July 12, 2025 • 40 mins
Blog Post: https://wakinguptograce.com/058-tribulation-for-the-jew-first-romans-2-9-11/
Paul's pronouncement that glory, honor, peace, tribulation and distress would come "to the Jew first" has profound implications for understanding biblical prophecy about the final judgment of national Israel.
• The concept of "to the Jew first" applies to both salvation and judgment, as Christ came first to Israel before the Gentiles
• Old Testament prophecies throughout Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Amos, Malachi etc. repeatedly warned Israel of a coming "Day of Yahweh"
• First-century Jews rejected their Messiah despite prophecies predicting his arrival and the consequences of rejecting him
• The "Great Tribulation" described in Matthew 24 refers to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD
• John the Baptist fulfilled Malachi's prophecy as the "Elijah" who would come before the day of judgment
• The destruction of Jerusalem marked the complete end of the Old Covenant system, with genealogical records destroyed
• Prophetic language about darkened sun and falling stars represented the fall of governing authorities, not literal cosmic events
• The "Day of Yahweh" fulfilled all written prophecies, closing the biblical canon with the destruction of Jerusalem
Starting with our next episode, we'll explore evidence that Christ's prophesied return occurred in 70 AD alongside the destruction of Jerusalem and how this understanding transforms our view of biblical eschatology.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
welcome back to the waking up to grace podcast
everyone.
If you're a regular listener,you may have noticed that
there's been some space inbetween my episodes.
I've been trying to get a feelfor the frequency that I'm going
to be releasing new content andI'm finding that bi-weekly is
going to be the way to go.
It's going to allow me enoughtime to put together the best
possible episodes, and I'm goingto be putting them together now
(00:27):
as blog posts.
So if you're a reader, youmight want to check that out.
It's going to be extra helpfulin certain ways because I'm
going to be able to have visualaids.
I'm going to be able to link toinformation that's valuable and
it's going to be laid outreally nicely for reading and
studying.
So check it out.
You're going to be laid outreally nicely for reading and
studying, so check it out.
You're going to like the newblog post.
I think Even if you're alistener, you know at some point
(00:49):
, when you sit down and havetime to read, check it out.
I think you're going to reallylike it.
But without further ado, let'sget started.
Why does Paul make proclamationsfor the Jew?
First, in our Romans 2 passages, paul asserts that glory, honor
and peace are for the Jew first, and even more alarming, we see
(01:11):
that tribulation and distresswill be for the Jew first as
well.
Let's unpack what the ApostlePaul is trying to tell his
audience in Rome regarding thisJew first perspective In order
to get a full context of the Jewfirst policy Paul claims that
the Lord has put into place.
Let's start with the good news.
When we believe the gospel,we're set free from the sin and
(01:33):
the death.
Those who believe in him arenow reconciled to Yahweh by the
blood of Christ Yeshua.
Now that our Lord is no longercounting sin against us, we can
serve him freely.
How much greater can we focusour attention on our Heavenly
Father, knowing that our sin isno longer breaking our
fellowship with him or stirringup its deserved wrath and
(01:54):
punishment?
How much better can we focuswhen we don't have stress,
anxiety and fear going on in thebackground of our mind?
We can now have a clearconscience before our Lord.
His face is always upon us.
This is great news, isn't it?
I think so, but not everyonewho heard the good news in the
first century received it withjoy.
(02:15):
In fact, those who receivedMessiah in the flesh despised
his message and even had him putto death.
When it came to rejectingMessiah, it was certainly for
the Jew first.
Those who received Messiahfirst were even given a second
chance through the apostlesafter the resurrection of Christ
, and even then they continuedto devote themselves to ending
(02:38):
the lives of those who declaredthe gospel, christ Yeshua
Earlier.
In his Romans letter, paul wroteshall live by faith, for the
(03:02):
wrath of God is revealed fromheaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men who,by their unrighteousness,
suppress the truth.
Romans 1.16.
We determine that the gospel isgood news to some, while its
judgment for others.
In 2 Corinthians 2.15 we readFor we are the aroma of Christ
to God among those who are beingsaved and among those who are
(03:25):
perishing.
To one, a fragrance from deathto death, to the other, a
fragrance from life to life.
To those who receive it, thegospel is life, spiritual and
eternal.
It's the good news of salvation.
To those who reject it, thosewho are perishing, it's a death
sentence.
(03:45):
They will go from spiritualdeath to eternal death.
Today we'll be looking at thewrath, fury, tribulation and
judgment that Paul describes inRomans, chapter 2.
Specifically, we'll beinvestigating why this
tribulation is for the Jew first.
In our last study we left offreading.
He will render to each oneaccording to his works.
(04:06):
To those who, by patience andwell-doing, seek for glory and
honor and immortality, he'llgive eternal life.
But for those who areself-seeking and do not obey the
truth but obey unrighteousness,there will be wrath and fury.
That's Romans 2.6.
We determine that seeking glory,honor and immortality was
seeking the Lord.
(04:27):
Those things are attributed tothe Lord, as we found in
Scripture.
The faithful are given thesethings by the Lord when they
seek His guidance and proclaimHim as their Lord.
As Christians, when we believethe Gospel, we go from sinner to
saint.
That long list of sins thatkeeps you out of the Kingdom of
God no longer define you.
You're in Christ now and Yahwehhas made you holy to saint.
That long list of sins thatkeeps you out of the kingdom of
God no longer define you.
You're in Christ now and Yahwehhas made you holy to him.
(04:49):
This was the good news that youwould think the Jews under old
covenant law would embrace.
But they were looking forsomething else.
The first century Jews in thedays of Christ were looking for
a war hero to deliver them fromthe bondage of the Roman Empire.
They wanted power and glory forthemselves.
(05:11):
They wanted the kingdom to berestored to them physically,
giving them the power and glorythat Israel had over the world
in days of old.
They wanted to be set free fromRoman tyranny.
When Yeshua came to set themfree spiritually, they weren't
interested.
In their eyes, they didn't needto be saved from their sin,
they believed they were obedientto the law by self-effort.
In Romans 9.30, paul writes whatshall we say then?
(05:34):
That Gentiles who did notpursue righteousness have
attained it, that is, arighteousness that is by faith,
but that Israel, who pursued alaw that would lead to
righteousness, did not succeedin reaching that law.
Why?
Because they did not pursue itby faith, but as if it were
based on works.
They have stumbled over thestumbling stone.
(05:55):
The Jews in the days of ChristYeshua did not seem to
understand that obedience to thelaw literally proved that you
were a sinner.
The regular shedding of bloodthrough animal sacrifices proved
guilt.
The author of Hebrews made thisvery clear.
Hebrews 10 reads For since thelaw has but a shadow of the good
things to come instead of thetrue form of these realities, it
(06:17):
can never, by the samesacrifices that are continually
offered every year, make perfectthose who draw near, otherwise
would they not have ceased to beoffered be God's holy?
People rejected their ownSavior, had the special status
(06:44):
of the teachers of law andPharisees gone to their heads,
had they become so hardened thatthey would stop at nothing to
extinguish the gospel of theirown Lord in order to preserve
their worldly riches?
It's clear to see that isexactly what was going on in the
first century, while the Churchof Christ was being established
throughout all the world.
Earlier, in Romans 2.6, we readhe will render to each one
(07:07):
according to his works.
To those who, by patience andwell-doing, seek for glory and
honor and immortality, he willgive eternal life.
But for those who areself-seeking and do not obey the
truth but obey unrighteousness,there will be wrath and fury.
Then, in the very next verse,we have today's passage Romans 2
, 9-11.
(07:27):
There will be tribulation anddistress for every human being
who does evil, the Jew first andalso the Greek, but glory and
honor and peace for everyone whodoes good, the Jew first and
also the Greek, for God shows nopartiality.
Notice that Paul emphasizes thesame point in these statements
(07:48):
but uses different words.
Instead of eternal life tothose who, by patience and
well-doing, seek for glory andhonor and immortality.
We seek glory and honor andpeace for everyone who does good
.
To the faithful, our Lord givesglory, honor, peace, eternal
life.
To those who do not obey, whichis to reject him, they'll
(08:10):
receive God's wrath and fury,tribulation and distress.
They don't receive from himglory, honor, peace and eternal
life, and they do not seek thesethings from him anyways.
Apart from Yahweh man findshimself consumed in sin and
deserving of judgment, accordingto what we have studied in
Paul's letter so far.
