The Prophesied Kingdom

Is God's big picture? What this book, the Bible, 66 little books making up the one book, but what's the one essential storyline of the Bible? That's what we're looking at. And we see that it's one way to look at it is that it tells us about the kingdom of God.

And so, by way of review, class, what is the kingdom of God? It is God's people in God's place under God's rule in the West.

I hope you're not getting tired of saying that. I want you to remember that 10 years from now. And so we're going to say it enough times between now and then. And where did we see the pattern of this kingdom of God? Anyone? Just shout it out. In the Garden of Eden, at the very beginning, we saw the pattern of the kingdom of God.

When did it perish? At the fall. Genesis 3. So it didn't last long. To whom did God promise to restore his kingdom on earth?

His people? Who's the father of Abraham? Remember especially, it was Abraham and his seed that God promised to restore his kingdom on earth.

Was the kingdom that God promised to Abraham fulfilled in his physical descendants? Partially. And so we looked at the kingdom promises partially fulfilled in Israel's history with God's people in God's place under his rule and blessing.

But what happened to the partially restored kingdom manifested in Israel? What happened to it? Did it last?

No, it was dismantled, wasn't it? By sin, by rebellion, as the nation of Israel was then judged by God and split in two with both the northern and southern kingdoms, turning their back on God and worshiping other gods and idols and bringing down the curses of the covenant upon their heads.

So that the promised blessings of the kingdom were then forfeited by their rebellion against God's rule. Well, now what? Here we are.

We're making our way through the Bible. It's a helicopter tour over the whole ground of scripture. And we've made our way all the way through the historical sections of the word of God into the end of 2 Chronicles.

Now what? If the kingdom's dismantled, is this the end of God's plan to establish his kingdom on earth with God's people in God's place under God's rule and blessing?

And the answer is no, because we just said this morning there will be a time when God will be able to say it is done. So it wasn't over.

It wasn't the end. And that brings us to this new study, a new era in this development of the kingdom this morning called the prophesied kingdom or the kingdom prophesied.

And so in our overview of the Bible, we're coming to that section of scripture made up by the prophets. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and on they go.

Nearly a third of your Old Testament, that portion of the word of God. And this section of the word of God prophesies about the coming kingdom.

Now what is a prophet? Someone tell us. We studied Jesus is our prophet. And you remember, what is a prophet? A messenger of God.

Okay. He brings to us the revelation of God. He's a mediary, isn't he? He stands between God and men. He receives from God supernatural revelation.

God reveals his will, his word to the prophet. And the prophet then turns and speaks that word to men. And it comes with the same amount of authority as if God himself audibly spoke to men.

That's how he did speak on Mount Sinai. And they said, we don't want to hear the voice of God again or we'll die. Give us someone to go meet with God and to bring us his word. And God says, okay, I'll give you Moses as a prophet.

That's what a prophet is. He speaks for God. So that whatever the prophet says, a true prophet says, is what God says. Now Moses was the greatest Old Testament prophet through whom God gave his law to Israel at Mount Sinai.

And all future generations of Israelites were to live by that law. If they want to stay in the land of promise and enjoy God's blessings, then they must obey that law.

If they don't, they'll face God's judgments and ultimately be exiled, chased right out of the promised land. So these prophets who came after Moses came to Israel as watchdogs of the covenant.

Watching to see if Israel is following the covenant that God made with his people. And so they hold up God's law to show the people where they have fallen short of it.

And to call them to repentance and to renewed obedience to God. And reminded them of the promised blessings if they did obey and the promised curses if they didn't.

So the prophets have been called the covenant enforcers. Enforcing that covenant that God revealed from Mount Sinai through Moses, the prophet. Now, the first great prophets after Moses were Elijah and Elisha.

Sent to the northern kingdom. And around the 9th century BC. And we find that the northern kingdom of Israel is in bad shape spiritually.

There was a widespread turning away from the living God and turning to worship the idols of Baal. And Ashtoreth, they killed the Lord's prophets. You remember, Elijah actually tells the Lord, I'm the only true prophet left.

I'm the only true believer left. And what did God tell him? I've reserved 7,000 who have not bowed the knee to Baal. So, Elijah, you ought to be encouraged.

You're not alone. And yet, 7,000 is greater than one. But it's a small remnant compared to the whole nation, isn't it? So, it's just showing us how bad things were in Israel.

7,000 who really knew God out of the whole nation. It was a low time spiritually. And so, Elijah and Elisha continue to call the kings and the peoples to repent and obey and avoid God's judgment.

