David Ravenhill emphasizes the significance of God's calling on Israel and the church's role in reaching the nations. He explains that the tabernacle of David was not just about worship but also about bringing the nations to God. Ravenhill highlights the importance of obedience to God's commands, as seen in the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and how the church, as the new Israel, is tasked with proclaiming the gospel to all nations. He draws connections between the Old Testament promises and their fulfillment in Christ, urging believers to recognize their responsibility in sharing God's wonders among the peoples.

We need to understand again, God's calling on the nation of Israel. I think I've given you possibly enough verses now to to make that clear. Anybody want one more? 1 Chronicles chapter 16 and verse 8. O give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples. And you can always put in there the nations, make known his deeds among the people or make known his deeds among the nations. In fact, this is a this is an interesting chapter here. I understand I've been traveling and will be continuing to travel all this month. So I'm going to miss, is it Ray Hughes? That's ministering. I've heard a little snippet of one of his tapes and it's great. But you know, he's speaking a lot about what we call the Davidic type of worship, David's tabernacle. And the one thing about David's tabernacle that many people don't understand, and I hope brother Hughes does, and no doubt he does. But the end result of it all is not just the glory of God. It's the bringing in of the nations. And here in 1 Chronicles, and I understand he went through this particular chapter, one of my favorite chapters in 1 Chronicles 13 about David bringing back the ark. But David eventually, after he does everything right, he blew it a few times. After he gets everything right, he finally brings the ark in, in chapter 16, and he places it inside the tent that he'd made for it. And they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God. A lot of people have a misunderstanding that David's tabernacle, this tent, was just a sort of a basic little pot tent to hold about two people. You know, it wasn't quite like that. It was a far more elaborate. There were gatekeepers. There were all sorts of things associated with it. It wasn't, you know, just that simple. A lot of people also say that God was sort of doing away with the old sort of a, you know, traditional ceremonies and so on. And that David's tabernacle represented total liberty and freedom and so on. And obviously there's a measure of truth in that. But you'll notice that there was never, that we know of anyway, never any expression of the glory of God in David's tabernacle. And the glory of God does not show up again until David's tabernacle, the ark, is once again placed in Solomon's temple, where you've got the entire functioning, if you like, of the brazen altar and everything else back in one place. Then the glory of God shows up. In other words, God was not saying this is all over, that I'm ushering in a whole new phase. That's not true. It was a time of transition, obviously. It was a time of a tremendous liberty and so on. But God will never substitute the cross and those other things. In fact, all the time that David's tabernacle was going on, David saw to it that back of Moses' temple that the offerings and so on were kept going. In fact, it was at the brazen altar that God appeared to Solomon and spoke to him. He says, listen, whatever you ask, I'll give you. And Solomon was offering a thousand burnt offerings. Anyway, that's not my job to get into that. But after he pitches the ark here in chapter 16, he gives them this psalm. And this is the first psalm associated with the tabernacle of David. And he says, on that day, verse 7, David first assigned Asaph and his relatives to give thanks to the Lord. And he says, I'll give thanks to the Lord. Call upon his name. Make known his deeds among the peoples. And that word can be translated nations. Sing to him. Sing praises to him. Speak of all his wonders. Glory in his holy name. Let the heart of those who seek the Lord be glad. Seek the Lord in his strength. Seek his face continually. Then he goes down, verse 16, the covenant which he made with Abraham and his oath to Isaac. He also confirmed it to Jacob. That's the covenant that we're looking at. Saying, I will, where am I? Saying to you, I will give the land of Canaan as a portion of your inheritance when there are few in number and so on. Let me drop down so I pick this thing up. Verse 23, sing to the Lord all the earth. Proclaim good tidings of his salvation from day to day. Tell of his glory among the nations. His wonderful deeds among all the peoples. Going down again, verse 29, ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come before him. Worship the Lord in holy array. Tremble before him all the earth. Verse 31, and let them say among the nations the Lord reigns. Verse 35, then say, save us O God of our salvation. Gather us and deliver us from the nations. Give thanks thy holy name and glory in thy praise. But you'll notice if you read through that, that the nations are at stake. Now if you go into the book of Acts for a moment, and I know I'm rushing and some of you possibly this is going over your head. I hope not. But over in Acts chapter 15, and this is where they had the first sort of church council determining how much of the law of the Old Testament was going to be placed upon the new believers, whether they had to be circumcised and so on and so forth. And eventually we have it says Simon in verse 14 is related how God first concerned himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for his name. And notice this, let me go back. Verse 12, and all the multitude kept silent and they were listening to Barnabas and Paul as they were relating what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. They've brought a report back to Jerusalem about the fact that the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon the Gentiles now. And of course the Jews had a hard time because most of the Jews thought, man these dogs, I mean that's what they were called. You know God is visiting these dogs that we've despised, that we've separated ourselves from, we've looked down our nose at, that they're less than human and so on. You're telling me that the God that blessed us at Pentecost has blessed