You can go ahead and be turning your Bibles to the book of Hosea. Hosea is right after Daniel in your Old Testament. Hosea chapter three. We were here just briefly, and I guess it's been a couple weeks ago, but I wanted to go back here for a little bit this morning. In Hosea chapter three, and verses, Hosea 3, verses 4 and 5. Our text here says, for the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim. Afterward shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God and David their king and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days. This is my fourth lesson or fourth sermon on the series that I've started on eschatology. And the title of this one is Israel in Eschatology. Or if you wanna put it down as Israel in Prophecy or Israel in the End Times, any way of thinking of it, that will work. Israel in Eschatology, an Introduction. Because we'll revisit Israel, a number of times during our studies, the Lord willing, because as we go through and study the end times, Israel is going to keep coming up. And I wanted to touch on this before we get any further. because one of the things that I believe is very, very important to understanding the end times and Bible prophecy is really understanding who Israel is. I wanted to kind of lay down some groundwork in this lesson on some biblical truth of who Israel is and why I believe that Israel and the church are two different things. Out of all the texts, there are many that I could have chosen, but I chose Hosea 3 because in this text, we have two verses, verse four and verse five. I read both of them here. Verse four, everybody will agree, as far as I know, no matter what camp of eschatology you're in or what group you read after, whether they agree with the pre-mill, pre-trib position or not, and there's plenty of variations out there, But most everybody will agree that verse four was literally fulfilled in the past. They'll read verse four. And when we say that that was past and that was literal Israel, they will agree with that. Let's read it again. For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, without a prince, without a sacrifice, without an image, without an ephod, and without teraphim. They will agree with that. Most everybody will. But the problem comes And the disagreement comes in verse five, because not everybody takes verse five literally. Some folks will take this and spiritualize it where there is no indication that we should switch gears there. Now, first of all, what do these words mean, to take something literal or to take something and spiritualize it? To take something literal is, according to Webster's Dictionary, to take it according to the letter, not figurative or metaphorical, as the literal meaning of a phrase. So in other words, we take the plain meaning of the text and understand it to be just that, that when God says in his word, Israel, that that's what he means. Israel, the descendants of Abraham. More specifically, the children of Israel, the physical Israel. When he says, without a king, without a prince, we understand it to be literal, that that's exactly what he means. without a sacrifice. It means that they're not out there killing animals for worship, like the Old Testament said that they should be doing, and so on and so forth. We take those words to mean exactly what they mean, their usual meaning, in other words. But on the flip side of it, to spiritualize is to convert to a spiritual meaning. Perhaps a metaphor or perhaps a figurative meaning where it doesn't mean the literal. There are some places in the Bible where a word may not be taken literally. But the Bible will give us indication of that. And so we begin in this passage with something that is literal. Ever since the Babylonian captivity in 586 AD, The children of Israel have been without a king, without a prince. Furthermore, Israel has been without sacrifice since the destruction of the temple in 1870. That was when Titus, the Roman general, destroyed Jerusalem. They've been without idols, just like the Word of God is saying here. They've been with idols. That was, in fact, one of the purposes of the Babylonian captivity. God was curing Israel of her affinity for heathen idols. And so history, reason, and faith in God's Word all come together to confirm what has happened and what is said in verse four is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It is to be taken literal. That's whether you are pre-mill, pre-trib or not. It's a fact. We could be so far apart eschatologically that we can't even get on the same page. But on Hosea 3 and verse 4, we can agree on that. But verse 5 is where the controversy arises. And the controversy isn't in the Bible. You understand this. It's not that there's contradiction somewhere. The controversy is in interpretation. I believe that the way that this is laid out, being that Verse four is literal. It was fulfilled literally. I believe verse five is to be taken literally as well. Sometime in the future. Because while we can look at verse four and we can look at historical evidence, we can't do that with verse five. Because he says, afterward shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God and David their king, and shall fear the Lord in his goodness in the latter days. Now partially this is beginning to be fulfilled, but we're not there yet. in the fulfillment of this, as we witness the things that are happening in this world. Tom Ross, when he was commenting on this verse, said, sound Bible exegesis and