Their concern, the concern of the prophets is with the kingdom of God is revealed in history of Israel right then, right now. So, we must not think that a prophet is always speaking about the future.

A prophet is, in essence, a forth teller. They speak forth the word of God. Sometimes what they speak is about the present. Sometimes what they speak is about the future.

And the emphasis upon these prophets, of Moses and Elijah and Elisha and of this period, was to speak about the here and now.

Here's God's law. This is what he spoke and this is what he expects of you. Look how you're living. And they would call them to repent and to turn to God right now. But from the 8th century on, the distant future becomes a dominant note in the prophecies of these prophets.

They start talking with renewed emphasis upon the future of a coming age, of a glorious future yet to come. And it's during that time that prophecies were then written down.

From that point on, we have books of the Bible named after the prophets, don't we? Like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and so on. Not so with the prophets, the earlier prophets.

We don't have books of the Bible called Elijah, Elisha, Samuel, Nathan, Gad, Ahijah, Shemaiah, and so on. No, from this point on, they start to talk about the future.

They start writing it down so all along the way people will have these prophecies about this glorious future kingdom that is coming. So Hosea and Amos begin prophesying to the northern kingdom of Israel before they were destroyed by the Assyrians.

And the rest of the prophets prophesied to the southern kingdom of Judah. Some of them prophesied before Judah went into Babylonian exile. These were Isaiah, Micah, Jeremiah.

Others prophesied to Judah, the kingdom, during their exile in Babylon. These were Daniel and Ezekiel. And then other prophets prophesied to them after they had been released from Babylon and could return to their own land.

And these were the prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. So there's 17 prophets in all. Major and minor prophets, we call. Simply because of the length of their writings.

The bigger ones are major and the smaller books are the minor prophets. And they prophesied over a period of three centuries. They prophesied over a period of time.

And all of them have these two dominant notes. Judgment for their sins. And future hope that God has planned for them.

Now, both the northern and southern kingdoms were complacent. They heard the prophets. They didn't believe them. There were false prophets to say, oh, that's not true.

You're going to have peace, peace. There's no problem with God. You don't have to worry about judgment. And so they grew complacent. And that complacency was shattered in the northern kingdom in the 8th century B.C.

when the Assyrians came and destroyed them. And never again would they be a collective nation. And then the Babylonians did the same, decimating the southern kingdom in the 6th century B.C.

And the prophets made clear that these nations, these nation-shattering events were not just accidents. They weren't just some kind of luck or just destiny.

Rather, they said, these actions are God's judgments upon you for disobeying his law, breaking his covenant.

And so Ezekiel tells them, as this has happened, and they've gone away into Babylon as exiles, and Ezekiel is telling them, don't conclude from this that the Babylonians' triumph over you just shows that their God is stronger than your God.

That's the way that the mind thought in that day. Whosoever nation won in battle, it was because their God was superior to the defeated foe. No, don't make that wrong interpretation of the events.

Rather, Ezekiel says, it's the Lord, the Almighty God. He's sovereign. He's in control of all of these events. And they are his judgments upon you, the rebellious nation.

And just as he promised back in Moses that if you strayed and worshipped idols, this is what he would do to you. So each time the prophets warned them, it was God himself warning them.

Because they were simply the middleman bringing God's warning. And it was God longing to gather them under his wings and to protect them.

But they would not. This is our gracious and loving God. Holding out his arms, longing to gather sinners beneath them.

But he's also a holy God who hates evil and is aroused to anger wherever he finds it. And so his judgments in the Old Testament should keep us from growing complacent.

As God's word continues to warn against judgment for unrepentant sinners. We should take lessons from Israel's history.

God is faithful to his words of promise. Whether it's blessing that's promised or cursings that are promised. One day each of us is going to have to stand before God alone.

And give an account for everything that we've done in the body. Whether good or evil. Our only hope is to be found in Christ in that day. Well, there is a conditional element to God's promises in this covenant he made with Israel.

Blessings could be forfeited. If you obey, then you will continue to enjoy the promised land and the blessings I've given you. But if you disobey, you will forfeit them.

So there was a conditional element to those blessings. And yet there is an unconditional element to God's promises, to others of God's promises.

Like his promises to Abraham in Genesis 12 when he says, I will bless you. I will make you a blessing. I will bless all the nations through your offspring.

I will give you a land. Those were unconditional blessings. So we find both, conditional promises and unconditional promises of God in this arrangement with the people of Israel.