them and so on. So this is a sort of the background there, and they're relating what has happened. And so it says Simon has related verse 14 how God first concerned himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for his name. And with these the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written, after these things I will return and I will rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen. And I will build up its ruins and I will restore it in order, notice, that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord. And all the Gentiles who are called by my name saith the Lord who make these things known from of old. So one of the functions of David's tabernacle was that there was to be a type of music that would attract the world. There was something of the presence of God that was going to be manifest and the glory of God, the nature of God, the works of God. Again talk about these deeds, talk about these wonders, and what is that? Those are testimonies if you like of the people of God. Listen I've been healed, I've been delivered, I was a drug addict, I was this, I was that, and so on. I want to tell you what God's done for me. Tell His wonders among the nations and then the nations are going to come in, but there's something about the music itself that is also going to be, you know, part of God's advertisement. And so David understands that when he puts, you know, the tabernacle of David together, so to speak. He's concerned about it being a witness to the nation. So it has a twofold function, not only to magnify and glorify the Lord, but also ultimately to reach out to the nation so that they too ultimately glorify and magnify the Lord. You see every time you get somebody saved you just simply add to the choir and the choir's job is to glorify the Lord. And so, you know, one day there's going to be men from every kindred, tribe, tongue, and nation around the throne singing the song of Moses and Len. They're going to sing again about the glory of God and what Jesus Christ has done for them. So really every time again somebody gets saved, the choir is, you know, added to and the praise is that much greater, more spectacular, and so on and so forth. So David understood this. You know, the way in which we can really make this worship great is to get a few more members in the choir, you know. And so there was a purpose behind it. All right, let's let me go back now and highlight some verses for you. In Genesis chapter 18, and this is the word obedience. Obedience. God said to Abraham, I have chosen him for reason. In other words, if you want to know why it was that God singled out Abraham out of all the heathen of the earth and the Bible says his glory appeared unto our father Abraham in Acts chapter 7. There was something that God saw about Abraham, and it was this, that when Abraham got a hold of something, he would spread it. He would make sure that everybody else understood it. And so it says here, I've chosen him in order that he will command his children and his servants. His servants, let me go back to him, just got part of the verse here. And his family. Genesis 18 verse 16 and 19. Is that right? Oh, 19. Yeah, Genesis 18 verse 19. For I chosen him in order that he may command his children and his household after him, to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness, justice, in order that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what he has spoken about him. Now you'll notice then that obedience was the key to fulfilling what God wanted to do. God says, Abraham, I'm going to bless you. I'm going to make you a blessing. I'm going to make you a great nation, but you are going to bring blessing to the nations of the earth, as long as you're obedient. So he says, I've appeared to Abraham because I knew, I chose him, that he would command his children after him. And then also over into Genesis 22 again. Sorry, it's, yeah, 22. And verse 16, by myself I have sworn, declares Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you. And notice again, because of his obedience, indeed I will bless you. Verse 18, and in your seat all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice. So we find then that the key to God's purpose being fulfilled, obviously, is obedience, which is true today as well. Genesis 26, the same thing. It says, the Lord appeared to him and said, do not go down to Egypt. Stay in the land in which I will tell you. Sojourn in this land, and so on. And verse 5, because Abraham obeyed me and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. He says in the previous verse, that all the nations of the earth will be blessed. So three verses there that bring out that all of this is conditional upon obedience. Abraham, if you obey, this will happen. Isaac, if you obey, this will happen. Jacob, if you obey, this will happen. So he's wanting to bless, again, all the nations of the earth. Now, let's go back to Genesis 13. And verse 14, and the Lord said to Abraham, after Lot had separated from him, lift up your eyes, look from the place where you are, north, south, east, and west. For all the land which you see, I will give to you and to your seed forever. I want you to just understand that the word descendants, I'm using the the new American, literally means the word seed in the Bible. In the, you'll notice in the margin. All right. So it says, and I will give it to you and your seed forever. And I will make your seed as the dust of the earth. So if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your seed or your descendants can also be numbered. Arise, walk around the land through its length and its breadth, for I have given it to you. Abraham moved his tent, came, dropped by the Oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and there he built an altar. Now God comes to Abraham, after Abraham finally leaves home, and he obeys what God told him to. After Lot separated, and he takes him up on a mountain, and he says, Abraham, I want you to look, north, south, east, west. All this land is going to be yours, and it's going to belong to your seed one day. Now, many times when God speaks prophetically, prophecies come in seed form, and we don't have all the details. It's like somebody prophesying over you. I'll pick on John again, and say, yea, saith the Lord, have I not raised thee up to be an evangelist? You know, ten years from now, he's replaced Billy Graham. You know, now the seed just said an