Relevance of Biblical Prophecy 3

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Daniel, chapter two, from verse 31. Thou, o king, sawest and behold a great image. This image, which was mighty and whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee in the aspect thereof was terrible. As for this image, its head was of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of brass, its legs of iron, its feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon its feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them in pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver and the gold, broken. [00:01:03] Speaker B: In pieces together and became like the. [00:01:05] Speaker A: Chaff of the summer threshing floor. And the wind carried them away so that no place was found for them. And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and fill the whole earth. This is the dream, and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. Thou, o king, art king of kings, unto whom the God of heaven hath given the kingdom, the power and the strength and the glory, and wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, hath he given unto thy hand and hath made thee to rule over them all. Thou art the head of go, and after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron. Forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things, and as iron that crusheth all these shall it break in pieces and crush. And whereas thou sawest the feet and. [00:02:25] Speaker B: Toes part of potters clay and part. [00:02:29] Speaker A: Of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom, but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron. Forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay, and as the toes. [00:02:41] Speaker B: Of the feet were part of iron. [00:02:44] Speaker A: And part of clay, so the kingdom. [00:02:46] Speaker B: Shall be partly strong and partly brittle. [00:02:51] Speaker A: And whereas thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men, but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron doth not mingle with clay. And in the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall the sovereignty thereof be left to another people. But it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it break in pieces. The iron, the brass, the clay, the silver and the gold the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter. And the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure. Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and worshipped Daniel and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him. The king answered unto Daniel and said, have a truth. Your God is the God of gods and the lord of kings and a revealer of secrets, seeing that thou hast been able to reveal this secret. Then the king made Daniel great and gave him many great gifts, and made. [00:04:20] Speaker B: Him to rule over the whole province. [00:04:22] Speaker A: Of Babylon, and to be chief governor over all the wise men of Babylon. And Daniel requested of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon. But Daniel was in the gate of the king. [00:04:42] Speaker B: Well, now this evening we come to, I believe and trust, our last study on this matter of relevance of biblical prophecy. Remember, we spoke in our first evening as to really what prophecy means. And I trust that we made it quite clear that prophecy is not just prediction, as is so commonly understood, but it is the fourth telling of the mind of God on any given subject, particular time, to a particular people. It may have to do with the past, with the present, as well as the future, but it is the expression or the declaration of God's mind concerning any given matter. And therefore it can be explanation, it can be correction, it can be encouragement, it can be definition, it can be prediction. We spoke also in that first evening about the relevance of biblical prophecy for today. Has it really got a relevance for today? Most people will be prepared to accept that biblical prophecy has been given at some time. That is, christians will accept that. But some feel that it nearly all fulfilled, and its relevance is really just in some of the lessons we can learn from the giving of the prophecy and the way it was fulfilled. But we noticed a whole number of scriptures which suggest, more than suggest, quite clearly state that the word of prophecy is made even more sure. And we do well, as the apostle Peter said, to take heed thereunto as unto a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. And it would indeed be quite remarkable if God, having said so much about the earlier part of human history, had not said anything about the momentous days in which we are living. But the fact is that he has, and there is very much in the word of God that has irrelevance for today. And there are some parts of the word of God, which have no relevance until the time of the actual end. There are certain parts of the word of God. Daniel is one of them, of which it is said it is to be sealed up until the time of the end. And there are other things we looked at too, in connection with this, where the Lord seems to specifically give commandment about certain matters which have no real meaning until the time when they actually come to pass. In the last days last week we spoke about the relevance of biblical prophecy, not just for today, but what is the relevance of biblical prophecy. And we spent all our time last week on two matters. First of all, its relevance in general terms. It is the explanation of human history. You will not find that anywhere else in the world. It is the explanation of human history. What lies behind creation, what lies behind human life, what lies behind the fall, what lies behind sin, what lies behind our redemption, what God is driving at, what was his original thought in the creation of mankind? And what is the objective that now he has saved us too? We have a revelation of the eternal purpose of God, the very heart of God revealed. That is prophetic. And we spent last Thursday evening looking at the explanation that were given of human history, all the wonder of it, the way God sums everything up in two cities, Babylon and Jerusalem. And, well, we cant go over that again tonight. We also dwelt for some time on another matter. That is the relevance of biblical prophecy. And I entitled it the warning concerning origins. The warning concerning origins. What is of the earth is earthy, or putting it, in other words, the city which has the foundations, origins, our origins determine destiny. Thats why we need to be born from above. Thats why we need to be born of the spirit. No amount of ritual can get us into the