So this morning I'll be teaching part three in our dispensational overview of the Bible. We did part two part two last February 4, 2024. And in part two, we had progressed on into the writings of the Old Testament prophets. And as we got towards the end of part one, I had introduced some very important principles which need to be understood in order to understand the writings of those Old Testament prophets. One of those principles was the fact that the Old Testament prophets did not understand the concept of the second coming of their messiah.
And we looked at how Peter explained this to his readers in his first letter in I Peter, chapter one, verses six through twelve. And we left off in part two, where I had just introduced the second important principle which needs to be understood, and that is that when many of the Old Testament prophecies were written, very often within the very same passage, the prophets wrote about things which were pertinent to the time in which they were writing, and about things which would be true about Christ's first coming, and then about things which would not take place until Christ's second coming, all in the same passage. And we were about to look at one such passage as an example. So turn with me to Jeremiah 23, and that's where we'll begin today, beginning in verse one:
Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, saith the Lord.
So the prophet Jeremiah was prophesying to the people and to the kings of the southern kingdom of Judah during the time of II Kings, right up to and even after the fall of the southern kingdom of Judah. So Jeremiah was also prophesying during the Babylonian captivity. And here in verse one, Jeremiah starts off by addressing the current problem of the day. The pastors, the leaders of the nation, were leading the people and the whole nation astray.
The kings, the priesthood, the scribes, they were all apostate and corrupt and leading the nation towards complete destruction. But then look at what Jeremiah writes in the following verses. Verse two.
Therefore, thus saith the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people. Ye have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not visited them. Behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the Lord, and I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds, and they shall be fruitful increase. And I will set up shepherds over them, which shall feed them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed. Neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord.
Well, what's all this? In verse three, we see a brief description of the feast of trumpets. That's the regathering of the little flock out of all those countries where they had been scattered ever since the captivities. According to the fifth course of chastisement from Leviticus 26, the regathering is exactly what will be taking place at Christ's second coming. Then in verse four, we read how that they will be lacking nothing. So now we're in the millennial kingdom. They won't be lacking anything in the millennial kingdom.
But that's not all. As we read on in verse five, it says, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch. Well, when did this take place? This took place at the first coming of Israel's messiah. It says, a righteous branch here.
This is one of the four great branch passages which are in the prophetic scriptures to help Israel clearly identify their messiah when he does show up. And we'll be looking at those branch passages later on. But notice that you have to stop reading at this point right here, because the things you read about in the rest of verse five and then continuing on into verse six will not be things that will happen until the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's read it.
And a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth in his days. Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness.
So all of this pertains to the second coming of Christ. So we're all over the place in just these six verses, and we see four distinct time frames which are not even in chronological order. And you see this type of prophetic writing, this style everywhere in the prophets.
Now, it's easy for us to go back into the prophets now and separate all these things out into their proper time frames, because God has given us the progressive revelation which was needed in order to go back and separate it out all just as Peter explained in I Peter, chapter one, verses ten through twelve, which we looked into last session. Now, as you study your way through the Bible, it is this type of progressive revelation from God which continually builds up our understanding of what God is doing and how he is going to do it. Now, eight chapters further into the book of Jeremiah we get a look at another major body of progressive revelation from God to the nation Israel. So turn with me to Jeremiah 31.
Here Israel is going to learn about another very important covenant which God is going to make with the nation, another unconditional covenant which Israel can expect God to execute at some point in the future. Now, although there is no way for Israel to know this at the time at which Jeremiah wrote this, the basis upon which this covenant can successfully be made is going to be the substitutionary death of their messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, for the sins of the nation. And that covenant is that which will come to be known as the new covenant. Let's read about it in verse 31.
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they break, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord.
We'll stop there for a minute. So this new covenant is going to be an unconditional covenant, not like the law covenant, which was a conditional covenant which Israel thought they would be able to keep, but they couldn't keep it after God delivered them out of Egyptian bondage. That law covenant was a conditional covenant and they could not keep it. This new covenant is going to be an unconditional covenant. God will see to it that it will come to pass.
