278: Jonathan Bowen - The Hope of Israel

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:13

   Welcome to Good Chris Selfie and Talks. I’m Levi. And I’m Chris. And I’m Brian. Thank you for joining us this week on this podcast. We select One Talk a week to help us get the Bible in our Daily News feed. We post a new episode at the start of each week with the short intro beforehand to kind of set the stage for the talk you’re about to listen to. And now, let’s talk more about this week’s talk. Hi everyone, this is Jason Hensley and in this week’s episode we are going to be listening to a Class by Brother Jonathan Bowen.

2. 0:58

   This was given back in 2004 at the Norfolk Petersburg Prophecy Weekend and the class is called For the Hope of Israel. Now you might be wondering why are we listening to a prophecy class from 20 years ago? But the reason for it is because I think this class, particularly because it is 20 years ago, is highly helpful for us today. One of the things that Brother Jonathan does here is he’s not necessarily looking at prophecy.

3. 1:30

   He’s really laying the foundation for why we care so much about prophecy and particularly why we care about Israel and about the Jews. And I think that that’s incredibly relevant right now considering everything that’s happening in the world. And in particular, one of the things that Brother Jonathan brings out is the way that Christadelphians cared for Jewish refugees during World War 2. And one of the statements that he makes is that the brothers and sisters at that time, we’re in tune with the hope of Israel. And he poses the question of would we be willing to do the same thing if it were happening today? Now, I’m not suggesting that the same thing is happening today, but I think right now we see anti-Semitism in higher levels than it’s been in a long time.

4. 2:26

   And I think that this class helps ground us in where our community has been historically and where our community has been biblically, that we recognize that the gospel is founded on the hope of Israel. We recognize that the children of Abraham, even the natural descendants, are beloved for the father’s sake. We know that God will never break his covenant with Israel. And so because of that we have a foundation that is able to say salvation is of the Jews, that we can say we want to be the children of Abraham through faith. We have a connection to the Jewish people, We have a connection to the Jewish hope.

5. 3:15

   And I think that Brother Jonathan brings that out very strongly and he gives us a message that we need to hear. Even though this class is 20 years old, the biblical verses are pertinent and the challenge is very much real today. So I hope that you find this class inspiring, and I hope that it reaffirms and regrounds you and all of us in the hope of Israel. We live in an extremely exciting time, especially when you consider all the events that are sort of going on in the world around us.

6. 3:59

   We’re not going to focus primarily this weekend on what is happening per SE right now, but when you add up the wind of change that’s sort of in the air, it’s pretty incredible. You, of course, are very well aware, how could you not be living the land of advertising of the upcoming election and all the different things that that may bring, the change that they may bring. Either way, whoever gets in, we were discussing with somebody back at home in Canada about the the possibility of the difference if George Bush was to get in a second time. How, that being the way your electoral electoral system works is that he would have to have a or he was only allowed to have a second term.

7. 4:38

   Therefore, what he does in his second term does not necessarily require him to concern himself with re election. So he may be much more aggressive. He may be much more forward in the things that he does as opposed to the first election. If it was to be John Kerry that was to get in again, things may change substantially.

8. 4:58

   We may see the whole situation move around in a different direction. And it’s interesting to see when George Bush first got in that his policy was to stand away from and to and to move back from world affairs. An idea of isolationism, I guess you could say that was there in years gone by in the past. And yet God intervened in that and wouldn’t allow America to go down that road.

9. 5:21

   America was turning in, in some ways away from, from assistance to and in help with the nation of Israel. They were being somewhat blackmailed by the Bush administration initially as to different ways they had to turn. And it was that during that time there was a Jew living in Israel who rode into the Jerusalem Post.

10. 5:42

    And he said, you know, we’re really in a real dire straight. We’ve tried just about everything. We’ve tried war. And he listed off 19481967, the Six Day War, 1973, he says We’ve tried this idea of peace. We tried it under and initially Menachem Bagan and then with Rabin and so on and so forth. We’ve tried conciliation where we’re going to give up the West Bank on the E Hood Barack and hand it over to Yasser Arafat, who turned it down, he says.

11. 6:12

    And we’ve tried all these different things and now we’re into this intifada stage where basically we have terrorism. Going on and we just do not know what to do. And he turned around. He wrote and he said perhaps Jews all across the world need to write, not write. Sorry, need to need to get together and need to pray to the God of Abraham. Who is the one who?

12. 6:32

    Led us through the Red Sea and times gone by. And provide for us some kind of a change that will help this nation out. Three days later, September the 11th took place and the whole world changed. Israel’s enemies automatically became America’s enemies and the most powerful nation on earth was used by. God. To change the situation in the Middle East, and that is still going on today, we live in a time of change. We think of the Pope himself, who is now very aged and very frail and is expected to die at any point in time, and the change that that will bring to the world. We think of Yasser Arafat, who has been removed out of Israel for the first time in several years and is now in Paris undergoing medical treatment.

13. 7:15

    And they’re not really sure whether he’s going to live or not. Through the next few weeks and months. And we think of course the nation of Great Britain whereby they’re also facing an election coming up which again may change the way they respond and and cooperate with or against or America and and Israel, there’s a great cross the world turmoil as to what is going.

14. 7:37

    On and the things that are happening. So we think of the words of Romans chapter 13 and verse 12. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.

15. 7:58

    But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. And so there there we have it. The night is far spent, the day is here and we often ask the question well. Why is it that the Lord Jesus Christ has not returned yet?

