Paul’s Mystery – Our True Identity in Messiah

Automated transcript, lightly edited for readability. Scripture appears as spoken; the video is the authoritative teaching.

You guys know the past two weeks we've been discussing Hosea and who Hosea was and what God told him to do and why God told him to do it and who Hosea was sent for. So who was Hosea really sent to? House of Israel. Now he had a message for both House of Israel and House of Judah, but primarily his message was a punishment for the northern kingdom, the divided monarchy, if you will. You guys remember the last two messages? Hosea 1 and 2. We spoke about how Israel grew in the land, and then at one point they wanted a king, and so Saul, the Benjamite, was appointed as the king, and then that was ripped out.

He encroached in the sacrifices. Samuel was the only one supposed to be doing it, and Saul jumped the gun, didn't wait on Samuel, and so God stripped the kingdom away from Saul, gave it to David, right? And David was pretty faithful to God. Of course, he was always messing up his whole life, but he was a man after God's own heart. Then he had a son named Solomon, and Solomon broke every single guideline that God had for Israel to have a king. God told Solomon, listen... The kingdom's not going to be yours anymore. I'm going to rip it away from you. So he raises up a man by the name of Jeroboam, and he says, Jeroboam, I'm going to rip essentially all the tribes away from Solomon's lineage.

I'm going to give them to you, and I want you to serve me with integrity and righteousness. And so Solomon has a son, Rehoboam, and Rehoboam's a little bit of a jerk, and so the kingdom splits most of the tribes, the ten tribes, if you will, go with Jeroboam up north, and Israel is no longer one nation. It is split into two, a northern kingdom and a southern kingdom. It would have worked out great, but Jeroboam of the northern kingdom was not righteous. He insisted on encroaching on God's commandments, establishing his own priesthood made of the laity instead of the sons of Aaron. Rehoboam followed after hard.

The southern kingdom began to sin and worship other gods. And God just got really irritated with all of this. His covenant people had betrayed him. So the northern kingdom got shipped out through the Assyrian empire. They came in, shipped them out, exiled them, never to return. And the southern kingdom was shipped out to Babylon, returned a generation later. We're going to take that information and I wanted you guys to at least become familiar with that information. For the future when you're reading scriptures and prophets like Ezekiel or Jeremiah, they talk about Israel and Judah. Now you'll know what that means.

Now you'll know what the difference is. It's just the kingdom of Israel that was divided into after Solomon. But I also wanted to build up the point before we start reading the New Testament. Paul specifically. And so I named this message, "Paul's Mystery: Our True Identity in Messiah." And the reason why I named it that is because of what Paul mentions in Romans chapter 11, starting in verse 25. So you can go ahead and turn with me there. I messed up. I was actually going to print this verse on the pamphlet so you guys wouldn't have an excuse. Turn with me to Romans chapter 11, starting in verse 25, and you put your bookmark.

I know you have your bookmark and your Bible saved it like your favorite verse or whatnot. You know where your favorite verse is. Move the bookmark over to Romans 11 right now, just because we're going to be flipping there a lot today. Okay? I've learned a lot from my peers and different teachers of my past revolving around this subject. But over the past few weeks, I discovered a dissertation for basically a lecturer at Chapel Hill University by the name of Jason Staples. And he's a lecturer at Chapel Hill University, and before that, I believe he was a professor down in Florida. His major is Mediterranean religions specifically Israel and he wrote a dissertation Titled I believe it was the the mystery of Israel according to Paul essentially And a lot I'm gonna I'm gonna quote his his essay paper here several times throughout this message But on the video I'll put I'll put the actual name of that paper on there and so you guys are there Romans chapter 11, right?

Everybody there I like to interact. Christi's there. I love it. Romans 11, starting 25. Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, mysterium. Mystery. Brothers, a partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. In this way... Now Paul's talking about this mystery. And how many of you guys know what a mystery is? You ever had one of those mystery dinners and you just got to figure out a case and you got to have clues and you got to put clues together to figure out the mystery? Paul says, Paul begins getting excited about this mystery here in which something about the fullness of the Gentiles is going to happen so that all of Israel can be saved.

And then he quotes Isaiah 59, 20. And then the latter passage here is actually from Jeremiah 31. And so he quotes these two scriptures as a foundation to support this mystery that all Israel is going to be saved because of something to do with the fullness of the Gentiles. And that's what today's message is going to be about. We're going to look at maybe a piece of the gospel that we've missed before.

Maybe something that we didn't really hone in on, that Paul speaks about multiple times, especially in Romans. But before we begin, I want to have a basic outline of where we're going to go today. We need to discover three different things. We need to address three different things with this passage. Number one, how does Paul define all Israel? That would be important, right? Who is all of Israel? What does this term mean, all Israel will be saved? Number two, what does Paul mean by the fullness of the Gentiles? Anyone ever read that before? It's kind of a weird, like a clicker, like when a bunch of Gentiles get saved, that's when all of Israel will be saved.

Click one, two, three, you know, 3,099, 4,000. Woo, we got the fullness of the Gentiles. What is he talking about? Number three, how is the salvation of this all Israel saved? related to the in-gathering of the fullness of the Gentiles or the fullness of the nations. Essentially, the question is, what does the in-gathering of the fullness of the Gentiles have to do with the salvation of all of Israel? This is Paul speaking, and we're just trying to figure out what Paul's talking about. Amen? Amen. Awesome. So, number one, what does Paul mean by all Israel? Now, the term Israel, as you guys know, can have several different meanings in the Scriptures based on the Hebrew text and the Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament.

Number one, we found out several weeks ago that Israel could also be a name of the patriarch, Jacob, right? Because Jacob's name was changed to Israel. So sometimes in Scripture when it says Israel, it's just talking about one God, Jacob, right? Number two, Israel could also mean the nation composed of all of his descendants. The children of Israel could also be Israel. That is, all 12 tribes of Israel, including Judah. All 12 tribes, all 12 sons of Israel. Israel could also mean the northern kingdom, the 10 tribes, also known as the house of Israel, excluding the southern kingdom, the house of Judah, And number four, Israel is sometimes used to describe the returnees of Judah after the Babylonian exile.

After Judah returns, it says that start speaking about and all of Israel was gathered together. Even though all of Israel really wasn't gathered together, they were just a remnant of everybody. And so when we readdress this scripture, starting in verse 26, and this way all Israel will be saved, We need to figure out what that means. Now, thankfully, Paul puts an indicator in there by using the quantifier all. All. What does all mean? All means that if there's less than all, it's not all, right? It can't just be a little bit. It has to be the absoluteness of Israel. This helpfully narrows down the possibilities.

