THE FALL THAT IS STILL MAKING HISTORY

Photo by B Smith from the patio

34  - THE FALL THAT IS STILL MAKING HISTORY

August 22, 1965

Henry F. Kulp

 

Romans 9: 1 - 5 I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.

We have been telling you that in the 9^th chapter Paul opens with sorrow after he closes the 8^th chapter with joy. He has sorrow because of the fall of the nation Israel. He is sorrowful and heavy-hearted because of the great privileges from which they fell, and last week we spent a great deal of time showing you that there has never been any other nation that God has dealt with but the nation Israel. All the other nations He has dealt with, He has dealt with them in conjunction with the nation Israel. We showed you that for 2,000 years God was waiting for Abraham, and in Abraham, God placed the blessing in his seed. 

We told you how Moses cried out, What other is like unto thee, that has God so near. Then we went to David as he exclaimed over the nation Israel, and the greatness of the nation Israel. All the while the other nations were without God. But finally the day came when God sent a Jew to the nations of the world, and He had a new message, a message of complete grace. There was no favorite nation—anyone could come to God through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is something brand new. 

1/  This week I want us to see the great heights of privilege that the nation Israel had, and to understand these heights, let us look at Romans 9: 4, 5 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.

First of all, it says, Who are Israelites. That is their name. I think it would be good for us to find out how they got their name. First of all, Abraham was the first Hebrew, but Abraham was not always a Hebrew. Before his call to leave his country, Abraham was a Gentile. He was Syrian by birth, and is referred to by such in the Bible. Even, Jacob, his grandson is referred to as a Syrian. 

Deuteronomy 26: 5 And thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous:

    

2/  It was in the land of his birth that God called this man, Abram, the Syrian, to go into the land of Canaan. It was only then that Abraham became a Hebrew. The first time the word, Hebrew, is ever used in Genesis 14: 13 And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew; for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner: and these were confederate with Abram. 

And it means to cross over, and it simply means one who has come across or crossed over. And Abraham was called a Hebrew because he has come from his home in Caldea, and crossed over the river to come into the land of Canaan, and since Abraham was a Hebrew, his descendants were also called Hebrews. But Abraham was not an Israelite, nor was he a Jew. The first Israelite was Jacob, the grandson of Abraham. He was called Jacob by his mother. Then let us trace his history.  

3/  Genesis 32: 24  And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.

Here we have Jacob alone and wrestling with a man until the breaking of the day. Jacob had given up everything for the Lord. I think when people read this they don’t see clearly just what Jacob did. Jacob, people think, and we will use their language, they think he was a crook. They put Jacob down as the worst character in the Old Testament. But that is not true, God didn’t say so, the Bible doesn’t say that he was. Do you know of any place in the Bible where you will find anything against Jacob? Jacob went down to Syria and there he got two wives, and he worked for them. He worked for his uncle Laban. Laban truly was a crook, but not Jacob. Laban took everything away from him. He was the crook. But then the time came when Jacob had to go back to Bethel. This is the place of blessing, but between Jacob and Bethel was Esau with 400 armed men, and Esau had threatened to kill Jacob. Jacob said, I have to go to Bethel, so he took everything he had in this world, and sent it to Esau as a present to appease Esau in order that he might go to Bethel. He risked everything he had in the world, and he did it for God. 

4/  Notice verse 24 Jacob was left alone and there wrestled with a man until the breaking of day, verse 26 And he said, Let me go for the day breaketh. The man was an Angel, the Lord Himself, and He said to Jacob, Let me go, but Jacob would not let Him go. Jacob said, I have hold of the Lord now and I am going to hold on. He just would not let go. The Angel said, Let me go, and Jacob said, No, not until you bless me, and He said unto him, What is thy name, and he said Jacob. He said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel.

5/  What does Israel mean? Notice Jacob’s mother called him, Jacob, but God changed Jacob’s name to Israel, which comes from three fragments of other words—ISH—meaning great, and EL, the abbreviation of Elohim, one of the names of Jesus. We then have these three fragments, Israel, literally meaning, THE GREAT MAN OF GOD, OR THE PRINCE OF GOD. The name became a nation which sprang from him. He had twelve sons called therefore, the sons of Israel, and their descendants have been known since that time by that name, the children of Israel meaning the great man of God, or the Prince of God.   

6/  The name, Israel and Jacob, occur more times in the Bible than any other name, except the Name of God Himself. He was one of the great men of God, and God gave His nation this name—to be great—a great prince with God. This shows their exalted position. 

