God does whatever's necessary

Does God know how everything is going to play out?

In Zechariah, hundreds of years before Christ's birth, Scripture records that He is going to be betrayed by a friend for 30 pieces of silver.

Columbus, Ohio Preacher David Reid explains, "Imagine that. Do you think you could predict the currency of the world 500 years in advance? How would you guess whether it's gold pieces or silver pieces or platinum or cookies? You wouldn't have any idea.

"How would you guess the number? You wouldn't have any ability to do that. Yet, Scripture records in Zechariah 11 that the Lord Jesus Christ is betrayed by a friend for 30 pieces of silver. How does that happen unless God the Father knows the end from the beginning? He does, He does, He does, He does.

"God doesn't control all the circumstances in life, but there are some things that He clearly does. An example is in Matthew 24:35: [35] Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

"That verse tells you that God is active in history and He will not let His Word be destroyed. He's going to do whatever He determines to do to cause that to happen. If He doesn't, that verse is false and He's a liar and He most certainly is not a liar, which tells you that God does whatever is necessary throughout history so that His Word does not pass away.

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"You'll hear people say, 'This world belongs to Satan,' but that's not true. II Corinthians 4:4 says Satan is 'the god of this world,' but the earth belongs to God the Father. Satan is who this world worships but make no mistake, this world is the Lord's.

"I Corinthians 10:26: [26] For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof.

"Who does the earth belong to according to that verse? Look at verse 28: [28] But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that shewed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof:

"Jesus Christ created the earth and it never ceased to be His. Because Colossians 1:16 tells you, [16] For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 

"My point is, God doesn't intervene when He takes action upon the earth because it's His! You don't intervene when you mow your front lawn. It's your lawn; you can mow it however you want to!

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"Paul tells us in Romans 11, [26] And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: [27] For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.

"Romans 15: [12] For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. [13] For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

"So why does Israel suffer such incredible persecution during the dispensation of grace? Have you ever looked at that? During the dispensation of grace, the Jews have been persecuted in India, in Soviet Russia, in Nazi Germany, by Iran, Iraq.

"You could go down a list of country after country after country where Jews have been persecuted. But why? Today there's no difference between the Jew and the Greek.

"Does Satan know about God's future purpose with the nation Israel? Yes, he does. Does he want to defeat that future purpose? Yes, he does.

"Think of the prophetic program as a basketball game. Now, the dispensation of grace is a 'time out' in the prophetic calendar. If the dispensation of grace is an interruption of that basketball game, you know what Satan would like to do during that time out?

"He's the coach of the bad team and so he wants to walk over to the opposing bench of the good team, pull out a submachine gun and kill them all so that when the referee says, 'Hey, time for the game to resume,' it's, 'Oh, I'm so sorry, you don't have a team? I guess we win.'

"Satan would love to destroy the Jew during the dispensation of grace so that God's purpose with Israel can't be accomplished. The problem with that is Satan's strength is nothing compared to God's, so how well is this plan going to succeed? Zero chance."

(new article tomorrow)