As James M. Scott showed in his book in the Old Testament, expression "all Israel" relates exclusively to the tribal structure of the descendants of Jacob in Israel, which also consistently refers to the 12 tribes in the Jewish literature in the Second Temple period. In other words, in a technical sense, Israel necessarily includes Jews or Judeans but is not limited to the Judeans, while all Israel seems to point to all of Israel. So several weeks ago we spoke about the terminology and how the term Judean, or short Jew, didn't exist till after the split of Israel, right? Where did that come from? Well, the southern kingdom was known as the kingdom of Judah.

So these became the people of the land of Judea when the Greeks came. And this is how the Judeans got their name, the Jews, because they were inhabitants of the southern kingdom of Judea, which was Judah, if you will. Everybody with me on that? So is Judah part of Israel? Is Israel all of Judah? Or is all of Israel Judah? Okay. Okay. And I've read a recent book that was explaining this. It talks about, you know, a Floridian. Anybody from Florida? Crazy, it's too hot down there. So you guys, Floridians, you guys are part of the United States of America, but not all of the United States of America are Floridians, all right?

Same thing with Jews in Israel. Judeans are part of Israel, right? There are many who would suggest that Israel in the New Testament is exclusively the southern tribes associated with the now Roman-controlled province of Judea. This is a huge argument, and this topic, guys, is controversial. It's controversial on many different levels because there are many different scholars that want to argue one way or another. And this is why we need to look at evidence. And this is why we need to see how much weight falls on which side. So try to figure out what this mystery is that Paul's talking about. Because if Paul is talking about something that all of Israel is going to be saved, the ultimate redemption of all of Israel that God put into place.

Do you guys want to figure out this mystery? Someone said, sure. If we're studying a text that was written in the first century, like the Pauline letters, would it be beneficial to look at other documents that were written in the first century and compare them? In other words, if we're trying to figure out what a term means, when Paul says Israel, what does he mean? We don't know what this term means. What does Paul mean? Would it be beneficial to go back in the first century and look at other letters and other documents and see how these authors use Israel? And then we can use all of this evidence to try to formulate a pure definition of the term Israel.

Okay. For that, we look at Josephus, a first century historian that was born in Jerusalem. This is a quote from James Staples, Jason Staples. He states this in his dissertation about this very topic. Josephus certainly upholds The distinction, using the terms Israelites and Israel, only in the first 11 books of antiquities. These were part of his collection of his works that only dealt with pre-exilic and exilic periods of Israel. And nowhere else in the entire works of Josephus. Yehudin, or Judean, if you will, on the other hand, occurs 1,190 times in the Josephan corpus, but only 27 times in the first 10 books of antiquities.

Once the northern tribes are off the scene, Josephus restricts himself to more precise terminology referring only to the southern tribes, He no longer speaks of Israel, but only of Jews, Judeans. But when all 12 tribes are in play in the works of Josephus, Josephus clearly prefers a more comprehensive term of Israel. So according to Josephus, whenever Josephus uses the term Israel, he's speaking of all 12 tribes, all of Israel. And then when he speaks of Judeans, he's speaking of just the southern kingdom. First century evidence. It's interesting because the Qumran community seemed to think upon the same terms when they were writing some documents that you guys may have heard about called the Dead Sea Scrolls.

They thought of themselves, the Qumran community, if you will, they thought of themselves as a sect of Israel that had true enlightenment in a wicked world. This was a people that looked at the Judeans, the Jews, and said, you guys are so corrupt and you're not following the true faith of the the God of Israel. And you know what? You're so corrupt and your temple's so corrupt and temple worship's so corrupt that we're just going to go out and start our own community here. And you know what? Your calendar's corrupt too, so we're going to have our own calendar because it's the pure and right calendar and you're in sin for using your own calendar.

And you know what? All of your elders and all of the priests over there, all of y'all are corrupt and we are the true, holy, and set-apart ones. So we're going to go out and start our own community and you guys will never be allowed in. Sound familiar? This was the Qumran community. They thought of themselves as the elite righteous because only they had true knowledge. Right? And their works are very beneficial to us. Works of how they viewed the apocalypse helps us kind of get a taste of how first century Judaism may have entertained the idea of the end times. They have the Melchizedek scroll which gives us heavy insight to what the role of Melchizedek was in the first century.

It clarifies a lot of stuff up. But it's interesting because they never called themselves Israel. E.P. Sanders, you guys ever heard of E.P. Sanders? He is a famous, well-renowned Christian scholar. He wrote the book, Paul and Palestinian Judaism. Fantastic book if you want to understand first century context. He writes about the Qumran community. They generally refrained from simply calling themselves Israel. Why didn't the Qumran community call themselves Israel? Because they understood that they were just a sect of greater Israel. Even Paul himself uses precise language to describe his own ancestry.

Much like the Qumran community and Josephus, Paul prefers to describe himself as of a nation of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, rather than using a more generic term, Jew or Judean. So even Paul was like, you know what? I am from the nation of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin, Hebrew among Hebrews. You can always see him puffing his chest out a little bit when he says that. Paul uses the language of Judeans frequently as well as Israel throughout his letters. And so we cannot help but to see them as differing terms leading to two different definitions. I say all of that, guys, because I want to build up the point that when we see Israel in the New Testament and Jew or Jewish or Jews in the New Testament, these are two terms that seem to have two completely different full definitions.

Everybody with me? All right. So what is all of Israel in Romans 11? According to Josephus, even Philo, the Qumran community, and I believe Paul, all of Israel means when God says all of Israel will be saved, he's speaking about the entirety of the lineage of Jacob. All 12 tribes, all of the sons of the 12 sons of Jacob, whose name was Israel, therefore they are the sons of Israel, the children of Israel, and became the fullness of Israel. And so I want to kind of shift gears and take a left turn off an exit ramp real quick. We'll get back on the interstate here in just a minute. I found some very interesting parallels between Paul and a major Old Testament prophet by the name of Jeremiah.

And I kind of wanted to go over these a little bit because we know that Paul's ministry was framed with speaking to Gentile nations about the gospel of Yeshua, right? This is what's spoken about in Romans 11, 13. This was Paul's mission, right? To go speak to the nations. What's interesting is that Jeremiah had the exact same calling in Jeremiah 1, 5. This is just interesting. You can take notes. This is cool. transition fail was only supposed to one or two poop poop questions 115 but when he who had set me apart before I was born soap soap while Paul was still in his mother's womb could we say that is that a stretch before he was born Paul was set apart to do what called me by His Grace and please to reveal his son to me in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles what's another word for Gentiles where the Gentiles In the nations, right?

