{"id":18668,"date":"2019-03-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-10T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/israel-trip-2019-001\/"},"modified":"2019-03-10T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-03-10T06:00:00","slug":"israel-trip-2019-001","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/israel-trip-2019-001\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel Trip 2019 – 001"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[71],"series_event":[497],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18668","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-ezekiel","series_event-israel-trip-2019","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Israel Trip 2019 - 001","sermon_date":"20190310","sermon_month":"3","sermon_year":"2019","sermon_notes":"","sermon_slides":6504,"sermon_mp3":6495,"sermon_id":"310191212567794","series_or_event":497,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":71,"chapter_and_verse":"36:24-28","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nIsrael Trip 001 2019\n\n3-10-17\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ezekiel 36:24-28\n\nFather, we\u2019re grateful for this morning, grateful for today; this is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and rejoice\u00a0 in it.\u00a0 And I just pray that Your Spirit will be with us today in Sunday School and in the worship service that follows.\u00a0 I do pray, Father, that we would leave here changed in some way because of the work of Your Spirit through Your people and Your Word.\u00a0 And we will be careful to give you all of the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026. Amen.\n\nIf you all can take\u00a0 your Bibles and open them to the Book of Ezekiel, chapter 36, and verse 24, and I really don\u2019t like to embarrass people but we do have a few visitors today.\u00a0 First of all we have Cathy and Lee (isn\u2019t that easy to remember) from the Dallas area so welcome.\u00a0 And we have the Martins in the back from the Dallas area who have a creation ministry, Job, Grenade, Marin and Taryn, but if I was one of these types of guys that gave out prizes for the person that traveled the furthest that prize would definitely go to Paul who is visiting us all the way from the Ukraine today.\u00a0 [clapping]\u00a0 I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve ever had a visitor from the Ukraine today.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve ever had a visitor from the Ukraine, have we, in the history of this church?\u00a0 [someone answers]\u00a0 That\u2019s right, our missionaries, but they\u2019re supposed to come.\u00a0 As we say about the missionaries they get paid to be good, the rest of us are good for nothing.\u00a0 [Laughter]\n\nAnyway, let\u2019s take our Bibles and open them to the Book of Ezekiel, chapter 34, beginning at verse 24 and we finished, believe it or not, this was a work of God in and of itself, our study on Ecclesiology which I thought would last four weeks and we crammed a four week course into fifty-one weeks, so I feel like I should give you guys a test to see if\u00a0 you get credit.\n\nBut we\u2019re leaving the doctrine of the church and we\u2019re going to move into the subject of the doctrine of the angels but before we get to that I wanted to do a few weeks on our recent trip to Israel.\u00a0 And Anne and I had a chance to go to Israel about a month or so ago and then we had another chance to go at the end of 2018, and then were there again in 2014 and we were there in 1998 on our honeymoon.\u00a0 So this has been my fourth time to Israel and so when I come back from Israel I always like to share some slides and things of that nature.\n\nBut to me Israel is one of the most exciting things to talk about. First of all, because Israel is the place on the planet where so much of biblical history that we read about in the Bible transpired; that kind of goes without saying.\u00a0 But to me the modern state of Israel is a miracle, it shouldn\u2019t exist.\u00a0 And I\u2019m reminded of something that the prophet Ezekiel said in chapter 36, verses 24-28.\u00a0 He made this statement two thousand six hundred years ago, Ezekiel did.\u00a0 God, speaking to Ezekiel, says, \u201cFor I will take you from the nations,\u201d speaking of the Jewish people, \u201cgather you from all the lands and bring you into\u201d someone else\u2019s land\u2026 oh, it doesn\u2019t say that does it, it says I will \u201cbring you into \u00a0your own land.\u201d And the reason that\u2019s significant is if you watch CNN they\u2019re going to tell you that the Jews are in someone else\u2019s land, they\u2019re in a Palestinian culture that the Jews evicted.\u00a0 So the world community wants\u00a0 you to believe the Jews went and usurped someone else\u2019s land but the Bible very clearly says God will bring the Jews back into their own land.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And then if you look at verse 25 it says, \u201cThen I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.\u201d\u00a0 So I would say this; verse 24 is being fulfilled right before us.\u00a0 Would you guys agree with that?\u00a0 Verse 35 and following is\u00a0 yet to be fulfilled.\u00a0 So we\u2019re living in the time period between verse 24 and verse 25.\n\nAnd if\u00a0 you go over to Ezekiel 37:7-11 Ezekiel illustrates what he just said in chapter 36.\u00a0 He says, \u201cSo I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling;\u201d now this is speaking of the nation of Israel being regathered in the last days and Ezekiel says when it happens it\u2019s going to be noisy.\u00a0 Do you see that\u2014noise and a rattling.\u00a0 Would\u00a0 you say it\u2019s noisy today as you think about that issue?\u00a0 I mean, that\u2019s where all the clamoring in the world is about.\u00a0 \u201cSo I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone.\u00a0[8] \u00a0And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. [9] \u00a0Then He said to me, \u201cProphesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, \u2018Thus says the Lord GOD, \u201cCome from the four winds, O breath,\u201d and that\u2019s ruah<\/em> in Hebrew, the Holy Spirit, \u201cand breathe on these slain, that they come to life.\u201d [10] \u00a0So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.\u00a0 [11]\u00a0 Then He said to me, \u201cSon of man, these bones are the\u201d what does it say?\u00a0 The Second Baptist Church of Houston\u2026 NO, \u201cSon of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel;\u201d and I was sitting in a church one time and there was kind of an amillennial kind of replacement theologian teaching and he said \u201cthese bones\u201d represent the church on the fay of Pentecost.\u00a0 And I kept thinking to myself, I wish he would read verse 11.\n\n\u201cThen He said to me, \u2018Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel;\u2019 \u00a0behold, they say, \u2018Our bones are dried up\u2019\u201d kind of sounds like the persecution the Jews went through, through the holocaust, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 These \u201cbones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are completely cut off.