Through the Bible with Les Feldick
LESSON 2 * PART 2 * BOOK 62
THE STAGE OF BIBLICAL HISTORY – PART 2
ISAIAH 61:1 – 10
All right, again, we always like to thank our listening audience for all of your prayer support, your financial, everything. We couldn’t do it without you. Whether your gifts are one dollar or more doesn’t matter, the Lord uses the small as much as the great. It’s enough that we can pay the bills, and that’s all we’re concerned about. When the girls come in and tell me the bills are all paid and we’ve got a little left in the checking account, that’s all that matters. So, keep praying for the ministry, because the Lord is reaching a lot of hearts! My goodness, you ought to read our mail!
All right, let’s go right back where we left off in our last half-hour. We started off in Isaiah 61:1-2. Jesus read from that portion in Luke 4:18-19, but He did something unusual by stopping in the middle of a verse. We’re picking up the meanings of all of these various verses and how we can split them when they end with His first advent and the rest of the verse is pushed out into the future. All right, so instead of starting in Isaiah 61, we’re going to go right back to Psalms 2, where we left off in our last half-hour. We’re showing how Psalms 2 is a beautiful outline of the whole Old Testament program. That’s the best word I can put on it. It’s just laid out in that chapter.
All right, we’re going to go back, and for just a little quick review we’ll start with verse 1 of chapter 2 of Psalms. Remembering what we just said a few moments ago, that here we have the bringing together of the Gentile and the Jewish authorities to bring about the crucifixion.
Psalms 2:1-2
“Why do the heathen (the non-Jew) rage, and the people (Israel) imagine a vain thing? 2. The kings of the earth (in this case, Rome) set themselves, and the rulers (of Israel) take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying” You know how they did it, even as we reflect back on the movie “The Passion of the Christ.”
Psalms 2:3
“Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.” Or God’s leadership. They didn’t want it. Then verse 4 is God’s response from Heaven. It was that He sat and laughed a laugh of derision.
Psalms 2:4
“He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision.” After they’ve rejected the Messiah and put Him to death, this is the next step in the Old Testament prophetic program.
Psalms 2:5a
“Then (the next event) shall he speak unto them (Jew and Gentile) in his (what?) wrath,…” Now, that’s the exact opposite from grace. So, what are we talking about? Well, we’re talking about those seven years of Tribulation that was to follow.
Now, we’ve got my timeline back up here and we’re going to stay on this top line. After His three years of ministry, He’s crucified. He ascends back to glory. Now, according to all these references that we’re going to look at, the next thing to happen was the Tribulation. They had no idea that there was going to be a two thousand-year interruption, which is coming to a close even as we speak. Nobody had any idea of that. They were just looking for the Tribulation to come, ending with the Second Coming, and then would come in the 1000 year Kingdom Age. All right, now look at it here. After He’s crucified then He would:
Psalms 2:5
“Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.” Which will be the Tribulation. But it doesn’t stop there. The next verse is the next segment of the prophetic program. What is it? The Kingdom.
Psalms 2:6
“Yet I have set my king (When Christ will return as King of Kings and Lord of Lord’s. That’s all according to prophecy.) upon my holy hill of Zion.” Now, isn’t that exactly what all of prophecy is talking about? When Christ would return and bring in a Kingdom that would cover the whole planet. You can just come on down through this little Psalms 2 and it makes reference to how God the Son will rule, like in verse 8.
Psalms 2:8a
“Ask of me, and I shall give thee (that is the Son, I will give you) the heathen for thine inheritance,…” So, He’s not going to be just the ruler of Israel. He’s going to rule the whole world.
Now, a verse is coming to mind, and I’ve got to turn to them when they come to mind. Keep your hand in Psalms and jump all the way up to Zechariah, chapter 14. We’ll be coming to it later, but I want this verse right now.
Zechariah 14:1-2a
“Behold the day of the LORD cometh, (that’s the Tribulation, the seven years) and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. (Now, here’s Armageddon) 2. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle;…” Then, verse 3:
Zechariah 14:3
“Then shall the LORD go forth, (His Second Coming) and fight against those nations,…” Now, verse 4 is in perfect accord with Acts chapter 1 when the angel told the eleven, “This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner….” You know how I always put that. How did He leave the Mount of Olives? Head first. Like a rocket! He just went up. Now, what does Zechariah say? He’s going to come back the same way He left. What does that mean? He’s going to come back feet first! It’s simple! He’s going to return to the same place from which He left.
