We want to continue the studies in understanding Bible prophecy, and this session, and probably the next, but we want to look at the covenants. This is fundamental to understanding the prophecies, to understand God's eternal plan in Christ. I love Ephesians 1-10. God's eternal plan in Christ was revealed to the church in Ephesus 2,000 years ago. And before that, no one knew it. No one but God. Angels didn't know it. The prophets didn't know it. It was a mystery hidden in God and revealed to a New Testament church in Ephesus. In Ephesians 1.10, that in the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him. Even in him. The emphasis being Christ. He will be the head over all things. That's where God's eternal plan is headed. That's why God made man. That's why God made the earth and the present heavens. It's all about Christ and God's eternal plan in Christ. And God has ordained that the gospel be preached to the ends of the earth at this present age, and anyone that would receive Christ and receive the gospel can be saved and be a part of that eternal plan. And you're either in Christ or you're out of Christ. There's no in-between. I talked to a young man the other day, And he was in Nepal working with Campus Crusade for Christ, and he was doing some kind of missionary work. And I was talking to him at a coffee shop, and I was asking about his salvation, and I told him how I was saved, and it was very much a one day I'm lost, and the next day I'm really saved kind of thing. Not any sinless perfection, by the way. You could ask my wife about that. But don't! No, no sinless perfection, but dramatic change. The next day, the day before I was saved, I was arguing with the man that led me to Christ, arguing against the Bible. And the next day, that night I got saved, and the next day I was a Bible believer. I went home, nobody told me to, but I went home to make up things with my parents, make things right with them. And my mom, until the day she died, until she died, she would talk about that, how that when I came into the house that day, she knew I was a different person. I still looked the same, had my long hair, I loved my long hair. And that had not changed yet. None of that external stuff had changed. But she said, I knew he was different. And that's real salvation. So I asked this young man about his and he said, well, it was a process. No, not in the Bible. I asked him, show me one example in the New Testament of somebody that had a long process of being saved. I'm still waiting on that one. The covenants, part of God's eternal plan, a major part of how He's bringing this eternal plan about through Israel. And to understand Bible theology and Bible history and Bible prophecy, it is necessary to understand the covenants that God made with Israel. A biblical covenant, it's also called a testament, New Testament, Old Testament, New Covenant, Old Covenant. But it's an agreement between God and man, and there's two major kinds. And the one is conditional, which is law, meaning that man's obedience is necessary for the fulfillment of God's promise. And that's the Mosaic Covenant, the Law of Moses. That's conditional on a man's obedience. And then there's the Unconditional Covenant, meaning that God Himself pledges to do something, and it is not dependent on man's obedience. And so, the difference between law and grace, in a nutshell. But we want to start with the Abrahamic Covenant. We want to just give an overview, an introduction, basically, to these major covenants. And beginning with the Abrahamic Covenant. And I want to start with the importance of the Abrahamic Covenant. It is in your notes, but it's not first. I want to put that first. The importance of the Abrahamic Covenant. And it is one of the absolutely most important things in human history. And how many people know anything about it? In the public school? Zero. By this covenant, God created the nation Israel and brought the scriptures and the Savior to the world. By this covenant. By this covenant, God brought salvation to the sinful human race through Christ. By this covenant. By this covenant, God will fulfill his eternal plan to bring together all things in one in Christ, Ephesians 1, 10. And Romans 4, 13 says that Abraham is the heir of the world. Abraham, what an important person. And so we're going to look at these major passages and just briefly look at the major lessons from these major passages in which God gives this covenant to Abraham in Genesis, beginning with Genesis 12, 1 through 3. Genesis 12, 1 through 3. Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, into a land that I will show thee, and I will make of thee a great nation. And I will, I will, notice God is saying, I'm going to do this. 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 families of the earth be blessed there. And 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. What's he doing in Haran? He started out in Ur. Ur, the Chaldees. Ur, the Chaldees, these are amazing things. Ur, the theological modernists in the 1800s said there's no Ur, that's a myth in the Bible. And then they found Ur, and they found the king's tombs of Ur, and they dug up stuff dating back to the time of Abraham from these tombs. And you can go to the British Museum, and they have a whole Ur room. from that myth from the Bible, full of stuff going back to Abraham's time. And that's a very fascinating room, if you get a chance. Abraham, but he was still in the idolatrous city of Ur when God spoke to him. God had already spoken to him in chapter 11, commanding him to leave his father and go to the land of Canaan. So Genesis 11, 27 through 32, we can see that. what had happened to prepare for this, and to get him to Haran, which is not where he was supposed to be. 1137. People are smart, Alex, you know it. Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah begat Adam, not Adam, that would be Abram, Nahor and Haran, and Haran begat Lot. And Aaron died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity in Ur of the Chaldees. And Abram and Nahor took them wives, the name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife, Milca, and the daughter of Haran, the daughter of Haran, Milca, the father of Milca, and the father of Isca. But Sarai was barren, she had no child. And Terah took Abram, his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, his son's son. and Sarai, his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife, and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees to go into the land of Canaan, land of Canaan, and they came unto Haran and dwelt there. They didn't get to Canaan. They got to Haran, and the days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran. Haran, Haran. 51 years I'm trying to figure out how to pronounce these things. I went to a church in Oregon, because in Israel I try to learn to pronounce them a little bit right, you know? Because growing up in the South and in the United States, we didn't get anything right. Absolutely nothing. And so I'm trying to learn how to pronounce these Hebrew things. So this preacher there in Oregon, he says, you pronounce those things funny. I said, well, I'm just trying to get them right. And so God spoke to Abram, not to Terah, Abram, to leave his family from Ur, which was a magnificent, sophisticated city, and to go to Canaan and to leave his family behind. Well, somehow or the other, Terah's leading this outfit, but they got as far as Haran, which is up the Euphrates River. You need Bible atlases. You need Bible atlases, and you need good Bible atlases like the New Moody Bible Atlas and the Satellite Bible Atlas, and you better get these things fast because books are going out of print. And the Rose Then and Now Bible Atlas, those are three that we recommend. But you need a good Bible atlas and to have in mind, you know, when you see these things, Ur and Haran and Canaan, look at it until you have it in your mind. You don't have to go back and look at it anymore. And get this all in your mind and the topography. They went up this magnificent, this mighty Euphrates River, Ur, over on the eastern side of it, and then Haran going up. And so, Terah died there. So after his father died, then Abraham continued the journey to the promised land, but he took Lot, wasn't supposed to take Lot, but he did take Lot. And Abraham dwelt there by faith, waiting on the promises of God, living by faith, exactly how we're supposed to live. And God's covenant to Abraham promises three kinds of blessing. Now this is also in your notes, and we're going to lift it out of where it is and put it up here. where it actually should be anyway, it's under the blessings of the covenant. The personal blessings, the national blessings, and the universal blessings. And we're getting this from Genesis 12, 1 through 3. Genesis 12, 1 through 3. Fundamental, fundamental passage of understanding the Bible at all, and God's eternal plan in Christ. So Abraham was promised personal blessings, Genesis 12 is where we are, back there. And verse two, I will make of thee a great, I will make of thee, you Abraham, a great nation, and I will bless thee and make thy name great. Abraham, personal blessings, and thou shalt be a blessing. Abraham, he's minding his own business. Terah, we know, was an idolater. We don't know if Abraham actually was. But there he was, minding his own business under the Caldees, and Almighty God chose him and pre-knew him. And by the way, you don't have to be a Calvinist to believe that. I'm a zero-point Calvinist, but I believe in election and foreknowledge and all such things that the Bible teaches. Whatever the Bible teaches is true. And you don't have to be a Calvinist to believe the Bible. Thank the Lord for that. They want to force you into that, you know. A lot of pressure. I don't have to be any of that. I don't have to follow Calvin or Augustine or Oregon or any of those guys. Right here, these are my theologians. Right there. You're Armenian or Calvinist? None of it. Personal blessings. Abraham was given great wealth and prominence. He's mentioned over 300 times in the Bible. Through Isaac, Abraham is the father of the Jews and the Christians. And through Ishmael, he's the father of the Arabs and the Muslims, spiritually. He is the father of all who believe, Romans 4, 11. He's my father. If you believe in Christ, Abraham is your father in the faith. Abraham. There's a connection there. Heaven is even called Abraham's bosom because he's the father of all to save, Luke 16, 22. Abraham is a very special man, and he always will be chosen of God for this big, huge job. And God promises to bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee, thee, Abraham. That's singular. And so it's fulfilled in Abraham's physical seed, Israel, and in his spiritual seed, which is the church, which is born again people. And it's still in force. Laban testified that God blessed him for Jacob's sake, Genesis 30, 27. Yeah. Potiphar