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All right, grab your Bible. We're gonna get started. We're gonna start by praying. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, again, as we open up your word, we ask that through your Holy Spirit that you would convict us of all the places in which we have acted in unbelief or contrary to what you have commanded.
We pray also that even more than the conviction that we have to the Holy Spirit of our sin, that you would comfort us and assure us of your great love and mercy that we have because of our crucified, risen, and ascended Savior, Jesus Christ, our Lord, and that through the power of the Holy Spirit, we would continue to bear fruit in keeping with repentance as you continue to sanctify us and bring us to eternal life.
We ask in Jesus' name, amen.
Amen.
Okay, last week, I promised that we would, we would answer any questions that kind of came up as a result of last week's lesson because I wasn't able to really get into the questions because I really wanted to plow through.
And there were kind of two that kind of stood out. Aislinn asked last week, she asked the question, God fed the Israelites in the wilderness. This is from the sermon last week. Jesus fed the thousands in the desert.
Is this a shadow and a type or just a comparison? It is absolutely a type and shadow. And I would note that there are layers of meaning when it comes to the type and shadow that we see where God after the exodus or because of the exodus, during the exodus, feeds his people miraculous bread from heaven.
Hang on a second here, I got a tickle in my throat.
Yeah, let's see if that fixes it.
There we go.
So yeah, so this idea of God miraculously feeding people from heaven with bread that is called manna, manna, manna, what is it? That's a type and shadow of the Lord's Supper. So you'll note that in our exodus, we're participants in the exodus as well, God is feeding us miraculous bread from heaven, which happens to be Christ.
Jesus says, I am the bread that comes down from heaven. So the type and shadow meanings in the God miraculously feeding the children of Israel in the wilderness are actually very deep. So the fact that Christ miraculously feeds multitudes in the wilderness is pointing to the fact that he's the same God.
He's the God who brought the manna, and he is the bread that comes down from heaven. I would say read John 6 for further explanation. And then last week, Eric asked about Semper Virgo, is it true that some confessional Lutherans still believe it?
Yes, it's annoying. And what I have noticed is that my son, Josh, has come up with a name for them. He calls them the Semper Virgins. Semper Virgins, or something like this. They cannot be reasoned with from scripture.
And yet, every single one of them knows quite well that in order for a doctrine to be biblical, it has to be taught clearly in the scriptures. There are no biblical texts that teach the perpetual virginity of Mary.
In fact, I would note that, like I pointed out last week, the origins that we know of as far as this idea that Mary was a perpetual virgin come from a Gnostic document called the Proto-Ewangelion of James.
And again, Gnostics are obsessed with dualities, black and white, you know, male and female, and all these dualities and stuff like this. And so in the Gnostic way of thinking, it is absolutely obscene that you got God the Son, God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit, all of them use male pronouns, and so they're always trying to smuggle in some type of religious female deity via the Virgin Mary.
It's part of kind of the Gnostic agenda. So, yeah, keep that in mind. But yeah, they do believe it, and always, and again, I like to point out that marriages, consummation is required for there to be a legitimate marriage.
Yeah, it's absolutely mandatory, okay? If a couple don't come together, they ain't married. They may be friends, but they ain't married. And not only that, Scripture explicitly warns, explicitly warns couples, married couples, that if they're having issues in their marriage, and they need to separate for a little while, to kind of let tempers flare down, that that is to be agreed upon by both, and only for a short amount of time, lest the devil tempt you, all right?
That's kind of the idea that Scripture teaches along these lines. But even more than that, we have a clear text. Let me explain. And it's so fascinating how this all works, but Matthew chapter one, all right?
In Matthew chapter one, we know what Joseph was thinking. We have the explanation. And then we also know when normal marital relations occurred in their marriage. Matthew chapter one, the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way, when his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph.
And it's important to note that betrothal back then, so if a fellow proposes, families are involved, once it is agreed upon that they're going to get married, that they're betrothed, they are considered legally married at this point.
Now, there's still obligations that have to take place. If you know kind of the marriage customs of ancient Israel, what would end up happening is that the fellow, the groom, his job is to build a home.
That's part of what he's gotta do, build a home, a marriage home. And there's a period of time during the betrothal when the couple does not consummate the marriage, and then finally it is later consummated, all right?
