Herbert W Armstrong

   My friends, did Israel ever cease from being a nation? Now, most people think that the Jewish people are Israel, all there is of Israel. And of course, they've gone back to Palestine now and they have the nation, they call Israel over there, but they were not a nation 50 years ago or 100 years ago. And they were not a nation even in the time of Christ. Although they might have been called that because some of the Jewish people were in Palestine at that time, but they were invaded and taken captive 600 years before Christ by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon or the Chaldean Empire. And they ceased from being an actual nation. They were taken as slaves up into Babylon in the land of the Chaldeans. They were uprooted from their homes, their towns, their cities, and they were taken up into Babylon. They ceased to be a nation. Did they not, at least Judah did? The Jewish people were taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar. Did they cease from being a nation?

   And then again, they were driven out in 70 A.D. after the time of Christ, they weren't a nation then and they were never a nation from that time until just a very few years ago in this last half of the 20th century when the nation called Israel was established in Palestine. Well, the Jews are over there but the trouble isn't over, there's still a lot of trouble about it and there's going to be still a lot more of trouble. But were the Jews a nation back at that time?

   Now, I'm coming to a scripture here. We're going through prophecy now and we're taking some of the distinct prophecies one at a time where we can go into more detail than we have in past broadcasts. And so I've chosen Jeremiah, you know, my friends about almost one-third of all your Bible is devoted to prophecy pertaining to our time now, in the next few years from now, the immediate present and the immediate future and the time that you're going to live into and to live through, now, we had come to the 31st chapter of Jeremiah and we had come to the place where it was speaking about the covenant that God was going to make with Israel in the time to come. You remember it was talking here about a time of trouble and that's going to come on the United States of America and it says that in the latter days you shall consider it. That's the last verse of the 30th chapter, the worst time of trouble that has ever hit our nation.

   It says here exactly as you find in the fifth chapter of Ezekiel and in many other prophecies that a captivity is coming just like the captivity of Ancient Israel about 720 B.C. and the one of the Jewish people that I've just been mentioning along from 604 down to 580 B.C. Now, the Chaldean Empire existed 600 years before Christ. There was the ancient Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar that existed when the prophet Isaiah wrote. And when Jeremiah wrote and Jeremiah was in personal contact and conference there with King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon was sort of a go-between an intermediary you might say between the king of Babylon and the kings of Judah at the time that Judah was invaded and the Jewish people were taken captive. Well, that's only a type of what is coming now, that was the original Babylon. But this is speaking prophetically of our time. And at that time after this trouble and this grave tribulation coming upon our nation and our people, many of our people are going to find grace or salvation that have never had it before in this condition of slavery and captivity and dungeons in the wilderness.

   Then was the message to shout to the chief of the nations today. It's a message to the chief of nations in the 31st chapter of Jeremiah. And it shows Christ coming at the second coming and taking our people out of this terrible condition that they're going to be in back to the land of Palestine again. And then there's going to be a new covenant made. And the time element is after the second coming of Christ. And it says here beginning with verse 31 (Jeremiah 31:31), behold, the days come, saith the Eternal, that I will make a new covenant.

   Now, you've heard a lot of preaching today and a lot of so-called New Testament and a lot of so-called Christian theology that is neither New Testament nor Christian, that Christ did make a covenant way back there in 1900 years ago. But they say that the old covenant was made with Israel and the new covenant is made with Gentiles. And they say we're not Jews and we're not Israel, we are Gentiles. And so they say that the new covenant has been made and it's made with all Christians. Is that so?

   Listen. Behold the days come, saith the Eternal, and I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah, there are two houses, two nations, the two nations together.

   Now I was reading to you in the preceding program back here in Hebrews and the eighth chapter. And you remember that I told you remember Hebrews the eighth chapter and the eighth verse, that's where you find the new covenant, but you should begin reading the thought back of the sixth verse (Hebrews 8:6-8). Although you find the new covenant mentioned in the eighth verse and then it's in Jeremiah 31 and 31 the 31st verse, the 31st chapter (Jeremiah 31:31). Now this in the new covenant and in the New Testament in Hebrews is quoting word for word from the old.

