Episode Transcript
The ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous. The fear of the Lord is pure enduring forever. The ordinances of the Lord are more precious than gold, than much pure gold, sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. By them, as your servant warned, in keeping them there is great reward. Father, may the words of Lance's mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts be acceptable, Lord, in your sight, our rock and our redeemer. Amen. Amen. I would like to turn you to the Acts in chapter 28, and I want to read from verse 17. And it came to pass that after three days Paul called together those that were the chief of the Jews. And when they were come together, he said unto them, I, brethren, though I had done nothing against the people or the customs of our fathers, yet was delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans, who when they had examined me desired to set me at liberty, because there was no cause of death in me. But when the Jews spake against it, I was constrained to appeal unto Caesar, not that I had ought whereof to accuse my nation. For this cause, therefore, did I entreat you to see and to speak with me, for because of the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain. And they said unto him, We neither received letters from Judea concerning thee, nor did any of the brethren come hither and report or speak any harm of thee. But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest, for as concerning this sect it is known to us that everywhere it is spoken against. The wonderful little phrase here in this verse 20, because of the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain. I think spiritually we can say that everyone who understands what the hope of Israel is, is bound with a chain. We are chained in the end to the fulfillment of that promise concerning Israel. Not that it is in itself a bondage, but rather that the Spirit of God so burdens us and so concerns us that we cannot get away from this ministry. What is the hope of Israel? In a word, the hope of Israel is the glory of God. That is essentially, substantially, that is the hope of Israel. Israel was created to be a vessel of glory, to be the expression of the heart and mind of God to the nations, to be the vehicle of revelation, to be the means by which the word of God would come to the nations. She was to be the vehicle through which the Messiah would come into the world. The end of Israel is the glory of God. Without that glory, Israel is nothing. She never has been anything. She has left no pyramids, no great structures, no huge magnificent buildings as such. Israel has only transmitted to the world the word of God and the Messiah of God. And therefore, the salvation of God. Israel was created from her very beginning to be the means by which the world would, in the end, from every tongue and kindred and nation and people, come to know the God of Israel, the living God, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah. You only have to have a very superficial knowledge of Jewish history, particularly in the Old Covenant, to realize that everything to do with Israel is glory. Of no other nation do you find it. It was after all right in her very beginnings that the God of glory appeared to our Father Abraham. Mark the terms. It was the God of glory that appeared to our Father Abraham whilst he was yet in Mesopotamia, in Ur of the Chaldeans, and said, get thee out to a place that I will show you. It is extraordinary the significance of the very, after all it could have been the living God appeared to Abraham, our Father, but it was the God of glory that appeared to our Father Abraham. In that moment Abraham was spoiled for anything less than the glory of God. Once a human being has caught a glimpse of the glory of God in the face of Jesus the Messiah, they are spoiled. They can never turn back. My dear Father in the Lord, Norman Grubb, wrote a book, Once Caught, No Escape. Once the Lord's really got you, once he's really caught you, there's no escaping. There is a divine election at work. There is a chosenness at work. Many Jews would give anything to escape their being chosen. They would prefer to be unchosen, so many. They find that being chosen by God, even when they try to be assimilated, when they try to be like the other nations, when they try to sort of merge with neighbours and with the general intelligentsia of the different lands in which we are found, they can never escape destiny. Once caught, no escape. Wherever we look, we find glory. The first, if we look at the New Testament, looking back in the words of Stephen, spoken by the Holy Spirit under the anointing, he said, the God of glory appeared to our Father Abraham, and that's where it all began. And this Abraham became the father of all who believe. It was of this Abraham that God said, in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Blessed in what? Blessed in business acumen, blessed in intelligence, blessed in above average intelligence. Blessed in what? Blessed in ingenuity, blessed in hard working conscientiousness, blessed in perfectionism. What is the world, all the families of the earth blessed in? As far as Abraham is concerned, in the God of glory, he is the father of all who believe. First the Jew, and then the Gentile. Every single one who is saved by the grace of God and born of the Spirit of God, has Abraham as their father. He is the father of all who believe. And it all began with a vision of glory. God, the God of glory appeared to Abraham. It is sometimes Abraham is represented as some smelly, uneducated, unsophisticated, primitive Bedouin shepherd. Now I have