The Watchman’s Call

Guest (Male): Standing at the intersection of the word and the world, there is a clear sound for uncertain times. Welcome to The Watchman's Call. Join us as we stand on the ramparts of scripture to examine the intersection of biblical prophecy and modern culture. The headlines are changing, but the blueprint has already been written. Listen as Pastor Andy Woods uncovers the prophetic significance of the world we live in. The Watchman's Call starts now.

Dr. Andy Woods: Howdy everybody, I want to welcome you to a brand new mini-series on our show. Here we're talking about the mystery of antisemitism. What I mean by antisemitism is the source of antisemitism, the energy behind antisemitism, where antisemitism ultimately comes from. Even before we begin, we need to define what antisemitism is. I'm going to offer, if I could, the following definition. Antisemitism is an irrational and trans-generational hatred for the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

You don't have to look far in our modern world to see examples of antisemitism. You think of the regime in Iran that chants regularly "Death to the little Satan, Israel" and "Death to the great Satan, the United States of America." We can look back just a few decades to the World War II era with the wicked and diabolical Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust and his plot to exterminate the Jews, where he through the Holocaust was able to kill six million Jews.

Then, of course, there are all kinds of antisemitic things happening even in our own culture. We see being elected in some cases people to some very high offices that really don't have any real room in their mind or their heart for the modern state of Israel. They think that the modern state of Israel perhaps is an illegitimate state. Then what's been shocking over the course of time is watching the Right, the political Right in many cases turn on the nation of Israel. Many influential podcasters are now making the case that if you think America should stand with the Jewish people at all or offer them any kind of deference or military support, you're no longer interested in "America First." These are things that we're seeing everywhere.

One of the most shocking examples of antisemitism in our world comes from one of my heroes, someone that I admire and look up to, one of the greats of the Protestant Reformation going back to the 16th century, a man named Martin Luther. He did great things in terms of the Protestant Reformation and restoring to Christendom, Christianity, the various solas: sola scriptura (scripture alone), sola fide (faith alone), sola gratia (grace alone), sola Christus (Christ alone), and sola Deo gloria (to the glory of God alone). These are all famous Latin phrases that we use today in the church world that we wouldn't be honoring or respecting the way we do had it not been for the influence of the great church Protestant reformer Martin Luther.

But it has been documented by many historians the man had a dark side. Towards the end of his life, he wrote a tract about 80 pages long called "The Jews and Their Lies." Of course, we can all misspeak in sermons. I've certainly done that on occasion, and when I've done that I've tried to go back and make a correction. But when you're writing something down, it's more calm, cool, reflective, and deliberative.

He went on and on again against the Jewish people. He became very frustrated with the Jews because they did not come into his church in droves when he offered them salvation by faith alone in Christ alone. He spent the end of his life in an 80-page tract lashing out against the Jewish people. Here are some of the things that he wrote: "First, their synagogues should be set on fire. Second, their homes should likewise be broken down and destroyed. Thirdly, they should be deprived of their Talmuds and prayer books. Fourthly, their rabbis must be forbidden under threat of death to teach anymore. Fifthly, passport and traveling privileges should be forbidden to the Jews. Sixthly, they ought to be stopped from usury," which simply means charging interest on loans.

"Seventhly, let the young and strong Jews and Jewesses be given the flail, the axe, the hoe, the spade, the distaff, and the spindle. Let them earn their bread by the sweat of their noses. We ought to drive their rascally lazy bones out of our system. Therefore, away with them. To sum up, dear princes and nobles who have Jews in your domains, if this advice of mine does not suit you, then find a better one so that you and we may be free of this insufferable devilish burden, the Jews."

I don't think it's an accident that Adolf Hitler later in history called Martin Luther his favorite theologian and actually in his "Mein Kampf" cited Martin Luther a few times. It's almost as if Luther in that tract laid down the protocol for Hitler's later Holocaust. Unfortunately, Martin Luther is not the only church reformer to move in this direction. Here's another one that has done a lot of good, but he certainly had a dark side. His name is John Calvin. In his commentary on the book of Daniel, he writes: "God so blinded the whole people that they were like restive dogs. I have had much conversation with many Jews. I have never seen either a drop of piety or a grain of truth or ingenuousness. Nay, I have never found common sense in any Jew."

Could you imagine making that kind of statement against any ethnic group at all? You would be obviously and rightfully criticized for racism. Yet this kind of thing flowed very freely from the pen of Martin Luther and John Calvin, and that's in spite of the good things that those men accomplished. Here is a statement from Yasir Qadhi. Some may recognize that name. He's building a fairly large Islamic enclave in the Plano, Texas area. I found this quote of his when he was functioning as a scholar within Islam as he was living in the Tennessee area at the time.