And in verse 11 we read for Godshows no partiality.
(08:34):
This is important.
Going further into Romans, asPaul begins to focus on both Jew
and Gentile salvation, he's nowbringing things closer to home
for his first century Christianaudience of both Jew and Gentile
believers.
But before we go any further,we see something interesting in
this last passage that was notpresent in the previous similar
(08:54):
verses.
But glory and honor and peacefor everyone who does good, the
Jew first and also the Greek.
In our studies so far, we'vecome to realize that the gospel
was being revealed from thebeginning of creation, but the
gospel in the flesh, christYeshua, the anointed one, the
living word of God, had not yetrevealed himself to the world.
(09:15):
When Christ did reveal himself,who did he go to?
Christ himself came for thelost sheep of Israel, didn't he?
Christ himself came for thelost sheep of Israel, didn't he?
He came to Israel for thefaithful in Israel.
In Matthew 15 we read Yeshuasaying I was sent only to the
lost sheep of the house ofIsrael.
So who were the first toreceive Messiah?
(09:37):
What people were the first toreceive the Holy Spirit at
Pentecost?
Christ came to the Jew first,didn't he?
Paul, the apostle chosen byYahweh to bring the gospel of
grace to the Gentiles, came tothe scene a little bit later.
The risen and ascended ChristYeshua revealed himself to Paul
and taught him directly.
It wasn't until the cross andresurrection had taken place
(09:59):
that anyone became aware thatthe Gentiles would be included
in this good news.
Paul, who himself was a Jew,was sent out to bring the good
news to the Gentiles.
Case in point the good news ofChrist Yeshua came to the Jew
first and then to the Gentile.
I think anyone would agree onthis.
For the most part, it's what weread in verse 9.
(10:20):
That's not understood today.
The error is notmisunderstanding the passage
altogether, but rather missingthe timing of the event.
That is clearly indicated Inverses 8 and 9, paul writes but
for those who are self-seekingand do not obey the truth but
obey unrighteousness, there willbe wrath and fury.
There will be tribulation anddistress for every human being
(10:41):
who does evil, the Jew first,and also the Greek, would you
say.
This is just an ordinary wrathand fury, tribulation and
distress, similar to what weread when Yahweh hands mankind
over to his lusts earlier inRomans.
People have been rejectingYahweh since the beginning of
time, as written by Paul andexplored in our Roman studies so
(11:03):
far.
If sinful mankind has beendeserving tribulation and
distress and God's wrath andfury since the beginning, then
why the Jew first?
For this answer, we must go backto the first covenant, the
covenant that Yahweh made withIsrael In Deuteronomy 18.15.
We read the Lord, your God,will raise up for you a prophet
(11:25):
like me from among you, fromyour brothers.
It is to him you shall listen.
And then, verses 18 and 19, weread I will raise up for them a
prophet like you from amongtheir brothers, and I will put
my words in his mouth.
He shall speak to them all thatI command him, and whoever will
not listen to my words, that heshall speak in my name.
I myself will require it of him.
(11:47):
We see in this passage that whenthe law was being proclaimed by
Moses, another message wasproclaimed with it.
Can we guess who the prophetwould be that would come from
among Israel?
Yes, it was most certainlyChrist Yeshua.
And what was the primary andmost important command of Christ
Yeshua?
We read it in John 6, 28.
Jesus answered them.
(12:13):
The moment had arrived.
The Messiah had come to Israel,just as Yahweh had proclaimed.
He came to the Jew first.
Belief in Christ Yeshua wouldnow be required for Israel.
This was not going to be anoption for them.
The law and its temple worship,which were merely a shadow of
(12:37):
the things to come, were fadingand would soon be gone forever.
Did you catch the last part ofwhat I said?
The law and its temple worship,which were merely a shadow of
the things to come, were fading.
Did you catch the last part ofwhat I said?
The law and its temple worship,which were merely a shadow of
the things to come, were fadingand would soon be gone forever.
This fact was fully understoodby the apostles.
God's holy people had stored upwrath for themselves and that
(12:59):
wrath would soon cause atribulation on them, a great
tribulation.
As we read, tribulation anddistress would be for the Jew
first.
Please realize that when I sayGod's holy people, I don't speak
of the elect.
I'm not saying they werefaithful or holy in any
spiritual way.
They were set apart torepresent Yahweh by keeping his
(13:21):
commands.
They were called to be a lightto the world, but they failed
and turned away from the Lordand instead turned to their own
ways.
A final judgment on Israel wasannounced by Yahweh and his
prophets all over our OldTestament scriptures, but one
passage really stands out to meJust as Israel would be entering
their promised land, yahwehtold of what would occur.
(13:44):
And again we see Christproclaimed along with a judgment
.
Deuteronomy 31.16 says and theywill forsake me and break my
covenant that I have made withthem, then my anger will be
(14:07):
kindled against them in that dayand I will forsake them and
hide my face from them.
And they will be devoured andmany evils and troubles will
come upon them, so that theywill say in that day, have not
these evils come upon us becauseour God is not among us?
And I will surely hide my facein that day because of all the
evil that they have done,because they have turned to
(14:28):
other gods.
Now, therefore, write this songand teach it to the people of
Israel.
Put it in their mouths thatthis song may be a witness for
me against the people of Israel.
In the next verses we seeChrist in the song Yahweh gave
to Moses for the people ofIsrael.
Deuteronomy 32, 4 and 5 says therock, his work is perfect, for
(14:51):
all his ways are justice, theGod of faithfulness and without
iniquity.
Just and upright is he.
They have dealt corruptly withhim.
They are no longer his childrenbecause they are blemished.
They are a crooked and twistedgeneration.
And then we see the major errorthat the holy nation of Israel
(15:11):
made.
Deuteronomy 32.18 says it ismost certainly important that we
understand who the rock is here.
It doesn't take a whole lot ofstudying in the New Testament of
(15:33):
our Bibles to figure it outeither.
Paul makes this fact very plainfor us.
1 Corinthians 10.4 says and alldrank the same spiritual drink,
for they drank from thespiritual rock that followed
them, and the rock was Christ.
It's often said that we don'tneed the Old Testament anymore
as Christians, but the OldTestament points to Christ.
(15:54):
Even the Torah, the first fivebooks of the law, are about
Christ.
If you don't agree with me,that's fine, but you might want
to consider that Christ Yeshuawas the one who made the
statement John 5 46 says.
Then he said to them these aremy words that I spoke to you
while I was still with you, thateverything written about me in
the law of Moses and theprophets and Psalms must be
(16:17):
fulfilled.
Then he opened their minds tounderstand the scriptures Luke
24, 44.
You search the speaking in John5.39.
And then John 5.46,.
Yeshua says If you believeMoses, you would believe me, for
(16:40):
he wrote of me.
But if you do not believe hiswritings, how will you believe
my words?
All of scripture points toChrist.
All of scripture is aboutChrist.
The good news of Christ isdeclared in all of scripture,
and so is the great tribulationand final judgment.
But before we go and applythese things to our future, like
(17:01):
most do today, let's take amoment to consider who it was
that would really be receiving afinal wrath, destruction and a
great tribulation.
Let's not forget thattribulation and distress were
for the Jew first.
To whom was the law and theprophets given?
To whom did the Messiah come to?
It was for the Jew first,wasn't it?
(17:25):
If we pay attention in our Biblereading, we'll see clearly that
the law and prophets were allgiven to Israel.
That's what made them holy.
In that sense they were a holypeople because Yahweh was among
them.
Yahweh made Israel his peopleand stopped dealing with other
nations.
Yahweh was the God of Israel,as we see in the Song of Moses.
Deuteronomy 32.8 says when theMost High gave to the nations
(17:49):
their inheritance, when hedivided mankind, he fixed the
borders of the peoples accordingto the number of the sons of
God.
But the Lord's portion is hispeople.
Jacob is his allotted heritage.
Yahweh let the lesser gods dealwith the other nations.
The Gentile nations were nowgodless nations.
(18:09):
I go over that in messagesnumber 42 and 43.
Israel as a nation was holybecause God was among them.
Yahweh was dealing only withIsrael.
Now, if a Gentile wanted toworship Yahweh, they were to
become a proselyte and obey thelaw with Israel.
Yahweh was the God of Israel,but as we see all throughout
scripture, the people of Israelwere not all holy in a spiritual
(18:31):
sense.