7/  Romans 9: 4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;

Again it speaks of the glory. Israel had the glory the glory of God. Notice, I said, had. When God took Israel out of Egypt, they were covered by the cloud of glory, which they called Shekinah glory. You won’t find that anywhere else in the world. There had never been any other people in the world that God protected by His own glory, as He did Israel. 

NO OTHER NATION THAT HAS EVER BEEN UPON THE FACE OF THE EARTH HAS THE GLORY OF God BY ISRAEL. THERE HAVE BEEN MANY NATIONS, THEY HAVE BUILT MANY MIGHTY TEMPLES, AND THEY HAVE HAD WORSHIP BUT NON OF THEM EVER HAD THE GLORY OF GOD.

8/  Then remember, God gave them the tabernacle in the wilderness. God gave the pattern for it, and then the day came when it was finished. 

Exodus 40: 1 - 3 On the first day of the first month shalt thou set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation. And thou shalt put therein the ark of the testimony, and cover the ark with the vail.

Then God said, I am coming down to live among My people. I don’t know, of course, and no one knows just what the feeling was among the Israelites there in the wilderness, when they had the tabernacle all finished and brought it to Moses and the Lord told Moses to set it up. You can almost see the people standing around, Three Million of them all together, there in the wilderness. You see them standing around in great expectation. They didn’t know how the Lord was coming down. The Lord had said, when the tabernacle is set up I’ll come down. They had the cloud from the time of the Passover, when they left Egypt, God put the cloud over them—a cloud by day and a fire by night, and we are told that it never left them. They had had that much, but they had no Shekinah Glory, and I don’t think any of them could imagine what the Lord was going to do, or how He was coming down.

9/  Exodus 40: 2 On the first day of the first month shalt thou set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation.

On the first day of the first month. They had left Egypt in the first of the month, and God had said to them, this shall be the beginning of months to you. This was the beginning of their year, and that was the beginning of their Israelitish history, so you see, they had been on a march a year—just exactly a year. They had crossed the Red Sea, they had had manna come down from Heaven, and they were still eating it. they had seen water from the rock, they had seen Moses go up into the mountain to talk with God and get the law, they had seen the one who was to be their high priest make the golden calf, but now they were ready to set up god’s house, and notice the result when they set it up.

Exodus 40: 34 Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. That is the answer—the glory of the Lord. This is what they had been waiting for, this is why they had built the tabernacle. God came down and from that time on they had the Shekinah Glory over the mercy seat. They had the Glory of God.

10/  II Chronicles 5: 13, 14 It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the Lord, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord; So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God.

Here you have the building of Solomon’s temple. Solomon built the temple on a large scale. Instead of one laver, he built twelve, instead of building an altar the size that God gave to Moses, he built an altar about ten times as big. Everything was on a large scale, but there was one thing that he did according to God’s specification to Moses, and that was the matter of the ark of the covenant. This was 500 years later, and the ark was still in existence. The time came when Solomon, having built the temple and made it so large and so big, that he made up his mind that they would have to have the ark in place to have the blessing of the Lord. 

You have the ark mentioned ten times in this Scripture, just in these few verses. Because Solomon put the ark in place behind the veil, the ark with its Cherubims where God’s presence was, God blessed him. He put the ark in place, and he gathered the people together to praise the Lord. He made much of it. 

When the ark was in place, God came down and filled the temple. He filled the temple so that the priests could not minister, but the important part was they had the Glory of God. No other nation had it. They had it in the tabernacle in the wilderness, they had it in the temple. What an exalted nation!

11/  Then notice, to whom pertaineth the adoption. The adoption of Israel in the Old Testament is not our adoption. Let us understand the adoption of children as we speak of it today, generally refers to the taking in and bringing up of other people’s children. This is not so with the Bible word, adoption. For the placing of sons affects only those who are already children. So adoption means placing as sons—that is as grown-up sons.

12/  This adoption came from the life of the Hebrews. In the life of a Hebrew boy there came a time appointed by the father when the adoption proceedings took place, and the boy was declared to be the son and heir of that father. Before that time he had been a son indeed but under tutors and governors, he had been told what he must and must not do, what he may and may not do. He was on a plane with a servant at that time. But finally the time appointed arrived he was now a grown up son. It was assumed that he no longer needed overseers to keep him in check. This is true of the church—the time is coming at the second coming of Christ then we will be declared to be the full-grown sons of God. This is also going to be true of the nation Israel. God had set a time when they would be declared the full grown sons of God.

Notice, Galatians 4: 4, 5 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

Notice, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. Notice, he is talking about the nation Israel. They were under the law, and it is not difficult to see why He says we, are not they. He is not talking of Gentiles, he is talking of the Jews. In the early part of the Book of Acts, Peter offers them the adoption and the Glory, but they rejected it.

