His Perfect Love

Matt VanderVen: The people of Israel, are they God's chosen people, and is it forever? Has the church replaced Israel? Stay tuned for His Perfect Love and find out.

Matt VanderVen: Hello and welcome to His Perfect Love, online at hisperfectlove.org. You picked a good day to join us as we embark on a five-part mini-series on Bible Prophecy. Just part of our ongoing study in Revelation. If you've been following the news, you're probably well aware there's been a long-standing feud over the land in Israel. Who has the right to claim this land? The people of Israel? The Palestinians? Or is it God's? We'll explore that question and more with Pastor Matt VanderVen. We'll start off in 2 Timothy 3:16.

Matt VanderVen: I'm going to back into this by starting at the very beginning and why Bible prophecy is important, why Israel is at the center stage. Some of you may have heard this, some of you may have not heard this and that's why I want to cover this, because I believe in January, we're going to do a prophecy conference, a two or three day conference on just Bible prophecy. And so I want to make sure we are discipled and we are ready and we are excited.

Matt VanderVen: About what we're seeing in the current events, about what God is doing in the days we're at. How thousands of people over even thousands of years had waited to see what we see with our eyes today. And we shouldn't take it for granted.

Matt VanderVen: So, this area of Turkey is going to be very important. And as we come down, Egypt, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Persia, right? We'll use some of both of the names so you know who we're talking about in scripture here. Iraq, we're all pretty much familiar with Iraq. We heard about the Iraqi War.

Matt VanderVen: But this whole area, it was prophesied in the Bible that there would be three, or I'm going to suggest to you, possibly four battles that have not been yet brought before us. Two we know that will come after Jesus Christ returns and after the millennial reign. One we know for certain that will be before Christ's return, or we believe pretty certain. And one, that if we read a psalm, could be an additional battle that it's pointing to.

Matt VanderVen: And what's interesting is, it's a conglomeration of some of these. So when you're going to start to hear me refer to this, there's what I'm going to call the inner ring and the outer ring. The outer ring is going to involve Russia, it's going to involve Turkey. Obviously it's going to involve Iran. But we have an inner ring here where we have Lebanon, we have Jordan, and we have Cyprus, and all these things have been in the news and current events.

Matt VanderVen: So if you've never studied this, I wanted to have this up so we can see this and I'll be referring to it as we go back and forth. So the first thing I want to start in the beginning is, and if you're taking notes, we will be going through a tremendous amount of scripture. So I'd encourage you, have your Bibles ready. As we go through these, I'm going to go through it quick, but open your Bible. The first one I'd have you go to is 2 Timothy 3:16, right?

Matt VanderVen: What does that say? We know that God said that all of the Word is inspired, right? God breathed all 66 books, the entire counsel of God, right? But if you're going to review, I'd say following with us, I'd probably have you turn to Exodus chapter 19 verse 5 for our first passage.

Matt VanderVen: But when you look at Israel, two peoples claim the same land in the Middle East today, right? But whose land is it? If we had to ask, I think that's a fair question and a fair place to start. Whose land is it? You have people of Arab descent, or Palestinian as they wish to be called today, and you have Israel, and both of them are vying for this land in the Middle East. But who's right? One of them have to be right, and one of them have to be wrong. Is it Israel or is it the Palestinians?

Matt VanderVen: And and more importantly, who has the right to decide who the land actually belongs to? Because I think that's an important question, isn't it? Who has the right when the Word of God speaks authoritative on any subject, isn't that the final word? I I would suggest to you, it is the final word. And God has much to say about the land of the people in Israel and his supernatural revelation, which we call prophecy. And the Bible, as we said before, is the very Word of God. It's God breathed.

Matt VanderVen: So when we begin here, if you look at it, the first question I'd like to bring before you is, the people of Israel, are they God's chosen people, and the question is, is it forever? Is it forever? And if we turn to the Bible, we turn to Exodus chapter 19 verse 5. And we'll be going through these at a pretty good clip here. It says, "Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people. For all the earth is Mine," says the Lord, right?

