Judges chapter 10, and I'm only
going to let you read the whole chapter on your leisure, but
I want to read the first two verses of Judges chapter 10. It has to do with one of the
judges. We have had that chapter or two
about Abimelech and And the travesty that happened as a result of
his desire to be a king, and he was never put in that position. His father was never asked for
that position. His half-brothers never asked
for that position. He assumes that position, and
then we find the conclusion of that in chapter nine. Chapter
10, we have two judges listed, and one of them has two verses,
and one of them, I believe, has three verses. And so we're gonna
read the first two verses here, and this is the account, the
whole account in scripture about this particular judge. It says,
and after Abimelech, there arose to defend Israel Tola. the son
of Pua, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, and he dwelt in
Shemar in Mount Ephraim. And he judged Israel 20 and three
years and died and was buried in Shemar. And there's a period
at the end of that verse of scripture, and the next one talks about
another judge. So as we look at this, I ask
myself, what do we have here? Well, there are two things we'd
like to look at tonight. In the first one, it says, an
Abimelech, and after Abimelech, there are rows to defend Israel,
Tola. That word defend caught my eye
there. And we find out as we look into
the scripture that that word has been translated a number
of ways and it's used quite a number of times in the Old Testament. This word defend, it's a Hebrew
word. It's translated many times save. We have Tola was used to defend
or to save Israel. And we find in that a wonderful
picture of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, one of the
verses I'd like to look at that has this word in it is found
in the book of Psalm, Psalm 3. You'll turn with me to the book
of the Psalms. Psalm 3, and there we have the
same word is used, but it is translated a little differently
than we find here in the book of Judges. In fact, it kind of
gives us an inside track of what it means. In the book of the
Psalms, Psalm 3, and there in verse 7, we have this recorded
for us. Arise, O Lord, save me. Now that word save is the same
word we find over here in the book of Judges, which has been
translated to defend. So as we think about having a
good defend, a good defense, In many ways, as we follow the
message of the Lord Jesus Christ, when he comes to our defense,
when he defends us, he is saving us. He is delivering us, and
he's delivering us from what we got by nature through the
inheritance from Adam, and he has purpose to save his people,
to defend them, come to their aid. This word is translated
105 times in the Old Testament saved, but I'd like to look at
another passage of scripture where this word is used, and
it's found in Isaiah chapter 60. In Isaiah chapter 60, this
word is translated just a little bit differently, but it also
carries some weight, gives us some understanding, a little
more insight in what was there as God used this Judge Tola to
to defend Israel, to come to their aid, to protect them. And
he raises up these judges from time to time, and their business,
their job is to be someone to defend or to protect or to help
Israel as God has brought them out of idolatry from time to
time. Well, here in the book of Isaiah
chapter 60, if you turn with me to the book of Isaiah chapter
60, We read in this chapter there in verse 16, Isaiah chapter 60
and verse 16. And in this passage of Scripture,
the word is Savior. It says, thou shalt also suck
the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings,
and thou shalt know that I, the Lord, am thy Savior. or I am your defense, I am the
one who saves, I am your savior. What a way that this is translated.
And thy redeemer, he goes on to say, I say by redemption,
I redeem, I purchased them, the mighty one of Jacob. So three
different ways in this one verse is it brought out about some
characteristic, some attribute, some blessing that we get from
the Lord. And it says there, I am the Lord, I'm Jehovah, I
am thy savior, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Jacob. So this
is one of the ways that this word has been translated in the
Old Testament. And then if you'll turn with
me to Zechariah. In Zechariah, it's translated
just a little bit differently. It's using the word Savior in
a way here. Zechariah chapter nine. Zechariah chapter nine. And there
in verse nine. Zechariah chapter nine and verse
nine. In this particular verse of scripture,
that word that we found over there in Judges chapter 10, verse
1, which has to do with a judge by the name of Tola, he is given
the blessing of defending Israel. But he's also given the responsibility
of defending Israel. And we find that this characteristic
is one that can easily be taken to our Savior, the Lord Jesus.
He is our defense, but He's been given the responsibility to defend
us. And He does that in His work
and ministry on the cross. So here in the book of Zechariah
chapter 9 and verse 9, This is a verse of scripture that is
quoted in the gospels when the Lord Jesus comes into Jerusalem
lowly and riding upon a donkey, upon an ass, and says, rejoice
greatly, O daughter of Zion. And I was listening to a message
that that Zion so often, that's the church, that's the church.
