Address—Josh Stewart
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And often I think of prophecy is maybe a dry subject and umm, I understand why that is, but I want to tell you something.
I believe the Lord used prophecy in my life to touch my heart and it was.
It was really prophecy that drew me as a believer deeper into God's Word. I still remember where I was. I was in my office at work. I think there was actually someone sitting a few feet away from me. I was reading. I was reading my Bible at lunchtime.
I was reading in the prophet Hosea.
And I read something in the prophet Hosea that touched my heart, and I want to share that at the end of this meeting. Maybe it's the last point. I'll try to make sure we budget time to to get to it. It was something in prophecy that touched my heart, and it was something that the Lord used to draw me into a deeper study of the Word of God.
And I can say stand here and say that I don't find prophecy as a dry subject at all.
We had a the first question and answer meeting. We took up the question Why study prophecy?
And there was many reasons that were given, and I wholeheartedly agree with all of those reasons that were given. So I would just encourage each one of you to take out the study of prophecy.
That's what prophecy is. The world is dark and obscure. There are lots of things happening.
That are very hard to understand, but prophecy shines a light and causes us to see things as God sees them.
We see many things in this world, we look into prophecy and we see where those things are going to end, and it helps us to know how to Live Today.
It goes on to say, until the day dawn and the day start arise in your hearts.
And you know, we have much more than prophecy. We have the full light of the New Testament revealed.
And that light is so much greater it, it swallows up the light of prophecy. It's like having a flashlight. Maybe children have used the flashlight here at camp. It's so important to have that flashlight as you're finding a way from maybe the bathhouse back to your tent. But then when the day dawns, the, the superior light of the sun, uh, just overwhelms it. Well, we have the full revelation of the New Testament.
But prophecy is still important.
And that will, that lamp of prophecy can still is still used by God to illuminate things around us.
While we wait for the Lord to come.
And so I would just like to again, look at a few lessons. These are, this list is not exhaustive. There are so many things we can learn, but I just want to look at a few that have really impressed me. I have put together some slides that I hope will help For many of these, I really didn't need slides, but there's a few charts, so I thought I'd make a slide for each, uh.
For each point. So the first point I would like to speak about is something that was already previously covered and that is God's eternal purpose, Ephesians chapter one. So let's just turn over there. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this point, although I will say this, I believe it's the most important point.
Ephesians, chapter one.
Verse 9.
Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to the good pleasure that He hath purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ.
Both which are in heaven and which are on earth. Even in Him this verse is we've we've had explained to us before gives us God's eternal gusts.
You know, it is amazing that this verse is hands.
It is amazing that God has told us His great, eternal purpose. How many of you have been on a team, maybe playing a sport that you weren't familiar with, and you've gotten a little bit confused about what the goal of the game was?
It's a bit of an uncomfortable feeling because you're working, but everyone else seems to know what's going on and you feel a little bit lost, a little bit confused. You know, God doesn't want us to be like that as Christians. He doesn't want us to be working and serving without understanding the big picture, without understanding the goal, the big purpose that he's working toward. So he has given this, this.
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Tremendous revelation that God, that his purpose.
A purpose that he had before the foundation of the world.
Was that he was going to glorify Christ, to gather together in one to head up all things in Christ and heaven and an earth. God's goal of all that he's doing, of all that he's done, it's all working towards this one singular purpose to glorify his Son.
And we look at, when we look at prophecy, we see the steps that God is going to take to accomplish that purpose.
The lesson?
The lesson that we learn.
From that I believe is that it is all about Christ. He's the center of God's purpose. It's all about him. And that is so practical. You know, we tend to be so selfish. We focus on ourselves. Umm, and I speak for myself not as one who has learned this lesson, but one who's learning it but.
You know, if God's purpose is to glorify His Son, then that should be our purpose as well. In every decision we make, in every action we take. It really should be.
How can this bring glory to Christ?
It, it, it affects every area of our life, what we do with our job, what we do with our time, what we do the minute we get up from this meeting, you know, do I go up to a person that I really enjoy having a conversation with?
Because it makes me feel good.
Or do I follow the impulses of the Spirit of God?