16. 8:15

    How come we are still here? On what basis is what else has to happen before we will be taken away? We must realize that this is the grace of Almighty God to us and to our children, that we still have the opportunity to reform our lives and the lives of the ecclesias, make those necessary changes, so that when the Lord Jesus Christ does come, He may find us in situation of joy and gladness, looking forward to meeting Him. And not in a situation of sorrow and in fear. And so we’re excited as we come together to discuss the subject today.

17. 8:50

    It’s a subject that is very dear to myself and I hope to to all of you, and if not perhaps as much so now then by the end of the day, hopefully it will be we’re going to be moving at a fairly rapid pace, as we do have. A lot of material to cover, but hopefully by having things on the screen that will help us out in following along.

18. 9:12

    Now when we consider the subject that we have in our first session, it’s it’s really a touchstone I guess you could say is to how we, we sort of look at ourselves as a community where we’ve come from and what separates us from the world around us. And one of those key things is the promises to Abraham. And when we consider did, this is the Apostolic hope as we have said, the hope of Israel.

19. 9:39

    The whole truth as we know it is rooted in these things. That’s where we began as a community. That’s where the apostles were at. As we hope to demonstrate over the next few minutes, when God first re revealed himself to Abraham as he was called at that point in time, he laid out his plan for separating a people for his name. We call it God manifestation.

20. 10:01

    That’s the title we put to that doctrine how that God would basically in his characteristics be seen in the people who he would call to himself. And that’s the way it was for Abraham back in Genesis chapter 12 and verse one. The Lord had said to Abraham, get thee out of thy country from thy kindred, from thy father’s house, to a land that I will show thee and I will maketh thee a great nation and I will bless thee and make thy name great. And so he goes on.

21. 10:26

    But the point there is it is separation. He had to leave his father’s house. He had to leave his kindred. He had to leave his country to a land that God would show him. He had to separate himself from everything that he knew and that was comfortable to him. His comfort zone, I guess you could say we would call it today. And he had to set out on a journey for something that he really.

22. 10:50

    Didn’t know what it was all going to be about, but he had to go because God told him to. And it was in faith. And of course we see ourselves very similar to that, that we have to leave the world around us. Sometimes it requires us to leave our families. Sometimes it requires us to separate ourselves from those who who perhaps we have been friendly with, because not so much we separate from them. But if we walk in this path, we find that they will separate from us at times.

23. 11:17

    But that’s what this man have to do, and it’s a doctrine We understand, the doctrine of the hope of Israel as it is. Shown forward in Abraham, the promises that were put forward. We memorize these verses in Sunday School. Hopefully we do. Our children should be memorizing them because these are the key things for us.

24. 11:34

    And we want to pass them on. This is almost like air when we little children get up and then, especially in the United States, and they do their Pledge of Allegiance. Well, this is almost our Pledge of Allegiance, that this is the hope that God has given us, that there will be in the future time a Kingdom set up. And we have been promised to be involved in these things. Now the world around us though, specifically the the Christian world around us, is very unfamiliar with these things, as is is evidenced by the actions that they take just recently. The Methodist, sorry, not the Methodist, it would be the Presbyterian Church.

25. 12:11

    That’s it has moved to separate themselves from any company they’ve set out in, in especially in America. And of course, there are different strains of Presbyterians to separate themselves from any company that is found to be supporting Israel in any way. And they’ve sort of had a boycott, A sanction against they’ve said throughout their community that they do not want people to basically do business with those who would do business with Israel. When you think about that, you say, well, that’s no different than Nazi Germany.

26. 12:40

    There was a boycott on Jewish stores, but that’s going on in America around us from the Christians, from the people who should know better. And so we realize that they’re not in tune with the gospel as it was preached to Abraham, and that is seen in their actions. And so as we consider this, we think of Abraham, we think of the extent of these things were involved. It wasn’t just to him, but as we have in Genesis 15 verse 18, the same day that the Lord made a covenant with Abraham saying unto thy seed, have I given this land from the great river the river Euphrates, or from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.

27. 13:16

    And what we consider that today, it’s kind of amusing with all this debate they have on this little area up in the South of Israel, Gush Khatif, the little settlements they’re talking about pulling out of. I mean what? God said to Abraham, is to forget this little settlements I’m going to give you from the river of Egypt way over into the area of Babylon, as it would be the great river Euphrates.

28. 13:34

    That’s the area that’s totally promised to them. So we see that this is the promise, but it’s not just Abraham. It’s also to his seed. And we have to key on that, because that’s the part that is lost. People read about Abraham and they say, oh, he’s a great man, He was a believer, a faithful man, an example. And they do talk about him, but they missed the point that it’s not just Abraham, it’s also to his seed that these promises were given.

29. 14:01

    Genesis Chapter 17. As we continue through As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee and thou. Shalt be a father of many nations, and he changes of name, of course, from Abraham to Abraham the father of nations. And he goes on to say, I’ll make the exceeding fruit, forming nations of thee, and King shall come out.

30. 14:20

    Of thee so the first reference related to the Kingdom of God. That would be on earth. Is that from this man Abraham? There would be kings that would in future come out of him. And of course, he goes on in chapter 17, verse seven, he says I’m going to establish my covenant between me and thee and. Thy seed after thee.

31. 14:44

    For an everlasting covenant, to be their God unto thee, and and to the and to thy seed after thee. And he says, I’m going to give them this land. We’re on your stranger for an everlasting possession. And I will be their God. So we see that these are basic Sunday School first principles, that when God chose to separate Israel out, He made a promise with this man and with those who would follow him. But there’s two aspects of those who would follow him follow him physically, as in his physical descendants, but also those who would walk in the footsteps of faithful Abraham. There is both Jew.

