Intro to Zechriah 11

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/12/2016 12:33 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                     Focus:  Intro to Zech. 11

            In this first introduction to Zechariah chapter eleven in using sermon from John MacArthur I wish to quote from this sermon on what was written in the Jerusalem Post in 1977, and I have to say that this quote from a Rabbi who is probably not even a believer was important when it was written, but even more important now as we see the political situation changing for the worst in our country at this time.  I will begin with Genesis 12:1-3 “Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; 2  And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3  And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed."

            “Well, let me give you a little idea of what a current contemporary Jew believes. This is a letter that was in the Jerusalem Postwritten by Rabbi Maer(?) Kahonni(?), apparently an orthodox rabbi. And this was in the Jerusalem Postwhich is a Jerusalem newspaper. And it was written...here's the title, "To a Bible-believing Christian President, Jimmy Carter, from a Bible-believing Jew: Will you sell...this is the headline...Will you see America for 30 barrels of oil?" It is not Israel that needs America but American survival depends on Israel.

Now let me preface before I read you some points out of it that this man is not a Christian. He is an orthodox Jew. He calls himself a Bible-believing Jew because he believes the Old Testament. This is what he says and I can't read the whole thing or I wouldn't be able to preach my sermon, cause it's long. But basically what he says is this: the whole point of the Abrahamic covenant is wrapped up as far as other nations are concerned with this promise, "I will bless them that bless thee and him that curseth thee shall I curse," Genesis 12:3. So the rabbi says that from Abraham on, God said that whatever nation blesses Israel will be blessed and whatever nation curses Israel will be cursed. So he takes the literal view of the Abrahamic covenant.

He says this, "The final redemption and their kingdom of heaven with the era of eternal peace are inexorably tied to the Jewish people. The Jews are the key to history. The final redemption is irrevocable, tied to the return of the Jewish people to its land, the ingathering of the exiles, the resurrection of the Jewish state and the sanctification of the Jewish people through their return to God. These are the states that must proceed the establishment of the Kingdom of God and there is not a true Christian believer in the Bible that can deny that." Isn't that interesting? He is a literalist. He says everything promised to Israel is going to come to pass.

And then he goes on to prove it by quoting piles of Old Testament Scripture. And he says, "And the Gentiles, what about them? There will be those who understand the decree of God and who remember the eternal promise of heaven," and he quotes again, "Blessed are those that bless you and cursed be those that curse you." He says, "Blessed and fortunate will be those that understand and leap to aid the redemption of the Jewish people, to hurry the final redemption of mankind and how cursed and destroyed will be those individuals and nations who do not understand, who defy the divine decree, who refuse to stand totally at the side of the Jewish people, who attempt to thwart the return of the Jewish nation to its land and to diminish the sovereignty and territory of the land of Israel as the exclusive holy land of the chosen people."

"President Carter and Christian America, the Jewish people and the state of Israel are God's chosen. They can never be destroyed. It is not they who need you, but you whose very survival depends on doing the will of God by standing totally at Israel's side and helping to fulfill biblical prophecy of total return and defeat of the enemies of God and His people. Every effort to force Jews to give up any part of the holy land that is completely theirs by divine grant is an effort to undo the will of heaven. The cry `Not one inch of Jewish retreat' is not a military or political one, it is a religious decree." He says, "I grieve for an America that may defy the Lord and attempt to impose a settlement to throttle Israel. Such a settlement will never be and the Jews will survive it. May God grant you, Mr. President and Christian America, the wisdom to understand before it's too late for you." Then he signs his name.

Now I don't agree with the fact that he is using this for political leverage. And I don't believe in the fact that our foreign policy is necessarily to be totally dictated by a commitment to the fact that at all costs we have to aid Israel no matter what they do. But what is interesting to me is that here is a Jew in the twentieth century who is totally committed to a literal understanding of the Old Testament, who is saying, "I believe in the redemption of Israel, I believe in the return of Israel, I believe in the regathering of Israel and I believe that ultimately this is going to end up in the kingdom of God on earth." Now that is no different than what Zechariah has been proclaiming in the chapters we've studied. That's exactly what the Old Testament teaches. What amazes me is that there are many people who are within the framework of Christianity who want to deny the literal character of that. And even unbelieving Jews, that is unbelieving in the sense of New Testament truth, are committed to the Old Testament understanding.

9/12/2016 12:38 PM