Through the Bible with Les Feldick
LESSON 1 * PART 3 * BOOK 74
CONNECTING THE DOTS OF SCRIPTURE – PART 3
Genesis through Revelation
Okay, again we’re glad you’re all back. For those of you joining us on television, we just have to take a minute and thank you from the depths of our heart for all your kind letters, your cards, your prayers, and above all that keeps us on the air, your financial help. We just thank you for that. And we pray that you pray that we’ll continue to reach more and more hearts, because the kind of people that catch us on television usually have never heard any of this before.
And I guess that’s what hooks them, because it’s not just what Les Feldick thinks, it is right here in plain black and white. And why, why does the majority miss it? Well, I guess I know why. I’ve said it over and over. The world population was 4 – 5 billion at the time of the flood. How many believers? Eight. That’s a precious small percentage.
Up through Israel’s history what percent of even the chosen people were true believers? One tenth of one percent. And then you come to the Lord Jesus Himself. He put it plain as day. One time I told a gentleman who was a member of a great religion, with probably a billion people on earth, and he was trying to convert me. And I said, “Now wait a minute, the Scripture tells me that you’re wrong and I’m right.” He says, “Where?” I said, “When the Lord Himself says ‘broad is the gate and wide is the way that leadeth to destruction and many go in thereat. But narrow is the way and straight is the gate that leadeth to eternal life. And few there be that find it.’”
Never forget that. I’ve always made the statement on this program. When it comes to the things of the Spirit, the majority is always wrong. Think about it. When the twelve spies went in to search out the land of Canaan, what was the majority report? Ten – can’t do it. Wrong! They could have had it without lifting a sword. But the minority—the two—were right. But it didn’t carry. Well, it’s no different today. The majority of Christendom is going down the wrong road, because they will not look at what the Book really says.
Okay. We’re going to continue on now in the big picture of connecting the dots starting from Adam and the Fall and the curse, the coming about of the Nation of Israel, and now they’ve come out of Egypt as a Nation of people. Not as a ragtag bunch of carpetbaggers, as Cecil B. De Mille showed it, but they came out organized. And it says armies, but it really was by tribes. All twelve tribes had their own banner. They were all organized. And as they get around Mount Sinai, they encamp by tribe—total organization.
All right, that’s where we’re going to pick them up now in Exodus chapter 19. They had just recently come out of Egypt. They’re gathered around Mount Sinai, and God is now ready to do something totally different once again. He’s going to put the Nation of Israel under the Law.
Exodus 19:1-2
“In the third month, (Now, in Biblical history the first month was April, so this would be April, May, June. It would be in the month of June.) when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. 2. For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.” Mount Sinai. Now verse 3, here’s where it gets interesting.
Exodus 19:3a
“And Moses went up unto God,…” Now remember, God is up in the Mount in much the same kind of a situation that you had back in chapter 3. Maybe we’d better go back and look at it. Go back to Exodus chapter 3 so that you see how completely God communicated with this man Moses. Now you know I teach as I feel the Spirit leads. I didn’t intend to do this. So, this is back while Moses was spending his forty years in the wilderness, remember, herding sheep. And one day out there on the desert, he saw that bush on fire, and it wasn’t consumed. It got his curiosity aroused. So he goes over and checks it out. All right, then the voice in verse 3.
Exodus 3:3-4a
“And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 4. And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God…” Now, do you see the terms of Deity in one verse? LORD in one instance and God in the next.
Exodus 3:4-5
“And when the LORD (That’s always the term for God the Son.) saw that he turned aside to see, God (Now that’s the whole Triune God.) called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. 5. And God said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” Now watch the language.
Exodus 3:6
“Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. (See, He’s made His point.) And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.” Well, you come all the way down to verses 13 and 14. Verses that I always like to use to show the connecting of the dots of Scripture.
Exodus 3:13a
“And Moses said unto God, (The same person speaking out of that bush is the same one that’s speaking to him up on Mount Sinai. The same God.) Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, (Now remember, this is before he’s gone back to Egypt.) and shall say unto them, The God of you fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name?…” And I always have to stop there. Why would they ask that question? Because every god in Egypt, hundreds of them, all had a name. If you had a god, he had a name. So, how can you come to us with a God without a name? Moses was right. That’s the first thing they’ll ask. What’s His name?
Exodus 3:13b
“…what shall I say unto them? 14. And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM (That’s His name.) hath sent me unto you.” Now, we’ve got to compare Scripture with Scripture to get the impact of it, otherwise you miss it. Go all the way up to John’s gospel, chapter 8. And here Jesus is being confronted by the religious leaders as usual. Let’s jump in at verse 48, because this is so foundational.
