Unearth the connections between the Old and New Testaments with Nicole and Pastor Enyart, as they illuminate key biblical narratives that foreshadow Christ’s coming and purpose. From the symbolism of Mount Moriah to the Law’s ultimate goal, discover how every story testifies of Jesus and calls believers to seek spiritual humility and understanding in pursuit of true faith.
Greetings to the brightest audience in the country and welcome to Theology Thursday. I’m Nicole McBurney. Every weekday we bring you the news of the day, the culture, and science from a Christian worldview. But today, join me and Pastor Bob Enyart as we explore the source of our Christian worldview, the Bible.
SPEAKER 02 :
For the works which the Father has given me to finish, the very works that I do bear witness of me that the Father has sent me, and the Father himself who sent me has testified of me. You, however, you have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his form. So the Father testifies of me, which is the most important witness that I can have, but I guess that won’t help you all that much because you cannot see him and you don’t care to hear the Father either. So even though he testifies of me, that’s not going to get us very far. But you do not have his word abiding in you because whom he sent Him you do not believe. So the Son they do not believe, and the others that He sent, like the prophets, and like John, they did not believe. At this point, I’d like to go through a parable Jesus gave in Matthew 21, verse 33. You might want to turn there. We’ll go through the whole parable. Matthew 21, verse 33. Jesus said, Hear another parable. There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. Now when the vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers that they might receive its fruit. He wanted to collect the rent for his property. And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, They will respect my son. But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance. And by the way, that gives us a glimpse into the thinking of Satan at the time of the crucifixion. This is the son. He’s the heir. Let’s destroy him and turn the tables. So verse 39 in Matthew. So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will we do to those vinedressers? That’s what Jesus now is asking those in his audience. And they said to him, he will destroy those wicked men miserably. and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons. Ha! They pronounced the appropriate condemnation upon themselves. You know, wicked people do that all the time. They fall into the traps. You know, like somebody calls into the show, and you just reel them in, and they dig the hole that buries them. Much like King David did when Nathan the prophet gave him the parable. and said, There’s two men in your kingdom, a rich man and a poor man. And the rich man has fabulous wealth, but the poor man has nothing but one little lamb. And that was it. And he fed and nurtured the lamb, and the lamb sleeps with his children. And the rich man had a visitor come by, and he didn’t want to feed him from his own flock, so he took the little lamb from his neighbor and killed it and served that to the visitor. And King David said, that miserable man. You get him and we’re going to kill him. And we’re going to make him pay back fourfold. I hope you do that before you kill him. And Nathan the prophet said, that man is you. Because you took Uriah’s wife Bathsheba and then you killed him. And David was really freaked out that he had been caught. So Jesus could now say to them, you are those vine dressers. And my Father will destroy you miserably. And He will take the vineyard from your hands and give it to others who will render Him fruits. So in verse 42 in Matthew, Jesus said, Have you never read in the Scriptures the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone? This was the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you And it’s so easy to misinterpret that. So many Christians think, oh, that’s a reference to the body of Christ and that God will turn to the Gentiles. But it’s not that at all. It’s a reference to the disciples and Christ’s little flock. If it was to the Gentiles, Gentiles, the word for that is the nations. And it would never say to a nation, referring to the Gentiles, that would be plural. But this a nation is a subset of the nation of Israel. Just as God had said to Moses, I will destroy them and make a nation out of you and your seed. So a nation could be a subset. And that’s what it was here. Jesus was referring to his little flock, the 12, his disciples and their converts. He would take the kingdom from the religious and political leaders in Israel and give it to this little band called of men whom the authorities had rejected. And this here next verse is one of our favorite neglected Bible verses. And whoever falls on this stone will be broken. So if you come to Jesus Christ, you will be humbled. He’s the rock and you could be broken and then he will rebuild your life. But on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder. Wow, Jesus Christ, on whomever he falls, he will grind that man to powder. And now back to John 5. You search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, and these are they which testify of me. That is why when reading the Old Testament, passages that seem to make little or no sense… Otherwise, we put Jesus right smack dab in the middle of the story. And then we see if he illumines the story for us. It makes no