{"id":19183,"date":"2017-01-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-18T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/the-coming-kingdom-003\/"},"modified":"2022-01-12T17:17:31","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T23:17:31","slug":"the-coming-kingdom-003","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/the-coming-kingdom-003\/","title":{"rendered":"The Coming Kingdom 003"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[55],"series_event":[470],"sermon_service_type":[474],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19183","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-2-samuel","series_event-the-coming-kingdom","sermon_service_type-wednesday-evenings","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"The Coming Kingdom 003","sermon_date":"20170118","sermon_month":"1","sermon_year":"2017","sermon_notes":20057,"sermon_slides":20058,"sermon_mp3":20059,"sermon_id":"11817211820","series_or_event":470,"service_type":[474],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":55,"chapter_and_verse":"7:12-16","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nThe Coming Kingdom\n\n1-18-17\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2 Samuel 7:12-16\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 3\n\nIf you could take\u00a0 your Bibles and open them to the book of Genesis, chapter 15, and just sort of a reminder of what we\u2019re doing, we\u2019re doing a study on the Kingdom and the first part of the study is what does the Bible say about the Kingdom.\u00a0 So I\u2019m trying to start in early Genesis and hit the high points of the Old Testament so that we all walk away with a proper definition of what the Kingdom actually is.\u00a0 And then once we finish with that, down the road, we\u2019ll ask some of those other questions I have there.\u00a0 [What does the Bible Say About the Kingdom?\u00a0 The Main Problem with Kingdom Now NT interpretations.\u00a0 Why do some believe that we are in the Kingdom now?\u00a0 Why does it matter?]\n\nThe first part of the study is what does the Scripture say about the Kingdom, and we started with Eden.\u00a0 Basically when God set things up He decided to reign through a man and a woman, Adam and Eve.\u00a0 And they were going to govern creation for God.\u00a0 So that\u2019s the beginning of what\u2019s called God\u2019s Kingdom program.\u00a0 And Satan, who\u2019s very sneaky, came into Eden as a talking snake and he got Adam and Eve to listen to creation, not to rule it but to listen to it and in the process rebel against God.\u00a0 So the moment that happened God\u2019s Kingdom program left planet earth.\u00a0 So the goal of history, the goal of the Bible really, is to see that that structure (that was lost in Eden) gets reasserted over planet earth.\n\nSo one of these days God the Father is going to govern the last Adam.\u00a0 Who\u2019s the last Adam?\u00a0 Jesus, and He\u2019ll govern this world for God for a thousand years.\u00a0 So God cannot allow this earth to go out of existence until that is reasserted.\u00a0 So your whole Kingdom program really begins as early as Genesis chapter 1.\u00a0 And then Genesis 3, as you know, you have the fall of man and immediately after man fell God begins to declare His program through which the Kingdom is ultimately going to come to the earth.\u00a0 So what you start seeing are promises of God gradually detailed, gradually laid out and He is explaining in very graphic terms through these various promises exactly how He\u2019s going to restore the Kingdom program.\n\nSo Genesis 3:15 is really your first hint of a coming Messiah and then God calls a man out of the Ur of the Chaldeans, Mesopotamia, a man named Abram, and it\u2019s through Abram He\u2019s going to start this special nation, ultimately it\u2019s going to be called the nation of Israel, the Hebrew nation, and it\u2019s through that nation that the Kingdom, which was lost in Eden, is going to be reestablished to the earth.\n\nSo God begins to sort of\u00a0 unfold these promises to Abraham in what\u2019s called the Abrahamic Covenant, and we covered a lot of that last time.\u00a0 First of all, why did God choose to form a new nation?\u00a0 Because every other nation had been corrupted by the Mother\/Child cult that we talked about that started at the tower of Babel and spread into every culture.\n\nSo when God is getting ready to bring forth His Messiah, which we know is coming, Genesis 3:15 tells us that, \u201cAnd I will put enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.\u201d\u00a0 And that promise is carefully traced from Adam all the way to Abraham.\u00a0 Before we even get to Abraham the promise is traced through Seth, then Noah, and then Shem, and by the time we get to Genesis 12 we start to understand that it\u2019s going to be Abram, he\u2019s going to be the tool that God is going to use to be the progenitor of this nation through which this long line of promises is going to be channeled through.\u00a0 So God purposed to bless Abram and his descendants and through that lineage the world will be blessed.\n\nSo then the big question becomes why didn\u2019t He use the Egyptians, why didn\u2019t He use the Assyrians, why didn\u2019t He use the Phoenicians, and that has to do with the fact that at Babel, the sin that took place there was exported into every culture because at that time there was only one language and consequently the sin that was taking place at the tower of Babel went into every single.\u00a0 Remember we talked about that.\u00a0 So the Mother\/Child cult, the worship of the mother and the child, can be found in every civilization.\u00a0 And I was just using that to explain why God is not going to be using Egypt, Greece, Phoenicia, Assyria, Rome, Asia, because all of these cultures have been corrupted by idolatry.\u00a0 So God has to literally start brand new; He\u2019s got to create a nation subsequent to or independent of the universal effects of the tower of Babel.\u00a0\u00a0 So that\u2019s why Genesis 11, the tower of Babel story, comes before Genesis 12 which is the calling of Abraham.\u00a0 Do you see the chronology here?\n\nSo what God does is He begins to call this man, Abram, He tells him to walk by faith, his story starts to unfold in Genesis 12.\u00a0 He was an idolater, Abram was affected by the same idolatry the whole world was affected by and we found a reference to that last week in Joshua 24:2-3 which is the historical sermon looking backward.\u00a0 [Joshua 24:2-3, \u201cJoshua said to all the people, \u201cThus says the LORD, the God of Israel, \u2018From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the River, namely,<\/em> Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods. [33] Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River, and led him through all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac.