Okay, footsteps of the Messiah, page 97, and we're going to look at another birth pain, the reestablishment of Israel. And this is a big sign, prophetically, for us all to understand that we're living in the last days. This hasn't happened in 2,000 years. So the birth pain of the reestablishment of Israel, we're going to look at several views so we can knock these out of the park to understand what scripture is teaching. There are several views that are not understanding this. So the first one, this first view, is a view that comes from replacement theology. I talked to you about that when we talked about this great apostasy. particularly all millennialism, replacement theology does not see the reestablishment of the nation of Israel as prophetically significant. This is why I have told you 70% of the churches have this view, so Israel is not even on the radar screen for them. It's over. So what does replacement theology teach? Again, the church has replaced Israel. The church assumes all the covenantal promises and blessings of Israel. And so there's nothing left for Israel. Again, if you do that, guess what kind of interpretation you've got to have? Allegory, spiritualizing the text in order to get through that. Because what do you do with land promises? That's a literal promise. How does that come to fruition in the church spiritually? How do you explain that? And this is what they say. I don't know either, but it just did. Okay, I don't really buy that. That seems rather juvenile that you can just allegorize land grants to the nation of Israel and all the promises to Israel. So, obviously, they don't see a worldwide regathering of Israel. Okay, then what are they going to do with all the scriptures that talk about a worldwide gathering of Israel from all the nations? Very slick, but this is what they do. They say, well, this is just them coming out of Babylon. And that's all it refers to. And you want to say, well, stop, put on the brakes. I take the Bible for what it says. Seriously. It says, I will gather you from all four corners of the earth. That's not just Babylon. There's no doubt God brought him out of Babylon, but then he made predictions through Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel. I'm gonna bring you from all four corners of the earth. What do you do with that? Well, it's just talking about Babylon, let's say. Again, it's totally ignoring the scriptures. So this one worldview of replacement theology, they don't see the reestablishment of Israel at all. Go to the next page on page 98. And I'm breaking this up in your paragraphs there. The second view, And this is what I heard some guys out of Dallas Theological Seminary state, that they don't know if the modern state of Israel is prophetically significant. They can't reconcile passages that talk about the regathering of Israel in belief. And so what they'll say is, well, we see Israel as a state back in the nation of Israel, but they're not in belief. They're all a lot of agnostics, a lot of atheists. They're not in belief in Jesus. And the scriptures talk about the regathering of Israel in belief. And they say, so whatever's happening over there is an accident of history. Huh. Interesting. Again, they will point to certain prophecies, and it's in that paragraph, Deuteronomy 30, Isaiah 27, Ezekiel 39, and saying these passages clearly speak of Israel coming back to the land in faith. Oh, okay. The problem with that view, the second view, is that they're not incorporating other prophecies about Israel. It is true that there are some prophecies about Israel being regathered in belief, but there are other second set of prophecies that talk about Israel regathering in unbelief. So apparently they just skipped the other ones. Because obviously you have to deal with that. Let's go down to the third view in that second paragraph. The third view claims that what is happening today is the final restoration of Israel. Now, this is bizarre, too. So let's say what's currently going on now is prophetically significant, but it's the final restoration. Now, this is a weird view. They'll say that the tribulation, the great tribulation, the seven-year tribulation happened during the Holocaust to the Jews. You're like, what? Really? That's what the tribulation was? Well, then that only happened in Europe. Because the tribulation happens all over the world. The cataclysmic judgments. So guess what you have to do to get that view? Allegorize scripture. Spiritualize scripture. Don't take it literally. So when God says, I'm going to scorch the earth, I guess that only happened in Germany. You see the problem there? And so this third view, there's some people that believe this, that we're basically waiting for the second coming, the tribulation has happened, and here's the problem, they put guilt trips on messianic congregations telling them, you guys got to go back to Israel and all of you got to be regathered there in belief and if you're not, you're in sin and the United States is Babylon and you got to