32. 15:23

    And there is Gentile. Just turn, if you would, for a moment, to Ruth. When we consider this, Ruth is a prime example of a Gentile who has that Abrahamic spirit in her. She is, perhaps you could call her in many ways the the female version of the Abrahamic faith. Because when you come to the section in Ruth where Boaz is talking to Ruth and he’s done his homework and he knows who this young woman is. And as he’s looking for partnership or companionship, here’s a man who’s who’s really sort of sussed it out and figured out what this young lady’s all about. And he tells her this in verse.

33. 16:08

    11 Boaz answers, and says to Ruth, It’s been fully showed me all that you have done unto thy mother-in-law since the death of thine husband. So he says. Look, I know who you. Are I’ve got my spies in the land, so to speak, and they’ve told me about your character. But notice the words now that he’s going to go on to say.

34. 16:28

    Notice what he says about what she did. Thou hast left thy father and thy mother. Remember, Abraham, you’re to leave your kindred in your father’s house and the land of your nativity. She he also left her of the Caldes. You to leave the land wherein he was. He was living and come to a people which you know not heretofore, to a land that I will show you that he knew nothing about. And so Ruth is patterned in the same stamp she follows in faith, leaving country behind, leaving family behind, leaving all the things that were her comfort zone to a land that she didn’t even know except by faith, by what Naomi had faithfully taught to her.

35. 17:15

    So this young woman comes into the land of promise as a Gentile and is brought into the covenants of promise. And that’s why it is that when we describe or when God describes Abraham in Genesis 22, by inspiration he says in blessing I will bless thee multiplying, I will multiply thy. Seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sandwiches upon the seashore, thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemy. So we have two seeds that he’s talking about two analogies that he gives.

36. 17:45

    There is the stars of heaven, which is a spiritual seed, and there is the sand of the seashore, which is a natural, earthly seed. And both of those things have been promised. Both of those seeds have been promised participation in the promises to Abraham. Now of course we know through our basic public lectures that these are unfulfilled promises. Acts, Chapter 7, verse five.

37. 18:07

    He gave him none. Inheritance in it. No, not so much as to set his foot on. So Stephen says to us that, look, he didn’t get a piece of it, but he promised that he would give it to him for a possession. And to his seat after him. So although he didn’t have as much as to set his foot on, I mean, there was The Cave in Makpila, but God didn’t give that to him. He had to buy it.

38. 18:29

    And there he buried his wife. And that’s. All he had. And there, of course, he was buried as well later on. But he says that he would give it to him and to his seed after him. And so it is as we follow Israel’s history through we get to Second Samuel. We find that these promises are picked up at the time when Samuel or when David wants to build the house for the Lord. And the Lord says to him, well, no, you’re not going to build a house for me, but I’m going to establish your house. And he says in Second Samuel 7 verse 12, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his Kingdom.

39. 19:04

    And he shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his Kingdom forever. So he elaborates on those promises that were given to David or to Abraham, where he says, King shall come from thee. And here is the king the man David. And to David he says, listen, I’m going to take your seed now, and I’m going to establish his Kingdom.

40. 19:26

    And of course he will build a house for me, and so on and so forth. And so that is the situation that would develop from David. And of course we know to follow that through to the New Testament, to the Gospel of Luke, When the Angel Gabriel comes and visits Mary. And the Angel Gabriel says, Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Yahashua or Jesus, and he shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall give to him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the House of Jacob Forever. And of his Kingdom there shall be no end. So that promise is tied right into the Lord Jesus Christ as we know.

41. 20:06

    And of course, when the people are looking for him at the time of his birth, we find that they ask the question, where is he that was born? King of the Jews. So this is the one, as we know, who would be the one that was to fulfill those promises to David. And so we find that there were those who were looking for the restoration of the Kingdom to Israel, and this king, the Messiah, who would come.

42. 20:34

    In accordance to the words of prophecy, Micah chapter 4, verse six we read there in that day, saith the Lord, I will assemble her that halteth. And I will gather her that is driven out, and I will make her that was cast off a strong nation. So it’s talking about the restoration of Israel when these things would actually come to pass. And he goes on to say, And the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion.

43. 21:00

    From henceforth even forever Unto thee shall it come. Even the first dominion, the Kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem. So there’s one of those passages that tells us. The Kingdom that is coming, and this is a point that’s missed a lot by our friends around us. The the the alien as as we would call them in some circles that the. The interested friend, perhaps, but going past that to the church.

44. 21:28

    The church is the Christian groups. They missed this point that the Kingdom of God isn’t a new thing, it’s the reinstitution of something that existed in the past, he says. What’s going to happen that should point out there? What’s going to happen is that the first dominion is to be restored. It’s not a brand new thing, but it’s a restoration of what already existed. And so it is that that idea forms one of the core elements of the gospel.

45. 21:58

    The good news of what? The Kingdom of God. And so we have that idea laid out for us by the Lord Jesus Christ. It has to do everything with salvation, both for the Jews. And also for the Gentiles, when he’s at Shechem or Cycar as it’s called in that John chapter 4 and verse 22, the woman you know says, well, we worship in this mountain, You worship in this mountain.

46. 22:22

    What’s it all about? And he says, listen, you worship, you know not what we know, what we worship, he says. For salvation is of the Jews. And that’s the other point we want to really hook on to, because that’s the Lord telling us that this is the New Testament. He’s now on the scene and he says this isn’t something new, whereby salvation now is moved on to the Gentiles and the Jews.

47. 22:47

    You you’re basically done, you’ve got nothing anymore. You’re you’re no longer involved in this, he says. Look, salvation is. Of the Jews. So mankind salvation, whether Jew or Gentile, is wrapped up in the salvation of the Jews. And that’s what we hope to follow through today and and tomorrow morning. See. How that is going to take place?

