All right, we're here in Deuteronomy chapter 28, and we're finishing up the Alphabet of Bible Doctrines. We're going to be looking at Zionism here for the letter Z. Now, this is a very in-depth topic, and we've got one sermon on it, so I've got a lot of Bible, and I'm going to be preaching very quickly. I'm just kind of giving you a warning about that. Even yesterday, by doing that, I was still way over time because it's such an in-depth topic. So, you know, I'll probably be preaching very fast as I go through this. But when it comes to Zionism, what we're basically talking about is the land of Israel and whether or not that was given to the present-day Jews, whether that land belongs to them, and what the Bible teaches about that. Now, to even understand that, we have to go all the way back to before they even entered into the land. Point number one I want you to realise is this: the promise of the land was based on obedience. It was based on obedience.

Point 1 - The promise of the land was based on obedience

Notice what it says in Deuteronomy 28:1: "And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth." Notice what it said in Deuteronomy 28:1. Before they enter the land, he says, "if thou shalt hearken diligently" and if you observe and do all his commandments. So, it is what's known as a conditional covenant. For example, in computer programming or maths, if you have an if statement, it's known as a conditional statement, meaning it's a statement that's true as long as certain things are met. For example, if X is greater than 7, then you do this, but if not, you do this, and it's different, right? So, if is a conditional statement. When they're entering into the promised land, it was a conditional covenant. It's not the same thing as salvation. A lot of people try to apply this to salvation, where you believe on Jesus Christ and you have eternal life, but that's not conditioned on something we have to do to keep our salvation. It's a done deal. The condition is believe on Christ, but then it is eternal, and it doesn't matter what we do; it stays forever. Salvation is forever. It's eternal. But the land itself was based on conditions. If you observe and do, if you hearken to what I say. Verse number two: "And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God." So he's saying, if you hearken unto me, if you listen to what I say, then there are going to be these blessings. Okay, go down to verse number 14.

Think of it like renting an apartment. You sign a lease for one year and rent an apartment, but there are conditions in that contract, right? You've got to pay the monthly rent, you've got to pay the utilities, and you've got to pay the water bill. I mean, if you started breaking things in the apartment, then the contract's over, right? Because it's conditional. It's based on certain things. God's covenant with Israel was a conditional covenant. He says that land belongs to you if you do this. It's not just yours no matter what. You say, why, Brother Stuckey? Because throughout the Bible, the Bible says all of the earth, all of the world, belongs to who? To God. All of the land belongs to God. That's throughout the Bible. It all belongs to God. God is the landlord, so to speak, of the entire earth. It belongs to him, and he said, I'm going to give this group of people this land if you do this, if you observe and do. I mean, even before Deuteronomy 28, they got rejected from the promised land because they did not obey what he said. They didn't want to enter at first, and then they changed their mind, and he's like, well, it's too late. You've got to wander for 40 years as a punishment. So it's always based on conditions. It wasn't this automatic eternal covenant no matter what they did. Go down to verse number 14.

And the Bible says, "And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them." Now, here's the thing. We looked at the first 14 verses. We read through this, and this is a very long chapter. You've got the first 14 verses that are the blessings of God upon the people if they do this, and then what do you have the rest of the chapter, the part we didn't read? All of the curses if you don't obey what I said. So, you know what? You can either be blessed or you can be cursed. The same thing is true in our lives. We can either be blessed by God or we can be cursed by God, depending on what we do. Then it says here in verse number 15: "But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field." Now go down to verse number 62. The context is the same. We're just not reading every single verse here in Deuteronomy about all of the cursings upon them if they disobey. Verse 62: "And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of the Lord thy God." "And it shall come to pass, that as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it." Before they entered the promised land, he said, if you obey, you're going to be blessed. If you disobey, you're going to be cursed. He said you're going to be plucked off the land. Now, that really can't be debated because they were plucked off the land. That happened in the Bible; we see that. We'll talk about Israel and Judah later on, but Israel's gone, and then Judah gets plucked off the land for 70 years. So, that cannot be disputed; that did take place. Then it says here in verse 64: "And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone." "And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind." "And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life." What he's saying is, if you don't obey, you are going to be in fear. You're going to be scattered everywhere. You're going to have no assurance of life. Another thing to keep in mind is that Solomon was promised by God that they would have, what, on every side peace, right? That's throughout the Bible. He said, if you are right with me, you're going to have peace on every side as a nation. Peace on every side. You're not going to have the fears that it mentions here. Let me ask you a question: modern-day Israel, do they have peace on every side? I mean, it's the place that's at more war than pretty much anywhere in the world, right? There is no peace. There's fear on every side. They don't have peace. But the promise of God was this: if you're right with me, you're going to have peace on every side. You're not going to have battles. I mean, there were battles to get into the promised land, but once you get there, if you're right with me, you're going to have peace on every side. What he told Solomon is, if you obey what I say, if you follow what I say, there will be peace on every side. Then it says this in verse 67: "In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see." Verse 68: "And the Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you." So God said, if you don't obey me, you're going to be scattered everywhere. You're going to have fear on every side. You're going to be bondmen and bondwomen. I'm going to put you back into bondage in Egypt like you were before, and you're going to have no blessings at all, all these cursings upon you because you didn't obey. Now go to 1 Kings 11.