nothing against Bedouin shepherds. I think they are some of the most remarkable people. I always remember them, how they were hated in Egypt, how they were treated like gypsies. But I always found the Bedouin to be in their own way, very straight and very pure. They were desert people. I have nothing against Bedouin shepherds, but my beloved friends to represent Abraham as some unwashed, uneducated, unsophisticated, primitive kind of wanderer, a kind of gypsy, is to do enormous injustice to Abraham. And since one of these days we are going to meet him face to face, I would personally be somewhat careful in the way one describes him. Abraham came from one of the greatest aristocratic families in Ur of the Chaldeans. All the idol making was in their hands, which was no small business. A very highly lucrative business because there were idols on every street corner and in every room of every house in Ur of the Chaldeans. So it was a very good business. But God appeared to him. How God appeared to him we don't know. Tradition tells us, Jewish tradition tells us that making these idols came to him, that he created the idols. They couldn't do anything. If they wanted to walk, he had to walk them. If they wanted to move, he had to move them. If they wanted to say something, he had to say it for them. And it occurred to him that this was just a God of his own mind, a God of his own creation. That's how our tradition puts it. Whatever way the God of glory appeared to Abraham, he appeared to him. And in that God of glory, in that vision of the God of glory, Abraham saw a city. A city like no other city. Not like Ur of the Chaldeans, nor like any other cities of the Babel complex. He saw in that vision of the glory of God, the city of glory. The new Jerusalem. He saw something that few believers have seen. He saw that city, that capital city, and that bride, two very different concepts wedded into one. He saw it as the goal of all history. As the very end of the salvation of God. It was glory. He saw that city having the glory of God coming down, as it were, out of heaven. If you read Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 25, you will see what I'm talking about. By faith, Abraham went out not knowing whither he went. For, it says, he looked, or sought for, the city which has the foundations. Something different. Babylon, Babel, Ur looked as if they had magnificent foundations. In fact, they had no foundations. But the city he looked for was a city which was an eternal city. It was something to do with the heart and the mind of God. Glory. When God chose Abraham, he chose a people in Abraham, through Abraham, through Isaac, through Jacob. A people he chose. And that people were to be a vessel of glory. Moving all the time. Whatever the opposition. Whatever the strategies of the powers of darkness to compromise that people. Moving inexorably, all the time, toward that city that would come down out of heaven having the glory of God. The Lord Jesus said of our father Abraham, that he saw my day and rejoiced. In other words, when the God of glory appeared to Abraham, in that vision, he saw the Messiah of glory. He saw the one in whom the glory of God would not visit or touch or use but dwell. I sometimes think that Abraham had a far greater understanding of the Gospel. And of the person of the Messiah and of the city of God as the end and goal of the Lord than most new covenant Christians. It is a tragedy that there is such a poverty of understanding amongst Christians. He not only saw that if I understand Galatians 3 and verse 28, the Gospel was preached to him. But it says so. It says that when the Lord said, in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed, the Gospel was preached to him. So Abraham understood it wasn't just passing on Jewish ingenuity, Jewish business acumen, Jewish intelligence, Jewish knowledge, Jewish understanding. It was something to do with salvation. And every single person in this building, or anyone who ever hears my voice on this subject, who is born of God and who is a Gentile, is one of those in whom all the families of the earth have been blessed. It is a marvelous picture we have. Glory, glory, glory. As I say, Israel is nothing without glory. God chose Israel, called her and destined her for glory. Election and glory are twins. You cannot part them. The chosenness of God leads to salvation and to glory. And that's why I read the passage earlier this morning from Romans chapter 8, where he says, Whom he foreknew, them he also foreordained, and them he foreordained he justified, and them he justified he glorified. As far as God is concerned, the whole thing is a continuous movement from election to glory. Now that's a comfort if you know yourself. If you're one of these Christians who thinks they're clever and capable and able and religiously knowledgeable, of course it won't do anything for you because you will just be filled with problems about election, filled with problems that are basically theological. But if you are a child of God who knows how rotten you are, how depraved you could be left to the powers of darkness, and apart from the grace of God, you will know that it is an enormous comfort to know that the words of the Lord Jesus, You did not choose me, but I chose you. There is something about election so glorious I've never been able to understand anybody who believes in the divine purpose for Israel who doesn't understand or at least recognize the truth of election. Why is God dealing with this people? If we believe you can get in and out of the salvation of God, drop in and drop out at will, then what in the world is God doing with Israel? She's dropped out. We