testified that God blessed him for Joseph's sake. Genesis 39, 2 and 3. That principle of cursing, that principle of blessing, it's applicable to Abraham's national seed. God has blessed and cursed nations for how they've treated Israel. Now Israel's a mess. Israel's a spiritual mess. Israel is a rebellious nation. Benjamin Netanyahu studies the Bible, and he has written a couple books One, the most recent, Beebe, his autobiography. It's very interesting. And he's lived an interesting life. But he studies the Bible. His son studied the Bible. They have Bible competitions. And for their competitions, you've got to know the Hebrew Bible, Jots and Tiddles. There's nobody in this room that could compete with those Jews on the dots and tittles of just the knowledge, but they don't understand it at all. Don't understand it. Benjamin Netanyahu says nothing about Bible prophecy. He doesn't understand any of that. It's just Israel and our scientific genius and our chutzpah and us. Nothing about prophecy. Blindness. Ah, but it's still Israel. It's still God's nation. Well, you've got to get that right. It is so important. God has blessed and cursed nations for how they've treated Israel. God has used many nations to judge Israel when she sinned, and still is, and always judge those pagan nations afterwards, though. And that's God. He can do whatever He pleases. Don't ever question God about nothing. God's right, and He's always right, and He's right about everything. Settle that, and things will be pretty good in your life. Isaiah 33-1 pronounces, Woe upon the spoilers. Now, he's talking about those that had spoiled Israel because Israel sinned. God used the spoilers to judge sinning Israel, but he pronounced woe upon the spoilers. So we don't want to mess with Israel, even though Israel's a mess. You need to understand all of that. That's biblical prophetic thinking about Israel. And in Zechariah 2, 8 and 9, God says Israel is the apple of his eye and warns that he will judge those who destroy Israel. The prophet Ezekiel pronounced judgment upon these ancient pagan nations for hating Israel. The Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, the Philistines, Tyre, Sidon pronounced judgment upon them, God's judgment upon them for hating Israel. But Israel was sinning. Israel was under judgment. As today, when Israel was wandering in the wilderness because of her sin. Why is she out there for 40 years? It doesn't take 40 years to get from Egypt over to Canaan because of her sin, her stubborn, amazing sin. She's out there for 40 years until that whole generation died. You can't mess with God. God did not allow Balaam to curse her. There's old stubborn Israel that has to be judged by God. There she is worshiping the golden calf. There she is doing all these sinful things in the wilderness, and yet God would not allow Balaam to curse Israel. "'How shall I curse whom God hath not cursed?' Balaam said. "'How shall I defy whom the Lord hath not defied?' Numbers 23, 8. And today, Israel's under God's judgment, today for her unbelief. What's happening to Israel? That's a pretty contemporary question. And what's happening to Israel? Well, what's happening to Israel is Israel for 2,000 years has been under God's chastisement, still is. And she's surrounded by enemies. And that's not going to stop until Israel gets right with God. And Israel can roll up her sleeves and say we're the greatest military power that is, and I think they probably are. and say, we can lick them all, but they can't. And they're not going to until they get right with God. That's one side of things. The other side of things, Israel is still God's nation. And God has protected Israel mightily since she came back to that place. And right away, when she announced a new nation in 1948, surrounded by all these powerfully equipped Arab nations, and they immediately Brought war against them and little Israel had nothing basically nothing and they would literally bang on cans Sometimes to pretend like they were shooting guns and the Arabs would run away from somebody beating on the can What's that? That's God's help and that will go on but if God's working all this toward the fulfillment of prophecy and in the meantime Israel's going to receive the Antichrist Israel's worst days are actually ahead She doesn't know that. But all of these things are explained in prophecy, Bible prophecy. And so Israel is under God's judgment today for her unbelief, but she's still Israel. She still belongs to God. She's still under God's watch, care. Those who curse her are still cursed. I, for one, would not curse Israel, even in her most apostate condition. I will also not give her money. There's Christian groups that give a lot of money to Israel. Why? She's got money anyway. But no, I'm not going to give Israel money or apostate Israel. But I'm not cursing Israel in any way. I'm going to bless Israel. I'm going to wish the best for Israel. I'm going to pray for Israel. As the missionary to Israel recently said this week, yeah, One of the chief things that determines whether a nation is blessed or cursed today is how that nation treats Israel and biblical churches. And it all goes back to that Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 12. After Russia persecuted the Jews in the pogroms, the late 1800s, early 1900s, she endured half a century of turmoil, devastation, and oppression. Great Famine in 1891, Russian-Japanese War of 1905, Communist Revolution of 