And you know, it makes sense when you think about the fact that God owns this world. God owns planet Earth, right? God owns every country. God owns every city. God owns every river. He's basically the landlord, symbolically speaking, and he doesn't just give you free will to do whatever you want with no repercussions. What landlord would do that if they rented to you a building? Why don't you just do whatever you want? No matter what, you want to stop paying rent? No problem, right? You want to break things? No problem. Well, of course, there are going to be rules that you have to follow. When he gave them the land of Israel, it was a conditional covenant where he said, hey, I am giving this to you. I'm going to bless you as a people. You're my people. If you do this, I will bless you. If you don't do it, you're going to be cursed, and you're going to regret it, right?

Point 2 - Israel gets rejected. The northern kingdom of Israel gets rejected.

Now I want to clear up a confusion before we really get deep into this sermon about the Jews versus Israel, because these are not synonymous at all, but they're used interchangeably in today's world. In fact, I use them interchangeably because they're kind of understood interchangeably. But biblically speaking, the Jews and Israel are by no means the same thing, and it's important to understand this. We see this in 1 Kings 11:28: "And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valour: and Solomon seeing the young man that he was industrious, he made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph." Now, I want to say on a side point: do not confuse Jeroboam with Rehoboam. Rehoboam is the son of Solomon that takes over for him. Jeroboam was one of the men of Solomon who ends up being against Solomon. Okay, verse 29: "And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in the way; and he had clad himself with a new garment; and they two were alone in the field." "And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him, and rent it in twelve pieces." So imagine you're wearing clothing, and then all of a sudden somebody just tears your clothing, right? Like if I went up to you and just tore your shirt into twelve pieces. That's what the prophet does to Jeroboam.

Then he says this in verse 31: "And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces: for thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee." So what he says is, I'm taking the kingdom from Solomon, and you're going to get ten out of the twelve tribes. Verse 32: "But he shall have one tribe for my servant David's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel." Now, in verses 30 to 32, this is known as one of the great Bible contradictions, because remember, he said, I'm going to rent it in twelve pieces, and he said, I'm going to give him ten pieces, and I'm going to leave one piece for him. You don't have to be an expert at maths to realise that ten plus one does not equal twelve, right? Ten plus one equals eleven. So you say, well, why is it twelve pieces, and then he mentions eleven pieces? Well, the ten tribes is accurate; it is ten tribes. The one tribe is kind of accurate, and it's kind of not, because the one tribe he's referring to is the tribe of Judah. What you would have is the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah.

Now, the northern kingdom of Israel retains its name after this event. You say, why? Because they retain ten out of the twelve tribes. I mean, imagine that there is a committee with twelve people and two leave. You're probably not going to rename the committee because two are no longer a part of it, but if you're a small remnant left, you're probably going to rename it. For example, think of music and a couple of people split off from a band and start a new band with a new name, right? So the ten tribes retain the name of Israel. You have the northern kingdom of Israel, and then what you have is the southern kingdom of Judah. But the southern kingdom of Judah was not really by themselves. The tribe of Benjamin is the other tribe that goes along with Judah. You say, why does it say one tribe? Because there's one dominant tribe, named after the tribe of Judah. Judah was one of the twelve tribes of Israel, and it's the dominant one in the southern kingdom of Judah, but Benjamin is also with it. So if you were to try to split the names because, you know, maybe you'd say, well, Judah and Benjamin, let's just kind of combine them and you've got Jenjamin. It's not that great of a name. Or if you've got Benjamin and Judah, you've got Buddha, right? They didn't name the new kingdom Buddha; it's Judah. Okay, and personally, I much prefer the name Judah to Buddha, or Jenjamin. So they're known as the southern kingdom of Judah, but really, it's Judah and Benjamin.

Of course, after this event, when you're reading 1 Kings and 2 Kings, and 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles, what are you seeing? You're always seeing the northern kingdom of Israel at war with the southern kingdom of Judah. With the northern kingdom of Israel, what do you always see? A new king rose up, and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. Then a new king comes, and he does that which is evil in the sight of the Lord, and pretty much without fail in the northern kingdom of Israel, every leader does evil. So here's the thing: even though Solomon rebelled, and that is the reason, at the same time, the northern kingdom became wicked, and so separating was a good thing. You say, why? Because you've got ten tribes that have become wicked, and then you've got two tribes that actually want to serve God. Obviously, the Bible speaks about separating from people. For example, if people become ungodly and drunkards, those are not people that you should be spending time with, because they will affect you. You will not positively affect them; they are going to negatively affect you, actually. So we see the separation of the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Then in verse 33: "Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in mine eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father." Now go to 2 Kings 16.

Now look, this is not the way that God intended it. He wasn't trying to separate the twelve tribes where there are enemies with one another, but you're constantly seeing this. You'll see the northern kingdom of Israel side with another nation and fight against the southern kingdom, and both sides are going back and forth. Now, the southern kingdom didn't exactly remain righteous either, because you're going to have a king that will rise up and he does that which was good. The next king does that which is evil. The next one does that which is good. The next one does that which is evil. I mean, it kind of goes back and forth between good and bad for a while in the southern kingdom, but in the northern kingdom, they're pretty much all bad. Just king after king after king does that which is evil, and they're setting up false gods. Jeroboam is the one that set up the false idols in Bethel and Dan. The people are worshipping because he was afraid people would go back to Jerusalem to worship, which is the epicentre of God's people at that time. Then he's like, well, we don't want this, so we're going to set up a golden calf here and one here. Just go to Bethel, go to Dan, right? Go to 2 Kings 16, verse 5.

