Title Page

Matthew / Romans

Expository Bible Surveys with 1 John, 1 Cor 11, Ezek 40-48 on Justification, Sanctification, Glorification, the Messianic Kingdom, Headcovering, Role of Women, and Ezekiel’s Temple

The contents of this book may be freely reproduced and used in whole or in part

July 14, 2010

Wayne ODonnell

ISBN 978-0-9825680-3-3

Bible AG

http://bible.ag

Cover photo by PattyBrdarPhoto.com

Dedication

To:

Yeshua

Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum

for his faithfulness, labor, humility, and friendship

and for his book “Footsteps of the Messiah”

Dr. Bruce Lackey

Dean of Tennessee Temple Bible School

for his course “New Testament Survey”

Dr. D. M. Lloyd-Jones

for his book “Romans 6”

Dr. Alva J. McClain

for his book “The Greatness of the Kingdom”

Cora ODonnell, my Proverbs 31 wife,

for her help and companionship as

“heirs together of the grace of life”

Sarah Alkema, my daughter,

who has been such a blessing in my life, and

Jon Alkema, her husband

Paul Shaffer and Dolores Shaffer, my parents, and
Fumio Ikuta and Mitsuye Ikuta, my wife’s parents,
who gave me so much

Sharon Steinbacher, Kathy Lehman,
Marcia Ikuta, Lori Seto, and Gerri Shinsato, my sweet sisters;
Candice Staggert and Heather Steinbacher, my beautiful nieces;
Gaye Reynolds and Joanna Reviello, my favorite cousins

Jenny Burroughs Choi, Dave Choi, and Thomas Choi,

who gave me a new appreciation of people. 1Tim5:2, Prov18:24

Forrest Eoute and Betty Eoute, Blanche Frasier, Dave Eoute,

and the high school youth group at Emmanuel Baptist,
who helped me through my teenage years and spiritual childhood

Bobby Muir, for faithfully preaching the gospel,

especially that day I believed when I was 14

Forward

This book consists primarily of Bible surveys presented at Tioga Heights Christian Church in Philadelphia on fifth Sundays from September 2007 through August 2009. The Ezekiel 40-48 survey was presented as a video tour of a computer-designed model, pictures from which are included herein. An exposition of 1 Corinthians 11, originally presented as a booklet in 1990, has also been incorporated into this publication.

Some modifications and additions have been made during compilation. Some audience content has been retained to preserve the context of the original presentations. Audio recordings, and video for Ezekiel 40, are available at http://bible.ag.

These surveys attempt to provide a big picture of the book of scripture or partial book being studied using an in-context, literal method of interpretation; and giving weight to both the spiritual aspects of salvation, like justification and sanctification, and the physical aspects of salvation, like our future glorification and inheritance. The sections that emphasize our spiritual salvation are Romans 1-4, 5b-8a, & 12-16 and 1 John. The sections that emphasize our physical salvation are Matthew, Ezekiel 40-48, Romans 5a & 8b-11, and 1 Corinthians 11.

Topics include salvation, justification, sanctification, glorification, resurrection, Israel, the Messianic Kingdom, Ezekiel’s temple, the physical and spiritual realms, the headcovering and Lord’s Supper church meeting ordinances, the roles of men and women, authority, submission, faith, love, joy, eternal life, eternal security, principles of Biblical interpretation, Dispensationalism, amoral things, Jerusalem, how to know the will of God, the Trinity, predestination, Catholicism, eschatology, the second coming, and over it all, Yeshua Messiah.

“The glory of Jehovah came into the temple ... and He said ... this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever,” Ezekiel 43:4-7. “Having been justified by faith, we have had access ... into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God,” Romans 5:1-2. “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” John 3:3.

Contents

How to Receive Eternal Life

“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life,” John 3:36.

The scripture doesn’t say ‘he that is good,’ or ‘he that goes to church,’ but rather “he that believeth on the Son” has everlasting life. “Believe on” also means to ‘trust in’. When Jesus died on the cross for your sins, it really did satisfy the demands of God, the judge of the universe. Now you have a choice. You can continue to trust in your own works and goodness, and fall short of God’s requirement of righteousness, or you can trust in Christ’s death in your place that satisfied the justice of God. Believe on him now in your heart, and call upon him in prayer, telling him that you believe on him for eternal life. “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,” Romans 10:13.

God says in the Bible, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life,” John 3:36, and God cannot lie. It is not a sign of humility to think he won’t give you eternal life for believing on the Son; it is to doubt his word and to call him a liar. It is not presumption to think he will give you eternal life for believing; it is to honor him by acknowledging he keeps his word.

“The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord,” Romans 3:36. When you go to work, you receive wages. They are something you earn, something you deserve. If your employer did not give you your wages he would be unjust. God, as the judge of the universe, must give us the death we earned by our deeds. If a judge in our court system just let criminals go free, we would need to replace that judge. But Christ was already judged for our sins in our place. Even our court system does not allow double jeopardy, i.e., the same man to be tried twice for the same crime. But if you reject Christ as your substitute, then you will have to be judged for your own sins.

Some men may have many sins, but if all their sins are forgiven through faith in Christ, they are counted righteous and have eternal life. Some men may have few sins, but if their few sins are not all forgiven through faith in Christ, they are under condemnation and will perish.

God offers us eternal life as a gift. “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord,” Romans 3:36. How much do you pay for a gift? Your only choice is to receive or reject a gift. If you pay even $1, it isn’t a gift anymore. Eternal life is a gift that costs us nothing, because it cost Christ everything: his death on the cross in our place. Receive “the gift of God,” Romans 6:23, now.

“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life,” John 3:36. Believe on the Son, that his substitutionary death is sufficient for you to be counted as righteous before God. Believe God’s word, that you will have eternal life if you believe on the Son. And tell God in prayer, that you believe his word and that you believe on the Son.

“God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes on him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life,” John 3:16. He loves you. He’s known all about you, your sufferings, and fears, and hopes, through your childhood and your whole life. Psalm 139:13-16: “You formed my inward parts; you covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. ... My elements were not hidden from you, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed, and in your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. ” He’s waiting for you to come home to Him by telling him in prayer that you rely on what Jesus did on the cross for all your sins to be forgiven so you can be counted as perfectly righteous. “For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved,” Romans 10:13. Go ahead and call upon him in prayer to receive the gift of eternal life by faith in his promise now.

Then to learn more, read the Gospel of John and notice how many times the word, “believe” is used, because that gospel was “written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name,” John 20:31. Psalms, Proverbs, and Genesis are also interesting to read. Revelation (also called the Apocalypse) will warn you of what’s going to happen on earth in the future. Also to learn more, find a church that teaches salvation and eternal life are obtained by faith alone. You might try a Calvary Chapel or an independent Baptist church to start your search.

Survey of Matthew: The Change in Jesus’ Ministry

Recorded September 30, 2007

This is a survey of the gospel of Matthew and it is called, “The Change in Jesus’ Ministry.” Is anybody missing the handout? Everybody has one? Cora, there’s a couple by you there.

This is a repeat for Ann and Rita, but it will be shorter. This survey is called “The Change in Jesus’ Ministry,” because there was a change in Jesus’ ministry in chapters 11 and 12 of Matthew, and it is important to know that to understand the gospel of Matthew.

Matthew 1:1. Theme and Main Proposition

Before we begin looking at the change in Jesus’ ministry, let’s consider the theme and main proposition of the book in verse 1. Whenever you study scripture, always give special attention to the first few verses of each book or passage, because the topic is usually stated in the first few verses, and that will help you interpret the rest of the book or passage.

The theme of Matthew is God’s salvation in the physical realm, and the setting up of the Messianic Kingdom on earth. The book of Matthew starts off, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ,” Mt1:1. So the book of Matthew is primarily about physical things, because genealogies are part of the physical realm, and only affect the physical realm.

Physical things are not as important as spiritual things, but they are still important. Joseph, the step-father of Jesus, had spiritual justification, which is the most important thing to have; but Caiaphas, the high priest, an evil man, was the only one who could enter the holy of holies in the temple, and that was because of his genealogy.

The main proposition of the book of Matthew is that Jesus Christ is “the son of David, the son of Abraham,” Mt1:1; that he is the one who fulfills the Davidic covenant and the Abrahamic covenant.

The Davidic covenant said that King David would have a descendant that would establish his house (dynasty), kingdom, and throne forever. In 2 Samuel 7:16, God told David, “Thine house, and thy kingdom, shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.” According to 1 Chronicles 17:11-14, it will also be God’s house, kingdom, and throne. “I will raise up thy seed after thee [Messiah], which shall be of thy sons, ... I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom for ever: and his throne shall be established for evermore.” It will be David’s house, kingdom, and throne; and also God’s house, kingdom, and throne; and also Messiah’s house, kingdom, and throne, because God, in the person of Messiah, a descendant of David will reign; and his kingdom will last forever because he himself is eternal.

And the Davidic covenant, in turn, is an amplification of one part, the nation part, of the Abrahamic covenant. God promised Abraham three things when he first announced the Abrahamic covenant: a land, a nation, and a blessing. Gen12:1-3, “Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country ... unto a land that I will shew thee [the land aspect]: and I will make of thee a great nation [the nation aspect], and I will bless thee, ... and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed [the blessing aspect].”

The other two parts of the Abrahamic covenant are also amplified by subsidiary covenants. Just as the Davidic covenant amplifies the nation aspect of the Abrahamic covenant; the Land covenant, found in Deuteronomy 29, amplifies the land aspect of the Abrahamic covenant; and the New covenant, found in Jeremiah 31, amplifies the blessing aspect.

These four covenants, the Abrahamic, the Land, the Davidic, and the New, together make up the four unconditional Jewish covenants. They are called unconditional, because God is going to do these things for Israel regardless of how badly Israel behaves.

There is also one conditional Jewish covenant, the law. It is called the Old Covenant because it was replaced by the New Covenant. “I will make a new covenant with ... Israel and ... Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them ... out of the land of Egypt [the law of Moses]; which my covenant they brake [it was conditional],” Jer31:31-32. And Paul says, “In that he saith, A new covenant [in Jeremiah], he hath made the first old,” Heb8:13. So for both Jewish and Gentile believers today, “ye are not under the law, but under grace,” Rom6:14, because Christ has blotted “out the handwriting of ordinances ... nailing it to his cross,” Col2:14, and “hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us [Jews and Gentiles, not by adding the law to the Gentiles, but by] having abolished in his flesh ... the law of commandments contained in ordinances,” Eph2:14-15. “The law ... was [only temporarily] added because of transgressions till [only until] the seed [Yeshua] should come,” Gal3:19.

But the main proposition of the book of Matthew, is that Jesus will fulfill the Davidic covenant as Messiah and future king, and he will fulfill the nation aspect of the Abrahamic covenant, by establishing the kingdom, wherein he will rule over Israel, and Israel will rule over the Gentile nations.

Matthew 4:23; 9:35. The Two Key Outline Verses

Now we are ready to look at Jesus’ ministry, and first we will look at his ministry before the turning point, as described in chapters 1 through 10. There are two key outline verses that describe Jesus’ ministry before the turning point, and which also help us understand the structure of the book, which is probably why it was repeated twice.

The first verse is Matthew 4:23. “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.”

So there are three parts to Jesus’ ministry: teaching, preaching and healing. Part 1, teaching, he taught “in their synagogues.” That meant that he taught the law, because they didn’t let you teach in the synagogues unless you taught the law. Part 2, preaching, he preached “the gospel of the kingdom.” The word “preach” in the New Testament means “to make an announcement or a proclamation.” So he was announcing the “gospel,” the “good news” of the kingdom. Part 3, healing, he healed “all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.” So a good way to characterize his healing ministry, is that he healed “all.”

The second key outline verse is Matthew 9:35. “And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.” It sounds pretty much the same, doesn’t it? Teaching the law in the synagogues, announcing the good news of the kingdom, and healing all, “every sickness,” “every disease.”

Now we are going to look at those three parts of Jesus’ ministry before the turning point in more detail in chapters 1 to 10.

Matthew 1-10. Jesus’ Ministry Before the Turning Point

Preaching. In chapters 1 through 4, Matthew describes Jesus preaching ministry. And first we will look at Matthew 3:1. “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” That was the message John the Baptist announced, and it is the same message that Jesus announced according to Matthew 4:17, “From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

So when the outline verses said that he was “preaching the gospel of the kingdom,” that was a general description of the announcement he was making, but here are the actual words of the announcement: “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

The phrase “kingdom of heaven,” comes from Daniel chapter 2, about Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of an image made of gold, silver, brass, and iron, where God says that after the Babylonian, Persian, Greek, and Roman empires, in the time of 10 kings, he is going to set up a kingdom. It says that “in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed,” Dan2:44.

If “the God of heaven” sets up a “kingdom,” then what would be the name of that kingdom? Well, the full name would be “the kingdom of the God of heaven.” And that can be shortened. Matthew shortens it to “the kingdom of heaven.” Mark, Luke, and John shorten it to “the kingdom of God.” In the Lord’s Prayer, it is shortened to “thy kingdom.” But it is all the same kingdom, “the kingdom of the God of heaven.”

And this is a political kingdom that will be set up on earth, just like the other 4 kingdoms that were talked about in Daniel chapter 2, the Babylonian, Persian, Greek, and Roman kingdoms. And this is the kind of kingdom that the people of Israel were expecting, because there was so much detail about it provided by prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel.

If Jesus was going to offer a different kind of kingdom than what the people were expecting, this would have been the place for him to say so, right here, but he gives no explanation of what the kingdom is, because he knew they already knew about the kingdom. They already had all that information through the prophets, and they were already expecting it. The missing piece of information was the timing, and now, as Jesus announced, it was “at hand.”

The good news was not that a new, unexpected kind of kingdom would be set up; but that the one they had been waiting for, for hundreds of years, was finally ready to be set up. The glad announcement he was making was that “the kingdom ... is at hand.” It was ready to be set up. And the requirement in order for it to be set up was repentance, “repent,” Mt4:17. Ok, so that is a little more detail on Jesus’ preaching ministry.

Teaching. Now let’s look at his teaching ministry in chapters 5 through 7. And if you have a red letter edition, chapters 5 through 7 are all in red, because Jesus spoke these words. And this discourse is often called “The Sermon on the Mount.” And this is a representative sample of Jesus’ teaching during this time.

Now usually he taught in the synagogues, but even when he taught on the mountain here, he still taught about the law. We know this because in verse 19 of chapter 5, it says, “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” So we are not under the law today, but at this point in Jesus’ ministry he was teaching the law. He was saying they should keep the law and teach the law.

And this also comes out in verse 21, where he talks about one of the 10 Commandments. “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill.” So that is one of the 10 Commandments, and he goes on to explain about it. And then in verse 27, “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery,” another of the 10 Commandments. So Jesus was teaching the law at this point in his ministry.

Healing. Now, let’s look at Jesus’ healing ministry in more detail. This is found in chapters 8 through 10. The book of Matthew is arranged topically. He puts together, in these three chapters, a lot of different episodes of healing and miracles that Jesus did; the author puts them one after another.

And we will look at chapter 8 verse 16. “When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick.” Just like we saw in the two outline verses, Jesus healed “all.”

And the purpose of this healing ministry is given in the next verse, verse 17, “That [in order that] it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.” So Jesus did these miracles of healing in order to identify himself with the Servant of Jehovah in the book of Isaiah, who would be the one to bring in the kingdom. (Isaiah chapters 42 and 49-53)

The kingdom was prophesied to be a time of the absence of sickness and hunger; and Jesus proved he could heal all sickness, and miraculously provide food when needed. The kingdom was prophesied to be a time when the desert will blossom like a rose; and Jesus proved he could control the weather (Mt8:26-27); so he will be able to make the desert blossom like a rose (Is. 35:1). So these were ‘messianic miracles’ to prove that he was the Messiah, and that he could bring in the kingdom he was announcing. So that’s Jesus’ ministry before the turning point, before chapters 11 and 12.

Matthew 11-12. The Turning Point

Now we have the turning point, which we could also call, “The Rejection of Jesus’ Ministry,” because all three parts of Jesus’ ministry are rejected in chapters 11 and 12 by that generation of the nation of Israel.

Preaching. First of all, the rejection of Jesus’ preaching ministry is found in chapter 11. And we will look at verse 20. “Then began he to upbraid [that means “scold”] the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not.” Now we said that his preaching ministry was to preach “the gospel of the kingdom”: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”(Mt. 4:17) And they didn’t repent. According to the end of this verse, “they repented not.”(Mt. 11:20) So they rejected his preaching ministry.

Also in the following verse, verse 21, “Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.” So Jesus was looking for a “sackcloth and ashes” kind of repentance. He wasn’t just looking for the internal repentance of a few individuals. He was looking for whole cities to repent, an official repentance of the whole nation. He mentioned cities here: Chorazin, Bethsaida, Tyre, Sidon. And it would have taken the repentance of whole cities to bring in the kingdom for that generation. So they rejected his preaching ministry.

Teaching. Now let’s look at their rejection of his teaching ministry in the first part of chapter 12. And we will look at verse 9. “And when he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue. And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days?”

Notice the issue here is law and Sabbath. The Sabbath is a big part of the law. And the Pharisees of that time had added a lot of extra rules to God’s Word about how to observe the Sabbath, which were called “the tradition of the elders.” And Jesus rejected the tradition of the elders. And because of this disagreement that he had with the Pharisees, and that they had with him over his teaching about the law and the Sabbath, they rejected his teaching, and they rejected him. They rejected the king, and that’s why they couldn’t have the kingdom.

So then we’ll skip down to verse 13. “Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other. Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.” So they rejected his teaching ministry to such an extent that, at this point in the gospel of Matthew, they decided to kill Jesus.

So you have probably heard that that generation of Israel rejected the kingdom because they were expecting a physical kingdom, but Jesus was offering a spiritual kingdom. That is not true. Jesus was offering a physical kingdom, exactly as they were expecting. But the biblical reason as to why that generation of Israel rejected the kingdom is right here.

They rejected Jesus’ teaching about the law, especially about the Sabbath, and disagreed with him about the validity of the tradition of the elders. And so that was an irreconcilable difference between them. Of course, what they should have done, is to have accepted Jesus, and his teaching, and the word of God, and Jesus’ ministry as a prophet; and they should have thrown out the tradition of the elders. All right, so that’s the rejection of Jesus’ teaching ministry.

Healing. Now let’s look at the rejection of Jesus’ healing ministry in the second part of chapter 12. And we will look at Matthew 12:22. “Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.” So here is a triple miracle. A demon possessed man, blind, and unable to speak.

And he healed him, and in verse 23, “All the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David?” Now that was exactly the purpose of the miracles. It was to get the people to say he was the Messiah; to prove he was the Son of David.

But in verse 24, “When the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.” Now the Pharisees couldn’t deny that a miracle had taken place. In fact, all the miracles in the Bible are so obviously authentic, that no one in the Bible ever denies a miracle has taken place, unlike what we see on TV. They couldn’t deny that a miracle had taken place, even though they were his enemies, and so all they could do was to deny the source of the miracle. So they said, “He is doing it through demonic power.”

But Jesus actually did it through the power of the Holy Spirit of God. So when they said he did it through the power of the devil, they were calling the Holy Spirit the devil. So in verse 31 Jesus said, “Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.” In other words, at this point, that generation of the nation of Israel committed an unpardonable sin. They had reached a point of no return.

Just like an earlier generation of Israel committed an unpardonable sin. God brought them out of the land of Egypt, to the edge of Canaan, and then they refused to attack and go into the land. And God said, “Ok, because you refuse to enter the land, this generation is going to die in the wilderness, and your children will enter the land.”

And the next morning they got up, and they put on their armor, and they said, “You know what? We see that we have sinned, and now we are ready to attack the land.” And Moses said, “It’s too late.” That generation of Israel had committed an unpardonable sin, so far as going into the land was concerned. And they tried to go in anyway, and were defeated in battle. (Num14:30-45) And they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, and that generation died out, and the next generation went in and inherited the land, because the earlier generation had reached a point of no return. Changing their minds about it couldn’t help them after that point. Physical judgment was determined upon them.

In the same way, when the generation of Israel of Jesus’ day rejected this miracle of triple healing, that was the final rejection for them. They had rejected his preaching ministry, they had rejected his teaching ministry, and now they had completely rejected his healing ministry, so there was no more offer of the kingdom for that generation. But it is still only a sin for that generation; a later generation of their children will inherit the kingdom. It is only unpardonable for that generation. And this comes out in verses 38 through 45, where the term “generation” is mentioned four times.

In verse 39. “An evil and adulterous generation ...” Then in verse 41. “The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation ...” And then in verse 42. “The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation ...” And finally in verse 45. “Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.” So a future generation of Israel will accept the kingdom, but for that generation Jesus stops offering the kingdom, because they have already reached a point of no return.

Preaching, Teaching, and Healing. And there is a summary here of the rejection of Jesus’ ministry. First of all, in verse 38, we have the rejection of Jesus’ healing ministry. “Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.” Well, they had just seen a triple sign; the demon possessed, blind, and dumb man healed.

So Jesus says, “You are not going to get any more signs. Now the resurrection is the only sign this generation will be given,” (Mt12:39-40). It’s not that he didn’t do any more miracles at all, but he didn’t do any more publicly for the nation.

And then we see the rejection of his preaching ministry in verse 41. “The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.” So Jonah went through the city of Nineveh and he announced, he preached, that Nineveh shall be destroyed in 40 days. The king made a decree, and all the people down to the lowest peasants put on sackcloth, and they even put it on the animals, and they fasted, and prayed, and were told by their leaders to repent from their evil ways. And God accepted their city-wide repentance, even though the repentance was certainly not genuine for every individual, and he didn’t destroy Nineveh. (Jonah 3:1-10)

This is the kind of organized, national repentance that was required of the nation of Israel. And this is the kind of organized, national repentance that Israel will provide at a future generation. This is described in the book of Zechariah where it says that in that day a fountain will be opened for the forgiveness of the sins of Israel, and they will look on him whom they pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for his only son.

And it will be very organized because it says that the house of David will mourn apart, and their wives apart. The descendants of Nathan will mourn apart, and their wives apart, and so forth. (Zech12:10-13:1) Some day Israel will provide this kind of organized, national repentance, and at that time the kingdom will be set up.

And then they rejected Jesus’ teaching ministry in verse 42. “The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom [the teaching] of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.” So she had to travel a long way, and here, they didn’t have to travel at all. And she only had Solomon to teach her; but Solomon’s teacher, the creator of Solomon, came to them, and they rejected his teaching ministry.

Matthew 13-26. Jesus’ Ministry After the Turning Point

Ok, now let’s look at how Jesus’ ministry changed after they rejected his ministry. All three parts of Jesus’ ministry changed.

Teaching. First of all, we see the change in his teaching ministry in the first part of chapter 13. And we will look at Matthew 13:10. “And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?” They hadn’t heard Jesus speak in parables before this point.

And then in verse 34. “All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them.” Now before he had spoken unto them without parables. He had taught plainly about the law in the synagogues and elsewhere. But now his public teaching is only in parables. Why?

In verse 11, 13:11, “He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.” In other words, he wasn’t speaking in parables to make the truth easier to understand. He was speaking in parables so the people wouldn’t be able to understand what he was saying. And then privately (Mk4:34) he would explain to the disciples the keys (Mk4:13) to interpreting the parables, like the field equals the world, the birds equal the messengers of Satan, and so on.

So the disciples could hear Jesus’ teaching and understand it, but the crowds wouldn’t know what he was talking about. So instead of just stopping his teaching ministry, as a judgment upon the nation, he continued to teach the nation, but in a way they couldn’t understand.

And this is the judgment on the nation that was prophesied back in Isaiah. It says in verse 14, “And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive.”

Healing. Ok then, let’s look at the change in Jesus’ healing ministry. And this is found in Matthew 13:58, “And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” So before, we found that Jesus, in the early part of his ministry, healed “all.” Now he only heals ‘some’. Now he heals only those that have faith, because the purpose of the miracles has changed.

Before he was doing the miracles to prove he was the Messiah, the Servant of Jehovah spoken of by Isaiah, to get the nation to accept him, so he could set up the kingdom. But since there is no more possibility of the kingdom for that generation, it doesn’t make sense to try to prove you are the Messiah anymore. So now he is doing the miracles because of personal need, just for those who have faith. He is not healing “all” anymore.

Preaching. Now we will see that his preaching ministry changed also. We see this in Matthew 16:21. “From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.” You see the phrase at the beginning of that verse, “From that time forth Jesus began ...”? That is parallel with 4:17 which we looked at earlier. It said, “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Here it says, “From that time forth Jesus began” to talk about his death and resurrection.

Back in 4:17, he began to announce the gospel of the kingdom. Here in 16:21 he begins to announce the gospel of Jesus Christ. So he stops announcing the kingdom and its requirement of repentance, because it is not going to be set up for that generation, and he starts announcing his death and resurrection. And the disciples hadn’t heard this message before this point. That’s why, in the next verse, “Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.”

And, in addition to beginning to announce his death and resurrection, he also began to announce his return. Because since the kingdom was rejected by that generation of Israel, he would have to return and set it up for a future generation of Israel. So in verse 27 he says, “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.”

Ok, then look at Matthew 21:43. “Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” So the kingdom of God was taken from that generation of the nation of Israel, because they did not repent, and they did not “bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance,” Mt3:8. And it will be given to another nation of Israel, a future generation of Israel that will repent, and will bring forth the fruits thereof.

And then in 23:39, it says, “For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” So a future generation of Israel will call upon the Lord. They will accept him as Messiah. And when they do, then he will return. Then they will see him, but not until that time.

Finally, when Yeshua was being tried by Caiaphas and the council, he said, “Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven,” Mt26:64. This is a reference to Daniel chapter 7.

We started off the book of Matthew showing how the phrase “kingdom of heaven” in Matthew 3:2 and 4:17 came from Daniel chapter 2, where the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar had a dream about a statue made of 4 metals, that represented the 4 world empires before the Messianic Kingdom: Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome.

Now we finish up Matthew with this reference to Daniel chapter 7, where the Babylonian king Belshazzar had a dream about 4 animals, that represented the same 4 world empires, before the Messianic Kingdom, when “one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed,” Dan7:13-14.

So we saw that Jesus’ ministry changed. Before the rejection ... Preaching: He announced the gospel of the kingdom. Teaching: He plainly taught about the law. Healing: He healed all. After the rejection ... Preaching: He announced the gospel of Jesus Christ. Teaching: He taught in parables about the postponement of the kingdom and his future return. Healing: He healed only some. So all three parts of his ministry changed because of the rejection that took place in chapters 11 and 12.

Implications for Principles of Biblical Interpretation

1) Interpret the Bible in Context. I saw a website where the author stated in big red letters, “John preached repentance. Jesus preached repentance. And I preach, “Repent!” After hearing this survey of Matthew, you know enough to identify why that statement is invalid.

John preached “Repent” in Matthew 3:2, and Jesus preached “Repent” in Matthew 4:17, because repentance was the condition upon which Jesus offered the kingdom to that generation of the nation of Israel. But Jesus stopped preaching “Repent,” after that generation of the nation of Israel rejected his ministry in chapters 11 and 12.

If you are going to preach like Jesus, are you going to preach like Jesus did during the first half of his ministry, or like Jesus did during the second half of his ministry? Like Jesus preached before the rejection, or like he preached after the rejection; because he did not preach the same message before and after.

We have to interpret each verse of scripture in the context of the passage it is in, and each passage in the context of the book it is in. Of course, this requires work and study, and when available, the help of teachers. “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth,” 2Tim2:15.

2) Understand the Physical Realm in Scripture. The book of Matthew is largely about physical things, as we saw from Matthew 1:1, “The book of the genealogy.” Spiritual things are more important than physical things, but physical things are very important too.

God is going to redeem all parts of creation. He has given us justification of our spirits now, and he will give us glorification of our bodies and an inheritance in the kingdom in the future. He will not let Satan have victory in any realm, not even in the physical realm.

Now, physical things can also be spiritual, without ceasing to be physical. The manna that God provided for the children of Israel in the wilderness is called “spiritual food” in 1 Corinthians 10:3. But it was physical. It could be ground with a mortar and pestle, and it bred worms if kept overnight, except on Friday nights, Ex16:19-24; Num11:8. It was spiritual because its source was from God, not because it was not physical. Even ‘spiritual’ gifts belong to the changeable, physical realm, because they are ‘manifestations’ of the Spirit in the physical realm. “Now concerning spiritual gifts ... the manifestation of the Spirit is given,” 1Cor12:1-7.

Jesus’ resurrected body was a spiritual body. “It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body,” 1Cor15:44. But it did not cease to be physical when it became spiritual. After his resurrection, Jesus said, “handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. ... And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them,” Lk24:39-43.

God often deals with physical nations, such as Israel, as a group; but for spiritual things, he has to deal with us as individuals. God can judge a whole nation for the sins of some, or reward a whole nation for the obedience of some. Joshua and Caleb had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years with the rest of the nation. This was not unfair to Joshua and Caleb because they could still know and serve God despite this additional physical hardship. And the whole generation of Israel of Jesus’ day, including the apostles, missed out on having the kingdom set up during their lifetime, because of the decisions of their national leaders. But in the spiritual realm, every man must stand before God individually for salvation, for rewards, and for judgment.

Spiritual things don’t change. Righteousness and truth are always right, and sin is always wrong. But in the physical realm, it is appropriate that things change; even Jesus’ Messianic Kingdom ministry.

3) Dispensationalism is Correct; Covenant Theology is Wrong. The change in Jesus’ ministry shows that there are changes and ages during the working out of God’s plan.

Even Jesus is not “the same yesterday, today, and forever,” Heb13:8, in every way. He is unchangeable in the spiritual realm, in his righteousness, mercy, and power, yes! But even in his person, first he was God, then he became God and mortal man at the incarnation, and then he became God and immortal man at the resurrection. In the physical realm, first he was a small baby, and then he was an adult man. Sometimes he was thirsty; sometimes he was not. And his ministry changed, as we saw, and as the title of this survey emphasizes, “The Change in Jesus’ Ministry.”