might as well all become replacement theologians. If I understand my Bible right, the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance, or put it another way, and I like it better, the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. And that is said in connection with election, as touching the election, they are beloved for the Father's sake, for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. So my dear friends, when you begin to look at this subject, it becomes very, very exciting. Not only exciting, it becomes very comforting. For if God can throw Israel away, He can throw you away. And God only knows you've given Him enough cause to throw you away. I speak from my own experience, I like to say you, but I mean I speak from my own experience. Have we not all given the Lord a thousand legitimate reasons to throw us away, cast us away? But He does not. Even if we are faithless, He remains faithful. It is one of the most amazing things in the whole world to be amongst the elect. It is also the most fearful thing. Once God loves you, once God has chosen you, He pursues you. And He may only get you on your deathbed, I've said this many a time here on this platform, He may only get you on your deathbed, but He'll get you. You may have had a lifetime's argument with the Lord about something or other, but when you're on your deathbed it will seem stupid, worthless, so ridiculous, to have argued with the Lord all through your life, but He's got you finally. So fearful it is to be loved by God. If I take Abraham, if I take the God of glory, if I take the city of glory, if I take the Messiah of glory, if I take the Gospel of glory, I've covered the whole old covenant. You take that away, what is Israel left with? Everything to do with Israel is to do with glory. In one place in the Word of God it speaks of the glorious land. I think it's in Daniel, the glorious land, land of glory. Speaking of the promised land, that little portion of earth so small, compared with the rest of the world, which He calls My Land, and which is called twice His Land, He's spoken of as the land of glory. But if you travel in the land of glory, you come in the heart of that land to a city called Jerusalem. Oh, just like any other city, 14 times destroyed, 14 times rebuilt, 20 times occupied, 20 times liberated. Dear old Jerusalem, how beautiful she is. Her old stones, they speak volume. I've often said that when you go to the Western Wall and look at the Western Wall, you have crystallized history, the crystallized history of the Jewish people. Everywhere you turn in this city, it is a city for glory. Do you remember the 87th Psalm? Do you remember what it says? His foundation is in the holy mountains. The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Do you remember it? Do you remember what it says? The things of glory are spoken of you, oh city of God. Glorious things are spoken of you, is the old version. Things of glory are spoken of you, oh city of God. I will make mention of Rahab, that's Egypt, and Babylon, as among them that know me, behold Philistia. This is where we get the word Palestine from. And Tyre, with Ethiopia, this one was born where? There. In other words, you may have been born in Babylon, you may have been born in Egypt, you may have been born in Palestine, you may have been born as a Philistine, but if you are saved by the grace of God, your birth has been re-registered. You have a new registration, and this new registration is in Jerusalem. You belong to Jerusalem. There's only two cities as far as God is concerned in this world. One is Babylon, which in Hebrew is Bavel or Babel, and the other is Jerusalem. And you cannot belong to both. You're either one or the other. You may live in Babylon, but your registration is in Jerusalem. You go on, you will see what it says, it says, Yea, of Zion it shall be said, this one, and that one was born in her, and the Most High Himself will establish her. Well, I won't stay anymore with that wonderful Psalm, but you see, here you come to the land of glory, and in the midst of it you find a capital city, and this capital city sums up everything in God's heart. This is the city of which the Lord said, You shall not worship anywhere that you shall choose. You shall not worship on any high place that you shall choose, but to the place where I shall cause my name to dwell. And that place was Jerusalem. But further, come further with me. In the midst of that city, there is a square mile only, and that square mile we call the Temple Mount. And that Temple Mount is the place where once stood the House of God. Today there are two mosques on it. I'm not going to talk too long about the two mosques, except to say that the Golden Dome one stands exactly where the House of God stood, where the Temple stood, which sums up the whole of Judaism. And the other mosque is the Al-Aqsa Mosque, more precious to Islam than the Dome of the Rock. It has a kind of silver, grey-silver dome, and that is where the church was born. And these two mosques to the Muslim are the most important mosques because they signify and testify to the triumph in their eyes of Islam over Judaism and Christianity. In other words, that Islam is the final movement of the Spirit of God in world history. It began with Judaism, went to Christianity, and has ended with Islam. So you begin to understand it's not just politics in this thing. That whole great problem in the Middle East today, all this fight over the status of Jerusalem and the future of Jerusalem, this fight over the Land of Israel, it's all centered in the end, not only in the Land of Israel, not only in the capital city Jerusalem, but in that one