It's not a city over there now, it's a church. Shout, O daughter
of Jerusalem. Again, a statement about the
church. Behold, thy King cometh unto thee. And here he's been
king, everlasting king, king before the foundation of the
world, king in creation, king over Adam, over Eve, king over
salvation for Adam and Eve, king over all things, king over the
flood. king over the rainbow, king over stay and I will not
destroy the whole world like I did at that time, king over
Israel, king over Moses. He is the king. Behold, thy king
cometh unto thee. He is just. And here we have
that word again that's been translated over there in the book of Judges,
defend. Here is the word salvation, having
and having salvation. What a characteristic that we
have about the Lord. There is no other person given
this characteristic. Now, Tola may have defended the
people of Israel, but he could not do a thing for them spiritually.
And as soon as he and the next judge passes away, when they
both die, we find that Israel, again, takes a nosedive back
into religion. In fact, we have more description
in the latter part of this chapter about the gods that they worship
than we have had any other place in the Book of the Judges. And
they have been there for a long time. And here we go. It says, having salvation lowly,
riding upon an ass and upon the colt, the foal of an ass. Do
you remember how he demonstrated that he was king over that situation? He says, go over there, there's
a man that has this ass, you say the master has need of him,
and here he comes. No argument. And then he sits
on that foal, and that foal had never been ridden, and he is
the king over that foal. We are told in the book of Job
that we were born like a wild ass's colt. So I'm thankful that
he exercises his kingship over his children, lost children,
and causes them to be settled in him. So in this word, it's
13 times it's translated Savior, three times it's translated Salvation,
and 105 times it's translated Save. So it kind of gives us
the inside dope on this one word with regard to Tola and what
he was to do as the judge of Israel and what he did as the
judge of Israel. In two short verses, We have
a great insight into him and to his life as he was a judge
for 23 years. This is what he did for Israel.
And what a statement is made mentioned here of our Savior,
the Lord Jesus. He is our Savior. He saves. He
is the one that defends us. He is all in all for the church. That is why no one that God ever
saves will ever be lost. He is their defender, He saves
them, and He's their Savior. So He delivers us from this.
Now, as we look again, Going back to the book of Judges, again,
it's a very short reading, two verses of Scripture, and we just
want to spend some time here on the next point that is brought
out. And I was talking to Mike and
I said, you know, I looked at that and I said, what can we
say about this guy in two verses? Well, we find out that these
two verses are just filled with statements about the Lord. And
the next thing that we want to look at here, as we've looked
at what he's done, what he's doing during his 23 years, what
passed when he died, and then God came along with another judge
that judge for 22 years, JR, but here in the book of Judges
chapter 10 and verse one, we have the guy's name, this judge's
name. He was, he came, he arose, there
arose to defend Israel, Tola. Now we know that God called him.
I don't know what he was doing before God called him, but he
might have been like that prophet. I was a herder of sheep and a
gatherer of sycamore fruit. When the Lord, he was happy with
doing his job. I'm sure he was a good worker.
He gathered lots of fruit. He watched over the sheep. He
was careful with them. But the Lord called him out of
that into the ministry to be a prophet unto Israel. The Lord
put him into the ministry. And here we find the Lord put
Tola into the judgeship. He didn't seek it. It wasn't
something that he desired to have. It was something the Lord
put him into. And apparently, if you have 23
years of peace, there's some things that he did. He followed
the instructions of the Lord. He followed what God said is
right. And he did that job for Israel. There was peace for 23 years. Now, the thing I'd like to look
at now is his name. And that's going to carry so
much about this person, about these two verses, about him being
a judge. Now, there's much in the Scriptures,
if we follow it out, there's much in the Scriptures in names.
When we run into someone, normally if we look their name up, there's
something very significant about it. If we find a name that ends
in EL, God is in that name. Israel, there's God in that name. Ezekiel, as we follow this out. So if we look at the names that
are found in the Bible, we find that Bible names have great significance. And we try to mimic that when
we name children. I have a niece that has named
some of their children biblical names with the idea that this
is going to add to their spirituality or something. That's not going
to happen. It's just a name. We named Nathan after a Bible
character. And here we find Abraham. Now his name was Abram, and his
name is changed to Abraham, which means a father of a multitude. And then the Lord goes on and
says, you're a father of, as it were, the stars, and you're
a father, as it were, the sand of the seashore. And in those
two statements, he said, you're going to have spiritual descendants.
you'll have a multitude of physical descendants too. And it's the
spiritual descendants that are really the children of Abraham.