And the Bible says in 2 Kings 16:5: "Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war: and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him." So we're seeing the northern kingdom of Israel going to the southern kingdom of Judah to war. "At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drave the Jews from Elath: and the Syrians came to Elath, and dwelt there unto this day." Now, it says they drave the Jews. This is not linking back to Israel; it's linking back to Jerusalem. In fact, this word Jew that's mentioned here in 2 Kings 16, you might realise this, you might not, but this is the first time the word Jew appears in the Bible. It's the first time. I mean, look, Jacob gets renamed Israel in the book of Genesis, but you're not going to see the word Jew in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, or 1 Kings until you get to 2 Kings 16. You say, why, Brother Stuckey? Because a Jew and an Israelite are not synonymous. You say, what's a Jew? Someone from Judah. Does that make sense with the name? Someone who's a Jew is someone who comes from the southern kingdom of Judah, and if you lived in that area, you were a Jew, right? So, the terms in our modern day are used interchangeably. Like, if you ask somebody, if they said they're a Jew, which tribe are you from? Well, I'm from the tribe of Reuben. Well, they weren't part of the southern kingdom of Judah. I'm a Levite. Well, I mean, it doesn't make sense, right?

Now here's the thing. God did allow immigration. If you remember, a couple of weeks ago I preached on xenophobia, and I said that God is for immigration for people that adopt the country and want to live for the country. God was fine with people coming to be with God's people as they adopted the religion, but they weren't able to just bring in false idols, false gods, and paganism, right? So other people would come to the southern kingdom of Judah, and it became very intermingled with people from all around the world, because that's the area you would go if you wanted to serve God during that time period. But a Jew is someone that is from Judah, right? So, a Jew and an Israelite are not the same thing. Now, we use them interchangeably today because that's the way people understand them, but they're not really the same thing when you look at this biblically. Now go in the Bible to 2 Kings 17.

Now this is important to understand because the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom are at war with one another, and as I said, the northern kingdom was worse. There's no doubt about that. Pretty much every king that rises up is wicked, and then eventually the northern kingdom of Israel gets rejected by God. The northern kingdom of Israel gets rejected by God, although the southern kingdom of Judah is still continuing on at this point. In 2 Kings 17:7, the Bible reads: "For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods," "And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made." "And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the Lord their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city." "And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree:" "And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the Lord carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger:" "For they served idols, whereof the Lord had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing." So the Lord said unto them, "Ye shall not do this thing." Now remember back in Deuteronomy, what did we read? If you obey me, I'm going to bless you. If you disobey, I'm going to curse you, right? So they didn't obey. They're worshipping false idols, which is exactly what he warned about. Go to verse number 22.

"For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them;" "Until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day." They get removed. They get scattered abroad. And notice this: as he said by all his servants the prophets. All his servants the prophets spoke of this. They all foretold this. If you remember, and this is a little bit later in the time frame, but I preached through the book of Hosea a few years ago, and that book is a warning to the southern kingdom of Judah: don't do what the northern kingdom did. Don't rebel. Don't start worshipping idols. It's all throughout the Bible that, hey, if you don't obey God, God is going to curse you. Look, our salvation is eternal no matter what we do, because it's not based on conditions. It's not, whosoever believeth if you continue to stay in church. No, it's whosoever believeth; it's he that believeth. But when it came to entering the promised land, it was a conditional covenant. You say, why do you say it's conditional? Because you see that word if. That was the requirement to have the land, and the northern kingdom of Israel rebelled, and he said, I'm going to scatter you. He said all of the servants, the prophets, foretold this. So Israel was carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day. Now go in your Bible to Daniel 9. Daniel chapter 9.

Now look, God's plan in the Old Testament was to use a nation to reach the world, and they had the same thing we have. As Jesus rose again, in Acts 1 it says to be witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Our job is to evangelise the world, get churches started everywhere, go soul-winning everywhere, and get a ton of people saved. "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." That is the job of every single church, and every individual at a church, to evangelise and get people saved. That's what God has left us with. But here's the thing: in the Old Testament, it's not like God didn't want anybody in other countries to be saved, because think about Jonah going to Assyria to preach, right? God wanted the world to hear the gospel, and so it was the job of a nation to evangelise the world. Unfortunately, they weren't doing it. They weren't getting the job done. I mean, even after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, then you have Peter and the other apostles, and they still don't want to evangelise the world. Why do we know Paul the Apostle so well? Because he went to the Gentiles. He did what the other apostles and other people were not really willing to do, by and large.

Point 3 - Jews get put on time out

In Daniel 9, we're going to see point number three: the Jews get put on time out. The southern kingdom of Judah, they're put on time out. Whatever word you want to use, I call it a 70-year time out, a 70-year punishment by God that is spoken of in the book of Daniel. We're not going to turn there, but at the very beginning of Daniel, Daniel gets taken captive because he lived during these 70 years. He was a young child, and he lived through it as God's people were able to return to the land. Okay, Daniel 9:1.

