Christ A Light To Rule The Nations 1

Hello ladies and gentlemen, this is William Bell. I want to welcome you to our All Things Will Feel podcast and to our YouTube channel as well for those of you who will be listening via that format. We are always grateful for the opportunity to take some time to share with you a message from the Word of God. Now I had actually recorded these messages, one of them at least twice, and then the other two that will follow this one before and ran into some technical difficulties, lost those recordings, but I thought it was worthwhile to go ahead and record this information. We had some audio problems with one of the other recordings, but we are going to go ahead and make them available to you. So let's talk about A Light to the Nations. This is part one of the series, and actually part four got produced and uploaded by mistake, but nevertheless people have listened to it and they've appreciated it. So we're going to start at the beginning of this topic. Now in a recent YouTube video, Dr. Thomas Ice of the Pre-Trib Research Center stated that the church age must be removed so that the Jews can take over and reign over the nations. For Christians, that's a very erroneous and backward thinking statement. Dr. Ice is proposing that the church for which Jesus died, and that is also his bride, must be removed in order for the modern state of Israel, in essence for the Zionists, to rule the world. Now I've met and had conversations with Dr. Ice some years ago in St. Petersburg, Florida, when he was having a debate with Dr. Don Preston and John Anderson, who has now passed away, along with Dr. Mark Hitchcock, and we had a brief conversation out in the hallway to talk about some things, obviously of which we disagreed concerning dispensationalism. But at any rate, the church needs to pay attention, and not just the church, but everyone needs to pay attention to what is being proposed by Dr. Ice from his dispensational views, from those Christian Zionist views. He is advocating the removal of the church for which Jesus died. Now I just kind of wonder how many people are swept up with this, but I know that there are quite a few of them, and if you know anything about the people who follow the CUFI organization, Christians United for Israel, and many others who are Christian Zionists, and even those who are not aware that they are a part of this movement, a part of this proposal, are being swept away in it. And even those who claim to distinguish themselves so much from the people in the so-called Middle East, they themselves are being swept up in it, because for some reason it appears that they might be used as a pawn or tool in order to accomplish some of these objectives. So it's very important for people to understand what's going on. Now let's talk about what a removal of the church means. A removal of the church means a removal of Christ and Christianity. And this seems to be the aim and the desire of what's behind this idea and concept of removing the church age so that the Jews, that is those who are in the modern state of Israel, call themselves Zionists, or at least they are referred to as Zionists, can rule the world. Now when we talk about evangelizing, there is some hesitancy with regard to evangelizing in Israel. Now granted, Israel has more than 100 Messianic congregations per Yaakov Shalom Ariel, who is the Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, and he is the author of Evangelizing the Chosen People. Interesting that they use these terms, but at any rate, proselytizing is legal in the country and missionaries of all religious groups are allowed to proselytize all citizens. However, a 1977 law prohibits any person from offering material benefits as an inducement to conversion. It was also illegal to convert persons under 18 years of age unless one parent were an adherent of the religious group seeking to convert the minor. Despite the legality of proselytism, the government has taken a number of steps that encouraged the perception that proselytizing is against government policy. So even though it appears to be lawful and legal, there are efforts, according to this report, that they discouraged the evangelizing of the Israelites. Now later on in that video, Dr. Thomas Ice said that even though they're not converted to Christ now, speaking of the Zionists, they will have to be converted in order for them to rule the world. But given the scenario that it appears to be discouraged that there should be any evangelization of converting them from Jews to become Christians, that might be more than just a simple task to accomplish. Now this was all according to a 2010 U.S. State Department report on religious freedom in Israel. Now one of the things that we should recognize is that the church is the bride of Christ. According to Ephesians chapter 5, the Bible says the church is the bride of Christ. So in other words, what this is saying is that they're going to allow Christ to be ripped apart from his bride, or his bride to be ripped apart from him. In other words, to take it out of the world. And if you're going to do that, are you going to leave Christ in the world without a bride? I mean, how is that going to work? The Bible says in Ephesians chapter 5 beginning at verse 25, husbands love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. In other words, that was one of the purposes for which he died was for his bride, was for the church. And he said that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word that he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. And so husbands ought to love their own wives as their own body. See who loves his wife loves himself for no one ever yet hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it just as the Lord does the church. So the church is the object of the love of Christ. And therefore it says, for we are members of his body and of his flesh and of his bones. