Wkly Bible Study for Dial-Up/Broadband, June 10, 2013

The Palestinian Covenant.
The mystery and truth hehind the Palestinian Covenant.

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1 John 1:9 says: "If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins (known sins) and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness [unknown or forgotten sins]." NKJV (New King James Version) [italics added]

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Notice again what Jesus said in John 6:47: "…he who believes in Me (Jesus Christ) has everlasting life." It doesn't say, "will have"; it says, "has." Therefore, the very moment you believe in Jesus Christ for His promise of everlasting life, you have it (it's really just that simple; nothing more and nothing less), and it can never be taken away from you (John 10:28-29). Furthermore, the gift (Ephesians 2:8c) of everlasting life (also called eternal life in scripture) is available to every human being; there are absolutely no exceptions.

John 3:14-18 says: "¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. ¹⁸ He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." NKJV

Let us now bow our hearts and take a moment to prepare for worship and learning God's Word. If there is any known sin in your life, this is the time to just cite it privately to God the Father with your thoughts directed towards Him. With your head bowed and your eyes closed, you have total privacy in your mind and soul:

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Grace Bible Church
Robert R. McLaughlin Bible Ministries

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STUDY TITLE:

The Palestinian Covenant.
The mystery and truth hehind the Palestinian Covenant.



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Terms & Abbreviations used:

PPOG = Predesigned Plan of God
Human Good = Evil + Good Deeds while not in fellowship with God
OSN = Old Sin Nature
TLJC = The Lord Jesus Christ
SSE = Spiritual Self Esteem
PVTD = Positive Volition Towards Doctrine
+H - The Happiness of God
NVTD = Negative Volition Towards Doctrine
Doctrine = Bible Truth

To look up other “terms”, go to:

Alphabetical Listing

BEGIN BIBLE STUDY
Unless otherwise noted, all scripture quotes and references
are from the NASB – New American Standard Bible

Our main verse is ROM 9:4, where the apostle Paul is talking about the importance and the significance of the nation Israel and the born again Jew. Rom 9:4 “who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory [Shekinah glory] and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises.” This leads us to the second unconditional and unfulfilled covenant: The Palestinian Covenant. The Abrahamic covenant defines the race for client nation Israel when Abraham became a Jew at age 99; circumcision was the sign (GEN 12:1-3; GEN 13:15-16; GEN 22:15-18; GEN 15:18; GEN 26:3-4; EXO 6:2-8). The Palestinian covenant defines the land for client nation Israel (GEN 15:18; NUM 34:1-12; DEU 30:1-9).

JOS 1:3-4, Now it came about after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' servant, saying, “Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel.” Notice that the Lord says “Moses my servant is dead.” In other words, get going, stop dwelling about the death of Moses. In JOS 1:3 “Every place [Joshua] on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses.” I'm giving you every square inch of the land you set your foot on, just as I promised Moses. Then the reiteration or repetition of the promise land is given along with its dimensions. JOS 1:4 “From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun, will be your territory.” The place that God called them to live in was Canaan, the promise land, for you, the Church-age believer, the place that God has called you to live in is the PPOG, which is far greater than Canaan. JOS 1:5-6, “No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.”

Then God repeats what is needed to stick with His plan; mental strength and toughness. JOS 1:7 “Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go.” Paul said to the early Church in 1CO 16:13 “Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.” EPH 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might. So, God says to Joshua, give it everything you have, heart and soul. Make sure you carry out the revelation that Moses commanded you, every bit of it. Don't get off track. JOS 1:8 “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it, for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.;” Ponder and meditate on it day and night, making sure you practice everything written in it. JOS 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Your God is with you every step you take.

Now, in the closing chapters of the book of Deuteronomy, the children of Israel are facing a crisis in their national existence. They are about to pass from the proven leadership of Moses into the unproven leadership of Joshua. Secondly, they are standing at the entrance to the land that was promised to them by God. At the time, this land was possessed by Israel's enemies who have shown they will resist any attempt by Israel to enter in the land. Remember that under the principle of typology, Israel is a picture of the believer's soul. We all have to learn to face the giants that are trying to stop us from going into our promise land, be it Canaan or the PPOG. To us the giants are things like fear, worry, lusts, involvement with the details of life. The giants of success, approbation, materialism and most of all, the great evil spoken of in 1TI 6:10 “For you see the love of money keeps on being a root of all sorts of evil through which [love for money] certain ones by intensively desiring it [money] have gone astray from the doctrine and pierced themselves with many types of pain.”

Lust for money brings trouble and nothing but trouble. Going down that path, some lose their footing in the faith completely, and live to regret it. For the love of money Achan brought defeat on Israel's army and death to himself and to his family. Baalim sinned against doctrine and tried to curse the living God. Delaiah betrayed Samson and ultimately slaughtered thousands. Ananias and Sapphire became the first hypocrites in the Church and God executed them as a testimony against their misuse of money and deceit. Judas betrayed and sold out Jesus. Not very good company for money lovers! All because of the love of money.

