Why Has Israel Suffered So Much? The Bible's Answer

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. And again, it's good to have everybody back here in the studio. My, we got a good group today. That's what the weather does, isn't it? I remember here a few times ago, we had just a small number because of bad weather. But we're glad to have everybody in today, all the way from Bartlesville and Tahlequah, McAllister, Wilberton. My, that's good. Eufaula. And I don't want to miss anybody. I think that's all. Kenta, my land. We're just from all over eastern Oklahoma. All right, for those of you on television, we're just glad to have you with us. And we always like to emphasize this is just an informal Bible study. We don't claim to have all the answers. We don't claim to be right and everyone's wrong. But all we like to do is get people involved in studying the Word, and we try to make it as simple as we possibly can. And we do appreciate hearing from you out there that we're accomplishing that evidently because so many of you are writing that you're understanding things you never understood before. So we do covet your prayers, and again, we just ask that you become a part and part of the ministry because there are a lot of hungry folks out there that I think we're reaching that otherwise may never be reached. All right, for those of you here in the studio now, we're ready to get back in. You remember in the last program I said we're going to look at why, why has Israel suffered so inexorably over the years, and why is their greatest turmoil still ahead of them? And it is. We're going to see probably in the next program where Jesus said in Matthew 24 that those days are going to be the worst that the world has ever known. There had never been anything like it before, nor ever would be again. And of course, Israel is in the vortex of all that. All right, turn with me, if you will, to Jeremiah chapter 30. We'll just look at a few Scripture verses throughout the Old Testament in this program, and hopefully have time to also get into the New, and to see that God has His own reasons, He has His own purposes. But here in Jeremiah chapter 30, drop down to verse 6, Jeremiah chapter 30 beginning with verse 6, where the prophet writes, Ask you now, and see whether a man doth travail with child. Wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail? And all faces are turned into paleness, in other words, because of fear and the turmoil. Now verse 7, Alas, for that day is great, so that none is like it, it is even the time of Jacob's trouble. Now Jacob, of course, is always a reference to the nation, not the man, the nation. It is the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it, in other words, out of this terrible time of tribulation. Now I'd like to have you turn with me then all the way to the next to last book in your Old Testament. I always tell my classes, just find Matthew, and then come back through Malachi, and you'll hit Zechariah. And turn to chapter 13. Now like I said, I don't claim to have all the answers, but I know there are those who maintain that as a result of the coming of Christ, and the work of the tribulation, that every Jew will be saved. And I'll show you the verse that they use to trumpet that kind of teaching, and it's in Romans chapter 11 where Paul writes, "...and yet all Israel shall be saved." But I'm going to qualify that here a little bit, because in Zechariah chapter 13, that's not the language. Zechariah 13 and verse 8, and it shall come to pass, that in all the land, that is the land of Israel, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die, that's two thirds. Two parts shall be cut off and die, but the third part shall be left therein. They're going to survive. Now drop down to verse 9. God says, "...I will bring the third part through the fire." Now in Scripture, fire usually, at least in a text like this, it depicts a testing. Now for those of you who don't know anything about science at all, and you take like metals, if you really want to purify gold, how do you do it? Well you put it through the heat of the fire, you melt it, and the hotter that gold gets, the more impurities will come to the top. So fire is a depiction of a testing. He's going to bring this third part of Israel through the testings of the tribulation, and He says, "...I will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on My name, and I will hear them." Now you know there are other portions of the Scripture when God would tell Israel, that you can cry, but what? I won't hear you. You're not My people, because as we're going to see of their unbelief. And He says, "...but now they'll call on My name, and I will hear them. I will say, It is My people." Now back in the book of Daniel, as He gives Daniel instructions, He doesn't call Israel My people, He calls them what to Daniel? Thy people. He doesn't claim them for His own, but here He will. And that day, of course, is yet future, and He will say, It is My people, and they shall say, The Lord is My God. All right, now let's go back to Deuteronomy, and we'll try to establish from Scripture, and with all of the love and tenderness that we can show to the Jewish people, because I always have to remind myself that, oh, a year or two ago, I think it was reported in the Jerusalem Post, where one of the most popular and most listened to radio talk shows in Israel had as their guest a rabbi. An elderly rabbi who had a lot of respect amongst the Jews, and in the process of that program, he made the statement that the reason Israel had suffered so much, and they were Now what do you suppose happened? Well the phone lines were jammed, because the Jewish people in Israel were so put out at this old rabbi, sin had caused their problem. You know, people don't want to recognize sin anymore, but we'll go back to Deuteronomy with me, and here in chapter 28, and we can begin with verse 63. Now we have to understand that the Jewish people have the same Old Testament that we have. In other words, when I would read a devotional in a Jerusalem Post by one of the rabbis, Rabbi Rishkin, and when he quotes Scripture, it's word for word with our King James, very seldom do I find it deviated at all. And so they have this. They could read it, now look what it says, and it shall come to pass, that as the Lord Now this is Moses speaking to the nation, they're still there in the land of the Sinai, they