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 So again we\u2019re sort of living in between the regathering of the bones that were seeing but the breath or the spirit or the ruah has not\u00a0 yet been poured out on Israel.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why I\u2019m so excited about Israel because when you visit that part of the world you\u2019re literally watching a work of God in progress in addition to seeing so much of things that the Bible talks about.\u00a0 So that\u2019s why I wanted to share this series with you.\n\nMark Twain visited Israel in 1867 and he wrote about Israel in his book, Innocence Abroad<\/em> two years later and this is what Mark Twain saw in the land of Israel in 1867. \u201c... A desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds\u2026 a silent mournful expanse\u2026. a desolation is here that not even imagination can grace with the pomp of life and action\u2026. we never saw a human being on the whole route\u2026.\u201d Does it really sound like there was a thriving civilization there and the Jews went back in there as CNN says, and displaced a prosperous population?\u00a0 \u201c\u2026 we never saw a human being on the whole route\u2026. there was hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. \u00a0Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country.\u201d\u00a0 [The Innocents Abroad, Complete<\/em>, 1st ed. (A Public Domain Book, 1869), 267, 285, 302. These quotes can be found in chapters 47, 49, 52.]\n\nAnd it\u2019s amazing to see what God has done there as He has done exactly what He said He would do, recycle the Jews into their land and they would become a thriving economy.\u00a0 In fact, when you go to Ezekiel 38 you\u2019ll see that the nations are going to invade Israel in the last days because of spoil.\u00a0 Ezekiel 38:12.\u00a0 The nations are going to invade \u201cto capture spoil and to seize plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places which are now inhabited, and against the people who are gathered from the nations, who have acquired cattle and goods, who live at\u201d where does it say there? \u201cthe center of the world.\u2019\u201d\n\nYou see, to the world Israel is just a tiny nation in the way of progress but to God it\u2019s the centerpiece of everything.\u00a0 In fact, that same expression Israel at \u201cthe center of the world\u201d is used in Ezekiel 5:5 to describe Jerusalem at the center of the nations.\u00a0 [Ezekiel 5:5, \u201cThus says the Lord GOD, 'This is Jerusalem; I have set her at the center of the nations, with lands around her.\u201d]\u00a0 And when you study this out in Hebrew the center of the world is the same word in Hebrew used for the navel or the bellybutton, which is the center of the body.\u00a0 And so we have to learn to look at Israel the way God looks at it.\n\nAnd from the Mark Twain days to the present it\u2019s amazing what\u2019s happened in Israel.\u00a0 Israel has produced a gross domestic product clearly outstripping that of her neighbors.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why Ezekiel 38 describes this invasion of Israel in the last days.\u00a0 So there\u2019s a lot of people out there that are sort of prophetically agnostic about Israel, they\u2019re not sure what to make of it, maybe it\u2019s a fulfillment of prophecy, maybe it\u2019s not.\u00a0 Well, that\u2019s not how we think here at Sugar Land Bible Church, we look at the nation of Israel as a clear work of God where He is in the process of fulfilling His Word.\n\nJohn Walvoord, the Dean of all prophecy students, says this in one of his books, Israel in Prophecy, <\/em>Page 26, he says: \u201cOf the many peculiar phenomena which characterize the present generation, few events can claim equal significance<\/u> as far as Biblical prophecy<\/u> is concerned with that of the return of Israel to their land<\/u>. It constitutes a preparation<\/u> for the end of the age, the setting<\/u> for the coming of the Lord for His church, and the fulfillment of Israel\u2019s prophetic destiny<\/u>.\u201d\u00a0 And to that I can only say Amen!\n\nAnd so that\u2019s\u00a0 one of the reasons I wanted to do this study, sort of covering my recent trips, our recent trips into Israel and I notice some of you are very nervous because\u00a0 you\u2019re used to getting a handout. We don\u2019t have a handout yet for you for the primary reason that this presentation has a lot of pictures in it and I really wasn\u2019t sure if the pictures would show up on the handout but if we can get it worked out we\u2019ll start giving out handouts again as the class proceeds\n\nSo with those thoughts in mind the excitement about Israel prophetically, the excitement about Israel concerning where so much of biblical history takes place, what I want to do in this study in Sunday School is to take you to some of the main places I had a chance to see, we had a chance to see recently in Israel.\u00a0 So in this presentation we\u2019re going to look at\u2026 and I\u2019m just taking these in the order that we saw them, Tel Aviv, Joppa, Caesarea, Maritma, Mount Carmel, a place called Sepphoris, Megiddo, and we\u2019re going to do all of that in forty-five minutes, right?\u00a0\u00a0 Whatever we don\u2019t do we\u2019ll just continue on next week.\u00a0 This is only part one of the study.\n\nBut the first place we went to is Tel Aviv, and the reason we went to Tal Aviv first is that\u2019s the place of the Ben Gurion airport and you\u2019ll see the map there, you\u2019ll see where Tel Aviv is on the coast there,\u00a0 Israeli coast, the Mediterranean coast, and Tel Aviv is a Israeli Mediterranean coastline city in west central Israel.\u00a0 It has a population of about 3.3 million people and those numbers may be a little off because that comes from a 2010 figure.\u00a0 But it is considered the financial capital of Israel.\u00a0 It\u2019s probably the second largest economy in the entire Middle East.\u00a0 And this may be interesting to you, of the most expensive places in the world to live Tel Aviv ranks 19th<\/sup> on that list.\n\nAnd of course you know a lot about Tel Aviv just by listening to the news or watching the news.\u00a0 Right.\u00a0 Because our current Commander in Chief, Donald Trump, moved our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and so there\u2019s a map that shows you where Tel Aviv is relative to Jerusalem.\u00a0 And that, of course, was a Big deal, with a capital B with multiple exclamation points at the end because in so doing he was recognizing that Israel not only is a legitimate state but he was recognizing the historical capital of Israel as the city of Jerusalem, something that the world community really had not recognized up to that point in time.\u00a0 And he did that.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting, I think, if I remember right, 50 years after Israel regained that territory in 1967 and so from 1967, fifty hears forward, and doesn\u2019t the Bible say something about fifty years?\u00a0 Have you ever thought about that?\u00a0 \u00a0Isn\u2019t that the year of Jubilee?\u00a0 It\u2019s kind of interesting.\u00a0 What\u2019s the year of Jubilee?\u00a0 The 50th<\/sup> year when debts are released.