evangelist, but the fulfillment of that seed is that he's filling stadiums with 50,000 people, you see. But initially, it's just a seed. He accepted that. Okay, now let's, let's look at the fulfillment then of the seed in the, the eyes of the New Testament now, over in the book of Romans, Romans chapter 4 and verse 13. For the promise to Abraham, and to his seed, that he would be the heir of the world, was not through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. Now what was he the heir of? Verse 13, the world. In other words, God said to Abraham, listen, you are going to inherit the earth. That's a little bigger than standing on a mountain, saying north, south, east, and west. You know, I can see about 15 miles that way, maybe 30 miles that way, and you know, since I'm looking down over a valley a hundred miles that way, wow, this is incredible. Abraham did not fully understand what God was saying about his seed. Paul now gives us the greater revelation. He says, God made a promise to Abraham, and to his seed, that he would be the heir of the world. That's a pretty big blessing, don't you think? Incredible promise. All right. Now, back into, you don't have to turn to all these incidentally, but Israel failed to obey God's call. Let me just look at that for a moment, and then we're going to tie a lot of this together. I know it's been a little bitsy, but that's what jigsaws are like until you put in the final piece. Exodus 17 and verse 3. The nation of Israel now has come out of Egypt. They're wandering in the wilderness. They ask a question, and the question is, there in verse 3, the people thirsted there for water. They grumbled against Moses and said, why now have you brought us up from Egypt? Is it to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst? How many of you know you can ask a good question with a bad attitude? This was a good question, but it was from a complaining heart. In other words, why have you brought us up? In other words, why are we saved? Basically, in typology, why have you redeemed us? Why have you taken us out of bondage? Why have you taken us out of captivity? Why have you set us free? Why is the blood of the Lamb being shed? What are we doing? Is it just so that we could, you know, there weren't enough graves in Egypt, and you want us to just wander around the wilderness and so on and so forth? God responds in chapter 19, and it says, verse 3, Moses went up to God. The Lord called him from the mountains saying, thus you shall say to the house of Israel, and tell the sons of Israel, the house of Jacob, and tell the sons of Israel, you yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagles' wings, and I brought you to myself. Now then, if you will indeed obey my voice, notice the word obey, keep my covenant, then you shall be mine own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is mine. See, he wanted them to know right off, listen, you are special, but all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel. Now, what does that mean? You shall be to me a kingdom of priests. What is the function of a priest? A priest, obviously, his highest function is to minister to God. But then, he is also to minister on behalf of God to people. Now, it would be right, if I were to say I'm a schoolteacher, you could have the right to ask me, how big's your class? Right? You would assume that if I'm a teacher, I've got a class, and I'd say 40 students or whatever, you know. Now, to ask the nation of Israel, you are priests, you're all priests, so who's your congregation? In other words, a priest needs a parish, if we can put in the terminology of the Catholic Church, you know, a priest needs a parish. How big's your parish? You're a priest? Oh, how big a congregation do you have? Oh, you're a pastor? How big's your church? You see, you are all priests, so where were they to be priests? They were to be priests to the nations of the earth. That was the call. Now, that's not just my theory, there's numerous books that are brought out on that. In fact, I think I've got a little clipping here from, I think it's Grover, is the guy's name. I'd have to get you the exact name, and he says the course of Christian missions. And he says, basically, what then is his purpose, speaking of the nation of Israel? What is the ideal which he set before them and asked them to accept as their own? The ideal to which they will give corporate expression in the Hebrew people in the nation, if they will yield themselves up to him. He says, you shall be to me a nation of priests, a nation dedicated, as it is the function of a priest to represent a congregation in worship of God, so in the plan of God, this nation of priests are to lead all the earth, quote-unquote, which is his, to the worship of the one and Holy God. In other words, that was their function. They were priests, they were to lead the nations of the earth into the worship of the one and the Holy God. Now, I could give you numerous, not numerous, but a number of articles and books that bring that out, so I want you to know that's not just my interpretation, but when they said, what are we doing here? What's our function? Why have you brought us out? He says, listen, tell the nation of Israel, you are kings and priests to me, and your responsibility, basically, is to reach the nations of the earth. Now, Romans chapter 15, let's start putting all this together, because we need to wrap things up a little bit. Romans 15, and verse 16, where Paul is giving his testimony, he says, to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest, the gospel of God, that my offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. This is one of the few times in the New Testament where Paul literally uses the same word that he's used to describe the priestly function in the Old Testament. Now, there's all sorts of all sorts of offerings, you know, or sacrifices. We talk about the sacrifice of praise. That's just one of many sacrifices in the New Testament. Notice what Paul sacrifices. He said, God basically has called me to be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest, the gospel of God, that my offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Paul is saying, listen, I am, as a priest, I am bringing sacrifices to God. I'm bringing offerings to God, and the offering that I'm bringing now is the Gentiles. I'm presenting them to God. So, there we see again something of the function of a priest. That