In Daniel 9:1, the Bible says: "In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans;" "In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem." And by the way, we're preaching on Bible reading in the second sermon. Daniel understood by books the seventy years. He understood by reading. He understood by studying, and he said he understood it because he saw the seventy years in Scripture. That's how he understood it. It's easy for me to preach this today because we just look back at what happened, and they spent seventy years in time out and came back. It's like, oh, okay, I get what the Bible's saying. But when you're looking at something toward the future, it's a lot more complicated, right? Then it says in verse 3: "And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:" "And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;" "We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments:" "Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land." And you know what you see here? Daniel just basically takes the blame for this as a people and said, we didn't follow what you said. We got what we deserved. We got the punishment, seventy years. That is what we deserve because we rebelled against you. During these seventy years, you have the Chaldean Empire, you have Nebuchadnezzar and those that followed him, but eventually King Cyrus becomes basically the head person in the world, and then Darius gets appointed here in the location of Babylon. Go to Ezra chapter 1.

So there can be no doubt that there was a seventy-year time out given to the southern kingdom of Judah, right? The northern kingdom of Israel gets rejected; the southern kingdom of Judah gets a seventy-year time out. Now think about this logically. Let's say your son bites your daughter and you give your son a spanking, okay, and you tell him, don't do that again; the spanking is going to be bigger next time. Isn't that pretty logical? The punishment gets worse if you do the same thing, and then all of a sudden, fifteen minutes later, your son bites your daughter again. You say, Brother Stuckey, is this spoken from experience? Well, not really, but it kind of, you know. And then it's like, guess what? The punishment the second time is going to be bigger. Doesn't it make sense in a courtroom? You get caught driving under the influence, driving with alcohol, DUI, and you get a six-month suspension on your licence or whatever. If you do it again, what takes place? They remove your licence, they revoke it, or you get a three-year suspension. Your fine gets bigger. You get jail time. The punishment is bigger the second time. If you rob a 7-Eleven and they give you a small warning or small punishment, the next time it's going to be bigger for the same crime. Even if the crime is not bigger, the punishment is bigger. Doesn't that make logical sense? Isn't that what you do when you raise your kids? The punishment's going to get bigger if they disobey. So here's the thing: they had a seventy-year time out, and now they're returning. They ought to be very careful, right? Because they've already been put out of the land for seventy years during the life of Daniel. It's like, you better take heed to what's being said. That's why you'll see the prophets, as they enter back into the land, they're very worried. They're very concerned, and they're preaching very hard, saying, hey, we better obey this time, because if we don't obey, we know what is spoken of in the prophets. We know what happened in the northern kingdom of Israel. We could get removed, right? Ezra 1:1.

Now in Ezra 1:1, the Bible says: "Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying," "Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah." "Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel, he is the God, which is in Jerusalem." And so God gives them a chance to enter back into the land. Now, why does God let them enter back into the land? Because they begged for mercy, because they were repentant, because they were sorry. Isn't that what you always see in the book of Judges? They become wicked, and when they beg for mercy, God gives them another chance, and he raises up a righteous judge. Same thing with your kids. When they ask for forgiveness, you give them another chance, right? God gave the Jews another chance. He said, I will let you go back in the land. Because here's the thing: during these seventy years, there's a big problem, because they're not able to serve God one hundred per cent. Why? Because you had to have the ordained priests. You had to do the offerings and sacrifices, and you couldn't just do this stuff on your own, so they weren't able to serve God one hundred per cent. It would be like if somebody got saved in a Muslim country and they want to get baptised, and it's like, what do I do? Go down to the Catholic church and have water sprinkled on my head, right? You can't really serve God one hundred per cent; you just don't have the means for it. And here's the thing: there are people that are very righteous and they love God during this time period, but they couldn't really serve God one hundred per cent like they really wanted to because they're out of the land. Everything is just chaotic at this point as a result of their sin, and he says, you get to return. So a lot of people return to the land, and then, of course, people migrate to the land. Now, between Malachi and Matthew, you've got 300-plus years that go by, right? And if you remember, at the end of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, all of a sudden, immediately, what do the people start doing? They start marrying people from heathen lands, and all of a sudden you've got homes where they're worshipping false gods. It's like, why did you even come to Jerusalem if you didn't want to serve God? They're very angry because they're like, you're doing the same thing that God kicked us out of the land for seventy years, and they're worried, as a people, they're going to be removed completely because these people are marrying false gods. Now, I don't agree with what they decided to do, where they forced them to get divorces as a result, because you've got kids without parents. What I would say in that difficult situation is they should have just kicked those people out of the land, because you're going to get us all kicked out of the land. Just kick them out. That's what I would have done in that situation. I would not have advised divorce, but that's what they required them to do. They're worried, wait a minute, we're going to all get kicked out of the land because we're going to start having idols, false gods; people aren't going to be worshipping the true God, and the same thing is going to happen that took place to the northern kingdom of Israel. Go in your Bible to Matthew 21.

Point 4 - The southern kingdom of Judah gets rejected.