\u00a0 So a lot of people think it was the timing of God and the providence of God to actually recognize the historic capital of Jerusalem about 50 years or so after she regained that territory in 1967.\n\nSo the embassy, there we are in front of the new embassy in Jerusalem but prior to that point in time the embassy was in Tel Aviv.\u00a0 And it\u2019s interesting when you visit Tel Aviv you\u2019ll see the picture there in the upper right and lower left, they have what\u2019s called Independence Hall and that\u2019s historically where the nation of Israel in 1948 against all odds, if you look at Islamic sources and Arab sources they thought the nation of Israel would be defeated in a\u00a0 matter of days.\u00a0 And how wrong they were because Israel is still in existence and thriving.\u00a0 But in 1948 in Tel Aviv is where Israel declared her independence and they have sort of an Independence Hall, just like we have one in Philadelphia, set up to sort of give you the recordings and the people, via pictures that were there when that historic event happened.\u00a0 So that\u2019s just a little tiny bit about Tel Aviv.\n\nAnd let\u2019s go over to the Book of Jonah, chapter 1 and verse 2 for just a moment.\u00a0 The next place we visited was a city on the south edge of Tel Aviv called Joppa.\u00a0 And Joppa is significant biblically for at least three reasons: it was sort of a place where Solomon, according to 2 Chronicles 2:16 where Solomon imported wood for what purpose?\u00a0\u00a0 To build the temple.\u00a0 You remember David was not allowed to build the temple because he was a man of war and that privilege went to Solomon.\u00a0 In fact in the name Solomon you might recognize the word Shalom, which means peace.\u00a0 So Solomon did not have blood on his hands so he was allowed to rebuild the temple and he probably started that project about 966 B.C. according to 1 Kings 6:1.\u00a0 [1 Kings 6:1, \u201cNow it came about in the four hundred and eightieth year after the sons of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD.\u201d]\u00a0 And what you learn is Joppa in 2 Chronicles 2:16 was sort of an import city where Solomon brought in wood and things like that via the sea for the construction of the first temple.\n\nAnd then of course I had you open up to Jonah chapter 1 and verse 2, you remember the story of Jonah, right?\u00a0 God says, \u201cArise, go to Nineveh, [the great city and cry against it, for their wicked\u00adness has come up before Me.\u201d\u00a0 Jonah 1:2]\n\nAnd what does Jonah do?\u00a0 He goes to the west; he couldn\u2019t be more directly out of the will of God, to a place called Tarshish, modern day Spain.\u00a0 But according to Jonah chapter 1, I said verse 2 but I think it\u2019s actually around verse 3.\u00a0 [Jonah 1:3, \u201cBut Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.\u201d]\n\nJonah, in his rebellion against God actually boarded the boat to get out of the will of God and go to Tarshish instead of Nineveh at a place called Joppa. \u00a0So Joppa is where Jonah was fleeing from the Lord.\u00a0 And we sort of have a tendency to really throw stones at Jonah, I mean, how dumb was he to get out of the will of God like that.\u00a0 By the way, it\u2019s never that smart to get out of the will of God\u2026. Amen!\u00a0 But when you actually study the archeological remnants or remains of Assyrian literature you start to understand why Jonah did not want to go Assyria.\u00a0 And there is a scholarly source by David Lukenbill and he has in it \u201cAncient Records of Assyria and Babylonia,\u201d going back to Babylonian and Assyrian times.\u00a0 And it describes the totally grotesque diabolical tortures that the Assyrians would put people through.\u00a0 And I can read an awful lot of those to you but let me just read one.\n\nIt says,\u00a0 \u201cAt Cannabis, six hundred of their warriors,\u201d this is Assyria talking, \u201cI put to the sword, 3,000 captives I burned with fire.\u00a0 I did not leave a single one among them alive to serve as hostage.\u00a0 Their governor I captured alive\u201d and then it says, \u201cI flayed his skin, I spread over the wall\u201d and it names a particular city that I don\u2019t think I can pronounce, but this was the Assyrians and this is how they dealt with enemies, they literally pealed their skin off and tortured to death and let you die that way.\u00a0 \u201cAt another city I formed a pillar of heads over against the city gate and seven hundred men I impaled on stakes over and against the city gate.\u201d\u00a0 And some of the stuff is so grotesque I can\u2019t even\u2026 I don\u2019t even want to go into describing what they did in a family setting like church.\n\nBut when you see that background you see very fast why Jonah did not want the grace of God to go to the Assyrians.\u00a0 I mean, he really wanted the Assyrians to go right into hell where they belonged.\u00a0 And we can kind of get like that, can\u2019t we, with people.\u00a0 You look at all this stuff going on today with transgenderism and how the standards of God are being blurred and we can get very angry towards the enemies of God and we can be kind of the same way like Jonah became and really not the grace of God to go to such people.\u00a0\u00a0 You look at what New York did recently with the legislation they passed legalizing abortions up until the point of birth and these kinds of things.\u00a0 And it\u2019s easy to kind of get into a Jonah syndrome.\n\nSo that\u2019s why Jonah went to Joppa and he went the exact opposite way because he knew God was gracious, he talks about that at the end of the book, and he really didn\u2019t want the grace of God to go to that particular part of the world.\u00a0 And so what we have in the Book of Jonah is the fleeing prophet, chapter 1, the praying prophet, chapter 2, why did he start praying?\u00a0 Because God dealt with him by swallowing him in the giant fish.\u00a0 And then you have the preaching prophet, he got obedient, chapter 3, so he\u2019s fleeing, chapter 1, praying chapter 2, preaching chapter 3 and what\u2019s he doing in chapter 4?\u00a0 Now he\u2019s the pouting prophet, because I knew you would do this God.\u00a0 And by the way, Jonah is the only successful prophet that we have record of in terms of success, in terms of conversions.\u00a0 I mean he goes and preaches and a whole city gets converted and despite his success and despite him being the only successful prophet that we have record of in the Old Testament he\u2019s angry about his success because he didn\u2019t want the grace of God to come to these people.\n\nBut anyway, his flight away from God started right there in Joppa. And if you go over to Acts 9 verses 36-43, he\u2019s still in Joppa and you see a third reason why Joppa is significant.\u00a0 [Acts 9:36-43, \u201cNow in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which translated in Greek<\/em> is called Dorcas); this woman was abounding with deeds of kindness and charity which she continually did. [37] And it happened at that time that she fell sick and died; and when they had washed her body, they laid it in an upper room. [38] Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, having heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him, imploring him, \u201cDo not delay in coming to us.