So God's covenant was the basis of the prophet's message of judgment. God had said, depart from me, judgment will come. And so the prophets were just, again, enforcing the covenant that was given through Moses.

And that same covenant was the basis of their other message. Hope for a glorious future. A future hope.

Now Israel's history proclaimed Israel's failure and God's judgment. But their prophets proclaimed Israel's future to be a glorious one. There's something of tension there. Judgment is going to fall.

And yet, there will be a glorious future for you. Well, that is the prophesied kingdom. And this note of future glory becomes more dominant as the nation comes under God's judgment.

So we have this prophesied kingdom or the kingdom prophesied. And it went something like this. The prophets would say, do you remember what it was like under Moses?

To be fed by God. To be led by God. Protected by God. Ruled by God. Blessed by God. Do you remember what it was like under David and Solomon?

When the kingdom was at its peak and its glory. Well, your future will be like that. Only much better. That's how the prophets spoke.

They used the same terms from those days of old and said, that's what God is going to do for you in this glorious future. It will be like that. Only much better.

So there's both continuity with Israel's history and discontinuity. It will be like that. But only much better. The same features will be there.

But without any of the weaknesses and imperfections and sins that marred the kingdom in Israel's history. So everything will be new.

In Israel's history, there was an exodus, wasn't there? Out of bondage in Egypt. There will be a new exodus, the prophets said. A new exodus out of captivity.

In Israel's history, there was an old covenant that God made with his people. And the prophet says, there will be a new covenant. Not like the old covenant.

The old covenant had a nation. A people of God. There will be a new nation. A new people of God. Who are faithful to him. And that people will include those from other nations.

There will be a new promised land. A new Eden. A new Jerusalem. A new temple. A new shepherd. A new king. A new David.

And yes, a new creation. A new heaven. And a new earth. You see, this is what the prophets were telling them as they looked forward.

And prophesied the coming kingdom. It would be like the kingdom under Israel. But unlike it. And that it would not share in the sin and troubles that Israel's sins brought upon them.

So God's not going to rebuild the model partial kingdom that he had with Israel. He's going to build the perfected kingdom that it pointed to.

And that under Christ. At the end of this present age. There will be a new age that will bring in the kingdom of God. And it will happen not through man's efforts. But through God's intervention in salvation.

So these prophecies of a bright future pointed to the ultimate fulfillment of God's kingdom. Of having God's people in God's place. Under God's rule and blessing.

In perfection. Forever and ever. They said it's coming. It's coming. They were keeping hope alive. Even as they were going under judgments of God in the present tense.

So let's look at that. This prophesied kingdom. What did they say about God's people? About God's place? And about God's rule and blessing? First, what did the prophets say about God's people?

Well, although God was bringing terrible judgments down upon his people. Just as he said he would. But the prophet said he is not going to destroy them completely. Rather, a remnant will be saved.

You know what a remnant is, ladies. When you go to buy material and you go to the remnant rack. And you're just finding a little piece out of the whole roll that's left over. That's what God says about this people of God that he's going to redeem.

It will be a little remnant. Someone I've asked to read Isaiah 10, 20, and 21 for us. In that day, the remnant of Israel, the survivors of the house of Jacob, will no longer rely on him who struck them down, but will truly rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.

A remnant will return. A remnant of Jacob will return to the mighty God. All right. God's people. There's going to be continuity, but it's just going to be a remnant out of all of these Israelites.

The multitude of people like the stars that God had made. Now it's reduced to a remnant. And to underline this message of hope, Isaiah the prophet is to name one of his sons, Shir Jashub, which is, a remnant shall return.

So every time the son was called in to dinner, it was, a remnant shall return. And then he would come. And there was the witness in his very name of the coming people of God.

There would be a remnant who would return to the Lord. And so God's people away in exile in Babylon is similar to the situation earlier in Israel's history when they were in captivity in Egypt.

And just as God rescued them from Egypt, he's going to rescue them from Babylon. And this is spoken of in terms of a new exodus. Someone, I asked to read Jeremiah 16, 14, and 15.

So no longer will they talk about the God who brought them out of Egypt.

Now they'll talk about the God who brought them out of Babylon and all the lands where he had scattered them. A new exodus. A new setting free to bring God's people to God's place.

This is what the prophets were saying. And all of this would be accomplished through the servant of the Lord. That's what Isaiah says in chapter 53. It would be through the servant of the Lord's death that they would be brought out of captivity and brought into the wonderful salvation that God had planned for them.