In the nations. So the Greek term ethnos, if you will, which is translated as Gentiles, is the same term as goryim in Hebrew, which means nations, those outside of Israel. So Paul's mission, while he was still in the womb of his mother, was proclaimed that God would reveal his son to him so that he would go to the goryim, the nations, and preach the gospel. This is exactly what Jeremiah was told to do in Jeremiah 1:5, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you and before you were born, I consecrated you. I appointed you a prophet to the nations." Is that kind of cool? Does that pique any interest?

I thought this was kind of cool. I'm like, wow, that could just be a coincidence. It could be, but let's just see if there's any other references, parallels between them. You know, Jeremiah was the messenger of the New Covenant. Jeremiah 31. You guys familiar with this? This is Jeremiah's role. He's going to talk about the new covenant. Paul states that he is a minister of the new covenant in 2 Corinthians 3.6. Another parallel. You guys remember what the new covenant is? You guys are familiar with this? We're going to read it in Jeremiah . Okay? This is a new covenant. It's referenced all throughout the New Testament, right?

And we don't even know what it is because we've never really studied this. And so Jeremiah . Are you guys ready to read a little bit of Scripture? Can we do that today? Awesome. Jeremiah . "Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant." A what covenant? new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah who's gonna make it with and the house of not like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt my covenant in which they broke though I was their husband declares the Lord for this is the covenant that I will make with them with the house of Israel after those days declares the Lord well what's he gonna do with the house of Israel The latter part of this is what Paul references in Romans chapter 11, I think verse 27 that we just read.

See, what's interesting about this prophecy is it's actually part of a larger section promising the return of the northern kingdom and the reunification of all 12 tribes. That's what the new covenant's all about. He's talking about the house of Israel and the house of Judah, right? Which means both of them have to be brought back and focused on him in order for this new covenant to come about. Still with me? Okay. Just one chapter earlier, Jeremiah is building the point of this new covenant in Jeremiah 30 verse 3. And he says this, What does he call Israel and Judah here? My people. So in Hosea chapter part one, we read the first chapter of Hosea.

And what was it? See, God told Hosea to have some kids and name them specific names. And one of the children was named Lo-Ami. I think it's Hosea 1.9, which translates as not my people. Israel will become not my people. Jeremiah 30 verse 3 says there's going to come a day where both Israel and Judah will no longer be known as lo ami. They will be known as ham Israel. They will become my people Israel. If Paul thought he, along with other believers, were ministers of the new covenant, as we just saw, right? 2 Corinthians 3 verse 6. then he would have been expecting the climactic return of the lost tribes of Israel that we've been studying.

The lost tribes that were scattered among all nations, right? I mean, if Paul is talking about, listen guys, I'm a minister of the new covenant, and he's quoting all about this new covenant coming forward, in order for the new covenant to work and happen and to be kicked off, something has to happen. Judah has to turn their focus back to God, back to the covenants of God, and Israel, who was scattered among all nations, has to return and do the same. Both of them have to be brought back in order for the new covenant to even be eligible to begin. Right? According to Jeremiah 31, 31. Paul must have been expecting this.

Unless he was just misreading scripture, which, I mean, we do all the time, you know. This is what the entire covenant revolves around. Instead, he seems to be obsessing over this mystery in Romans where the Gentiles who are uncircumcised, they're justified by their faith into the kingdom and that through them all of Israel is somehow going to be saved. Paul preaches about Gentiles coming to know Yeshua as a type of fulfillment of the new covenant. You guys familiar with this? Paul is all about some Gentiles, especially in Romans and Galatians. All about some Gentiles being justified by their faith.

He just tears the Judeans apart in Romans chapter 3 about the audacity that they have that they think they're saved because of their blood lineage or their ancestry. No, you're saved through your faith. Your circumcision doesn't save you. Abraham wasn't saved because he was circumcised. He was saved because of his faith. And so Paul's building this up and he's referencing this new covenant in Romans chapter 11 and he's talking about the Gentiles are going to come in as somehow a part of this new covenant and that's how all Israel is going to be saved. But Paul quotes Jeremiah at the end of Romans 11, or in verse 27, to state this.

So how will Israel be saved by Gentiles coming into the faith? What does Paul think he's doing? Guys, I'm going to make a suggestion here. It seems that the mystery of Paul, the mystery of Paul, is that faithful Gentiles in the faith are somehow, somehow associated with the remnant of Israel that was lost to all nations. I know that sounds crazy. I know that sounds crazy. I mean, you know what, Paul had a DNA tester. Yep, you're from Simeon. Yep, you're from Gad. Yep, you're from Dan. No, Paul did not have a DNA tester, nor do I believe that Paul was even suggesting that there was some type of DNA lineage requirement to come into the covenant.

That's not what he was saying, but he does seem to start associating the two. Before we go too far off in that rabbit trail, I mean, that just seems crazy, let's review a couple of other scriptures that Paul talks about the Gentiles. Can we try that? Romans 2, verse 13. Paul states this. He says, Amen, right? So who's he talking about? Gentiles, right? Gentiles. Verse 15. Where is it written? Amen. So Paul is speaking about the law being written on the hearts of Gentiles, just like Jeremiah 31, 31 states in the New Covenant, right? Everybody agree with that? I mean, he's quoting the New Covenant. But wait a minute.

Jeremiah 31, 33, talking about the New Covenant, says, For this is the covenant I will make with the house of... Their hearts? Who's their hearts? Israel. Huh. Fascinating. How about this? Romans 9, verse 22. What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured much patience, vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only, but also the... Indeed, he says in Hosea. So Paul is obsessing again about these Gentiles, and he's saying that he's not only going to call the Jews only, but also the Gentiles.

And then he's going to quote from, oh, what's that book? Hosea. So let's see what he says in Hosea about who? The Gentiles? The Gentiles. Those who were not my people, I will call my people. And her who was not beloved, I will call beloved. And in the very place where it was said to them, you are not my people, there they will be called the sons of the living God. Paul speaking this, This wasn't written to Gentiles, was it? This was written to the house of Israel. But he's taking this verse and he's applying it to these Gentiles. Paul done bumped his head. Okay, so Paul continues in verse 27, right?

Oh, wait. Israel, yeah. Well, he's talking about Gentiles, but now he's talking about a verse in Isaiah that specifically says, And Isaiah cried out concerning Israel, Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved. For the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay. And as Isaiah predicted, if the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and like Gomorrah. Guys, it may appear that as if Paul is using very, very, very sloppy hermeneutics to apply a verse pertaining specifically to Israel and taking it completely out of context to somehow apply to the Gentiles.