come out of her and go back to your land and then Jesus will return. So they infiltrate messianic congregations and put guilt trips on Jewish believers. You may not have ever heard that, but it's happening right now. It's another view that has totally messed things up about the nation of Israel. It can't be the final restoration because Israel's in unbelief. This can't be. So again, you see the problems there. And claiming that America is Babylon is totally allegorizing the scripture. Go to the next page, page 99. There's a fourth view that we'll deal with in a little bit. But I want to establish, and Frutenbaum is going to establish, what do the Scriptures say? Okay. The Scriptures point out about Israel that there are two regatherings of Israel in the last days. Like I mentioned, there is one category of regathering in belief and a second category of Israel regathering in unbelief. And I want to take you through those passages so you can clearly see when you take the passage literally, you establish this firm foundation. The one there on page 99 is Ezekiel 20, verses 33 through 38. As I live, says the Lord Yahweh, surely with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out. Underline that term because that term is going to be repeated. That is a term of wrath, with a mighty hand, outstretched arm, with wrath poured out. That is wrath. Will I be king over you and I will bring you out from the peoples, the nations is the idea, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered. Does that talk about Babylon? No, it talks about the nations that they're in, the dispersion. This is going back to the dispersion that happened to Israel in the first century for rejecting Messiah. Notice the term again, with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out. There's the term again, wrath. You had a statement of wrath, and then another statement of wrath. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face. Here's the principle that Ezekiel's saying. I'm bringing you from wrath, to wrath. Did you catch that? See what Ezekiel is talking about. With a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, you're in the nations. That's wrath. Why are they dispersed among the nations? For the wrath of rejecting Messiah in the first century, they were dispersed. Jesus told them this would happen. We studied the unpardonable sin. Judgment came on 70 AD and from then they had been dispersed out of their land into the nations. That is a sign of wrath. So they're being brought from wrath for wrath. is what Ezekiel is saying. Do you see that? And the idea is I'm going to judge you and enter judgment face to face with you when I get you back in the land. Like as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness in the land of Egypt. Referring to the Kadesh Barnea incident when they wouldn't go into the land and he judged that generation and killed that generation that was over 20 years old. And we'll enter into judgment with you. Wrath for wrath, says the Lord Yahweh. And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. Now notice that. Look at the sequence. You're gonna pass under the rod, that's discipline, wrath. But what for? I'm gonna bring you into the bond of the covenant. The covenant that awaits Israel is the new covenant. So make your note on there, the bond of the covenant is the new covenant. And I will purge out from among you the rebels. and them that transgress against me. This is Zechariah chapter 13, when Zechariah prophesies that two-thirds of Israel will be refined out from the nation who are not believers. And what will he leave? A remnant. He is purging out the unbelievers of Israel during this judgment. And I will bring forth out of the land where they sojourn, but they shall not enter into the land of Israel, and ye shall know that I am Yahweh. There's a clear understanding there that Ezekiel is saying, I'm taking you out of the nation, the wrath you're in, and I am going to bring you under the rod to purge out the unbelievers of Israel to prepare you for the new covenant. That is exactly what the tribulation is for. So that's one passage. Go to the next page, page 101. In the middle of your page we look at Ezekiel giving another passage that affirms this. And the word of Yahweh came unto me, saying, Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross unto me. So there's impurities in it. OK, all of them are brass and tin and iron and lead in the midst of the furnace. The furnace is referring to fire, referring to judgment. They are the dross of the silver. So he's going to take out the dross of the silver and I'm going to purify Israel. Therefore, thus says the Lord Yahweh, because ye are all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem." This is where the final battle goes down, right? "...as they gather silver and brass and iron and lead and tin into the midst of the furnace to blow the fire upon it, to melt it. So I will gather you in My anger and in My wrath." Remember, wrath for wrath. "...and I will lay you there