This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of Zechariah, Zechariah. We’re continuing our lectures on how to witness to Jewish people. Many of you probably know exactly what to do and how to do it, but there may be a few that a little help would go a long ways. And I want you to notice that in the book of Zechariah, chapter 12, chapter 12, and you’ll notice there in your Bible in verse 10, wonderful verse that talks about the Messiah.

Now whenever you’re talking especially to a Jewish person, it’s okay to use the word Christ but it may not set too well with a Jewish person so use the word Messiah. They’re the same but they can accept the word Messiah a lot better than they can the word Christ. Sometimes it’s a setback to them, but if you feel uncomfortable doing that, then go ahead and use the word Christ. It’s not that you’re ashamed to do so, you’re just trying to use a little tack and wisdom with someone who may not understand yet.

And so we’re trying to win a person, not just win an argument with somebody. And so he says here in verse 10, and I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, they shall look upon me whom they have pierced. So the Bible does tell us here, almost 500 years before Christ ever came, that the Messiah is going to be pierced. And the Bible does tell us in the Old Testament that Jesus Christ is God.

And God says, they shall look upon me. So look there in chapter 12 and verse one where he says, the burden of the word of the Lord, L-O-R-D, all caps refers to the Lord. And he says in verse two, behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling under all the people around the bow when they shall be in the siege. So the Bible says there’s going to be people that are going to be against Israel. And he says, I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone.

They’re in verse three. Now look there in verse nine of the same chapter where he says, and it shall come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. This is not the first coming, this is at the second coming because in verse 10 he has already come, already been rejected, and has already been pierced in his hands and his feet. So then you look there in chapter 14, behold the day of the L-O-R-D, the Lord, come Jehovah Himself.

Verse 3, then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations as when he fought in the day of bottom. This is what’s going to happen when he comes back the second time. He can’t come the second time unless he has already come the first time. And we’re going to be He’s looking at that. But in verse four, and his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives. This day is coming. And look in verse nine of chapter 14 of Zachariah.

And the Lord, L-O-R-D, shall be king over all the earth. In that day shall there be one Lord and His name one. So Jesus Christ, who is the Lord, is coming back. The battle of Armageddon, He’s going to gather these nations together that have come against your roosleum and there’s gonna be a great bloodshed. And the Bible says that the Lord is going to set up His kingdom upon the earth. So turn to the book of Proverbs in chapter 30, looking Proverbs in chapter 30.

This is just scripture that you need to know when you want to witness to a Jewish person. You see, if you want to win people to the Lord, you need a working knowledge of the Bible. So you need knowledge that will work for you. You can study a lot of things in the Bible, but it’s not necessarily something you can use to witness to someone. So you learn the verses that helps him to see and understand because you want to bring them to Christ.

He didn’t say going all the world and studied the book of Daniel in Revelation, but there’s a lot of things there that are very good, but you might have to pick and choose what verses to use in explaining. But now in the book of Proverbs in chapter 30, you’ll notice down in verse 4. This is also mentioned in the New Testament, but here in verse 4 he says, who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended, who hath gathered the wind in his fist, who hath bound the waters in a garment, who hath established all the ends of the earth?

What is his name, and what is his son’s name, if thou can’t tell? So there is a verse that says that the one who did all of those things had a son. So it is mentioned in the Old Testament and by one of the wisest men that ever lived was Solomon. But Solomon didn’t necessarily write all the proverbs, but there’s wisdom in the book of proverbs. And so this was one of those scriptures that let you know that not necessarily the one chapter written by him, but that it was words of wisdom.

God has a son. Now look there also while you’re here in the book of Psalms, the book of Psalms and chapter two. Psalms and chapter two. And if you know these verses and know how to explain them, it will help tremendously in helping a person’s eyes to be open because you’re trying to let them see that in the Old Testament, in the Jewish scriptures, God talks about the Messiah. He talks about the Son, what’s going to happen to the Son.

And you and I know because we had the advantage of all these years and on this side of the cross, we have insight. You can discern some things that maybe they didn’t see so clearly. Because even those prophets that wrote the Bible says they searched diligently to understand which the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify when it testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. So there was the sufferings of Christ when he came the first time lowly and riding upon a donkey as a lamb to be slaughtered.

And then when he comes back in power and great glory, as the lion of the tribe of Judah, and every eye will see him and he takes revenge. And you hear about the wrath of the lamb and he sets up his kingdom upon the earth. So there’s two different comings of the Messiah. So they have missed the first one and if they don’t accept him, they’re going to miss the second one. Oh, they may know he’s coming, but they need to believe on him.

So when he says in verse one of chapter two, why do the heat and rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed. Against his anointed is a reference to the Messiah. This is the one that was coming. You’ll read those verses also in the book of Acts where it says, why do the heat and rage and the people imagine a vain thing?

