In the Gospels the house of Israel offended the Son. In the Acts they offended the Spirit. The Spirit was with the apostles, especially with Paul. Shortly after Paul was martyred, Titus the Roman prince came with an army to utterly destroy Jerusalem. That was the final and consummate exile of the people of Israel. They were scattered for close to twenty centuries. The first exile by the Babylonians lasted only seventy years, but this final exile lasted about two thousand years. It was by God's mercy that in 1948 a small number of Israelites returned to restore the nation of Israel.

Today there is a controversy among Israel and neighboring Arab countries about how much land Israel should have. Israel regained the Golan Heights in the six-day war in 1967. Now some want Israel to give up the Golan Heights. According to biblical prophecy, however, we cannot agree with this. That is a part of the good land. According to the Scriptures, the good land extends from the shore of the Mediterranean Sea to the Euphrates River (Deut. 11:24; Josh. 1:4), where present- day Iraq is. The good land is that spacious! According to God's ordination, Israel will surely keep the Golan Heights. This is the Lord's mercy to Israel. Furthermore, the royal family will be recovered. Who will be the last king of David's royal family? The Lord Jesus will be the King. He is the sure mercies promised and shown to David by God.

These mercies were covenanted. This means that a contract was made for these mercies. A covenant is not just a promise but a contract, and this covenant is Christ. Isaiah shows that Christ is an eternal covenant (Isa. 55:3b; 61:8b) and the covenant of peace (54:10) to the people. Christ is also the Maker of the covenant. This means that Christ guarantees Himself to be the real mercies. A verbal or even a written promise does not stand quite strongly, but a covenant is absolutely binding. God did not merely promise Israel the sure mercies of David. He made a covenant. Isaiah 55:3b says, "And I will make an eternal covenant with you, / Even the sure mercies shown to David." This eternal covenant is the sure mercies.

We know that the sure mercies refer to Christ by Paul's word in Acts 13:34-39 (see note 1 of verse 34 in the Recovery Version). There Paul indicates that the sure mercies promised to David are the resurrected Christ, who never saw the corruption of death. The Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word for mercies, chesed, is translated as the holy things (plural) or Holy One (singular) in Acts 13. Verse 34 speaks of "the holy things of David, the faithful things" and verse 35 of Christ as the "Holy One." The holy things of David, the faithful things, are the sure mercies of David. The Holy One is Christ, the Son of David, in whom God's mercies are centered and conveyed. Christ is the sure mercies, and He is also the One who is holy. This shows that these sure mercies will do a work to sanctify all the enjoyers.

According to the parable in Luke 15, the Father's compassion sanctifies the returning son. The prodigal son came back home like a beggar, but the father's compassion separated him from the world. The Father's compassion sanctifies the returning son, makes him holy, separating him entirely unto the Father.

Even though I did say that we all are probably "gophers" and "scorpions," I still would say that we are saints (1 Cor. 1:2). We are holy positionally before God. We are the sanctified ones. Christ is the sure mercies, and these mercies have sanctified us. Christ made us saints by His mercies. Today I can speak the holy word to God's holy people. I can declare all the holy things. This is the work of God's sure mercies.

These sure mercies have been covenanted with an eternal covenant. This covenant is the enacting Christ (Isa. 42:6b; 49:8b), and the covenant of peace (54:10). Peace means that all the problems are solved. When I say that I am a saint, this implies that I have no problems. We should have peace that enables us to say, "I have no problems because I am a saint." If we have even a little problem, we are not that holy.