\u201d]\n\nSo God has to take this man Abram and literally separate him from his culture, his heritage, and his former life so that\u2019s why He takes him out of Ur of the Chaldeans. And along the journey God starts to unfold to Abram certain blessings or promises and I think last time we said there were nine promises God gave to Abram.\u00a0 These promises are meant to be understood literally, in other words land means land, descendants means descendants.\u00a0 It\u2019s got the land that God promised to Abraham has the same geographical markers that you would find in normal geography, a tract of real estate in the promised land from Egypt to the Euphrates.\u00a0 The Canaanites were in the land and ultimately under Joshua they are going to be expelled from the land because of their wickedness.\u00a0 God is going to bring Abraham, Abraham will be dead by then but his descendants, into the land and through this whole process He\u2019s going to start this nation called the nation of Israel.\u00a0 And through the nation of Israel God\u2019s intent is to bless the world.\n\nSo we talked a lot about that and we saw that these promises are not just given generically to the human race.\u00a0 They\u2019re specifically given to Abram\u2019s physical lineage because God is very clear that from your own body these innumerable descendants will come.\u00a0 Now Abraham and Sarah had to wait a while to get Isaac, his son, and through Isaac would come Jacob and through Jacob would come Jacob\u2019s dozen, who are the twelve tribes of Israel.\u00a0 And what God is doing is He\u2019s starting a nation through which He\u2019s going to channel His blessings and ultimately the coming Kingdom.\n\nSo the Bible is very clear that it\u2019s to your \u201cdescendants\u201d I have given these promises.\u00a0 Now when God blessed the nation of Israel He didn\u2019t just have the nation of Israel in mind.\u00a0 He had the whole human race in mind but His purpose is to use Israel, the only nation in the history of the world that was started independently of the Mother\/Child cult system, His purpose is to use Israel as His special vehicle through which He will channel His blessings to all of the earth.\n\nSo all of this starts getting detailed for us in early Genesis as we move through that book.\u00a0 And then finally you get to Genesis 15:18 and it says,\u00a0 \u201cOn that day the LORD made a\u201d what? \u201ccovenant with Abram\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 So now the promises that he has been given are ratified in what\u2019s called an official covenant.\u00a0 The best way I can describe a covenant is a legal contract, kind of like the kind we have today.\u00a0 The word covenant is very significant. So God contractually binds Himself to Abram, to His descendants and to these promises He\u2019s given this special race.\n\nAnd you can take those nine promises that God promised to Abram and you can categorize them into three categories.\u00a0 Number 1, land, number 2, seed, and number 3, blessing.\u00a0 So in the Abrahamic Covenant these promises that have now taken on covenantal form, God promises to Abram a tract of real estate, (that\u2019s that lighter area there) going from literally modern day Egypt to modern day Iraq.\u00a0 It\u2019s a tract of real estate that the nation of Israel has never fully occupied.\u00a0 He also promises him \u201cseed\u201d or descendants as innumerable as the stars, coming from his own body.\n\nAnd then He promises him some personal blessings; He says things like \u201cI will make your name great.\u201d\u00a0 He says things like, in Genesis 15:1, I\u2019ll be a shield to you, I\u2019ll be a reward to you.\n\n[Genesis 12:2, \u201cAnd I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing.\u201d\u00a0 Genesis 15:1, \u201cAfter these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, \u2018Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.\u2019\u201d]\u00a0 So you can take these nine promises and you can basically categorize them into three categories: land, seed and blessing.\n\nAnd can God lie?\u00a0 No He can\u2019t.\u00a0 I have several Scriptures up there which indicate God can\u2019t lie.\u00a0 In other words, these promises are ironclad reliable.\u00a0 See, Abram, he didn\u2019t just have promises from a reliable God, he actually had those promises ratified into an official covenant form.\u00a0 So he had both, he had promises and a covenant from a God who cannot lie.\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t you say that\u2019s a pretty secure arrangement that he had there?\n\nNow those promises, and I think this is basically where we left off last time, land, seed and blessing, form the basis of what are called the sub covenants.\u00a0 Land, seed, blessing, Genesis 15, and what God does is He comes along later on in biblical history and He builds on each of those promises.\u00a0 He never changes them, He never alters them.\u00a0 But what He does is He adds more detail; He adds more information.\u00a0 So the land part of the Abrahamic Covenant is amplified in what\u2019s called the land covenant and that\u2019s in Deuteronomy 29 and 30.\u00a0 The seed part of the Abrahamic Covenant is amplified in what\u2019s called the Davidic Covenant, during the time of David, that\u2019s in 2 Samuel 7:12-16.\u00a0 And then the blessings part of it is amplified in what\u2019s called the New Covenant, Jeremiah 31:31-34.\n\nBut what I want\u00a0 you to see is how all of these covenants are flowing out of the Abrahamic Covenant.\u00a0 The Abrahamic Covenant is the most important covenant because it\u2019s foundational; the rest of these promises are just amplifying, giving further description of things that God already said all the way back to the time of Abraham.\u00a0 I wish we just had one Scripture to anchor ourselves in but we\u2019ve got lots.\u00a0 You might want to travel over to Deuteronomy 29:1, and this is where God starts to amplify the land and He says, through Moses in the book of Deuteronomy, all the way back during the time of Moses, \u201cThese are the words of the\u201d what? \u201ccovenant\u201d (there\u2019s that word again) the Hebrew word what? berith<\/em>.\u00a0 Your pronunciation might be a little better than mine.\u00a0 How do you pronounce it?\u00a0 Okay, bear-eet, bear-eeth, it depends on which syllable gets the emphasis, as I like to say.\u00a0 That is a huge word because it has the effect of a contract; God is binding Himself.\n\nSo \u201cThese are the words of the covenant<\/u> which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab,\u201d so this covenant was given, called the land covenant, just prior to the nations entrance into the land of Israel under Joshua.\u00a0 And it\u2019s called the book of Deuteronomy because Deuteronomy means second law, so it\u2019s taking information in the book of Exodus and sort of repeating it for the benefit of the second generation, because what happened to the first generation?