Through the Bible with Les Feldick
LESSON 2 * PART 3 * BOOK 70
ADULTEROUS ISRAEL TO BE RESTORED – PART 3
Hosea 2:14 – 4:14
Once again, it’s good to have everybody back from the coffee break. We’re doing program number three this afternoon. We’re going to go right back and pick up what I didn’t finish in the last program. For those of you on television, if you’re just tuning in, we’ve been talking about Israel being scattered into all the nations of the world. We started with our references in Deuteronomy, and now we’re back up into Ezekiel. That’s where we’re going to pick up – right where we left off in Ezekiel 37, how the Nation of Israel is out there scattered into every nation under heaven, but the time would come when they would start coming back to their homeland.
Now of course, it didn’t happen over night. It really started in the late 1800’s, 1890-95, somewhere in that neck of the woods when Jewish leaders started talking about a homeland. They and Great Britain, of course, who had the empire that circled the globe, were the major players. So, a politician in England by the name of Balfour (Arthur James) and the Jews made the Balfour Declaration–that was that the Jews could have a homeland in the Middle East.
First they had it drawn clear across the Jordan Valley and on into what is present-day Iraq and Jordan, but the Arab world put up such a howl that Great Britain backed off. Instead they designated it from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean. So anyway, the Jews back then were being forced by persecution and every other which way, that was long before Hitler came on the scene. So, a lot of the Jews started making their way back from North Africa, Morocco and in that area. Then the rest of the Arab world started persecuting them unmercifully, so they finally left Syria. I don’t think there’s a Jew left in Syria, certainly not in Iran. As a result of all that, they gradually made their way back to the homeland. In 1948 they declared themselves a Sovereign State. Okay, so all that has come in fulfillment of this.
Come back with me now at the opening to Hosea chapter 3 verse 4, so that we can be where we want to start every program in Hosea. Back to chapter 3 verse 4 where we’re talking about the dispersion. How that for a long time they’ll be out there in all the nations of the world, verse 4.
Hosea 3:4-5a
“For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim:” In other words, they had nothing of their religion, as much as I hate to use the word. All right, then the key word in verse 5 is—“Afterward…” All right, but we’re not going to look at the “afterward” yet, until we go back and finish some of those verses with regard to all those 1900 and some years that Israel was scattered into the nations of the world.
All right, come back where you were with the dry bones in Ezekiel 37 verse 11. Here’s where we have the interpretation of this vision.
Ezekiel 37:11
“Then he (the LORD) said unto me, (the prophet) Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: (Now that tells you right up front that ten tribes are not lost. All Twelve Tribes are still involved even at this point in time.) behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.” In other words, that was when they were out amongst the Gentile world–verse 12.
Ezekiel 37:12a
“Therefore, prophesy and say unto them, (these scattered Jews) Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves,…” Now, the best way I can explain that in recent history was when the Soviet Union collapsed, and one of the first results of that collapse was permission for the Jews to immigrate out and down to Israel or wherever.
It was a providential thing. As soon as the Jews had the opportunity, I think in the first two years of the 90’s–1990, 91, 92, something like two million Jews left Russia to go to the Nation of Israel. In fact, Iris and I ran into a family of them down on the Dead Sea. The parents couldn’t talk English but the kids could. So we could communicate with the family through the kids. But it was typical of Russians who had left Russia because now the bars were lowered.
All right, that’s exactly what I think of when it says here “I will open your graves.” When the Gentile world would finally give permission for Jews to leave their nation and go wherever they wanted to go. Of course, a lot of them ended up there in their homeland of Israel. All right, reading on.
Ezekiel 37:12b
“…O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.” Now, do you see how providential that is? You know, I’ve shared it on the program before, and I’ll do it again. The first time Iris and I were in Israel, we came out of the hotel restaurant that evening and a well-dressed businessman approached us. He said, “You’re from America, aren’t you?” We said, “Yes.” He said, “What do you think of our little country?” I said, “It’s fabulous what God has done!” He said, “God didn’t have a thing to do with it. We did it!” “Well,” I said, “I beg to differ. But I’m not going to argue with someone in his homeland.”
