Thru the Bible - Sunday Sermon

Steve Schwetz: Welcome to the Sunday Sermon on Through the Bible. Our teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, called this message, "Is the Curtain of Prophecy Ready to Go Up in the Near East?" Quite a title, isn't it? Now, although Dr. McGee preached this sermon 50 years ago, I think that we'll find it sounds a lot like what's happening in the Middle East today. It's a timeless message because it's about God and His people. So grab your Bible and open it to Genesis, and that's where we're going to begin today.

While you do, let's take a few moments to praise God for the lives being changed as His Word goes out. First, from a listener in South Korea, we hear this: "Through this teaching, I am very confident that I have been forgiven and saved solely through Jesus Christ's precious blood and the grace of His cross. I now firmly believe in the historical events of Jesus' crucifixion and His resurrection, and I sincerely desire to grow spiritually within this absolute truth. Once again, I express my gratitude for the ministry of this great teaching."

And from Chloe in the US: "I have been on the Bible Bus for 62 years. What a blessing it has been to me. I have learned so much, and I am still learning. I write a Bible lesson for the mothers at an orphanage in Uganda. I use Dr. McGee's commentaries when I am studying for the lessons. It is such a great help. Thank you very much." Well, what a great ministry, Chloe. May God bless you as you share His Word.

To pray with us as we intercede for listeners like these all over the world, why don't you sign up for our world prayer team? It's in our app or over at TTB.org. And if you'd like to share your story, drop us a note through our app or email us at biblebus@ttb.org, or write to Box 7100, Pasadena, California, 91109. In Canada, Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C 6B1. You can also call and leave a voicemail at 1-800-65-BIBLE. We love to play those on the program from time to time. Let's pray.

Father, thank You for Your timeless Word that reaches across generations and borders. Bless Your Word as it goes out and remind us that despite the difficulties in our world, You are still in control. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: We want to speak on a very pertinent subject: is the curtain of prophecy ready to go up in the Near East? This area of the world is the most sensitive spot on topside of the earth, and there is a biblical reason why it is the most sensitive spot. It reveals the fact that here is the place that World War III could start, and will probably start there. Because of that, the entire world today has been shaken by what's taking place over there. It's a sensitive place.

God has said it is the sensitive spot on this earth. He's had a great deal to say about that land. As far as I know, He's said nothing about California. You can't find the United States in the Bible. I know there are those on the radio that talk about the United States in prophecy, and I've offered $100 to anyone who will show me a verse that shows that the United States is in prophecy. So far, I have not had to give the $100. Of course, the second question would be where I'd get it, but the thing is, I do not worry because I do not think that anyone can call for it and get it successfully.

The United States is not in prophecy, but Palestine, Bible lands, the Near East, is in prophecy. In one sense, it is the main theme of prophecy as it relates to this earth. Now, the curtain has not gone up in our day, and I do not believe that it will go up in our day for the very simple reason that as long as the church is in the world, God has given us no unfulfilled prophecy. The next event that He has is the taking out of the church when the Lord calls His own out.

He already has His church on a launching pad, and He's just ready anytime for the countdown. When it will come, no one knows. But a great many believe that because of the fact we are seeing today not a fulfillment of prophecy, but a pattern of prophecy that's being put down, and that the stage is obviously being set today and the accumulation of so many prophecies.

It's interesting that Western Europe is in the position it is, just as the Word of God said, that out of that area is to come a man who is Antichrist, who will put Western Europe back together. No other man's been able to do it; many have tried it. But there is coming a man that'll put Western Europe back together. Russia, the kingdom in the north, is in the exact position God said that it would be in. Egypt is in the position God said that it would be in. And the stirring yonder in the East is as God said that it would be.

It seems to me that we're seeing the setting of the stage. As Dr. Culbertson, the president of Moody Bible Institute, said in a prophetic congress in which he and I participated in the East several years ago, he said if there was just one single event, that would be exciting enough, but it's the accumulation of all of these that makes us believe that we are in the last days.