To maybe engage in a conversation with someone that maybe needs encouragement. Maybe I don't enjoy speaking to them, but maybe it's something the Lord that would bring the Lord glory. You know, it affects every detail of our life. So young people, understand the big picture, understand God's eternal purpose and have that affect your life.
The next thing I want to speak about is the return of Christ. Let's look over for a verse in second Peter. This this ties in a little bit with what umm, our brother spoke on yesterday evening.
You know, the return of Christ is something that has been spoken about from the very earliest chapters of the Bible.
The return of Christ was spoken about by Enoch.
We're gonna read that prophecy in just a minute.
God has been speaking.
Since the beginning of man's history here in this world that Christ is coming to judge.
This is something that the world categorically rejects. Let's just read a verse here in the second P Second Peter 3.
And verse, uh, let's, let's read from verse 3.
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
This is what we're seeing around us. We see a world that's full of people, and many of them are scoffers like the ones we read about here in this verse that say, where is the promise of this coming?
They doubt the fact that God is coming back to judge sin. They think that the party is just going to continue.
But it's not going to continue.
It is guaranteed.
That one day Christ is going to return and is going to return in judgment. Let's just jump over to June to that prophecy I referenced. The 14th verse gives us the prophecy of Enoch.
And Enoch also the 7th from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with 10 thousands of his Saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them, of all of their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their heart speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
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It's a reality. It's a reality. Christ is coming and he is going to judge evil. And so prophecy is like a light that shines in a dark place, and it shows us the end of all things around us.
I have to speak for myself that my heart in the flesh goes out after the things that the world has to offer.
The great things in this world.
The institutions of man, the successes of man, the inventions of man, you know, the pride of man is is incredible.
But when we look into prophecy, we see that Christ is coming and he's going to judge all of that. That great image of Nebuchadnezzar with the head of gold, the chest and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, the legs of iron, and the feet of iron mixed with clay. When Christ comes, he is that stone cut out without hands that smashes the image on its feet and the whole thing.
Comes crumbling down this whole thing that the gentile.
Mind has developed all of this.
Tremendous prosperity.
All of them.
All of it mixed up with sin and corruption and self glorification. This whole thing is going to come crashing down. You know, I, I think about this is very practical.
You know, are we looking for places of power here in this world? Are we looking for places of prestige? Are we looking for rewards that this world would have to offer? Remember that golden chain that belt Shazzer offered to Daniel in chapter 5? Did Daniel want that golden chain? No, because he had just prophesied that the end of that Kingdom would take place that night.
The end of this world is right around the corner.
Why are we going after those things?
That pertain to this world. It is all gonna come under judgment and so prophecy in this way I believe.
Causes us.
To remain separate from those things because we know that Christ is coming.
All right, the next one.
We're gonna jump now to the Old Testament.
We're going to go to Isaiah chapter 18.
Isaiah chapter 18.
This is, uh, an extremely interesting chapter in prophecy.
Going to try not to spend too much time on the details, although I find them quite interesting.
Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.
Translated the rivers of Kush, that sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying doggy, swift messengers to a nation scattered and peeled to a people terrible from their beginning. Thereto the nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled.
So what we have in this verse?
It's a prophecy in connection with a land shadowing with wings beyond the rivers of Kush. What I have on the, on the slide here is a map of, of the world focusing on the Middle East. And uh, I have Israel highlighted. I don't know if you can see that. And then I have umm, outlined what I believe are the rivers of Kush. The rivers of Kush would, would be those rivers where the descendants of Kush settled.
In Genesis chapter 10 we read about Kush, who is I believe the son of Ham and his descendants settled in these areas largely along the Euphrates River and along the Nile River.
And these two rivers are referred to twice in uh, in the verses we just read, it says whose land the rivers have spoiled Israel's enemies and the great empires that came, they came in contact with in the Old Testament.
Had to do with these rivers whether it was Egypt located on the Nile, whether it was Babylon on the Euphrates or Assyria on the TI on the Tigris river, which is very close to the Euphrates.
