END-TIMES PROPHECY – ACT ONE – MERCY TO THE ISRAEL OF GOD by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC

Introduction: As we begin this series on the End-Times Prophecy, my goal is not just to go over what will happen in the end of times. The goal is to learn how to study the Bible. 

• The goal is to be consistent and systematic when we study a doctrine from the Bible. Sometimes people think that studying the Bible is like eating at a buffet. You take a little bit of this and skip over and get a little bit of that. You can have something from the grille, then some Asian food, some Mexican food, and then top it off with a bunch of desserts. That’s not how studying a controversial doctrine works. 
• The goal is to make sure that when we hold a view that we are aware of the pros and the cons that follow. For example: If you say, “I’m going to climb Mount Everest!” that’s wonderful! Imagine the selfies you will take! Imagine the people you will meet along the way! Imagine the experiences you will have! All those are the pros. How about the cons? The big one that comes to mind is that you may die! Have you considered your health? Have you considered your responsibilities at home? 
• Also, the goal is to make sure that we look to see who else is holding to your view. In other words, who are the experts that you will follow? What else do they believe? If the evidence from the Bible doesn’t hold up, are you willing to part company with them? If you part company with them, what do you lose? 
• The goal is to make sure that when we hold a position, it is grammatically, contextually, theologically, and historically true to the Scriptures. I compare studying the Bible with a discipline like flying a plane or building a house or performing a surgery. You have to know what you are doing. 

Don’t misunderstand: I don’t need to take flight lessons to travel on a plane. I don’t need to do civil engineering in order to buy a house. I don’t need to go to medical school in order to have a surgery. So also, I don’t need to go to seminary to read and study the Bible daily. I don’t need to get a PhD in order to teach a Sunday School class or a Bible Study. I don’t need to read every book on a doctrine to help guide a new believer in their faith. But, if I’m going to go deeper in a doctrine, especially one like the end-times, then I need to be careful as to how I approach this book, the Bible. Does that make sense? For that matter, whenever we discuss any controversial subject, we need to carefully study it in the Scriptures.

As I mentioned over the past few weeks, we are not going to start in Revelation but in Romans. Why Romans? For 2 reasons: 

• First, when it comes to studying End-Times Prophecy, we need to be clear on God’s purpose for ethnic Israel. 
• Second, when it comes to studying End-Times Prophecy, we need to be clear on God’s plan of salvation. 

Both foundational truths are laid out in Romans. We’re not going to go indepth, but we will lay out the boundary markers.

1. Regarding Israel:

Romans 11 (page#1746) 1 I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying…29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30 For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, 31 even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy.

Context: A story is told about King Louis XIV of France. He asked Blaise Pascal, the great French philosopher to give him proof that there is a God. Pascal, without hesitation responded – “The Jews, Your Majesty! The Jews!” Why did he say that? Why didn’t he point to the beauty and majesty of the creation or the complexity and wonder of a human body? Unlike the other cultures and civilizations in the history of the world, only the Jewish people have survived to this day. It’s not just that they survived but they also have faced incredible odds along the way. Furthermore, they have an accompanying manual that describes their beginning, their past, their present, and their future. Understanding their beginning, their past, their present, and their future is critical to understanding End-Times Prophecy. If we get Israel wrong, we will get end-times prophecy wrong. They are much more than just a puzzle piece from some corner of the End-Times landscape. They are the main piece. Without a proper understanding of Israel and what God is doing with them we will misunderstand End-Times Prophecy.

We read from Romans 11:1-2; 29-31. Now listen to Romans 11 (page#1746) 13 “For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, 14 if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them. 15 For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?” Someone might say – “Hasn’t the Church replaced Israel?” Romans 11       28“Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”

What Gifts and Callings are we referring to here? 3 Covenants that are unconditional:

1. Abrahamic

Genesis 12 (page #15) 1 Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Genesis 13:14 And the LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward; 15 for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.

Later, God confirmed this covenant in Genesis 15 while Abraham was asleep. He had him cut the animals (three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram) into half but not the turtledove and the young pigeon. If you remember, the vultures came down on the carcass, but Abram drove them away. Then, God showed him how his descendants would suffer in Egypt for 400 years. He even ratified the covenant with the passing of a smoking oven and a burning torch between the pieces. It was a glimpse of the coming High Priest who would make a way for us to the throne of grace by his own blood. What a confirmation of God’s vision to Abram!

Application: We have to drive away the vultures that come down on God’s vision for our lives and our children. We have to protect the vision.

2. Davidic

God sent Nathan the prophet to tell David to build him a temple. It came with a promise. 2 Samuel 7  (page #478) 10 Moreover I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more; nor shall the sons of wickedness oppress them anymore, as previously, 11 since the time that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel, and have caused you to rest from all your enemies. Also the LORD tells you that He will make you a house. 12 “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever…15 But My mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.” ’ ”

Application: Build God’s house and he will build yours.

3. New

This was not like the Mosaic covenant that could be broken. Jeremiah 31 (page #1227) 31“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, “Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

So, we understand that God has an unbroken covenant with Israel. Is that it? Through Israel God has been revealing his plan of salvation to save the whole world and through Israel the plan of salvation came for us. 

“Israel was carrying this message in their Actions and in their Womb.”

2. Regarding Salvation:

A. One Plan

Forgiveness – (Juridical)

Romans 3 (page #1736) 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,

Application: Have you received your forgiveness through Jesus Christ?

B. Bigger Plan

Deliverance – (Apocalyptic)

Romans 5:12 (page #1738) Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—

Romans 7 (page #1740) 21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Application: Have you been delivered from the power of Sin?

C. Deeper Plan

Union/Transformation/Partakers – 

Romans 6 (page #1738) 1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,

Application: Are you united with Christ?

Keep in mind that all this is the Gift of Grace.

Romans 5 (page #1738) 15 But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. 16 And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. 17 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) 18 Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.

Invitation: The gift of grace has to be received. Have you? Are you saved? Have you shared the gift of grace with others?