Well, good morning to everyone. Welcome. Thank you, Mark, Diane, for leading us this morning. We have a sort of a special Sunday today. We've been working through the book of Joel for the last, I don't know, five weeks or so. And I wanted to just kind of do a wrap-up message of the book of Joel, the things we've been discussing. 

We've been talking about broad subjects in the scriptures and a lot of questions. And then I really wanted to do a message making application of what we've learned in the distinctions between the Old Covenant, New Covenant, and the Church in Israel and apply that or not apply some things to the Christian life. So we're going to do that this morning, as Mark outlined. 

Last week, we finished our study of the book of Joel, but we may have spurred more questions than we answered. So this morning, I want to spend some time reiterating some points, tying up some loose ends, and perhaps answering some yet unanswered questions. The book of Joel, the revelation given to Joel to give to Israel, is centered in the phrase, the day of the Lord. 

And we looked at this phrase and its use and meaning in the scriptures the last couple of messages. What we found was that there were days of the Lord, speaking of God's intervening in judgment on the nation in order to judge, to punish, and call back his people Israel. These were what we called temporal days of the Lord, where we see the judgment come and end. We see the repentance of the people and the restoration to blessing all in the time of the prophet, or with whom the people, to people to whom the word of the Lord was revealed. 

But we also saw in the book of Joel, beginning in chapter 2 at verse 28 and running through chapter 3 that Mark read this morning, a future day of the Lord that includes judgment, repentance, and full and final deliverance, and the promises of the new covenant for Israel realized in the kingdom. So as we have studied in the last days, we also see this broad scope of the day of the Lord running from after the rapture of the church through the new heavens and new earth according to 2 Peter 3, and also the day of the Lord when Jesus will set his feet on the Mount of Olives and exercise judgment on the nations and the systems of men. 

So this book of Joel propels us from the time of the old covenant and the nation of Israel all the way back to 835 BC and runs all the way through the fulfillment of the new covenant promises to Israel in the kingdom. It is this unfolding of God's salvation plan, his purpose in the old covenant with Israel, and then the church age, as well as the fulfillment of those unconditional promises to the nation of Israel in the new covenant kingdom that we are interested in understanding more, because of how it relates not only to God's plan, his glory and purpose but also a right understanding and application for our Christian life now. 

So my plan for preaching is now to take all these things that we have learned concerning the old covenant Israel, the new covenant, the church, and the kingdom plan of God, and try to understand what applies to us, what does not, where we fit into this unfolding of God's redemptive plan, and how God intends for us to live the Christian life now under the new covenant blessings we enjoy. 

So we're going to begin this movement in our thinking this morning, and then we'll start the book of Galatians next week. Through the course of our studies, we will cover these important issues for edification, a more normal kind of verse by verse through the book of Galatians as we normally do here at Living Hope Church. 

Well, I'd like for you to turn with me this morning to Romans 11 for our text that we're going to kind of work out of, Romans 11.11. Paul writes, “I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not. But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now, if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness. 

For I speak to you, Gentiles, and as much as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry. If by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them. For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 

For if the first fruit is holy, the lump is also holy. And if the root is holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches were broken off and you being a wild olive tree were grafted in among them and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. 

You will say then, ‘Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.’ Well said, because of unbelief they were broken off and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he may not spare you either. 

Therefore, consider the goodness and severity of God on those who fell severity, but towards you goodness if you continue in his goodness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 

For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? 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. 

And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written, the deliverer will come out of Zion. He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins. Concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But concerning the election, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers, for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 

Well, I've given you five points on your outline this morning. First, Old Covenant versus New Covenant. Second, Israel and the Church. Third, Old Covenant sacrifices, New Covenant sacrifices. Fourth, soteriological blessings in the Church. And fifth, New Covenant promises for Israel and the kingdom. 

Well, in our study of the book of Joel, we learned about the time of Joel, about Judah and Israel in this time, about how God related to the nation in that time, and what his purposes were, and why he brought the plague of locusts, the prophet, and his word to the people. 

And this is an important part of the study. We should be first and foremost trying to know and understand the book itself in its context for its intent. We should be thinking about the historical context, how the people of that time would have understood the words revealed to them by God through Joel, and about how all of this fits into God's redemptive plan. 