1917, almost continual wars from 1917 to 1920, loss of massive amounts of territory to the Ottomans in 1918, the Red Terror and Ukraine Anarchy and Famines of 1918, The Polish-Soviet war of 1920, the famine of 1921, the stalinization of the 1930s with the great purges and assassinations and nation covered with blood. I believe it had something to do with what Russia did to Israel and the Jews. Great Britain refused to help Israel establish her new nation in 1948. Great Britain was in control of that land. Great Britain had defeated the Ottomans in World War I, driven the Ottomans out of there. The last great cavalry charge was down in Beersheba, and those crazy Australians attacked the Germans in their cannons and guns on horses and won. The last major cavalry charge, it was an amazing thing. Drove those Ottomans out of there. The Ottomans had said, we're never going to allow Israel, the Jews, to come back here in any numbers. We're never going to allow any Jewish state to be here. And the Jews, some of whom had a lot of money at the time, and offered the head of the Ottoman Empire a lot of money if they just let the Jews. And he said, for no amount of money. That's strong conviction, no amount of money. It looked impossible that Israel could ever come back and do anything. And the British and the Australians drove those Ottomans out of there, not knowing what they were doing. And not really, some of them did. Wingate did anyway. And it happened. They came back and established that new state of Israel in 1948, a year before I was born. And what happened to England? Nothing good. Yeah, England turned against Israel big time. Did everything they could to arm the Arabs and everything they could to disarm Israel. the Jews before the state was coming, everything they could. They were totally on the wrong side. Well, it wasn't long before they lost their empire. Did you notice that the British Empire doesn't exist anymore? And we do not believe that this is a coincidence. And so in America's blessed Jews, not very perfectly, but better than anybody else. And I think America has been blessed because of that. But it goes all the way back thousands of years ago to this covenant, back in the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. Note that the blessing is plural. And I will bless them that bless thee, and I will curse him that cursed thee. And we know God loves to bless more than He loves to curse, for one thing. Because that's just what He loves to do. He loves to save more than He loves to judge. That's who God is. God is good and He's the whole definition of good. And there's nothing ungood about Him. And it speaks to the fact that God's curse is specific and personal toward those that curse Israel. Not just I'm going to curse them, but I'm going to curse Him. It's very personal. You don't want God to curse you. You really don't. And that's why Christ died, to take that curse, because we are cursed in Adam, because of sin. And Christ took that curse. That's God's love. And so this covenant with Abraham had the personal blessings and it had the national blessings. Verse 2, I will make of thee a great nation. Indeed. And so God's covenant was inherited then by his son Isaac. Got to know your book of Genesis. Inherited by his son Isaac, Genesis 26, one through four. That was the promised son. His name means joy. He brought great joy to his parents that day when he was born. And through him, it passed to Jacob, to Jacob, not Esau, but Jacob, whose name God changed to Israel. And then that blessing passed nationally to Israel, which came from Jacob's 12 sons. And Jacob and his 12 sons were taken down into Egypt by God's sovereign working and became slaves there. And when God brought them out of Egypt by all those miraculous dealings, that's when Israel became a nation. and all the great things begin to happen out of Israel that God planned. So this is national blessings. This is Israel. The national blessings is Israel. It's not America, not England, not anything like that. It is Israel. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob together are mentioned in 33 verses of Scripture, because that covenant passed right along, and then not to anybody else, just to Jacob and then his sons. Including in the promise is the title deed to the land of Canaan. It's not the land of Palestine. It's never been the land of Palestine. It was the land of Canaan because the Canaanites lived there. And then God gave it to Israel. God gave it to Abraham. And that passed on nationally to Israel. The title deed to the land of Canaan. These are very up-to-date things. Imagine that. This is 3,000 years old, Genesis and older, and ancient, ancient things we're looking at. And yet here, you look at the newspaper, nobody reads the newspaper. You look at social media. I used to read the newspaper every day. Wherever I was, I'd buy a newspaper and I'd read it wherever I was. I never buy a newspaper, but it's on the social media. And what? Israel is all over the social media. Every day almost. Well, every day. Israel. Yeah, this will make you understand current events. The Bible. When I grew up, I didn't think the Bible was relative to anything. I thought it was just an old book about old things. And it had old pictures, black and white pictures of an old ugly place. That's all I knew about in a Baptist church growing up. No, this is the most relevant book in the world to our lives, to everything that's happening in the world. The giving of that land to Abraham and his seed is mentioned at least 12 times in Genesis. At least 12 times, we'll give the references here in Genesis. 