He will bear their punishment in their place. He will be exiled from God. Abandoned. Cut off. That they might be forgiven and become a part of the new Israel of God.

And so through the work of the Holy Spirit, through the work of this servant of the Lord, the nations are to be included in God's people. No longer is it just to be Abraham's physical descendants.

No. This has been promised to include the nations. From Isaiah 49, 6. Someone please. He says, It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribe of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept.

I will also make you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth. All right. We've already heard that promise once to Abraham under the kingdom promise.

Remember, he says that all the nations of the earth will be blessed through you, Abraham. And now he's saying it again in the prophecies that it won't just be the descendants of Abraham in Judah and Israel, but it will include the nations in the people of God.

So it will be a remnant from Abraham's descendants, but there will also be those from the nations to join them. That's the new people of God that the prophets were telling about is coming when this kingdom comes.

That's God's people prophesied. Now, what about God's place prophesied? I was once at a pastor's conference where the speaker was encouraging us to preach through the Bible.

We're to preach the whole counsel of God. He says, Be preaching all of God's word to all of God's people. And he suggested several different ways of doing that. One way was to preach one sermon on each book of the Bible each Sunday.

So you get through the Bible in 66 weeks. And he announced that, Come back tonight, and I'm going to give you an example of one of those sermons. And I thought, Well, he'll choose the book of James or 1 Peter, some short little book, and teach us that.

But no, you know what he chose? He chose the book of Ezekiel. And he's going to preach on that book in 50 minutes. And it was a glorious sermon as he showed us the development of God dwelling with his people.

And what we have in the book of Exodus is the very opening of the book. There's a vision of the glory of God leaving the temple, the place where God's glory dwelt in the midst of his people.

God's glory leaving the temple. God's Spirit lifts Ezekiel up in vision and takes him to Jerusalem's temple to show him the detestable things done in it.

And he shows him idol worship going on right in the temple of God. Right in the face of God. Because that's where God's presence on earth was headquartered. And he says in chapter 8, in verse 5 and 6, These are the things that will drive me far from my sanctuary.

This is my place. But these things, this idolatry, will drive me far. And then chapter 9 and verse 3 says, The glory of the God of Israel went up from above the cherubim where it had been, and it moved over to the threshold of the temple.

God's presence is leaving his place. He's at the threshold. He's ready to walk out on them. Chapter 10, Then the glory of the Lord departed from over the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim.

They stopped at the entrance to the east gate of the Lord's house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them. Here's the removal of God's presence from his people, from his place in the temple.

And with the glory departed, what is the temple now? But an empty, hollow shell. It's just any other building. The only thing that made it different from all the other structures on earth was God's presence there.

And now he's gone. Ichabod is written over it. The glory is departed. That's the heavy note of judgment. And yet, the book of Ezekiel ends with future hope.

Because chapters 36 and 37 speak of a coming new covenant under a new king that would result in a new people of God and that God would put his sanctuary among them forever.

And Ezekiel, the book closes with another vision of a new temple in a new Jerusalem, far more magnificent than the first temple, with measurements that exceed the imagination.

And he sees the glory of God entering that new temple and filling it, and he hears a promise of God living among them forever. And the last words of the book of Ezekiel is that the name of the city from that time on will be, The Lord is there.

It starts with the Lord's leaving them in judgment for their idolatry. It ends with the Lord coming back. Why? Because of this one who would come, this greater David, this king of this kingdom that would come and would establish a new covenant.

And through that new covenant, their sins would be forgiven, and God would come and dwell among them. They would be the dwelling place of God. They would be the place where God's glory dwells.

And so Ezekiel's vision of a new temple is so magnificent that it cannot simply refer to a new building on earth. That's why all the talk about rebuilding the temple over on the mount in Jerusalem is just faulty exegesis.

No, this new temple exceeds anything that can ever be contained in a building. It's a symbol of the whole new creation. Once filled with sin, once fallen, now purged and cleansed, it will become God's temple, the home of righteousness.

The entire new heaven and new earth will be his temple, and he will dwell in it, and the glory of God will fill it as the waters cover the sea. God's people in God's place, the whole new heavens and new earth.

And then God's people in God's place, that's what's coming, that's what's coming. Even as you see this temple destroyed, this is what's coming, a new temple, the whole universe, God's dwelling place, and you will see God's people there in God's place, and now under God's rule and blessing.

Now, this is the perennial problem. Remember the cycle of Israel. They would be going along okay for a while, and then they would rebel against the Lord and turn to idols.

