For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God unto salvation, to every one that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. Shalom and welcome to the Everlasting Nation broadcast, a radio ministry of International Board of Jewish Missions in Hickson, Tennessee. Now here's your host, IBJM Ministries Director, John Lawrence. Greetings, dear friends, and thank you for joining us today. We appreciate your tuning in to our program. I am John Lawrence, the Director of Ministries here at IBJM and your host today. We have been talking about anti-Semitism in France, and we've been talking of all the kinds of things that are happening in France these days that have moved the needle of anti-Semitism in the wrong direction. We had finished last time by talking about French migration, which is, in 2013 and now again this year, is considerably higher than it's ever been before. That is, French Jewish people leaving the country, particularly for Israel. A 30-year-old medical equipment specialist said, we've been thinking about moving for a long time, but the climate was not as dangerous as it seems to be now. So he said, we have decided to move to Israel in July, that's this month, with his wife and three children. He declined to give his name out of fear for his family's security. He added, it bothers me because this is not normal. This is not how I remember France when I was growing up. He indicated that this kind of a situation should not be. Two weeks ago, this same young man woke up to find his 13-year-old daughter, Michelle, crying. After a recent attack on two Jewish boys not far from her school, she said she was too afraid to join her regular carpool. Instead, she demanded that he take her to school and also pick her up, standing guard as she entered and came out each day. He's moved his work schedule around in order to accommodate her request. Asked what she was scared of, Michelle, his daughter, looked down and said, I'm afraid that what happened in Toulouse will happen at my school too. I hear what people say about Jews. and now I am scared." Of course, several years ago in Toulouse, there was a shooting that killed a number of Jewish people. Enter Jeudonné. That's the comedian. He comes into the situation again, and he is inflaming through his comic act these kinds of sentiments. He was born in the Cameroon and came from a family that included a Cameroon father and a white French mother. And he rose to stardom back in the 90s as actually part of a duo act with a man by the name of Ellie Simone. who is a Jewish comedian. But the two became quite estranged as Giordane's humor became almost indistinguishable from anti-Semitic diatribes. They separated as a result. Throughout the 2000s, he was repeatedly fined, actually, because this stuff is a crime in France, in theory, and he was fined for making a variety of anti-Semitic statements that are against the law. including his description of the Holocaust as memorial porn. Blacklisted from mainstream television shows and also from radio, he nevertheless thrives with a cult-like following on stage and also via the Internet. Over the years, observers say, his depictions have sharply worsened. They have become almost obscene. His act became so offensive that the French government in January took the rare step of encouraging local jurisdictions to actually bar his performances. The move forced him to tone down his material sum, largely by deploying inference and shorthand to get his nonetheless obvious point across. Giordane declined to comment, but his lawyer insisted that rather than being anti-Semitic, the comedian was simply speaking truth to power. Kind of scary. If the Portuguese were protected in France, and had big influence, he said, then he would protest the Portuguese. But as it is, there are others who fit that description. And of course, the others, by implication, are the Jewish people. A dangerous situation in France and in Europe today. God bless you. Thank you for joining us. And now let's listen to Brother Mark Oshman as he shares today's Bible study with us. Welcome to another Radio Bible Study. In this session, we will look at the greatest romance of the ages, God's abiding love for the Jewish nation. In the first chapter of Malachi, God told the Jewish audience, quote, I have loved you, unquote. They challenged this assertion by asking him, quote, wherein hast thou loved us, unquote. After a millennium of living in a confident relationship with the Supreme Being, those representatives of the Jewish nation dare ask God to prove that he loved them. Over the next few moments, we will address that question. Out of all other nations on earth that God could have chosen, God decided to select a man who was bred in the heart of pagan idolatry. That man named Abraham. became the progenitor of God's chosen people. Abraham was by no means a flawless individual, as even a cursory reading of his life story indicated. Yet, God entered into covenant relationships with him and with his descendants. Out of all of the nations in the ancient Middle East, according to Jewish tradition, the Jews alone vowed to accept God's law. However, biblical history unveils the extent to which they observed, or rather failed to observe, those precepts. Less than six weeks after God visited the Jewish nation on Mount Sinai, they rejected the leadership of both God and Moses. Throughout their wilderness sojourns, the Jews murmured and complained about the divine direction. Toward the end of his life, Moses even stated that the Israelites had rebelled against their Lord. from the day he first knew them. Divine revelation left no mystery as to the reasons underlying God's selection of the Jews. In the seventh chapter of Deuteronomy, he exclaimed, quote, But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt." In the book of Exodus, God had told the Jewish nation that he would be an adversary to their adversaries, provided that they obeyed him. A panoramic view of history will confirm the extent to which God kept his end of the bargain. He had swept their ancient enemies, Assyrians, Babylonians, Grecians, Romans. God had swept the Jewish people's ancient enemies into the