[0:00] You'll probably have to turn me up louder than you have for us, that's for sure. So, last week we started a study, and let me take you back to where we started that study, if you will. Find in your Bible Romans 11.
[0:13] Romans 11, we'll quickly review the starting point, or the jump off. All right, Romans chapter 11, and we read a few verses here, and just drew out something that the Apostle Paul says.
[0:40] We'll probably, Lord willing, come back to this chapter a few times tonight, even. So, verse number 11, Paul says, I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall, speaking of the nation of Israel?
[0:53] God forbid, but rather, through their fall, salvation is coming to the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now, if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more, and here's the two words, their fullness.
[1:11] How much more their fullness is a question. And considering what God has allowed through the fall of Israel, allowing his grace, and just pouring out abundantly in mercy to you and I, Gentile, outcast, dogs, as Christ said, and to allow that, us to consider what God has done in their fall, Paul says, are you even thinking about what it's going to be like when he brings them back?
[1:39] What is it going to be like? What is their fullness going to be? What he says in verse 15 is, And so when God finishes what he started with the nation of Israel, I hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man.
[2:01] And that's Paul's words to us, but how true it is to them. We began looking into the scriptures of the Old Testament to see what it's going to be, what that, the phrase kingdom of heaven in Matthew, the term, the regeneration in Matthew, the term in Acts, the restitution of all things, and the term, the times of refreshing, also known as the world to come.
[2:29] And what we saw, we're going to see over the next several weeks, and beyond whenever we get to wrap this all up, we're going to see four parts here, that what their fullness entails.
[2:40] And the first part we looked at last week, it is the return of the Lord, as in the literal return of God to this earth, him coming back and taking over this planet.
[2:51] And what we saw was it'll be the revelation of the glory of God when he returns, and every eye shall see him, and his glory will shine. And we saw the scriptures, and we stayed through Isaiah and went to passage after passage describing his glory, and it being, you couldn't miss it, what the revelation of the glory of God is.
[3:12] We also saw then the return of the Lord is going to be the recompensing, or the repayment of the wicked, when God pays them back for their treatment of Israel, for their wickedness.
[3:23] And we saw scripture to back that up, plenty of it. If you remember, I think that one we spent the most time on. The return of the Lord is also going to be the removal of the man of sin.
[3:36] That one that sat in the temple, and showed himself to be God, he's got to go. And the Lord Jesus Christ, who's going to destroy him, and remove him himself. And it'll be the removal of the man of sin, where he's cast in Revelation 20, into a bottomless pit, and there's a long chain.
[3:53] And then finally, we studied and saw that the return of the Lord is also going to encompass the rebuke of the nations. And Jesus Christ is going to sit everybody down, and tell them, this is no longer, all of your weapons of warfare, are going to be turned into instruments, not of cruelty anymore, but instruments you're going to have work to do.
[4:14] And this earth is going to be putting out, and we're going to see that in the weeks to come. So it starts with point number one, the return of the Lord, their fullness. Secondly, this week will begin, it is the restoration of the nation of Israel.
[4:31] The restoration of Israel. We'll see in several points, what this encompasses as well. Remember me quoting last week. What are we going to do about that?
[4:45] I'm going to put out spike strip or something out there. What can we do? We talked, somebody I talked to just yesterday, was it, or two days ago, about putting a wall up. But I thought, that doesn't really, not very inviting, put a big wall up there.
[4:59] Yeah. The restoration of Israel, point number two. And I told you about how the hearts of the heathen melted when they heard of them coming back in the day.
[5:09] And that's that nation. That's the same one that's going to be restored to their place, to where, as we'll see in the future, the nations of the world will have to come to them for blessing. God said from the beginning, I will bless them that bless thee.
[5:22] And he actually said, of thee, through Abraham, shall all nations of the earth be blessed. But it's going to come through this one particular name. We're talking about their fullness. And I'm trying to, from the beginning, last week, I tried to express that, that we are so, we're just so, just involved with ourselves, and with our lives, and with God's love for me.
[5:44] And, and so often we don't see beyond that. God has big plans, and they're so far, not accomplished. It's for Israel. So much of this book is about that nation, and a lot of it is unfulfilled.