kingdom of God. The origin of that can well be of this earth and remains of the earth. Ceremonies, all that kind of thing. That belongs just to the realm of religion. The origin of that is of the earth. We have got to have a heavenly birth. We have to be born of the spirit of God. Thats why the Lord Jesus said, what is born of the flesh is flesh. And what is born of the spirit is spirit. Origin determines destiny. And we looked at all kind of matters in the word where we had the relevance of biblical prophecy. Oh, so many things. Where did Babylon originate? It originates with man's endeavor, man's resources, man's ingenuity. And therefore its end is the earth. It is destroyed on the earth. Its end is death and destruction. Where does Jerusalem originate? It originates in heaven, and therefore we see the new Jerusalem at the end of the Bible coming down out of heaven, having the glory of God. Its resources are divine. Its origin is divine. Its life and nature is divine. Therefore it goes through to the glory of God. Origin. The warning concerning origin. The prophets spent so much of their time warning about this matter. What is the beginning of this thing? Where did it originate? If it originated with the flesh, if it originated with earth, if it originated with man as fallen man, then the end of it cannot be anything else but corruption and death. However cultured, however seemingly beautiful, however seemingly creative, its end is determined by its origin. But if it began with God, then all hell can come out against it. All the forces of darkness, of Satanism can come out against it. But if it originated with God, it will go through to glory and in the end it will all be found there. Well, now this evening we go on and I want to add one more thing to this matter of relevance of biblical prophecy in general terms. And then I want to speak about three things. If we have the time, its relevance specifically, we can only take three things. We could otherwise go on into a series that would run into months on this matter. But the third matter of, as far as general terms goes, relevance in general terms is the outline of world history. What is the relevance of biblical history? It is not only the explanation of human history. It is not only the solemn warning about origin determining destiny. It is also the actual outline of world history. We have revealed in the Bible the whole course of world history from its beginning right through to its end. Now, there is no other book in the world of literature in this whole world which has specifically stated clearly thousands of years ago what was going to come to pass, and has depicted quite clearly for us the character of the various world empires that would come one after another. Indeed, so detailed are some of these prophecies that for no other reason than simply they are. Their predictions are so detailed and so accurate, they have been questioned as to whether they were given before the event or whether in fact some dishonest child of God wrote it up after the event in the guise of something prophetic. Do you get what I mean? I hope I've made myself clear. I take the amazing chapters 910 or ten and eleven Daniel ten chapters ten and eleven particularly. There you have so amazingly detailed an accurate description of exactly what came to pass a few centuries after Daniel's time that it has been suggested for no other reason than that simply, it is impossible to predict things so accurately that someone must have written that up in the name of Daniel writing up history as if it was prophecy. But we have many other things. We are ourselves living in the time when certain things which all of us here had in our bibles, if we read them some years ago and have been fulfilled before our eyes, still we don't wake up. But we've got things no one can say. Some dishonest christian scribe inserted these things after it happened. We shall come to that a little later. These things have happened in our generation. How do you explain it? It is only explained in these terms of the relevance of biblical prophecy. We have the whole course of world history outlined for us. We have its development and its end given to us. The most wonderful thing about this is simply not just the details, that this empire will come. That empire will come and then another empire will follow. But the most, how can I put it? The most accurate. No, that's wrong. The relevance of biblical prophecy is basically. I'm sorry, I'll have to go back again. The most profound aspect of the relevance of biblical prophecy in this matter, of the outline of world history is the clear dogmatic statement that truth in the end will win. We may have the most fearful things predicted. We may see things happening, or we are told that things are going to come to pass which are devilish, satanic in origin, some of the worst yet to be. But the most wonderful thing about biblical prophecy in this connection of the outline of world history is its categoric, dogmatic declaration that truth will win because truth is not a thing. Truth is a person. Truth is God. That's what the apostle meant. The apostle John meant when he said in one John one five, God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. God. It's not that God gives light that God enlightens, but God is light. Jesus said in John 14 six, I am the truth, not I preach the truth, I declare the truth. He did that, but I am the truth. And here is the wonderful nature of this biblical prophecy, its relevance in this matter. That truth, because it is the Lord Jesus Christ, because it is the very nature of God, must ultimately triumph, and though all hell come out against it, it will win. And so we have this outline of world history from its beginning to the end. And God is not afraid to draw aside the curtain and let us see the filth and the vileness and the wickedness, the brutality, the cruelty of some of these forces. We are told about various things that will happen. Some of these things have already happened long since fulfilled. Others are yet awaiting their fulfillment. But however terrible these things that arise these hideous monsters that come up out of the sea in these visions that depict these things, these vile world systems, this antichrist that will finally come. The fact of the matter is that truth is going to win, because truth is God. And even more wonderful here is the relevance of biblical prophecy in this matter of the outline of world history. All those who have been born of the truth and have been made light in the Lord will overcome in the end, insofar as they have been involved with the light, brought into the light, then they will triumph. Thats why the apostle John, in John one