So you've got basically a 300-year gap, and then you've got John the Baptist that comes on the scene, right? When you're reading the Gospels, are the people in Jerusalem the Jews? Because you've got to realise this is before Jesus Christ. Obviously, Jesus is going to come and be born, but it's like, you know what? Jesus comes on the scene at the time of Jesus being born. Are the people, by and large, serving God? Do you see that in the Gospels, that the Pharisees and the scribes are serving God? No, they're wicked. They rebelled. They're not serving God. Now, of course, there are people that are righteous and good people, but by and large, they become very wicked. Then we get to Matthew 21, and what we're going to see is the Jews don't just get put on time out. Jesus prophesies about the rejection of the Jews. Matthew 21:33: "Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:" Now, the certain householder is representing God the Father, and it's going to be very clear in this parable that the husbandmen are representing the Jews. So you've got God the Father represented by the householder, and you've got the Jews represented by the husbandmen, or the land of Israel, right? The land of Israel are the husbandmen. "And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it." So he sends servants, and the servants represent the prophets. The householder sends servants just to collect the fruits. In a symbolic sense, when it comes to people that are preaching the word of God at our church, when we look at the salvations in this bulletin, 5,382, did I get most of these people saved? No, I didn't, right? What takes place is that even the prophets in the Bible, they're not getting everybody saved. I mean, a church that is a soul-winning church, when you look at the salvations, it's very much a team effort of a lot of people doing the work. It's not possible for one person to get that many salvations in, what is it, seven months, right? That's just not going to happen. So it's very much a team effort. Servants were sent, and these are the prophets, and they're just there to collect the fruits. Now remember, we're not going to look at the other parable, but remember when Jesus curses the fig tree. Why did he curse it? Because it was not producing any fruits, and it was an understanding of the nation of Israel. It's like they better get back to producing fruit; they're not doing what they're supposed to do, right? Then it says in verse 35: "And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another." Isn't that what you really see with the prophets of the Old Testament? Which of them was not persecuted? I mean, "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." You read Isaiah, you read Jeremiah, you read Ezekiel, you read all of these prophets, and what's taking place? They're persecuted. They're persecuted by people that reject the proper religion but live in the area with the proper religion, so they're not really saved themselves, by and large. It's unsaved people that are persecuting them, although even saved people can persecute, right? You know, that's obviously true as well. But then it says here in verse 36: "Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise." "But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son." Now, who do you think the son represents? If the householder represents God the Father, who do you think the son represents? God the Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus is speaking about himself, right? He said last of all the householder sent his son. Then it says, "They will reverence my son."

"But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance." In this parable, the husbandmen kill the son. They kill the son of the householder. Now here's the thing. This makes sense from when Jesus was born, right? At the beginning, King Herod is troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Why is King Herod so upset? Because, wait a minute, I'm the king. I don't want somebody else to be the king, right? I don't want somebody else to make the rules. I'm the king, and my son's going to be the next king. So he goes to kill all of the babies because he wants to kill Jesus, right? Then it says in verse 39: "And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him." "When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?" So here's the thing. If you're a householder and you own a big farm, and you've got a lot of workers, and you send people to kind of watch the farm in your absence, right? You know, people will buy a house and rent it out overnight to various people, and they have people watching it, but they're not really there themselves oftentimes, right? So what are you going to do if your workers are killing the people that you're sending? They're coming to collect the money, the rent from the house that you're renting out, and then you end up killing them, and last of all he sends his son, and they kill the son. Well, what are you going to do? You're going to get new workers. You're going to have new people watching the vineyard, right? So it's just common sense. I mean, above that, you're going to have them arrested or killed if you can, right, if they killed your son. So Jesus asked that question: what will the lord of the vineyard do? "They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons." It's like they had a job to collect the fruit. They're not doing it, and they're killing all the servants, and they're killing my son. He's going to destroy them. That's what they said. And it says in verse 42: "Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?" "Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." He says the kingdom of God is going to be taken away from you and given to another nation. Okay. Now in my opinion, this parable is very clear. I mean, it's very clear who the son is. It's very clear that God the Father is the lord of the vineyard, right, the householder. It's very clear who the servants are. I mean, it makes perfect sense. But here's the thing. Let's just look at the reaction of those that heard what he said, where the kingdom's going to be taken from you and given to another nation. It's going to be taken from Israel and given to another nation. Then it says this in verse 44: "And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder." "And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them." He's like, I think he's talking about us. "But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet." They get so mad at this parable that they want to kill Jesus. They're not putting hands on him to shake hands; they want him killed, right? It basically ends up being a self-fulfilling prophecy because he makes them so mad that they do exactly what was spoken of in the parable: they kill the son, right? Because they heard this parable and they realised, okay, he's speaking of us. He's speaking against the nation of Israel, and they're angry about it. I mean, we're going to be rejected, but the northern kingdom of Israel got rejected. You're already on a seventy-year time out. Ezra warned about that. All the prophets warned about this. I mean, it should be common sense to you, right? Turn to your Bible to Matthew 27.