48. 23:09

    Now Christ linked the hope that we have with the hope of Israel, and the apostle Paul does the same thing for us in Hebrews Chapter 11, describing the faithful who had died in verse 13. He said these all died in faith, not having received the promises. As we already read from Stephen’s great speech he gave in Acts Chapter 7, they died in faith.

49. 23:33

    Abraham had not so much as to set his foot on, but he says, having been seen, these promises are far off. They were persuaded of them and they embraced and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. Now he goes on to say in verse 14, as we just actually just turn this up for a moment, Hebrews Chapter 11 and the 40th verse. He tells us there that these things are extended out, the reason why they’ve died in faith and they haven’t received the promises.

50. 24:05

    And this is time is still going on. The reason why we’re here today and not already gathered together to to the Lord Jesus Christ is given to us in Hebrews Chapter 11 in the 40th verse. He tells us there that God has provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. So the reason this has happened is for you and I and for all those generations that have existed since these faithful people walked upon the face of the earth, so that we also would have the opportunity to come to a knowledge of the truth, to grab onto that, to accept that, and to live our lives in accordance.

51. 24:46

    We have the possibility to do that, and it’s up to you and I individually to make that choice. But that is the grace of God, and it’s tied into his purpose to fill the earth with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. That’s the whole idea, the the, the knowledge of his glory.

52. 25:06

    We think Moses says, well, you know, God, show me your glory, show me your ways that I may know you back in Exodus 33. And God turns around in chapter 34, and he says, all right, I’ll show you my glory, I’ll show you my ways. And he tells him his character. So what God’s looking for Habakkuk 214 is to fill the earth with the knowledge, the yadah, which is what the word means.

53. 25:28

    The knowledge by experience. Not just head knowledge, but an understanding that comes from living a life. The knowledge of experience of the. Characteristics The glory of God as the waters cover the sea, and that’s our. Opportunity today is to develop that in ourselves, in our children, in our families and in our colleges. We have an opportunity to do that. It’s running out the night as far as spend the day is at hand, but right now we have that opportunity. To do that.

54. 25:57

    And we want to seize upon these things. So we have in Acts chapter One the same ideas brought forward to us. The disciples now are looking forward to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Acts chapter one and verse six they asked him when they’re gathered together, just prior to them going out to Bethany or to the man of olives to be taken Lord Jesus Christ to be taken to heaven. And he says in verse 6, where therefore they would come together.

55. 26:23

    They asked him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel? Are you? Going to do it now. So they were right in their understanding, but wrong in their application. Of the time period. And he said to them, you know, it’s not for you to know the times and the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power.

56. 26:42

    And quite often we stop there. Well, it’s not for us to know times and seasons. Therefore, let’s not concern ourselves with that kind of thing, except we missed the next little word. But but you shall receive power. Power to do what? Well, power to understand the times and seasons. Part of it. And after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you, because of course it would be the Apostle Paul by inspiration, who wrote Second Thessalonians 2 and told us that day will not come except to come, the falling away 1st and gives us the time and the season. It’s the Apostle John, under inspiration, who writes the book of our records.

57. 27:16

    The book, I guess you could say, of Revelation, where the Lord Jesus Christ sent and signified it by his Angel to his servant John. To show him and all of us things shortly to come to pass, culminating with the return of Christ. So we do have guidelines, the time and the seasons. Now, we don’t know the day and the hour, and that’s orchestrated that way on purpose, but we do know the times and the seasons.

58. 27:42

    We’ve been given an idea and of course we know the very end of that. We had a Bible. Seminar a few years ago in Brantford in our workplace and there was about 10 or actually 10 or 20. I think it was this time. Individuals gathered together and we went through the seminar and it was a little bit different because they invited us to do it.

59. 28:01

    So we were at work and I had a brochure we were going to print. I’m a printer, so working in a printing company, one of the colleagues in Detroit came to us and said we’d like you to print these brochures. So we said sure we can print the brochures for you and Bible seminars.

60. 28:16

    We’ve done a full color version of the one that Brother Randy and Brother Dave had done. And so they asked for that one and I just said, well, send me the information who you want and whatever else. We’ll stick them on the Backpage and the dates and the times, and we’ll print your seminar brochure and away we’ll go. And when you’re in printing, they like. To have a sample, you know the guy running the press wants to know, well, how much blue should I put on this page? How high do I turn up my colors so you always throw in a sample so they can match it to a previously printed job so that everybody doesn’t sort?

61. 28:45

    Of turn blue or green or whatever it is when they’re printing it. So I just, not even thinking, grabbed a sample, threw it in the bag and there’s me on the backside of it doing the seminar in London with my father-in-law. And so this went through the shop and basically it got back to the owner’s. Kids that, you know, we’ve done this Bible seminar. We had a few conversations before and so they came to us and said, you know, we’d really like to do this Bible seminar for us at work.

62. 29:11

    And so we’re kind of like. Oh, all right. So we got together and we did the Bible seminar for them and of course them inviting us to do it. You can’t really well tell them, well, this, you know, we’re not going to allow you to ask any questions. I mean, they invited us, right? So we can’t write the rules.

63. 29:27

    So the six week seminar took ten weeks to do and we got to the end of it and we said, well, what would you like to do next? We’ve got a Genesis seminar, There’s a Bible prophecy seminar. There’s a Luke seminar. What would you like to do? And they said, well, you have that 7000 year plan chart thing. Of, you know, it was one of the overheads. So we went through this big raft of overheads. This is before the days of computer clicking and whatever you had to go through this.