square mile that we call the Temple Mount. That's where the focal point of the whole battle is, and it will become increasingly clear in the months that lie ahead that the battle is centered in that Temple Mount. Now, my dear friends, I'm only just trying to explain to you that house of the Lord that stood there. Do you remember that house of the Lord that stood there in that Temple Mount? Do you remember what happened to it? Do you remember what happened to the tabernacle? You'll read it in Exodus chapter 40 and verse 34 and 35. It says that the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle and nobody was able to go in to minister or to serve. And of the temple it says in 1 Kings, the first book of Kings, chapter 8, and verses I think it's 11 and 10, 10 and 11, it says, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple and the priests fell down before the Lord. They could not stand up. Glory. So this is the first time the glory of the Lord, as recorded in the Word of God, ever touched the earth. When the tabernacle was set up and when the temple was set up. Now that is highly significant. It means that when you come to the whole question of Israel, she is intimately, strategically bound up with the glory of God. Whether there's going to be a rebuilt temple or not is open to question. I personally believe there will be another temple. I cannot see how the words of the Lord Jesus, as recorded in Matthew and Mark and Luke, can really be fulfilled without an actual temple in Jerusalem, even if it doesn't function, even if it is left as a testimony, waiting for the Messiah to come and settle the enormous problems and questions that we have concerning the temple, its service, its priesthood, its Levitical service, and whether there should be animal sacrifice and so on. Now I know some people will not agree with me on this, but my personal view is that that temple has to be built. Otherwise I cannot see how the words of the Apostle can be fulfilled in his second letter to the Thessalonians, that the Antichrist will go in, sit down and say that he is God. Now I know that Paul has used the term elsewhere for the church. The same thing, he always refers to the temple as the church. But if you look carefully at the second Thessalonian letter, that seems to be a literal temple that he is talking about. It certainly doesn't give an impression of it being the church that he is speaking of there. Now am I boring you or are we getting somewhere? The fact of the matter is that we have something here tremendous, tremendous. It's all to do with glory. It was to do with glory. And that glory may have only been, as it were, a type, a shadow of things to come, a picture of something yet to be far more glorious, far more wonderful. But nevertheless, even as a picture, it gives to us an understanding that Israel was destined for glory, that without the glory of God she was nothing. And that's what the apostle meant. When by the Holy Spirit in Romans chapter 9 verse 4 he says, Who are Israelis? Whose is the glory? Now he didn't say whose was the glory. He said whose is the glory, meaning that somehow or other God has not forsaken his people. When he comes to the question in the 11th chapter of Romans, he actually asks the question, has God thrown them away? Has he cast them off? God forbid, he says, I am also an Israeli. Of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin, God has not thrown away his people. There is a remnant according to the election of grace. The rest have been hardened. Now that may also provide a few more problems to many of us. But the fact remains we're dealing with the mystery of Israel. What will happen to all those who are hardened? We have to leave it with God. All we know is this, it's glory. Theirs was the covenant. To them belong the covenant, to them belong the promises, to them belongs the service, to them belong the fathers, to them belongs the Messiah according to the flesh, and to them belongs glory. Do you think Paul was fooling the Jewish leaders, the Roman Jewish leaders who came to him in Rome to talk with him at his request when he said, I am bound in chains for the hope of Israel? I don't think so. I think he meant it. What he meant was this, I am in these chains because I believe Israel is destined for glory. This gospel will go to the Gentiles. If you read, by the way, the succeeding verses, you will see exactly what did happen. He said to those with the, well, it is clear, we are turning to the Gentiles. The great period of the Gentiling gathering has begun. But it was for the hope of Israel. This hope of Israel doesn't shut you out if you are a Gentile saved by the grace of God. It includes you. Don't feel as if you are somehow alienated, divorced, made a second class citizen by this. Not at all. You are part of this, this hope of Israel. But when Israel comes to her fullness, you who have come into the unsearchable riches of the Messiah and the fall of the Jewish people and the loss of the Jewish people, you will come into even more fullness, even more power, even more. You will come into the very glory of God. How did you come into salvation? Through the fall of the Jewish people. How have you been reconciled to God? To the casting away of the Jewish people. What will it be when they are received again? What will it be when their fullness comes? The appointed time of their fullness. When that comes, it will be even more for you. It's hard to put it because in human language you can almost not put it. I mean, you come to the riches, to their fall, their fall as the riches of the world, their loss the riches of the Gentiles. I mean, what does it mean? And then he says, their