[5:59] And so I want us as a church to understand that. I want you as a Christian, and as a believer to understand what this book's about, and what's God interested in, and what his intentions are. And he's got them, and he says a lot about it.
[6:11] And he even said in this book, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. And what did God talk about an awful lot? Israel. Israel. Israel. Israel. His plans for that nation.
[6:22] These, I don't know, I, I don't want to be nasty, but I can't help it. These fools, and blind, that think that the church has replaced Israel. To think that the body of Christ is, God smacked them and said, I'll take these Gentiles instead, I'm done with you.
[6:38] They're so blind, and conceited. That is not part of God's program at all, to replace them with the body of Christ. And we'll, Paul says that right in this very chapter, into verse 25 and 26.
[6:51] There's going to be a time when the fullness of the Gentiles come in. And when the timetable stops with the Gentiles, he's going to the Jew, and he's going to fulfill all of this. It will be their fullness.
[7:04] And so what does that mean? Well, it means the return of the Lord. And then secondly, it means the restoration of Israel. Now let's begin just one by one, looking at the scriptures. And we were in Isaiah last week.
[7:15] It's where we're going to stay for the most part. I will take you out of Isaiah this week. But like I said then, come back to Isaiah 26. Like I said then, this book here is so highly prophetical about the kingdom and the future, that it just has point after point.
[7:34] So Isaiah 26, the first thing I want us to consider and understand about the restoration of Israel, is that it's going to be the resurrection of the saints.
[7:46] Now this is not what Paul writes to the church at Thessalonica, saying that the dead in Christ shall rise first. No, this is something different. This is the people of Israel coming out of their graves to inherit their kingdom that God promised them.
[8:01] Isaiah 26, and look at verse 19. And I don't know if you have a study Bible. If you have a Bible with notes, you probably have somebody. Somebody probably had a problem with this verse.
[8:12] Because I've got notes here in my Bible, and most of them do. They try to change the words, and all the new versions will mess with it, because they have a problem with it. But we'll just study it the way it says, the right way.
[8:24] Verse 19, Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Who's writing that? Isaiah's writing that. So I don't have any problem with him saying, my dead body shall rise.
[8:36] So the problem is, they think, well, if God's saying that, then God's not saying his dead body's going to arise. So they start reworking the verse to say something different. And they don't need to do that. Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise, awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust.
[8:53] For thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. There is going to be a resurrection of the saints. Now this is in Isaiah, no problem.
[9:05] Let's just take a few other passages where it comes out even stronger. So keep your place, or just be prepared to come back to Isaiah. But go to Ezekiel, in chapter 37. Here's a popular prophecy here, of the nation.
[9:25] And it's the valley of dry bones. It's a valley that's full of dry bones, in verse 1, that the Lord carries Ezekiel to. And we're not going to read the whole passage here.
[9:37] I'll just get to the main part here. In verse number 10, Ezekiel 37, 10, So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood up upon their feet an exceeding great army.
[9:51] And now God explains this to him, saying, Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost.
[10:02] We are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
[10:15] And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, and shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land.
[10:28] Then ye shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and have performed it, saith the Lord. So this restoration of Israel is going to be the resurrection of the saints. Dead men coming up out of their graves.
[10:39] Come to, a little bit further to the right, to Hosea. Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, chapter 13. You, on the way, I'll just have to catch this, since we, it's a little fresh in our minds, perhaps from Sunday morning, Daniel chapter 12, and verse 2, many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt, and then it gets to that verse about them shining, and the brightness of the firmament, and so forth, as we read on Sunday.
[11:19] Now, Hosea chapter 13, getting all the way over there, verse number 14. I will ransom them from the power of the grave.
[11:30] I will redeem them from death. O death, I will be thy plagues. O grave, I will be thy destruction. Repentance shall be hid from mine eyes. I'm not changing my mind about that.
[11:41] God promises and will fulfill a resurrection of the saints. So, in Daniel, it's called the resurrection of the just. In, in, in math, or sorry, in John chapter 5, Lord Jesus Christ describes this, and he talks about God giving him the authority to execute judgment, to raise some unto life, and to others, to damnation, to execute judgment on them.
