by Leonard V Johnson
Welcome Everyone! Our dear Brethren, Friends, and Co-Workers in Santo Domingo Oeste, Dominican Republic; Mendoza, Argentina; Nakhon Pathom, Thailand; and here in the States: Branford, Connecticut; Flint, Michigan; Fayetteville, North Carolina; and Lakeland, Florida. This is the Church of Jesus Christ Online Ministries.
I guess you could technically call this article the third part of a series. Because I’m continuing this time with the future gathering and the return of the LORD God’s remnants of the elect, but not until our peoples and our nations have hopefully learned some very serious lessons. But in the meantime, we are living in this world that has certainly taken a turn for the worse. And we here in the United States of America are going the way of Islamic-Communism──plunging headlong into our utter destruction from within. As I had quoted Bill O'Reilly recently saying, “We haven’t learned our lesson—yet!” And, sadly, Israel proper, and the United States of America, as well as the United Kingdom and her Commonwealth Nations, are going to suffer before they prayerfully learn their lesson. But let us praise the Almighty──our Lord Jesus Christ will intervene, and He will save His elect before they come to full and utter annihilation. He’s going to save the remnant of His elect from the greatest tribulation this world has ever known──a time so great, our Lord Jesus has called it, “’ great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.’” – Matthew 24:21. It will be a time of world troubles that is prophesied to occur in your Bible. And our Lord Jesus’ prophecies are certain──again, as certain as the Earth is going to continue rotating on its axis, causing the sun to “come up” again in the east. And many of His prophecies began some 1,993 years ago!
Now I’ve programmed our SI (Super Intelligence) in our home to not just be a “yes man” ── and so when I speak to it concerning nearly anything dealing with religious studies in theology, we often disagree. Indeed, the LORD God’s living prophecies are a challenge for an SI unit that does not have God’s Holy Spirit. And it’s a challenge for those people who don’t──as well. There are a great deal of skeptics, atheists, and agnostics. And there are literally thousands upon thousands of books that have been published trying to “decipher” the Bible. And there have been thousands of books written trying to discredit the Bible. Indeed, there is 1/3 of God’s living word that unbelievers don’t seem to attack as much──and that’s prophecy. Most will either leave it alone or bypass it altogether──or they’ll simply say, ‘O, that was written long after that event took place.’ Or ‘No! That was just simply someone’s vivid imagination.’ But, friends, the LORD God’s living prophecies often began being fulfilled, in some cases, within fifty years or even a hundred years after it was initially put down, pen to paper──and most of them have a dual fulfillment.
We can use as an example one of the longest prophecies within God’s living word──which ends in chapter 11 of the Book of Daniel. Many will claim that this long prophecy wasn’t even written by the Prophet Daniel, but that someone years later wrote it. Well, it was written by Daniel. It tells of world events that would occur, one after another, and that did occur. Some 533 years before our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was born! In the 11th chapter, we see the longest prophecy in all of God’s word. Events that began to take place some fifty years, and on down to 168 BC. And then on into the events of the time of our Savior and His apostles, and it even comes down to our time- and our immediate future.
So, within these last two articles I’ve been going through the 31st chapter of the Book of Jeremiah, speaking of a time of terrible and unprecedented trouble that this world is going to find itself in, but will- certainly, because of the grace of God-- be delivered at the glorious and powerful coming of our Savior Jesus Christ. Now, I’ve gone through much of it with you concerning the latter days, as we read in the last verse of the 30th chapter. It comes as a dire judgment on our peoples. The LORD God indeed tells us that He won’t leave our peoples wholly unpunished. Yes──the remnant of His chosen elect will survive, and they will be gathered together and will begin returning to Palestine from their subjugation── “At the same time,’ Says the LORD, ‘I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people.’” – Jeremiah 31:1. And they will be delivered from the lands of subjugation, and will be taken to Palestine; the very land that the LORD God had promised to our forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Notice here ──
“’ Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, Streaming to the goodness of the LORD──For wheat and new wine and oil, …’” – vs. 12.
The word Zion here, the Church of God, is that “spiritual Zion,” the place where true believers experience the living presence of the Eternal God, literally, the ultimate New Jerusalem.
And again, it shows us that they’ll come with weeping── “’ They shall come with weeping. And with supplications I will lead them. …’” – vs. 9. Our Lord Jesus Christ──the King of kings and the LORD of lords will lead them. As our Prophet Moses delivered our forefathers out of the land of Egypt, so the great King David──under the direction and leadership of our Lord Jesus Christ──is going to deliver His remnant elect out of the lands of subjugation where they had been scattered.
“’ In those days and in that time,’ says the LORD, ‘The children of Israel shall come, They and the children of Judah together; With continual weeping they shall come, And seek the LORD their God. 5) They shall ask the way to Zion, With their faces toward it, saying, ‘Come and let us join ourselves to the LORD In a perpetual covenant That will not be forgotten.’” – Jeremiah 50:4-5.