And the prophet Isaiah is speaking to a land that is beyond or outside of the rivers of Kush. Israel was intimately familiar with those rivers and everything inside it. But there was some great political power that's unnamed in the book of Isaiah beyond the rivers of Kush, and we believe by comparing other scriptures.
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That this great power is what we call the beast.
Roman Empire outside the rivers of Kush.
And.
It says here the land shadowing with wings.
And so the picture of, uh.
Of shadowing with wings is the idea of protection, and what is happening in this chapter is there is a warning that this land beyond the rivers of Kush is going to come in and try to shelter the land of Israel from the judgment of God.
Like a great bird spreading out its wings.
God has a controversy with Israel, and in prophecy what we have is a time of great judgment that's going to fall on all the world, but especially on the nation of Israel.
It is God's judgment, his government on them.
For their idolatry, for breaking the law, but especially for rejecting the Savior, their Messiah.
And now we have an outside power.
The revised Roman Empire, the land shadowing with wings that comes in that says.
Do you have a problem?
I can protect you from this problem. Israel has a great problem in prophecy. There's a great power to the north and to the east of them that is looking to destroy them.
And they have this problem. And what that is, is it's God's judgment on Israel. And this land comes in and says, I can protect you from that.
What we find in this chapter is an outside power that steps in to intervene in God's discipline over Israel.
This presents to us a powerful moral lesson.
Woe be to those who interfere with God's discipline. We we had earlier, I think it was today maybe in the Q&A, that God is speaking to us through chastening. God is working in our lives through discipline.
That's one of the ways. Thankfully, it's not the only way.
And so often when that happens what what I wanna do is get help from under that in any way I can.
Take the shortcut rather than learn what God is seeking to teach me. But the way to blessing is through that chastening, not getting out of it.
And the same applies when it comes to others. God is working in the lives of others as well, and He is chastening, He is disciplining, He is allowing things to come into the lives of others. And woe be to us if we interfere in what God is doing.
And so you might have a parent.
Who is disciplining her child?
And maybe you think, man, that poor child, I'm just going to go over and comfort them. They seem so sad. It's so sad that they're crying or whatever because they've been disciplined. Let me go over and comfort them. And we think that we're doing the right thing, but what we're really doing is interfering in the work of those parents and disciplining their child.
We might have a similar situation in the assembly where someone is under discipline.
Of some form of discipline. And we we might think it's so harsh. I'm just, I just wanna go in and make them feel better.
And so we step in. We shadow with winds.
And we think that we're doing the right thing.
But what we're doing is we're only making the situation worse. And so whether it's in our life or in the lives of others, we need to realize that God is doing a work.
And the warning is not to interfere with his discipline. This is a point I, I, I got from my brother, Wayne Coleman, uh, really, uh, appreciated it and it really spoke to me.
This shadowing with wings that takes place between the beast and Israel, I think it takes the form of a covenant.
With Israel, we're gonna talk about that on the next, uh, on the next point, there is a covenant between, uh, the beast and Israel. So let's look at Daniel Chapter 9 and verse 27.
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I, I hope that, uh, going over some of these points.
Isn't going to be too confusing because we don't.
Uh, have all the details that come in between, but I trust you'll be able to follow along. And even if it's somewhat disjointed, you'll be able to take the, the lessons as we, as we go along.
Daniel Chapter 9 is uh, has been has been called by many of the backbone of prophecy and it uh, truly is one of the most important chapters in prophecy.
But in verse 27 it says, And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week.
That's all I'm gonna read because to get into more would just take too much time.
But umm, the heat in verse 27 is the leader of the revived Roman Empire and many in this verse or the many refers to Israel. So the leader of the revived Roman Empire is going to make a covenant with Israel. So we have this confederacy of nations we find elsewhere. It's a 10 nation confederacy.
We call it sometimes the revived Roman Empire. It's made-up primarily of of Western Europe.
And allies.
And there's a covenant between.
The beast in Israel.
There are other scriptures we could turn to, but I believe the covenant really has to do with protection. We saw the over spreading of wings, the sheltering with wings. It has to do with protection, perhaps military protection. I don't know that we can be 100% certain, but in exchange for money, I think there are verses that would show perhaps that there is, uh, military protection exchange for, for, uh, financial.