\u00a0 They didn\u2019t enter, remember Kadesh-Barnea?\u00a0 They didn\u2019t enter and so that whole generation was cut off (except for Joshua and Caleb) because of disobedience and so God starts working with the second generation.\u00a0 So He takes information from the book of Exodus and restates it for the benefit of the second generation.\n\nThat\u2019s why this literally means second law, a repetition of Exodus for the new generation.\u00a0 And it\u2019s in that repetition that he lays out what starts to be called the land covenant.\u00a0 A lot of people call this the Palestinian Covenant, I personally don\u2019t like the word Palestine for the simple reason that you don\u2019t find the word \u201cPalestine\u201d in the Bible.\u00a0 And when you study the word Palestine what you\u2019ll discover, it was a term invented by Emperor Hadrian around the second century, a Roman emperor and this was after the Romans had evicted the Jews from that land.\u00a0 And he wanted to pretend\u2026 it\u2019s sort of like the Muslims do today, he sort of wanted to pretend as if the Jews had never been in that land so he called it by the name Palestine, which comes from the name Philistine.\u00a0 The Philistines were an enemy of the Jewish people, so he intentionally adopted that name to mock the Jewish people and to pretend like there never were Jews in that land at all.\n\nSo when we use the word Palestine, a lot of times we use that word not knowing what it means but we\u2019re really using an anti-Semitic slur without even realizing it.\u00a0 The word Palestine is not in the Bible.\u00a0 Jesus, in Matthew 2 called that land the land of Israel.\u00a0 The Old Testament calls it the Promised Land, sometimes it calls it Canaan, or the land flowing with milk and honey.\u00a0 So I prefer the expression land covenant rather than Palestinian Covenant, even though in some older study Bible, like for example I read out of the Ryrie Study Bible, he calls it the Palestinian Covenant but he\u2019s just using it as a common term, but I kind of did research into this and I know what that term means and so I don\u2019t like to use it.\n\nBut \u201cThese are the words of the covenant which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab,\u201d which was just east of the Jordan River prior to their entrance under Joshua; and then is specifically says \u201cbesides the covenant which He had made with them at Horeb.\u201d\u00a0 Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai.\u00a0 So that\u2019s a reference to the Mosaic Covenant, don\u2019t worry about the Mosaic Covenant quite yet, we\u2019ve got a whole chapter coming up; I think chapter 4 in the book deals with the Mosaic Covenant.\u00a0 But notice that this is an independent covenant of the Mosaic Covenant.\u00a0 And you can read all about it on your own, if you just read Deuteronomy 29 and 30 you\u2019d understand the provisions of the land covenant.\u00a0 It\u2019s a prophecy really that the nation is going to be evicted from their land, they\u2019re going to be pushed into world-wide dispersion, and lo and behold in the last days what is the Lord going to do?\u00a0 He\u2019s going to bring the Jews back into that land and He\u2019s not just going to restore them politically to the land, He\u2019s going to restore them spiritually.\n\nNow people say well, is that literal, I mean, do you really believe God is going to bring Jews back from all over the world, back into the land of Israel?\u00a0 And I think that would have been a valid question a hundred years ago, but today isn\u2019t it kind of obvious that that\u2019s what He\u2019s doing?\u00a0\u00a0 You see Jews from all over the world, beginning in 1948, going back into the land of Israel just like God said.\n\nSo it says here in Deuteronomy 30:3, and if you want to you can keep tracking with me flipping pages in your Bible or you can just read what I have here on the screen, it says: \u201cThen the Lord your God will restore<\/u> you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you <\/u>again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you<\/u>.\u201d\u00a0 And people look at that and they say well, is the gathering a literal gathering into the land of Israel by the Hebrews under God\u2019s hand?\u00a0 Is the restoring literal?\u00a0 Well, let me ask you a question: was the scattering literal?\u00a0 See, everyone understands the scattering happened because that\u2019s historical; that happened under the Romans in A.D. 70.\n\nSo if we can all accept the fact that the scattering happened you can\u2019t have it both ways, you can\u2019t switch your horses in mid-stream and then interpret the restoration and the regathering as something non literal.\u00a0 But there are many theologians that will tell you that \u201crestore\u201d and \u201cgather\u201d is not literal but they\u2019ll tell you the \u201cscattering\u201d is literal.\u00a0 So that\u2019s what you would call an inconsistent method of interpretation.\u00a0 The approach that I try to follow in developing my theology is I don\u2019t just take the Bible literally, I try to take it consistently literally whenever possible.\u00a0 So that\u2019s what you call the land covenant.\u00a0 So the land covenant is just amplifying, giving further detail, further information about prophecies that God gave with the land provision in the Abrahamic Covenant.\n\nNow take a look at 2 Samuel 7, we are now going forward about 400 years, to the time of David.\u00a0 And now as the chart indicates we\u2019re going to start seeing development of the seed promises.\u00a0 Remember through Abraham\u2019s body is going to come a race of people that will be as innumerable as the stars.\u00a0 And so now in what\u2019s called the Davidic Covenant, 2 Samuel 7:12-16, you start to see an amplification of the seed promises. And this took place during a time period where David, the second king of the United Kingdom, actually wanted to build God a temple and God said you\u2019re not going to build Me a temple because you\u2019re a man of war; that privilege of building Me a temple is going to go to your Son, Solomon.\u00a0\u00a0 By the way, the word \u201cSolomon\u201d is derived from the Hebrew word shalom<\/em>, which means peace, so Solomon wouldn\u2019t be a man of war, so he would build the temple.\n\nBut in the process God says to David, you\u2019re not going to build Me a temple, I\u2019m going to build you a temple.\u00a0 And in the process He gives to David a Covenant and this is what He says in 2 Samuel 7:12-16.\u00a0 2 Samuel 7:12-16, \u201cWhen your days are complete\u201d God is speaking, \u201cWhen your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his Kingdom. [13] \u00a0<\/sup>He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his Kingdom forever. [14] I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, [15] \u00a0<\/sup>but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it<\/em> away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. [16] \u00a0<\/sup>Your house\u201d here\u2019s the key expression to David, God is speaking to David, \u201cYour house and your Kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.