haven't come into the Promised Land yet, and he says, "...it shall come to pass, that as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you, to bring you to nothing. You shall be plucked from off the land, whither thou goest to possess. The Lord shall scatter thee." Now verse 65, I'm just going to hit some of the highlights, we haven't got time to touch on all of these. You read these verses at your leisure. Verse 65, "...and amongst these nations thou shalt find no ease, no heart, failing of eyes, sorrow of mind, thy life shall hang in doubt before thee, thou shalt fear day and night, thou shalt have no assurance of thy life." And so on and so forth. And why? Because it says down here in chapter 28, where he says that if they would not hearken, back to verse 15, all the way back to verse 15. And here it makes the reason for these catastrophes so plain. Here in chapter 28, beginning verse 15, where the Lord says, "...it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God to obey thee." Now it was in disobedience then of God's commandments, and of God's Word, that brought them all these problems. Now at the heart of all disobedience, even for you and I in the age of grace, at the heart of all disobedience is one Word, and I want to have you turn with me now to Psalms chapter 95. Who knows what that one Word is? What one Word covers all sin? It's unbelief, and unbelief is the opposite of faith. Now as long as Israel had faith in God's Word, what were they? Obedient. But as soon as they didn't believe what God said, then what happened? All of their sin just came in over them. And I don't care what manner of sin it was, it was unbelief that gave them the permissiveness to perform all those things. I said Psalms 95, and I haven't even found it myself yet. Psalms 95, and come down to verse 7, where the psalmist writes, "...for He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. Today if you will hear His voice, harden not your heart, as in the provocation, as in the day of temptation in the wilderness." Now that's speaking of the 40 years, you remember, after they rejected at Kadesh Barnea to go into the Promised Land, they came back out and they wandered in the wilderness of Sinai, those 40 years. All right, this is what the psalmist is referring to. "...harden not your heart, as in the provocation, as in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers, or your forefathers, tested Me, proved Me, and saw My work 40 years. Was I agreed with that generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known My ways, unto whom I swear in My wrath, that they should not enter into My rest." All right, now let's go to the New Testament, and the writer to the Hebrews sort of clarifies that very portion in the Psalms, and he emphasizes what I'm already mentioning, is the unbelief. And that is in Hebrews chapter 3, Hebrews chapter 3, this is a new Bible, you can tell it, the pages are still stuck together, I had to borrow one this morning. All right, Hebrews chapter 3, and begin at verse 7, Hebrews chapter 3, verse 7, "...Wherefore, as the Holy Spirit saith, today," you see now he's quoting from Psalms 95, "...today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers tempted Me, or tested Me, proved Me, and saw My works, wherefore, I was agreed with that generation, and said, They do always err in their heart, they have not known My ways, so I swear in My wrath, they shall not enter into My rest." Now verse 12, you see Paul I think wrote Hebrews, now he's departing from the actual text, and he's commenting on it. So he says, "...take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of immorality," an evil heart of any other sin you can name, but an evil heart of what? Unbelief, see unbelief, "...in departing from the living God. Exhort one another daily, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." Alright, now then come on over toward the end of the chapter just for sake of time, because I do want to get a little further into the New Testament yet on this very same thought. Verse 17, now referring to the children of Israel, who Joshua and Caleb were just heart brokenly saying, Let's go! We can take the land. My God has done everything so far, He'll drive the enemies out, and what had the majority said? Can't do it. In fact I was thinking as I was preparing for these over the last week, I've said it before in this program, and I'll say it again. When it comes to the things of the Spirit, always remember the majority is rarely right. Never forget that. The majority is rarely right, they're usually wrong. And so it was here, the ten were the majority, but they were dead wrong. Caleb and Joshua were right. Now I'll read on. But with whom was he grieved those forty years? Verse 17. Was it not with them who had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that what? Believe not. See, that was their problem. So then, Paul writes in verse 19, so then we see that they could not enter into his rest. And remember that's the opposite of faith, and that's why he also says in this same book of Hebrews, that without faith it is impossible to please Him, because we act on it. Only you have two opposite results. Alright, still continuing on now then, why is God dealing with the nation of Israel so harshly? Follow with me now to Acts chapter 2. Now this is Peter preaching on the day of Pentecost. This is only fifty days after the crucifixion, and it's still fresh on everyone's mind. Fifty days, that's not very long, it's only seven weeks. Now in Acts chapter 2, come down to verse 36. Again for sake of time, someday we're going to be studying the book of Acts verse by verse, but until then we'll just have to jump in and out. Acts chapter 2, verse 36. Peter is preaching to this tremendous Jewish crowd, they're there for the Jewish feast day of Pentecost from every nation under heaven. And he says, "...therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom you crucified." Now what is Peter saying? You killed your Messiah, plain English, whom you crucified. And of course that shook them up, and so what was their response? Well men and brethren, what must we do? Now come on over to chapter 3, and I want you to see the same kind of language. Acts chapter 3, and again in verse 12 you determine who Peter is talking to. And this is what's so intrinsic in Bible study. Always ask yourself, to whom is this being addressed? Sure it's for our learning, but