God would raise up another nation to judge them, and Israel would pine away in misery and cry out to the Lord, and the Lord would have mercy on them and send them a deliverer or a savior who would bring them out and bring them back into freedom from captivity.

And then the cycle would repeat. Well, this is the problem. How can we have this future unblemished blessing without any interruption?

That's what the prophets are foretelling. How can Israel live under the undiminished, unending blessing of God as promised if they continue to fall into this cycle of sin and so come under God's curses?

How can a holy God really live with a sinful people? Well, what if? What if God could stop this endless cycle of Israel's rebellion and God's judgment?

What if God could heal their waywardness in their hearts? What if God could put His law on their inward parts so that they would really love God's law and want to obey it?

What if all of His people not only knew about God, but actually knew Him and had an intimate relationship with Him? What if God could so deal with their sin that every last one of them were forgiven, blotted out, no longer separating them and calling down God's judgment?

What if all the judgment for those sins was taken by a substitute who would suffer all the curses that His people deserved and give them all the blessings that His obedience deserved?

Well, you see, all these what-ifs are what the prophets foretold in this coming Savior, King, in the coming new covenant that God would establish through this servant of the Lord.

The new covenant is the way that God is going to change and break this cycle. I've asked someone to read the essence of the new covenant in Jeremiah 31, 31-33.

The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt because He broke my covenant though I was a husband to them, declares the Lord.

This is a covenant I will make with the house of Israel. After that time, declares the Lord, I will put my law into their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people.

No longer will a man teach his neighbor or a man his brother saying, know the Lord. Because they will all know me from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord.

For I will forgive your wickedness and remember them, their sins no more. I'm sorry. Okay. This is what the Lord says. All right. There's the promise. There's the new covenant. It will not be like the old covenant.

It will not lead to the same endless cycle. Why not? Because all Israel had in the old covenant was the outward law of God calling on them to obey.

Now God did work regeneration in the hearts of His remnant. But not all in Israel were Israel and had the law on the inside. In the new covenant, everyone in the new covenant, all the people of God will have His law written on their hearts so that they will desire to obey that.

In the new covenant, all the people will know the Lord. You won't have to be telling people and evangelizing people, Christians, to know the Lord. All the people of God in the kingdom prophesied will know the Lord and all of them will have all their sins blotted out and remembered no more.

You see, all those what-ifs, this is how it will be accomplished. It's through the new covenant that Christ would establish by His blood. You remember He said that as He established the Lord's table, the Lord's supper on the night that He was betrayed.

This blood is the new covenant. It's the new covenant. It's through Christ's death on the cross that all this would happen. And Ezekiel and Joel make clear that this new covenant includes the promise of God's presence, His Holy Spirit living right within the hearts of His people, taking out an old heart and putting in a soft heart, the Spirit of God actually living in them and causing them to be careful to keep His commands.

That's how the cycle will be broken. Well, this was the good news that the prophets were given to announce to Israel even as they were heading into the dark days of judgment in Babylon under the crushing heel of Nebuchadnezzar and his army.

And it comes to them, this message of future hope comes when there was little evidence that they were God's people. When they were no longer in God's place, banished from God's presence in the Holy Place, in the Promised Land, and exiled outside the land, they were not living under God's rule and blessing.

But here comes the prophets' word of hope, a future day of blessing and glory is coming. So the prophets kept hope alive in the darkest hour.

Not only a new covenant, but a new king. Isaiah 9, 6, and 7. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders, and he will be called a wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.

The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. No ordinary king. He is God. And so, his reign is God's reign because he is God.

And this new king is coming to establish this kingdom of God on earth. So the prophets are pointing to this coming perfected kingdom, a perfected people under a perfect king and a perfect place under God's perfect rule and blessing.

This will be the kingdom that God has first established in Eden, that perished, that was promised to Abraham, that was partially fulfilled in Abraham's physical descendants, that was then prophesied to be coming.

Well, there was, yes, the Israelites returned from Babylon, but that was just a pale shadow of these promises. That was not the fulfillment of all that the prophets said about the kingdom of God.

You remember, they came back to Jerusalem and they rebuilt the temple. Remember what happened when the temple foundation was built? The old men wept and the young men rejoiced. Why?

Well, the young men saw, hey, the temple's here. They'd never seen the old temple of Solomon. The old men said, this doesn't even measure up to the old temple, much less fulfill the expectations of Ezekiel's temple.