\u201d [17]\u00a0<\/sup>In accordance with all these words and all this vision, so Nathan\u201d that would be the prophet that God is using to speak to David at this point, \u201cspoke to David.\u201d\n\nSo look at what God promised David.\u00a0 There\u2019s coming a \u201cdescendant\u201d and through that descendant is coming a forever eternal Kingdom.\u00a0 In other words, David, from your descendants is coming a forever throne and he reiterates, verse 16, \u201cYour house and your Kingdom shall endure before Me\u201d for how long? \u201cforever; your throne shall be established forever.\u201d\u00a0 And at the very end it\u2019s very clear that He\u2019s speaking these words to David.\n\nSo this is what you call the Davidic Covenant which is an amplification of the seed promises found in the Abrahamic Covenant.\u00a0 Now we know that this descendant is coming, don\u2019t we?\u00a0 We know that as early as Genesis 3:15, where God said to the serpent, \u201cAnd I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.\u201d\u00a0 And notice that there\u2019s coming someone from \u201cher seed,\u201d \u201cher\u201d is Eve, and there\u2019s coming someone called \u201che,\u201d that\u2019s a male, and the devil is going to be able to bruise him and inflict a little damage along the way, but this coming one is going to take Satan\u2019s head and do what with it?\u00a0 Crush it.\u00a0 So notice the \u201chim,\u201d the \u201che\u201d that\u2019s coming from \u201cher.\u201d\n\nSo we already know as early as Genesis 3:15 that this Messiah is on the way.\u00a0 And this is why Satan is working in history to prevent His birth, primarily in the Old Testament by blotting out the line or the lineage leading to Christ.\n\nOver in Galatians 3:16 Paul makes a very interesting statement, he says, \u201cNow the promises\u201d now these are the seed promises given to Abraham, of innumerable descendants.\u00a0 \u201cNow the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed.\u201d\u00a0 Notice what Paul says, \u201cHe does not say, \u2018And to seeds,\u2019 as referring<\/em> to many, but rather<\/em> to one, \u201cAnd to your seed,\u201d that is, Christ.\u201d\u00a0 Notice what Paul says; he emphasizes seed, not seeds<\/u>, seed, and he emphasizes one seed in particular, and Paul says this one seed in particular is the man, Christ Jesus.\u00a0 So what Paul is doing here in Galatians 3:16 is he\u2019s doing a wordplay on the word \u201cseed.\u201d\u00a0 Seed, the word \u201cseed\u201d is what you call a collective singular which simply means it can be used in the plural and that same word can be used in the singular.\n\nIt\u2019s like the word \u201chair,\u201d I can be speaking of one little strand of hair or I can be speaking of a full head of hair.\u00a0 So if someone says did you get your hair cut we don\u2019t usually say well which hair are you talking about, we\u2019re talking about the whole head of hair. It\u2019s like the word \u201csheep\u201d I can be referring to one little cute fuzzy creature over here or I could be referring to a flock.\n\nSo Paul makes this point that when God promised Abraham \u201cseed\u201d it\u2019s true that He promised him an innumerable multitude coming from his own body, but he also said one of those in that giant group is going to be very special and I want you to keep your eye on Him, referring to Jesus Christ.\u00a0 So when the time of David comes around and God enters this covenant with David we start to learn that this one individual seed that\u2019s coming, that we already know is coming, is going to come through the lineage of who?\u00a0 David, and through David\u2019s lineage is going to come a dynasty that will last forever.\u00a0 So it\u2019s really a Messianic prophecy about the coming Messiah who\u2019s going to usher in a Kingdom that will last forever.\n\nSo what God has done here is He\u2019s amplified the seed promises and given us more information on it.\u00a0 So the Davidic Covenant becomes a big deal and that\u2019s why when you go to early Matthew, you know, you\u2019re on your one year Bible reading program and you come to that genealogy in Matthew 1 and you say what in the world is this doing here, where it\u2019s carefully tracing the lineage of Jesus back to David and then it traces it from David back to Abraham.\u00a0 And that\u2019s Matthew\u2019s way of saying Jesus is the guy that we\u2019ve all been waiting for.\u00a0 He\u2019s the Messiah.\n\nJohn Walvoord, a great prophecy scholar who\u2019s written some excellent books on prophecy and the coming Kingdom, I have them all referenced in my book, I quote him quite a bit, he writes this concerning the Davidic Covenant:\u00a0 \u201c<\/strong>The covenant with David is not only given twice in its major content\u2014 namely, II Samuel 7 and I Chronicles 17.\u201d\u00a0 Now when you\u2019re reading Chronicles you\u2019ll say I already read all this in 1 and 2 Samuel, why is it all being repeated?\u00a0 It\u2019s being repeated because it\u2019s for the benefit of the generation that came back into the land after the captivity to encourage them.\u00a0 So it\u2019s rehearsing details from their history that were optimistic.\u00a0 It leaves out all the negative stuff, so David\u2019s sin with Bathsheba is given in the Samuel books but it\u2019s not given in Chronicles.\u00a0 So Chronicles is the heavily redacted edited history; it\u2019s history with a purpose, it\u2019s not rehearsing all the negatives because it\u2019s more an encouragement to the returnees to go back into the land and rebuild the temple.\u00a0 Chronicles is written much later than the Samuel books.\n\nBut nevertheless, the Davidic Covenant which is mentioned in 2 Samuel 7 is restated in 1 Chronicles 17.\u00a0 It\u2019s also confirmed in Psalm 89.\u00a0 So when you read Psalm 89:3-4 you\u2019re going to see the word \u201ccovenant\u201d again.\u00a0 It\u2019s true that we don\u2019t have the actual Hebrew word \u201ccovenant\u201d in 2 Samuel but you do have it in Psalm 89:3-4.\u00a0 So the Davidic Covenant is just as much a covenant as is the Land Covenant that we\u2019ve already studied\u00a0 and the Abrahamic Covenant.\u00a0 The covenant with David is not only given twice in its major content, namely 2 Samuel 7 and 1 Chronicles 17, but it\u2019s also confirmed in Psalm 89.\u00a0 In this and other Old Testament references there is no allusion anywhere to the idea that these promises are to be understood in a spiritualized sense as referring to the church or to a reign of God in heaven.\u00a0 Rather, it is linked to the earth and to the seed of Israel and to the land.