honesty require the Bible student to interpret both verses in a literal manner. Why is all this important? Why am I even bringing all this up? Well, some deny that God has any plan for Israel. And so when we talk about Israel, we read in the Old Testament about Israel, we read about promises to Israel, we read about prophecies and all of that to Israel, but then when we get to the New Testament, some say that God has not included Israel in those promises. There are, in fact, within that group, those who would say that the church has inherited all the blessings promised to Israel. However, as we go through the Bible and as we go through this series, I believe we will see that God has indeed a chosen nation of Israel. No, it's not. I don't believe that every Jew is chosen. And I don't believe that every Jewish person is included in God's plan of salvation just because he's a Jew. Understand something. Jews are saved the same way that Gentiles are. If they don't believe in Jesus Christ, they're going to the same place that unbelieving Gentiles are. Understand that. The Bible's clear on that. God has a chosen nation of Israel. Not the whole entire nation, not everyone who is a Jew, But by the authority of Scripture, I can safely speak of an elect nation of Israel. What we read of here in our text, in verse five, became more apparent in 1948, when the nation of Israel was formally recognized as a Jewish state. Since then, multitudes of Jews have returned to their homeland that had been promised to them when God made a covenant with Abraham thousands of years ago. Now, I'll get more into that as we go along through the series, but if you want to fast forward ahead, because it may be a little while before I get there, you can go on Sermon Audio. There's a sermon out there. I preached in 2007 for King's Edition Baptist Church at their Bible conference. They did a conference on prophecy. And I preached on Israel's future. That was 15 years ago. I haven't changed my position. And you can go back and find that sermon and listen to it there. But there's some who say that this position is new. There's some out there who say that it's not a Baptist position. But as I dig through and read some things, I found that, yeah, there were some Baptists who disagreed with this on some things, just like there's Baptists now who disagree with this on some things about the end times. John Gill, who lived in the 1700s, commented on Hosea chapter three. I just wanna bring this up. Not that it really matters so much. You understand that what matters most is what God says, his word says. But at the same time, When somebody comes along and says, oh, that's a Protestant position, and it's not a Baptist position, or it's a new position, no Baptist believed this before the 1900s, John Gill would disagree. Brother Gill said, the 10 tribes of Israel, and also the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, which are included in the name of Israel as Aban Ezra interprets it. These are joined together in parallel places, Jeremiah 33, 9 and 50 verses 4 and 5. For though they did not go into captivity together, yet their return and conversion will be at the same time. They are all spoken of under the name of Israel by the Apostle Paul when he foretells their conversion and salvation, Romans 11, 26. The return of them, here prophesied of, does not barely mean their return to their own land, which will be at this time, but their own return to the Lord by repentance, when they shall repent of and turn from their sinful course of life and particularly of their unbelief and rejection of the true Messiah and embrace him and of their traditions and false ways of worship which they shall discard and of their own righteousness they shall now renounce and shall turn to the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in him for righteousness life and salvation. Brother Gil believed that there was coming a restoration of Israel. And that was before, that was before 1948. Long before, but he believed it. Why? Because the Bible said so, you see. The Bible said so. The Jews going back to their homeland, that's only part of it. The rest of it is yet to come. I reject replacement theology. The idea that Israel, the promises of Israel are passed on to the church, I don't believe that. rather than going through and trying to name all the different names that some of these guys go under, let's take a look and see what the word of God says about this. In Romans chapter 11, we get into the New Testament. In Romans chapter 11 in verse 1, I say then, hath God cast away his people? God forbid, for I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. Now Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, has already written some tough things against and about Israel. And now, as inspired by the Holy Spirit, and in Paul's way of writing, he brings up this possible argument that may come up, and he says, has God cast away his people? And the answer is that God forbid. Has God cast away Israel? Has God cast away the nation of Israel. Has God reprobated, let's put it in terms that we understand, has God reprobated the nation of Israel? The answer is no. And just so we understand, Paul uses himself as an illustration. I also am an Israelite. He's not talking about spiritual Israel, folks. For if he was, and we'll get into that here in a little bit, if he was, he would have given the example of his identity in Christ. But he doesn't. He gives the example of his identity in his