Resources.
It's a covenant that the leader of the revived Roman Empire makes with Israel, and is a covenant that Israel begins to trust in.
I mentioned already that there's a a great enemy of Israel to the north and to the east called the king of the north in Daniel Chapter 11. That's the great threat to Israel, and this covenant provides protection to Israel from this great threat.
But it's a horrible covenant because it's made in opposition to God. And so let's look now at Isaiah.
Chapter 28.
This is what God thinks of that covenant.
Isaiah chapter 28.
And verse 14.
Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men that rule this people, which is in Jerusalem, because he has said we have made a covenant with death and with hell. Are we at agreement? You see, they think they've, they've made a good decision to enter into this covenant.
To make this covenant. But the Lord says you've made a covenant with death and with hell. You're in agreement.
They said when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us. That overflowing scourge is the king of the north who's gonna descend and sweep down through the land of Israel. They say when it comes through, it's not gonna touch us because we've got a covenant, we've got an agreement, and the beast is gonna protect us.
For we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.
This is God's alternative.
Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation.
He that believeth shall not make haste.
Trust in Christ, that is God's alternative.
And they see this threat gathering like storm clouds.
To the north and to the east.
And their solution is to make a covenant.
An evil covenant to man for protection rather than trust God, and God says trust me.
What are they going to do?
Well, there are two parts to Israel and prophecy. There is the the the majority of the nation, which sometimes we call it the apostate nation of Israel, but there's also a remnant. There's also a chosen elect group of individuals whose heart, whose hearts God have has touched. He's given them life and they will indeed.
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Do what the Lord says here. They're going to put their trust.
They're going to believe on him and they're not gonna put their trust in that covenant, but the majority of the nation will.
Do you think that covenant is going to protect them?
Henry, what do you think?
Nope, you got it exactly. The verse goes on to say judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet. And the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the water shall overflow the hiding place. And your covenant with death shall be dis annulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand. When the overflowing skirt shall pass through, ye shall be trodden down by it.
And that is exactly what is going to happen. The overflowing schedule sweep down through the land of Israel, unleashing a horrible judgment of God.
On that nation of Israel, millions perhaps will be killed. Blood will be shed like water.
And Israel.
Will will face, uh, their most serious defeat.
And their land will be desolated.
Well, what is the lesson from all of this that we can take for ourselves? Trust the Lord. He is begging us to put our trust in him. You know, man has so many things to offer you. And he says, look, look to me.
But it's a trick. And our brother spoke on this last night. Who are you going to trust? Are you going to trust man? Are you going to trust the God who created this world, the God who sent his son?
To die on the cross, to save you from your sins. Who are you going to trust? This is the lesson Israel is going to learn, and this is the lesson that we need to learn in our lives as well.
The the next thing I wanna look at is the rise of Antichrist. Let's, uh, just jump right over to Matthew.
Matthew, Chapter 12.
In John 5, the Lord Jesus said to the Jews.
He said I have come in my father's name and you have not received me. Another will come in his own name and him you will receive. He was speaking about Antichrist.
Well, without getting into too much detail, Antichrist is a very prominent figure in prophecy. Antichrist is.
Also called the False Prophet in the Book of Revelation and he leads a huge system of false idolatrous worship.
And he also poses as the false king of Israel.
Antichrist is part of God's judgment on Israel for rejecting the true Christ.
So I just wanted to look at some verses in Matthew chapter 12.
And verse 43, before I read this, just for a little bit of background, in Matthew chapter 12, we have the formal rejection of Christ by the nation of Israel. And so the Lord goes on to say this.
When the unclean spirit has gone out of the man, he walketh through dry places seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return to my house from whence I came out. And when he has come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they endure in and dwell there in. The last state of that man is worse than the 1St.
Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.
Lord Jesus here is giving a prophecy. He's speaking about Israel and he says they're like.
A man.
Who has just been relieved?
Of an evil spirit that was indwelling.
And I believe what the Lord is referring to is Israel after the captivity, after they return from being taken captive. Israel was possessed with an evil spirit of idolatry.