There are ages and dispensations in God’s plans in the physical realm. God told Adam he could only eat plants; then he told Noah he could eat all meats, anything that moves; then he told Moses he could eat only some meats. These are mutually exclusive laws for different ages relating to things in the physical realm that are neither right nor wrong in themselves, like eating meat or not eating meat, that God changes from age to age.

The question often arises as to what would have happened if that generation had accepted Yeshua as Messiah; where would the death of Jesus on the cross for our sins come in? The kingdom was ‘postponed’ because of the national rejection of Jesus by that generation of Israel, in the sense that it would not now be set up for that generation of Israel; but that does not mean that God did not know from all eternity past that this national rejection is exactly what he would use to accomplish his plans, and to demonstrate on a very large scale, the sinfulness of man.

We know that God makes “all things work together for good to them that love God,” Rm8:28. But that doesn’t mean we should “do evil that good may come,” Rm3:8. The soldiers who crucified Christ accomplished God’s predetermined will; but they themselves are guilty because they crucified Christ. If those soldiers refused to crucify Yeshua, others would have done so. God could have accomplished his plan through others, who would have in turn been guilty, or through some means known only to him.

So, if that generation of Israel had accepted Jesus as Messiah and king, Judas would have betrayed Jesus to the Romans, the Romans would have crucified Jesus for insurrection, Jesus would have risen from the dead and ascended to heaven, the Antichrist would have arisen, the nations would have attacked Jerusalem and destroyed the temple, Jesus would have returned and saved the remaining people, and he would have set up the kingdom back then during that generation. The only difference is that things would have happened earlier, and you and I would have been born during the kingdom, when prophecy says birth rates will be increased.

4) Don’t ‘Spiritualize’ the Scriptures. There is enough scripture that is talking about purely spiritual things, and there is enough scripture that is talking about things we ought to do, to keep us busy, like 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, “Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks,” that we don’t also have to ‘spiritualize’ scriptures that are talking about physical things.

What sense would the book of Matthew be if we ‘spiritualized’ Israel to be the church here, like many Bible teachers do for Israel in the Old Testament scriptures? Using that method of interpretation, Jesus would have been offering justification (the ‘spiritualized’ kingdom of God) to those who are already in the church (the ‘spiritualized’ nation of Israel), who would have rejected Jesus and justification, when actually no one can be part of the church unless he has already accepted Jesus and justification.

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,”2Tim3:16, but all scripture is not about me, and it can still be profitable to me, without being all about me, and without being all about the church.

For example, Matthew 10 cannot be about us. Jesus told his 12 apostles, which are specified by name in the chapter, not to take a suitcase, or change of clothes, or money with them when they travel; and not to preach the gospel to any of the Gentiles. Matthew 10:5-10, “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, ... provide neither gold, ... nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats.” You probably have a wallet in your pocket, and this passage certainly doesn’t apply to us, because we need to preach to the Gentiles. Even though it is not about us, or binding on us, we can learn from the example of the apostles’ faithfulness.

5) Understand Israel. Your view of Israel will have a large impact on your interpretation of scripture, because so much of the Bible is about Israel. Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum wrote a thesis entitled, “Israelology: The Missing Link in Systematic Theology,” because a right understanding of Israel is so crucial to rightly interpreting the Bible.

Israel and the church are not the same. The large majority of Israel has always been unsaved and unjustified. That’s why the Israelites gave Moses, and even God, as it were, such a hard time in the wilderness. During Elijah’s time, there were only 7000 believers in Israel. Most Israelites were natural men, enemies of God spiritually, without a new heart. So of course they didn’t act like the church, whose members are all justified, regenerate, led of the Spirit, and who love righteousness by their nature as children of God.

6) Understand the Kingdom. The future kingdom will be a physical kingdom that will exist in the political, economic, educational, and other parts of the physical realm; but it will be spiritual because it will be set up by Christ, and ruled by Christ, in conformity to Christ.

Jesus would not have had to change his ministry if he had offered, and then gone on to provide, a ‘spiritual’ kingdom. If Jesus had offered a ‘spiritualized’ kingdom, the national rejection would have made the kingdom even more “at hand,” Mt4:17, because it led to the cross and resurrection that supposedly established that kind of kingdom. And it would have been even more “at hand” after the rejection, than before, merely by the passage of time. But Jesus stopped announcing the kingdom was “at hand” after the rejection in chapter 12, because the physical kingdom he offered in the book of Matthew was no longer at hand for that generation.

Application

Look Forward to the Kingdom. A short time before the Kingdom is set up, we will be resurrected and glorified. This is our sure and certain hope. We “rejoice in hope of glory,” Rm5:2. And then in the kingdom, we will enjoy the rewards of our faithfulness and sufferings during this present time.

We are supposed to be looking forward to the kingdom. We are supposed to use our knowledge about the future kingdom to encourage ourselves to persevere through suffering and to motivate ourselves to labor harder during this present time. But how can our hope of the kingdom be an effective motivating force in our lives, if we don’t even know what the kingdom is? Therefore we should learn and teach about the kingdom. But we don’t hear much teaching or singing or conversation about the Messianic Kingdom now days, unfortunately; and we are really short-changing ourselves, to put it mildly.

The book of Revelation spends almost 19 chapters talking about the relatively short 7-year tribulation period, and then the only thing it says about the long kingdom period is that it lasts 1000 years. That’s because the Old Testament, especially in books like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the minor prophets, and Psalms, already give us a wealth of information about the Kingdom; and we should study those books and teach them. All Revelation added was the time factor.

Matthew 25:21 tells us a few things about the kingdom that we can use to encourage and motivate ourselves. First of all, it says that the kingdom will be a time of work. He says, “I will make you ruler over many things. You have been faithful in a few things.” So the Lord has a lot of responsibilities that he wants to give out during the kingdom. But he can’t give you those responsibilities in the kingdom if you don’t show yourself faithful in the few things that we have been given to do during this present time.

And also it says, “Enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” The kingdom will be a time of great joy. So don’t be discouraged during the times of hardship and suffering we go through now, because we know about the joy that is coming in the kingdom.

Be Born Again. We need to keep in mind that, unfortunately, not everyone is going to be in the kingdom. And this is found in Matthew 8 verse 10. This is a passage about a Roman centurion who had demonstrated faith in the Lord. “When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth,” Mt8:10-12.

So the “children of the kingdom” are Jewish people, and the people that “come from the east and west” are Gentiles. It doesn’t mean that no Jewish people will enter the kingdom. It means that many of the children will be cast out, because being Jewish alone won’t get you into the kingdom. Going to church and being good won’t get you into the kingdom either. As it says in verse 10, faith is the only thing that will get you into the kingdom.

As John said in John 3:3, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” And he went on to say that the way to be born of the Spirit of God is by having faith in what Jesus did on the cross for us.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,” John3:16. God gave his Son on the cross as a substitute for us, for our sins. “That whosoever believeth in him,” has faith in him, and relies upon what he did for us. “Should not perish,” should not be cast out into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. “But have everlasting life.” And part of having everlasting life is to be there in the future kingdom.

So we definitely want to have a part in that, and be there in the kingdom with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all those that put their faith in God and Christ. And if you haven’t already done so, call upon the Lord in your heart, and tell him that you trust him and what he has done for you. “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,” Rm10:13.

Ezekiel 40 - 48: Tour of Ezekiel’s Temple

Recorded December 30, 2007

The pictures in this chapter were taken from a video tour of a computer-generated model of the future Messianic Kingdom temple. The video tour is available from http://bible.ag. You can also download the computer model and the software to view it from Google SketchUp Warehouse, and walk through it yourself.

Timing and Importance

My topic today is a survey of the last 9 chapters of Ezekiel, chapters 40 through 48. I wanted to prepare a Bible survey of these chapters, because this is one of the best passages I know of to validate, that as I presented to you in the survey of Matthew the last time I was here, the kingdom Yeshua offered to Israel is a physical kingdom like the one Israel was expecting because of the prophets, and Christ will set it up here on earth at his second coming.

These chapters are about the Messianic Kingdom, and especially about the kingdom temple. God took Ezekiel into the future through a vision and showed him the actual buildings of the kingdom. It’s as if he took a video camera with him, and sent back a DVD of the Messianic Kingdom. But before we travel with Ezekiel into the future, let’s consider the timing of the kingdom and the temple, and the importance of studying them.

See Picture #1. Timeline to the Kingdom and Temple Described in Ezekiel 40-48.

As Picture #1 shows, we are currently in the bottom left part labeled “Current Period.” A “7-Year Tribulation Period” is probably going to begin very soon. Before that time there will be a “Resurrection and Catching Away of Church Believers” who will wait out the tribulation in heaven and then “Return With Christ” at the end of the tribulation period.

Revelation 19:11-16 says, “Behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him,” that’s Yeshua, Jesus, “and the armies which were in heaven followed him,” that’s us, “clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the [Gentile] nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron.” He will smite the Gentile nations when he returns to defend Israel (see my references to Zechariah 12-14 in my Matthew and Romans 9-11 surveys) at the end of the "7-Year Tribulation Period," and he will rule the nations with a rod of iron during the “1000-Year Messianic Kingdom.” “And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS,” because during the kingdom, there will be multiple nations, each with their own king, but Yeshua, ruling from Jerusalem, will be king over all kings.

Then, after the kingdom, there will be a “New Heaven” and “New Earth,” as shown on the right side of the diagram. Revelation 21:1-3, “I saw a new heaven and a new earth, ... and ... new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven.” If new Jerusalem comes down from God out of heaven, it has to come to the earth, because there is only heaven and earth. “And I heard ... behold, the tabernacle of God is with men ....” God is going to come down and make his tabernacle with men; men are not going up to spend eternity in tabernacles in heaven. “And he will dwell with them.” We are not going to dwell with him in heaven. He is going to dwell with us on the new earth forever. The place Jesus prepares for us in heaven (Jn14:2-3), may not come down to earth until after the kingdom in the New Jerusalem, but we will be on earth during the kingdom also (Mt19:28).

So get the idea out of your mind that you are going to be in heaven for eternity. We are in heaven for only a very brief time. Even the people who died a thousand years ago in the Lord, and their spirits are in heaven, their bodies are still with us here on earth. And after the resurrection it is a very brief layover in heaven before returning to earth with Christ and entering the Messianic Kingdom. So we could use a lot less songs about walking around heaven with Jesus, and a lot more songs about what it is going to be like in the kingdom.

Since we are going to be spending so much time in the kingdom, we should learn about it; and the new earth is going to have a lot of similarities to the kingdom, although there are some differences. I know God wants us to learn about the kingdom, because he has told us so much about it in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the minor prophets, the psalms, and so forth. And the benefit of learning about the kingdom, is that it will help you persevere through trials, and help you labor more fervently.

God could have given us just an overview of the kingdom in these last 9 chapters of Ezekiel, but instead they focus a lot on one building, the temple, so that if we know this one building that will be at the center of the kingdom in a very detailed way, the entire kingdom will all be very real and solid to us, so that our sure hope of entering the kingdom in the future will help us in our trials and labors today.

Ezekiel 40:1-2. The Mountain

When Ezekiel first arrived in the future at the land of Israel, he saw a very high mountain. Now, there is no high mountain in Israel today, but there will be geological changes before the Messianic Kingdom. Isaiah 2:2 says, “It shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house,” meaning the mountain that will have the Lord’s house, the temple, on it, “shall be established in the top of the mountains.” That means it is going to be the highest mountain in the world. Ezekiel 20:40 says, “For in mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me.”

Zechariah 14:1-10 talks about the geological changes that will be necessary. “Behold, the day of the LORD cometh.” ‘Day of the Lord’ is another name for the seven year tribulation period; and it is also called ‘the time of Jacob’s trouble’ (Jer30:7). Verse 2, “I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle ... then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations.” The Messiah, Yeshua, returns with us and smites the armies of the Gentile nations, as we saw in Revelation 19.

“And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east.” That is also where Yeshua, Jesus, left the earth from (Acts1:9-12). “And the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley,” running east and west, “and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south ... and the LORD my God shall come,” in the person of Messiah at the end of the tribulation period, “and all the saints,” that’s us, returning with Christ.

“All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it [probably Jerusalem, not the plain] shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place.” So all the mountains around Jerusalem, and to the south of it in the land of Israel, will be lowered, and leveled into a plain, but Jerusalem will raised up higher than it is now, and other mountains around the world will be lowered, not to a plain, but until their peaks are lower than Jerusalem’s mountain.

Ezekiel 40:3-12. The Outer East Gate

See Picture #2. An angel with a measuring rod and a flax cord standing by the border wall outside the outer east gate.

After seeing the mountain, the next thing Ezekiel saw as he got close to the temple compound was an angel standing by a wall. Ezekiel 40:3-5, “He brought me thither, and, behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass.” That means he was an angel. He looked like a man, but he was shining brightly. Most angels don’t have wings, or they wouldn’t look like men. Only cherubim and seraphim have wings.

He had, “a line of flax in his hand,” which was for measuring long distances, “and a measuring reed,” which was for measuring short distances. “And he stood in the gate, ... and behold a wall on the outside of the house round about, and in the man’s hand a measuring reed of six cubits long by the cubit and an hand breadth.” There were three kinds of cubits in Israel during that time, a short, medium, and a long cubit. The short cubit was about 15”, the medium cubit was a short cubit plus one handbreadth, or about 18”, and the long cubit was a medium cubit plus one handbreadth, or about 21”. If the medium cubit was the most commonly-used cubit, then the measuring stick the angel had was probably of long cubits, which was the medium cubit “and an hand breadth,” Ez40:5. So to get a general idea how long things are as we go through this tour, just multiply the cubits by 2; each long cubit equals almost two feet.

Ezekiel 40:5, “So he measured the breadth of the building, one reed,” see the 6-cubit rod lying on the ground, “and the height one reed,” see the vertical 6-cubit rod against the front of the wall. ‘Building’ in verse 5 means something built, including a wall. It doesn’t have to have a room and a roof.

See Picture #3. The threshold of the outer east gate. We are outside the temple compound, approaching it from the east, and facing west. There are 7 stairs leading up to the gate, though they are not all visible at the bottom of the picture.

The angel moves from the low border wall to the outer east gate of the temple compound. “Then came he unto the gate which looketh toward the east, and went up the stairs thereof, and measured the threshold of the gate, which was one reed broad; and the other threshold of the gate, which was one reed broad,” Ez40:6. Although 40:3 said that “he stood in the gate,” he must have been standing at the low wall just outside the gate that we just looked at, because only now the angel “came” to the gate “and went up the stairs.” Notice there are stairs, but no porch, here on the outside of the gate.

I interpreted “the other threshold” to mean ‘the other side of the threshold’ (like in Ez:40:48), as you see from the measuring rods in the picture.

See Picture #4. 6x6 cubit guardrooms with 5 cubit spaces between them inside the outer east gate.

Inside the gate, the angel measures some small rooms. Ezekiel 40:7, “Every little chamber was one reed long, and one reed broad.” So the inside dimensions of each chamber are six cubits long and six cubits broad, as shown by the crossed measuring rods in the picture. These are probably guard rooms, because when you have a lot of people in an area, you need to keep things orderly.

“And between the little chambers were five cubits.” The five cubit spaces between the chambers are probably so you can exit the gate onto the pavement along the sides of the gate without necessarily going all the way through the gate. As you can see from the rod in the picture, if you include the half cubit walls on each side of the space between the guardrooms, the total is 6 cubits; but not counting the thickness of the walls, the side passageways are 5 cubits wide.

See Picture #5. The inner threshold, porch, and one of the two posts on the temple compound side of the outer east gate. We are inside the temple compound and facing southeast.

Proceeding on through the outer east gate, in Ezekiel 40:7-9, the angel measures the porch and threshold “within,” meaning towards the inside of the temple compound. “The threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate within was one reed. He measured also the porch of the gate within, one reed. Then measured he the porch of the gate, eight cubits; and the posts thereof, two cubits.” The picture shows a two cubit post. You add on one reed, six cubits, for the porch; so the total breadth of the porch is eight cubits.

“And the porch of the gate was inward.” The gate has only one porch, and it is on the inside end of the gateway, the part that is towards the center of the temple compound. Remember that when we first approached the gate, there was no porch at the outside doorway.

Just a word of warning here so you don’t get confused later: although this porch is on the inside end of the gate, when you step down from this porch, you are in the ‘outer’ court, because there is another courtyard at the very center of the temple compound called the ‘inner’ court. So remember that the outer courtyard is still inside the temple compound. We had to come through this outer gate to get into the outer courtyard.

See Picture #6. Looking down on the six 6x6 cubit guardrooms inside the outer east gate.

So the angel has taken us all the way through the outer eastern gate, but he is not done with it yet. Ezekiel 40:10, “And the little chambers of the gate eastward [the east gate] were three on this side, and three on that side.” Three at the top of the picture, and three at the bottom.

Next the angel measures the passageway through the gate where the people walk, in Ezekiel 40:11, “And he measured the breadth of the entry of the gate, ten cubits; and the length of the gate, thirteen cubits.” The width of the passageway is 10 cubits, as you see from the measuring rods at the right of the picture over the top of the inner threshold, which converts to almost 20 feet, sufficiently wide for two directions of foot traffic. And the “length” of the gate, apparently meaning height here, because the height is the longer measurement of the rectangular doorway, is 13 cubits, as you can see from the two 6-cubit rods on the left side of the door, with another cubit to go at the bottom.

Then Ezekiel talks about the ‘barriers,’ as shown in the picture in front of the guard chambers, which can also be interpreted to mean ‘spaces’. “The space also before the little chambers was one cubit on this side, and the space was one cubit on that side,” Ez40:12. And whether the Hebrew word means ‘barriers’ or ‘spaces,’ the purpose would be to separate the guardrooms a bit from the traffic flow so the guards can do their work.

Problems with Non-Literal Interpretations

I want to pause, now, to consider some principles of Biblical interpretation. I believe that the literal method is the correct method of interpretation, and that it is incorrect to use a symbolical method of interpretation. I want to present five problems with the non-literal, symbolical, or spiritualizing, method of interpretation; and I will use some quotes from Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary and a quote from Dr. Peter Pett, whose writings I found on the internet, to illustrate these problems.

Difficulty: The first problem is difficulty. Matthew Henry says, “Here is a vision beginning at chapter 40 which is justly looked upon to be one of the most difficult portions in all the book of God.” Yes, Matthew Henry and all interpreters who use the symbolic approach have great difficulty with chapters 40 through 48 of Ezekiel. It causes them a lot of pain, because it is very difficult to give symbolic meaning to all these cubits.

Now if you use the literal method, the interpretation is quite easy. The 6x6 room, as shown in the picture above, represents a 6x6 room. And this should be easier than, say, Romans or Ephesians, but not for people who approach this passage symbolically. Their problem is that they are using the wrong approach, and they are using the wrong approach because their doctrinal biases don’t allow them to believe that God could have a temple in store for Israel in the future.

Inconsistency: The second problem is inconsistency. Matthew Henry says, “The chambers, as they were each of them foursquare, denoting their stability.” So, he says that because the chamber is 6x6, it is less likely to fall over, and therefore it denotes the stability of the Church. Well, he is being inconsistent, because right next to each 6x6 room, we have a 5x6 area, called the “space between the chambers,” as shown above, and he doesn’t say those non-square areas denote the instability of the Church, for good reason.

Inefficiency: Matthew Henry’s interpretation is also inefficient, because if the first 6x6 chamber means the church is stable, then the second one means the church is stable, the third one means the church is stable, the fourth one means the church is stable, the fifth one means the church is stable, and the sixth one means the church is stable. And there are five more gates we have yet to go through, each with six 6x6 rooms. And every other square area of the temple compound means the same thing. So it is very inefficient, because God could have said it in a much simpler way. Ezekiel could have just written, “I saw the temple, and it was foursquare,” and then we would know the Church is stable. Or God could have just said, “The Church is stable.” But the scribes through all the years have copied this, and people have been memorizing these chapters, and all these cubits would really be unnecessary here if it was just teaching that the Church is stable.

Uncertainty: The fourth problem is uncertainty. Matthew Henry says, “The chambers were very many.” I’m not sure 6 is very many, or even counting the other 5 gates, I’m not sure 36 is very many. But Matthew Henry says, “For in our Father’s house there are many mansions.” I hope there’s more than 36. Then he says, “Some make these chambers to represent the particular congregations of believers which are parts of the great temple, the universal Church.” So some non-literal interpreters think that these chambers represent separate congregations on earth. I hope there’s more than 36 of these, too.

But Matthew Henry has a problem. His problem is that he likes his own interpretation, about the rooms in heaven, but he also really likes this other interpretation about particular congregations of believers on earth, and he can’t decide which is right. And that is the problem with symbolic interpretation; nobody knows who is right. We can come up with another hundred possible meanings for what these chambers might represent, and no one would ever know which interpretation was right.

You can basically make a passage mean anything you want it to mean if you use symbolic interpretation. And if something can mean anything, then it really means nothing. Now, the Bible does use symbolism sometimes, but it explains the symbolism it uses. It doesn’t make us resort to guesswork.

Partiality: The fifth problem is partiality. Dr. Peter Pett says, “Five cubits,” and he is referring to those five cubits in the spaces between the guard rooms. “Five is the number of covenant. It is, thus, prominent in this heavenly temple. There were five fingers to the hand with which covenants were confirmed.” So Peter is very into covenants, and so this five cubit length attracted his attention. But that is the problem with symbolic interpretation. No person who uses the symbolic method is capable of giving meaning to all the cubits in the temple compound, so they only give meaning to some that catch their fancy. But a person who uses a literal method of interpretation has no problem using all the cubits, because if you leave any out, the building has gaps.

And Peter is convinced that 5 is the number of covenant. I’m not convinced of that, but I am convinced that the Bible teaches that 6 is the number of man. And Peter failed to point out that there are six 6x6 chambers in each gateway. In picture #6, there are three 6 cubit long areas on one side of the gateway passage, 6, 6, 6, which we know is the number of Antichrist; and there are three 6 cubit long areas on the other side of the passage. So with the Antichrist on both sides of all the entrances to the temple, does that mean the temple is a trap? Obviously, I’m being sarcastic, but these are the kinds of inconsistencies and problems we get into if we don’t interpret the Word of God literally.

Ezekiel 40:13-16. The Outer East Gate Continued

See Picture #7. Diagram of the outer east gate.

Next the angel provides the overall dimensions of the outer east gate. Ezekiel 40:13-15, “He measured then the gate from the roof of one little chamber to the roof of another,” and he may have actually measured the floor to get that measurement, “the breadth was five and twenty cubits, door against door,” meaning door ‘facing’ door. We saw that the doors of the guard chambers faced each other. And for the height, “He made also posts of threescore cubits, even unto the post of the court round about the gate,” meaning the post is 60 cubits tall and it is the same height as the posts of the pavement on the sides of the gate. Now for the length. “From the face of the gate of the entrance, unto the face of the porch of the inner gate, were fifty cubits.” So from the outside entrance, which had no porch, to the front of the porch facing into the temple compound, were 50 cubits.

For the width, as shown in letter A in the picture, the passageway is 10 cubits, and 7.5 on each side makes 25. The 7.5 is made up of 6 for the inside of the guard chamber, plus .5 cubits for the width of the outside walls, and 1 cubit for the space or barrier in front of the guard chambers.

For the length of the gate, as shown in letter B, starting at the right side of the picture, there are 6 cubits for the outer threshold, 6 for each of the three guard rooms, 6 for each of two spaces between the guard rooms if you include the thickness of the .5 cubit wall on each side (.5+5+.5), 6 cubits for the inner threshold, a 6 cubit porch, and a 2 cubit post. So there are eight 6’s, equals 48, plus 2 for the post, equals 50 cubits. So the dominant numbers for the gate are 6 and 5.

See Picture #8. Narrow windows all around inside the outer east gate.

Ezekiel 40:16, “And there were narrow windows to the little chambers, and to their posts within the gate round about, and likewise to the arches: and windows were round about inward.” The “arches” are the five cubit wide spaces through the sides of the gate. The purpose of the windows is probably to allow the guards to see out, and see everything that is going on, and let some natural light in; and yet the windows are narrow enough so that no one can get through and interfere with the guards’ work.

See Picture #9. The porch of the outer east gate with its palm tree ornaments and some of the 30 chambers on the lower pavement.

“And upon each post were palm trees,” Ez40:16. The palm tree ornaments are on each gate porch to give a visual indication as to where the doors are, so you can tell at a glance where the gates of the building are.

Ezekiel 40:17-27. The Outer Court

“Then brought he me into the outward [outer] court, and, lo, there were chambers, and a pavement made for the court round about: thirty chambers were upon the pavement. And the pavement by the side of the gates over against the length of the gates was the lower pavement,” Ez40:17-18. Picture #9 shows some of the thirty chambers on the lower pavement. The lower pavement is 50 cubits wide, because it goes alongside the gate, which is 50 cubits long. It is called the lower pavement because there are only seven steps up to it, whereas we will see later that there is an upper pavement, that has eight steps up to it, and so that pavement is higher. However, my model shows even the ‘lower pavement’ of the outer court to be higher than the ‘outer court’ proper shown in the bottom right of the picture.

It may be that the outer court should be on the same level as the lower pavement. Ezekiel 40 seems to mention only one set of steps for each gate. I made the lower pavement higher than the outer court in the model to distinguish it from the outer court. But perhaps the roof over the pavement or something else could distinguish it from the outer court. But if the outer court was level with the lower pavement, then the outer gates’ porches might not seem like porches.

See Picture #10. The 100 cubit wide outer court showing the palm tree ornaments on the porches of the outer and inner gates facing each other.

“Then he measured the breadth from the forefront of the lower gate unto the forefront of the inner court without, an hundred cubits eastward and northward,” Ez40:19. The outer east gate is called the “lower gate” here, possibly because the outer gates are 1 step lower than the inner gates. The “inner court without” means the outside of the inner court including the inner gates. So from #1 to #5, and from #6 to #2, in picture #10, is 100 cubits. So the inner court is 100 cubits wide all the way around.

There are a total of 6 gates in the temple compound; 3 outer gates and 3 inner gates. The picture shows the order in which the angel showed them to Ezekiel. We entered through the outer east gate (#1). Then the angel showed Ezekiel the outer north gate (#2), the outer south gate (#3), the inner south gate (#4), the inner east gate (#5), and then the inner north gate (#6).

Notice how the 3 outer gates have their porches and palm tree ornaments facing towards the center of the temple compound, while the inner court gates have their porches and palm tree ornaments facing away from the center of the temple compound, so the porches all face each other across the outer court.

The outer north gate was “after the measure of the first gate,” Ez40:21; meaning it had the same measurements as the outer east one that we looked at in detail, 50 by 25 cubits, and “seven steps,” Ez40:22. And the outer south gate is also “according to these measures,” Ez40:24, 50 by 25.

Ezekiel 40:28-49. The Inner Court

See Picture #11. The tables on the outer court side of the inner north gate.

The inner south is also “according to these measures,” Ez40:28, of the outer gates, but it has eight steps up to its porch from the outer court. Then the angel took Ezekiel through the inner south gate and into the inner court. He measured the inner east gate from the inner court side, “according to these measures,” Ez40:32.

The inner north gate has the same measurements also, but then the angel takes Ezekiel from the inner court, through the inner north gate to the outer court side and “four tables were on this side, and four tables on that side, by the side of the gate; eight tables, whereupon they slew their sacrifices,” Ez40:41.

Why sacrifices during the Messianic Kingdom? Because sacrifices never took away sin. Only Jesus, who took our place, and suffered the wrath of God for us, could do that. God, being a just God, cannot justify the unrighteous apart from that. Today, in the Lord’s Supper, the bread and wine remind us of what the Lord did for us on the cross. We have the Lord’s Supper “until he comes,” 1Cor11:26. He said, “I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom,” Mt26:29. After he returns, Israel’s offering of these animal sacrifices will be the method of remembering what the Lord did for us. And this will last until the new heaven and new earth, because during the Messianic Kingdom there will still be those that don’t know the Lord, and there will be a final rebellion and final judgment at the end of the Messianic Kingdom, so there will need to be this reminder and warning of the tragedy of sin and death.

See Picture #12. Chambers of the singers in the inner court, one on the north with its door facing south (top left corner of picture) and one on the south with its door facing north (top right corner of picture).

Ezekiel 40:44-46, “And without the inner gate,” possibly meaning through the arches in the side of the gate, “were the chambers of the singers in the inner court, which was at the side of the north gate; and their prospect was toward the south: one at the side of the east gate having the prospect toward the north.”

In my model, the north chambers are (37.5 cubits clockwise) to the side of the north gate, and the south chambers are (37.5 cubits clockwise) to the side of the east gate.

Notice there are no porches on the inside of the inner gates. The inner gates, with their porches facing outward, are reversed, mirror images, of the outer gates, except for the steps.

I should have made the ‘inner court’ area in the model the same color as the ‘outer court’ area, rather than the same color as the 50 cubit wide ‘upper pavement’ alongside the inner gates, to avoid confusion.

See Picture #13. The 100 x 100 cubit inner court with the altar at the center and the temple at the top of the picture.

Ezekiel 40:47, “So he measured the court, an hundred cubits long, and an hundred cubits broad, foursquare,” 100 x 100 (and we know what Matthew Henry would say foursquare symbolizes), “and the altar that was before the house,” meaning before the temple. Up to this point, we have been looking at the temple compound, not the temple; but in this picture we see the door to the temple itself, called “the house” in this verse.

See Picture #14. Diagram of the entire temple compound.

From east to west, starting at A in the picture, and leaving out the 50 cubit border, there are 50 cubits for the outer east gate and the lower pavement on both sides, 100 for the outer court, and 50 for the inner east gate and the upper pavement on both sides, which subtotals 200. Then 100 for the inner court, and 200 for the temple area (100 for the temple and 100 for the west building and separate place which we will look at later). So 200 + 100 + 200 = 500.