We find Jacob, we call him the supplanter, one who wrongfully
or illegally seizes and holds the place of another. And we
go back there to that account and we find his name really,
he was given the name Jacob, but he played that out so well. He took his brother's birthright,
Now we know in the purpose of God, God had already told his
mother, the elder shall serve the younger. It's going to happen
that way. But how he did it, and I have
to mention again, only God can make good come out of evil. Only
God can do that. We cannot do that. We're just
unable to do that. And then we have that his brother,
Jacob, was renamed Now we find the name Jacob often in the same
verses we find the name Israel, and sometimes I just think the
Lord reminded him of the place he was carved from. Don't ever
forget where you came from. Now, that's in two ways. I kind of relish where the little
town I grew up in, but also I have to be reminded from time to time
that I was saved out of the same pew as other people are. that
I have no difference in the relationship or the deliverance that God gives
His people, wherever they are, whatever position He puts them
in, they're all saved in the same way. And they have no higher
or lower position with the Lord. Well, over there in the book
of Genesis, would you turn with me to the book of Genesis chapter
32? Genesis chapter 32. Genesis chapter 32, and here
we find that the Lord gives Jacob supplanter. He gives Jacob a
new name. We know this name so often because
we're gonna run into it many times We've already run into
it many times in the book of the judges But we're gonna run
into it all over the Old Testament as well as the New Testament
and that name is Israel He's given a new name. Well here in
the book of Genesis chapter 32, and I believe it's verse 28 He said thy name shall be called
no more Jacob And I think Jacob says, whew, that'll be good. And it says, but Israel. And
you notice the EL on the end. There's always something that
has to do. His name is going to be not Jacob,
but Israel. And this word Israel mean God
prevails. And this is really, when it comes
to the church, we find God prevails. He is the one that wins the victory.
He's the one that saves us by his grace. He's the one that
makes us willing in the day of his power. So God prevails. And we know about Joshua. Joshua
in the Old Testament means Jehovah is salvation. And we get to the
word Jesus in the New Testament, Jehovah is salvation. And it's
no wonder we find that the Holy Spirit gave to the writer of
the book of Matthew, the words he instructed Joseph. You shall call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. What's that
mean? He's going to defend them. He's going to be the savior of
them. He's going to save them. They shall call his name Jesus.
So Jesus in the New Testament, Joshua in the Old Testament,
David means beloved. And we find that God said that
about David, even as he was a rascal, he said, He's a man after my
own heart. What does that mean? I love him.
He is beloved to me. Why? Because I've made an everlasting
covenant, both sure and steadfast. So this covenant was made with
David in the old eternity, and it was revealed to him in time.
Joseph means Joshua has added. And that was a name that, There
was a mother that didn't think she'd have a child or anymore,
and Joseph was added. Judah is praised. Benjamin, son
of the right hand. Solomon means peace. And even
place names, Lodibar, not a pasture. Not a pasture. That's what it
means. Can you imagine building, plotting out a town, a city by
the name of Lodibar? There's nothing here for the
cattle to eat. And they're a very agrarian society. So Lodibar, not a pasture, but
we also find out, as a result, there is a man that lives there,
that the Lord saves, is a savior of, and a refuge for, and he
is Saul's grandson, Mephibosheth. Now, I didn't look up his name.
And then we get to the New Testament, which plays an important role
in where the Lord was born. Bethlehem, it means house of
bread. Well, here's the bread that came
out of the house of bread, the Lord Jesus. So as we look at
Tola, Tola is given a very interesting name. I looked that up and I
says, you must, well, I don't think I said you must be kidding.