And here's the thing: this isn't really debated either, because historically speaking, in 70 A.D. they did get removed, right? It's a famous seven-year war, and midway through that war, basically, they get removed. I mean, that's actually a fact. That's what took place, and they got scattered everywhere, just like God said would happen. That already took place, right? So they persecute, and they end up killing Jesus Christ here in Matthew 27. Notice what it says in verse 24: "When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it." Now let me just say this about Pontius Pilate: he's not an innocent victim. Okay? It's like, you know, a long time ago I saw the movie The Passion of the Christ, and they make Pontius Pilate out to be like a good person, a sympathetic character. Look, he might not have been directly responsible, but he could have stopped what took place. He's not a good guy by any stretch of the imagination. When you're looking at political leaders, assume they're bad. Okay, not just in the modern day; two thousand years ago, just assume they're bad, because usually that's true. Pontius Pilate is not an innocent victim. When he says, hey, I'm just washing my hands, I'm clean from this, that doesn't make you clean. It's kind of like when Jacob said, I'm going to seem like a deceiver to my dad if I say that I brought the venison, and then his mum's like, well, I'll take the blame for you, and then he ends up doing it. Yeah, but then Jacob is the one that's cursed, and he has to leave for fear of his life, and he's gone for decades. He never sees his mum again. I mean, she says, let me take the responsibility. It doesn't work that way. If you sin, you're held accountable, even if others are also responsible. I mean, Adam's like, but I mean, the woman that thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the fruit. Yeah, but you're also accountable, Adam, right? I mean, you can't just blame her. Or, you know, Eve's like, but the serpent. It's like, well, no, you still made your own free-will choice, right? Then it says in verse 25: "Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children." Look, the Jews took credit for it during this day. In our modern day, you know, if you were to ask Jews, are you responsible for killing Jesus? A lot of people get very angry at the accusation: how dare you say we're responsible? But that's what the Bible says. Now, they're not the only ones responsible. I get that. I understand that. I mean, the Romans are certainly responsible, but who does the Bible chiefly put to blame for this event? The Jews. And the Jews said, hey, we'll take it, and the blood can be on our children as well. Go to Acts chapter 2. Acts 2.

Now I'll say this: some Jews will get very angry at the accusation, but not all Jews. There's a famous Jewish comedian; her name is Sarah Silverman. She is a very wicked and, you know, evil person, the things that come out of her mouth. And you know what? She, in a comedy skit that was on YouTube that got a lot of controversy — anyway, it's interesting because things that are righteous and godly and good, the media says, how dare them say that, and tries to brush it away. But you can say just about anything vulgar or perverse, and anything's allowed to go. But what she said was so bad that even just the mainstream said, whoa, that's too far, where she was doing a skit of Jesus Christ. It's like, did you guys kill Jesus? She's like, yes, we did, and we would do it again, and she's bragging about it and mocking the death of Jesus Christ. It's like, well, "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh", right? And so the Jews themselves, some might deny it, but the Bible specifically holds them accountable. And make no mistake about it, in the writings of Judaism, they do not speak well of Jesus Christ. In the Talmud, they say that Jesus is a bastard child from a man named Panthera, and he was a sorcerer, and he's going to be in hot excrement, hot dung, for all eternity as a punishment. That's what it teaches in the Talmud about Jesus Christ in their writings. Now, it's interesting because find me another religion that speaks bad about Jesus. The Muslims don't speak bad about Jesus. Now, they reject the Jesus of the Bible, but they say he was a prophet. Hindus say he was a prophet. Buddhists say he was, you know, a prophet. But in Judaism, in their writings, they flat out say that Jesus was a wicked person, right? And here in Matthew 27, they took credit. Now Acts 2:22, notice what the Bible says.

"Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:" "Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:" "Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it." Now who is Peter referring to? Ye men of Israel. There are a lot of people that get saved in this story, but Peter is specifically preaching to the men of Israel. A lot of people are going soul-winning in Acts 2, but Peter is specifically preaching to ye men of Israel. So what did Peter say to the men of Israel? Ye have crucified and slain the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter holds them responsible, and all throughout the Bible, it's the Jews that are held accountable for this event. They're the ones. I mean, in other parts of the Bible, all the blood from the beginning to the end is held upon them because they kill the prophets that are sent. That's what you see all throughout the Bible. Go to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.

Now, I gave you an analogy earlier about a son biting your daughter, and then you give a warning or a spanking, and 15 minutes later they do the same thing, and the punishment is going to be worse. Now, the original punishment was a 70-year time out. The next punishment is going to be worse. But here's the thing: that is a misleading statement that I made because this is not the same thing as a son biting a daughter and doing it again the second time. This is like your son biting your daughter, they get a spanking, and 15 minutes later they stab your daughter, right? Because they killed the Lord Jesus Christ. That is far worse than anything they did. That's not the same thing at all. It's not just, well, you did the same thing again; let's move the punishment. No, no, it's far worse than what they did before. And in the parable in Matthew 21, what it's saying is you're going to be rejected once this takes place. Now here's the thing. My opinion is that it's the point of no return after killing the Lord Jesus Christ. I think that's what the parable speaks of, where basically you no longer ever have a right to the land. It does not belong to you. But here's the thing. Let's say you disagree with that. Let's say you say, well, Brother Stuckey, I still think that they can return to the land. Well, here's the thing: why did they get to return to the land the first time? Because they got right with God. They got right with God. And so the land of Israel, starting in, what is it, 1945 I think was the year, or somewhere around there, 75 years ago, if the land was given back to them 75 years ago, it must be because they all turned to God like the Ninevites did in Assyria, right? Well, the question is, did they all turn back to God 75 years ago? Well, here's the thing. They still reject Jesus Christ as the Saviour, so how can you really say they turned back to God? Tel Aviv is in competition with San Francisco to be the gay capital of the world. I mean, you can't look at that country today and say that they're living righteously and living godly. So what's my opinion? My opinion is the land was taken from you. Now here's the thing. Personally, I don't care who is living in that land. I really don't care if Palestine gets it or Israel, because it doesn't involve me at all. Because here's the thing: this actually ties into Bible prophecy. Go in your Bible to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.

Point 1: The promise of the land of Israel was based on obedience. It was not simply because of your blood type, or your eye colour, or your hair colour, or whatever. It was based on obedience.

Point 2: Israel gets rejected. The northern kingdom of Israel gets rejected.