sense for God to command Abraham to sacrifice his son until we realize that God the Father sacrificed his own son on that same Mount Moriah. It makes no sense for God to command the system of the cities of refuge where men must wait until the death of the one who is high priest in those days before they can go home, until we realize that Christ is the high priest. And at his death, the spirits who were in prison were freed to go to their home with the Lord. It makes no sense for the book of Genesis to repeatedly switch the younger brother with the older all the time, over and over again, until we realize that Jesus took Adam’s place and Adam’s inheritance. And there was a switch there. So the Scriptures testify of me, Jesus said. In verse 40, But you are not willing to come to me that you may have life. Now, stubbornness is deadly. Stubbornness, and ultimately, it’s pride. and pride that destroys people. I do not receive honor from men, said Jesus. Of course, again, somewhat figuratively. But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. Wow. Figurative in one moment, but as literal as a stone wall in the next. A wall that they could smack their heads up against. I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. And that’s what Jesus means when he says, I know you. That’s who you are. You are the one who does not know God. Imagine having that as your title. Here’s Paul. He’s an apostle. Here’s Bob. He’s a pastor. Here’s Gordon. He’s a police officer, a father, a husband. And here’s, oh yeah, here’s Bill. He’s the one who does not love God. That’s his title. That’s who he is. Verse 43. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, him you will receive. In other words, if the Antichrist comes, you’ll fall all over yourself to honor him and to give him gifts and to submit to him. but because I am the true Christ, you will reject me because you hate the truth. And so often, you know, like the worst possible question people will call, and now that the show’s primarily on the internet, we really want callers. But people will call up with a question like, why is the media so, why do they report everything wrong? It’s like, we don’t want that call. Don’t call. Call Mike Rosen. Don’t call. It’s too boring. It’s like, because they hate God. They hate the truth. It’s so obvious why people do these things. So Jesus said, if somebody comes in their own name, you’ll receive them. And, you know, he could have been referring there to the Antichrist, but any Antichrist will do. Anyone who rejects God and egotistically comes promoting himself, well, the wicked will be open to his message because it will oppose the message of God. How can you believe who receive honor from one another and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? How can you believe, Jesus said? How is it possible for you to even receive the gospel when you receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God. Wow. Let us not seek the honor of men, but God, and perhaps He will honor us. Verse 45. Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, Moses, in whom you trust. I like that. Don’t think I’m going to accuse you. Moses will do it. And they quote Moses every day. Moses said, Moses this and Moses that. Well, go, Mo, go, because he’s going to accuse them. The second bestseller of all time is Pilgrim’s Progress. And we’ve covered in our Bible study, The Tree album, on the law and grace, the characters in that book. And there’s Christian and another guy, I read that some years ago, but I think his name was Faithful. And Faithful meets up with the main character, Christian. They’re on their way to heaven eventually. And Faithful says, oh, it was terrible. I had this guy follow me. He caught up to me and he grabbed me and he punched me in the chest and knocked me to the ground and I was virtually passed out. I came to and I went to get up and he grabbed me and he hit me again and knocked me to the ground. And I opened my eyes and he was grabbing me again and I thought if he’d hit me, I’d be finished. It be over. And he was going to tell Christian who that guy was. And Christian says, I know who that guy was. I’ve run into him myself. His name is Moses. And faithful is like, that’s exactly who it was. Moses. People run to the law. They cling to the law. They think that in the law they’ll find security and holiness. But they’re wrong because the law will accuse them. And that’s all it will do. The law was not designed to bring righteousness. but that sin might become exceedingly wicked and that men would be accused of their rebellion. Jesus says, hey, I don’t have to accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, Moses, in whom you trust. And I thought we were supposed to forgive everyone. And here’s Moses, already with the Lord, sitting there waiting to accuse the wicked. Well, how about this idea? If Jews today reject Christ, what if they reject Christ, as many in Israel do, and here in this country and around the world, but they believe in Moses, they go to the synagogue, they teach their children Hebrew, they learn Torah, they learn the law, and they pray to that God that Moses wrote about. Will they then be saved? Well, look what Jesus said in verse 46. If you believed Moses, you would believe me. For he wrote about me. The Pharisees quoted Moses constantly, but they didn’t believe Moses. They rejected Moses. And they read in their Hebrew scriptures where it said the Lord, and they prayed to the Lord, but they weren’t praying to God. They were