Matt VanderVen: Deuteronomy chapter 7 verses 6 through 8. "For you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people." And we've we've talked about that. There was nothing particularly special about Israel. God has said that over and over again, other than God choosing them as His chosen people.

Matt VanderVen: "For you were the least of all the peoples." That's how God says it. "But because the Lord loves you and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt."

Matt VanderVen: 2 Samuel chapter 7 verses 23 through 24. "And who is like your people, like Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people to make for Himself a name, and to do for yourself great and awesome deeds for your land before your people whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, the nations, right, and their gods. For you have made your people Israel, your very own people forever." Underline that in your word, forever. "And you, Lord, have become their God."

Matt VanderVen: 1 Kings chapter 8 verse 53. "For you separated them from among all the peoples of the earth to be your inheritance, as you spoke by your servant Moses, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God."

Matt VanderVen: Isaiah chapter 44 verse 21. "Remember these, O Jacob and Israel, for you are My servant, and I have formed you. You are My servant, O Israel. You will not be forgotten by Me." Notice that every one of these passages, and I have a few more to go through, I don't see the word Palestine in there anywhere. I don't see another name in there. I see the name of Israel, God's chosen people, what they've gone, the Hebrew children. That's the name we see.

Matt VanderVen: Jeremiah chapter 31 verses 9 through 11. "They shall come with weeping and with supplications. I will lead them, I will cause them to walk by the rivers of water in a straight way in which they shall not stumble, for I am a father to Israel. And Ephraim is My firstborn. Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the isles afar off and say, 'He who scattered Israel will gather them.'" I mean, that in itself is prophetic.

Matt VanderVen: "And keep him as shepherd, as a shepherd does his flock, for the Lord has redeemed Jacob and ransomed him from the hand of one stronger than he." A few more and then we'll go on to our next question. That is Amos chapter 3 verses 1 and 2. "Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, 'You only have I known of all the families of the earth.'"

Matt VanderVen: "Therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquities." Much is given, much is required. Romans chapter 11 verses 1 and 2 as we look in the New Testament. "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." Paul, right? Paul who was inspired by God to write the book of Romans. "God has not cast away His people, whom He foreknew?"

Matt VanderVen: And we'll conclude with this passage in Hebrews chapter 8, verse 8 through 13. "For finding fault with them, He said, 'Behold, the days come,' says the Lord, 'when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel.'" That's Jeremiah 31:31 if you know the new covenant. "'With the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt, because they continued not in My covenant, and I regarded them not,' says the Lord. 'For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,' says the Lord. 'I will put My laws in their mind, write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God.'"

Matt VanderVen: "And they shall be to Me a people. And they shall not teach every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all shall know Me." Boy, we wait for that day, huh? When everybody will be able to say, "All know the Lord God." "From the least to the greatest, for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities, I will remember no more."

Matt VanderVen: "In that He said, a new covenant He had made the first old. Now that which decays and waxes old is ready to vanish away." And why is that important? Because there are some that have espoused or suggested or even argued that Israel has been replaced by the church. But do you see that and we mentioned Jeremiah 31:31 that God has always intended to fulfill His covenant plan and redemption for Israel.

Matt VanderVen: Just as we as new believers in Christ, right? Or believers in Jesus Christ, disciples in Christ that way. We are a part of that new covenant. Israel, and I'm going to go through scripture, Israel in 1948 became a nation. God began to draw them back in. We're going to look at all the prophecy and all of that and how it was predicted thousands of years ahead of time that that would happen, which has never been done with any other people group in any other land by the way.

Matt VanderVen: Israel is the only people group and land or nation that has ever returned after so many thousands of years back in power that way. And God did that through a mighty hand. And America was part of that, which is so significant and special for us because we as a country, our president, Truman, acknowledged Israel. And he had to fight his own secretary at the time, saying, "No, we're going to..." Some of you may remember this. But when we get there, we'll go through it because it's significant. But yet people say, "But I don't read about America in the Bible. I don't read about America" when we look at some of the prophet.