Yasir Qadhi says this: "As for 80 to 90 percent of the Jews in our times, they are Ashkenazi, Russians. Look at them. White, crooked noses, blond hair. This is not the descendants of Jacob. They are not a Semitic people. Look at them. They don't look like Semites and they are not Semites. Hitler," he says, "never intended to mass destroy the Jews. There are a number of books out there written by Christians on this. You should read them, 'The Hoax of the Holocaust.' I advise you to read this book. You may want to write this down, 'The Hoax of the Holocaust,' a very good book. All of this is false propaganda, and I know it sounds so far-fetched, these theories, but read it. The evidences are strong and they're talking about newspaper articles and clippings, everything and you can look up for yourself what Hitler really wanted to do. But what the Jews, the way they portray him also is not correct."

He's basically, if not a Holocaust denier, he is what we would call a Holocaust marginalizer. I just share with you these quotes to demonstrate that we see antisemitism in recent history. We see antisemitism, the irrational hatred trans-generationally for the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We see it in our world. What we're trying to get to in this particular series is where does this mindset and this philosophy ultimately come from? One of the things I'd like to communicate in this series is this type of mentality and antisemitic energy and philosophy is not ultimately sourced in the human mind, but it comes from the fallen angelic world.

The interesting thing about the Bible is it has a tendency to pull back the veil and show you the invisible angelic conflict and the invisible spiritual world. There are a number of Bible passages which we can look at which show us that all around us there's something called the invisible war. There's a war going on between Satan and his angels and God and His angels, good angels and fallen angels. What is happening in that conflict is influencing, pressuring if you will, events in our physical world. In other words, events in our physical world that we can see are oftentimes influenced by the invisible angelic conflict that we cannot see.

You don't have to look long and hard in scripture to see evidence of this spiritual warfare. You might recall the book of Job chapter 1 and verse 12. It says, "Then the Lord said to Satan, 'Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him.' So Satan departed from the presence of the Lord." You know the story of the book of Job, how Job lost everything and came within an inch of his life. He lost his health, lost his wealth, lost most of his family, and it had to do with a conversation between God and Satan in the heavenly places that Job knew nothing about.

I'm reminded of 2 Kings chapter 6 verses 15 through 17 where the servant is very nervous and Elisha prays that the servant's eyes would be opened and he could see the invisible spiritual conflict. In the process of that disclosure, the statement is made, "There are more that are with us than those that are with them." Just for a moment, his eyes were opened and he could see the invisible spiritual realm and he saw the horses and the chariots all on the mountainside protecting God's people. That's another example of this invisible spiritual war.

I'm reminded of 1 Chronicles chapter 21 and verse 1 where David had an ambition to number the troops of Israel, something that displeased the Lord, and it was actually the devil or Satan that put that idea into David's mind. I'm reminded of passages like Daniel chapter 10 verses 12 and 13 and verse 20 where Daniel was praying to the Lord for a final vision for Israel's future. That prayer request was not answered for three weeks or 21 days because the angel that was dispatched from heaven to answer Daniel's prayer request was being resisted by a fallen angel. There was a fallen angel over Persia, later we read there was a fallen angel over Greece, and the two actually had conflict in the heavenly places for 21 days or three weeks. That's why Daniel's prayer request was postponed for that time period.

I'm reminded of passages like Matthew chapter 16 verses 21 through 23 where Peter had an idea to talk Jesus out of going to the cross and Jesus looked at Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan." I'm reminded of passages like Luke 22 verses 31 and 32 where Jesus says to Peter, "Simon, Simon, Satan has requested permission to sift you as wheat." I'm reminded of passages like Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 12, which tell us that we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and rulers of this dark world. All of that to say as introduction to the material that we're going to be moving into, there is a reality of spiritual warfare.

There are events happening in our physical world constantly that are dictated by events happening in the invisible spiritual conflict and realm that we cannot see. What I hope to convince you of by the time that we're finished with this series is that's where antisemitism or a philosophy of antisemitism comes from. It's sourced in the fallen, satanic, demonic, angelic realm. The interesting thing about the devil is he has a playbook. He has schemes, he has strategies. This is what Paul the Apostle said in 2 Corinthians 2 verse 11. He wrote, "So that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes."

What is a scheme? A scheme is a strategy. It's a tactic. We use tactics constantly. There are retirement strategies, marketing strategies, in the area of military service there are military strategies. What we have to understand is the devil has strategies, he has tactics that he uses. I remember back in my basketball days playing basketball in high school and then later college, before a big game we would be watching tapes of the other team playing, recordings, visuals. The reason is we were trying to learn their strategies. Who are their best shooters? Who are their best inside players? What kind of defense do they run? Is it man-to-man, is it a zone defense? Do they full-court press, do they half-court trap? The better you understand the other side's strategies, the better your chances of winning the basketball game.

