Is God Finished With Israel? - Part 01

Liz Iello: Did God reject the Jewish people when they rejected his son 2000 years ago? Has he replaced Israel with the church? Stay with us as Dr. Gary Hedrick discusses the question, is God finished with Israel today right here on Messianic Perspectives? Shalom and welcome to Messianic Perspectives, a daily program where we look into the scriptures from a distinctive first century Jewish point of view. This is Liz Iello. On today's edition of Messianic Perspectives, Dr. Gary Hedrick is discussing the question, is God finished with Israel? I'll be back a little later with information about a special offer, so have your pencil and paper ready. Now with today's study, here is Dr. Gary Hedrick.
Dr. Gary Hedrick: Thank you and welcome listening friend to another edition of the program. It's good to have you with us today as we begin this series of studies on the question, is God finished with Israel? And the reason we're dealing with this question is that there are many people today who think God is finished with his people Israel. They think God rejected his people permanently 2000 years ago because they rejected Jesus Christ as the Messiah. But we're going to show you in this series of studies that God has not rejected his people. Yes, they were set aside temporarily so the gospel could be taken to the Gentiles, but that was all part of God's plan so that salvation by grace through faith could be shared by all the families of the earth. So let's go back to the book of Genesis chapter 12 because this is where we find the foundation for everything we're going to be talking about over the next week or so. This is where we find God making his covenant with Abraham and this is vitally important because it was this covenant that established Israel's relationship with God. You say, I thought it was the Mosaic covenant. No, my friend, the New Testament tells us that the former covenant was not superseded by the latter. In other words, the Abrahamic covenant was not replaced by the Mosaic covenant. Therefore, the Abrahamic covenant, which was the first covenant God made with the Jewish people, has precedence over the Mosaic covenant. Now watch what it says. Genesis chapter 12 beginning in verse one. Now the Lord had said to Abram, depart from thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house to a land that I will show thee. Now let's stop there because I want to show you something that a lot of people miss when they read this story. If you back up a couple of verses, you're in verse 31 of the previous chapter, chapter 11. And there we're told that Abraham's entire family had originally set out from Ur of the Chaldees to go to Canaan or Canaan. The Lord had told them to leave and go to a land that he would show them and they were all going. But what happened? It says they came to a place called Haran and what did they do? They settled there. You see God had told them to go to Canaan, but they stopped at Haran. In order to get to Canaan without having to cross the Arabian desert, they had to go north and then come back down into Canaan and that route took them right through Haran and that's where they got sidetracked. They settled down. They got comfortable. At first it was probably going to be only for a few days, but the days turned into weeks and the weeks turned into months. But there was something in the heart of this man Abram or Abram that just wouldn't let him rest until he got to Canaan. He just wasn't satisfied there in Haran. Now his father Terah and his brother Nahor and his nephew Lot, they were all content in Haran, but Abram wasn't. When he lay in his bed at night, he couldn't get those words out of his mind. He kept hearing the Lord say, leave your country, leave your family and your father's family and go to the land that I will show you. And then it continues in Genesis 12 verse two, and I will make of thee a great nation and I will bless thee and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing. Verse three, and I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. Seven things God promised Abraham. Number one, I will make of you a great nation. Number two, I will bless you. Number three, I will make your name great. Number four, you will be a blessing. Number five, I will bless those who bless you. Number six, I will curse him that curses you. And number seven, in you shall all families of the earth be blessed. And notice my friend, it's all unconditional. This is an unconditional covenant. It's not Abraham, I'll do this if you'll do that. But it's Abraham, let me tell you what I'm going to do for you. And then he tells him, I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you. I will make your name great. I will make you a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. I will curse him who curses you. You see it's unconditional. By the way, have you ever wondered why it says I will curse him, singular, that curses you? When he talks about blessing, he says, I will bless them, plural, that bless thee. But when he talks about the curse, he says, I will curse him, singular, that curses you. Why? Simply because the Lord knows that the ultimate source of anti-semitism is singular. There's one ultimate source, the fountain head from which all anti-semitism comes and that is Satan in Hebrew Hasatan. You see, Satan hates the Jewish people, my friend. He always has. Why? Because of the Messianic promise of Genesis 3:15 where God spoke to the serpent and he said, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He, that is the seed of the woman or the Messiah, he