   Now, hath Christ obtained a more excellent ministry by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant. And that's better than the one made back in the time of Moses under the old covenant which was established upon better promises. What are the better promises? In the ninth chapter of Hebrews. And in the 15th verse (Hebrews 9:15), you find it is the promise of eternal inheritance. They weren't given any eternal promise back there. They were given no promise of salvation under the old covenant, the old covenant was made with a fleshly nation, a human material nation. Its promises were only those of race, not of grace. Its promises were only those of this world, not of the world to come. The promises were only material, not spiritual. There was no promise of salvation, there was no promise of the Holy Spirit. So, the new covenant has made on better promises, promises of the Holy Spirit, promises of grace, promises of salvation, eternal inheritance of, well, whatever God promised to Abraham, to Isaac and Jacob because we're going to be heirs of whatever we are now heirs. If we're Christian, and we're going to be inheritors of what God promised to Abraham and you'll find it was not heaven, it was this earth for an everlasting possession and it is eternal inheritance and that my friends is the better promises of the new covenant.

   For if the first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. What was the fault of the old? Why, a lot of them tell you that it was that law, that awful law that came from that harsh stern, God and God made a mistake. He gave the people a law but Christ came and did away with the law and made a new covenant with the Gentiles and there's no law in it. You couldn't be farther wrong than that idea, my friends. And yet most of you have been taught that many of you have believed that notice, finding fault with them. God says, God was not at fault but God found fault with the people because they didn't obey him. It's because they didn't keep the law. That was the fault, not the law, but the refusal of the people to obey it. So, he said, behold, the days come saith the Lord, I will make a new covenant. Who with? This is in the New Testament in Hebrews the eighth chapter and the eighth verse with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah.

   Now the House of Judah means the Jewish people. The House of Israel does not mean the Jewish people. And I'm going to prove to you a minute ago because the Jewish people did cease from being a nation and I'm going to read you just a little later back here where Israel would never cease from being a nation. But Judah did cease from being a nation. Now, they're a nation again and they call themselves Israel. It should be called Judah, not Israel because they are not Israel, they are Judah, they're of Israel. They are descendants of Israel. Oh yes, they are Israelites. And so the Bible calls them, but no place does the Bible call them the house of Israel or the kingdom of Israel or the nation of Israel. No place in your Bible if you know your Bible. Now, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them to the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. That was in the days of Moses, the old covenant because they continued not in my covenant and I regarded them not says the Eternal for this shall be the covenant that I will make, with not gentiles, notice it with the house of Israel.

   After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts and I will be to them of God and they shall be to me a people. Now, what law is he talking about? That is quoted word for word from Jeremiah 31. Behold, the days come says the Eternal that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. That's Jeremiah 31 and verse 31. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them to the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they break. Although I was a husband unto them says the Eternal, you know that covenant.

   Now, let's get this, that old covenant made with Israel back in the days of Moses was a marriage covenant. He was married to them. He says I was a husband unto them. They were the wife, they had been married in the third chapter of Jeremiah and the fourth, you find that there was a divorce that God Almighty or the Eternal had divorced them. Then there had to be a marriage, the marriage contract was that old covenant.

   Now, the Ten Commandments are not the old covenant, like some people are trying to tell you, my friends. Of course, a lot of you are going to be very incensed right now. You want to believe that you've been told that you've assumed that you haven't proved it. You're in error, it isn't true at all. But you believe it and you'd like to believe it and some of you get very angry at me if I tell you the truth, but I tell you the truth, there never was a bigger lie than to say that the Ten Commandments were and constituted the old covenant. They were a part of it. And you're either the tables of the covenant, but you can also read the door of the house or the window of the house or the roof of the house. The roof is not the house and the door, one of the doors in it is not the house and the front door of the house, for instance, is not the house. It's only a part of it.