What if he's not taking it out of context? Paul is directly using the not my people, my people motive to get his message across concerning the full scope of this new covenant. How is this new covenant going to come to fruition? In Hosea 1.9, you guys remember this, speaking to the house of Israel, God says, call his name not my people, Hosea's son, for you are not my people, I am not your God. So he's talking about Israel. Israel is going to be what? Not my people. Hosea 7, 8. Ephraim, which is synonymous with the house of Israel, mixes himself with the peoples. So Ephraim is going to mix himself with the nations and become other nations, which means he's not going to be my nation, not my people.

Hosea 8, 8. Israel is swallowed up. Already they are among the nations as a useless vessel. A vessel destined for wrath. No, that's a different vessel. Take that exit ramp another day. Do you guys realize that the term, not my people, lo amin, means not my nation, means not in my covenant, means goyim, Gentiles. Israel was destined to be sifted out through the nations of the Gentiles to the point where they would no longer be the people of Israel. They would become Gentiles. It's interesting because Deuteronomy 23, verse 2 says, If we take it in context of verses 3 and 4, it states that if an Israelite marries a pagan and they have offspring, right?

So the offspring is not in covenant and the spouse is not in covenant, right? Then the wife nor the offspring will be part of the assembly of Israel. They can't come in, right? Can't come in. Can't come, take them, come on son, I know you don't believe in my God, you're not of Israel. Come with me to the tabernacle. No, they're barred from it. It's a commandment of God in Torah. Right? If Israel truly was mixed and intermingled with all nations, they're not allowed to be part of Israel. They're not allowed to be in the assembly again. This causes a problem. This causes a huge issue for all these prophecies that talk about Israel returning.

Maybe we'll just move on to the next point. Fullness of the Gentiles. So in Romans 11, verse 25, you guys still got it? Hit that bookmark, turn back. Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery. Everybody say, mystery. Mystery. Mystery dinner. Brothers, a partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way, all Israel will be saved as it is written. And he quotes Isaiah and he quotes Hosea. Fullness of the Gentiles. Does that sound familiar? Kind of familiar? Because we spoke about it in Hosea part one a few weeks back.

And it's absolutely amazing because if we go back to Genesis chapter 48 verse 19, you'll recall when Jacob is blessing Ephraim and Manasseh. And he messes Joseph all up. Like Joseph just has a fit because Jacob's like, listen, he adopts his sons to be the firstborns, if you will, to replace a... which is named Reuben and Simeon, and they would take stature as part of his inheritance on his knees, and he said, these two are mine, and then he blesses them, right? And then he, instead of putting his right hand on the older child, Manasseh, he puts his right hand on Ephraim and his left hand on Manasseh, and he starts to bless them, and Joseph just has a field day with this. He just has a major cow, and he's like, no, Dad, what are you doing?

You can't do that. So a few weeks back we spoke about this term and how this term, melohagoyim, roughly translated by most lexicons, if you will, is fullness of the nations. What's another word for nations? Nations. Gentiles. Your son will become the fullness of the Gentiles. And then he states this, he states, "So he blessed them that day saying, 'By you Israel will pronounce blessing,' saying, 'God make you as Ephraim and Manasseh.'" This is the verse, this is why when we bless our sons, right? This is why we say, "Father, make them as Ephraim and Manasseh." We get that from Scripture right here.

Interesting. in my Logos Bible software in the ESV Bible. When reading this verse in Genesis 48:9, over by multitude, you'll notice a little footnote, and so I ran my mouse over the footnote just to see an alternative word that could be used for multitude and it says fullness. Fullness. Fullness of the nations, fullness of the Gentiles. Was Paul referencing back to Ephraim? Which was another name, future name for the house of Israel that would be scattered among all nations? Was Paul speaking about the restoration of Ephraim coming back out, having become the fullness of the Gentiles? I have another quote from Jason Staples, who wrote a beautiful essay on this specific topic for his PhD.

And you guys can email me, and I'll be glad to send it to you. I have it in a PDF. It's beautiful. He states this, because I couldn't have really said it much better. By citing this prophecy at the climax of his argument, Paul has placed his cards on the table in grand style. The Gentiles now receiving the Spirit are the fulfillment of Jacob's prophecy. They are Ephraim's seed. They are Israel restored through the new covenant. God had planned all along that Ephraim's seed would become the fullness of the nations so that when Ephraim was restored, it would result in the redemption of the Gentiles in Abraham's seed.

Paul's triumphant conclusion, right? All of Israel will be saved. And this, all of Israel will be saved, seizes his opponent's territory, claiming it for the Pauline gospel. Yes, all Israel will be saved, he says, by all Israel. It's more than you realize. Israel's redemption is not limited to Jews alone. God had promised to restore all of Israel and Ephraim, that is the fullness of the nations or Gentiles, If Ephraim was always destined to be the fullness of the nations, then the lineage of Israel under the authority of Ephraim and the northern kingdom was scattered to all Nations and the fact that they would be submerged in all nations that would become other nations there would be intermingled with other nations so much that they would no longer be Ami I'm Israel the people of Israel what has to happen in order for them to come back let me put it this way I almost did this so let's say you got a nice chicken breasts with some green beans and everybody loves chicken breasts and green beans But everybody loves chicken breasts and green beans with some salt if I like salt with the pepper, right?

Let's say you get a glass of water and let's say you got your salt and let's say that your child wants to be funny and Take the salt and pour it in your water when your head is turned you look back all the salt and the salt shaker is gone and it's now in the water and and your kid's sitting here mixing it up to the point where the salt and the water are indistinguishable. But you really want that salt on your chicken breast and your beans. How are you going to get the salt and the water on your chicken breast and beans? Can you take it out of the water? Why not? Because you can't tell the difference between the salt and the water.

If you want the salt on your chicken breast and beans, the only way to do that at this point is to take the water with the salt and just dump it on your plate. Could the mystery that Paul is speaking about here be the fact that if the new covenant is going to occur as God promised, if Israel and Judah are going to be combined together as God promised, the nations have to come as a result. I'm not sold on it yet, so let's just keep going. Let's see if we can find some more evidence on it. Let's be wise. A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles come in. And in this way, all Israel will be saved as it is written.

