One of many passages speaking of Israel, Jerusalem, etc.

1
One of many passages speaking of Israel,
Jerusalem, etc.

• Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion! Shout in
  triumph, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all
  your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The Lord has
  taken away His judgments against you, He has
  cleared away your enemies.
• The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst
  You will fear disaster no more. In that day it
  will be said to Jerusalem Do not be afraid, O
  Zion Do not let your hands fall limp. The Lord
  your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior.
  He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet
  in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts
  of joy. (Zephaniah 314-17)

2
What Awaited Israel

• It will come about that he who is left in Zion
  and remains in Jerusalem will be called
  holy--everyone who is recorded for life in
  Jerusalem.
• the Lord will create over the whole area of
  Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by
  day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming
  fire by night for over all the glory will be a
  canopy. There will be a shelter to give shade
  from the heat by day, and refuge and protection
  from the storm and the rain. (Isaiah 43-6)

3
What Happened?

• After all of the emphasis placed on Israel and
  their city of Jerusalem, what has happened to
  Gods Chosen People?
• What role does Jerusalem play anymore?
• What happened to the promises of restoration
  and divine protection for Israelites?

4
Israel was Chosen by God

• Now that the Jesus has fulfilled His purpose in
  bringing Gentiles to God, are they not Chosen
  anymore?

5
3 Major Branches of Judaism

• Orthodox
• Literal interpretation of the Law. All
  commandments must be followed today.
• Conservative
• Believe Law must be obeyed, but some elements
  must change and adapt to modern culture.
• Reform
• Rejects laws that are foreign to modern culture
  and practice.

6
Reform Judaisms Approach to the Law of Moses

• We recognize in the Mosaic legislation a system
  of training the Jewish people for its mission
  during its national life in Palestine, and today
  we accept as binding only its moral laws, and
  maintain only such ceremonies as elevate and
  sanctify our lives, but reject all such as are
  not adapted to the views and habits of modern
  civilization.
• We hold that all such Mosaic and rabbinical laws
  as regulate diet, priestly purity, and dress
  originated in ages and under the influence of
  ideas entirely foreign to our present mental and
  spiritual state. They fail to impress the modern
  Jew with a spirit of priestly holiness their
  observance in our days is apt rather to obstruct
  than to further modern spiritual elevation.
  Declaration of Principles Pittsburgh, 1885

7
Conservatives Approach to the Law of Moses

• Conservative Judaism maintains that the truths
  found in Jewish scriptures and other Jewish
  writings come from God, but were transmitted by
  humans and contain a human component.
• Conservative Judaism generally accepts the
  binding nature of halakhah Jewish tradition and
  law, but believes that the Law should change and
  adapt, absorbing aspects of the predominant
  culture while remaining true to Judaism's values.

8
The Orthodox Approach to the Law of Moses

• Every word of the Torah (written Law) is from
  God, and is binding on Jewish people.
• Question Why do they not keep the animal
  sacrifices today?
• The reason we do not bring sacrifices today is
  because the Torah forbids us to bring sacrifices
  anywhere outside of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.
  Since the Romans destroyed our Temple and sent us
  into exile it has been forbidden for us to bring
  sacrifices. Therefore, we are actually obeying
  the Torah by not bringing sacrifices. It is
  certainly not a product of our deliberately
  changing Judaism. Quite the contrary it occurred
  against our will.
• Orthodox Jews claim to obey every commandment of
  the Law that is able to be kept.

9
Every major branch of Judaism points to one fact,
whether by acknowledgement or by practice.

• God made the Law of Moses obsolete.

10
Hebrews 86 13

• Jesus has obtained a more excellent ministry,
  by as much as He is also the mediator of a better
  covenant, which has been enacted on better
  promises. "BEHOLD, DAYS ARE COMING, SAYS THE
  LORD, WHEN I WILL EFFECT A NEW COVENANT WITH THE
  HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH NOT
  LIKE THE COVENANT WHICH I MADE WITH THEIR FATHERS
  ON THE DAY WHEN I TOOK THEM BY THE HAND TO LEAD
  THEM OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT.