genealogy. I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. Look, folks, don't misunderstand me. Understand where I'm coming from Paul says This is my bloodline. I'm talking about I'm talking about my physical standing With the nation of Israel Has God cast him away Not only do we need to understand this in prophecy, but this ought to give us great courage as Gentiles because If God cast away Israel due to their unbelief, watch this now. If God cast away Israel due to their unbelief, what hope do we have because of our unbelief, our faults, our failures, our sins? What is their hope? And what is our hope? They had some promises that were given to them which were conditional, I understand that, but they also had some promises which were unconditional. And if God cast those away, what about our unconditional promises? The problem comes with the replacement crowd. And I'm talking about particularly the all-meal guys. All-meal simply means, you remember we looked at pre-meal, meaning the rapture before the millennium. All-meal simply means no millennium. So they don't believe in any kind of millennial reign. At least not the way the scriptures lay it out. In others, some of the so-called historic pre-mill guys sound more like the all-mill. But they answer this question, hath God cast away his people in a way that God does not. And they say, yes, he's cast them out. But here we are. Give us those promises that were promised to Israel because we're better than Israel. And look at what he says here. Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. God forbid. Circle that. Underline it. God forbid. Brother Milburn Cockrell, commenting on this passage, he said, the scripture nowhere teaches that God has reprobated national Israel forever. We must not teach the promises made to the patriarchs and to Israel must now be altered. We must not spiritualize away the plain meaning of the prophetic word to suit those who are slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Luke 24, 25. If God's promises in the Old Testament to Israel were not literally fulfilled. Are we to assume his promises in the New Testament are going to be fulfilled in the same way? Are we to take those promises in the New Testament addressed to the gospel church and spiritualize them away and apply them to Jews? God forbid. The mighty God of Jacob has not forgotten his unfilled promises made to Israel through his holy prophets. That's in his book, the second coming of Christ. We get accused sometimes of believing that all of Israel will be saved as they stand right now. And we look at Israel as they are now and we see that they aren't trusted in Christ. We don't believe that. That's a false accusation against us. The Bible doesn't teach that. Notice what the Bible does teach right here as we read through Romans chapter 11 and what Paul is writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Beginning at verse two, as we read verses two through four, as Paul lays out his defense from the Old Testament telling us that God always has a remnant. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. What ye not what the scripture saith of Elias, how he maketh intercession to God against Israel saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets and dig down thine altars. I am left alone and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. I mean, look at that example from the Old Testament as he pulls this out, showing that there was a remnant then. And then as he gets into verses 5 and 6, he brings out that there's a remnant now. He says, even so at this present time, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. If by grace, then it is no more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. If it be of works, then it is no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. There will be a remnant. There is a remnant. In Israel, the people of God saved the same way that everyone else has been saved. By grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Not of works. None of words. Verse 7, What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that should not see and ears that they should not hear unto this day. David saith, let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling block, and a recompense unto them. Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back all way. Verse 11. There's a partial fall of Israel. Look at what he says, I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid, but rather through their fall, salvation has come unto the Gentiles for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness. For I speak to you, Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office. If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, I might save some of them. For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead? Life from the dead. You see, there is coming a restoration. And I've got that life from the dead underlined. We'll come back to that later in the series, but that is important. You see, there's some who get excited about what's going on in Israel now. And yeah, it is exciting. The Jews are regaining their land, but that's only part of prophecy. That's not the fullness of it. Let's keep reading here. For if the first fruit be holy, and the lump is also holy, if the root be holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the fruit and fatness of the olive tree, watch it now, watch it now, boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Be careful, Gentiles, don't boast. Yeah, we've been grafted in, but don't boast. Thou wilt say then, the branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in, that I might be grafted in. Well, because of unbelief, they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear, for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed, lest he spare not thee. Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God on them which fell severity but toward me goodness if thou continue in his goodness otherwise thou also shall be cut off they also if they abide not still in unbelief shall be grafted in for God is able to graft them in again for if thou were cut off cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature were grafted Contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened unto Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. Blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles become in. And so all Israel shall be saved. As it is written, there shall come out of Zion the deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins. I've got that circled in my Bible. All Israel shall be saved. Does that mean everybody who's living in Israel today right now at this very moment is going to be saved? I don't believe so. Because as I read the Bible and prophecy, I understand that there's going to be a good many of them who will die in unbelief. Many of them who will die in tribulation, great tribulation, that time of Jacob's trouble. But there is coming a time when the remnant, beloved, the remnant... Folks, God is sovereign over every bit of our lives. And listen to me now, they will go through great great time of trouble, trial, war, famine, and all of those things. But when it's all said and done, the Messiah comes, they will be saved. God is sovereign over those who will survive all of that mess. Not one of the non-elect will survive it, but all His people, all His chosen remnant. And we'll see that. How exciting is that? As concerning the Gospel, verse 28, They are enemies for your sakes, but as touching the election, they are beloved for the Father's sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief, even so have these also now not believed. that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all, all the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. For who hath known the mind of God, or who hath been his counselor, who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again, For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever, amen. What a joy it is to know that God has not forgotten Israel, that God does remember the promises that he gave to Abraham and to David and to Israel, that he will not forget them or break them. And if anybody listening to this is on a different page with eschatology and disagrees with this, listen now, and I mean this with the most respect, but your God may be a promise breaker, but not mine, not the God of the Bible. I served the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and I thank God, I thank God that He hath not cast away His people, Israel. Were they perfect? No, not at all. Now, I know there are some passages that the replacement crowd uses to try to prove their position. So I'd like for us to take just a few minutes here, and I'll try to be quick. But let's look at a few of these. In Galatians chapter three, Galatians chapter 3 and verse 7. He says, Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. Here in Galatians chapter 3 and verse 7, we're told that all those who are of faith are the children of Abraham. And that's true. We agree with that. However, this does not mean that the church is the new Israel in all senses. There are spiritual promises made to the seed of Abraham the children of Abraham, and their physical promises that were made to the children of Israel. And in order to understand this, we have to keep things lined up and rightly divide the word of truth. Physical promises made to a physical nation cannot be passed on, and were not passed on based on Galatians 3 7. As we've already seen, I hope, in Hosea and Romans 11, not all the promises that were given to Israel could possibly be passed on to the church. We have to be careful, too. A lot of the folks who believe that Israel is the church A lot of the writers who believe that, they kind of tend towards a universal church anyway. We got to kind of be careful of that sort of thing. But Galatians chapter three and verse seven, we read this and we understand that whether you're Jew, Gentile, it doesn't matter. Of faith, we are the children of Abraham. Because if you go on down, it says in verse eight, in the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, in thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. We find that in this text, Paul is bringing out a specific Old Testament promise from Genesis that predates the nation of Israel, predates any of the promises that were given to national Israel, and telling us that we are part of that In Christ. In Christ. Because that blessing that he's talking about is in Christ. Over in Galatians chapter 6, verses 15 and 16, he says, For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them and mercy, and upon the Israel of God." Again, here, the scripture doesn't tell us anything about the church being the new Israel. In fact, in this epistle, Paul has been dealing with Jewish legalists. That was the main problem that he was dealing with there. And so the comparison is between true believers and legalistic Jews, not between the church and