Transcription
Our subject today is why Israel must return to Palestine, and I'm inviting you this morning to look at one of the truly remarkable prophecies in the Old Testament. It's a brief prophecy, but one of the more outstanding prophecies. It's in the third chapter of Hosea, only two verses, verses 4 and 5.
"For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, without a prince, without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim. Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their King, and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days."
Now, that is a strange subject that we have today to initiate our 16th year as pastor of this great church. But I call your attention to another strange coincidence. It was May the 14th, 1948, that Great Britain surrendered control of Palestine, and at that time, Israel immediately proclaimed itself a nation. A nation that was set within the borders and boundaries that had been set up by the United Nations. But before the sun went down, they were attacked by Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon, and even Saudi Arabia. It was war to the hilt, with heavy losses on both sides. In that war, Israel gained additional territory, in fact, a great deal. A truce was made and then broken the next June, and then it was in January. In fact, on January the 7th, 1949, a general armistice was signed. Israel was permitted to retain the territory it had gained, and at that time, it was admitted as a member of the United Nations. So that actually, since January 1949, the new nation of Israel has come into existence. The same year, the same month, I became pastor of the Church of the Open Door. Now, the only difference is this: they have not been through the Great Tribulation yet. I have.
Now, assuredly, I have a more worthy, serious, and pragmatic reason for the subject of the morning. Actually, we've come to the book of Hosea in our Bible reading program, and it has always been our practice to take our morning message, our evening message, and the Thursday night Bible study from the section that we are reading. So we actually were confined to 14 chapters in Hosea, and we have come to one of the more remarkable prophecies of scripture. In fact, Hosea contains one of the truly great prophecies concerning the nation Israel. Dr. Charles Feinberg is said concerning this third chapter, verses 4 and 5, "It rightfully takes its place among the greatest prophetic pronouncements in the whole revelation of God."
Now, I would not want to bypass it, and I'd have to if we did not take it this morning. And here to for, I have bypassed it. But because of the fact we did not have the time today, we do now. We come to this chapter. It's a very brief chapter, five verses, actually very brief, only 81 words in the Hebrew. And the first three verses are very personal. The last two verses are public. The first three verses tell of the scandal that was in the home of Hosea. We preached on that last Sunday morning. The last two verses are prophetic, and they tell of the scandal in the nation Israel, but of the great hope that is ahead of this nation. And that's our subject today.
And I believe that this morning, we'll understand this prophecy better if we fit Hosea into his slot in history. It'll make his prophecy clearer to us and clarify many things that are here. Hosea was the prophet, or one of the prophets, to the Northern Kingdom of Israel. He was contemporary with Amos. However, Amos preceded him, and Hosea was the last of the prophets to the northern kingdom. He was not only contemporary with Amos, but he was contemporary with Isaiah and Micah in the southern Kingdom of Judah. He was a prophet for over one half a century. He saw the captivity of the northern kingdom as they were taken away into Assyrian slavery. What Jeremiah a century later was to the southern Kingdom, Hosea was to the northern kingdom. And there is a striking similarity between these two prophets. Both of these prophets have a message of judgment, but they also have a message of tenderness and a message of love. Hosea was commanded to marry, and under awful conditions, by the way. But Jeremiah was forbidden to marry, and you certainly can't draw any rule from that.
The Northern Kingdom began in idolatry, it continued in idolatry, it concluded in idolatry. There was not a godly king in the entire line. They never listened to any of the prophets of God at all, and they had several of the greatest. Elijah was the prophet to the northern kingdom, so was Elisha. We think of Jonah as being the prophet to Nineveh. He was also a prophet to the northern kingdom. Amos, and then finally, Hosea. This is the man that we're looking at today, in this very remarkable prophecy he gave. And he speaks from a background of idolatry. He knew what that was because his people had gone into idolatry.