Now, this new covenant is very important, that it will provide the spiritual transformation which will be necessary for the nation to give the nation that degree of spiritual fitness and righteousness which they must be able to demonstrate in order to be God's representative nation before all the other nations of the world in order to provide the blessings which had been promised to those nations in the Abrahamic covenant, continuing on in verse 33:
But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people, and they shall teach no more, every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and will remember their sin no more.
This is going to be a direct empowerment from God to the true believers in the nation Israel to be able to keep those laws and commandments which they have never been able to do on their own, and they will be able to do it perfectly. And I repeat, although there is no way for Israel to know this. At the time in which Jeremiah writes this, the basis upon which this new covenant will successfully be made will be the substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ for the sins of the nation. Well, God also gives Israel a little more information about this new covenant through the prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 36:22‑28. We won't go there, but that's another very important passage pertaining to this new covenant. Next, it's important to point out some of the things which were written by another of the major prophets, and that would be the prophet Daniel. Daniel was one of those Jews who had been taken captive out of Jerusalem, and Daniel was brought to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar.
So Daniel writes his book of prophecy during the time of the Babylonian captivity, and the prophecies which are found in the book of Daniel are truly unique and amazing, to say the least. Daniel provides the timetable through which the fifth course of chastisement on the nation Israel will play out and eventually come to an end. And Daniel also outlines the major courses of geopolitical gentile dominion over the nations following the fall and captivity of Israel and Judah.
Up until the time of the captivity and until the rise of Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian empire, God had never allowed any single nation to have political control over all the earth because that was the intended role for the nation Israel. But now all that has changed.
Israel failed, just as Adam had failed, and is now under the fifth course of judgment. And God has removed Israel from their promised land. And with the rise of Nebuchadnezzar and his great Babylonian empire, this becomes the first of the world's great powers. Even Egypt was subjugated under Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian empire. And this begins what God and the Bible refer to as the times of the Gentiles, which will actually extend all the way up to the second coming of Christ.
And that sets the stage for these tremendous prophecies which the Lord gave to Daniel. In Daniel chapter two, verses 36 through 45, the Lord gives to Daniel a vision which predicts that the great Babylonian empire of Nebuchadnezzar is going to be followed by three more major geopolitical gentile empires or kingdoms. But also in that vision, the Lord describes a fifth kingdom. And that fifth kingdom will completely consume and destroy any and all of the preceding gentile kingdoms which stood in opposition to God's plans and purpose for his nation Israel. So let's turn to Daniel chapter two, and look at that. And we'll begin in verse 36. Nebuchadnezzar had this dream that has been troubling him, and he's looking for an interpretation, and Daniel has the interpretation.
This is the dream, and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the kingdom. Thou, O King, art a king of kings. For the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, strength and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold, and after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron. Forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things, and as iron that breaketh all things shall it break in pieces, and bruise
drop down to verse 44
And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.
Verse 44 says that in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. And this is Israel's prophesied kingdom on the earth in accordance with the Davidic covenant. But verse 44 will not be fulfilled until the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, when he avenges the enemies of God and Israel and sets up that never ending kingdom in the land of Palestine exactly as he said he would according to the Palestinian covenant back in the Book of Genesis. Then in the 8th chapter of the Book of Daniel, the Lord amplifies on these prophecies by identifying exactly who these geopolitical gentile empires will be. So turn to Daniel, chapter eight. Beginning in verse one.
In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar, a vision appeared unto me, even unto me, Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the first, dropping down to verse three, then I lifted up mine eyes and saw. And behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns, and the two horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up. Last I saw the ram pushing westward and northward and southward, so that no beasts might stand before him. Neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand, but he did according to his will and became great.
Well, this is a description of the second great gentile geopolitical empire which will attack and subdue the kingdom of the Babylonians. Now, those two horns of the ram in verse three represent the kings of Media and Persia. And the lord will make that clear in a moment. But then, continuing on in verse five,
and as I was considering, behold, a he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth and touched not the ground. And the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power. And I saw him come close to unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram and brake his two horns. And there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground and stamped upon him, and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand.