and melt you." He's going to refine Israel. Yea, I will gather you and blow upon you with the fire of My wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof, as silver is melted in the midst of the furnace. So shall ye be melted in the midst thereof, and ye shall know that I, Yahweh, have poured out My wrath upon you. Now, that last term, ye shall know, refers to national regeneration of Israel, that they know, the idea is to know Yahweh, to know who did this. Yahweh is saying, when I do this wrath on you with a great tribulation, it will cause a national regeneration among Israel. And we already know that. But again, this is pointing to Ezekiel. I'm setting this up. Now keep following me. I'm setting this up. It gets more specific. Next page, 102. Follow me with this, this argumentation. Turn, that first passage there is Ezekiel 36. And Ezekiel's gonna make a point that this regathering takes place before regeneration. So now we're starting to get into timing elements, okay? Therefore, say unto the house of Israel, thus says the Lord Yahweh, I do not this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for my holy name, which ye have profaned among where? Babylon, or what? The nations. You are profaning my name currently among the nations because you don't believe in my son. whether you went. Now, why did they go there? Rejection of Messiah, right? And I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which ye have profaned in the midst of them. And the nation shall know that I am Yahweh, says the Lord Yahweh, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. There's the regeneration. For I will take you among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and bring you into your own land." So the idea is, He is saying that I'm going to regather you before regeneration. Regeneration refers to the sanctification before your eyes. There's your timing. Okay. Now, the next passage is Isaiah 11. Now, this is very interesting. This passage is misunderstood by many, many people who understand the regathering of Israel. Isaiah 11 mentions something. And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord will set his hand again, notice again, the second time. Underline that and mark that out. Isaiah is telling you how many regatherings there will be of Israel. Notice this, in this second regathering that Isaiah mentions, to recover the remnant of his people. Now that's a different phrase than other passages I showed you. Remember, he just talked to Israel, they're in sin, I need to refine you, I'm bringing the whole nation back to confront you face to face. But notice who he's talking to here. The remnant is believers. He is not talking to the nation as a whole, he's talking to the remnant. that shall remain. Remain after what? After the tribulation. From Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pythras, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea, he will set up an enzyme for the nations. He's talking about national salvation of Israel. And will assemble the outcasts of Israel, the outcasts referring to the remnant, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from where? four corners of the earth. Now wait a second. Isaiah has now broken out what is happening here and explains this. There can only be two regatherings of Israel. I'm not talking about Babylon. There is one regathering in unbelief, as you have seen, and now Isaiah in this passage is referring to a regathering of the remnant after the tribulation. And they are the only ones left of Israel. Because what does Zacharias say in chapter 13? That God kills the two-thirds of Israel who will not believe. They do not get to live. You read Zechariah 13, the refining process is then mentioned there that he's going to refine Israel and cut off two thirds. The one third that's left is the remnant and now represents all Israel. As Paul said, all Israel will be saved. The remnant represents all Israel because they're the only ones alive. So let me ask you this simple logical question. The second one, the second regathering is the last regathering as well. There's no third or fourth. The second one obviously is the last one because you start the kingdom at that point in time. It will never be dispersed again. Okay. If the second one is the last regathering of Israel, how many are before? One. So you see how simple logic that is. If you follow the scriptures, he's telling you there's only two. The second one is the last one. So there's a one before it and it's a one of unbelief. So what happened in 1948 is that one. Because there's only one more after this and it's a regathering of the remnant. Okay, so then explain to me, Brandon, what happens to the remnant in the tribulation? The Antichrist goes after Israel. He massacres them. So guess who's the agent that gets rid of the two-thirds? The Antichrist. So he goes on a rampage, killing Jews, the remnant believe Jesus and mark his words, and they say, when you see the abomination of desolation, get out of Dodge. They do, and they flee out of Jerusalem, and they go to Petra, and they are preserved there. That remnant is preserved there until the Second Coming. So that remnant, and not only in Petra, but they've been scattered all over the planet, getting away from the Antichrist. So this second regathering is of the remnant after the second coming. Maybe you saw this passage in Matthew 25. I'm going to read it for you real quick. And most people miss this because they don't understand it's connected to the regathering of the remnant. If I turn there, Matthew 25. Sorry, Matthew 24, sorry. Start in verse 29 of Matthew 24. Sorry, Matthew 24. Verse 29. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. That's the fifth blackout. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven. Okay, what is the sign of the Son of Man? Well, it's right there in the text. He'll say, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of Man, here's the sign, coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. That's the sign of the Son of Man. It's Daniel chapter 7. He saw the Son of Man approach the Ancient of Days in the clouds, in the Shekinah clouds, in the glory. The sign of Jesus is His Shekinah glory. They will see the Shekinah glory when He returns. That's the sign of the Son of Man's return. Okay. And look at verse 31. And he will send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they will gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. And guess who that elect is referring to? It's Israel. He's already made the point about the elect earlier in chapter 24 already. They're dispersed all over the planet because they've been running from the Antichrist. And so when Jesus comes back, he sends his angels to go pick them up and bring them back to Jerusalem. There's going to be Jews in Babylon that got taken in slavery. Jeremiah talks about this. Some Jews will be able to escape, but some Jews will be taken there for slavery under the Antichrist. That's where his headquarters will be. Some Jews will just simply disperse. If they're not living in Israel, they'll be some part of the other planet, maybe in America or whatnot. They'll be dispersed all over the whole world because they're running from the Antichrist because he's beheading people who don't take his mark. Well, the only ones alive at that point in time are believing Jews. And it comes from the witness as Tom has mentioned, the 144,000 witnessing, the two witnesses, and that's what causes national regeneration of Israel. So if you see this, there can only be two regatherings, and you've already seen one. So when I tell you, when I'm preaching, and I say, what you saw in 1948 is prophetically significant, it is not a historical accident. They're not leaving that land again. What it's getting setting them up for is they're being drawn from wrath to wrath. That's what's happening in Israel. So folks, it is prophetically significant what's happening right in front of your very eyes. It's Ezekiel 37 and all these passages I mentioned. And that first regathering will go all the way into the tribulation. And what you're gonna find out, and we talked about this, what do you think is the impetus for the Jews wanting to go back to the nation of Israel or live in the land of Israel? What's happening right now? Anti-Semitism. So that's why they're being driven out of Europe. God is letting that happen to drive them back in the land. And so when you see these passages, Ezekiel's saying, I'm going to draw you out of the land. I'm going to take you from the nations. We know the methodology that God's using. He's using persecution to draw them back. And so guess what? 6 million of them, or 7 million now in America, live here. If he's using that in Europe, what do you think he's going to eventually use here in America? It's already started. You're right. You're going to see it ramp up. You're gonna want, I mean, we talk about these homosexual issues and we talk about these other issues. That is another issue that's gonna ramp up, is anti-Semitism, and it's already started. They're blaming the Jews now for 9-11, for goodness sake, and other stupid things like that. You can't even pin that on, it's like the blood libel thing, where they said, you know, the Hamas and all these terrorist groups say, you know, Israel is stealing Palestinian kids and using their blood in the matzah to make their matzah. I mean, you ever heard the blood libel? I mean, that's what they say. They just make stuff up. And it gets everybody agitated over there that, you know, that's Muslim. And you see that's what they're doing. They just make stuff up about them. So now they're saying, well, they're to blame for the economic crash. They're to blame for 9-11. And people are starting to believe this. They say, well, there was no Jews in the towers. What? What are you talking about? Just make stuff up? I got a shirt for you. It has a unicorn with a rainbow and says, I make stuff up. And I want to give you that shirt because that's what they do. They just make stuff