[12:10] In John chapter 5, he calls it the resurrection of life. It's a Jewish thing, a kingdom-related passage, that he speaks of the last day. And, uh, let's just go there.
[12:21] Revelation 20, I mentioned the devil being bound and placed in that pit. This is where this is at, Revelation 20. And right alongside that is a promise of a resurrection.
[12:37] It's in verse 2, where that dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan's bound a thousand years, cast into the bottomless pit. And look at verse 4, Revelation 20, verse 4.
[12:52] And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them. And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God.
[13:03] Notice this is a tribulation group for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, nor neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years, but the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.
[13:22] This is the first resurrection. The first resurrection is those that were slain for the word of God, for the testimony, the witness of Jesus. They're raised.
[13:33] They're brought up out of those graves. Their souls, he sees them. So they're living after death. He sees their souls, but they need to be given a new body. And they are.
[13:45] And so, blessed and holy is he that hath parted in the first resurrection, on such the second death hath no power. But they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years going into the kingdom.
[13:57] So there's going to be a resurrection of the saints. This is point number two of our study, the restoration of Israel. First is the resurrection of the saints. Now we'll go into number, or this letter B, this evening, and come back to Isaiah now.
[14:15] And chapter five. Don't be shy with your Bible. I told you that last week. This is some Bible study, so get ready. Isaiah five.
[14:26] So as God seeks to restore that nation and bring to pass promises that he made and prophecies toward them, one thing that's going to take place, he's going to bring them out of their graves and into that land.
[14:45] And then he's going to plant them in that land. And so letter B, I'm calling this the replanting, and you'll see this word later, of God's branch. The term he uses as his people.
[14:58] And here it's the vine in Isaiah five. Let's begin in verse one. It's a song, a parable about a vineyard, which is about the nation of Israel. You'll see that in verse seven. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel and the man of Judah his pleasant plant.
[15:13] So he's talking about the house of Israel. Verse one. Now will I sing to my beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill.
[15:24] And he fenced it and gathered out the stones thereof and planted it with the choicest vine and built a tower in the midst of it and also made a winepress therein. And he looked that it should bring forth grapes. And what a disappointment.
[15:38] What a disappointment the nation of Israel was to him in all that he did and all the work he did for them. Now his hand was on him and it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you betwixt me and my vineyard.
[15:53] He's saying, what do you think I should do? What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I, he's like, why? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes.
[16:06] Answer me, judge, tell me, what should have been done? And he's going to say, here's what I'm going to do. In verse five, and now go to, I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away the hedge thereof and it shall be eaten up and break down the wall thereof and it shall be trodden down.
[16:21] I will lay it waste and it shall not be pruned or digged. But there shall come up briars and thorns and I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. So this is his plant, his pleasant plant, or his, in this case, a vine looking for grapes that he plants in the land looking for fruit and none.
[16:40] So he described what he did to it. But he promises that I'm going to restore you. Come back to chapter 60. I'm going to replant you. Isaiah 60.
[16:55] And verse 21. The restoration of Israel is going to be the resurrection of the saints and the replanting of God's branch. Isaiah 60, verse 21.
[17:06] Thy people also shall be all righteous. They shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.
[17:21] The restoration of Israel. They're going to be planted back into that land. Look again at chapter 61, verse 3. He says, To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.
[17:46] Notice two times in a row that I may be glorified, that he, the Lord, may be glorified. He's doing this for his sake, but he's planting them, replanting them back into that land.
[17:57] Look at chapter 51 now. Isaiah 51. And this, I've learned this one as a tune put to this.
[18:09] I could sing it for you. Maybe you know it as well. Verse 11. Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their head.
[18:20] They shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away. What's going to happen? God's going to put them back into their land. They're coming back. And right now, they can send their missiles and rockets, and they can start their wars, and they can, everybody can give their two cents and say we need to have a treaty, and we need to break this up, and we need to bring peace to this land, and we have a right to that.
[18:43] And they can do all that now. They can kick them out. They can give away land, give away land. I don't care what happens. The way I was taught in Bible school was this very word. You can't beat that book.