So this is that third great gentile geopolitical kingdom. And that notable horn in verse five, between the eyes of the he goat is Alexander the Great. And the Lord will make that clear in a moment. But continuing on in verse eight,
therefore the he goat waxed very great. And when he was strong, the great horn was broken, and from it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of the heaven.
This is the dividing up of Alexander's kingdom into four geographical areas after his death. And this division is highly significant because of what we see in verse nine. And out of one of them, out of one of those divisions came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great towards the south and toward the east and toward the pleasant land. So out of these four divisions of Alexander's kingdom will arise the Antichrist, who will lead the nations of the Middle east in the Antichrist's attempt to completely wipe the nation of Israel off the face of the earth prior to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then the verses which follow provide a very brief description of the things which the Antichrist will be doing against the nation of Israel when that time comes in the future.
And there are many other passages in the Book of Daniel and throughout scripture which describe the career of the Antichrist in much greater detail. Now to specifically identify those gentile geopolitical kingdoms, turn to verse 20. We're still in chapter eight. And verse 20 says, the ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.
So here are the empires of Media and Persia. They attacked and subdued the kingdom of the Babylonians. Verse 21. And the rough goat is the king of Grecia, and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. So here is Alexander the Great and his greek kingdom, verse 22.
Now, that being broken, that is his kingdom being broken up, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power. So here again is the four part division of Alexander's kingdom after his death. And of course, history has proven that all this is exactly how things played out. Alexander died in 323 BC. And in 301 BC, after the battle of Ipsis, Alexander's four main generals divided up Alexander's kingdom into four geographical divisions.
And those geographical divisions were the Greece and Macedonia area going to general Cassander. You had Asia Minor going to General Lysimachus. Egypt went to General Ptolemy, and the Syria assyrian area went to General Selesus. And then in verse 23, and in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance and understanding dark sentences shall stand up. And here you have the rising up of the Antichrist in the latter times of one of those four divisions of Alexander's kingdom.
So this is still yet to come. And that division, as we know from multiple passages throughout the prophetic scriptures, will be the assyrian division of Alexander's empire. The Antichrist will rise up out of the assyrian division. There are many, many prophecies throughout the Old Testament that describe the Antichrist as the assyrian. Now, the other great prophecy in the Book of Daniel, which should be noted is in Daniel chapter nine.
In Daniel chapter nine, verse two, Daniel writes how that he knows from the book of the prophet Jeremiah that the Babylonian captivity would last for 70 years. And now those 70 years are about to come to an end. So Daniel prays to the Lord and asks the Lord, what is going to happen with the nation of Israel now? And the Lord gives to Daniel an outline of how Israel's prophetic program will play out all the way through to the establishment of Israel's never ending kingdom, which we first read about back in Daniel chapter two, verse 44. And this is how that prophecy reads.
If you turn to Daniel, chapter nine, verse 24, it begins there by saying, 70 weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression and to make an end of sinse and to make reconciliation for iniquity and to bring an everlasting righteousness and to seal up the vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. So 70 weeks, it says here, in the beginning of the verse. The first thing that needs to be understood about this word weeks in the jewish culture at that time is that a week was not limited to mean a period of seven days, as we would define a week today. A week could refer to a seven day week, but it could also refer to any multiple of seven. In other words, one week could refer to seven days, or it could refer to a period of seven weeks or a period of seven months, or even seven years.
And in this prophecy, the 70 weeks does refer to 70 weeks of seven years, or what would be equal to 70 times 70 weeks of years, and that would be 490 years. Now, as you read through this verse, we see that there are six specific things pertaining to Israel which will be taking place within this 490 year period. To explain any one of these six things adequately is way beyond the scope or objective of this overview. But suffice it to say that this 490 year period of time takes you through Israel's entire prophetic program to the second coming of Christ, and even on into the establishment of Israel's prophesied kingdom. But what is so profound about this prophecy is the way in which this 490 year period of time is broken down in the next verse.
So let's look at verse 25. Know, therefore, and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto Messiah the princess shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks. And I'm going to stop there for a minute, because the first thing we want to see here is how that what I read up to this point has already occurred. The events which take place during this period of seven weeks and threescore and two weeks, they have all already occurred. You want to notice that two events are specified here.