   Now, the Ten Commandments did form a part of it. That was the part that the people were to obey. But God gave them promises on the obedience and the covenant is a contractor in agreement. And this also was a marriage contract. The Ten Commandments as such didn't bind Israel to God. But the covenant did, it was an agreement by which they agreed to be the wife, they agreed to obey. And in God's parlance, the wife obeys her husband, the husband wears the pants. You think God is pretty much out of date today, don't you? Yes, I tell you a lot of people think God is all wrong. Everything God ever said is wrong. Everything God ever commanded is wrong. According to most people today, I hope you're not like that. But most people are, behold, the days come, I'll make a new covenant and with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

   Not according to the old covenant because they broke that covenant. Although I was a husband unto them says the Eternal. Now, that was a marriage covenant. So, will a new one be a marriage contract, my friends. It's a marriage covenant or contract. But this shall be the covenant that I'll make with the house of Israel. After those days said the Eternal, I will put my law in their inward parts. Now, that's quoted word for word over here in the New Testament, but that was written originally by Jeremiah 606 B.C. and my friends, 606 B.C., what was God's law? God's law at that time was the Ten Commandments. He wasn't talking about the law of animal sacrifices. You don't put a lot of animal sacrifices in your heart and in your inward parts do you? But a lot of spiritual principles you do.

   Now, let me explain that a little further. You know how Jesus had said that it is not that which goes in to the mouth of a man which defiles him spiritually because it doesn't, it might defile him physically, however, and it might be wrong. But he said, it is that which comes out of the heart that defiles him, not that which goes into the mouth, but that which comes out of the heart. Now, let me see here. I think it's in the seventh chapter, Mark as well as back in Matthew. He said, do you not perceive that whatsoever thing? This is Mark seven and verse 18 (Mark 7:18), that whatsoever thing from without enter into a man, it cannot defile him, the him, the man himself, it might his body, because it enter not into his heart, but into the belly and goeth out through the draft as it says here, purging all food in that case. And he said that which cometh out of the man that is out of his heart, that defileth the man for from within, out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries.

   Now the Ten Commandments forbade adultery and that shows a breaking of the Ten Commandments coming out of the heart, fornication, murders the Ten Commandments forbade murder. So, you see the Ten Commandments in your heart and written in your heart, the breaking of it won't come out of your heart, then theft. That's another one of the Ten Commandments, covetousness. That's another one of the Ten Commandments and wickedness which is violating of any or all of them and all that sort of thing and blasphemy and other of the Ten Commandments and the pride and foolishness, all violating the spirit of the Ten Commandments. Those are the things he says that defile the man they that come from within, that is a violation of the Ten Commandments, now, that's the way the children of Israel were of old. The Ten Commandments were not written in their hearts and in their minds and so out of their hearts came just the opposite, just the opposite of the keeping of the Ten Commandments, the breaking of the Ten Commandments and so out of their hearts came adulteries and thefts and idolatry and all that sort of thing.

   Herbert W Armstrong will return in a moment. But first, this offer concerning literature of related interest, Iran defies the United States. Russia seizes Afghanistan. Is this the beginning of world troubles? Just how secure is the future for you and your family with world hotspots flaring up Bible prophecy endows current events with new meaning. But Bible prophecy can only be understood if you have the principles that unlock the door of biblical knowledge. This free brochure, Keys to Understanding Bible Prophecy, is yours upon request. The intrigue of today's international politics is only the forerunner of the unexpected developments of the future. Request, Keys To Understanding Bible Prophecy, and open the door of tomorrow today. Send your request to Herbert W Armstrong Post Office Box 111 Pasadena, California 91123. That's Herbert W Armstrong Post Office Box 111 Pasadena, California 91123.

   Now, then he says that the new covenant is simply this. No, wait, let me get it back here and Jeremiah 31 again, I will put my law into their inward parts and write it in their hearts and I will be to them a God. Now, a God is the one you obey. The God is your master, but he's the kind of a master who is also our servant and we need him and we need what he can give and he's there to help us in the service. He has promised to supply our every need. He has promised to deliver us out of every trouble. He has promised to give us wisdom and understanding and guidance and we need those things so badly. So that's the kind of a God he is and he will be our God and we shall be his people.