\u00a0 There is no indication that the Kingdom extended to a spiritual entity such as the church, nor that the throne in view is the throne of God in heaven rather than the throne of David on earth\u2026.\u00a0 Such a situation does not prevail in this present age and is not related here or elsewhere to the reign of Christ from the throne of His Father in heaven.\u201d\n\nI can\u2019t emphasize those words strongly enough.\u00a0 All of these passages that we\u2019ve looked at, particularly 2 Samuel 7, it deals with the earth, it deals with the city of Jerusalem, it deals with the land of Israel, it\u2019s got nothing to do with heaven.\u00a0\u00a0 The other theological camp basically is trying to convince people that we\u2019re in the millennial Kingdom now.\u00a0 Well, where is Jesus?\u00a0 They\u2019re saying He\u2019s reigning from David\u2019s throne in heaven.\u00a0 Well, wait a minute, I thought 2 Samuel 7 located the throne of David where?\u00a0 On the earth!\u00a0 So you have to literally rewrite all of these promises to make it sound like we\u2019re in the Kingdom now.\u00a0 We are awaiting this Kingdom to come, we\u2019re not in the Kingdom now unless you just want to rewrite the language of the text.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 And we\u2019ll have a lot more to say about the throne of David as we progress in the study.\u00a0 But the only thing I want you to see right now is land, amplified land covenant; seed, amplified Davidic Covenant.\n\nNow what about the New Covenant.\u00a0 Take a look at Jeremiah 31:31-34, and this takes us all the way to about the sixth century just prior to the deportation.\u00a0 We\u2019re studying Daniel on Sunday morning, this was written or given just prior to the events of Daniel unfolding and this is what\u2019s called the New Covenant, which is an amplification of what?\u00a0 The blessings that God promised to Abraham.\n\nNotice Jeremiah 31:31-34, \u201cBehold, days are coming, declares the Lord, \u2018when I will make a new covenant with\u201d Sugar Land Bible Church, oh, it doesn\u2019t say that, does it.\u00a0 \u201cBehold, days are coming declares the Lord when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, [32] \u00a0<\/sup>not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,\u2019 declares the Lord.\u201d\u00a0 So this is going to be a different covenant than the Mosaic Covenant which I don\u2019t want you to think about too much because I\u2019ll be bringing that up next week.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0[33] \u00a0<\/sup>\u201c\u2018But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,\u2019 declares \u2018the Lord, \u2018I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.\u2019\u00a0 [34] \u00a0<\/sup>They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, \u2018Know the Lord,\u2019 for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,\u2019 declares the Lord, \u2018for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.\u201d\u2019\n\nNotice that this covenant, going back to the time of Jeremiah, is made with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, and it\u2019s going to be different than the Mosaic Covenant which the nation of Israel broke.\u00a0 Remember the golden calf incident and other things they did throughout the Old Testament where they broke God\u2019s law?\u00a0 Well this time around they\u2019re not going to be breaking God\u2019s law because they\u2019re not going to be looking at tablets of stone on the outside of themselves to obey God.\u00a0 Rather, where is God going to put His Law?\u00a0 Inside of them, so this is a prophecy about the spiritual regeneration of the nation of Israel.\u00a0 The day is coming when the nation of Israel will be just as spiritually born as we are in the church age.\n\n\u201cMy covenant which they broke,\u201d he says, \u201cI will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; \u2026 they will all know Me,\u201d and part of that provision is He \u201cwill forgive their iniquity,\u201d so this is more than land, it\u2019s more than seed, it\u2019s spiritual life, it\u2019s the spiritual birth.\u00a0 And this is why Jesus says to Nicodemus unless the man is born again he cannot see nor enter the Kingdom of God.\u00a0 Remember what Nicodemus said in John 3, how can a man reenter his mother\u2019s womb when he is old.\u00a0 And Jesus says are you the teacher of Israel and you don\u2019t understand the new birth?\u00a0 [John 3:4, \u201c\u2018How can a man be born when he is old?\u2019 Nicodemus asked. \u2018Can he enter his mother's womb a second time to be born?\u2019\u201d]\u00a0 Nicodemus, a master of the Old Testament, should have remembered Jeremiah 31.\n\nSo what you see as the prophets develop them is they predict all of these different prophecies coming together in tandem.\u00a0\u00a0 For example, Ezekiel 36 talks about the Jews being regathered from the nations into their own land, so that would be the land covenant being fulfilled.\u00a0 And then it also talks about how the Spirit of God comes into them and gives them life; that\u2019s the New Covenant being fulfilled.\u00a0 And in Ezekiel 37 Ezekiel sees all these bones all over the valley in this vision, and he sees the bones coming together and they are reassembled and they form a human skeleton and muscles and joints start to form over the body and then Ezekiel keeps looking and what does he see?\u00a0 He sees breath come into the body.\n\nAnd I was listening to a preacher one time and he was preaching through this and he said this is the church on the day of Pentecost.\u00a0 And I said to myself I wish he would read verse 11, because he stopped reading and didn\u2019t get to verse 11. Do you want to know what Ezekiel 37:11 says, it\u2019s crystal clear; Ezekiel 37:11 says, \u201cThen He said to me, \u2018Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel;\u2019\u201d literal interpretation, it\u2019s very clear.\u00a0 So the bones coming together is the\u00a0 land covenant, maybe you could throw in seed a little bit and then the breath coming into the skeleton is the New Testament.\u00a0 So what\u2019s happening in the rest of the Bible is God, through various predictions, is just building on these covenants.\u00a0 You see this all over the prophets.\n\nSo my point is these sub covenants further explain provisions found in the Abrahamic Covenant.\u00a0 And all of these covenants work together.\u00a0 So another thing to understand is the Abrahamic Covenant and therefore the sub covenants (since they are an extension of the Abrahamic Covenant) are unconditional.\u00a0 Do you know the difference between a conditional promise and an unconditional promise?\u00a0 A conditional promise is God will act if we do something first.\u00a0 An unconditional promise means God is going to act regardless of what the other party does.\u00a0 God\u2019s going to act what we call unilaterally, not bilaterally.