four puts it like in him was life and the light, the life was the light of men. And then he goes on, and the darkness, the light shined in the darkness, and the darkness overcame it not or apprehended it not. It was unable to seize the light and to put it out. Although the world lies in the evil one, that you will find in one John, chapter five. Although there is a prince of this world, although there are powers of darkness, terrible in their nature, although there are spiritual but evil principalities and powers, world rulers of this darkness, the most high, ruleth. And therefore we are given the outline of world history, that we might understand that over it all, the throne of God is absolutely secure, and that in the end his purpose will be fulfilled. Have you ever stopped to think about ephesians six and those things, those statements of the apostle? We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness. Have you ever thought of that? These are not flesh and blood world rulers of this present darkness, against hosts of wicked spirits in the heavenly places. In other words, the apostle prophetically, again, not just teaching, but prophetically. He draws aside the curtain for the believer, for the church, and allows us to see that behind world history are invisible principalities and powers, spiritual beings with vast authority. And all that happens physically and materially, historically, is really about the expression of those unseen beings, their desires, their aims, their power, their influence. World rulers of this present darkness. Ask any missionary worth his or her salt whether there are such things as world rulers of darkness and you'll get an answer in the affirmative. A missionary must be dead from the neck up and from the neck down not to believe that there are world rulers of darkness. They are nearly tangible at times. Now, why do we have the outline of world history? For our encouragement, for our comfort that we might endure. We may patiently endure. We may be given steadfast endurance. It is not easy in a world that lies in the evil one where there are these great principalities and powers all the time to believe that everything is right and that in the end, God is going to win. There are times when God may appear to be a million, million, million miles away. Therefore, for our encouragement, our encouragement, our strength, our comfort, God, thousands of years ago through his prophets, outlined the whole course of world history so that we could find ourselves at any given moment within that course and would be able to lift up our hearts and thank God if he has revealed all this so far and much of it has been fulfilled. And if we are living in the fulfillment of this particular phase, then surely what God has said about the end of it all is going to come to pass. And even though things may seem dark and terrible, we have within our hearts the encouragement, being human beings, that someone has told us beforehand of all the dark and terrible things that might happen, as well as the glorious end of the Lord. Now, I dont know whether you find that encouraging. I do. Some people are so afraid to read certain things. Theyre afraid to read Daniel. Theyre afraid to read revelation. They find it very. But it's a question of where your trust is. I find it very. I mean, if something terrible hits us and it seems as if, as if some atheistic, godless antichrist force were to take over the whole nation and destroy thousands and thousands of believers, my faith might receive a sharp why? Why is all this happening? Where is God? Why doesn't he break in and do something? These are evil people. They belong to the lie, to darkness. Why doesn't God appear from heaven and do something? But if I find within the word of God that these things have been foretold, and if I am told that they will last for an appointed time, but at the appointed time, they will be completely, utterly and absolutely destroyed, that is an encouragement. Should poor little me die in the Holocaust, that may happen. It's not going to make a one whit of difference to the truth. Winning. Now, if you're self centered, absolutely self centered, and everything revolves around you, your christian life, church life, your salvation, the purpose of God, everything revolves around you, of course you're going to be upset. The thought of losing a physical life here or being snuffed out, suddenly you think, oh, dear, dear, dear, everything will collapse. How terrible. Why doesn't God step in? But if you've been delivered from that kind of self centered christianity, that kind of self centered gospel, and you begin to see the infinity of God and your own finiteness, and you begin to understand that God loves you and has saved you and has brought you into something well, its almost immaterial whether youll live or you die, youll be there at the end. Thats exactly what it means about being raised from the dead. Why did Jesus say in connection with this, not a hair of your head shall perish? He was saying, look here, its in one sense, dear disciples, its immaterial whether you live or die. Not a hair of your head will perish. Even if your whole body appears to perish. It will all be there at the end. Truth is going to win. And insofar as God has brought you into the truth and the truth into you, it is absolutely certain that you will be there at the end as well. There will be ultimately. And here is another wonderful thing about this outline of world history. There will ultimately be a glorious manifestation of God through the whole creation. Now, this is where so often gentile believers have, I think, gone astray generally. I think due more to perhaps the greek philosophy and so on, we've tended to get away from the old, old Testament concept, which was underneath the whole of the new. We tend to think of ourselves as bodiless spirits floating around in a kind of ether playing harps, spiritual harps, and all of us. But the whole glory of the Old Testament, if you like, the gospel of the Old Testament, was this upon this earth, in this body, upon this earth will I see God. Though worms may destroy my body, yet we shall finally stand upon this earth, and in this body shall I see God. That was job. And again and again you find this all the way through. They were so fearful in one sense of losing physical life because of this. In the Old Testament, they said, there's no praise in going down into the grave. It's a new heaven and a new earth. And the whole hope of redemption was this, that one day the earth, the earth will be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea. The apostle Peter took this up when he said, there will be a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. The