will crush your head and you will bruise his heel. That was God's promise that through the Messianic line that began with Eve and then through the line of Seth and later through the line of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, through that Messianic line he would send the Messiah, the deliverer, who would destroy the works of the devil. That's why Satan has always hated the Jewish people because they represent God's power to keep his promises and they represent the ultimate destruction of Satan. And Satan knows that if God fails to keep even one of his promises, the whole thing collapses like a house of cards. If Satan could ever succeed in destroying the Jewish people, then God's word will have failed because God, listen, God made an unconditional covenant with Abraham and that covenant said that his descendants would be like the sand on the seashore and that they would never pass away according to Jeremiah 31. So the Abrahamic covenant is what established that relationship between God and Israel, between God and the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And notice how many times God talks about the blessing because the blessing is what it's all about. In Genesis 1:28 what did God do? He blessed Adam and Eve and gave them dominion over the creation. So the whole world at that point was under God's blessing. But then something happened. Adam and Eve fell into sin and with sin there came a curse. The book of Romans says the whole creation groans even up until now under that curse. So the blessing is gone. Everything is under a curse, but then God says, I will send a deliverer. He will break the power of the curse and make it possible once again for the world to experience my blessing. And that's what happens during the millennial kingdom. The curse begins to be lifted from the creation and from the animal kingdom and from humanity. Isaiah 11:6 says, the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together and a little child shall lead them. A complete transformation of the animal kingdom and of all creation. That's what the Messiah will do. He will eventually neutralize the curse that was placed on the creation in the Garden of Eden and he will restore the original blessing. You see the Messiah is in the business of blessing and helping and building. Satan is in the business of cursing and hurting and destroying. So they've been at odds from the very beginning. No wonder Satan despises the Jewish people and their Messiah. In Revelation chapter 12 it tells about a dragon who wants to destroy a woman and her male child. The symbolism is that the dragon is Satan, the woman is Israel and the child is Jesus, the Messiah. In Revelation 12:5 it says the woman gave birth to a son, a male child who will rule the nations with an iron scepter. That's the Messiah. But here's what I want you to see because this forms the foundation for everything else we're going to be talking about in this series and that is the Abrahamic covenant is the basis of Israel's relationship with God and it is unconditional. And we could get technical and talk about the different forms of ancient covenants and whether they're conditional or unconditional, but suffice it to say that out of the eight major Bible covenants seven of them are patterned after the ancient royal grant that was bestowed in ancient times by a king upon his servant. And there were three things about this royal grant. First, it was perpetual. Second, it was unconditional. And third, it was transgenerational. In other words, if you had been given a royal grant, you could pass it along to your heirs because there was no expiration. The covenant was in force in perpetuity as long as the heirs remained in royal service. And that's exactly what the Abrahamic covenant was, a royal grant. It was God telling Abraham what he was going to do. I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you, Abraham. I will make your name great. I will make you a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and I will curse him that curses you. Well that's all of our time for today. Next time we'll look at the unconditional promises God made to David. As we continue our series, is God finished with Israel? Until then this is Gary Hedrick saying, God bless you. Take care. Bye-bye.
Liz Iello: Thank you Gary and thank you listening friend for tuning in today. Now let me tell you about our special offer. It's Gary Hedrick's booklet entitled, is God finished with Israel? It's available for a suggested gift of $7. This booklet is especially helpful because it includes a word-for-word transcript of an internet debate between Gary Hedrick and an amillenialist. This is someone who very definitely believes that God is finished with Israel and of course Gary very definitely believes that he is not, so it made for quite a lively discussion. Then we also have the programmers are hearing here on the broadcast. This series of studies is available on compact disc for a suggested contribution of just $6 to this ministry. The title again is, is God finished with Israel? 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. To order by phone, use our toll-free order line. The number is 1-800-926-5397. 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 Iello. Join us next time, won't you, as Dr. Gary Hedrick continues our series of studies on, is God finished with Israel? Right here on Messianic Perspectives. Messianic Perspectives is sponsored by CJF Ministries of San Antonio, Texas and is made possible on this station by the free will contributions of our listeners in this area.