From north to south, starting at B in the picture, and leaving out the 50 cubit border, there are 50 cubits for the outer north gate and the lower pavement on both sides, 100 for the outer court, and 50 for the inner north gate and the upper pavement on both sides, which subtotals 200. Then there are 100 for the inner court. And then 50 for the inner south gate and the upper pavement on both sides, 100 for the outer court, and 50 for the outer south gate and lower pavement on both sides, which subtotals 200. So 200 + 100 + 200 = 500. So the dominant numbers are 50 and 100.

We started our tour at the wall at the outside of the eastern border, and then entered the outer court through the east outer gate. We looked at the outer court and the inner court. Now we are going to look at the temple, the separate place, and the west building.

Ezekiel 41. The Temple

See Picture #15. The temple porch.

Ezekiel 40:48-49, “And he brought me to the porch of the house, and measured each post of the porch, five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that side: and the breadth of the gate was three cubits on this side, and three cubits on that side. The length of the porch was twenty cubits, and the breadth eleven cubits, and he brought me by the steps whereby they went up to it: and there were pillars by the posts, one on this side, and another on that side.” Verse 48 should start a new chapter, because Ezekiel begins talking about the temple in that verse.

In the picture, you can see from the measuring rods, that the rectangular posts on each side of the porch are 5 cubits by 3 cubits. The length of the porch is 20 cubits across the front of the temple. ‘Length’ is always the long measurement for any particular area under consideration, no matter which direction it faces. And the breadth, the shorter measurement of the porch, is 11 cubits deep. And there is one large, special pillar beside the porch on each side.

See Picture #16. Inside the holy place, looking back out towards the temple porch.

Ezekiel 41:1, “Afterward he brought me to the temple, and measured the posts, six cubits broad on the one side, and six cubits broad on the other side, which was the breadth of the tabernacle.”

The posts of the doorway are 6 cubits square, as confirmed by Ez41:21, “the posts of the temple were squared.” We see only 5 cubits of them on each side in the picture, because they extend 1 cubit into the 6 cubit wide temple walls, “which was the breadth of the tabernacle,” Ez41:1.

“And the breadth of the door was ten cubits; and the sides of the door were five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on the other side,” Ez41:2. The doorway is 10 cubits wide, as you can see from the measuring rods. And we see only 5 cubits of the 6 cubit wide door posts on each side of the doorway, for the reason explained above.

See Picture #17. Looking down on the 20 x 40 cubit holy place in the temple.

“And he measured the length thereof, forty cubits: and the breadth, twenty cubits,” Ez41:2b. The whole room of the holy place is two 20 x 20 cubit square areas; in other words, 40 cubits by 20 cubits.

See Picture #18. In the holy place of the temple, looking towards the door to the most holy place.

“Then went he inward, and measured the post of the door, two cubits; and the door, six cubits; and the breadth of the door, seven cubits,” Ez41:3. The angel measured the entrance to the most holy place. The wood door posts are 2 cubits wide; you can see a little of their wood behind the folding doors. The temple wall on each side of them is an additional 5 cubits, so 7 cubits on each side of the 6 cubit wide doorway.

See Picture #19. The most holy place.

“So he measured the length thereof, twenty cubits; and the breadth, twenty cubits, before the temple: and he said unto me, This is the most holy place,” Ez41:4. Inside the most holy place, the length is 20 cubits and the breadth 20 cubits.

See Picture #20. The southeast front corner of the temple: 1) 6-cubit temple wall, 2) narrower 5-cubit temple wall, 3) 4-cubit side chambers, 4) wider 5-cubit side chambers, 5) 6-cubit foundation of the temple, 6) side chambers’ 6-cubit outer wall 7) side chambers’ 5-cubit walkway, 8) 20-cubit separate place, 9) southern door to side chambers.

Next, we go around the outside of the temple. Ezekiel 41:5-7, “He measured the wall of the house, six cubits,” on the bottom level, but the temple wall gets narrower on the higher levels, as you can see if you compare #1 to #2 in the picture. (One cubit of the front of the temple wall is made up of part of the 6x6 cubit square wood temple post, as we discussed earlier and as you can see in the shadow of the pillar.)

“And the breadth of every side chamber, four cubits, round about the house on every side,” on the bottom level, but the side chambers get wider on the higher levels, as you can see if you compare #3 to #4 in the picture.

“And the side chambers were three, one over another, and thirty in order,” three stories tall, thirty rooms per story as you go around the temple. “And they entered into the wall which was of the house,” as you see in #4, “... that they might have hold, but they had not hold in the wall of the house.” Starting at the bottom, each story of the chambers was wider, and the temple wall likewise narrower, so the chambers could sit securely against the temple without being attached by nails or anything.

Ezekiel 41:8-11, “I saw also the height of the house round about: the foundations of the side chambers were a full reed of six great cubits.” You can see the six cubit foundation by the vertical rod leaning against the stairs near #5 in the picture. So temple sits higher than everything else in the temple compound. “The thickness of the wall, which was for the side chamber without, was five cubits,” meaning the outside wall going around the side chambers, labeled #6, is five cubits thick. “And that which was left was the place of the side chambers that were within.” ‘That which was left’ is the 5 cubit wide walkway, labeled #7, that provides access to the side chambers.

“And between the chambers was the wideness of twenty cubits round about the house on every side,” marked with #8. We’ll see this 20 cubit area, called the Separate Place, around the temple better in a minute.

“And the doors of the side chambers were toward the place that was left, one door toward the north, and another door toward the south,” we see the doorway to the south at #9 for access to the chambers’ walkway, “and the breadth of the place that was left,” #7 again, “was five cubits round about.”

See Picture #21. The west building is to the left, the temple to the right, and the 20 cubit separate place in between. You can also see the low side chambers’ wall and some of the 5-cubit walkway around the sides and back of the temple. The buildings that border the separate place at the top and bottom of the picture are 3-tiered priests’ chambers.

Ezekiel 41:12, “Now the building that was before the separate place at the end toward the west was seventy cubits broad; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick round about, and the length thereof ninety cubits.” The west building is 70 by 90 in its internal dimensions. It’s got a five cubit thick wall all around which makes it 100 long and 80 wide in its external dimensions. When you add the 20 cubits of the ‘separate place’ in front of it to its external width, the total area is 100 by 100 cubits square.

See Picture #22. Diagram of the temple, the separate place, and the west building.

Next the angel measured the overall dimensions of the temple area, including the separate place and the west building. First going east to west, Ezekiel 41:13, “So he measured the house [the temple], an hundred cubits long, and the separate place, and the building [the west building], with the walls thereof, an hundred cubits long.” Starting at A in picture 22, we see the temple is 100 cubits long comprised of five 20’s. The porch plus the dividing wall between the holy place and the most holy place equals 20 cubits (3+8+6+3), the holy place is 40 cubits long (or two 20’s), the most holy place is 20 cubits, and the temple wall and side chambers on the west are 20 cubits (6+4+5+5=20). And then the separate place plus the west building is 100 cubits (20+5+70+5).

“Also the breadth of the face of the house, and of the separate place toward the east, an hundred cubits,” Ez41:14. Next he measures 100 cubits north to south across the front of the temple. Starting at B in the picture, the separate place on the north is 20; the side chambers and temple wall, 20 (5+5+4+6); the holy place, 20; the temple wall and side chambers, 20 (6+4+5+5); and the separate place on the south is 20.

And finally, the separate place is 100 cubits long against all three buildings on the west, north, and south, as shown by the three letter C’s in the picture. On the west, “he measured the length of the building [the west building] over against the separate place which was behind it.” On the north and south along the 3-tiered priests’ galleries, “and the galleries thereof on the one side and on the other side.” All three measurements each measured “an hundred cubits,” as also did “the inner temple and the porches of the court,” Ez41:15, as we saw in verse 13. So the dominant numbers for the temple area are 20 and 100.

To me, this careful measuring, first east to west, then north to south, and finally this additional check around the perimeter of the separate place, is another evidence of the inspiration of the scriptures. It would have been very difficult for Ezekiel to have thought all this up by himself, and have it fit together, especially without 3D drawing software.

Now the angel takes us back into the temple for some additional details. The walls were covered with cherubs and palm tree decorations. Ezekiel 41:18-25, “It was made with cherubims and palm trees, so that a palm tree was between a cherub and a cherub; and every cherub had two faces; so that the face of a man was toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side: it was made through all the house round about. From the ground unto above the door were cherubims and palm trees made, and on the wall of the temple.” You can see these decorations in picture #18. I didn’t have any pictures of two-faced cherubs to use in the model, so the ones on the walls in the pictures have only the lion face. (Some cherubs, like those in Ezekiel 1, have 4 faces. Satan is a fallen cherub. Some speculate he may be of the two-faced variety.)

“The altar of wood was three cubits high, and the length thereof two cubits; and the corners thereof, and the length thereof, and the walls thereof, were of wood: and he said unto me, This is the table that is before the LORD.” You can also see the altar in picture #18 (though it’s hard to see because I made it the same color as the floor and door posts).

“And the temple and the sanctuary had two doors.” I’m assuming that means two doors each; two at the outside of the temple and two for the most holy place. “And the doors had two leaves apiece, two turning leaves; two leaves for the one door, and two leaves for the other door.” So you can see the two folding doors for the sanctuary, or most holy place, in picture #18; and you can see one of the two folding doors of the temple in picture #15. “And there were made on them, on the doors of the temple, cherubims and palm trees, like as were made upon the walls.”

Ezekiel 41:25-26, “And there were thick planks upon the face of the porch without, and there were narrow windows and palm trees on the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the porch, and upon the side chambers of the house, and thick planks.” You can also see the thick planks and narrow windows of the temple porch in picture #15. It seems they should have palm trees on them, but not cherubs.

Ezekiel 42. 3-Tiered Priests’ Chambers & Overall Dimensions

See Picture #23. A 50-cubit 3-tiered building and a 100-cubit 3-tiered building of priests’ chambers facing each other with a walkway between them. These in the picture are the northern ones on the west side of the inner north gate between the outer court and the separate place of the temple.

Ezekiel 42:7-8, “The wall that was without over against the chambers, toward the utter [outer] court on the forepart of the chambers, the length thereof was fifty cubits. For the length of the chambers that were in the utter [outer] court was fifty cubits: and, lo, before the temple were an hundred cubits.” In picture 23, we are looking at two buildings on the upper pavement on the west side of the inner north gate. The two buildings are not the same length. The one “toward the utter [outer] court” is only 50 cubits long, while the one along the separate place “before the temple” is 100 cubits long.

Ezekiel 42:13-14, “Then said he unto me, The north chambers and the south chambers,” there is a mirror image of them on the west side of the inner south gate also, “which are before the separate place, they be holy chambers, where the priests that approach unto the LORD shall eat the most holy things ... When the priests enter therein, then shall they not go out of the holy place into the utter [outer] court, but there they shall lay their garments wherein they minister; for they are holy; and shall put on other garments, and shall approach to those things which are for the people.” So we have some locker rooms for the priests here. They have to leave their holy clothes in the inner court area, and put on other clothes, before going out to the people in the outer court.

Perhaps the 50-cubit long building by the outer court, in picture #23, should be slid to the left (east), in my model, since the purpose of these buildings is to separate the priests from the people, rather than to provide space for interaction between the priests and the people.

After the angel measures the 3-tiered priest’s chambers on the upper pavement, he takes Ezekiel outside the outer eastern gate, the one by which he had first entered the temple compound. This is Ezekiel’s first time out of the temple compound since he started the tour. And the reason the angel now takes him outside, is that he had finished measuring the inside. There are still a few details that will be measured, in relation to sacrifices, but he is done measuring all the temple compound buildings. “Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house, he brought me forth toward the gate whose prospect is toward the east, and measured it round about,” Ez42:15.

What does Ezekiel mean by saying the angel measured “it round about?” If he means the gate and the wall the gate goes through, the wall of the temple compound, then we know from adding the internal measurements, as we did in pictures #14 and #22, that the wall of the temple compound is 500 cubits square. But while some versions, like the NIV, which follow the Greek Septuagint translation, use the word “cubits” in the following verses; the KJV and ASV, follow the Masoretic Hebrew text, and use the word “rods” in the following verses.

“He measured the east side with the measuring reed, five hundred reeds [unit of measure omitted, Septuagint], with the measuring reed round about. He measured the north side, five hundred reeds [cubits, Septuagint] ... the south side, five hundred reeds [unit of measure omitted, Septuagint] ... the west side ... five hundred reeds [cubits, Septuagint] ... it had a wall round about, five hundred reeds [unit of measure added by translators] long, and five hundred broad, to make a separation between the sanctuary and the profane place,” Ez42:16-20. Five hundred reeds would be 3,000 cubits, since the angel’s measuring reed is six cubits long (Ez40:5). So if the angel is measuring a 3,000 cubit wall, he must be measuring another wall out around the temple compound, rather than measuring the outside of the temple compound itself.

However, if the angel is not providing the overall dimensions of the temple compound here, then it is not provided anywhere; and the normal pattern in the book is to give the detailed dimensions, and then provide the overall dimensions.

For example, in Ezekiel 40:6-12, we learned the detailed measurements of the parts of the outer east gate: outer threshold, 6; guardrooms and spaces between, 6+5+6+5+6; inner threshold, 6; porch, 6; and porch pillars, 2; equals 48 cubits long. Then in verse 13, we learned the overall length of 50 cubits, and could thereby determine that the 4 walls of the guardrooms along the spaces are each 1/2 cubit thick to total 50 cubits.

And in Ezekiel 40:48 - 41:12, we learned the detailed measurements of the temple: porch, 11; door posts, and front temple wall, 6; holy place, 40; most holy place, 20; back temple wall, 6; side chambers, 4; walkway, 5; wall around side chambers, 5; equals 97 cubits. Then in verse 13, we learned the overall length of the temple is 100 cubits, and could thereby determine that the wall between the holy place and the most holy place is 3 cubits thick.

Also, although we haven’t covered it yet, Ezekiel gives the detailed dimensions of the parts of the holy district in 48:9-19, and then gives the overall dimensions in 48:20. So, it would make sense, after having given us all the details of the interior of the temple compound, that he would then also confirm the overall measurement to be 500 cubits all around.

It is commonly agreed, that there is at least one scribal error in the Hebrew in this passage. In the Hebrew, verse 16 says, “He measured the east side with the measuring reed, five cubit reeds.” It looks like a scribe accidentally wrote the word “emot,” meaning “cubit,” in place of “meot,” meaning “hundred.” It’s probably a scribal error, and not an indication that the angel now started to use a 5-cubit rod instead of a 6-cubit rod, because then we would have no length provided for the east side, even though the north, south, and west sides were said to be 500 reeds.

Perhaps a scribe copied the word “reeds” from the marginal notes of a manuscript, into the Hebrew text, in verses 16 through 19. If the word “reeds” was not in the original, verse 16 would read, “He measured the east side with the measuring reed; five hundred with the measuring reed round about.” Then the interpretation would be that the angel measured 500 cubits, but with the emphasis that he used the long-cubit reed, and not, as might be supposed since the measurement is long, the flax line, which could possibly be in regular-length cubits.

It would seem most straightforward and simple, to assume that when the angel finished measuring the interior of the temple compound, and exited it via the outer east gate, and measured “it all around,” vs. 15, that he measured the outside of the temple compound, especially since the measurement came out to 500 x 500, which is the overall size of the temple compound, and especially since that overall measurement is provided nowhere else in the book.

However, while it might be understandable that a scribe could write “emot” for “meot,” it is not as likely a scribe would have added the word “reeds” four times in verses 16 to 19. Nevertheless, there are additional difficulties with the idea of a 500 reed wall, as we will see later.

The Hebrew text is to be preferred over the Septuagint translation whenever possible, because God not only inspired the words of the scriptures, but also preserved them to every generation. “The words of the LORD are pure words, ... O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever,” Ps12:6-7. The Holy Spirit didn’t just inspire and preserve, the ‘ideas’ of scripture, but the very words. “Not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but [in the words] which the Holy Ghost teacheth,” 1Cor2:13.

That’s also why it’s not possible that the New Testament was originally written in Hebrew, as some of our beloved Messianic Jewish brethren suggest. It just seems that way, because the writers were Jewish, and thought in Aramaic, but they wrote in Greek. The New Testament couldn’t have been written in Hebrew, because there are no Hebrew New Testament manuscripts, except for some late medieval works of the Gospel of Matthew, that may have been translated from Greek to Hebrew for the benefit of Jewish people, as our Messianic Jewish brethren do today.

Ezekiel 43-46. Sacrificial System

We talked about the purpose of animal sacrifices in the Messianic Kingdom when we looked at the tables by the outer court at the inner north gate: they are reminders of what Yeshua did for us, and object lessons to those born during the kingdom.

See Picture #24. Inside the temple, looking from the holy place through the door into the most holy place, after the shekinah glory has entered it.

Ezekiel 43:1-4, “Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east: And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory. ... And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.” The shekinah glory will enter the temple compound via the outer east gate, and go into the most holy place in the temple to dwell with Israel.

Ezekiel 43:5-6, “So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house. And I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me,” so it wasn’t the angel talking, “and he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet,” Messiah’s feet, “where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever.” God, the Holy Spirit, carried Ezekiel into the inner court so he could get there fast enough to hear this message from God in the shekinah glory.

Who is speaking from the shekinah glory? Ezekiel had described the shekinah glory earlier in his book in chapter one. He saw a whirlwind, a cloud, fire enfolding itself, brightness, and four living creatures. Each living creature had four faces and four wings; the face of a man, lion, ox and eagle. The firmament was over their heads, and very high above them was a throne with the likeness of the appearance of a man upon it.

Ezekiel 1:26-27, “Above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, ... and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it, ... from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.” This must have been the Angel of Jehovah, the pre-incarnate Messiah, Yeshua, Jesus, because no man, including Ezekiel, has seen the Father (Jn1:18), and an angel wouldn’t be on the throne above the four cherubs.

So Yeshua may be spending some of his time in the kingdom sitting on the throne in the most holy place, with the cherubs around him as they presently are in heaven. Revelation 4:6-8, “And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, LORD God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.” But we won’t be able to go into the inner court of the temple, so perhaps Yeshua will spend most of his time in Jerusalem, away from the four cherubs, as he was during his 33 years on earth at his first coming.

There will be no ark of the covenant in the most holy place. You don’t need the ark of the covenant when the Lord himself is present. Jeremiah 3:16-17, “It shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more. At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem.”

The shekinah glory will also be visible over the mountain of the Lord day and night. “And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain,” Is4:5-6.

The top of the mountain will be well lit at night by the shekinah glory. “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light,” Zech14:6-7.

See Picture #25. The large brass altar before the temple at the center of the inner court.

Ezekiel 43:13-17, “And these are the measures of the altar ... the bottom shall be a cubit [high], and the breadth [of the bottom ledge] a cubit, and the border thereof by the edge thereof round about shall be a span: and this shall be the higher place of the altar. And from the bottom upon the ground even to the lower settle shall be two cubits [high], and the breadth [of the ledge] one cubit; and from the lesser [lower] settle even to the greater settle shall be four cubits [high], and the breadth [of the ledge] one cubit. So the altar shall be four cubits [high]; and from the altar and upward shall be four horns. And the altar shall be twelve cubits long, twelve broad, square in the four squares thereof. And the [lower] settle shall be fourteen cubits long and fourteen broad in the four squares thereof; and the border about it shall be half a cubit; and the bottom thereof shall be a cubit about; and his stairs shall look toward the east.”

The stairs in the model should go all the way to the top of the altar, as a ramp reportedly did in the previous temples. This would be necessary because wood and large pieces of animals need to be carried to the top of the altar, which is very large for all the different work that needs to be performed there, and which cannot all be performed from the 2 foot wide topmost ledge.

See Picture #26. Prince David entering the outer east gate from the porch on the outer court side. The gate is sealed up on the outside because the shekinah glory entered the temple compound through that gate. The light on the steps is shining from the shekinah glory in the temple through the east inner gate behind him.

Ezekiel 44:1-3, “Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh toward the east; and it was shut. Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut.” The outside of the outer east gate will be sealed after the shekinah glory enters through it. This gate does not yet exist. People confuse it with the sealed eastern gate in Jerusalem today, and say it will be unsealed for Messiah to enter by. That is the opposite of what scripture teaches here, that a future gate will be sealed after the Messiah enters through it, with the shekinah glory.

“It is for the prince; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the LORD; he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same.” The prince gets to use this sealed gate to sit and eat in. He will have a nice view of the inner east gate and the temple from here, and be out of the sun. He has to enter and leave the gate through the porch because the outside doorway is sealed.

The prince is Prince David. He will be a king to Israel, but a prince to Yeshua, the King of Kings. Jeremiah 30:9, “They shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them,” along with all the other people whose bodies are resurrected before the kingdom is established.

Serving under David, in either the federal or tribal governments, will be the resurrected and glorified twelve apostles, including Paul in place of Judas. “And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel,” Mt19:28.

See picture #27. The Holy Section of the Land.

For the Priests: 25,000 x 10,000. “Moreover, when ye shall divide by lot the land for inheritance, ye shall offer an oblation unto the LORD, an holy portion of the land: the length shall be the length of five and twenty thousand reeds, and the breadth shall be ten thousand ... The holy portion of the land shall be for the priests, ... a place for their houses, and an holy place for the sanctuary,” Ez45:1-3. There is a 25,000 by 10,000 area, shown at the top of picture #27, for the priests’ houses and the temple compound. Notice that the word “reeds,” in verse 45, is in italics, meaning it was added by the King James translators to help us. But in picture #27, I put all the measurements in cubits, rather than reeds.

Except for the four verses in Ezekiel 42:16-19, which we looked at already, every other measurement in the book, in which the unit of measure is explicitly stated, that is greater than one reed long, is given in cubits. The following five verses say something is exactly one reed long: 40:5; 40:6; 40:7; 40:8; and 41:8. And the following three verses say something is more than one reed long, but the word “reed” is in italics to show it was added by the translators: 42:20; 45:1; and 48:8.

The reason the translators added the word “reeds” in verse 1, is because the next verse talks about the 500 x 500 temple compound area, and in 42:16-19, the outer-most portion of the temple area, according to the Hebrew text, is a 500 reed (3,000 cubit) wall around and further out from the temple compound.

Temple Compound: 500 x 500 something. Either 600 cubits square including the border, or 500 reeds + 50 cubits square including the border. “Of this [in the priests’ portion] there shall be for the sanctuary five hundred in length, with five hundred in breadth, square round about; and fifty cubits round about for the suburbs thereof,” Ez45:2. The small black square labeled “The Temple + Border” within the priests’ rectangle in picture #27.

Notice the word “cubits” is specifically mentioned for the “suburbs,” or ‘border,’ of the sanctuary. If the unit of measurement in this chapter is cubits, the 50 cubit border goes around the temple compound, making the total temple area 600 x 600 cubits (50 more on each side of the 500 cubits). If the unit of measurement in this chapter is reeds, the 50 cubit border goes around the 500 reed wall, making the total temple area 500 reeds plus 50 cubits.

This is another reason why it is more natural, to assume the measurements in this chapter are in cubits. Most of the measurements we have seen so far, have been in fairly round numbers, not something like 500 reeds + 50 cubits. Also, a 50 cubit border around a 500 cubit area (10%) is more in perspective, than a 50 cubit border around a 3,000 cubit (500 reed) area (0.01667%). In chapter 48, we’ll see that the city is a 4,500 x 4,500 area with a 250 border around it (5.56%) so the total area comes out to a nice round 5,000 (4,500 + 250 on each side).

Also, if the angel’s purpose in chapter 42:15-20, had been to measure the adjacent land around the temple, why wouldn’t he have told us about the 50 cubit border at that time along with the measurement of the outlying 3,000 cubit wall. But if his purpose was only to give us the overall dimensions of the temple compound, after having given us the detailed internal measurements of its parts, it is understandable that he did not mention the 50 cubit border at that time, but waited until he was dealing with the placement of the temple within the land.

For the Levites: 25,000 x 10,000. “And the five and twenty thousand of length, and the ten thousand of breadth shall also the Levites, the ministers of the house, have for themselves,” Ez45:5. The bottom white rectangular area on the mountain in picture #27. Ezekiel is not listing the portions in geographical order, but rather in order of importance. Priests and sanctuary first, then Levites, and next the city.

For the City: 5000 x 25,000. “And ye shall appoint the possession of the city five thousand broad, and five and twenty thousand long, over against the oblation of the holy portion: it shall be for the whole house of Israel,” Ez45:6. The central 5,000 by 25,000 area in picture #27.

For Prince David: “And a portion shall be for the prince on the one side and on the other side of the oblation of the holy portion, and of the possession of the city, ... from the west border unto the east border,” Ez45:7. The land shown on the far right and left of picture #27, is for the resurrected Prince David and his descendants.

This land might also pay the expenses of his federal government (versus the tribal governments). “Moreover the prince shall not take of the people’s inheritance by oppression, to thrust them out of their possession ... that my people be not scattered every man from his possession,” Ez46:17-18.

See Picture #28. Prince David standing on the porch of the inner east gate. The light is from the shekinah glory in the temple. We are looking west into the inner court and the temple.

Ezekiel 46:1-3,”The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath it shall be opened, and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened. And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate without, and shall stand by the post of the gate, and the priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate: then he shall go forth; but the gate shall not be shut until the evening. Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the LORD in the sabbaths and in the new moons.” Most of the time, the inner east gate will be closed. But on Sabbaths and new moons, it will be open. Then the prince can go up on the porch, and watch as the priests offer his sacrifices. But that means he can’t go into the inner court, even though he is in his resurrected and glorified body, and so we won’t be able to either.

See Picture #29. People who entered the outer court of the temple compound by the outer south gate, walking past the inner east gate, to exit by the outer north gate.

Ezekiel 46:8-12, “When the people of the land shall come before the LORD in the solemn feasts, he that entereth in by the way of the north gate to worship shall go out by the way of the south gate; and he that entereth by the way of the south gate shall go forth by the way of the north gate: he shall not return by the way of the gate whereby he came in.” People will enter the temple compound by the north gate and go out by the south, or they will go in by the south and out by the north. Do you remember why no one will enter or exit by the outer east gate?

Ezekiel 46:8 only talks about “the people of the land,” meaning the Jewish people and probably the Gentiles who dwell among them in Israel. But Zechariah says that the Gentiles outside the land will go to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of tabernacles. Zechariah 14:16-17, “It shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.” So I don’t expect to be living in the land of Israel during the Messianic Kingdom. I expect to be laboring in one of the Gentile nations, but I expect to come up for the feast of tabernacles with other people from my nation whenever it’s my turn.

Isaiah 66:20-21 may indicate some Gentiles may serve as priests and ‘Levites’ in the temple. “And they [saved Gentiles] shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the LORD out of all nations ... to my holy mountain Jerusalem, and I will also take of them for priests and for Levites.” More likely, “take of them” refers to taking priests and Levites from among the Jewish people brought back by the Gentiles. Would Gibeonites and Nethinim (temple servants) be referred to as ‘Levites?’ If God does take any Gentiles as priests and ‘Levites’, they will at least need to be born again spiritually, and circumcised physically, according to Ezekiel 44:9.

“Thus saith the Lord GOD; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the children of Israel,” Ez44:9. This probably indicates that no unsaved men, even descendants of Zadok, will be able to serve as priests and Levites in the temple. It probably does not indicate exclusion of anyone from the temple compound. It would be more feasible to verify circumcision of heart and flesh as a prerequisite to priesthood than to temple compound access.

Zechariah concludes and summarizes his book by saying, “Every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts,” Zech14:21. There will certainly be some people of Canaanite descent in the kingdom, who enter by resurrection, and who enter in unglorified bodies at the end of the tribulation period and their descendants born during the kingdom, and they will probably have entrance to the temple compound, though perhaps none any longer as temple servants. Probably this verse means that, whereas most priests and Levites in the temple throughout history have been unbelievers, and to God this was equivalent to Canaanites like the Gibeonites serving in the temple, in the kingdom the priests and Levites will be both descendants of Levi and, more importantly, regenerate of heart.

See Picture #30. Looking down on the priests’ boiling places at the extreme west end of the northern upper pavement by the west building and the 3-tiered priest’s chambers.

Ezekiel 46:19-20, “After he brought me through the entry, which was at the side of the gate,” through a side arch of the inner north gate, “into the holy chambers of the priests, which looked toward the north, and, behold, there was a place on the two sides westward,” the west ends of the upper pavement on both the north and south of the temple. “Then said he unto me, This is the place where the priests shall boil the trespass offering and the sin offering, where they shall bake the meat offering; that they bear them not out into the utter [outer] court, to sanctify the people.” The priests have their own places to boil and bake sacrifices, separate from the people, so they don’t take any holiness out to the people; just as we saw how in Ezekiel 42:13-14, they had to change their clothes before going out to the people.

See Picture #31. The northwest boiling place for the peoples’ sacrifices. There are 4 mini-courts like this one; one in each corner of the outer court.

Ezekiel 46:21-24, “Then he brought me forth into the utter [outer] court, and caused me to pass by the four corners of the court; and, behold, in every corner of the court there was a court ... forty cubits long and thirty broad .... And there was a row of building round about in them, ... and it was made with boiling places under the rows round about. Then said he unto me, These are the places of them that boil, where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifice of the people.” Four 40x30 cubit mini-courts, one in each corner of the outer court, for the priests to come out and boil the peoples’ sacrifices, because the people cannot enter into the inner court, where the priests offer other sacrifices.

Ezekiel 47-48. The River and the Land

See Picture #32. The river that starts on the south side of the temple entrance.

Ezekiel 47:1, “Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house,” the temple, “and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar.” Picture #32 shows a trickle of water flowing from south side of the threshold of the temple. “The right side of the house” is the south side, since the temple faces east.

See Picture #33. The river flowing out the south side of the outer east gate.

Ezekiel 47:2, “Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about [around] the way without [outside] unto the utter [outer] gate by the way that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side.” “The right side” of the gate is the south side, since the gate faces east. Why did the angel take Ezekiel out the north gate and around when he wanted to show him something outside the outer east gate? Why didn’t he just take him through the outer east gate? Well, remember, the outside of the outer east gate has been sealed. So in Picture #33, we are outside the outer east gate where we started this tour, and we see the waters from the temple coming from the south side.