Yahweh displayed his glory inthem as a people and as a nation
, but often it was through wrathon the unfaithful, through
national Israel, yahwehdisplayed all of his attributes,
including wrath and justice.
Continuing in Deuteronomy,yahweh declares truth through
his prophet Moses, in what iscalled the Song of Moses, and he
(18:53):
said I will hide my face fromthem.
I will see what their end willbe, for they are a perverse
generation, children in whom isno faithfulness.
They have made me jealous withwhat is no God.
They have provoked me to angerwith their idols, so I will make
them jealous with those who areno people.
I will provoke them to angerwith a foolish nation, for a
(19:15):
fire is kindled.
That's Deuteronomy 32.20.
There are two key points totake from this passage.
One, yahweh declares thatnational Israel will have an end
(19:36):
.
Two, yahweh will make themjealous with a foolish nation.
The second point establishesthe time frame that's being
referred to here.
The gospel of Christ Yeshua wasto bring salvation to the
Gentile nations, as we havestudied already in Romans, and
we'll continue to see Paul writeabout throughout his letter,
(19:57):
paul was sent out for that verypurpose.
But getting back to thejudgment, we saw in Deuteronomy
that Israel would have an end.
We see it clearly stated againright after this, in verse 28
and 29.
For they are a nation void ofcounsel and there is no
understanding in them.
If they were wise, they wouldunderstand this.
(20:17):
They would discern their latterend, the end of national Israel
, the end of God's holy people.
That's a lot to take in, isn'tit?
Are there any other passages toprove this?
Actually, there are so manyit's impossible to keep track of
them all, but let's look at afew in order to establish some
(20:37):
context, shall we?
What we're going to be lookingat is known as the Great
Tribulation.
It's referred to in scriptureas the Day of the Lord.
More accurately to the originalHebrew language, it was called
the Day of Yahweh.
I've heard many today deny thatthere is a great tribulation in
scripture.
This is pure ignorance.
When we study the scripturesand learn to see prophecy in
(21:00):
context, we're going to findthat the Day of Yahweh was to
bring an end to national Israeland Old Covenant Temple worship.
This would be the final end ofthat covenant in its entirety
and the full transition into theNew Covenant age that began at
the cross of Christ.
We'll get into that more in thenext messages.
For now, I want to focus on theGreat Tribulation and final
(21:22):
judgment and how it applies tothe Jew.
First, the day of Yahweh wasnot going to be a pleasant day,
and this day was reserved for aspecific group of people.
They'd been storing up wrathfor themselves by turning away
from the Lord.
What we read in Deuteronomy wasprophecy given to the people of
Israel.
Yahweh had entered into acovenant with the nation of
(21:43):
Israel and the law and prophetswould be for them.
In Romans, chapter 9, paulwrites they are Israelites and
to them belong the adoption.
The writes this was not amystery to the ancient Hebrews.
They knew that Yahweh was theirGod.
(22:09):
They failed miserably athonoring him as such, but they
knew that Yahweh was their God.
They failed miserably athonoring him as such, but they
knew all these things were forthem.
It should have been abundantlyclear that there would be a
final judgment for them.
However, they tended to nottake it well when their Lord
sent prophets to them.
Let's look at what Israel'sprophets said to them about the
(22:44):
day of Yahweh.
From the prophet Isaiah we readthey will look aghast at one
another.
Their faces will be aflame.
Behold, the day of the Lordcomes, cruel, with wrath and
fierce anger, to make the land adesolation and to destroy its
sinners from it, for the starsof the heavens and their
constellations will not givetheir light.
The sun will be dark at itsrising and the moon will not
(23:07):
shed its light.
I will punish the world for itsevil and the wicked for their
iniquity.
I will put an end to the pompof the arrogant and lay low, the
pompous pride of the ruthless.
I will make people more rarethan fine gold and mankind than
the gold of Ophir.
Therefore, I will make theheavens tremble and the earth
will be shaken out of its placeAt the wrath of the Lord of
(23:29):
hosts and the day of his fierceanger.
And like a hunted gazelle orlike sheep with none to gather
them, each will turn to his ownpeople and each will flee to his
own land.
Whoever is found will be thrustthrough and whoever is caught
will fall by the sword.
Their infants will be dashed inpieces before their eyes, their
houses will be plundered andtheir wives ravished.
(23:50):
Behold, I am stirring up themeads.
1 Peter, chapter 1, verses 1through 10.
The splendor and pomp of theChaldeans will be like Saddam
and Gomorrah when God overthrewthem.
It will never be inhabited orlived in for all generations.
(24:16):
No Arab will pitch his tentthere, no shepherds will make
their flocks lie down there, butwild animals will lie down
there and their houses will befull of howling creatures.
Their ostriches will dwell andtheir wild goats will dance,
(24:40):
hyenas will cry in its towersand jackals in the pleasant.
If you were to read thehistorical documentation of the
destruction of Jerusalem in AD70, you'll find these tragic
events were experienced by thenation of Israel.
You can review the writings ofFlavius Josephus to get a
picture of these things.
The destruction of Israel inthe first century is a
(25:01):
well-documented event.
In my last podcast message,number 57, I discussed that in
the ancient Hebrew prophecy ofour Bibles, the sun, moon and
stars represented governingauthorities and were often
descriptive of nations orkingdoms.
In Joseph's dream in Genesis 37, joseph's ancient Hebrew family
(25:22):
clearly understood Joseph to bereferring to his parents as the
sun and moon and his 11siblings as stars.
Do you recall that Jacob wasnamed Israel by Yahweh?
Yes, jacob was a Christ type.
In other words, he was a shadowof the reality to come.
Jacob's twelve sons representedthe twelve tribes of Israel.
(25:42):
True Israel was Christ.
Yeshua and his twelve apostlesare the foundations of his
church.
National Israel was an oldcovenant shadow of what was to
come in the new covenant.
The lights would go out for theold covenant.
The temple worship would endforever.
This was declared to Israelfrom the beginning, as we saw in
Deuteronomy From more ofIsrael's prophets.
(26:05):
We read you have not gone upinto the breaches or built up a
wall for the house of Israelthat it might stand in battle in
the day of the Lord.
Ezekiel 13.5.
The sun shall be turned todarkness and moon to blood
before the great and awesome dayof the Lord comes.
Joel 2.31.
Then, to the Jews, the prophetAmos writes Woe to you who
(26:28):
desire the day of the Lord.
Why would you have the day ofthe Lord?
It is darkness, not light,writes I hate, I despise your
(26:49):
feasts and I take no delight inyour solemn assemblies.
Even though you offer me yourburnt offerings and grain
offerings, I will not acceptthem.
And the peace offerings of yourfattened animals, I will not
look upon them.
Take away from me the noise ofyour songs.
To the melody of your harps Iwill not listen.
But let justice roll down likewaters and righteousness like an
(27:10):
ever-flowing stream.
Amos, chapter 5.
Are you beginning to see howtribulation and distress would
come to the Jew first andfinally, 400 years before John
the Baptist takes the scene, theprophet Malachi has an entire
writing announcing the comingjudgment for Israel.
Among his writings we read Forbehold, the day is coming,
(27:33):
burning like an oven, when allthe arrogant and all evildoers
will be stubble.
The day that is coming shallset them ablaze, says Yahweh of
hosts, so that will leave themneither root nor branch.
Malachi 4.
In my last writing messagenumber 57, we discussed that in
70 AD the temple in Jerusalemwas set ablaze and that all of
(27:56):
the genealogical records weredestroyed.
I talked about how genetictesting reveals that there is no
ethnic DNA in today's Jews.
They have neither root norbranch.
They have not properly kept theFeast of Yahweh or the Law of
Moses since the destruction ofthe Temple.
Yahweh left no possible way ofdoing so.
It's sad to see people, to thisvery day, going through the
(28:18):
motions of a false religion thatleads to death, day in and day
out, performing religious actsthat will never lead anyone to
life and, even worse, having 99%of Christians believe in their
holy people doing holy thingswhen they reject everything that
Yahweh did for them.
The only similarity thattoday's leaders in Israel have
(28:39):
with the Jews of the firstcentury is that they turned
something holy into an evil andmurderous political movement for
power and riches.
National Israel ended in AD 70and was falsely brought back by
the Rothschilds in the 60s.
If you think that what they'redoing is holy, you're being
deceived by the Zionist media.