prophet Zechariah took this up when he said his feet, speaking of the messiah, shall stand upon the mount of olives, an actual physical place in the geography of this globe. It's going to happen. And so you get these wonderful things like in Isaiah eleven. Just let me read it to you. Here is the age old hope, the expectation of the people of God. Isaiah eleven six and the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid and the calf and the young lion, and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them, and the cow and the bear shall feed together, their young ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the aspiring, and the winged child shall put his hand on the adder's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain. For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Habakkuk 214 puts it in the more fuller way, it says, for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God, as the waters cover the sea. Why have we been given this outline of world history? Not just to fascinate us, not just for a kind of crystal ball gazing, a kind of rather more divinely constituted your future, your week in the stars. God didn't give it to us for that. God gave it to us for our encouragement, our correction, our strength, that we might understand, however terrible the things that come upon this earth. The end is as sure as every other phase that has been outlined for us. If God told us the beginning of the things, and if God has told us the course of the thing, God's word about the end of the matter is also as sure. We have the whole course, for instance, of the times of the Gentiles outlined for us. This goes right back 2400, 500 years ago to Daniel. We read one of the prophecies, one of the chapters tonight. Daniel saw the whole course of Gentile, of the times of the Gentiles, by the spirit, the times of the Gentiles. This huge phase in world history began with the Babylonian Empire, with Nebuchadnezzar. According to scripture, there have been four great empires on which we here in the world today are still in the last. And these four world empires have influenced the whole of what we call civilization, modern civilization. The Babylonian Empire, the Persian Empire, the greek empire, the Roman Empire. We are still the continuation of the last. And that's why it speaks of the feet of the colossus, of the great image being a mixture of iron and clay. We haven't got the strength of the beginnings of the empire, the Roman Empire. We've got all this claim extra in with it. There are many other things that we cannot stop with. But if we go through Daniel, we shall find that either in Daniel two or in Daniel seven, where he sees the same thing again, only this time as beasts, four great beasts that arise. We find that we have the whole course of human history described for us. Furthermore, Daniel begins in further visions given to him to expand what he saw in certain parts of those visions. When we come to revelation, chapter 13, we find that John the apostle saw almost the same vision with one very remarkable difference. The beast that he saw coming out of the sea, which was like a worldwide empire almost in its influence and power and character, was a mixture of all those other animals, the other three, but was, as he puts it, exceedingly strong and diverse. Now again, we can't stop with all this, but we've got the whole of the course of events described for us by Daniel, and it's all there in the Bible. And we are told, for instance, very much about the last phase of the fourth empire, when the messiah will come. For we are told that this stone that is not cut out by human hands will hurtle from the heavens and will hit not the head, nor the shoulders or chest, nor the thighs, nor the legs, but will hit the feet, particularly the toes, and in one movement the whole thing will shatter. That is yet to come. Come. That is what weve been singing about, blessed hope of the coming of the Lord. It is amazing, perhaps, when we look at Daniel two, and verse 32, 37, rather, and 39, thou, o king, art king of kings, unto whom the God of heaven hath given the kingdom, the power, the strength and the glory. Verse 38, the last part of the verse, thou art the head of gold. So we are quite clear as to where this vision begins. It begins with Babylon, and from there we can find out the different succeeding empires that follow. Now, obviously, if we were to go into this fully, as some of you will remember we did when we took the book of Daniel some years ago, we would be amazed at the detailed, remarkably accurate way in which the history and the character of these different empires is given in these visions. We had the whole course of these times given to us. And the end of the matter we find in Daniel seven and verse 27 and 28. And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms unto the holy of heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the most high. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. Here is the end of the matter. Isn't that wonderful? What is the end of world history? That the saints, not only the Messiah but the saints, will possess their kingdom and it shall be given to them, those who've been saved by the grace of God. Now it is within this outline of world history that we have the promise of the Messiah. Again, it's too complex a matter to go into fully this evening. But in Daniel nine we have it all. We have 70 weeks, 70 times 7490 years. And that 70 times seven is divided into three periods. And we are told first the time until the completion of the rebuilding of the city, and so on, the end of old Testament prophecy. Then we're told about the lapse of time between that and the coming of the Messiah. And then finally we're told about the one week which is cut off in the middle of the Lord Jesus in the laying down of his life for the people that he might save us. In this matter of the promise of the messiah, we have the most amazing predictions made in the word of God. We are told where he will be born. Bethlehem, Ephrata, 600 years before he was born. We are told that it would be in Bethlehem by the prophet Micah. We are told that it will be a virgin birth, quite unique by the prophet Isaiah, chapter seven, verse 14. We are told the nature of his birth, not just a virgin birth. That is just a remarkable coincidence or something unique, but that this is Emmanuel God with us, not meaning God blessing us or God being behind us, but God present in human form. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. We are told in Isaiah nine that this his name shall be called wonderful counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince of peace. This is the one of whom it is just said at the beginning of that unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. And we are told that this child is the mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince of peace. All this was given 600 years before the Lord Jesus was born. We have his work described. We're told by the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 53 that he was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. We are told that he would make his grave with a rich man. We are told that he would be crucified with criminals, with wicked men. All these things are accurately predicted at least 600 years before it came to pass. And even more remarkable, perhaps the most remarkable thing of all is the 22nd psalm. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Traditionally it is ascribed to King David. But King David never had an experience. We have a very full history of the life of David. Never were his hands and his feet pierced. They pierced my hands and my feet. They stare upon me. They look upon me. He never had such an experience as that. What does it mean 1000 years before it came to pass, David prophesied in a psalm that he wrote concerning the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. All these things we have in this outline of world history. And thus we are told that the stone cut out, but not by human hands, will finally break the whole colossus of world civilization into pieces and bring with it the kingdom of God. That I must say is the most wonderful prospect. I am not the least bit sorry to see this civilization go, not because there are not things about it which are beautiful or ingenious or creative or good, but because its origin is totally false and therefore it can never reach a divine end. But oh, how we thank God that the kingdom thats coming with him will release the true ingenuity of man, the creative genius that God has put within us. God's not going to make us a lot of puppets, a lot of pawns that he just plays with. God has made us in his image. And when that kingdom comes, then for the first time in human history will man be released to be able to do what God meant him to do, to be what God meant him to be. Now that's the outline of world history. I wish I could say much more about it, but the fact of the matter is you have this amazingly detailed course of world history in which we've all found tonight. There's much more in it too, but perhaps we can just deal with that when we talk about the specific relevance of biblical prophecy. There are three areas in which I think that biblical prophecy is specifically relevant. First of all, as far as Israel goes, as far as Israel goes. We have in the Bible the whole course of the jewish people described for us from its beginning to its end. Whatever we may feel about the jewish people, they are the oldest people with a continuous history alive today. No other nation comes anywhere near the continuous history of the jewish people. They can trace their goings right back to 2000 years before Christ. They are still with us today, not mixed up. They haven't lost their characteristics. They are still the jewish people. We have the whole course of this people described for us. We have the fact of their judgment, the fact of the curse that came upon them, the fact of their national destruction, and we have the fact of their national restoration. And the whole thing is within the Bible now. Again, it will take us hours if we were to go through all these scriptures. But right back in Deuteronomy, one of the great founders of the nation, Moses, said in simple words, he said that if they did not obey the Lord and cleave to them with their whole heart he would scatter them to the ends of the earth. But if they would cleave to the Lord and obey him then would he make them a vessel that would carry his salvation to the ends of the earth. We must jump over much history if we are to confine ourselves to the time we have this evening. But we are told by the Lord Jesus Christ that this nation will be judged. Those terrible words when finally he turned his back on the house of God. The temple in Jerusalem, 2000 years ago, approximately, when he said, your house is left unto you desolate. Never before had God ever referred to the temple as your house. Always my house or God's house. Even the Lord Jesus said, you have made my father's house a den of robbers. But for the first time in the whole history of the tabernacle and the temple those dread words were heard from the lips of the Messiah. Your house is left unto you desolate. Ye shall see me no more till listen, ye shall say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Now, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord is the old jewish welcome, the religious welcome. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord till you shall say welcome. So even in those moments of judgment upon the jewish people, the grace of God, there's a silver lining to the storm cloud. You shall say welcome. You remember that the Lord Jesus took the fig tree as this symbol. He said, learn the parable of the fig tree. Mark 13 and Matthew 24. You'll find there. Learn the parable of the fig tree. Now you will remember, if you study very carefully, the word, I'll give you a few scriptures, mark 1112 to 14. And then compare it with Mark 1318 I think it is. Let's have a look. Twelve to 14. Mark 1112 to 14. Mark 1112 to 14. And on the morrow, when they were come out from Bethany, he hungered. And seeing a fig tree afar off, having leaves, he came. If haply, he might find anything thereon. And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves. For it was not the season of figs. And he answered and said unto it, no man eat fruit from this henceforward forever. And his disciples heard it. Verse 20. And every evening he went forth out of the city. Verse 20 as they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away from the roots. And Peter, calling to remembrance, saith unto him, rabbi, behold, the fig tree which thou cursest is withered away. Now, the interesting thing is this, that between these two events he went into the temple and had a very real encounter with those who sold and he dubs and exchanged money in the temple right between those two events. Then on the next morning, when he went back into the temple, he had that terrible confrontation with the temple authorities, which ended, according to Matthew 23, with those dread words, your house is left unto you desolate. Ye shall no more see me until mark 13 and verse 28 says, now from the fig tree, learn her lesson. Surely the Lord, on the same day, the evening of the same day, they had drawn his attention to the fact that it had withered. And the same