But see, that was their idea, that they did it. No, they didn’t! God did it! Against all the odds. My goodness, Great Britain did everything in their power to keep any Jews from coming to the land of Israel. But they got there. And then the Arab world consorted to drive them into the sea, but it never happened. Even to this day, they talk about it. It’s not going to happen, because God has sovereignly designated that they are going to come to their homeland.
Okay, so now they’re back according to Ezekiel. Now, let’s just stop at one verse on our way to the Book of Acts, so that you’ll see what James was referring to. Turn to the Book of Amos, that’s right after Hosea–Joel then Amos. Amos the last chapter, chapter 9, this is an interesting verse. Yet, it was in such a veiled form that Israel’s prophets didn’t catch it. Jesus, of course, never alluded to it. But now as we can read and look back, we know that this is what the prophet was talking about. Amos chapter 9 and again, we’re talking about the dispersed Nation of Israel in those first nine – ten verses. But now look at verse 11.
Amos 9:11
“In that day (When God will finally have His people back in their homeland.) will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it (Now remember, we’re talking about King David’s day.) as in the days of old:”
Now, you remember what I said in one of the earlier programs this afternoon? When did Israel reach the pinnacle? During David’s and Solomon’s reign. The glorious Kingdom of David. What did the Queen of Sheba say? “The half has never yet been told.” Of what? The glory of David’s kingdom. All right, so this is the analogy. It’s going to be restored with the glory that it was in David’s day, only far, far greater.
Amos 9:12
“That they (the Nation of Israel) may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, (the Gentile world) which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this.” In other words, God is going to bring Israel back to the homeland at some point in time. He’s going to return and set up this glorious kingdom promised to Israel.
All right, now I made mention of Acts chapter 15. Here we have the record of the Jerusalem Council. And I think, according to some of the ancient writers, this was in A.D. 51. Now get your numbers – Christ was crucified in A.D. 29. I feel that the Apostle Paul was converted in A.D. 37. He began his ministry in A.D. 40. Now, he is being confronted by the Judaizers from the Jerusalem Jewish church and told that his converts had to be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses. That was the whole purpose of the Jerusalem council. All right, now I’m not going to take the time to take you through all that. As you come to the end of that council, the leadership of the Jerusalem church recognized Paul’s Apostleship and that he would be going to the Gentiles, come in at verse 12.
Acts 15:12
“Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, (Who had been ministering up in Antioch, remember, as well as in Turkey and so forth.) declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among (What people?) the Gentiles by them.” Now this is unheard of. God had done all kinds of miracles in Israel, but amongst the Gentiles? Unheard of!
All right, so they took this all in as the argument is now being kind of put to rest, because they are recognizing that Paul and Barnabas do now have a ministry with the Gentiles that Israel was never permitted to do. All right, now verse 13.
Acts 15:13
“And after they had held their peace, (The tumult was quieting down.) James answered, (We know from Galatians chapter 2 that James was the moderator of this Jerusalem council.) saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me: 14. Simeon (Peter) hath declared how God at the first did visit the (What?) Gentiles, to take out of them…” Now keep your pronouns right. Who are the “them” now? The Gentile world. Paul has been designated to go to the Gentiles.
Acts 15:14b
“…to take out of them a people for his name.” Now, Acts can’t tell us what it is, because it really hasn’t been totally revealed. But you get to Paul’s letters and what do we call it? The Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is that called-out group of Gentile believers under Paul’s Gospel of Grace that has believed for salvation that Jesus died for their sins, was buried, and rose again the third day. The Body of Christ is totally insulated from all the promises of Israel.
Now, let’s see my timeline again. Here we come past the rejection now. All the promises concerning this glorious kingdom over which God the Son, Jesus the Christ, would rule and reign, but Israel rejected it. Then they hit the prime of their rejection when they did what? Stoned Stephen. Stephen was still appealing to the Nation to repent of having killed that promised Messiah. But they would not. So they stoned Stephen. All right who were we introduced to at the stoning of Stephen? Saul of Tarsus
All right, now we get back to our timeline. After Christ has ascended and Israel’s rejection, now God is going to do exactly what Amos is referring to. That after a period of time, which would include our Church Age and the Tribulation, the King and the Kingdom would still come in and bring back the glories of David and Solomon.
