑25 (NKJV) 

24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, "Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?" They answered and said to the king, "True, O king." 

25 "Look!" he answered, "I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God." 

–Your unwillingness to compromise may have set you up with a visitation from God. An open door.

–What may have seemed like your destruction may prove to be your deliverance. Your trust will cause God to be glorified as others see Him deliver you.

3. Go Through the Wide Open Door Without the Smell of Smoke.   

Daniel 3:26‑29 (NIV) 

26 Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, "Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!" So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire, 

27 and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them. 

28 Then Nebuchadnezzar said, "Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king's command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. 

–People will acknowledge that we are servants of the Most High God. People will be amazed at your deliverance and gather to see living testimonies. A wide open door in a furnace.

–People will see your sincerity and dedication and give God the glory. If you are cast into the fire and come out victorious you will see God glorified and His Kingdom expanded!  

Daniel 3:29‑30 (NIV) 

29 Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way." 

30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon. 

–God’s Name is exalted above all other names (authority). 

–Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego were promoted in the Kingdom. A wide open door.

–Do not fear the fire because our God is a consuming fire. He wants to baptize us in Holy Ghost fire. When this happens (like the day of Pentecost) many will be saved into the Kingdom. 

  

–Jesus says, Behold I stand at the door...even in the middle of the fire! He says, I am the Door!