(28:59):
But getting back to Israel'sgreat tribulation and final
judgment, malachi continuesBehold, I will send you Elijah,
the prophet, before the greatand awesome day of the Lord
comes, and he will turn thehearts of fathers to their
children and the hearts ofchildren to their fathers, lest
I come and strike the land withthe decree of utter destruction.
Malachi 4, verse 5.
(29:20):
A decree of utter destruction?
That's a tough thing toovercome, wouldn't you say?
This would be a bit concerningif you lived in Israel and were
being told that these thingswould come to the Jew first,
wouldn't it?
And very soon.
But Elijah has to come first.
People are still waiting forthat, aren't they?
Well, not.
If we're paying attention to ourscripture and the words of
(29:42):
Christ Yeshua In Matthew 11.13,about John the Baptist, yeshua
says and if you are willing toaccept it, he is Elijah who is
to come.
Can you see why this might besignificant.
400 years after the prophetMalachi prophesied the
destruction of Jerusalem, johnthe Baptist, who Christ Yeshua
(30:02):
calls Elijah, takes the scene.
I baptize you with water forrepentance, but he who is coming
after me is mightier than I,whose sandals I am not worthy to
carry.
He will baptize you with theHoly Spirit and with fire.
His winnowing fork is in hishand and he will clear baptized
with the Holy Spirit and withfire.
We know that believers beganreceiving the Holy Spirit at
(30:36):
Pentecost, but what is the firereferring to?
Do you remember what we read inMalachi?
The day that is coming shallset them ablaze.
The baptism of fire is abaptism of judgment.
We now begin to see ChristYeshua tied to this judgment,
but let's keep that one onstandby for now.
This message is about thetribulation and judgment for the
(30:56):
Jew first.
In our Romans passage, paulwrote but for those who are
self-seeking and do not obey thetruth but obey unrighteousness,
there will be wrath and fury.
There will be tribulation anddistress for every human being
who does evil, the Jew first,and also the Greek.
I think we're getting a prettyclear picture of why Paul
declares that when it comes tojudgment, it will be for the Jew
(31:19):
first.
Just as Messiah came first tothe Jew, so also did judgment.
You might be asking yourself,but what about the Bema Seat,
judgment known as the judgmentseat of Christ?
We all have to stand before theLord and give an account.
What does the destruction ofnational Israel have to do with
that?
We're making our way into thatsoon and we'll be covering it in
(31:42):
our next message, so don'tworry.
For now let's finish up ourstudy on the final judgment of
God's holy nation of Israel.
Luke 21 says and while some werespeaking of the temple, how it
was adorned with noble stonesand offerings, he said, as for
(32:03):
these things that you see,christ Yeshua prophesied that
the temple would be destroyed,not a temple in our future, but
one that the disciples stood inwith Yeshua in that first
century AD.
They were terrified when hetold them this.
The law in the temple was theirworld.
Imagine being told thateverything, that the buildings
(32:23):
and activities that you havedevoted your life to, would be
destroyed, and by someone whoyou know tells the truth.
We have to realize how big of adeal this was to the Jews of
the first century.
It was everything they knewprior to the Messiah's arrival.
The question we need to ask iswhen would this time come?
Is it in our future?
(32:43):
We should have a pretty goodhandle on the fact that the
whole world wouldn't end.
It would be Israel that comesto an end.
When God made his firstcovenant with national Israel,
it was proclaimed a new heavensand earth.
We see this in Isaiah 51.15.
We can't apply what we see asheaven and earth to prophetic
language.
(33:03):
We have to see things the waythe ancient Hebrews did if we
want to avoid today's massivemisguidance in the church
institutions.
We constantly hear peopleparrot the verse, but concerning
that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven
nor the sun, but the Father only.
Matthew 24, 36.
For some reason, we use thisverse today to justify futurism,
(33:27):
dispensationalism, zionism andeven partial preterism.
There's a parallel here with thefall feast of trumpets.
Preparations had to be made inIsrael for this great feast of
Yahweh, all the while notknowing the exact date or time
that it would begin.
They had to watch the sky andwait for the new moon to arrive.
The new moon would mark thebeginning of the feast of
(33:50):
trumpets.
They may not have known theexact date or time, but they did
know what to look for and anapproximate time frame.
If not, they could never beready for such a feast.
The preparations would havebeen time-consuming and tedious.
The blowing of the trumpets wasthe major thing that we know
about this feast.
Can you think of something elsetied to a trumpet sounding?
(34:13):
So they knew it was coming soonand they would have to have
been told what to be looking for.
Right, let's look at what iswritten by Paul to the church in
Thessalonica.
Thessalonians 2 says Now,concerning the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ and our beinggathered together to him, we ask
you, brothers, not to bequickly shaken in mind or
alarmed either by a spirit or aspoken word or a letter seeming
(34:37):
to be from us, to the effectthat the day of the Lord has
come.
The evidence has sufficientlyconcluded, at least in my mind,
that the day of the Lord wouldbe a day of judgment and wrath.
We also know that this greattribulation would be for the Jew
first, as it was prophesied tobe the end of national Israel.
Many today, based on propheticlanguage being perverted,
(34:59):
believe that the day of the Lordwill be the end of the world as
we know it.
We are taught that there willbe a global calamity and the
entire earth will be destroyed,but that is not even remotely
consistent with what we justread.
Consider these facts theThessalonians were told that the
day of the Lord alreadyhappened and they were still
alive and breathing on planetearth.
(35:21):
Number two Paul doesn't remindthem that the world would have
melted already.
Neither Paul or theThessalonians seem to be looking
for the end of the world as weknow it.
Paul does correct them byreminding them of what he told
them to be looking for.
However, in chapter 3 of 2Thessalonians, paul says Let no
(35:43):
one deceive you in any way, forthat day will not come unless
the rebellion comes first andthe man of lawlessness is
revealed, the son of destructionwho opposes and exalts himself
against every so-called god orobject of worship so that he
takes his seat in.
The day of the Lord will notcome until the rebellion occurs.
He does not say a rebellion, hesays the rebellion.
(36:12):
Some translations, like theNASB, say the apostasy.
Both of these translationscould have truth to them.
We'll cover this detail inanother message, but we do know
that there was a rebellion thaterupted in Israel, spurred by
the Zealots in AD 66.
There is much written by theJewish historian Josephus on
(36:33):
this matter, but we see, thecontext here is that these
things were happening in thatfirst century.
Paul continues Do you notremember that when I was still
with you, I told you thesethings, and you know what is
restraining him now so that hemay be revealed in his time?
For the mystery of lawlessnessis already at work.
Only he who now restrains itwill do so until he is out of
(36:57):
the way.
2 Thessalonians 5-7.
Are you gathering that Paul isnot speaking of events coming in
our near future?
But how did Paul know thesethings?
It's likely because the prophetand Messiah, christ Yeshua,
taught him.
We see these exact thingsoutlined by Christ Yeshua right
in our Bible, matthew 24-15.
(37:18):
Yeshua says we see these exactthings outlined by Christ Yeshua
right in our Bible, matthew 24,15.
Yeshua says but when you seeJerusalem surrounded by armies,
then know that its desolationhas come near.
Then let those who are in Judeaflee to the mountains and let
those who are inside the citydepart and let not those who are
out in the country enter it,for these are days of vengeance
to fulfill all that is written,that's Luke 21, 20.
(37:46):
Then in Matthew 24, 15, we readso when you see the abomination
of desolation spoken of by theprophet Daniel standing in the
holy place, let those who are inJudea flee to the mountains.
Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
And again, you're surely askingyourself if this was the end
times, what about the return ofChrist?
Many attempt to separate thesetwo events in Scripture, but
they cannot be pulled apart Incontext.
(38:06):
They are inseparable.
Our Lord Christ Yeshua says tohis first century followers in
Matthew 24-29, in Matthew 24, 29, immediately after the
tribulation of those days, thesun will be darkened and the
moon will not give its light,and the stars will fall from
heaven and the powers of theheavens will be shaken.
Then will appear in heaven thesign of the Son of man.
(38:27):
Then all the tribes of theearth will mourn and they will
see the Son of man coming on theclouds of heaven in power and
great glory, and he will sendout his angels with a loud
trumpet call and they willgather as a lot.
Do you remember what wediscussed about the Feast of
Trumpets?
Here it is the fulfillment ofthat feast, coming at the loud
(38:51):
trumpet call.
As Christ said a few versesprior, this tribulation would
fulfill all that is written.
