Transcript [00:00] You know, when [00:02] if Jews if a Jew stands up and says, [00:06] "Hey, Genesis 12:3, bless the Jews." It [00:09] sounds very self-serving. [00:11] Right? [00:12] But I I want to explain your viewers [00:15] need to understand why Genesis 12:3. [00:18] Meaning [00:19] it's one thing for God to say [00:23] "Bless the children of Abraham and [00:24] you'll be blessed. [00:25] Curse the the children of Abraham, [00:27] you'll be cursed." And that turns [00:29] blessing or cursing the nation of Israel [00:31] into a very pragmatic act, kind of like [00:34] putting money in a candy machine and [00:35] pushing the right button. If I do the [00:38] right thing, I'm going to get blessed. [00:39] But I want to But But why did God set it [00:41] up that way? [00:43] Let me explain. [00:45] It has to do with that last line of that [00:47] verse in in Ezekiel 35 that you read. [00:49] "And they shall know that I am the [00:51] Lord." [00:52] That phrase, "And they shall know that I [00:54] am the Lord," is a favorite of Ezekiel. [00:56] It appears in other prophets as well, [00:59] but most of the instances in scripture [01:02] where God says, "And they shall know [01:04] that I am the Lord," or "And you shall [01:07] know that I am the Lord." Sometimes [01:08] second person, sometimes third person. [01:10] Most of those like the most the book [01:13] that uses it most is Ezekiel. He liked [01:15] that phrase. [01:17] But the almost every time he uses it, [01:21] the context is [01:24] the the [01:26] ultimate redemption of Israel at the end [01:29] of their exile. [01:31] In other words, [01:33] God is saying [01:36] "The way you know me [01:39] is by watching what I do with Israel." [01:41] Let me explain further what I mean here. [01:43] This is a very critical. I'm happy we're [01:45] we're talking about this cuz people [01:46] don't understand this enough. This is [01:48] the you know, again, [01:50] Christian support for Israel, Christian [01:51] Zionism, whatever you want to call it, [01:53] we have to move past it just being, "Oh, [01:56] God told me to bless the Jews, so I'm [01:57] being obedient and I'm blessing the Jews [01:59] because a lot of Christians will look at [02:00] that and go like why what what why what [02:03] what's what's that all about? So let me [02:04] explain. [02:07] How do we see God? How do we know who [02:08] God is, right? So [02:11] we we have scripture [02:14] and in the days of the Bible God would [02:17] perform these overt miracles like [02:18] splitting the Red Sea and the 10 plagues [02:20] and you know the biblical type of [02:21] miracles that we're jealous of we wish [02:23] we had miracles like that, right? So [02:26] that's one way of knowing God. [02:28] But God tells us in scripture [02:31] with all of these verses that end with [02:33] and you shall know that I am the Lord [02:35] he's saying this is how you know me. [02:39] Cuz what's a miracle? [02:40] A miracle is when God breaks the rules [02:44] of nature for his purposes. That's a [02:46] pretty straightforward definition of a [02:48] miracle. [02:49] God God sets up the rules of nature [02:52] and then when he violates them for his [02:54] purposes that's a miracle. Now this is [02:56] the hand of God you can see it. But [02:58] there's also different types of [02:59] miracles. [03:01] Sometimes a really happy coincidence [03:03] happens in our lives and because we're [03:04] people of faith we call it a miracle [03:06] other people will debate it. The really [03:09] the miracles that you cannot debate the [03:11] kind of I'll call them grade A miracles [03:15] are the miracles where not only does God [03:17] break the laws of nature for his [03:19] purposes but he tells us in advance that [03:22] he will do so. [03:23] Not all miracles have that. But those [03:26] are the really pure miracles where God [03:28] says for example with the splitting of [03:30] the sea he tells Moses this is what [03:31] you're going to do you're going to raise [03:32] your hand you're going to blow and and [03:34] the sea is going to split and then you [03:35] walk across and then it happened. So [03:36] when God tells in advance that a miracle [03:40] is going to happen and it happens that's [03:42] like [03:43] God saying this is how I am going to [03:45] show you who I am. And in fact with the [03:47] 10 plagues in Egypt all of which Moses [03:50] was told in advance that God would do [03:51] them. [03:52] For not all of them, but for um [03:56] uh for seven out of the 10 [04:01] Pharaoh was also told in advance. Three [04:03] of them he wasn't told. [04:05] But when God says in advance he's going [04:07] to do a miracle and he does it, it's [04:09] always for the purpose of people knowing [04:11] him. [04:12] Uh not for some other purpose. The 10 [04:14] plagues had no other function other than [04:15] to get the Egyptians to know God. God [04:17] could have taken us He could have done [04:18] the the plague of the firstborn first [04:20] and just taken us out of Egypt with one [04:21] plague. He didn't need to need to do 10. [04:23] But it says over and over again in those [04:25] chapters in Exodus, God says, "In order [04:28] that Egypt shall know that I am the [04:30] Lord." Okay? In other words, he wants to [04:32] reveal himself to the Egyptians. How [04:33] does God reveal himself? Once again, he [04:35] sets up the laws of nature and then he [04:37] breaks the laws of nature for his [04:39] purposes and tells us in advance that [04:41] he's going to do it. Great. [04:44] Okay. [04:46] God also set up the laws of history. [04:50] And we know it every person who's who [04:52] professes belief in God believes that [04:53] God controls nature. Baby is born and [04:56] they and they see the divinity in that. [04:59] But it's much harder for people to see [05:00] the hand of God in history. [05:04] And God says [05:06] at the beginning [05:08] that I am the God of history. [05:10] And how are you going to know that I'm [05:11] the God of history? How are you going to [05:13] know