But perhaps the most important thing that we learned through our study of this prophet for us is the distinction between the Old and New Covenants about what applies to us, what does not, and how we should understand the whole of the scriptures in light of these things. 

And so I'm hoping that we can take that foundation of learning and build off of it to think more about how to interpret, how to understand and apply the whole of the scriptures, as well as the specific economy under which we live in the salvation blessings of the New Covenant. 

So just to review, I'd like to highlight the distinctives of the Old Covenant and the New. Perhaps the most succinct place to understand the economy of God and his people under the Old Covenant time is in Deuteronomy 28. We looked at this chapter several times in the course of our studies. It outlines for us the conditions of the Old Covenant with Moses and Israel. 

And it also gives us God's purpose in choosing out the nation for himself. He promises in that chapter, he says, “It shall come to pass if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord, your God, to observe carefully all his commandments, which I commanded you today, that the Lord, your God, will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 

All these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you because you obey the voice of the Lord, your God. If you obey all his commandments, he says, which I commanded you, you will be blessed.” And we learned that those blessings are physical, carnal in nature, blessings of crops, prolific livestock, lots of babies, rain, fruit, protection from enemies. 

All of these great blessings would become theirs if they obeyed God and kept his laws and statutes. But if they disobeyed, Deuteronomy 28:15 says, “It shall come to pass if you do not obey the voice of the Lord, your God, to observe carefully all his commandments and his statutes, which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you.” 

And these curses get very serious. Drought, famine, pestilence, locusts, starvation, no livestock, no babies. In fact, the invasion of enemy nations. There would be sieges that would cause men and women to eat their own children. Very serious curses because of disobedience to God. 

And we see the purpose of God choosing this nation as well, that they would be his own special possession, a holy people set apart among the nations as a city on a hill to be a light to the world, to lead the nations to him so that all may know that he is the Lord. This is what it's always about. That all may know that he is God, that he is the Lord. He chose Israel for his glory and for a witness to lead the nations to him. 

And it is this purpose that he's working out throughout the Old Covenant all the way through the Gospels, even in the coming of Jesus the Christ to bring salvation to all people, for salvation is of the Jews. In the prophets, such as Joel, we also see a pattern established, that of warning or judgment for disobedience, a call to repentance, then a promise of restoration. 

And we saw this in temporal fulfillment in Joel 1 and 2 and repeated throughout the Old Testament. This Old Covenant economy sits in stark contrast to the New Covenant. God promised that he would make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the Old Covenant that he made with Moses, not going to be like the Old Covenant. This is quoted in Jeremiah 31, as well as Hebrews 8. 

And we see reference in Ezekiel 36, as well as all of the prophets, and in Joel 3. So what is this new covenant like? Well, ultimately, those promises to Israel that we find in Genesis 12, that we find in 2 Samuel 7, that we find in several places in the scriptures, are going to be fulfilled in the kingdom time after the second coming of Christ. 

These will include the physical blessings of a land, of a nation, of Jesus sitting on David's throne and ruling and reigning in God's intended theocracy. And Israel will also enjoy the spiritual blessings of the New Covenant in regeneration, in a new heart, in a new spirit, and the law of God written on their hearts. 

But for now, in our time, the church age, since the cross, we see a partial fulfillment of the New Covenant promises. I think it's important to note that it is fulfilled in Christ, in that He has brought the promise of salvation to all nations through Abraham's seed. 

But we don't see physical blessings. We don't see the land promise fulfilled. We don't see milk and honey and wine. We don't see Jesus reigning on the throne in the kingdom. We are blessed out of the covenant made with Israel. You do not support the root. The root supports you. The covenant was made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Israel. 

We are blessed out of that covenant, according to Hebrews 8. And our promised fruit is not of a physical nature, like crops and livestock and new wine and safety from our enemies, but our fruits are spiritual in nature. In fact, the fruit of the Spirit, the life of Christ in us, producing spiritual fruit for His glory. 