So Paul is starting to reveal his excitement about the mystery. I mean, you can tell he's getting excited in the letter. These guys are like, I got a mystery and you guys aren't going to believe this, right? The hardening of the northern kingdom of Israel leads to Israel being sifted throughout all the nations via the Assyrian overtaking Israel. The hardening of the Judeans then leads to the restoration of all of these lost tribes that are in the Gentiles. Though a partial hardening has happened until the fullness of the Gentiles come in so that all of Israel will be saved. Yes, Paul speaks directly about this situation in the parable of an olive tree.

Okay, so you guys are still back in Romans chapter 11, right? Okay, so I want you guys to turn to verse 11. And we're okay with reading scripture? We love to read scripture. A lot of fellowships don't read scripture. A lot of churches don't read scripture. We're going to read scripture, okay? Because I want you guys to remember this so that the scope that we put around God sometimes, we're human, we sometimes do this. We end up putting God in a box based on our own understanding of God. And I would like to try to crush that to show you how great God's divine plan is. And that God does not leave open-ended situations open. his people God will not leave an Open-ended promise that he is guaranteed to his people God will not leave something a promise that is undone that he has made to you Romans chapter 11 verse 11 taught Paul speaking if you didn't bring your Bible I got it up here we're gonna read all that so I ask did they stumble in order that they might fall by no means rather their trespass through their trespass salvation has come to the who So as to make Israel jealous.

We'll come back to that. Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentile, how much more will their full inclusion mean? Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous and thus save some of them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, all of the nations... What will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump. And if the root is holy, so are the branches.

But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive shoot," who's he talking to? Gentiles. "If you, being a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant towards branches." That is true. It's a daunting verse. Otherwise, you too will be cut off. And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted back in. For God has the power to graft them in again. God has the power to do what? Graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree?

So the context of this, guys, all through Romans 1, is Paul is writing to Romans about two years after the Judeans were allowed back into Rome. Claudius kicked all of the Jews out, I think for five or six years, something like that. And then during this time, the gospel had reached Rome and all of these Gentiles were learning about the faith of Yeshua, but they had no authority or structure, Judean Jewish structure or teachers among them. So you get all these gory trying to study Torah, if you will, in their own understanding without any concept of thousands of years that the Jews had already had it and the fulfillment of what the Jews were going to offer to them through the faith of Yeshua and they were just running amok. And then two years after the, the, the, the, the Judeans being allowed back into the city, there was a rejection of the Judeans.

The Judeans didn't like the Gentiles. They just weren't getting along. And this is why Paul is addressing this, right? In Romans 2 and 3, that's all he's talking about. He's speaking to the Gentiles. He's like, guys, you better straighten up and quit being so arrogant. Romans 3, Judeans, you better straighten up and quit being so arrogant. We are one people in this. Okay, and this is what he's talking about. He's like, listen guys, this isn't about being divided of Judeans or Gentiles. No, this is about being one tree together. Though you may come from the wilderness, you'd be grafted in, poof, you can be part of this tree.

Oh, you think that you're going to hang on to this tree even though just because you were born into this tree? If you don't have the belief and the faithfulness in God, he'll break your branch off and stick a wild branch in your place. Guys, get over yourselves. Okay? We are all part of one tree. And so Paul chooses to use the metaphor of two olive trees here. One is cultivated, while the other is wild, right? It grew up in the wilderness. He speaks about branches being torn off of the tree as well. You guys think he just made that imagery up? See, the Tanakh, the Old Testament, speaks about this specifically, and guess which prophet?

Jeremiah chapter 11, starting in verse 16. "'The Lord once called you a green olive tree.'" who'd he call the green olive tree beautiful with good fruit but with the roar of a great tempest he will set fire to it and its branches will be consumed the lord of hosts who planted you has decreed disaster against you because of the evil that of the house of israel and the house of judah has done do you guys know who the green olive tree is it's israel that's why paul chooses to use this this symbolism in romans chapter 11 to explain the gentiles coming in This was a symbolism of Israel. And if the olive tree is going to start acting a fool, then I'll burn the branches off, I'll tear them off, whatever. You guys know there's a lot of metaphors in Scripture. We know that the olive tree represents Israel, right? C's metaphorically indicate disorder and chaos.

Let's see, a body of Messiah. I mean, it's not like a, you know, like a body of Messiah. No, it's the body of Messiah of the believers. We're the body, right? Some people are fingers, some people are toes, some people are knees, right? Some people, other parts. We as clay and God as the potter. We're not literally clay, but God uses symbolism to try to explain certain points, right? What about sheep? What about sheep, right? What's the sheep? What sounds does sheep make? Who's going to do it? Sheep, because we speak about sheep a lot throughout scripture, right? Jeremiah 50, 17. Israel is a scattered sheep.

The lions have driven him away. Do you guys know that sheep was a metaphor for Israel? Are sheep smart? No. Dumb little mammals. How about this? Micah 2.12, I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee. So all of who? Whose name was changed to? So this is saying, I'm going to assemble all of. I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together as the sheep of Basra. So some Bibles will translate that word Basra as pen because it could mean sheep pen. But Basra was also a main city that cultivated raising sheep in Edom outside of Israel. So I will put them together as the sheep of Basra, as the flock in the midst of their fold.

They shall make a great noise by reason of what? There are going to be so many of them. Ezekiel 34, 12. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock. Why would a shepherd be seeking his flock? In the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered. So will I seek out my sheep. Who's the sheep? and will deliver them out of the places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. See, now we're getting the imagery of Israel being sheep, right? That are scattered or lost. Maybe, maybe, maybe. This is what Yeshua speaks about in Matthew chapter 15, verse 24. But he answered and said, not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Oh, Yeshua's parables, being a shepherd kind of makes sense. I mean, if this was the context... How about this? John 10, verse 3. To him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice. Who are the sheep? If we're taking a reference from Scripture. And he called his own sheep, who's the sheep? By name. And leadeth them out. John 10 just hammers this point. When he hath put forth all of his own, he goeth before them, and the sheep, who's the sheep? Follow him in. Remember Paul's letter to Ephesus, specifically in chapter 2, verse 11? He's speaking to Gentiles, and he says something very profound here.

He says this, "Wherefore remember that you being in times past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands." So he's speaking to the Gentiles of Ephesus. Let's just pretend we're Ephesus. He's talking to you. And he says, "Guys, remember in the past you were Gentiles. In the past you was Americans, right? In the past you was German. In the past you was Canadian. In the past you were a nation outside of Israel. In the past? What does that mean? You guys know what this word commonwealth means? It's a synonym for citizenship.

