"Prophesy To The Mountains Of Israel"

The title for our message this week is actually the title for Ezekiel Chapter 36. Even though this chapter is referred to as a prophesy, some of the prophesied events have already taken place since it was written in 593 B.C.; some events are happening currently and some will happen in the future. For the last couple of months our messages have been about how the Jewish people became God's Chosen People and was an abbreviated history of Israel. This week we start a series of messages about current day Israel and its future. Our purpose for this new series is to show that what Jehovah God Promises, He Does To Perfection.

Ezekiel 36:1,2 says, "Son of man prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say, 'O mountains of Israel, hear the word of The Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The enemy said of you, aha! The ancient heights have become our possession.'" These prophesied events have taken place numerous times in the past as Israel has been under foreign control. However, Jehovah God did not abandon His people when he says in verse 7, "I swear with uplifted hand that the nations around you will also suffer scorn." Israel has had to fight a number of wars but with the might and the power of God they have been victorious every time. Also, many of the empires or nations that have fought against Israel do not even exist today. God Keeps His Promises!

This prophesy continues in Ezekiel 36:11 when God says, "I will increase the number of men and animals upon you, and they will be fruitful and become numerous. I will settle people on you as in the past and will make you prosper more than before. Then you will know that I am The Lord." In the very early years of Israel, it was primarily a barren dessert. Today Israel produces some of the largest and delicious fruits in the world through advanced irrigation techniques. Also, this verse talks about the people of Israel becoming prosperous and today Israel has one of the strongest economies in the world and its people are prosperous to a large degree. God Keeps His Promises!

Lastly, we raise the question - why does God keep His promises? I believe there are two primary reasons - He is a Covenant Keeping God and He is keeping the Abrahamic and Mosaic Covenant!s Also Ezekiel 36:11 says, "Then you will know that I am The Lord." Jehovah God is keeping His Promises so that the whole world will know that He Is The King Of Kings And The Lord Of Lords. Hallelujah! We are just getting started. Stay Tuned!

May The Lord Bless You And Keep You This Day And Each Day,

Frank

"All Israel Will Be Saved"L

Last week's message emphasized most Jewish people have difficulty recognizing Jesus Christ as their Messiah or Savior. We also pointed out that this is an act of God {Romans 11:8} but equally important this is a temporary situation. In fact, I recently heard that an Orthodox Rabbi saw a vision of Jesus Christ just before dying and was instantly saved. Jews Are Being Saved.

We ended last week's message by saying that this story has a wonderful and God ordained ending. Romans 11:25,26 says, "I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And So All Israel Will Be Saved." 

Notice that Paul the Apostle refers to this event as a mystery. As we have pointed out earlier it is difficult to understand but once again, it has a wonderful ending. Romans 11:26,27 says, "The deliverer will come from Zion; He will turn Godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my Covenant with them when I take away their sins."

All Israel Will Be Saved! Is this 100% of all Jewish people who will be saved? There are different opinions concerning this question but if it is not 100% it is a very large percentage of the Jewish people. Hallelujah! Praise The Lord! When will this happen? Most prophetic scholars believe it will happen at the end of the Tribulation Period when Jesus returns to earth. {Zechariah 12:10} 

How about you? As you have read this message, I trust you have received Jesus Christ as your Savior but this might not be the case. If you have read these messages about most Jewish people needing to be saved, possibly you now realize you have this same need. Please pray this prayer with me, "Jesus, I know I am a sinner and desire to be saved. Please forgive me of all my sins - past, present and future. I ask for You to become my Lord and Savior. I now confess you as my Lord and I know that You died on the cross for me and was risen from the dead." 

Remember to thank Jesus everyday for your salvation! Amen and Amen! 

May The Lord Bless You This Day And Every Day,

Frank    

"A Spirit Of Stupor"

Our messages recently have shown that by living under the New Blood Covenant established through the shed blood of Jesus Christ a person receives salvation. Romans 10:9-10 explains, "That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you are saved." 

However, we have also learned that receiving salvation has been challenging for most of the Jewish people. This week's message will outline the primary reason why all this is happening. One temptation might be to think that the Jewish people have not heard the Gospel message or how both Jew and Gentile can be saved. This is not true! Romans 10:14,18 says, "How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? . . . but I ask, did they not hear? Of course they did: "Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world." Indeed, the Jewish people have heard!

We need now to look at Romans 11:8 that says, "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes so that they could not see and ears so that they can not hear, to this very day." God has given His Covenant People "A Spirit of Stupor" so that they cannot see or hear who is their Messiah to this very day. Why? This is a very difficult question to answer! Isaiah 55:8,9 says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares The Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

The most important concept to know is this is a temporary situation! Romans 11:1,2, "I ask then, did God reject His people? By no means! . . . God did not reject His people whom He foreknew." God has not rejected His Covenant People! 

Stay Tuned! This Story Has A Wonderful And A God Ordained Ending.

May The Lord Bless You And Keep You This Day And Everyday,

Frank 

 

"Righteousness By Faith"

During the last few weeks our messages have concentrated on the blessing of living under "The New Blood Covenant" established through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Salvation is the most important blessing received by accepting Jesus Christ as one's Lord and Savior or Messiah. Last week's message emphasized that both Jew and Gentile are equal in their eligibility for salvation. In fact, Romans 1:16 says, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile." We also learned that only a small percentage of Jews have received Jesus as their Messiah. Why?

At the end of Romans 9 there are three verses entitled "Israel's Unbelief" which says, "What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works." Romans 9:30-32.