\n\nSo a conditional promise is sort of like what you have on your refrigerator at home.\u00a0 Do you guys have this in your house, a plaque, Proverbs 3:5-6, we love this verse, \u201cTrust<\/u> in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean<\/u> on your own understanding.\u00a0 <\/sup>In all your ways acknowledge<\/u> Him, and He will make your paths straight<\/u>.\u201d\u00a0 Well, is God going to make my paths straight?\u00a0 It depends on me, I\u2019ve got to do the first three things, right.\u00a0 If God\u2019s not making my paths straight\u2026 well, are\u00a0 you trusting Him all your heart, are you leaning not on your own understanding, are you acknowledging Him in all your ways.\u00a0 Well, no.\u00a0 Well then don\u2019t expect Him to do His part if you\u2019re not going to do your part.\u00a0 So that\u2019s a conditional promise, it\u2019s what\u2019s called bilateral.\n\nThe Abrahamic Covenant and the sub covenants that extend from it are not conditional, they are unconditional, meaning God is promising that He\u2019s going to do these things regardless, regardless of what Israel does.\u00a0 Now why would I say that?\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if we have time to read the whole chapter but if you were to go home tonight and you were to ready Genesis 15, the Abrahamic Covenant, what you would discover is God took Abraham, whose name was still Abram at this point, and He said I want you to kill a bunch of animals and I want you to divide the severed animal pieces into halves, and I want you to arrange these severed animal pieces into two parallel rows.\u00a0 And what I want you to do is I want you to pass through the animal pieces.\u00a0 Now hold that thought just for a second.\n\nWhat is happening here is what you call an Ancient Near East covenant ratification ceremony.\u00a0 This is how covenants were entered into the Ancient Near East.\u00a0 That\u2019s what ANE stands for up there, Ancient Near East.\u00a0 And what happened is when you entered into a covenant with somebody both parties passed through the severed animal pieces and that signified something very solemn; it basically signified that if I don\u2019t do what I\u2019m supposed to do under this covenant then let me what?\u00a0 Cut in half too, just like all these animals have been cut in half.\n\nSo there is Abraham, arranging these animals in parallel rows. Now you can find references to this form of a covenant in the book of Jeremiah; in Jeremiah 34:8-10 it mentions a covenant.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[Jeremiah 34:8-10, \u201cThe word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem to proclaim release to them: [9] that each man should set free his male servant and each man his female servant, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman; so that no one should keep them, a Jew his brother, in bondage. [10] And all the officials and all the people obeyed who had entered into the covenant that each man should set free his male servant and each man his female servant, so that no one should keep them any longer in bondage; they obeyed, and set them free.<\/em>\u201d]\n\nNow this would be just a normal agreement between people, and in Jeremiah 34:18-19 it says, \u201cI will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not fulfilled the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when<\/em> they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts\u2014\u201d\n\nsee that, this is how you entered into a deal with somebody. \u00a0So once you passed through the animal pieces it was a big deal because you were basically living now to fulfill your obligations under the covenant or else you were to be cut in half as well.\u00a0 [19, \u201cthe officials of Judah and the officials of Jerusalem, the court officers and the priests and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf\u2014\u201d]\n\nWhat\u2019s very interesting about Genesis 15 is once the animal pieces are arranged in two parallel rows what does God do with Abraham?\u00a0 He puts him to sleep.\u00a0 You\u2019ll find that in Genesis 15:12, it says, \u201cNow when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram;\u201d the Hebrew word for \u201csleep,\u201d I quote Arnold Fruchtenbaum to this effect in the book but it\u2019s the same word used to describe what God did with Adam, when the first marriage was organized by God He put Adam to sleep and He brought forth the woman from his side you remember.\n\nSo this is the same Hebrew word, God puts Abram to sleep and when you go to Genesis 15:17\u00a0 it says, \u201cNow when it came about when the sun had set that it was very dark and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch,\u201d the oven and the torch matches very nicely with Exodus 13:21, it doesn\u2019t say exactly oven and torch but that\u2019s the reference to the presence of God that led the nation of Israel as they were coming out of Egypt during the wilderness wanderings.\u00a0 [Exodus 13:21, \u201cThe LORD was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.\u201d]\n\nSo God alone, as represented by the oven and the torch, pass through the animal pieces.\u00a0 Abram never passed through the animal pieces because he was asleep.\u00a0 So therefore who does this covenant rest on?\u00a0 It can\u2019t rest on Abram because he never passed through the animal pieces.\u00a0 It rests totally on God\u2019s shoulders.\u00a0 Now some people say well, doesn\u2019t the oven represent God and the torch represent man?\u00a0 Well, that doesn\u2019t work because how can you have two similar entities, oven and torch, representing two different things as diverse as man and God?\u00a0 Both the oven and the torch represent God.\u00a0 God, by Himself, passed through these animal pieces.\u00a0 And if you want to understand what God is doing here He\u2019s saying if I don\u2019t do exactly what I\u2019ve covenanted to do, land, seed and blessing, then let me be destroyed, is what God is saying, if you can destroy God. \u00a0Let me be torn in half, God says, just like these animals have been torn in half.\u00a0 And this is why you cannot get rid of Israel out of the equation.\u00a0\u00a0 You can never develop a theology that moves Israel because of this solemn oath that God has made.\n\nBeyond that we know this is unconditional because where in Genesis 15 are the conditions that Abraham is supposed to fulfill, if this is conditional?\u00a0 The answer is crickets, silence, there are no conditions for Abraham.\u00a0 If this were a conditional covenant God would say to Abraham you\u2019ve got to do the X, Y and Z, which He never does.\u00a0 Three times in Genesis 17 God calls this covenant eternal, the Hebrew word there is olam<\/em>, and that\u2019s often used to describe God Himself.