Truly, the fact is──the United Kingdom and her Commonwealth Nations, the United States of America──have received the promises that the LORD our God had promised to Abraham, the birthright promises. And it was offered to the ancient children of Israel──which included the Jewish people. But they refused to accept it. And the promise was withheld for 2,520 years, until AD 1802. It was the birthright that Jacob took away from Esau. Esau, impulsive and focused on immediate needs, agreed to trade his birthright for a bowl of lentil stew (Gen. 25:31–34).
We have had the prosperity more than any other nation. And yes- that too was to have happened in a definite year, a definite time, when the U.S. would come into great prosperity, and it indeed did occur. The LORD God does indeed keep their word. Truly, it’s the LORD God who raises up kingdoms and who destroys kingdoms. His living eternal word tells us that “He has made from ONE BLOOD every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and THE BOUNDARIES OF THEIR DWELLINGS.” – Acts 17:26. See also Deuteronomy 32:8. So, the LORD has determined that, as an example, the Russian people are where they are with their own natural resources, which include major reserves of oil, natural gas, coal, timber, metals such as nickel, copper, gold, and even diamonds. So, to say that they have “not been blessed” is a theological inference: The LORD God’s prophetic word against Russia (as identified) is in regard to the LORD God’s covenant with His chosen people. They have had access to a great many natural resources, but not in the way that Abraham’s descendants have. We have come to own and operate every sea gate by the seaways from every nation around the world. Every important sea gate. We, at one time, possessed them, operated them, just as the LORD God had promised Abraham we would (Genesis 22:17). Indeed, as I said before, if our nations──the United Kingdom and her Commonwealth Nations and the United States of America respectively──are not part of the house of Israel, why is it that we have the very promises that the LORD God gave to Abraham? And the LORD God has kept the promise.
Now, we’ve asked this question many times: Have you ever truly proved to yourself beyond a shadow of doubt that the Holy Bible is indeed the living and inspired word of God? Have you? Well, we have──and I have. Truly, the LORD God’s word stands vindicated; it stands solid as a Rock.
Let’s notice again, Jeremiah 50 ──
Verse 20 ── “’ In those days and in that time,’ says the LORD, ‘The iniquity of Israel shall besought, but there shall be none; And the sins of Judah [speaking here of the Jewish people], but they shall not be found; For I will pardon those whom I preserve.’”
Yet, my friends, the Eternal One is going to allow a ‘great tribulation’ to come upon the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and Israel proper. And in this judgment, hopefully, our peoples will learn their lesson. And His remnant elect will be gathered together and will return to the extent that when Israel’s and Judah’s iniquity is sought, there won’t be any──because of the love and grace of the LORD God, they shall be pardoned. And they will come to have access to the Spirit of God, the fruits of the Spirit, and their hearts and minds will begin to change for the good, to God’s Way, for the LORD God will ‘give them a new heart and put a new spirit within them; He will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh. He will put His Spirit within them and cause them to walk in His statutes, and they will keep His judgments and do them. Then they shall dwell in the land that He gave their fathers; and they shall be His people, and He will be their God.’ – cf. Ezekiel 36:26-28. Then, the LORD God goes on to announce that the remnant of His elect will come to ‘remember their evil ways and their vile deeds that were not good; and they will come to loathe themselves, in their own sight.’ That is our people’s destiny. Yet, I want to tell you by the authority of Jesus Christ, so many will mock me; so many people have Bibles in their homes, but they place His living word among their worldly books on their shelf──among their Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, their John Grisham’s The French Illusion, or their Freida McFadden’s The Witch──and it’s sitting on their shelf as if it’s any other book. Well, it’s not! Now, possibly you don’t agree with God’s word, but you’d better begin to do as God’s word tells us──Ye best be one who loves and reverently fears Him! (cf. Psalm 34:9).
A Millennial Reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ!
So, continuing here──this is what’s going to occur in the near future to our peoples. We’ve been going through the 31st chapter, and here it comes down to the glorious and powerful──and I use the word “powerful” because He is not coming as a lamb to the slaughter this time, but as a warrior (Revelation 19:11-15)-- the second coming of our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. So, let’s continue: the 31st chapter of Jeremiah ──
Verse 31 ── “’ Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah──”’
Now, sadly, many claim that the New Covenant is not in force today. 🥺
Truly, the Old Covenant was, in a sense, a marriage agreement between the Lord GOD and His people ──the kingdom of Israel. A beautiful picture of this is in Ezekiel 16, and His thoughts about it.
Verse 33 ── “’ But this is the covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’”
And a key understanding of the time element is in verse 34 – “’ No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they ALL shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.’”
Truly, truly there are no nations in this 21st-century world that know the LORD God! Instead, this world and all of its nations, countries, and provinces, are saturated in wickedness ── “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.” – 1 John 5:19.