This is the explanation of the Christian life now. We no longer live under the law of Moses. The old covenant became obsolete when Jesus instituted the new covenant in His blood. The church was born at Pentecost with the coming of and indwelling of the Holy Spirit, as we saw promised in Joel 2:28. 

So now we are not a nation set apart. We are not a city on a hill in the church. We are from every nation. We do not live under a situation of physical blessing for law-keeping and cursing for disobedience. We do not enter the new covenant by religious ritual, such as circumcision, or a national identity by birth. 

But rather, we are born again through faith in Jesus Christ and made new on the inside. We die to sin, to the law, to the fear of death when we believe Jesus. And now we live not by the letter, but by the Spirit. We are not seeking the blessing of God, but we are blessed in Christ. And all the promises are yes, in Him. 

Our life is now one of thank you, gratitude for what Jesus has done for us. The love of Christ compels us to live for Him. Our desire is for spiritual fruit, holiness, witness, and salvation of lost souls to the glory of God in all that we do. Our physical situation is irrelevant. 

Paul made this clear in Philippians 4. He said, “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am to be content, to be content in Christ. I know how to be abased. I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things, I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” 

We have no promise of physical blessing, riches, or goods, or safety, but rather a promise of perseverance, persecution from this world for our faithfulness to Jesus. Paul also outlined his experience in ministry. Would you say there's been anyone more faithful than the Apostle Paul? Fearless, dedicated. 

In this Christian life, in 2 Corinthians 11, he says he was continually persecuted. He endured hardships and beatings and nakedness and peril and hunger, and eventually he had his head removed for his faith. This is a very different economy under which we live, this new covenant time, where we experience the salvation, spiritual blessings of Christ, regeneration, the life of Christ in us, the Holy Spirit guiding and empowering us, the ability now by his grace to live in holiness and be a witness. 

We, if we understand these things rightly, do not pursue carnal, earthly things. We do not pursue riches and goods and comfort and easy living, but we pursue spiritual fruit, holiness, converts, glory to God in all that we do. 

This is why understanding these things is so important. The church has largely been infiltrated by worldly philosophy, and the false teachings of the word-faith movement, the confusion of psychology and self-help, and Jesus is going to fix all my problems, a me-centered Christianity that so often permeates evangelical churches today. 

Even a confusion by those who confuse old and new covenant and spiritualize scriptures and bring confusion as to how God intends us to live in this time. All these things inhibit the spiritual fruit of the believer and the church and cause confusion, disillusionment, and defeat for each one of us as individuals and the body, the church. 

Understanding the distinction between the old covenant and new is vital for our fruitful living, and understanding which scriptures apply to which time, and along with this, is the vital distinction between the church and Israel. 

It would seem to me that even a cursory reading of the Old Testament, certainly Deuteronomy 28, and all the events and prophecies and interactions of God with Israel throughout the Old Testament would make it clear that Israel is not the church. There's a very clear difference here. 

First of all, Israel's a nation of people made up believers and unbelievers, perhaps historically mostly unbelievers, people who died and went to hell. People entered that nation by birth. They entered the old covenant by circumcision. As we belabored already in this message, they lived under a different economy with God in the old covenant. 

Their worship was different. They had a mediating priesthood, a sacrificial system. They did not experience regeneration. They did not experience the permanent dwelling of the Holy Spirit or the life of Christ in them. Some believed personally in what God revealed to them, and they experienced personal justification, but this was on a personal level. 

The old covenant, the people of Israel was all about a national relationship to God. This is not true in the church. Our relationship to God in the church is personal. Every member in the church is a believer by definition. There are no lost people in the body of Christ, and we are a body. This was not true of Israel. 

We are the body of Christ. He is the head, and we enter the church not through a ritual, but by the Holy Spirit. That is, when we believe Jesus, the Holy Spirit places us into the body of Christ. This is clear in 1 Corinthians 12, and all through the book of Acts from the day of Pentecost, as well as the book of Ephesians. 

We experience spiritual regeneration, that is the new birth, by the power of the Holy Spirit who takes out our heart of stone and puts in a heart of flesh, quickens our spirit, releases us from the controlling power of indwelling sin through death, burial, and resurrection from the dead with Jesus, to newness of life. We are released from the bondage of the fear of death. 