\u201d [39] So Peter arose and went with them. When he arrived, they brought him into the upper room; and all the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing all the tunics and garments that Dorcas used to make while she was with them. [40] But Peter sent them all out and knelt down and prayed, and turning to the body, he said, \u201cTabitha, arise.\u201d And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up. [41] And he gave her his hand and raised her up; and calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive. [42] It became known all over Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.\u201d]\n\nPeter did a miracle here and if you look at the end of verse 43 it\u2019s very interesting, it says, \u201cAnd Peter stayed many days in Joppa\u201d now notice what this says, here\u2019s one of those little clauses that shows up in your Bible and it\u2019s very tempting to just read over it and not understand what\u2019s happening here.\u00a0 He stayed in Joppa \u201cwith a tanner named<\/em> Simon.\u201d Now what was a tanner?\u00a0 A tanner is someone who worked with the skins of dead animals.\u00a0 Now why would the Lord providentially have Peter stay at the home of this tanner?\u00a0 Because Leviticus 11:40 says according to the Mosaic Law a Jew was not to touch the skin of a dead animal.\u00a0 [Leviticus 11:40, \u201c'He too, who eats some of its carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening, and the one who picks up its carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening.\u201d\n\nSo why would God have Peter staying at the home of a tanner in Joppa?\u00a0 Well, you have to think of what Peter is going to do here.\u00a0 Peter is going to move into Acts 10, which follows Acts 9, you guys agree with me on that, Acts 9 then Acts 10, and in Acts 10 he\u2019s going to lead someone to the Lord who was a Gentile.\u00a0 And he\u2019s going to be shown the vision of the sheet, \u201carise and eat,\u201d and what\u2019s happening is the Lord is transitioning the church away from an institution that started off primarily Jewish and now the Gentiles are going to start getting saved.\u00a0 You\u2019re going to have the first conversion of a Gentile in Acts 10 and then by the time the Apostle Paul launches out on his first missionary journey, Acts 13, into Southern Galatia the Gentiles start getting saved like crazy.\n\nAnd I think that the Lord\u00a0 has Peter stay at the home of a tanner to continue to reinforce to him something that he didn\u2019t want to accept, that the age of the Law, at least in terms of the Mosaic Law is over; we\u2019re now moving into the age of the church.\u00a0 And so the Lord has him in Joppa stay at the home of this tanner to continue this process of sensitizing him by having him violate the Mosaic Law which had been set aside and yet Peter didn\u2019t want to accept that, to prepare him for his role in Acts 10.\n\nSo it\u2019s interesting how the Lord works with us.\u00a0 He takes us through different processes.\u00a0 Anybody here going through a process?\u00a0 And all of the processes He takes\u00a0 us through are preparations for things we don\u2019t even see coming.\u00a0 So we all like the product (as the saying goes) but we don\u2019t necessarily like the process.\u00a0 And Peter here is going through a process.\u00a0 And so this all happened in Joppa; that\u2019s where Jonah fled, it was where Peter was sensitized, and it\u2019s the place Solomon began to import wood all the way back in 966 B.C. before the construction of the temple. In fact, when\u00a0 you go there there\u2019s a little picture there on the bottom right, it talks about a tanner\u2019s home.\u00a0 It makes reference to the fact that Peter stayed in this tanner\u2019s home, they\u2019ve got a picture of a whale there in Joppa because of Jonah, and other things that you see there.\n\nAnd then, continuing to sort move upward on the coast the next place that we had a chance to go was a place called Caesarea Marittima and\u00a0 Caesarea is a seaport harbor city; it was built by Herod the Great in honor of Caesar Augustus, that\u2019s why it gets the name Caesarea in A.D. 22\u00a0 So take a look at Acts 10 just for a minute, if you could.\u00a0 It says, \u201cNow there was<\/em> a man at Caesarea\u201d that\u2019s our place here and\u00a0 you can see where it is on the map, \u201cnamed Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian cohort,\u201d now what\u2019s happening is the Lord now is going to use Peter to win this man to Christ, and if you look down at verses 9-14, after Peter had stayed at the home of his tanner and sort of become more and more sensitized to the new dispensation of the church was in, now Peter receives a vision, and it says this in Acts 10:9, \u201cOn the next day, as they were on their way and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray\u201d and I love how practical God is.\n\nYou know, God is so practical because it says in verse 10, \u201che became hungry\u201d so he\u2019s thinking about food, and then God shows him, you know, the Lone Star Steakhouse in this sheet.\u00a0 And it says, he became hungry and was desiring to eat; but while they were making preparations, he fell into a trance; [11] and he saw the sky opened up, and an object like a great sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground, [12] and there were in it all kinds of<\/em> four-footed animals and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the air. [13] A voice came to him, \u201cGet up, Peter, kill and eat!\u201d \u00a0Now you have to understand that Peter is a devout Jew and the nation of Israel for 1,500 years was under the Mosaic Law where eating such things was prohibited.\u00a0 But now they\u2019re in a new age, He has Peter staying at the home of his tanner and this vision is all about sort of sensitizing Peter to the new age that the church was in, now that the age of the church had started, so that this Gentile could get saved.\n\nAnd I love what Pete says to the command, verse 14, \u201cBut Peter said, \u201cBy no means, Lord,\u201d does that make any sense?\u00a0 I mean, if He\u2019s your Lord or your Curios<\/em>, Lord, how do you tell Him no?\u00a0 I mean, that\u2019s an oxymoron, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 That\u2019s like saying white blacktop, government intelligence, postal service, Microsoft works, and my personal favorite, reasonable attorney\u2019s fees.\u00a0 So he says, \u201cBy no means, Lord,\u201d and a lot of people think that if you\u2019re a Christian you don\u2019t have the ability to tell the Lord no.\u00a0 That\u2019s a doctrine called Lordship salvation which we reject here.\u00a0 Clearly a Christian can rebel against the commands of God.\u00a0 Now it\u2019s never good to do that but that\u2019s clearly what Peter is doing in this statement \u201cBy no means, Lord,\u201d which demonstrates that it can be done.\n\nThat\u2019s why there\u2019s so much in the Bible about don\u2019t grieve the Spirit to the Christian, don\u2019t quench the Spirit, do not let sin reign in your mortal body,\u00a0 etc. etc. etc.\u00a0 All those commands wouldn\u2019t be there unless I as a New Testament Christian had the ability to rebel against God any moment I see fit.\u00a0 I can go back to my sin nature and rebel against God.