And they wept while the others rejoiced. You see, it was just a, that wasn't the answer. this isn't the fulfillment of what the prophets had promised, these glorious days.

And, yeah, what do you find with the prophets who prophesied to Judah after they were brought back into the land of Israel? Could this be the fulfillment? Could this be the promised kingdom fulfilled now in Israel?

Well, what did they say? Read Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, and you'll see what they prophesied. After they had come back from Babylon in the land, they do as their forefathers had done and they accuse them of their breaking of God's covenant.

They're turning their back on his commands. They're going their own way. They're living without God. No, this is not the fulfillment of what the prophets said.

And the very last prophet, Malachi, says that God's kingdom will come preceded by a messenger. See, I will send my messenger who will prepare the way for me.

Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant whom you desire will come, Malachi 3.1. You see, the last prophet is still pointing forward.

They're back in the land. They've got a new temple built. But he's saying this isn't it. He's coming. And when he comes, he will establish his kingdom.

And so, there's this period of silence of 400 years between the Old and the New Testament. No word from God. No prophets speaking. And it's a time of great tribulation and persecution for the Jews who are under the domination of the Persians and then the Greeks and then the great imperial Roman Empire.

And through it all, the faithful remnant are waiting. They're waiting for the consolation of Israel. That's why you find Simeon and Anna in the temple. They're holding on to the promise.

God, you said. Haven't heard for 400 years, but God, you said that a glorious future was coming, that a king was coming and his kingdom would be established.

So, the prophesied kingdom is that perfected kingdom that they are pointing to. It's coming. And God's people will be the remnant from Israel and the inclusion of the nation.

And God's place will be a new temple, a new Jerusalem, a new creation, a new heavens, and a new earth. And God's rule and blessing is that blessing spoken of in the new covenant when all will have his law written in their hearts, will know the Lord intimately, and will have their sins remembered no more.

Take one question before we break. Any questions? That's the prophesied kingdom. It's coming. It's coming. That's the old, that's the summary of the Old Testament, isn't it? And it's the summary of the prophets.

Keep looking forward. He's coming. That's where we end the Old Testament. We'll take up next time the New Testament and see another aspect of the kingdom fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

All right? No questions. Scott? What about the modern-day Orthodox Jewish people? I mean, what do they think here?

I get confused with the Jews today. Yeah, I think there's so many different breeds of them that it's hard to answer one answer for all, but I think in large part they're still looking for a Messiah.

They're still waiting for a Messiah to come. They've rejected the Messiah when he came, and so they don't see those prophecies as being fulfilled at all in Christ.

Someone else want to add to that? Go ahead. Yes, Jason. It's sort of interesting. I'm just reading a book by an Orthodox Jew. It's not something I do very often. It has nothing to do with the Bible, but he does talk about just like his interpretation of Scripture, and it's amazing how, like, I don't, like, I can't speak for all of them, but how much they don't see and he for a Messiah or a Savior is, at least for this person, it is very much this is what the law of God says, and this is how we are to live, and this is the secret to the good life now, and this is how we preach God now, and so at least for this Orthodox rabbi who learned in Jerusalem and things like that, it is very much let's go to the law and see what God wants for us, as his people, and there's no, there's no sense of we need a Savior, at least in this guy's name.

So it would be go back to the Mount Sinai and the law covenant, the old covenant, and if we keep it, we get blessed, if we don't, we get cursed, well, let's start keeping it and we'll get blessed.

What's the problem with that? What have we seen for hundreds and hundreds and thousands of years? They can't keep it. That's why they need a Savior, and that's the good news.

isn't it? Thank you, Jason. So that's one perspective on it, and those were addressed in the New Testament as well, people that saw no need, Pharisees saw no need for a Savior, will just obey the law, and they lowered the law down to where they thought they obeyed it, but they didn't keep the spirit of the law, they broke every command, and every of the ten commands, and yet they had so reduced the demands of the law that they thought they could keep it.

Roger? It was prophesied at least six times as quoted throughout the Scripture, all four Gospels, Book of Acts, and I forget the other book, where it says, I will give them eyes not to see, ears not to hear, lest they repent, and I forgive them.

Wasn't that kind of towards the Jewish nation itself? Mm-hmm. There'd only be a remnant. Only be a remnant. Only be a remnant that would know the Lord. So you're privileged, Gentiles, to belong to this kingdom.

Let's worship God in the reality of that, and we're still looking forward, aren't we? We'll get more into that next week. We're dismissed.