it's not speaking to us. I trust there isn't one of you in here whose pastor gets up on Sunday morning and points the finger at you and says, you killed the Christ. Does he? No, but Peter does. Peter says here now in chapter 3, beginning verse 12, "...ye men of Israel, why marvel at this?" In other words they had just healed the lame man. Verse 13, "...the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified His Son Jesus, whom ye delivered up, and denied in the presence of Pilate." Verse 14, "...ye denied the Holy One, and the Just One." Now verse 15, and I can put in the pronoun you for clarification, and you killed the Prince of Life. Now as you come down to verse 19, what's the first word? Repent. Repent of what? They have just rejected, and killed, and murdered their Messiah. Now this is still on God's mind. The nation of Israel has not yet been forgiven of the fact that they rejected, and killed, and crucified their Messiah. Now I'm always very careful as I teach this in my classes, that this does not come across as an excuse for anti-Semitism. Now we know a lot of the religions of the world for the last 1900 years have accused the Jew of being the God killers, of being the ones who killed the Christ. But in reality you see, as Christ hung on the cross, no Jew took His life, no Roman took His life. But who did? He gave it up of His own will. But in God's dealing with the covenant people you see, and why He's dealing with them the way He does, Peter according to inspiration here, is accusing the nation of Israel for having killed their Messiah. Alright now let's go all the way over to Romans and see what Paul says about the whole thing. And we know that because Israel rejected their Messiah, they lost their temple, they lost their land, and they were into a dispersion, and they've been in the ghettos, they've been through the holocaust, and all because you see, they rejected all the promises. But God also promised from day one that He would not give up on them. That one day He would yet bring them back, He would bring them to the land, and He's yet going to fulfill all the promises that He made to their forefathers. Now we pick this up in Romans chapter 11 from Paul's viewpoint, and remember now Paul has a heart for the nation of Israel, but he is as you see here in verse 13 of Romans 11, he is not the apostle of Israel as Peter certainly was, but rather his apostleship is to whom? Gentiles. Now look at that verse 13. Romans 11. For Paul writes, "...I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles." And he says, I magnify more of them, in other words he's never going to shrink from that responsibility. Now back up in this chapter and you will find in verse 11 where Paul is defending the nation of Israel, that they are not going to be completely annihilated. God is still going to finish His program with them, but he says in verse 11, "...I say then have they stumbled that they should fall, that God should destroy them? God forbid, or banish the thought. But rather through their fall salvation is come to the Gentiles." Now in verse 12, "...if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fulness." So their great future is still ahead of them, but God is still dealing with them on the basis of what they had done in their unbelief. Now let's come on into chapter 11 a little further to verse 25. After establishing the fact that God will yet come back and restore the nation of Israel to its original promises, and to its covenant position, He gives us a time frame. So He says in verse 25, "...I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, or this secret which was never revealed before, lest ye be wise in your own conceit, that blindness, a spiritual blindness, in part, not forever, but for a period of time, has happened to Israel until God has finished His work with the Gentiles." He takes us out of the way, and then the blindness will be lifted from the Jew. Now then come in to verse 26, and here's the verse I said that so many people have taken out of context, or they don't understand what it says, and it says, "...and so all Israel shall be saved." How much? All. But what did we see back in Zechariah? Only a third. And we know that all through Israel's history, did God ever get 100%? What's the word? Remnant. A few. The remnant. The remnant of Israel. But then why does Paul say, "...and yet all Israel shall be saved." Well there is a Biblical explanation of course, like there always is. Now come back with me a minute to Isaiah, chapter 9, drop down to verse 8, and then for those of you that are a little faster than the others, you can already look back to Genesis 32. If we have time we're going to go back there, and then we'll wind up the half hour. But here in Isaiah 9, verse 8, "...the Lord sent a word into Jacob, that is the nation, and it the word lighteth upon Israel. He sent the word to Jacob, but only Israel heard." Well now I thought they were one and the same. Oh, we've got three minutes, back fast to Genesis. Chapter 32. That's the only thing I don't like about the television deal, is this 30 minute press on time. See when we teach two hours and a night, it's a lot easier. Genesis 32, drop all the way into verse 27-28, and here's Jacob with that all night wrestling with the Lord, with Jehovah, the Man. And after they've been wrestling all night, the Lord says to Jacob, "...what is thy name?" And he said, "...Jacob." Now verse 28, "...thy name shall be called no more Jacob." Now what did Jacob mean? The deceiver, the supplanter. "...thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel." And Israel means a prince with God. So what have you got? A whole new man. Israel was the believing Jacob, who is now called Israel. Jacob referred to his unbelieving state. And so now he is to be called Israel. Now you take this into the verse in Isaiah chapter 9, "...the word came to Jacob, but only Israel heard." What does that tell you? Only the believer. And the same way now as he deals with the end time, two thirds of Israel are not going to believe. A third will, and that third will be called Israel. And so then, how much of Israel will be saved? All of Israel. See that? And so if you just begin to define some of these terms, then everything just begins to fall in place. Not every Jew is going to be saved, but all of the believing remnant of Israel will be saved. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.