Now what we have is Israel is the key of prophecy. Palestine is the place where God will move. Now I know that there are those that say, and they say it accurately, that Christ is the key of prophecy. John says that in Revelation 19:10: the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. But tonight, He is at the right hand of God in heaven. He's making intercession for those that are His own. He is not yet moved from that position where He takes the book with the seven seals and begins to direct the affairs on this earth that will bring Him to this earth as the ruler.

Therefore, as far as the earth is concerned, that little land remains the key of prophecy. You can pinpoint, therefore, a place on this earth tonight, and there in the Near East, this that we call today Bible lands. Now I go back tonight to that which is always the starting point. This afternoon, I made two tapes for our Through the Bible program and took in the first part of chapter 12 of Genesis, where I begin tonight. Now will you notice what He says here in the 12th chapter?

This is without doubt a very remarkable passage of scripture. Now the Lord had said unto Abram, "Get thee out of thy country." Now he lived in Ur of the Chaldees, over in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley. "And from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the land that I will show thee." When God called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees, He didn't even tell him where he was going. At that time, He told him nothing about the land that He was going to bring him to. He promised him three things. Not only a land, but "I'll make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great."

God has made that good. The man that is known in this world more than any other man is Abraham. More people have heard of Abraham than any man that's ever lived. Three great religions go back to him, if you want to call Christianity religion: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. All of them call him Father Abraham. He has been known by literally millions of people on this earth down through the centuries, not since the days of Christ, but from 1,900 years on the other side of the coming of Christ to this earth, he's been a famous man. He's been outstanding. God says, "I'll make thy name great," and God's made good.

And then He says, "And thou shalt be a blessing." And we are met here tonight because actually God used this man Abraham to bring into this world the Lord Jesus Christ. The New Testament opens: the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. That's important, my beloved. The New Testament rests upon that statement. So that God promised him three things. Two of those He's made good. The one concerning the land He's not made good, but since God made the others good literally, we have every reason to believe and the reasonable conclusion is God will make that good, and that land is to be his as an eternal possession.

Now if you have any doubts as to what He meant by that land, you turn over to the 15th chapter of Genesis, verse 18. The Lord put a border around it, and you don't have to guess what He's talking about. In the same day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram saying, "Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt"—and that's a little river down by the Sinaitic Peninsula—"from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates."

Now the river Euphrates is the border of the nation Israel. They have never occupied that land in toto. They have never occupied over 30% of the land. Even in the days of David and the days of Solomon, when the kingdom reached its zenith, only then did they occupy 30% of the land. They've never occupied all of it, but God made a covenant with Abraham that He'd give him that land.

I'll not turn to the passage, but over in the first chapter of Joshua, verse three, God again put down the borders. He said to Joshua, "I'm putting you in the land. It's all yours, but you will have to take it. Every place the sole of your foot shall rest upon, I've given you that. But here are the borders." And God again put down the borders. Euphrates River, the River of Egypt, and all the way into the north to the Hittite country. That Hittite kingdom, history now knows how important that Hittite kingdom was, taking most of Asia Minor. He went all the way. God says, "I push you all the way into that area." A tremendous amount of territory, by the way, not just that little portion that they occupy today.

Now may I say that this is the land, and as you move through the Word of God again and again, He talks to them about that land. In the 25th chapter of the book of Leviticus, the Lord had something to say about the basis on which they're entering the land and the way in which it actually was there. This is one of the remarkable passages of scripture that's ordinarily overlooked. I'm turning to Leviticus 25:23 and 24. "The land shall not be sold forever: for the land is mine."

God never permitted an individual Israelite to sell a parcel of land permanently. He never let that happen. In fact, God had certain laws that it always would revert back to the original owner. In fact, that was the meaning of the Year of Jubilee. All land, all mortgages are canceled, and the land reverted to the original owner because God said, "I'm not only giving it to the nation, and I'm not only apportioning it according to the tribes, but actually to each family He gave a certain portion of that land."