rejecting God. So some verses from the Jewish New Testament and the Tanakh, in fact, These two that we just read in John 5, verses 45 and 6. If we read them in the Jewish New Testament, this is how they come across. Do you know who will accuse you? Moshe. Now, who’s Moshe? Oh, this is this Moses guy. Moshe, the very one you have counted on. For if you really believed Moshe… you would believe me because it was about me that he wrote. But if you don’t believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say? And now in Luke 10, Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Beth-Zedah! And you, Kephar-Nakum! You will be brought down to Sheol. Whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me. So there’s the Jewish New Testament. And Jesus saying, if you reject me, you reject the Father. And in 2 Corinthians 3 from the Jewish New Testament, to this day, the same veil remains over them, over Israel, when they read the Old Covenant. It has not been unveiled because only by the Messiah is the veil taken away. Yes, till today, whenever Moshe is read, a veil lies over their heart. But, says the Torah. Whenever someone turns to Adonai, the veil is taken away. See, in Romans chapter 10 in the Jewish New Testament. Brothers, my heart’s deepest desire in my prayer to God for Israel is for their salvation. For I can testify to their zeal for God, but it is not based on correct understanding. For since they are unaware of God’s way of making people righteous… and instead seek to set up their own, they have not submitted themselves to God’s way of making people righteous. For the goal at which the Torah aims is the Messiah, who offers righteousness to everyone who trusts. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile. Adonai is the same for everyone. So trust comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through a word proclaimed about the Messiah. John, a passage we read in the previous study, chapter 3, verse 16 and then 18. For God so loved the world that He gave His only and unique Son so that everyone who trusts in Him may have eternal life instead of being utterly destroyed. Those who trust in Him are not judged. Those who do not trust have been judged already in that they have not trusted in the one who is God’s only and unique Son. In Acts chapter 13, the next Shabbat, nearly the whole city gathered to hear the message about the Lord. But when the Jews who had not believed saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and spoke up against what Shaul was saying and insulted him. Now that’s Paul. However, Shaul and Barnabas Barnabas, answered boldly, it was necessary that God’s word be spoken first to you. But since you are rejecting it and judging yourselves unworthy of eternal life, why, we’re turning to the goyim. For that is what Adonai has ordered us to do. Galatians 3. We are Jews by birth, not so-called Even so, we have come to realize that a person is not declared righteous by God on the ground of his legalistic observance of Torah commands. But through the Messiah, Yeshua’s trusting faithfulness. That is such a good translation. Because a lot of translations would say by our faith in Jesus instead of by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. And the Jewish New Testament gets that right, that we are declared righteous through the Messiah Yeshua’s trusting faithfulness. They translate the genitive correctly there. Therefore, we too have put our trust in Messiah Yeshua and become faithful to Him in order that we might be declared righteous on the ground of the Messiah’s trusting faithfulness and not on the ground of our legalistic observance And I’m getting near the end. Romans 11, 12. Israel is being placed temporarily in a condition less favored than that of the Gentiles from the Jewish New Testament. And John 8. Yeshua replied to them, If God were your father, you would love me. Wow. And, you know, those who are the most passionate Jews in Israel despise the Christians who are trying to convert men to Jesus Christ. And they view them as enemies. So Jesus said, Yeshua replied to them, If God were your father, you would love me. Why don’t you understand what I’m saying? Because you can’t bear to listen to my message. Whoever belongs to God listens to what God says. The reason you don’t listen is that you do not belong to God. And now back in the Tanakh, in the Torah, in Deuteronomy 18.15. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet from among your own people like myself. Him you shall heed. That was Moses writing, inspired by God, saying the Lord will raise up a prophet who would be Jesus Christ, in him you shall heed. And then God himself continues in Deuteronomy 18, I will raise up a prophet for them from among their own people like yourself. I will put my words in his mouth and he will speak to them all that I command him. And if anybody fails to heed the words he speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account. Peter quoted the Torah in Acts 3, saying to the men of Israel, For Moses truly said to the fathers, The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet. By the way, this is from the New King James. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever he says to you. And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that prophet Jesus shall be utterly destroyed. So the question is not open for debate. Those TV evangelists who are suggesting that the Jews, as long as they’re faithful to the Mosaic Covenant, they will be saved, we could very easily deduce their motives. It’s not because they’ve made a thorough reading of the Bible. and they see that there’s a different way for the Jews to get saved apart from faith in Christ, that’s not where they come up with that idea. So where do they come up with it from? Well, it’s because when they go to Israel, they take these tours that are incredible money makers, and they don’t have to worry about their testimony before the Jews, the unsaved Jews who manage their tours and guide their buses. They don’t have to worry. They Every night at the end of the day in the field, they have these scam healing events where they milk the flock of every last dollar they can get after they already got a couple thousand from them for the trip. And they do that night after night with these phony healings and phony miracles. And the Jewish unsaved guides who are there, they see it. They see it day in and day out through the year. Phony, bogus… American TV televangelist bringing hundreds, sometimes thousands of people there, and it’s all a scam. And it’s so obvious to them. And so I think that these Christians who run the tours, well, I know that they don’t minister to them. They don’t try to share the gospel with them. And so this view appeases their guilty conscience for the way they behave and the way they, after going, you know, I know some, Christians that have been to Israel 60 times, 70 times with tours, some of the organizers. And no concern for the souls of the Jews that they interact with there. But the Southern Baptists are right. They said that the Jews need converting and they have been called to task on that this past few months. And they’ve been ridiculed and criticized as being hate mongers in the media by ministers, supposedly, of the Gospel, saying that to say that you need to convert someone is a statement of hatred and prejudice, which that’s where we’ve gotten to. I thank God that I’ve been able to share the Gospel with some Jews and pray with some. One man, I recall, even on the air to become a believer, This past week, we were in Los Angeles at the National Day of Repudiation of Jesse Jackson. And it was quite a neat event. And I got to speak for about 15 minutes. And when I was done, this Jewish woman came up to me. It was very obvious she wasn’t saved. And she talked and gave me her opinions. And she loved what was going on, but she didn’t buy the religious part of it. But she agreed. And I really wanted to talk to her to try to give her the gospel, but it was hectic and I was on the platform and I was called up by Jesse Lee Peterson at the end of the event. And so I lost track of her and I was with a group of nine people and they wanted to go have dinner. And so I was frustrated that I didn’t talk to her. And we were having dinner just maybe a quarter of a mile from the event and we’re about done. And in walks this little old lady. And she’s quite a character. I knew from just talking to her briefly. And she walks in, and I had remembered her name was Rosalie. And she sat down by herself to eat. She’s an older woman. You could tell she’s very hurt, lonely. She has a couple grown kids, but generally unhappy. Doesn’t believe in the Bible at all, and not even the Hebrew Scriptures. And so I looked over and said, Rosalie. And she said, hello. Come on over. So I sat down with her for probably 10 minutes. And we had a great time of sharing. And I asked her, why do you think Abraham was asked by God to kill his own son on that mountain, Mount Moriah? She said, I don’t know. It’s a crazy story, isn’t it? And it turns out that she doesn’t believe any of the Bible is true at all. And so I had such a neat talk with her. I said, Rosalie, you sound like you think it was all made up. Moses and the Jews just made it up. And she said, of course they did. And I said, well, then why would they make themselves look so bad? I mean, on every page, if they just made it up, wouldn’t they make themselves look good? But look at King David, how terrible he was. an adulterer and a murderer. Look at Solomon, how evil he was. And even Moses, how he didn’t put his faith in God so many times. I mean, wouldn’t they make themselves look good instead of bad? And she said, I never thought of that. And so I said, let me tell you why God told Abraham to offer up his son on Mount Moriah. And it took me three attempts to finally get through the story because she’d constantly interrupt and want to talk about her kids or Bill Clinton or whatever. But she heard the story and the explanation that it was on that same mountain, Mount Moriah, where Solomon built the temple. And we know historically that that was the same mountain on which Jesus Christ was crucified. And so Genesis, Moses had written centuries before Christ on that mount, it shall be provided. And that’s why that bizarre story is in there because it points us to Jesus Christ. And she listened to all that. I’ve never heard such things. And then the group was going and I had to leave. And she was obviously, she had heard about as much as she could take in one sitting. But it was neat to be able to share the gospel with a Jewish woman who’s late in her life. And we hope and pray that Rosalie will come to the Lord They had a good time. But how much better that was than just thinking, I don’t have to witness to her share the gospel because she’s a Jew. She doesn’t need to hear the gospel. Wow. Verse 47. This chapter ends with Jesus saying, but if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words? God bless you guys.
