The Millennial Temple

Automated transcript of the sermon audio, generated with OpenAI Whisper (small.en). It has not been checked against the recording and may contain errors, especially in names and Scripture references.

Well, talking about extravaganzas and weddings reminds us of heavenly realities that await us in the future. And it’s a great segue into our time of worship this morning. And as we do, we remember that our help is in the name of the Lord. And our call to worship this morning comes from Psalm chapter 2, the entire chapter.

Why do the nation’s rage and the people’s plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying, let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord holds them in derision, then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury saying, as for me I have set my keen on Zion, my holy hill. I will tell of the decree, the Lord said to me, you are my son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel. Now therefore, O kings, be wise, be warned, O rulers of the earth, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son lest he be angry and you perish in the way. For his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. And Father to those who are called of you,

this psalm fuels eager anticipation of that great and glorious day when every knee shall bow before the sun. But to those who reject you, it serves as a warning to humble themselves while there’s still time. Oh, how we long for the day given this present evil age that we live in. And yet we do not grow weary and lose heart for your spirit ministers to our spirits, granting us new mercies every morning and abiding hope that in due season we shall be set free from our earthly chains and see you face to face. As we turn our attention to our time of corporate worship this morning, we pray that your spirit would grip our hearts and minds and draw us in that our worship would be pleasing and acceptable in your sight.

Amen. What is the standard for a Christian’s obedience? What level of righteousness ought we to have? What expectation should we have for our holiness? How much integrity is sufficient? In other words, how much sin may I let myself slide on? Get away with. Tolerate. Excuse. Excuse how much sin is okay for you and for me to hold on to. The talk of faith is prevalent here amongst us, and it’s rightly so. Faith is held in its proper place of importance here at Trinity Evangel Church. The power of the doctrine of justification by faith alone ignited the flame in Martin Luther’s heart, and like a wildfire blazed through Europe forever changing the landscape of not just the history of the church, but the composition of every human sphere under the lordship of Christ, thus the power of by faith alone.

And in a similar fashion, it is the reverberations of sola fide in its application to all of life that sparked the founding and is sustaining the growth of our church here at TEC. We hold onto and vehemently promote not just the doctrine of justification by faith alone, but a full-fledged embodied life of faith. The Christian life is a life of faith. Now we often contrast faith with works, and in one sense putting those categories as opposing to one another is correct because the Bible does so. Romans chapter 4 which was what ignited that flame in Martin Luther contrasts faith and works in this way, verses 4 through 6.

Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works.” So yes, faith and works can and should be contrasted. not just in terms of justification. Our sanctification is also accomplished by faith. Paul brings up this point in Galatians chapter 3. He says, let me ask you only this. Did you receive the spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish having begun by the spirit?

Are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. All of faith, justification and sanctification, the supply of God’s spirit and of God’s power, a life full of faith. And Jesus had this to say to those who seek to attain holiness by their works. Matthew chapter 23, he says, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and the plate, of the outside also may be clean. Now, I know that some of us here purposefully don’t wash the inside of their coffee cups. I’ve even heard it called, I think by Mr. Weinberg, a seasoned mug. I mean, I’m not saying that Jesus doesn’t have anything to say about it. You Pharisee. Clean the inside of the cup. I’m only reading the Bible literally, as I’m sure you’ll hear from Dave. But yes, the Christian life is a life of faith, and being full of faith is what we’re after. However, if you note, the reason that Jesus says, for cleaning the inside of the cup is so that the outside may also be clean.

You blind Pharisee, he says, first clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside may also be clean. The problem with washing your cup only on the outside is that the inside remains dirty. The outside being clean is not a problem. Jesus’ point is not that it’s a problem to have that clean outside. The problem is that dirty inside. We start with cleaning the inside, having it cleaned, so that then we may be completely clean inside and out. Many Christians who correctly advocate for faith as the root and source of our imputed righteousness and the grounds for our standing before God compromise on their demonstrated righteousness as visible in their works.