[18:54] And what God said in that book is going to come to pass, hell or high water, anything in between. This will happen. You can't change it. You can't alter it. You can't fight against it.
[19:04] If God said it, it came forth out of his mouth, and it won't return to him void, he will see to it. He's going to put them back into that land. It's going to be their land. The restoration of Israel.
[19:16] I'm glad I'm not a Jew that's dealing with this business today, and I'm glad that it's not, you know, everybody's going to come against me, and the prophecies are true, and if they study their Bible at all, they know they're going to get it, and they deserve it.
[19:31] Come back to Romans 11, and we're going to come back to Isaiah very soon, but just I want to tie something up here. I'm not envious of their position at all, but if they'll get their head on right and go to that scripture, they'll see what God says.
[19:55] All right, so this thought of them being replanted and them being termed God's branch. In Romans 11, right after this statement of Paul talking about them falling away and them being cast away in verse 15, he continues right into this thought of them being a branch, and he said in verse 17, if some of the branches be broken off, speaking of Israel, and thou Gentiles, believers, the body of Christ, being a wild olive tree, were it grafted among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree.
[20:34] So he's talking about us getting in on God's blessings and gifts and wonders, whereas we didn't deserve his grace or mercy. It was for Israel. We're a wild olive tree getting grafted in among them.
[20:48] In verse 18, he says, boast not against the branches. Don't think you're better than them just because God's casting them away right now. He's talking about the branches that he cast away, by the way, the ones that are laying on the ground.
[21:01] We don't get grafted into that olive tree and look down on them and be like, huh, you're nothing. We're better than you. God has his hand on us. He's like, don't you dare boast against those branches because if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
[21:16] In verse 19, thou wilt say, then the branches were broken off that I might be grafted in. And he says, well, like that's true, but, you know, it's not exactly 100% it here.
[21:27] It's not about you. Because of unbelief, they were broken off and thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear. Fear what? For if God spared not the natural branches, the real ones that he cares about, the ones that he planted in the first place, if he spared not them, take heed also, lest he also spare not thee.
[21:48] Gentile church, be not high-minded. Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God on them which fell severity, but toward thee goodness, if thou continue in his goodness, otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
[22:01] And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in. For God is able to graft them in again. And as we see in his book, he has every intention of replanting them, as he says, back into their land.
[22:17] And as he goes, and you can keep your place here if you want, or put a bookmark in, we'll come back and continue this passage in a short bit here, I believe. So the replanting of God's branch, I know all the language, vine or a branch, or a branch being broken off at all doesn't mesh completely, it doesn't have to.
[22:36] God uses, as he chooses, different analogies to say what he wants to for different things as we continue. The replanting of God's branch.
[22:47] Come back to Isaiah chapter 50. Chapter 50, and let's pull out another one. The restoration of Israel will be, letter A, the resurrection of the saints.
[23:03] Letter B, the replanting of God's branch. And letter C, the redemption of God's servant. What does that mean? The redemption of God's servant.
[23:14] Well, verse number one, Thus saith the Lord, Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement whom I have put away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you?
[23:27] Behold, for your iniquities have you sold yourselves, and for your transgressions has your mother put away. Now what he's saying, he gives two analogies or metaphors, and he does this all the time.
[23:39] And each time, you don't have to take any of it literal, you can just take every bit of it as a relationship of man that we understand down here. God likens his relationship to Israel in a way we get it.
[23:51] And in this time, he talks about a divorce. And we'll see that shortly. He talks, secondly, about a servant. A servant that he sells.
[24:03] And then he actually says, you know what? You sold yourselves. So, the redemption though, the redemption of God's servant. Come to chapter 48 and verse 20.
[24:17] God is going to redeem that servant of his. He's going to buy him back. He kicked him out for a short time, but he's going to take him back, and he's going to pay for it.
[24:29] All right, chapter 48 and verse number 20. And this is the nation that was under bondage to another land, to Babylon.
[24:48] He says, Go ye forth of Babylon. Like, get out of there. Flee ye from the Chaldeans with a voice of singing. Declare ye. Tell this. Utter it even to the end of the earth, say ye, the Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob.