We no longer fear death. We die to the law, and now we live not by the law, but by the Spirit. We no longer have a mediating priesthood, but we are priests individually, and we may come to the throne of grace and crawl up into our Father's lap, as it were, to find grace and help in time of need. 

We have constant access to God through Christ Jesus. We have permanent peace with God, and there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ, and we stand in grace forever blessed in Jesus. Is the church under the salvation blessings of the new covenant different, distinct, from the nation of Israel under the old covenant? 

It seems abundantly clear from the scriptures. So we see that there's a clear distinction between old and new covenant, between church and Israel. Next, we see old covenant sacrifices and new covenant sacrifices. 

We aren't going to spend a lot of time here now, but I just want you to begin to think about the purpose and function of the old covenant sacrifices and the new covenant sacrifices now in the spiritual kingdom of the church age, and then maybe begin to understand the new covenant sacrifices that will exist in the time of the millennial kingdom for Israel, and we can maybe address these things more in our discussion time later. 

So what was the purpose of the old covenant priesthood and sacrificial system in Israel? Have you thought about that? What was the purpose of the old covenant animal sacrifices? At first, we might say, well, it was forgiveness of sins, and in a sense, this is true, but we'd have to define forgiveness or atonement in that context. 

Hebrews 7:19 says, “The law made nothing perfect.” Turn over to Hebrews 9 with me. Let's look at Hebrews 9 at verse 9. Speaking of this sacrificial system in Hebrews 9:9, the author writes, “It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifice are offered, which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience. Concerned only with foods and drinks.” 

So he's speaking of the whole sacrificial system. “Concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation. But Christ came as high priest of the good things to come with the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is not of this creation, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, he entered the most holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. 

For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh…” Notice those words. “Sanctifies the unclean for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” 

We see here that the Old Covenant sacrificial system was concerned with an outward cleansing, not an inner regeneration, nor dealing with eternal penalty for sins, nor the release from the power of indwelling sin. This outward cleansing is further shown as the purpose of the sacrifices down in verse 21. 

It says, “Then likewise, he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry, and according to the law, almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood, there is no remission. Therefore, it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.” 

If you go to chapter 10, verse 1, he says, “For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect, for then would they not have ceased to be offered, for the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins, but in those sacrifices, there is a reminder of sins every year, for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.” 

We see one purpose here, in those sacrifices, there was a reminder of sins, but we also see what those sacrifices could never do and were never intended to do, and that is to take away the penalty for sins, that is justification, nor deal with the power of sin in us, that is regeneration. 

Only the sacrifice of Jesus could do these things, and this only realized in the new covenant in his blood. So we see that the purpose of the old covenant sacrificial system and priesthood was to remind the people of their sins. It was also in one sense to picture the Lamb of God and the sacrifice of Jesus to come, but primarily, its function had more to do with the nation, the theocracy of God, and the outward cleansing of the flesh before a holy God. 

The sacrifices served a very practical function, the Shekinah glory of God dwelled in the tabernacle and later in the temple, God himself in his glory dwelled among sinful men in their physical bodies, as we see at Sinai and all through the Old Testament. This required constant ceremonial outward cleansing. 

And we don't have time to go into all the sacrifices, their specific purposes, but the tabernacle, the altar, as we read in Hebrews, all these things had to be cleansed with blood. Atonement was made for the altar, not to forgive the altar of sins, but to make it ceremonially clean. Sinful men also had to be made clean, a cleansing of the flesh, outward physical atonement in order to maintain peace and harmony in the community, in the theocracy of God, the nation of Israel in the presence of God. 

And my friends, believers and unbelievers performed these sacrifices. Listen to the words of Exodus 19 at Sinai, verse 20. “Then the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai at the top of the mountain, and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to gaze at the Lord and many of them perish. And also let the priests who come near the Lord consecrate themselves, lest the Lord break out against them.’” 

The sacrificial system was meant to maintain harmony between a holy God and sinful men within the operations of the nation of Israel under the Old Covenant. Participation in these sacrifices did not necessarily mean that the worshiper was justified, but it did guarantee protection from physical penalties and temporal judgments from a holy God. Again, we live under a much different system. Amen, thank you, Lord. 