They just could not believe this man was God in the flesh. They stumbled over this stone because they just could not believe salvation was the gift of God, and I’ll show you that in a little bit. So he says that he that sets into heaven shall laugh and have them in derision. And then you’ll notice up there in verse seven. I will declare the decree and the Lord have said unto me, thou art my son. So does the Bible say that God had a son in the Old Testament?

Yes, it does. This day have I begotten thee. And he says down here in verse 11, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish from the way. And that’s why in the book of Revelation, it talks about in the people were afraid because of the wrath of the Lamb. What is this Lamb upset about? Because the lamb was slaughtered, the lamb had no guilt, the lamb was innocent, and the Bible says their judgment coming upon those who reject Jesus Christ as their Savior.

So throughout your witnessing bear in mind to insert comments here and there as you witness that are appropriate in a conversation. A lot of times when I’m speaking and preaching on Sunday morning or Sunday night or speaking in ranch and ready-o or whatever I’m always editing as I go in the words. I may have a lot of things. I want to say but as I Teach although things will come into my mind. I say hey, that’s good So I’ll throw that in there Sometimes there’ll be a joke and I’ll throw that in there and Sometimes I just you know say that doesn’t need be there and I’ll edit that out Then I’m watching the clock like some of y’all do and I realize I got to crunch it down a little bit more It’s called if I go one minute over everybody get up and walk out of the church

And you don’t want that to happen So you’re learning when you’re talking to an individual Always be conscious of their time They may not have all the time in the world and all the time to sit and listen to you while you preach their sermon So I’m always conscious, do it as simply and but as quickly as I possibly can. Because I know that at any moment they may say, I have to go. I’m sorry. And they do and they’ll just walk away.

So I want to get as much in in a short period of time that’s clear and concise that they can follow and understand. Look at the next statement here. After you have established rapport, a good start in place in the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah. Because these prophecies in the Old Testament means that they were written before Christ came. So if they’re written before Christ came and in Christ’s content fulfills us prophecies, it shows that the Bible was true.

And like we said before, you’ve got to have the New Testament because the Old Testament without the New is incomplete. You’ve got to have the new. But without the Old Testament, you don’t have a foundation upon which to build the new. You need both of them. This is one Bible. And all of the Scriptures, Christ is the spirit of prophecy or the purpose of prophecy. He’s the reason why God did what He did, the way that He did it, so that it would help us to understand.

Using the term Messiah instead of always saying, Christ might be more easily taken by the Jewish person. But you need to try to feel your way around it and if you don’t sense any uneasiness about it, but don’t do what a lot of people do. Don’t pigeonhole everybody. You know where you can drive by and you can see places where they have all these little boxes and the pigeons live in there. Don’t feel like everybody, you gotta put them in their little box.

You’re prejudiced, that means you’re prejudging what they believe. So you’re trying to prejudge how they’re gonna respond. So because of that, you’re gonna take and try to defeat them ahead of time. If you gotta attack them and prove them wrong on something. No, the power is in the gospel. Give the gospel. The gospel is the power of God under salvation to the Jew and also to the Greek. It’s what everybody needs. And so the reason you wanna use some of the prophecies is because the Jews seek after a sign.

So prophecies are signs of what’s going to take place in the future. So you learn the signs because the Jews looking for signs. When you talk to the Gentiles, they may not be so impressed with those signs, but they may love wisdom. Use wisdom and explain to them, even though it might be so difficult to understand people can stumble at this because that’s why he says in the book of Corinthians, the Jews seek after a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom.

So we preach Christ because to the Jew, He is the power of God and to the Gentile, He is the wisdom of God. So you have the perfect message for everybody, Jew or Gentile, the gospel fits everybody. It’s a fit all. You don’t have to taper the gospel. The gospel is exactly what everybody needs. Do not be ashamed of it that you don’t give it. or ashamed that it probably won’t work. They won’t see it, they won’t believe it.

Now that’s the devil talking to you. Present the gospel, you’ll be surprised how it will work. Look down at the last statement at the bottom of the page one. I would like you to see some verses in your Bible, the Old Testament that tells how to recognize the true Messiah. So you’re going to use some scripture to help the person to understand why they should believe that Jesus Christ is their Messiah. Now, I have a s s s s s s s s s Explain these scriptures without mentioning the name Jesus Christ.

And have them tell me, you’re talking about Jesus Christ, I said I didn’t say that. You said that. Because you can’t study these prophecies and come to the conclusion that it’s somebody else. There’s no way possible. So number one on the top of page two, the Messiah had to be born of a virgin. Now these are simple things that you need to know that will help you in witness into a Jewish person. You should know that Jesus was prophesied to be born of a virgin.