Israel, if you want to get down to it. And so context means something. In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision. In other words, it doesn't matter whether you got your foreskin chopped off or not as long as you're in Christ. That's what he's telling them if we want to be blunt about it. This isn't telling us anything about the church being the new Israel. By the way, Some of the replacement theology folks, the Protestant persuasion, if you ever wonder where they get their argument for infant baptism, they carry baptism all the way back to circumcision. And they said, well, this is just carrying that on. It's baloney. It's absolutely baloney. Not true at all. But folks will grasp after straws in order to justify anything, I suppose. In Philippians chapter three, Philippians chapter three, in verse three, For we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh." Again, no comparison here between the church and Israel, but between legalistic Jews and the church of Philippi. So not a proof text for bringing the promises of Israel over to the Lord's Church. In John chapter 18, John chapter 18, I want to bring this one up because this comes up a lot when you talk about the millennial reign. John 18 and verse 36. Perhaps it doesn't specifically come up about Israel, but whenever you talk about the reign of Christ, the thousand-year reign of Christ, being in Jerusalem, the throne of David, and so on and so forth, look what he says here. Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews, but now is my kingdom not from hence. And so the folks who don't believe that God has any future with Israel, they don't believe in the millennium as the Lord has brought it out in the scriptures and all of that, they'll often bring up this verse. And they'll say, see, His kingdom is not of this world. Well, we've got to read the full text here. And the text, the verse here, he is not speaking on the place of his kingdom. He's speaking of the source of it. Nowhere does he say anything here about not establishing his kingdom on earth. In fact, he says, He says, my kingdom is not of this world. And then if you go on down, he says, my kingdom is not from hence, you see. It's not from this world, it's out of this world, but it will be established here. And so the Bible is very, very plain. He will have a kingdom set up on this earth. someday where he will sit on the throne of David in Jerusalem. And then lastly, in Jeremiah chapter 31, verses 31 through 34, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I'll make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in that day, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they break, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord, but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, write it in their hearts, will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. Some guys use this as a proof text because this one is brought up in Hebrews chapter eight verses 10 through 13. A covenant is a sovereign disposition of God whereby he establishes an unconditional or declarative compact with man, obligating himself in grace. A lot of times he'll use the words I will to bring to pass of himself definite blessings. Then sometimes it's a proposal of God where he promises in a conditional compact In those kinds, he uses the phrase, if ye will. And so as you're reading through scriptures and you read and you see those phrases, I will, or if ye will, you understand. I will, that's unconditional. If God says, if ye will, that's conditional. God says, if ye will do this, then I will. He's going to grant certain blessings based upon certain conditions. And if you don't, then there's going to be punishment in case of failure. In Jeremiah 31, he says, I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, with the house of Judah. The writer of Hebrews brings this up in a letter to the Jewish church that he was dealing with. The idea goes that this must be something for the church. It must be equated Israel with the church. But when we read Jeremiah's description here, all of these descriptions that Jeremiah gives are applied. For instance, when we get down to it, They shall all know me from the least of them until the greatest of them. That's not all been fulfilled. So it seems to me that the church that he was writing to only had a preliminary fulfillment in this prophecy, not a complete fulfillment. And it doesn't seem as though that this would be applicable to all of the church, to every church or to every believer universally, as some would try to pin it down. Because for one, there's no such thing as a universal church. And for two, this was written to a Jewish church. When we kind of begin to look at the, as we bring this to a close here, when we look at prophecy as it's laid out in the scriptures, it is very telling that revelation is a unveiling of something that wasn't previously known. Clearly. And after Revelation 3, there's no mention of a church. But there is mention of Israel. The 144,000. Clearly Jewish men. Getting to the into the millennial reign, and so on and so forth. God does have a plan for Israel. God has not cast away Israel. When we speak of Israel in Bible prophecy, we mean the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We don't mean all descendants of Abraham, We don't even mean all of the descendants of Jacob, but we mean the remnant as Paul brought up in Romans chapter 11. I hope this clears it up. May God add the blessing to his word.