Will Israel Be Saved? – Dr. Daniel Baugh, Jr. – July 30, 2023

Will Israel Be Saved?

Romans 11:1-5; 28-31

Introduction:

News in Israel this week
1. The Jerusalem Post reported and had a video of the sighting of a fox near the southern wall of The Temple Mount in Jerusalem on Wednesday of this week.
  1. The fox was seen on Wednesday, the day of Tish B’Av, a day of mourning in remembrance of the two Temples of Jerusalem that were destroyed.
  2. This is the second time this has happened – last time was in 2019.
  3. This sighting is being heralded by some as a sign of a prophecy that is coming true concerning the salvation of Israel and the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem.
2. I watched the video and immediately I said to myself, “That is not a fox. That’s a jackal.”
  1. Then I went to the prophecy to see what it said.
  2. Lamentations 5:15-22

¹⁵ The joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has been turned to mourning.

¹⁶ The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned!

¹⁷ For this our heart has become sick, for these things our eyes have grown dim,

¹⁸ for Mount Zion which lies desolate; jackals prowl over it.

¹⁹ But you, O Lord, reign forever; your throne endures to all generations.

²⁰ Why do you forget us forever, why do you forsake us for so many days?

²¹ Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old—

²² unless you have utterly rejected us, and you remain exceedingly angry with us.

The Salvation of Israel
1. Reading this passage makes you ask the question that Paul struggled with in Romans 9 – 11.
  1. Will Israel Be Saved?
2. Romans 11:1-5
  1. 1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” 4 But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.
3. Romans 11:28-31
  1. 28 As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30 For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy.
4. Romans 11:29
  1. Another one of those verses that we often take out of context.
  2. It is absolutely true, even when take out of context,
  3. But look at what the context is!
  4. Paul wrote this when expounding on the salvation of Israel!
  5. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
5. So how does this all come about?
  1. What is God going to do to save Israel?
  2. What is God doing right now to save Israel?

John’s Vision – Revelation 11:1-2

1 Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, 2 but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.

The Temple Measured – v. 1
1. The place is Jerusalem and the time is the first half of the Tribulation.
  1. Israel is worshiping again at its restored temple, built under the protection of the Antichrist, whose true character has not yet been revealed.
  2. This temple as an actual building in the holy city of Jerusalem (Neh. 11:1, 18; Dan. 9:24).
2. John had a lot of visions in the book of Revelation, and every once in a while he got involved in his vision,
  1. In chapter 10 he had the vision of the great angel and the little book in the angel’s hand.
  2. He was told to eat the little book.
  3. Here in Chapter 11 again he is very involved in the vision.
  4. John is told to take this rod and measure the temple of God.
3. “Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there”
  1. The measuring rod was like a staff it was used in ancient times for measuring.
  2. John is told to take this stick “Rise, get up, and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it.”
4. “Why is he doing this?”
  1. There are two things that occur in the Bible when God wants something measured: one is judgment, and the other is ownership.
  2. In the Old Testament God at times measured out something for destruction.
  3. He measures it out as a way of saying, “I’m confining My destruction to this particular area, or this particular city, or this particular location, or this particular people.”
5. It is also true that in the Old Testament God measured out things to mark them as His own personal possession in order to preserve them or save them.
  1. Revelation 21 you see God very carefully measuring out of the city, the new Jerusalem.
  2. The New Jerusalem is where the saints will dwell forever and ever.
  3. It seems here that God wants John to measure out His temple because it belongs to Him.
  4. God is identifying it as His own “Measure the temple and the altar, and those who worship in it.”

Outside the Temple – v. 2
1. Then he says, “but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.”
  1. So God is saying that those who worship in the Temple are His and those outside the temple are left out.
  2. But for Israel, those who worship in the Temple, God is measuring out His temple and those who worship in it for preservation in the future.
2. What John did was especially significant because the Gentiles had taken over Jerusalem.
  1. Antichrist had broken his agreement with Israel (Dan. 9:27).
  2. And now the Antichrist was about to use the temple for his own evil purposes (2 Thes. 2:3-4).
3. John tells more about this in Revelation 13.
  1. And Jesus spoke of it in Luke 21:24 “Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”.
  2. The “times of the Gentiles” began in 606 B.C. when Babylon began to destroy Judah and Jerusalem.
  3. It will continue until Jesus Christ returns to deliver Jerusalem and redeem Israel (Zechariah 14).

