{"id":19206,"date":"2017-11-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-11-08T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/the-coming-kingdom-026\/"},"modified":"2017-11-08T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-11-08T06:00:00","slug":"the-coming-kingdom-026","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/the-coming-kingdom-026\/","title":{"rendered":"The Coming Kingdom 026"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[111],"series_event":[470],"sermon_service_type":[474],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19206","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-revelation","series_event-the-coming-kingdom","sermon_service_type-wednesday-evenings","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"The Coming Kingdom 026","sermon_date":"20171108","sermon_month":"11","sermon_year":"2017","sermon_notes":5135,"sermon_slides":5136,"sermon_mp3":5138,"sermon_id":"118171847416","series_or_event":470,"service_type":[474],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":111,"chapter_and_verse":"1:6","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nThe Coming Kingdom\n\n11-8-17\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Revelation 1:6 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Lesson 26\n\nIf we could take our Bibles and open them to the Book of Revelation, chapter 1 and verse 6.\u00a0 You guys all enjoying this cool weather?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I thought Al Gore must be in town giving one of his global warming speeches because every time he gives one of those speeches God has a sense of humor and makes it the coldest day on record.\n\nThe Book of Revelation, chapter 1 and verse 6.\u00a0 We have been, as you know, continuing our study through the subject of the kingdom, basically dealing with the subject what does the Bible say about the kingdom?\u00a0 And we\u2019ve traced the concept of the kingdom essentially all the way through the Old Testament.\u00a0 So we basically saw that the kingdom, and we studied this very consistently and I hope you understand that we\u2019re doing an inductive study of the whole Bible to arrive at these conclusions.\u00a0 I think tonight we\u2019re on lesson 26.\n\nThe kingdom has been developed in the pages of the Old Testament and it\u2019s been offered to Israel on a silver platter and it was rejected in Matthew chapter 12.\u00a0 So ever since Matthew 12 we\u2019re living in a time period when the kingdom is not cancelled but postponed.\u00a0 So then the issue becomes, since God never leaves the earth without a witness of Himself what is He doing in the present age while the kingdom is not here.\u00a0 He\u2019s doing a lot of things, it just shouldn\u2019t be confused with the kingdom.\u00a0 And that\u2019s sort of the premise that we\u2019re taking as we\u2019ve been studying the interim age.\u00a0 So the interim age,\u00a0 you\u2019ve got to understand two areas of the Bible, number 1, Matthew 13 which describes, in the form of eight parable, the plan and program of God while the kingdom is not here.\u00a0 And then the second area you\u2019ve to study is the role of the church.\u00a0 The role of the church is part of that interadvent age, as we\u2019ve looked at.\u00a0\u00a0 So that\u2019s where we find ourselves the last few Wednesday nights.\n\nSo the subject matter on the church basically divided it into five; number 1, the definition of the church.\u00a0 The church is this unique new man that God promised to raise up.\u00a0 You\u2019ll find the church described as a new man in Ephesians 2:14-15, it\u2019s a body spiritually consisting of everyone that has trusted in the Messiah that national Israel rejected in the first century.\u00a0 [Ephesians 2:14-15, \u201cFor He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into<\/em> one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, [15] by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is<\/em> the Law of commandments contained<\/em> in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus<\/em> establishing peace.\u201d]\n\nThen number 2 we looked at the beginning of the church.\u00a0 When did the church begin?\u00a0 Acts 2, and that\u2019s not one of those things where you have to believe it just because the pastor says that; I gave you six proofs as to why the church started in Acts 2.\n\nAnd then number 3 we looked at the purposes of the church, what is the church supposed to be doing?\u00a0 And we saw that the church basically has three basic functions, which we\u2019ve gone through.\n\nAnd then the fourth thing that we looked at is the church is not the kingdom, the way the kingdom is described and the way the church is described, they\u2019re basically two different animals (so to speak).\u00a0 And that becomes a big deal because if you\u2019re confused on number 4 you get quickly confused on number 3.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 So if you don\u2019t understand that the church is not the kingdom, if you think the church is the kingdom then the church starts to take on kingdom roles that God never gave to the church, and the church gets outside of its design.\u00a0 I think that\u2019s why Satan throughout history in our Protestant Reformation study, (we studied this historically) why Satan has worked so hard in church history to convince the church that she is actually the reigning kingdom of God on the earth which she is not, as we\u2019ve tried to argue.\u00a0 And by the way, on number 4, the church is not the kingdom, I gave you thirteen dissimilarities between the church and the kingdom.\n\nAnd that takes us to number 5 which we started last time, the church not only is not the kingdom, the church is not Israel.\u00a0 Now why is that relevant?\u00a0 Because God, the way He set up the covenants is going to bring His kingdom to the earth through the nation of Israel. We saw that at Mt. Sinai, I won\u2019t reteach all of these verses that we\u2019ve taught on this in past lessons, we saw it in Matthew 23.\u00a0 So if you can demonstrate that the church is not Israel and the kingdom must come through Israel then the church cannot be the kingdom.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 That\u2019s why it\u2019s very significant to understand the differences between Israel and the church.\u00a0 Last time we were together we started looking at a list of 24 differences between Israel and the church.\u00a0 And there\u2019s the first 8 or so that we walked through and if there\u2019s two at the top there in that second list that we walked through.