day he said, your house is left unto you desolate. The same day he told them that every stone of that temple would be come down, not one would be left on another. That same evening on the mount of olives, they came to him privately and said, when shall these things be? And after he told them some of those things, he said, now from the fig tree, learn her lesson. Now again, we cant go into it all, but the fig tree has always been the symbol of the covenant people of God. It is more than just a symbol of the actual nation. It is a symbol of the territory. For God said, every one of you shall sit under his own fig tree. Thats your inheritance. You shall have your own vine. You shall sit under your own fig tree. So the fig tree came to be not only the symbol of the people. That was later. It began as a symbol of the actual inheritance, the very soil that God had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Now the Lord Jesus says, the fig tree is judged. The fig tree is cursed. The fig tree is destroyed. But listen, learn from the fig tree her lesson. At the end, she will be there again. You've got a paradox. At the very end of the days, the fig tree will be there, and she will put forth buds and tendrils and will leaf and blossom. What did the Lord mean? He meant, first of all, if there was national destruction, there will be national restoration. If they lost the territory that God gave to them, they would come back into possession of the actual territory that they lost. And most marvelous of all, surely if they were judged because there was no fruit in them, then surely it means that by the grace of God alone, in the end, they will bear fruit. Surely it means that, oh, there are so many scriptures all the way for this matter of the gathering of the people of God. Here you get this matter of where you get two or three fulfillments of scripture, even ones such as these in Isaiah 43, I will gather thee from the north and I will say to the south, hold not back. Bring my sons from far and my daughters from the ends of the earth. This has actually happened. It has had a literal, physical fulfillment. These people have come from the ends of the earth, drawn by some irresistible magnet force. Every single thing was put against them. Even the whole weight of the british government was against them. But they came like a tide that could not be stopped to some little desert part of the earth which had no real attraction. What is it? What is the attraction of Israel to every jewish heart? What is it that captures and captivates the jew about Israel? You can't explain it, but it's there. It is this deep, inherent something or other from God which now God works upon to draw back irresistibly to that land from the far corners of the earth. Oh, I wish we could read so many scriptures. I think of Isaiah 61, which is another one, which has a much greater meaning than this literal one, but it is so true. And they verse four. And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. And strangers, foreigners shall stand and feed your flocks, and foreigners shall be your ploughmen and your vine dressers. The jewish agency could tell you that they have lists, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of names long, of people waiting to work in kibbutzim, all gentiles trying to get to Israel so that they may work and help. They shall be your vine dressers, they shall be your ploughmen. They shall help you. They shall herd your flocks, lead your flocks, and so on and so on. It has a literal fulfillment as well as the most wonderful spiritual fulfilment fulfillment for us. I think of other scriptures like Zephaniah. Zephaniah and Zephaniah. Chapter two, verse four. For Gaza shall be forsaken in Ashkelon, the desolation. They shall drive out Ashgard at noon day, and he crunched, shall be rooted up. Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the. The word of the Lord is against you, O Canaan, the land of the Philistines. I will destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant. And the sea coast shall be pastures with cottages for shepherds and folds for flocks, and the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah. They shall feed their flocks thereupon. In the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening, for the Lord their God will visit them and bring back their captivity. When was that fulfilled, may I ask? It certainly wasn't fulfilled when they came back from Babylon. Ashkelon remained a philistine, a gentile city, right the way through the times of Christ. Do you know who was born in Ashkelon? Herod, that fox, as the scripture calls him. He was and he beautified Ashkelon. So when has it been fulfilled? It certainly wasnt fulfilled in the time of our Lord. When has this scripture been fulfilled? It was fulfilled in 1957. Youve lived to see it fulfilled. Thats when Ashkelon became a city, a new city on the foundations of the old city, destroyed so many years ago, which had not been jewish all the way through from the beginning. Ashkelon was never a jewish city at any time. It was all the way through David's time, Philistine, all the way through the latter prophets. It was in the hands of gentiles. In the time of the New Testament, it was in the hands of the Gentiles. It was considered to be an unclean city. Now it has become a completely, totally jewish city. The word has been fulfilled. And AShdod, the second great seaport of Israel. And so what can you say? How do you explain these things? Is it not remarkable? There are so many other things I think of. God says to the prophet Amos in chapter nine and verse 14, I will bring back the captivity of my people, Israel. They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards and drink the wine thereof. They shall also make gardens and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord their God, the Jew thus becomes the evidence of God in history. Do you see it specifically? Specifically, that God is not some impersonal force, some great influence, some vague spirit behind everything. But God is the God of actual history, and the Jewish is the evidence that God is in and behind history. So we have these amazing words about this people. We're told that they must reject their messiah. We're told that they will be judged. Oh, those terrible words of the people representing the whole nation. When Jesus was finally sentenced, his blood, they said, be upon us and upon our children forever. And at that moment began the long, sorrow stricken, bloody history of the jewish people. Why are the jewish people hated? It's a good question. Or you will say, they are so unpleasant. You will say, well, there's so many swindlers, my dear friend, I can take you to many