13/  The day is coming when Israel will come into the place of adoption, and it will be at the time of the resurrection, when Jesus Christ comes back again.

14/  But for a moment, let us look at this nation Israel and the Glory of God. I suppose that some of those great nations, the Babylonians, the Ninevites, the Egyptians, the Assyrians passed through the wilderness when Israel was in the wilderness, and they would say what about your worship? The Babylonians would say, You ought to see our magnificient temples and those who lived in Nineveh would say, You ought to see our  mighty temples and some of the ruins are still in existence today. They were great masterpieces. Then the Jew would say, come and see what we have. And what would be shown to this Gentile? —Just a tent. It didn’t look very imposing. Just a tent in  the wilderness, but over the tent, the glory of God, the glory of the everlasting God, the Shekinah glory. This is what God had given them, and it was far better than anything the Gentiles had with their mighty, magnificent temples. What a position this nation had!

15/  Notice what else it has to say, about the covenants. The great covenants God gave Israel. This world will never have any blessing except what God put in the covenants that He made with Abraham and David. Oh, what blessing for the world is in those covenants! God said to Abraham, I will make a covenant for you, and God took an oath that He would do it for Abraham. He would give Him a land and people. Then God gave David a covenant, and He also took an oath. He swore that He would not lie to David, and He said to David, I will give you a king, and a throne and a kingdom. To Abraham, He gave a land and a people to David a throne, a king, and a kingdom. All the blessings that God has for this world are all wrapped up in those covenants. God had not made a promise to bless anywhere in the world except through Abraham and David and their covenants 

16/  Then it says, the giving of the law. God gave the law to Moses. All nations have law. As a matter of fact, the old Roman law is considered wonderful. Every lawyer has to study Roman law. But the Roman law is founded upon the law of Moses—this is a proven fact. This world has been making laws for centuries and when man passes a law, they pass the best law they know how to frame, and I guess that is the best they can do. The Gentiles have done that. But when God gave the law, He gave a perfect law to the nation Israel. Israel is the only one with a perfect law.   

17/  Then notice, the service. This means a religious service. God gave to Israel service, and it meant a ritual. They were to have an altar, they were to have the laver, they were to have candlesticks, they were to have the golden altar, they were to have the shewbread, they were to have the ark. They were to have the Levites, that is, the priests. That was a service, and He never gave it to anyone else. Those who have rituals and rites today, how wrong they are. God never gave an altar to a Gentile. He never gave the service, the priesthood to anyone but Israel. We don’t need candles, we don’t need gowns, we don’t need an altar. All we need is the Lord Jesus Christ. 

18/  You might say, Israel had a wonderful position, and that is true, but you know, I wouldn’t trade places with them. I’d rather live in this day and age and just trust the Lord Jesus Christ. You might say, the Jews have everything down here, and I’ll agree with that. You might say, they have more than church—yes, they do, physically. The Jews belong here, but we do not belong here. And one of these days, the Lord is coming to take the believers and the church, where they belong. 

Someone has said, that the church is like a ship—it is built on land, but it is meant for water. The church is built on earth, but it is meant for Heaven, and it belongs up there, but the Jews are meant for this earth—they have earthly blessings. But ours are heavenly. 

Ephesians 3: 1 - 4 For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)

AMEN

Ref:  08/22/1965 / 34 - THE FALL THAT IS STILL MAKING HISTORY / 10/16/2020

HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN

Photo by B Smith from the patio

33 - HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN

August 15, 1965

Pastor Henry F. Kulp

 

Romans 9:1 - 5 I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.

We told you last week, there is a chapter break between Chapter 8 and Chapter 9, changing from joy to sorrow. As chapter 8 closes, you have the height of joy, a marvelous position in Jesus Christ—nothing can disturb it; but, in the 9^th chapter, you have Paul having heaviness of heart and continual sorrow. Paul loved his people after the flesh; and, their plight brought deep sorrow to his heart.

1/ Paul laid himself open, of course, for an attack from his people after the flesh. As a matter of fact, he was charged with indifference. He makes an offer to the Gentiles that is unheard of, they can be the children of God by simple faith in Jesus Christ. The Gentiles have never had an offer like this before, never in the history of mankind have they received an offer like this and the Jewish people are indignant that they been God’s precious possession, and now, Paul says they have been set aside and the Gentile has been brought in.

2/ Paul’s sorrow is not so much in their fall, but rather in the heights of privilege in which they fell. As you study the chapter, you will see that Paul is broken hearted because they did not take advantage of the privilege they had.