But some might say that’s legalism. The gospel brings liberty. It’s all about Jesus. Yes, we stand by faith, but standing by faith is standing. It’s not lying down and taking it easy because of faith. Living by faith is living. It’s not dying. So what expectation should a Christian have for his holiness? Jesus tells us in Matthew 5 48, you therefore must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. Our expectation for ourselves, for our holiness is perfection. What level of righteousness ought a Christian have? God’s level. God is the standard, surpassing the Pharisees. How much sin may a Christian let himself slide on, get away with, tolerate, excuse, play games with?

How much sin is it okay for you and me to hold onto? None. Through faith alone does not mean I may keep on sinning. But we all know that. And how much of the time do we possess the correct knowledge, but still allow ourselves to get away with sin, excusing and tolerating our own disobedience? I feel frustrated with the situation, so I will be impatient and angry and have a sulking attitude. It’s too hard to resist sin. I’m going to give in to the temptation and just ask for forgiveness afterwards. What if our words could sound more like that of David in Psalm 7 when he says, Oh Lord, my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands, if I have repaid my friend with evil or plundered my enemy without cause, let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it, and let him trample my life to the ground and lay my glory in the dust.

Selah. The Lord judges the peoples. Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me. That’s hard. The Psalms are given to us as a script to sing and pray, but it’s scary to pray like that. David was a man fully reliant on God’s grace, God’s mercy, and God’s forgiveness, and he needed all of those things. And being a man after God’s own heart, the Bible shows David to be vigorously hating and killing his sin, caring with all his might about his holiness in his walk before God. It’s much easier to care about other people’s holiness. It’s not difficult to give others no excuse and show no tolerance of their sin.

When we are sinned against, our expectations are unwavering. But when we are tempted to sin, how difficult it is to fight, to resist, the evil one. I’m rooted in my ways, we say. Sure, I know it’s wrong to think what I’m thinking or to feel what I’m feeling and do what I’m doing, but I’m only human. This is unreasonable. Life is hard. I have faith. God’s grace covers my sin. Yes, all of that is true. And it’s that knowledge that we are to be equipped with as we fight to stand upright by faith. By faith, we are justified. And by faith, we live upright and godly lives. So if this brings to light sin that needs confessing, Or perhaps there are other sins that need to be dealt with.

Now is a good time to confess, though. So you’re invited, if you’re willing and able, to kneel in humble confession before the Lord, and then I’ll pray for us corporately afterwards. Let’s pray. Father, we confess that we are a people too easily swayed into excusing our own sin and letting ourselves off the hook. We don’t sin because of our environment, or because of other people, or even because of being tempted. Jesus, in every respect, has been tempted as we are, and yet he is without sin. We ought to be holy as you are holy, perfect as you are perfect, and we are far from that. Forgive us for tolerating our sin, confessing but refusing to repent.

This points not to the weakness of our works, but to the fickleness of our faith. So we pray, strengthen our faith. May our faith run deep and may we live godly lives so that our life of faith would be characterized by obedience and uprightness. Lord, we are surrounded by a proud people who hate what you love and love what you hate. The evil are not just unconcerned with holiness, but are promoting and cheering abominations. Grant repentance and revival to the people in our city and in our state.

your spirit to give new life that leads to righteousness. May our streets be full of that which honors you as Lord and King. You are God Almighty and may we always submit to you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. You’re invited to stand for the reminder of the assurance of your forgiveness. Our text is from 1 John chapter 5 18 through 21. We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are from God and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true and we are in Him who is true in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children keep yourselves from idols. We all sin, me and you, every day. We fall short again and again but our standing before God does not depend on our daily sinless life, but rather on the new life that we have in Christ. And he who has

that life does not keep on sinning, but Christ protects him. We know that we are from God. We know that Jesus has given us understanding. We know that we are in Him who is true. We know, we are, we have, we have been, and He protects. He has come.