\u00a0 If I didn\u2019t have that ability those commands to us in the New Testament would be unnecessary, wouldn\u2019t they?\n\nSo he says, \u00a0[Acts 10:14] \u201c\u2018By no means, Lord, I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean.\u2019\u00a0 [15] Again a voice came<\/em> to him a second time, \u201cWhat God has cleansed, no longer<\/em> consider unholy.\u201d [16] This happened three times, and immediately the object was taken up into the sky.\u201d So as you go through this chapter it\u2019s the Lord working in Cornelius\u2019 heart and Peter\u2019s heart, both through visions at the same time to connect the two.\u00a0 And this is important to understand because a lot of people in the Christian life will pull one of these things on you\u2014God told me to tell you blah, blah, blah.\u00a0 Has that ever happened to anybody.\u00a0 I just had a vision from God for you and this is what God says.\u00a0 Well, if it\u2019s really a vision from God I think He\u2019s going to be working on both ends because that\u2019s His pattern here.\u00a0 He works on Peter\u2019s end with a vision; He works on Cornelius\u2019 hand with a vision.\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t the Bible say \u201cLet a matter be established by two to three witnesses.\u201d\u00a0 [2 Corinthians 13:1, \u201cThis is<\/em> the third time<\/em> I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.\u201d KJV]\n\nAnd what happens is Peter is connected to Cornelius, he leads him to faith.\u00a0 This all happened in Caesarea Marittima, that\u2019s why it\u2019s such a biblically significant city.\u00a0 And Luke records this in Acts 10 and Acts 11 because Luke is all about describing the birth and growth of the church.\u00a0 That\u2019s his point, because Luke is writing to Theophilus, not only in the gospel of Luke, a prequel, but in the Book of Acts, a sequel; Theophilus is a Gentile who I think was saved, and Theophilus wants to understand---all this Christianity stuff looks so Jewish, I\u2019m a Gentile, have I really believed the right thing?\u00a0 Am I in the right place?\u00a0 I mean, if this Christian thing for me?\n\nAnd you see that in early Luke, Luke chapter 1, the two books prequel, sequel are basically written to confirm Theophilus in the things that he has been taught.\u00a0 So Luke and Acts are really not evangelistic in purpose but they\u2019re more of an apologetic in purpose, trying to fortify Theophilus in the things that he has believed.\u00a0 So documenting the progress of the church starting off as a Jewish institution into an institution being predominated by the gentiles is a big deal in Luke\u2019s argument.\u00a0 That\u2019s why this conversion of Cornelius is recorded here.\n\nSo the Book of Acts is about the birth and growth of the church numerically, geographically and ethnically.\u00a0 The miracle growth of the church is documented through progress reports.\u00a0 That\u2019s why it says when Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost about 3,000 souls were saved.\u00a0 You get to Acts chapter 4 and suddenly the number jumps to 4,000 or 5,000 I think it is.\u00a0 And by the time the church works its way up north to Syrian Antioch you have great numbers and these are all what you call progress reports.\u00a0 And Luke drops in an awful lot of geography.\u00a0 And modern day archeologists, I wish I had brought in some of the quotes, have been very clear that Luke is probably one of the most accurate sources you can use today to discover geography in that part of the world or archeology in that part of the world because Luke, a physician, is so careful about documenting geography.\u00a0 There\u2019s just tons of geographical places.\u00a0 And it sort of makes sense that the Lord would use a physician to write these two books because physicians are concerned about details.\u00a0 I mean, if you have a physician that doesn\u2019t care about details it might be time to find a new physician.\n\nSo the Lord used all these writers of Scripture right where they were at in terms of their back\u00adgrounds to pen His Word.\u00a0 So He gives the numerical growth of the church, the geographical development of the church and then he also tracks the ethnic development of the church from Judaism, an offshoot of Judaism as it started to an institution predominately dominated by Gentiles.\n\nAnd Acts 10 and 11 is a big part of that argument, the conversion of Cornelius, and that\u2019s why Luke spends two chapters on it.\u00a0 So it\u2019s very interesting to me to note that at the dawn of church history when the Jews were in ascendency in the church and in the church\u2019s leadership their big question was can a Gentile really get saved?\u00a0 I mean, is that even a possibility?\u00a0 And after the conversion of Cornelius, Acts 10, now the apostles have to have\u2026 Peter has to go back to Jerusalem from Caesarea to where the leadership of the church was and he\u2019s got to report to them what happened, we see that in Acts 11, and he explains to them in Acts 11, and Acts 11 is probably the first Jerusalem council amongst the other churches, that it\u2019s true, a Gentile really got saved and he documents the conversion of Cornelius, which is a big part in Luke\u2019s argument because Luke is documenting the progress of the church, not just geographically, not just numerically but ethnically as well.\n\nSo here they are at the beginning of church history saying can a Gentile really get saved.\u00a0 That was their big question.\u00a0 Now what are we talking about today?\u00a0 It\u2019s the end of church history, now that the Gentiles have been dominant for three thousand years what are we saying?\u00a0 Does God really have a future for Israel?\u00a0 I mean, can a Jew really get saved?\u00a0 It\u2019s sort of interesting, the Jewish leadership is saying can a Gentile get saved and God says just watch Me, Acts 10, Acts 11, Acts 13 right on through to the present time where the Gentiles are now in domination in the church and here we are at the end of church history saying can a Jew get saved?\u00a0 And what does God say?\u00a0 Just watch Me, because one of these days the body of Christ will be made complete, Paul talks about it in Romans 11:25. [Romans 11:25, \u201cFor I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery-- so that you will not be wise in your own estimation-- that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in;\u201d]\n\nThe fullness of the Gentiles will have come in.\u00a0 I believe at that point the rapture of the church will take place and what does God do after the church is gone?\u00a0 He puts His hand right back on Israel, and what does Paul say in Romans 11:25-26. \u201c\u2026and so\u201d what? \u201call Israel will be saved.\u201d [Romans 11:25, \u201cFor I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery-- so that you will not be wise in your own estimation-- that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in;\u201d\u00a0 [26] and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, \u201cTHE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.\u201d]\n\nAnd Paul specifically corrects us for our attitude in Romans 11:18 because in Romans 11 he talks about the olive tree; the olive tree I think is the Abrahamic Covenant, originally given to Israel.