64. 29:52

    And I pulled it out, put it on the screen, and the one individual sitting there says, you know, looking at that, we really don’t have time to do the National Geographic. Tour of the Bible. We should be getting baptized because looks like Christ coming pretty soon. And we got to get on with this. So we said OK, and we began baptism classes. And incidentally, out of that group, I believe there’s 11 now that are baptized.

65. 30:19

    And so that’s people outside in the world who basically came to the classes. You lay out the facts of this is what God has said, this is the patterns laid down. And they look at it and they say, oh, the Lord Jesus Christ is just about here. We live in the time and the season. And brothers, sisters and young people, let’s not lose sight of that.

66. 30:43

    We can become sometimes a little complacent. We can become a little wrapped up in our lives around us and we can lose the clarity of sight and vision that perhaps those who come in from the outside. Look at us sometimes, think what is with these people? You know, they know all this stuff. Why are they doing this, That and the other. Let’s not lose a hold of that clearness of vision. We’d like the disciples and live in expectation because we do know that we live in the day and the hour. So they went around and they preached. Understanding these things, they persuaded the things concerning the.

67. 31:17

    Kingdom of God they were looking for and teaching about the restoration that they’d asked Christ about. And so it is that the Apostle Paul states his his attitude towards Israel. In this he says I am great heaviness and continual sorrow and heart, for I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren and kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites.

68. 31:41

    He says I could wish myself written out of the hope because of the Israelites, the Jews. That was his feeling towards them, because he recognized and believed wholeheartedly in those promises to Abraham. And so it is in Acts chapter 26 and verse 6. When he’s called before the different authorities before Agrippa, he says, Now I stand and I’m judged for the hope of the promise made of God to our fathers, unto which promise the 12 tribes instantly serving God day and night, hope to come, for which hope’s sake, King Agrippa, I am accused of these Jews that he loved and wanted to save.

69. 32:19

    And so there he was basically saying that that’s why I’m on trial here. He’s not on trial because he didn’t believe in the Trinity. He’s not on trial because he had a different view on the atonement. He’s not on trial because he had ideas on the devil. He’s on trial because he believes in the hope of Israel.

70. 32:38

    That was the nod. That was the core of the doctrine that was basically held at this point in time. And he goes on to say in Acts chapter 28 in verse 20. For this cause, therefore have I called for you to see you, to speak with you, because for the hope of Israel, he says, I am bound with this chain. And of course we know this is the gospel that was spoken to them, that they went out and preached to others and is recorded in the letters that they wrote when we come to Galatians Chapter 3.

71. 33:09

    In his letter to the Galatians, the Apostle Paul draws the connection between the Lord Jesus Christ and Abraham and how that that hope is 1 and the same thing. He tells us that we are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. That’s the qualifier. And as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. It doesn’t matter where we come from, Jew or Greek bond or free, male or female, we’re all one in Christ Jesus. And if you be Christ’s, then are you Abraham’s seed and? Heirs according to those promises. And so it was that based on an understanding of those passages that we’ve just kind of highlighted and a wealth more of.

72. 33:53

    Them than when the Christadelphian movement began back with our brother Thomas the first book of note. Not the first book. There were other things were written, but the first real thing where everything was pulled together and tied in. He entitled it Alpas Israel, The Hope of Israel, An exposition of the Kingdom of God with reference to the time of the end and the age to come.

73. 34:19

    That’s where we as a community began. That was the seeds of development that has resulted in the community that’s here today, 18148. Now Brother Thomas had this to say in Alphas Israel, he says Now. Who can be so dim a vision as not to perceive that the subject matter of the hope of Israel?

74. 34:41

    Is the Kingdom of God. They’re one and the same thing. You can’t separate them and divide them away to observe that in giving this thought of national hope, his thoughts of national hope, the apostles persuasion turned upon things upon things concerning Jesus. The Kingdom of God and Jesus were the subjects of Paul’s testimony when he preached the hope of Israel, or the hope of the promise made unto the fathers of God made unto the fathers.

75. 35:09

    So he links the two things together. They’re one and the same, he says. You can’t divide them, you can’t separate them. That’s what it’s all about. Now. Brother Roberts continuing this idea and christened him astray. He writes 4 lectures on it. Four. That’s a significant amount of numbers in that book. And he says, on no subject will Christendom have found to be gone more astray than the subject of the Kingdom of God, a subject which, without exaggeration, may be said to constitute the very backbone of the divine purpose of the earth and its inhabitants. So that’s the whole idea, he says. It’s the core and the backbone into it. Everything else.

76. 35:48

    Ties in all other aspects are hooked into this hope of Israel. And he goes on to say that the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, and therefore tied to Abraham, and this hope of Israel, is something that unfortunately the world around us doesn’t understand. The ministers in the clergy of the present day believe that they preach the gospel in setting before people the death of Christ.

77. 36:16

    Well, he says, the death of Christ in its sacrificial import doubtless becomes an element of the Apostolic testimony of the gospel. But in considering whether it was the whole gospel of the 1st century preaching, we must remember that Christ and his disciples preached the gospel three years before the crucifixion. Now that’s an interesting point, isn’t it?

78. 36:39

    It’s an interesting point. Today. Because as a community, we have to be careful that we don’t become engrossed in controversies that go on. And we have them from time to time. I mean, you can just basically set out a map to Christadelphians. And there was this issue and that issue and this issue and that issue.

79. 36:55

    And we have these little battles we get into. You’re not saying anything about the rights and wrongs of the battles. But the point is, while that’s all going on, we have to be very careful that we don’t become like the clergy and the truth becomes simply the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that’s it.