Isaiah 714, you’ve got the scripture for that. Number two, Messiah had to be born in Bethlehem. There were two Bethlehem’s in Israel. Bethlehem Ephrata in the southern part of Judean, Bethlehem Zebulon in the other part of Israel. There were two Bethlehem’s and God just happened to to get the right one. Number three, Messiah would be God Himself. Now in Isaiah 9, 6, these are verses that would be beneficial to mark in your Bible because if you show them chapter 9 in the book of Isaiah, if you got that verse underlying, their eyes will be drawn right to it.

Plus it will help you to find the verse better. And if you underline Isaiah 7, 14, you know, therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign, be holy, virgin shall conceive. Mark that verse in your Bible and you’ll find it faster. You’ll know where it is on the page. Don’t mark all the verses in your Bible or no verses marked. Just mark certain verses. And so these are verses that would be good. And number four, Messiah would pay for sin.

This is Isaiah 53. You ought to devour the 53rd chapter of Isaiah. To go through that chapter written almost 700 years in advance. And when he starts off, Lord, who hath believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord, reveal Him. He shall grow before Him as a tender plant. And you go through all those verses and you see there’s a lot of these verses that are found in the New Testament. But you’re using it to show them that Jesus Christ, the Messiah, was prophesied in the Old Testament, how he would live and how he would die.

So these verses are very important. Also, to show that Jesus Christ would come back from the dead. Now you can use the book of Psalms 22 or 16, and you can also use the one here in Isaiah, but understand that this is true. Number six, Jerusalem and the temple would be destroyed after the Messiah had come and given his life. Now this is a tremendous verse and one that you need to see. So let’s just look at it real quick there in the book of Daniel, the book of Daniel and chapter nine.

This is on page 915, but notice this was during the time of the Babylonian captivity. Daniel was in captivity. Almost 70 years has passed. And so he’s telling them because he had read the book of Jeremiah, where the Lord says, 70 years shall be determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city which is mentioned down here in verse 24. So as he goes through here he says now before the Messiah comes and is cut off look what he says and let’s just look at that verse 25 know there for now this is written number 500 years before Christ know there for and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah.

See the city of Jerusalem had been destroyed. The temple has been destroyed. So when they came back under Ezra and Nehemiah said they rebuilt the temple but it was not glorious like Solomon’s temple and some of them went because of it. So when you read the book of Ezekiel you find out that the one that’s going to be built Solomon’s temple was nothing compared what’s going to be. So they got a temple but it was kind of refurbished two or three times after that.

They call it later on Harry’s Temple because he also built it and edified it and made it beautiful and so on. But look what he says here, to restore and build Jerusalem onto the Messiah of the Prince shall be seven weeks, three score and two weeks. So this was about 434 years and you’re talking about something that was mentioned in advance. See seven weeks or 49 years was from them kind of getting back and rebuilding the temple. And then from that time they built the temple until the Messiah, not birth, but till he was cut off is the end of this period of time.

And he says unto the Messiah, the prince shall be seven weeks, three score in two weeks, which is 69 weeks or 483 years. Now look in verse 26. After three score and two weeks shall the Messiah be what? Cut off. That means the Messiah is going to be killed, but not for Himself. And the people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Now get this. When they came back from Babylon, the prophecy will rebuild the city and the temple.

Messiah will come. Messiah will be cut off. the temple and the city destroyed again. It’s already happened 2,000 years ago. So if this scripture is true, then the Messiah had to have already come. You can’t come up with any other option. Christ must have already come because there is no temple there now. But there was a temple in Christ’s day, but in the Old Testament it says that the temple would be destroyed after the Messiah comes and he’s going to be killed.

You’ll read that same words cut off also in the book of Isaiah 53 when he was cut off out of the land of the living. So that means he was purposely killed but he did not die for himself or anything that he had done that was wrong. So the Bible is very simple, very clear on that. Now the next thing their number seven, the Messiah gave his life as a sacrifice for your sins. You need a blood sacrifice and you don’t have any.

So here you are and back in the old days of the temple and the high priest and the sacrifices, okay, since the temple has been destroyed, how do the Jewish people have a sacrifice for their sins. They don’t have one. And the Bible says in the book of Hosea, he says, you will abide many days without a king, they have. Many days without a Nephi. Many days without a sacrifice and they have. See the Bible makes all these prophecies so that we can know the truth.

So we can read these things and see these things and Jewish people, if they’re shown these things, it’ll knock or socks off. But the problem is, as most people do not witness because they don’t know the Scriptures. You should know some of these verses just like Ephesians 2, 8, 9, or 1 John 5, 13. A soul that whom Christ died for could be in the balance due to your knowledge or lack of knowledge can make a great difference. And that’s why don’t take it as a small thing.