The first one is the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem. That's the first event. The second event is unto Messiah the prince. That's the second event. These two events mark the beginning and the end point of this seven weeks and threescore and two weeks period.
Now, that commandment to restore and build Jerusalem was given in a written decree by Artaxerxes, king of Persia, on March 14, 445 BC. That event is recorded in Nehemiah, chapter two. And then the second event referred to here is unto Messiah the prince. This is a reference to the official proclamation of Jesus of Nazareth riding into Jerusalem on the foal of a donkey. The official proclamation demonstrated by Jesus himself as Israel's messiah, by presenting himself to the nation Israel.
In this manner, according to the prophecies which predicted that this is exactly how he would be presented to the nation Israel associated with his first coming, or what is commonly referred to in Christian circles today as Palm Sunday. Zechariah, chapter nine, verse nine is where that prophecy can be found. And we'll be looking at that in a little while. So we see Christ fulfilling this remarkable prophecy on the precise day on which he entered Jerusalem on that donkey. So these two events here span the seven weeks and threescore and two weeks time period in verse 25.
However, this seven weeks and threescore and two weeks time period does not cover the entire 490 year years of the complete prophecy in verse 24. Seven weeks and threescore and two weeks doesn't equal 490 years. It equals 483 years. So it totals 69 of the full 70 weeks prophecy. So what happened to the last seven years of the full 70 weeks prophecy? Where is that 70th week?
Where are those last seven years? Well, as it turns out, that last seven year period of Israel's prophetic kingdom program was temporarily interrupted in Acts chapter seven, when the nation officially and finally rejected their messiah's first coming. So that last seven years of this remarkable prophecy will not resume until Israel's prophetic program resumes again in the future. But there is a reference to that last seven years in verse 27 here. So that verse 27 is future yet to be fulfilled.
Now, before we leave the Old Testament prophets and move on into the books of the New Testament, I'd just like to say a few things about the significance of this issue of fulfilled prophecy. In the book of Isaiah, the first of the Old Testament prophets, there is a rather lengthy section, chapters 41 through 46, where the Lord is repeatedly issuing challenges to anyone to prove that he is not the God of this universe and that there is no one other than himself who is able to predict in advance with 100% accuracy what is going to happen in the future, just like we saw in Daniel chapter nine. So turn with me into the prophet Isaiah and chapter 46.
And we'll begin at verse five, where it says, to whom will you liken me and make me equal and compare me? That we may be like. Drop down to verse nine. Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is none else. I am God, and there is none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, the things that are not yet done. Saying, my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. Verse ten speaks of the Lord declaring the end from the beginning. And that is one reason why you can place 100% confidence in the integrity and the authority of this book, there is simply nothing else like it. The verse says, my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure.
Whatever the Lord says he is going to do, he will do it. And that then is going to lead us into the New Testament books. And it is an interesting thing to note that after the last words of the prophet Malachi, who was the last in that long succession of Old Testament prophets, there was silence from the Lord for over 400 years. God was no longer speaking to Israel through the prophets. And this was actually the fulfillment of another prophecy which had been given by the prophet Amos hundreds of years earlier.
Amos prophesied during the reign of the kings of the northern kingdom of Israel, after the kingdom had been divided into the southern and northern kingdoms. Turn with me to Amos, the book of Amos and chapter eight. We're going to look at that prophecy, Amos, chapter eight and verse eleven, where he writes, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. So there is going to be this long period of silence from the Lord. And so for centuries, the faithful Jew is waiting generation after generation for the Lord to begin doing all those things he promised that he would do.
And of course, Israel is also anxiously awaiting the arrival of their messiah. But the prophet Malachi, as well as the prophet Isaiah, prophesied just what the nation should be looking for, to indicate that the Lord was beginning to get their prophetic program moving along once again. Let's look at what the prophet Malachi had to say about that in Malachi chapter three. So your last prophetic book of Malachi and chapter three, verse one says, behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me, saith the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple. Even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in, behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.