up. So all that being said, obviously the scriptures are showing you, if you take it literally and not allegorize it, you are close, my friends. Not only are you seeing the apostasy that's predicted, you are seeing scriptures that were made and prophesied over 2,500 years ago come true in your lifetime. That is absolutely amazing. Now here's the deal, it doesn't take a lot of faith now for us to believe, but think about the Christians that I've been reading that before 1948, they're writing in the 1800s, early 1900s, and you know what some of them are saying? Israel's going to be back in the land one day. That took an incredible amount of faith to make that kind of statement. But here's my thing. You and I are sitting here, and it's like, that's a no-brainer, man. That's prophecy. That's true. Yeah. Then you tell me why so many Christians are in denial of this. It's staring them right in their face. And they're telling, I showed you those views to show you what's wrong with you. How are you not seeing the thing right, a prophecy come right true in front of your face and you're, we just can't know. We just can't know. And it's just banging their head up against the scriptures. We just can't know. I just showed you. There's only two of them. You tell me what's going on. That's it. Fear of persecution. You take Israel's side, you're going to get heat on you, man. There's no doubt. And so, built into this theology, replacement theology, or I don't care attitude, it's messed up people's minds. Now, when I say replacement theology, and I started that at the beginning, it's very like to what the Pharisees did about the first coming. I mean, I told you last week, they should have known the very year Messiah was born, based on Daniel chapter 9 and his predictions of the 77. For goodness sake, the Gentile magi got that one. But what happened? The Pharisees were putting theological presuppositions into the text, reading it into the text, and teaching it that way, so that they completely missed the first coming. Didn't see it. Completely didn't see it. And that's what's happening to the church today. These false theologies, like replacement theology, has blinded the minds of Christians. So now, when these Christians, they're reading the Bible, and maybe they're in the Old Testament, they see a prophecy like this, Israel. You know what they say when they see Israel? The church has now replaced Israel, and they read on. And that's what their presupposition is already. They already come to the text with their ideas already on the text. And that's the problem we're having. And it's like what I tried to point out to you. These other views, Dave, when you try to make sense of them, the only way they get out of it is to allegorize the scripture. To spiritualize the scripture. Not take it literally. That's what the Pharisees were doing. And and that's what we're seeing in the church today. The same thing is being repeated now and so you'll sit there and talk to your you're blue in the face to another Christian in a replacement theology church and it's like going right over their head or they're the new Israel and and they think they're there, you know, they've replaced Israel like the Mormons Jehovah's Witnesses the Catholics they all have replaced Israel with themselves this guy I told you in the in the that made that movie, from that Christ in the Checkpoint, pro-Palestinian thing, Returning to Zion, I think, or whatever the name of the movie was, Return to Zion. He comes from that mindset of replacement theology. He's of that, and he says, I am Israel. And you're not Israel, you're not Jewish, what are you, crazy? I've had discussions with Jehovah's Witnesses about the 144,000. And I say, let's just read the text, man. What does it say? Well, they're from this tribe and that tribe. I said, yeah, are you from a tribe? Are you Jewish? Well, no, it's spiritual. I said, no, no, no, no, no, no. You can't do that. And then I was talking to a woman. And I said, a part of your 144,000 that happened before 1919, were they women? They go, yeah. And I said, well, here's the deal. These are Jewish virgin men. What are you going to do with that? And they've never had sex. That's what virgin means. So you tell me that when Charles Taze Russell made that prediction in 1919 and that 145,000 is complete by then, it included women and it included people that had already had sex. Is that correct? I said you're dead wrong then because the scriptures are militating against that. They're Jewish virgin men. And you can't get past that. And so what they do? Allegorize it. All right, then we're done. When you jump off the train of literalism and go into allegorism, I can't argue with you because now you're spiritualizing. I can say it's Humpty Dumpty, for goodness sake. There's no end to this. So I can pour in any meaning I wanted. Well, it's David Koresh and his group over there, or the Moon Bats that jumped on the Hellbot Comm and drank Pepsi and put the, it's them. It's crazy. All right. Clear as mud, right?