11
Hebrews 86 13

• "FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH
  THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE
  LORD I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR MINDS, AND I
  WILL WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS. AND I WILL BE
  THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. "AND THEY
  SHALL NOT TEACH EVERYONE HIS FELLOW CITIZEN, AND
  EVERYONE HIS BROTHER, SAYING, 'KNOW THE LORD,'
  FOR ALL WILL KNOW ME, FROM THE LEAST TO THE
  GREATEST OF THEM. "FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO
  THEIR INIQUITIES, AND I WILL REMEMBER THEIR SINS
  NO MORE."
• When He said, "A new covenant," He has made the
  first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete
  and growing old is ready to disappear.

12
A.D. 70

• The house of the Lord was totally destroyed, with
  all of its implements and altars.
• Also lost after the destruction were the
  genealogical records which determined the roles
  of the priests.
• The worship roles of the Temple priests depended
  on family lines and genealogy.
• Since this destruction, there has been no way to
  identify who should be High Priest a position
  which must be held by a descendant of Aaron.

13
God made Judaism obsolete

• No possibility of a lawful High Priesthood
• No knowledge of family lines from which to assign
  priestly duties.
• No Temple
• No altar

After establishing a New Covenant for humankind,
God made it impossible to continue, and
impossible to ever revive, the true practice of
the First Covenant.
14
This was Predicted Long Ago

• It is not as though the word of God has failed.
  For they are not all Israel who are descended
  from Israel nor are they all children because
  they are Abraham's descendants, but "THROUGH
  ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED." That is,
  it is not the children of the flesh who are
  children of God, but the children of the promise
  are regarded as descendants.

15
This was Predicted Long Ago

• It is not as though the word of God has failed.
  For they are not all Israel who are descended
  from Israel nor are they all children because
  they are Abraham's descendants, but "THROUGH
  ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED." That is,
  it is not the children of the flesh who are
  children of God, but the children of the promise
  are regarded as descendants.
• As He says also in Hosea, "I WILL CALL THOSE
  WHO WERE NOT MY PEOPLE, 'MY PEOPLE,' AND HER WHO
  WAS NOT BELOVED, 'BELOVED.'" "AND IT SHALL BE
  THAT IN THE PLACE WHERE IT WAS SAID TO THEM, 'YOU
  ARE NOT MY PEOPLE,' THERE THEY SHALL BE CALLED
  SONS OF THE LIVING GOD. (Romans 96-26)

16
God Prepared the Way for the Israel of Promise

• Abraham BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM
  AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.
• Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of
  faith who are sons of Abraham. The Scripture,
  foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by
  faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham,
  saying, "ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU."
  
• So then those who are of faith are blessed with
  Abraham, the believer. (Galatians 36-9)

17
We are the Israel of God

• peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the
  Israel of God. (Galatians 616)

18
What Awaits the Israel of God?

• Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion! Shout in
  triumph, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all
  your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The Lord has
  taken away His judgments against you, He has
  cleared away your enemies.
• The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst
  You will fear disaster no more. In that day it
  will be said to Jerusalem Do not be afraid, O
  Zion Do not let your hands fall limp. The Lord
  your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior.
  He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet
  in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts
  of joy. (Zephaniah 314-17)

19
What Awaits the Israel of God?

• In that day the Branch of the Lord will be
  beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the
  earth will be the pride and the adornment of the
  survivors of Israel. It will come about that he
  who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will
  be called holy--everyone who is recorded for life
  in Jerusalem.
• the Lord will create over the whole area of
  Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by
  day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming
  fire by night for over all the glory will be a
  canopy. There will be a shelter to give shade
  from the heat by day, and refuge and protection
  from the storm and the rain. (Isaiah 42-6)

20
What Awaits the Israel of God?

• "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little
  to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will
  go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings
  forth are from long ago, From the days of
  eternity."
• Then the remainder of His brethren Will return
  to the sons of Israel. And He will arise and
  shepherd His flock In the strength of the Lord,
  In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God.
  And they will remain, Because at that time He
  will be great To the ends of the earth. This One
  will be our peace. (Micah 52-5)