wastebasket of history. Those nations no longer exist, but the Jewish state of Israel continues to flourish. Consider also how God foiled the insidious plot of Haman, to exterminate the Jews in the Persian Empire, as recorded in the Book of Esther. By delivering the Jewish people from their proposed destruction, God proved himself faithful to the promise he had made about cursing those who cursed Abraham. Moreover, Haman the villain of the peace, literally became hoist by his own petard. That is to say, hanged from the neck until dead. In the 121st Psalm, the author asserted that, quote, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep, unquote. Both ancient and modern historical accounts support the veracity of that statement. During the times of Malachi, the Jewish people were scarcely a century removed from a 70-year period of exile in Babylon. Under the relatively benign oversight of their Persian overlords, the Jews enjoyed a certain degree of political autonomy. They rebuilt their temple, restored the walls of Jerusalem, and reinstituted a number of previously abandoned religious practices, such as the offering of sacrifices. Even after the times of Malachi, God continued to watch over his people. Rome proved to be the harshest taskmaster that Israel would ever know. In spite of cruel imperial Roman persecutions and the second dispersion of Jews across the face of the earth, the Jewish nation still maintained its identity as a separate people. Indeed, Judaic scholastic study flourished in the decades immediately after the armies of Titus destroyed Jerusalem and burnt the temple. With the rise of Islam in the Middle East, Northern Africa, and Southern Spain, Jews received a degree of toleration, albeit as a subject peoples. However, the time came when Jews, such as Moses Maimonides, had to flee for their lives from growing Muslim oppression in Spain. The Jewish people suffered greatly in Europe during medieval times. During the 14th century Black Plague, crowds accused them of poisoning the city wells. Many Jews died from these false charges. European rulers encouraged and permitted numerous mob outbreaks against the Jews in their midst. Throughout the European continent, monarchs expelled Jews from their territories. Renaissance Italy would see the rise of the first ghetto, into which authorities forcibly herded their Jewish populations into a small area. having limited access. Despite these things, however, the Jewish people continued to thrive. In the 31st chapter of Jeremiah, God went on record as stating that the existence of the Jewish people would outlast even the natural phenomena. Quote, 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 divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar. The Lord of hosts is his name. If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me forever." Before the Jewish people would cease to exist, God said, the sun, the moon, and the stars would have to disappear. The seas, comprising about 3 quarters of the Earth's surface, would have to evaporate before the nation of Israel vanishes. What does this statement imply about God's preservation of the Jewish people? God regarded all of the nations as, quote, a drop in the bucket, unquote, in comparison to Israel, according to the 40th chapter of Isaiah. Nevertheless, he sought to make his name known among the Gentiles through the Jews. God determined to use the Jewish nation as a means of ministering to the Gentiles. In the 60th chapter of Isaiah, he declared that, quote, the darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people. But the Lord shall arise upon thee and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light and kings to the brightness of thy rising, unquote. He would accomplish that objective through his servant. Isaiah had much to record about the subject of God's servant. Sometimes in the book of Isaiah, the servant would refer to the nation of Israel itself. At other times, it would refer to the promised coming Messiah. According to Isaiah chapter 2, The prophet exclaimed, quote, and it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and nations shall flow unto it. God also stated, quote, 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. This reference to the promised Messiah is recorded in Isaiah chapter 42. In Isaiah chapter 49, God added this statement, quote, it is a lightening that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give thee as a light to the Gentiles that thou mayest be my salvation until the end of the earth, unquote. The Jewish people believe that the servant in Isaiah only depicted the Jewish nation as an entity. After all, Israel should remain as God's peculiar people throughout the ages. However, that entity has too often endeavored to become like its pagan neighbors. In the days of King Manasseh of Judah, for example, Offering children as sacrifices to Molech was a common practice in that nation. God cannot, indeed will not, use an unholy instrument to accomplish his holy purposes. In contrast, Christians regard Jesus Christ as the servant mentioned by Isaiah. The Gospels bear record of the Savior's extensive ministry to Gentiles. such as a Roman centurion. They also record how his followers expanded the extent of his outreach. Christians cite the words of the Apostle Paul, written in Romans chapter 11, about how God engrafted the Gentiles with the Jews. to form a new organization known as the church. In that way, non-Jews can enjoy the same spiritual privileges as Jews enjoy. God's love story with Israel has no end. He loved the Jewish nation from its inception. He continues to watch over it today. He will serve as its protector in the future. Therefore, no Jew has any reason whatsoever to ask God, quote, wherein hast thou loved us, unquote. Thank you for listening to this program. We invite you to return for future radio Bible studies. You've been listening to the Everlasting Nation broadcast, a radio ministry of International Board of Jewish Missions. For more information, you can write us at P.O. Box 1386, Hickson, Tennessee, 37343. Or call us at 423-876-8150. Or you may also go online at ibjm.org. Until next time, may God bless and shalom.