The Two Witnesses – Revelation 11:3-14
1. The ministry of the witnesses – vv. 3-6
  1. Please understand that the two witnesses minister during the first half of the Tribulation (Rev. 11:3; 1,260 days).
    1. Jerusalem is then overrun by the Gentiles for forty-two months, the last half of the Tribulation.
  2. Their witness is related to Israel and the temple.
    1. Many, many Jewish people will be saved through the witness of these two men outside the Temple.
    2. It is very interesting that the power of God and the Word of God will be outside the temple and not within the Temple as in former ages.
    3. Like the temple that Jesus left, this new house will be desolate (see Matt. 23:38).
    4. These two men are specifically called prophets (Rev. 11:3, 6), calling the nations to repent and return to the true God of Israel.
  3. Not only do these witnesses declare God’s words, but they also do God’s works and perform miracles of judgment.
    1. By what they do, they sound a whole lot like Moses and Elijah (Ex. 7:14-18; 1 Kings 17:1ff; 2 Kings 1:1-12).
    2. But instead of relating the ministry of these two witnesses to Moses and Elijah, the angel who spoke to John and connected their ministry with Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest (Zech. 4).
    3. Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest helped to reestablish Israel in Palestine and to rebuild the second temple.
  4. If you think being a witness today is difficult, then you should look carefully at these two men.
    1. This was a very difficult task and the Gentiles made it even more difficult.
    2. But God provided the special power they needed to get the work done.
    3. God does the same thing for you and me and for all of God’s servants in all ages.
    4. God’s work is never easy, but He always provides what we need to do what He calls us to do.

The martyrdom of the witnesses – vv. 7-10
1. This comes only when they have finished their testimony.
  1. God’s obedient servants are immortal until their work is done.
  2. “The beast” (Antichrist) is now in power and wants to take over the temple.
  3. But he cannot do it until the two witnesses are out of the way.
  4. God does allow him to kill them, but that, too is a part of God’s plan.
2. The witnesses will not even be given a decent burial (see Ps. 79:1-3).
  1. They are left in the street to rot and be mocked by the world.
  2. But God uses even this to bear witness to the lost world.
  3. No doubt the TV cameras in Jerusalem will transmit the scene to people around the world, and the news analysts will be there talking about the significance of all this.
  4. The world will rejoice at their enemies’ removal and will celebrate by sending gifts to one another.

The resurrection of the witnesses – vv. 11-14
1. Then all of a sudden, with the cameras on them and the world watching, they rise up – alive!
  1. Not only are they raised from the dead, but they are also caught up into heaven!
  2. God rescues them from their enemies and gives a solemn witness to the watching world.
  3. The world’s great joy suddenly becomes great fear. (The word great in Rev. 11, repeated eight times.)
2. Those people will be shaking with fear!
  1. Then their fear will increase when a great earthquake occurs, killing 7,000 and destroying a tenth part of Jerusalem.
  2. How many people will fear the Lord and turn to Him?

What Is Happening in Our Times?
1. Israel Reborn
  1. If you truly want to understand what is going on prophetically in our world today, then keep your eye on Israel!
  2. Key date – May 14, 1948
    1. Before this time Israel was viewed as symbolic in prophecy in the Bible, because the nation of Israel did not exist!
    2. After 1948, Israel has been seen as Israel in all Old Testamen and New Testament prophecy.

Jerusalem – The Capital of Israel
1. May 14, 2018 – 70^th Anniversary of the Rebirth of Israel
  1. The United States of America moved its embassy to Jerusalem.
  2. This action was taken under President Donald Trump.
  3. President Trump is seen even today as a hero in Israel.
  4. They have even named a city after him – Ramat Trump (Trump Heights) – a planned Israeli settlement in the Golan Heights.
2. According to Haaretz, the Israeli News Agency, Christians and Jews compare President Trump to Persian King Cyrus
  1. They are asking if Trump will build the Third Temple
  2. Like Cyrus 2,500 years ago, Trump is seen by some Israeli’s as an instrument of God.
  3. They believe the plan is to build the Third Temple on the Temple Mount – where the Al-Aqsa Mosque currently stands.