was what Israel was supposed to do. They were supposed to be a priestly nation, like Paul was functioning as a priest, and they were supposed to be offering, if you like, the Gentiles to God. Let me tie in another verse here while I remember it. I'm just looking for one verse. There's a verse, I'll have to find it, where Paul says, where he says, we are turning from, I'll find it later on. All right, Romans chapter 15 and verse 8. For I say that Christ has come, or has become, a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God, to confirm the promises given to the fathers, and for the Gentiles to glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, therefore, I will give praise to thee among the Gentiles, and I will sing to thy name. And again, he says, rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people. And again, praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the people praise him. Again, Isaiah says, they shall come forth to the root of Jesse, and he will arise to rule over the Gentiles. In him shall the Gentiles hope. I've noticed all of those verses talking about God's desire to reach the Gentiles, Gentiles, Gentiles, anybody other than a Jew. God's longing is to reach the nations of the earth, and time after time he reiterates it. But he makes this statement in verse 8, that Christ has come as a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God, to confirm the promises given to the fathers. Now, when you confirm something, you revalidate it. In other words, one of the reasons that Jesus came, he came to reconfirm certain promises. Those of you who travel, I am traveling these days, and you know, they recommend, especially on overseas flights, that 36 hours before departure, you reconfirm to make sure that, you know, that the flight's going at the time it was supposed to be going. You may have made the bookings two months ago. I've got maybe, I was looking at them today, six or seven envelopes with the tickets in for the next two or three months of travel. And some of those were made a couple of months ago, and then the ticket finally came, and I filed it away, and so on. And I need to maybe reconfirm that. So, Jesus Christ came to reconfirm certain promises that he made, notice, to the fathers. All right, who are the fathers? Acts 3 and verse 13. It says, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers. All right, when the Bible speaks about the fathers, it always refers to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Acts 7, verse 32. I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. So, we have twice there, the fact that the fathers are mentioned, and who the fathers are, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So, Jesus came to confirm certain promises that he made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now, back into the book of Galatians, and we'll finally begin to put this together. Galatians 3 and verse 16. Now, the promises were spoken to Abraham, and to his seed. He does not say, and to seeds, as referring to many, but rather to one. And to your seed, that is Christ. Now, notice now, we're tying together an awful lot that we've already covered. Think of all these promises. I'm gonna bless you, Abraham. I'm gonna bless you, Isaac. I'm gonna bless you, Jacob. And in your seed, all the families of the earth are going to be blessed. And in your seed, all the families of the earth are going to be blessed. And in your seed, all the families of the earth are going to be blessed. Now, the problem with some of these translations is, like mine, it uses the word descendants. But at least it's honest enough to admit, if you look in the margin, it uses the word seed. Now, Paul then, he's tying this together. He says, the promise was spoken to Abraham, and to his seed. He does not say, and to seeds, as referring to many, but rather to one, and to your seed, that is Christ. All right, so Christ then, is what God said, He was going to raise up, one day, and through Christ, all the nations of the earth are going to be blessed. Now, some of you are sighing a great sigh of relief, thinking, phew, thought it was gonna be me. Well, hold on for a moment. Verse 28, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither slave nor free man, there's neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, heirs according to the promise. Let me say that again. This is verse 29, Galatians 3, there's neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither slave nor free man, there's neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ. In other words, the moment you and I accept Christ, we come into the body of Christ, right? That's what the church is, the church which is his body. And another word for the body of Christ, if you like, in Paul's terminology, at least right now, is we are now the seed. Because we join Christ, we are members of his body. So we are all one in Christ. There's neither male nor female, Jew nor Greek, and blah blah blah. We're all one in Christ now. But he says, and if you belong to Christ, or if you are Christ, it says literally in my margin, if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's seed. And therefore what? Heirs according to the promise. What does that mean? What is an heir? Somebody who receives an inheritance or whatever, right? And you know, if say you've, you get word that your parents died, and you're the sole heir. Now you're the sole heir of their blessings, but also the sole heir of whatever debts they had as well, right? And you're hoping that mom and dad were wise enough to set money aside so that you don't discover after they've gone that you've got a million dollars to pay back, because they were owing and you thought, boy this million dollar house was going to be mine, and now you've got to liquidate it to pay off the debts. Now, hopefully you will receive the blessing, but there are also responsibilities that go with it. And so, Paul says now, we are Abraham's seed. But we not only inherit the blessings of Abraham, but the responsibilities of Abraham. Now we're always quick to cash in on the blessings of Abraham, hence the song, I'm in the seat of Abraham and his blessings, you know, come to me, however the song went. But also the responsibilities. In other words, you and I now pick up this mandate. You see, the purpose of God has not changed. The instruments have changed. The purpose of God is an unchanging purpose, and that is to