See Picture #34. The river flowing east from the temple compound and getting deeper and wider.

Ezekiel 47:3-5, “And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins. Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in.” The waters get deeper and deeper as they flow east. The angel is using the flax string to measure each 1000 cubit stretch. The angel gets to stay on dry ground, while Ezekiel has to go through the water.

This passage is another reason why the word “reeds” in Ezekiel 42:16-19 seems incongruous. If the angel brought the flax line to measure long distances, like these 1,000 cubit stretches, why would he use the reed to measure 500 reeds, or 3,000 cubits, in Ezekiel 42? But if the word “reeds” was not in the original in 42:16-19, then the 500 cubit outside wall of the temple compound in Ezekiel 42 was the longest distance the angel measured with the reed, and we could assume all longer distances were measured with the flax line, which would probably be in common medium cubits.

Ezekiel 47:7-8, “Now when I had returned, ... then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed.” The river from the temple goes down to the Dead Sea, and heals their salty waters.

Ezekiel 47:9-11, “And it shall come to pass, that every thing ... whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live ... And ... fishers shall stand upon it from Engedi even unto Eneglaim, ... their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea [the Mediterranean], exceeding many. But the miry places thereof and the marshes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt.” There’s no fish in the Dead Sea today, but there will be great fishing there soon.

Ezekiel 47:12, “And by the river upon the bank ... shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.” The trees that are watered by the river from the temple will have leaves that provide healing, so no one will remain sick.

Not only will the waters go east and down to the Dead Sea, but half will go towards the Mediterranean Sea. Zechariah 14:8, “And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer [dryer season] and in winter [wetter season] shall it be.”

In the east, the river can go down the great valley through the split in the Mount of Olives we talked about earlier to the Dead Sea. In the west, the waters from the temple, which may be at the highest point on the mountain, may first water the rest of the mountain via irrigation channels and so forth, before being gathered at the western base of the mountain to flow on to the Mediterranean. “Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities, there the glorious LORD will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby,” Is33:20,21. See picture #36. “I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: ... in that day ... a fountain shall come forth out of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim,” Joel3:17-18.

See Picture #35. Portions of land for the tribes of Israel going straight across from east to west. I have not tried to present accurate boundaries, but rather to show the general arrangement of the tribal portions. For example, the Golan Heights will probably be within the borders of Israel, though the picture doesn’t show it that way.

Northern Boundaries. Ezekiel 48:1, “Now these are the names of the tribes. From the north end to the coast of the way of Hethlon, as one goeth to Hamath, Hazarenan, the border of Damascus northward, to the coast of Hamath.” Hamath is present day Hama in Syria. The northern border of Israel during the Messianic Kingdom will extend to about the present northern border of Lebanon. Present day Lebanon will be part of millennial Israel.

Seven Northern Tribes. Ezekiel 48:2-7, “These are his sides east and west; a portion for Dan. And by the border of Dan, from the east side unto the west side, a portion for Asher. And by the border of Asher, from the east side even unto the west side, a portion for Naphtali. And by ... Naphtali, ... a portion for Manasseh. And by ... Manasseh, ... a portion for Ephraim. And by ... Ephraim, ... a portion for Reuben. And by ... Reuben, ... a portion for Judah.” Each tribe’s portion will extend completely across from the western boundaries, like the Jordan River, to the Mediterranean Sea.

Today most Jewish people don’t know which tribe they are descended from, the exception being some descendants of priests and Levites who have family names like Cohen, the Hebrew word for priest, or Levi. But now we have genetic tests, and anyway the Lord knows the genealogy of everyone. Jewish tradition says that when Elijah returns before the Messianic Kingdom is set up, he will provide Jewish people with their tribal identities.

So although physical things like genealogies have no relevance in the church age or for spiritual salvation; in the future, genealogies will be important again, at least in determining how physically close to the shekinah glory a person will be able to live.

Some Gentiles, possibly proselytes, will dwell among the tribes in the land, “in what tribe the stranger sojourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance,” Ez47:23. And some Gentiles in their natural bodies during the kingdom will become servants to Israelites so they can live in the land. “Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers ... For your shame, ye shall have double [blessing, joy, inheritance, etc.],” Is60:1-61:7.

See picture #36. Division of the land on and beside the mountain of the Lord.

Now we have a repeat of the description of the holy portion of the land that we saw in chapter 45, but with some added details.

Levi (Including the Priests), Prince David, and the Temple Compound. Ezekiel 48:8, “And by the border of Judah, from the east side unto the west side, shall be the offering which ye shall offer of five and twenty thousand reeds in breadth, and in length as one of the other parts, from the east side unto the west side: and the sanctuary shall be in the midst of it.” Just like each tribe’s portion is a strip of land going all the way from the east to the west border, the land offering is a 25,000 broad strip, that goes all the way from the east border to the west border.

Here in chapter 48, we have, like in 45:1-8, a long passage with many dimensions, with no unit of measure provided. Once again, the KJV translators have tried to help us out by adding the word “reeds” in verse 8, near the mention of the sanctuary, which was said to be measured in reeds in 42:16-19.

It is interesting that the Lord could easily have provided us one mention of the word “reeds” in 45:1-8, and one mention here in chapter 48, just as the translators have done. Instead, if 42:16-19 is not a gloss, we have to refer back to those four verses to know what these units of measures are. What could be the Lord’s purpose in making the interpretation so indirect? Did he want to leave open the possibility of a ‘cubit’ interpretation for those who might stumble in faith at the huge sizes of a ‘reed’ interpretation?

On the other hand, if 42:16-19 is a gloss, and the gloss had not been made, there would be no mystery in the text, and the interpretation would be straightforward, because the unit of measure throughout this entire vision has been cubits. As mentioned earlier, apart from 42:16-19, only verses 40:5; 40:6; 40:7; 40:8; and 41:8 measured anything in reeds, and all five measurements were exactly one reed long.

Ezekiel 48:9-11, “The oblation that ye shall offer unto the LORD shall be of five and twenty thousand in length, and of ten thousand in breadth ... and the sanctuary of the LORD shall be in the midst thereof. It shall be for the priests that are sanctified of the sons of Zadok; which have kept my charge, which went not astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray.” The 25,000 by 10,000 cubit portion for the priests, is specifically for the sons of Zadok. It includes the temple compound. I did not show the temple compound centered in the middle of the priests’ portion, because the Hebrew word translated “in the midst thereof” in the KJV, simply means “in it.”

Ezekiel 48:12-14, “And this oblation of the land that is offered shall be unto them a thing most holy by the border of the Levites. And over against the border of the priests the Levites shall have five and twenty thousand in length, and ten thousand in breadth ... And they shall not sell of it, neither exchange, nor alienate the firstfruits of the land: for it is holy unto the LORD.”

When Ezekiel was delineating the tribal portions, he kept using the Hebrew word “al,” meaning “on” or “against,” to show that each portion was right next to and up against the previous one. “By [‘al’] the border of Dan ... a portion for Asher, ... by [‘al’] the border of Asher ... a portion for Naphtali, ... by [‘al’] the border of Naphtali ... a portion for Manasseh, [etc.] ... by [‘al’] the border of Judah ... shall be the offering, ... it shall be for the priests,” Ez48:2-8. If Ezekiel went on using ‘al,’ “by the border of the priests, a portion for Levi; by the border of the Levites, a portion for the city, by the border of the city, a portion for Benjamin,” we would know the order of the sub-portions within the holy portion.

But the sub-portions within the holy portion of the land are described in order of importance, not in geographical order. The portion of the Levites does not lie next to the portion of the priests, because Ezekiel changes from the Hebrew word ‘al,’ meaning ‘against,’ to the Hebrew word ‘el,’ meaning ‘to’ or ‘towards,’ and also to the Hebrew word ‘umah,’ meaning ‘corresponding to’ or ‘parallel to,’ but not necessarily up against, as in 2 Samuel 16:13, “As David and his men went by the way, Shimei went along on the hill’s side over against [‘umah’] him, and cursed as he went, and threw stones at him, and cast dust.”

He says, “A thing most holy [the priests’ portion] by [“towards”; ‘el,’ not ‘al’] the border of the Levites. And over against [“corresponding to,” ‘umah’] the border of the priests, the Levites,” Ez48:12-13. This shows that the Levites portion is probably not right next to the priests’ portion; the city is probably in between.

Ezekiel 48:15-17, “And the five thousand, that are left in the breadth over against the five and twenty thousand, shall be a profane place for the city, for dwelling, and for suburbs: and the city shall be in the midst thereof. And these shall be the measures thereof; the north side ... and the south side ... and on the east side ... and the west side four thousand and five hundred. And the suburbs of the city shall be toward the north ... and toward the south ... and toward the east ... and toward the west two hundred and fifty.” The city will be 4,500 x 4,500, with a 250 cubit border all around, for a total size of 5,000 x 5000 cubits square.

Ezekiel 48:18-19, “And the residue in length over against the oblation of the holy portion shall be ten thousand eastward, and ten thousand westward: ... and the increase thereof shall be for food unto them that serve the city. And they that serve the city shall serve it out of all the tribes of Israel.” On both sides of the city, there is a 5,000 by 10,000 cubit area left over, to be used for growing food for the city. The city will be inhabited with people from all the tribes, even though each tribe has its own portion elsewhere.

Ezekiel 48:20, “All the oblation [‘offering’ of the land] shall be five and twenty thousand by five and twenty thousand: ye shall offer the holy oblation foursquare, with [‘including’] the [profane] possession of the city.” The total of the priests’ portion with the temple, the Levites’ portion, and Jerusalem’s portion, is 25,000 by 25,000 square.

Ezekiel 48:21, “And the residue shall be for the prince, on the one side and on the other of the [25,000 x 25,000] holy oblation, and of the possession of the city; over against the five and twenty thousand of the oblation toward the east border, and westward over against the five and twenty thousand toward the west border.” On each side of the 25,000 by 25,000 square area, running to the Mediterranean Sea on the west, and to the Jordan River and the Dead Sea (or shall we call it the Living Sea by this time) on the east, shall be a 25,000 cubit wide portion for David, and his descendants, and his government expenses.

See picture #37. The Plain and the Holy Portion in Cubits.

Zechariah says the plain that the mountain of the Lord will sit upon will extend from Geba (see picture #37), Jaba today, about 6 miles northeast of Jerusalem; to Rimmon (see picture #37), probably En-Rimmon, about 36 miles southeast of Jerusalem, near Beersheba.

“All the land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. She shall be raised up and inhabited in her place from Benjamin’s Gate to the place of the First Gate and the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses,” NKJV Zech14:10. All the Judean Mountains, which you can see within the dashed oval in the center of picture #37, will be leveled; but the Samarian Hills, the area within the dashed oval to the right of picture #37, will remain. Jerusalem will be lifted up “in her place”; probably with the same geographical features that are there now, only higher.

How much higher? The current elevation of Jerusalem is about 2,500 feet. Altitude sickness, in our present time at least, begins around 8,000 feet. The highest alpine tree line in the world is at about 17,000 feet, so that’s not an issue. So probably, the mountain of the Lord’s house will be less than 8,000 feet high. But in addition to Jerusalem being raised, other mountains in the earth will be lowered, so the mountain at Jerusalem will be the highest, and yet still have a pleasant environment.

In picture #37, the temple, the very tiny black square at the northeast corner of the city square, is located on the temple mount; and the northeast corner of the city, the small square in the middle of the mountain, is at the location of the original city of Jerusalem (the city of David).

See picture #38. The Plain and the Holy Portion in Reeds.

Although I used a lot of space describing why it seems a scribe may have added the word “reeds” four times to the Hebrew of Ezekiel 42:16-19; it may very well be that “reeds” is the correct reading, so I have presented picture #38 as a possible representation of the holy portion of the land in reeds. However, I used a reed of 6 medium cubits, rather than 6 long cubits, in preparing picture #38.

Again, the temple, the very tiny black square at the northeast corner of the city, is located on the temple mount; and the city’s northeast corner is at the location of the original city of Jerusalem (the city of David).

If the measurements are in reeds, the land boundaries for the priests, Levites, the city, and the prince would probably have to extend beyond the mountain of the Lord, because otherwise the mountain would have to extend over the Dead Sea. Now, I have no problem believing the God who made the earth can make major changes to the land of Israel before the Messianic Kingdom is set up. But when God describes the borders of messianic Israel as being from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, it doesn’t sound like he is talking about a repositioned Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea. “From the land of Israel by Jordan, ... this is the east side. ... The west side also shall be the great sea.” Ez47:18-20.

See picture #39. Jerusalem in Cubits.

Picture #39 shows Jerusalem “raised up and inhabited in her place,” Zech14:10, with her existing geography intact, and the large valley through the mount of Olives, with the east river flowing down it, as a way up to the city on the mountain of the Lord’s house.

The measurements are in cubits, because if the measurements were in reeds, a 250 reed border around the city where there can be no houses would cover all of what is shown as “The City” in picture #39, and more. In that case, the inhabited part of the city couldn’t include the original Jerusalem, the city of David, or any of the landmarks mentioned in Zechariah 14:10, “from Benjamin’s Gate to the place of the First Gate and the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses. The people shall dwell in it. ... Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited,” Zech14:10-11.

It is hard to tell where those old gates and landmarks were. They may be south of the temple mount, because what we call the “Old City” today, was actually the “New City” before, part of it even being called “Bezetha,” meaning “New City”. Picture #39 shows where the “So-called ‘Old’ City” is today, and also where the “So-called Mt. Zion” is today. But the real Mt. Zion, and the original location of Jerusalem, and an area called the “Ophel,” is marked as “Zion & City of David” and “Levi Gate” in the picture. The city was located there because it had access to the Gihon Spring from tunnels within its fortifications, which made the city very difficult to capture by siege.

Or, alternatively, if the landmarks Zechariah 14:10-11 talks about were north of the temple mount, then perhaps the verses refer to priests dwelling in those places in the future.

God made many promises regarding Zion and Jerusalem, and it sounds like he is referring to the same Zion and Jerusalem that we know of, not ones in new locations. “Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy ... I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, ... and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem ... The LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem,” Zech1:14-17.

Picture #39 tries to place the altar of the future temple compound, in the same location as the altar of the first and second temples. As far as I can see from 2 Samuel 24, it is the altar’s location that is important to be the same, rather than the location of the holy of holies being the same, even though the future altar has steps to the east, and the previous altars had ramps to the south.

David built the altar on the threshing floor where the plague stopped at Jerusalem, and it was the location of the altar that determined the location of the most holy place. Also, it is the altar, rather than the most holy place, that is at the exact center of the future temple. The message of these chapters in Ezekiel, and the meaning of the Messianic Kingdom and the mountain of the Lord’s house, is not only that God is holy, but that God who is holy will dwell with men, and that is only made possible by the altar, or more specifically, by what it symbolizes, the substitutionary death of Yeshua.

There are various theories as to where the 1st and 2nd temples stood on the temple mount. I used a southern placement, with the assumption that the Antonia Fortress was located where the Dome of the Rock is now, as you can see in picture #39.

Southern Tribes. Ezekiel 48:22-27, “As for the rest of the tribes, from the east side unto the west side, Benjamin shall have a portion. And by the border of Benjamin, from the east side unto the west side, Simeon shall have a portion. And by ... Simeon, ... Issachar a portion. And by ... Issachar, ... Zebulun a portion. And by the border of Zebulun, from the east side unto the west side, Gad a portion.”

Southern Border. Ezekiel 48:28, “And by the border of Gad, at the south side southward, the border shall be even from Tamar unto the waters of strife in Kadesh, and to the river toward the great sea. This is the land which ye shall divide by lot unto the tribes of Israel for inheritance.” The southern border will extend to the Brook of Egypt, the Wadi el-Arish.

Ezekiel 48:30-34, “And the gates of the city shall be after the names of the tribes of Israel: three gates northward; Reuben, ... Judah, ... Levi. And at the east side ... Joseph ... Benjamin ... Dan. And at the south side ... Simeon ... Issachar ... Zebulun. At the west side ... Gad ... Asher ... Naphtali.” Jerusalem will have three gates on each side, named after the twelve tribes. The name of Levi, which is often left out when naming the 12 tribes, will be included; and Ephraim and Manasseh, which are often named separately when naming the 12 tribes, will be represented as “Joseph.” In picture #39, I showed four of these gates, starting with the Reuben Gate in the northwest, and going clockwise to the Joseph gate.

Ezekiel 48:35, “And the name of the city from that day shall be, The LORD is there.” Jerusalem will be given a new name “from that day” than it has during our day. It will be called “Jehovah Shammah,” meaning “Jehovah Is There.” ‘There’, not ‘here’, since most of the world’s population will be referring to it while living outside the land.

Jehovah Shammah is what this is all about. The place will be special, because the Lord will be there, and God has allowed us to see some of it in advance, and we will be going there various times during the Messianic Kingdom.

Application

Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” Jn3:3. You definitely want to see the kingdom of God. And you won’t see it unless you are born again.

“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that,” whosoever looks to him in faith, “whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 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,” Jn3:14-16.

“He that believes on the Son has everlasting life,” Jn3:36; not he that goes to church, or he that is good, because “there is none that doeth good, no, not one,” Rm3:12; Ps53:3. “All have sinned and come short of glory of God,” Rm3:23. But he that simply “believes on the Son,” and takes God at his Word that Jesus’ sacrifice and death for our sake as our substitute was sufficient, has everlasting life.

Call upon the Lord (Rm10:13), and tell him that you accept his sacrifice, that you put your faith in him and in what he did for you, and that you take him at his word to give you everlasting life.

For those who already know the Lord, knowing about the kingdom will help us to be willing to suffer. Paul said, “What advantageth it me, if the dead rise not?” 1Cor15:32. But he was able to fight with beasts at Ephesus because he knew that any damage to his body was temporary. It would be raised again and be in the kingdom. He knew he will see these buildings and the other things that the Bible prophesies about the kingdom.

And knowing about the kingdom helps us to labor confidently. “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord,” 1Cor15:58. We have a sure and certain destination.

See Picture #40. The third room from the northeast corner of the temple compound on the lower pavement.

For those who are interested in meeting, let’s meet, if our schedules permit, at the third room from the northeast corner of the temple compound, on the lower pavement, on 3/3/3 AK (After Kingdom); the third year, third month, and third day after the start of the kingdom. I don’t know if we will be allowed to meet at that location, but if not, and you are interested in meeting with us, try to meet as close to there as possible, perhaps just outside the outer north gate. Remember, 3/3/3 AK. You can’t get there unless you use John 3:3. You have to be born again to enter the kingdom.

So that is our presentation of the temple. I pray that it will be used for your benefit to know the Lord and to be more fruitful in his service.

Romans 1-4: Justification

Recorded March 30, 2008

Romans 1:1-17. Introduction

Everybody has an outline? Good morning, and it’s good to see you all again. There’s a few people here this morning I haven’t met yet. Today we are going to survey Romans 1 through 4, about the doctrine of justification. But first we will look at the introduction to the book in verses 1 - 17.

In verse 1, “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,” Rm1:1. The theme of the book of Romans, is “the gospel of God”. The word “gospel” is from the old English “good spiel,” meaning “good telling” or “good news”. And it is good news because it is the gospel of God, not of man. It’s about something God has done for man. If it were about something man has to do for God, that wouldn’t be good news. But it’s about God’s work, not man’s work.

“Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures, concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord,” Rm1:2-3. It’s God’s gospel; it’s good news from him. It’s incorrect to picture Jesus as trying to persuade the Father to forgive us, because the gospel was God the Father’s idea from the beginning. You notice it says “He had promised ... by his prophets ... concerning his Son,” Rm1:2-3.

In Romans 1:16-17, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, ... for therein is the righteousness of God revealed.” Our English words “righteousness,” “justice,” and “justification” are all translated from the same Greek word. The phrase “the righteousness of God” refers to justification. It does not refer to the fact that God is righteous, though he is. But it refers to a righteousness from God, that he provides to man, in contrast to man’s own unrighteousness. And he provides it to “every one that believeth,” who trust in Christ, rather than in their own self-righteousness.

The book of Romans is about salvation, “the power of God unto salvation.”. Salvation is comprised of three parts: justification, sanctification, and glorification. The first half of chapter 1 is an introduction to the book. Then Paul covers justification in chapters 1 - 4; and sanctification and glorification, in chapters 5 - 8. Chapters 9 - 11 are about the national salvation of Israel. And chapters 12 - 16 are about sanctification again, but this time from a practical, rather than a doctrinal, perspective.

Now, believing in the gospel, directly results only in justification; that is, in receiving the “righteousness of God.” But because of the way in which we are justified, justification always results in glorification and sanctification. So that is the main proposition of the book of Romans, that “All who have been justified will be glorified, and all who have been justified are being sanctified, because of the way in which they were justified.”

So the gospel is “the power of God unto salvation,” all of salvation - justification, glorification, and sanctification - “for [because] therein is the righteousness of God,” justification, revealed. And justification, in turn, always results in the other two, sanctification and glorification. So the gospel is the power of God unto complete salvation, because it is the power of God unto justification. That is the main proposition of the book of Romans.

So that was the introduction to the book, and in verse 18, Paul begins the section on justification.

Romans 1:18-32. The Unrighteousness of Men

The first subsection here is about the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. And Paul starts out in verse 18, “For the wrath of God ...” How many of us would start our presentation of the good news with the wrath of God? But, you know, if there is no wrath of God, there is no need for the gospel. And the wrath of God is the biggest problem that every person that comes into this world faces. It is not our finances. It is not our health. It is not our family problems. It is, how are you going to deal with the wrath of God?

Why doesn’t God just stop being angry? That would solve the whole thing, right? Well, he is angry because he is a just judge. He is angry, as it says here, “against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.” Rm1:18.

You notice the order is ungodliness and then unrighteousness. The order is important because ungodliness results in unrighteousness. You can’t have morality apart from godliness.

What is ungodliness? Romans 1:21, “When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful.” Failing to acknowledge the Creator, failing to be appreciative of his gifts, that is all it takes to be ungodly. And that leads to unrighteousness.

Because men are ungodly, God has allowed us to become thoroughly unrighteous as a judgment upon us. As a judgment upon our ungodliness, he doesn’t hold us back from unrighteousness. Our bodies are affected in 1:24. “Wherefore God also gave them up ... to dishonour their own bodies between themselves.” Our souls are affected in Romans 1:26. “God gave them up unto vile affections,” emotions. Our spirits are affected in Romans 1:28. “God gave them over to a reprobate mind.” Thoroughly ungodly and unrighteous; thoroughly unrighteous because of our ungodliness.

There is a list of unrighteous deeds that we do because of this judgment upon our ungodliness in Romans 1:29-31. “Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful.” This is the condition of man. So that is the first section.

Romans 2:1-17. The Judgment of God

The second section begins in chapter 2 verse 1. It is about the judgment of God.

We learn three things about the judgment of God. First, it is according to truth. In Romans 2:2, “But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.” In other words God’s judgment is righteous, and the standard is truth.

Secondly, it is according to deeds, in Romans 2:6. “Who will render to every man according to his deeds.” There are potentially two groups of people in the judgment, and they are differentiated by their deeds. Group one, in verse 7, “To them who by patient continuance in well doing,” that is, they do good all the time without fail, perfectly. “Seek for glory and honour and immortality,” they do good for the right motives. They receive “eternal life.”

And group two in verses 8 and 9: “But unto them that are contentious,” their motives are not perfect. “And do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness,” their deeds are not perfect. They will receive “indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish,” Rm2:7-9. That’s a sequence going from the heart of God to the heart of man. It starts off with God having “indignation” in his heart against unrighteous men. And then the indignation in his heart is expressed by his outward “wrath.” It will be received externally as “tribulation” by those condemned. And then will become “anguish” in the heart of those suffering that tribulation.

The previous section we looked at shows which group we fall into, because we saw before that we are “filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness,” etc., Rm1:29. We all obviously fall into group two, those that obey unrighteousness and have earned the wrath of God.

Thirdly, we see that God’s judgment is according to law. -- Hi, Sal. We are on page two at the top. -- “For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified,” Rm2:12-13.

So this is not good news. There is no group listed here that does not sin; and there is no group listed here that keeps the law. Some “have sinned without law,” the Gentiles; and some “have sinned in the law,” the Jewish people. Some will “perish without law,” the Gentiles; and some will perish because they will be “judged by the law,” the Jewish people. But all have sinned, and all will perish. That is God’s judgment. That is how we fare in God’s judgment.

Romans 2:17-3:20. The Law Says All Men Are Sinners

The next section shows that the law confirms this. The law says that all men are sinners. Romans 3:9, “We have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin.” That means servants of sin, “under sin” the master.

“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one, ... none that understandeth, ... none that seeketh after God, ... all gone out of the way, ... together become unprofitable, ... none that doeth good, no, not one,” Rm3:10-12. And Paul here is quoting from Psalms 5, 10, 14, 36, 53, and 140.. “Their throat an open sepulcher, ... swift to shed blood, destruction and misery in their ways, ... the way of peace they have not known, ... no fear of God,” Rm3:13-18.

“Now we know that what things soever the law says, it says to them who are under the law,” that’s the Jewish people; the Gentiles never were given the law. “That every mouth,” of both Jew and Gentile, “may be stopped,” we won’t be able to claim to be righteous or to offer any excuse for not being righteous. “And all the world,” the Jewish people were chosen as a representative sample of humanity, to show how all of us would have fallen short, if we had been chosen to live under the law, “may become guilty before God,” Rm3:19. Everyone is guilty before God. No one has kept the law. God gave the law for the purpose of making men guilty, not for the purpose of making men righteous.

“Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight,” Rm3:20. How many people will go to heaven by being good? None, “no flesh,” nada. The law is the best chance anyone has of being justified by works, because the law is the perfect revelation of what is right and wrong. But no one keeps it.

“For by the law is the knowledge of sin,” Rm3:20. That’s the best the law can do for you, to help you realize you’re a sinner. That’s why God gave the law. “The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith,” Gal3:24. If the law makes you realize your sinfulness, and then you turn to Christ for salvation by faith, the law has accomplished its purpose in your life.

Romans 3:21-31. Justification By Faith

Now we are ready to look at the section on justification by faith. -- What was that you said? Oh, you’re amen-ing for the good part coming up. --

So far we have seen that men are under the wrath of God because of our ungodliness and unrighteousness. We are worthy of judgment, and the best the law can do for us, is to help us know we are sinners.

In verse 3:21, “But now ...” Now the good news, now the gospel. “The righteousness of God,” the righteousness from God that he provides to man, “without the law is manifested, being witnessed [to] by the law and the prophets.”

This righteousness is “without the law.” Contrary to Catholic doctrine, we don’t have to keep the Ten Commandments or be good to go to heaven. And if we think we have to be good to go to heaven then we can’t go to heaven, because that means we are an unbeliever, we don’t believe Christ’s death counts or is sufficient. If we think we have to be good to go to heaven, and we are not weeping in despair every moment, then we do not realize that we are not good; we are self-righteous, and have not received God’s righteousness. “There is none good, no, not one,” Rm3:12.

Jesus was asked by one man: “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him ... if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal ...” Mt19:16-26. In other words, Jesus is going through some of the Ten Commandments. And it is true that if you keep the law perfectly—as we saw in chapter two—“patient continuance in well doing” Rm2:27, then you will be justified by your works. But Jesus was trying to get this man to realize he was not going to be able to do that; he was trying to get him to see his need of salvation. And the end of the story is that the man, “went away sorrowful,” because he continued to believe he needed to earn eternal life, which is out of reach of every man.

So rather than teaching salvation by keeping the Ten Commandments, this passage from Matthew teaches the opposite. The only way we will ever be judged to be righteous is if we receive the righteousness God provides to us “without the law,” without the Ten Commandments, without any good deeds, or else it would be “the righteousness of man” rather than “the righteousness of God,” and you don’t find the righteousness of man in this book. You only find the unrighteousness of man.

So this righteousness of God is without law and it is by faith. “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe,” Rm3:22

Justification does not require repentance, being baptized, being good, going to church, going to confession. If any of these things were required, this would be the place for Paul to tell us, because he is giving us a complete treatise on justification here in chapters one through four. But Paul says that the righteousness of God is given to all them that believe, including those that haven’t been baptized, including those that haven’t repented, including those that haven’t ever gone to confession or gone to church. Without doing any of those other things, God promises to “all them that believe,” that they will be justified. -- Voice: “Amen.”

In fact, if we do any of those other things for the purpose of justification, then we don’t have faith in Christ, because we don’t think what Christ did on the cross is sufficient to satisfy God’s justice.

Now there are some Scriptures scattered throughout the New Testament that seem to indicate that more than faith is required, when the context is not understood. For example, John the Baptist preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. (Mt3:2) And we saw that Jesus preached, “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” Mt4:17, when I was here several months ago.

But in the survey of Matthew, we saw that even though Jesus preached repent in the first part of his ministry, he stopped preaching repent in the second part, because that generation of the nation of Israel didn’t repent, and the kingdom was not at hand anymore. But some people today continue to preach repent based on the fact that Jesus preached repent, and don’t even realize that he stopped preaching repent. There may be valid reasons for preaching repent, but not because Jesus preached repent in the early part of his ministry, because he stopped.

So it is important to understand the context. That is all I am saying. And, like I said, this is a complete treatise on the subject of justification. If repentance or any other thing was necessary, Paul would be gravely negligent to omit to tell us what else we need to do here, because he says here that all we need to do is believe.

The book of John is entirely about how to have eternal life, and it says eternal life is by faith alone. The Greek word ‘pistos’ (pis-tos’), translated ‘faith,’ ‘believe,’ and ‘trust’ is used more times in John than any other book in the Bible, because the purpose of the book of John was that, “These are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name,” Jn20:31. Not, “that being baptized you might have life,” or “that going to church you might have life,” or “that being good you might have life,” but “that believing you might have life through his name.”