\n\nAnd now we come to difference number 11 between Israel and the church and by God\u2019s grace I\u2019m going to try to finish this list with point 4 this evening.\u00a0 But don\u2019t hold me to that.\u00a0 So number 11, in terms of an eleventh difference between Israel and the church is this: it concerns the priesthood.\u00a0 The nation of Israel had a priesthood; the priest had to come from the tribe of Levi and they had to be a descendant of whose lineage?\u00a0 Aaron\u2019s.\u00a0 So not anybody could just put up their hand and say hey, I\u2019d like to sign up for the role of the priest.\u00a0 In fact, the Book of Hebrews, I think it\u2019s around chapter 5 is very clear, it says no one takes this honor upon themselves.\u00a0 [Hebrews 5:4, \u201cAnd no one takes the honor to himself, but receives it<\/em> when he is called by God, even as Aaron was.\u201d]\n\nSo you had to be genealogically qualified to be a priest in the nation of Israel in Old Testament times, coming from Levi and also a descendant of Aaron.\u00a0 So when you read passages like Exodus 28 and many other passages you see the priesthood\u2019s garments described in great detail, what the priest was to wear on his head, what the priest was to clothe his body with, the bells that were placed at the hem of the garment of the priest, the incense that the priest was to bring in to the Holy of Holies and the instructions there are incredible in terms of detail.\n\nAnd what you discover when you get to the New Testament is there\u2019s no such instructions given to the church.\u00a0 There is no singular group of people within the church that are priests.\u00a0 Within Israel there was a smaller group within Israel that qualified as priests.\u00a0 Not so the church because everyone in the church is automatically a priest.\u00a0 So the Book of Revelation, chapter 1 and verse 6, John says, \u201cand He\u201d that\u2019s God, \u201chas made us\u201d that\u2019s the church, \u201cto be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father-- to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.\u201d\u00a0 So in the church age we don\u2019t have a tiny group of people coming from the right tribe that qualifies priests; all of us are automatically priests.\n\nSo going back to this description, in Israel the church had a priesthood, by contrast the church is a priesthood by definition.\u00a0 So you may not look at\u00a0 yourself as a priest, you may not feel like a priest, but positionally speaking that\u2019s the identity God has given you.\u00a0 And a priest represents God before man and man before God.\u00a0 And we\u2019re given that role; we intercede for people, pray for people, and also we represent God to a lost and dying world.\n\nSo today you go into some sectors of Protestantism and also into Roman Catholicism and you look at the way priests are dressed up and they look a lot like Aaron, don\u2019t they?\u00a0 They\u2019ve got these robes that are even purple a lot of times, like Aaron\u2019s robe was.\u00a0 So what is happening is in certain churches some people are looked at as priests.\u00a0 In fact, I grew up in a Protestant denomination, the Episcopalian denomination, where we had priests.\u00a0 And the priests are always sort of removed from the people, they\u2019re in kind of a different d\u00e9cor and the fact of the situation is there\u2019s absolutely no New Testament authority for that concept.\u00a0 To get that thing to work what you have to do is you have to start dipping into, not the New Testament to get it to work but going back to the Old Testament.\n\nSo as the church gets more and more fuzzy about the Israel\/church distinction what it has a tendency to do is go back into the Old Testament, take certain things out of it that they like, like having a certain class of people within the church called priests and having them dress up and the New Testament, as it\u2019s describing the church never articulates anything like that.\u00a0 The only biblical support you can find for it is in the Old Testament.\u00a0 So if you\u2019re in a church that has priests and you\u2019re actually confessing your sins to a priest of some kind then essentially what\u2019s happening is you\u2019re in a church that has gotten very fuzzy in terms of the Israel\/church distinction.\n\nAnother difference between Israel and the church is Israel had a physical temple. Take a look if you could at 1 Kings 6:1.\u00a0 You go all the way through the Old Testament and you start seeing God manifesting His presence in, first of all a tabernacle, which was like a mobile temple that they carried around, the nation of Israel did, while they were outside the land entering the land.\u00a0 And finally that tabernacle became an actual physical structure called the temple, in Jerusalem, and that temple was built by Solomon.\u00a0 So 1 Kings 6:1 says, \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\u201d see how chronically precise this is, \u201cwhich is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD.\u201d\u00a0 The \u201chouse of the LORD\u201d is the actual physical construction in Jerusalem called the temple.\u00a0 David, as you know, was a man of war so he was not given the privilege of building an actual temple; that privilege went to Solomon.\u00a0 The word \u201cSolomon\u201d is connected to the Hebrew word \u201cShalom\u201d which means peace.\u00a0 So Solomon was given the right, or the privilege I should say, of building that temple.\n\nAnd as you go through the Bible what you discover is there\u2019s four temples in the history of Israel; two past, two future.\u00a0 You have the temple built by Solomon around 966 B.C. that we just read about in 1 Kings 6:1, and that was the temple that was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in the days of Daniel (that we\u2019re studying about on Sunday morning).\u00a0 And then after the seventy year deportation the children of Israel went back into the land and they rebuilt the temple and you can read about that in the Book of Ezra.\u00a0 And that was the temple that Herod took, John 2:20, and beautified it.\u00a0 [John 2:20, \u201cThe Jews then said, \u2018It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?\u2019\u201d]\n\nSo by the time you get to the life of Christ that second temple is the one that\u2019s functioning as the temple that Jesus went into when he was 12 and confounded the religious leaders with His wisdom.\u00a0 It\u2019s the temple that the devil put Him on the pinnacle of and said throw yourself forth and so forth.