His name means worm. W-O-R-M. Now, the word worm often
is translated from a Hebrew word that means maggot. But this particular
word, worm, is not translated from that word. It is a very
peculiar worm that God used to make dye out of. God instructed
the children of Israel to dye some garments scarlet So every
time we find the word scarlet in the building of the tabernacle
or in the building of the temple, it is Tola. And here we have
a man's name. Mom and dad, why did you call
me worm? It has great significance as
he is a refuge or a defender of Israel. And we find out that
our savior, the Lord Jesus, takes upon that characteristic. And in fact, he said, I am a
worm. And that is the same word. I
am a worm and no man. So he was, well, there's many
characteristics about that word. Tola's name means worm. It's
not the common earthworm that we know or other worms that we
think of. It's a very special worm used when they constructed
the tabernacle and its color is what made it special. It was a scarlet dye made from
this worm. And in Psalm 22, would you join
me over there? I just mentioned it just a little
bit, but I wanna read it out of the Psalm. Psalm 22, when
we read this, The word here is toloth, toloth, they mean the
same thing, they mean a worm. Here in Psalm 22 and verse 6,
Psalm 22 and verse 6, it says, I am a toloth. I am a worm. I am a very special
worm though, a very peculiar worm, a very non-typical worm. And it was this worm This bug,
some people say it was a bug, and we find it translated here,
worm. You look at this up and some people feel it was a bug
that was squashed, that made the dye. But the bug had to lose
its life in order for that quality to be able to be used. Now I
heard one man say that they extracted the blood from it. That blood
was very particular, very special. It didn't coagulate in air. They
used it for dye. I read another place where it
was the whole body that was crushed. It makes no difference because
it was used to dye scarlet thread and scarlet clothing. This is
what it means, the dye made from this worm. Now, if you'll turn
with me to the book of Exodus, I'd like to read three quick
verses in the book of Exodus where this particular word is
used, and I think it's like 30, 35 times. But in the book of
Exodus, it gives us just an example of this word, only it's translated
scarlet. Exodus chapter 26, would you
join me there? In Exodus chapter 26, this is
a very special worm. There's nothing like it. This
is the only worm that I was able to find out that they may die
from, the blood, the coloring of the creature, but it had to
be crushed. This life had to be taken to
gather the value of that worm. Here in the book of Exodus chapter
26 and verse 36, we read this, Exodus chapter 26 and verse six,
and thou shalt make an hanging for the door of the tent. This
is a tabernacle of blue and purple and scarlet. And you look up
that word scarlet, it's that same word that's found over here
in the book of Psalms that has to do with a worm, and it's the
same word we find with regard to this man's name. It's not
a mistake that we find that he is going to be the defender of
Israel. Now they didn't take his body,
and they did not crush his body, and they did not save his blood,
and they didn't use him for dye, but he is a picture, a type,
and a shadow of him who they did. He is a regular guy named
a strange name, but it has so much significance. That word
scarlet there, fine twine linen wrought with needlework, that
word scarlet is that word. And if you just go one more chapter,
chapter 27, verse 16, we read this, and it's mentioned a number
of times, whatever it's dealing with, this particular color,
that was used in the building of the tabernacle and the temple,
and it has to do with blood. It's a symbol of blood, redemptive
blood, shed blood, crushed body. And it tells us here in verse
16, and for the gate of the court shall be a hanging of 20 cubits
of blue and purple and scarlet. How many? of these worms or bugs
had to be gathered up to dye a piece of material that big,
a lot. You know, it doesn't matter how
much blood Jesus shed, it matters whose blood it was. That makes
all the difference in the world, whose blood it was. So we have
the color of this insect goes through a process. They go out
and pick it up. Whether it's on trees, on the ground, it doesn't
matter. They picked it up. They had to
kill that bug. They had to kill that worm in
order to extract the dye. And they took a lot of dye to
make these coverings. It says there are 20 cubits of
blue and of purple and scarlet and fine twined linen wrought
with needlework in their pillars. shall be four, and their sockets
four." So as the description goes on, right here, it tells
us this is what you're going to use to color this dye. Now, if we looked up blue and
purple, we'd find also that there were very expensive dyes that
were used there, and they came from other places. Well, one
other verse I want to look at is found here in the book of
Exodus chapter 35. In Exodus chapter 35 and verse
23, Exodus chapter 25 and verse 23. Same word is given again. We
have blue, purple, and scarlet. And every man with whom was found
blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goat's hair,
and skins of rams, badger skins, brought them. So these have been
dyed before they get to the place they're going to be used. They
are scarlet. Very expensive. This dye made
from this worm was expensive dye made to use, and it was costly. You know, I think of Lydia, a
seller of purple. Very costly. It was expensive
dye that they used. It was costly fabric, such as
was used in the tabernacle and for the garments of the Levitical
priests. This was a scarlet dye made from
this creature. It was one of the ancient world's
most precious dyes. And the critters that they used
to dye this were found in one place, and they happened to be
in that place. out there in that peninsula.