But He said, "I want you to understand one thing: the land really is mine." Tonight, my friend, you're breathing His air. Man's put the smog in it; God didn't. You're breathing His air, and you're using His sunshine, and you're walking on His ground. Don't tell me you don't owe Him something. May I say that you and I, the Lord says, "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof."

Now He says to Israel, "This is yours, but I want you to understand one thing: the land is mine, it's not to be sold forever, for ye are strangers and sojourners with me. And in all the land of your possession, ye shall grant a redemption for the land." Now God, after He got them into the wilderness and after they became a nation, He didn't do this with Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob, although He reaffirmed the fact He was giving to this people the land.

But then God made a covenant with these people. It's called the Palestinian Covenant. I'd like to turn to it. I do not want to be tedious, but I want to read this covenant because it's very important. I believe this is the Word of God. I take it literally, and I want to say that if you can't take this literally, then you're going to have trouble with John 3:16, taking it literally. I believe John 3:16 is literal, that when He said God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that God did and that He loves the world, and that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

That's a covenant God's made with this world today. God says if you'll trust My Son, I'll save you. I don't care what your argument is; God says I'll do it, and it rests upon Him. It rests upon the fact He's made the covenant. He's the one that said it. The question is, will you believe God or not believe God?

Now the nation Israel believed God relative to this. I'm reading this covenant. "It shall come to pass when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse." Now God recited their history. Even before He put them in the land, He told them what was going to happen to them as we shall see. Now He says, "which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee." He told them they'd be scattered throughout the world.

"And shalt return unto the Lord thy God, shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart and with all thy soul; that then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations." He can't return to gather them unless He's been here the first time. He came the first time 1,900 years ago, and He says to them way back here, "I'll return and I'll gather thee from the all the nations whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee. If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee. And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, multiply thee above thy fathers.

"And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. And the Lord thy God would put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee. And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the Lord, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day. And the Lord thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, in the fruit of thy cattle, in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the Lord will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers."

Now may I say that that is a wonderful covenant that God has made with these people. God has never reneged on it, He's never canceled it out, and He's never changed it. It's the covenant that He made with him. Now He told them that when He put them in the land the first time, He says, "If you sin and disobey Me, I put you out of the land, but it'll still be your land."

Now we find that that is mentioned. I turn to the 28th chapter of the book of Deuteronomy and verses 63 and let me read these two verses. "And it shall come to pass as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, to multiply you; so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone.

"And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind." Every Jew today knows that antisemitism is a scourge that they are frightened of, and they know that it can pass over this earth like a plague as it has done time and time again. God says, "This is a judgment that'll come upon you. And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life."

Now God made it very clear to them. "I'm giving you the land, it'll be an eternal possession of yours, but when you go into possess it, your obedience to Me will determine your occupancy of it at the time." Now God predicted, therefore, that these people would go into the land, disobey Him, be put out. Actually, there are three dispersions predicted, and there are three regatherings predicted also in the Word of God. May I mention those?

The first one that is predicted is the one in Egypt where they became a nation. And when God deals with them, He has a way of using dates and figures. When He's talking to the church, He has no dates or figures. In fact, the matter is, you and I are in a time capsule today in which God gives no dates at all. We living in the time when it's the imminent coming of Christ.

Somebody says, "Well, the early church looked for Him and they were wrong." No, they weren't wrong. They were told to look for Him. He could have come any moment; He can come today. And we do well to look for Him to come. That's to be the attitude of the believer, is looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior.

Now when He deals with Israel, God will deal with dates. And so when He put them down in the land of Egypt, He had something definite to say. Will you listen to this? He said unto Abram, "Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that's not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years. And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age."

Now that's Abraham. He was told that this nation that was to come from him would be 400 years, and they went down into the land of Egypt for 400 years. But God says they're coming out of that; I'll bring them out of that land and bring them into this land. Now may I say to you that God made that good literally. He carried it out exactly according to His Word. Then you will find that God predicted the Babylonian captivity. And you will find that He said to them that they were to go into Babylonian captivity.