Now, will you notice as we are ready now to begin with these two verses? And I want to look at them this morning. Verse four: "For the children of Israel shall abide many days, they shall abide many days without, many days without, and they'll be without a king, without a prince, without a sacrifice, without an image, without an ephod, and without teraphim."
Now, that's a remarkable prophecy. That expression, "many days," is right now 2,500 years old, in fact, longer. During the last 2,000 years, God has been calling out a people to His name. This is an indefinite period that we're in. And I think that's the reason God had this man. When He's dealing with the nation Israel, He generally used dates and seasons and times and marks it out. But in the end of that, had to be fitted the church, and no dates are given to it. And therefore, He says, "The children of Israel will abide many days." 2,500 years plus 2,000 years. God has been calling out a people to His name in this world, and He's been putting the Jew, the nation Israel, on a different basis than He had them in the Old Testament. They're now put on the same plane as Gentiles, and all today have to come to God the same way. And when we come to God today, we are put in one body, both Jew and Gentile. Today, that's the statement of the word of God. Romans 10:2: "For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him." Then in Galatians 3:28: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." And then again in Colossians 3:11: "Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all."
So that today, God is calling out a people into something new, and He calls it a mystery in Ephesians, and that is the body of believers known as the church. So that when we come to the Lord Jesus Christ, brother Danny Rose down here, a Jew, and Vernon McGee, a Gentile, are now one in the body of Christ, where there's neither Jew nor Gentile, but we are now one. That is the wonderful thing that has happened in this day in which we live.
Now, that may lead you to believe that God may be through with the nation Israel, but He's not. He says that "the children of Israel will abide many days without a king." First of all, the last king in the southern kingdom in the Davidic line was Zedekiah. After the Babylonian captivity of 70 years, they returned to the land, they rebuilt the temple, first they rebuilt the city, the priesthood was restored, as it tells us about that. But the king was not restored to the throne. Not one king in the Davidic line has been upon that throne from that day to the present time. God said, "The children of Israel shall abide many days without a king."
Now, I know someone will say, "Well, what about the Hasmonean dynasty?" That actually was the Maccabees between the Testaments. Well, the Maccabees were a priestly family. They belonged to the tribe of Levi and not to the tribe of Judah. For as the Lord Jesus made it very clear, that a priest does not come out of the tribe of Judah, neither does a king come out of the tribe of Levi. He must come from the tribe of Judah, according to the word of God. So that they've had no king. Someone has said, "No one of their own nation has been able to gather them together or become their king." Over 2,500 years without a king. God says they'll abide many days without a king.
The Lord Jesus Christ came. He was the Lion of David. That's the way the New Testament opens: "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David." And the life of our Lord is put in a parenthesis of the King of the Jews. Have you noticed it? Wise men at the very beginning came out of the East with this question: "Where is he that is born King of the Jews?" And His life ends when Pilate ironically put above Him, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." But they said, "We'll not have this man to reign over us: we have no king but Caesar." The children of Israel will abide many days without a king.
Second, without a prince. Isn't it interesting? Here is a nation, the oldest nation on top side of Earth today, and they have no claimant to the throne. Spain does, France has, Egypt has, Russia all have contenders for the throne, but Israel has none today. Joseph and Mary were peasants, even in that day, no contender for the throne. The word of God says, "The children of Israel shall abide many days without a King, without a prince."
And then the third, without a sacrifice. When I was pastor in Nashville, Tennessee, years ago, they lived across the street from me, a rabbi, an orthodox rabbi. He and I became very good friends. One day we got on a streetcar together downtown and rode out. We got off at the same place, and we were sitting together, and I said to him, "I noticed that you and your family were just sweeping out everything over there yesterday. What are you doing?" He says, "Getting rid of the 'comics'." I said, "The what?" He says, "The 'comet'." I said, "What's that?" He says, "Leaven. To you, we are getting ready to celebrate the Passover." I said, "You are? I said, "Where's your bloody sacrifice?" And he just put his, he wore a little skull cap, and he just put his hands up to his head, and, "Oh," he says, "that's the thing we miss." Yes, they do. May I say to you that I personally expect that you and I go to see, if we live out our normal lifetime, we're going to see the return of the bloody sacrifice back in this nation. I'm confident that the orthodox Jew will insist upon it. It's a source of embarrassment to them today. They don't have it. For that was the very heart of the Old Testament for them. They do not have a temple today. They do not even have the territory of the temple, and that's all that they're waiting for. But God said that "the children of Israel shall abide many days without a King, without a prince, without a sacrifice."