He has given. So by faith we hold on to this knowledge and by faith we deploy this knowledge as we trust God for our obedience and that’s a reason for us to worship. So let’s worship. The reading this morning is from Hebrews chapter 10 verses 1 through 4. I’ll be using the ESV. So Hebrews chapter 10 verse 1, For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come, instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins. But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year, for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” Father we thank you for this time together, help through your spirit be able to keep clear these things. Those things that maybe are said wrong you would cause to be forgotten, but those

things that are true help to build our faith and our knowledge and what you have coming to us. We thank you for all of these things and in Jesus Christ’s name we pray. Amen. Alright, this is a lot of stuff and Philip gave the sermon already, so I’m… Alright, a year ago I preached two sermons on eight covenants in the Bible. I did this to show that we here at Trinity Evangel Church believe in these covenants and what the Bible has to say about. In the covenants that the covenant theologians have created, as Lincoln Duncan has said in the article for the Gospel Coalition, for these reasons and more covenant theologians find ample exegetical and biblical theological and systematic theological grounds for asserting the theological covenants. The covenants of redemption and the covenant of works and grace. All All I want to do is look and see what the Bible says in its covenants and the promises that God gives to people and the condition of them.

And that then brings about the subject of, or the big subject that I’m talking about today, the Millennial Temple of Ezekiel 40 through 48. Those of you that listen to your Bible or read through it, when you get to these chapters and you read them, you find out they’re incredibly detailed about the construction, the measurements, all the stuff that goes on for eight chapters of detailed stuff. Models have been made, you can look them up in Bible dictionaries and stuff showing the size of it and all the rest of it. I am not going to preach line by line through 48. It’s basically a descriptive text of what this temple is.

The issue is, is it allegorical or is it literally going to be a temple? So you’ll notice that we had an interesting collection of a lot of words today on the front of our bulletin. I did that on purpose. Those verses that we read and talked about, Psalm 2 talk about a future reign of Jesus Christ and Jim read through the whole thing and he says, ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession speaking to Jesus. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them into pieces like a potter’s vessel and then ends it that people will take refuge in him. Has this happened yet?

The answer is no. In 1 John 5, 18 through 21, which was the verse that I wanted read about the confession of sin, it mentions in there, we know that we are from God and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. If the whole world lies in the power of the evil one, Is Christ King? A question. Then on to Hebrews 10, 1 through 4. And it goes through the sacrifices and the shadow that the Mosaic law provided. If you remember when we went through the Mosaic law, the Mosaic law is dead and over. It was a conditional covenant. It has been done away with Christ’s death. The New Testament testifies it. This is one of the great testimonies of it.

There are others, but the Mosaic law is dead. And the final verse there in Hebrews 10.1 through 4, for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins, just a kind of a sidetrack rabbit trail. In Isaiah 53, even if you were a believing Jew, you would see that and you might wonder what is going on there and even if you were able to determine that God himself would be the sacrifice, you know that the Mosaic law would forbid human sacrifice, only animal sacrifice. So you would be confused in the way that that was constructed if you thought that those were the things that were paying for your sin.

The Mosaic Law was only intended to cover your sin, not to pay for it. The pay for it didn’t happen until Christ died. Second Corinthians 4.1 through five is the final thing that the commission is gonna have, and the verse in there, and it’ll be read at the end of the service, the verse there is Second Corinthians 4.4. In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. Again demonstrating Satan is in charge of that situation. So God is not resting on his throne is the case that I’m making. Then we move on to the Millennial Temple, and Ezekiel is commanded to make known the temple, starting in 40 and then he moves on through 40 all the way through 48.

In Ezekiel 43, 11 through 12 it says, and if they are ashamed of all they have done, make known to them the design of the temple, its arrangement, its exits, its entrances, That is its whole design, and make known to them as well as all its statues and its whole design and all its laws. Write it down in their sight so they may observe all its laws and all its statues and carry them out. This is the law of the temple. The whole territory on the top of the mountain all around shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the temple. Other prophets talk about the temple in the Old Testament also. Notice too in verse 12 there of Ezekiel that the temple, the whole territory on the top of the mountain shall be most holy.