So the Lord is going to be sending a messenger to Israel to prepare the way for the Lord. That messenger, of course, is going to be John the Baptist, and that messenger is going to prepare the way for the Messiah. And the messiah, of course, is going to be Jesus of Nazareth. And so the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ, Israel's messiah, begins. And the details pertaining to his birth and his life and his ministry, the calling out of his twelve special disciples and his death and his resurrection, are all recorded in the four Gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
And then even on into the beginning of the book of Acts. Now, as I said in the beginning of this series, my primary objective is to provide an overview of the entire Bible, with the emphasis on why all the books of the Bible are arranged, the way they are arranged, and how that all of that gives us a better understanding of God's overall plans and purpose for the heaven and the earth. And as I've done that so far, we have looked at numerous specific passages throughout the Bible, but only to the extent that it will help our listeners gain a better understanding of what those plans and purposes of God are. But for anyone who might be interested in studying out the multitudes of Old Testament prophecies which were fulfilled by Jesus of Nazareth at his first coming, there is a nine part series titled The Prophecy Series on our website, where you can study out those fulfilled prophecies in great detail. So I am not going to be going through the gospel accounts in any great detail, but only to the extent that we can see why these books are there, and in particular, why there should be four separate gospel accounts.
Four separate accounts. That seems to be troublesome, or at least confusing to many folks. Why there should be four accounts of the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Critics of the Bible will sometimes point out that there are differences between the four accounts. Certain events found in one account of the gospel may not appear in the others, or there may be slight differences.
And the critics of the Bible will then maintain that because there are these differences in the four accounts, that we cannot consider them reliable. And if we cannot consider them reliable, how can we claim that this is the inspired, infallible word of God? So this is an issue which should be addressed, the reliability and the reason for the four separate gospel accounts. And I want to start by establishing something which is very important right from the start in the Gospel of John and chapter 14, we're going to go there and take a look at a couple verses there. John 14, verse 25, where Jesus is speaking to his disciples.
Here these things have I written unto you, being yet present with you but the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you.
So the Holy Spirit of God is not going to have any problem inspiring the writers of the New Testament accounts to write down what God wants them to write down. The Holy Spirit of God will be seeing to it that the writers of these books will be writing down exactly what God wants them to write down because they will be given the supernatural capacity to remember everything that needs to be written down.
But then how can we reconcile with this the writing of four different gospel accounts? Why do they differ? Well, they differ simply because it was God's intention to emphasize four very important aspects of the Messiah's person and mission in accordance with a series of four prophetic descriptions of his person and mission. Those prophetic descriptions are set forth in what can be referred to as the four behold proclamations and the four branch descriptions given by the Old Testament prophets. Now, we saw one of those branch passages when we were examining Jeremiah 23, which spoke of the coming righteous branch of David in the first part of verse five.
And we'll be going back there again in a minute. But I want to start off in Zechariah chapter nine. So turn with me to Zechariah chapter nine and verse nine, which reads, rejoice greatly, o daughter of Zion. Shout, o daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, thy king cometh unto thee. He is just and having salvation lowly and riding upon an ass and upon a colt, the foal of an ass.
Now, I mentioned this verse just a few minutes ago in connection with that remarkable prophetic passage in Daniel chapter nine, which predicted the exact date of this event, Christ's official proclamation of himself as Israel's king as he rode into Jerusalem on that day, which is commonly referred to as Palm Sunday. It says here, behold, thy king cometh unto thee. Whenever you see this word behold in scripture, know that something very important is going to follow. This is the first behold proclamation which I want to point out to you. Now turn to Jeremiah, back to Jeremiah 23 again, and we'll get some more information about this Jeremiah 23 and verse five again, which says, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
So this is the verse we started off with today. In part three, it says, behold, I will raise unto David a righteous branch and a king. So these two verses, Zechariah and Jeremiah, provide the behold proclamations and the branch description of the coming Messiah. And here the branch description is associated with the fact that the coming Messiah is going to be a branch of David. He is going to be a descendant of King David, just as the Davidic covenant said he would be, and he would be Israel's king.