[25:02] When? When they're coming back. He bought him back. He sold him to a creditor, as he calls him. And elsewhere through this book even, he pronounces judgment upon Babylon and the Chaldeans because of the way they treated his servant.
[25:17] He says, Jacob's my servant. He uses that word all over. Matter of fact, he uses the word redeem and redeemer more in this book of Isaiah than any other book in this Bible at all. Redeemed, and a strong theme is God redeeming his servant, Israel.
[25:33] Look at chapter 49 and verse number 7. Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers.
[25:48] Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee. Thus saith the Lord, in an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee, and I will preserve thee and give thee for a covenant of the people to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages.
[26:11] Verse 9, that thou mayest say to the prisoners, go forth. The prisoners, they're being released. Could have made that another point, a release of the prisoners. of the prisoners, to them that are in darkness, show yourselves, saying, come out.
[26:26] They shall feed in their ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places. They shall not hunger nor thirst, and on and on the blessings begin to flow. So God is the Redeemer of Israel, in verse 7, and he's calling them out.
[26:40] He says, go forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans. Here he says to the prisoners, go forth. If you're in darkness, show yourselves, come out of that darkness, because it's going to be good from here on.
[26:52] I've redeemed you. You're mine again. Look at chapter 44. Come back to 44. Isaiah 44, verse 21.
[27:13] Isaiah 44, 21 through 23. Remember these, O Jacob and Israel, for thou art my servant. I have formed thee, thou art my servant, O Israel.
[27:25] Thou shalt not be forgotten of me. I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions. You remember him saying in chapter 50 that it was for their transgressions?
[27:36] That he sold them? They sold themselves? That's why they were kicked out? Well, he says, I blotted them out. You're my servant again. That's what's going on here. So verse 22, I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins.
[27:51] Return unto me, for I have redeemed thee. Sing, O ye heavens, for the Lord hath done it. Shout, ye lower parts of the earth. Break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein.
[28:04] For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob and glorified himself in Israel. Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, on and on. He's calling for the earth to rejoice over this thought that he has bought back his servant to himself.
[28:20] Look at chapter number 45. Speaking of their sins being blotted out and how God handles this, allowing them to come back. Verse 17, But Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation.
[28:35] He shall not be ashamed nor confounded, world without end. Later on in verse 22, look unto me and be ye saved. Verse 25, And the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory.
[28:50] So God is taking care of it. And now, with that in mind, go back to Romans. If you've got your place saved, Romans 11. How the Lord is redeeming his servant.
[29:03] It's symbolic of him paying the price to get them back. And we know from Scripture what that price was for their sin. We always associate Calvary to us, but what was that thing that hung above his head was king of the Jews.
[29:24] He was paying for the sins of the whole world. John says, not for ours only, Jews, but the sins of the whole world. And we get in on that, but he came to pay for their sins.
[29:38] He, in Isaiah 53, carried our transgressions. All right, Romans 11. Remember, we got through that branch business and come to verse 25, For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits.
[29:54] So he's going back to that, be not high-minded, but fear, and you'll be cut off too. So understand, this is so important, understand what God is doing. It's a good study to look up this thought where Paul says that I don't want you to be ignorant, meaning I want you to have understanding of what God's doing, these mysterious things, these things with Israel even, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles come in, and then something happens.
[30:22] Verse 26, So all Israel shall be saved, as it is written. There shall come out of Zion the deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob, for this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
[30:39] That has not been fulfilled. That has not necessarily been realized since Calvary, and it's the return of the Lord Jesus Christ is the prophecy that Paul quotes when there comes out a sign of the deliverer, and there's more to say about that and to read.
[30:55] So it's the redemption of God's servants. He's going to buy them back, and he's going to take away their sins. The reason they got sent away in the first place, he's going to handle it.
[31:07] The restoration of Israel is letter C, the redemption of God's servant. Now let's get one more tonight, and you can go back to Isaiah 50, just to see the words again that we just read.
[31:23] Chapter 50, verse 1. There was two analogies in this one verse. The one was of the servant being sold to the creditor that he was redeemed, but then the other one was of a wife, a divorced woman.