\u00a0 And that temple was destroyed by who?\u00a0 The Romans, A.D.\u00a0 70.\u00a0 So ever since that time Israel hasn\u2019t had a temple.\u00a0 Prophetically we know there\u2019s going to be a third temple built by the nation that the antichrist will desecrate midway through the tribulation period.\u00a0 I have all of the verses there on the screen where you can look up the biblical support for that third temple prophetically.\u00a0 [Solomon\u2019s pre-exilic temple (Kings and Chronicles, Zerubbabel\u2019s post exilic temple (Ezra 1-6; John 2:20), Antichrist's temple (Daniel 9:27; Matt 24:15; 2 Thessalonians 2:4; Revelation 11:1-2)\u00a0 \u00a0Millennial temple (Ezekiel 40-48)]\n\nAnd I believe that that third temple is going to be destroyed in the seventh bowl judgment that\u2019s described in Revelation 16.\u00a0 It talks about the greatest earthquake in human history which will dismantle that third temple.\u00a0 But that third temple will be replaced by a fourth temple called the millennial temple, which is what Ezekiel is talking about in such tremendous detail, Ezekiel 40-48.\u00a0 And that\u2019s the temple that the Shekinah glory of God is going to re-enter.\u00a0 The Shekinah glory of God entered the Solomonic temple and left just before that temple was destroyed.\u00a0 And Ezekiel predicts a time in the millennial kingdom where that fourth temple will be indwelt by the Shekinah glory of God.\n\nSo my point is Israel had a physical building called the temple.\u00a0 Now compare that to the church; what\u2019s the temple in the church?\u00a0 Your body is the temple; it\u2019s a different concept isn\u2019t it?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1 Corinthians 6:19 makes it about as clear as it can be made that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. [1 Corinthians 6:19, \u201cOr do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 So if you are a believer in Christ then the Holy Spirit has permanently taken up residence in you.\u00a0 And that\u2019s Paul\u2019s whole basis for exhorting the Corinthians to live a holy life, because when we join ourselves to sin as Christians we\u2019re dragging the Holy Spirit into that sin, whatever it may be, because we\u2019re living an incredibly privileged time period where the human body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.\n\nAnd over in 1 Corinthians 3:16 the pronoun switches from singular to plural.\u00a0 [1 Corinthians 3:16, \u201cDo you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 So 1 Corinthians 3:16 teaches that not only is our body the temple of the Holy Spirit but our corporate gathering together, as we\u2019re doing here today, is actually an opportunity for God to manifest His presence.\u00a0 So the church corporately gathering is the habitation of God.\n\nAnd beyond that the physical body of each individual Christian is the temple of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 In the church age we individually are the temple of God and we corporately are the temple of God and that\u2019s something, if you had told that to Israel in Old Testament times it would have blown their mind because their only knowledge of the manifestation of God\u2019s presence was a physical building. So that becomes, wouldn\u2019t you agree, another key difference between Israel and the church, the whole temple concept.\u00a0 Israel has a physical temple but in the church our body, and bodies are the temple of God.\n\nNow what about resurrection?\u00a0 When are you planning on being resurrected?\u00a0 When you go back into the Book of Daniel, chapter 12 and verse 2 it talks there about two great resurrections.\u00a0 There will be a resurrection unto life for the believer and then a resurrection unto condemnation for the unbeliever.\u00a0 [Daniel 12:2, \u201cMany of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.\u201d]\n\nAnd you\u2019ll see that understanding demonstrated in John 11:23-24.\u00a0 And this is where one of the sisters says to Jesus concerning Christ\u2019s prediction that He was going to raise Lazarus, she says oh, I know he\u2019ll rise \u201con the last day.\u201d\u00a0 So she\u2019s referring to what Daniel said back in Daniel 12:2.\n\n[John 11:23, \u201cJesus said to her, \u2018Your brother will rise again.\u2019 \u00a0[24]Martha said to Him, \u2018I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.\u2019 \u00a0[25] Jesus said to her, \u2018I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, [26] and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?\u2019\u201d [27] She said to Him, \u2018Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even<\/em> He who comes into the world.\u201d\u2019]\n\nThe Book of Revelation, chapter 20, verses 4-6 refers to those two resurrections.\u00a0 It says, \u201cand they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.\u201d\u00a0 And then verse 5 continues on and it says, \u201cThe rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[5b, \u201cThis is the first resurrection. \u00a0[6] Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.\u201d]\n\nSo here is where we learn that between the two resurrections, the resurrection unto life for the believer and the resurrection unto damnation for the unbeliever, in between those two resurrection would occur a time period of a thousand years.\u00a0 So that\u2019s the Old Testament understanding of resurrection and it\u2019s sort of repeated in the Book of Revelation.\n\nHowever, when you get into the New Testament what you discover is that the resurrection unto life for the believer has three parts to it.\u00a0 Number 1 is Christ\u2019s resurrection, called firstfruits.\u00a0 Firstfruits in the harvest imagery guaranteed the rest of the harvest.\u00a0 So His resurrection guarantees everyone else\u2019s resurrection.\u00a0 The second phase of the resurrection unto life is the general harvest and that\u2019s the rapture.\u00a0 That\u2019s when all church age believers are going to receive their resurrected bodies, at the point of the rapture.\u00a0 So everyone that has trusted in Jesus Christ from the day of Pentecost until the rapture, who is part of the body of Christ, is going to be resurrected at that point.\u00a0 Paul talks about this in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:50-58.\n\nAnd then what about people that are believers before the church stared?\u00a0 Or what about people that become believers after the church age is over, in the tribulation period?\u00a0 They\u2019re going to be resurrected at the beginning of the millennial kingdom. So the resurrection unto life for the believer has those three separate parts to it.