And that's why the first thing you read in the Gospel account of Matthew is a genealogy, verifying how that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed a descendant of David. That's very important. And then Matthew's gospel account goes on to emphasize repeatedly how that the kingdom was at hand and that Israel's king was here. The Gospel of Matthew places the emphasis on the king and his kingdom. Now then, what is the next aspect of the Messiah's person and mission which the prophets are pointing out to behold?
Turn into the book of Isaiah, chapter 42, and verse one, behold my servant, whom I uphold mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment to the gentiles.
The verse says, behold my servant. And then the verses which follow describe things which clearly are associated with the Lord Jesus Christ. And the branch description associated with Christ's mission as the servant of the Lord is found in Zechariah, let's go to the book of Zechariah.
Zechariah, chapter three and verse eight, where it reads, hear now, o Joshua the high priest, thou and thy fellows that sit before thee, for they are men wondered at, for behold, I will bring forth my servant the branch. And in my Bible branch is in all capitals here. Even so it says, behold my servant the branch. So here you have the behold proclamation again along with the branch description. He will be the Lord's servant, the Lord's servant for Israel.
And this is the focus of the gospel of Mark, the tireless servant of the Lord, one event after another, all the way through the book of Mark. And it's almost dizzying how that Mark's account goes from one event to the next to the next, all the way through the whole book. And what is particularly interesting about Mark's gospel account is that there is no genealogy given at all. Why would that be? The genealogy of a servant is of no importance at all.
All that matters is, will this servant get the job done. And the Lord is exhorting Israel to behold that servant, my servant the branch. Then what is the next aspect of the Messiah's person mission which the prophets say to behold? Turn over a couple chapters to Zechariah, chapter six.
And verse twelve says, and speak unto him, saying, thus saith the Lord of hosts, saying, behold the man whose name is the branch of and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord. So here we have the behold proclamation and the branch description all in the same verse. It says, behold the man whose name is the branch. This is Luke's gospel account. The emphasis on the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In Luke's gospel account, you see more about the humanity, about the human nature and the human emotions of the Lord Jesus Christ than in any other of the gospel accounts, the man whose name is the branch. So it would be perfectly consistent with this emphasis on Christ's human nature as a man to see a genealogy in Luke's account going all the way back to the beginning of humanity, to the very first man, all the way back to Adam. And that's exactly what we see in the genealogy in Luke, Christ's connection to all of mankind. And then finally, what is the fourth aspect of the Messiah's person and mission which the prophets say to behold? And it's really that this Jesus of Nazareth, the Lord Jesus Christ is God, is Jehovah himself.
Back into the prophet Isaiah, chapter 40 in verse nine which reads, o zion, that bringest good tidings. Get thee up into the high mountain, o Jerusalem, that bringeth good tidings. Lift up thy voice with strengthen. Lift it up. Be not afraid. Say unto the cities of Judah, behold your God. Behold your God. Then the verses which follow go on to describe what Christ will be doing at his second coming. So here we have, behold your God. And then for the branch proclamation turn back into Isaiah, chapter four.
And look at verse two. In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. The branch of the Lord is really no different than saying the Lord himself. And this of course is the great emphasis in the gospel account of John. And what kind of genealogy would you expect to find associated with the branch of the Lord?
There would be none. God has no genealogy. He is the alpha and the omega. God has been eternally existent, something which we are told in the very first verse in our Bibles in the beginning God. And we see it also in the Gospel of John.
So turn to the gospel of John, chapter one, which says in verse one, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. Drop down to verse 14. And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth. So Christ is the word.
And in verse 14 we have the miracle, the incarnation, God willingly taking on a human nature in order to accomplish everything that needed to be accomplished for the nation, Israel. So in the Gospel of John, you see this continuing emphasis on the divine nature of the Lord Jesus Christ all the way throughout the book. And it's just as John states it when he gives Israel the reason for writing his gospel account in chapter 20. In John, chapter 20, if you'll turn there, the reason for writing the account, verse 30, and many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written. Why?
That ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name. So, in summary, we have this beautiful fourfold prophetic picture of the person and mission of the Lord Jesus Christ in these four behold, proclamations and these four branch descriptions of the coming Messiah's work. And thus we have these four different gospel accounts with their emphasis on the four different aspects of that person and mission of the Lord Jesus Christ. So those prophetic pictures are there, along with the hundreds of other prophetic passages pertaining to the coming Messiah. They're there so that when the Messiah did finally arrive, he would not be missed.
