Balaam's Four Prophecies - Part 06

Guest (Female): The Book of Numbers records a remarkable series of four prophecies, including a startling prediction about the coming of the Messiah. But what makes these four prophecies even more amazing is that God gave them not through Moses or through a Jewish prophet, but through a pagan priest named Balaam. Stay tuned as Dr. Gary Hedrick discusses Balaam's four prophecies right here on Messianic Perspectives.
Liz Aiello: Shalom and welcome to Messianic Perspectives, a daily program where we look into the scriptures from a distinctively first-century Jewish point of view. I’m Liz Aiello. Today, our Bible teacher is Dr. Gary Hedrick, and he’s talking about four remarkable prophecies given through a pagan priest named Balaam. I’ll be back at the close of the program to tell you about our special offer. And now, with today’s installment, here’s Gary Hedrick.
Dr. Gary Hedrick: We welcome our listening friends. We’re in a series of studies dealing with Balaam’s four prophecies in the Old Testament. If you’re listening on your radio at home and you have a Bible handy, why don’t you follow along as we turn to the Old Testament Book of Numbers? We’ve been looking at this series of prophecies given by the pagan prophet Balaam. I’ll begin reading in Numbers chapter 23, verse 18, where it says: "And he took up his parable and said, 'Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor: God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it,'" Balaam says. Verse 21: "He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them. God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of a unicorn. Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, 'What hath God wrought!'" Verse 24: "Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain." Now, this really is a remarkable prophecy, and what makes it even more remarkable is when you realize that it was spoken by Balaam, who was a pagan soothsayer. How is it that Balaam, a pagan soothsayer, that is a mystic, how could someone like that deliver such amazing prophecies concerning Israel’s past, present, and future? How did he do it? Well, very simply, it wasn’t Balaam at all. It was God speaking through Balaam. On the last program, we were talking about the fact that God’s covenants and blessings are irrevocable, according to verse 19, where he says: "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?" Here’s the important thing to remember, and I’ll say it again. I said it last time, but it bears repeating. The Abrahamic Covenant was not only unconditional, and we discussed that at length a few days ago, but it was also irrevocable. This is the same thing the Apostle Paul was talking about in Romans chapter 11 when he said, referring to Israel in verse 28: "Concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but concerning the election, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers." Verse 29, listen to this, Paul says: "For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance." That is, the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. You can just add Romans 11:29 to the list of reasons why those people who say God is finished with the Jewish people, or that the Church has replaced Israel in God’s plan, are wrong. They’re wrong. The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable, my friend. Once God placed His blessing on Israel, listen, once God blessed Israel, there was no power in heaven or on earth that could remove it. That’s why back in the Book of Genesis, once Isaac had given the blessing to Jacob, even though Jacob had gotten the blessing of the firstborn by trickery and deceit, Isaac couldn’t take it back. When I was a young Christian, I used to like to read those Old Testament stories. I still do, but I used to read that story about how Jacob put on Esau’s clothes and how he put the animal skins on his arms to make Isaac think he was Esau. He did it so he could get the blessing of the firstborn. I used to read that story and I’d think, well, when the old man realized he’d made a mistake, why didn’t he just call both of the boys back in and say, "Now, Jacob, you’ve been a bad boy. Now I’m going to have to take the blessing away from you and give it to your brother. It belongs to him." That would have been the easy way to solve it. That’s how I would have done it. But you see, Isaac couldn’t do that because he knew that the blessings and promises of God are irrevocable. Once it was done, it was done. That’s why Balaam said, and we’re back in Numbers 23 now, that’s why Balaam said in verse 20: "Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it." Now, let’s go on with this second prophecy of Balaam. The next thing he says in verse 21, and this is interesting by the way, because he says that God "hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them." Now, what is he referring to? What’s he talking about here? Well, he’s telling us how God sees Israel. In other words, positionally, God sees Israel as though she was already in the Millennium. Restored, blessed, forgiven, sinless, a new heart, dwelling in the land—you see, that’s her position. Even though practically that hasn’t happened yet, positionally, that’s how God sees Israel. This same principle applies to the New Testament Church, by the way, because from the standpoint that we have a positional standing in Christ, a standing that says we have been made the righteousness of God in Christ, we have been raised up together to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, Ephesians chapter 1 says. We have been declared to be righteous. That’s what the word justified means—to be declared righteous by the judicial act of God. So we’ve been raised up, we’ve been declared righteous, we’ve been made the righteousness of God in Christ. You see, that’s our position in Christ. When you understand that the Christian life is simply the process of the Holy Spirit working in you to bring your practice into line with your position, then you’ll begin to understand what sanctification is all about. It’s making what is true of you