Legal Battles in Israel
1. There is much in the news about the legal battles and protests in Israel these last few weeks.
2. In January of 2023, two members of the Israeli parliament introduced a bill that would make it illegal to preach the gospel in Israel.
  1. One of them introduces a similar bill at the start of every year, but this year conservative news organizations here in the USA picked up on the story.
  2. The text of the bill by two ultra-Orthodox Jews explicitly mentions Christian missionary groups.
  3. According to All Israel News, the first objective is to “make it illegal” for followers of Jesus to explain why He is considered to be “the Messiah and God” in the hope that “Israelis might consider following Him.”
  4. There seemed to be a lot of discussion in the media and some in the Knesset actually started talking about the bill seriously.
3. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu got involved a few weeks ago and said in both Hebrew and in English: “We will not advance any law against the Christian community.”
  1. He assured everyone that he would veto such a law if it were to pass.
  2. Behind Netanyahu while he was at his desk was a copy of a book about Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri.

Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri
1. You may not recognize his name, but you may remember when he died at age 108 in January 2006.
  1. His funeral is described as the largest funeral in the history of Israel with over 500,000 followers attending the procession.
  2. Rabbi Kaduri was born in 1898 in Baghdad.
  3. He was an Orthodox rabbi and Jewish mystic.
  4. He was a Torah prodigy and began his studies in Jewish mysticism while still in his teens.
2. In 1922 he moved to Israel.
  1. Kaduri’s life was characterized by poverty as well as privacy and secrecy.
  2. He devoted his life to Torah study and prayer on behalf of the Jewish people.
  3. He is the single most influential Orthodox Jewish Rabbi in our time.
  4. Although Kaduri wrote several works, but he never sought their publication and limited their distribution only to his own students.
3. In a meeting in 1990 with several very famous Rabbis he was given a blessing that said Kaduri would not pass from this world until he met the Messiah.
  1. This came to pass in a mystical vision on 4 November, 2003.
  2. Kaduri told his students that he spoke with the Messiah and the Messiah revealed his name to Kaduri.
  3. Kaduri told his disciples that he would reveal the name of the Messiah in a note that could not be opened until 1 year after his own death.
  4. Rabbi Kaduri passed away January 26, 2006, at age 108.
4. Kaduri’s disciples were given the note in Kaduri’s handwriting.
  1. He had encrypted in the note the name of the Messiah.
  2. After a year passed, Kaduri’s disciples opened the note and it said (in English) “Regarding the acronym of Messiah. The masses will themselves arise and verify that his words and his teachings can stand. With my signature in the Month of Mercy (Elul – Edit.) 5765, Yitzchak Kaduri.”
  3. The note was posted on Kaduri’s Seminary website and in several newpapers across Israel for over a month until they discovered the name that the Messiah had revealed to Kaduri
  4. The acronym was spelled out in Hebrew by the first letter of each word: Yehoshua (the Hebrew form of the Aramaic Yeshua).
  5. The name of the Messiah, says Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri, is “Jesus” in English!
5. Since then there have been many Orthodox Jewish leaders who claim that the note is a forgery.
  1. But 12 of Kaduri’s disciples have become Messianic Jews – Christians!
  2. They are very active in sharing the gospel with others as are many other Orthodox Messianic Jews.
  3. If you look online it is said that there are 20,000 Orthodox Messianic Jews in Israel today.
  4. But Messianic Jewish leaders say the number is 60,000 and growing.

The Certainty of Israel’s Salvation
1. So let the point be made clearly and soberly today: Salvation comes to Israel and to Gentiles in the same way — through faith in the Deliverer, Jesus the Christ, or it doesn’t come at all.
  1. As Peter said to the Sanhedrin in Acts 4:12 “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
  2. The point of today’s message is wonderfully more than that.
  3. Not only is salvation for Israel only through the Savior, Jesus Christ, but this salvation for Israel is certainly coming and it is beginning to take place right now!
  4. The salvation of Israel through Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is not just a possibility but a certainty.
  5. God has given the promise, and God has called Israel for his own and He has called for them to be measured in the last days.
  6. Paul says in verse 29, “The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”
2. So let’s read the promise in Romans 11:25-26,

25 “Lest you [Gentiles] be wise in your own conceits, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, ‘The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob.’”

Jesus Christ, The Messiah, is coming again!
And Israel will be saved!

Will Israel Be Saved? – Dr. Daniel Baugh, Jr. – July 30, 2023

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