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That was the reason why they were taking captive in the first place.
But when Israel was taken captive and then God brought a remnant back to Israel, they did not take up a gun with idolatry. We do not read of idolatry being practiced in Israel after the return. But you know what?
The state of Israel, after they were done with idolatry, was like a house that is empty, swept and garnished.
And when the Lord Jesus came.
They did not receive him.
They left the house empty.
And because they left the house empty, the Lord says.
That that spirit is going to come back. Idolatry is going to come back to Israel in the Tribulation period, but it's not going to come back alone. It is going to come back like this demon with seven other demons.
And the last state of that man is worse than the 1St.
Idolatry will come back to Israel, but it'll be far worse. It won't be the worship of Bale or one of these other false deities. It will be the worship of a man. A man.
Who sets himself up in the place of God?
An Antichrist is going to lead that worship, sit himself down in the temple of God.
And this is viewed as the judgment of God on Israel.
How could it get this bad?
How could things get this bad in Israel?
It's because they left the house empty, swept and garnished.
They rejected Christ as they did in Matthew chapter 12, and that is why Antichrist will rise up.
The lesson I would like to bring from this is simply this.
You and I.
Have things in our lives.
And by the grace of God, maybe through his chastening, as with Israel, those things are put out of our lives.
Maybe we have a problem with something, maybe it's an addiction, maybe it's a an unhealthy habit and somehow we're able to put that out of our lives. It leaves a void. What is going to fill that void?
We need to fill that void with Christ, just as Israel without idolatry needed to receive their Messiah. But because they did not fill that void with Christ, it was filled with something.
Satanic.
We need to fill the voids in our lives with Christ. You know, it's important that we put out what's evil. It's important that we take those things out of our life that are wrong.
But it's just as important that we fill that void with Christ.
If we don't, that thing is gonna come back in an even worse form.
So I I I trust the point is made.
The next lesson I wanna speak about has to do with the nation of Edom.
You know, all of the old enemies of Israel. We find them again in prophecy. We find the land of Eden, we find Moab, we find Ammon, we find Philistia. We find all of these nations that surrounded Israel in the Old Testament. We find them once again in prophecy.
And each of these different lands, these these different peoples, they had a particular character to them. And we see that character throughout scripture.
But one solemn example is that of Edom.
Edom is the is the people of Esau, the the brother of Jacob.
And if you trace the history of Esau and his people through the Word of God, you will find that they're characterized by hatred, by envy, and by bitterness toward their brother Jacob.
All the way through.
The Book of Obadiah takes up.
The land of Edom, and takes up the judgment of Edom.
And we find an Obadiah that God gave Eden many chances.
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Many chances to judge that sin of bitterness, hatred, envy, whatever you want to call it. But they did not. They did not take that opportunity. They continued in that Obradiah verse one, the vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom.
So it's about Edom. The whole book is about Edom. Verse 12.
But thou shouldst not have looked on the day of thy brother, in the day that he became a stranger. Neither shouldst thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction, neither should the thou have spoken proudly.
In the day of their distress.
Slicker Verse 15 For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen. As thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee. Thy reward shall return on thine own head. And then verse 18 The House of Jacob shall be afire.
And the House of Joseph aflame, and the House of Esau for stubble. And they shall kindle in them and devour them. And there shall not be any remaining of the House of Edom, for the Lord hath spoken it.
The lesson that I.
I take from this is that we must judge the roots of sin in our lives particularly.
The root of malice. You know, Paul in First Corinthians 5 speaks of the leaven of malice.
MMM bad thoughts towards others. If we don't judge that, those bad thoughts turn into feelings of hatred. Maybe we're envious of someone for maybe some success they've had. Maybe something they have that we don't have. That envy turns into bitterness if we don't judge that it grows and grows until it consumes us. You know there are other scriptures that speak in prophecy.
Who will join in the great attack of the, uh, Eastern Confederacy sweeping down through the land of Israel? And the men of Edom are shouting, raise it to the ground as they plow through the temple and destroy it. They are so consumed by their bitterness and their hatred. You know, if you have bitterness in your heart towards someone else.
