THE UNITED STATES AND
BRITAIN IN PROPHECY
People of the Western world would be stunned -- dumbfounded
-- if they knew! The governments of the United States, Britain, Canada, Australasia,
South Africa would set in motion gigantic crash programs -- if they knew!
They could know! But they don't! Why?
INTRODUCTION
A STAGGERING TURN IN WORLD events is due to erupt in the next
few years. It will involve violently the United States, Britain, Western
Europe, the Middle East. It's already rather late for the free world to come
awake to the real meaning behind current world events! Why do not the world's
leaders see what is coming? Why are the world's best minds unseeing -- the heads
of state, scientists, educators, editors, news analysts, bankers,
industrialists, leaders in business and commerce? They are totally unaware!
Why?
Because they have been falsely educated and deceived into
closing their minds to the great causes behind world events and trends. This
world has been falsely educated to ignore causes and deal with effects! Yet all
the world's problems and ills are simply a matter of cause and effect. There is
a cause that has produced strife and war; poverty, wretchedness, inequality;
crime, disease, mental ills. But the leaders do not know!
World Explosion to
Erupt
The world's leaders are the educated of the world. But they
were not educated in BASIC TRUTHS -- the foundations of right knowledge. The
most necessary knowledge is not being taught! They do not know WHAT man is --
or WHY! They know nothing of the purpose or meaning of life! They were not
taught to distinguish the true values from the false. They did not learn the
real causes -- the way to peace, to happiness, to universal abundance; nor the
causes of war, unhappiness, inequality, world chaos.
They know nothing of the purpose being worked out here below.
Consequently, they guide humanity on a course in conflict with that purpose,
wreaking havoc upon a distressed, suffering, unhappy mankind. Lacking knowledge
of the way to peace, the world does not have peace. Leaders talk of peace; they
profess to work for peace; they cry out for peace -- while they give approval
and blind acceptance to the way that produces war!
This world has simply been going the wrong way!
This world is giving assent to, and conferring civilization's
acceptance on, THE WAYS that are the CAUSES of all the world's ills.
And now we are fast approaching the final grand smash
explosion that is going to stagger the mind of man beyond the bounds of sanity.
Forces are at work today on plans, programs, conspiracies, movements that soon
will erupt into a world explosion of violence and chaos such as never happened
before, and never will again. Men today are tampering with forces of nature
they lack the prudence, knowledge, ability and wisdom to control.
In this folly of educated ignorance, it has become
fashionable today and intellectually titillating to ignore the great basic
cause of all things; the fact of the purpose being worked out here below, and
the master plan for its working out; the invisible but Supreme Power now soon
to intervene and drastically alter the course of history -- before mankind
blasts itself out of existence.
Unreal though it may seem to those steeped in modern
educational deceptions, some 2,500 years ago the Supreme Power of the universe
inspired a man named Isaiah to quote Him, saying: "I am God, and there is
none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the
things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand" (Isa.
46:9-10). The great world powers are formulating their policies -- laying their
plans. But the next few years will see astounding events explode in a manner
very different than the nations plan! Why?
Never a Miss
Because there is the great God who says: "The Eternal
wrecks the purposes of pagans, he brings to nothing what the nations plan; but
the Eternal's purpose stands for ever, and what he plans will last from age to
age .... The Eternal looks from heaven, beholding all mankind; from where he
sits, he scans all who inhabit the world; he who alone made their minds, he
notes all they do" (Ps. 33:10-15, Moffatt translation).
This same Eternal God said: "To whom then will ye liken
me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on
high, and behold who hath created these things ...." And again:
"Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the
small dust of the balance .... All nations before him are as nothing ..."
(Isa. 40:25-26, 15, 17).
Through His inspired prophets, the great God caused to be
written, some 2,500 years ago, and preserved in writing to our time prophecies
filling approximately a third of the whole Bible. In them, He named every city
of consequence of that time on earth -- and also every nation! And He foretold
precisely what would, through the years, happen to every city and every nation!
In every instance the prophecies came to pass!
What was prophesied HAPPENED to Babylon, to Tyre, Sidon,
Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron; to Egypt, Assyria, Chaldea, Persia, Greece and
Rome. There has not been a miss! Those prophecies were accurate.
And now, in other prophecies, the same supreme God has
foretold precisely what is going to happen to the United States, the British
nations, Western Europe, the Middle East, Russia!
Best Minds -- Total
Ignorance
Yet the best minds in the world are in total ignorance of the
unprecedented cataclysm that is about to strike. And why have these prophecies
not been understood or believed? Because the vital KEY that unlocks prophecy to
our understanding had been lost. That key is the identity of the United States
and the British peoples in biblical prophecy.
That key has been found! We present it to those whose
unprejudiced eyes are willing to see.
The events prophesied to strike the American and British
peoples in the next few years are SURE!
God says: "Surely the Lord Eternal will do nothing, but
he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7). These
colossal world events, shrinking the first two World Wars into insignificance,
WILL COME, but not until the warning has been made available for those whose eyes
are willing to see.