Zechariah 14:4a
“And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east,…” Same Mount of Olives that’s there today. All right, now just for the sake of time, skip all the way over to verse 9. This is the verse that I want you to see.
Zechariah 14:9
“And the LORD (God the Son, Jesus of Nazareth) shall be (Now, this is prophecy. Future.) king over (how much) all the earth:” Not just Israel. It’s going to be an earthly kingdom that will encompass the whole planet. But, it’s going to rule from Jerusalem.
Okay, now back to Psalms chapter 2. Here comes the Old Testament program. The Messiah would come. He’d be rejected. Then would come God’s wrath, and vexation, the seven years of Tribulation. Now, we don’t pick up the seven-year timetable until you get to Daniel chapter 9. Then, it’s laid out very plain. Seven years divided in half, three-and-a-half and three-and-a-half. Then, you get to the Book of Revelation and it is the same thing, three-and-a-half. It is three-and-a-half and three-and-a-half, – over and over. That’s the compiled seven years of Tribulation. All right, now reading on, in verse 6 again, just like Zechariah said.
Psalms 2:6
“Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.” Verse 8, which we just looked at.
Psalms 2:8
“Ask of me, and I shall give you the heathen (the non-Jewish world) for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” See that? His rule is going to encompass the whole planet.
Psalms 2:9
“Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Then, come down to verse 11.
Psalms 2:11-12a
“Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 12. Kiss the Son,…” God the Son. Now, let’s look again at Isaiah 61; so that we can see without a shadow of doubt what He did. Then we’ll come back to Psalms and see how we can do the same thing. In fact, I like to use that portion in Luke to give me, this humble mortal, the authority to do what Jesus did. What did He do? He showed in the Scriptures that part of a verse was fulfilled at His first coming, the rest is still future. That’s what we’re going to do in these next few moments. So, Isaiah 61 again, verse 2. As all part of His first advent, He came:
Isaiah 61:2a
“To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD,…” What does that mean? Israel had every opportunity to believe who He was and accept Him as their King and His glorious Kingdom. It was their year of acceptance. But what’d they do? They rejected it in unbelief. But it was their opportunity. So, it’s called the “acceptable year of the Lord.” Remember in Luke chapter 4 where Jesus stopped reading when He was in the synagogue in Nazareth. Why did He stop? Because He knew that this part of the prophetic program was not going to be fulfilled according to what everybody thought.
This is why all of this period of time from His first advent until you might say the end of the Kingdom Age in Scripture is called what days? “The last days.” Because according to the Old Testament program, it was all to be wound up in a matter of a few years plus the thousand, with no hint of the two thousand-year interval we are now in. Later we’ll come to this 2000-year interval. All we’re looking at right now is – what did the Old Testament foretell. The crucifixion – His death, burial, and resurrection of course, but not with any salvation significance, which you and I must believe in our hearts today to have eternal life.
Then He would go back to the Father. Then would come the…, now how does Isaiah put it in the last part of verse 2?
Isaiah 61:2b
“…and the day of vengeance of our God;…” See how plain that is? That is right in accordance with Psalms chapter 2.
Isaiah says the same thing. That after Christ is rejected then would come wrath and vexation (the seven years of Tribulation). All right, and then what would follow that?
Isaiah 61:2c
“…to comfort all that mourn;” When is that going to happen? When the Kingdom is set up. When that glorious Kingdom comes on earth and there’ll be no poor folk. There’ll be no sorrow. There’ll be no suffering. There’ll be no death. It’s going to be a glorious earthly Kingdom. That’s why it’s called the Gospel of the Kingdom. It’s going to be Heaven on earth. All of the Old Testament talks about it. That’s why Israel was so remiss in rejecting it. All right, they rejected Him at His first coming. It was to be followed with the wrath and vengeance of God, and that in turn would be followed with His Second Coming and His glorious Kingdom. All right, now come back to Psalms again, and we’re going to jump up to Psalms 118. We can do this on every one of these portions. You can split what happened at His first coming and what is left to happen yet in the future.
Psalms 118 is a little different reference but it all ties in with the Messiah’s relationship with His earthly people. Psalms 118 and we’ll drop down for sake of time to verse 22. Now, some of you have done this with me before. Some of you may not have. It is the same way on television. I’m sure way, way back I did this once before, but it doesn’t hurt to do it again.