John 8:48-51
“Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, (Now, you know the Jews hated the Samaritans, because they were half-breeds. They weren’t Gentiles. They were half-breed Jews.) and hast a demon? 49. Jesus answered, I have not a demon; but I honor my Father, and ye do dishonour me. 50. And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth. 51. Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.” Well, boy, that was a strong statement to these religious leaders.
John 8:52-53
“Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a demon. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; (They’re dead.) and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. 53. Art thou greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?” Who do you think you are? We’d say today.
John 8:54-55
“Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God: 55. Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying.”
Now stop a minute. Do you remember what He said in John 14 when Philip said, “…show us the Father…”? Remember that? What did He say? “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the (Who?) Father.”
Now, that’s beyond us, unless we take it by faith. But that’s the Trinity. That’s the Triune God—that when they saw Christ, they saw the whole Godhead. This is what they couldn’t get through their heads. That He was a member of that Triune Godhead, as we call it. Now verse 56:
John 8:56
“Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.” Now that’s why I’m glad we read Genesis chapter 12 verse 2. What did the Lord tell him? That out of you is going to come a nation of people. All right, this is all through that Abrahamic Covenant. All right, reading on.
John 8:57-58
“Then said the Jews unto him, Thou are not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? 58. Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, (What?) I AM.”
Who did He claim to be? The I AM of Exodus 3. And who is the I AM of Exodus 3? Jehovah. Who is Jehovah in the Old Testament? The LORD. Who is the LORD of the Old Testament? God the Son. Who is God the Son in the New Testament? Jesus Christ. See, it all ties together—same person, different terminology.
All right, now back to Exodus 19, if you will. Here we have Moses confronting the same God that he did in the burning bush – the same God who appeared unto Abraham – the same God who would later be born in Bethlehem.
Exodus 19:3-4a
“And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; (Here it comes now.) 4. Ye have seen(you have witnessed, you have experienced) what I did unto the Egyptians,…” And what did He do to the Egyptians?
He miraculously pulled the whole Pharaoh army into that cavern of dried Red Sea with walls of water. They must have been several miles apart, because I can’t comprehend it otherwise. And those stupid Egyptians came right in and suffered like nobody’s ever suffered since. And God brings the water back and kills every one of them. And, you know, that became one of the greatest miracles in all of Scripture.
Do you remember what Rahab said when the Jews were confronting Jericho? What did she say? “We have heard how your God opened the Red Sea.” All right, always keep those things in mind. This is what He’s referring to when He talks to Moses.
Exodus 19:4
“Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.” Now that’s a play on words. They didn’t fly, but it was just as miraculous that He pulled that whole nation of people through the Red Sea before the Egyptians caught up with them.
Israel didn’t lose a man, and yet the timing was such that the minute the last Jew stepped out on the east side, the last Egyptian comes in on the west side, and the water comes back. He gets them all. Boy, don’t you wish you could fish like that? He got them all. Not a one left. Miracle of miracles. All right, so He says, “I bare you on eagles’ wings and brought you unto myself.” His chosen people. Here comes the promise now.
Exodus 4:5
“Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, (Ring a bell? That was Adam’s problem. He couldn’t obey God’s voice. And it’s mankind’s problem even today.) and keep my covenant, (See, it is conditional.) then ye (the Nation) shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:”
What does that tell you? He’s Sovereign. It’s His world. It’s His universe. He can do whatever He wants to do. And if He wants to take one little nation of people and set them head and shoulders above all the rest of mankind, that’s His prerogative. And that’s what He did. They are the chosen race.
Exodus 19:6a
“And ye shall be unto me a (What’s the next word?) kingdom…” Now, what do you need to have a kingdom? Two entities. You have to have a king, and you have to have subjects. That makes up a kingdom. All right, this is a promise. You’re going to be a nation of people with a king ruling over you, and you will all be–
Exodus 19:6b
“…a kingdom of priests, (of God or of Jehovah) and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.” I just had an interesting conversation the other day because of an article I had read.
Turn back with me to I Peter chapter 1. Now most of Christendom tries to make us in the Body of Christ priests of God. And the reason they try to do that is because of this little verse in I Peter. But now here’s where I object strenuously. Peter is not writing to the Gentile church. This is where what does the Book say comes into play.
Now you want to remember that our New Testament lays out just exactly the way our timeline would even down in this dispensation of Grace. Exactly. We’ve got the four gospels. We’ve got the Book of Acts, and then we’ve got Paul’s epistles. Then as soon as Paul’s epistles end, we pick right back up with Israel, again, in view of the Kingdom. So, look what Peter writes.
I Peter 1:1-2a
“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, (writing) to the strangers (Not to the citizens, but rather the non-citizens) scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. 2. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,…” Now you know that couldn’t involve Gentiles up there in what we now know as Turkey. So, who is he writing to? Jews! Fellow Jews who were believers that Jesus was the Messiah.