So, and you're gonna note then, this is the reason why Joseph is going to try to divorce her, because they're betrothed, they are in a legally binding marriage at this point, even though they have not had the final marriage ceremony nor consummated the marriage.
So, her husband being a just man, unwilling to put her to shame. So, they were betrothed, before they came together, Mary was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband, Joseph, being a just man, unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
Joseph is a guy with really good character. And you'll note that men, in general, are not interested in being with a woman who's not interested in being with them. It's kind of a thing. So, you know, women who like to string men along, once guys get wise on that, they generally disappear.
And so, Joseph is assuming at this point that Mary has a lover, that she has somebody that she's romantically into, and rather than compete for her attention, he's willing to divorce her quietly so that she can be with the father of the child.
So, that's what's going on. So, as he considered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. Joseph, son of David. Love the phrase here, because that reminds us that Joseph is a direct descendant of King David.
Do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son. You shall call his name Jesus, or Yeshua is how the Hebrew would have worked, for he will save his people from their sins.
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.
He took his wife, but he knew her not, that's talking about sexual relations, until she had given birth to a son. They're in a marriage. They're married. This is what married couples do, right? Right, so the Sempervergians, they always try to claim that, well, until could be understood in a different sense.
No, just the sensus naturalis is really quite clear here. It's in the context of a marriage, right?
Right, right.
So what happens is, in order to defend Sempervergo, you have to assume it first, without any biblical text to teach it, and then they engage in basically exegetical obfuscation to kind of blur real clear meanings in order to establish, well, basically say, well, you can't disprove it from scripture.
Yeah, actually, I just did, all right? And so Lutherans are sola scriptura folks, and you cannot hold a doctrine as being biblical unless it's actually taught in the Bible, and it's real simple. If Mary was a perpetual virgin, and I'm supposed to believe this as an article of faith, please show me the text that say it.
It's really that simple, and I would note that Sempervergo is taught in the same portion of scripture as that we can file lawsuits in the courts of heaven,.
All right?
It's in the same book. It's Fifth Hesitations, so. Oh, yeah, and that's the other bit. So you'll note that Jesus has brothers and sisters, and
But it could mean cousins.
Right, so what they end up doing is that the Greek word for brother, adelphos, they say, well, it could also mean that he had cousins. Those were his cousins. And so, again, you have to presuppose the doctrine without any biblical merit or warrant, and then basically say, I know that adelphos could mean brothers here, but it could also mean cousins, so this doesn't disprove Sempervergo.
Yeah, actually, it does, okay? Because here's the thing. Have you noticed that families are nuclear? I would visit my aunts and uncles. I would visit my cousins. We didn't hang out together, all right?
This is not how this works, right?
You get the idea.
Now, you had a question, Hannah? Yeah, yeah, so the Catholics, actually, they don't have any biblical texts just like anybody else. They don't have any biblical texts, but they do officially teach, as dogma, the perpetual virginity of Mary.
And I would note that there are notable confessional Lutherans that have held to and do hold this doctrine. And to them, I basically say, can we really say we're solo scriptura if we're gonna hold doctrines that are not taught in scripture?
And so they kind of hold it as a pious belief, is the best way I can put it. This is a pious belief, and my issue is, I always ask the question, so what's your issue with sex? Because it always seems like the guys that are really into this doctrine always have some kind of hangup regarding sex.
I hate to say it, but that's true, all right? They somehow, they look at it as dirty or something like that. It's a natural thing that God has created. And so, you know, your issues with sex do not make it so that you can create a doctrine, so.
All right, that being said, let's take a look now at Jeremiah chapter 30, which is where we left off. And I did a little excursus on solo scriptura. If you haven't listened to the previous two Sunday Schools, if you have missed it, please go back and listen to it.
It gives a good basis for what we call solo scriptura. This is the place where we go to hear the voice of God. We do not go inside of our hearts to hear the voice of God. We don't listen for a still, small voice to hear the voice of God, which is a twisting of 1 Kings.
Instead, we go to the scripture. This is where God is speaking and has spoken, and God's word is living and active. So the word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you.
Again, just by summary, this deals with the doctrine of the inspiration of scripture. Note, Jeremiah legitimately, in his particular case, practically took down words via dictation, all right? Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a book, for behold, days are coming, declares Yahweh, when I will restore the fortunes of my people.