Chapter 1
THE LOST MASTER KEY HAS
BEEN FOUND
THIS MAY SOUND INCREDIBLE, BUT it's true. Editors,
newscasters, foreign correspondents do not understand the real meaning of the
world news they report, analyze and discuss. Heads of government are utterly
unaware of the true significance of the very world-shaking events with which
they deal. They have no conception of where these events are leading.
Incredible? Perhaps -- but true!
Winston Churchill declared before the United States Congress:
"He must indeed have a blind soul who cannot see that some great purpose
and design is being worked out here below of which we have the honor to be the
faithful servants." But he did not understand that purpose! That great
purpose long ago was master -- planned by the Master Mind of the universe.
There Is Purpose
It is true, though almost totally unrealized: Mankind was put
on this earth for a PURPOSE! And the Maker of mankind sent along with the human
product of His making an Instruction Book to reveal that purpose and to guide
man in happily, enjoyably fulfilling it. But the human race has rejected the
revelation and the guidance and has preferred to stumble on in the darkness of
its own futile reasoning�s.
About one-third of that INSTRUCTION BOOK is devoted to basic
education -- revealing to man the necessary foundational knowledge otherwise
undiscoverable and unknowable: knowledge of what man is, why he is, where his
destiny may lead, how to reach it and live happily along the way; revealing
knowledge of the true values as distinguished from the false; knowledge of the
way to peace, happiness, abundant well-being. In other words, the most
necessary of all knowledge -- the foundation on which to build discoverable
knowledge.
Another approximate third of that Book is devoted to history
-- to those events and experiences fulfiiiilling the master plan during the
first four millennia on man's mortal sojourn, as examples for our admonition
and guidance today.
And then approximately a third -- grasp this! -- an entire
third of our Maker's revelation to mankind is devoted to prophecy -- writing
the history of future events before they occur. These foretold future events
reveal the great purpose being finally worked out -- being brought to its
completion.>
Why This Ignorance
Now see why heads of state, news analysts, and the great
minds of our time do not comprehend the real meaning of world events as they
are shaping up right now.
A rational and right knowledge of this great purpose, of the
Creator's master plan, of where in the progression of those foreordained events
we stand today, and of major happenings prophesied yet to occur -- this
knowledge is the essential basis for understanding the significance and true
meaning of today's dynamic world news. Without this vital knowledge, none
dealing in news gathering and news reporting, none responsible for government
policies can understand current world happenings or where they are leading. And
not one saddled with such responsibilities does know! Why?
Two reasons, primarily: 1) They have been deceived by false
education appealing to the vanity of intellect into prejudicial and disdainful
rejection of the divine revelation which alone can impart this understanding;
and 2) the vital key necessary to unlock closed doors of biblical prophecy had
been lost.
The great world powers of our time have been, and are, the
United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, Germany, France, and other
Western European nations. The missing vital KEY is simply the identity of these
great world powers in biblical prophecy! The staggering and cataclysmic
world-shaking events soon to erupt upon a shocked, stunned, bewildered world
relate directly and specifically to the United States, Britain, Germany,
Western Europe, and Russia.
Not knowing how and where these nations are specifically
mentioned in basic and major prophecies, the educated of the world have been
utterly blinded to the plain and simple meaning of prophecy. Due to this lost
key more than anything else, the Bible has come to be discredited and rejected
in this world's educational system. The unproved and unprovable theory of
evolution has been substituted as the foundational concept which became the
supposed rational approach to knowledge.
The colossal tragedy of it! Our peoples, being thus falsely
and deceptively educated from little children, have, in a supposed era of
advanced rationalism and enlightenment, actually been groping around in the
darkness of ignorance, misunderstanding and confusion, fatally unaware of the
earthshaking catastrophe into which they are being directly plunged.
Thus our peoples have forgotten and departed far from their Maker.
They have shut their eyes and closed their ears to His dynamic revelation to
mankind, which, to ears that can hear, thunders out the life-and-death warning
to those in the responsible positions of power!
Is it too late? Have our leaders become so steeped in a
deceptive false education, so stultified that they cannot be aroused from
slumber? God help us now! Time is fast closing in on us!
But the all-important master key has been found!
That key is knowledge of the astonishing identity of the
American and British peoples -- as well as the German -- in biblical
prophecies. This very eye-opening, astounding identity is the strongest proof
of the inspiration and authority of the Holy Bible! It is, at the same time,
the strongest proof of the very active existence of the living God!
An exciting, pulsating, vital third of all the Bible is
devoted to prophecy. And approximately 90 percent of all prophecy pertains to
OUR TIME, now, in this latter half of the twentieth century! It is a warning to
us -- to our English-speaking peoples -- of immediate life-and-death import.
The prophecies come alive once their doors are opened by this now discovered
master key! This book will open, to open minds, this hitherto closed vital
third of all the Bible. No story of fiction ever was so strange, so
fascinating, so absorbing, so packed with interest and suspense, as this
gripping story of our identity -- and our ancestry.
Through it Almighty God gives momentous warning! Those who
read, and heed, may be spared unprecedented cataclysmic tragedy soon to strike.