Psalms 118:22a
“The stone which the builders refused…” Now, all through Scripture, what’s that a reference to? Christ’s first coming and they rejected Him.
We like to use the analogy that as they were building the temple here comes the stone they wouldn’t be ready for until the temple was almost ready to be completed. So, what’d they do with it? They threw it out in the weeds. It was rejected. They didn’t know what to do with it. But, what did that stone become? A stone of stumbling. That’s what Christ has been to Israel ever since. He’s the Stone of stumbling. All right, back to verse 22.
Psalms 118:22
“The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.” Well, He’s not the headstone of the corner for Israel today. But when will He be? When He returns and sets up the kingdom. Then that glorious Kingdom will be the finality of all of these promises. So, we can split that verse right after the word ‘refused.’ That’s His first advent, they rejected Him. The rest is still future. He’s going to be the Head of the corner, but He hasn’t been as yet.
All right, now let’s jump up to Isaiah chapter 9. We can do the same thing, and this is what makes Bible study interesting, how it all fits. Now, it may not all say the same things. Some may refer to part of the promise and some another part, but you tie them all together and it’s a complete picture.
Isaiah 9:6a
“For unto us…” And again I’m always a stickler for pronouns. Who are the ‘us’? Israel. This isn’t talking to Gentiles. Isaiah writes to Israel. Now, we take benefit. Don’t tell me that I’m telling you to throw it out. No! No! We get all kinds of benefit from it, but it’s not written to us. It’s written to Israel.
Isaiah 9:6a
“For unto us (the Nation of Israel) a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government (What government? This coming Kingdom) shall be upon his shoulder:…” Whose shoulder? The Babe that’s just been mentioned – Jesus of Bethlehem, later on of Nazareth. All right, it’s the same One. Now we have His name of Deity.
Isaiah 9:6b
“…the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name (along with all the other names of Deity) shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The (What?) Mighty God, (The next one really throws a curve at people. God the Son is called what?) The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Now verse 7, this is all a reference to His coming earthly Kingdom.
Isaiah 9:7a
“Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David,…” Now, where did David rule from? Jerusalem! Mount Zion. Next March we’re going to Jerusalem, if the Lord tarries and everything goes well, and we will be on Mount Zion. We’ll be at David’s tomb. Those of you going with us, it’s a thrilling experience. We’re going to be there, Lord willing. His government is going to rule from the place of David’s throne.
Isaiah 9:7b
“…to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.” All right, now where can we split it? Verse 6, right after, “Unto us a Son is given.” That’s His first advent. That’s when He was born in Bethlehem and grew up and began His earthly ministry. Now, the last part of this prophecy hasn’t been fulfilled, yet. It’s still future. These names don’t apply to Him today. Oh, He’s worthy of them, but that’s not His title today. He’s not being called the Counselor, the Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, so far as His title is concerned. But this is all part and parcel of His return and the establishing of His Kingdom. So, if you want to put a dash in there and a parenthesis in there to indicate the first advent separated from the second advent, you just put it right after the word “given.” That’s the end of His first advent in this particular prophecy.
Isaiah 9:6a
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: (-) and the government shall be upon his shoulder:…”
All right, now let’s just go on to the one that we looked at earlier in Isaiah 61, for a brief review to see how all this fits. We’ve got the same thing. Everything in verse 1 was associated with His first coming. He proclaimed the acceptable year of the Lord in verse 2 and then put a dash in there; the rest is still future. It hasn’t happened yet. We aren’t in the day of vengeance. It may seem like it to some people, but we’re not in the Tribulation by any stretch, so you can put a dash right after the “year of the Lord,” and the rest is still future.
Isaiah 61:2
“To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, (-) and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;”
All right, let’s jump up to another one of the great prophets. Let’s go to Daniel chapter 9. Of course, Daniel speaks of this glorious coming Kingdom as well, when the stone cut out without hands will crush the ruling nations of the world and establish His own Kingdom. All right, now in Daniel chapter 9 this is a beautiful example. Daniel 9 and we’ll drop down to verse 24. This is one of the portions of Scripture that I’ve always called the foundation of end-time prophecy. If you can’t understand Daniel 9 verse 24-27, then you can’t understand prophecy.