Now, here's an interesting bit. Theme changes a little bit. You'll notice that Jeremiah, for the most part, is a super dark book. And the reason why is because we're dealing with really rank apostasy, really egregious blasphemy, really horrific moral transgressions, all in the name of God.
So Jeremiah is prophesying in the midst of apostasy, but here's the thing. You'll note that Jeremiah, at God's direction, doesn't just preach judgment and hellfire. Always, again, the purpose of the law is to show us our sin so that we are brought to repentance, and you have to also throw the gospel in and assure those who turn from their sin that they are forgiven, that God will be merciful to them, and that God means them well rather than harm.
And so here we have words in the middle of all of this, God saying, I'm gonna restore the fortunes of my people. Israel and Judah, says Yahweh, and I will bring them back to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall take possession of it.
Now, of course, this has its fulfillment in the books of Nehemiah and Ezra, when the remnant is brought back from captivity in Babylon, but that's a type and shadow of us returning to the new earth or going to the new earth.
That's the point. So these are the words that Yahweh spoke concerning Israel and Judah. Thus says Yahweh, we have heard a cry of panic, of terror and no peace. Ask now and see, can a man bear a child?
The answer's no.
Ha, ha, ha, ha, cancel, cancel, cancel.
He just, yeah, right. Even God uses this obvious question to point out an obvious point, right? So, yeah, I think that's a great text. So why then do I see every man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor?
Why has every face turned pale? Alas, that day is so great, there is none like it. It is a time of distress for Jacob, yet he shall be saved out of it. Now, you'll note there seems to be something of a double entendre here, that he has, that God has in mind both him acting in judgment against impenitent Judah, but also God acting in judgment invoking the day of the Lord, right?
The great and awesome day of the Lord, the day when Christ returns in glory to judge the living and the dead. Now, a little bit of a note, we'll do a little excursus here. You wanna see a scary passage?
Let me show you a scary passage. Joel chapter two, all right? All right, in Joel chapter two, the prophet Joel gives us a picture of the day of the Lord. Okay, that's the common name for it, the day of the Lord, the day when Christ returns in glory to judge the living and the dead.
Now, again, I will always hold this particular song up for ridicule. If you've spent time in evangelicalism and you've been taught the pre-trib rapture, right? As exemplified by the song, Life Was Filled With Guns And Wars And Everyone Got Trampled On The Floor, I Wish We'd All Been Ready, right?
Remember, you guys remember this song, right?
Or the Left Behind series? And over and again, the big problem is that the Bible doesn't teach the rapture of the church, unless by the rapture of the church, you mean on the day when Jesus returns in glory, sends out his angels, that on that day, that Christ takes, that the angels snatch up the church and they meet Christ in the air, and that's the final day.
So if you wanna be super technical, Lutherans believe in the rapture, it's just it happens on the last day. It doesn't happen prior to the tribulation because if you read Revelation carefully, you'll note that we are in the tribulation now.
We have been for a long time, practically two millennia. So the seven years is a figurative number. It's a figurative number. It's not literal, but here's the thing. But as we get closer and closer to the return of Christ, the best way I can say it is for a season, an unspecified number of years or time, basically all hell breaks loose.
That's the best way to put it.
So, okay.
Fantastic question. So the question is, okay, so those of you online, if you didn't hear, so in the book of Revelation, it describes the tribulation as being a seven-year period, kind of marked by two particular seasons of three and a half years and three and a half years.
And the question is, are those numbers to be understood as being literal or are they figurative numbers? And so the pre-trib evangelical takes the number literally. They take it as a literal number. The church historically has understood those numbers to be symbolic, to actually be talking about a specified season, but not a literal seven years.
Just like the thousand years is not a literal thousand years. In fact, in the Greek, it doesn't even say a thousand years. It says the thousands, plural, years, all right? So the idea then is in the book of Revelation, Revelation is a coded book.
It is a book that is coded in allegorical and symbolic language. So for instance, we don't legitimately believe that a 10-headed dragon is gonna rise up out of the sea during the time of the tribulation.
However, the devil is depicted in that picture language. So the seven years is a symbolic picture of the period of time of the tribulation, which technically is the time from Christ's ascension until the time of his return.