The canon was closed upon thedestruction of Jerusalem in AD
70.
The destruction of Jerusalemmarked the bitter end of the
tribulation and distress thatwould come for the Jew first.
In my next message, I'llattempt to prove to you that the
(39:14):
return of Christ occurred in AD70, alongside this tribulation,
destruction and judgment ofnational Israel, its temple
worship, its lineage and theentire old covenant.
This will allow us to furtherunderstand why Paul told us
there will be tribulation anddistress for every human being
who does evil, the Jew first andalso the Greek.
(39:37):
Stay tuned for the next messageand I hope you all have a great
day out there.
Grace and peace to you.
welcome back to the waking up to grace podcast
everyone.
If you're a regular listener,you may have noticed that
there's been some space inbetween my episodes.
I've been trying to get a feelfor the frequency that I'm going
to be releasing new content andI'm finding that bi-weekly is
going to be the way to go.
It's going to allow me enoughtime to put together the best
possible episodes, and I'm goingto be putting them together now
(00:27):
as blog posts.
So if you're a reader, youmight want to check that out.
It's going to be extra helpfulin certain ways because I'm
going to be able to have visualaids.
I'm going to be able to link toinformation that's valuable and
it's going to be laid outreally nicely for reading and
studying.
So check it out.
You're going to be laid outreally nicely for reading and
studying, so check it out.
You're going to like the newblog post.
I think Even if you're alistener, you know at some point
(00:49):
, when you sit down and havetime to read, check it out.
I think you're going to reallylike it.
But without further ado, let'sget started.
Why does Paul make proclamationsfor the Jew?
First, in our Romans 2 passages, paul asserts that glory, honor
and peace are for the Jew first, and even more alarming, we see
(01:11):
that tribulation and distresswill be for the Jew first as
well.
Let's unpack what the ApostlePaul is trying to tell his
audience in Rome regarding thisJew first perspective In order
to get a full context of the Jewfirst policy Paul claims that
the Lord has put into place.
Let's start with the good news.
When we believe the gospel,we're set free from the sin and
(01:33):
the death.
Those who believe in him arenow reconciled to Yahweh by the
blood of Christ Yeshua.
Now that our Lord is no longercounting sin against us, we can
serve him freely.
How much greater can we focusour attention on our Heavenly
Father, knowing that our sin isno longer breaking our
fellowship with him or stirringup its deserved wrath and
(01:54):
punishment?
How much better can we focuswhen we don't have stress,
anxiety and fear going on in thebackground of our mind?
We can now have a clearconscience before our Lord.
His face is always upon us.
This is great news, isn't it?
I think so, but not everyonewho heard the good news in the
first century received it withjoy.
(02:15):
In fact, those who receivedMessiah in the flesh despised
his message and even had him putto death.
When it came to rejectingMessiah, it was certainly for
the Jew first.
Those who received Messiahfirst were even given a second
chance through the apostlesafter the resurrection of Christ
, and even then they continuedto devote themselves to ending
(02:38):
the lives of those who declaredthe gospel, christ Yeshua
Earlier.
In his Romans letter, paul wroteshall live by faith, for the
(03:02):
wrath of God is revealed fromheaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men who,by their unrighteousness,
suppress the truth.
Romans 1.16.
We determine that the gospel isgood news to some, while its
judgment for others.
In 2 Corinthians 2.15 we readFor we are the aroma of Christ
to God among those who are beingsaved and among those who are
(03:25):
perishing.
To one, a fragrance from deathto death, to the other, a
fragrance from life to life.
To those who receive it, thegospel is life, spiritual and
eternal.
It's the good news of salvation.
To those who reject it, thosewho are perishing, it's a death
sentence.
(03:45):
They will go from spiritualdeath to eternal death.
Today we'll be looking at thewrath, fury, tribulation and
judgment that Paul describes inRomans, chapter 2.
Specifically, we'll beinvestigating why this
tribulation is for the Jew first.
In our last study we left offreading.
He will render to each oneaccording to his works.
(04:06):
To those who, by patience andwell-doing, seek for glory and
honor and immortality, he'llgive eternal life.
But for those who areself-seeking and do not obey the
truth but obey unrighteousness,there will be wrath and fury.
That's Romans 2.6.
We determine that seeking glory,honor and immortality was
seeking the Lord.
(04:27):
Those things are attributed tothe Lord, as we found in
Scripture.
The faithful are given thesethings by the Lord when they
seek His guidance and proclaimHim as their Lord.
As Christians, when we believethe Gospel, we go from sinner to
saint.
That long list of sins thatkeeps you out of the Kingdom of
God no longer define you.
You're in Christ now and Yahwehhas made you holy to saint.
That long list of sins thatkeeps you out of the kingdom of
God no longer define you.
You're in Christ now and Yahwehhas made you holy to him.
(04:49):
This was the good news that youwould think the Jews under old
covenant law would embrace.
But they were looking forsomething else.
The first century Jews in thedays of Christ were looking for
a war hero to deliver them fromthe bondage of the Roman Empire.
They wanted power and glory forthemselves.
(05:11):
They wanted the kingdom to berestored to them physically,
giving them the power and glorythat Israel had over the world
in days of old.
They wanted to be set free fromRoman tyranny.
When Yeshua came to set themfree spiritually, they weren't
interested.
In their eyes, they didn't needto be saved from their sin,
they believed they were obedientto the law by self-effort.
In Romans 9.30, paul writes whatshall we say then?
(05:34):
That Gentiles who did notpursue righteousness have
attained it, that is, arighteousness that is by faith,
but that Israel, who pursued alaw that would lead to
righteousness, did not succeedin reaching that law.
Why?
Because they did not pursue itby faith, but as if it were
based on works.
They have stumbled over thestumbling stone.
(05:55):
The Jews in the days of ChristYeshua did not seem to
understand that obedience to thelaw literally proved that you
were a sinner.
The regular shedding of bloodthrough animal sacrifices proved
guilt.
The author of Hebrews made thisvery clear.
Hebrews 10 reads For since thelaw has but a shadow of the good
things to come instead of thetrue form of these realities, it
(06:17):
can never, by the samesacrifices that are continually
offered every year, make perfectthose who draw near, otherwise
would they not have ceased to beoffered be God's holy?
People rejected their ownSavior, had the special status
(06:44):
of the teachers of law andPharisees gone to their heads,
had they become so hardened thatthey would stop at nothing to
extinguish the gospel of theirown Lord in order to preserve
their worldly riches?
It's clear to see that isexactly what was going on in the
first century, while the Churchof Christ was being established
throughout all the world.
Earlier, in Romans 2.6, we readhe will render to each one
(07:07):
according to his works.
To those who, by patience andwell-doing, seek for glory and
honor and immortality, he willgive eternal life.
But for those who areself-seeking and do not obey the
truth but obey unrighteousness,there will be wrath and fury.
Then, in the very next verse,we have today's passage Romans 2
, 9-11.
(07:27):
There will be tribulation anddistress for every human being
who does evil, the Jew first andalso the Greek, but glory and
honor and peace for everyone whodoes good, the Jew first and
also the Greek, for God shows nopartiality.
Notice that Paul emphasizes thesame point in these statements
(07:48):
but uses different words.
Instead of eternal life tothose who, by patience and
well-doing, seek for glory andhonor and immortality.
We seek glory and honor andpeace for everyone who does good
.
To the faithful, our Lord givesglory, honor, peace, eternal
life.
To those who do not obey, whichis to reject him, they'll
(08:10):
receive God's wrath and fury,tribulation and distress.
They don't receive from himglory, honor, peace and eternal
life, and they do not seek thesethings from him anyways.
Apart from Yahweh man findshimself consumed in sin and
deserving of judgment, accordingto what we have studied in
Paul's letter so far.
And in verse 11 we read for Godshows no partiality.
(08:34):
This is important.
Going further into Romans, asPaul begins to focus on both Jew
and Gentile salvation, he's nowbringing things closer to home
for his first century Christianaudience of both Jew and Gentile
believers.
But before we go any further,we see something interesting in
this last passage that was notpresent in the previous similar
(08:54):
verses.
But glory and honor and peacefor everyone who does good, the
Jew first and also the Greek.
In our studies so far, we'vecome to realize that the gospel
was being revealed from thebeginning of creation, but the
gospel in the flesh, christYeshua, the anointed one, the
living word of God, had not yetrevealed himself to the world.