So the reason why you were alienated used to be Americans, or used to be Germans, used to be Canadians, right? The reason why you used to be is because after you accepted the atonement through the blood of Messiah, and after you called on his name and appointed him your king, at that point forward, you's no longer a Gentile. You are now part of the citizenship of Israel. What Paul is saying and hammering here to Ephesus is that as soon as you cross over that threshold of blood with the blood of the Lamb on the doorpost, you're entering into a new family. Past times you were out of covenant, now you're in covenant.

Who's God's covenant with? Israel. You're now part of the citizenship of Israel. That's something to get excited about. But now in Messiah Yeshua, you who are sometimes, what's that word? Far off, are made, what's that? Nigh, also known as near. Made near by the blood of Messiah. See, that terminology sounds familiar too because that's from Ezekiel. Therefore say, thus saith the Lord God, although I have cast them far off among the heathen, Who did he cast off? Israel. I cast them far off, and although I have scattered them among the nations, yet I will be to them a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.

But now you and Messiah Yeshua, who were cast off, far off, are made near by the blood of Messiah. To the final point, I think we're starting to build up to something. I mean, are we making any type of progression towards understanding at least a little bit or a possibility of what the mystery of these fullness of the nations and all Israel being saved that Paul's yakking about? Point three, how does the salvation of all of Israel relate to the engathering of the fullness of nations? Guys, it's quite simple. We already reviewed it. Israel was cast throughout the very nations that they were supposed to be a light to, only to be regathered and bring the nations into the light.

Paul is simultaneously proclaiming the salvation of the Gentiles and the return of the northern kingdom as the same event. Matt, that's really far out there. I don't know. That's really kind of mysterious. I call it a mystery. I don't know. Write Paul. I don't know. Why do you write like that? Romans 11 25. Lest you be wise in your own sight. We're going to read it again. I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers. Quoting Jeremiah 31, 34. So since all Israel, all of Israel, includes both houses of Israel, and the northern house is indistinct from the nations... All Israel must include both Jews and Gentiles.

Has to. This is the casual relation between the engathering of the Gentiles and the salvation of all of Israel. Because the latter necessarily involves the restoration of Ephraim's seed, which has become the fullness of Gentiles. So by doing this, not only does God fulfill the prophecies of Ezekiel 36, 24, Jeremiah 29, 11-14, Hosea 3, 4-5, and Isaiah 11, 11-12, the prophecy stating that God will return the scattered Israel, It also brings forth the promise that God made to a very special man called Abraham. Galatians 3, 7. Know then, who wrote Galatians? So it's the same guy. Talking about the same mystery.

Just making sure. Know then that this, that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the who? by faith preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham. So God knew that the Gentiles were going to be justified by faith somehow. So God preached the gospel to Abraham. God told Abraham about Jesus, right? How so? I'm glad you asked. Paul continues saying, this is how God explained the gospel to Abraham. In you shall all the nations be blessed. So then those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith, in you. Because Israel was scattered into all nations, mixed in, intermingled, all nations must now be included in the restoration in this new covenant to come to fruition, just like the water trick.

Let's talk about symbology, because this is still kind of a far-out concept. Do you guys agree? I mean, it's still kind of a far-out concept. Like, man, this is still kind of stretched out. We need some more evidence just to try to seal this up. I love evidence. You know, I doubt a lot of different theories out there. And a lot of people can just string a few scriptures together and make like a, you know, junk teaching out of it. I try to be aware of these things. And Yeshua said to them, follow me and I will make you to become fishers of men. You're familiar with this verse, right? We learned this in Sunday school.

What did you guys think your Sunday school teacher was talking about when he said, I'm going to make you fishers of men? Did you guys have the same imagery in your head that I did? Pull them back in, right? You're going to fish men to save their souls, right? Going to fish them out like fish. Going to put them in a net. Going to kill them because they're in the water. And then they're going to resurrect in the name of Yeshua, right? And they're going to be saved because I'm going to be fishers of men. Although, I do not believe, I do believe that that definition still does apply. I don't believe that's the full scope of what Yeshua was saying.

So I'm not invalidating that. Of course Yeshua was saying you're going to go out to the scattered and you're going to fish for men and bring them into the kingdom. But did you guys know that Yeshua wasn't making up that metaphor? It's found in scripture. Fishers of men. Guess what prophet? Jeremiah. Jeremiah 16, 15. So what's this talking about? Children of Israel, land of the north, right? And afterward, I will send many hunters and they will hunt them from every mountain, every nation, every place in the earth. You're going to be fishers of men. Because you've got to restore Israel. Go get them. This verse blew me away when I first saw it years ago.

Man, I thought Yeshua was just being clever. Which he was. Very clever guy. But he was clever enough to incorporate Scripture, his Father's Word, into every word that he said. Hmm. This is the topic throughout the whole New Testament, guys. This topic about full restoration. God is going to restore all Israel. He's going to restore the house of Israel, house of Judah. But how is he going to bring in the Gentiles? How is he going to save the world through Israel and through the redemption of Israel? Unfortunately guys, this understanding has been taken by so many and twisted into false doctrines and heresies.

Have you guys ever heard anything, they call it a two-house theology sometimes, or two-house teaching, or British Israeliism is another one. Anyone ever heard of this concept before? Anybody? In a negative light? Yeah, there's a lot of junk out there guys. I think from what we've seen so far, Scripture is very clear, but there's a lot of people out there with an agenda that want to take it to an unbiblical level. The Mormons believed that Ephraim and Judah, when they were taken out of Israel, came to America. And that whenyou join the church, some which way or another, it means that your blood lineage of Ephraim and Judah.

British Israelism kind of piggybacked on that same concept. All the same teaching, except for their twist is that the ten tribes went out and that Manasseh became Great Britain, I think. And that because they're the older brother, right? It's older. And then United States is Ephraim because they're the younger brother. What? All right. There are even those in this movement, guys, that claim that only believers, if you're a believer today, it was because that your bloodline, your blood lineage of one of the lost tribes. And that's why you came into the faith. Like if you're not a believer, then you're going to deny the faith and you're never going to be into it.

So all the pagans out there, it's not their fault. They're just not bloodline Israel. Some malarkey. Bloodline has nothing to do with it. Any teachings that endorse that type of mentality are creating a new gospel, one that is not mentioned in Scripture. Paul did not have a DNA tester of everybody coming in. "Nope, you're the Gentile, you can't come in. Oh, hey, you're of the house of Israel, come on." No, what? No. This is why Paul reams the Judeans about blood lineage in Romans 3 when he speaks about Abraham coming to the faith via faith. Not blood. Your blood has nothing to do with your identity in the olive tree.