\u00a0 And by the way, it\u2019s also called immutable, Hebrews 6; immutable means what? Unchangeable. \u00a0[Hebrews 6:18, \u201cThat by two immutable things, in which it was<\/em> impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:\u201d KJV]\n\nWho\u2019s the only entity that you know of that NEVER changes?\u00a0 God.\u00a0 Malachi 3:6 says, I never change; I change not.\u00a0 [Malachi 3:6, \u201cFor I, the LORD, do not change;\u2026.\u201d\n\nSo my point is for this covenant to be called eternal and immutable it can\u2019t rest on Abram and his performance.\u00a0 It has to rest completely on God because he\u2019s the only eternal immutable being.\u00a0 And have you noticed that as you go through the Old Testament, what does God keep doing with the covenant?\u00a0 He keeps reaffirming it; first He reaffirms it to Abraham multiple times, then He reaffirms it to Isaac, then He reaffirms it to Jacob, and He keeps reaffirming it despite the fact that the obedience of the nation of Israel is pretty much subpar, wouldn\u2019t you say?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t the nation of Israel always rebelling against God?\u00a0 No matter what character of the Bible you\u2019re studying there\u2019s always some rebellion and in the midst of the rebellion God keeps reaffirming the covenant.\n\nFor example, in Genesis 13:14-17 the covenant is reaffirmed to Abraham. \u00a0\u00a0[Genesis 13:14-17, \u201cThe LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, \u2018Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; [15] for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever. [16] I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be numbered. [17] Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you.\u201d]\n\nNow what do you think about Abraham\u2019s personal obedience as he was called from Ur of the Chaldeans?\u00a0 Did he obey the Lord perfectly?\u00a0 He obeyed Him sometimes but it was far from perfect.\u00a0 God said separate yourself from your relatives and from your father\u2019s house and go to the land which I will show you.\u00a0 How did Abraham do on that one?\u00a0 Well, he really didn\u2019t separate himself completely from his relatives because who did he bring with him?\u00a0 Lot!\u00a0 And he didn\u2019t really separate himself from his father\u2019s house because who does he bring with him on the voyage?\u00a0 Terah, his dad.\u00a0 I mean, he did start moving but it was partial obedience.\u00a0 Stephen, in Acts 7, brings this up when he is condemning Israel for their unbelief, and this is one of the reasons they killed Stephen.\u00a0 Acts 7:3-4, right at the beginning of Stephen\u2019s speech he rehearses this, where God says \u201cLEAVE YOUR COUNTRY AND YOUR RELATIVES, AND COME INTO THE LAND THAT I WILL SHOW YOU.'\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0From there, after his father died, well wait a minute, why did his father die from there when God told him earlier to separate yourself from your relatives.\u00a0 What is Stephen bringing up here? The partial obedience of Abraham.\n\nBy the way, didn\u2019t Abraham panic a lot of the time, and say Sarah is my sister?\u00a0 And by the way, God said to Abraham I want you to go to Canaan.\u00a0 Did Abraham go to Canaan\u2026 yeah, he did, but then in Genesis 12 there\u2019s a famine and he gets out of Canaan and goes where?\u00a0 Egypt.\u00a0 What\u2019s the point?\u00a0 The obedience of Abraham was very partial, kind of like us when you think about it.\u00a0 And yet what does God keep doing?\u00a0 Reaffirming the covenant, reaffirming the covenant, reaffirming the covenant.\u00a0 If the covenant was based on Abraham\u2019s performance it wouldn\u2019t have dissolved.\u00a0 So it can\u2019t be conditional, it has to be what?\u00a0 Unconditional.\n\nAnd then you go on through the book of Genesis, Isaac is born and then Jacob, and then God reaffirms the covenant to Jacob right after Jacob cheated his brother out of the birthright.\u00a0 He cheats his brother out of the birthright, Genesis 27, and God reaffirms the covenant, chapter 28.\u00a0 So the covenant can\u2019t be conditional, it\u2019s got to be what?\u00a0 Unconditional.\u00a0 By the way, do you know what Jacob\u2019s name means?\u00a0 Deceiver, a heel catcher but also a deceiver.\u00a0 So if a guy is named Deceiver it doesn\u2019t really give me a lot of optimism about his obedience to God, right?\n\nAnd\u00a0 you can travel right on through into right before the deportation and you know what the nation of Israel was doing just before the deportation?\u00a0 They were taking their own kids, if you can imagine this, and throwing them into a fire to satisfy a god named Molech.\u00a0 I mean you can\u2019t get much worse than that can you.\u00a0 And what does God say in Jeremiah 31, He reaffirms the covenant just before He\u2019s ready to send them into discipline.\u00a0 In fact, it\u2019s in Jeremiah 31:35-37, right after the giving of the New Covenant that we read these words:\u00a0 \u201cThus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; The LORD of hosts is His name:\u00a0 [36] If this fixed order departs from before Me,\u201d declares the LORD,\u201d what fixed order?\u00a0 \u201csun, moon, and stars,\u201d \u2018then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before Me forever.\u2019\u00a0 [37] Thus says the LORD, \u2018If the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out below, then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done,\u2019 declares the LORD.\u201d\n\nHow do you get rid of Israel?\u00a0 You\u2019ve got to get rid of the sun, the moon and the stars.\u00a0 So all of these people that want to fire rockets into the land of Israel, they ought to aim their rockets at the sun, moon and stars because God has said as long as there\u2019s sun, moon and stars Israel will always be a nation before Him.\u00a0 How could He say that as they\u2019re throwing their own children into a fire to satisfy a god named Molech.\u00a0 He said on the basis of the Abrahamic Covenant, which has to be what? conditional or unconditional?\u00a0 It\u2019s got to be unconditional; it has to be unconditional or else you wouldn\u2019t have this perpetual reaffirming of the covenant.\n\nAnd beyond that the Abrahamic Covenant has never been fulfilled; it\u2019s never been fulfilled!\u00a0 Not only is it unconditional it\u2019s unfulfilled.\u00a0\u00a0 And people like to sort of play this game that the covenant was fulfilled in the days of Joshua when they got the land, or in the days of Solomon.\u00a0 The problem is you have to start reading the rest of the story.\u00a0 As you study this book of Joshua what you\u2019ll discover in Joshua 13 is it says there was very much of the land left to be conquered.\u00a0 [Joshua 13:1, \u201cNow Joshua was old and advanced in years when the LORD said to him, \u2018You are old and advanced in years, and very much of the land remains to be possessed.\u201d]\n\nThe Joshua generation was very successful but they never got everything.\u00a0 And which book follows Joshua?