The next paragraph tells us how God can justify us merely by our faith. He does it through redemption and propitiation. In Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” ... being condemned and punished. That is what we would expect, because God is a just God. But it says, “For all have sinned ... being justified,” Rm3:23. Now how can a just God do that?

Well, it is by his grace, “being justified freely by his grace,” Rm3:24. Grace means getting something good that you don’t deserve. And it is “freely,” unearned. But that still doesn’t explain it. What explains it is that even though it was free for us, it wasn’t free for God. It wasn’t free for Christ.

“Through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ,” Rm3:24. Redemption means that when a poor person sells himself into slavery, a rich relative pays the price to buy their freedom again. That is what Christ did for us. He paid the price that only he could pay. So the price was paid. Our justification is not free, but it’s free for us.

“Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood,” Rm3:25. Propitiation is when somebody is angry with you, and then they are appeased and are not angry at you anymore. When we started this section on justification, we saw that “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,” Rm1:18. Jesus bore that wrath in our place, and that is why God is not angry anymore at any person who believes, at any person who has “faith in his blood.”

But even though Christ died for all, we can choose to trust in our own righteousness, we can be judged for our own works, and we can suffer the wrath for ourselves at the judgment. But if we trust in Christ, his substitutionary death counts for us. He received our sins. “He [God the Father] hath made him [Yeshua] to be sin for us, [he] who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him,” 2Cor5:21. And we receive his righteousness. “Be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith,” Phil3:9. Or we can be self righteous, and see how it goes at the judgment.

One thing is more important than our justification. It is that God remain just. “To declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God,” Rm3:25. When it is talking about his righteousness here, it is not talking about the righteousness which he gives to man. It is talking, this time, about his own righteousness. Is he a just judge or not? When he passed over David’s sin of adultery and murder, the “sins that are past,” before the death of Christ, how could he do that and still be just? It is because he looked forward in time to the death of Christ for David.

“That he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus,” Rm3:26. Now if God justified sinners, and that was the end of the story, then he wouldn’t be just, because the Bible says in Proverbs 17:15, “He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.” God is able to justify the wicked -- that’s us -- without being unjust, because we receive the righteousness of Christ. And God was able to condemn the just -- that’s Jesus -- without being unjust, because Jesus willingly took our sins on himself. This way, and this way only, God can be just and justifier.

So God cannot just overlook or forgive sin. He can’t just say, “I forgive you,” because then he wouldn’t be a just judge. If we had a judge downtown that let guilty men go free, we would be putting a new judge in there, I hope. But Christ paid the price which satisfied justice, so God can justify the wicked “which believeth in Jesus,” and still be just.

Romans 4:1-25. The Law Says Justification Is By Faith

Ok, the next section shows that the Old Testament confirms the doctrine of justification by faith. First of all, it says that the righteousness that God provides is an ‘imputed’ righteousness. “For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted [imputed] unto him for righteousness,” Rm4:2-3. In this passage, the same Greek word will be translated as ‘counted,’ ‘reckoned,’ and ‘imputed’.

Abraham was not in himself actually righteous. He had to be “counted” as being righteous while he was not righteous. This is another direct contradiction of the Catholic doctrine that men actually become righteous through baptism and confession and then must continue to be righteous to go to heaven.

And this righteousness of God is only available “to him that worketh not.” “Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness,” Rm4:4-5. If you are trying to be good to go to heaven then you don’t have this righteousness that God provides because you are one of those “that worketh,” rather than one of those “that worketh not.”

When your employer pays you, it is not grace. It is debt, because he owes you what you have earned for your work. Even if he helps you do the work, he owes you wages, because you put in the hours. If he pays you when you don’t even show up for work, that’s grace.

There is a system comprised of works, judgments, and rewards. There is a system comprised of faith, grace, and gifts. You have to be in that faith, grace, and gifts system in order to be justified. If you are in that works, judgment, and rewards system, you won’t survive the judgment.

The next paragraph also talks about imputed righteousness without works. “Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin,” Romans 4:6-8.

It is not, as the Catholics teach, that grace helps us do good works for our justification. It is that our works have been completely removed from the equation for our justification. It is “righteousness without works.” It is an imputed righteousness, not that we are actually righteous because of our works. Our works are actually bad. We actually sin grievously. But the good news! “Blessed is the [sinning] man to whom the Lord will not impute [his] sin.” Actually sinners, but not counted as sinners!

Now the only way to be justified, based on all of this, is to avoid being judged. If we are ever judged, we will perish. It is important to understand that even though God will judge “every man according to his deeds,” as we saw in Romans 2:6, not all will go through the judgment personally, since Christ already went through the judgment for those who believe on him.

Hebrews 9:27-28 says: “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.” Many believers, maybe some of us sitting here today, won’t die even once, because of the rapture, even though it is appointed unto man “once to die.” Why? Because Christ already died for us, and it counts for you if you have believed on him. And now even if we do die physically, the New Testament says we fall asleep, because we have already died through his death. And that is the same with the judgment. He already went through the judgment, so we won’t go through the judgment. There is no double jeopardy, even in our court system.

We see the actual judgment in Revelation 20 beginning in verse 5. “This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years,” Rev20:5-6. Notice there is no judgment for these who are raised in the first resurrection, because the judgment Christ already went through counts for them.

A thousand years later there is going to be another group resurrected, and they will be judged, and they will be condemned. There is no mention of anyone in this later resurrection being judged and being found to be good enough to go to heaven. The judgment is not to determine who will be justified and who will be condemned. It is to determine how much punishment each person in the judgment will be sentenced to. But everyone who is judged will be condemned.

In Revelation 20:7-15, “And when the thousand years are expired ... I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books [plural] were opened: and another book [singular] was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books [plural], according to their works.” No one is judged out of the book of life. All are judged by the books, plural, because they contain a list of “their works.”

“Death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.” This is the judgment talked about in Romans 2. And none of these people survive the judgment. “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life [everyone in this second resurrection] was cast into the lake of fire.”

The book of life is just there as a check, but there will be no one in this judgment whose name can be found in that book. God made eternal life available as a gift by simple faith to whosoever will, but the absence of these people’s names in the book of life shows they trusted in their own works, and thus must indeed now be judged by their works. The book of life has no columns in which to list any works, only the names of those who believe. If you want to rely on works, you will have to be judged out of those other books.

The next paragraph is about inheriting the promise. I won’t read all this, but basically that God took Abraham out, and showed him the stars, and said, “So shall thy seed be,” Rm4:18. He said, “You are going to have a lot of descendants,” even though Abraham was very old and had no child at the time.

And Abraham believed the Word of God, and so “it was counted unto him for righteousness,” Rm4:3. Abraham was justified the same way we are, by faith in God’s Word. The content was different, because Christ hadn’t come yet, but all men through all time have been justified by faith alone in God’s Word.

In the middle of this paragraph it says, “According to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be,” Rm4:18. That was the Word of God that Abraham believed. And the Word of God that we need to believe is that “he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life,” Jn3:36.

So Abraham “was strong in faith giving glory to God,” Rm4:20. It is not presumptuous to have faith. It gives God the glory due his name. If you have faith, you are saying that you believe he will keep his Word. He is not a liar. “And being fully persuaded ...” Rm4:21. Faith is always fully persuaded. “And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness,” Rm4:22.

Now, the best part of this, beginning in Romans 4:23-25, is that this was written for us. “Now it was not written for his [Abraham’s] sake alone, that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.”

So Paul didn’t put these doctrines here because they are theoretical or philosophical. Paul, in this last paragraph is concluding this section with an invitation. He wants you to act upon these doctrines and these words.

And so if there is somebody here today that hasn’t received the righteousness of God, hasn’t put that kind of faith in Jesus, then this is the time to do that. We are going to close our eyes and bow our heads for a minute. Tell him that you trust in his Son as your substitute who took your sin and suffered your punishment in your place on the cross, and that you accept the righteousness he offers you. He will give you his righteousness just for believing because the Word of God, in Romans 3:22 says, “The righteousness of God ... is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all ... them that believe.”

And if you are a Christian here, pray that anyone that doesn’t know the Lord here would understand this and put their faith in him. Father in heaven, we ask your grace that we would all understand this and we would all have faith in the sacrifice of your Son so that we might all have the righteousness you provided for us and eternal life. Amen.

Romans 5-8: Sanctification and Glorification

Recorded June 29, 2008

Romans 5:1-2. The Three Tenses Of Our Salvation

Ok, good morning again. How are you doing? It must be the fifth Sunday, because I’m here. The last time I was here, we started a survey of Romans. We covered chapters 1 through 4. Today I would like to look at Romans chapter 5. Is this too loud? No?

Today I would like to look at Romans chapter 5, which is about the certainty of our complete salvation, including our future glorification and our present sanctification. This is a special topic to me, so I am really thankful that I can share it with you.

We are going to start by looking at the first two verses of Romans chapter 5 that present the three tenses of our salvation. The past tense of our salvation is justification. Paul covered that in Romans chapters 1 through 4. Chapter 5, verse 1, says, “Therefore being justified,” which is better translated “having been justified,” past tense, “by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

To be justified means that God, who is holy, and his wrath is against all unrighteousness, counts a man who is not just, as if he were just. And he does that because of our faith in what Jesus did for us as our substitute, taking our sin and providing us his righteousness.

And then “we have peace with God,” Rm5:1. “We,” who still commit acts of unrighteousness, “have peace with God,” the just holy judge, because God counts us as righteous, “through Christ our Lord,” Rm5:1. So that is justification, the past aspect of our salvation. And I hope that is a past aspect for each person in this room, that we have already been justified by having believed on Jesus Christ at one day in the past.

The present aspect of our salvation is sanctification, a big word. And Paul is going to cover that in more detail in Romans 6 - 8. Romans 5:2 says, “By whom also we have access,” it should be “have had access,” past tense, “by faith into this grace wherein we stand.” So when you believed on Jesus Christ for justification, something else happened, though you didn’t realize it at the time; you also entered into grace through Jesus Christ. And it is a one way door into grace. You can go in, but you can’t come out. Nobody ever leaves grace once they enter in, because “we stand” in grace. Nobody falls in grace. We don’t stumble in grace. It says, “wherein we stand,” Rm5:2. Not some of us, not just for a little while; but, “we stand.”

The future aspect of our salvation is glorification. Paul will cover that topic in more detail in chapters 8 - 11. The end of chapter 5, verse 2, says, “And rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

That word “hope” tells us that it is something about the future. It doesn’t mean “hope so”; like, “I hope it comes to pass,” “I’m not really sure.” It is a very certain thing that is going to happen in the future to all who have been justified. But the word “hope” is there because it is something future. If there is something certain that happened in the past, like Christ’s death on the cross; we can have faith in that, because it happened in the past. But if it is something sure that is going to happen in the future, that is a ‘hope.’

And the thing in the future that is certain that we are looking forward to is “the glory of God.” Now that doesn’t mean that God is glorious, though he is. It is talking about the glory that God is going to give to man. Just as the phrase, “the righteousness of God,” back in Romans 1:17 didn’t mean that God is righteous, though he is; but that he gives his righteousness to men, and that event is called justification. Likewise, we are not only going to see the glory of God, we are going to share in the glory of God: and that event is called glorification. Praise the Lord!

And we rejoice in that hope of glory because it is a sure thing. If it wasn’t a sure thing it would be presumptuous of us to rejoice in it. If we didn’t know it was going to happen, we should, out of humility, wait until we know for sure, before we rejoice in it. But since we already know it is going to happen, we rejoice in it now.

In fact, the Greek word translated “rejoice” in Romans 5:2, ‘kaukometha,’ not only means ‘to rejoice,’ but also ‘to boast’; we “boast in hope of the glory of God,” Rm5:2. And, again, it is not presumption that we are boasting in this hope because it is a sure thing, since it is God’s promise. Paul would be very derelict here to say we are boasting in it, if it was something that might not happen to us.

Now here is a diagram of the three tenses of our salvation. On the left hand side you see justification. That is a past event, and it affects our spirits. On the right hand side you see glorification. That is a future event, and it affects our bodies. Our bodies didn’t change when we believed on Jesus Christ, except now they are older than they used to be. But in the future they will be changed; made incorruptible, immortal, and glorious. And then in the middle of the chart, you see sanctification. And that is not an event. It is a process. There is no second blessing that you can get as an event that is going to let you cruise through the Christian life without effort.

So Romans chapter 5 is an amplification of the main proposition of the book of Romans. I said the last time I was here that the main proposition of the book of Romans, according to 1:16-17, is that all who have been justified will be glorified, and all who have been justified are being sanctified, because of the way in which we were justified. So we will look at the certainty of our glorification in verses 3 - 10, and the certainty of our sanctification in verses 11 - 21.

Paul made that division clear within the chapter by starting both sections with the phrase, “And not only so, but we also rejoice in ....” Romans 5:3 says “And not only so, but we rejoice [KJV has ‘glory’] in tribulations also.” Then in verse 11, “And not only so, but we also rejoice [KJV has ‘joy’] in God.”

The Meaning of the Word ‘Glory’

Now before we start looking at the rest of the chapter, we have to do a little housekeeping; we have to consider the meaning of the word ‘glory,’ because not many people know what the word means today. If our hope that we are rejoicing in is the glory of God, sharing in the glory of God, well, what is glory? We should know what that is.

And this may be surprising. Sometimes glory means something like ‘honor,’ but most often it includes the concept of ‘brightness’. And people used to know that. That has just disappeared out of modern dictionaries, so we have to go back to Webster’s original dictionary to see the definition. In Webster’s original dictionary, the number one meaning for ‘glory’ was ‘brightness’. But, of course, what really matters is the Greek word, because that is the word that God wrote.

In Liddle and Scott’s Greek English Lexicon, (‘lexicon’ means ‘dictionary’), for the word ‘doksa,’ which is translated ‘glory,’ the third meaning is, “of external appearance, effulgence.” Ok, ‘effulgence’ doesn’t help us much. We don’t use that word too often. So we have to go back to Webster’s original dictionary, and effulgence means “a flood of light, great luster or brightness.”

Now is that the way the word is used in the New Testament? Let’s take a look. 2 Corinthians 3:7, “The children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory,” for the ‘brightness,’ “of his countenance,” of his ‘face’. So Moses went up on the mountain, and he was with the shekinah glory for a while. And there is another use of the word ‘glory’ for ‘brightness,’ the ‘shekinah glory’. And by his being with the shekinah glory, his face was glorified like our whole bodies will be someday. And when he came down from the mountain, he had to put a veil on his face because its brightness was hurting the eyes of the people.

Here is another passage. This is about Paul on his way to Damascus, when he saw the resurrected Lord. After Jesus was resurrected, 40 days later he ascended up to heaven and was glorified. So when Paul saw him on the way to Damascus, Yeshua was shining brightly. “About noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me .... And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth ... And when I could not see for the glory,” for the ‘brightness,’ “of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus,” Acts22:6-11. ‘Honor’ is not going to hurt anyone’s eyes, but a bright ‘glory,’ a bright light, can be blinding.

How does Jesus look today? When John saw him many years later in a vision in Revelation chapter 1, he was still shining, glorious. “His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace ... and his countenance,” his ‘face,’ “was as the sun shineth in his strength,” Rev1:15-16.

Now our bodies are going to be changed to be like his body in the future. That is called glorification. We are not going to receive a new body. The Bible never says we will receive a ‘new’ body. Our current bodies will be changed. Philippians 3:20, “We look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body,” that is the body we have now, “that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body,” his brightly shining body, “according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.”

Now we only get one body. God can no more replace my body than he can replace my spirit. If he gave me a new spirit, it wouldn’t be me anymore, it would be somebody else. And if he replaces my body, it is not me anymore, it is somebody else, because both parts are me. My spirit is Wayne; my body is Wayne.

Also if God didn’t change our present bodies, and he just threw them away, and gave us new bodies, then that would mean Satan would have won a victory in that part of creation; a permanent victory, and God can’t allow that to happen. So he has to redeem our current bodies for his own name’s sake.

Also, if God replaced our bodies with new bodies instead of changing our present bodies, there would be no such thing as ‘resurrection’. The meaning of ‘resurrection’ is that you take something that dies, and you raise it back up. If you don’t raise up that same thing, if you replace it with something else, that is not ‘resurrection,’ it is ‘replacement’.

Jesus’ tomb was empty. When Peter and John went into the tomb, they didn’t see Jesus’ old body laying there in the tomb, and his new body walking around outside. The tomb was empty because it was his same body that rose up.

And whether you are dead for a few days, or whether you are dead for 500 years and your body turns to dust, God is able to take that same material and bring it back together, add water, if you will, and re-form it. Now the fingernails we trimmed over of our lifetimes; he is not going to gather those back. But if we lose an arm, something essential, he will gather that wherever it is, whatever form it is in, and restore it with the rest of our body.

Our glorified bodies will be immortal: that means they can’t die. Incorruptible: meaning they can’t sin and can’t decay. Spiritual: that means their life is going to be from God. When our bodies are glorified, they will be ‘spiritual,’ but not ‘spirit’. Physical things can be ‘spiritual,’ but they can’t be ‘spirit’. Jesus said in Luke 24:39 after the resurrection, “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.” So it is true that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,” according to 1 Corinthians 15:50, but “flesh and bones” shall inherit the kingdom of God, according to Luke 24:39.

Now this hope of glory that we are looking forward to, this is not just one of many hopes for us Christians. This is the hope. This is one third of our salvation, as it were: justification, sanctification, glorification. And that’s why it is so important for us to know about it. Titus 2:13 says, “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious,” the ‘brightly shining,’ “appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” Colossians 1:27 says, “Christ in you, ‘the’ hope of glory,” of glorification.

Rm5:3-10. All Who Have Been Justified Will Be Glorified

Ok, now let’s look at how all who have been justified will be glorified, which is often called ‘eternal security’. Romans 5:3 says, “And not only so, but we glory ...” And this is a very unfortunate translation, because this is not the Greek word ‘doksa’ translated ‘glory’ in the previous verse. This is the word ‘kaukometha’ translated ‘rejoice’ in the previous verse. So let’s read it again. “And not only so, but we rejoice,” or ‘boast,’ ‘kaukometha,’ “in tribulations also,” Rm5:3. So first, we rejoice in hope of glory. Second, we rejoice in tribulations also.

Now why would somebody rejoice in tribulations and suffering? Is it logical to rejoice in suffering? Well, it is only logical if you ‘know’ something. It says here “knowing.” “Knowing that tribulation worketh,” or ‘produces,’ “patience,” Rm5:3. Patience means ‘endurance,’ ‘perseverance’. Suffering never produces falling or failure for anyone who has been justified. It always produces endurance. If there was any chance that we could fall and lose our salvation when we are tested by tribulation; then we could not rejoice in tribulation. We would rightly be afraid that we might fail the test and lose our salvation. But instead we rejoice in tribulation, and this is only possible because we know we are guaranteed to pass the test.

We know that no matter how hard things get, we are not going to stop believing on the Lord; and so during the easier times, of course, we are not going to stop believing either. If there is anything that could stop us from reaching our goal of glorification, it is tribulation. Tribulation will never stop a believer from believing, though it often stops false brethren from continuing to claim to be believers.

Tribulation melted away the crowds that had supposedly accepted Jesus with joy, like the sun withers plants that have no depth of soil. “He has no root in himself, but endures only for a while, for when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles,” Mt13:5-6, 20-21. But tribulation, the worst thing, can’t prevent our glorification, and thus neither can anything else prevent our glorification. And that in itself is worth rejoicing in!

But Paul goes on. “And patience, experience.” Experience means ‘proof’ or ‘passing the test’. “And experience, hope,” Rm5:5. Because if you pass the test, now you have more reward waiting for you in eternity. You have more glory to hope for, to look forward to, and to rejoice in.

So we rejoice in hope of glory, and we logically rejoice in sufferings too, because they result in more glory for us to look forward to. This is brought out in 2 Corinthians 4:17. “Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” Now our affliction is not light. It is often very heavy. But compared to the weight of glory that we get in exchange for it, it is light. And our affliction is not momentary. Sometimes it lasts very long. But compared to the eternity of glory that we receive for it, it is just a moment.

And we don’t all receive the same amount of glory in eternity. We won’t all shine with the same amount of brightness. 1 Corinthians 15:41 says, “There is one glory,” or ‘brightness,’ “of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory,” in ‘brightness’. So after we are all glorified, as soon as you see somebody, you will know immediately how much they have suffered, how faithful they have been, how hard they have labored, how much they shared the gospel, just by how brightly they are shining throughout eternity. And I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some subtle color variations to help indicate which kinds of works they received the differing amounts of glory for, even as the stars have different colors of light.

And we persevere through sufferings without fail. Romans 5:5 says, “And hope maketh not ashamed.” That means we ‘rejoiced’ and ‘boasted’ that we are going to be glorified, and when the time comes for us to be glorified, we are not going to find ourselves in the lake of fire instead. We are not going to be embarrassed or disappointed. Our glorification will come to pass.

Now how is it that we persevere through sufferings without fail? “Hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us,” Rm5:5. The word “because” there shows that Paul is telling us the reason we are sure to persevere. We are sure to persevere, we have eternal security, because after we are justified, the love of God is free to be poured out without measure, without limit, in a new way in our lives. Now the first thing God does at the very moment we believe is to give us the gift of the Holy Spirit to indwell us. And the Holy Spirit causes us to persevere, and to reach glorification.

Let’s look at God’s love to sinners in Romans 5:6-8. I’m going to paraphrase this. “Not many people will die for somebody else, but if they do, they are not going to die for a really bad person like Hitler. But God, who is even more offended by sin than we are, died in the person of his Son, for really bad people like us.”

Let me read verse 8. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Now that is a really amazing display of the love of God. But that has a limit in it in this verse, because there are certain things that God can’t do for people who are not justified. He can’t give glorification to people who are not justified.

And he can’t guarantee the justification of all people even though Christ died for all people; some will not believe and accept. And the problem is a legal one. It is because of this word “sinners,” in Rm5:8. Sin is a legal obstacle that limits what the love of a holy God can do for men. The only thing God can do for sinners, although it is one of the greatest things and is even beyond our ability to fully comprehend it, is for his Son to die for sinners, “while ... sinners, Christ died for us.”.

But now let’s look at God’s love to the justified in Romans 5:9. “Much more then,” and it is a “much more” comparison, “much more then, being now justified by his blood.” Now that our sins have been taken out of the way, God’s love is free to be poured out to us, to give us his Holy Spirit, and to bring all who have been justified to glorification. It says, “We shall be saved from wrath through him.” Notice the future tense of the verb, “shall be saved.”

The future tense of our salvation is glorification. It means that in the future we will be glorified instead of suffering the wrath of God in the judgment and in the lake of fire. And not only that, but it is all of us that will be glorified. It says, “we shall be saved,” not some of us shall be saved. And it is certain. It says, “we shall be saved through him,” not we might be saved through him.

So God provided a way of salvation for us before we were justified; Christ died for us. But now “much more,” after we have been justified, God doesn’t merely provide glorification for us, he ensures glorification for us. He guarantees our glorification, because in his love he wants to do that, but more importantly because he is free to do that, because now there is no legal obstacle of sin and righteous condemnation to limit his love, and to limit what he can do for us. We see also in verse 10, “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” Future tense again. We shall be saved. We shall be glorified. We have eternal security.

Rm5:11-21. All Who Have Been Justified Are Being Sanctified

So we’ve considered the certainty of our future glorification, now let’s consider the certainty of our present sanctification. Paul says in 5:11, “And not only so, but we also joy,” that’s the word ‘rejoice’ or ‘boast,’ ‘kaukometha’ again, “in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.” We now rejoice in God because we have been brought into a new relationship with God. Rather than fear, we now have joy and cry, “Abba, Father.” And this new relationship has vast effects upon us, because the way God accomplished the atonement was to put us into Christ. Therefore, all who have been justified, are being sanctified, because of the way in which we were justified; and that is worth rejoicing in!

In other words, we boast in God that he is going to bring us to glory, glorification. We don’t boast in ourselves that we are going to be able to do that, because it is God’s work in us. And we boast in our new relationship with God, and the certainty of the effect it has on us. It’s not that we are inherently different or better than any other Christian. Christians are not divided into different groups, like carnal Christians and spiritual Christians. We boast because it is God’s work in us, in all of us who have been justified, and God has ensured both our future glorification, and just as certainly, our present sanctification, by uniting us with Jesus Christ, “through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement,” Rm5:11. He united us with Christ at the atonement.

Paul talks about our union with Adam in 5:12-14. And I’ll paraphrase this. “You can ‘sin’ without law, but you can’t ‘transgress’ without law; you can’t break a law if there’s no law to break. But all people suffered death, which is the penalty for transgressing, from Adam to Moses, (except for Enoch whom God delivered), even though they didn’t have a law to transgress. So it must have been that they transgressed when Adam transgressed, and that Adam’s sin was imputed unto them.” Adam’s sin is imputed unto us because we were in him and one with him at the time he sinned.

Now we may not particularly like that doctrine, but at the end of the paragraph in verse 14, Paul says, “who is the figure of him that was to come.” Adam is a figure of Jesus. And how can one man die for the sins of another? Well, our sins were imputed unto Christ, like Adam’s sins were imputed unto us. So the two go together. You can’t say, “I like the concept that my sins could be imputed to Christ, so that I could be saved; but I don’t think it’s possible that Adam’s sin was imputed to me.”

There are some differences, though. In Romans 5:15, Paul says, “But not as ....” So there is a difference here; “but not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more,” that’s the difference, “much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded,” that’s the difference, “unto many.” If the effect of Adam’s sin was so certain that it resulted, with all certainty, in death for all of Adam’s race; then it is much more certain that our union with Christ, and the grace of God we entered into thereby, will effectively work in every Christian. And God does not merely restore to us what we lost in Adam. He goes way beyond that in what he gives us in Jesus Christ.

In verse 16. “And not as it was,” we are talking about another difference, “by one that sinned,” that’s the difference, one sinned, “so is the gift: for the judgment was by one,” one man, Adam, and his one offence, “to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences,” the many offenses of many people, “unto justification.” Justification had to cover not only the one sin of Adam that passed on to us and was so powerful in its effects; but it also had to cover, in addition to that one sin of Adam, all the sins of all people of all time.

So the gift and grace received by the atonement is vastly more powerful than the one sin of Adam, and Adam’s sin was powerful enough to affect us all without fail, so how can we ever say that it is possible that the grace of God may not affect us? How could we claim that there could be even one Christian who has the ability to walk like the unsaved? Of course there are many people that merely claim to be Christians, and even attend church, that are not truly Christians, that never believed, or were justified, or received the gift by grace.

Let’s go on to 5:18. “Therefore as by the offence of one,” that’s Adam’s action, “judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness,” that should be translated ‘righteous act,’ “of one,” of Christ, “the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.” “All men” there means ‘all men who are in that person’. All who were in Adam, which is the whole human race, suffered condemnation. All who are in Christ, all who have been justified, receive justification of life.

Not merely justification, but also life. We have been born of God, we are regenerate, we have new life. How can anyone think Christians have the ability to walk in unrighteousness when we have God’s nature within us? If we have truly been justified, and not just claim to be a Christian, then we cannot help but live according to our new nature, not perfectly, but certainly differently than living without God within us.

“Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God,” 1Jn3:9. This doesn’t mean that we cannot commit individual acts of sin, any more than our having been in Adam and having had his fallen nature meant that we could never do any acts of righteousness; but it is not possible for we who have God’s nature because of our new birth, to continue in a lifestyle of sin; and when we do commit sin, it is grievous to us.

Now even though the second half of this chapter is primarily about the certainty of sanctification, we also see the certainty of our glorification in the way we received the atonement through Jesus Christ. Verse 18 talks about actions that others did that set the bounds of our freedom of choice. Adam’s act of transgression resulted in condemnation, which only Jesus could provide a way out of by his act of righteousness. We don’t have completely free choice in this world, because we can’t just choose anything we want. Our choices are limited to what is provided to us to choose from. If Jesus had not died for our sins to provide a way of justification by faith, we could have had faith all day, and nothing would have come of it.

Likewise, for us to become unjustified, we can’t just decide, “Ok, I’ll become unjustified now.” We don’t have that option. Christ would have to, and this is unthinkable, commit sin, so that we could become sinners again. Or a third party stronger than Christ, as Christ was stronger than Adam, would have to come, and make a way for us to have the option to become one with him and become ‘unjustified,’ but of course no one is stronger than Christ.

So we don’t have the option to go in and out of Christ at will. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul calls Christ, not ‘the second Adam,’ but “the last Adam”. There are only going to be two Adams, two representatives of the human race: Adam and Christ, and once you are in Christ, God provides no way for you to leave Christ.

Now let’s look at grace in Romans 5:20. “Moreover the law entered,” and the Greek is ‘entered alongside,’ “that the offence might abound,” and the word should be just ‘increase,’ not ‘abound’. Having the law means men not only sin, but they also transgress, or commit “offence,” which is even more sinful. Also, when the law says not to do something, the result is that evil men want to do it more, and they do it more.

“But where sin abounded,” ‘increased’ in the Greek, “grace did much more abound,” and there the word really is ‘abound,’ except it has a prefix ‘super’ in front of it, ‘super-abound,’ and then it has “much more” in front of that. So Paul is exhausting the limits of language to try to show us the abounding nature of grace, that it ‘much more super-abounds’ over any amount of sin, so that God can guarantee our sanctification (and glorification too).

Verse 21, “That as sin hath reigned unto death ...” Sin reigns over all who have not been justified. And that is why we see the world as it is. And what it means for sin to reign is that, at any moment in time, a person can resist and not sin. But because sin is their master, because sin ‘reigns’ over them and has persistent influence over them, their general way of life will be one of sin, for every person to different degrees.

And then Paul says, “Even so might grace reign,” Rm5:21. Grace reigns after we have been justified. Not merely just as powerfully, but even more powerfully, than the reign of sin. And so what it means for grace to reign, is that at any moment in time, we can resist the reign of grace in our lives, but because of the persistent influence of grace upon us, our lives will be characterized by righteousness, and by everything that God’s grace wants to accomplish in our lives.