It's your faith. This is how Paul reconciles that. And so we see other things, like even James, right? James 1.1, how does he start his book? James, the servant of God and the Lord, Yeshua Messiah, to the 12 tribes which are of the dispersion. Greeting. 12 tribes. 12 tribes? What are you talking about? Like, I know, I mean, we had like scattered, you know, I got Anna from Asher, but I mean, as a nation, all 12 tribes had not been reconciled. What are you talking about, James? Josephus said that beyond Euphrates, they're gone. James understood what was happening, the engathering of all nations. Welcome to the family of Israel.

How about Acts 1-6, right? And therefore... When they were come together, asked him, saying, Lord, doest now at this time restore the kingdom of Israel? Are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel, God, Yeshua? Is now the time when you're going to restore Israel? Does it make sense why they're asking this now? Is now the time when you're going to complete the fulfillment of God's prophecies? Because that's kind of something the Messiah is supposed to be doing. But go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, Yeshua's command. And as you go, preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Hmm. Isaiah , "I have seen his ways and will heal him.

I will lead him also and restore comforts unto his mourners. I create the fruit of their lips. Peace, peace to him that is far off and to him that is near, saith Yehovah, and I will heal him." See, Judah came back. The house of Judah, the kingdom of Judah, nationally came back after their exile. Not all of them returned, but on a national level they returned. The house of Israel, God, remained far off. Again, this is what Paul speaks about when he says, "...and he came and preached peace to you, those who were far off, and peace to them that were near. Having abolished the flesh and enmity, even the law of commandments contained in the ordinances, the tickets written against you, that he might create in himself two, a one new man, so making peace."

So he's going to take two and he's going to create one new man. "...and might reconcile them both in one body unto God through the cross, having slain the enmity thereby." preached peace to those that were far off and those that were near. How about a prophecy about Yeshua and the ten tribes in the Tanakh? You guys read this before? Zechariah 8, 23. How many men? How many tribes were in the northern kingdom when they were scattered? Ten. Ten men shall take hold out of all nations or languages of the nations. Even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.

I take this verse to be a messianic verse. Not everyone does, and that's fine. The fact is, is that ten men are going to come out and grab a hold to the garment of the one who God walks with and say, Hey, lead us back to God. So who did Messiah come for? In John chapter 10 verse 16, So there's two flocks. There's the one that's with them and there's another one that's far out there. And he's going to call them back from his voice and they're sheep. So who's sheep? They're going to hear his voice and they're going to come. And this other flock that's out there is going to come and become one with the flock that is with him now.

Two flocks, one king, one shepherd, just as Hosea 1.11 states is going to happen. Who were the children of God that were scattered abroad? That's who Yeshua was supposed to die for. But Matt... What about John 3, 16? I'm glad you asked because you really need to audit this because I don't want anybody walking away from here thinking that somehow their blood has anything to do with it. I'm trying to give you what I found explaining this mystery that Paul has on how all these Gentiles are coming to the faith. And what he's basically telling the Judeans up in Rome, he's like, listen guys, this is on a much bigger level than you think.

These aren't just Gentiles that are coming back. They are joining our family. John 3.16 says, for God so loved Israel, what does it say? That he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. Mattis says that God loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Huh. How's God going to do this? It's interesting because in Genesis 22.18, in Genesis 22.18, it says, in thy seed, speaking of Abraham, shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Blessed. Because you have obeyed my voice. So because of Abraham, the entire world is going to be blessed.

God's going to do something through Abraham to bless the world. Now, throughout the scriptures, the word for blessed is blessed. It's Baruch or it can also be Heveriku with a prefix of a "he". But it's interesting because when this prophecy was originally given to Abraham in Genesis 12:3, it states, "And I will bless them that bless you and curse them that curse you. And in you, Abraham, shall all the families of the earth be blessed. In this specific form, this word that appears as translated as blessed is still the root of, the root is barak to bless, baruch to bless, but it's a nymphal conjunction.

It has a noon as its prefix. In other words, instead of hevareku or yevareku, it's nevareku. And this has caused a lot of confusion or a lot of midrash, if you will, among the Jewish sages. This word's only translated this way or scripted this way in the Hebrew text twice in all of the scriptures. And why is it different than every other occurrence of the word blessed? And so it's interesting because if we go to the... They look at this verse and they say something very interesting. They say this, an opinion shared by Rashbem and several other rabbis that the verb v'nareku In Genesis 12:3 is related to the word "barak" as in the Mishnei term "mavrak" meaning to intermingle or graft.

In other words, Jewish opinion, take it however you like. You don't have to take it. It's just an opinion. It's a Midrash going on in the Mishnah. They state That this verse shouldn't necessarily mean blessed. It should say, and in you, Abraham, in you shall all of the families of the earth be grafted or intermingled in. Maybe that's a stretch. I don't know, but I love it. God so loved the world that he would send his son to die so that the entire world could be grafted into his covenant people, Israel. Hmm. Galatians 3.29, Paul kind of seals the deal with this. And if you be in Messiah, if you be Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.

So not only are you the seed of Abraham, okay, the lineage of Abraham, you're heirs according to the promises given to Abraham. You're equals in the seed of Abraham. That was Paul's message of equity throughout all of the first century. We see this painted all over scripture. Some people allude to the prodigal son being a plan of redemption where you have one son that goes off to the nations and becomes like the nation so much that he's laying around eating with pigs and you have one son that stays with the father and then the son returns and the father opens his arms and brings him back and takes on his shame for him and honors him and the older brother is jealous.

We have the two that died on either side of the cross. Maybe that's a stretch. You know, one accepted Yeshua, one hasn't. The ten lepers that were healed. Maybe the ten nations of Israel. The two sticks of Ezekiel 37. The one new man of Ephesians 3. Even Yeshua's ministry is built around the concept of restoring all of Israel. How many disciples did he have? And what did he tell them? All you guys are going to be judges of the twelve tribes of Israel. That's what his ministry was modeled after, was the restoration of the house. Right? So you're only saved if you have blood lineage to one of the lost tribes.

I gotta hammer this, guys, because I don't want anybody leaving saying that I even insinuated this. Everybody say with me now, no. If our blood had anything to do with your salvation, the blood of Messiah would not be needed. We obtain salvation and identity in Messiah the same way Abraham did. Just like in Galatians 3, 6. Is this making sense? Maybe it's still a stretch for some of you guys. Guys, I'm convinced. I'm convinced that... The original plan of salvation, the message that Yeshua taught, the message that the apostles taught, the message that Paul taught to all of the assemblies throughout the nations was that not you guys are going to come in and be a separate church and there's going to be Jews and then there's going to be the church.