When you add up all the dimensions, there is no way that that temple could be built on Mount Moriah. So there will be a new mountain built that it will be built on. We’ll talk about that in a little bit as we go through these. Isaiah 2, 1-4 talks about it. The word of Isaiah, the son of Amos, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. It shall come to pass in the later days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it should be lifted up above the hills, and all the nations shall flow to it. And many people shall come and say, come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.

For out of Zion shall go the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations and shall decide disputes for many peoples. And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. The nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” Also speaking to a future situation. Isaiah 60, 12 through 13, “‘For the nation and the kingdom “‘that will not serve you shall perish. “‘Those nations shall be utterly laid waste. “‘The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, “‘the cypress, the plain and the pine, “‘to be beautifully the place of my sanctuary, and I will make the place of my feet glorious, talking about the decoration of the temple.

Daniel 9, 24, this 70 weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression and to put an end to sin and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and profit, and to anoint a most holy place, again talking about the temple. Joel 3 18 and in the day that the mountains shall drip sweet wine and the hills shall flow with milk and all the steam beds stream beds of Judah shall flow with water and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord and water the valley of Shittim describing a future situation that has not happened. Haggai 2 7 through 9 and I will shake all nations so that the treasure of all nations shall come in. And I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of Hosts.

The silver is mine, the gold is mine, declares the Lord of Hosts. The latter glory of this house should be greater than the former, says the Lord of Hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of Hosts.” Another description of what’s going to happen in the future. There are objections to these things. First objection would be that the measurements given by Ezekiel will not fit the Temple Mount and therefore this cannot be literal. The answer to this objection, that is true. The current mountain does not fit this dimension. But it is a misconception that Ezekiel’s temple was intended to be built on that mount. The detail of Ezekiel gives that there will be major geographic changes will occur resulting from the second coming of Christ. And some of these changes will create a new temple mount all together. That’s Zechariah 4-4. On that day, this is the end when Christ comes back, on that day, his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from

east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the mountain, Mount, shall move northward and the other half southward.” These are big things that are happening when he shows up. And reading Revelation and these situations, you understand that the whole world is going through big changes. So not necessary to have the mountain right now, but it is necessary for that mountain to have the dimensions to contain the temple. Sacrifices will be made in the temple. What? You read Ezekiel and you find very detailed descriptions of how many bulls, how many goats, who’s got to do it, and all of this kind of stuff. You’ll find that their Gentiles will be priests with the Levites.

I’ll give you that verse as we go through this. So the whole temple system is going to be made. It is not a temple system to satisfy your sin problem. It is a temple system to purify the temple, okay? Isaiah 56, six through seven, and the foreigners who joined themselves to the Lord to minister him, to love the name of the Lord and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath does not profane it and holds fast my covenant. These I will bring to my holy mountain and I will make the joyful in the house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar. For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.

Isaiah 67, all the flocks of Kedars should be gathered to you. The rams of Nabioath shall minister to you. They shall come up with acceptance on my altar and I will beautify my beautiful house.” So he’s even saying where the flocks and the rams and stuff will be raised to be sacrificed. Isaiah 66, 18 through 23, for I know their works and their thoughts and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues and they shall come and see my glory. And I will set a sign among them and from them I will send survivors to the nations detarches, pull, let, and draw the bow to Tubal and Jevan, to the coastlands far away, and that have not heard my fame or seen my glory.

And they shall declare my glory among the nations, and they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the Lord.” Notice it’s all the nations are coming and worshipping. On horses, chariots, and litters, on mules, on tromedaries to my holy mountain in Jerusalem, says the Lord. Just as the Israelites bring their grain offering and a clean vessel to the house of the Lord, and some of them also I will take priests, and for Levite I will take four priests. Some of them also I will take for priests. And for Levite, says the Lord. They’re out of Gentile nations he’s bringing, these people are gonna run this.