80. 37:15

    And depending on that specific issue is the only thing that we look at. Because for the Roberts here at the very beginning says that’s a piece, that’s not the whole thing. It’s necessary, but it’s not the core. It’s an ends to a means to an ends. Really, God manifestation, not human salvation, was the grand purpose of the eternal spirit, filling the earth with people who basically reflected that character in the way he has pointed out through Abraham and those promises. That’s the purpose it’s achieved through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ.

81. 37:52

    But that’s not the whole gospel. And if we get to that point, but that’s all we talk about. That’s all we think about. That’s all we argue about. Then we may get to the point that we’re losing. The hope of Israel. And we’re losing the gospel as it was preached by the Lord Jesus Christ and his disciples, as he points out three years before they were preaching the Kingdom of God.

82. 38:15

    And the things concerned, the name of Jesus Christ came after that. It’s through that that we achieved the 1st. And so he says that as he goes on from this that when the Lord Jesus Christ established. The things that he did and opened the way to the Gentiles, he didn’t replace the gospel and the way to achieve salvation, he says. By opening the way for the admission of the Gentiles, he did not destroy the Israelitis character of the hope. The effect was just the other way. Indeed, Gentiles converted the hope into instead of Gentiles. Sorry converting the hope into gentilism by their reception of it.

83. 38:56

    The Hope converted them into Jews and consequently, basically, he says, they were conformed into the essential Israelitis character. So that’s what the hope does. It takes us from all walks of life, Doesn’t matter where we come from, doesn’t matter what race we are, doesn’t matter what we’re male or female. As he says in Galatians, whether we’re bond or freely or rich or poor, what walk of life we’re from, what binds us all together as a group is the fact that in Christ we participate in those promises and consequently we become adopted Jews. That’s who we are now.

84. 39:32

    The world around us would just shiver at such an idea that, you know, we as Christians have to become Jews. But that’s the way the truth. Of the matter is laid out now in Romans, he talks about the future establishment. This is the Apostle Paul now, the future salvation of Israel. And he says that while it’s touching the gospel right now, he says they’re enemies for your.

85. 39:54

    Sakes. But as touching the election, what God has chosen out, They are beloved for the Father’s sakes, for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. Now we’ve got to make sure we read that properly. For years I used to read that Beloved, for the Father’s sake, let’s talk about God. Well, it’s a plural possessive word, right? It’s Father’s plural, which is the patriarchs. They are beloved because of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’s Saints.

86. 40:24

    So he says the gifts and calling of God. Once God says something, it’s without repentance. He’s not going to change the promise that he made to Abraham. He’s not going to alter these things. Those things stand. And it’s based on those things that our community has had an attitude historically towards the Jewish people. This is a man named Michael Pragai. And Michael Praggai was the secretary to Abbott Eben when Abbott Eben was the foreign minister and he went to find out about what Christians believe foreign minister. He got to deal with other nations, many of which were Christian.

87. 41:02

    So he went to the Knesset library to find out what do Christians believe about, you know, the Jews and our relations with them. And he picked up in the library Elvis, Israel. And this is what he had to read, he says. From the outset, the Christadelphians were ardent supporters of the idea of the return of the Jews, the land of Israel, which was essential to the fulfillment of the end time. Long before the rise of Jewish Zionism as a political movement at the end of the century, the Christadelphians offered practical assistance to the Jews who looked to the Land of Israel as a haven of refuge they supported. Such pre Zionist groups as the Habitat Zion movement in Czarist Russia.

88. 41:44

    So this is a Gentile, sorry, a Jew Speaking of the Christodelphians and saying look, this group of people, based on their belief and their understanding was friendly towards the Jews and assisted them in going back to the land based on a faith and a belief in an understanding. And that would form the way we behaved when it came to the Jewish people during the Second World War.

89. 42:11

    When Hitler’s madness swept across Europe, our brothers and sisters, as is evidence, as you read through some of the magazines, as is evidence in those things, we’re keenly aware of what was. Going on. And we’re very concerned about God’s people, Israel more concerned sometimes than some of the Jews were themselves. And so it was that they tried to do something about what?

90. 42:32

    Was going on. You ever heard the the phrase? The Sea of Nations. The wicked are like a troubled sea casting. Up the mire. This is Nazi Germany. Just. Prior. To the enactment of Hitler’s ideas. And you can see that sea of people moving and fluffing as this nation rose to power and would put into place a series of actions that would drastically.

91. 43:12

    Affect the people of Israel before the Jews. Really at that point in time, before Israel was was reformed as a as a nation. In the courts and on the street, the Jews were constantly threatened. On November the 9th, 1938, Goebbels turned out the Brown Shirts for an orgy of burning and looting Kristalnacht.

92. 43:39

    The night of breaking glass, every synagogue in Germany was attacked by the Nazis. 91 Jews died. I stood there for probably half an hour. There was not one attempt to put out the fire in the synagogue. My father was not there. He came back late that morning. He was in in bad shape. We talked together.

93. 44:05

    What’s going to happen now? And one thing he did and he suggested, he says, we got to get you out. So that was what was said by the Jews. And you begin to see there’s the picture of what was going on, was that Hitler was taking over Europe, specifically Germany, and that his terrible policies were spreading throughout the nations in Europe. And there were Jews who realized that that young man his father had said he’s no longer a young man, but the time he was. He says we’ve got to get you out of Europe. And they recognized what was coming was going to destroy much of the nation of Israel.

94. 44:51

    And now, as we consider this, we see that there were those who did try to get their their. Children out, some 20,000, were transported out of Europe under a program called the Kindertransport. Now this book here is a book by a woman named Vera Gissing. It’s a book on this this whole issue of the Kindertransport. She was a Holocaust survivor who had been who had escaped to England through this process and in her book she makes reference to this Mr. Overton, she says who was a practicing Christadelphian.