You need to judge that if you do not judge that if you do not judge that root.
It will take hold and it will consume your life. And there are people whose entire lives have been wasted, sadly.
Their families have been ruined because of that hatred.
Forget, let it go. See your brother or your sister as Christ sees them, realize that that sin that they committed against you, that offense, it's gone. You say, well, they did this to me. That's sin has been taken away by the blood of Christ. You can forgive them.
As God has forgiven you.
Well, the next lesson.
Has to do with the Jewish remnant. I'm just going to speed along here because I would like to get to the end.
We know from Matthew 24.
That the gospel of the Kingdom is going to be preached.
There are gonna be those of Israel especially, I believe, who will take the gospel of the Kingdom.
And who are going to preach it through all the cities of Israel?
It says in Matthew 10 that you will not be through all the cities of Israel until the Son of Man has come. But then it says in Matthew 24.
If they're going to take the gospel of the Kingdom throughout the whole world and preach it to every nation.
Going to take the gospel and they're going to spread it through the whole earth.
These are those of faith. Remember I spoke about the two parts of Israel.
The remnant is what we're talking about now, the faithful remnant of Israel.
But as they go with this gospel throughout the world, we're gonna pass through many places.
Particularly the neighboring countries around Israel, but perhaps many other places as well.
And when we come to Matthew 25, we find that the Lord is going to.
One of the first things he's going to do when he sets up his Kingdom.
She's going to deal with the nations.
Of the world.
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Matthew 25, verse 31.
When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory, and before Him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them from one another.
As a shepherd divided his sheep from his goats.
So the Lord is going to have his throne here in this world. He's going to establish it, and then he's going to gather all living gentiles who haven't been killed in some of the other judgments of the tribulation. He's going to gather all of them before his throne, and he is going to separate them into two classes. He's going to separate them just as a shepherd separates his sheep from his goats. He's going to send the sheep off to his right hand.
He's going to send the goats off to his left hand.
What is the basis on which Christ is going to separate these Gentiles?
It is so solemn.
1St 31St 34 Then shall the King say unto them, on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and he gave me meat. I was thirsty, and he gave me drink. I was a stranger. And he took me in naked. And he called me. I was sick. And he visited me. I was in prison. And he came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee in hunger?
Freddie or thirsty, and gave thee drink, when saw we be a stranger, and took the inner naked and clothed thee, Or when saw we thee sick or imprisoned, and came unto thee. Then the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done unto one of the least of these my brethren.
He had done it unto me.
It is the brethren of the King as they went out through the nations. How were they treated?
Were they given a cup of water? Were they visited in prison? Were they shown kindness? That is the basis on which the Lord of Glory, the King on his throne, is going to separate the sheep from the goats.
And as we read, the sheep are going to inherit the Kingdom and.
Horribly. The goats are going to go into hell. Fire to eternal fire. I'm sorry.
I suppose you it's obvious to know the lesson that we can take from this.
The way we treat our brethren is what we think of Christ.
The measure of your love for Christ is how you treat the Lord's people. The apostle John would write and say this.
How can you say you love God?
Whom you cannot seek, if you do not love your brother whom you can see.
Or something like that. I'm not quoting it exactly.
That is the measure.
Of our love for Christ.
I'm just gonna make one brief comment on this next lesson earlier this year.
Few of us took up a study of, uh, the songs. From a prophetic standpoint, I was.
Totally amazed by how much of the songs really are prophetic and in those songs we have expressions of one in suffering and trial, crying out to God for deliverance.
And finding deliverance through it.
And those songs are prophetic of Christ.
But they're also prophetic, prophetic of the Jewish remnant. And what we find, I believe, is that Christ and his earthly pathway passed through circumstances that made him able to sympathize with that remnant. And so those those expressions in some cases are Christ. In some cases they're the remnant, but in many cases they could be both. He felt what they are going to feel.
And if it's true for them, it is no less true for us. We read and the book of Hebrews that Christ is our.
High priest and he is able to sympathize with us.
He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
It's going to move quickly through this next point.
The reuniting of the divided nation of Israel. We know the sad history of Israel, how they were divided in the days of Reabong.