\u00a0 He talks about natural branches removed from that tree.\u00a0 Who would those \u201cnatural branches\u201d be?\u00a0 The Jewish people, because of unbelief.\u00a0 We\u2019re not saying that a Jew can\u2019t get saved today but it certainly the exception rather than the norm.\n\nAnd then he talks about these weird looking branches that don\u2019t even belong in the tree, brought in, unnatural branches.\u00a0 Who do you think those unnatural branches are?\u00a0 That\u2019s us.\n\nAnd then he makes the very interesting statement in Romans 11:18, he corrects us for our attitude.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t say watch your hermeneutics, which is your method of interpretation.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t say watch your theology, and believe me, as you know I believe all those things are very important.\u00a0 He corrects the Gentiles for their attitude as the Gentiles, the unnatural branches are now looking at the natural branches which have been broken off.\u00a0 And he says in verse 18, he says, \u201cDo not be arrogant towards the branches but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you.\u201d\n\nI mean, there wouldn\u2019t be any tree to bring\u00a0 you into, God says, had I not safely worked in the past with the Jewish people.\u00a0 And now that we\u2019ve been brought in, (this is interesting) we have a tendency to think that we\u2019re the top dogs and God is finished with the Jewish people and that\u2019s a doctrine called replacement theology.\u00a0 And where does replacement theology come from?\u00a0 It comes from an attitude problem, not a hermeneutics problem, not a theology problem; those things might be related to the heart problem but the ultimate heart problem is an attitude problem.\u00a0 And isn\u2019t it interesting that throughout church history the dominant view that is taught is replacement theology, that God is finished with the Jewish people.\u00a0 And God specifically says of us, don\u2019t be arrogant toward the Jewish people.\u00a0 If God can do the greater agricultural miracle of bringing in the unnatural branches, which is us, how difficult is it for God to reach out His hand and bring back into the natural branches that belong there?\u00a0 See that.\u00a0 So He\u2019s arguing from the greater to the lesser and in fact Romans 11 goes on and says that\u2019s exactly what intended to do and will do in the events of the tribulation period and so forth.\u00a0 So it\u2019s interesting to me that this real transition of church history, from Jewish to Gentile, was taking place there at Caesarea Marittima, that\u2019s why it\u2019s biblically significant.\n\nAnd there has also been discovered there some remains of a man named Pontius\u00a0 Pilate.\u00a0 Does that name ring a bell?\u00a0 Now there was a stone discovered there, I think around 1960, and this is what it says when it\u2019s translated:\u00a0 Pontius Pilate, the prefect of Judea, erected a building dedicated to the Emperor Tiberius.\u00a0 So isn\u2019t it interesting that we keep finding things that seem to cohobating the Biblical record, that there really was a man named Pontius Pilate and you have some evidence that he once existed historically based on this inscription that was discovered in Caesarea Marittima.\u00a0 So they have that sort of set up there and when you visit that city you can look at that.\n\nAnd then from there we kind of kept making our way up further north, to a place called Mount Carmel, and you know about Mount Carmel, right?\u00a0 This is where Elijah had his great confrontation with the prophets of Baal.\u00a0 Go back in your Bible to 1 Kings 18 and beginning at verse 19, really the story is in verses 19-40 which we don\u2019t have time to read all of it.\u00a0 But if I was looking at this I would say wow, I wish we had some more Elijah\u2019s today because he says some things that God\u2019s people desperately need to hear\u2026\u00a0 Amen!\u00a0\u00a0 You\u2019ll see the name Mount Carmel in 1 Kings 18:20.\u00a0 [1 Kings 18:20,\u00a0 \u201cSo Ahab sent a message<\/em> among all the sons of Israel and brought the prophets together at Mount Carmel.\u201d]\n\nAnd this is what Elijah said, a great prophet of God during that time (during the days of Ahab and Jezebel) said.\u00a0 And by the way, what does the Bible tell kings not to do?\u00a0\u00a0 First of all, don\u2019t marry multiple wives and secondly don\u2019t marry a foreigner.\u00a0 So what did Ahab do?\u00a0 He married someone named Jezebel who was a Phoenician, and because of the influence of the wife on the husband\u2026 and whenever\u00a0 you put someone into a position of authority politically or in the church or wherever I hope you\u2019re looking at the life of the person as much as you\u2019re looking at the man who maybe a candidate for the office, etc.\u00a0 She began to put pressure on him to bring in all this idolatry into the land of Israel.\u00a0 And this is what totally corrupted the northern kingdom and destined them for the dispersion that they would experience at the hands of the Assyrians in 722 B.C.\u00a0 And you see her whole mentality working its way out in a story called Naboth\u2019s Vineyard.\u00a0 Remember that story, where Ahab saw a vineyard and he wanted, coveted, lusted after, and he sort of wanted to be like Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and just nationalize it and grab it; right!\u00a0 Well, you can\u2019t do that under the Mosaic Law because the Mosaic Law has rights for the property owner.\u00a0 That\u2019s why two of the commandments deal with that subject, don\u2019t steal and don\u2019t covet.\u00a0 So under the Mosaic Law the king is not over the law, the king is under the law.\n\nAnd he looked at this vineyard and he couldn\u2019t just grab it because he was restricted by the Mosaic Law,\u00a0 sort of like our U.S. Constitution does, our political rulers can\u2019t just do whatever they want, they\u2019re under the law and there are certain inalienable rights that God has preempted to us that kinds and rulers aren\u2019t supposed to touch.\u00a0 And those that are in political power need to be reminded of that.\u00a0 Amen!\n\nBut he looked at this vineyard and he couldn\u2019t just nationalize it and so he wanted Naboth to sell it to him; Naboth wouldn\u2019t sell!\u00a0 So what did Ahab do?\u00a0 He went home and sulked over it, I can\u2019t get the vineyard because the Mosaic Law won\u2019t allow me to get it. And his wife comes in and starts making fun of him and mocking him, Jezebel, and saying what kind of king are you?\u00a0 Where I come from\u2026 \u00a0(where did she come from?\u00a0 Phoenicia) Where I come from kings do whatever they want; you want the vineyard you go take it.\u00a0 And so that\u2019s the difference between a king without the Mosaic Law and a king with the Mosaic Law.\u00a0 It\u2019s a totally different perspective as those in pagan lands put total power in the hands of the state and allow the king, whose almost like a god or demigod to do whatever they wanted.\n\nSo anyway this whole story is taking place here at Mount Carmel, and Elijah says this: [Verse 21, \u201cElijah came near to all the people and said,] \u201cHow long\u201d as he\u2019s speaking to the crowd there, \u201cwill<\/em> you hesitate between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.