\u00a0 And then a thousand years are going to pass and then there\u2019s a terrible resurrection of all unsaved people as they\u2019re taken out of Hades and they\u2019re placed in glorified bodies and they stand before the Lord at the Great White Throne Judgment and at that point they are transferred as their name is not found written in the Lamb\u2019s Book of Life and they\u2019re found guilty in that sense; they\u2019re transferred from Hades into the Lake of Fire to be tortured basically forever in their new bodies.\u00a0 And this is a doctrine that I didn\u2019t invent, I wouldn\u2019t have invented something like this; it\u2019s such a scary thing.\u00a0 But you\u2019ll see it very clearly taught in Revelation 20:11-15.\n\n[Revelation 20:11-15, \u201cThen I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. [12] And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book<\/em> of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. [13] And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them<\/em> according to their deeds. [14] Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. [15] And if anyone\u2019s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.\u201d]\n\nSo you\u2019ll notice that from this chart that the church is resurrected at a different time than Israel.\u00a0 Our resurrection is at the rapture, seven years before the tribulation period starts.\u00a0 Israel\u2019s resurrection is at the end of the tribulation period and at the beginning of the millennial kingdom. So the programs for Israel and the church are so distinct in the mind of God that we receive our resurrected bodies at a different time than Israel receives their resurrected bodies.\n\nAnd I was with some Hebrews Christians, Jewish Christians and they were trying to convince me that as Hebrews Christians they\u2019re part of this unbroken chain going back to the Old Testament and into the future of what they call remnant theology.\u00a0 So they thought they were part of some special remnant that stretched across the past and the distant future.\u00a0 And finally I said to these guys, well when are you planning on being resurrected?\u00a0 And they kind of looked at me dumbfounded, why am I asking that?\u00a0 I go well, you\u2019re going to be resurrected at the rapture aren\u2019t you?\u00a0 Well, yeah.\u00a0 Well, when is Israel going to be resurrected?\u00a0 At the beginning of the millennial kingdom.\u00a0 So you\u2019re not part of some remnant that stretches across history, you\u2019re part of the church; you\u2019re a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ in between the day of Pentecost and the rapture, you\u2019re part of the church, whether Jew or Gentile, and as part of the body of Christ, or that new man, your resurrection program is such that you\u2019re going to be resurrected at the point of the rapture.\n\nSo Israel will be resurrected at the first resurrection that\u2019s described at the beginning of the millennial kingdom.\u00a0 The church on the other hand is going to be resurrected at the rapture which precedes the tribulation period.\n\nHow about judgment?\u00a0 When is the nation of Israel going to be judged?\u00a0 The only judgment that we know of for the nation of Israel is the judgment in the wilderness after the tribulation period\u00a0 is over and you\u2019ll find a great description of it in the Book of Ezekiel, chapter 20, verses 33-44.\u00a0 And basically what\u2019s going to happen at the end of the tribulation period is there\u2019s going to be people that survive the tribulation period.\u00a0 So the Lord\u2019s got to figure out which of these people are saved and which ones are unsaved.\u00a0 The unsaved will be cast off the earth into Hades; the saved will go into the kingdom and there\u2019s a judgment there for the Gentiles called the sheep and goat judgment.\u00a0\u00a0 You can read about that in Matthew 25:31-46, Christ determines which tribulational survivor Gentiles are believers and which ones are unbelievers based on how the people treated Christ\u2019s brethren during the tribulation period.\u00a0 Who would Christ\u2019s brethren be?\u00a0 The Jews who will be heavily persecuted by the antichrist. So if you step out in faith and you want to help the Jews during the tribulation period you demonstrate that you really are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.\n\nBut while that judgment is happening there\u2019s a parallel judgment and it\u2019s described in Ezekiel 20:33-44 and that\u2019s just for the surviving Jews.\u00a0 And what is going to have to happen is the surviving Jews that are believers are going to pass under the shepherd\u2019s rod and they will go into the kingdom along with the sheep (Gentiles) and they will in their mortal bodies repopulate the earth.\u00a0 That\u2019s the only knowledge that we have about any sort of judgment for Israel.\n\nHowever, when is the church going to be judged.\u00a0 By the way, did you know as a Christian you\u2019re going to be judged?\u00a0 You\u2019re not going to be judged to determine heaven or hell, that issue has already been settled, hasn\u2019t it\u2014the moment you trusted Christ.\u00a0 But there is a judgment of rewards called the Bema Seat Judgment of Christ.\u00a0 And when does that judgment take place?\u00a0 When the Lord comes.\u00a0 When is the Lord coming for the church?\u00a0 The rapture.\u00a0 So Paul connects our judgment as members of the church with the coming of the Lord to get us in the rapture.\u00a0 He says, \u201cTherefore do not go on passing judgment before that time but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things that are hidden in darkness and disclose the motives of men\u2019s hearts; and then each man's praise will come to him from God.\u201d\u00a0 Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts; and then each man's praise will come to him from God.\u201d\u00a0 [1 Corinthians 4:5]\n\nSo Paul very clearly when he\u2019s talking to the church tells us that the church also is destined for a judgment but this is not a judgment on the earth like Israel is receiving in Ezekiel 20.\u00a0 It\u2019s a judgment that takes place immediately after the rapture when the Lord comes for us to catch us up and where will we be when we\u2019re caught up?\u00a0 Not on the earth but where?\u00a0 Heaven. See, we\u2019re God\u2019s heavenly people; the nation of Israel is God\u2019s earthly people.