But here’s what we have to realize. God’s time clock stopped. He sent Paul out into the Gentile world to call out a people for His name, which like I said, we call the Body of Christ. All right, come back with me a minute to Acts chapter 15 again, now verse 15.
Acts 15:15
“And to this (James says) agree the words of the prophets; as it is written,” But you see, they didn’t have a clue what Amos was talking about. They didn’t have a clue that after 1,900 years of being scattered into all the nations of the world, they would come back and reappear as a Nation and yet have the promised Kingdom become a reality. They didn’t know that.
In fact, how many times have I done this before, and I’m going to do it again. Keep your hand in Acts 15. Go to I Peter, because I think this is so interesting that now, after the fact, Peter can write just exactly what I’m saying. They couldn’t put it together. Oh, it was back there, but in such veiled language they didn’t understand. And they weren’t supposed to. All right, back in I Peter chapter 1, I usually like to start at verse 9. Now remember, Peter, too, is addressing fellow Jews. He says that up in verse 1.
I Peter 1:1a
“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia…” Well, Gentiles weren’t strangers in their own land, but Jews were. So, this is who Peter’s writing to. He’s writing to Jews of his own day and who were fellow believers that Jesus was the Christ. All right, now verse 9.
I Peter 1:9a
“Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. 10. Of which salvation the prophets (the Old Testament prophets) have inquired…” They were just constantly questioning – what about this? How is this going to happen? What is it? You can just about cook up as many questions as I can.
I Peter 1:9b
“…have inquired and searched diligently, (What were they searching? The Scriptures! The Old Testament Scriptures. Trying to put it all together. And they couldn’t. They weren’t supposed to.) who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:” Well, when would it come for the Jew? When their Messiah would return, see?
But the Old Testament Prophets didn’t speak of it as a second coming. They just spoke of it in veiled language that He would come and suffer and die. But on the other hand, there were prophecies that He would rule and reign. I’ve covered this before on the program. My, they questioned–how is this going to happen? Are we going to have two Messiahs? Will one suffer? Are we going to have a second Messiah that will rule and reign? They certainly couldn’t put together that the same One would be both! All right, that’s what Peter is talking about. All right, reading on in verse 11.
I Peter 1:11
“Searching (the Scriptures) what, or what manner of time the Spirit (the Holy Spirit) of Christ who was in them (the writers of the Old Testament) did signify, when it (or He) testified beforehand (Now here they are, the two aspects of the Messiah.) the sufferings of Christ, (the Messiah) and the (What?) glory that should follow.”
Now, can you see their dilemma? Here we’ve got to have a Messiah who suffers. But we have to have a Messiah that’s going to rule and reign. How is He going to do that unless we have two? They could not put it together that it would be one and the same. That’s why the normal rank and file Jew of today, is he looking for the Messiah the second time? No. The what? The first! They can’t reconcile the fact that the Messiah that suffered is the Messiah that’s going to rule and reign. That has been a dilemma for the Jew down through the centuries. All right, I think that’s sufficient there.
Back to Acts then a minute. Now James and Peter and John, after the fact of the suffering, have now seen Him ascend back to Glory. Now they’re beginning to get the picture that this same Messiah who suffered would return and be the Messiah who would rule and reign. But, now here’s my question. Did they have any idea it would be 1,900 and some years? No way! So Peter and James and John and Jude and Revelation all speak in language as though it would be in their lifetime. They had no idea it would be such a long extended period. But yet, you see, Hosea is talking in the same language that the Nation would be out there for a long time. Until the “bones were white with age.” And then they’d come back. All right, verse 15:
Acts 15:15
“And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written,” Now they can put it together. This is what Amos was talking about. After the calling out of a people for His name up in verse 14, after that long period of dispersion, they would be back in the land, but they would still have to wait for the out-calling of that Body of Christ, the Gentiles.