And very interesting thing that way back here, in the 28th chapter of the book of Deuteronomy, you have that mentioned. In fact, we'll see that not only here, but you have the entire history of these people given in this section. I can't go through this chapter; it's a long one. But it's interesting, first of all, He says in verse 36—and let me just lift this verse out—"The Lord shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone."

God sent the children of Israel, they kept going into idolatry again and again and again, and God sent them down to Babylon to take the gold cure. He sent them down to the fountainhead of idolatry, because Babylon was the fountainhead, the center of idolatry. And the interesting thing, when they came out of Babylonian captivity, they never have been afflicted with idolatry. They really got the cure down there: 70 years of it.

And God sent them down there into slavery. Not only is that predicted here, but you turn over to Jeremiah who prophesied at that particular time, and I tell you, he put it right on the line. He says to them in the 25th chapter, verses 11, "And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. And it shall come to pass when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, I will make it perpetual desolations."

You go over and look at it today and see how accurate God is. That fertile valley is still the most fertile valley and fertile spot there is on topside of this earth. In those days, they never planted grain; they just went out and harvested it, it grew. It was one of the most fertile spots. You go look at it today. That city of Babylon that was a city that was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, it went down, and I mean it went down in miserable defeat, and it disappeared. And all you see there are the ruins of this great city.

Jeremiah said these people, My people, are going into captivity 70 years. Not 71 and not 69, but 70 years. And when Daniel was down in the land of Babylon, he read in Jeremiah, he read this passage of scripture, and he says, "I know the time is near," and he went to God in prayer. God told him yes, they're going to return back to the land. But He made it very clear to Daniel, because Daniel says, "Whoopee, this is it! We'll have the—the Messiah will come then. We go back to the land."

But God says, "Daniel, I'm sorry, but there are seventy weeks determined against your people." 490 years must run, and 483 of it'll bring you to Messiah and He'll be cut off. My friend, you're dealing with a God that deals with dates when He's dealing with these people here. You're dealing with geography, if you please, and it's that little land. No wonder it's a sensitive spot because God has a tremendous program in the future for this particular land.

Now, they went into Babylonian captivity. They were also to go into the Roman captivity. And you read again over in the 28th of Deuteronomy, dropping down now to verse 48. Let me read this. "Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies, which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things." Read Josephus' account of Titus taking Jerusalem in 70 AD and see whether there was hunger and thirst. Mothers ate their own babes.

"And in want of all things; and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck." And it was Titus who gutted the slave market of Roman Empire with Jews, selling them on the slave market. They were the ones who built that tremendous Coliseum of Titus that's yonder in Rome today. "And he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee. The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth"—that is from the West—"as swift as the eagle."

And I want to tell you many a pious Israelite, he looked over the walls and saw the banners of Rome with the eagle on it. They knew that what Moses had written so many years ago was now being literally fulfilled. "As swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand." And I got great sympathy, and I'm glad the Lord said it's a tongue that's difficult to understand. I studied Latin four years, and I—that's all I want of it. I want to tell you that's a difficult language.

God says it's a language you won't understand, and it's interesting that the language of the Roman Empire was Greek; it was never Latin. Latin is difficult. It was a garbled tongue. If there's a Latin teacher here tonight, forgive me, but Greek is the language to study. It's the language of beauty and poetry and actually of mathematics. And Latin's a miserable thing, but they lured me into it. And I'm glad God said this about that language. He says whose tongue thou shalt not understand, and I never understood it either, and I'm glad He said it just like He said it, if you please.

May I say to you, you want to know how this was fulfilled? You go yonder to Jerusalem and watch the Lord Jesus as He comes up to Jerusalem on the last time. And as He comes around in that triumphal entry, and He came in three times, and on that third time, when He turned around the hill coming from Bethany and looked at that city, it says He wept over it. Why did He weep over it? He said, "Your house is left unto you desolate, and you'll never see Me again until you say, 'Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.'"

