We started there last week. We'll start there tonight. We are doing a series right now on Israel and the nations, and we did an introduction last week. And I think by the time we finish this study, you're going to see how extraordinary the beginning, the creation of the nation of Israel, their dispersion and chastisement and their coming restoration. Just how important this nation has been and is in the entire scheme of God's redemptive history. Israel is very important. You've got to remember that Jesus came out. He was His humanity, He was in the nation of Israel. Jesus was born a Jew, physically, and it was part of the promise that God gave to Abraham. So we'll read chapter 12 and verse 1. Now the Lord had said unto Abraham, get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, As the LORD had spoken unto him, and Lot went with him, and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. God called Abram, initially that was his name, later changed to Abraham, but He called him out of his father's house. Israel was literally founded on the promise of God. We're going to talk today about Israel's beginnings. He was called, Abram was called out of the Ur of the Chaldees when he was 75 years old. I personally, it's pretty unusual to me for a guy to live 75 years and not have any children. But that was the case of Abram. He was childless when God made this promise to make his seed great. Now again, it's a pretty remarkable beginning. You got a guy that by today's standards, and I don't want to offend anybody, but you get 75 years old, Uh, you're not, you're really not planning on having a huge family at that point. Uh, some may say he's over the hill. You know, he's 75. He's had a good run. Uh, but God had a purpose. God had a plan. And this plan was formulated when nothing existed. before the foundation of the world, when there was no earth, no mountains, nothing in existence, no universe. God had already in eternity, when He sat alone in the solitude of eternity, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, that sacred Trinity in harmony, had already formulated everything that would ever happen. That blows my mind when I think about that. But God had a purpose. And I can guarantee you something, every decree, every promise, every purpose, every prophecy that we find in the word of God. If God said it, I can guarantee you, he will fulfill it. And he's going to fulfill this promise that he made to Abram when he called him out of the Ur of the Chaldeans. Now, the events. prior to Isaac's birth. Isaac was the child of promise, and we'll get to him in a little bit, because against all odds, we're going to find that God opened the womb of Sarah, and gave Abram and Sarah a son. But something happened before that, alright? They were getting frustrated, they weren't waiting on God, Abram and Sarah, And Sarah got the big idea. You know what? I've got a handmaid named Hagar. You go ahead and have relations with her and that'll be our seed. The seed that was promised. That's not the way God works. Sarah was wrong. Abram was wrong for listening to her. Should have never happened. So the events prior to Isaac's birth are significant because you know, when Sarah gave birth or when, when Hagar gave birth, she gave birth to Ishmael. And do you know that all of the Arab nations come from Abram's seed? Did you know that? Because Ishmael, was born out of the energy of the flesh, and that's where the Arab nations came about. Turn over to Genesis 16, and he even gives you a description of what the seed of Ishmael, what those people are going to be like. This is all the way back in the book of the beginnings, in the book of Genesis. And it rings true today. When you understand this, you understand why Arabs hate Jews. Now, Genesis chapter 16, verses one through three now, Sarai. All right. I've been calling her Sarah because that's what she'll eventually be called. It's a little tricky, you know, in the beginning here, you got Abram and Sarai, and then it goes from that to Abraham and Sarah. All right. Same people. Just a little twist on her name. Now, Sarai, Abram's wife, bear him no children. And she had a handmaid, an Egyptian whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold, now the Lord hath restrained me from bearing. I pray thee, go in unto my maid. It may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai, and Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the maid, the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. And he gave her to her husband, Abram, to be his wife. And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes." Never a good plan. Today, they call this polyamory. It's a fancy name for having more than one wife and they all kind of live together. That's not of God. This was wrong. All right. And Hagar bore a son whose name was Ishmael. Think about this. This started off all wrong. Number one, Saria, a wife should never tell her husband to have relations with another woman under any circumstances. In reality, Abram committed adultery with her, and out of that relationship she conceived, well, it was predictable, Sarah had this all in her mind that this would be the way to get the promised seed. And then as soon as Hagar conceives and she bears a son, then Sarah starts hating her. Hey, it's human nature. And she wants her out of the house and wants the Son out of the house as well. It says in verse 16, well, let's read on here. And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee. I have given my maid unto thy bosom, and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes. The Lord judge between me and thee. And you can see, you know, that Hagar probably was acting like she was a much better woman than Sarah was. And she, it was a conflict that was not ever going to be resolved right. Cause it started off wrong. But Abram said unto Sarah, I behold thy mate is in thy hand, do with her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarah dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face. So she left. And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. And he said to Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence comest thou, and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. And the angel said unto her, return to thy mistress and submit thyself under her hands. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, thou shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael, because the Lord hath heard thy affliction. So God had mercy on Hagar. If there was an innocent party here, And there's really not, but she would be the most innocent. I say that because she was just a handmaid. She was somebody that was ordered by Abram and Sarai, and she was just a servant. And they were fully responsible for concocting this plan and going through with it. Now, notice God describes what Ishmael is going to be like. He will be a wild man, and his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him. And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God seest me. For she said, Have I also looked after him that seeth me? Wherefore the well was called Beer-le-Harai, behold is between Kadesh and Bered. And Hagar bare Abram a son, and Abram called his son's name which Hagar bare Ishmael. And Abram was fourscore and six years old, that's 86, when Hagar bear Ishmael to Abram. Now think about this. Ishmael was not the children of promise. He was born out of the energy of the flesh. And his descendants are described in verse 12, they'll be wild, their hand will be against everybody and everybody else's hand. And really, when you look at the history of Arabs and especially the Muslims among the Arab peoples, because they're largely of that religion. They want to fight with everybody. Their religion is so messed up that you either convert or die or be enslaved. I mean, that's really how they get converts. Well, Abraham, the next chapter, he's, he's 99 years old. So 13 years had passed since Hagar bar Ishmael, verse one, chapter 17. And when Abram was 90 years old and The Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him, I am the almighty God. Walk before me and be thou perfect. As far as I know, that's the first time God had spoken to Abraham in 13 years. I don't know, but it appears to be that way. I think he was being chastened for doings. When we read that chapter, when we read 16, you didn't find God anywhere. in the deliberation of Abraham and Sarah, did you? They had no, they didn't seek God about what they were going to do. And a child was born that was not promised. It was a child produced out of the energy of the flesh. Now God appears and says, I am going to give, I've got, I'm going to give you a seed. I'm going to give you a son. And of course, Not only was God going to give them the promised seed, He was also going to give them a promised land. In the beginning, God had this all planned out. And so He says in verse 2, And I will make My covenant between Me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Again, you'll notice something, even though Abraham disobeyed God, God was not done with him. God never told him to go into Hagar and have a child. That was all Abraham and Sarah's doing. But when God makes a purpose of something, He sees it through. And He had promised a seed, a promised son. And it says, verse 5, neither shall thy name anymore be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham. For a father of many nations have I made thee. Abraham means a father of a great multitude. Again, this is remarkable. The guy's 99 years old and he is promising him, I am going to make your name great. I'm going to make your seed great. I am going to, you're going to be the father of many nations. He's 99 years old, Lord. How is this going to happen? It's going to happen by the power of God. It's the only way it could happen. He says in verse 6, I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish, now read this carefully, because this is reaffirmed over and over and over throughout the rest of the Word of God. I will establish My covenant between Me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their generations, for an everlasting covenant. This agreement, this covenant, was to be of an everlasting duration. It was not going to be terminated. To be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee the land whither thou art a stranger, and all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession. And I will be their God." And I take that so, that promise to be so literal that I believe that Israel is going to dwell in this land, all the tribes restored, restored to God, regenerated, and they're going to dwell there through the eternal ages, not just during the millennium, but through the eternal ages, when there's a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, because he says this land would be for an everlasting possession. And I take God at His word. Now, God made... Abraham was not only promised a sea, he was promised a land. God made an everlasting covenant, an agreement that would never be nullified regarding this land of Canaan. Now, some call it Palestine today. But in reality, the land, it belongs to Israel. It would belong to the chosen nation of Israel, and it will belong to them throughout the eternal ages. Now, I don't see anything in the Word of God that has ever told me that this promise has ever been nullified or abolished or taken away. And I'm convinced it's why Israel is in existence as a nation today. Because if you read Israel's history and take a real strong look at it, people have tried to wipe them out over and over and over and over again. And it's not like there's just a bunch of Israelites and that they have this huge mass of land. No, we're just talking about a little sliver of land! In the Middle East, where every one of their neighbors hates their guts and wants them dead and annihilated. I mean, right now, that cry goes out every day from the river to the sea. They want the nation of Israel to be no more. That's what that means. But nothing has ever abolished this promise. Turn over with me. to Jeremiah 31. This reaffirms this truth. Jeremiah 31. And look at verse 33. Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divided the sea when the waves thereof roar, the Lord of hosts is his name." Now, he's given you a scenario. Ever since the creation of the earth and the luminaries, the sun, the stars, the moon by night, He says, if those ordinances, what has continued every single day, think about this every single day from the beginning of creation, it's never changed. It's always been this way. God upholding all things by the word of his power, sustaining his creation. If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before me forever." So what he's saying is, see how this has continued always? The only way that Israel won't continue is if this stops and God is always going to preserve His creation. Thus saith the Lord. If heaven above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord. Well, that means he's not going to get rid of them. That's why they exist at least as a physical nation today. And I believe that spiritually they're going to be born of God. Now, nothing can break this covenant. Look at chapter 33 of Jeremiah, verse 14. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will perform that good thing, which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah." Now remember, by this time Israel and Judah are split into two kingdoms, alright? The ten northern tribes and the two and a half tribes under the auspices of Judah. He says, "...in those days, and at that time, I will cause the branch of righteousness to grow up unto David. Who do you think that is? That's the Lord Jesus Christ. And what does it say about Jesus Christ? He shall execute judgment and righteousness where? In the land. In those days shall Judah be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is the name wherewith she shall be called the Lord, our righteousness. And you know what he's saying that Judah and Israel are going to be reunited under Jesus Christ, who will be king. And another thing that he's saying there is that they're going to be delivered from their enemies, delivered from their sins, and they are going to dwell, Jerusalem will be a safe place. Well, when this was written, it's never been a safe place in human history since the days of Solomon. But the days of Solomon are already over here. He said, this is going to happen in the future. Jerusalem is going to dwell in safety right now. That seems like an impossibility, doesn't it? I mean, looking at if you didn't have anything to go on, do you think logically that that Israel would ever be a safe place for Jews to dwell, given today's environment? No. I mean, they got to look over their shoulder every day. This was a horrific attack by Hamas, but they've been doing this, the Palestinians have been doing this for years and years and years. So Jerusalem is not a safe place. But it will be. Because the Lord Jesus Christ is going to reign from there. For thus saith the Lord, David shall never want a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, neither shall the priests, the Levites, want a man before me to burn offerings, and kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually. And the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord, if ye can break my covenant of the day and my covenant of the night." Remember, that's what he's already said in chapter 31. and that there should not be day and night in their season, then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne, and with the Levites the priests my minister. As the hosts of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the seed of David my servant and the Levites that minister unto me. Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah, saying, Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, the two families which the Lord hath chosen, He hath even cast them off? Thus they have despised My people, that they should be no more a nation before them. Thus saith the Lord, If My covenant be not with the day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them." God is ratifying that promise that He made all the way back in Genesis chapter 17. And in essence, He's saying, Absolutely nothing can break that covenant. Now, in Genesis chapter 21, verses 1 through 5, you have Isaac born against all odds. I mean, go back here, Genesis chapter 21. I know we're reading a lot, but it's just what you got to do when you're looking at history of a nation. Genesis 21 and verse 1. And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken. Now, again, you remember Sarah was the one when Abraham said, hey, you know what, the Lord appeared to me, we're going to have a son, and she laughed. Remember? You know, there's some things about Sarah that she was wrong in a lot of ways. She should have never recommended that deal with Hagar. And then when God spoke a second time, she had the audacity to laugh at the promise of God. That ain't good. Uh. But God's again, people are fallible, they're sinful. They make wrong decisions. But the purpose of the Lord shall stand. He said, Abraham, Sarah, you're going to have. A seed. You're going to be the father of many nations. Verse 2 of chapter 21, And Sarah conceived and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. At the set time. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare unto him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac, being eight days old, as God had commanded him. And Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born unto him. Glory, hallelujah. God fulfills the promise. Abraham had Isaac, the son of promise. And before Abraham died, he arranged the marriage It's all to it that Isaac, the marriage of Isaac and Rebekah. And guess what? When Isaac was going to marry Rebekah, he gave Isaac the same, he confirmed the promise that he had made to his daddy, Abraham. Look over Genesis 26. Now, I don't have time to get into all the, you know, God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Think about that. Hold on, Lord. This kid is supposed to be the promised one. If I kill him, we ain't got nobody to replace him. But you know what? He had faith. He actually believed God was going to resurrect him after He had offered him. He was ready to go through with it. And God Himself provided a land. That's another whole sermon. Let's not chase that right now. Chapter 26 and verse 2. And the Lord appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt, dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee. For unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give thee all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I swear unto Abraham thy father. And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. He's confirming in the exact same words what he had said to Abraham. Because that Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my law. Verse 24. And the Lord appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father. Fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for thy servants Abraham's sake." So God is reaffirming this. Now, we've got through God giving Abraham and Sarah, their promised son. Next week, we're going to look at some of the history revolving around Isaac and Rebekah and how, again, against all odds, God is preserving the nation of Israel. So we'll pick up there next week, God willing.