reach the nations of the earth through your seed. All the nations of the earth, your seed, your seed, your seed, you see. And now we have what that seed is. Okay. Having said that, let me see. Let's look at Romans 9, verses 6 through 8. But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel, who are descendants from Israel. Neither are they all children, because they are Abraham's seed. But through Isaac your seed will be named. That is, it is not the children of the flesh, who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as seed. For this is a word of promise, at that time I will come and Sarah shall have a son, and so on and so forth. But notice there, it is not the children of the flesh, who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as seed or descendants. It literally says seed. So again, we see that we are the seed of Abraham. Now that doesn't mean you can't be a Jew and be the seed. The way you become the genuine seed of God is through the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me give you some scriptures now, Ephesians chapter 2. I know you're going to be having, some of you that have signed up for the controversy class, biblical controversies, that I think Dr. Brown is going to expound Israel, the church, and the nations. And you know, some of you are aware of sort of what they call replacement theology. Did the church replace Israel and all of that? Well, I don't want to get into that right now, but let me look at least at Ephesians chapter 2. Verse 11. Now Paul is speaking to the Gentiles. He says, therefore remember that you, that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by the so-called circumcised. In other words, he says the Jews refer to you as uncircumcised. He says, which is performed in the flesh by human hands. Remember that you were at that time, speaking about before, they were saved separate from Christ. You were excluded from the commonwealth of Israel. You were strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope without God in this world. So Paul reminds them, again writing to the Gentiles. And he says, listen, there was a time, he says, when you were totally cut off from God. The promises didn't relate to you. The blessings didn't relate to you. Nothing related to you. He said, you had no hope. You were without God in this world. Verse 13. But now in Christ Jesus, you who formerly were afar off, are being brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who made both groups into one. Who are the both groups? Jew and Gentile. And he broke down the barrier of the dividing wall by abolishing in his death the enmity, which is in the law and commandments contained in ordinances, that he himself might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace. In other words, he has reconciled Jew and Gentile into one new man, that new man obviously being Christ, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. He came and he preached peace to you who are afar off, peace to those who were near. In other words, peace to those that were far off, the Gentiles, peace to you who were near the Jews. For through him, we both have our access in one spirit to the Father. So then, we're no longer strangers or natalians, but we're fellow citizens with the saints. We are God's household and so on. So, we understand then that the seed, the church, is made up of Jew and Gentile. The early church was primarily for a period of time a Jewish church. But again, God poured out his spirit on the Gentiles, and the two groups became one, and so there is only one body, if you like. Now having said that, um Acts chapter 13. And this is Paul now and Barnabas giving their testimony. Let's pick it up in verse 42. And as Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people kept begging them that these things might be spoken to them the next Sabbath. Now when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who speaking to them, were urging them to continue in the grace of God. And the next Sabbath nearly the whole city assembled to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the crowd, they were filled with jealousy, began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, and they were blaspheming. And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, it was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first. And notice he's addressing the Jews. It was necessary, he said, that we bring the message to you first. But since you repudiate it or reject it and have judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For thus, now notice verse 47, for thus the Lord has commanded us, I have placed you as a light for the Gentiles, that you should bring salvation to the ends of the earth. Now notice how Paul identified with this calling on the nation of Israel. He was a Jew. And he understood, as a Jew, I have got a mandate on my life. God called me as a nation to be a blessing to the other nations. But first of all, I'm going to my own people. But they reject it. They don't want to have anything to do with it. So I am turning now to the Gentiles because God has commanded us. And I'm part of that, being a Jew, he says. And God has commanded us, I have placed you as a light for the Gentiles, that you should bring salvation to the ends of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was spread through the whole region. So you can understand now, Paul understands this whole, this big picture. He understands, listen, I'm a Jew. I've got a responsibility. My responsibility is to reach the nations of the earth. But first of all, I've also got to now, sadly enough, reach my own people. But they don't want to have anything to do with it. So that doesn't let me off the hook because the rest of the nation of Israel isn't getting involved. God still has a command on my life as a Jew to reach the Gentiles. And so I'm turning now to reach the Gentiles. I've given you guys a chance, another chance. You don't want it. I'm turning to the Gentiles. All right. Acts chapter 26, he says this again. When he stands, is it before a gripper there, and he's given his testimony. He says, Now I am standing trial for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers, the promise to which our 12 tribes hope to attain as they earnestly serve God night and day. And for this hope, O King, I am being accused by the Jews. Why is it considered incredible among you people if God does raise up the dead? And then he goes