This message might be challenging so we will examine it carefully. Gentiles have received righteousness and salvation by faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior. However, this is not true for the majority of Jewish people who are still living under the Mosaic Covenant or living by the Law. Verse 33 of Romans 9 clarifies this because it says Jesus is, "A stone that causes them to stumble and a rock that makes them fall." In reality, they cannot comprehend or are not willing to accept that Jesus Christ is their Messiah.

The Apostle Paul, a Jewish persecutor of Christians, suddenly recognized Jesus as his Messiah during his supernatural experience on the Road to Damascus, Acts 9:1-17. Paul in Romans 10:1 says, "My heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is to be saved." Then in verses two and three he further clarifies the Israelites current situation.

In next week's message we will further clarify why the Jews cannot recognize Jesus Christ as their Messiah but most importantly will illustrate this is not the end of the story. Stay tuned.

May The Lord Bless You And Keep You This Day And Each Day,

Frank 

           

"One In Christ"

Recently, a friend approached me and asked the following question, "Who are the Jewish people today?" I was somewhat surprised by the question but not totally surprised. Why? We currently live in what is referred to as the "Church Age" or the "Age of Grace." Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to The Father except through Me." In effect, Jesus is saying that the only way to have a relationship with God plus salvation is through knowing Him as your Lord and Savior. If misunderstood, this could give the impression that the Jewish people are excluded. 

Additionally, there is a movement in some churches known as the "Replacement Theology" meaning that some believe that the church has replaced the Jewish people as God's Chosen People. As a result, our message this week is to answer this question, "Who Are The Jewish People Today?" 

Jehovah God answers this vitally important question in Ephesians 2:13-18 when He describes the current relationship between Jews and Gentiles, "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For He himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in His flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access to The Father by one Spirit."

The shed blood of Jesus Christ which established the New Blood Covenant has Jews and Gentiles equal or "One In Christ." This means both are now eligible to have an intimate relationship with God; can also have salvation, eternal life and forgiveness of sins through receiving Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. The Jewish people are still "God's Covenant People" but many continue to search for their Messiah. Why is this? We will discuss this challenging question in our following messages. Stay tuned!

May The Lord Bless You And Keep You This Day And Every Day,

Frank   

 

God's Covenant People - Part Seven

During the last six weeks our messages have centered on Jehovah God's Covenants including the Abrahamic Covenant, the Mosaic Covenant and the new and better covenant referred to as the New Blood Covenant. Last week we learned that through the shed blood of Jesus Christ all people now have a way to salvation, eternal life and forgiveness of sins when they accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and Messiah. In this our last message of the Covenant Series, we will share another important lesson of living under the New Blood Covenant.

Jeremiah 31:33 says, "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says The Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My People." God says as part of the New Blood Covenant the law will be in their minds and on their hearts. What does this mean? When God established the Mosaic Covenant at Mount Sinai He explained that the only way to keep the Mosaic Covenant was to obey Him by keeping a number of laws. The people agreed not knowing they were unable to keep these laws. This inability started with the Fall of Man and the Garden of Eden resulting in a separation of God from man.

Let me ask a very important question. Do you remember the supernatural event that took place in the Temple when Jesus died? The veil was torn in two. Thus the barrier between God and man is gone. For those who know Jesus as their Savior and Messiah there are now no more separations, every barrier separating us from God is removed. 

When we say that God's Law is now in His people's minds and written on their heart, this means that under the New Blood Covenant a relationship between God and man is now established. Yes, the law still exists but God's people are now better able to keep the law through their new relationship with God and the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Keeping the law is no longer a difficult requirement but is now a desire in our hearts. Hallelujah!

In closing, Hebrews 10:19-22 encourages us to approach the very Throne of God regularly to have our hearts, minds and bodies cleansed, "Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith."

I trust this series on God's Covenants has been a true blessing for you as it has been for me.

May The Lord Bless You This Day And Every Day,

Frank 

God's Covenant People - Part Six

In our continuing study of the Covenants which Jehovah God established with His people, we have examined the Mosaic Covenant in our last two messages. At Mt. Sinai, God presented His Law that are guidelines for living lives acceptable to Him but we learned God's people disobeyed almost immediately. In reality, God's Covenant people are not able in their own way to keep the Mosaic Covenant and not sin.

As a result, God established a New and Better Blood Covenant as illustrated in Jeremiah 31:31-34:

"The time is coming," Declares The Lord,

"When I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel 

and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the Covenant

I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand

to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke My Covenant, 

though I was a husband to them," Declares The Lord. 

"This is the Covenant I will make with the House of Israel

after that time," Declares The Lord.

"I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts.

I will be their God, and they will be My people.

No longer will a man teach his neighbor,

or a man his brother, saying 'know The Lord,'

because they will all know me, from the least of them

to the greatest." Declares The Lord.

"For I will forgive their wickedness

and will remember their sins no more."

How did Jehovah God establish this New and Better Blood Covenant? He sent His Son Jesus Christ to earth to shed His blood by dying on a cross. Hebrews 9:22 says, "In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." The Mosaic Covenant required the sacrifice of bulls and goats to atone for the sins of the people but this was not forgiveness of sins.

The broken body and shed blood of Jesus Christ, the most important event in world history, accomplished the will of Jehovah God. Jesus said in Matthew 5:17, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the Prophets, I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." The law is still in effect today but Jesus gave us a way to have our sins immediately forgiven when we sincerely repent of our sins and ask for forgiveness. 1John1:9 says, "If we confess our sins He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

Next week's message will conclude our study of God's Covenants and will concentrate on another very important benefit of living under the New and Better Blood Covenant. Stay Tuned!

May The Lord Bless You And Keep You This Day And Every Day,

Frank