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Preparing for the Last Days: Israel and the Church in the Last Days

Pr Reggie Lee
15-03-2018


God started everything in the Garden of Eden. (Genesis 2:4-3:24)


Because of the wickedness of mankind, God decided to flood the whole earth. God even regretted making man. (Genesis 6:6)


After the Flood, God commanded humanity to "increase in number and fill the earth" (Genesis 9:1). However, humanity decided to build "a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” (Genesis 11:4) This tower is remembered as the Tower of Babel.


In response, God confused the languages of humanity so that they could no longer communicate with each other (Genesis 11:7).


The Covenants of Israel
Genesis 12:2-3

Descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
Genesis 50:24 New King James Version (NKJV)
24 And Joseph said to his brethren, “I am dying; but God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”

Abraham was called out of Ur to Mount Moriah.

God's promise to Abraham
People:
Genesis 17:6 New King James Version (NKJV)
I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.

Place:
Genesis 17:8 New King James Version (NKJV)
Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”

Presence:
Genesis 17:7 New King James Version (NKJV)
And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.

Blessing:
Genesis 12:2-3 New King James Version (NKJV)
I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Moses freed his people out of slavery in Egypt.

Moses did not obey God completely. He could not enter into the Promise Land.

Joseph and Caleb led the people into the Promised Land.

The Jewish people is a blessing to the whole world:
-Waze
-Insulin
-Polio vaccine
-Skin graft for burns

The presence of God is with the Jewish people. There are enemies within and outside Israel.

They decided to choose a human king. God gave them Saul. But they had to pay a price--known as the diaspora.

David replaced King Saul. God anointed David for the work. He became a great king but he also made some mistakes.

David built Jerusalem but Solomon built the temple for God.

In AD70, the Romans destroyed the temple, as Jesus had prophesied.

The Jews spread throughout the world. They lost hope. They left Jerusalem.

"When the Jewish people, after nearly 2,000 years of exile, under relentless persecution, became a nation again on 14 May 1948 the 'fig tree' put forth its first leaves. Jesus said that this would indicate that He was 'at the door,' ready to return."
- Hal Lindsey

In 1917, James Balfore decided the Jews needed a homeland. 

They still could not go to Israel.

In the second World War, six million Jews died.

The Jews had been suffering for a long, long time.

In 1948, Israel became a nation. Yet the Jews found it difficult to return to Israel. The British people disallowed them to arm themselves.

In 1948, the Jews began to make their way back--Aliyah.

There is a call by God for every Jew to return to their country.

Israel is a nation with a destiny--a destiny with God.

Both Israel and the church are important in the last days.

Exodus 2:23-25 New King James Version (NKJV)
23 Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. 24 So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them.

Deuteronomy 28:64 New King James Version (NKJV)
64 “Then the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known—wood and stone.

Deuteronomy 28:65-66 New King James Version (NKJV)
65 And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; but there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul. 66 Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance of life.

Isaiah 43:5-6 New King James Version (NKJV)
Fear not, for I am with you;
I will bring your descendants from the east,
And gather you from the west;
I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
And to the south, ‘Do not keep them back!’
Bring My sons from afar,
And My daughters from the ends of the earth—

Zechariah 8:7-8 New King James Version (NKJV)
“Thus says the Lord of hosts:

‘Behold, I will save My people from the land of the east
And from the land of the west;
I will bring them back,
And they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem.
They shall be My people
And I will be their God,
In truth and righteousness.’

Ezekiel 28:25-26 New King James Version (NKJV)
Israel’s Future Blessing

25 ‘Thus says the Lord God: “When I have gathered the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and am hallowed in them in the sight of the Gentiles, then they will dwell in their own land which I gave to My servant Jacob. 26 And they will dwell safely there, build houses, and plant vineyards; yes, they will dwell securely, when I execute judgments on all those around them who despise them. Then they shall know that I am the Lord their God.”’”