more swindlers of gentile origin. The only trouble is that jewish swindlers are sometimes more clever. Maybe the only difference, but there are many more gentile swindlers. The trouble is that most people identify Jews with a certain type. I will not go into it, but they will identify Jews with a certain type who is absolutely, apparently jewish. You have to be an idiot not to be able to say that man is surely jewish. But there are thousands of people. Honestly, I dare to say that you rub shoulders with every day. You have not the faintest idea that they're jewish. I don't know what you meant by praise the Lord, but I will let that pass, so I don't worry. The fact of the matter is that there are thousands you don't even know because people have got this certain idea of a jew in their mind. I expect many people got a shot when they saw Edward Seif's photographs. I thought, is that a jew? And I'm so fine looking with such fine features. Is that a jew? It's amazing, really. The fact is that there has been this hatred of the jew. And this hatred of the jew is the one reason why I believe that God has a future for them. It cannot be explained on any other terms than satanic antagonism. Why are christians hated? Good question. Why are christians? Because there are hypocrites amongst them. We know there are hypocrites amongst us, but not all christians are hypocrites. I would go as far as to say that the large majority of true christians are not hypocrites. It's a tiny minority that are hypocrites. But why are we hated? Why are we persecuted? Why do people sneer at us? Do I? Especially if you happen to be an all out Christian. Why is it so? Why are we so unpopular? For exactly the same reason that the jew is. Only the jew has not had the grace of God with him. There is a satanic antagonism toward this people and that is the reason why I believe in their redemption. The devil hates the jewish people and he would do anything in his power to destroy them, wipe them out in their entirety, in their totality. Why? Because he knows from the scripture. Hes not omniscient. He doesnt know all things, but he knows from the scripture. He heard the words of the prophets with his own ears, in his hearing, as it were. He knows that this people will finally come back to God and that will be the final and the most glorious phase of the history of the church. Life from the dead. And Satan hates it. Why do you think that some madman like Adolf Hitler should settle his hatred upon this despised small people and gas 6 million of them. Why? It's not Adolf Hitler. It was the demon in him. It was the demon in him. Why? Because that demon or those demons, may there be legion that were in him. They knew very well that the creation of the state of Israel was coming. So it was the great attempt of Satan to obliterate this people before God could be vindicated. Just like he tried to destroy all the babies in Bethlehem to get at Christ, so he tries to destroy the jewish people before the creation of the state of Israel. The relevance biblical prophecy Israel well, I shall not go further really than this this evening, but I will end on this matter. We have not actually. We have not actually touched the heart of the matter concerning Israel. There are people who appear to believe that the chapters nine to eleven of romans are a kind of parenthesis, a kind of afterthought that the apostle Paul was given to this kind of thing. He used to preach a sermon and like many of us, get carried away on another line, a secondary line, a subsidiary line. And many commentaries will tell you that Romans from Romans 910 and eleven are one of these little sidelines that the apostle Paul fruitfully and valuably travelled along for a while. And then we come back to his main argument with chapter twelve, verse one. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies, a living sacrifice wholly acceptable unto God. These folks appear to believe that from romans one to romans eight you've got an ongoing argument and from chapter twelve onwards you have it taken up again. I say it's nonsense and it's nonsense because people do not understand the glory of those three chapters. And what is the glory of those? It's not just to do with the jewish people. It touches the salvation of every single one in this place and indeed in the whole world. It is the mystery of election. It's as if the apostle Paul has taken us through matter after matter after matter, the glory of the gospel, of our so great salvation, and then suddenly says, but now I will draw aside the veil. Remember, this is prophetic. I will draw aside the veil and I will tell you something that you will not be able to understand. But nevertheless I will tell you it's simply your salvation did not start with you. It goes right back into the very mists of antiquity, into the heart of God. And he argues, he says, God said that he loved Jacob and hated Esau. Now, whether its the foreknowledge of God or just the predestination of God boldly. The fact of the matter is that your salvation goes right back into before times eternal. And here he develops his theme by taking the jewish people. And he says that this people, they had to fall. That's why I am theologically a Calvinist. I can't be anything else. I don't believe my salvation even originated with my own will. I believe it originated in God. Don't ask me to explain it. I can only say this, that the jewish people are the evidence and the illustration of the principle of election, or the mystery of election rather than the principle of election. God says this, people had to fall away. They had to fall away so that salvation might come to the Gentile. And then he argues, if their casting away was the riches of the world, if their falling was the salvation of the Gentiles, the reconciling of the Gentiles to God, what will their receiving be but life from the dead? So if they had to fall away in the sovereign councils of God, then just as certainly they will come back. And he argues this. He says, a remnant have been saved according to the election of grace. And the rest were hardened. What hard word. So that all you Gentiles might come in. But then he argued, when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, he said, don't let. Don't get conceited, all of you. This is. I'm putting it in my own words, but this is what he says. Don't be conceited. He actually said that you may not be conceited, your own conceit. He says, I will tell you a mystery. A hardening in part has fallen upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be coming. And so he said, o blessed word, so shall all Israel be saved. What does he mean? He means that the whole elect people of God, going right back to the father