3/ This brings us to a point that is also important, and yet so lacking and missing in our Christian church and experience today, the lack of love for believers and for the unsaved. I think I am safe in saying, the average believer today, is not possessed by the love of God for his fellow man and for his fellow believer. Rather, he is filled with a judging attitude that has brought untold misery to the cause of Christ. Here Paul could have said, Well, you Jews are getting exactly what you deserve, your fathers killed the prophets, they finally crucified Jesus Christ, then rejected the witness of the Holy Spirit in Acts and finally, just would not even let the Gospel go to the Gentiles. You have filled up your wrath and now you are getting exactly what you deserve and as far as I am concerned I just don’t care. But Paul was not like that. He said in times past, I could have wished that I was anathema for you—that I could go to Hell that you might be saved. Someone who has sinned near you, someone who has fallen near you, do you have this attitude? Or, do you stand off at the side and view the whole thing and say “Well, they got exactly what they deserved.” I hope not! I hope you have the attitude of Paul.  

4/ Remember that Paul is the protose I Timothy 1: 15, 16 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.

He is not only the protose, I believe in salvation, but he is the protose in our loving others.

5/ I want you to see the height from which they fell. Never has there ever been a nation like the nation Israel. They had covenants, they had all the promises, the Gentiles had nothing. 

Ephesians 2: 11 - 13 Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

The Gentiles were without God in this world. Please remember that the Jews had a position—the Gentiles did not have it. The Gentiles did not have any covenants, or promises, they were without God until Paul came upon the scene and offered the Gospel, this new message, to them.

6/ I don’t know if you ever realized this or not, but God started His blessing for this world with Abraham. Abraham lived within the year 2,000 after the fall. For 2,000 years down to Abraham, God did nothing for a fallen world. Oh yes, He had made a promise of a redeemer, He had put a bow in the cloud that He would not cover the earth any more with a flood. He destroyed the world with a flood and He washed it clean. Someone has said He sunk it under water and kept it under water for a long time to cleanse it, but then He gave a promise with the bow in the clouds that He would never do it again. Then at the tower of Babel, God confounded their language and dispersed them. In Sodom and Gomorrha He rained fire and brimstone on those cities. He was waiting until Abraham came. Then God called Abraham out of the Ur of the Chaldees and led him into Palestine. 

Then God said Abraham Genesis 12: 1 - 3 Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

I am going to bless you and through you, I am going to bless the world. And I am going to bless everyone that blesses you. You say, “Well, that isn’t true today.” In a sense it is. You may say I get blessings from Jesus Christ. Well, who is the Lord? Isn’t He born of the Jewish nation? Wasn’t He a Jew after the flesh?  

7/  But on the other hand, God doesn’t promise you and me physical blessing. Right here in Genesis 12 you have blessing in this world. You and I have our citizenship in Heaven, not upon this earth. And you ask me why we have all the war, the crime, and the trouble such as we had in Los Angeles this week and then in Chicago with these racial riots. Why is the world in such an awful turmoil? Why doesn’t God bless the nations now? They are all upset!  Why doesn’t He do something about it? God is not blessing the nations now. Of course you immediately ask why? Because He has to bless them through Israel and through Abraham. And, right now the nation of Israel is out of place they are scattered throughout the world. As long as they are scattered, God will not bless the nations of the earth. The nations will not give to Israel their land, they have refused to give Israel, Palestine. They have given them just a small strip. But when Israel is back in peace in the land, fully resting there, then God will bless that nation and Israel will be God’s channel of blessing to the whole world. But, right now God is not doing that, He is sending missionaries to all the nations to tell them to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And they’ll be taken out of the nations of the world and put in the Church which is the Body of Christ.    

8/ Let us see something of the height of this glorious nation. II Samuel 7: 23 And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible, for thy land, before thy people, which thou redeemedst to thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods?

God is speaking to David and David wanted to build the house of the Lord, a house for the Lord. And the Lord said No, you have been a man of blood and a man of war—I want my house to be built by a man of peace. Solomon your son will build me a house. I think you know by studying you Bible that Solomon never fought a battle. Solomon reigned and the building of the temple is a type of the coming millennial—the thousand year reign of Jesus Christ. You remember when they came to visit Solomon, they said the half has never been told.

9/ God said to David, you will not build me a house, but I will build you a house and it will be called the house of David. I will give you a son to reign over your house and your throne. And, of course, that one is none other than Jesus Christ. This is what David said and it is told to us in the 23^rd verse. He speaks of the greatness of this nation—a nation that fills the Old Testament. But now something has happened. God has turned away from that nation that has been so much and has raised up a man by the name of Paul to preach something to the Gentiles that the world has not heard up until this time.