Well, I don’t know the Bible. I don’t care about all of the study and all that stuff. But there’s might be people you can reach if you knew the answers. So you read them and you study them. Look at the next statement, since Jesus has met all the requirements of the Messiah and since the temple was destroyed in 70-80 doesn’t it make sense to believe that Jesus really was the Messiah. Wouldn’t you like to accept Jesus as your Messiah, believing He made the payment for your sins on the cross so you could go to heaven when you die.

Remember you will still be Jewish but a Jew who has his payment for his sins. It doesn’t change you. I am a Gentile. I trusted Christ as my Savior. I’m still a Gentile. I didn’t become anything else. Can a man be Jewish and become an atheist? Yeah, is he still Jewish? Yeah. Can you be Jewish and become a Christian? Yes, you’re still Jewish. Or you’re a completed Jew. You have completed. You’ve got a complete faith now. Because that’s the biggest thing that’s missing with them.

And there’s something inside of them to let them know something is missing in their life. And it really is. Now, down at the bottom of the page, additional prophecies about Christ and their fulfillment. Now these are not as major as those other ones up there to top of the page. Those other seven, those seven up there are ones you need to learn. The other ones down below are things you can use, but there’s not, I don’t believe, as critical.

They’re not going to make that big of a difference. But it might satisfy you and you need to be convinced. See, it’s easy to convince somebody else when you are convinced. If you really believe in Ephesians 2, 8, and 9, it’s easy to tell somebody about Ephesians 2, 8, 9. If you really know you have eternal life and really know you’re going to heaven when you’re dying, it’s not so hard to tell people about that. Something you really know, something you really believe.

But if you got doubts and so forth about your own salvation, you wonder about this, wonder about that, and you don’t have any answers and you’re not rock solid, it’s hard for you to stand the way you ought to stand. But look at number one. The Bible says that he would be sold for 30 pieces of silver in Zechariah. Well, the scripture that fulfills that and shows you that is Matthew chapter 26. You say, well, how come Jesus could not have just made himself do all of this?

Because He studied the Bible and He found out I got to do this and I got to do that and I got to do this and I got to do that. And so He made Himself like He was the Messiah. He wasn’t really the Messiah, but He kind of stole all this information and got in there and He fooled the people. Alright. Could you make yourself born of the right nation? be born to the right tribe and could you make yourself be born in the right city?

Could you make yourself be born of the right lineage? And could you make yourself have the ability to walk on water and provide all those fish sandwiches for everybody? I mean can you make the lame to walk and the blind is saying well he just did that to what? He did that. He was able to do all of those things. And did he make the whole nation, he made that whole nation reject him. Now he was pretty good what?

You have to admit that God was pretty good. He fought the whole nation and to killing them because he wanted them to kill them so he could pretend like he was a Messiah. Did you ever think? Maybe he was. Don’t you think that’s going to be a crude awakening for some people when find out he really was who he claimed to be and they wished not who it was. They didn’t recognize him. In the day of his visitation, they did not know him.

So here in number two, betrayed by a friend Psalms 41-9, a reference to Judas’ carrier that he would be betrayed by a friend. And number three, silence before his accusers. Isaiah 53, 7, there’s several that you need to see here. So turn in your Bible to Isaiah and 53. Become very familiar with the 53rd chapter of Isaiah because there’s so much in this chapter about Christ. Written almost 700 years in advance that you will be able to use. There’s a lot of information here and so you need to understand that.

So you notice there in the book of Isaiah 53, looking verse 7, he was oppressed, he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheet before her shears is done. So he opened not his mouth. Now does that tell you that he was like a lamb. Remember John? The lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. A lamb doesn’t even fight. A lamb is easily led.

And they did anything they wanted to do with him. You see, they spent about four days examining this lamb in one place of the youth trying to find all the fault in them they could find. So conclusion was, I find no fault in this man. There’s no reason for this man to die, but that people still rejected him and he was crucified. Are you a new listener to Bibleline? Do you enjoy the teachings of Dr. Arnold? Well, if you’ve never contacted us before, we want to give you Dr.

Arnold’s book, The Gospel Driven Man. Every day we receive many emails from folks who have questions about repentance and salvation, about faith in works, and about how to share the gospel with friends and loved This book, The Gospel Driven Man, covers all those topics, and we want all new listeners of Bibleline to receive a free copy. There’s no obligation, no donation necessary, simply call us at 1-800-576-3771 or write to us and request your free copy of The Gospel Driven Man.

Mailing address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Again, don’t forget to include your mailing address, and God bless you, and thank you for listening to Bibleline. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. And now, a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed. caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

So live today and every day. Believe in that the Lord is coming soon. Just keep looking up.