\u00a0 So when the prophets reveal Israel\u2019s judgment it talks about the earth, happening on the earth following the events of the tribulation period.\u00a0 Since we\u2019re God\u2019s heavenly people we\u2019re going to be in heaven; we\u2019re going to be in the Father\u2019s house for seven years while the events of the tribulation period are taking place on the earth below.\u00a0 And that\u2019s the time in which we will either be given rewards as Christians or not given rewards based on how we allowed God to use us during our earthly pilgrimage.\n\nSo this is something that Paul wants us to know about and you shouldn\u2019t get insecure about it in terms of oh no, maybe I\u2019m not saved.\u00a0 That\u2019s not the point of this judgment; it\u2019s simply a judgment to give or not give rewards.\u00a0 And some people will be fully rewarded, others will kind of look back with regret, suffering a loss, still rejoicing that they\u2019re in heaven but not fully rewarded.\u00a0 And so that\u2019s what\u2019s called the Bema Seat Judgment of Christ and that is not taking place on the earth as Israel\u2019s judgment is taking place on the earth.\u00a0 That\u2019s taking place in heaven.\u00a0 So we are judged at different times and places in comparison to the nation of Israel.\n\nHow about the giant eternal city that we read about in the Book of Revelation, chapters 21 and 22?\u00a0 Do you know that parts of that city represent Israel and other parts of that city represent the church.\u00a0 Have you ever read those chapters?\u00a0 Those are some amazing chapters.\u00a0 I would encourage you to read those chapters alongside Genesis 1 and 2. Genesis 1 and 2, before sin entered the picture; Revelation 21 and 22 after sin leaves.\u00a0 Those chapters represent what\u2019s normal.\u00a0 Everything in between represents what\u2019s abnormal because of the entrance of sin into the world through volition and choice and the creature\u2019s decision to rebel against God.\u00a0 And if you don\u2019t understand that perspective what do you lose in the present?\u00a0 It starts with an \u201ch\u201d and ends with \u201cope.\u201d\u00a0 You lose hope!\u00a0 I mean, if this world with all of its problems was all there ever was and all there will ever be as reincarnation teaches, evolutionary teaching teaches that.\u00a0 I mean it could be a very depressing place, couldn\u2019t it.\n\nBut the Christian has such a different point of view; we live with hope.\u00a0 We believe there was a time before sin entered and there\u2019ll be a time after sin entered, and that\u2019s what\u2019s normal; that\u2019s where we started and what got lost and that\u2019s what\u2019s ultimately going to be restored.\u00a0 Evil is on a leash when you understand this; evil is finite.\u00a0 And only a knowledge of those introductory chapters in the Book of Genesis and those concluding chapters in the Book of Revelation inform us of that.\u00a0 But in those final chapters we learn about this city, it\u2019s like a giant cube, and it looks like\u2026 it\u2019s in heaven, in fact, I would argue in Galatians 4:26 that that city already exists.\u00a0 It\u2019s just not fit to come down to this world because this world is cursed by sin.\u00a0 [Galatians 4:26, \u201cBut the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother.\u201d]\u00a0 It\u2019s going to come down to the new heavens and new earth which the Lord will create.\n\nAnd it\u2019s a giant city, Revelation 21:16-17 says, \u201c\u201cThe city is laid out as a square, and its length is as great as the width; and he measured the city with the rod, fifteen hundred miles; its length and width and height are equal.\u00a0 [17] And he measured its wall, seventy-two yards, according to human measurements, which are also angelic measurements.\u201d\n\nNow I don\u2019t have any reason why I can\u2019t take these numbers literally.\u00a0 So how big is that city?\u00a0 Well, it would take up a little over half, perhaps about half, a little over half the size of the United States of America. And so it\u2019s that city on this brand new earth that God is going\u00a0 to create and it\u2019s laid out like a cube.\u00a0 The way the dimensions are described I don\u2019t see it as a pyramid; some people see it as a pyramid, I look at actually as a cube 1500 miles long, height, width, length.\u00a0 And what the Book of Revelation talks about is on each side of the cube are three foundations and three gates.\u00a0 So three foundations and three gates on one side, three foundations and three gates on another side, three foundations and three gates on another side, then that last side, three foundations and three gates.\u00a0 Twelve foundations, twelve gates total.\n\nNow when you look at the Book of Revelation, chapter 21 and you look at verse 12 each of the gates represent the twelve tribes of Israel.\u00a0 In fact, as you look at the top of that gate you see a Hebrew word inscribed, if\u00a0 your eyes are good and you can see that, so each one of the gates is named after the twelve tribes.\u00a0 The twelve tribes is the foundation of the nation of Israel; that\u2019s the beginning of God\u2019s work with the nation of Israel.\n\nAnd there is also beneath each gate a foundation, Revelation 21:14 says, each foundation was named after the twelve apostles.\u00a0 [Revelation 21:14, \u201cAnd the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.\u201d\u00a0 The apostles are the foundation of the church because Ephesians 2:20 says that God build the church on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets.\u00a0 [Ephesians 2:20, \u201chaving been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone,\u201d]\n\nSo it\u2019s interesting to me that all throughout eternity, as\u00a0 you go in and out of these gates, and by the way, these gates are wide open; they\u2019re portrayed as never closing.\u00a0 Now that\u2019s very different than the Garden of Eden where cherubim were stationed preventing man in his sinful condition from going back into Eden.\u00a0 So after the fall of man he couldn\u2019t get back into Eden.\u00a0 And\u00a0 you\u2019ll see a description of that in Genesis 3:23-24.\u00a0 [Genesis 3:23-24, \u201ctherefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. [24] So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.\u201d]\n\nBut unlike Eden these gates are wide open and people go in and out at will.\u00a0 And isn\u2019t it interesting that every time you go in a gate you\u2019re reminded of Israel as you look at the gate, because the tribes are the foundation of Israel, and every time you go in and out of a gate you see a foundation stone.