For as the new heavens and the new earth, I shall remain before me, says the Lord. So shall your offspring and your name remain. From new moon to new moon and from the Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the Lord. Jeremiah 33, 17 through 18. For thus says the Lord, David should never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel. And for the Levitical priest, shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to make sacrifices forever.

Malachi 3 through 4, he will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver. He will greatly purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. And they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old as in the former years. These are all future things that are being talked about here. They are not past things. They are future things. Zechariah 14, 16 through 21. Then everyone who survives all the nations that have come against Jerusalem should go up a year after year. This is after they’ve beaten down the great rebellion that starts the millennium.

They come to the king and the Lord of hosts and to keep the feast of Booths. And if any of the families of Earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King of the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them. And the family of Egypt does not go up and present themselves. Then on them there shall be no rain. There shall be the plague which the lords afflict the nations and do not go up to keep the feasts of Booths. This shall be the punishment to Egypt and the punishment of all nations that do not go up to keep the feast of boost. And on that day there shall be inscribed on the bills of the horses, holy to the Lord, and the pots in the house of the Lord shall be as bowls before the altar.

And every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holy to the Lord of hosts, so that all whose sacrifice may come and take them, and boil meat of the sacrifice in them, and they shall no longer be a traitor in the house of the Lord of hosts on that day. The objection to this is that to believe in the reinstitution of blood sacrifices is heresy. In summary, we can say that the discrepancies between Ezekiel’s temple and any other temple described in the scriptures would evaporate if those who interpret the Bible would concede that there is a new law in operation during the Messianic Kingdom. on a kingdom. Instead of insisting the doctrine that the Mosaic law is eternal, it is not.

It has been done away with. Or trying to harmonize the different passages by wildly allegorizing the text. One has to simply accept the fact that Ezekiel’s temple is a literal building constructed by a repentant and restored nation of Israel and in which they will worship the Lord by sacrifices during the time when the Messiah himself will reign over the earth.

Jesus on his throne is the next portion of this. This is done in the Davidic covenant, 2 Samuel 7, 8 through 16. Now therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be the prince over my people Israel and I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies before you and I will make you a great name like the name of the great ones on the earth and I will appoint a place for my people Israel and I will plant them so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. A violent man shall afflict them no more as formally. From the time that I’ve pointed judges over my people Israel I will give you rest from all your enemies. More ever the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers I will raise up your offspring after you who shall come from your own body and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a

house for my name. I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” That’s not Solomon. His kingdom wasn’t forever. This is talking about the offspring of the Lord. I will be to him my father and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity I will discipline him with the rod of men, with stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him as I took it from Saul whom I put away before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be sure forever before me. Your throne will be established forever.” Luke 32 or 132 and 33, the angel Gabriel speaking to Mary, he her son will be great and will be called the son of the Most High and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom there will be no end. Psalm 110 verses 1 and 2, the Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies.”

Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3, he is the radiance and the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. After making the purification, the cross, he has sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. This is also referenced in Peter’s sermon in Acts chapter 2. Is Jesus sitting on David’s throne right now as many claim? At what point did God install Jesus as king on my holy hill of Zion, Psalm 2.6. Has he broken the nations with the rod of iron? Psalm 2.9. Is he ruling in the midst of his enemies from Zion?

Psalm 1.10.2. No, to all those. If this is true, the nations have been given to Jesus as his inheritance and as his possession. Psalm 2.8. How could John say that the whole world lies currently, present indicative verb, that the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one, 1 John 1.19, if he had taken his throne? What else but demonic and blasphemous could we call Paul’s assertion that Satan is the god of this age, 2 Corinthians 4.4. if Jesus is the reigning king. Why would Paul say that if Jesus is the reigning king? He wouldn’t. The answer is simply that the church is not the kingdom. Jesus has not yet returned to sit on David’s throne.

He is in heaven where he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, Hebrews 1.3, pretty basic. The new covenant also speaks to these issues. Jeremiah 31 through 31, 34. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not with the whole world. He’s making a covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah in Jeremiah 31. Not like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.