And these disciples, His own disciples, they came to Him and said, "What do You mean desolate? Look at this temple, how glorious it is." He said, "Did you know there'll not be one stone left upon another? All of it is to be tumbled down." May I say to you, Titus comes in 70 AD. You got more different kinds of stones than you've ever seen in your life. When they put that wall back, they got stones from everywhere. Why? They'd all been thrown down.

I tell you, my friend, it was literally fulfilled. Our Lord said—and they asked Him, "When shall this be?" In Luke you find it recorded. He says, "When you shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, you'll know it's nigh." And many of them who heard Him there that day saw that take place, because it was just a few years later in 70 AD, and then those people were scattered. And from that, they have never returned. They'll be back in the land in the Great Tribulation, only a remnant. But the return that the scripture talks about is for the Millennium. At the beginning of the Millennium, they're to be back in that land.

And somebody says, "Yes, but isn't that little nation today a fulfillment?" No, sir, I do not think so, although the scripture makes it clear for the Great Tribulation they are a remnant back in the land, and they'll actually have a temple, and I believe they are going to build a temple. But is there any prophecy today that's being fulfilled? I don't think so. But if there is any that is even suggestive, it's over in the 37th chapter of Ezekiel, where you will recall is that story of the valley of dead bones.

And there's quite a song about those bones, and the only thing the song is quite inaccurate. God made it very clear; He says there, "These bones are the whole house of Israel." And I don't see how in the world you can say there's something else when it's plain as it possibly can be. He says these bones are the whole house of Israel. They're in three stages. When Ezekiel was told to go there and speak to them, he said they're scattered and they're dry and they're very dead.

And God asked him, "Ezekiel, can these bones live?" And Ezekiel says, "As far as I'm concerned, they can't." God says, "Talk to them." And I think Ezekiel says, "You mean You want me to talk to a bunch of dead bones? Pretty silly, isn't it? Be just like going out to Forest Lawn tonight and giving a sermon." I've given enough today; I don't think I'm going out; maybe one of you fellows would like to go out there this evening.

May I say, dead bones? And actually, and I don't want to offend anyone, but if you're an unsaved person here tonight, you are dead in trespasses and sins and you really can't hear a thing I'm saying unless the Spirit of God opens your heart. Have you ever noticed Billy Graham always says, "You got little ears on your heart?" Well, you don't really have literal ears there, but my friend, the Spirit of God will have to be the one to speak to you when you're dead in trespasses and sins.

And so Ezekiel is told, "Speak to these bones." And he spoke, and the bones came together and flesh came upon them, and then he had a morgue on his hands. Just a bunch of dead bones, a morgue. That's the second stage. Now the third is: they're not alive yet. He says to them, "Say to the wind now, 'Come wind, breathe into these bones.'" And the wind came, and life came into this—these that were corpses.

Now God says this is the whole house of Israel. Three stages. They were scattered for 2,500 years. They were scattered throughout the world. Then all of a sudden they go back to the land, just a remnant of them, but more are back there tonight than were back there in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. A great many more. Less than 60,000 went then; two million are there tonight. And for the first time in 2,500 years, they're a nation in a very precarious position, if you please.

Now if any prophecy is being fulfilled in my judgment, the bones today are a corpse. They've come together and you've got a corpse, but you don't have life because there's no spiritual life there at all in that nation that has gone back. But you do have a corpse now. They've got a flag, they've got a government of their own, and they've got an army of their own. Israel has, for the size of its army, probably the best trained army that's on the earth tonight, because they know that they're in grave and serious danger.

Now that's the way the little land came into existence in 1947 or '48 when the United Nations recognized them. It was Mark Twain who, when he visited the Holy Land, summed up his impressions in these words: "Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes, desolate and unlovely. It's a hopeless, dreary, heartbroken land, and why should it be otherwise? Can the curse of the deity beautify a land? Palestine is no more of this workaday world; it is sacred to poetry and tradition. It's dreamland."