Isn't it interesting? They haven't had it ever since the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, and again in 230, when they were cruelly and unmercifully slain. From that day to this, they've never had a bloody sacrifice. God said they would abide without. Then here is something that's interesting. But during this period, many have found that the Lord Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the law, and especially the ceremonial law, and that He was the sacrifice. Brother Danny found that out, and other of these that we have in the congregation this morning, quite a few that are Jews who've accepted Christ as Savior. That's what they found out. "But now once in the end of the age hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." They found out that all of the Old Testament looked forward to the coming of Christ.
Now, here is the more remarkable part of the passage. It says they will abide, "the children of Israel will abide many days without an image." An image? Yes, Israel was constantly going into idolatry. Both kingdoms were sent into captivity specifically for their persistence in worshiping idols. That's the whole message of Hosea. It is spiritual adultery. God says, "You turn from me, I'm your husband, I loved you, I redeemed you, and even in the wilderness, you went after a golden calf." And now here in Samaria, for it was in Samaria that Jeroboam set up at both Bethel and Samaria two golden calves, and you've gone back into this awful thing. God says, "You're going into idolatry. You give up your images." That is the thing that He said. "Will you notice, Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone." (Hosea 4:17). God says, "He just keeps on and on and on. Let him alone. I'll send him into captivity." And God did that.
Now, my beloved, will you notice something that's quite remarkable? If Israel turned to idols when they had a temple, and they had priests, and they had a king on the throne, and they had actually the word of God, if they, and with all of that, turned to idols, most assuredly they had turned to idols when they lost all of these other things. But I'm here to report to you today, they did not go back to idolatry. They took the "gold cure" in Babylon. God really gave it to them down there. You see, Babylon was the fountainhead of idolatry. God says, "If you really like idols, I'll give you idols wholesale. I'll give you idols where they really got idols." And they went to Babylon, and my friend, Babylon had more idols than Memphis and Egypt had. You could walk down the streets and you couldn't get through one idol right after another. God says, "You want it? Here it is." But they got all they want. And here's one of the most amazing things: for 2,500 years, they have not gone into idolatry. God said they wouldn't. "The children of Israel will abide many days without any image." I'll give them the gold cure. He gave it to them. You will find today, Jews will go in cups and isms and all sorts of organizations. They are great organization folk. You will not find an important segment of Israel today worshiping idols. God said they wouldn't, and they were given to that sort of thing. They were in a land where they still worship idols, but they don't go into idolatry. You want to know whether God's word is accurate or not? Look about you. And they're back in the land today, and I'm told that about everything is going over there today, all the way from Orthodox Judaism down to the most liberal, but you won't find idolatry. God says, "The children of Israel will abide many, many days without a King, without a prince, without a sacrifice, and without an image."
All of this, if you please, "the children of Israel will abide many days without an ephod." Now, that was the distinctive garment of the high priest. It was made of heavenly blue. It had two onyx stones on it with the names of the tribes of Israel. It spoke of the fact that the great High Priest carried these people on His shoulder. He says, "They'll abide many days without a high priest to go to. They'll have no one to turn to." Israel today, that is divided, has no one to go to. But they don't go into idolatry.