   Now, do you see my friends that it wasn't the law of Moses that formed the old covenant, that is the Ten Commandments were what they broke, and the Ten Commandments were not the old covenant. And I'm going to show you that in a minute because they were the marriage covenant, and they shall teach no more when he makes this new covenant, every man his neighbor and every man his brother saying, know the Eternal. You won't have to teach people to know the Eternal and describe to them who God is, for they shall all know me from the least of them under the greatest of them says the Eternal.

   Well, what about all of our doubters? Our skeptics are agnostics today. How many college seniors today, graduating this coming June from college. How many of them know the Eternal today? Do you know my friends that a number of surveys have been made in various colleges and we have found in many a case that 90 to 95% of freshmen entering college just graduating from high school, at least believe in God. I don't mean that they're converted or Christians or anything of that sort, but they believe in God, they believe God exists. But about 95% of all graduating seniors in our universities and colleges, institutions of higher learning in this country today believe there is no God. That's what they've been taught in college. And as Paul wrote to the Romans, they have not retained, they didn't like to retain God in their knowledge. They don't know God. And so today God's ministers have to go around trying to teach people to know the Eternal.

   Well, at the time the new covenant is made. No one will do that. They won't anybody go around teaching, know the Eternal for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them says the Eternal and I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sins no more. And that's a wholesale basis. You see my friends at the time, the new covenant is made, it will be like that the new covenant hasn't been made yet. And yet you've always heard it has, now don't get angry. I know when I tell you these truths and it's so contrary to what you've been taught, why it's just human nature. A lot of people get angry at the truth. You know, I said to a man one time I said, you don't have to just get angry at a person and, uh, get your emotions all up because you don't agree with him or he doesn't agree with you. He said, why you, you're not supposed to? I said, why? No, I guess he thought you were supposed to and most people seem to believe that.

   No, and a lot of you have been wrong and a lot of you, my friends need to begin to unlearn and to find the truth. Now, this whole thing was leading up to the time when Christ is coming as Moses did deliver them out of Egypt, Christ is coming to deliver our people out of this Babylon, this confusion, this spiritual, this religious confusion that people are in today.

   Now, then let's come to this thing and see if Israel is still a nation, if there ever was a time when Israel was not a nation, beginning with the 35th verse (Jeremiah 31:35). Thus saith the Eternal which giveth the sun for a light by day and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night and which divide the sea when the waves thereof roar or which stirreth up and stilleth and so on, the Eternal of hosts is his name. If those ordinances depart from before me, that is if you can take the sun and the moon out of the sky and the stars sayeth the Eternal and it says here that God set them there. He's the creator of the sun, the moon and the stars.

   Now, if those ordinances depart from before me, in other words, if they are departed from the sky and they're not in the sky anymore, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before me forever continuously eternally. God said that Israel would remain a nation eternally and forever. And he said, if you can take the sun and the moon and the stars out of the sky, then can you stop Israel from being a nation forever? But if they're going to remain up in the sky, so is Israel going to remain a nation my friends when King Nebuchadnezzar took the Jews captive, where was Israel? According to this Israel still existed then as a nation after 70 A.D. when the Jews were dispersed and were not a nation any longer and there was no Jewish nation where was Israel? Because God says, if the ordinances of the sun, moon and stars depart from before me, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before me forever. Thus, saith the Eternal. That isn't the way you've been saying it, my friends that isn't what you've heard preach, but that's what God says. If heaven above can be measured 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 saith the Eternal, but he never did do that.

   Now, can your astronomers, can they measure the heavens? Can they measure how far it is to the end of space? They think it just keeps going on and on and on and it never ends. Well, I suppose that's so, I suppose there's no end to space. I don't know. I certainly can't measure.