We do not live under a physical political kingdom, but a spiritual kingdom. And thus our sacrifices in this church age are spiritual, as we read in Romans 12, that we offer our bodies a living sacrifice, which is our spiritual act of worship. In Hebrews 13:15, it says, “Therefore by him, by Jesus, let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name.” 

But when Jesus comes the second time, when he brings judgment to the earth and the systems of man, when he brings salvation to the nation of Israel, he will bring spiritual deliverance and regeneration. But he will also set up his physical political kingdom on this earth. The government will be upon his shoulders. 

Ezekiel 40 to 48 tells us that in that time, there will be a temple, there will be a priesthood, there will be animal sacrifices. And it's not only Ezekiel that tells us this, but Hosea, Joel, Daniel, Haggai, and Zechariah all make allusions to this temple and these sacrifices. 

I believe these sacrifices will serve the same purpose that the old covenant sacrifices did. Because we see a very significant point in Ezekiel 43. It says, “The glory of God will enter the temple again, and the very presence of God will dwell among sinful men in their physical bodies, and this will require outward fleshly ceremonial cleansing by blood, just as it did in the old covenant, and it will protect from temporal and physical punishment.” 

We read about this, they will be required, even the nations will be required in that time to keep the Feast of Booths and to go up to Jerusalem, or else they'll have no rain, they'll have these kinds of physical punishments for disobedience. It's important to note, as John Whitcomb does, that there are many differences between the old covenant system and the new covenant temple and sacrifices. 

I'll read you a quote, it says, “The sacrificial system and temple of the old covenant are much different than that of the millennial temple of Ezekiel. There are changes in the dimensions of the temple. It's neither the temple of Solomon, nor that of Zerubbabel, nor that of Herod. Changes in the measures of the outer court, the gates, the walls, and the gates of the temple, the grounds in the locality of the temple itself, raised high on a mountain, separate from the city. 

The holy places have hardly anything like the furniture that stood in the tabernacle of Moses or the Temple of Solomon. There's no Ark of the Covenant, no pot of manna, no Aaron's rod to bud, no tables of the law, no cherubim, no mercy seat, no golden candlestick, no showbread, no veil, no unapproachable holy of holies where the high priest alone might enter, nor is there any high priest. The priesthood is confined to the sons of Zadok and only for a special purpose. There's no evening sacrifice. The social, moral, and civil prescriptions enforced by Moses with such emphasis are all-wanting.” 

So there's much more here to study, but we had this question a few weeks ago and we've been exploring that a little bit, so I wanted to give you some things to think about. 

The Old Covenant animal sacrifice has never saved anyone in the sense of paying penalty for sins, nor did they do anything for the power of indwelling sin. Only Jesus' one-time sacrifice could do these things, and listen now, Jesus' sacrifice is wholly separate and distinct from all of those animal sacrifices in the Old or the New Covenant time. 

Rather, the main purpose and function was outward cleansing, atonement, forgiveness from temporal penalty and punishment, and I believe this will be the case in the future as well. And just one note on this, we believe in a literal hermeneutic, meaning that we take the scriptures naturally as written, unless there's some reason in the language not to, metaphorical, poetic type of language. 

The passage in Ezekiel 40 to 48, along with several of the prophets, make it very clear that there will be a millennial temple with extremely precise and specific language. So we believe that. We believe that there will be a temple. We believe that God says what He means in His Word. We don't fully understand it, but we believe it. It's not the emphasis of our ministry and life and teaching, right? But we want to deal with it when we come to it. 

Now briefly, let's just consider, under the New Covenant time, the soteriological blessings of the church and the kingdom for Israel. Now when we say soteriology or soteriological, all we're saying is that it relates to salvation, justification, regeneration, spiritual blessings. And these are the things that we're going to summarize in our next message and discuss beginning next week through our study of Galatians and the church under the salvation blessings of the New Covenant. 

Let's look at one passage in that book, Galatians chapter 3, Galatians 3 verse 8. It says, “...and the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, ‘In you all the nations shall be blessed.’ So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.” 