Point 3: The southern kingdom of Judah gets put on time out for 70 years.

Point 4: The southern kingdom of Judah gets rejected.

Now, historically speaking, in 70 A.D., the temple gets destroyed. There's a seven-year war, and they get scattered everywhere in the world. Of course, that's true. I mean, that's historically true. Everybody knows that to be true. They did get rejected out of the land. The only question is, well, do they have a right to return back to the land? As I said, if they're going to return back to the land, then they must have gotten right with God, which they didn't. There's no indication of that. And here's what you have to understand about it. Whenever you're preaching on Judaism, it's like, are you preaching about the religion or the people ethnically speaking? Look, Judaism is a false religion, just like Islam is a false religion. But when you're preaching against a religion, that doesn't mean that you're preaching against people because of their skin colour, or that doesn't make you a racist because you're saying the religion is wicked and saying that they don't have the land belonging to them. Well, I mean, here's the thing: all the land belongs to God, and there are people all over the world that have no right to any land. They got the land for a long time, and then they got removed from the land.

But here's what you have to understand about Judaism at the time of Jesus Christ. When Jesus came on the scene, many people immediately believed on Jesus Christ that had believed in Judaism. Why? Because they were already saved, and the Bible says that if you're saved, once you saw the Messiah, you're going to know that's the voice of the shepherd. You're going to know it's from God. Every single person that was saved believed on Jesus Christ, and when he came, they knew, hey, this is the real deal. Then a lot of other people converted and believed on Christ. They were not actually saved before. They were not putting their full trust in the coming Messiah. When the Messiah came and he fulfilled all these miracles, they're like, yeah, this is the real deal, and they believed. Many people that were in the land of Israel did believe. Many people got saved. But what about those that did not get saved? See, here's the thing. When you're looking at the religion of Judaism today, it's the remnant of those that did not convert over to Jesus Christ. It's the ones that rejected Jesus Christ. It's the ones that killed Jesus Christ, right? And, you know, in some churches they go so extreme to say that the Jews don't even have to believe; they get a free pass to heaven. I mean, "he that believeth not the Son shall not see life". There's none righteous, no, not one. Nobody gets a free pass to heaven. Everybody must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, no matter who you are, right? But the land itself was a conditional covenant, and they got removed permanently. "And I will give it to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." That's what the Bible teaches. But the thing is, this ties into Bible prophecy because this actually prepares for the end times.

Notice what it says in 2 Thessalonians 2:1: "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him," "That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand." And at hand means about to take place. It does not mean it's already taken place. It's an expression saying about to take place. He said, don't let anybody deceive you that the day of Christ is about to happen. So basically, don't let anybody deceive you that the return of Christ is at any moment. That's what he's basically saying. Then he says here in verse 3: "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;" Now, who is the man of sin? Who is the son of perdition that's being referred to? Obviously, the Antichrist. Regardless of what your end-times view is, everybody pretty much agrees the Antichrist midway through Daniel's 70th week is going to declare himself to be God in the abomination of desolation. What I say is, the day of Christ is going to be after that event because it's going to be midway through when there's the falling away and that man of sin is revealed.

But notice what it says in verse 4: "Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God." So the Antichrist is going to declare himself to be God. Now let me ask you a question: what or where is the temple of God? Where is it located? In Jerusalem, right? I mean, the events during the end times, what's the central location? Over in the land of Israel, no doubt about that. I mean, that's why he says, woe unto you that are in Israel, because the abomination of desolation is going to take place, and those of you that are living right there, it's not exactly where you want to live when it takes place if you're rejecting the mark of the beast, right? But here's the thing: in the temple of God. So before the end-times events are going to take place, what are you going to see? You're going to see the third temple, right? Now here's the thing. Modern-day Judaism, they don't do sacrifices. They don't do offerings. Why? Well, they'll say, we don't have the third temple. Once the third temple comes, we're going to start them again. The Bible tells us there's going to be a third temple. That was destroyed in 70 A.D., but it's going to be rebuilt. There are even Christian groups that will donate money to help build the third temple. I'm just like, what? I mean, now here's the thing. The end-times events are going to take place no matter what, so I'm not saying we try to stop them from taking place. They're going to take place. There's nothing we can do to stop that. When the world becomes so wicked, everything is going to unfold. It's not like, well, maybe this will happen, maybe not. No, no, the Bible tells us what's going to take place, right?

But here's the thing. We're not going to donate our money to the land of Israel to worship offerings when the offering and the sacrifice already came. And yes, the third temple is going to be built. This ties into Bible prophecy. But see, what's going to take place is that when the abomination of desolation takes place, it's going to surprise the Jews. You say, why, Brother Stuckey? Because the Jews in 2023, they are not looking for a spiritual Messiah. They're not. They're looking for a messiah that's going to bring them to power, and that's what the Antichrist is going to do. But then, when he declares himself to be God in the temple of God, it's like, well, wait a minute, wait a minute, that's not what we signed up for. And then he's going to turn on the Jews. He's going to use them. That's what he's going to do. The Bible foretells of these events, and then he says, everybody must bow down and worship me. So he's going to turn on the Jews midway through. Now honestly, that is the best thing that could possibly happen to the Jews. You say, why? I mean, it is, right? Because some of them might actually humble themselves and get saved, and say, wait a minute, maybe we're not the chosen people anymore. Maybe we have to believe on Christ. I mean, it's the best thing to kind of shake them out of their beliefs and realise. Look, I've been soul-winning for many years, and in the US, you run into plenty of people that are Jewish where I'm from. Obviously, there are always exceptions, but by and large, they are very anti-gospel. They mock it. They think it's a joke. They reject it completely. They think they're better than you. Are there exceptions? Yeah, there are exceptions. But here's the thing: when you're told for thousands of years, we're God's people, we're God's people, we're God's people, what's the sort of attitude that's going to come? A very arrogant attitude, right? And by and large, that is what you see take place. But in the temple of God, the Antichrist is going to turn on the Jews at that moment. Go to Matthew 24.