positionally also true of you practically, that is in your practice. And that’s what God is doing with His people Israel, according to Balaam’s second prophecy. In their practice, they’re in unbelief. In practice, Israel today is a secular state, and anyone who’s ever been there will tell you that. In practical terms, the majority of Israelis who live there today probably could care less about the Lord. There are some who do, but most of them really don’t. Certainly, most of them know nothing about a vital relationship with the living God. But positionally, in God’s sight, they’re already in the Millennium with a new spirit and a new heart. The prophecy continues in verse 21 and says: "the Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them." And again, this is the Millennium. The Jews call it the Messianic Age, and the King is Jesus Christ, the Messiah. It’s the same thing that was referred to in the New Testament in Luke 1:32, which says: "He shall be great," speaking of Jesus, "He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end." Now, remember, Balaam was a soothsayer. That’s why King Balak called him to begin with, because Balak thought that Balaam could call up the powers of darkness and direct them against Israel. Balak wanted to use the powers of sorcery and divination, the black arts, against Israel. Balaam’s specialty was casting spells and placing curses on people for fun and profit. Balaam was the kind of guy who’d never do anything he didn’t get paid for. But what does Balaam say in this second prophecy? Look at verse 23: "Surely there is no enchantment." And that’s the Hebrew word for sorcery. "Surely there is no sorcery against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel." So there is no power in heaven or on earth or in hell that can curse the people of God whom God has blessed. My next-door neighbor is a Presbyterian, and he’d say that’s enough to make a Presbyterian shout. So Balaam prophesies that occult powers will be useless against Israel, just as they always are against the people of God, because greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world, according to First John. The final warning of this second prophecy, and we’ve got to wrap this up quickly here, the final warning is found in the 24th verse where he says: "Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain." Now, of course, this is a figure of speech. It doesn’t mean that they literally drink the blood of the slain, because among the Jewish people, of course, there were strict prohibitions in the Mosaic Law against the drinking of blood. So this is just a euphemism. It’s a symbolic thing that simply means they’ll be victorious. What he’s saying there is that Israel will be victorious in battle. They will be awesome in battle. Historically, this has always been true of the nation Israel, not only in ancient times but also since 1948. As a matter of fact, back in 1948, when the Jewish National Council proclaimed the State of Israel, Dr. Ben-Gurion on May 14, 1948, they proclaimed that the State of Israel existed. It was only about 24 hours later that Jordan and Egypt both launched attacks on Israel from two different directions. Although they were outnumbered, the Israelis not only defended themselves successfully in 1948, but they actually pushed the Jordanian and Egyptian forces backward and ended up expanding their own territory by 50 percent. The same thing happened in the Six-Day War of 1967 against Syria and Egypt and Jordan. The Israelis expanded their territory by 200 percent that time. When it was over, they’d taken the Golan Heights, the West Bank, the entire city of Jerusalem, all of the Sinai, and the East Bank of the Suez Canal. Now they’ve given a lot of that back since that time, but you see the point is that this last part of Balaam’s second prophecy has certainly come true. Israel is awesome in battle. Just ask the Egyptians or the Jordanians or the Syrians. They’ll tell you. Well, that’s all we have time for today. Join us again on the next program, won’t you, as we continue discussing Balaam’s four prophecies.
Liz Aiello: Thank you, Gary. And thank you, listening friend, for tuning in today. It’s always good to have you with us as we look into God’s Word together. Now, let me tell you about our special offer. It’s the compact disc, which includes all of the programs in this current series of studies on Balaam’s Four Prophecies. And it can be yours for a gift of just six dollars or more to Messianic Perspectives. Just visit our secure online store at messianicspecialties.com to place your order. If you would prefer to order by mail, just address your request to Messianic Perspectives, P.O. Box 345, San Antonio, Texas, 78292. When you write, just ask for the series, Balaam’s Four Prophecies. Balaam is spelled B-A-L-A-A-M. Or just ask for CD number GT20. That’s GT20, and enclose six dollars. To order by phone, use our toll-free order line. The number is 1-800-926-5397. Let me remind you that when you order the materials we offer here on the program, you’re not only enabling us to remain here on your station, but you’re also helping us take the good news of Yeshua HaMashiach to Jewish people and Gentiles all over the world. Even if you’re one of our regular listeners, you still may not know that we’re much more than just a radio program. Messianic Perspectives is sponsored by CJF Ministries, one of the largest missionary organizations in the world. we currently have missionary families serving the Lord all over the world, including the United States, Canada, South America, England, France, and of course Israel. So when you write, consider helping us with a gift above the suggested amount. We’d be very grateful. And as always, when you’re in touch with us, please mention the call letters of this station. If you’re listening to our webcast or podcast, we need to know that too. I’m Liz Aiello. Join us next time, won’t you, as Dr. Gary Hedrick continues our series of studies on Balaam’s Four Prophecies, right here on Messianic Perspectives.
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