[31:38] Verse 1, Thus saith the Lord, Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement whom I have put away? Again, at the end of the verse, For your transgressions is your mother put away.
[31:50] That means to divorce her, to put her away. That's the term used under the law, and you can read that in Deuteronomy, I reckon. Come to, let's see, let's go to chapter 54.
[32:04] Isaiah 54. So the fourth, the letter D tonight of the restoration of Israel is the remarriage of God's wife. The remarriage of God's wife.
[32:15] Chapter 54, and let's read verses 4 through 8. Fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed, neither be thou confounded, for thou shalt not be put to shame.
[32:29] For thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood anymore. For thy maker is thine husband, the Lord of hosts is his name, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth, shall he be called.
[32:44] For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken, and grieved in spirit, and as a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith God, for a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee.
[32:57] In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment. He put her away. But with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy redeemer.
[33:08] It's the remarriage of God's wife. Come keep, well, we'll be back here in a second, but go to Hosea. Ezekiel Daniel, Hosea chapter 2.
[33:20] And this is described again by the prophet Hosea. He describes that Israel committed adultery. So going with that analogy, in terms that man understands, Israel committed adultery and sought out another god and worshipped another god when they should have been worshipping and serving the one who took care of them and married them and blessed them and gave them all their blessings and everything.
[33:53] And then Israel went around and cheated on them. And so verse number 2, Hosea 2 verse 2, plead with your mother, plead, for she is not my wife. Now he's speaking to the, to Israel and two tribes or two ways through Judah and Israel.
[34:10] You can see that back in verse 11. You see children of Judah, children of Israel and really through chapter 1. So he says, plead with your mother, plead, for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband.
[34:24] Let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight and her adulteries from betwixt her breasts, lest I strip her naked and set her as in the day that she was born and make her as a wilderness and set her like a dry land and slay her with thirst.
[34:35] And I will not have mercy upon her children for they be children of whoredoms. He goes on to say, your mother, their mother hath played the harlot. So she's guilty of being adulterous and describes in verse 7, she shall follow after her lovers, but she's not going to overtake them.
[34:52] She'll never catch up to them. She'll never get anything from them like she thought. Then she's going to go to her first husband and blah, blah, blah. But moving on to the, later on in the passage, let's see here, verse 14.
[35:04] Verse 14, therefore will I allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably under her. And I will give her her vineyards from thence in the valley of Achor for a door of hope.
[35:15] And she shall sing there as in the days of her youth and as in the days when she came up out of the land of Egypt. And that's when she was, that's when she, the inception of the nation. And you might say the original, there were newlyweds in a sense.
[35:28] It's what he's kind of getting at. In verse 16, it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi. That word means husband or my man or my husband.
[35:40] That's what they're going to call him then in that day. In verse 19, I will betroth thee unto me forever. What's the word betroth?
[35:53] You know what that is. It's still used today. Matter of fact, when I, my wife and I said our vows, we have a unique memory because the pastor at the time, he was pretty, getting older, but he was the guy that I grew up under and I asked him to do our marriage, to do the wedding.
[36:12] And he, he didn't want to do it because he just, he was kind of past doing that stuff. And I said, I understand and I'm not trying to force you or really put pressure on you, but it would mean more to me to have you do it than to have your son do it, who at the time was just, was the assistant pastor and was doing more of that kind of thing.
[36:30] And I just said, but you'd let me know it's fine either way. And he said, I'll do it. And I grew up from the nursery all the way up under him and was getting married at 24. And so he, I was very appreciative that he would do it.
[36:43] But as he did it, he got his pages in his book mixed up a little bit and he read, had us, he had us read vowels that were just a different nature. They weren't the ones we had planned on and knew what we were going to say.
[36:56] And so I ended up saying, I plight thee my troth. And as I said it, I mean, we giggled and laughed. I love it. It's a great memory that we have of those vows.
[37:07] And to me, it was just a connection to him as he was just, you know, fumbling and messed up his page, got a little nervous and I loved it. It was just a great thing. I don't know.
[37:20] Actually, we are. Carla just got yesterday her official document from our county of the marriage because they rejected her at the DMV because she didn't have the real thing.