Matt VanderVen: But there are so many different strings and flows going through this touching these multiple nations. Yes. But we also don't read about Syria in the end times. We read about them now through Damascus being destroyed, but after all that happens, we don't read about Syria being one of the final nations that are the five that come against in Ezekiel 38.

Matt VanderVen: Does that mean that Syria didn't play a part? As Paul would say, "Certainly not," right? We need to be students of the Word and we come back and we look at this. So, who owns the land in the Middle East? I think that's important. Because if Israel wants to make a claim to the land, and Palestinians want to make a claim to the land, and we, as Bible believing students, disciples, that's what that means. We need to understand why and who has the capability to make a claim to this land that we're talking about right up here. Who has a right to make a claim to that, first of all, all land, but this particular land?

Matt VanderVen: Well, I would suggest to you that the land of Israel belongs to God. Doesn't everything on the earth belong to God actually? Psalm 24, verse 1, which is a psalm of David. It says, "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof of the world and they that dwell therein." And Deuteronomy chapter 32 verses 8 and 9 says, "When the Most High divided the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people according to the number of children of Israel. For the Lord's portion is His people. Jacob is the lot of His inheritance." I think that tells us who has the ability to make that decision, God and God alone. Amen.

Matt VanderVen: And then who did God give the land to in the Middle East? I mean, after all, if we're going to talk about biblical prophecy and it's all going to be all about this land, we need to understand, well, who designed the borders and what were they and what are they even today? Who did God give the land to in the Middle East? I mean, because after all, didn't Abraham have multiple sons? He did, right? Ishmael and others like that. So, who, who receives that?

Matt VanderVen: Ezekiel chapter 5, verse 5 tells us that, "Thus says the Lord God, this is Jerusalem, and I have set it in the midst of the nation and countries that are around about her," these nations. Genesis chapter 12 verse 7 says, "Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, 'To your descendants, I will give this land.' And there he built an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him."

Matt VanderVen: Genesis chapter 17 verses 7 through 8 tells us, "And I will establish My covenant between Me, God, and you and your descendants after you in this generation, for an everlasting covenant." It never expires. It doesn't change. God holds the the deed and the title that way and He's able to issue that deed to whomever He chooses. He bought it, it's His, and He can give it to whoever He chooses. And He says, "I establish an everlasting covenant with you to be God to you and your descendants after you. Also, I will give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan."

Matt VanderVen: I mean, that's certainly not the borders of Israel today. All the land of Canaan, He said. "And as an everlasting possession, and I will be their God." Even though Abraham had multiple sons, the land of Israel was given to who? Isaac. Isaac. Genesis chapter 17 verse 18 and 19 tells us, "And Abraham said to God, 'Oh, that Ishmael might live!'" Do you remember this when we taught through and I talked through the book of Genesis? And what happened? Abraham kind of grew impatient, Sarah grew impatient, and had gone and said, "What are we going to do here?" And Sarah said, "Go into my maidservant," right? Hagar like that. And Ishmael came forward, and God, because it again had, you know, in their mind, taken too long.

Matt VanderVen: And so he said, "You know, Lord, Ishmael my servant here, my son, establish your covenant with him." But God says, "Oh no." He says, "I have something for Ishmael, but no, no, no, the seed and the covenant that I establish, no, it won't be through Ishmael." Right? "Oh, that Ishmael might live before you." Then God said, "No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son and shall call his name Isaac." "And that's the covenant that will be established in the line. And I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant and with his descendants after him."

Matt VanderVen: Genesis chapter 26 verses 5 and 6. "And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac, not Ishmael, because that's a claim that's being made today in the Middle East. Well, Ishmael was the son of Abraham, and if it was given to Abraham, shouldn't Ishmael too inherit that right? No, the Bible tells us in Genesis chapter 25, the Pentateuch, the Old Testament, tells us that it was given all to Isaac."