\u201d\u00a0 Don\u2019t we need to hear that today?\u00a0 We have a tendency as Christians to kind of vacillate between two opinions and decisions that we make.\u00a0 I mean, we can follow God or not.\u00a0 And then it says down in verse 22, \u201cThen Elijah said to the people, I alone am left a prophet of the LORD, but Baal\u2019s prophets are 450 men.\u201d\n\nSo the numbers were against Elijah and that\u2019s important to understand because we think that if we don\u2019t have some kind of polling data on our side indicating that we\u2019re the majority opinion that somehow our views are invalid.\u00a0 The reality of the situation is if you want to stand on the Bible and you want to stand on God\u2019s Word you\u2019re going to find yourself as a minority in many, many occasions.\u00a0 And don\u2019t let your minority status deceive you into thinking that somehow truth is on your side; truth is never determined by majority opinion.\u00a0 I mean, Jesus spoke to that, didn\u2019t He, \u201cBroad is the road that leads to\u201d what? \u201cdestruction, and many there are that go that way.\u00a0 Narrow is the road that leads to life and few who find it.\u201d[Matthew 7:13-14, \u201cEnter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.\u201d\u00a0 [14] For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.\u201d]\u00a0 The path to destruction is like a five lane expressway on a freeway.\u00a0 The road to life is that narrow access road on the side.\u00a0 So Elijah is totally outnumbered.\n\nAnd then in verse 27 it says, \u201cIt came about at noon that Elijah mocked them and said, \u2018Call out with a loud voice for He is God, either He is occupied\u201d some versions say God is on the toilet, that\u2019s why He\u2019s not answering, \u201cHe is occupied\u201d or \u201cgone to sleep for He is on a journey, perhaps He is asleep and needs to be awakened.\u201d \u00a0You\u2019ll notice that Elijah, in this confrontation with the prophets of Baal, is using sarcasm.\u00a0 And it think that\u2019s very interesting because today when a Christian uses sarcasm all the time all the other Christians watching this, instead of getting on the side of good against evil start correcting the person that God is using, based on his tongue.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that interesting?\u00a0 But sometimes having a sarcastic tongue is appropriate in the outworking of God\u2019s purposes.\n\nSometimes you can make a point without resorting to logic but just by using sarcasm.\u00a0 It actually\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 is a very powerful tool and it\u2019s very interesting to me that in some circumstances God seems to authorize that.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why I enjoy studying this story so much because there\u2019s so many things happening here that we don\u2019t necessarily accept in modern day evangelicalism.\n\nVerse 26, this is the prophets of Baal, \u201cThey cried out with a loud voice\u201d look at this, \u201cand cut themselves according to their custom, with their sword and lances until the blood rushed out on them.\u201d\u00a0 Were these prophets of Baal sincere?\u00a0 I mean, I would give them an A+ for sincerity. But just because you\u2019re sincere about something doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re right.\u00a0 You can be sincerely wrong about something. Amen!\u00a0 And we\u2019re kind of living in a culture and a climate where we don\u2019t want to discount someone else\u2019s ideas as long as they\u2019re sincere about it.\n\nBut look at the sincerity of these prophets of Baal, how they\u2019re actually cutting themselves.\u00a0 1 Kings 18:34, \u201cAnd he said, \u2018Fill four pitchers with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.\u2019 And he said, \u2018Do it a second time,\u2019 and they did it a second time. And he said, \u2018Do it a third time,\u2019 and they did it a third time.\u201d\u00a0 You know the story.\u00a0 Elijah is making it very clear that when the miracle happens it\u2019s obvious who did it\u2014God!\u00a0 Verse 38, \u201cThen the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.\u00a0 [39] When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; [and they said, \u2018The LORD, He is God; the LORD, He is God.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 When was the last time\u00a0 you saw that in a worship service?\u00a0 People just so overwhelmed with the holiness of God that they don\u2019t even know what to do with themselves other than just to fall on their faces.\u00a0 \u201cWhen the people saw this they fell on their faces; and they said, \u2018The LORD, He is God; the LORD, He is God.\u2019\u00a0 Verse 40, \u201cThen Elijah said to them, \u2018Seize the prophets of Baal; do not let one of them escape.\u2019 So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s how a holy God deals with unrepentant sin.\n\nSo this is where all of that took place, on Mount Carmel.\u00a0 And the verse that I come back to when\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I think about this story is 2 Timothy 1:7, \u201cFor God has not given us a spirit of\u201d what? fear or \u201ctimidity, but of power and love and discipline.\u201d\u00a0 And how we need to hear that today because we see the culture disintegrating, we see the church to some extent nationwide disintegrating and we have a tendency to sort of shrink back and not do what God has called us to do and so we need to go back to the story of Elijah with the prophets of Baal and learn about that spirit of courage that God has given each of us to stand against evil in our time period.\n\nBut all of that took place there at Mt. Caramel.\u00a0\u00a0 And then from there we\u2019re sort of in a south-eastern direction to a place called Megiddo now you know about Megiddo, right?\u00a0 Megiddo is very famous in the Bible; if you look at the map it\u2019s on a main road linking the south or Egypt to Syria in the north.\u00a0 So Megiddo was always looked at as a very strategic area to occupy.\u00a0 And it\u2019s overlooking what\u2019s called the Jezreel Valley.\u00a0 The very first time Megiddo is mentioned in the Bible is in the Book of Joshua, chapter 12 and verse 21.\u00a0 [Joshua 12:21, \u201cthe king of Taanach, one; the king of Megiddo, one.\u201d]\u00a0 That\u2019s where Joshua won one battle against thirty-one kings and you\u2019ll see Megiddo mentioned there.\n\nAnd then as you kind of move into the Book of Joshua you learn that the area of Megiddo went to a tribe known as Manasseh.\u00a0 The land was parceled amongst the twelve tribes and Megiddo went to a tribe called Manasseh; you\u2019ll see a reference to that in Joshua 17:11.\u00a0 [Joshua 17:11, \u201cIn Issachar and in Asher, Manasseh had Beth-shean and its towns and Ibleam and its towns, and the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, and the inhabitants of En-dor and its towns, and the inhabitants of Taanach and its towns, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns, the third is Napheth.\u201d]\n\nAnd 1 Chronicles 7:29.