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife. And the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Now this is saying that Christ and the church are joined together. They are glued together, which is the impact of, and the import of that term, very strong term of relationship that's involved. And yet we have a doctrine that is supposedly going to rip that apart and bring about a scenario where the Zionists are going to rule the world. Well, at least within that doctrine, as it is related by Dr. Thomas Ice, the purposes and the design of the Zionists are always known. Now, when we think about that, just kind of, you know, understand just how much sense that makes when you think about it. First of all, the world has been given to Christians. All right. The world has been given to Christians based upon first Corinthians chapter three, verses 20 and 21. And we're going to show in several examples of the fact that this is true. Now we want to make it clear that when we talk about the world has been given to Christians, we want to make sure that we are clear that we have a world that is considered as the spiritual world. That is the world of salvation where salvation occurs. But we should also understand that because God is the owner of all things in the world, he has likewise given that to the people who are called Christians as well. Now let's look at a couple of passages in first Corinthians chapter three, beginning at verse 21. The Bible says, therefore, let no one boast in men for all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come all are yours and your Christ and Christ is God's. So the Bible is saying to Christians, everything belongs to you. Now I grant that Christians have abdicated responsibility. We're all guilty of that, of claiming what God has given us. Many people want to be raptured out of the world so that they don't have to fulfill their responsibility. And that has caused other people to usurp the authority and the ownership of things, which God has placed in the hands of his people. That is of Christians. The Bible says, whether it's Paul, Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come, they all belong to the people who are called the believers in Christ. Now, if we understand that dispensations like Dr. Rice claim and admit that we are now living in the church age, he would then have to admit that the church is now the present owner of all things. And therefore to remove the church would be to remove all that has been given to them through the father and through Christ. And not only in this age and that age of which he speaks at that time was the age of Moses, but he says also in the age to come, which is this present age of which the Bible says has no end. Ephesians chapter three, verse 21 unto him, be glory in the church by Christ Jesus world without end. Amen. And so this is a blessing that was for the church and is for the church for all times. Now, here's an interesting point to consider when we talk about this particular subject. First and foremost, the Jews already had the privilege of salvation, the covenants, the promises of God, et cetera, in terms of the promises that were made to them. Jesus, when he was having a conversation with the woman in Samaria, where they were talking about, she was debating, of course, they were having this debate and she was saying, our fathers worshiped on this mountain, meaning Mount Gerizim. And you Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Well, Jesus said, woman, believe me, the time is coming. And now is when you will need to worship the father in this mountain. That is not in Mount Gerizim in Samaria, nor even in Jerusalem for the father is seeking true worshipers and they who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. He says, you don't even know what you worship. He says, we know what we worship. Speaking of the Jews at that time for salvation is all the Jews. So the Jews had been given the covenants. They had been given the promises. They had been given the adoption. They had been given the, um, the law and the services of God, meaning relating to the temple. The advantages they had was that chiefly to them were committed the oracles of God, but you see, they spurned the opportunity. But when Jesus came to them, the Bible says he came to his own, but his own received him not as a nation. They rejected him. Now there was a remnant out from among them who did believe. And that remnant became the first citizens of the kingdom of God. When you look at Romans chapter one in the verses 16, the Bible says, for, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. So the gospel teaches, the Bible teaches that the very gospel, the very message of good tidings of the salvation that God brought into the world was first promised to Israel. And they were the first recipients of it. You know what that means? It means that those who came into Christ as Jews were the first owners of all things that Christ had given to the world. They owned Paul, they owned Apollos, they own Cephas, they own the world, they own things present and they own things to come. So they're already in possession according to the scriptures. When we look in Luke 24, 44 through 47, Jesus, after his resurrection and before his ascension met with his disciples to talk to them about the things which he had said to them before, a while rather, he was still with them in the flesh, in the realm of the flesh. The Bible says, and when I say the realm of the flesh, I mean, in terms of their covenantal realm. In Luke 24, 44 through 47, the Bible says, Jesus said to them, these are the things which I spoke to you while I was still with you concerning the things which