The sixth thing: "The children of Israel will abide many days without teraphim." Those are the little figurines that are connected with the household idols. It was the thing that Rachel carried out from her home, Laban's home. They are little household images that are worshiped. They'll not have any more of those, and they are pretty far from that also today. But during all of this time, without leadership, all those years, without a government, without a center of religion, without those things that hold a people together, the Jew has never lost his distinctiveness, though he's been scattered among the nations of the world. God said that back in Numbers when they were entering the land, even Balaam had to say in Numbers 23:9: "From the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the Nations." And right in this next prophet that we'll be coming to, or the second one we'll be coming to shortly, Amos. Amos said, "Hear this word that the Lord hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities." Can two walk together, except they be agreed? So that this people have never lost their distinctiveness in 2,500 years. And God says, "The children of Israel shall abide many days without, without."
And in spite of that, God says, "I'll keep my hand on them." Why? Because He says, "Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their King, and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days." This verse begins with a time word, "afterward." It closes with a time word, "latter days." And back in the other verse, verse four, there's another time word, "many days." He's now talking about the nation Israel. "Afterward, in the latter days, they are going to return." Who said that? God said that. The nation Israel must return to Palestine, as we shall see in a few moments. God says they'll return. And actually, if you want to look at the words of our Lord, with all of the Old Testament in His thinking, as He stepped out before these people, He offered Himself as their Messiah and as their King. And it explains a great many things that He said in the way that He said them. For instance, He said to them, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." You want to return to God, and you know you are far from Him? Then here, I'm the way. You're looking for the truth? I am the truth. You're looking for life? You're a dead nation. Now, I'm the life. And then He continued to talk to them in a language that they understood, I'm confident, much more than we understand today. He says, "I'm the light of the world." You've been in darkness all of these years. The Lord Jesus, it was on one of those feast days, evidently the Feast of Lights, when all the water was poured out under in the temple area, and I think He stood that day ankle-deep in the water in that temple area. As He stood there with it running everywhere, He said, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink." If you think pouring out water in a ceremony, and my friend, may I say to you, a mode of baptism may be important, but for God's sake, let's get our thinking off of water and on the One who is the Water of Life, on the person of Jesus Christ. There's too much haggling today about subsidiary issues that are irrelevant to our salvation. That's what they were arguing about, why they went through this ritual. He said, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink." How many men ful that was in those days! "Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God." It was not fulfilled when He came the first time.
Will you listen to what He says here? And this is another remarkable passage. God says, "I will go and return to my place." This is Hosea 5:15. Listen to Him: "I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early." I believe that when they enter the Great Tribulation period, that these people will, some of them, back in the land, and more will be going. And when they get back in the land, and the persecution comes upon them, and they are put into the vice and the furnace of suffering, then they're going to seek Him. God says, "I'll return until they..." And when you seek Me, I'll be right there. The wonder about God is that you can't move an inch toward Him but what He doesn't move a mile toward you. And when you move an inch away from Him, He goes a mile away from you. And He said to these people, "You'll seek Me, but I'll return until then." And heaven has been His brass for them for 2,500 years, for that brief moment when God was contracted to a span, and He of the seed of David came, yea, to Bethlehem.
And then here is the more remarkable of it. They'll not only seek the Lord their God, and David their King. And I find that even good men here try to play this down and say it doesn't mean David the King. Well, I've always labored under the, maybe it's a delusion, but I labor under the theory that God can say what He wants to say, and if He means something else, He'll say something else. And when He says, "David their King," He means exactly David their King. For David will be raised in the Millennium, as all the Old Testament saints are to be raised at the beginning of the Millennium. And I can't think of anybody that would make a better king over them than David, and He'll be their king. I believe the Lord Jesus Christ will be at the New Jerusalem, and David will be His vice-regent, and He'll commute every day back and forth to this earth to check up on David, because I think even in the Millennium, you'll need to check up on David. But I want to say this: David is going to be their king. Now, the word of God makes that very clear. Jeremiah says (Jeremiah 30:9): "But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them." It means exactly what it says. Ezekiel 34:23-24: "And I will set up one shepherd over them, he shall feed them, even my servant David: he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them: I the Lord have spoken it." And since God has spoken it, I'll believe it. Ezekiel 37:4: "And David my servant shall be king over them: and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them." My friend, four times God says it. How many times does He have to say it before it's true? He says that David's going to be raised up, and David's going to be raised up.