Remember 2TI 2:4 No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. A soldier on duty doesn't get caught up in making deals at the marketplace. He concentrates on carrying out orders. Some of you are slaves to those who give you money, who also take you away from your very own Canaan or promise land, the place that God has called you to live, the PPOG. 1CO 7:23 “You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.” All of you were once held hostage in the sinful society of the cosmic system.

However, huge sum was paid out for your ransom. So please don't, out of old habit, slip back into being or doing what everyone else tells you.

So, at this time, the promise land was possessed by Israel's enemies who have shown they will resist any attempt by Israel to enter in the land. As a result, certain important considerations must be faced by the nation of Israel. Is the land of Palestine still their possession? (Faith says yes, sight says no). Did the Mosaic covenant, which was a conditional covenant, set aside the unconditional Abrahamic covenant? The Mosaic covenant is a conditional covenant based upon the Jews fulfilling certain laws and receiving the consequences of their positive or negative decisions. So many of them, like many of God's people today, were wondering, will they still be blessed by God or will they reap what they sow from their negative decisions? Could Israel hope to enter into permanent possession of their land in the face of such opposition?

To answer these important questions God stated again His covenant promise concerning Israel's possession of the land in DEU 30:1-10. DEU 30:1 “So it shall be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind in all nations where the Lord your God has banished you,” Now, God foresaw or looked down the corridors of time and saw the negative decisions that these people would make with their free will in resisting the Holy Spirit. He is speaking of their sin and punishment as being certain; yet, at the same time, shows how they may turn to Him and live, even while he was pouring out his indignation upon them because of their transgressions. The unconditional covenants or promises are there just as God said, but not where the Jews are, they are in the cosmic system. So, in spite of the promises of God and the unconditional or unilateral covenants, you still must be in the place where the covenant or the promises reside.

Under the Palestinian covenant all of the middle East and part of Africa and Europe is promised to the Jews, but not all the land in the world. If they are in the wrong place, they won't receive the unconditional covenant of the promise land.

DEU 30:2 “and you return to the Lord your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today, you and your sons,” While they are out among the nations where God has dispersed them and the blessings and curses come in just the way God has set them. If they take them seriously and come back to GOD, and obey Him, then something will happen. DEU 30:3 “then the Lord your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you.” God will restore everything, and He'll have compassion on them; He'll come back and pick up the pieces from all the places where you were scattered.

This means that the rejection of Israel, and the desolation of the promised inheritance was not to be the end of God's dealings with them. The closing words of this passage therefore are words of comfort and promise. This is why Moses wrote in DEU 4:29-30, “But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul. When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you [by the way, for your sake].” In HOS 5:15 the Lord says, “I will go away and return to My place Until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me, in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice.

DEU 4:31 “For the Lord your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.”

Your God, is above all a compassionate God. In the end He will not abandon you, He won't bring you to ruin, He won't forget the covenant with your ancestors which He swore to them. DEU 4:32 “Indeed, ask now concerning the former days which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and inquire from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything been done like this great thing, or has anything been heard like it?”

From the day God created man and woman on this Earth, and from the horizon in the east to the horizon in the west as far back as you can imagine and as far away as you can imagine, has as great a thing as this ever happened? God loves to reveal and accomplish something more than merely preserving the people from apostasy by the threat of punishment. He desires to secure a more faithful attachment and continued obedience to His doctrines by awakening the conscience of man to His unconditional love.

So Moses reminds them again of the glorious miracles of Divine grace performed in connection with the election and deliverance of Israel, such as had never been heard of from the beginning of the world; and with this strong practical proof of the love of the true God, he brings his first message to a close. Therefore, he says DEU 4:33-34, “Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you have heard it, and survived? Or has a god tried to go to take for himself a nation from within another nation by trials, by signs and wonders and by war and by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm and by great terrors, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?”

God used trials, miracles, and war, and revealed a glimpse of His awesome and staggering ways. Verse 34 says that He did it for you in Egypt while you stood right there and watched. Remember that Egypt represents the world system, so we could say, God revealed His power in the midst of all the cosmic odds against us (ROM 8:31).

DEU 4:35 “To you it was shown that you might know that the Lord, He is God; there is no other besides Him.” They were shown all this so that they would know that He's the only God there is. Think of it with me for a moment, the comfort of the unconditional or unilateral covenants. God endeavored and accomplished to go and take for Himself a nation of people (the Jews, or Israel) from the midst of another nation (Egypt), by temptations, signs, wonders, war, and by a mighty hand, and an a stretched out arm, and by great terrors. This was a most extraordinary thing, that an entire people, consisting of upwards of 600,000 effective men, besides women and children should, without striking a blow, be brought out of the midst of a very powerful nation. They were brought out in such an open and public a manner, that the sea itself should be supernaturally divided to sustain this mighty act of God. It was in a desert utterly unfriendly to human life that they would also be sustained for forty years. These were such instances of the power and goodness of God that they could be forgotten.