Matt VanderVen: "But Abraham gave gifts to the sons of the concubines which Abraham had, and while he was still living, he sent them eastward. He actually sent them away from Isaac his son." Do you remember that? "To the country of the east." So there was no confusion. But what about again, Isaac? He had two sons. The land was what about the land, you know, was it given to Esau or to Jacob? We see that fork in the road again, right? What happens here?

Matt VanderVen: You know, one night Jacob had a dream while he was fleeing from his brother Esau. And in the dream, the Lord said to him in Genesis chapter 28 verse 13. "And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, 'I am the Lord God of Abraham.'" I mean, just that alone. "I am the Lord God of Abraham, your father, and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie, I will give to you and your descendants."

Matt VanderVen: "And God later appeared to Jacob again and said to him in Genesis chapter 35, a few chapters after that, verse 11 and 12 says, 'I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you. Your kings shall come from your body. The land which I gave again to Abraham and to Isaac, I give to you, and to your descendants after you, I give this land.'"

Matt VanderVen: Now, I know some of you are going, "Well, Pastor, when are we going to get into the prophecy part?" Well, these are prophecies. These are promises. And this is the very battle, and it is spiritual. And that's what I'm going to hopefully, Lord, you know, with the Holy Spirit's God, show you why. It's not political. It's not economic. While we read that, there is a political aspect to Isaiah. There is an economic aspect to Ezekiel chapter 38. You can't miss the economics of it. We understand the fish hook that'll be. We're going to read it line by line. We're going to get there.

Matt VanderVen: But if I don't set the foundation to understand why Israel can make this claim, why God's word is holy and has ordained this, then when we come from an apologetic perspective and say, "Well, where's the prophecy?" and begin to, people will say, "Well, don't you understand the Palestinians were there too?" But you have the ability now to go back into scripture and say, "No, God has always designed Israel as that chosen seed that would receive this land."

Matt VanderVen: And after all, isn't that what the battle's about? The land of Jerusalem? The Israel? Why? Because it goes even more and further to the seed. There's never been a people group that have been challenged or should I say sought after nationally, if I can even ethnically say it that way, that's that literally had been tried to be cleansed from the earth as Israel has so many times. The Holocaust. But you can go even before that. As a people group, they have been attacked more than any other people group on this on this earth. And there's a reason why, and we're going to talk about that. The line of Judah.

Matt VanderVen: And why that's significant from David. It's even in the genealogies as you open the gospel and you go to Matthew or you go to Luke that way and you read the genealogies, it breaks it right down for you. And remember, we have an enemy. We have a great accuser, the devil, right? And he's not that great. I say that all the time. He's not that great, but we have an accuser. And he knows that Messiah came through that line and he wants to punish that line. He wants to punish Israel. He wants to destroy Israel just like he wants to destroy you and I.

Matt VanderVen: We need to understand, what are the borders of the land given to Israel? Genesis chapter 13 verses 14 through 17. Because again, this is the next argument as you go through this and you sort of open this up, this is where they go. "Well, all right, maybe Israel does have land, but the borders shouldn't, we should go back to the 19." You remember when Obama was in office, President Obama? And he went back and he wanted to re-architect the borders for the land of Israel?

Matt VanderVen: We've already established who has the ability to give the land away? God. He's sovereign. Nobody else, no president, as much as we may like Trump or not like Trump, no president or human being has the authority or sovereignty over that land. God Almighty. And so, what are the borders of the land? Because it's what God established, and those are the same borders today. Well, Genesis chapter 13 again, verses 14 through 17 says, "And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, 'Lift your eyes.'"

Matt VanderVen: "'Now look from the place where you are, northward, southward, eastward, and westward. For all the land which you see, I give to you and your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth.'" Do you remember that when we read that? "'So that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. Arise and walk in the land through its length and its width, for I will give it to you.'"

Matt VanderVen: Genesis chapter 15 verses 18 through 21. "On the same day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, 'To your descendants I have given you this land, from the river of Egypt.'" So when we start looking down here, we got the Nile, the river that's going to come way down here. Does Israel own this today? Does Israel occupy this land today? Absolutely not. But did God give them? Yes, He did. He said, "'From what? From the river of Egypt to'"