And then He says, finally, "And they shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days." Now, this word for fear doesn't mean a servile fear. It's not a fear that makes them shrink and run from God. It means reverence. It doesn't mean to retreat from God, it means to approach God. They'll flee to Him for help from all that is to be feared. It means wonder, it means worship, and it means willful surrender to God. Have you ever noticed how many times our Lord said, and every time the supernatural breaks in upon the natural, it's always, "Fear not." "Fear not." When He came back from the dead, when He appeared again and again, He'd say, "Fear not." "Fear not." That kind of a fear. "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest." That's His invitation. That's the kind of fear. Someone asked Cromwell, the secret of his bravery. Cromwell has been known as the bravest man that ever lived. They said he never had one spark of fear in his makeup. They asked him his secret, and he said, "Fear God, and you will have no man to fear." That's the kind of fear, a reverence of God. And how we need that today! How we need that in fundamental circles today! Oh, we need reverence today.
Now, in closing, I'm prepared to answer the question: Why must Israel return to Palestine? Briefly, will you listen? Israel must return to Palestine to fulfill the word of God. Shortly after I became pastor here at the Church of the Open Door, I heard that this charge was made against me by a seminary professor in this area who'd come in for a message. He says, "He's just another Judeo-eschatologist." And even if you don't know what that means, it sounds bad, doesn't it? Now, I've been called many things and had many things said about me in the past 15 years that are not true. Most of the things have been false, but this is true. I am, and I must confess it, I'm a Judeo-eschatologist. And that just simply means, to begin with, it takes a theology professor to come up with that, but it just simply means that I believe that God has a purpose with the nation Israel in the future. That's all it means. I believe that God means exactly what He says, and I take the word of God literally. And the principle by which I interpret scripture is this: that it's literal unless the text or context makes it clear that God has something else in mind, and He'll always let you know what He has in mind. This is the principle of interpretation that's consistent with scripture. It's the one that'll honor God. It is that which means a high level of inspiration.
I went to an amillennial seminary that teaches the covenant theology. And again, may I say, boiling that down in this realm, it means this: that the church is the continuation of the nation Israel, and they take every promise in the Old Testament made to the nation Israel and just say that means the church. May I say to you, that's a fallacious, and I would say today, a dishonest way of interpreting the word of God. Dr. Ironside, I was visiting him when I was still a student, when he was pastor of Moody Church, and in his study, pulled down an old Bible. He said, "I'd like to show you something." And he went, we went through the prophets like this, and the old Bibles, you know, had headings up at the top, subject matter, and it was interesting. It says, "Blessings for the church." "Blessings for the church." You turn page after page, "Blessings for the church." Then we came to another where there was judgment. It says, "Judgments for Israel." What kind of interpretation is that, my beloved, that you can do a flip-flop? When you get the judgment, if you want the blessings, then take the judgment that is here, but they both belong to the nation Israel, if you please. And God means exactly what He says.
He began at the very beginning to make this clear-cut when He called Abraham. We go back to that original covenant, Genesis 12, verse 1: "Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." God says, "I'm going to give you this land. I'm going to make you great, and I'll make a nation from you." An old man with a wife who was old, and they had no children. God, God made that promise good. He said, "I'll make them as numberless as the sand on the seashore." Up to this morning, God has made two-thirds of that promise good. He's made Him a great nation. He made Him a blessing to all nations through Jesus Christ, for Matthew 1:1 not only says He's the Son of David, but He's the Son of Abraham also. "I'll make you a blessing to all people." And through the Lord Jesus Christ, He's been a blessing to all people. God says, "Give you a land." I can't believe God's going to go back on that. He says, "The children of Israel shall return." God says it, and I believe God. He's affirmed it, He's reaffirmed it, He's extended it and added to it.