\u00a0 [1 Chronicles 7:29, \u201cand along the borders of the sons of Manasseh, Beth-shean with its towns, Taanach with its towns, Megiddo with its towns, Dor with its towns. In these lived the sons of Joseph the son of Israel.\u201d]\u00a0 And you know what Manasseh never did with Megiddo?\u00a0 They never did what God said.\u00a0 God specifically said to drive the inhabitants out.\u00a0 And when you get into the Book of Judges you see the nation of Israel went into the land and they sort of obeyed the Lord about\u2026 oh, I don\u2019t know, 75%.\u00a0 I mean, they basically did about 75% of what God said to do but they never finished the job, they never went into the land and completely exterminated and wiped out the Canaanites, women, children, animals, and men exactly like God said.\u00a0 And you\u2019ll see this happening with Manasseh in Megiddo in Judges 1:27.\u00a0\u00a0 [Judges 1:27, \u201cBut Manasseh did not take possession of Beth-shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages; so the Canaanites persisted in living in that land.\u201d]\n\nAnd what happened is the philosophy of the Canaanites over the course of time began to get the upper hand over Israel, leading to 800 years of idolatry, culminating in which event?\u00a0 The Babylonian captivity! And so things at the end of that 800 year time period didn\u2019t end up well for the nation of Israel.\u00a0 And guess what? They could have nipped the whole problem right in the bud, right at the beginning, if they had done exactly what God said, and eradicated the Canaanites.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t eradicate the Canaanites you\u2019re going to learn their philosophies, you\u2019re going to learn their ways, and eventually you\u2019re going to become idolatrous yourself.\u00a0 And they said okay God, we\u2019ve got this one covered, and they obeyed God about 75%.\n\nNow before we cast judgment on these folks doesn\u2019t that kind of sound like our lives a little bit?\u00a0 I mean, aren\u2019t there things in our lives that God says deal with this right now, under the direction of the Holy Spirit and the divine resources He\u2019s given us.\u00a0 And all of us, when you think about it, have issues like that in our lives and we just kind of let it go, let it go, thinking we can contain it, thinking we have the upper hand over it and the day finally comes where we figure out that we never had the upper hand over that thing that God says eradicate; it now has the upper hand over us and we ourselves go into discipline or deportation or whatever.\u00a0 And all of it could have been avoided just by doing some preventive maintenance at the very beginning by dealing with issues that God says to deal with.\u00a0 And that\u2019s basically what happened with these twelve tribes and Manasseh, they never drove out the Canaanites like they were told.\n\nNow most people are interested in Megiddo because of its future and we know from Zechariah 12:11 that there\u2019s going to be great mourning in the plain of Megiddo, and from Megiddo we get a very popular name that\u2019s tossed around in the culture. What name am I thinking about?\u00a0 Armageddon.\u00a0 And in fact, Armageddon is mentioned only one time in the New Testament, you\u2019ll see it there in Revelation 16:13-16 and it says:\u00a0 \u201cAnd I saw coming<\/em> out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; [14] for they are spirits of demons, performing signs,\u201d did you catch that?\u00a0 I mean demons themselves can perform signs and miracles.\u00a0 You mean God is not the only one in the Bible in the miracle-working business?\u00a0 This slide, I don\u2019t have time to go into it but it documents every miracle happening in the Bible that God has not authoring at all.\u00a0 [Exodus 7-8, Deuteronomy\u00a0 13:1-3, Matthew 7:21-23; 24:24, Acts 8:9; 16:16, Galatians 1:6-9, Revelation 13:3, 13; 16:13-14]\n\nAnd that\u2019s what\u2019s happening is these demons are gathering the nations of the earth for the final battle in northern Israel to Armageddon.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026performing signs which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty.\u2019 Verse 16, \u201cAnd they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s a compound word Har means mountain, and Magedon comes from Mount Megiddo overlooking the Jezreel Valley that we were talking about a little bit earlier.\n\nAnd by the way, it\u2019s literal geography you\u2019re dealing with.\u00a0 This slide, I\u2019ve made reference to many times as we\u2019ve gone through the Book of Revelation and we\u2019ll continue to go through the Book of Revelation this morning, but it shows you that all of the geographical references in the Book of Revelation are literal places on planet earth.\u00a0 This is an actual place in northern Israel where the final battle will be fought; demons will gather the nations of the earth to that valley either to persecute the Jewish people or to oppose the second advent of Christ.\u00a0 In fact, the blood is going to be so severe in that battle that it\u2019s going to flow as high as the horses\u2019 bridles for two hundred miles.\u00a0 Revelation 14:20.\u00a0 [\u201cAnd the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses' bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles.\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 14:20]\n\nAnd yet Jesus is going to return as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Revelation 19:16, and establish His kingdom, Revelation 11:15.\u00a0 [\u201cAnd on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, \u2018KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.\u201d Revelation 19:16\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Revelation 11:15 \u201cThen the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, \u2018The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.\u2019\u201d]\n\nAnd so there we were overlooking, on that mountain overlooking that valley where that final battle is going to take place.\u00a0 Well, that\u2019s all I have time for right now and I\u2019ll try to open it up for Q&A as the series progresses, but I hope you\u2019re kind of enjoying this, looking at some of the key geographical places in Israel and what they mean to us biblically.\u00a0 I\u2019m not going to be like a typical Israel tour guide, I\u2019m not going to just rattle on and on and on about data that\u2019s sort of irrelevant.\u00a0 I want to actually tie it into the Scripture and show you why that particular place is important.\n\nSo the Bible is not like Jack and the Beanstalk; it\u2019s not a fairy tale.\u00a0 It happened in real time, with real events an real people and real geography.\u00a0 And so my prayer is that God will grow us in this area as we go through this mini-series on the nation of Israel.\n\nLet\u2019s pray. Father, we\u2019re grateful for Your Word and Your land where so many of these things took place and will take place.\u00a0 Help us to be conscious of these things and to recognize that\u00a0 You\u2019re the God of history that works in history, just like today\u00a0 You want to work in our lives.\u00a0 And we\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name and God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen!","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t