that I control history? Well, [05:15] here's what's going to happen. [05:17] I'm going to have rules of history. [05:21] And like the rules of nature [05:24] I am going to break the rules of history [05:30] for my purposes and I'm going to tell [05:32] you about it in advance and I'm going to [05:35] break them in a way that is impossible [05:37] and improbable like splitting the sea. [05:40] And I'm telling you in advance that I'm [05:41] going to do it and then when it happens [05:44] you will know that I am the Lord. Now, [05:46] history is the story of nations. So, God [05:49] chooses one people [05:51] and he puts us through this this unique [05:54] and unusual history, this impossible [05:56] history. God tells us in the book of [05:58] Deuteronomy chapter 7 that we are the [05:59] least of all peoples. In fact, the [06:01] Jewish people are less than half of 1% [06:04] of the world's population [06:06] and there's absolutely no reason at all [06:08] why we should have survived 2,000 years [06:10] of exile. [06:12] Many, many nations from the ancient [06:14] world were conquered by invading empires [06:17] and sent into exile and they all [06:18] vanished and that's why no one [06:21] listening to this has ever met an [06:23] Ammonite or a Moabite or or a a zillion [06:26] other nations from the ancient world [06:28] because they were conquered and exiled [06:30] and vanished. [06:32] And God said before it happened, [06:35] this one people [06:37] this one people is going to go into an a [06:40] lengthy exile and for every other nation [06:43] exile means your nation loses its [06:45] identity after a few generations, but [06:47] this one nation is going to go into [06:49] exile [06:50] and even though the laws of history [06:52] dictate that they should vanish, they [06:54] will not vanish. The eternity of Israel [06:57] shall not lie as as Samuel says. [07:00] And they will survive and they will come [07:03] back to their land after many, many, [07:05] many generations at the end of times in [07:07] the last in the last era of of [07:10] in the last generations as Deuteronomy [07:12] 29 states, they will come back to the [07:15] land and when they come back, [07:18] you will know that I am the Lord. In [07:20] other words, God is simply doing what he [07:21] does with every miracle. He says, [07:22] "Listen I'm [07:24] Here's the laws of nature that I've set [07:25] up. I'm going to break them. I'm telling [07:28] you in advance that I'm going to break [07:30] them in the following way and when you [07:32] see that happen, you'll know that I am [07:34] the Lord." So, then God uses us, the [07:36] people of Israel, we're the pawns in [07:38] this story. Okay, God takes the people [07:40] of Israel and he runs us through this [07:41] very [07:43] this very tumultuous and unique history [07:46] keeps it and we survive in exile for [07:48] thousands of years exactly as he said, [07:51] unlike any other nation from the ancient [07:53] world, and then we come back to our [07:54] land, and then there's the test. Cuz [07:57] when we come back to our land after [07:58] thousands of years, exactly as God [08:00] predicted, the question for the nations [08:03] is, are you seeing it? Are you pointing [08:06] at that and saying, oh, [08:08] I see God. Now I know that he's God [08:11] because he said he would do this and [08:12] he's keeping his promise. [08:14] Those who refuse to see it are not [08:16] seeing the hand of God. And that's why [08:19] that that statement to Abraham right at [08:21] the beginning, I will bless those who [08:23] bless you and curse those who curse you, [08:24] is not about Abraham. He's saying to [08:27] Abraham, listen, this is the role you're [08:29] going to play. I'm going to [08:31] I'm going to [08:32] carry you through history, and the [08:34] nations of the world are going to have a [08:35] test. You're going to have a unique [08:37] history, and the nations of the world [08:38] are going to have a test. How when they [08:40] look at your unique history, [08:43] excuse me, when they look at your unique [08:44] history, will they see me or will they [08:47] not see me? That's the test, and that's [08:49] the test of October 7th. That's the test [08:52] that the whole world has been going [08:53] through since October 7th. [08:54] >> And I mean, what the Lord says is that, [08:58] you know, for Israel my glory, he used [09:00] the term glory over and over and over [09:03] again with Israel because it Firstly, he [09:06] is the faithful God. [09:08] He is righteous. He is true. But he is I [09:11] am God or I'm the Lord. I am the [09:13] faithful [09:15] uh Deuteronomy. And um seven, I think. [09:19] And [09:20] what he's saying is this is my [09:22] character. This is why I'm different [09:24] from all those other gods. I am [09:26] completely separate and sanctified and [09:28] holy [09:29] uh because I'm faithful and true. [09:32] And this is how you are going to know. I [09:34] said you you talk about history. I set [09:37] up my covenant and there there different [09:39] purposes for that covenant, but one of [09:42] the core purposes is to be able to [09:45] identify who is the one who created the [09:49] heavens and the earth and all that in [09:50] them is, but who can do these things? [09:53] Who calls the end from the beginning? [09:55] And things that are not, he he speaks of [09:59] them as if they already are. And he and [10:03] and in the end it Isaiah is so rich with [10:06] this. And then [10:08] I will be glorified. [10:12] This will be my glory and my praise and [10:15] my name and um [10:18] and he says that over and over again [10:20] that Israel is [10:22] my my for a people a pray a name a [10:26] praise and glory. Why? Not because [10:29] Israel's every person in Israel is like [10:31] this perfect lovely [10:33] >> It's not about [10:34] us. It's not about us. [10:36] >> It's about because God's glorified when [10:39] all the nations will see that he is the [10:42] Lord God Almighty and worships and bows [10:45] before him.