(09:15):
When Christ did reveal himself,who did he go to?
Christ himself came for thelost sheep of Israel, didn't he?
Christ himself came for thelost sheep of Israel, didn't he?
He came to Israel for thefaithful in Israel.
In Matthew 15 we read Yeshuasaying I was sent only to the
lost sheep of the house ofIsrael.
So who were the first toreceive Messiah?
(09:37):
What people were the first toreceive the Holy Spirit at
Pentecost?
Christ came to the Jew first,didn't he?
Paul, the apostle chosen byYahweh to bring the gospel of
grace to the Gentiles, came tothe scene a little bit later.
The risen and ascended ChristYeshua revealed himself to Paul
and taught him directly.
It wasn't until the cross andresurrection had taken place
(09:59):
that anyone became aware thatthe Gentiles would be included
in this good news.
Paul, who himself was a Jew,was sent out to bring the good
news to the Gentiles.
Case in point the good news ofChrist Yeshua came to the Jew
first and then to the Gentile.
I think anyone would agree onthis.
For the most part, it's what weread in verse 9.
(10:20):
That's not understood today.
The error is notmisunderstanding the passage
altogether, but rather missingthe timing of the event.
That is clearly indicated Inverses 8 and 9, paul writes but
for those who are self-seekingand do not obey the truth but
obey unrighteousness, there willbe wrath and fury.
There will be tribulation anddistress for every human being
(10:41):
who does evil, the Jew first,and also the Greek, would you
say.
This is just an ordinary wrathand fury, tribulation and
distress, similar to what weread when Yahweh hands mankind
over to his lusts earlier inRomans.
People have been rejectingYahweh since the beginning of
time, as written by Paul andexplored in our Roman studies so
(11:03):
far.
If sinful mankind has beendeserving tribulation and
distress and God's wrath andfury since the beginning, then
why the Jew first?
For this answer, we must go backto the first covenant, the
covenant that Yahweh made withIsrael In Deuteronomy 18.15.
We read the Lord, your God,will raise up for you a prophet
(11:25):
like me from among you, fromyour brothers.
It is to him you shall listen.
And then, verses 18 and 19, weread I will raise up for them a
prophet like you from amongtheir brothers, and I will put
my words in his mouth.
He shall speak to them all thatI command him, and whoever will
not listen to my words, that heshall speak in my name.
I myself will require it of him.
(11:47):
We see in this passage that whenthe law was being proclaimed by
Moses, another message wasproclaimed with it.
Can we guess who the prophetwould be that would come from
among Israel?
Yes, it was most certainlyChrist Yeshua.
And what was the primary andmost important command of Christ
Yeshua?
We read it in John 6, 28.
Jesus answered them.
(12:13):
The moment had arrived.
The Messiah had come to Israel,just as Yahweh had proclaimed.
He came to the Jew first.
Belief in Christ Yeshua wouldnow be required for Israel.
This was not going to be anoption for them.
The law and its temple worship,which were merely a shadow of
(12:37):
the things to come, were fadingand would soon be gone forever.
Did you catch the last part ofwhat I said?
The law and its temple worship,which were merely a shadow of
the things to come, were fading.
Did you catch the last part ofwhat I said?
The law and its temple worship,which were merely a shadow of
the things to come, were fadingand would soon be gone forever.
This fact was fully understoodby the apostles.
God's holy people had stored upwrath for themselves and that
(12:59):
wrath would soon cause atribulation on them, a great
tribulation.
As we read, tribulation anddistress would be for the Jew
first.
Please realize that when I sayGod's holy people, I don't speak
of the elect.
I'm not saying they werefaithful or holy in any
spiritual way.
They were set apart torepresent Yahweh by keeping his
(13:21):
commands.
They were called to be a lightto the world, but they failed
and turned away from the Lordand instead turned to their own
ways.
A final judgment on Israel wasannounced by Yahweh and his
prophets all over our OldTestament scriptures, but one
passage really stands out to meJust as Israel would be entering
their promised land, yahwehtold of what would occur.
(13:44):
And again we see Christproclaimed along with a judgment
.
Deuteronomy 31.16 says and theywill forsake me and break my
covenant that I have made withthem, then my anger will be
(14:07):
kindled against them in that dayand I will forsake them and
hide my face from them.
And they will be devoured andmany evils and troubles will
come upon them, so that theywill say in that day, have not
these evils come upon us becauseour God is not among us?
And I will surely hide my facein that day because of all the
evil that they have done,because they have turned to
(14:28):
other gods.
Now, therefore, write this songand teach it to the people of
Israel.
Put it in their mouths thatthis song may be a witness for
me against the people of Israel.
In the next verses we seeChrist in the song Yahweh gave
to Moses for the people ofIsrael.
Deuteronomy 32, 4 and 5 says therock, his work is perfect, for
(14:51):
all his ways are justice, theGod of faithfulness and without
iniquity.
Just and upright is he.
They have dealt corruptly withhim.
They are no longer his childrenbecause they are blemished.
They are a crooked and twistedgeneration.
And then we see the major errorthat the holy nation of Israel
(15:11):
made.
Deuteronomy 32.18 says it ismost certainly important that we
understand who the rock is here.
It doesn't take a whole lot ofstudying in the New Testament of
(15:33):
our Bibles to figure it outeither.
Paul makes this fact very plainfor us.
1 Corinthians 10.4 says and alldrank the same spiritual drink,
for they drank from thespiritual rock that followed
them, and the rock was Christ.
It's often said that we don'tneed the Old Testament anymore
as Christians, but the OldTestament points to Christ.
(15:54):
Even the Torah, the first fivebooks of the law, are about
Christ.
If you don't agree with me,that's fine, but you might want
to consider that Christ Yeshuawas the one who made the
statement John 5 46 says.
Then he said to them these aremy words that I spoke to you
while I was still with you, thateverything written about me in
the law of Moses and theprophets and Psalms must be
(16:17):
fulfilled.
Then he opened their minds tounderstand the scriptures Luke
24, 44.
You search the speaking in John5.39.
And then John 5.46,.
Yeshua says If you believeMoses, you would believe me, for
(16:40):
he wrote of me.
But if you do not believe hiswritings, how will you believe
my words?
All of scripture points toChrist.
All of scripture is aboutChrist.
The good news of Christ isdeclared in all of scripture,
and so is the great tribulationand final judgment.
But before we go and applythese things to our future, like
(17:01):
most do today, let's take amoment to consider who it was
that would really be receiving afinal wrath, destruction and a
great tribulation.
Let's not forget thattribulation and distress were
for the Jew first.
To whom was the law and theprophets given?
To whom did the Messiah come to?
It was for the Jew first,wasn't it?
(17:25):
If we pay attention in our Biblereading, we'll see clearly that
the law and prophets were allgiven to Israel.
That's what made them holy.
In that sense they were a holypeople because Yahweh was among
them.
Yahweh made Israel his peopleand stopped dealing with other
nations.
Yahweh was the God of Israel,as we see in the Song of Moses.
Deuteronomy 32.8 says when theMost High gave to the nations
(17:49):
their inheritance, when hedivided mankind, he fixed the
borders of the peoples accordingto the number of the sons of
God.
But the Lord's portion is hispeople.
Jacob is his allotted heritage.
Yahweh let the lesser gods dealwith the other nations.
The Gentile nations were nowgodless nations.
(18:09):
I go over that in messagesnumber 42 and 43.
Israel as a nation was holybecause God was among them.
Yahweh was dealing only withIsrael.
Now, if a Gentile wanted toworship Yahweh, they were to
become a proselyte and obey thelaw with Israel.
Yahweh was the God of Israel,but as we see all throughout
scripture, the people of Israelwere not all holy in a spiritual
(18:31):
sense.
Yahweh displayed his glory inthem as a people and as a nation
, but often it was through wrathon the unfaithful, through
national Israel, yahwehdisplayed all of his attributes,
including wrath and justice.
Continuing in Deuteronomy,yahweh declares truth through
his prophet Moses, in what iscalled the Song of Moses, and he
(18:53):
said I will hide my face fromthem.
I will see what their end willbe, for they are a perverse
generation, children in whom isno faithfulness.
They have made me jealous withwhat is no God.
They have provoked me to angerwith their idols, so I will make
them jealous with those who areno people.
I will provoke them to angerwith a foolish nation, for a
(19:15):
fire is kindled.
That's Deuteronomy 32.20.