[37:30] So finally it showed up and she got that taken care of yesterday. So apparently, you know, I just found out yesterday we are. According to the written document that goes back to a few weeks.
[37:42] Yeah. The remarriage of God's wife. Here in Hosea, you see in verse 19, he betroth thee unto me forever. Yeah, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness and in judgment and loving kindness and in mercies.
[37:54] In verse 20, I will betroth thee unto me in faithfulness and thou shalt know the Lord. So God bringing that woman back to him is the picture here, the metaphor. All right, go back to Isaiah.
[38:05] One last scripture and that's chapter 62 and we'll finish for tonight. Isaiah 62. This is the remarriage of God's wife.
[38:27] Verse number four and verse number five and even this analogy goes back into the previous chapter in verse 10. You can skip through there and see how they're dressing up for a wedding.
[38:40] Verse number four says, Thou shalt no more be termed forsaken neither shall thy land any more be termed desolate but thou shalt be called Hephzibah and thy land Beulah which means married for the Lord delighteth in thee and thy land shall be married for as a young man marrieth a virgin so shall thy sons marry thee and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride so shall thy God rejoice over thee.
[39:11] Now is God going to marry this land and have a wedding? I don't see that but I see the analogy being one that we understand. The connection, the bond is real and the way he looked at that nation that was, that he brought forth that was to worship and love and adore him because of what he's done and then they go off and bow down to gods that are no gods.
[39:34] He took it personal. It's just like a wife stepping out on her husband and cuts deep and it's real and he puts her away but he said I'm going to bring you back and I'm going to love you and I'm going to rejoice over thee and so the restoration of Israel, they're coming back and they're going to be planted, they're going to come up out of their graves, they're going to be planted back into that land, they're going to be redeemed just like a servant that was sold into bondage, into servitude, they're going to be, God's going to say no, that one's mine and come on back, come back home and then the, the another analogy, there's the remarriage of God's wife.
[40:14] Now there's, that's four, there's four more, they'll go a lot faster, it's not going to be as much, we'll finish this one probably in two weeks, Lord will next week we'll have that prayer meeting for the missionaries and then I'll give you the last two points here, it's the return of the Lord, the restoration of Israel, then their fullness is also going to be the regeneration of creation and we'll study through Isaiah how God, how the curse is going to be rescinded and what's going to take place, you've read the scriptures and you know them about the land and the desert and the wilderness blossoming and the lion and the wolf dwelling with the lamb and so the things that are going to change in creation and I don't have the fourth one here, I thought I did, it's not here, the fourth one is the re, the re something of civilization, I can't think of the word but I got it and it's going to, we're going to study from that book of Isaiah how man, society, cultures are going to change to adapt to righteousness and to how that kingdom is going to be run where even those sinners are still sinners in nature and in heart, they're going to shut their mouths, they're going to act right, they're going to toe the line because they're going to kiss the sun lest he be angry and you perish from the way when the wrath is kindled but a little.
[41:46] So it's going to be a whole different world, civilization is going to change, you better believe it and that's something to look forward to, the kingdom when God gets his. So that's the study, we'll continue when we get to it in a few weeks, Lord willing.
[42:01] So let's dismiss there with prayer and then we'll go out there and enjoy a little treat together. Father, thank you for tonight and we thank you for the word of God for all of its truth.
[42:15] Lord, we probably are just getting a little bit of truth here tonight and I'm sure there's much more to come God, what a day it'll be not just when we're delivered from this earth and from this present evil world but when your son is exalted and is lifted up and is worshipped by the world and all mankind.
[42:34] God, that'll be something to see and to behold on this planet and Lord, I wish that's the way it was today. I'd so much rather live in a place of righteousness and holiness where we'd be challenged to do right and not so drawn to our flesh and to sin and so God, may we just take this and look forward to it and may it help us to walk with you and walk upright and do what we know is right and to be different from the world.
[43:05] They have no hope. They have no realization of this truth and God, as we know there's something better for us, help us to live accordingly. Thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for each person here tonight.
[43:17] Please go with us and bless our time here to fellowship to follow. We pray these things in Jesus' wonderful name. Amen. Amen. You're dismissed.