And then there's a punctuated bit right at the end where everything just goes crazy. So it's like Satan's little season.
All right, well.
Right.
Yep.
So what I would recommend then, just kind of go back and listen to the series I did on the book of Revelation.
Yeah.
I understood, we'll just keep banging on it.
The book of Revelation itself, the book of Revelation.
So for instance, okay, the book of Revelation, it's clearly symbolic language. And where we get how to decode that symbolic language, go back to the book of Daniel.
Right. All right, all right.
And I understand, this is something I had, took me a long time to work through myself. But I'm absolutely convinced that exegetically the book of Revelation, as well as Daniel, teach us that this apocalyptic literature is to be understood as being coded.
So I'll give you one example, okay? So in the book of Revelation, how many times does the world end?
Right? Right.
Right, and this is where, again, I'm going to, I obviously disagree. But the idea then is I think if you go back and you reread the text, and you're gonna note that the world ends like five times in the book of Revelation.
It comes to an end. And so what we see in the book of Revelation are basically different views of the same event. And basically the event itself is the time from Christ's ascension until the time of his return.
And we see an ever-increasing amount of God's judgment as seen in pestilences, and diseases, and famines, and earthquakes, and natural disasters, and fires, and wars, and things like this. And those same recurring themes occur each and every time you go around the track on the book of Revelation.
Again, right, and it spirals, right.
Psalm 90 verse four says, oh, no, no, no.
You don't pull that one up. That doesn't work exegetically here. That's just talking about how God perceives time. Right, but that doesn't tell us how this all works exegetically.
Yes, we do. Yep, we do.
Fair question. Okay, so what the difference is is the actual genre. And this has to do with how the book is written. So for instance, in the Psalms, all right, in the Psalms it says that God is like a hen who will gather his chicks together.
Are we to assume that God is a big chicken and that we are then somehow chicken, the little chicks? No, of course not. That the Psalms are written, they're poetic. And so the idea then is that where the scriptures are intended to be taken literally, we take them literally.
And Genesis is history, it's historical narrative. It is not poem. It is not some kind of theo poem, nor are the first nine chapters some kind of a theo poem as well. But we'll note then that we don't take the Psalms literally when it describes God as being a big chicken.
That's instead a poetic metaphor that's helping us to understand what God is like via an analogy that we can relate to. Now the same thing occurs then in the book of Daniel and as well as Ezekiel, you have a blending of historical narrative and what's called apocalyptic literature.
And apocalyptic literature is literature that is intentionally by God veiled in symbolic language. So like the first six chapters of Daniel, that's all history. The remaining portion of Daniel is, this is apocalyptic literature that has to be unpacked and interpreted.
In fact, you'll note that when Daniel starts getting the revelations and he starts seeing these dreams, that he is given the interpretation of them. And so he gets an interpretation of these different politicals, these animals, these beasts that he sees and what they mean and what that will result in.
And so the idea then is that there's a literal meaning to be understood by unpacking the symbols. And so where I think that evangelicals have erred in their pre-trib dispensationalism is that they have taken the numbers that were intended to give a literal meaning regarding a great time of persecution and tribulation from the time of Christ's ascension to his return, and they've taken the numbers literally rather than what they're pointing to.
Not true, I'm opposed to pre-wrath.
Okay.
If I take this into the rapture.
Now where we're gonna have commonality then with somebody who's pre-wrath in the belief of the rapture.
Very, very.
Okay, where the common ground is going to be is the belief that prior to the return of Christ, all hell is gonna break loose. Which is kind of the best, politest way that you can say it.
Sort of.
Mm-hmm.
Say the elect withdraws, the people that are not real Christians. They're gonna fall away.
Yeah, they will. They will not stand for persecution.
But they haven't.
Right, right, yep.
But there's a specific time that God gives us.
Oh, he's not. He's not being arbitrary. So for instance, let me give you an example, and this is an exegetical example that if I can give you. Okay, in the book of Daniel, you have the famous prophecy regarding the 70 weeks.
Now, if that were a literal 70 weeks, and I mean literal 70 weeks, then Christ would have been born just a few years after Daniel. Okay, so the 70 weeks comes out to 490 years.
