Let us open to Revelation chapter 20. We covered the first 10 verses last week, but we've come to a point where we're addressing the matter of the prophecies of the Old Testament. Back in the beginning of chapter 20, we've read about a first resurrection. And last week I suggested, in fact took the position, that the thousand years is a symbolic period that we are presently in and have been in. in from the time that Christ went to be with the father, was exalted to the right hand of the father, that he has been ruling and reigning ever since. And that Satan has been bound during this symbolic thousand years, such that, and there's, there's a description of exactly how he's bound. He's bound so that he can deceive the nations no longer. And of course, during this time, the gospel has gone forward. Verse four, we saw thrones and thrones are in heaven. And we see judgment given to those who are in heaven. And we have here a first resurrection, both of martyrs and all those who had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received the mark on the forehead. And we read, they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. Those who had worshiped the beast or received a mark of the beast are unbelievers. That's a symbolic way of describing them. The coming to life here, I believe, the best explanation of what that is, is the translation upon physical death of a believer to be with God. We see souls in heaven. We see souls with God here. Not bodies, but the souls of those who had not worshipped the beast. And then we read, the rest of the dead did not come to life until a thousand years were completed. Well, that first resurrection was clearly a spiritual resurrection. The second resurrection is the bodily resurrection of everybody, believers and unbelievers. And we're going to go back and look at these things again, but I want to simply outline the differences in the way people view these things, because he then says in verse 6, blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection. Well, you want to be in that first resurrection. Now, I've said to you, and I think that by far the better position is that that's the translation of a soul to be with God upon physical death. But there are those who believe that is the bodily resurrection of believers, and that a thousand and seven years later, the bodies of the unbelievers will then be raised. That's what's called premillennial dispensationalism. I don't believe there's any biblical support for that, but the basis of that is found right here. That is, despite the fact that John 5, 28, 29, and other passages clearly say both believers and unbelievers will be raised at the same time. And when a thousand years, this period of the church, in effect, are completed, Satan will be out for a short time, which will, in short order, land him in the lake of fire with all false religion and all false and wicked kingdoms. The basis for this idea of two separate resurrections separated by a thousand and seven years are essentially promises made by God in the Old Testament. And so, we started to look at these last week, and I didn't feel that we gave anywhere near adequate attention to them. Dispensationalism again teaches that Christ came in his first coming to establish a kingdom on earth. But when the Jews rejected him and his offer of the kingdom, the kingdom on earth that Jesus came to establish in Israel was postponed and that Christ embarked on a new program that was never mentioned in the Old Testament. That program was the church. The church is seen by that belief system, at least in its classic form, in the form in which it initially developed, as an unanticipated Plan B. Now, they're backing away from that, and I say that with great joy, because it's simply not a scriptural belief. Now, one of the many difficulties with this idea of a literal thousand-year reign of Christ on the present earth is, as we looked last week, who's in this? Because at the end of Revelation 19, everybody's dead. And the system says, well, everybody else, the Christians, have all been taken from the earth, and they're hovering in the air, they say, for a seven-year tribulation period. There's no seven-year tribulation period in Scripture either. What the dispensational view does is it takes Daniel's 70th week, separates it from the other 69 weeks, and shoots it into the future sometime and says that's the seven years of tribulation after Christ removes the church, which also doesn't show up in Scripture, between the time that he takes the church out and brings the church back. Now the problem with all of this is this kingdom is supposed to be a Jewish kingdom. It's the Jewish kingdom that's postponed according to this system. And the people in the air who are going to return with Christ are Christians. It's the church under their system that gets raptured, right? And really what happens is the system falls apart because it ends up not fitting together. Now, there are difficulties with every approach to end times, but this one just seems to be the one that has the most, but it has caught on. People like it. But we've been here 44 weeks, and I think it's clear it's not a scriptural system. I want to look, though, at these prophecies, because we can't just set them aside. They deserve our attention. And many Old Testament scriptures, if literally understood, promise the restoration of the people of Israel. And that's the issue. Who is meant by Israel in these prophecies? If by Israel, in those Old Testament prophecies, God means ethnic Israel, then he's saying he's going to reestablish that kingdom and that nation again. I don't think that's what the New Testament tells us he meant, and that's why we're going to look at these tonight. I want to look first at Jeremiah 31, the new covenant that we talk about every week when we celebrate the Lord's Supper. And here's what the passage says. And these two are very representative. And we looked at it briefly last week. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Now, there hasn't been a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah to this point. That's a given. So if you're reading these things and saying, well, he's talking about ethnic Israel, then this is still in the future. So he's gonna make a new covenant, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. Now, when did he do that? What covenant is he talking about here? The covenant that he made with them when he took them and brought them out of Egypt. Where did this covenant get made? With Moses, and where were they? Mount Sinai. God's thundering from Mount Sinai, and what's the description as God's making this covenant? Smoke and fire, lightning, and fire. thunder, brimstone, all of these things. The same things we see when we see pictures of God in the book of Revelation. So he says, I'm going to make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke. So that covenant was broken by Israel long before Christ came. In fact, it's broken clear back around 600 BC. This is Jeremiah's writing during and just before the time of the exile to Babylon. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my law within them and on their heart, I will write it. I will be their God, and they shall be my people." Now, we know from Hebrews that we are among the recipients of this covenant. Hebrews told us all about this, and Christ says, this is my blood of the new covenant, and he calls his church to remember him by celebrating this supper. So there's no question this covenant applies to the church. The question is whether there's some separate application to Israel or whether the church is the true Israel. Now Ezekiel 36, 24 through 28 is a similar passage. For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands, Now, who's in the nations and in all the lands? It's going to be everybody. Are there Jews scattered everywhere? Are there Gentiles in all the nations? Yes, there are. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Well, what's that mean? What's he talking about here? He's going to wash us clean. And what's he going to wash everybody clean with? His blood. And then he says, moreover, I will give you a new heart. And this sounds like the language of Jeremiah, the law of God written on our hearts. I'll give you a new heart and I'll put a new spirit within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Using flesh two different ways there really. I will put my spirit within you. Well, how does one receive the Spirit of God? Being born again. How do we describe those who have the Spirit of God in dwelling them? Believers. Believers. Now, Abraham believed God and he was cleansed. This is long before the time of Christ, but he believed God. I'll put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statues and you will be careful to observe my ordinances. When is that going to happen? When is there going to be no more sin? We don't see sinning until we leave this earthly body. You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers. Now there's one of the big sentences for a premillennialist. You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers. Now this is very important to premillennialists. I don't know why, but it's important to them that Israel get to live in this land over there in the Mideast right now. We're gonna look at what's he talking about when he says this, you will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers. So you will be my people and I will be your God. So we have two passages where he's speaking in the immediate context to Israel. But we started to see last week what has happened. Here we got these promises to Israel, to ethnic Israel, at least if we read them literally. Last week we see in 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and I hope I've got these in this order. God has declared over and over again in the New Testament that he's made the Jews and the Gentiles into what? One body in Christ. 1 Corinthians 12, 13, for in one spirit we were all baptized into one body. And in case somebody thought, well, of course, he doesn't mean the Jews. Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, all were made to drink of one spirit. Same spirit that he spoke of in Ezekiel chapter 36. Galatians 3, 28, there is neither Jew nor Greek there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female, for you, Jews and Gentiles, are all one in Christ Jesus. Now, as we looked at last week, one of the basic tenets of this premillennial idea is that the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of the church are separate kingdoms, separate entities. And they even go so far as to say that in the scriptures, the kingdom of God refers to this kingdom of Israel. And that's an earthly kingdom, and that the kingdom of heaven refers to the church. This is what they teach. But the New Testament says there are not two separate peoples of God. You are all drinking of the same spirit. There's one body. And then it says there is no longer any Jew or Greek. And he says in Galatians 3.28, and if you belong to Christ, now a Jew physically is a descendant of whom? Abraham. But he says, if you belong to Christ, you are Abraham's descendants. Heirs according to promise. Paul, who identified himself as a Hebrew of Hebrews, eliminates any distinction between the physical descendants of Abraham who believe and those who are Gentiles who believe. It's all one body in Christ. Look at Romans 9, 6. Now, we have to understand these Old Testament passages in light of the newer and clearer revelation of the New Testament. Romans 9, 6. So he's talking about Israel rejecting God and their failure. Let's go back and read the first five verses of Romans 9. He's grieving over the state of the Jews who rejected Christ. He's grieving over his brethren of the flesh, the Jewish people. He says, I'm telling the truth in Christ, I'm not lying. My conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. Well, here's Paul out preaching the gospel. He's helping to build the church of Christ. People are coming to him. Why would he have grief and sorrow? Well, he goes on, for I could wish that myself were accursed. This reminds us of Moses, doesn't it? Strike me down if you're not going to take these people. and guide them. I could wish myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption of sons, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the temple service, and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ, from whom is Christ, according to the flesh." Christ was born a Jew. They had all this, and they missed it, and he's grieving over this. He's grieving over their rejection of Christ, but then he says, but it isn't as though the word of God has failed. Those promises God made to Israel, that they'd have a new heart, that he would put his spirit within them, that he would write his law in their hearts. Those promises haven't failed. They're not all Israel, he says, who are descended from Israel. Ah. They are not all Israel. Some of those who are Jews by the flesh, some of those who are ethnic Jews, physical descendants of Abraham are not part of Israel. Now what's that mean? Israel is not just a term for an ethnic people. Look what he says, nor are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants. Being a Jew does not make you a child of God. Being a Jew does not make you part of the spiritual kingdom of God. But through Isaac, your descendants will be named. That is, it's not the children of the flesh who are the children of God. That's the Jewish descendants of Abraham. It's the children of the promise. It's believers who are regarded as descendants. Romans chapter nine here, verses one through nine is intended to show that the covenantal promises of God to Israel were not made to Israel in the flesh, but to the true Israel. And the true Israel is those who are of the faith of Abraham. Those who believe in God, who believe him, who believe in Christ. And therefore, the unbelief and rejection of Christ by the nation of Israel didn't interfere with God's fulfillment of the promises he had made. And so what the premillennialists would say is, well, wait a minute. God has to restore the nation of Israel. ethnic Israel because he promised he would. No, what Paul's saying is, no, you have to understand who really is the true Israel. The true Israel are the believers, heirs according to the promise. Look at Galatians 6, beginning in verse 15. For neither is circumcision anything, to be a Jew, nor uncircumcision, to not be a Jew, but a new creation. How does one become a new creation? The same answer as before, to be born again. And those who will walk by this rule of being born again, peace and mercy be upon them and upon what? The Israel of God. And he's talking about the church. Now Romans 11 clearly shows that believing Jews and believing Gentiles are one people of God in Jesus Christ. Start in Romans 11, 17. But if some of the branches were broken off, that refers to Jews, and you being a wild olive, Gentiles, believers, were drafted in among them, Jewish believers, and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree. Don't be arrogant toward the branches, but if you are arrogant, remember, it's not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. And this is a picture of the church growing out of the people of Israel that God created in Abraham and Sarai. That's what that root of that olive tree is. And God creates this baby, Isaac. Remember, Abraham went off and had his own baby, Ishmael. No, he says, that's a child of the flesh. It's the child of the promise. It's all based on God's promise to do these things. The root supports you. And that's why I think the way we should see scripture is to say that Israel gave birth to the church. You will say then, Gentiles, branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in. Quite right. They were broken off, why? Because of their unbelief. but you stand by your faith. Don't be conceited with fear, for if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. Behold then the kindness and severity of God to those who fell severity, the Jews, but to you God's kindness. If you continue in his kindness, otherwise you will also be cut off. must believe. And they also, if they do not continue in the unbelief, they'll be grafted in. The Jews are going to be grafted back in if they believe and when they believe. For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree. Remember, all the Gentiles were separated from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, not sharing in the promises, but then they were grafted in through Christ And if they can be grafted in, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? So the idea of Israel continues. Now, what is it that a Jew had to do in the old covenant to remain in God's favor and under God's protection and offer sacrifices? If that's all they had to do, if that's all they're going to have to do sometime in the future, then what do we do about the gospel? What do we do about Jesus' words? No one can come to the father, but he who believes in me has, but he who doesn't believe in me is condemned already because he didn't believe in me. There's no distinction made for Jews and Gentiles here. Paul, John, Peter, and Jesus himself, all the gospels teach clearly one has to believe in Christ to be saved. So any other teaching is error and heresy. Any teaching that you can get to heaven some other way is heresy. You can't teach that you get there by works administered by somebody else, by sacraments administered by somebody else. It's by faith. How did Abraham win his not guilty verdict before God? Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Before Mount Sinai, Noah found favor in the eyes of God. God was gracious to him. They believed God. They didn't do any works to get there. So all of the physical descendants of Abraham are obviously not saved. Think about the gospels. We see any Jews who are, who we know are not saved. Who do we see in the gospel of Matthew already? Judas. Yes. There were some groups. All of them. They're all Jews. Now, so were the apostles. But all of those Jews who rejected him and sent him to the cross, turned him over to the Romans. All Jews are not saved. Now look at Romans 2.28. The passages pile up one on top of another. You want to know who was a Jew and who isn't? He is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew. He is one of the people of Israel who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that which is of the heart. by the Spirit, not by the letter. That's the law, the old covenant. And his praise is not from men, but from God. I believe that verse most clearly of all establishes that when God makes those promises to Israel in the Old Testament, he's talking about the true Israel. He's talking about Jews who are one inwardly. He's not a Jew who's one outwardly. Being circumcised doesn't do it. It's having the circumcision of the heart. It's having the born again by the spirit that makes one a Jew, that makes one part of the true Israel. And Philippians 3.3, here's another one. He's speaking to Christians, for we are the true circumcision. We are the true Israel. Circumcision is a word for Israel. Who worship in the spirit of God and glory what? In the sacrifices, in the priesthood, in the tabernacle? No. Glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in what? In the flesh, in any of my works. Although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more. Paul's saying, all of you who think you're getting to God by keeping the law, I've done it all. Sounds a little less than humble in one sense, but he's making a point. Since I was circumcised the eighth day of the nation of Israel, I'm of the tribe of Benjamin. I'm a Hebrew of Hebrews. As to the law, I'm a Pharisee. I've done all of that. And that got me nowhere. So what about the promise of God of the land to Abraham? The promise of the land didn't come first in Jeremiah or Ezekiel. It didn't even come to Moses. It came 700 years before the law. The promise came to Abraham, Genesis 17, 7. Genesis lays this out. We see how it begins. And we see in Revelation here in these last three chapters, how it ends. Genesis 17, seven, I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant. So who is this covenant with? I will establish my covenant between me and you. making a covenant with Abraham and with his descendants. Now we've already learned from the New Testament passages who the real heirs of Abraham are. Who are they? They're believers. It's those who are of faith who are the true descendants of Abraham. That's what all of those passages have told us. I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for how long? It's an eternal covenant he's making. How many years in eternity? What portion of eternity would a thousand years cover? Too small to even think about. This can't be talking about a thousand years. This is everlasting. This is an eternal covenant. So, it's to you and your descendants. He hasn't told us what the covenant is yet. To be God to you and to your descendants after you. Now, Is God in an everlasting relationship with the Pharisees? Is God in an everlasting relationship with Judas? Those are easy ones. But you see the point. He's talking about the true heirs of Abraham. And that's what Paul makes very clear to us. Now look at who he's giving this land to that he's talking about. Then we'll figure out what lands he's talking about. I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan. Now, when Abraham was on this earth, and up to the time he died, how much land did he own in the land of Canaan? None. So he didn't get any land. So that premillennial view will say, well, see, he's got to get some land here. He hasn't received his land yet. So he's got to get the land and we have a thousand years here in Revelation 20. He must get the land in there. So he's going to give to him and to his descendants after him, all this land of Canaan. For how long will they have it? How much of eternity is a thousand years? It's eternal. You can't just brush the stuff off. Abraham's getting a land promised by God for eternity. And you know what? He knows what God's talking about. And I'm going to show you in a second. The time he died, he didn't receive any land, any of it. He had a grave site. He was promised land. He can only receive land when, what's he have to do to receive land? And then he has to do one more thing to walk on land. Yeah, he has to be resurrected bodily to walk on land. Heaven right now is a spiritual place. But look, none of us have perfect knowledge about the future and exactly what it looks like, but we're going to look at that in chapter 21. In the new Jerusalem though, that's the only place he can get new land that he will have for an everlasting possession. You see, he can't get everlasting land for a millennium. He's getting land everlasting. He's got to be resurrected and it has to be an eternal gift. And that's what he was looking for. Hebrews 11, 8. Now remember, here's Abraham. At the time Abraham is called, how many nations and peoples of the earth are worshiping Yahweh? None. Nobody knows God at that point. Abraham's father was a worshiper of idols, pagan idols, false gods. Abraham's there, presumably in the same situation. God calls him and he says, come up, Abraham. I want you to leave your house. I want you to leave your possessions. I want you to leave your family and I want you to go north through the desert here. Maybe there's an oasis to a place I'm going to show you. He doesn't tell him where he's going. So it's that one family out of 70 who descend from Noah that descends down to Abraham. Nobody's worshiping God. There are no people of God. And he calls him and Abraham