of all who believe Abraham shall be saved by the grace of God. He ends with a pan of praise. He says, you see, the calling and the election, the calling and the gifts of God are without repentance. Ponder on it, dear child of God. Ponder on it. It is in connection with the jewish people as well as you. He said it in the context of the jewish people. The calling and the gifts of God are without repentance. And then he bursts into that pyramid, prayed, oh, the depth of the riches and so on of God. He's carried away. And no wonder he's carried away. He'd got something in him. He'd seen something. He understood something. He was an apostle to the gentiles, but he was of jewish origin. He had some understanding of this whole thing. He was carried away by the whole magnificence of it and the mystery of it. This seems to me that what we find again in the Old Testament in Zechariah, when he says that at the worst time of all in the history of the jewish people, at least approaching it, the spirit of grace and supplication will be poured upon them. And it says, they shall look upon him whom they pierce, or unto him unto him whom they pierce. And then those beautiful words, and they shall mourn for him. As for an only son that is yet to come. Won't that be a marvellous day worth experiencing when the jewish people mourn for the crucifixion of Christ as something that is like their own firstborn sons death? Those are the words of the prophet Zechariah. They are yet to be fulfilled. Or again, what about Ezekiel when he speaks about the goggle Magog, that terrible war in which the whole strength and power and military might of the northern confederacy will be destroyed upon the mountains of Israel, and when they will take seven months to bury the dead, so great will the destruction be. Then it says, for from this day forward will I bless them, and I will gather them from the ends of the earth and there shall be no more left, any of them, in any part of the earth. That's yet to come. That's going to be when the and all the other Guggenheimers and so many other, the wealthy ones, the so called. I can't think of the word. But anyway, never mind the people who've got the assimilated ones, when finally they will be drawn back to Israel. Oh yes, all this is yet to come. These are not just ideas. These are things that the word of God says. And it says, for and listen to this, for I have poured out my spirit upon them, saith the Lord God. That's yet to come. And so will end the whole history of this people. How will it end? It will not end, in my estimation, as a distinct history from other, from the history of the church of God. In the end the two will merge together as they began together they began together and they parted. But in the end they will come back and will be one people and one nation. Is this not what the apostle means, John, when he saw that holy Jerusalem coming down out of heaven like a bride adorned for her husband? And he says in verse twelve, there were twelve gates, and on the gates were written the names of the twelve apostles, was it? And I think in verse 14 it says, and there were twelve foundations. And on the foundations were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. These are the 24 elders that we hear again and again and again, again and again in the book of Revelation, twelve representing all the elect from the Old Testament and twelve representing all the elect from the new. Here they are in the city which has the foundations. Was it not Abraham who sought for that city? And Isaac and Jacob? Did not all the others seek for that city which has the foundations? They have not been made perfect without others. They have been held back. Until we all come in here it is the fullness of the gentiles and so shall all Israel be saved. The relevance of biblical prophecy now I'm not being funny in this matter and I am finishing, but if you feel yourself moved in your heart by what I've said about this matter, why should you be? You are not jewish for the most part, so why should you feel? No. Is it not evident that deep down within us, even when we can't understand all this, either from our prophetic systems, our prophetic complexions, or from our varying outlooks, there is something in us deeper than our mind, deeper than our brain, which witnesses to the work of the spirit of God that tells us even when we can't fully understand it, this is true. This is true. We may not have been able to say it all exactly as it will happen, but something in us, the spirit of glory in us with our spirit. This is the coming glory. That is the relevance of biblical prophecy. And while the jewish people are in existence on this earth, I for one will always have to bow before the authority of the word of God. They are the concrete act, evidence on this earth of God. And the fact that they have gone back to Israel in unbelief only makes me bow the deeper before God because they haven't gone back because they've found some scripture, because they've got some religious idea. They never did go back to that. Zionism was for the most part political without any belief in God. The fact is, behind all this unbelief, this going back in their unbelief, is the grace of God. It says they are loved for the fathers sake. Well, I find that very wonderful. That is the specific relevance of biblical prophecy on just one matter. Now we'll have to have another reading and then we'll talk about the last events and we'll talk about the personal relevance of biblical prophecy, which I believe is the most important really of all. Shall we pray together? Dear Lord, we do lift up our hearts to thee. And we praise thee, Lord, from our hearts. That thou art the God who works out all things according to the counsel of thine own will. And we praise thee, Lord, for these things we've been able to talk about this evening. This outline thou hast given us, Lord, the world history. We find ourselves still in it, Lord. This amazing, amazing. These amazing prophecies about the jewish people. Lord, we praise thee for it all. And we praise the Lord that we shall live to see the fulfillment of these things. We have already seen, Lord, Israel come to be a nation. We have already seen, Lord, some of these things fulfilled in our day. Weve seen Jerusalem come back under jewish control and government. O Lord, we lift up our hearts to thee. And we pray that somehow biblical prophecy may mean something more to us than it's ever meant before. It may not just be some fascinating study or subject. But may lord come to mean to us what it should mean. A means of correction, of encouragement, of strengthening and of preparation. And we ask it all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.