There are two key points totake from this passage.
One, yahweh declares thatnational Israel will have an end
(19:36):
.
Two, yahweh will make themjealous with a foolish nation.
The second point establishesthe time frame that's being
referred to here.
The gospel of Christ Yeshua wasto bring salvation to the
Gentile nations, as we havestudied already in Romans, and
we'll continue to see Paul writeabout throughout his letter,
(19:57):
paul was sent out for that verypurpose.
But getting back to thejudgment, we saw in Deuteronomy
that Israel would have an end.
We see it clearly stated againright after this, in verse 28
and 29.
For they are a nation void ofcounsel and there is no
understanding in them.
If they were wise, they wouldunderstand this.
(20:17):
They would discern their latterend, the end of national Israel
, the end of God's holy people.
That's a lot to take in, isn'tit?
Are there any other passages toprove this?
Actually, there are so manyit's impossible to keep track of
them all, but let's look at afew in order to establish some
(20:37):
context, shall we?
What we're going to be lookingat is known as the Great
Tribulation.
It's referred to in scriptureas the Day of the Lord.
More accurately to the originalHebrew language, it was called
the Day of Yahweh.
I've heard many today deny thatthere is a great tribulation in
scripture.
This is pure ignorance.
When we study the scripturesand learn to see prophecy in
(21:00):
context, we're going to findthat the Day of Yahweh was to
bring an end to national Israeland Old Covenant Temple worship.
This would be the final end ofthat covenant in its entirety
and the full transition into theNew Covenant age that began at
the cross of Christ.
We'll get into that more in thenext messages.
For now, I want to focus on theGreat Tribulation and final
(21:22):
judgment and how it applies tothe Jew.
First, the day of Yahweh wasnot going to be a pleasant day,
and this day was reserved for aspecific group of people.
They'd been storing up wrathfor themselves by turning away
from the Lord.
What we read in Deuteronomy wasprophecy given to the people of
Israel.
Yahweh had entered into acovenant with the nation of
(21:43):
Israel and the law and prophetswould be for them.
In Romans, chapter 9, paulwrites they are Israelites and
to them belong the adoption.
The writes this was not amystery to the ancient Hebrews.
They knew that Yahweh was theirGod.
(22:09):
They failed miserably athonoring him as such, but they
knew that Yahweh was their God.
They failed miserably athonoring him as such, but they
knew all these things were forthem.
It should have been abundantlyclear that there would be a
final judgment for them.
However, they tended to nottake it well when their Lord
sent prophets to them.
Let's look at what Israel'sprophets said to them about the
(22:44):
day of Yahweh.
From the prophet Isaiah we readthey will look aghast at one
another.
Their faces will be aflame.
Behold, the day of the Lordcomes, cruel, with wrath and
fierce anger, to make the land adesolation and to destroy its
sinners from it, for the starsof the heavens and their
constellations will not givetheir light.
The sun will be dark at itsrising and the moon will not
(23:07):
shed its light.
I will punish the world for itsevil and the wicked for their
iniquity.
I will put an end to the pompof the arrogant and lay low, the
pompous pride of the ruthless.
I will make people more rarethan fine gold and mankind than
the gold of Ophir.
Therefore, I will make theheavens tremble and the earth
will be shaken out of its placeAt the wrath of the Lord of
(23:29):
hosts and the day of his fierceanger.
And like a hunted gazelle orlike sheep with none to gather
them, each will turn to his ownpeople and each will flee to his
own land.
Whoever is found will be thrustthrough and whoever is caught
will fall by the sword.
Their infants will be dashed inpieces before their eyes, their
houses will be plundered andtheir wives ravished.
(23:50):
Behold, I am stirring up themeads.
1 Peter, chapter 1, verses 1through 10.
The splendor and pomp of theChaldeans will be like Saddam
and Gomorrah when God overthrewthem.
It will never be inhabited orlived in for all generations.
(24:16):
No Arab will pitch his tentthere, no shepherds will make
their flocks lie down there, butwild animals will lie down
there and their houses will befull of howling creatures.
Their ostriches will dwell andtheir wild goats will dance,
(24:40):
hyenas will cry in its towersand jackals in the pleasant.
If you were to read thehistorical documentation of the
destruction of Jerusalem in AD70, you'll find these tragic
events were experienced by thenation of Israel.
You can review the writings ofFlavius Josephus to get a
picture of these things.
The destruction of Israel inthe first century is a
(25:01):
well-documented event.
In my last podcast message,number 57, I discussed that in
the ancient Hebrew prophecy ofour Bibles, the sun, moon and
stars represented governingauthorities and were often
descriptive of nations orkingdoms.
In Joseph's dream in Genesis 37, joseph's ancient Hebrew family
(25:22):
clearly understood Joseph to bereferring to his parents as the
sun and moon and his 11siblings as stars.
Do you recall that Jacob wasnamed Israel by Yahweh?
Yes, jacob was a Christ type.
In other words, he was a shadowof the reality to come.
Jacob's twelve sons representedthe twelve tribes of Israel.
(25:42):
True Israel was Christ.
Yeshua and his twelve apostlesare the foundations of his
church.
National Israel was an oldcovenant shadow of what was to
come in the new covenant.
The lights would go out for theold covenant.
The temple worship would endforever.
This was declared to Israelfrom the beginning, as we saw in
Deuteronomy From more ofIsrael's prophets.
(26:05):
We read you have not gone upinto the breaches or built up a
wall for the house of Israelthat it might stand in battle in
the day of the Lord.
Ezekiel 13.5.
The sun shall be turned todarkness and moon to blood
before the great and awesome dayof the Lord comes.
Joel 2.31.
Then, to the Jews, the prophetAmos writes Woe to you who
(26:28):
desire the day of the Lord.
Why would you have the day ofthe Lord?
It is darkness, not light,writes I hate, I despise your
(26:49):
feasts and I take no delight inyour solemn assemblies.
Even though you offer me yourburnt offerings and grain
offerings, I will not acceptthem.
And the peace offerings of yourfattened animals, I will not
look upon them.
Take away from me the noise ofyour songs.
To the melody of your harps Iwill not listen.
But let justice roll down likewaters and righteousness like an
(27:10):
ever-flowing stream.
Amos, chapter 5.
Are you beginning to see howtribulation and distress would
come to the Jew first andfinally, 400 years before John
the Baptist takes the scene, theprophet Malachi has an entire
writing announcing the comingjudgment for Israel.
Among his writings we read Forbehold, the day is coming,
(27:33):
burning like an oven, when allthe arrogant and all evildoers
will be stubble.
The day that is coming shallset them ablaze, says Yahweh of
hosts, so that will leave themneither root nor branch.
Malachi 4.
In my last writing messagenumber 57, we discussed that in
70 AD the temple in Jerusalemwas set ablaze and that all of
(27:56):
the genealogical records weredestroyed.
I talked about how genetictesting reveals that there is no
ethnic DNA in today's Jews.
They have neither root norbranch.
They have not properly kept theFeast of Yahweh or the Law of
Moses since the destruction ofthe Temple.
Yahweh left no possible way ofdoing so.
It's sad to see people, to thisvery day, going through the
(28:18):
motions of a false religion thatleads to death, day in and day
out, performing religious actsthat will never lead anyone to
life and, even worse, having 99%of Christians believe in their
holy people doing holy thingswhen they reject everything that
Yahweh did for them.
The only similarity thattoday's leaders in Israel have
(28:39):
with the Jews of the firstcentury is that they turned
something holy into an evil andmurderous political movement for
power and riches.
National Israel ended in AD 70and was falsely brought back by
the Rothschilds in the 60s.
If you think that what they'redoing is holy, you're being
deceived by the Zionist media.
(28:59):
But getting back to Israel'sgreat tribulation and final
judgment, malachi continuesBehold, I will send you Elijah,
the prophet, before the greatand awesome day of the Lord
comes, and he will turn thehearts of fathers to their
children and the hearts ofchildren to their fathers, lest
I come and strike the land withthe decree of utter destruction.
Malachi 4, verse 5.
(29:20):
A decree of utter destruction?
That's a tough thing toovercome, wouldn't you say?
This would be a bit concerningif you lived in Israel and were
being told that these thingswould come to the Jew first,
wouldn't it?
And very soon.
But Elijah has to come first.
People are still waiting forthat, aren't they?
Well, not.