goes, not knowing where he was going. So let's just think, and he goes 500 miles before he stops. And when he gets there, he doesn't come here to Jerusalem. He ends up up in a place called Haran, 500 miles from where he started. Hebrews 11, 8, that will tell us about Abraham when he was called by faith, Abraham by faith, when he was called, he obeyed. by going out to a place which he was to receive foreign inheritance. And he went out not knowing where he was going. By faith, he lived as an alien in the land of promise. As in a foreign land, he dwelt in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise. It's the promise here. For he was looking, and here it is, for the city which has foundations. whose architect and builder is God. He's looking for the city of God. Now, Revelation 21 shows us, beginning in verse one, I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven, and the first earth had passed away. There's no longer any sea, and I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. That's what Abraham's looking for. He's looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. And look at Hebrews 11, 22. But you have come, talking to these believers, Jewish believers, to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. When you come into the church, you are coming to the heavenly Jerusalem. That's the new Jerusalem. and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven. There's some already there, not bodily, but their souls are there. We're reading about them in this thousand years, which is a term describing the reign of Jesus and the saints in heaven right now. And to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant. That's where we've all come. We've come to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel. Hebrews 13, 14, for here on this earth, we don't have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city, which is to come. So was Abraham. The point is that Abraham, to whom the promise of the land is made, is said to have looked for and is said to have received the land, not in the present land of Canaan, but in the New Jerusalem. He was looking for a heavenly city, a heavenly land, and that can only be the New Jerusalem. Now look at Hebrews 11, 13. All these died in faith without receiving the promises. But having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, looking out as we should be to what God has awaiting us, and having confessed that on earth they were strangers and exiles, we're here in the city of man. For those who say such things make it clear they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed, if they'd been thinking of that country from which they went out, whether it was Mesopotamia, or Egypt or whatever, they would have had the opportunity to return. But here it is, as it is, they, Abraham and the other saints, desire a better country. That is a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared, what? A city for them. The city of God. The promises of God are pretty clear to us. It's pretty clear that Jewish and Gentile believers are one body, there's one kingdom of God, there's one people of God, there's one bride of Christ. Two principles of biblical interpretation come into play here. That is this, we interpret scripture by scripture. When I'm trying to understand a passage, before I do anything else, I go and look and see what other scripture says about that same thing, about that issue. That's what we've done here. The New Testament, we have greater, more progressive enlightenment than what we had in the Old Testament. The New Testament is in the Old Testament concealed. The New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. We interpret these things in the Old Testament in light of the New Testament. Premillennialists refuse to do that. And they say the Old Testament is one thing. They say the church isn't in the Old Testament. which it clearly is, and which most of them are now starting to admit. The Old Testament must be understood in light of the New, because the Old Testament, why is that? What do we know about the Old Testament, the Law and the Prophets? And that they were fulfilled in Christ. How many times does Matthew have to tell us this? This was to fulfill what was written in the Law and the Prophets. Chapters 1 and 2, I think he says that five times in Matthew's Gospel. This was to fulfill what was written in the Law and the Prophets. Christ is the fulfillment of what we read in the Old Testament. And the dispensational system really fails in this area, and that's where it leads into error. You have to ignore all of those New Testament passages that I read to you tonight that say The Jews are not separate. They're now part of the body of Christ, if they believe. It also says that the system, that the kingdom of God, and I mentioned this earlier, and the kingdom of heaven are separate and distinct, that the heavenly kingdom or the spiritual kingdom is the church, that the Jewish kingdom is the earthly kingdom. They rejected Christ the first time, so Christ has gone off to the Gentiles, but he's going to come back to them. And they say that's what this thousand years is. I don't believe most who believe in the thousand years and the seven years' tribulation realize it's all based on all of this. But it is. Now, Kingdom of God, Kingdom of Heaven, they say two separate things. I want you to turn to Matthew 10, 7. Matthew is recounting when Jesus sends out the twelve for the first time, it looks like, and he gives them authority. We saw Jesus' authority over sickness, over the spiritual world, over the demons who inhabit the spiritual world. We saw his authority to command the wind and the sea to obey him. Now he gives that authority to the disciples and he sends them out. And he tells them in chapter 10, verse 7, and as you go, preach saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Well, there's nothing controversial about that. Jesus has already