\u00a0 The foundation stone reminds you of the church because the foundations are named after the apostles.\u00a0 So isn\u2019t it interesting that throughout eternity God keeps Israel and the church in remembrance?\u00a0 There\u2019s a lot of theologians out there that hate what I\u2019m talking about; they hate the idea that Israel and the church are separate.\u00a0 And they\u2019re not going to be very happy in eternity, I can guarantee you that if that\u2019s their attitude.\u00a0 Of course they\u2019ll all have perfect attitudes by then because they\u2019ll be in resurrected states.\n\nBut every time you\u2019re going in and out of a gate you\u2019re perpetually reminded of God\u2019s two great programs that He has used to bring His redemptive purposes to the human race, Israel and the church.\u00a0 So Israel and the church are so distinct that even the gates and the foundation stones of the eternal state, or the New Jerusalem, draw that distinction.\n\nNow how about entrance?\u00a0 How do you become a member of the nation of Israel?\u00a0 The way you become a member of the nation of Israel is you have to be genealogically a physical descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.\u00a0 Unless that genealogical connect can be established you don\u2019t have any right calling yourself a member of the Hebrew nation or the Hebrew race.\u00a0 Everybody else is a Gentile.\n\nNow watch this very carefully; within Israel there is believing Israel and unbelieving Israel.\u00a0 Who is God going to fulfill His covenants through?\u00a0 Unbelieving Israel or believing Israel?\u00a0 Believing Israel!\u00a0 And I don\u2019t know if we have time to look at all of these passages but that\u2019s what John the Baptist is saying in Matthew 3:7 to the Jews of the first century.\u00a0 [Matthew 3:7. \u201cBut when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, \u2018You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?\u2019\u201d]\u00a0 He says don\u2019t take pride that you\u2019re sons of Abraham, God could raise up rocks to be sons of Abraham.\u00a0 What impresses God is not just a Hebrew but a believing Hebrew.\n\nPaul, in the Book of Romans, chapter 2 and verse 28 and Romans 9 verse 6 says, \u201cnot all who are called Israel is Israel.\u201d In other words, what God is impressed with is not just being a Hebrew but being a believing Hebrew.\u00a0 [Romans 2:28, \u201cFor he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh.\u201d\u00a0 Roams 9:6, \u201cBut it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel;\u201d]\n\nThe Book of Revelation, chapter 2 verse 9 and chapter 3 verse 9 refers to people that call themselves Jews but are not but are of \u201ca synagogue of Satan.\u201d \u00a0So to be a Jew you have to be a physical descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and that in and of itself is not enough in terms of having God\u2019s hand on you and Him fulfilling His covenants through you; you have you have to be a Hebrew in faith.\u00a0 \u00a0[Revelation 2:9, \u201c'I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 3:9, \u201cBehold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie-- I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and make them know that I have loved you.\u201d]\n\nNow if you\u2019ve followed everything that I\u2019ve said thus far what you learn is then you begin to see aha, that\u2019s what the purpose of the tribulation period is for.\u00a0 The purpose of the tribulation period is for Israel, not the church, Israel, so God can purge off the unbelievers within Israel and preserve for Himself a believing remnant.\u00a0 Remember the judgment I talked about earlier in Ezekiel 20, for Israel at the end of the tribulation period?\u00a0 That\u2019s exactly what that purpose is doing; it\u2019s purging off the unbelieving Israel and allowing believing Israel to enter the kingdom and have their covenants fulfilled through believing Israel.\n\nNow the Book of Zechariah, chapter 13 and verses 8-9 indicate that in the tribulation period two-thirds of Jews will be purged away.\u00a0 The remnant will consist of one third.\u00a0 [Zechariah 13:8-9, \u201c\u201cIt will come about in all the land,\u2019 declares the LORD, \u2018That two parts in it will be cut off and<\/em> perish; but the third will be left in it.\u00a0 [9] And I will bring the third part through the fire, refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested.\u00a0 They will call on My name, and I will answer them; I will say, \u2018They are My people,\u2019 and they will say, \u2018The LORD is my God.\u2019\u201d]\u00a0 The purpose of the tribulation period is to separate two-thirds from the one-third.\u00a0\u00a0 And God is purifying that one-third and through that one-third He will fulfill His covenants.\u00a0 Now you talk like this to a Jewish person and they don\u2019t want to hear anything that you\u2019re saying because the slogan of the Jewish person, concerning the holocaust, is what?\u00a0 Never again!\u00a0 Adolf Hitler killed a third, did he not, and here comes Mr. Sugar Land Bible Church pastor saying the antichrist is going to kill two-thirds, yet future.\u00a0 Do you think they want to hear that?\u00a0 Of course they don\u2019t want to hear that because their mindset is never again.\n\nAnd if I\u2019m understanding my Bible correctly the worst holocaust for Israel is not past, as bad as that was, and I don\u2019t make any aspersions that it was light, it was a terrible time, I\u2019m just saying that there\u2019s something even more severe in store for the nation of Israel and that\u2019s the means that God is going to go to to separate the one-third and purge off the two-thirds.\n\nNow let\u2019s compare that to the church; how do you become a member of the church, the universal church I\u2019m talking about now?\u00a0 Faith alone in Christ alone.\u00a0 Does the church consist of\u2026 now maybe a local church might, but does the universal church consist of believers and unbelievers like\u00a0 you have within Israel?\u00a0 You don\u2019t have that concept at all.\u00a0 And when you start to understand that then you begin to understand why the church won\u2019t be in the tribulation, why there are no references to the church in the tribulation, because the purpose of the tribulation is to separate believing from unbelieving Israel.\u00a0 Zechariah 13:8-9.\n\nYou don\u2019t have to do that in the church because everybody within the church is a believer in Jesus Christ or they wouldn\u2019t be part of the church.