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God’s Promises to Abraham – Part Two

Genesis 12:1-3

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INTRODUCTIONWhat does the Bible predict will happen in the future? How will God fulfill His promises to His people? Are the promises that God made to Abraham still being fulfilled? Does Israel have a special place in the coming of Christ? Will the temple be rebuilt and all Israel be saved?

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INTRODUCTIONThe most popular religious teaching concerning these questions is given by the premillennial dispensationalists.• They teach that Jesus is returning to rule over

a physical kingdom on earth for 1,000 years.• Israel will be restored as a nation and return

to God corporately through a national conversion to Christ.

• The temple in Jerusalem will be rebuilt, along with the worship of the Temple.

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I. Israel in the Divine plan:

The Biblical teaching concerning the place of the nation of Israel includes at least four elements.

• Selection• Testing• Rejection• Replacement

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I. Israel in the Divine plan:

Selection: Almost two thousand years before the birth of Christ, Jehovah selected Abraham to be the founder of a new nation.

Genesis 12:2

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I. Israel in the Divine plan:

Abraham’s offspring were given a special law and system of worship designed to separate them from the other nations of the world.

Exodus 19:5-6

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I. Israel in the Divine plan:

God’s selection of Abraham, and thus Israel, was not due to any holy character, or just for their benefit, but as a means whereby He would bring Christ, as the coming Messiah of the Jews, and the Savior of the world.

Galatians 3:24-25

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I. Israel in the Divine plan:

Testing: For some fifteen hundred years the Lord God attempted to cultivate the nation of Israel to be a people that reflected His character and purpose.

Jeremiah 32:23 Luke 13:34

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I. Israel in the Divine plan:

Rejection: The rebellion of the nation consummated with the murder of Jesus Christ.

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I. Israel in the Divine plan:

Israel’s unique status with God was conditional.

Deuteronomy 28:1

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I. Israel in the Divine plan:

Jesus foretold this Divine judgment in several of his later parables, including The Parable of the Wicked Tenants

Matthew 21:33-44

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I. Israel in the Divine plan:

This parable came to fulfillment when the Roman armies came against Palestine in A.D. 70, and Judaism was destroyed.

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I. Israel in the Divine plan:

With the coming of Christ, there was also an end to the law of Moses, and thus the separateness of Israel as God’s covenant people.

Ephesians 2:14-16

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I. Israel in the Divine plan:

The writer of Hebrews points out that the law of Moses was inherently weak in several ways and that God had promised a new covenant based upon better promises.

Hebrews 10:9-101 Peter 1:18-21

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I. Israel in the Divine plan:

Replacement: As a consequence of Israel’s rejection of the Messiah, God has replaced physical Israel with a new nation, spiritual Israel.

Romans 2:28-29

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I. Israel in the Divine plan: Those who submit to the gospel plan of

redemption—whether Jew or Gentile become children of God, and thus are constituted as the true “seed of Abraham”Galatians 3:7-9Galatians 3:26-291 Peter 2:9

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II. Will All Israel be Saved?

Although, in fulfillment of the promises to Abraham, physical Israel WAS a special people to God, with the coming of the Gospel, there was no intrinsic value in being a physical descendant of Abraham.

Matthew 3:8-10

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II. Will All Israel be Saved?

In several of Jesus’ later parables He depicts Israel as those who reject

1)the royal invitation to the marriage,( Matt. 22:1-8) ;

2) the reign of the Nobleman over his household (Luke 19:14) ;

3) or the invitation to a great supper (Luke 14).

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II. Will All Israel be Saved?

Although Israel, as a nation, lost its land and its status as a favored nation in the eyes of God, the spiritual blessing of salvation remained.

Romans 10:12-15

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II. Will All Israel be Saved?

Paul goes on to say that God has not cast off His people, but rather provided “a remnant, according to the election (choosing) of grace” (11:5).

Rom 11:26-27

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II. Will All Israel be Saved?

Paul anguished over his brethren in the flesh:

Romans 9:1-5Romans 10:1

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Conclusion:Israel fulfilled it’s purpose in the Devine plan. • Selection • Testing• Rejection• Replacement

Israel can be saved just as we can be saved only through Jesus Christ.

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