Now turn over, at least in my Bible, to chapter 2. Then we’re going to flip right back to Exodus 19, so that you’re sure to see the identical language of these two portions of Scripture. I Peter chapter 2 verse 9—now this is what I call Bible study. You compare Scripture with Scripture and you ask yourself, who is Peter writing to? Well, it’s obvious. He’s writing to the Twelve Tribes scattered throughout the then-known world, especially there in Asia, or what we call Turkey. Now look what he says.
I Peter 2:9
“But ye (See? Not they–) are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:” That’s Peter writing to Jews thinking that the Tribulation was right out in front of them. He had no idea that it was going to be 2,000 years of Grace to the Gentile world.
Now go back to Exodus again. Exercise your brain, now. Turn it on and look at the language. Identical. Verses 5 and 6.
Exodus 19:5-6
“Now therefore, (God is speaking to Moses up there in Mount Sinai just after the Red Sea.) if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: (Now here come the identical words of I Peter chapter 2.) 6. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.”
All right, now to tie that together, I’m going to try something that I don’t think I’ve ever done before. Let’s jump up to Isaiah chapter 42. Keep your hand in Exodus and go to Isaiah 42 so that you can connect the dots. Now, while you’re looking, I have to ask a question. What’s the role of a priest in any religion? Go-between. So every Jew was to be a go-between between their God and the people around them. All right, who were the people around them? Here they come. Isaiah 42, this is prophecy.
Isaiah 42:1
“Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom (Now we’re talking about a person, not the nation. A person) my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he (this person) shall bring forth rule (or government) to (what people) the Gentiles.” All right, drop down to verse 6.
Isaiah 42:6
“I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, (Now who is Scripture addressing? Israel, the Nation. The king first, who’s going to establish a government over the Gentiles, but now the people who, according to Exodus, are to be a nation of what? Priests. Go-betweens. All right, for what purpose?) for a light to (Whom?) the Gentiles;”
Now we know it never happened. But it wasn’t God’s fault. The promises held. So why didn’t it happen or won’t happen? Because of Israel’s unbelief. They’re not going to have this opportunity to proclaim salvation to the nations during the Kingdom Age, because only believers are going to go in at the front end of the Kingdom. That’s John 3. “Unless ye be born again, ye cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.”
So what happened? In Israel’s unbelief, they lost this opportunity to be evangelists during the Kingdom, so God changed His prerogative, and He said, well, then we’ll only let believers go into the Kingdom. But God didn’t drop the ball completely either. So when will Israel have a chance to yet evangelize the nations? They’re going to fulfill the great commission, which was never given to the church in the first place. They’re going to fulfill it where and when? During the Tribulation. By whom? The 144,000. They’re going to circumvent the globe.
I had a question the other day, “Where do you get that?” Well, I can show you. It doesn’t say they’re going to circumvent the globe, but good land, the language says it. Come back with me and I’ll answer the person’s question. Maybe I won’t have to write the letter. Go back to Revelation chapter 7 where the 144,000 are sealed. Chapter 7, now this is really going far off of where I intended to be, but I hope I don’t lose you. Revelation 7, here we have the beginning of the Tribulation. And I think the two witnesses are the preachers that these 144,000 young Jews will be listening to. But anyway, in Revelation 7 verse 4:
Revelation 7:4
“And I heard the number of them who were sealed: and there were sealed 144,000 of all (that means twelve) the tribes of the children of Israel.” All right, after they’re sealed, now verse 9, naturally they’re not going to stand around in Jerusalem and say, well, what do we do next? What are they going to do? They’re going to go out and begin to proclaim the gospel of the Kingdom as Jesus said they would in Matthew 24. All right, now it doesn’t say they circumvent the globe, but good heavens, what does verse 9 say?
Revelation 7:9
“And after this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and languages, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands:” What does languages mean? The whole world! All the languages. All the nations are going to have representatives of the work of these 144,000. Go on down to verses 13 and 14.
Revelation 7:13-14
“And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? And whence came they? 14. And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of the great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
So yeah, it doesn’t say they’re going to circumvent the globe, but we know they did. It just says that they preached to all the nations and all the languages and all the tribes. What difference does it make whether I say circumvent or whether the Scripture says all nations and language?
Okay, I’ve got one short minute left. Back to Exodus chapter 19. The promise in verse 6 is that Israel could be a “kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.” In other words, one set apart for God’s purposes, verse 7.
Exodus 19:7-8a
“And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him. 8. And all the people answered together, and said, All that LORD hath spoken we will do.…” And they begin to get themselves ready for a system of religion that we call Law, a works religion.