Now, I mean, here's the thing. It's like, and I don't think there's anything wrong with visiting the country of Israel. I mean, there are obviously a lot of historical events over there. I think it would be pretty cool to visit Israel. Personally, when I grew up, I always wanted to visit the pyramids, so I'd probably rather visit Egypt in terms of just, you know, my secular interest or whatever. But there are a lot of cool things that took place in Israel, and sure, it would be great to visit, but there's no extra spiritual blessing upon Israel. Remember, if they were right with God, the promise of God is you're going to have peace on every side, not that you're going to be saved from being destroyed over and over again. It's like, you're going to have peace. You can't say the land of Israel today has peace. Now here's what's interesting about this. You might realise this, you might not, but there are a lot of Jews that are anti-Zionists, and I'm saying those of the religion of Judaism that stand against Zionism. In fact, you can watch videos online. You'll have a bunch of rabbis holding up Palestinian flags against Zionism and preaching against Zionism. To give you an understanding, this is already a long sermon, and I'm doing my best to wrap it up. We're on our last verse here in a second, but I want to help you understand why this has taken place. If you go back a couple of hundred years ago, almost everyone of the Jewish religion, just look it up, read old articles, they would have been all against Zionism before they entered the land of Israel. They're pretty much all against Zionism. They were against the idea of returning. You say, why? Because what they kept telling their people was, well, the reason why we've been scattered all over the world is because we must have the Messiah come first, and when the Messiah comes, he will bring us back to the land. But then, 75 years ago, what took place? Well, the opportunity to return to the land came early before their Messiah came. Now, of course, their Messiah is going to be the Antichrist. I mean, their Messiah is false. It's not true. Obviously, Jesus is the Messiah. But they said, we believe in a coming Messiah, and he has not yet come, and so until he comes, we can't enter the promised land. Now eventually, that percentage kind of switched, because even 75 years ago, it was a big split. A lot of Jews said, no, we cannot return, because if we return pre-emptively to the land of Israel before the Messiah comes, God is going to curse us another thousand years. That's what they taught. That's what they taught in their synagogues. They're telling their people, hey, we've been cursed, and if we try to return back to the land early before the Messiah comes, we're going to be in more trouble. But eventually, a bunch did return, and a bunch didn't. They got scattered or killed; those are rejected. But there are some today that stand against Zionism and against the modern state of Israel, and you can watch. I mean, if you don't believe me, go online. It's very interesting seeing Jews chant Palestine and be like, down with Israel. It's very interesting. But those Jews say, well, wait a minute, we've always said that the Messiah must come. It hasn't happened, so we reject it, right? But now in our modern day, obviously, the overwhelming tide is that the land belongs to Israel. But when did they return back to God? It never happened, right? Matthew 24. We'll close up here. Matthew 24:1.

Matthew 24:1 says: "And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple." "And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." "And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" Now, this can be very confusing because often in prophetical statements, it speaks about multiple things. It is known as a dual application. Matthew 24 speaks about the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D., but that does not mean that all of Matthew 24 is about 70 A.D. Some people say the end-times events took place two thousand years ago and make all of Revelation symbolic, but that is not what the Bible is speaking about. He speaks about 70 A.D. and the destruction of the temple, but then he segues into the very end times. So what you have to realise is that the modern state of Israel and rebuilding the temple tie together for the end times. The third temple is going to be built because in 2 Thessalonians 2, "he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God." If you remember, I preached on Antiochus Epiphanes, which came before the time of Jesus Christ, and it was like a type or picture of the Antichrist. This was in the book of Daniel. It talks about how he stood up and slaughtered a pig. This was before the time of Jesus Christ, so that is an unclean animal. It is blasphemous. They handed out coins at that time where basically his name came out to God, and so he is basically saying, I am God, and he demanded people to worship him. It was like a type of the abomination of desolation, although it is only a picture of what is actually going to take place during the end times. But look, in terms of this general idea of Zionism, honestly, it is not my fight. I really do not care who is in the land. Islam is a wicked religion. Islam is a wicked religion. So is modern-day Judaism. It is also a wicked religion. I do not believe that 75 years ago God gave the land back to them. I do not believe that is found in the Bible. I believe they got rejected from the land. But my bigger concern is just getting these people saved, because these end-times events are going to happen. We cannot stop it. I would not suggest donating your money to build the temple so the Antichrist can declare himself to be God, but the end-times events are going to happen no matter what. It is what it is.

Let us close in a word of prayer.

Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and just getting to see this really deep topic on the topic of Zionism. Help us, throughout this entire series, all the things that we looked at from A to Z, help us to know our doctrines and study and know our Bibles, and be able to defend what we believe and why we believe things, God. I ask you to just continue to bless our church. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.