fullness. Now, beloved friends, all I'm trying to say to you this evening is you see how everything to do with Israel is somehow or other connected with the glory of God. You don't have to look very far. I mean, do you remember Moses? I'm sure you do. Of course, I don't mean did you actually remember him, but I mean, you know from your study of the Word something about Moses. Do you remember how the glory of the Lord appeared to him? How all the elders of Israel spoke of the glory of God? How it thundered and lightened and they heard the voice like a trumpet speaking to him? In spite of all that, do you know what Moses said? After all that, he said, show me your glory. What he had seen of the glory of God spoiled him for anything less than more glory. You would have thought he could have asked a thousand and one questions and said, could you explain to me this or explain to me that or explain to me the other? I have so many problems. People are coming to me with this and that and the other, but no, he says, show me your glory. And the Lord said, I will. But you shall not see me face to face, for no man lives and sees my face. But I, listen, I will take you and I will put you in a cleft of the rock and my glory will pass by. Isn't that beautiful? It's the gospel again. Do you know that the glory of God would kill an unsaved man, liquidate him, trash him, finish him? It would be like a million volts of electricity touching a human being, burnt up in a single moment of time. But when the Lord puts you in the cleft of the rock, you can see the glory. You're a candidate for the glory of God. Well, we could go on and on. I mean, I'm trying to, I mean, everyone thinks of Moses as the lawgiver. They think of him as some poor legal lawyer, someone sort of full of laws and this and that, and they think of him as a cold person. I don't think of Moses like that at all. I think of him as one of the greatest saints in the whole word of God. I'm dying, I bet that's not the right word, but I'm dying to see Moses. I want to sit and talk with him at length. I want to know whether our tradition that is built upon the Hebrew words in the last chapter of Deuteronomy are in fact correct. It says, and Moses died on the mouth of the Lord. Our tradition is that God so loved Moses, he kissed him and he died. And I've often wondered if that's true, because it really puts a whole different picture of Moses. He's not some remote, severe, Victorian figure that somehow is full of the law, the law, the law, that everyone trembles. But it seems to me that here is a person who's so warm, so animate, so full of feeling. Well, I could say a lot more about Moses. I thought about him quite a lot. I remember that he took a black lady as one of his wives, and oh my goodness, Aaron and Miriam, they were so upset. So it shows you that racism didn't begin with this century or these last centuries. It goes all the way back, oh, were they upset with him. Of course, I don't know what he was doing taking a second wife anyway, but I mean, that's Moses for you. All I know is he was a very warm kind of man. He wasn't this kind of distant man that everyone portrays him as. You take Moses out of the Old Covenant, you've taken an enormous amount out of the Covenant. I mean, think of the gap that would be left if you took Moses out. Abraham and Moses, just two only. I can go on, of course, I could speak about a whole lot more, but we cannot, we have to watch the time. Without God's glory, Israel is nothing. That's what I'm saying. She was called to His glory. She was created for His glory. And she is destined for His glory. Just look at her, think. His word, His purpose, His Messiah, His salvation, all to do with glory. Dear friends, if you've followed me so far, you will at least understand, Israel is nothing once she's divorced from God and His glory. And if that is true, let me put it another way, Israel is everything when once she comes to His glory. That's what the whole Bible is all about. When you come to the last chapters of the Bible, you see the New Jerusalem, the Holy City, the Bride, Christ of the Messiah, the wife of the Lamb, coming down out of Heaven, having the glory of God. But I would like to go back now to the theme that has been over the whole of this day. I will make the place of my feet glorious. Isaiah 60. You know, this is incredible, really, when you really look at it carefully, because here you will find in this amazing chapter, this cry of the Lord. Actually, amazingly, if you look at the last verses of 59, these are the verses that are quoted in Romans chapter 11. That is an amazing thing. So this is all where Paul says, as it is written, they shall come out of Zion and deliver her, and he shall turn away ungodliness in Jacob. And this is my covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins. Now, I find this very interesting because these words are arise, shine, for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the peoples, but the Lord shall will arise upon thee and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And nations shall come to thy light and kings to the brightness of thy rising. What a wonderful, what an amazing statement. What an amazing declaration we have here, the Lord speaking of this inglorious nation, this people lost in sin. There's not that much that's glorious at present about Israel. Of course, we have a very fine army, we have a very fine air force, and we have a very fine navy. There's no doubt about that. Our ingenuity, well, I think everybody knows about that. And there are many other things about little Israel that are quite remarkable. Any nation that can absorb in 50 years something like six