on to give his testimony, verse 16, and he says, The Lord appeared to me, and he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, verse 15, whom you are persecuting. But arise, stand on your feet. For this purpose I have appeared unto you, to appoint you as a minister and a witness, not only to the things which you have seen, but also the things to which I am appearing to you, delivering you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes, so that you may turn them from darkness to light, from the dominion of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in me. Consequently, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision. In other words, there is a heavenly vision that I believe is for everybody, and that heavenly vision is God's longing to reach the nations of the earth. And Paul says, God appeared to me for this very reason, to raise me up as a minister, so that I would bring salvation again to the Gentiles, to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light. All right, very quickly now, Matthew chapter 21. And I try and get all this put together before you go. Matthew 21, and this is a very important parable, or not parable, a very important passage. Let me give you the verse 23. And when he had come into the temple, this is Jesus, now notice the setting. When he had come into the temple, the chief priests, those are the heavies, and the elders of people came to him as he was teaching. All right, so he is addressing the leaders of the temple, the elders again of the people. These are the leaders of the nation of Israel. And he says in verse 33, listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a wine press in it, and he built a tower. He rented it out to vine growers, and he went on a journey. Now, that speaks of the nation of Israel. Let me give you the verse there, Isaiah 5 and verse 1. You need to cross-reference that. You have it in your Bible, I'm sure, but just highlight it. Because the nation of Israel understood what he was talking about, at least initially. Let me find Isaiah 5. Let me just read this to you. Sing now for my well-beloved, a song of my well-beloved concerning his vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. He dug it all around. He removed its stones. He planted it with a choiceless vine. He built a tower in the middle of it. He hewed out a vine, a wine vat in it. Then he expected it to produce good grapes, but it produced only worthless ones. And now, oh inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there for me to do to my vineyard that I have not done for it? When I expected it to produce good grapes, it produced worthless ones. So now then tell me what I am going to do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed. I'll break down its wall. Now what he's speaking about there, he's talking about the fact, there's another verse that brings out, he took a vine out of Egypt. Talking about the nation of Israel, he planted that vine in its own land. He built a wall around about it. In other words, he put his protection around it and he lavished it with his love. He did everything he could. He removed the stones. He cultivated the land. In other words, he gave Israel every single opportunity to produce good grapes. He didn't just plant it there and forget to water it and forget to let the sun shine on it and forget to treat it and look after it. No, he said I've done everything I can for this vine. So now in the New Testament, he's referring back. In fact, this is a direct quote. If you've got a New American or some modern translation, it's in capitals, meaning it's taken from the Old Testament. So let's read it again now. He's addressing the leaders of Israel. Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a wall around it, dug a wine press in it, built a tower, rented it out to vine growers and went on a journey. And when the harvest time approached, now notice what he's interested in. He's interested in fruit. When the harvest time approached, and after all, why do you plant a vineyard? Because you like the leaves, you know, because you can make furniture out of the wood? No, the Bible says, you know, it's a useless thing as far as you can't make furniture out of anything because a vine, you know, doesn't have any shape or size or doesn't have any rhyme or reason to it. The only reason a vine exists is because it produces grapes. So he says here, the harvest time approached. He sent his slaves to the vine growers to receive his produce. The vine growers took his slaves. They beat one, killed another, stoned a third. Now, what did he go to look for? To receive his produce. Again, he sent another group of slaves, larger than the first. They did the same to them. But afterwards, he sent his son to them saying, they will respect my son. But when the vine growers saw the son, they said among themselves, this is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance. So they took him, they threw him out of the vineyard, they killed him. Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what would he do to those vine growers? Now, they fell right into his trap here, but what is Jesus saying here? He's saying, listen, as a nation, I've done everything I can for you. As a nation, I chose you, I took you, I placed you in your own land, I cultivated you, I gave you my love, I did everything I could, and I was looking for you to be fruitful. And I sent different ones, and when he says here, I sent slaves to the vine growers, he's referring there basically to the prophets. The prophetic call in the Old Testament was a call of recovery to try and get the nation of Israel back on track. The prophets understood what God was after. And so the prophets came saying to the nation of Israel, you guys are not producing fruit. You know, the master's looking for fruit. And they said, we don't want to hear that. We want the blessings. We don't want the responsibilities. You know, don't tell us to reach the loss. Don't tell us to do this. We're just happy, you know, existing. And so they stoned them. And so he sends another group larger than the first. And so time after time in the Old Testament, you've got prophet after prophet after prophet coming. That's where I looked at Isaiah. Isaiah's message. You are a light to the nations. You're a light to the nations. Is it too small a thing that you should be my witnesses? The prophetic message was trying to get through to the nation of Israel that