Notice in this verse, verse 34, Moses enumerates seven different means used by the Lord in bringing about Israel's deliverance. 1) Trials is the Hebrew word macot which means to try or prove. The miracles which God performed tried and tested the faith and prove the obedience of the children of Israel. 2) Signs is the Hebrew word 'otot which means to come near; such signs as God gave them of His continual presence and providence. Particularly the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire, keeping near to them night and day, and always directing their journeys, showing them when and where to pitch their tents. 3) Wonders means to persuade; persuasive facts and events. Whether strictly miraculous, and exceeding the powers of nature or not. It means typical representations of His presence. It also refers to typical men, raised up by God as types of Christ, and proofs that God would bring His servant. All the dealings of God with these people, and even the people themselves, were types of distant facts and future occurrences. 4) War, milchaamaah - hostile engagements; such as those with the Amalekites, the Amorites, and the Bashanites, in which the hand of God was seen rather than the hand of man. 5) A mighty hand, the Hebrew word yaad - one that is strong to deal its blows, irresistible in its operations, and grasps its enemies hard so that they cannot escape, and protects its friends so powerfully that they cannot be injured. Neither tactics, deceptions nor policy was used in this business, but the openly displayed power of God. 6) An outstretched arm uwbizrowa means a series of almighty operations, following each other in quick astonishing succession. 7) Great terrors, the Hebrew word mowraa'iym means such terror, dismay, as were produced by the ten plagues.

DEU 4:36-37, “Out of the heavens He let you hear His voice [doctrines] to discipline you; and on earth He let you see His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire. Because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them. And He personally brought you from Egypt by His great power,”

He loved your ancestors and chose to work with their children. He personally and powerfully brought you out of Egypt. DEU 4:38 "driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in and to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is today." In order to displace bigger and stronger and older nations with you, bringing you out and turning their land over to you as an inheritance.

It's happening, says Moses, this very day.

DEU 4:39-40, “Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other. So you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I am giving you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may live long on the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time.” Obediently live by His ways and doctrines which the Lord is giving you today so that you'll live well and your children after you. You'll live a long time in the land that GOD, your God, is giving you.

Now, these were all reminders of the Abrahamic Covenant, therefore the Palestinian covenant is the reassurance that the Jews would possess the real estate that God promised Abraham.

So, back in DEU 30:1 “So it shall be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you,”

The blessing in this connection can be explained on the ground that Moses was surveying the future generally, in which not only a curse, but a blessing also would come upon the nation, according to its attitude towards the Lord as a whole and in its pivot of mature believers. Remember in ROM 11:2-4, we are told the story of how Elijah was agonizing over Israel and cried out in prayer, “God, they murdered your prophets, They trashed your altars; I'm the only one left and now they're after me!” Remember God's answer? ROM 11:4 But what is the divine response to him? “I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” Even in times of great apostasy, there would always be a pivot which could not die out.

DEU 30:1-6, "So it shall be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind in all nations where the Lord your God has banished you, and you return to the Lord your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today, you and your sons, then the Lord your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back. And the Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. Moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, in order that you may live."

JER 32:38-39 says, "And they shall be My people, and I will be their God; and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good, and for {the good of} their children after them."

And how will the Lord do this?

Answer, EZE 11:19 "And I shall give them one heart, and shall put a new spirit within them. And I shall take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh," This is not a violation of their free will because they have literally asked for help from the Lord.

DEU 30:7-10, "And the Lord your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. And you shall again obey the Lord, and observe all His commandments which I command you today. Then the Lord your God will prosper you abundantly in all the work of your hand, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your cattle and in the produce of your ground, for the Lord will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers; if you obey the Lord your God to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul."

So, we call this the Palestinian covenant because it answers the questions concerning Israel's relation to the land promises of the Abrahamic covenant. So, the Palestinian covenant reaffirms to Israel their title deed to the land of promise. In spite of their unfaithfulness and unbelief, the Palestinian covenant confirms their promised land. An analysis of Deu 30 will show that there are seven main features in the covenant.

1. The nation will be plucked off the land for its unfaithfulness, DUE 28:63-68; DUE 30:1-3.

2. There will be a future repentance of Israel, DUE 28:63-68; DUE 30:1-3.

3. Their Messiah will return, DUE 30:3-6.

4. Israel will be restored to the land, DUE 30:5.

5. Israel will be converted as a nation, DUE 30:4-8; ROM 11:26-27.

6. Israel's enemies will be judged, DUE 30:7.

7. The nation will then receive her full blessing, DUE 30:9.

God takes Israel's relation to the land as a matter of extreme importance. God not only guarantees its possession to them but obligates Himself to judge and remove all Israel's enemies. He will give the nation a new heart, a conversion, before He places them in the land.

The following link is to a good news message describing how one can receive eternal life:
Ticket to Heaven, it was written for anyone not absolutely certain about their eternal future.