or five and a half million people, it's amazing. I mean, let's face it, from the human point of view, we have to say it's amazing. But oh, the sin, the secularism, the unbelief, the abortion, one of the highest abortion rates, relatively speaking, in the world. The mafia, fool. Israeli mafia is one of the most ingenious mafias on the face of the earth. The constitution, immorality. Not much glory there. When I look at this extraordinary declaration here in Isaiah 60, I begin to hear these words. Listen, verse 8. Who are these that fly as a cloud and as doves to their windows? Surely the isles shall wait for me and the ships of Tarshish. This is a word for cargo-type ships, which had also quarters for passengers. To bring thy sons from far their silver and their gold with them, for the name of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified thee. It's the Aliyah. Whenever have the dispersed, exiled Jewish people, whenever have they flown home like doves to their windows in a dove cot? Literally in this last century, literally in the last half of this last century, 48,000, if I remember correctly, the figure from Yemen in one great operation in which old silver Dakotas were used. You know there were rabbis in the 7th century who spoke prophetically in some of the synagogues in Yemen, and they said there will come a day when God will turn to us and he will take us home on the wings, the silver wings of a bird, back to the land of our fathers. It's exactly what happened. The British got so tired, suddenly across the desert into Aden came nearly 46,000 Jews. Living in the most primitive conditions, they knew nothing about piped water or electricity or sewage or anything else, and the poor old British being so clean and so ordered, and nearly died of shock. And they didn't know what to do because there was an embargo upon all immigration into Israel, but finally in this one single community, the British relented and said bring them home. And they came home in silver Dakotas. These people had never flown before. When they got on the plane, being a patriarchal society, they wouldn't listen to the stewardesses at all, which in modern Israel, if you know our stewardesses, was some small problem to the stewardesses. And then they actually lit fires in the center of the aircraft to keep themselves warm because there was no heating or pressurization in those old Dakotas. When the stewardesses tried to stop them because they said the plane will go down, they wouldn't listen to her. The captain had to leave the cockpit and come in and say you can't do this. We shall all go down if you do this, you see. Then came the great Iraqi, all 152,000, maybe I'm wrong on that, maybe it's 115,000, but anyway it's over 100,000 came back from Iraq on another great operation. This has gone on and on. The whole Albanian community, which most of us never knew existed, the Albanian Jewish community, 2,000 years old, came home in one jumbo jet, 700 of them packed in. And then of course we have the extraordinary story of Ethiopian Jewry. And that one single day, how well I remember my sister saying to me as we sat down for the Sabbath meal, something should be done about these people, why can't we get them? I said don't be silly, how do we get them? We've got to fly over all these antagonistic nations to Ethiopia and bring back all these, she said they'll be all dead, they'll all be dead. Now we're talking in the days when Ethiopia was under communist rule and Stalinist type of communist rule. And I remember my sister saying something should be done, someone should speak to the prime minister. Little did we know that on that marvelous Sabbath, every one of El Al's planes and all her big transport military planes were on their way flying down to Ethiopia to bring back a large number of the Ethiopian Jewish community. When that day came to pass in the evening of that Sabbath, we turned on the television and saw a biblical scene, people falling out of aircraft, the most incredible thing we'd ever seen, dressed like the Old Testament. It was something, everybody was dazed, I mean simply dazed. It was like watching a story, a Bible story, and film. In some cases, as I think most of you know, they set out with so many, it was the largest number a jumbo jet had ever taken. But they landed with at least one more, if not two more, some born. Ten! There you are. Can you believe that? They went off and ended in Israel with ten more born on the plane. And here it is in Isaiah chapter 60 and verse 8. Listen again. Now I will read, because it's not over yet. Who are these that fly as a cloud and as doves to their windows? Then listen to this. Surely the isle shall wait for me and the ships of Tarshish first. I think of dear Gustav and Elsa Shelva. I think of the incredible work of faith that they fulfilled. When he came, he used to always love to come to tea with us. And I'd always remember when he said to me, you know, we're going to commandeer a ship. And I said, Gustav, how much will it cost? Oh, he said, you're going to have to sell all your pictures. I've never forgotten. And then I wondered, well, will it ever come to pass? Is it possible? Will the whole Christian world go up in smoke? Some of them did. Saying, you know, disgraceful to spend all this money on ships, bringing people back just so that they can come back to Israel. But it is amazing to me, ships of Tarshish. It's all here everywhere you look in this whole chapter. No wonder this question of Aliyah is so important. Verse 10, and foreigners shall build up thy walls. That's exactly what's happened. This is the first century ever in the whole of Jewish history where foreigners have actually