\u00a0 So that is a BIG, BIG difference that I just described there.\u00a0\u00a0 Israel, you have to be physically born into it, a descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and yet it\u2019s completely possible to have believing Israel and unbelieving Israel.\u00a0 The church, by contrast, you are spiritually born into it and it\u2019s impossible to have believing church members in the universal church with unbelieving church members. \u00a0So there\u2019s no need to put the church in the tribulation period to separate believing church from unbelieving church.\u00a0 Are you guys with me on that?\u00a0 Because this is foundational; a lot of people today are trying to put the church in the tribulation period.\u00a0 And it relates to a misunderstanding of ecclesiology, the doctrine of the church, and how Israel and the church are different in the outworking of God\u2019s purposes.\u00a0 Oh boy, we jumped from the frying pan and into the fire here.\n\nGoverning principle: what principle governs the nation of Israel?\u00a0 The Mosaic Law.\u00a0 Psalm 147:19-20 says, \u201cHe declares His words to Jacob, His statutes and His ordinances to Israel.\u00a0 [20] He has not dealt thus with any nation; and as for His ordinances, they have not known them. \u00a0Praise the LORD!\u201d\n\nSo when you are dealing with the nation of Israel and where Israel gets its base of authority in terms of what it should do you have to look at the Mosaic Law, which was given to the nation of Israel on Mount Sinai.\u00a0 And by the way, the Mosaic Law has in it blessings and cursings; blessings for obedience, curses for disobedience.\u00a0 And that\u2019s one of the reasons, to be completely honest with you, I\u2019m glad that we are not Israel because those curses can be very severe, can\u2019t they; they\u2019re described in the Book of Deuteronomy in chapter 28.\u00a0 This is why Israel went into dispersion at the hands of the Assyrians and the Babylonians and the Romans, etc.\n\nNow by contrast, what is our base of authority?\u00a0 Primarily the New Testament, the books written after the church has already started.\u00a0 Even though the Gospels record the life of Christ functioning under the Law there are still truths in there for us to glean because the gospels, in terms of date of writing were all written after the church started.\u00a0 Amen.\u00a0 So the gospels, the Book of Acts governs us; if you find principles also in the epistles, but our primary source of authority is the epistolary literature.\u00a0 The Book of Revelation has seven epistles in it, Revelation 2 and 3, Paul wrote 13 epistles.\u00a0 You know what epistles are, right?\u00a0 The wives of the apostles\u2026 NO, epistles are letters so we\u2019ve got 13 Pauline letters, eight general letters and then Revelation 2 and 3 which are seven letters to seven churches.\u00a0 That\u2019s where we get our authority from.\u00a0 Not so the nation of Israel; they get their authority from the Law.\n\nSo if that is all true then tell me if you think these presentations of Scripture is accurate.\u00a0 The pastor stands up and he says bring the whole tithe into the storehouse and see if I will not pour out so great a blessing upon you that you will not have enough room to contain it. Have you heard sermons like that?\u00a0 I mean, hopefully not here but out there in Christian media and other churches.\u00a0 I mean, it\u2019s a great fundraising tool.\u00a0 The problem is that comes from Malachi 3:8-11 which was given to the nation of Israel while she was operating under the Law and specifically while she was operating under the suzerain vassal treaty.\u00a0 [Malachi 3:8-11, \u201cWill a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, \u2018How have we robbed You?\u2019 In tithes and offerings. \u00a0[9] You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you!<\/em> \u00a0[10] Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,\u201d\u2019 says the LORD of hosts, \u201cif I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. [11] Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,<\/em>\u201d says the LORD of hosts.\u201d]\n\nRemember we talked about suzerain vassal treaty that Israel had, the Mosaic Covenant, with blessings and cursings, if you do this I\u2019ll bless you, materially and earthly.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t do this I will curse you, materially and earthly curses. So when someone is saying \u201cBring the whole tithe into the storehouse\u201d they\u2019re taking a passage that was given to the nation of Israel from the Law while Israel was functioning\u00a0 under a suzerain vassal treaty.\n\nAnd the problem is if you go under the Law, Old Testament Law I\u2019m talking about, in any way, shape or form, you\u2019re automatically under the whole thing.\u00a0 The Book of James, chapter 2, verse 10 says if we stumble over one part of the Law we stumble over what?\u00a0 The whole thing.\u00a0 [James 2:10, \u201cFor whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.\u201d]\n\nSo if that\u2019s true then you wouldn\u2019t bring your tithe to the storehouse;\u00a0 you would bring three tithes to the storehouse because the nation of Israel didn\u2019t have one tithe, they had three; two were annually and one was taken every third year. So the Jew was not giving ten percent of their income to the Lord, they were giving twenty-three and a third percent income to the Lord.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because the nation of Israel was a nation that had to subsidize an army and a priesthood.\u00a0 See that?\n\nOur principles for giving, you don\u2019t get them from the Book of Malachi; now you can learn great principles of God generically by studying Malachi but we don\u2019t come to you and say thus saith the Lord, you have to give to get this blessing from the Lord because the Book of Malachi says so, because that would be taking the church and putting it under the Mosaic Law.\u00a0 Our principles for giving are found in the epistles.\u00a0 And if you want to know how to give and the manner in which you should give you study 2 Corinthians, chapters 8 and 9, which contain a series of adverbs; adverbs modify verbs, there\u2019s adverbs telling you how to give.\u00a0 So give cheerfully, give secretly, give sacrificially, give hilariously because God loves a cheerful giver, don\u2019t give under compulsion.\u00a0 And everybody looks at that and says I want a number, I want a number.\u00a0 The problem is the New Testament church is not given a number because the New Testament church was not a country, like Israel, that had a tax system.