are written in the law of Moses and in the Psalms and in the prophets concerning me. He says, thus it is written and thus it behooved Christ to rise from the dead or to suffer first to suffer and then to rise from the dead and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Notice where it was to begin. And he even told them to wait in the city of Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high. And when you go to Isaiah chapter two and the verses two, the Bible says, now it should come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains and exalted above the hills and all nations shall flow to it. And all many people will come and say, come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us of his ways and we should walk in his paths for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. You see some of these Christian Zionists are saying these passages were never fulfilled, but see Jesus told them to go into Jerusalem so that the prophecy could begin with those in Israel. And then it would go to those who were the nations throughout all the land. Now, when you look in the second chapter of the book of Acts, starting on Pentecost, the Bible talks about the Holy spirit coming Jews gathered together from every nation out from under heaven. And they began to speak with tongues as the spirit gave them utterance. And when they did that, the whole multitude came together, wanting to know what was the meaning of it. And Peter said, uh, they were claiming, you know, some said these men were drunk and Peter said, no, as he stood up with the 11, he says, these men are not drunken. As you suppose, seeing that it is, but the third hour of the day, but this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. Now, when you look at Joel's prophecy, who prophesied of the Holy spirit, that was to come in the last days, which, uh, there are some who deny that that prophecy has been fulfilled, but what Joel said was that God was going to pour out his spirit upon all flesh in the last days. And he said, whosoever would call upon the name of the Lord would be saved. But now he narrowed that down to a faithful remnant. In other words, God recognized that not all, we're going to receive the apostles. Just like not all received the message of Christ. And so in Joel two and verse 32, he said, it should come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance. As the Lord has said among whom among the remnant, whom the Lord calls, God said it was going to be a remnant, not the whole nation, but a remnant who would accept his word. You know, it appears that the proposal that Thomas ice is making is similar to that, which, um, King Boulan and those of the ninth century, um, or around the eighth century made when that whole nation converted to Judaism, they didn't have a clue about what it was all about, but they just converted as a nation because they did so for political reasons and for the, for their attempt to have power and to prevent themselves from having to either fall under Roman power or under the power of Islam. And that's a matter of documented history. And this appears to be something similar to that in terms of what they're advocating. But at any rate, as we go on, we look in Acts chapter two and Peter stood up. He declared to them the gospel of Christ, how they had murdered him and how God raised him from the dead. And then after the conclusion of that message, Peter said, um, with many other words, he testified and exhort saying, save yourselves from this perverse and generation quoting Deuteronomy chapter 32, by the way. And when he said that the Bible says, um, those who gladly received his word were baptized. Now, mind you, there were only Jews from every nation under heaven. There were proselytes there, but they were in essence, Jews from every nation under heaven. And that day about 3000 souls received the word. Now you got to understand there were hundreds of thousands, probably over a million plus Jews in Jerusalem at that time. And a small number, 3000 obeyed the gospel. Well, what did the Lord say? What did the scripture say? Acts chapter two, verse 47, praising God, having favor with all the people and the Lord added to the church, those who were being saved. Now, who were they? They were Israel. And what did God give them? The world, Cephas, Apollos, Paul, things present things to come. Jews already had everything in Christ. And that's what the Bible says. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. And so what is this idea of this concept that you have to remove the church in order for the Jews to get what Christ gave them in Christ in the first century. You see, it just demonstrates that this is an attempt of a coup on the church, if you please, uh, by those who do not understand the scriptures and they are unwittingly, uh, buying into this concept. Now, as we go on, we also find that according to the Bible, those who were called the Jews that did not believe in Christ would come to worship at the feet of the church. In other words, rather than the church being removed, those who were called the Jews in the first century, the ancient nation, a nation of Israel would be removed. Now let's notice what the Bible says in Isaiah chapter 60, Isaiah chapter 60. See, he's claiming that the church has to be removed in order for Israel to become the rule, all the nations and become a light to the nations. Well, let's take a look at Isaiah chapter 60, Isaiah chapter 60. And, uh, this verse is, um, 14, Isaiah 60. And we're going to look at verse 14. The Bible says also the sons of those who afflicted you shall come and bow shall come bowing to you. And all those who despised you shall fall prostrate at the soles of your feet. Now I'm going to stop it right there because I'm going to come back to the latter part of the