come without being paid, without receiving wages, and have worked in kibbutzim and moshevim simply building up the walls, as it were, of the land. Isn't that amazing? All the cotton that's been picked and the oranges that have been picked and the lemons that have been picked and the wheat that has been weeped and the cows that have been milked and the turkeys that have been strangled and the chickens. I mean, all these by foreigners. Could you believe that our forefathers would ever believe such a thing if we said there will come a day when foreigners will out of love for us come, not for money, just simply to help us, to keep the whole economy going, to build up the economy? People would have laughed at us. But it has happened. It is amazing. It is here, I find it quite amazing. For in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favor have I had mercy upon thee. And so we could go on and on and on. I think of this verse, for the sons of them that afflicted and all that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of your feet, and they shall call you the city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Listen to this. Verse 12, for that nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish, yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted. Oh, how afraid I am for the United Kingdom. How unbelievably afraid I am for the United States. How afraid I am for the European Union if they will not serve the counsel of God and the purpose of God in the building up of the nation and the land of Israel, they will surely be wasted themselves. It may seem that these countries are having a boom at present, but as sure as I stand here, there will come a day when they will fail. And they will fail because they failed to serve the Lord's purpose in the day of their opportunity. Beloved friends, it's amazing this chapter, and in the heart of the whole thing is this wonderful statement, I, the Lord, will make the place of my feet glorious. I think when you look at it, you take it all together. Is it any wonder that the enemy fights over the whole question of Aliyah, the immigration, bringing back the exiles and the ends of the earth? I believe the whole question of Aliyah is far, far more important than most of us realize. And I take my hat off to people like Gustav and Elsa, who have been criticized on all sides, but who have gone on with the determination bred by the Holy Spirit to the very end. I don't need to take my hat off. I reckon when Gustav got there, the angels knelt. So it is with every other person who has laid down their life to see the fulfillment of God's purpose concerning the Jewish people. But I must speed on if we're to finish. Let me have a look to see that I'm not. We must move quickly now. I consider the King of Israel, he's here too, did you know that? He's right here. He's the one who said, I will make the place of my feet glorious. Listen to chapter 61. Remember this book, this prophecy was not written in chapters and verses. Those were added later. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that abound, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of the vengeance of our God, to comfort all that mourn, to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them a garland of ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the Spirit of Heaven, as that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that he may be glorified. Now we know that from the New Testament, this is the Lord Jesus, this is the Messiah. Isn't that wonderful? So Israel has a King. I think it's just simply marvelous when you begin to understand it like this. And then it goes on, and they shall build the old waste, they shall raise up the former desolations, they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations, strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, foreigners shall be your ploughmen and your vinedressers. Isn't this amazing? Because what it says to me is this, Israel has a King. Israel has a King. And that King is the only monarch in the world who died, was buried, was raised on the third day, and ascended to the right hand of the Majesty on high, where he has reigned ever since as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, as Head of the Church, as Savior, yes, but also as King of Israel. Do you not think that he's supervising the whole of this thing? I would say the Lord Jesus is supervising the whole thing, overseeing the whole thing, watching over the fulfillment of this purpose of God. Oh, someone says, I think you're going too far, you're going too far, you're in danger of going overboard. Just wait. Forget the chapters and verses, look at 62. Look at chapter 62. See, it flows. For Zion's sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake, he says, got it? I will not rest until her righteousness go forth as brightness and salvation as a lamp that burns, and the nations shall see thy righteousness and all kings, thy glory, and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed forsaken, neither shall thy land anymore be termed death desolate. But thou shalt be called Hitzibah, my delight is in her, and thy land Ba'ula, married for the Lord, delights in thee, and thy land shall be married for as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry you. And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. So here is the intercessory ministry of the Messiah at the right hand of the Majesty on high, praying for Israel, praying for the Jewish people, that in the end they shall come to his glory. He has brought many sons to glory from every tongue and kindred and nation. Every single part of this globe has yielded its