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The 10 Tribes and the Two Tribes prophecy speaks a great deal about that, and it speaks about how they're going to be reunited again.
If we had time, I I look at these verses, but I'm just going to skip over them in the Book of Zechariah Chapter 11.
We read of the profit being given to Staffs.
One is called beauty, and we are told that it represents the relationship, the covenant, I should say, between Jehovah and Israel.
And the other is called bands and it represents the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. And God tells Zechariah to break first the staff beauty.
And then to break the staff bands and that was the order of things, Israel went into idolatry. Sadly, it was Solomon that officially brought idolatry.
Into the Kingdom wasn't David, wasn't even Saul. It was Solomon, sad to say it himself, a type of Christ who brought idolatry in.
But it was because of that, it was because of that departure from the Lord, that God divided the two from the 10.
And in prophecy, we we could read the Scriptures, but we won't take the time. There's going to be a work of repentance in Israel. They're going to go back to the root.
And there's going to be an acknowledgment.
That they departed from the Lord and then God is going to heal that old division. He's going to bring those tribes back together and they're going to be established in the Kingdom.
And the lesson that I would like to take from this.
Is simply this.
When there is an estrangement between brethren, when there is a division between brothers, when there are two, who will not look each other eye to eye? Who will not shake hands when there is a division in the assembly?
The reason is not different personalities.
The reason is not.
The particular straw that broke the camel's back there is a deeper reason, and it's because we have departed from the Lord.
There has been a departure in our souls from the Lord. That is the cause.
And that breach will not be healed until we go back to the root of that. If we walked with the Lord, there would not be divisions. There would not be separation. There would not be these heart breaking.
Situations that come among the Lord's people.
And if those things are going to be healed, what we need to do, each one of us.
Now point the finger at each other, point the finger at ourselves. Get back into the Lord's presence, turn to Him and He will mend those divisions. Here is a division. Think of it 3000 years old.
Is God able to heal the division in your assembly?
In your family.
Yes he can. He's gonna heal one that's 3000 years old.
But it's going to require humility.
And repentance. Lastly, the restoration of Israel. This is the one that touched my heart many years ago when I was I don't know.
20 or 21 years old. I can't quite remember how old I was.
We don't know the story of Hosea because our time has gone. I'm just going to suggest that you read it. He was asked by the Lord to do something that was.
Very hard for him and for us to understand. He was asked to marry a harlot and to have children by her.
And the Lord passed him through circumstances so that he could understand the Lord's heart towards Israel and this woman that he married, Domer.
She has three sons. Each of the sons represents some blow to Israel, some defeat, or some captivity that took place. The last one, there's one called Jezreel, one called Lo Ruhama, and then one called Lo am I. The last one is low. Am I call his name? Said God, verse 9. Lo, am I, For ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.
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That's the state of Israel today. They are not God's people. They are not recognized outwardly as his people in his government. According to the counsels of God, they are still his people. But outwardly today they are in the place of being not just people. This woman Domer, who has these three sons, then abandons Hosea and she goes back after her lovers.
For the cheap price of flaggings of wine.
Read through chapter 2. This is the chapter that really touched my heart. It speaks of all that she has done and all the judgment that's going to come upon her.
And then verse 14.
For no reason.
It says this, Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.
And Israel is going to be blessed and brought into tremendous blessing. And at the end of the chapter it says this.
I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy. And I will say unto them, which were not my people, Thou art my people, And they shall say unto me, Thou art my God.
Jose is told to go and to buy this woman back.
She had, she was able to begin with, she was a sinful woman to begin with, and then she abandoned him and ran away again. And the Lord says go back and buy her back.
That is God's love for his people, Israel. He is going to buy them back.
His love for us is no less.
No matter how far we go.
Don't underestimate the heart of God.
The time is gone. We're going to close in prayer.
God and Father, we think of this.
Time we've had, we think of these lessons.
Many of them for our conscience, many of them for our heart.
So just pray that we will take these things.
And they will be made good to our souls. We give thanks for that love, that love unbounded, without measures, without act.
Pray for help through the rest of our evening. In the name of our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.