You know this.
Okay, so this is an example where God uses a term, weeks, but the reality is is that what the weeks refer to are certain periods of time that will equate to 490 years in human history.
Okay, so that's a perfect example, okay, of God. Not, it's not that God isn't taking his numbers seriously. It's that his intention is that the numerical period of time is not referring to a chronological period of time here on earth, but a time that God has set.
So the same idea occurs then, I believe, when you look in the book of Revelation when it talks about the three and a half years and the three and a half years, which equals seven, that that is a symbolic number that is referring to a period of time that God has set, but it's chronologically not a seven year period in human time.
Of course. Of course, that's all right, that's all right.
All right.
Yeah, that's all right.
Even the dreams. So the symbolic pictures in the dreams are pointing to a literal event, for sure. Absolutely. But the symbols are not the reality, the thing they're pointing to is. Does that make sense?
There's a time frame.
Even in wrath.
Oh yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Well, everybody who is a Christian is grafted into Israel. This is what Romans nine and 10 and 11 say.
And I know we see differently on that.
Yep, we do.
And I would recommend for further reading, here in our library we have a book by Louis Brighton that is just a fantastic commentary on Revelation.
Okay. Okay.
All right, and we'll do that agreeably.
Yep. Yep.
Right. Right.
Yeah, so the idea then is we always make sure that eschatology is not a primary doctrine. And this is, by the way, where, and I do mean this, where the fundamentalists actually committed a great error.
And so if you remember the fundamentalists, there's a historical movement in the early part of the 20th century. They were legitimately fighting liberalism and doing a great job. But the problem was is that they ended up at taking eschatology and escalating it to a primary doctrine.
That if you didn't have a Schofield study Bible and hold to pre-trib rapture, then you were guilty of liberalism. And that actually became like the undoing of the movement itself. And they became very dogmatically about that particular eschatology.
That's a lot of liberalism.
That's a lot of pre-tribus.
I don't read it in scripture.
It's not there. Show it to me. And you're never gonna show me the scripture, ever.
All right, now in talking about the day of the Lord, I'm gonna segue back into our study of Jeremiah. Taking a look back at Jeremiah, here in the passage that we're looking at in Jeremiah chapter 30, it's talking about the great day of the Lord.
And what I wanted to do is take a look at some of the details here and show you how it dovetails with what Christ said in the Olivet Discourse. Now if you've been in the charismatic or Pentecostal movements, you'll note that they have some very interesting ideas about what's supposed to take place in the future.
Many charismatics and many in the NAR are what are called post-millennialist. And they believe that Christ cannot come back until the church takes dominion over the earth. And so part of their belief that the church will take dominion is by conquering the seven mountains, and that in conquering the seven mountains, there'll be what's called this billion souls harvest.
And then another big thing that charismatics believe in is something called the Joel's army or the Joel generation, all right? And Elizabeth's, you know what I'm talking about. Okay, and this is a complete misuse of this prophecy from Joel.
And so what they do is they take this portion of the prophet Joel, which is talking about the day of the Lord, and is actually talking about the angel army that Christ sends out on the last day and the destruction it'll wreak on the earth.
And they say that Joel's army is a coming generation of spirit-filled charismatic youth who will be able to operate in signs and wonders in the supernatural as naturally as goldfish are able to swim in water.
And that's not what this text is about. It's kind of crazy when you think about it. But talking about the day of the Lord, listen to what Joel says. Blow a trumpet in Zion, sound an alarm on my holy mountain, let all the inhabitants of the land tremble for the day of the Lord is coming.
So no, the day of the Lord is always referring to the final day, the wrath of the Lord. It is coming, it is near. It is a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness. Like blackness, there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people.
This is referring to the angels that Christ sends out on the last day. Their like has never been before, nor will it be again after them through all the years of all generations. Fire devours before them, behind them a flame burns.
The land is like the Garden of Eden before them, but behind them a desolate wilderness, nothing escapes them. Their appearance is like the appearance of horses, and like war horses they run. As with the rumbling of chariots, they leap on the tops of the mountains like the crackling of a flame of fire devouring the stubble like a powerful army drawn up for battle.
Before them, peoples are in anguish. All faces grow pale. Like warriors, they charge. Like soldiers, they scale the wall. They march, each on his way. They do not swerve from their paths. They do not jostle one another.