And so many times the original word translated worm is translated
from a word that means maggot. This one is not. This one is
not. One person told me, as I mentioned,
that it was the blood. Another person said it was the
whole creature. It doesn't matter. Either way,
the life of the creature was taken. And the life of our savior was
taken. And the value that we have with
regard to him, besides being the son of God, besides being
king, we'll read several places, it was his blood that redeemed
us. And in order for him to shed
his blood, he had to be crushed. He was crushed. much like they
took that mortar and pedestal and crushed those worms or crushed
those creatures and made that die. It is interesting to me,
over in the 53rd chapter of the book of Isaiah, would you join
me there? There's a word, when we were going through the book
of Isaiah, we brought this up, but just to look at it again and see how intact, how special the Word
of God is. Here in the book of Isaiah chapter
53, we find a word in here that shares with us of the oppression
that our Savior went through at the hands of the Father. Now,
He was betrayed and he was tried and he was turned over to the
crucifiers by Jews in the street. That passage Brother John shared
with me when I was talking to him about visiting with Shannon,
there in the 23rd chapter of the book of Luke, it says that
Pilate turned Jesus over to the will of the people. What a fallen
will to take the Son of God and crucify Him. But that's what
we get by nature. We don't have a cleaned up will.
We don't have a sanctified will. We have a lost will, dead will.
All right, here in the book of Isaiah chapter 53, and there
in verse 10, we have a word in here that is, it pleased, yet
it pleased the Lord to bruise Him. Now that word bruise has
great significance. It was the Lord who bruised him. It was our sin that was placed
on him, but God bruised him over that issue. He put on him and
had put him to grief, when thou shalt make his soul an offering
for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Now that
word that we read there, bruise, Two times I want to go to the
book of Job, and it gives us some understanding again about
this word bruise. And it also shares with us what
must happen to that worm or that bug, whatever it turns out to
be. It doesn't matter what it is.
What matters is that creature was used to dye cloth as a picture
of the blood of Jesus Christ, our redemption. So here in the
book of Job, one verse is in chapter four, one verse is in
chapter five. As we go over here to the book
of Job, backing up to the book of Job here in chapter four,
Job chapter four, and there in verse 19. Job chapter four, verse
19. Now this is the same word that
is bruised in Isaiah 53. Here it says, how much less in
them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in
the dust, which are crushed before the moth, crushed. That's exactly
what was required when they made that die. That creature had to
be crushed. It had to have its life taken
from it. And this is what we, the Lord,
it pleased the Lord to crush him, to bruise him. And that's
what Job uses that word here. And if you'll turn with me to
the next chapter, chapter five and verse four, the same word
is used there that we find that, It pleased the Lord, it pleased
Jehovah to bruise him, to crush him, to put him in this position
that the blood would be our redemption. All right, Job chapter five and
verse four says, his children are far from safety and they
are crushed in the gate. Neither is there any to deliver
them. They are crushed in the gate.
bruised in the gate. And this is exactly what was
required in order for these people to get the dye that was required
to dye this scarlet. That was the demand of God. Scarlet
cloth. That's God's command. That is
God's command. So they have the necessary means
of it, and that is to go through this process of collecting this
dye and dyeing the cloth And it's very expensive, it is one
of a kind, and you're not going to find it everywhere in the
world. And it was the life taken that produced deliverance for
his people. Now we read this over in the
book of Mark. Would you join me in the book of Mark? And all
this is based on one verse of Judges chapter 10. One man's
name. He is a declaration to those
people that there is a worm coming. I'm a worm and no man, and this
is what's gonna have to happen to me in order to redeem my people. I must be crushed. I must be
bruised. And here in the book of Mark
chapter 10, Mark chapter 10, we find these words left for
our blessing, for us to read and say, thank you, Lord. It
says, Jesus says here, for even the son of man, Mark chapter
10 verse 45, Mark chapter 10 verse 45, for even the son of
man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to
give his life a ransom for many. The payment price. Now we're
going to read about the payment price. Not only was his life,
but he was going to redeem us by his blood. The life of the
flesh is in the blood. Christ gave his life a ransom. The blood was taken. It was shed
blood. His life was taken. So he gave
his life a ransom for many. And it is the blood that purchased
us. It is the blood out of this crushed
God, if you please, this God-man who was bruised, who was crushed
in every sense of the word there on the cross, crushed for our
sin, and it was his blood that redeemed us or brought us back.