There are thousands of references in the Old Testament. Among the lovely things these offices did, they gave me two acres up here at Hisperia. And when they handed me the deed, I didn't think that was spiritual. I didn't think those two acres were way up under in the New Jerusalem. They're in Hisperia, and Hisperia is not the New Jerusalem, I can tell you that. But these are literal two acres. Now, I could not put the stakes down. I do not know where it's to be marked off. I want to find out and want to do. I want to invite all of you to come up and shoot jackrabbits on the two acres. But may I say to you, I took it literally, for I believe they meant exactly what they said. And I believe God is much more trustworthy, even in the offices at the Church of the Open Door, and they are trustworthy. I believe that when God says, "I'll give you a land," He means exactly that. He intends to give them a land. God made certain promises to them, and He intends to keep it. And by the same token, God has made promises to you and me today.
"God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on the Son is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." And that promise is as valid as God's promise to Abraham and all the other promises in the Old Testament. God says, "I'll make them good." And this morning, I believe God intends to give us eternal life. And then my life verse, I begin every year with it: "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." Does God mean that? I say to you this morning, He means every word of it. And it rests on Him, not on me, on God. God says it.
Israel must return to Palestine to fulfill the word of God. Israel must return to Palestine because of the love of God. The charge is sometimes made by those who are anti-Semitic, and I get a great deal of this literature, that the Jew is unlovely. I get the impression from the way some of these folk write, the assumption is that the anti-Semite is lovely. Well, I want to say this to you: I'd like for you to know what God has to say about this, and God has something pretty definite to say. I'd like to turn to my little book on Romans. I think I've made it very clear in here. "What then? are we better than they?" And Paul looked at it from the other side. "Are we Jews better than the Gentiles?" No, in no wise. For we have before charged both Jews and Gentiles, that they're all under sin. And my friend, this morning, I don't care what you think of another race or another people. In God's sight, you're, we're not any better. We're all sinners in God's sight today. And the interesting thing is, God loves them. Have you noticed what He says here? "For Israel slid back as a backsliding heifer: now the Lord will feed them as a lamb in a large place." God is the one who makes the charge against these people. Again and again, you can find that. "Ephraim hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned." A cake not turned. Did you ever eat hoecakes? Cakes cooked on top of the stove? Cornbread cooked on top of the stove? Oh, that is delicious, but you got to turn the stuff. You can't just cook it on one side like you do in the oven. You got to turn it over. And if you don't turn it over, it's burnt on one side and it's raw on the other. God says that's the way Ephraim is. Israel is to me. You can't even eat them because they are hot on one side, they're uncooked on the other side. Now, God said that concerning them, but I want to say this to you: God loves them. God loves them. And He said that He loves them. Listen to Him: "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him." God loves Him. And my friend, God loves you and me. And that's the most amazing thing is to think God would love you or me. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God loves you, and thank God He loves me. And on the same basis, He loves the nation Israel, and He says that He'll finally return them.
Now, finally, Israel must return to Palestine because God will ultimately win. He cannot lose. Someone has said, "I would rather lose now and win at last than win now and lose at last." I recognize as we look about us today, and those of you that we hear New Year's Eve know that it looks black as around us today. Looks like God's losing, but God's going to win. He says, "Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree; from me is thy fruit found." God says that He'll finally go back, and He'll have life, and He'll produce fruit. God says, say that love will finally win. It may not look like it this morning that God's winning, but God's winning, my friend. I don't know about you, but I'm on the winning side today. Martin Luther said, "One with God is a majority." I'm on the side of the majority today, although I'm a minority group in the world right now. Listen to Him: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our lord."
As we enter the new year, it looks dark all around us. There's a bit of a storm blowing through the world, waves the rolling high. But today, those that are His own who trusted Him for salvation, they know they can believe Him. They know that He loves them, and they know that He will finally win. Israel will go back to the land in fulfillment for prophecy, and the church and believers will be with Christ. Shall we pray?