Each marches in his path. They burst through the weapons and are not halted. They leap upon the city. They run upon the walls. They climb up into the houses. They enter through the windows like a thief.
Note the language. Anybody here have heard of the thief in the night concept right here? No, this is talking about the angel army. The earth quakes before them. The heavens tremble. The sun and the moon, they are darkened.
The stars withdraw, they're shining. Pay attention to those details. Earthquakes, heavens tremble, sun and moon are darkened, stars withdraw, they're shining. What are we talking about here? Yeah, Matthew 24, what Christ says, right.
The Lord utters his voice before his army. His camp is exceedingly great. He who executes his word is powerful for the day of Yahweh is great and very awesome. Who can endure it? And so our cross reference to this is found in Matthew 24, verse 29.
Jesus speaking. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened. The moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from the heaven. The powers of the heavens will be shaken.
I would note here that now with the new James Webb Telescope I think we have a really good device for detecting when the stars are gonna start turning off.
Just saying.
Same period, yeah, exactly. And by the way, this is literal. The sun is literally gonna be darkened. The moon is literally not gonna give its light. The stars are literally going to disappear, okay?
Then will appear in heaven the sign of the son of man and then all the tribes of the earth, they will mourn. They will see the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory and he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call.
They will gather his elect from the four winds from one end of the heaven to the other. So note, when Christ sends out his angels, then you've just dovetailed this, this what we just read in Joel. The great and awesome day of the Lord.
Note that Care Bear Jesus isn't the one coming back. Persist in sin and unbelief and you have this terror in front of you.
Yes.
Yes, that's a good point because I couldn't tell you when it's gonna happen. I, again, my best guess it's gonna happen on a Thursday because Jesus says he's coming on a day or hour. No one's expecting Jesus on a Thursday, except for me.
Okay, so that's how this works. But you're right. It's best to look at what's coming rather than when. I mean, it could be in our lifetime. Yeah, pick one.
And the reality is is that, well, yeah, I understand.
I understand and I'm not saying that he's being arbitrary. I just think he's being consistent with how he's used numbers apocalypticly. But all that being said, the thing we can agree on is that there are certain signs that once they start showing up, we know that the time is super-de-duper short and those signs themselves have not appeared yet.
Yes, David.
Temple he was talking about was the temple of his body. Now, I will say this. I will say this. If we dive into this topic, we're gonna be here all day.
And I actually, I think exegetically, I agree that I don't believe that the physical temple is gonna be rebuilt in Jerusalem. That would be an abomination because then the type and shadows have come back and Christ is fulfilled.
The temple was always pointing to Christ.
Right, okay.
So.
I won't go any further. All right. I just wanted to tell you how off-base I was.
I love the fact that we're having like an energetic conversation today. This is great.
Thank you for letting me talk to you.
Hey, listen, I'm not a cult leader. I'm a pastor. You're allowed to ask questions and you can challenge me all you want. A high inside fastball is not something I'm afraid of.
Yeah, all right.
Good.
Don, you had a point.
So, if you want a nightmare. If you guys want to have a nightmare. So, we serve a bunch of people in Western Europe. And this past week, the United Kingdom and Birmingham, they are currently hosting what are called the Commonwealth Games.
It's kind of like Olympic type sports, specifically for nations that are part of the British Commonwealth. And the opening ceremony for this thing was, interesting is the best way I could put it. If you Google it or you go on YouTube and you type in the search, just type in 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Look for opening ceremony and then type in the word bull, B-U-L-L. Holy guacamole. I thought I was looking at something from pagan Egypt. And one of the most terrifying things I heard. So, basically they had this ginormous mechanical bull that eyes bled, it bled.
And it was like raging and out of control. And they quelled it using magic crystals and it looked like they were worshiping it. And at one point the announcer said that the bull represents the light. And I went, what on earth am I watching?
I'm thinking this is like Moses coming down from Mount Sinai kind of stuff. And one of the channels that I saw, because I wouldn't kind of looked at this thing. I thought maybe these people are like overreacting because no, they weren't.
And there were the Christians in the comments going, holy smokes, these people are not hiding their paganism anymore. Yeah, yeah. So full open paganism. Like I said, this is nightmare inducing kind of stuff.
