Yes, these nations–Egypt, Israel, Turkey, Syria, Iran, and Iraq–will one day live in peace and worship together in peace—in the new millennial kingdom.
Isaiah 19:23-25In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.24 In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, 25 whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.
The highway referred to here could be a literal road connecting Egypt to Assyria (now Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran); and it would go through Israel. This is a highway of peace, which Israel will build between warring nations.
In order to get a clear picture of what was happening in the tabernacle and to know how the incense was made to have true value, we must go back and a look at the brazen altar. For there the work of Christ began, where He suffered and shed His blood and died, purging our sins. Thus the brazen altar is a type of the cross, which was Christ’s first work in God’s whole plan for our redemption.
The brazen altar, the place where animals were sacrificed, was made of brass and had no crown; thus it speaks to us of the suffering and humiliation of our Lord on earth. But the golden altar, with a crown of gold, speaks to us of the reigning of Christ in heaven.
The blood from the sacrifices of the first altar was symbolic of the blood of Christ; the incense of the second…
Israel and the church must remain distinct groups. But there are many today that are trying to merge these two groups. They are saying that Israel is no longer a people of God, or that they have the promises of God. They are even saying that they no longer have the right (the authority from God) to exist as a nation and as a people. They are saying that God has rejected them as His people and has replaced them with the church.
Well, this is just wrong. Israel and the church must remain distinct groups. From eternity past God has had the people of Israel and the church in His mind, and He has made plans for them. He has given them each a purpose and promises.
God has given Israel promises that are yet to be fulfilled. And He also has plans for the church. Who are we…
I have just started reading through Revelation, and I keep noticing the many quotes about Jesus, which have been given to us through the apostle John, by “His angel” (Jesus angel, Rev. 1:1; 22:16). The angels are such good witnesses to Jesus; we ought to pay attention to what they say. Here are the quotes I ran across so far, up to Revelation 3:14.
[He is] the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. [He] loves us, and released us from our sins by His blood, and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father (Rev 1:5-6).
I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades (Rev 1:17-18).
[He is] the first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life (Rev 2:8).
The One who has the sharp two-edged sword (Rev 2:12).
The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze (Rev 2:18).
He who has the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars (Rev 3:1).
He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens (Rev 3:7).
The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God (Rev 3:14).
Faith is that element in abiding that I think is most dominant. Also, it is that element that ties all the other parts of abiding together, for we cannot meditate on the Word, bear fruit, obey God’s commandments, or please Him without faith.
Here are eight things that the abiding Christian does to build his faith in order to keep him abiding:
1. He makes it his habit to meditate on the Word every day. This daily meditation time helps him to see things from God’s perspective, gives him a desire for God, and helps him to adjust his desires to God’s desires.
2. He obeys God and keeps himself busy with His work. The abiding believer knows that faith isn’t really faith without obedience and work. In fact, he is convinced that his faith is perfected by obedience (Ja. 2:22). Therefore, he is always diligent to listen to…
We have been studying Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, and following D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones teaching from his Studies in the Sermon on the Mount. We have now come to the section following the Disciples Prayer outline, verses 19 -20, where Jesus tells us,
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal.
So here, we come to the problem of living the Christian life in the world and therefore how to overcome to world while living in it. Jesus gives us two points to follow: 1) we are not to store up for ourselves treasures upon earth, but 2) we are to store up treasures in heaven.
We Are Not to Store Up for Ourselves Treasures Upon Earth
Here are a few notes from my reading:
Jesus wants us to be concerned not so much with having wealth and possessions, but with our attitude toward them.
We are to be concerned with our whole attitude toward life in this world. That is, we ought not to get our total satisfaction in life from things in this world.
A person’s treasures are the things that mean everything to him—what he is living for.
Here are some things in this world that can become our treasures: love of money, of honor, of position, of status. We are not to be so concerned with these things that they take up our entire life. These things will all pass away in the end.
We Are to Store Up Treasures in Heaven
Use your riches to prophet you for the next life.
Do not labor for what will perish but for what will endure to everlasting life.
Have a right view of life. In this world we are pilgrims. We walk under the eye of God, toward our everlasting hope.
Our attitude must be that I am not the possessor of my things. They really do not belong to me. I am but a custodian of them.
I should always be using my things for the glory of God.
I am a child of God placed here for His purpose.
I must hold my things loosely; I am to be in a state of blessed detachment from them; and I should always be considering how I can use the things that God has entrusted to me for His kingdom.
We have been showing the distinctiveness of each group—Israel and the church, and why they cannot be merged. In my last post we viewed the distinctive of Israel: Jewish people who are the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now we will look at the distinctive of the church.
The first thing I will point out regarding the church is that it has a distinct time period—from Pentecost to the rapture. Only God knows the length of this period, but it will be the exact time needed to prepare us, His bride, for our union with Him.
Secondly, unlike Israel, the church has a mysterious character. Whereas Israel was always well known throughout the Old Testament, the church sort of popped out of nowhere. That is, it was unheard of in the Old Testament, and wasn’t really revealed until Christ came. But even then, the concept of the church was…
Pleasing God is the element in abiding that we will consider here. I have called it holiness because that is exactly how we please Him—by our holiness.
In 1 John 3:22 we find that the promise of answered prayer comes to us when we keep His commandments and do those things that please Him: “And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.” Notice that the requirement of pleasing God is not by itself; it is coupled with the requirement of keeping His commandments—the chief of which is to love God and others. This tells us that the two go together and that they cannot be separated. We cannot please God without obeying Him and we cannot truly obey Him without pleasing Him.
But the fact that the two requirements are separated tells us also that…
In this post and the next one, I will attempt to show why replacement theology is in error by showing the distinctiveness of each group—Israel and the church, and why they cannot be merged.
To begin our discussion, let me assert this: the name Israel, as it is referred to in scripture, always means the Jewish people—those who are the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and the church always means those people who are believers in Christ and the Bride of Christ. Therefore, what we are affirming is that after the birth of the church at Pentecost, the distinction between these two groups remains intact. In fact, in the book of Acts, both Israel and the church exist simultaneously. The term Israel is used twelve times and ekklesia (church) nineteen times, yet the two groups are always kept distinct.”
ISRAEL
Israel is not only distinguished because of their race—a…
Stephen Nielsen 