The LORD God’s living words ── spoken and recorded here by the prophet Jeremiah ── is speaking of a time yet in the future. At the beginning of the Millennial Reign of our Lord Jesus Christ!
So, the LORD God is speaking here about national. He is identifying our peoples here as national, not spiritual.
‘No,’ you say. ‘That Old Covenant was made with Israel way back-in-the-day, back there, but… you know what… we’re not Jews. We’re Gentiles.’ Well, no, Anglo-Americans, and Anglo-Britons, and Jews are not Gentiles. Here today, a great many peoples will verbally attack you if you proclaim this and will accuse you of having some form of white supremacy because of this belief. Well, the LORD God’s living word tells us that “there is no respect of persons with God” – Romans 2:11, KJV. And our beloved Apostle Peter declares, “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality” – Acts 10:34. The Apostle Paul didn’t bring a new and different gospel just for the Gentiles! I had a relative a few years ago now try to tell me that he did. Well, of course he didn’t! Notice the 8th chapter of the Book of Hebrews quickly ──
Verse 6 ── “But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant [a better ministry that Moses had under the Old Covenant], which was established [it’s already established] on better promises.”
So, notice it was not established on any different Law──so, not without Law, not on different conditions, but on BETTER PROMISES. There was no promise of the gift of eternal salvation under the Old Covenant. Under the New Covenant, there are better promises.
“For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. 8) Because finding fault with them, He says …” – this is speaking of those to whom it was made, the children of Israel. So, the fault wasn’t with the LORD God──and what do we so often hear in the world? You hear that God made the Old Covenant with the Jews, but that God made a mistake, you know. Sadly, a great many peoples believe this: that God made a mistake, and that the Ten Commandments were wrong, too harsh, and an overbearing yoke on the people. Truly, so many professing Christians who believe this nonsense are no better than an atheist or an agnostic.
But listen here, as I’ve said, our SI unit in our house, well… we’ve gone around and around on this very subject──claiming that our peoples are Gentiles, and that the Apostle Paul was ONLY speaking spiritually, regarding Galatians 3:28-29. But, in truth, and for some reason, SI just wanted to “argue” ── being ‘of Abraham’s seed’ can include both a physical lineage and a spiritual one. So, our beloved Apostle Paul's point is that the promise isn't just spiritual──when you belong to Christ Jesus, you're also counted among Abraham's descendants, the nation the LORD God chose. That dual sense of being part of the New Covenant──both heart-wise and blood-wise. But sadly, many have come to accept and believe otherwise! Well, open your Bible, look into God’s word for yourself── “Because finding fault with them, …” Why did the LORD God find fault with them? Just think of what an outright blasphemous thing to think or say, ‘that there was fault with God.’ He found fault with them because they refused and/or couldn’t keep the Ten Commandments. Did the LORD God make a mistake? Because they didn’t, couldn’t, or wouldn’t keep the Commandments, Statutes, Ordinances, and Judgments?
Thus says the LORD, “‘ Behold, the days are coming, when I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah──’” – Hebrews 8:8.
Verse 9 ── “’ not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; …’” – why?
“ … ‘because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the LORD.’” ── they broke the Old Covenant, and so He found fault with them.
Verse 10 ── “’ For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,’ says the LORD …’” – not with the Gentiles, not with the spiritual Church of God, but with the remnants of the house of Israel. “ … ‘ I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’”
Turning back again to the 31st chapter of Jeremiah ──
Verse 31 ── “’ Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah── 32) not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD.’”
Now, something that many may not properly understand, but this was the pre-incarnate Lord Jesus Christ that was doing the speaking that the Prophet Jeremiah was recording. He is the Word──the Logos──who “became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” – John 1:14. All things were made through Him, “and without Him nothing was made that was made.” He is the Spokesman, and the Holy Bible is the written word of our living God, who was born of the Virgin Mary, whose name is ישו ── Yeshu.
So, the Prophet Jeremiah composed this book roughly from 627 BC, when he was called, through the fall of Jerusalem around 586 BC.
Verse 33 ── “’ But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My Law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’”
This is the Lord GOD of the Old Testament speaking here. יהווה ── YHWH. Sadly, falsely translated as Jehovah. The God of the Old Testament, and it wasn’t God the Father, but the One who would become our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Now, what are these better promises of our Lord Jesus’ New Covenant? Notice again the Book of Hebrews, this time chapter 9 ──
Verse 15 ── “And for this reason He is the Mediator of the New Covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”
Verse 16 ── “For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.”
The Apostle Paul is pointing out here that a covenant, like a will, only takes effect after the one who made it has died──so the New Covenant needed our Lord Jesus’ death and glorious resurrection to become active. And what are the better promises? The promise of an eternal inheritance! Under the Old Covenant, they were only promised a temporary inheritance, not an eternal inheritance. □
To be continued.