And that's what's brought out here in the book of Acts chapter
20. Would you join me there in the book of Acts chapter 20 as
we think of this blood of the worm, the blood of Tola in the
book of Acts chapter 20. we read these words. The Apostle
Paul is saying goodbye to a group of
believers, but he brings up this wonderful point about our Savior
and what he did with his blood, how it was used. Yes, it was
presented, but it was the purchase price, just as that blood or
that creature was crushed and collected the matter for dyeing
the cloth, we find that the Lord Jesus was crushed by God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, bruised by Jehovah,
and this is the benefit of that. Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves
and to all the flock. Acts chapter 20, verse 28. Take
heed, therefore, unto yourselves and to all the flock, over the
which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church
of God. Now that's the responsibility
of the overseers. That's the responsibility of
the teachers. That's the responsibility of
the pastors, the preachers, the evangelists, to feed the church
of God, which he hath, what? purchased with his own blood.
Now that's the valuable part. His blood purchased us. Now he had a purpose in being
crushed. He had a purpose in him having
our sins placed upon him. That was his purpose. He came
for that purpose. But it was the blood we find
out here that was the redemptive work of God. He must be crushed. He must be crushed because of
our sin. He must suffer all of the indignities
of the justice of God. Just like if we never are saved,
we're going to have to do the same, only we'll never get the
job done. He did it in three hours. I love that account. He had us redeemed on the cross
in three hours. Now, the purpose has been from
eternity. All right, he purchased it with
his own blood. And then in Ephesians, Ephesians
chapter one, as we find this Tola, this worm, the Lord Jesus,
I am a worm and no man. I am Tola and no man. And we
have a judge, two verses of scripture are left for us, and in his name
is a blessing, because it is him, through him we get to look
at how the Lord saves his people from their sins. And what an
impressive picture he left us by having that scarlet die come
from something that had to be crushed. It was not willow limbs. that were used, or oak limbs,
or some weed that was crushed up. It was a living creature,
and we find that the Lord did not use anything else to redeem
us. It's not by works of righteousness,
which we have done. It's not by our vain conversation received
by tradition. It's not by silver and gold that
were redeemed. but it's by his precious blood
that we're redeemed. All right, here in the book of
Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians chapter one and there
in verse seven. Ephesians chapter one and verse
seven. We read this, in whom we have redemption through his
blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his
grace. How full is that verse? in whom
we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins
according to the riches of his grace. What a statement we find
the Holy Spirit gave the Apostle Paul to write for our benefit
tonight. And then if you'd turn with me
to the book of Hebrews, book of Hebrews chapter nine, Hebrews
chapter nine and verse 12. As we think about this, he goes,
takes us back to what they were doing in the tabernacle and what
they were doing in the temple. They were using the blood of
goats and calves, bullocks, heifers, all kinds of critters that were
taken and slain, their blood collected, and it was sprinkled
in various places. Once a year, the high priest
collected the blood of an animal and took it into the Holy of
Holies and sprinkled it on the mercy seat. He's covered with
this blood. But that did not appropriate
or take care of one sin, not even the sin of the high priest.
He was a man like we are, and he had a failing. He was going
to die. He's dying, he's going to die.
All right, here in the book of Hebrews, chapter nine, verse
12, it says, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his
own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption his precious blood he has redeemed. The two verses that cover the
life of this judge, Tola, and for 23 years there was peace.
And then he died. Yet the bulk of his story is
summed up in his name. Tola, you're a worm. A special
worm. A worm used to make scarlet dye,
picturing the blood of Messiah. Now next time, Lord willing,
we'll look at the next three verses. Again, a very short time
about a judge. His name is JR. And we'll look
at that and see if we can't find something there. And then Wednesday,
December 25th and January 1st, we'll not have Wednesday night
services. So with that, we'll close tonight.