But if you wanna just watch that portion of the opening ceremonies of the Commonwealth Games. And wow, was that weird. It was, yeah, pretty strange. Back to Jeremiah, back to Jeremiah. But Don, I think your point is that three and a half years ago, if somebody would have told me what was ahead for us, I would have said they're lying.
Okay, have you noticed how quickly the world has changed? And I'm terrified for the next three years to be honest with you. I haven't, on the trajectory that we're on, who knows where we're going. But to Marilyn's point, it's best to focus on what's coming, not when.
Because we don't know when. So Jeremiah writes, alas, that day is so great, there's none like it. It's a time of distress for Jacob, yet he shall be saved out of it. And again, we Gentiles take comfort in the fact that Romans 9, 10, and 11 make it clear that every Gentile believer who trusts in Christ is grafted in, is a wild olive branch that's grafted into Israel.
So it shall come to pass in that day, declares Yahweh of armies, that I will break his yoke off your neck. I will burst your bonds and foreigners shall no more make a servant of him. Notice the Exodus imagery here of being enslaved.
But they shall serve Yahweh their God and David their king. Who do you think that's referring to? Jesus, right? Whom I will raise up for them. So then fear not, O Jacob, my servant, declares Yahweh, nor be dismayed, O Israel, for behold, I will save you from far away and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease, and none shall make him afraid, for I am with you to save you, declares Yahweh. I will make a full end of all the nations among whom I scatter you, but of you I will not make a full end.
I will discipline you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished. This is, you'll note that God punishes, chastises, disciplines those whom he loves. This is not talking about the punishment of eternal death.
This is talking about how God punishes and disciplines his children, right? For thus says Yahweh, your hurt, it's incurable. Your wound, grievous. There is none to uphold your cause, no medicine for your wound, no healing for you.
All your lovers have forgotten you, they care nothing for you. Now we're back to talking about idolatry, their lovers being the foreign deities, these false gods, right? For I have dealt you the blow of an enemy, the punishment of a merciless foe, because your guilt is great, because your sins are flagrant.
Why do you cry out over your hurt? Your pain is incurable, because your guilt is great, because your sins are flagrant. I have done these things to you, therefore all who devour you shall be devoured, and all your foes, every one of them shall go into captivity.
Those who plunder you shall be plundered, and all who pray on you, I will make a prey, for I will restore health to you. No, we can't cure the problem. We can't cure the problem of sin, God has to cure it.
I will restore health to you, and your wounds, I will heal them, declares Yahweh, because they have called you an outcast. It is Zion for whom no one cares. So thus says Yahweh, behold, I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob, and I will have compassion on his dwellings.
The city shall be rebuilt, and on its mounds, and the palace shall stand where it used to be. Out of them shall come songs of thanksgiving, and the voices of those who celebrate. I will multiply them, and they shall not be few.
I will make them honored, and they shall not be small. Their children shall be as they were of old, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all who oppress them. Their prince shall be one of themselves.
Their ruler shall come out from their midst. I will make him draw near, and he shall approach me, for who would dare of himself to approach me, declares Yahweh, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Again, note the clear, unambiguous, eschatological overtones, and again, that emphasis. You can see imagery regarding Jesus himself. He's the prince who God will cause to draw near. That's the one, right?
So behold the storm of Yahweh. Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest. It will burst upon the head of the wicked. The fierce anger of Yahweh will not turn back until he is executed and accomplished the intentions of his mind.
In the latter days, you will understand. And at that time, declares Yahweh, I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people. Thus says Yahweh. The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness when Israel sought for rest.
Yahweh appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, I have continued my faithfulness to you. Again, I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel. Again, you shall adorn yourself with tambourines and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.
Now, since this is an eschatological picture here coming up, I don't think the tambourines themselves are a symbol, which in other words, I'm gonna have to learn how to have a beat because I can't do those, it's like, anyway.
Mm-hmm, so the question is, is this ethnic Israel or is this the church? All right, I have to answer you from scripture, all right? And there's only one way to answer this, and that's according to the way that Paul describes these things.
Okay, Paul in Romans nine. I'm speaking the truth in Christ, I'm not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit. I have great sorrow and unseeking anguish in my heart. I wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen, according to the flesh.