they had a mandate on their life. There was a destiny, there was a calling on their life, and trying to shake them up and get them back on track. And so each time, of course, they would kill them. Finally, God says, I'm going to send my son. And they see the son and they said, listen, this is the year. Let's kill him. And so they kill the son. Verse 41, then he said to them, oh, sorry. And then he asked them a question. What would you do to those vine growers? In other words, if that was your vineyard, what would you do to it? And they fall right into this trap. They said, they said to him, he will bring those wretches to a wretched end. And he will rent out the vineyard to other vine growers, who will pay him the proceeds of the proper season. In other words, they understood this guy is looking for fruit. That's the only reason this vineyard exists. And if that was my vineyard, and they treated me like that, I would take that responsibility away from them. And I would find somebody that will look after that vineyard, so that when I come looking for fruit, it's got some. And Jesus said, ha ha, gotcha. Verse 42, Jesus said to them, did you not read in the scriptures, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This came about from the Lord. It's marvelous in our eyes. Therefore I say to you, again, the nation of Israel, the leaders, chief priests, the elders, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you. And it will be given to a nation producing the fruit of it. And notice how many times the fruit comes up here. He went looking for the produce. He went looking for the fruit. He went looking for increase. And so God says, okay, it's all over, at least for a time. I'm going to take the responsibility away from you, and I'm going to raise up another nation. Now, who is and what is that nation? The nation of Israel obviously was a particular ethnic group. So does God now say, I'm going to take it away from the Jews, and I'm going to give it to the British. I'm going to give it to the Germans. I'm going to give it to the Scandinavians. I'm going to give it to the Africans. Let's see, 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2 and verse 9. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession. Now, who is Peter writing to? He's writing to the church. He's writing to those who are chosen of God according to the foreknowledge of God. He says, that you may obey Jesus Christ, be sprinkled with his blood, and so on and so forth. In other words, he's talking to believers, and he says to those believers, you now, and he's quoting directly from the Old Testament, you are now a chosen race, a royal priesthood. What does royalty mean? Kings, kings and priests, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, and then underline the word that in that verse. That you may proclaim the excellences of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. For you were once not a people, but now you are the people of God. You have not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. So, we find that God raised up another nation. That nation is the church. We now are the seed of Abraham, right? We found that if you, there's neither Jew nor Gentile, but we are all one in Christ. We are now that seed that God spoke of way back in the Old Testament. That seed that is going to bring light and blessing to the nations of the earth. We are now that seed. We have a mandate, and he says, listen, all of this being a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession. That sounds great, doesn't it? If we stop there, we can sort of pride ourselves and say, guess what? You know, I'm a king. I'm a priest. I'm special. I'm a holy nation. I'm God's, you know, this and that. But he says, no, all of that, that you may proclaim. The excellence is the goodness of Him that called you out of darkness into your marvelous light. In other words, the nation of Israel should have been doing that. They should have said, man, you know, we spent 400 years in bondage. We were in slavery. We were miserable. We were treated unjustly. You know, there was oppression. There was suffering. There was so on. And God, you know, by the power of the blood one day, the blood of the Lamb, He redeemed us. He set us free. He liberated us. You know, and He can do the same for you. And so they should have been proclaiming that. Tell of these wonders among the nations. They never did that. All they wanted was God's blessings. They didn't want the responsibility. All right, now very, very quickly, Luke chapter 24. We'll make it. Here is a very key verse. Luke 24. This is on the road to Emmaus after the resurrection. You recall that a couple of the disciples are sort of a little forlorn, sad, and Jesus comes up and they start talking to each other and they basically say, listen, you know, have you heard what's been going on in the last few days? And Jesus acts like He doesn't know. And He said to them, what things? In verse 19. That's got to be the understatement of the Bible. You know, he says, are you visiting Jerusalem? You're unaware what's happened the last few days. I mean, here's a star attraction himself. And they said, you know, the things about Jesus of Nazareth. He was a prophet, mighty indeed, and word in the sight of God, and all the people, and you know, he's being crucified. And Jesus sort of said, oh really? And anyway, eventually He begins to reveal Himself to them. And it says, He began, verse 27, began with Moses and all the prophets. He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the scriptures. A little bit later on, verse 31, He opened, their eyes were open. They recognized Him. And then, come with me now to verse 44. And He said to them, these are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you. That all the things which are written about Me, in the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the Psalms, must be fulfilled. Now there you have the entire Old Testament summarized. The law of Moses, first five books of the Bible, the prophets, the bulk of the rest of the Bible, and the Psalms. And the Psalms are not just Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, all the poetic books. He says, everything that is written about Me in the Old Testament is going to be fulfilled. And then He opens their minds to understand the scriptures. Now, this is a fascinating verse of scripture for this simple reason. How many of you have ever read a condensed book from Reader's Digest? I'm sure most of you. At the back of every Reader's Digest, there's a condensed book section. And what they do, they take some popular book, maybe three, four, five hundred pages, and they reduce it down to about 15, 20 pages. Right? It's the condensed version. 