So there is such a thing as irresistible grace, but it is not for those who are unjustified, because they haven’t yet had their entrance into grace. It is when we believe on Jesus Christ that we have entrance “into this grace wherein we stand,” Rm5:2. And also, that is when grace begins to reign. And by its powerful reign over us, it is causing us to, without fail, walk in righteousness while it takes us to glorification. That grace might, “reign through righteousness,” that’s sanctification, “unto eternal life,” that’s glorification, Rm5:21.

And people like to say that eternal life is a kind of life, but it is also a length of life. If you have life for only one year, you never had ‘eternal’ life, you had some kind of temporary life. If you have eternal life now, you have it a million years from now. And so we have all these things, grace, righteousness, and eternal life, “through Jesus Christ our Lord,” Rm5:21, through Christ’s work of the atonement which resulted in our union with Christ.

And Romans 6:1 confirms our interpretation of Romans 5 because it says, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” Now if Paul had taught that if you are not good you can lose your salvation, then nobody would say, “Oh, I’ll just go out and sin all I want then.” But since he taught eternal security, that no matter what you do, you are going to be glorified, then people raise the objection, “If you teach eternal security, people are just going to go out and sin.”

And if our teaching doesn’t expose us to this charge, then we are not teaching eternal security and grace. Of course, anyone that makes that charge doesn’t understand the power of the reign of grace over us, like the reign of sin was before we were justified, only immeasurably stronger, and so Paul will expound in more detail on how our union with Christ ensures the certainty of our sanctification in chapters 6 and 7.

What Do You Give A Person Who Has Everything?

Ok, what do you give a person who has everything? We are going to have everything in eternity. How about a gemstone with a secret name written in it like Revelation 2:17 talks about? Or how about a crown that only those who love his appearing can wear, like in 2 Timothy 4:7-8?

Or how about different degrees of brightness? Daniel 12:2-3 says, “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life [those who have been justified], and some to shame and everlasting contempt [those who have not been justified], and they that be wise [those who have been justified and labor to different degrees] shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness [those who have been justified and share the gospel to different degrees], as the stars for ever and ever.”

Some when they are glorified won’t shine quite so brightly - forever and ever. And we are not in competition with each other, but we should invest in our future. Jim Elliot said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

And if you don’t know the Lord today, thankfully your future judgment is not certain, it is not guaranteed. You can change your destiny today, unlike those of us who have believed. We are destined for glory, and there is nothing we can do to change that, thankfully.

But you can believe on the Lord today. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life,” Jn3:16. So in your heart now, tell him you trust in what he did for you. Trust his Word that, if you believe, you will have everlasting life.

Father, we ask that if there is someone here that doesn’t know you, that they will trust in you, and receive everlasting life, and that each of us would live in such a way that we would have more glory for eternity through your grace. Amen.

Romans 6:1-13. Sanctification - A New Life

Recorded August 31, 2008

It is good to see you all this morning. This is my fifth time meeting with you folks. Today we are continuing our study of Romans, and we are in chapters 6 and 7. Everybody can hear me ok? Our topic today is the doctrine of sanctification. And we will get started.

Chapter 6, Verse 1. “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” This question comes up because Paul had taught eternal security in chapter 5. Now nobody raises this question if you teach you can lose your salvation. They don’t say, “Well, if you can lose your salvation, that would mean we could just go out and sin and live however we want.” But because Paul taught eternal security in chapter 5, that you are not going to lose your salvation even if you sin, then they say, “Well, that would mean we could just go out and sin.”

Paul’s answer is in verse 2. “God forbid.” More literally, “May it never be,” NASV. And Paul often uses this kind of answer when he answers objections about things that are not merely inappropriate, but impossible. In Romans 3:5-6 he says, “Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? ... God forbid.” In Romans 9:14 he says, “Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.” It is not merely inappropriate for God to be unrighteous. It is impossible for God to be unrighteous. And it is not merely inappropriate for us to continue in sin. It is impossible for us to continue in sin.

In the rest of verse 2 he tells us why. “How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” He doesn’t mean that we have a moral obligation not to live in sin and that it would be really ungrateful and rude of us to do so. He means “How?” How would that work? By what conceivable way could that be possible?

So first he is making a statement. We are dead to sin. Then he is saying it is logically impossible to be at the same time both dead to something and alive to something. You can’t be dead to something and be alive to it. It is a logical impossibility.

Now there are several places in the New Testament where we are given a list of sins that is impossible for a Christian to continue in. One example is 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?” Now we tend to think that the unrighteous might just be ‘backslidden’ or ‘not walking with the Lord’ right now. But Paul says, “Know ye not that the unrighteous” aren’t Christians. They aren’t going to heaven. They won’t “inherit the kingdom of God.”

It is stated like that because after the tribulation we return to earth to the Messianic Kingdom. It’s popular for us today to say something like, “Unless you’re born again, you can’t go to heaven,” but it’s more Biblical to say something like, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” Jn3:3, the future Messianic Kingdom.

So Paul is saying those whose lives are characterized by those kinds of unrighteous deeds are not even believers. He says, “Be not deceived.” We tend to be easily deceived in this area. He says, “Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,” that’s homosexuals, “nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you.” He cannot say “And such ‘are’ some of you,” because it’s impossible for a Christian to be one of those things. But “such ‘were’ some of you” (though not ‘all’ of you), before you accepted the Lord.

Here’s another list. Galatians 5:19, “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past,” over and over and over again, “that they which do such things” are ‘poor Christians’? No. They are not Christians. That they “shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”

And Ephesians 5:5. “For this ye know,” I hope you know by now. I hope you know. “That no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words.” Even if they make a profession of faith, even if they come to church, even if they go to our social events, don’t be fooled. “For because of these things cometh the wrath of God,” and we are not under the wrath of God, “upon the children of disobedience,” but we are children of God and our lives are characterized by obedience.

Also, in Revelation 21:8. “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

Now a Christian, in a time of weakness, and selfishness, and lust, can fall into one of these things, like David did. He committed adultery with Bathsheba. He murdered her husband. But his life was not characterized by those kinds of things. And the reason we can’t continue in these kinds of things is because the Holy Spirit makes us feel guilty when we sin. And we repent, and it might happen again, but we feel terrible and we repent. So we just can’t continue in those kinds of things like the world does.

Back to our text. Romans 6:3. “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?” In other words, he is giving us the timing; he is telling us ‘when’ we died to sin. He had said in verse 2, “You can’t continue in sin. It’s impossible because you are dead to sin.” Well, when did we die to sin? And the answer is that we died to sin when we were baptized into Jesus Christ.

Now this is not talking about water baptism, because there are a lot of believers who were never water baptized, and we saw in Romans chapter 3 that it is not essential for justification to be water baptized. And there are also a lot of people who are water baptized who aren’t believers, who don’t know the Lord.

So what this is talking about is Spirit baptism into the body of Christ, into the Church. 1 Corinthians 12:13, “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” So this is not something that just ‘ought’ to happen. This is something that happened to all of us, or else we are not in the body of Christ. We are not justified.

It says here that we were baptized into Christ’s death. So this baptism into Christ happens at a certain point in Christ’s experience, and it happens at a certain point in our experience. In Christ’s experience it was at the point of his death, not at the point of his birth, or something like that, but at the point of his death. And for us the point is when we were justified. At the time we believed, we were baptized into Christ.

Now since we were baptized into him at the point of his death, then everything that happens to Christ after his death happens to us. The next thing that happened to Christ after his death was his burial. So verse 4 says, “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death.” All these subsequent things happen “by,” by means of, our having been baptized into his death.

And so next we are raised with Christ by our baptism into his death. It says, “that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” The word “that” indicates purpose; ‘so that,’ ‘in order that,’ as Christ was raised up we also would walk in newness of life.

The purpose that God had in our salvation was not primarily the forgiveness of our sins. The purpose in God putting us into Christ at the point of his death, was not primarily so that we would share in his death and our sins would be forgiven. The purpose was that, by being put into him at the point of death, we would then be raised with him and walk in newness of life. That was God’s purpose in this whole process.

And I know that God’s purposes always come to pass. If justifying us by putting us into Christ at the point of his death could fail to accomplish God’s purpose that each of us walk in newness of life, then he would have used another method to accomplish our justification. But putting us into Christ at the time of our justification does, without fail, accomplish God’s purpose of a new walk for all who have been justified.

That word “should,” when it says, “even so we also ‘should’ walk in newness of life,” don’t be confused by that and think it means we merely ‘ought’ to walk in newness of life. The Wycliffe New Testament says, “So walk we in newness of life.” It leaves out the word “should,” because it is confusing. Corey Keating, of NtGreek.org, says, “If the subjunctive mood,” like for the word “should,” “is used in a purpose or a result clause,” which it is because we saw the word “that” indicates purpose, “then the action should not be thought of as a possible result, but should be viewed as the stated outcome that will happen.”

So what we need to understand is that all these verses in this section use words like “should” to indicate future tense, but that is just because resurrection is future to burial and death. They are just logical clauses. One thing follows another. But in these kinds of clauses, “should” doesn’t mean “ought to,” it means it is going to happen, it follows logically from what went before, and that is what we want to understand here.

Verse 6, “Knowing this, that our old man is,” and it should be past tense, “was,” “crucified with him.” Now what does that phrase “old man” mean? It doesn’t mean “sin nature.” That is a made up term. We don’t have two parts to our spirit, you know, one part the old nature and one part the new nature. And we don’t have two spirits in us, one old nature and one new nature.

“Old man” means the man we were before we became the “new man.” The person we were before we were put into Christ and that was put into Christ at the moment of his death, that is the ‘old man.’ And when Christ was raised up from the dead, and we were raised up with him, that is the ‘new man,’ in terms of his experience. In our experience, the person we were before we were justified, that is the ‘old man’. The person we are now after our justification, that is the ‘new man’.

Justification makes such a big difference in a person’s life that you have to talk about it as the ‘old man’ and the ‘new man.’ 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

All right. Let’s move on to the second part of verse 6, “that the body of sin might be destroyed,” or, as Darby says, “annulled.” The word “body” there means “body.” Our bodies are sinful, and they have been like that ever since Adam sinned and his body began to die and became prone to sin.

And our bodies are not going to be destroyed. They are going to be changed into the glory of God at the time of our glorification in the future, but right now the effects of our bodies, even though they are sinful, have been annulled, which means ‘made of none effect’. So even though we still have the same bodies, and they haven’t been changed since our justification, except that they are older; their effect has been made of none effect, their influence is negated, “... that henceforth we should not serve sin,” as we see in the last part of verse 6.

And, again, it is confusing. That word “should” is not in the Greek. Young’s Literal Translation says, “For our no longer serving sin.” It doesn’t mention the word “should” because this is something that is actually happening to us right now. We are no longer serving sin, because the effect of our sinful bodies have been annulled, because we have been justified.

Also, I want to mention that the underlined words in the outline indicate servitude, like the word “serve” that I underlined in your handout, because it is a main theme that you have to understand to understand these two chapters, chapters 6 and 7. It is talking about servitude, and how we have had a change of masters. We have had a change of kings. We have had a change of husbands.

And then in verse 7, “For he that is dead is freed from sin.” We have been liberated. We have been emancipated because of what Christ did on the cross. He paid the full price so that we are legally released as slaves of sin and are made servants of God.

In Romans 3:9 Paul says, “We have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin,” under the authority of sin, slaves to sin. Romans 3:19, “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law,” under the authority of the law, slaves to the law. That’s referring to our Jewish believing brethren, because Gentiles were never under the law. Romans 5:14, “Death reigned from Adam to Moses.” So not only were we under sin; we were under death, too. It had power over us, and nobody could escape its reign. And Romans 5:21, “That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign .... unto eternal life.” So now we are under the reign of grace.

Let’s look at verse 8. “Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.” The word “believe” does not indicate any doubt here; and the word “shall” does not mean we have to wait until the resurrection of our bodies to “live with him.” The verse indicates that if one is true, the other necessarily follows. Christ is already alive, and as certainly as we died with him, just as certainly, we are living his life now.

You can’t say someone has been justified, but they are not walking a sanctified walk or living a Christ-like life. If you died with him, you are also living with him. Sharing in his death justified you without fail, and so sharing in his life is also sanctifying you without fail.

Verse 9. “Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.” Lazarus lived under the dominion of death, and got sick, and died. And Jesus came along and raised him up. But when he raised Lazarus from the dead, Lazarus was put right back under the dominion of death again, and so some time later Lazarus died again. But Jesus, though he was under the domain of death for a time when he took our sins on the cross, when he was raised up from the dead, he wasn’t put back under the domain of death again, and he is never going to die again.

And not only did he take us with him and deliver us from the domain of death, but he also took us with him and delivered us from the domain and the rule of sin. In verses 10 and 11, Paul says, “For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

This is the first commandment in the book of Romans, and it is not a commandment to ‘do’ anything; just to realize something: that we died to sin, and that we are alive to God. In what way did we die to sin? We died to the reign and the rule of sin, the servitude to sin. In what way are we alive to God? God is now our new master. Now we are servants of God instead of servants to sin. So we have a new master-servant relationship.

Now let’s look at the way this new master-servant relationship works. First, before we were justified, while we were under sin; sin, as our ruler, as our master, had a strong influence, and a persistent influence, in our lives. At any moment in time we could choose not to sin. But because sin had a strong and persistent influence on us; therefore, in general, the life of every single person who has not been justified, their general way of life is sin. Even if they successfully resist sin sometimes, their general way of life is one of sin. Some sin to a greater degree, some to a lesser degree, but all are characterized by a life of sin.

Now we are under the reign of God. We are servants to God. How does that work? Well, the Holy Spirit exerts a strong and persistent influence on our lives. And at any point in time we have free will to decide, no, we are not going to do righteousness. But because the Holy Spirit continues to have that strong and persistent influence on us, the general characteristic of every believer’s life is one of righteousness - not all to the same degree, but all characterized by righteousness; in the same way that the life of every unbeliever is characterized by sin to different degrees.

Matthew 13:23, “But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it.” There were four groups in this parable in Matthew, and this is the first group that ‘understood’ the Word, so this is the first group that was justified. And it continues, “which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

So everyone who is justified bears fruit. The minimum is thirtyfold, but some do much better than that. They go sixtyfold, and a hundredfold. We don’t want to be satisfied with just the minimum that is guaranteed. We don’t want to just have a righteous walk; we want every step of the way to be in righteousness, and we want the fullness and completeness that we can have in Jesus Christ.

Now this is God’s work, and so he gets the glory. Because, even if we wanted to, we couldn’t stop from having that thirtyfold fruit. But we want completeness in Jesus Christ, so that we can have eternal reward, and so that his name can be glorified even more. Ephesians 4:13. “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect [that means complete] man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” So that’s our goal, but every justified person is guaranteed, if you will, a walk of righteousness.

Romans 6:12. “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.” Now we have just been saying that sin doesn’t reign over us, that it is impossible for sin to reign over us, and that is true, ‘over us’. Sin can reign ‘in our mortal body’ even though it can’t reign ‘over us’. If a person resists the Holy Spirit, and grits his teeth, and just continues on, and doesn’t repent; sin can reign in his mortal body for a period of time, for a little while, and then the Lord will take that believer home by means of physical death; because he won’t be allowed to continue in sin.

1 Corinthians 5:4-5, 10. “In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh,” that is the death of the body, “that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus,” that means you don’t lose your salvation over it, “... I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.”

So the apostle says that if somebody called a brother, somebody who assembles with believers and is thought to be a believer, tries to walk in one of these things, he will feel terrible and normally he will stop it. But, even though he feels terrible, if he forces himself to continue on in it, the Lord will take him home. But we can speed up the process by exercising church discipline and shunning this person, not eating with him, not companying with him. He might be made to realize the seriousness of his sin, and he might repent sooner. But if he doesn’t, the Lord will take him home sooner.

1 John 5:16 says, “If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.” So if you see a brother continuing in any of these things, go ahead and pray that he will stop doing those things. But don’t pray for his health. Don’t pray that God will protect his life, because then you will be praying against the will of God, who wants to take him home by means of physical death.

Ok, verse 13. “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” Now the word “yield” there means to present yourselves for service, as if you are standing before a king, and as soon as he gives the word you go out and do what he says.

And when we were under sin, and we presented ourselves as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, we didn’t just say, “I surrender to you. I am willing to do what you want. I am willing to be willing.” We went out and we sinned. And what this word “yield” means here in this verse, is that when you yield yourselves unto God you don’t just say, “I am willing to do your will. I surrender to your will.” You go out and you do it. This is talking about action.

Philippians 2:12-13 says, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” Colossians 1:29 says, “I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.” 1 Corinthians 16:13 says, “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.” Ephesians 6:13, “Take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” 2 Timothy 2:1, 3, 15, “Be strong ... endure hardness, as a good soldier ... a workman.”

Now it is good to pray when you are under temptation. Hebrews 4:15-16 says, “For we have ... an high priest ... in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” And Jesus quoted Scripture to the devil, when he was tempted. But we can quote Scripture to ourselves to help us so that we can resist the devil.

There are some sins that you ought to resist. James 4:7 says, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” But there are other sins you are not to resist. There are some sins you are not supposed to stand up against. You are supposed to run. 2 Timothy 2:22, “Flee also youthful lusts.” 1 Corinthians 6:18, “Flee fornication.” Like Joseph fled from Potiphar’s wife. You may need to change your work schedule, or your job or something, so that you are not even in that situation.

But what we shouldn’t do is just sit back and say, “I’m willing,” and just ‘let go and let God’; because people that try to ‘let go and let God’ have a false hope of a more righteous walk. And those are the people that are going to have the thirtyfold, instead of the sixtyfold, or the hundredfold, because he tells us to go out and work.

There is no second event that you can have between your justification and your glorification, that will let you cruise through the Christian life, and cruise through your sanctification process, without effort, and without suffering, and without striving, and without work, and without labor.

Now, knowing that our walk in righteousness is guaranteed helps us in two ways. First of all, if you know that you can’t continue in sin, you are not going to be planning for it. You are not going to be investing time or money in it, because you know you are not going to be able to continue in it. There is no sense in starting up this lifestyle, or starting to go down that road, when you know it is all going to be thrown away every time you start it. You are going to feel guilty, and you are going to leave it and come back, or the Lord is going to take you home. So knowing that our walk in righteousness is guaranteed helps us not even start down those wrong roads.

And, secondly, it helps us because if we know we have the war won, we have more confidence to fight the battles. And since we know that the walk is guaranteed, we have more confidence to make each step one of righteousness.

Now, what we are talking about here in Romans 6, is not actually ‘sanctification’. We are talking about the ‘doctrine of sanctification’. But if you want to see what real ‘sanctification’ is you turn over to chapter 12. Chapters 12 through 16 is where, not the ‘doctrine of sanctification’ occurs, but ‘sanctification’ occurs, because ‘sanctification’ means doing the will of God, serving, working, laboring, and doing what it says, in chapters 12 through 16.

Romans 6:13-18. Sanctification - A New Master

All right, let’s look at verses 14 through 18 as a group to save time. Paul is talking about not being under the law, and he says people think, “Ok, if you are not under the law, if there is no threat of punishment, then people would just go out and sin. They will live however they want.”

But Paul says in verse 16, “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” Now at first glance, it looks like that verse is saying I can just, every five minutes, go and choose who I am going to serve. If I decide to serve this guy, I am his servant for a while; and if I decide to serve that guy, I become his servant a while.

But that is not what it is saying. It is saying that if you look at who a person is serving you can tell who their master is. Most of the time, we obey our employer, even though at any particular moment we may disobey. An apple tree does not become an apple tree because it bears apples; you can tell that it’s an apple tree because it bears apples, and it bears apples because it’s an apple tree. Even the law, with its threat of punishment, cannot control servants of sin, but servants of righteousness do righteousness even when you take the law and its threat of punishment away.

Now there are different kinds of servitude. In the Bible and in this country we have had bond service, indentured servants, and apprenticeship. Now we have what we call ‘employer-employee’ relationships, which covers up the servitude aspect nicely so we don’t realize we are just servants, but we are. And even in our society, to change your employer is a significant event. You can’t just run over and serve another man and thereby become his servant. You go through a process, and become another man’s servant first, and then you serve him, because you’re under his authority, and it changes your life, it changes what you do all day.

So he says here in verses 17 and 18, “But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.” So when we believed the gospel, our change of masters took place.

And to ‘obey the gospel’ means to have faith and be justified. Because Romans 10:16-17 says, “They have not all obeyed the gospel.” Now we don’t do works to be saved. We have faith in the gospel and that saves us. But since God revealed the gospel to the world it is not obedience to reject it. We need to have faith in it; and, continuing on with that passage in Romans 10, in verse 17, “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.”

So this is the only totally free choice you ever have in life. Before your justification, you always had the power of sin, your master, influencing you and getting you to sin as your general way of life. And after your justification, you always have the Holy Spirit, who is never going to let you go, influencing you and causing you to walk in righteousness. But for that period of time, while you are a servant of sin, and you haven’t yet been regenerated, and you haven’t yet entered into grace (because that happens at justification); you hear the gospel, and the supernatural power of the gospel gives you the ability to make a true choice as to whether or not to believe, and that is the only totally free choice we have in life.

Let’s look at the next paragraph quickly, in verses 19 through 23. Here Paul is still showing that being under grace results in a more righteous walk than being under the law, because when you are a servant of sin, you do works of unlawfulness. “Ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity,” which is more literally translated ‘lawlessness unto lawlessness’. He says, “Even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.” That word “holiness” is the from same Greek word which is translated “saints” in other places, and it is where we get the word ‘sanctification’ from, which is our topic today. Holiness is the goal of the law, but it is not accomplished in us by the law.

And what Paul is encouraging us to do here, when he says,” “yield your members servants to righteousness,” is to make every step one of righteousness. He says, “What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed?” There is shame in those things. And he said, “The end of those things is death, but now we have fruit unto God and holiness.” So he is motivating us to avoid wasting time in empty and hurtful things, and to make every step one of righteousness.

And notice the words “those things.” Sin results in death, “the end of those things is death.” “But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.” He doesn’t say “the end of ‘those things’ is everlasting life” because although sin results in death, holiness and good works do not result in everlasting life.

Now the two things go together on both sides. Sin and death always go together because one causes the other. And holiness and everlasting life always go together, but not because one causes the other. Holiness (sanctification) and everlasting life (glorification) always go together without fail because both come from the same source: justification.

Now the Catholic Church teaches that, first of all, you are justified because of baptism. And we saw in Romans chapter 3, that baptism isn’t the way of justification. And they teach that at that point your sins are forgiven, but that after that point then you are rewarded eternal life for the righteous acts that you do, with the help of God’s grace. And if you do something really unrighteous, then you lose that eternal life, and you need to go to confession or do some other things to get those sins forgiven and get re-justified. But these verses clearly teach that is not the case. You don’t receive eternal life because of your righteous acts. “Everlasting life” is not a result of our living a holy life.

Romans 7:1-6. Sanctification - A New Husband

Let’s look at the next paragraph, chapter 7 verses 1 through 6. And it says here that “the law has dominion over man as long as he lives.” And this is, again, referring to our Jewish believing brethren, like Paul. “For the woman which hath an husband ....” The Wycliffe New Testament says, “that is under a husband.” And that word “under” is really there in the Greek. I don’t know why most versions leave it out because the whole idea is that, just as Israel was under the law, a woman is under the authority of her husband. Just like Israel has to obey the law, a woman has to obey her husband.

That is what Ephesians 5:21-33 says. Women have to submit to their husbands. It also says husbands have to make sure that every command they give is for the welfare of the wife. A husband has to sacrifice everything for his wife like Christ sacrificed himself for the Church. So we men are not off the hook.

But here is the idea. Here is a married woman who is infertile and can’t have children. There is nothing wrong with her husband, except that he can’t miraculously cause this barren woman to have children. And she can’t marry this other man, whose mere word of promise can give children to the barren, because it would be adultery to have two husbands. So she has to wait for her husband to die.

But the law is never going to die, and Israel can’t be freed from the law that way. So what happens is that the wife dies with and is raised up with Jesus, and then can rightfully marry Jesus. So our Jewish brethren died along with Christ, and were raised up with him, so they along with us can comprise the church, the bride of Christ, who can make even people like us bear fruit.

He says in the middle of the paragraph, “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God ... that we should serve in newness of spirit.”

So, we saw earlier that we have a new master-servant relationship. Now we see here that we have a new husband-wife relationship. We will see later, in Romans 8, that we also have a new father-son relationship. All these relationships are superior-inferior relationships - not in quality, but in position - because a superior always gives commands, and the inferior always obeys commands.

And this is why we aren’t guaranteed that we will do righteousness perfectly. Instead, we are guaranteed we will do righteousness in general, because our new relationships - like servant to God rather than servant to sin, husband to Christ rather than husband to the law, son of the Father rather than son of flesh - all these relationships work just like they do in real life. In general, those in authority over us vastly affect how we live by their persistent influence and legitimate authority, even though at any moment in time we can choose to disobey. So it is not a mechanical thing. It is a new relationship.

Romans 7:7-25. Sanctification - The Law

Now in verses 7 to 12 of Romans 7, Paul says, “I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” So from your own conscience you can find out a lot of bad things about yourself, but if you study the law, as Paul did, you can find out even more bad things about yourself. Like when Paul got to the tenth commandment that said, “Thou shalt not covet.” And the positive side of that commandment, in addition to not wanting what we don’t have, is to be content with what we do have. And Paul realized he fell short.

He says, “For I was alive without the law once.” That means he felt Ok. “But when the commandment came,” as he studied it and tried to keep it, “sin revived, and I died.” He realized that he was a sinner. He realized he was condemned.

“That sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.” Because he said back in verse 8 that, “the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence,” that is, lust. So the law not only shows you your sin, but it also makes you want to sin. You tell somebody don’t do this, and they want to do it. And that just shows how bad we are. There is nothing wrong with the law.

I was in an elementary school cafeteria where a church was meeting, and the place was plastered with banners saying, “Just say no to drugs” - in an elementary school. The problem is that when you put things like that in front of people all the time, and you keep telling them not to do it, you know, they are going to start to be interested in it. And they are going to think, “Maybe I should try that.”

Let’s look at the next paragraph, Romans 7:13-25. “For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.” Now we know this refers to Paul before he had been justified because we have just been studying that we who have been justified are no longer under sin, we are no longer servants in bondage to sin. So Paul is describing his life as a Jewish Pharisee under the law before he came to Christ.

He says, “For I delight in the law of God after the inward man.” The Pharisees delighted in the law of God. They built their lives around studying the law of God. He says, “But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” A person who is under sin and a servant of sin can’t keep the law, no matter how much they study it. And the problem is in our members, in our bodies of sin. “So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.” He could decide to keep the law, but he couldn’t keep it, because the effect of his sinful body had not been annulled (Rm6:6).

How is Paul’s pre-justification experience under the law relevant and important to this section on sanctification? Because it is the best passage in the Bible to show that the best the law can do for us is not enough. Paul was an example of an unregenerate man trying to keep the law, and there was no hope for him. He said, “Who will deliver me from this body of death,” this body, that keeps me from keeping the law? And the only answer is, not the law, but “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord,” Rm7:25.

Romans 8:1-13. Sanctification - A New Mind

All right, let’s look at chapter 8, verses 1 to 13, our last paragraph.

Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” This verse is not saying there are two classes of Christians, and that only Christians who walk after the Spirit have no condemnation. There is no condemnation for anyone who has been justified, especially since we are not under the Law, as Paul has just shown.

But at the same time that we were delivered from condemnation and any threat of law, we were also changed from being fleshly to being spiritual. We were changed from being ‘after,’ or ‘according to,’ or ‘under’ (the Greek word is ‘kata’) the flesh; to being ‘after,’ or ‘according to,’ or ‘under’ the Spirit.

Romans 8:2, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” All Christians walk after the Spirit, not because of threat of condemnation, but because we have the Holy Spirit and life in Christ Jesus. We are regenerate, we have the Holy Spirit, we are spiritual, and this results in a righteous walk.

In contrast, the law of Moses is called here “the law of sin and death,” Rm8:2. Paul had just asked in the previous two paragraphs, “Is the law sin?” Rm7:7-12; and was the law “made death unto me,” Rm7:13-25. He had answered that the law is neither sin nor death, but that because of our own sinfulness, it results only in sin and death for all who are under the law, and thus not in Christ.

Romans 8:3, “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh.” There is nothing wrong with the law, the problem is with us; the spiritual weakness of those born only of flesh. So what the law could not accomplish because of our condition, “God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit,” Rm8:3-4.

So our justification accomplishes the sanctification that the law could not accomplish, because when we were justified we moved from the realm of the flesh to the realm of the spirit; we are now spiritual, and walk after the Spirit. If the way we were justified did not guarantee a righteousness walk for every believer, then God would have needed to justify us another way, because the reason God sent his Son to die for us was “that [so that] the righteousness of the law might be [would be] fulfilled in us,” Rm8:3-4, and God’s purposes are always fulfilled.

Notice it’s not the law, but “the righteousness of the law” that is now fulfilled in our walk. We are not under and do not try to keep the law of Moses, but we do fulfill the righteousness that the law of Moses was based upon.

Although Jeremiah 31:31-33 is primarily about Israel, the Gentiles also share in the blessings of the New Covenant, which makes the law of Moses into an Old Covenant. “I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt [the law of Moses]; which my covenant they brake, ... but this shall be the covenant ... I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.” A supernatural change of heart accomplishes the righteousness of the law which the law could not accomplish.

Romans 8:5, “For they that are after the flesh do mind [think about] the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit [mind, think about] the things of the Spirit.” The reason the law cannot accomplish a righteousness walk in natural men, and the reason justification in Christ does accomplish a righteous walk in men who have been made spiritual, is because of the difference in the way we think.

Romans 8:6-8, “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” Our way of thinking has vast implications for our ability to walk in righteousness and to please God. The natural man’s way of thinking is death, no concept of spiritual things, and hatred (enmity) against God, and rebellion. The spiritual man’s way of thinking is life, being spiritually alive, and at peace with God.