I'm quite afraid of the fact that within modern-day Christianity, we are unlike what Paul writes here and exhorts us to do; we're quite ignorant of Satan's strategies and Satan's schemes. All of that is introduction for what we're going to start to look at in this series, which is a verse-by-verse teaching through the book of Revelation chapter 12. As we go through Revelation chapter 12 together, you'll clearly see the source of antisemitism. Satan has two strategies. The first strategy is a past strategy revolving around the first advent of Jesus, a strategy that has failed.

Now that that strategy has been exhausted, Satan now and in the future moves into strategy number two, which is described in verses 6 through 17 of Revelation 12, which is a strategy he's using today. It's a strategy revolving around the second advent or the second coming of Jesus Christ, and it's this second strategy as you learn it, you start to see where the source of antisemitism comes from. One of the things that we're going to see in this chapter is that Satan believes in preemptive strikes. A preemptive strike is the idea where I'm going to take out you before you take out me. Satan sees a threat and he tries to neutralize the threat or destroy the threat before the threat can reach its potential.

As we examine these strategies together and they're clearly unveiled right here in Revelation chapter 12, we will clearly see where the source of antisemitism comes from. So with all of that being said, let's jump right in and let's look at, first of all, the past strategy of Satan which has failed. Notice if you will Revelation chapter 12 and notice if you will verses 1 through 5. John writes, "And a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed in the sun and the moon under her feet and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. And she was with child and she cried out being in labor to give birth.

And another sign was seen in heaven and behold a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns and upon his head seven diadems. And his tail swept a third of the stars out of heaven and did cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman that was about to give birth so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. And she gave birth to a son, a male child who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, and her child was caught up to God and His throne."

What we've just read there is a history lesson. It's a history lesson about the first coming of Christ. But this is no ordinary history lesson. This is a history lesson narrated from the perspective of the fallen angelic conflict. This is a history lesson from the angelic perspective. What we have run into here are three characters. First is the Son (S-O-N) to be distinguished from the sun (S-U-N) given a little earlier in the paragraph. You'll see the Son (S-O-N) in verse 5. The second character that we run into here is the dragon. You'll notice there's a reference to the dragon there in verse 3. Then the third character that we run into here is the woman. This woman is clothed with the sun and the moon and the twelve stars under her feet.

Notice that this particular paragraph has the expression "sign." It's a translation from the Greek word "semeion." You'll notice in verse 1 it says "a great sign appeared in heaven," and then you'll go over to verse 3 and it says "another sign was seen in heaven." This becomes a clue regarding how to interpret or how to handle this kind of literature in the scripture. Generally when you approach the Bible, even things in the book of Revelation, you want to take things in a straightforward literal manner.

However, there are times where the Bible wants to be understood not literally but symbolically. We know that those instances arise and arrive because there's some kind of literary clue within the text itself telling us that the language here is meant to be understood symbolically. That's what we have here in Revelation chapter 12 verses 1 through 5. We have three symbols. In fact, what we have here is the most symbolic chapter, Revelation chapter 12, in the most symbolic book of the entire Bible, the book of Revelation.

When we hit symbols like this, how do we interpret such symbolism? How do we know the referent behind the symbol? How do we know what the symbols mean? Let me share with you two simple rules, and if you can employ these rules consistently, you'll be able to decipher and discover every symbol in the book of Revelation. The first rule is search the immediate context. There are 26 times in the book of Revelation where the symbol interprets itself. In other words, it'll give a symbol and then a little bit later it'll tell you what the symbol means.

If that doesn't work, the second way to interpret the symbol is to study the Old Testament. The book of Revelation is very interesting. There's 404 verses in it. 278 of the 404 verses are references or allusions back into the Old Testament. The book of Revelation very interestingly does not have any quotes from the Old Testament, but it does have allusions or references to the Old Testament, and in 278 of Revelation's 404 verses there are references to the Old Testament.

So if the immediate context does not interpret the symbol for us, then one of the things that we need to do is we need to go backward in time and we need to search the Old Testament to ascertain where a certain symbol is used in the Old Testament. As we use those two strategies, and we'll pick it up on our next show together, we'll be able to understand and we'll be able to see what these symbols represent and we'll be able to see what antisemitism is all about. I'm looking forward to walking through this with you together as we take a look at the mystery or the source of antisemitism. God bless you and I'll see you then.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to The Watchman's Call, exploring the intersection of prophecy and culture. This program is a ministry of Sugar Land Bible Church, a place where the Bible is taught and the times are discerned. Visit this Sunday in person or connect with them anytime at slbc.org. That's slbc.org. Until next time, may the Lord give you a spirit of discernment in the week ahead.