preached that in chapter four. John the Baptist preached it back in chapter three, verse two, I believe. Chapter three, verse two, he says, repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And then Jesus in chapter four, verse 17, from that time, Jesus began to preach saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Kingdom of heaven though to that viewpoint is that's just a spiritual kingdom. But now look at Luke writing about the same thing we read in Matthew 10. Go to Luke 9. Luke is now, this is his account of Jesus sending the twelve out. 9, 1, and 2 will read, And you can tell, in both cases, he tells them, don't take anything for your journey, not a staff, nor a bag, nor bread, nor money, whatever house you enter. Obviously, it's talking about the same event. He called the 12 together, Luke 9, 1, and gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases. And he sent them out to proclaim what? The kingdom of God. It's the same kingdom. He's not talking about two different kingdoms. I could show you several examples, but I'm going to show you one that ends the matter here. For anybody who's willing to receive scripture as it's written, Matthew 19, here's Jesus in the same sentence, using the two terms interchangeably. A rich young ruler comes to him and wants to know what he has to do to gain eternal life. Jesus tells him, if you want to be complete, go and sell your possessions. Young man goes away grieving them. And then in 1923, Jesus said to his disciples, truly, I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again, I say to you, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. He uses the two terms interchangeably. There is no distinction between Jew and Gentile, and there's no distinction between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven. And back in Ephesians 2.11, Therefore, remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcised by the so-called circumcision, which is performed in the flesh by human hands, That's the Jewish circumcision. Remember, you Gentiles were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise. For hundreds of years, they were outside the covenants of promise that we've been reading about. They were strangers to them, but no longer. having no hope. If you're not, if you're not part of those covenants, you have no hope. And without God in the world, this was the state of every Gentile, every non Jew who didn't become a Jew for those 1500 years. But now, but now in Christ Jesus, you who were formerly far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ for he himself is our peace. He made both groups into one. He broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, there's no longer Jew or Greek, by abolishing in his flesh the enmity, which is the law of the commandments contained in ordinances, and that is that whole sacrificial system. So that in himself he might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having put to death the There's no mention there, in that passage, of the reestablishment of the nation of Israel as a separate and distinct people of God, with a separate and distinct destiny. No such thing. In Romans, we see that all Israel, when referring to ethnic Israel, must be understood as being limited to a remnant of elect Jews, just as a remnant of elect Gentiles are saved as well. But what's completely absent from the New Testament is any mention by Christ or the ones he sent to preach and the ones he had write the New Testament of the reestablishment of a separate nation of Israel or of a kingdom of Christ from which non-Jewish Christians are to be excluded. There's no biblical warrant for any of that. There's no biblical warrant to separate the people of God who he has joined together in Christ. I felt like we had to deal with that because it's important. It's the basis of what I believe has become just a wildly erroneous system. It causes good people to go into Scripture with that system and impose that system onto Scriptures they read. I believe they impose that whole system. And that whole set of beliefs on Revelation 20, on the thousand years, on the binding of Satan, they impose it on Daniel in the 70 weeks, they impose it other places. And they ignore the fact that though God made promises to the only people who were his people at the time, Israel, that the true Israel is the people who are in Christ. all those who come together in Christ. It's his church, his bride. The true descendants of Abraham are Israel, but the true descendants of Abraham are those who are of faith. That's what I believe the Bible teaches. And that puts me at odds with many, but I believe it puts me in line with scripture. And what we believe about this is probably not going to determine our eternal destiny. But we have to accept scripture as it's written. We just can't go in there with our system and try to make things fit. Now, everybody is capable of doing that. We're all capable of taking everything we believe, going in and imposing it on scripture. But if what we believe is based on sound scriptural teaching, we're not going to be endangered by taking the rest of the Bible into our understanding of a particular past. I've said it before, I believe in a hundred years that whole belief system will be gone. I can't believe it can last much longer because it has too many problems. Next week, we're going to look to the judgment. And they impose that belief system on verses 11 through 15 and come up with separate judgments a thousand years apart. Despite the fact that the Bible says, what does John 5, 28 and 29 say? Let me read. I'll leave us with this. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice. Okay, you say that's not everybody? Well, read on. And will come forth those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment. We've got our deeds and we've got our eternal destiny, both of the unbelievers and the believers, all in two verses. So we'll stop there.