verse a little bit later, but he says they're going to fall prostrate at the soles of your feet. Now this passage is quoted in the book of Revelation in Revelation chapter three, verse nine. We have the quote from Isaiah chapter 60 and verse 14. And this is what it says. Indeed, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews and are not, but lie. Indeed, I will make them come and worship before your feet. And to know that I have loved you. God said, I'm going to make those who say they are Jews and are not, but who lie to come and worship at your feet and to know that I have loved you. Now at whose feet would these Jews be coming to? Well, how can we determine that? All we need to do is to look at the book of Revelation to determine to whom was that book written? Was it written to Zionists? Was it written to Christian Zionists or was it written to the church in the first century to the people who form the church believers in the Messiah, both Jews and Gentiles, because Gentiles did come in at the household of Cornelius. And thereafter, when you look in Revelation, the Bible says this was the message that was sent to the seven churches in Asia. So what we have is a message, the book of Revelation, which is a book all about the victory says that these Jews were going to come and worship at the feet of Christians. That's what the prophecy said in Isaiah 60 and 14. And that's what the book of Revelation said in Revelation three and verse nine. I will make them who say they are Jews and are not, but lie to come and worship at your feet and to know that I have loved you. Now look at Revelation chapter one in the verses 11, the Bible says, I am Alpha and Omega the first and the last, and what you see right in a book and send it to the seven churches, which are in Asia. This was sent to the church and he names them, the church in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Now, what did he say was going to take place? You see, he had already written to the church in Ephesus. Now this is very important. So don't miss this. It's very, very, very important. The Bible teaches that God had already written to the church at Ephesus, same one that we have in the book of Revelation. And this is what he said to them in verse 19. He talked about the power, the exceeding greatness of the power of God. Notice verse 19. And what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us? Now who's at us? This is the church at Ephesus. Who believe? See, the believers in the Messiah, according to the working of his mighty power, which he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. Notice, far above all principality and power and might and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age, the age of Moses, which didn't end until 70 AD, but also in the age to come, which followed it and is the present age in which we now live. The Bible says God gave Christ that power through the exceeding greatness of his own power, raised him from the dead, seated him at the right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, power, might, and dominion, and every name that is named. If they got a name, Christ is above it, not only in this age, but also in the age to come. If they got a name today, Christ is above it. Now what did he do? The Bible says, and he put all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all things, to whom? To the church. You see, the one who possesses the exceeding greatness of all God's power, the one who has been given power over all principality, power, might, and dominion in the Jewish age and in the age to come, the present kingdom age, God put all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all things to the church. Well, I would suggest that puts a lot of people in trouble if they're trying to overcome that power. And so this power was given to the church. Now in Hebrews chapter two, and the verse is eight, the Bible again points out that this power had been given to Christ. And so we're going to look there for just a moment or two in Hebrews chapter two and the verse is eight. The scripture says, you have put all things in subjection under his feet for him that he put all things under him. He left nothing that is not put under him. See, there's no power left. I mean, like debt put under him. And he says, but now we do not yet see all things. See in the Jewish age, it was a progressive thing, but it came to consummation at the end of that age when that power was demonstrated and exercised. And so he says, but we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor by the grace of God that he might taste death for every man. Now we're going to conclude at this point, and then we're going to pick back up in another segment and continue on. So we hope that you will continue to follow this message because it's very important. We've got some very interesting things to say about whether or not the church can be removed in order to give way for Zionists to rule the world that has been already given to the church since the first century, where they are seated with Christ. And we'll demonstrate that and show you the kind of power that God gave to Christ. I'm William Bell with all things fulfilled. If you have not subscribed to this channel, go ahead and subscribe, hit that button so that you don't miss any of the messages that we have for you. We assure you that we're going give you some solid Bible teaching that will challenge you, but that also will uplift you and encourage you and show you the power that you as a believer in Christ, or as one who should become a believer in Christ can possess so that you can serve God and that you can bring glory to his name by the position and status that he gives you in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Until next time, have a great one. We'll see you then.