Isaiah 51:3 New King James Version (NKJV)
For the Lord will comfort Zion,
He will comfort all her waste places;
He will make her wilderness like Eden,
And her desert like the garden of the Lord;
Joy and gladness will be found in it,
Thanksgiving and the voice of melody.

Isaiah 41:18-20 New King James Version (NKJV)
18 I will open rivers in desolate heights,
And fountains in the midst of the valleys;
I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
And the dry land springs of water.
19 I will plant in the wilderness the cedar and the acacia tree,
The myrtle and the oil tree;
I will set in the desert the cypress tree and the pine
And the box tree together,
20 That they may see and know,
And consider and understand together,
That the hand of the Lord has done this,
And the Holy One of Israel has created it.

Zephaniah 3:9 New King James Version (NKJV)
“For then I will restore to the peoples a pure language,
That they all may call on the name of the Lord,
To serve Him with one accord.

A new Hebrew language was created in 1890.

According to the Word of God, the Jews and the Gentiles will become one because God is preparing the Jews for His return. The time of the Gentile is almost over.

It is all about Israel. Israel is the epicentre of God's will.

Zechariah 12:3 New King James Version (NKJV)
And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.

Romans 11:25 New King James Version (NKJV)
25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

The bible is a very important document. It validates what it says.

Ezekiel 39:21-29 King James Version (KJV)
21 And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.
22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward.
23 And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword.
24 According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them.
25 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name;
26 After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid.
27 When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;
28 Then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.

29 Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God.

Joel 3:2 New King James Version (NKJV)
I will also gather all nations,
And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat;
And I will enter into judgment with them there
On account of My people, My heritage Israel,
Whom they have scattered among the nations;
They have also divided up My land.

Micah 4:1 New King James Version (NKJV)
The Lord’s Reign in Zion

Now it shall come to pass in the latter days
That the mountain of the Lord’s house
Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;
And peoples shall flow to it.

Zechariah 14:16 New King James Version (NKJV)
The Nations Worship the King

16 And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

Revival fire will burst forth across the nations.

Once a percentage of the Jews are saved, the time of the Gentiles will come to an end.

Deuteronomy 4:35-36 New King James Version (NKJV)
35 To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord Himself is God; there is none other besides Him. 36 Out of heaven He let you hear His voice, that He might instruct you; on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire.

Israel is God's time piece.

Genesis 12:1-3 New King James Version (NKJV)
Promises to Abram
12 Now the Lord had said to Abram:

“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Church history
The first church were house churches.

12 men brought a revolution.

They traveled throughout Europe to share the gospel. And it went to Africa, America, Asia.

Today, Islam is taking over Europe as Christianity is dying.

In AD100, Emperor Constantine adopted and legalised Christianty. 

AD100-1516
-Replacement theology
-Clergy and laity divide
-Dark Ages
-Crusaders
-Servanthood to leadership

Justin Martyr: "But I and others, who are right-minded Christians on all points, are assured that there will be a resurrection of the dead, and a thousand years in Jerusalem, which will then be built, adorned, and enlarged, [as] the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah and others declare."

"The scriptures are not yours, but ours."

1 Corinthians 1:10 New King James Version (NKJV)
Sectarianism Is Sin

10 Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

AD200 -1906: The church functioned without the Holy Spirit.

Gospel of Salvation vs Gospel of the Kingdom
Matthew 24:14 New King James Version (NKJV)
14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Jesus is coming back for a kingdom. Not a church.

Revival will come. But revival is not good enough. We need a Jesus revolution.

Colossians 3:10-11 New King James Version (NKJV)
10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, 11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

Matthew 17:5 New King James Version (NKJV)
While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!”

Colossians 1:18 New King James Version (NKJV)
18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

Colossians 2:2 New King James Version (NKJV)
that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and[a] of Christ,

God wants us as one--to go back to the Hebraic roots.

All of us have a destiny.

Matthew 24:27 New King James Version (NKJV)
27 For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

Revelation 1:7 New King James Version (NKJV)
Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.

Your purpose:
-To discover your gift;
-To find your destiny to give your gift;

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