But it's more than dreamland tonight; it is reality. And when Dr. Theodore Herzl was making his plea years ago in the Zionist movement to try to get the land, this was his battle cry: "There is a land without a people. There is a people without a land. Give the land without a people to the people without a land." That is exactly what the United Nations tried to do.

Dr. Weizmann, who was the first president of Israel, when he was speaking to the Anglo-American Commission of Inquiry, he says the Jewish nation is a ghost nation; only the God of Israel has kept the Jewish people alive. And Ben-Gurion, when he was premier, he said Ezekiel 37 has been fulfilled and the nation of Israel is hearing the footsteps of the Messiah. I disagree with him: Ezekiel 37 is not being fulfilled, but it's amazing what's happened even in our day.

Here are some figures. During the 32 years from 1882 to 1914, Palestine absorbed only 2% of the vast wave of Jews migrating overseas. From 1919 to 1931, Palestine absorbed 15% of Jewish migration. From 1932 to 1947, however, between 50 and 60% of all Jewish migration reached the shores of Eretz Israel. And this man Ben-Gurion—and I'd like to read this, to me this was when I clipped this several years ago was one of the most amazing statements I ever heard.

Ben-Gurion is the kind of man who provokes strong reactions. He's a man nobody can talk to, reason with, or deal with, says Jordan's Education Minister, Awni Abdel-Hadi. Admirers call him another Churchill. Others, like one State Department official, consider him the most dangerous man in the Middle East—and obviously he was not as revealed by what's happened since he's been out of office.

Ben-Gurion is not a full man, says Sheikh Farouki, leader of the Arab refugees in Jericho. He's a poet, not a man of facts. He wanted to build a new nation by raiding cemeteries and making a people from the bones of history. That's what Ezekiel said. He beat him to it. Ezekiel said that is exactly what would happen. A nation scattered as these people have been scattered would come back together again.

And then if I have the statement here, I want to read to you probably one of the most amazing statements of all. Dr. William F. Albright is a Gentile, and for years he was professor of Semitic languages in Johns Hopkins University. Several men today got their PhD degree under Dr. William Albright. When he was speaking at the Jewish Seminary in New York City several years ago, here's what he said. Now you listen to this man; you're not listening to just a fundamentalist preacher now. Listen to this.

"It's without parallel in the annals of human history that a nation carried into captivity for seventy years should return to resume its national life. That after nearly 600 years, this same nation should again be scattered worldwide for nearly 2,000 years and retain its identity, and that this people should then return to rebuild its ancient homeland and achieve statehood among the family of nations."

Now he's not through. Will you listen to him? "Many non-prophetic souls, of whom I was one, declared that such a thing was impossible. And yet we've seen it. Since the words of the Old Testament prophets have been literally fulfilled, we should expect the remainder of their predictions concerning the nation Israel likewise to be fulfilled." And then Dr. Albright went on to say elsewhere, not there at this Jewish Seminary, he said, "This is what made a believer out of me."

He said, "I had always ridiculed the fundamentals, but when this took place, I recognized we're dealing with a book that could have only a divine origin for these things to take place." Now I have many other very interesting clippings, but I want to give just one in conclusion. And you probably noticed that Mr. Agnon, Shmuel Yosef Agnon, he won the Nobel Prize for literature.

And when he went to Stockholm to receive it, he concluded his talk with this most unusual statement. And I'm quoting, "Before concluding, I would say a brief prayer. He who giveth wisdom unto the wise and salvation unto kings, may he increase your wisdom beyond measure and exalt your sovereign in his days and in ours, made Judah be redeemed and Israel dwell in safety. May the redeemer come to Zion. May the earth be filled with knowledge and eternal joy for all who dwell therein. And may they enjoy much peace. May all this be God's will. Amen."

When you read on from Ezekiel 37, you read Ezekiel 38 and 39, and there is a power in the north, identified by one of the greatest Hebrew scholars in the past as the modern nation of Russia, that would come down in the end times against this little nation. Isn't it interesting that now all the commentators are saying that the present problem is not really in Egypt, but it's in Moscow tonight? That it is Russia that's doing the agitation.