10/ II Samuel 7: 23 And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible, for thy land, before thy people, which thou redeemedst to thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods?

DID YOU EVER NOTICE WHAT MOSES SAID ABOUT THIS WONDERFUL NATION? 

Deuteronomy 4: 7 For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for?

AND MOSES CRIES OUT for what nation is there so great, notice, there is no other nation to compare with it, who hath God so nigh unto them, so near, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for. 

The Gentiles couldn’t call upon God—only the nation Israel had God near. He was dwelling in the Shekinah cloud above the tabernacle and He came down over the seat of the ark of the covenant and there met with the high priest and in turn met with the nation. There has never been a nation to compare with the nation Israel. The whole Old Testament is filled with the nation.

11/ But now, let us look at the Apostle Paul and his message Acts 22: 21 And he said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles. 

Here Paul is telling the story of his salvation. He is now a prisoner and is going to be sent to Rome. He now has an opportunity to stand before the Jews and state his case and he says, “This is what God said to me,” when the blood of the martyr Stephan was shed I also was standing by and consenting to his death in other words, he said, I held the raiment of these people and I gave the signal go ahead and kill him. And then He said to me, for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles. God never said that before in all history. God never told a Jew to go to the Gentiles like this; in fact, Jesus said to His disciples Matthew 10: 5, 6 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Go not to the Gentiles. So you see something new had been added. 

12/ Now we are going to try to understand these two verses and see what a wonderful nation this people really is. Or, I say to you this morning that we do not have anything that is worth anything, that it came from Israel. Notice Romans 9: 4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;

Who are Israelites? That is their name. I think it would be good for us to find out how they got their name. 

Genesis 32: 24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.

This is about Jacob and this is how the nation got their name. And Jacob was let alone, and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of day. Jacob had given up everything for the Lord. I think when people read this, they don’t see clearly just what Jacob did. Jacob, people think, and we’ll use our language, they think he was a crook. They put Jacob down as the worst character in the Old Testament; but God didn’t say so, the Bible doesn’t say so. Do you know there isn’t a place in the Bible where you will find anything against Jacob. Jacob was sent down into Syria and there he got his two wives and he worked for them. He worked for his uncle Laban. Laban, truly was a crook but not Jacob. Laban took everything away from him, but God said to Jacob I will be with you as long as you work out there. I will be with you and bring you back. So the time came when Jacob had to get to Bethel. This is the place of blessing. But between Jacob and Bethel was Esau with 400 armed men and Esau had threatened to kill Jacob. Jacob said I have to get to Bethel so he took everything he had in this world and sent it to Esau as a present to appease Esau in order the he might get to Bethel. He risked everything he had in the world and he did that for God 

13/ Notice verse 24 And Jacob was left alone and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of day. Verse 26 And he said let me go for the day breaketh. 

The angel was the Lord Himself and he said to Jacob let me go. Jacob said I have hold of the Lord now and I am going to hold on. He just would not let go. 

And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

What does Israel mean? Look at this verse, for as a prince, hast thou power with God. When you call Jacob a crook remember you are talking about God’s prince—you are talking about a man to whom God gave the name Israel, the name Israel and Jacob occur more times in the Bible than any other name except God Himself. He is one of God’s great men and God gave his name to the whole nation. They are Israelites. 

14/ Romans 9: 4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;

And the glory, Israel had the glory of God. Notice, I said HAD. When God took Israel out of Egypt, they were covered by a cloud of glory which they called the Shekinah Glory. You won’t find anywhere else in the world. There isn’t a place in world, there isn’t a people in the world, that God protected by His own glory but He did Israel. He put that glory cloud between Israel and Pharaoh, and Pharaoh couldn’t do anything. No nation that has ever been on the face of the earth, had the glory of God. There had been mighty nations and they have built mighty temples and they have had worship, none  had the glory of God. When Moses finished the Tabernacle and had it set up, the Glory of God appeared in the tabernacle so they could not minister. When Solomon built the Temple and when he dedicated it, the Glory filled the Temple and they could not minister for Glory.

 II Chronicles 7: 1 - 3 Now when Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the house. The priests could not enter into the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house. All the sons of Israel, seeing the fire come down and the glory of the Lord upon the house, bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave praise to the Lord, saying, “Truly He is good, truly His lovingkindness is everlasting.”

You do not have this anywhere else in all of history. There is not another on the face of the earth blessed with the Glory of God. Truly this nation reached great heights, but my, how the mighty have fallen. 

And now God is dealing with all men everywhere on the same basis, they are sinners and need Christ. 

AMEN

Ref: 08/15/1965 / 33 - HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN / 10/12/2020