1518, it's from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates. That's the territorial description. Genesis 17, 8, it is an everlasting possession. So there's no end to this title deed. No end to this title deed that Israel has to that land. And nobody else owns it. Nobody else has ever made a go of it there. It was a mess. By the 1800s, that land was just a desolation. One time I was talking to my wife about Mark Twain, the writer, American writer, and Samuel Clemens. And I said, I believe he could describe dirt in an interesting way. He was lost, but what a genius he was with words. And lo and behold, I read his travelogue to Israel, and he described dirt, because that's all he said. He said it's just desolation upon desolation. In the 1800s, it was just no trees. They'd all been cut down. It was ugly, horrible, desolate place. And then the Jews came back. and they begin to touch it, and now it's not. It's not the most beautiful place on earth, I don't think, but my, they've planted massive forests, they've brought water into the land, and it's just amazing what they've done there. Yeah, it's their land, they love it, nobody else ever loved it. And it's theirs, and they know it's theirs, even in their lost, position. They wanted to go back to Israel. They didn't want to go to Africa. They were at all for a homeland in Africa. And they don't want to go to Africa. What are we supposed to do in Africa? No, they knew where their homeland was. They always have. And every day they would pray to it all through those centuries, to pray toward that direction, Jerusalem, over there. We're going back over there. God put that in their hearts. In 1 Chronicles 16, 13-24, David affirmed Abraham's covenant. 1 Chronicles 16, 13-24, 1 Chronicles 16, 13-24, All ye seed of Israel, his servant, ye children of Jacob, his chosen ones, He's the Lord our God. His judgments are in all the earth. This is David. And be mindful always of his covenant, his covenant, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. It's eternal. Even of the covenant which he made with, who? Abraham. And of his oath unto Isaac. and hath confirmed the same to Jacob, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for a law, and to Israel, Jacob's sons, and the nation Israel, for an everlasting covenant, saying unto thee, I will give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance. when ye were but few, even a few, and strangers in it. And when they went from nation to nation, and from one kingdom to another people." He's talking about those Canaanite tribes, Philistine tribes. They were also called nations, just wandering around there. He suffered no man to do them wrong. Yea, he reproved kings for their sakes, saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. Sing unto the Lord all the earth. This is written to the earth, the whole earth. The Bible is not just a book for a few people. The Bible's for the whole earth. And the Bible will be heard by the whole earth. Come what may, it will be heard. You can't ignore God. but so long. And he's saying this to the whole earth. Show forth from day to day his salvation. That's what we're supposed to do. The Great Commission. Preach the gospel to the whole earth, all nations. Declare his glory among the heathen, his marvelous works among all nations. For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. Also, He also is to be feared above all gods, for all the gods of the people are idols. But the Lord made the heavens, glory and honor in his presence, strength and gladness are in his place. Give unto the Lord ye kindreds of the people, Give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name. Bring an offering. Come before him. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Fear before him all the earth. The world also shall be stable, that it be not moved. Yes, it's prophecy. It's coming. Christ is coming. The world passeth away. Right now, tonight, this old world's passing away. It's being passed away. Something's acting upon it, which is God and preparing for His eternal kingdom. Yeah, all these things are looking back to the Abrahamic covenant, looking to our day, the day of the Great Commission, and then looking out into eternity, Christ's coming and Christ's eternal kingdom, millennial kingdom and then eternal kingdom. So David affirmed that Abraham's covenant passed through Isaac and Jacob and to Jacob's children, the nation of Israel. He affirms that Israel is God's chosen. He affirms that it's an everlasting covenant, that it includes the inheritance of the land, all these things. This promise was confirmed before Israel entered the land. Deuteronomy 30. Deuteronomy 30. Deuteronomy 30, what a marvelous prophecy. Now this will straighten you out. If you have any inclination to follow Stephen Anderson or any of those nuts, this should straighten that out. single-handedly, Deuteronomy 30. Deuteronomy 28 is God's warning that He would judge Israel. And every detail of Israel's history for the last 2,000 plus years is written in Deuteronomy 28, written by Moses before Israel ever went into the land. Her whole history being cast out of the land, being scattered to the nations, being in fear for her very life all the time. And that's Israel's history for 2,000 years. But in Deuteronomy 30 is the return and the restoration