Acts 15:16
“After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:” Now, get the “after.” After what? The calling out of the Gentile Body. That’s why I maintain it has to be a pre-tribulation rapture, because God is not going to be dealing with the Gentile Body and the Nation of Israel. No, He’s going to be dealing with the earthly people, the Nation of Israel, first in the horrors of the Tribulation and then in the glory of the Kingdom. But it won’t happen until the church is complete and is taken out of the way.
All right, now I’ve got a few minutes left, yet? Well, let’s go to verse 17. Let’s not skip that. Let’s stay here a minute. After the calling out of the Body of Christ, “he would raise up again the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down;” That’s why we read it in Amos before we came to Acts. “And I (God says) will set it up.” Set what up? The Kingdom of David. Now verse 17.
Acts 15:17 -18
“That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. 18. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.”
Well, He certainly worked only with the Nation of Israel, but I had one writer say, “He must have been a racist!” No, He’s not a racist!! What a stupid comment. But see, that’s the mentality of the world. Just because He dealt with Jew only. I guess they were commenting on that verse in Matthew 10:5-6 where the Lord told the Twelve, “Go not into the way of a Gentile or house of a Samaritan, but go only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.” That is when he wrote and said, “He must be a racist.” No! I’m going to write back. The letter is still on my desk. I’m going to write back that Christ was on Covenant ground! He could not condescend to Gentiles until the covenant promises were fulfilled. But He’s going to set those covenant promises aside for 1,900 years and turn to the Gentiles without Israel.
Is He being racist by now setting Israel aside? No! It’s in His Sovereign design. All right, now let’s go to Romans chapter 11. We have the same concept in different language. It’s the same thing. That after God has called out the Body of Christ, He’s going to return and deal with His covenant people.
Romans chapter 11 verse 25 and then there are people, famous people, highly esteemed people, who say that there’s nothing to do with Israel anymore. They say that the people who call themselves Jews aren’t Jews at all. How ridiculous can people get? But here’s another verse that shows that God is not through with Israel. Romans 11 verse 25. In fact, the whole chapter 11 is dealing with God coming back and dealing with Israel.
Romans 11:25a
“I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, (Or secret or something that no one previous to Paul understood. And what is it?) lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; (In other words, puffed up with your own ignorant knowledge. And here it is.) that blindness in part (Not forever, but for a period of time. And I suppose even Paul, after the Holy Spirit inspired him to write that, was thinking in terms of 10 or 15 years, instead of 1,900 and some. But nevertheless, here we are, and it still holds.) that blindness in part (for a period of time) is happened to Israel,…”
It is a spiritual blindness that the Jewish people, as a multitude, cannot understand. So they’re spiritually blind. Oh, we get a few. I’ve got a fair amount of Jews in my audience, and they’re interesting. I could sit here for another hour and tell you about some of them, but whatever. Here we have it that the rank and file of Israel are spiritually blind to this Age of Grace.
Romans 11:25b
“…that blindness (Sovereignly) in part is happened to Israel, (Then what’s the next word?) until (At some point in time that blindness is going to end, and God is going to be able to deal once again with His covenant people. When will that be?) until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” All right, now you compare that with what we just read in Acts 15. When will the fullness of the Gentiles come about? When the Body of Christ is complete. When the last person, I feel, has been saved and has become a member of the Body of Christ, we are out of here! And God picks up where he left off with Israel.
Now, I can’t understand why that’s so hard for people to see. I had one lady that saw it in just 15 minutes of a phone conversation. And she said, “Les, it’s all so logical!” Yeah, that’s exactly what it is. It’s so logical. God has set Israel aside for 1,900 and some years. He has fulfilled the prophecy of bringing them back, and He is filling up the Body of Christ. And one of these days it’s going to be full. The trumpet will sound. We’re out of here, and God will start dealing with Israel.
Oh, it’s going to be horrible for seven years. But He’s still dealing primarily with Israel. As a result of all of their chastisement and the wrath and vexation of God, here comes the Kingdom. And for the Jews who have survived and are believers, they’ll go into that Kingdom. They’re going to enjoy all the promises of God that have been spoken for the last 4,000 years. It’s just going to come rolling in on the Nation like a flood. As the Old Testament puts it, “They’re going to blossom like a rose in the desert.” So, don’t ever give up on the Nation of Israel.