166 - Les Feldick Bible Study Lesson 3 - Part 2 - Book 14 - Matthew 1

https://lesfeldickbiblestudy.com Through the Bible with Les Feldick LESSON 3 * PART 2 * BOOK 14 INTRODUCTION TO NEW TESTAMENT CONTINUED: MATTHEW 1 - JOHN THE BAPTIST Now here the Children of Israel have just recently come out of Egypt under Moses. They are now a Nation of People. Exodus 19:5 It was written by one of Israel's best-known rabbis, and has to do with this subject. He said in his article the following: Abraham had been promised that a nation emerging from his own loins would against all odds survive and declare the name of the one God to the world. Giving them the Abrahamic Covenant that God would make them a nation of people. As you read the Old Testament, always be aware that most of the time everything is written in the future tense. For example, "I will make of you a great nation." When God spoke of King Cyrus the King of Persia, God named Him 150 years before he was born. Last lesson we showed how God can keep things secret and then reveal them in His own time. A lot of times in the Old Testament, He reveals things prophetically before they happen. Exodus 19:5,6 "Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine. That the day would come out there in the future when every Jew would be a priest of God. We are talking about reaching out to Gentiles. So every Jew was to get to the place that he could have been a go-between; between this pagan Gentile and this Jewish priest's Jehovah God. That was the promise, but it was conditional; they had to be obedient to God's voice, and keep God's Covenant. Now let's head toward Matthew, but first let's stop at Isaiah Chapter 42. God hasn't forgotten about Gentiles. But He will reach those Gentiles after He has prepared this Covenant people. Now let's go all the way to the Book of Zechariah Chapter 8. Zechariah 8:20-22 "Thus saith the LORD of hosts; `It shall (future) yet come to pass, that there shall come people (Gentiles), and the inhabitants of many cities: And the inhabitants of one city (Gentiles)shall go to another, saying `Let us go speedily to pray before the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts:' (and this one Gentile will say to another) I will go also. Yea, many people and strong nations (plural. These are the Gentile Nations) shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD." Zechariah 8:23 for we have heard that God is with you.'" So that when the appropriate time comes, every Jew would have been a priest of God, to bring Gentiles to a knowledge of God. Now that is the Old Testament format. And that is all God is revealing so far. This is the way that God is going to reach the Gentiles, and that is through Israel. Let's back up to the Book of Psalms Chapter 2. Psalms 2.1-3 "Why do the heathen (or Gentile) rage, and the people (the Jew) imagine a vain thing? We see that God called Him back to Heaven in Psalms 110:1, "The LORD said unto my Lord, `Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool,'" Psalms 2:4 The nations think they are in control, but we know they're not. The Jew is blind to that and they will accept Anti-christ. Now getting back to verse 4 where we found that the Lord has the nations in derision. Now verse 5: Psalms 2:5 Notice what follows the Tribulation in verse 6. Psalms 2:6 That order of the Old Testament program. After Israel had the King and the Kingdom they could carry out all of these promises of taking the knowledge of salvation to the Gentiles. God hadn't revealed that yet. Here is that ability that God has to hide things until it is time to reveal them. During this time the Nation of Israel has been set aside waiting for this Church Age to be completed. But none of this was in the Old Testament. There is nothing in here that indicated there would be 1900 + years that God would not be dealing with Israel. Let's go on into the Book of Matthew. Then in Genesis 12 we have the Abrahamic Covenant with the call of Abraham. Then out of the main stream of humanity, God calls this one little nation, the Nation of Israel. In order to prepare them for that Kingdom of Priests, He puts them under Law. Everything in the Old Testament is telling future events. Now, after Israel has rejected all of that and you get into the Book of Acts, it's still the same premise. Peter is strictly appealing to the Jew. As we now study the four Gospels, Jesus is going to be presenting himself as the fulfillment of all these prophecies, as He comes to the Nation of Israel. Israel continues to reject Jesus and then, here comes a body of truth that has never before been mentioned. Then God reveals the mystery. Matthew 4:17 "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, `Repent (why?): for the kingdom of heaven is (what?) #LesFeldick #BibleStudy #Bible