My covenant that they broke though, what I was their husband declares the Lord. For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days declared the Lord. I will put my long within them. I will write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and his brothers saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

First notice that there are three times God states that this covenant is with the house of Israel and Judah. I took them out of the land of Egypt, the house of Israel. He could not have been clearer that he was talking to the house of Israel. Those who apply the New Covenant to the Church must have already combined the Church and the Kingdom before approaching this text. And they also have combining the Church with Israel to say this applies to us. It’s clear that God made the Covenant through the Prophet Jeremiah with Israel. There is no way to read this passage literally and find reference to the Church. God will make the new covenant with the ethnic nation of Israel, the nation of the descendants promised to Abraham.

Second, this covenant will not take place until God restores Israel back into her land. This is the whole context of Jeremiah 31. Some historical background is necessary. Assyria had taken captive the ten northern tribes of Israel in 722 BC. When Jeremiah wrote this, Nebuchadnezzar had already executed the first three captives of Judah to Babylon in 605 BC. That’s Jeremiah 29.1 and possibly the second in 598 BC as well. Even after the various Jewish returns to Israel in the 400s BC, few would call that a complete restoration. The oppression of the Romans for centuries and the scattering of the Jewish apostles in Acts 8-1 and the Jewish dispersion referred to in James 1 and Peter 1 all indicate that restoration has not yet happened by the first decades of the church, yet because of Jesus’ claim that his blood is the blood of the new covenant, Matthew 26-28, covenant scholars like Grudem, that this blessing finds fulfillment in the Church, which is the people of God.

We do not buy that. It’s an interesting change that he’s made in his new edition of his theology. Though God’s promises to David to restore the Jewish people to their land, where they will no longer be oppressed, has not yet happened. Third, the basis of this covenant is the new relationship with God. Jesus promised that Israel would not see him again until they say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Matthew 23, 39. At that time, they will call on my name and I will answer them. I will say, this is my people and each one will say, the Lord is my God, Zachariah 13, nine. Contrary to what some teach, this has nothing to do with individuals believing in the Messiah, so Messiah for salvation to the church age.

It has everything to do with the final declaration to the Jewish nation. When the Jewish people return to their Messiah, God will rescue them, restore them to the land, and put his law on their minds and write it on their hearts. The result will be that he will be their God and they shall be his people, Jeremiah 31, 33. Paul explained why this has not happened yet. Blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, Romans 11, 25. The coming kingdom will not be just a monarchy as Abraham and David expected, but a theocracy where Jesus, the God-man, will rule supreme both as David’s earthly heir and as God’s holy servant.

God will once again be the resident God, not hidden behind the curtains of the dent of meaning or the temple, but among the people, Emmanuel God is with us. Everyone from the smallest to the greatest will know Him personally, and He will offer forgiveness for the sin nationally and individually. Thus, Israel will be finally renamed from Lo Ami, not my people to ami my people as God promised in Isaiah 1, 10 through 11. Now, there’s important for you to remember that in the millennium believers of this age will be in their glorified bodies and he’s only talking about those people that are raised up in the millennium, real people that are born into that era.

And in other places in Isaiah it says they have a hundred years to repent or that’s the end of them but those real people are who needs the salvation. We as glorified people do not need that we will be helping administer that kingdom. So to in the end we have this conclusion we have seen that a literal normal understanding of numerous passages written about the kingdom does not reveal an intricate complex imaginative system that presents an interpretation that would surely never have been thought of except in the defense of a theory. Nor do we find a nebulous concept that must be rationalized and applied spiritually today. Instead we see a series of promises given in plain language repeated over thousands of years to different people with no contradiction resulting in one conclusion, a physical kingdom in a physical territory promised to a specific physical nation. God revealed each one of these four covenants before the existence of the church and through though individual salvation is made available in the church age through Jesus’s blood even the new