Romans 8:9-10, “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” Every Christian has the Holy Spirit, and thus every Christian is in the Spirit and not in the flesh. Our bodies are dead because they are unchanged from the time we believed, but our spirits are alive to God because we were justified, counted as righteous.

Romans 8:11, “If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” Although our bodies have not yet been made alive to God as our spirits have, and although our bodies are presently the source of the struggle we face in this life, our bodies will one day receive their part of salvation, at the time of resurrection and glorification.

This same “mortal” body, Rm8:11, that the Holy Spirit lives in gets raised up and changed to immortality. You don’t get a new body; that wouldn’t be resurrection, as we discussed in chapter 5. Just as Christ’s tomb was empty because his body was raised, and he did not receive another body, so it will be with us. Even if a believer’s body is only scattered dust by that time; God can re-gather it, restore it, and glorify it.

In John 14:16-17, Jesus said that after he leaves the earth, the Holy Spirit will come and dwell in us as a comforter, “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” There is no better comforter or companion than one who is always with us because he dwells within us.

Also, notice that the Spirit that dwells in us is called “the Spirit of God” in verse 9, and “the Spirit of Christ” in verse 10. In John 14:23, “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” Both Yeshua and the Father dwell within us through the Spirit. That is why, not only are we in Christ, but according to Romans 8:10, Christ is in us: “If Christ be in you, the body is dead ... but the Spirit is life.” It is impossible for us to walk after the flesh, when the Father and the Son dwell in our physical bodies by means of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:12-13, “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” Those who live after the flesh are those who have never been justified, who are not only spiritually dead now, but whose bodies also will die, not just ‘sleep,’ because their resurrection will only be for the purpose of the second death. Those who have been justified, owe none of their benefits to the flesh, and mortify the deeds of the body, as a general way of life, because of the Holy Spirit that dwells in them, and not only have spiritual life now, but also their bodies will one day be resurrected and glorified.

But we are not satisfied with the minimum that God will work in our lives. We want the fullness, completeness, and maturity that God desires for us. We want to bring “into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ,” 2Cor10:5. And therefore we need to be conscious and diligent in mortifying the deeds of the body as the Spirit is influencing us to do.

We must do as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:27, “I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection.” And as he says in Romans 13:14, “make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.” And indeed, to obey all that we are commanded to do. Resist some things: “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you,” James 4:7. Flee other things: “Flee fornication,” 1 Corinthians 6:18. “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong,” 1 Corinthians 16:13. Just as we talked about back in Romans 6:12-21.

As Paul finishes this section on sanctification, that started back in Romans 6:1, he urges us to action. To fight, to labor, to serve. He does not say, “Let go, and let God.” He does not say, “You are hopeless. Hand it all over to God, and he will deliver you from those sins that trouble you.” We are not hopeless; we are in Christ, his Spirit is in us, we are legally free of sin and made servants to God, we have a new life, and walk and think after the Spirit. That’s why Paul doesn’t say we need deliverance; he says we need to stand up, be strong, and mortify the deeds of the flesh.

The teaching that we just need to keep surrendering and then we can cruise effortlessly into sanctification actually puts all the burden on us because we have to keep surrendering, or abiding, or letting go, or being filled with the Spirit, or we no longer walk after the Spirit. In reality, God is causing all who have been justified to walk after the Spirit, even those who think they have to keep surrendering in order to walk after the Spirit. But those who think sanctification comes by way of surrender only achieve minimal sanctification, only thirty-fold fruit.

Those who understand that God is without fail sanctifying them, but that they must put out their own effort and diligent labor to mortify the deeds of the body as completely as possible and to walk in every good work, are the ones who will bear sixty and an hundred-fold fruit and receive more eternal reward. Let us strive mightily for the glory of God, for the time is short.

People talk about passing over from Romans 6 and 7 to Romans 8, but Romans 8:12-13 is just like Romans 6:12-21. Paul is still talking about how our justification ensures our sanctification in Romans 8, just as he was in Romans 6, although he added more information in Romans 8 about the Holy Spirit’s role. Teaching that sanctification is provided by some second experience does injustice to the greatness of the justification that God provided.

Justification is the big change that happened to us: from death to life, from serving sin to serving God, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, having spiritual life, being in Christ; and that change results in our sanctification without fail to the glory of God, because it is his work.

Now if there is anyone here who hasn’t been justified, Christ took our guilt upon him, so that if we trust in what he did, we can be counted as ‘not guilty’. In John 3:16 it says, “Whosoever believes in him should [shall] not perish, but have everlasting life.” So you need to take God at his word, trust in him, and you will have everlasting life, and he will begin his work of sanctification in you.

So thanks for letting me share with you again. We don’t have lunch today, do we? Do we want to have any questions?

Question from the audience: “Would you say young believers struggle for a while before they overcome some things because they don’t have the information?”

Even new believers don’t continue in sin, although we wouldn’t want to discourage anyone by making our definition or application more stringent than what the Bible means by “continue in sin.” But there is also a natural growth process for which there are no shortcuts. Having good scriptural information, like having good healthful food, helps; but the growth process will still take time.

1 John 2:12-13 says, “I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven ... fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning ... young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one.” The order is important: children, fathers, young men.

The first thing we have to know when we are children is that our sins are forgiven, because often when we do something wrong, we think God is going to take away his power. We think “I can’t witness to somebody because I just sinned yesterday” or something. And we need to know that our sins are forgiven. That is the first thing we need to know. And after that, as we focus on “him that is from the beginning,” and try to learn about him, then on the way to becoming fathers, we will become young men and overcome.

Comment from the audience: “It’s not what we did, it’s all to the glory of God. It’s his plan to save us. I heard something on the radio that kind of goes along with this message, that we’re not saved ‘by’ good works, we’re saved ‘to do’ good works. We’re justified by the act of God, the mercy of God, who sent Jesus to be a sin offering for us. We have nothing to boast. When I explain the gospel to people, they don’t understand it. They say they’re gonna climb that ladder themselves. But Jesus is the ladder for us.”

I have a friend, Rich, who said one time, that people are always trying to do good works to earn salvation, to earn justification. And you can’t do that. You’re not saved by your works. But once you’ve been justified, then, now’s the time. Go for it! Do the good works!

Romans 8:14-39. Glorification

Recorded November 30, 2008

I want to talk about one of my favorite topics today: glorification. And we are going to look at glorification in two parts. The first part is the certainty of our personal glorification in the second half of chapter 8; and the second part is the certainty of Israel’s national glorification in chapters 9 - 11.

So let’s start with the certainty of our personal glorification. Now, of course, this is only for those who have been justified. All who have been justified will be glorified. It is a future event. We haven’t been glorified yet.

What glorification means is that our physical bodies are going to be changed to be like Christ’s body. We are going to shine like his body shines now, each of us to different degrees based on how faithful we were, how much we suffered, how much we shared the gospel, things like that. So you will be able to tell just by looking at somebody, what their life had been like, for all eternity (as we explained in Romans 5).

This section on glorification begins in Romans 8 verse 14. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” In the first half of Romans 8, Paul had been saying that all who have been justified are being sanctified. We walk after the Spirit, because the indwelling Holy Spirit affects the way we think. Now in verse 14, Paul summarizes that process as being “led of the Spirit.”

The word “led” here often includes an element of force, like leading captives in Mark 13:11, “They shall lead you and deliver you up.” Here in verse 14, we are not forced against our will, but the Holy Spirit’s persuasion is so strong and consistent that God’s overall purpose is sure to be achieved. That is why the sanctification of every Christian is certain and sure. But now Paul segues into the topic of glorification, by pointing out that our being led of the Spirit indicates that we are sons of God.

This is the third superior-inferior relationship we have in these chapters: superior-inferior, not in quality, but in position, like father-son, husband-wife, master-servant. We looked at the master-servant relation in chapter 6, and the husband-wife relationship in chapter 7, and now the father-son relationship in chapter 8.

And one of the main things about being a son of God is that you become an heir of God along with Jesus Christ. Verse 17, “and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint–heirs with Christ,” talking about our future inheritance.

And then verse 17 talks about suffering, because when Jesus was here he suffered, and so we also suffer in this present age. And why talk about suffering when you are talking about future glorification? Because the more we suffer the more we will be glorified.

Now God is wise and he will give us the right amount of suffering during our lives, but more suffering means more glory for eternity. As we mentioned when we studied Romans 5, you are giving up something you can’t keep (comfort) to gain something you can’t lose (eternal glory). So verses 17-18 say: “If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” The glory is much better than the suffering is bad; and the suffering is temporary, but the glory is eternal.

Ok, then let’s look at verse 21 about the creation. “The creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” How does the creation groan and travail in pain? Well, crops don’t grow perfectly. There isn’t enough water. There is pollution. Animals bite and claw and kill each other for food. The whole creation is suffering, not just us.

But a short time after our bodies are glorified, creation will also be delivered into the glorious liberty of the children of God, and creation too will be, in a sense, glorified. The desert will blossom as a rose and the lion will lay down with the calf in peace. So creation is waiting for our glorification.

Romans 8:23, “And not only they,” creation, “but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” Two things here. First of all we have the first fruits of the Spirit. That means we’re sure to receive the rest of the harvest. The fact that you have the Holy Spirit right now shows that you are going to receive the complete inheritance later on.

And, secondly, it says we are awaiting the ‘adoption’. So when it is talking about ‘adoption’ here it is talking about the redemption of our body. Our bodies haven’t been changed since the time we believed, but there is coming a day when our bodies will be redeemed and that is called our ‘adoption’.

Ok, verse 24. “We are saved by [or in] hope,” and then Paul goes on to talk about hope in this section. So the word “hope” is telling us we are looking at a future event, not something we already experienced. But it is still a certainty. It doesn’t mean, “I hope so.” It’s something that is sure to come to pass. It’s just in the future, so it’s called “hope.”

Verse 28, “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God.” That is a well known verse and a precious verse. But in this context it definitely includes the certainty of our glorification, because if anything could result in our not being glorified, that thing wouldn’t be working for our good. So this verse means, among other things, that nothing can stop us from being glorified. Nothing can cause us to lose our salvation.

Continuing in verse 28, “To them who are the called according to his purpose.” Calling refers to after-justification service. As an example of that, we will look at how we are called to sanctification in 1 Thessalonians 4:7. “For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.” That is sanctification. And we are also called to glorification in 1 Thessalonians 2:12. “God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.”

Here are more verses about being called to sanctification:

“To all that be in Rome ... called to be saints,” Rm1:7.

“Be blameless ... called unto the fellowship of his Son,” 1Cor1:9.

“God hath called us to peace,” 1Cor7:15.

“Ye have been called unto liberty,” Gal5:13.

“Worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,” Eph4:1.

“Called us with an holy calling,” 2Tim1:9.

“He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy,” 1Pet1:15.

“Called you out of darkness into ... light,” 1Pet2:9.

“Hereunto were ye called: ... Christ also suffered,” 1Pet2:21.

“Not ... evil for evil ... ye are thereunto called,” 1Pet3:9.

“Called us to glory and virtue,” 2Pet1:3.

Here are more verses about being called to glorification:

“Ye are called in one hope of your calling,” Eph4:4.

“Called you by our gospel, to ... obtaining ... glory,” 2Thes2:14.

“Eternal life, whereunto thou art also called,” 1Tim6:12.

“Called us unto his eternal glory,” 1Pet5:10.

“Called us to glory and virtue,” 2Pet1:3.

But we are not called to believe or to justification. We are only called to glorification, to sanctification, and to service. It is a ‘calling,’ like a ‘vocation’. So the vocation that we have, the job we have, once we have been justified, is to be sanctified, to walk in holiness, and to be glorified. That is what God called us to, and that is what he will accomplish in us.

Romans 8:29, “For whom he did foreknow ...” And I just want to stop here and define the word “foreknow,” because some people have defined foreknow as something that God causes to happen; but that is not what the word means. It means ‘to know before’. As an example, in 2 Peter “There shall come in the last days scoffers ... saying, Where is the promise of his coming? ... Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware,” 2Pet3:3-4,17.

So when it says the two English words, “know … before,” in 2 Peter 3:17, that is the single Greek word meaning “foreknow.” Now we ‘know before’ that scoffers are coming because Peter warned us, but we are not ‘causing’ those scoffers to come in the last days by knowing it. We just know it ahead of time because of the prophecy. So that is all the word “foreknow” means.

God knew from the foundation of the earth who would someday be in Christ. And since he knows who is going to believe, he doesn’t have to wait until they believe to predestinate them to glory. In that sense, God interacts with time differently than we do.

And since he knows they will become his children and spend eternity with him, they are special to him, and he has a special interest in their lives, even before they believe. He doesn’t pretend that he doesn’t know who will believe. But that foreknowledge doesn’t directly or indirectly cause them to believe.

Continuing in verse 29, Paul says that whoever God foreknew “he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” Now, the main thing you need to know about predestination is that predestination is always to glorification, never to justification. It says here, “he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son.”

The word “image” here refers to external appearance, which means that God has predestinated us to be like Christ. When he returns “we shall be like him; for we shall see him [externally] as he is,” 1Jn3:2. We will share then in the bright appearance he already has now. That is what ‘predestination’ means. Nowhere in the Bible are we predestinated to believe or predestinated to be justified. We are predestinated to be glorified.

And that is found in Ephesians 1:5 also, “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children.” And, remember back in verse 28, we just talked about how our ‘adoption’ refers to resurrection and glorification, not justification. And then continuing in Ephesians 1:11, “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated.” See, predestination is about something that is going to happen to us in the future, the receiving of our “inheritance,” our glorification.

We are never predestinated to faith or to believe. D. M. Lloyd-Jones, one of my favorite authors, commenting on the “spiritual blessings” of Eph1:1, says the Holy Spirit “gives us the gift of faith,” in reference to saving faith. But this is not a Biblical phrase to use in relation to salvation, and often when a phrase is not found in the Bible it is indicative of a doctrinal mistake. Of course, there is a gift of faith in relation to spiritual gifts. “To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles,” 1Cor12:9-10. But in relation to saving faith, faith is never a gift.

Ephesians 2:8-9 is no exception. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast,” Eph2:8-9. If the phrases “that not of yourselves” and “the gift of God” referred to “faith” in this verse, it would mean there are two kinds of faith: that which is “of yourselves” and that which is “not of yourselves.”

But that would mean we learned nothing from the first 11 chapters of Romans. Paul, and the other New Testament writers, consistently present faith in simple contrast to works. “Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness,” Rm4:4-5. “They sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law,” Rm9:32. “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law,” Gal2:16. And, of course, we could go on and on.

So Ephesians 2:8 has to mean that ‘salvation’ is a gift from God that you receive by faith and cannot merit by your own works. And the construction of the sentence in Ephesians 2:8 certainly allows for that interpretation, without the need to redefine all the other passages on faith in the New Testament. And the grammar of Ephesians 2:8 does not lend itself to the interpretation that faith is a gift, because the word “faith” is feminine, while “that” and “gift” are neuter.

Also, Acts 13:48 does not mean that people believed because God elected them. “And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed,” Acts13:48. The phrase “eternal life” refers primarily to our glorification and inheritance, as we saw in chapter 5. So this verse shows that predestination is to glorification, not to justification.

The way we, as men, would do it, is that as soon as a person believed, we would ordain him to glorification, and then the verse would read, “as many as believed were ordained to eternal life.” But God, knowing all things from the beginning, has no reason to wait until a person believes before he ordains him to glorification, and so he predestinates him from eternity past. So at some point, everyone who is ordained to glorification believes, because that event when they believe is what God foresaw that caused him to ordain them to glorification in the first place. So man’s choice determines his ultimate destiny, but only because God in his sovereignty has created him, provided salvation, and provided him this choice through the gospel.

So as soon as we believe, we have eternal security; even earlier, from the foundation of the earth. Joy!!!. “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us,” Eph1:4-5. Everyone believes in eternal security. The only disagreement is as to when it starts. The angels that didn’t follow Satan are confirmed in their righteousness, and can no longer be tempted. If Adam had not sinned in the garden, he would at some point have been confirmed in his righteousness, and no longer subject to temptation. When are bodies are glorified, we will no longer be able to be tempted, because sin presently dwells in our mortal bodies. And no one believes you can lose your salvation after you go to heaven or enter the Messianic Kingdom. But we don’t need to wait for glorification, when we can no longer be tempted to sin, to have no chance of apostatizing. Because we have been legally delivered from slavery to sin and enslaved instead to righteousness, and because of our union with God, and our being in Christ, and the Holy Spirit within us, and predestination to glorification, we already have eternal security.

Back in Romans 8:30, Paul continues, “Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” Now this is good news because it means that our glorification is certain. If any of these things happen to a person, all of them happen to a person. It all or none. So since we have been justified, we know we are going to be glorified. And we know that we were also predestinated and called to glory.

Now these 5 things happen in a person’s life in this order chronologically. God foreknows, then predestinates, then calls, then justifies, then glorifies. But it doesn’t mean that each one causes the next. Instead, each one ensures our glorification.

In the first set, “whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate,” the foreknowledge does result in the next one, predestination, but the predestination is to glorification, to be conformed to his image, as we saw. But in the second set, “whom he did predestinate, them he also called,” the predestination doesn’t result in our being called. It results in our being glorified, “he ... did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son.” We are not predestinated to be called.

And in the third set, “whom he called, them he also justified,” being called doesn’t result in justification. It results in sanctification and glorification. We are called to be sanctified and glorified. But in the fourth set, “whom he justified, them he also glorified,” justification does result in the next one, glorification, because of the way in which we were justified.

So all these things are like a chain where you get the whole thing, but each one doesn’t cause the next. And each link results in our glorification. The good news is that our glorification is the next event in store for those who have been justified, and it is certain to happen.

And then Romans 8:35, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine ...” and so forth. And then Paul says, “I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers ...” and so forth, “shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord,” Rm8:38-39.

So this is the last verse in this section about the certainty of our personal glorification. And it sounds pretty certain that nothing can separate us from God and Christ, not ourselves, not anyone else, not our sin, and not our lack of faith, because he will never let us stop believing. Nothing can separate us from Christ once we entered into Christ by justification through faith.

Romans 9-11. Israel’s Salvation

Now let’s look at chapters 9 - 11, which are about Israel’s national salvation and the certainty of Israel’s national glorification. If Israel’s future national glorification isn’t certain, then neither is our future personal glorification. If God could call Israel, and bring them so far, and then drop them for some reason, then he can do the same to us. But these three chapters show that Israel’s national glorification is certain. We will be glorified personally, those who are in the Church; and also Israel, as a nation, will be glorified. And both events are tied to each other, and happen at about the same time.

Romans 9:1-9:29. Not All Israel

The Problem: Israel Currently Does Not Accept Christ

Paul starts off this section by stating the problem. “I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh,” Rm9:1-3. Paul would be willing to be accursed from Christ, if it were possible, which it is not, in place of his unbelieving Jewish brethren.

Now Israel has always been comprised mostly of unbelievers. When Moses brought the people out of Egypt, most of them were unbelievers. But Moses had a lot of power. He was bringing plagues on Egypt, and they were under persecution in Egypt, and so they went along with Moses. And while Israel wandered in the wilderness, the people kept grumbling in their tents, because most of them were unregenerate, and so, of course, they had a hard time living with God on a day to day basis.

So teachers today often err when they use Israel as a picture of the church. Of course, there are some parallels, and we can always learn some things from the experience of others. But the church is comprised entirely of regenerate people, new creations, who have the Holy Spirit living in them, and thus walk after the Spirit. So the church is not going to act like Israel, except in limited and isolated ways.

Israel Grudgingly Accepted the Other Things from God

In Romans 9:4-5, Paul says, “Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption,” God chose the nation of Israel as his national son and heir of the world. “And the glory,” the glory of God, and the shekinah glory that was with them, and will dwell with them again in the Messianic Kingdom. “And the covenants,” there are four unconditional Jewish covenants -- Abrahamic, Land, Davidic, and New -- which are the basis of the future kingdom. “The giving of the law,” which is the only conditional Jewish covenant. “The service of God,” refers to the temple service and all their service to God. “And the promises,” including the Messianic Kingdom. “Whose are the fathers,” Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

“And of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen,” Rm9:5. So Christ is God. He is over all. We see that God is a plural unity, Hebrew “echad,” not a singular unity, “yachid,” from the first three verses of the Bible. “In the beginning God [God the Father] created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God [God the Holy Spirit] moved upon the face of the waters. And God said [God the Son, the Word of God; later, Yeshua], Let there be light: and there was light,” Gen1:1-3. God is “Elohim”. The “im” at the end of Hebrew nouns means plural.

God the Father is so transcendent he could not create the world except through the person of his Son. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ... All things were made by him,” Jn1:1-3. If you really believe God is transcendent, you understand that we can’t even see his shekinah glory apart from the person of his Son. “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. ... No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him,” Jn1:18.

That is why the Messiah is often presented as man, and often presented as God, in prophecy. “What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool?” Mt22:42-44. So Messiah is David’s “Lord” (God) who became David’s “son” (man).

Now the interesting thing is that even though the Jewish people, like the Gentiles, are mostly unbelievers; they went along the other things listed here, until they got to the last one, “Christ.” They went along with the giving of the law, and the service of the tabernacle, and so forth, because all these things are external things, which even unjustified men can participate in. But when it comes to Christ, the Jewish people, as a group, reject Christ; not merely like unsaved Gentiles reject him, by trying to justify themselves by works; but they also reject Christ outwardly. If you visit a synagogue today they are not going to be teaching about Yeshua.

And many times, one generation of Israel would kill the prophet God sent them, and the next generation would accept that prophet, and say, “We wouldn’t have done that.” “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers,” Mt23:29-32. But with Christ, not even the next generation, or the next generation, accepted him as a prophet. So that is a big change.

So, is God done with Israel? Are the covenants not going to be fulfilled? Is Israel not going to obtain national glorification? Is God not going to keep his word and fulfill the promises he made to Israel?

You can’t say, well, Israel’s covenants have been transferred to the church. That would be like God transferring your glorification to someone else; and it would mean we don’t have eternal security; and it would mean that God didn’t keep his promise. If he promised you glorification and then gave it to someone else, he would not be keeping his promise to you.

There has Always Been a Division among Jewish People

“Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel,” Rm9:6.

The definition of a Jew is ‘a descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’. You can’t just say ‘a descendant of Abraham,’ because Ishmael and the Arab nations also came from Abraham. And you can’t just say a descendant of Abraham and Isaac, because Esau and the Edomites also came from Isaac. You have to say ‘a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,’ because all 12 of Jacob’s sons, are considered part of Israel, which is why God changed Jacob’s name to Israel.

But here Paul is saying that there is a further division. Even among Jacob’s descendants, not all Jacob’s descendants are part of the Israel God made the promises to. “They are not all Israel [the chosen people], which are [descendants] of Israel [Jacob].” Ok, so what scriptural basis does Paul have for that doctrine, and how can you tell which of Jacob’s descendants are God’s Israel and which are not?

Isaac and Ishmael

“Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called [Gen21:12]. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son [Gen18:10,14],” Rm9:7-9.

Both Isaac and Ishmael were the seed of Abraham, but only Isaac was “counted for the seed.” In allegory, Isaac was a believer, because he is “called,” he is one of “the children of God,” he had a supernatural birth, because of the word of God, “the promise” of God. The word “believe” isn’t mentioned here, because it wouldn’t fit in with the allegory, since Isaac had no faith at the time the allegory refers to, since he wasn’t born yet. But we know from Romans 1-8 how one becomes a child of God. “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus,” Gal3:26.

And in allegory, Ishmael was an unbeliever, because he was “of the flesh,” a natural man, with only a natural birth. So the application of the allegory is that, in reality, only the descendants of Jacob who are spiritual children of God through faith in God will be “counted for the seed.”

So what is the significance of being counted as the seed or of not being counted as the seed? It has to do with inheriting the covenants, and inheriting the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession during the Messianic Kingdom, and dwelling near the Millennial Temple, and the shekinah glory, and the Messiah, who will reign from Jerusalem. “I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, and I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land ... of Canaan, for an everlasting possession,” Gen17:7-8.

Only believers will be able to enter the future Messianic Kingdom. So unbelieving Israelites will not be able to enter the kingdom, and they won’t be able to inherit “Canaan for an everlasting possession,” because they don’t have everlasting life. So unbelieving descendants of Jacob are not part of “the seed” that God made the promises to. On the other hand, many Gentiles will be in the kingdom because they believed in the God of Israel, but they are not part of “the seed,” that inherits Canaan either, and they will primarily dwell outside the land of Israel during the kingdom.

But as for Jewish people, if they believe in God for their justification, they are part of the seed that the promises were made to, and if they don’t believe (trust) in God, they are not only not part of the promised seed; they will not enter the kingdom at all. God knew who he was making the promises to, back when he made them, because he knows the future, and knew which descendants of Jacob would eventually believe.

Jacob and Esau

“And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth, it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger [Gen25:23],” Rm9:10-12.

Likewise, both Jacob and Esau were the seed of Abraham and Isaac, but only Jacob was “counted for the seed.” In allegory, Jacob was ‘chosen,’ “of him that calleth,” “according to election,” for the “purpose of God,” and “not of works”. And in allegory, Esau was not ‘chosen,’ or ‘elect’. And the application of the allegory is that only the descendants of Jacob who are chosen and elect are “counted for the seed.” In other words, not all the “chosen people” are chosen to receive the covenant.

So from Isaac, we saw that inheritance is by faith, and from Jacob we see that it’s not of works. It’s “not of works” so that “the purpose of God” might “stand.” If the fulfillment of God’s purposes depended on man’s works, there would be a risk that God’s purposes might not be fulfilled, and actually, they certainly would not be fulfilled. Because man always fails; but God always succeeds. So we know that our glorification and the glorification of Israel is certain, because they are not based on the works of men but on the declaration of God. So Israel’s disobedience cannot derail God’s plans for their national glorification.

“As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated [Mal1:2-5],” Rm9:13. Only those who are God’s, and will be glorified, are called “chosen” or “elect,” but that doesn’t mean God doesn’t also have plans for those who are not elect. It wasn’t just that Esau was not loved, but that he was hated.

“I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness ... and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever. And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The LORD will be magnified from the border of Israel,” Mal1:2-5.

God will be “magnified” in the nation of Israel during the Messianic Kingdom, but the nation of Edom, Esau’s nation, the land of southern Jordan today, which borders Israel, will be a place of burning pitch during the kingdom. “My sword shall come down upon Edom and upon the people of my curse … and the land thereof shall become burning pitch … the smoke thereof shall go up forever,” Is34:5-10.

And the application is that the descendants of Jacob who are not part of the elect, are not merely not loved like Jacob, but they are also hated like Esau. This doesn’t mean that God doesn’t love them, or that he isn’t grieved by their sufferings, or that he didn’t sacrifice everything (his own Son) to provide salvation for them, but it means that, as Edom receives special physical judgments, so, unfortunately, do they.

That Esau and his descendants were not chosen to receive the covenants, doesn’t mean he and none of his descendants are predestinated to glorification, or can’t believe on the Lord. There will be many descendants of Esau in the kingdom, but they will not be there as a nation of Edom.

Moses and Pharaoh

“What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid,” Rm9:14.

Was God unjust to Ishmael and his mother for Abraham to send them away with nothing but a bottle of water? Was he unjust to Esau and his descendants in predestinating his nation of Edom to be a land of burning pitch during the Messianic Kingdom? Is he unrighteous in allowing the descendants of Jacob who do not believe to go through physical judgments?

Well, despite the hardships Ishmael went through, God ensured that he would survive, and blessed him. “As for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him ... and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac,” Gen17:20-21. And although Esau’s descendants will not enter the kingdom as part of Edom, they will still enter the kingdom as individuals or as a member of another nation if they believe and are justified. And any physical suffering that Jewish, or Gentile, unbelievers experience in this life reduces the amount of punishment they receive in the next life; just as any physical suffering a believer experiences in this life increases the amount of glorification and reward he receives for eternity. Some children are born with handicaps or diseases that cause them much physical suffering, which is beyond our understanding at this time, but we believe God will make all things right in eternity.

On the other hand, if Ishmael, and Esau, and their descendants, and the majority of Jacob’s descendants, were to be denied any real possibility of spiritual justification, as Calvinism teaches, then that kind of God would be unjust. God allowed Adam, who could have been justified by his works, to live and bear children rather than executing him and starting over, even though his descendants are thus born under the reign of sin with no chance of being justified by their works, because he knew he would provide redemption through Christ for all who believe.

To say then that they also have no chance of believing, that an all-powerful God would allow a situation where many precious individuals have no real possibility of any future except eternal punishment, would be to make God more cruel than the most calloused of men. That doctrine, Calvanism, bears a man’s name, which in itself is a warning of its error; and Calvin’s God is like himself, who inflicted so much cruelty on the people of Geneva, including the 24 women and 7 men he urged the city to burn at the stake for supposedly spreading the plague by witchcraft.

“For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion [Ex33:19]. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy,” Rm9:15-16.

Moses asked to see God’s glory, and God answered, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy,” and then God showed him his glory, and as a result, the body of Moses was partially and temporarily glorified, and he had to put a veil over his face so its shining didn’t hurt the eyes of the Israelites. This was not a justification experience for Moses, but a glorification experience.

Likewise, the descendants of Jacob can’t be glorified by deciding to be glorified (“him that willeth”), or by living a good enough life to merit glorification (”him that runneth”). All anyone can do is to decide to trust in God, which in this present time to means to believe the gospel, and thereby receive justification and glorification.

“For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth [Ex9:16]. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth,” Rm9:17-18.

Moses was used of God to lead his people. Pharaoh was also used of God. God raised him up as ruler of Egypt so he could manifest his power by destroying Pharaoh and his armies. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart so he wouldn’t give in too soon, and let the people go too soon, so Moses could complete the whole series of plagues.

He strengthened Pharaoh to do what Pharaoh wanted to do, despite the suffering Pharaoh was going through. And he didn’t harden Pharaoh’s heart in regards to spiritual salvation. At any time, Pharaoh could have believed on God for salvation.