\u00a0 Judges, and do you know what it says all the way through Judges 1, (I have all the Scriptures:) they didn\u2019t drive out this group, they didn\u2019t drive out that group, this Canaanite group remains to this day.\u00a0 So don\u2019t let people tell you that the land promises were fulfilled in Joshua\u2019s day.\u00a0 And how about the days of Solomon?\u00a0 The nation of Israel only got a fraction of what was promised.\n\nDo you know what keeps getting repeated over and over again in the Old Testament?\u00a0 1 Kings 4:25, from Dan to Beersheba.\u00a0 [1 Kings 4:25, \u201cSo Judah and Israel lived in safety, every man under his vine and his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.\u201d]\u00a0 Dan is up north, you see it up north in read, Beersheba is down south.\u00a0 \u00a0That\u2019s how the land of Israel keeps getting referred to.\u00a0 Is that what God promised Abram?\u00a0 From Dan to Beersheba?\u00a0 No, He promised him from the Euphrates to the river of Egypt.\u00a0 Dan to Beersheba is just a little part of what Abraham and his descendants one day are going to inherit.\u00a0 The Joshua generation didn\u2019t even get its hands on Jerusalem.\u00a0 Jerusalem, Joshua 15:63, remained a Jebusite city and didn\u2019t come into Jewish hands until whose time period? David\u2019s, 400 years later, 2 Samuel 5 . [Joshua 15:63, \u201cNow as for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the sons of Judah could not drive them out; so the Jebusites live with the sons of Judah at Jerusalem until this day.\u201d]\n\nAnd people like to quote 1 Kings 4:21 where Solomon got the land to the border of Egypt. \u00a01 Kings 4:21, \u201cNow Solomon ruled over all the Kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt; they brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.\u201d] \u00a0The devil is in the details; \u00a0God never promised Abram land to the border of Egypt, He promised him land to the river of Egypt.\u00a0 Even in the Solomonic dynasty Israel never got everything.\u00a0 And when you read 1 Kings 4:21 what you discover is the Solomonic Empire, which was probably the time period when Israel expanded the most, that\u2019s what you call a tributary arrangement.\u00a0 It says in 1 Kings 4:21 that these nations paid tribute to Solomon.\u00a0 And when Solomon died those arrangements stopped.\u00a0 In other words, these territories that paid tribute never got annexed into the borders of Israel during Solomon\u2019s time period.\n\nAnd beyond that God said to Israel, you\u2019re going to possess the land for how long?\u00a0 Forever.\u00a0 Did Solomon get the land forever?\u00a0 Did Joshua get the land forever?\u00a0 No, because the nation of Israel was divided between the ten northern tribes and the two southern tribes.\u00a0 The northern tribes take on the name Israel, headquartered in Samaria.\u00a0 The southern tribes, Benjamin and Judah take on the name Judah, headquartered in Jerusalem.\u00a0 What happened to that northern Kingdom?\u00a0 It was dispersed by the Assyrians in 722 B.C.\u00a0 What happened to that southern Kingdom?\u00a0 It was taken out of the land by the Babylonians, 589 B.C.\u00a0\u00a0 Then the nation goes back into the land and who kicked them out again?\u00a0 The Romans, forty years after the time of Christ, A.D. 70.\u00a0 Has Israel possessed the land forever?\u00a0 Obviously not.\n\nAnd if the land promises were fulfilled already in the days of Joshua and the days of Solomon then why would Amos, AFTER the days of Joshua and Solomon\u2026 you know Solomon left the throne around 931 B.C.,\u00a0 Amos has some prophecies almost 200 years later, 755 B.C. and Amos comes along and reaffirms the Abrahamic Covenant.\u00a0 Well, if it was already satisfied in the days of Solomon why would Amos reaffirm it almost 200 years later.\u00a0 What\u2019s the point?\u00a0 Oh, and by the way, has the New Covenant ever been satisfied to Israel?\u00a0 Have they been regenerated?\u00a0 Ever?\u00a0 You look over there today, you see them regathered but are they a saved nation?\u00a0 No, it\u2019s a Christ rejecting unsaved nation. So what is the point?\n\nThe point is the Abrahamic Covenant is unconditional and unfulfilled.\u00a0 If it\u2019s unconditional and unfulfilled, by the way, what did Abraham get out of the deal?\u00a0 He got a little burial plot in Hebron where him and his wife were buried.\u00a0 He never got everything that God promised.\u00a0 So if the covenant is unconditional and unfulfilled what does God have to do if He\u2019s not a liar?\u00a0 He has to move His hand in history, doesn\u2019t He, and make good on what He said.\u00a0 That\u2019s why the Exodus happened.\u00a0 Why did the Exodus happen?\u00a0 Because God felt sorry for Israel?\u00a0 No, He moves His hand in history to fulfill His covenants. Exodus 2:24 said, \u201cSo God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 The whole Exodus happened because God remembered the Abrahamic Covenant.\n\nWhy, and I\u2019ll close with this, I went a little bit over, I apologize, why is God going to regather the Jews in the last days, into their own land and regenerate them.\u00a0 Why is He going to do it?\u00a0 It\u2019s all related to what He\u2019s already promised in His covenants.\u00a0 Ezekiel 36:22 says, \u201cTherefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD, \u2018It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act,\u2019\u201d do you see that?\u00a0 He\u2019s not doing this for them anymore than He performed the Exodus for them; He\u2019s doing it because He has covenantally obligated Himself.\u00a0 \u201cIt is not for your sake, O house of Israel that I am about act, but for My holy name\u2026,\u201d in other words if I don\u2019t what I\u2019ve obligated Myself to do who\u2019s got egg on His face?\u00a0 I do, God says, and that happen because I can\u2019t lie.\u00a0 I\u2019ve made not just promises but a covenant.\n\nAnd so what I hope you\u2019re seeing is these covenants form the whole expectation of a future earthly Kingdom.\u00a0 We haven\u2019t even gotten to the book of Revelation; most people build their theology from the book of Revelation; I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve even mentioned the book of Revelation tonight, have I?\u00a0 Revelation just tells you it\u2019s a thousand years, it just gives you the time; the whole structure covenantally is already in place, going back to early Genesis.\u00a0 So that\u2019s the significance of the Abrahamic Covenant in a future Kingdom mindset.\n\nSo what I\u2019d like you to read next time is chapter 4 because we\u2019re going to be incorporating the Mosaic Covenant which is a little bit tricky, and I\u2019ll show you how that fits in next week.\u00a0 I\u2019ll cease talking at this point and we\u2019ll open it up for Q and A if you have any questions.\n\n ","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