400 down to 30. Jesus now takes the entire Old Testament, and He summarizes it in two verses. That's the ultimate condensed book. Now notice, everything that was written about Me says, in the law of Moses, the Psalms, and the Bible says, in the volume of the book, what? It is written of Me. All right. You're ignorant of that verse, obviously. In the volume of the book, it is written of Me. In other words, the entire Bible talks about the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the tabernacle. He is the peace offering. He is the sin offering. He is the priest. He is the Lamb. Behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Moses wrote concerning Me. Now, you can read through the book of Moses, and it never mentions Jesus. But it does in typology. You see, He came, and He tabernacles amongst us. He was the Lamb of God that took away the sin of the world. All those things speak of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so He says, everything that is written about Me in the Old Testament, in the law of Moses, the Psalms, and the Prophets, has to be fulfilled. And now He opens the minds to understand the Scriptures. And He says unto them, thus it is written. This is the essence now. Jesus Himself, the ultimate teacher, condensing the entire Old Testament down to its very basic essence. And this is what He says, thus it is written that the Christ should suffer, rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. That's the, that's the summary of the entire Old Testament right there. By the greatest teacher of all time. Isn't that amazing? If you want to spit out all the bones of the Old Testament, and reduce it down to its basic essence, He says the entire Old Testament talks about a seed, if you like, that is going to come. That Christ is going to come. And He says that Christ is going to suffer. He's going to be raised from the dead on the third day. And then as a result of that, repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name, or through His name, to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. Verse 48, and you are the witnesses, or you are to be the ones that will do this. Basically, you are to be witnesses of these things. And behold, I'm sending forth the promise of my Father upon you. You shall stay in the city until you be clothed with power from on high. In other words, He says basically, don't get any bright ideas that you can do this by yourself. You need the empowering of the Holy Spirit. Now, can you see now where all these things sort of fit together? Because we are to be a light. We are to be a testimony. That's why we've got teaching on the family. That's why we've got teaching on how to, you know, respect your boss, and how to do this, and how to do that. All of that is to make us more effective witnesses, so that the earth may hear the gospel. That's why we have the baptism of the Spirit. Not just so we get goosebumps, and spend time on the carpet, and all of those things, as wonderful as that is. But there is an end in view. The anointing is not just so that we can, you know, feel good. The anointing is to accomplish something. And so Jesus said, listen, let me tell you what the entire Old Testament's about. And you're going to be the ones to do it. You shall be witnesses of these things. And that's why it says, you know, you shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you. Acts 1a. And you shall be what? Witnesses unto me. Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the uttermost part of the earth. This is the heart of God. Revelation, we could go into that. He's going to gather in the last days from every kindred, tribe, tongue, and nations. Men and women. They're going to be priests, and kings, and so on. So there we have a summation. We've got two minutes. So let me just quickly give you two interesting things. Genesis 22 and verse 17. Part of the promise that God gave to Abraham, and to Isaac, and Jacob. There's an interesting aspect to it. Verse 17. Indeed, I will greatly multiply you. I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, as the sand which is on the seashore. And your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. And in your seed, all the families, or all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. Because you've obeyed my voice. Matthew 16, verse 18. I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. You see, God intended way back there that he would have a people who would have power to come against all the gates of the enemy. And the church again. We are now that nation. Now, let me just say this very quickly before you go. That does not mean that God does not have a purpose for the nation of Israel. Israel is going to be raised up in these last days. My personal feeling is, I think most people, when Israel is raised up again. In other words, God has not finished. He said, you know, they've been blinded partially for a season. But they will come in. But when they come in, they will come into the church. In other words, you cannot go past Ephesians 2. He's made both groups into one. Both groups into one. Both groups into one. Both groups into one. He's knocked down the middle wall of petition. You cannot now erect that wall again, and say that Jesus Christ is coming back for a Gentile bride one week. And then he's coming back for a Jewish bride the next week. After going through the cross and breaking down that middle wall. When the Jews get saved, they come into the church. Just the same way the Gentiles came in. The church initially was Jewish. And then the Gentiles came in. Now, it's largely Jewish. There's obviously, largely Gentile. There's obviously Jews as a part of it. But when the nation of Israel comes in, they come into the body of Christ. And so there is a purpose that God has for them. But I know we've rushed a lot. I'd love to answer some questions. Maybe next time I'm with you, if you can, I might go over this. How many sort of understood it? I mean, honestly. Okay, good. I hope so. Okay. So anyway, you know, in order to be a leader, we need to have the big picture of what God wants. And then we know where we're going. God bless you.