No, you guys are going to join the family of Messiah and whoever is in Messiah is going to be counted as faithful Israel. Gentiles, come in, welcome to the family. Jews, your salvation is near. Come to the kingdom. This is the kingdom of God. In the patristic era, it didn't take very long for the churches, if you will, the ecclesia to be overtaken by Gentiles and monopolized and anti-Semitism began to grow in there. And that is the point where the churches begin to institute something we now know as replacement theology, where the church or the Gentiles replaced Israel. The church Gentiles did not replace Israel.

They were honored to be grafted in to Israel. We do not replace Israel. Nobody replaces the people that God gave a grant covenant to that is unbreakable. Again, Yeshua healed a woman who had an issue of blood for? Yeshua heals a girl that was 12 years old. Revelation says that there are 12,000 from each tribe that are sealed. The tree of life yields 12 different fruits. Yielding a new fruit every month, 12? Guys, this is the gospel that God would fulfill his promises he made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Ephraim, and all of Israel, while at the same time redeeming the entire world back to him. That's what I want you guys to take home today.

Matt, you've been talking for a while. Dag Navit, you couldn't have just said that up front? No, because I wanted to make sure you remembered that statement. We're going to read. We got like two more slides. Is that okay? One more slide. Jeremiah 23, this is important. I read it from the King James Version on purpose. Woe unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, saith the Lord. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed my sheep. Verse 1. Verse 4. In his days, Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely. Why is Israel going to dwell safely?

Because they're not going to be scattered all over the world anymore. And this is his name whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. Therefore behold the days have come says the Lord that they shall no more say the Lord liveth which brought us out of the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. But the Lord lives which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country and all countries whether I have driven them and they shall dwell in their own land safely. What God's saying is he's saying that in the end times, he's going to punish the pastors, the royeim, the shepherds, those who claim to be shepherds among the flock, those who demand authority among the flock, those who say that, hey, I am going to feed you, but they feed the sheep poison, and all they do is divide the sheep and scatter them even more.

And God says, I'm going to pour out all the negative things and punishment on them, and and I'm going to raise up pastors that are going to have the sole sight and focus on the one king who's coming for the sole purpose of regathering all of Israel together. Guys, your kids in the children's class right now are part of that generation. I see children in that class right now that I believe God is already calling to be the pastors of the next generation that are going to feed his sheep. Parents, Be prepared and do not be surprised when your young daughter or son stands up and says, I want to do the work of the Father that he's called me to do. I feel the Father has called me in this area.

I feel the Father has called me to be a servant to the flock. Encourage them in that. It's awesome, and I'm so excited about it. You want to see something really cool? Because if the Gentiles are coming in as Israel, right? This is my final slide. I talk a lot longer than I normally do. I know everyone's like, "What?" If God is going to call the Gentiles back and they're going to be grafted into Israel, right? It says here in Jeremiah that Israel is going to dwell safely in their land. What about the Gentiles? So remember, and this is just a midrash. You guys can disagree with this. I just love it.

Okay, so what was the inheritance that was given to Abraham? The physical inheritance. The land, right? The land. So the land is the possession and the inheritance of Abraham and all the seed of Abraham, right? So Galatians 3.29 says, if you are in Christ, you are Abraham's seed. And then it continues and it says, you're heirs according to the promise. What promise? There's lots of promises that God made to Abraham, but the land was one of them, right? You're going to say all these Gentile converts going to get a piece of land? Ezekiel 47. Ezekiel 47 is talking about the restoration of all things when Mashiach is going to reign.

And it says this, So he's talking about all of the tribes coming back in the verses before this. And all the tribes are coming back to the land where our king will reign. And this is what he says, Right? They will be to you as native-born children of Israel. So all these Gentiles coming in, right, and they're coming in with Israel, and they've been a part of Israel because they've been having kids in the community of Israel. They're going to be native-borns. That's what they're going to be considered. With you they shall be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. In whatever tribe the sojourner resides, there you shall assign him his inheritance, declares the Lord God.

People in this movement sometimes get crazy. No amens. We got two amens. People get excited. And so people start looking around. I wonder what tribe I'm from, you know? And maybe I can get blood tested. You can't. So no, you can't. And what tribe am I going to be? Well, when you get to the land, scooch over to Simeon or scooch over to Ephraim or scooch over down to Judah and wherever you sit your tush down, guess what? That's what tribes are going to be a part of. And that's that you're going to get a piece of inheritance there. Why? Why do you deserve a piece of inheritance? You don't. You don't. But God thought it honorable to bless you for being in the faith of his kingdom.

Therefore, you will be a native born among the children of Israel. You are Israel, heirs according to the promises of Abraham. You are not better than anybody else. You're not better than the natural branches. God will rip you off and put you in a fire just as quickly as anyone else. You should be humbled by the opportunity that the God of Israel would count you as one of the sons of Jacob. And so I wanted to leave you with this. Okay, yeah, it's okay. We'll skip that. We'll skip it. It's okay. You do not replace Israel. And I'm going to hammer this point. This is exactly what the late patristic writers did in the second and third centuries.

They seemed to infer that the church is distinguished from the Jews. And that's exactly why they left the Sabbath. That's exactly why they left the feast. That's exactly why they left everything. Because it's not that they didn't want to serve God. It's just they didn't want to be associated with Jews even more. And so even as soon as the late first century, the churches east of Rome... or west of Rome began to fall away from keeping the Sabbath, start leaning to another day. What other day can we use this Sunday? You don't replace Israel. You never replaced Israel, but God saw fit to include you in it.

And that's what I want you guys to leave today with is the fact that you are truly a son or daughter of the King of Israel. You're not just some Gentile. You're not just some other nation. You are no longer not my people, but God has called you to become my people. the people of the eternal Father in heaven. Amen? That's the mystery of Paul, in my opinion. Hey guys, I'm Matthew Vanderels, pastor at Founded in Truth Fellowship and I really hope you enjoy this message. If you would like to see more messages and teachings like this one, please subscribe to our YouTube channel by clicking here. You can also visit our website to find out more information about our ministry and what we do right here.

And if this message has been edifying to you, please consider supporting us and the ministry through our secure online giving portal here. This will ensure this message along with many others will continue to reach those who find themselves far from God. If you'd like to write us, you can do so at Founded in Truth, P.O. Box 38042 Rock Hill, South Carolina, zip code 29732. You can also check out our Facebook page at facebook.com slash foundedintruth. I pray that you stay blessed. I pray that you guys stay encouraged. And I pray that you stay fit. Founded in Truth. We'll see you guys next time.