95. 45:23

    Always like that phrase, practicing Christadelphian. And so we went to find what we could of brother Alan Overton in their in our magazines and we found in the Christadelphian magazine. This is June of 1939. A little just a small little article, a little bulletin where it says Jewish refugee children hospitality wanted for.

96. 45:46

    Short and longer periods wanted anyone who can give motor car help in conveying children from London to other parts respond to Allen Overton and it gives his his address there near rugby. That is literally, by the way, his address, which I find very amusing. But in the same magazine, there was a article written by our brother John Carter.

97. 46:10

    And Brother Carter recognized what was going on in Israel. And he says our interest in Israel springs with our knowledge, from our knowledge of God’s purpose with them, in fact. For the time being, Gentile believers have taken their place as branches which have been grafted into the Abrahamic olive tree. But God’s gifts and calling are not subject to change of mind.

98. 46:33

    Israel is still the chosen people, and he goes on to say, Since the past and future of this people touches our face so closely, we are naturally sympathetic to their needs. At the present time, but the practical question is how can we help them? How can we basically affect what’s going on? My brother Overton had seen this poster, this young girl sitting in a bus station with the long braided hair. They used to call them Platts.

99. 47:03

    In Britain we call them braids, or, I don’t know, pigtails or whatever the name is. But there she was and he looked at that and she looked just like his daughter. His daughter was very similar looking to this little girl. And so he was moved by these things and and wanted to do something to help. Now we have a little bit of a a radio footage from a a a radio show that was played.

100. 47:25

     It’s a little difficult to hear. Maybe we can turn up a little bit. Craig, this one’s a bit tough, but just listen through these things and it’s a a story of Allen Overton’s grand niece actually who worked for the BBC. She went back to find out about what had happened and did a little bit of work. And this is her story that she put together and she makes reference to a man named Eric Muller who you’re going to see on the first slide.

101. 47:49

     And Eric was one of the children who came through this whole program and actually became a Christadelphian. After a long and tortuous journey, Eric and hundreds of other refugees would end up at Liverpool Street Station. My great uncle was often there and remembered crowds of bewildered children, some as young as two, wearing brand labels around their necks for identification.

102. 48:13

     If they couldn’t be picked up by their foster family straight away, he’d drive them to their new home or use his home in Rugby at the Transit house. The car driver, George, would probably be driving, father would be sitting in the back, and he’d have a couple of children on one side, a couple of children fast asleep on the other in the middle of the back of the car. And then the light would go on.

103. 48:34

     Within the light of the car, you’d suddenly see these children who are all weary and warm, you know, lying there, especially with my great uncle’s eldest daughter. Often she’d be expected to give up her bed in the middle of the night to make way for the newly arrived children. Bruce, her younger brother, was the same age as some of the refugees. Lot of them were unwell because they just had a channel crossing.

104. 48:59

     They were in a emotional state having just left their parents. And the one cry which he heard which was muti, Muti which? Seemed to Pierce his heart because it was the children leaving their parents in this way and crying for their mothers, and he was emotionally infected. He was a man that was affected by emotions and it must have drained him. It was much easier to find foster homes for girls, partly because boys were perceived as more troublesome and expensive. To meet that need, my great uncle decided to set up a hostel for boys in Bilton Rd.

105. 49:39

     Rugby. Hannah Schnabel was a resident. It was a rather stark place in the way. I mean, there wasn’t much in the way of furnishings. There were from 9:00 to 11:00 or 12:00 boys. Numbers varied and life was pretty hectic. We had bikes and we had a garden, which we tended. We tried to grow our own food and.

106. 50:03

     What do you remember of my great? Uncle, he was the boss, but fortunately he had. We had lots of patience with us because that he needed very badly and even better, he had a tremendous sense of humour, so that when things became quite unbearable, someone would crack a joke and everything would fall apart.

107. 50:23

     All his strict demeanour disappeared and he just couldn’t help laughing. That is Brother Eric there on the bottom. And the interesting thing is that as he described there what was going on, we realized that the children were a very young age and they were children that basically were taken from their parents, sent out.

108. 50:49

     And as he said, you know there was. This cry and he couldn’t figure out at first what it was. Mooty. Mooty, which is Mother, Mother, ’cause these children were anywhere from babies up to 1516 year olds, little toddlers crying out to their mothers who were hundreds of miles away and probably whom they would never see again. Here in Rugby, a small religious group called the Christadelphians created a hostel for the Jewish boys nobody else wanted.

109. 51:25

     This is a film they took of the boys. It’s never been seen on television before, and it reveals that, orphaned and uprooted as they were, the boys flourished here. The Christadelphians looked after them well, and the children themselves were determined to survive. They learned English quickly and did well at school. Their memories of this time are good. It was a semi detached house and there were about 8:00 and 12:00 of us.

110. 51:52

     The number varied, all very simple. Our clothes were hanging on the picture rails in the bedroom. There wasn’t much heating or anything, but we were well nourished and we were sort of a happy company. Lots of fun, lots of mischief. In his search for families for the children still trapped in Czechoslovakia, Nicholas Winton contacted the Christadelphians. Their leader, Alan Overton, made speeches around the country, trying to find homes for the children. His son Bruce Overton, has found in his father’s papers a box of undiscovered documents dating from the 30s, photographs of children whose hopes were to be dashed with the outbreak of war, and letters begging for help, which revealed the viciousness of the Nazi persecution.