and the conversion of Israel. The same Israel, the very same Israel that was put out of the land by the Babylonians, and then later by the Romans, Boy, the Romans really did a job. And put out and scattered across the nations in fulfillment of Deuteronomy 28, that same nation is going to come back according to Deuteronomy 30. Well, that nation over there is not the real Jews and that's not real Israel. Well, yes, it is. Who else is it? They came from the nations. They've been scattered to the nations, and now they're back there, and they're Jews. Who else are they? Certainly not us. It shall come to pass when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, Deuteronomy 28, you can read that, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mine. Where? Among all the nations. And what are they doing among all the nations? Because they're sinful. Well, Israel's going to sin, and God's going to take the blessings away from them. No, He's not. He's going to chase them. Really, chase them big time. But He's going to chase them, but they're going to come back. They're going to remember the Lord. And thou shalt, and where did the Lord thy God hath driven thee? It's God that drove them to the nations, not the Babylonians or the Romans. That was just God's instrument. The Lord thy God hath driven thee, and thou shalt return to the Lord. thy God, thou shalt return." Israel's going to return. That's going to be a glorious day. "...and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, and all thine heart, with all thine heart, with all thy soul." That's never happened. That's not Israel today, but it's going to happen. It's Bible prophecy. It's the same prophecy that's always been fulfilled exactly. So yeah, this is going to happen. Then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee. If any of thine be driven out into the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee. And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed. That land, that very land. And thou shalt possess it, thou. And so the same Israel he's talking about all along, there is no other Israel. Same one, sinning, backslidden, under judgment, chastened, that same one coming back. and repenting and being converted and being restored and loving God with all their heart and with all their soul. It's going to be a magnificent thing. It's the subject of many prophecies. It's a major theme of Bible prophecy, the restoration, conversion of Israel. And not all of Israel will be saved. Only one third will be saved, it appears from prophecy. But Israel will be saved and will be converted, that very Israel over there. and scattered to the ends of the earth. Yeah, Abraham's prophecy, Abraham's covenant. So this promise was confirmed before Israel entered the land, is what we're saying. And Deuteronomy 30 is confirming how that covenant is going to be fulfilled, that land is going to be theirs. Even if they disobey Him and are dispersed to the ends of the earth, they're going to be restored when they repent. That same nation Israel addressed would return and be converted and possess the land. And that's going to occur, we know, when Christ comes around that time. promise was confirmed. God later added the promise of an eternal throne and kingdom through the seed of Abraham by David, which we're going to look at, magnificent covenant, 2 Samuel 7. You need to know that. 2 Samuel 7, you need to understand these things and you need to know the major passages and be able in your mind to have it there and be able to go right to it. These are that fundamental to understanding the Bible. The gospel, the church, we're going to look at that. But Christ came to Israel to offer this kingdom, Matthew. He came unto his own and his own received him not. And Christ's turn, according to his eternal plan, he knew that would happen, not caught off guard about anything. And it said, I will build my church. in Matthew 16. That's a major turning point there in the book of Matthew. But Israel has rejected their own Christ and the kingdom. The kingdom of God is nigh. The kingdom of heaven is nigh. How is it nigh? Well, the king's here. But they rejected it. And God knew that, and so He had to plan for the church and the church age and calling out Gentiles from all the nations. And He's still doing that. Still doing that, still saving people. When the gospel is preached, God is in the saving business. And so that's what Christ came to offer, that kingdom that is spoken of to David, which is a part of the Abrahamic covenant. And so the personal blessings and the national blessings, you've got to know these things. You've got to know these things. You can't just sit there. So that's a little bit interesting. It's not a little bit interesting, folk. It's fundamental to the Bible, to the gospel, to the church, to your life, to eternity, to everything. Get a hold of these things. That's your job. A teacher, a preacher can't do that. Not even for his own kids. There's got to be something in you that's passionate for the truth, that's ready to capture it, that's ready to do whatever it is. You say, well, my memory is not good. Well, work harder at it. Whatever your weakness is, Ask God to help you with it, to get a hold of these most important things in all of life, so that you can know it for yourself, and you can teach it to your family, and you can be effectual in being a blessing to the church and anybody you meet. Ignorance doesn't help anybody. God bless you.