And one of the things God said concerning that power in the north, He says, "I'll put hooks in your jaws and bring you down." And He'll bring them down at the right time, and I don't think they can move until God's ready to bring them down. And you know what the hooks in the jaws are? The oil is there. That's one of the baits that's on the hook. There are others there. The chemicals that's in that Dead Sea is worth a king's ransom, but it's the oil. And it takes oil today to grease the modern civilization that we have.

And there's more oil tonight in the Middle East than there is in the state of Texas. And for a Texan to say that is quite an admission, but that's where the oil is: it's in that land. And Russia must have it. Lord Beverley, when he was in this country several years ago, he visited General Douglas MacArthur, who was then staying in the Waldorf-Astoria Towers. When he came down, newsmen were waiting for him, and they wanted to interview him. He did not want to stay, but he did answer a few questions. He wanted to know what they talked about.

He says, "Naturally, we talked about Russia." And they asked him—it was that time they were having trouble at the Berlin Wall—"Do you believe Russia will move in that direction?" He says, "Absolutely not. General Douglas MacArthur and I agree that Russia's move will not be to the east, nor to the west, but Russia's move must be to the south." May I say to you everything since then has borne out that fact, that Russia will move to the south.

We are not seeing the fulfillment of prophecy, but isn't it interesting there's a people back in the land? Something that made a PhD who makes PhDs in Johns Hopkins say, "It made a believer out of me." May I say to you tonight, God intends to bring those people back in His way and His day to that land. He says, "Blindness in part is happened to Israel until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled."

And the times of the Gentiles will run all the way through the Great Tribulation period because the Gentiles will be in control of this earth until Jesus Christ comes back to take it. God took the scepter out of the line of David when they failed; He took it over and put it into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, and He's been passing that around like a baton, and it's been passed from nation to nation. And down I'm not sure but what we have it tonight, and it's a hot poker we are holding tonight, but it's been that which has ruled this earth.

God says it'll be in the hands of Gentiles until I come. And when I come, I'll put it into the hands that have been nail-pierced. And God's moving on that kind of a program. And what's happening over there tonight's interesting, it's exciting. I don't think we're seeing the fulfillment of prophecy, but isn't it a marvelous setting of a stage if God is getting ready to move? But He hasn't said He was. He can move in His own good time.

You see, God's got eternity ahead of Him. I honestly don't have much time ahead of me, but He's got eternity. If I was running it tonight, I'd have to move in a hurry, but God does not have to move in a hurry. He can take His own good time, and He's moving. He says, "I'll turn and turn and over-turn until He come whose right it is to rule." And in the meantime He says, "I'm calling out a people, a people to My name."

In a world in rebellion against Me, I'm saying to men and women that I've given a free will to, you have an opportunity to bow to Me. There is coming a day when every knee must bow and every tongue confess, but today you can make Him your Savior and you can make Him your Lord.

Steve Schwetz: How much better it would be to bow your knee to Him now, rather than wait till you face Him as judge. As Dr. McGee said, you can make Him your Savior and you can make Him your Lord. If you'd like to know more about this important decision, click on "How Can I Know God" in our app or at TTB.org. There we've gathered several free resources by Dr. McGee that'll help you understand the gift of salvation that God offers every one of us. Or if you'd prefer to receive a few by mail, call us: 1-800-65-BIBLE is the number.

Now, before we go, a quick reminder not to miss Dr. McGee's daily teaching on Through the Bible. The Bible Bus is rolling through one of the greatest books of prophecy: Revelation. To listen online, download our app, or see if your local radio station carries it, visit TTB.org. I'm Steve Schwetz, and on behalf of the Through the Bible family worldwide, I want to say thank you for your prayer support and for traveling together with us through this great five-year study through the Bible. And as we close, I leave you with this blessing from Colossians 3: "Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which you also were called in one body, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."

Join us each weekday for our five-year daily study through the whole Word of God. Check for times on this station or look for Through the Bible in your favorite podcast store, and always at TTB.org.