\u00a0 We are not a nation, right?\u00a0 So we don\u2019t have an army, we don\u2019t have borders, and those kind of things.\n\nAnd by the way, if you want to bring\u00a0 your tithes to the storehouse that doesn\u2019t mean the First Baptist Church or the Second Baptist Church, or the Fifteenth Baptist Church. That\u2019s the temple in the Middle East; now that\u2019s kind of difficult, isn\u2019t it, to do that today because there isn\u2019t a temple in the Middle East so we have a problem there.\u00a0 And by the way, I wouldn\u2019t show up on Sunday if I were you,\u00a0 you need to show up on Saturday.\u00a0 So if you want to go under the Law you\u2019ve got to go under the whole thing here.\u00a0 So that\u2019s the foolishness of taking Malachi 3 and dangling it over the church in terms of philosophy of giving.\n\nAnd then every fourth of July we get very patriotic and I\u2019m a patriotic preacher myself, I love patriotic sermons, I like to listen to patriotic sermons, I like to give patriotic sermons so at some point during the fourth of July somebody starts quoting 2 Chronicles 7:14 which is a very, on the surface a very patriotic verse.\u00a0 And what does it say? Have you heard this verse?\u00a0 \u201cand My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land.\u201d\n\nNow when Ronald Reagan (and I voted for Ronald Reagan the first time I had a chance to vote, in 1984 when he was sworn into office, Jerry Falwell administered the oath of office and the Bible that Reagan put his hand on was opened to 2 Chronicles 7:14.\u00a0 And believe me, I loved Reagan, I wish we had another Reagan.\u00a0 But the reality of the situation is that is, in my opinion, an abuse of the Bible.\u00a0 People interpret heal their land as what?\u00a0 America.\u00a0 Now the problem is I go through the Old Testament and I don\u2019t find the United States of America.\u00a0 The closest I can find is in the word \u201cJerusalem\u201d I find the letters u-s-a, J-e-r-u-s-a-l-e-m, other than that Jerusalem doesn\u2019t mean America; America doesn\u2019t mean Jerusalem and America\u2026 I love America but the fact of the matter is America is not Israel.\u00a0 Only Israel had the suzerain vassal treaty.\u00a0 See that1\n\nSo 2 Chronicles 7:14 is go back to the obedience of the suzerain vassal treaty and when that happens then I\u2019m going to heal your land.\u00a0 What\u2019s that land?\u00a0 The land of Israel, which had been put under a what?\u00a0 A curse!\u00a0 So I\u2019m going to remove the curses, Deuteronomy 28:15-68 and I\u2019m going to put back the blessings, Deuteronomy 28:1-14.\n\nNow the way people use 2 Chronicles 7:14 is America is gone into a recession so we\u2019ve got to get rid of some national sin and it\u2019s usually abortion, or pornography, and I\u2019m not mitigating those sins, those are terrible sins but the patriotic preaching\u2026 and by the way, in the books like Jonathon\u00a0 Cahn, people ask me all the time what do you think about Jonathan Chon, and this is probably one of the main reasons I do not promote Jonathan Chon and his bestselling books because he does this all the time, he grabs these passages that govern the nation of Israel under the Mosaic Law, under a suzerain vassal treaty structure and willy-nilly indiscriminately applies those directly across the board to the\u00a0 United States of America.\u00a0 The reality is no nation has the right to do that because there\u2019s only one nation that has a suzerain vassal treaty and that was the nation of Israel.\n\nNow Jonathan Cahn quotes the Mayflower Compact; he thinks America has a covenant from God because of the Mayflower Compact; you all are familiar with the Mayflower Compact, right?\u00a0 Well, what is the Mayflower Compact?\u00a0 It is not God making a covenant with America, it\u2019s America making a covenant with God and with each other.\u00a0 With the nation of Israel it\u2019s completely different.\u00a0 It\u2019s the only time in history where God reached down and it\u2019s not a nation making some kind of contract with God, it\u2019s God making a contract with the nation. \u00a0See!\u00a0 And so only if you are that covenanted nation, and there is only one, I already shared with you Psalm 147:19-20 which says God only gave His Law, which includes the suzerain vassal treaty to one nation.\u00a0 He has not dealt thus with any other nation.\u00a0 So only that nation that has a covenant with God, which is not the United States or any other nation, can claim 2 Chronicles 7:14.\n\nNow having said all that, do I pray for a revival in the\u00a0 United States?\u00a0 Of course I do, I pray for godly leadership, I pray for our nation to respect God but I don\u2019t do it and say God, we did this so You\u2019re obligated to do that. See the difference.\u00a0 Under a suzerain vassal treaty you put in a quarter and you pull the level and a dollar is obligated to pop out because God obligated Himself to do that.\u00a0 So only the nation of Israel can categorically say if we do X God has to do Y.\u00a0 God today is not contractually bound in that manner with any other nation.\n\nCan God bless America?\u00a0 Yes!\u00a0 Has God blessed America?\u00a0 Yes!\u00a0 Will God continue to bless America?\u00a0 I sure hope so but it\u2019s not because we met some sort of contractual covenantal obligation.\u00a0 Are you guys with me on this?\u00a0 Because people are really confused on this.\u00a0 And it goes back to a fundamental point of understanding what governs Israel with what governs the New Testament church.\u00a0 And I\u2019m so glad we\u2019re out of time because the next category is the relationship to the Holy Spirit because I was raised in a youth group where we would sing Psalm 51 and verse 11, \u201cTake not Thy Holy Spirit from me,\u201d then I started to think why are we singing that when we\u2019re the church and Jesus has made a promise to the church that the Spirit would be in you for how long?\u00a0 Forever!\u00a0 It\u2019s not a promise that Israel had.\u00a0 You know, the Spirit left Saul, didn\u2019t it?\u00a0 That\u2019s why David is praying \u201cTake not thy Holy Spirit from me.\u201d\u00a0 So why are we singing this song when we\u2019re members of the church?\u00a0 See that.\u00a0 So the dealings with the Holy Spirit are different.\n\nAnd I\u2019m glad we\u2019re out of time because we don\u2019t have to talk about that.\u00a0 Anyway, we\u2019ll stop here and we\u2019ll pick it up with the Holy Spirit next week.","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