911 - Les Feldick Bible Study - Lesson 3 Part 3 Book 76 - Connecting the Dots of Scripture - Part 35

https://lesfeldickbiblestudy.com Through the Bible with Les Feldick LESSON 3 * PART 3 * BOOK 76 CONNECTING THE DOTS OF SCRIPTURE – PART 35 Genesis – Revelation (The Mysteries Continued) My, we’re glad to see everybody back from your coffee break. We’ll go into the third program this afternoon. We are in book 76, for those of you out in television. We’re in the final four programs of that book. Right, Jerry? And hopefully we can get through the next two mysteries in these next two programs. That will put everything concerning these mysteries in book 76. That would work well, wouldn’t it? Okay, those of you in television, we’re asking you to turn with us to Romans chapter 11. The studio audience is already waiting. We’re going to drop down into verse 25. We’re looking at the sixth mystery up here on the board, which is “the Blinding of the Nation of Israel to Spiritual Truth.” Now these things are hard to comprehend. I know they are. I’ll comment on it in a little bit. Romans chapter 11 verse 25. Romans 11:25 “For I would not, brethren, (So, he’s writing to believers, as I’m always emphasizing. Paul never writes to the unbelieving world.) that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, (or secret) lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; (Now here’s the mystery.) that blindness (spiritual blindness) in part (For a period of time. Not from here until eternity, but for a period of time blindness--) has happened to Israel, (And it’s going to remain--) until (That’s the time word.) the fullness (or the completion) of the Gentiles be come in.” Now when Paul speaks of the “fullness of the Gentiles,” I have to feel he’s talking about one thing and one thing alone, and that is the Body of Christ. So, as we get closer and closer to the end of the Church Age, and the Body of Christ is nearly full, we have Israel back in the land where she has to be. Maybe a lot more will have to come yet, but whatever. Israel has to be a sovereign entity, which they are. They’ve already come back from many, many of the nations of the world, but, they’re still in spiritual blindness. But, you know, that’s been Israel’s problem from day one. The people have been so prone to unbelief. It’s always been that small remnant that remains true to a faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now, just to show you how all of this comes about from way back in the Old Testament, I’ve got to go back to I Kings. Way back in the books of history. I Kings chapter 19 and, of course, God is speaking here. He says: I Kings 19:18 “Yet I have left me (Or, I have kept to Myself.) seven thousand in Israel, all the knees who have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.” You think it would be the other way around. Maybe 7,000 fell into idolatry. But it wasn’t. Out of the whole 7 or 8 million that I usually put on the number of Israel’s population down through their antiquity, only 7,000 were faithful to Abraham’s God. Today the Jewish population is somewhere around 15 million. But only 7,000 at the time of Elijah were faithful? You’ve heard me refer to this one over and over. That boiled down to about 1/10 of 1% of Israel who were remaining loyal to the God of Abraham. The rest had succumbed to idolatry. Of all people! Now here’s where I think I’d better make my comment before I go any further. You’ve heard me say it with regard to the beginning of the human experience when God set the whole system of humanity on planet earth in motion back there in Genesis. He gave mankind a free will. Right? God did not use them like puppets on a string. Yet here we are 6,000 years later. Is God’s schedule still on time? Absolutely! To the last jot and tittle after 6,000 years of human history of men’s free will—to declare war, sign peace, and do all of these horrible things. Yet everything is exactly where God programmed it. Which tells you what? He’s in control of everything! Which makes you ask the next question. Then why all the misery? Well, that’s hard to answer, isn’t it? Why, if God is in such total control, has He let the human race bring in so much misery and discomfort and heartache if He could have programmed it differently? Well, I can’t answer that. You can’t answer that. It’s just one of the unique things of Scripture that God in His Sovereignty has permitted all of these things. I don’t think He directed it, per se, but He’s permitted it. Look at the suffering in the world today in this enlightened age with all of our technology. There’s more death and murder and sorrow than any other time in history. Well, why? Because it’s the way God programmed it. All right, now with the Nation of Israel, it’s the same way. God miraculously brought Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees and miraculously brought him into faith. #LesFeldick #BibleStudy #Bible