And God also hardened the hearts of the whole Egyptian army, so they would follow the Israelites into the sea, which is not a logical thing to do when you see walls of water on each side, and you’ve just suffered 10 miraculous plagues. He did not harden their hearts regarding faith or justification. “Lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them,” Ex14:16-17.

So likewise among the descendants of Jacob, even the unbelievers, are used by God, and provide service to God. As a judgment upon them, God has hardened their hearts so they will not accept Christ as unbelievers, merely outwardly, as a nation, like they accepted the other prophets. God has not permitted Judaism to be like Catholicism and Episcopalianism, etc. that use the name of Christ but have nothing in common with the Christ of the Bible. (Can you imagine Peter in the gospels or Acts walking around in golden vestments and presiding over rituals in cathedrals?)

As the survey of Matthew in this book shows, after the nation of Israel rejected Jesus’ teaching, preaching, and healing ministries, Jesus pronounced a judgment upon the nation. “In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them,” Mt13:14-15.

John stated the same thing, but focusing on God’s action. “Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them,” Jn12:39-40.

After the death and resurrection of Yeshua, his 12 special prophets (Paul is the 12th), called apostles, re-offered the kingdom to Israel and the Jewish communities scattered throughout the world as recorded in the book of Acts, so that just as one generation of Israel refused to enter Canaan, but 40 years later the next generation entered, so it could be with the kingdom. But the next generation during the apostles’ time was also unwilling, and about 40 years after the rejection of the Messiah, instead of entering the Messianic Kingdom, the temple and Jerusalem were destroyed in 70 AD and many of the people dispersed.

Just before the 70 AD destruction, Paul again pronounced the judgment of Isaiah to the Jewish community in Rome, to close the book of Acts and end the historical narrative of the Bible. “And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not. And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it,” Acts28:24-28.

The Babylonian captivity was a major event in the history of the Jewish people, but it lasted only 70 years. Many prophets warned of its coming, which provided much of the content of our Bible. But where are the prophets and their writings warning of the coming of the 70 AD destruction and the 2,000 year dispersion? They are the writings of the New Testament.

Vessels of Wrath and Vessels of Mercy

“Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?” Rm9:19-21.

Pharaoh will probably not receive additional eternal punishment at the last judgment for not letting the people go after God hardened his heart, except perhaps to the extent that he desired to not let them go. But he would have lived a longer physical life if God had not hardened his heart about letting the people go. But then, he wouldn’t have gotten to enjoy being such a powerful Pharaoh if God hadn’t raised him up for that showdown with Moses. God knew through foreknowledge that Pharaoh would never believe and be justified and would eventually be eternally condemned, but at least by being chosen to resist letting the people go, he also got to be Pharaoh.

And the unbelieving descendants of Jacob will probably not receive additional punishment at the last judgment for rejecting the New Testament writings about Christ to the extent they reject them due to God’s hardening of their hearts. But they are fulfilling their roles as vessels “unto dishonour,” when instead they could be living this life as a “vessel unto honour.”

“The same lump,” probably refers to Israel. Otherwise, Paul probably could have just said that the potter can make any kind of vessel, without mentioning “of the same lump.” So Paul is talking about the different roles and purposes that God gives to believers and unbelievers within the people of Israel.

“What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction,” Rm9:22. Unbelieving Israelites are called “vessels of wrath” here. Gentile unbelievers are vessels of wrath too. All created things bring glory to God in some way. Believers also suffer, maybe even more greatly than unbelievers in this life, but never because of his wrath.

The main reason the Jewish people suffer is that they are at the center of a struggle between Satan and God (Rev12:12-14). Satan wants to destroy God’s plan. He tried during Esther’s time, but with a simple case of royal insomnia, “on that night could not the king sleep,” Esther6:1, God began to turn things around, and delivered the people from those that sought to destroy them.

There is one way, and only one way, to destroy the Jewish people, so please keep this confidential. “Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD,” Jer31:35-37. (Also Jer33:25-26.) If someone can build enough big missiles, and not point them at Israel, but use them to destroy the sun, moon, and stars, and stop the waves of the oceans, and measure the heavens, and search out the foundations of the earth, then God will disown the Jewish people, and then their enemies will be able to prevail against them, but that is the only way.

And you can’t talk about the history of the Jewish people without talking about persecution. I can’t even begin to list here, and communicate the unfairness and wrongness these precious people have suffered. God allows Satan to cause their suffering; but God suffers, as it were, along with them.

Just as it was God’s plan that Christ suffer, and Judas had a part in bringing about that God-ordained suffering, nevertheless Judas will face grave punishment at the last judgment for his part in it, and his wicked and cruel intentions. Even so, though God’s will allows the Jewish people to suffer, woe to every person, mostly so-called Christians, who so wickedly have any part in bringing about the sufferings of our Lord’s brethren. “The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! Good were it for that man if he had never been born,” Mk14:21.

As Gentile believers, it is hard for us to realize the amount of stigma the name of Jesus has with Jewish people, because of the persecutions that were inflicted on them in the name of Christ. Of course, we’ve all heard of the holocaust, beginning around 1933, when Hitler and those with him may have murdered 1/3 (6,000,000) of the Jewish people. “Woe to that man ... Good were it for that man if he had never been born.”

One of the great tragedies of the holocaust was the failure of Gentile neighbors, who had a voice in society, to speak out for the sake of the Jewish people, who had been silenced in the societies that persecuted them. Although this is out of context here, for the sake of saving even one life, I ask Jewish people particularly, because they know from the past what it is like when other people won’t speak out in their behalf, to help speak out for the estimated 46,000,000 voiceless unborn infants intentionally killed each year, 1/4 of all pregnancies worldwide. How can God wait any longer to judge all the nations and peoples of the earth in the soon-coming, 7-year tribulation period, the day of the Lord?

Before the Holocaust, there were Russian pogroms, beginning around 1881. And beginning around 1648, there was a Greek Orthodox (the eastern version of Roman Catholic) Ukrainian Cossack most Gentile believers have probably never heard of, named Bogdan Chmielnicki, who led the massacre of possibly 500,000 Jewish people. “Woe to that man ... Good were it for that man if he had never been born.”

Most Gentile believers probably think of the Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions in terms of believing Christians being tortured and burnt at the stake as heretics by the Roman Catholic Church. But while “in 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue,” the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella were expelling the Jewish people from their kingdom with their “Edict of Expulsion”. To the Jewish people, the inquisitions were a time of expulsions, forced conversions, suffering, and death from people they don’t know any better than to lump together as ‘Christians.’ (But since Yeshua is Messiah, we should not be surprised that Satan has filled the world with counterfeit ‘Christianity.’)

As another example, beginning around 1100 AD, the Crusades that we see in movies as glorious efforts to liberate the holy land from Muslim occupation, were, from a Jewish perspective, times of great persecution, because the Roman Catholic Church was as zealous to have the crusaders attack the Jewish communities along the way as they were to have them attack Muslim armies.

So these are only a few examples, but the years in between the dates and times I mentioned were also full of persecutions and attacks. Not to mention the restrictions on where Jewish people could live, like the original ghetto in Rome, or the Pale in Russia. Or the restrictions on professions, and trades, and ways of earning a living. Or the requirements to wear distinctive marks or clothing. Or special taxes and confiscations, and hatred, and humiliations.

Unfortunately, Israel’s troubles are not yet over. And the Gentiles will soon have plenty of trouble. Let’s take a quick look at some future events. I won’t cover events here that I discuss elsewhere in the book, like the rapture of the church, Israel’s future belief and acceptance of Yeshua, and the establishment of the Messianic Kingdom. This information should be useful to anyone who is not a believer by the time Yeshua returns for the church at the rapture, and so has to go into the tribulation period, so I will call the following section A Guide to the Apocalypse.

A Guide to the Apocalypse

The Reestablishment of Israel in 1948

We know there are only two worldwide returns of Jewish people to the land of Israel, because the final one, as shown here in Isaiah 11, is the second one. “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb ... and the calf and the young lion ... for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea [describing the Messianic Kingdom]. It shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea [worldwide],” Is11:11-12.

So we saw the first return in 1948. The Babylonian Captivity does not count as a worldwide return from all nations - the captives went into Babylon and returned from Babylon. But unfortunately, the scriptures say that the first worldwide regathering, our current one, is a regathering in wrath for the purpose of judgment. “Because ye are all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. ... I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof ... and ye shall know that I the LORD have poured out my fury upon you,” Ez22:17. (See also Ez20:33-38.)

The Return of Elijah

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD,” Mal4:5. God would have sent Elijah instead of John the Baptist if Israel would have accepted Yeshua as Messiah. But God foreknew Yeshua’s generation would not accept him, so he sent John the Baptist instead. (Mt11:14; Mt17:10-13.) So Elijah will yet return sometime before the tribulation period, although we don’t know how public his return will be.

Russia’s Attempt to Invade Israel

Russia and its allies will try to invade Israel, but will miraculously be destroyed. The timing of this event is uncertain, but many believe it will happen sometime before the 7-year tribulation period. “Set thy face toward Gog [probably a title for whoever rules Magog], of the land of Magog [southern Russia], the prince of Rosh [Russia], Meshech [Moscow], and Tubal [Tobolsk, historical capital of Siberia], and prophesy against him, ... Persia [Iran], Cush [Ethiopia], and Put [Somalia] with them ... Gomer [Germany], ... Togarmah [Armenia], in the uttermost parts of the north ... even many peoples with thee. ... In the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, that is gathered out of many peoples, upon the mountains of Israel, which have been a continual waste; but it is brought forth out of the peoples ... it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring thee against my land. ... And I will rain upon him, ... and upon the many peoples that are with him, an overflowing shower, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. ... Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel,” Ez38:1-39:4.

The 7-Year Tribulation Period

The 7-year tribulation period is also called the day of the LORD, or the day of Jehovah. (The word “LORD” in all-caps in the Bible means the scriptures originally had the word “Jehovah” there. It’s amazing to me that men dared to openly and intentionally alter God’s scriptures out of supposed respect for God.) “Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it,” Is13:9. Why is God angry? “Behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity [including sexual immorality]: the earth also shall disclose her blood [of those murdered, including unborn infants], and shall no more cover her slain,” Is26:21. People today enjoy and are entertained by the two things that determine every movie and television show’s rating, immorality and violence.

That the day of the Lord is coming should cause us to call upon God for salvation today. “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD come. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call,” Joel2:31-32.

The Time of Jacob’s Trouble

The Tribulation Period is also called “The Time of Jacob’s Trouble, but he shall be saved out of it,” Jer30:8. It will be a time of persecution of both true Christians (mostly Evangelicals today), and the Jewish people. In Revelation 6:9, John sees the spirits of “them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held.” The believing Gentiles that dare to shelter the Jewish people and who survive the tribulation period will be the Gentiles who enter the Messianic Kingdom in their natural bodies. “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, ... he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations [Gentiles]: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. ... Ye took me in. ... Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me,” Mt25:31-46.

Israel’s Treaty with the Antichrist

The 7-year tribulation period will begin when the reestablished nation of Israel signs a 7-year agreement with the Antichrist for the sake of their security. “After threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself [this happened to Yeshua around 40 AD]: and the people [the Romans] of the prince that shall come [the Antichrist will be born to an Italian woman] shall destroy the city and the sanctuary [the Romans, the people of the Antichrist who has not yet come, did this back in 70 AD]; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he [the prince that shall come, the Antichrist] shall confirm the covenant with many for one week [7 years],” Dan9:26-27.

The treaty will be made “with many,” but others in Israel will trust in God for their security and oppose the agreement. God condemns this treaty. “Ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge. ... Your agreement with hell shall not stand. When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it,” Is48:14-22.

The 144,000 Jewish Missionaries and the 2 Witnesses

Since all believers are taken out of the world at the ‘rapture’ sometime before the tribulation period, God jump-starts getting the gospel out during the tribulation period with 144,000 young Jewish men lined up who will believe and become missionaries for Yeshua to the Gentiles. He will also have two special witnesses in Jerusalem, who no doubt will be seen worldwide through media like TV and the internet. They are not Enoch and Elijah, because they are already glorified (Lk9:31; Heb11:5) and can’t die, but the Antichrist will kill these two prophets. If you’re not already familiar with them, you can read about them in Revelation 7, 11, and 14:1-5. But let’s get back to Israel’s treaty with the Antichrist.

The Abomination of Desolation in the Middle of the Tribulation

To continue with the Daniel 9 passage, “He [the Antichrist] shall confirm the covenant with many for one week, and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease [the Antichrist will break the 7-year treaty at the 3 1/2 year point, and stop the temple sacrifices, which also shows that the temple will have been rebuilt by the middle of the tribulation period], and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate [the abomination of desolation], even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate,” Dan9:27.

The “abomination of desolation” is that the Antichrist will “set up” an idol of himself in the tribulation period temple as the following shows. “Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white [by martyrdom], and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand. And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate ‘set up,’ there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days,” Dan9:9-12.

And it will be an unusual idol. It will be alive and powerful. “He [the Antichrist’s false prophet] doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast [the Antichrist]; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live [the Antichrist was killed and resurrected sometime before the middle of the tribulation period, Rev13:3]. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed,” Rev13:12-18.

The Mark of the Beast

To continue with Revelation 13, “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six [this might be the numeric value of his name transliterated into Hebrew letters which are also used for numerals],” Rev13:12-18.

By the middle of the tribulation, no one will doubt that there’s a God, but the only decision will be to refuse the mark of the Antichrist and likely be killed by men, or take his mark and be punished by God. “I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth ... and there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen ... and the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints [believers during the tribulation period are encouraged to endure persecution and death by looking forward to the resurrection and time of eternal reward]: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them,” Rev14:6-13.

Some have taught that if a person heard the gospel before the rapture, but hadn’t become a believer by the time of the rapture, they would not have the option to be saved afterwards. This is totally untrue. But if anyone takes the mark of the beast in the second half of the tribulation period, salvation will no longer be available to them, as we saw in the Revelation 14 passage above, and their future judgment will be as certain then, as our future glorification is now.

The Flight from Jerusalem

After Yeshua’s rejection, he prophesied the 70 AD destruction of Jerusalem, and warned the people as to when they should flee Jerusalem. The warning is recorded in parallel passages in Matthew and Luke, but the two passages refer to two different times. First, Luke says to flee when Jerusalem is surrounded by armies, which happened in 66 AD. “When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! For there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people, and they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled,” Lk21:20-24.

But how do you flee Jerusalem when it’s surrounded by armies. In 66 AD, the local Roman general, Cestus Gallus, came from Caesarea and surrounded Jerusalem, but he knew his supply lines were not secure, so he lifted the siege to return to Caesarea, but was killed by Jewish forces on his way back. During that break, those who believed the words of Yeshua (like those who believed Moses in Deut9:18-21) fled to Pella across the Jordan, and safely waited out the war. In 68 AD, Titus, who served under his father Vespasian, laid siege to Jerusalem, and destroyed it in 70 AD.

In contrast to Luke, Matthew said to flee Jerusalem when the abomination of desolation occurs in the middle of the tribulation period. “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains. Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house; neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day, for then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. ... If they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth ... for as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be,” Mt24:15-27. This time Jerusalem will not be surrounded with armies when the signal is given to leave Jerusalem, so people must flee immediately. Many people will flee “into the mountains” of Edom to the rock city of Petra. And they are warned not to be tricked into coming out of hiding by rumors that Messiah has come. When Yeshua does return, “he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him,” Rev1:7.

The Fall of Jerusalem at the End of the Tribulation Period

When all the nations gather against Jerusalem at the end of the tribulation period, God will strengthen the people in Jerusalem. “In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them,” Zech12:8. Nevertheless, the city will fall. “I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city,” Zech14:2. Then God will step in. “Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives,” Zech14:3-4.

Yeshua’s Return at Petra in Edom (Southern Jordan)

God will save the Jewish remnant at Bozrah (Petra) first. “The LORD also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah,” Zech12:7. “For my sword shall be bathed in heaven. Behold, it shall come down upon Idumea [Edom], and upon the people of my curse, to judgment. The sword of the LORD is filled with blood ... for the LORD hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea [Edom],” Is34:5-8.

The Battle from Petra to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem

Yeshua will fight the Gentile armies all the way from Petra to the Kidron valley. Remember Yeshua is not a Gentile; he will fight with the Jews against the armies of the Gentiles. “God came from Teman [near Petra], and the Holy One from mount Paran [near Petra]. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise, and his brightness was as the light; he had horns [death rays] coming out of his hand ... before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet. ... He beheld, and drove asunder the nations [Gentiles]; and the everlasting mountains were scattered,” Hab3:3-6.

Of course, the only way God can actually come from Teman, is in the person of his Son Yeshua the Messiah, because no man can see God the Father. “Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory,” Mt24:30. And Yeshua will easily dispense with the Antichrist, “that Wicked [one] ... whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming,” 2Thes2:8.

As he pushes the Gentile armies back from Petra into the narrow Kidron valley, it will become a winepress that he treads. “Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? ... I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winevat? I have trodden the winepress alone. ... I trod them in mine anger, and trampled them in my wrath; and their lifeblood is sprinkled upon my garments,” Is63:1-3, ASV.

From the New Testament, “The angel cast his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vintage of the earth, and cast it into the winepress, the great winepress, of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city [the Kidron outside Jerusalem], and there came out blood from the winepress, even unto the bridles of the horses, as far as a thousand and six hundred furlongs,” Rev14:19-20. And from the Old Testament, “Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat [Kidron]. ... Put ye in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe, for the winepress is full. ... Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of Jehovah is near in the valley of decision,” Joel3:12-14.

And then the Messianic Kingdom will be set up. And for some information about what the Messianic Kingdom will be like, you can look at the survey of Ezekiel 40-48 earlier in this book.

Romans 9:1-9:29. Not All Isreal (Continued)

So it has been hard for unregenerate Israel to have a relationship with God. Some of the benefits are that they got to hear the word of God in the synagogues, and to avoid many of the corruptions of Gentile nations. And it has also been hard, as it were, for God to have a relationship with unregenerate men whom he “endured with much longsuffering,” Rm9:22.

“And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?” Rm9:23-24.

The good news is that “vessels of wrath” can become “vessels of mercy.” “The vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel,” Jer18:4.

All men are all under the wrath of God because of ungodliness, unrighteousness, and transgression as we saw in Romans 1-3, until we put our faith in Christ, as we saw in Romans 4. “We all ... were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, ... that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith,” Eph2:3-9.

God can change one kind of vessel into another, through his miraculous power. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. ... With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible,” Mt19:24-26. So being a vessel of wrath doesn’t indicate your final destiny. But once you become a vessel of mercy, God would never remake you into a marred vessel again; so being a vessel of mercy does indicate your final destiny.

Israel’s Temporary and Partial Judgment

“As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved [Hos2:23]. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God [Hos1:10],” Rm9:25-26. Paul quotes these passages from Hosea to show it was prophesied beforehand that Israel would have a long period of temporary blindness. It’s been about 2,000 years, and now Israel has been reestablished in the land, and it’s almost time for them to regain their sight.

Some Jewish people are still God’s “people,” and “beloved,” and “children of the living God.” They are primarily the Jewish Messianic believers that are ostracized and expelled from the Jewish community today. But eventually, Jewish believers in Yeshua will be part of the Jewish community again, and Israel will be, “My people,” again.

“Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved [Is10:22]: For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth [Is10:23]. And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha [Is1:9],” Rm9:27-29.

Paul quotes these passages from Isaiah to show that Israel’s blindness is only partial. There has always been a believing remnant, however small, in every generation. And it is the believing remnant that preserves the existence and continuance of the Jewish people. If any generation were to fail to have that remnant, there would be nothing to preserve that generation from total destruction like Sodom and Gomorrah.

“As the new wine [the remnant] is found in the cluster [the Jewish people], and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing [the remnant] is in it [the Jewish people]: so will I do for my servants’ sakes [the remnant], that I may not destroy them all [the Jewish people]. And I will bring forth a seed [the remnant] out of Jacob [the Jewish people], ... and mine elect [the remnant] shall inherit,” Is65:8-9. So even though Jewish believers in Yeshua are scorned and outcast from the Jewish community today, they are the only ones preserving the existence of the Jewish people.

Romans 9:30-10:21. Justification by Faith

“What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed [Ps118:22],” Rm9:30-33.

Of course, only a minority of Gentiles attained to righteousness. But there are many more Gentiles in the world than Jewish people, so the church is mostly Gentile. And the Gentiles had not spent centuries learning the word of God, and trying to live according to its righteous guidelines, but through the gospel many Gentiles have believed and are thereby counted righteous before God, and also walk according to the righteousness of the law (not the law itself). The majority of Jewish people, like the majority of Gentile people, stumble at God’s provision of justification by faith because of their self-righteousness attitudes, and thus think they can do good works to attain justification.

“Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God,” Rm10:1-3.

So these 3 chapters are about the salvation of Israel; their national justification, sanctification, and glorification. And not only Paul’s, but also my heart’s desire and prayer is that they would be saved. And if you are a believer, your heart’s desire and prayer is the same for our Lord’s great-great-great nephews and nieces and kinsmen. Not that they would stop being Jewish, or fail to preserve their uniqueness or their culture and traditions; but only that they would accept by faith God’s provision of righteousness in Yeshua.

“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them [Lev18:5; Neh9:29; Ez20:11,13,21],” Rm10:4-5. Theoretically, a person could be justified by the law, if he kept it. But in practical terms, no one has kept it, except the Savior, which is why he was able to suffer our punishment in our place, a sacrifice for sin, since he was worthy of no punishment for himself.

“Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? For he [Yeshua, Messiah] shall grow up before him [God the Father] as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we [Israel] did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all,” Is53:3-6.

“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my [Isaiah’s] people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth,” Is53:7-9.

“Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he [God] hath put him to grief: when thou [God] shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed [the people who are justified by faith, the fruit of Messiah’s sacrifice], he shall prolong his days [through resurrection, never to die again], and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He [God] shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: [now God speaking says:] by his knowledge shall my righteous servant [Messiah] justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities [Israel’s and the world’s]. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors,” Is53:10-12.

Many rabbis teach that the “he” and “him” in this passage refers to Israel; but then who would the “we,” “our,” and “us” refer to? Try replacing the word “he” with the word “Israel” in the passage, and it makes no sense. The “he” in this passage is a righteous person. The “we” in this passage are unrighteous people. The one righteous person suffers their punishment in place of the unrighteous people.

“The LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us,” must mean “The LORD has laid on him [Messiah] the iniquity of us [Israel].” It cannot mean “The LORD has laid on him [Israel] the iniquity of us [Israel].” God’s righteous servant Yeshua has provided righteousness (justification) to all who know him. ”By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.”

“But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (That is, to bring Christ down from above.) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (That is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart [Deut30:12-14]; that is, the word of faith, which we preach,” Rm10:6-8. Paul quotes a passage from Deuteronomy about how God provided the law to Israel, instead of them having to work to get it. But the righteousness God provides in Christ is not only readily available, like the law, but also readily attainable by faith, unlike righteousness by the law which is unattainable.

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed [Is28:16]. 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. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved [Joel2:32],” Rm10:9-13.

Trust in the Savior as your savior in your heart, and confess him before men, and you will be saved, based on the authority of God’s word. He says, “Whoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed,” Is28:16, meaning will not fail, will not perish. “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,” Joel2:32. If you are not already a believer, do that now. Believe in your heart, and call upon him in prayer.

“How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! [Is52:7; Nahum1:15]” Rm10:14-15. We often hear these words at missionary conferences, and that’s appropriate, but do we remember they are primarily talking about Jewish missions?

And the Jewish people hate Christian missionaries, because they think Christians are trying to take them away from being Jewish, because they don’t think it’s possible to be Christian and remain Jewish. They also think Messianic Christian churches are just formed to lure Jewish people away from Judaism, but while all believing Christians rejoice when any Jew or Gentile comes to know the Messiah, Jewish believers mainly form Messianic congregations to help them practice their own Jewish culture as Christians.

So unfortunately, the majority of Jewish people resent Christian missionaries for supposedly taking Jewish people away from being Jewish, but then when the Jewish people who become Christians form assemblies so they can continue in their Jewish culture, the Jewish people critisize them for that too, saying it is just a ploy to get more converts.

Judaism, for the most part, doesn’t actively proselytize, because it teaches that Gentiles can be counted righteous before God by keeping the laws given to Noah, without converting to Judaism. But we know that neither Jew nor Gentile can be saved apart from Jesus Christ. “Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, ... this is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved,” Acts4:10-12.

If we discovered a drug that could heal all cancers, it would be wrong, and it would indicate we did not love someone who needs it, if we did not try to give it to them. We reach out to Jewish people, and Gentile people, because we love them and because they need forgiveness of sins, knowledge of God, eternal life, and an inheritance in the Messianic Kingdom.

“But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report [Is53:1]? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world [Ps19:4],” Rm10:16-18. So you have to hear a message before you can believe it. Israel heard through the 12 apostles of Yeshua, and Israel continues to hear from believers today.”

“But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you [Deut32:21]. But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not. I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me [Is65:1]. But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people [Is65:2],” Rm10:19-21.

So Israel knew from prophecy that there would be a period of time when Gentiles believed and Israel did not believe. And Israel is a disobedient nation, because all nations are disobedient. The majority of people in all nations are unregenerate, and any Gentile nation that God could have picked would be just as disobedient.

Romans 11. All Israel

Israel’s Blindness is Partial

“I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elijah? How he maketh intercession to God against Israel saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal [1Kings19:10,14,18]. Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work,” Rm11:1-6.

God told Elijah there were still 7000 that hadn’t bowed the knee to Baal. So in Elijah’s time there were 7000. In our time, we don’t know the number, but there is always a remnant. Paul was part of the remnant during his generation. And the way God makes sure there are always some believing Jewish people in every generation, is by election based on grace and faith, not on law and works; by knowing in advance who will believe, and having them born at the right time to serve this purpose.

And in 11:7, “What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear; unto this day [Is6:9-10; Is29:10]. And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them: Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway [Ps69:22-23],” Rm11:7-10.

To me, this is one of the saddest passages in the Bible. But when it says Israel is blinded, it doesn’t mean God is blinding Jewish people so they can’t accept Yeshua, because some Jewish people do accept Jesus, including Paul. What it means is that those that don’t know the Lord, are blinded from accepting Jesus Christ outwardly without putting faith in Christ.

David’s words sound harsh about bowing down their backs always, but the Messiah suffered harshly too. Rejection of the Messiah is a serious offence. And even if we would not have given him vinegar for his thirst while he was suffering, our hearts are naturally of the same kind as those who tormented him, even if not of the same degree.

“For thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face. I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children. For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me. ... Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink [while on the cross]. Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake [the Septuagint says “bow down their back alway”]. Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them. Let their habitation be desolate; and let none dwell in their tents. For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten [in our place]; and they talk to the grief ... whom thou hast wounded. Add iniquity unto their iniquity: and let them not come into thy righteousness. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous. But I am poor and sorrowful. Let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high [Messiah will return to rule]. ... The humble shall see this, and be glad; and your heart shall live that seek God. ... For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah: that they may dwell there, and have it in possession. The seed also of his servants shall inherit it: and they that love his name shall dwell therein,” Ps69:7-36.

So Messiah prayed for terrible judgment upon unbelieving Israel. But no one has to remain in unbelief. Be “humble,” don’t consider yourself righteous but instead accept the righteousness God provides, and you will have cause to “be glad” when you see Messiah reign. “Seek God” and you “shall live,” and “inherit” the Messianic Kingdom, and “shall dwell therein.”

Israel’s Blindness is Temporary

“I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy,” Rm11:11. Because Israel, as a nation, rejected the gospel, the gospel could go out to the Gentiles without the hindrance of the law. The temporary fall of Israel was great riches for the Gentiles. And the reason God sends the gospel to the Gentiles, and saves them as Gentiles without any need to become Jewish proselytes, is to provoke unbelieving Israelites to jealousy, so Israel will be saved. It is to help Jewish people realize they cannot be justified merely by being Jewish, or by traditions, or by keeping the law.

“Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? ... For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?” Rm11:12-15.

At some point in the future, the nation of Israel will be reconciled to God, and at that point it won’t result in justification for the Gentiles, as Israel’s fall did; but instead it will result in the resurrection and glorification of both Jews and Gentiles. It will be “life from the dead,” Rm11:15.

Jesus told the Jewish people, “You won’t see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,” and the Gentile nations won’t see him either until the Jewish people say that. The event called the ‘rapture’ is a private return of the Messiah to catch away the church out of the world before the great tribulation. He will not return publicly, and the kingdom won’t be set up, until Israel as a nation says of Yeshua, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,” Mt23:39.

“... If some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; Boast not against the branches. ... Because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear, ... lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God. ... They also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted ... into their own olive tree?” Rm11:16-24.

The “natural branches” are the Jewish people and the “wild” branches are the Gentiles. The olive tree is the Jewish people’s “own olive tree.” It does not represent salvation, because even unbelieving Jewish people remained on the tree until the rejection of Christ and the resulting judicial blindness. The “root and fatness” are the Jewish fathers and the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant.

When God gave the law, and the tabernacle service, and the shekinah glory, unbelieving Jewish people could participate in those things. But when God sent the Messiah, and all the blessings of God are now in and through him, unbelievers, including Jewish unbelievers, cannot participate in knowing Christ, and so Jewish unbelievers are the “some” of the natural branches that were broken off. The natural branches that were not broken off are the believing Jewish remnant, and they are also part of the church.

The wild branches that were grafted in are Gentiles that believe on Yeshua, and thus share in Israel’s covenant blessings during this present age. We should be humble, because we are sharing in Jewish blessings, Jewish covenants, Jewish scriptures, the Jewish Messiah, and will have an inheritance in the Jewish Messianic Kingdom.

None of these things have been transferred over to the Gentiles. Unbelieving Gentiles will not partake in those blessings, as the unbelieving Jews did before Christ came. And soon God will work it out so that all Israel believes, and is grafted back into their own tree.

“For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in,” Rm11:25.

“Blindness in part,” so Israel’s blindness is only partial, because there is always a remnant who believes. “Until