Well, of course! Because what were the prophets talking about? The coming of the Messiah! And yet as it was in veiled language so was His rejection. In even further veiled language, in Psalms 22 was his burial and resurrection. Then the language was that He would ascend (Psalms 110). We looked at it after we started Hebrews, Psalms 110 verse 1. Where "the Lord said to my Lord, come sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool."
What was the "until?" When He would leave Heaven and go back and set up His earthly kingdom. So this is all the Old Testament prophecy, how that Christ would come, and, how that He would suffer and die, but be raised from the dead. And yet bring the promised Kingdom to Israel. This is what Peter is standing on! All the Old Testament Prophets have foretold of these days. What are these days? The ending of the Jewish dealings of God with them the Hebrews only as He has changed and is now working among the nations (Jeremiah 31:34, Psalm 94). His earthly ministry, His crucifixion, His burial, His resurrection, His ascension, and all right there bunched together. Now verse 25.
Acts 3:25a "You (Peter says to the Nation of Israel) are the children of the prophets, (you are the ones the prophets were writing to. You are the children) and of the covenant which God made with (whom?) our fathers, (See how plain all this is? I hope you can see that.) saying unto (which one?) Abraham,..." If we know our Old Testament back there in Genesis, the same words that God said to Abraham, He repeated to Isaac. And as soon as Jacob takes the forefront, He repeats it to Jacob. Then the prophets begin to rest on all those Covenant promises. Peter is reminding Israel that YOU are the children of all the prophetic writings. We are the children of the New Covenant of promise Jeremiah, Matthew, Mark, Luke, 1&2 Corinthians and then in Hebrews.
Acts 3:25b "...And in your seed (the seed of Abraham. Who is the seed of Abraham? The HEBREW! The Nation of Israel. No! but those who come to the same operational faith as Abraham) shall all the kindred of the earth be blessed." (This is taken in part from Genesis 22:18 “ in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.” Here the word “nations” is used as opposed to “kindred” in the Hebrew this word "nations" has a base root that means: “the Back”, means: a foreign nation or gentiles, heathen, so the gentiles are to blessed to the same fashion as Abraham, he did not take it to others but rather he took it to heart. How? By obeying God when he heard His voice, just as this passage says.
But, Who was the crowning seed of Abraham? Jesus of Nazareth!! The Christ!! And, in that way, we then benefit from all the things promised to Abraham and the Nation of Israel.
It is just like the New Covenant. A lot of people try to maintain that we are under the New Covenant. We just scream in opposition. NO, the New Covenant says as plain as day, a New Covenant I will make with Israel! This is the spiritually awakened man, the one with God in the Spirit of Christ, one who trusts in the faith of Christ. Or who have the trusting of faith as Abraham.
But, now here in the Church Age, what are we getting? We are getting those crumbs falling off the table as the Canaanite woman begged for, we are getting the spillover. The New Covenant isn’t to us, it is to Israel. But, because of what God did for Israel, we are cashing in on the overflow. This is but one school of thought but we'll turn to Galatians 6:15-16 “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.” Now here we have “the Israel of God”, who are these people? They are the ones who walk in the same trusting, that we saw Abraham had there in Genesis 22:18.(Romans 4:12; Galatians 3:7-9, 23; Romans 2:28-29; 9:6-8) Unlike the physical nation of Israel this nation or church is made up of all who would believe the Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself. From where? From the inner man, the spirit, the awakened to be a divine spirit of man, again, and by the renewing of our minds, to be receptive of the spiritual inspiration of revelation of the Spirit of Christ Jesus.
Well, we hope all that helps in Hebrews, that He didn’t take on the form of angels. He didn’t use the powerful angelic forces to bring all of this about. But, instead He took upon Himself the seed of Abraham. He came as a Hebrew, and lived as a Hebrew and as a son of man. He lived under the Law, as a Hebrew. So, all of those promises made to the Nation of Israel will yet one day be fulfilled, or we can just as well throw this book away. If Israel is not yet at the very core of everything that God is doing – throw it away!! But we don’t have to because Israel still IS at the core!! Primarily because of her disobedience and hardheartedness caused by unbelief. The very sin nature of fallen man.
Listen, why can’t people wake up and realize. Why is the little nation of less than three to five million people, with no more land area than our state of New Jersey, in the news every day?
But, there is Israel. Right in the middle of everything. That is as it should be! A verse comes to mind. Go to Deuteronomy 32:8. My, if this isn’t enough to knock your eyes out, we don’t know what is!!! Look what it says. Plain language! We don’t have to be a Hebrew or Aramaic or Greek scholar to understand this. We don’t even have to be a whiz at English! We can just take it for what it says!
Deuteronomy 32:8 "When the Most High (the Almighty God, the Creator in His sovereignty) divided to the nations (all of them around the planet) their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, (and put them into their various nationalistic categories) he set the bounds (or the borders) of the people (of all these nations of people all around the planet. Every nation’s border was set) according to the number of (what?) the children of Israel."
That’s what it says. Do you believe it? You had better! So, who is at the hub of the vast wheel of humanity? Israel!! That’s why Satan has been constantly attacking them. Hitler’s holocaust was not just an accident. That was a Satanic effort to usurp and destroy God’s program for the nations.
We'll repeat it. That’s why they are under attack today. That’s why the whole world – we ought to just take a look at the votes of the United Nations for the last 50 years. We don’t know how many have been mentioned. But there have been hundreds of things that they have voted on regarding the little Nation of Israel. And, we know with almost no exception, it’s always been hundreds to one or two against Israel.
Even today, the world in general is coming down on the little Nation of Israel. As if to say, well, just let the rest of the world take over. Just swim out into the Mediterranean and disappear and let everybody else have their own way. But, God won’t have it! God will NOT have it! Because He has decreed that at the core of all of His dealings with the nations is this little Nation of Israel. For He has said that Judgment will start with the Household of God, and that my friends is the nation of Israel.
On your way back to Hebrews stop at Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 35. If this is not true then we might as well throw the Book away and go home and forget it. But, it IS true.
Jeremiah 31:35 "Thus says the LORD, which gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the start for a light by night, which divides the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of host is his name:" Now this is what He says:
Jeremiah 31:36 "If those ordinances (of the universe) depart from before me, says the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever."
Jeremiah 31:37 "Thus said the LORD; if heaven above can be measured, (and it can’t be. The universe is expanding. Nobody can determine the edge of the universe) and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says the LORD." But it will never happen. And God has promised, that even though they are guilty of iniquity, yet God has promised "my mercy shall never depart from them." Now back to Hebrews chapter 2 verse 17:
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