If we're paying attention to ourscripture and the words of
(29:42):
Christ Yeshua In Matthew 11.13,about John the Baptist, yeshua
says and if you are willing toaccept it, he is Elijah who is
to come.
Can you see why this might besignificant.
400 years after the prophetMalachi prophesied the
destruction of Jerusalem, johnthe Baptist, who Christ Yeshua
(30:02):
calls Elijah, takes the scene.
I baptize you with water forrepentance, but he who is coming
after me is mightier than I,whose sandals I am not worthy to
carry.
He will baptize you with theHoly Spirit and with fire.
His winnowing fork is in hishand and he will clear baptized
with the Holy Spirit and withfire.
We know that believers beganreceiving the Holy Spirit at
(30:36):
Pentecost, but what is the firereferring to?
Do you remember what we read inMalachi?
The day that is coming shallset them ablaze.
The baptism of fire is abaptism of judgment.
We now begin to see ChristYeshua tied to this judgment,
but let's keep that one onstandby for now.
This message is about thetribulation and judgment for the
(30:56):
Jew first.
In our Romans passage, paulwrote but for those who are
self-seeking and do not obey thetruth but obey unrighteousness,
there will be wrath and fury.
There will be tribulation anddistress for every human being
who does evil, the Jew first,and also the Greek.
I think we're getting a prettyclear picture of why Paul
declares that when it comes tojudgment, it will be for the Jew
(31:19):
first.
Just as Messiah came first tothe Jew, so also did judgment.
You might be asking yourself,but what about the Bema Seat,
judgment known as the judgmentseat of Christ?
We all have to stand before theLord and give an account.
What does the destruction ofnational Israel have to do with
that?
We're making our way into thatsoon and we'll be covering it in
(31:42):
our next message, so don'tworry.
For now let's finish up ourstudy on the final judgment of
God's holy nation of Israel.
Luke 21 says and while some werespeaking of the temple, how it
was adorned with noble stonesand offerings, he said, as for
(32:03):
these things that you see,christ Yeshua prophesied that
the temple would be destroyed,not a temple in our future, but
one that the disciples stood inwith Yeshua in that first
century AD.
They were terrified when hetold them this.
The law in the temple was theirworld.
Imagine being told thateverything, that the buildings
(32:23):
and activities that you havedevoted your life to, would be
destroyed, and by someone whoyou know tells the truth.
We have to realize how big of adeal this was to the Jews of
the first century.
It was everything they knewprior to the Messiah's arrival.
The question we need to ask iswhen would this time come?
Is it in our future?
(32:43):
We should have a pretty goodhandle on the fact that the
whole world wouldn't end.
It would be Israel that comesto an end.
When God made his firstcovenant with national Israel,
it was proclaimed a new heavensand earth.
We see this in Isaiah 51.15.
We can't apply what we see asheaven and earth to prophetic
language.
(33:03):
We have to see things the waythe ancient Hebrews did if we
want to avoid today's massivemisguidance in the church
institutions.
We constantly hear peopleparrot the verse, but concerning
that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven
nor the sun, but the Father only.
Matthew 24, 36.
For some reason, we use thisverse today to justify futurism,
(33:27):
dispensationalism, zionism andeven partial preterism.
There's a parallel here with thefall feast of trumpets.
Preparations had to be made inIsrael for this great feast of
Yahweh, all the while notknowing the exact date or time
that it would begin.
They had to watch the sky andwait for the new moon to arrive.
The new moon would mark thebeginning of the feast of
(33:50):
trumpets.
They may not have known theexact date or time, but they did
know what to look for and anapproximate time frame.
If not, they could never beready for such a feast.
The preparations would havebeen time-consuming and tedious.
The blowing of the trumpets wasthe major thing that we know
about this feast.
Can you think of something elsetied to a trumpet sounding?
(34:13):
So they knew it was coming soonand they would have to have
been told what to be looking for.
Right, let's look at what iswritten by Paul to the church in
Thessalonica.
Thessalonians 2 says Now,concerning the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ and our beinggathered together to him, we ask
you, brothers, not to bequickly shaken in mind or
alarmed either by a spirit or aspoken word or a letter seeming
(34:37):
to be from us, to the effectthat the day of the Lord has
come.
The evidence has sufficientlyconcluded, at least in my mind,
that the day of the Lord wouldbe a day of judgment and wrath.
We also know that this greattribulation would be for the Jew
first, as it was prophesied tobe the end of national Israel.
Many today, based on propheticlanguage being perverted,
(34:59):
believe that the day of the Lordwill be the end of the world as
we know it.
We are taught that there willbe a global calamity and the
entire earth will be destroyed,but that is not even remotely
consistent with what we justread.
Consider these facts theThessalonians were told that the
day of the Lord alreadyhappened and they were still
alive and breathing on planetearth.
(35:21):
Number two Paul doesn't remindthem that the world would have
melted already.
Neither Paul or theThessalonians seem to be looking
for the end of the world as weknow it.
Paul does correct them byreminding them of what he told
them to be looking for.
However, in chapter 3 of 2Thessalonians, paul says Let no
(35:43):
one deceive you in any way, forthat day will not come unless
the rebellion comes first andthe man of lawlessness is
revealed, the son of destructionwho opposes and exalts himself
against every so-called god orobject of worship so that he
takes his seat in.
The day of the Lord will notcome until the rebellion occurs.
He does not say a rebellion, hesays the rebellion.
(36:12):
Some translations, like theNASB, say the apostasy.
Both of these translationscould have truth to them.
We'll cover this detail inanother message, but we do know
that there was a rebellion thaterupted in Israel, spurred by
the Zealots in AD 66.
There is much written by theJewish historian Josephus on
(36:33):
this matter, but we see, thecontext here is that these
things were happening in thatfirst century.
Paul continues Do you notremember that when I was still
with you, I told you thesethings, and you know what is
restraining him now so that hemay be revealed in his time?
For the mystery of lawlessnessis already at work.
Only he who now restrains itwill do so until he is out of
(36:57):
the way.
2 Thessalonians 5-7.
Are you gathering that Paul isnot speaking of events coming in
our near future?
But how did Paul know thesethings?
It's likely because the prophetand Messiah, christ Yeshua,
taught him.
We see these exact thingsoutlined by Christ Yeshua right
in our Bible, matthew 24-15.
(37:18):
Yeshua says we see these exactthings outlined by Christ Yeshua
right in our Bible, matthew 24,15.
Yeshua says but when you seeJerusalem surrounded by armies,
then know that its desolationhas come near.
Then let those who are in Judeaflee to the mountains and let
those who are inside the citydepart and let not those who are
out in the country enter it,for these are days of vengeance
to fulfill all that is written,that's Luke 21, 20.
(37:46):
Then in Matthew 24, 15, we readso when you see the abomination
of desolation spoken of by theprophet Daniel standing in the
holy place, let those who are inJudea flee to the mountains.
Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
And again, you're surely askingyourself if this was the end
times, what about the return ofChrist?
Many attempt to separate thesetwo events in Scripture, but
they cannot be pulled apart Incontext.
(38:06):
They are inseparable.
Our Lord Christ Yeshua says tohis first century followers in
Matthew 24-29, in Matthew 24, 29, immediately after the
tribulation of those days, thesun will be darkened and the
moon will not give its light,and the stars will fall from
heaven and the powers of theheavens will be shaken.
Then will appear in heaven thesign of the Son of man.
(38:27):
Then all the tribes of theearth will mourn and they will
see the Son of man coming on theclouds of heaven in power and
great glory, and he will sendout his angels with a loud
trumpet call and they willgather as a lot.
Do you remember what wediscussed about the Feast of
Trumpets?
Here it is the fulfillment ofthat feast, coming at the loud
(38:51):
trumpet call.
As Christ said a few versesprior, this tribulation would
fulfill all that is written.
The canon was closed upon thedestruction of Jerusalem in AD
70.
The destruction of Jerusalemmarked the bitter end of the
tribulation and distress thatwould come for the Jew first.
In my next message, I'llattempt to prove to you that the
(39:14):
return of Christ occurred in AD70, alongside this tribulation,
destruction and judgment ofnational Israel, its temple
worship, its lineage and theentire old covenant.
This will allow us to furtherunderstand why Paul told us
there will be tribulation anddistress for every human being
who does evil, the Jew first andalso the Greek.
(39:37):
Stay tuned for the next messageand I hope you all have a great
day out there.
Grace and peace to you.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.