Now go down to verse 16. “...Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds as of many, but as of one, and to your seed who is Christ.’ And this I say, that the law which was 430 years later cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise.” 

Part of the promise given to Abraham in Genesis 12 was a blessing to all nations through his seed. That is salvation, that is the promise of the Spirit, Paul says in Galatians 3. So now in the church age, in the institution of the new covenant in Christ's blood, this part of the promise has been realized. 

This is fulfilled in Jesus. All nations, Jew and Gentiles, are spiritually blessed through the seed of Abraham, Christ. Salvation is accomplished at the cross and the promise of the Spirit is poured out at Pentecost. But the nation, the land, the better son of David ruling on the throne in the kingdom, these things have not been realized. 

They will be fulfilled in the nation of Israel for whom they were made, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There will be a kingdom. Do you know how I know that there will be a kingdom? Well, there's a profound amount of scriptures telling me so in the Old Testament and Revelation 20, but also Jesus told me so. 

Turn to Luke 22, Luke 22 at verse 15. Then he said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” Then he took the cup and gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves. For I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 

And he took bread, gave thanks, and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body which was given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” Likewise, he also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is shed for you.” 

Now some would say that this is speaking of the eternal state and not a kingdom, that there is no kingdom. But let me ask you, what's at the center of the Passover meal? A dead lamb, a sacrificed lamb. And Jesus says, “I'm going to eat this Passover meal with you in the kingdom.” 

At the Last Supper, when he instituted a new covenant in his blood, shared the Passover meal with his Jewish disciples, he made these two very interesting statements. “I won't eat of it again until we're in the kingdom. I won't drink of this cup again until the kingdom of God comes.” 

Jesus believed that there would be a kingdom, and when this kingdom comes, he will again eat the Passover meal, he will drink of the fruit of the vine, and I believe that this meal will be a memorial meal, just as it was when Jesus celebrated it with his disciples, but there will be the sacrifice of a lamb. 

And this all points back to the original Passover, when they splattered the blood of the sacrificial lamb on the lentil and doorposts. Why? In order to protect themselves from the wrath of God, the death angel. Certainly the picture, the symbol of this Passover, was fulfilled more than any other sacrifice in the cross of Christ. 

And yet Jesus says in the kingdom, the kingdom for Israel, where he sits on David's throne, he will again eat the lamb and Passover meal in memorial. And in this kingdom time, Israel as a nation will experience the spiritual blessings of regeneration under the new covenant, and the physical blessings of the nation, the land, the milk and honey and new wine, the fruit of the trees, and the protection of the Messiah ruling in righteousness. 

All of the new covenant promises will be fulfilled in the literal 1,000-year kingdom on earth for Israel. Why? Because the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. We believe that the salvation promise, the blessing to all nations, is fulfilled in Jesus in this time. 

Is that promise more important than the other promises God made? Is that promise necessary to be kept along with those promises, or can he just keep some of those promises and we can depend on that? The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 

When Jesus says, “If you believe in me, if you put your full faith and trust in my death in your place for your sins, then you are saved forever. You will not experience the wrath of God.” You can take that promise for yourself, just as much as the nation of Israel when God said to them, “I will give you a land, I will put my king on the throne of David and he will rule and reign for a thousand years.” 

You can trust that promise as well, and every promise that God makes in his Word. Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we thank you. Thank you for your Word. We thank you that we can study your Word, that it's something we can come back to again and again and ever grow and learn and understand. And yet at the same time we thank you for the simplicity that is in Christ, that we can know eternal life by knowing you in the Lord Jesus Christ through faith alone in him. 

Thank you that he died in our place. Thank you that he satisfied your wrath and you showed that by raising him from the dead and that now it is finished and that by faith we can receive your righteousness and be made fit for heaven. Thank you for that promise and thank you for all of your promises. In Jesus' name, amen. 

Okay, we're gonna have a little coffee break, so have some coffee and if you have any questions you can ask me, and then we're gonna go through more of a direct message for us into the new covenant and what the Christian life is about, and then we'll have a time of discussion and questions so we can maybe sort some more things out then. 

Okay, so feel free to fellowship and enjoy a cup of coffee.