Daniel 9:24a
“Seventy weeks (of years, that is 490 years) are determined upon thy people (Well, who were Daniel’s people? Israel. This had nothing to do with the Gentiles. So, a 490-year period of time is determined upon the Nation of Israel.) and upon thy holy city, (Which, of course, is Jerusalem. And what’s the whole end of it all?) to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity,…” Now, did that all happen? Well, of course. That was the work of the cross, to settle the sin problem. That’s why He died. So that happened at His first advent.
Daniel 9:24b
“…and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.” Did that part happen? Well, the world doesn’t look like it to me! No, it hasn’t happened yet. That’s still future when the King and His Kingdom come. Yes, that will be total righteousness. Satan will be gone. The curse is lifted and it’s going to be glorious. So, you can just put a little dash after the word “iniquity.” That happened at His first advent, the rest hasn’t happened yet. It’s still future.
Of course, in this particular prophecy is where we get the seven years delineated. Drop all the way down to verse 27. Four hundred and eighty three years were fulfilled at the cross. That left seven years of the 490. Here they come in verse 27.
Daniel 9:27a
“And he shall confirm (that is this anti-Christ, this prince that’s coming) the covenant (or a treaty) with many for one week;…” Now again, common sense tells us it will be a treaty between Israel and the Arab world. That’s obvious. This man is going to bring it about supernaturally. All of a sudden the world will be aghast that there’s peace in the Middle East. But it’s only a pseudo peace. It’s only temporary. It’s only going to be three and a half years. But the whole time period is seven years. Reading on:
Daniel 9:27a
“And he shall confirm the covenant (or a treaty) with many for one week: (seven years – Those are the last seven years of the 490 year prophecy.) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,….” Well, how can you stop something that hasn’t started? So, what does that tell you? The temple is going to be rebuilt. That’ll be part of the peace treaty, that Israel will have opportunity to rebuild their temple. They’re going to reestablish temple worship, the sacrifices, the whole nine yards. You know there is a group ready right now in Jerusalem. They’ve got everything on mannequins. They’ve got all the tools for the sacrificial fire. They’re ready and waiting, and we know that one day they’re going to have it.
But, at the end of three and a half years the anti-Christ will turn on Israel. As Jesus confirmed it in Matthew 24 again, the anti-Christ is going to defile the temple and turn on Israel, and, of course, the rest of the world is going to fall under that wrath and vexation. But here we have, then, the final seven years as we depicted on both lines. This was supposed to come shortly after His ascension in Acts chapter 1, according to prophecy. In would come these final seven years, and then Christ would return and bring in the Kingdom. You find this all the way through the Old Testament writings.
All right, let’s go a little further. We’ve got a couple of minutes left, yet. Go on past Daniel and go into Joel chapter 2. Here, again, is a beautiful picture of the whole prophetic program, and yet how easy it is to delineate where it stopped and where it’ll pick up again in the future.
Joel 2:28a
“And it shall come to pass…” That’s what the Word of God says. How do these men have the gall, then, to say that it’s not going to? It’s beyond me. I have to go back to what the Apostle Paul says, “They’re doing it to their own (what?) destruction. To their own doom.” God said it’s going to happen. And it’s going to.
Joel 2:28-29
“It shall yet come to pass afterward, (That is after He’s been rejected and crucified.) that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; (Well, now wait a minute, when did that happen? Pentecost. When the Holy Spirit came down) and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: (Now this is a prophecy concerning Israel.) 29. And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit.” Now, that all happened at Pentecost. On the day of Pentecost, when they had the little tongues of fire sitting on their heads and they prophesied. All right, so that was all associated with His first coming, or His first advent. Now verse 30. Just like Psalms 2. Just like Daniel 9. We go right on into the horrors of the Tribulation. Verse 30:
Joel 2:30-31a
“And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. 31. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood,…” Has that ever happened? No, that hasn’t happened. Is it going to? Well, you’d better believe it! The world scoffs at it, but it’s coming. Judgment is coming, and all these things depicted are literally, physically going to happen.
All right now, verse 32 and unless you really know what the Kingdom’s going to be like you won’t catch it, but this is a reference to the Kingdom where all of a sudden God’s grace will be showered on the whole human race. Not just on Israel, it’s going to be on the whole human race. Verse 32:
Joel 2:32a
“And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered:…” That’s when all the promises that Jesus spoke of, in the Gospel accounts especially, will become a reality. You remember in John’s Gospel when it said, “whatsoever you ask it shall be done unto you.” This is when it’s going to be – when the King and His Kingdom become a reality.