harvest to the Lord, who has said to the Father, the Father has said to him, ask of me and I will give thee the nations for your inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession. Now, now he prays. Have we not reached the time when the Lord is going to turn back to the Jewish people and pour out his Spirit upon them? And is he not creating something so tremendous? Israel saved at last. God dealing with her. Well, my dear friends, you only have to look at Romans chapter 11. You've only got to look at Acts chapter one and read those wonderful words about it is not for you to know the times and the seasons which the Father set within his own authority, but you shall be witnesses unto me when the Holy Spirit has come upon me in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria to the uttermost parts of the earth. That's what's happened. But now we've got to the uttermost parts of the earth. Still there's more to be done, but we've got to the uttermost parts of the earth, at least generally speaking. Do you not think the times and seasons have come? Look at Israel risen from the ashes. Look at Jerusalem reunited. Look at the whole hullabaloo over Israel in the Middle East. Six wars in 52 years. See the whole thing building up. Don't you think the time has come for the Lord to pour out his Spirit upon the Jewish people, that Spirit of grace and supplication upon them? Oh, beloved friends, their election still stands, and if their election stands, then salvation is on its way, and if salvation comes, glory will follow. So it seems to me that we are a privileged generation to be at a point, a great turning point in the dispensations, in the ages, the giving away, as it were, of this dispensation, this age, to the age we call the millennium. The millennium's a thousand years. It will pass very quickly if I know anything about time. Time moves so fast that I think when we're sort of in the 900th year of it, we shall say, has it gone quickly? But then it will merge into the ages of the ages, the eternal age. A new heaven and a new earth and a new Jerusalem, having the glory of God, not suspended somewhere up there as some Christians seem to imagine, but coming down out of heaven to touch the earth. And then the Lord will say, I will dwell amongst them forever. Then Ezekiel's word, and they shall call the city by a new name, Adonai Shema. The Lord is there. Dear friends, I can't think of anything more wonderful than this. The earth filled with the knowledge of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea. Does someone say to me, do you think the Lord can do it? You've just spoken about the mafia and abortion and secularism and unbelief and immorality and a thousand and one other things about Israel that are inglorious. Now let me ask you a question. This is the way Jews always answer questions. I'll ask you a question. Can he bring you to glory? Can he bring the church with all her weaknesses and failings, her warts and her pimples and her wrinkles? Can he smooth it all away? Can he make her a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing? Can he in a remnant cause the bride to make herself ready? Is it possible? If you can say yes, then we've answered the question, can he do this with Israel? Are you elect? Yes, you're saved. Are you saved? You're moving toward glory. Maybe not too much glory if you don't let the Lord do the work he wants to do with you, but at least you'll have some glory. The more of Christ, the more of glory. The more he increases, the more glory there will be. There will be more to be glorified, the less of Christ in you, the less to be glorified. For one star differs from another star in glory. So, dear friends, I finish. And I finish on this wonderful note. The election of Israel still stands. It has not been cancelled. I don't quite know what it means when he says, all Israel shall be saved. I only know that the whole elect people of God will be saved to sin no more. And that elect people of God will be glorified. When the time comes, as it says, I think, with this I really must finish, in Thessalonians, just let me find it for you. I think it's two Thessalonians, chapter one. And when he shall come to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at in all them that believe. Oh, some of us are getting old and withered, we're full of aches and pains. What a wonderful prospect in front of us. When the Lord will be glorified in us, and people will marvel at him in us. I shall look at you and say, is that so and so? My goodness, what glory, what beauty. Oh, so and so. Marveled at in all them that believe. All that the Lord has ever done is good. One day, what he's doing in you, what he's doing in me, it will be seen to be absolutely good. So it will be in Israel. There will come a day when the glory of the Lord will fill the whole land and will fill the city. It will be an amazing day. Then those wonderful words of the prophet Isaiah will be fulfilled when he speaks of the glory covering the whole and above the glory a covering. Then the words of Zephaniah will be fulfilled. The Lord will joy over us with singing. He will dance. He will not be able to sit, not be able to stand still. He will rise up and he will dance with joy that finally Israel is home. And that includes you. It includes me, the Jew and the Gentile, saved by the grace of God. How can the Lord do this in Israel? By abounding, overwhelming grace. The same abounding and overwhelming grace that he will bring you through. He will use that grace to bring you through everything to his eternal glory in Christ, in the Messiah. May the Lord bless us all and give us understanding of these things. Thank you.