covenant will be made solely with Israel. Had God given Abraham all the details immediately he would not have been surprised to find out the nation promised to him would have specific land, a dynastic monarchy, and a religion she could call her own. That’s it. It is amazing to me just saying on the whole, as I’ve discussed this for years with people. You’ve heard my story, I got saved at 37 and was only by the guy that gave me the gospel allowed to listen to people on the radio. We would tape them and I’d listen to them tapes in the car and all that kind of stuff. But as I went through it, it was amazing to me when you just read what it says and expect that to happen, how all these things happen. And the classic line is that the anti-biblical history is beaten on the anvil of God’s Word into pulp every time. If you wait long enough, all the people that are showing you why the Bible isn’t true, all of that stuff turns to dust. In the 1880s, the liberal Germans all were saying the proof that

the Bible is not literal is that there is no Hittite civilization. Well guess what?

They discovered the Hittite civilization and it was huge all throughout Central Asia. And all of that information and those little steels, those little tablets that they impressed in the wet clay were all stored in East Germany in the communist museums there. And then museums there and then finally when the wall fell people now have been able to look at those tablets and see how big the Hittite Empire was and on and on go all these stories you know well this didn’t happen because we haven’t found that yet okay keep digging so anyway the literal thing is we’ve got eight chapters talking about this temple the more you study it it’s pretty incredible and I think pretty obvious. So there we go. Let’s pray and we can move on. Father, I thank you that through your nation Israel who you favored have given us your word and given us the Messiah. He is a Jew come out to be that ultimate sacrifice and that then graciously through his shed blood and your gospel you have brought us Gentiles into the mix and for the last 2,000 years we have

run your church and sometimes ignored your favored nation and your favored people. Help us not to do that. Help us to understand that the bedrock of our faith is this Bible that you have given revelation to those faithful Jewish people and you will continue that and do that even in the future. We pray that you come soon as it says in the end of Revelation. It’s a crazy world we live in. Help us to make the right decisions and be those people that will make you proud and make us and give us the strength through your spirit to do those things in our society. So we thank you for all of those things in Jesus’ name, amen.

I was a little worried that some of my stuff might be a little long but it looks like I still have a lot of time. So we’ll do a second sermon. No, we’ll let you guys, let you guys get to your rest. But we have not yet entered God’s rest. So we’re gonna enter our own here soon, but the book of Hebrews does tell us that we have not yet entered God’s rest. And so we also experience every day in our lives here under the sun. And along with nature, we groan waiting for the redemption of our bodies. We are waiting for our battle with sin to be over. It is exhausting being rigorous fighting your sin. It’s exhausting laying aside every weight and sin which clings so closely.

It’s exhausting running with endurance the race that is set before us. We are to strive to enter that rest, Scripture tells us. And when the author of Hebrews is exhorting his audience to do so, to strive to enter God’s rest, it is in the context of presenting the example of when the generation of Israelites failed to enter the Promised Land. God swore to that generation that they would not enter, Hebrews 3, 18 and 19, and to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient. So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

the disobedient were unable to enter God’s rest, it says, because of unbelief. Yes, their works were wicked and sinful. These Israelites were full of disobedience, and they were such because of their unbelief. But we know that we are of faith, and God has promised that we will enter his rest. We come to the throne of grace boldly and with confidence. Yes, we are to strive and it is our faith that enables us to do so. The fact that we can fight means that we are alive. In giving us new life, a life that is dead to sin, God has enabled us to put our sin to death. Because Christ has paid the penalty for our sin, the penalty that we could not pay, we don’t strive in order to obtain life. We don’t strive because we’re unsure of victory. Christ has already secured that victory. That is why we can strive. We strive to enter God’s rest because we are alive. And Lord’s Day after Lord’s Day we get a a glimpse, a little taste of that rest which God has prepared for those who believe.

May we be able to pray like David prayed, judge me according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me. Stand by faith. Do not lie down because of it. Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word. But by the open statement of the truth, we would command ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel, of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

May we be able to pray like David prayed, judge me according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me. Stand by faith. Do not lie down because of it. Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word. But by the open statement of the truth, we would command ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel, of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.