They are Israelites, to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever, amen.
But it is not as though the word of God has failed, for not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel. And so when we talk about the ultimate eschatological salvation, we're not talking about genetic Jews only.
We are talking about true Israel, and just because you are genetically descended from Abraham doesn't give you an in. So not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but, and then note, he invokes this text from Genesis, through Isaac shall your offspring be named, and Isaac is the son of the promise.
So this means it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of promise. They are counted as offspring. So understand what we're doing here, okay, and what God is doing.
So even in the Old Testament, being a genetic Jew doesn't give you an inside track with God, but the thing is is that God is only dealing with one people group, and that's people who are, he's chosen specifically, and from Judah, by the way, Jeremiah's prophesying to Judah.
From Judah comes the Messiah, but the idea then is this, is that we recognize in the New Testament that the church itself is an article of faith. We know the church exists because Christ says that it exists, but I can't look at this group and say this is the church, because I also know from Scripture that is clear that there are weeds sown among the wheat, and so in every congregation, there is a really high probability that you have some unbelievers mixed in with the believers, okay, and so the idea then is that when we talk about the church being saved, this is true.
The church is saved. This is calling idolatrous apostate Judah to repent and for them to be forgiven. That's the point, that they might join true Israel, and there is an argument for original sin, right, right.
Right, Jesus says you can make a sentence.
For Abraham out of stones, and here's the thing.
The New Testament makes it very clear that when we talk about all those who are going to be saved, it only talks about salvation being in Israel, okay, and so we are grafted into Israel. Paul goes on to say that, okay.
So, you know, Mazal Tov, we're all Jews now, right, but no, we're not ethnic. No, but we're grafted into Israel, so the idea then is that in the Old Testament, the church technically exists. Those are the believers in the promises that God would fulfill in Christ, but they haven't been fulfilled historically yet.
They're trusting in Yahweh for their forgiveness and mercy and redemption, and in the future, Christ has accomplished it. We're looking in the past. So when we look at a text like this where we see law and gospel, we see threat and we see promise, we have to put it into those categories, and here in Jeremiah, since there was no church, as we understand it now in the time of the New Testament, when we hear about the Eschaton and God calling Israel from among all the nations, he's not talking about genetic Jews because that's talking about salvation.
He's talking about everybody who's grafted into Israel and we have these promises of the new earth that apply to us, even though it's only using terms. What do you mean? Go through what? Do we not already go through that?
Hold on a second here. I'm gonna give you a text. All right, Hebrews 12. All right, Hebrews 12. Listen, this is written in the New Testament. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted.
In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him, for the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he, the Greek word is mastigas.
He scourges every son whom he receives.
Okay?
Right, we are.
But these prophecies we're looking at in Jeremiah right now are eschatological promises regarding God bringing the people in and bringing them in on the last day into true salvation. Yeah, but again, this text isn't addressing anything like that.
This text is pointing to the actual eschaton and the fulfillment of salvation. All right, we're talking about the new earth. This is God gathering us, God making his dwelling among us, making us dwell in safety and never ever having anything in danger evermore.
That hasn't come yet. This is talking about still in the future. So Jeremiah here is prophesying about something way in our future still.
I believe that.
Yeah, okay.
And I'm just looking at it.
Again, the church, Christians, we're all grafted into Israel, okay? So when it talks about the grand salvation, God calling Israel out of the nations and then plopping us in the new earth. Oh yeah, but that's not what we're talking about right here.
But that's not what Jeremiah is talking about. He's talking about the saved Israel, all right?
All right, yeah.
When we talk about after the day of the judgment, after the day of the Lord, because that's a context, we're talking about the new heavens and the new earth and God making his dwelling with us. And us being saved and no longer having any fear from any enemies.
That's an eschatological promise and that's for those who have the same faith as Abraham. We're talking about spiritual Israel. And that, we're all grafted in for that, so. All right, I have to skedaddle, so.
My apologies for those of you online. I saw that the chat was going nuts. I'll have to copy these out. Hang on, I'm gonna make a copy of these and then I'll put them into a pages document and then maybe we can take a look at questions next week.
All right, peace to you brothers and sisters. Lord willing, we'll see you guys next time.