Well, when the messiah finally did arrive, there were certainly some who recognized him immediately and followed and embraced him as the Messiah. But in the end, he was rejected by the overwhelming majority of the religious leaders and the nation. The religious leaders had become corrupt, just like they were back in Jeremiah 23. When we started off, they were making a good living off the people through their corruption. They had status, they had power over the people.
They had everything they needed and wanted, and they didn't want things to change. Jesus of Nazareth was a threat to them. And it wasn't long before they decided he had to die. In Matthew's gospel account, that decision is recorded in Matthew, chapter twelve, if you'll turn there for a moment.
There's your turning point. Verse 14. Then the Pharisees went out and held a council against him, how they might destroy him. So at this point, Jesus understands that his destiny at his first coming is no longer that of a king in his kingdom, but rather his death on a cross.
And it is at this point that Jesus begins to teach his loyal disciples about the things which he will be going through. But they don't understand, because the only thing they have in their thinking is the prophesied kingdom. I'm going to give you one example of this in the book of Luke, chapter 18, if you'll turn there. But you can find similar examples in all four gospel accounts, illustrating exactly what we're going to see here in Luke 18. And in Luke 18, we'll begin in verse 31.
Then he took unto him the twelve and said unto them, behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the son of man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles and shall be mocked and spitefully entreated and spitted on, and they shall scourge him and put him to death. And the third day he shall rise again.
And then in verse 34, it says, and they understood none of these things, and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken. So at this point, the focus of Christ's ministry completely changes. And he begins training his faithful group of disciples in how they're supposed to function in his absence. And Jesus gives his disciples a key parable in Luke chapter 13, which describes their roles, their coming roles in the early acts period following Christ's ascendant ascension from the Mount of Olives in acts chapter one. So turn back into Luke 13.
Very important parable. And we'll begin in verse six. He spake also this parable. A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came and sought fruit thereon and found none. Well, this is a perfect description of what the Lord Jesus Christ found in the nation Israel at his first coming. The fig tree in the vineyard, of course, is the nation Israel. And the Lord Jesus Christ came unto the nation hoping to find the nation bearing fruit.
But it wasn't. There was nothing. Verse seven. Then said he unto the dresser of the vineyard, behold these three years. I come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down. Why cumbereth it the ground. So for three years, the Lord Jesus Christ ministered to the nation Israel, seeking to see them bear fruit. But there was nothing. So the man says, cut it down. Get rid of this good for nothing, apostate nation. Very reminiscent of what John the Baptist said about the corrupt religious leaders way back in Matthew, chapter three, seven. Bring on the wrath to come upon this generation of vipers. And that would incidentally be that 70th week of Daniel that's still missing. And in verse eight, continuing on here in verse eight, and he answering said unto them, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it and dung it.
So the Lord says, let it alone this year also. He's saying that he's going to give the nation one more year to respond. And of course, that year is the one year extension of mercy and forbearance. Which the Lord gives to the nation Israel. In acts chapters one through seven, those faithful disciples who Jesus is training to function in his absence will play a critical role during that one year extension of mercy and forbearance.
As they attempt to get the nation to see what the nation had done. They had rejected and killed their messiah. They needed to reconsider who he actually was, and then they needed to accept the ministry of the Lord's disciples now so that Jesus could return and bring in the kingdom. And then verse nine and if it bear fruit, well, and if nothing, then after that thou shalt cut it down. And that then takes us into the book of Acts, the Acts of the apostles.
By the end of that one year extension of mercy and forbearance, did the nation of Israel respond positively and bear fruit? No, they didn't. So then it was time to cut it down. And as we shall see, Stephen was the Lord's last attempt to get the nation to respond. And with the stoning of Stephen in Acts chapter seven, the nation of Israel is cut down.
And that's where we'll begin in part four part four, next week.
Grace Bible Church of Rolling Meadows
www.GBCRM.org/Audio-JohnKlasen_DispensationalOverview2024.htm