111. 52:38

     My father is a Jew, so he must write. I am a Jew. On the window of his home each day where he’s trying to carry out wireless repair work, he must add, also in his own handwriting, Only pigs deal here. He may be able to offer some suggestion which may yet enable him to come to England and so escape a probable living death in a German concentration camp.

112. 53:05

     Of course, at the time they hadn’t realised how serious were the concentration camps that their lives were. They wouldn’t live very long in any case in the concentration camps and the idea of Hitler’s mark to destroy them really not to they. They were told that they were going, they were going to labour camps and so on.

113. 53:27

     But we know the result. We’ve got letters here relating to Nicholas, Yes, because he spent night after night trying desperately to find families who would take the children. I wonder whether these children he couldn’t place. Look at these children’s faces. This is Carl Singer, born in 1923, and talks about his father and mother.

114. 53:59

     These are tragic faces. The years must all have been sent out by Nicholas Went Fathoms for the children. Look at this lovely child. Look at the photograph underneath. Underneath. It. Oh look. And that gives you some idea. There’s a baby, and many babies came, their parents let them go. Why? Because they knew what was happening.

115. 54:31

     They knew that if life was to continue, they must say goodbye. To them, it’s. In this bag. Some of the labels that they actually were wearing when they arrived in England and with the names on. 518 6778 Walter Fieldelha, age 3. You got to ask, brothers and sisters, when you see that if that was us living in Germany at that time, could we have done that?

116. 55:29

     Could we have sent our little ones, three years old and younger, put them on a train through hostile territory to cross Europe, never to see them again? Now the other question is, if that type of thing happened today, how would we feel about opening our homes up to these children? How in tune are we with the hope of Israel? Would that be something that we would be quick and ready to do, or would that be something that was just not what we really think about?

117. 56:04

     We’re not really involved with Israel or with the Jews, but that’s not really something to do with us. Their actions were basically based upon their understanding of the truth. Where would we stand today? Many Christadelphian families at that time. Participated in taking these children and one of these families is depicted here. You may know this individual here. It’s brother Ray Butler lives in London ON he’s. Travelled.

118. 56:36

     Around several times and may be familiar with him, but I know that you’re familiar with this individual here in the Little Baby Buggy, because that’s brother Paul Billington many years ago, and this is his mother and there’s his grandparents. But this little girl in the middle is a girl named Lucy. Who was one of those children?

119. 56:56

     And in the family photo album this little kid was there and for many years nobody knew who she was and why was she there? Until it became we became aware that the the grandparents had taken one of these children in during the war and had looked after them. I’d like to share with you, just as we close off this session. A A letter that was written by a couple. It’s a couple named Marta and Ernst Ochner. They were Jewish.

120. 57:25

     They lived in the area of Czechoslovakia in they were responsible for organizing the Kindertransport in that country to try and get all the children out and they sent their children off and the children ended up staying. One of the children stayed with Christadelphian, the other one stayed with a another family. But this is the letter that this this individual wrote to brother and sister who took these children in. As the father of your present foster child, Hannah from Pilsen, I beg to express to you my deepest gratitude for your generosity and kindness with which you have received our child.

121. 58:06

     I can assure you that my child Hannah is all that I have. She represents all my happiness in life, and this, what is my life, is now with you. You as gentle people will understand what it means to send beloved children to the strange world. How much pain and tears are in this you will imagine Under what pressure such a step could be resolved. But I trust in the Lord that our sacrifice will not be in vain, because I know that good and gentle people have taken care of my child, and they will educate and care for it in my stead. Our Lord did not wish that humanity should be disgraced. He has provided angels which will not leave them, and such angels are you, Mr. and Mrs.

122. 58:51

     Warren. And as long as we live, you may be sure that our deepest gratitude of our deepest gratitude. By taking care of my children, you have proved that you are you belong to a large and wise nation, which will live forever and always win. We are the grateful parents of Ruth and Hannah, and that was written in 1939. That, by the way, is a photograph of the Warrens. Now Ernst and Marta did not.

123. 59:21

     Live to see their. Children again. It was in October of 1944 that both of them perished in Auschwitz. But note what he said there. I trust that our labor would not be in vain. It’s interesting that in the Christadelphian magazine in 1943, some five years later, we find this We had the unique pleasure of baptizing on December the 20th.

124. 59:50

     A Jewish and Gentile candidate, Miss. Hannah Miriam Offner, 17, who came from Czechoslovakia as a refugee child some four years ago and has been under the loving care of Sister Waring and has attended the Sunday School. And so it was that some of these children who came out went to these families. And the interesting thing is that they participated in the Bible readings.

125. 1:00:15

     And that was the key to this whole thing. Because as Christodelphians, we don’t just read the New Testament, we read the Old Testament too. And so these kids, as they went there, they could stomach that they were Jewish. This was their Bible. So 2 readings out of the Old Testament. They could put up with one reading out of the New Testament. And that’s how they learned that the hope of Israel is not something divorced from true Christianity. But they recognized that there was a connection in these things, and there were many of them who were baptized through this way.

126. 1:00:51

     And so we have the words of the Lord God himself, Genesis, chapter 12, verses one to three. But where he says that I will bless them, that bless thee, and I will curse him that curseth thee, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. And so it is, brothers and sisters, that we hope to spend the rest of our time together today, following through the story now of how God, as laid out in Ezekiel chapter 37, has begun to resurrect those dry bones, to bring them back to the land, to breathe his spirit into them once again, to resurrect them in belief and as a nation to be prepared for the Lord Jesus Christ, who, when he comes, will indeed be the deliverer that comes out of Zion and turns away ungodliness from Jacob.

127. 1:01:53

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128. 1:02:23

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129. 1:02:39

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