   Now, if you know an astronomer that knows more and if he can measure it, how far does space go? How far did the heavens go? They make a stab at estimating it to us and tell us how many 1000 or a million light years away from the earth, certain that the stars are some of the suns of the Galaxies, the Milky Ways and things of that sort. But they're just up in that space. What's on beyond that? And how far does it go? You ever find an astronomer that can tell you? Well, if he can, if he can measure it, then you can stop Israel from being a nation, but no astronomer has ever done it. And so the time has never come when Israel stopped from being a nation.

   Now, verse 38 (Jeremiah 31:38), behold, the days come saith the Eternal that the city shall be built to the Eternal from the tower of Hananeel under the gate of the corner and the measuring line shall yet go forth over against it upon the hill of Gareb and shall compass about goeth and the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes and all the fields under the brook of Kidron, under the corner of the horse gate toward the east shall be holy under the Eternal. There are going to be plenty of dead bodies over there in the plain of a Megiddo too. Very, very soon. The battle of Armageddon is coming up my friends and it's coming soon. I wonder if you realize that you are living in the age that's going to see it.

   Now, what did happen to Israel where is Israel been all of this time? If you want to know you need our booklet, United States in Prophecy, that takes that very prophecy that I just read to you there and it explains it and it is the most intriguing thing you ever read. Listen, do you know that nearly one third of all your Bible is devoted to telling you what is going to happen to America and to your city and town in the next few years. This big one third of all the Bible, it is the neglected third of the Bible. It is the least understood third of your Bible. And there's a reason God had closed it up and sealed it until now until our time and he had it locked up behind locked doors. But there are keys to those doors and the time has come for knowledge to increase. And those keys my friends are now available and one of them is what has happened to Israel. One of the keys is where did the United States come from? Where are we mentioned in Bible prophecy? Where are we mentioned in that neglected one third of your Bible? Write in and get this. The prophecies of the Bible have never been understood because that key had been lost. But here just condensed down in a nutshell. Just scintillating exciting pages. No story of fiction ever was so strange or so absorbing. I don't think you ever read anything so packed with suspense as this gripping story of the Bible and you learn where Israel has been all these years.

   Now, the Jewish people did cease from being a nation. Israel was never to cease and it never did. That's in your Bible. If you want to understand it, my friends, this is a key that will unlock so much of the Bible so that you can understand it. You've never read anything like it, it is really tremendous.

   Now, listen, I want you to sit down right now and to write in for two very special booklets. Now, listen carefully, you must ask for these booklets by name first. Why were you BORN? I think of all of the booklets that we have written that we published, that I've been announcing on this program for years and years that there has never been one more important than this. This lays down before you, the whole purpose of life. It lays down the whole of the, the whys and wherefores of this thing that we call salvation. Why do we need it and just what is it, what do you get? And how, why does God permit wars and so much human suffering, heartache, fears and worries and all this type of thing? Empty lives. Why does God allow such suffering in this world? And what is the purpose being worked out here below the name of this booklet? Why were you BORN? Now, jot that down immediately.

   Now the other booklet, All About Water Baptism, just write in for the booklet on water baptism. Now this booklet, a very attractive booklet explains the way of salvation. Completely answers the question is water baptism essential to salvation. It explains the way of salvation. It explains about the thief on the cross. Was he saved without water baptism? Now, he had no opportunity to be baptized in water. Could he be saved without it? What is the proper form mode or way of baptizing if it is now in force and effect and a condition to salvation? Is it sprinkling? Is it pouring or is it immersion? And then this question should babies and children be baptized. Do you really know the answer? Well, these booklets, my friends will make it very plain.

   Now, first, here's this booklet. Why were you BORN? Be sure and write in for that and the other booklet on water baptism, water baptism. Now, all you do, first write down the call letters of the station to which you are listening. That's very important. The call letters of the radio station to which you're listening and then send your name and address printed plainly to Herbert W Armstrong Post Office Box 111 in Pasadena, California. Until next time this program is on the air in your station, wherever it is, the announcer will give it to you, be sure and give us the call letters at that station. Until then this is Herbert W Armstrong saying goodbye friends.

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