If our peoples and their governments will awaken, heed, and return to their
living God, then our nations may be spared. God help us to UNDERSTAND.
Chapter 2
PROPHECIES CLOSED UNTIL
NOW!
ONE MIGHT ASK, WERE NOT BIBLICAL prophecies closed and
sealed? Indeed they were -- until now! And even now they can be understood only
by those who possess the master key to unlock them. But we have reached the
approximate end of 6,000 years of biblical history. We have reached the end of
an age! We are entering, right now, the world crisis at the close of the
present civilization. We face, today, conditions such as the world never before
has witnessed. Today the big problem is the stark question of SURVIVAL! For the
first time in world history, the weapons of mass destruction exist which can
erase all life from the earth. Chiefs of government and world-famous scientists
have been saying publicly we must adjust to living in fear of human
annihilation, with no solutions in sight.
To those prejudicially cynical toward the Bible, I say: It is
now your only hope! Science offers no solutions. The politicians and heads of
governments have no answers. In the Bible alone you will find the advance news
of what is now certain to occur -- and occur it will before mankind blasts
itself out of existence!
But another objector might ask, are not most of the
prophecies outdated Old Testament writings, addressed only to the ancient
nation of Israel, of no concern to us in our time? And the answer is an emphatic
no! These scintillating, dynamic prophecies were, most of them, never given to
ancient Israel.
A Pivotal Book
The plain truth is, these prophecies were written for our
people of our time, and for no previous people or time. They pertain to world conditions
of today, and could not have been understood until today.
One of the very pivotal books of prophecy is the book of
Daniel. Actually, the prophet Daniel was not the author of the book known by
his name. The living God was its author! The message was transmitted to Daniel
by God's angel. Daniel put to writing, to be preserved until our time, what he
heard.
At the very close of his book, Daniel wrote: "And I
heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of
these things? And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and
sealed till the time of the end ... and none of the wicked shall understand;
but the wise shall understand" (Dan. 12:8- 10).
So the prophecies of Daniel were CLOSED, sealed, locked up
until now! But today we are living in "the time of the end." Today
the "wise" do understand! But who are "the wise"? Only
those who fear and obey God -- and who have the master key to unlock the
locked-up prophecies. God says: "The fear of the Eternal is the beginning
of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments"
(Ps. 111:10). And even most professing "Christians" refuse utterly to
do that. No wonder they can't understand.
And don't forget, the specific key that unlocks these closed
doors of prophecy is the definite knowledge of the true identity of the
American and British nations as they are mentioned in these prophecies.
Stop a moment and think. If the prophecies Daniel wrote could
not be understood by him; if they were "closed up and sealed till the time
of the end" -- till the latter half of the twentieth century -- as the
angel said and as Daniel wrote, then they were closed to the ancient Israelites
of that day; they contained no message for Daniel's time.
Think a little further.
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PHOTO CAPTION: THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE -- the biggest single
gain in territory for the United States. It opened up the vast Mississippi
basin and put it under American control. It also included some of the best
farmland in the entire world as well as rich mineral resources. The purchase
facilitated further expansion to the Pacific Coast.
--------------------
These prophecies could not have been given to or known
by the ancient Kingdom of Israel. Daniel wrote in and after the time of the
Chaldean king Nebuchadnezzar's invasion and captivity of the Kingdom of Judah,
604 to 585 B.C. But the Kingdom of ISRAEL had long before been invaded,
conquered, and its people moved out of Palestine -- transported as slaves to
Assyria -- 7721 to 718 B.C. (II Kings 17:18, 23-24), 117 to 133 years before
Daniel wrote. Years before the book of Daniel was written, most of the
Assyrians, with those Israelite slaves, had migrated from ancient Assyria
northwest toward Europe. How far northwest -- where they finally settled -- was
not then known. They had become known as the Lost Ten Tribes.
But today we do know.
Today, as Daniel wrote (12:4), knowledge has indeed
increased.
The whereabouts of the Lost Ten Tribes is one of the ancient
mysteries now cleared up. But in Daniel's day they were lost from view -- as if
the earth had opened her mouth and swallowed them.
Not for Old Testament
Israel
Daniel's prophecy, then, was not a message to the Old
Testament Kingdom of Israel!
Now think further!
Nor was this prophecy a message for the Old Testament Kingdom
of Judah. When Daniel wrote, the Jews already were slaves in Babylon. Daniel
was one of the brilliant young princes of Judah, specially chosen for service
in the king's palace in Babylon (Dan. 1:3-6). Daniel's strenuous duties in the
Gentile king's service did not allow him to deliver this closed and sealed
message to the scattered Jewish slaves. In this condition of slavery, the Jews
had no system of religious meetings -- no priesthood. There was no such thing
as a printing press -- no way to print and distribute literature. And besides,
the prophecy was "closed up and sealed till the time of the end" --
our time, now! The book of Daniel was not a message for the Jews of Old
Testament times!
Finally realize: It is emphatically clear that these
prophecies pertain to no time but to our time, in this twentieth century!
Then know this, further:
The greatest mystery book of the entire Bible, to most, has
been the book of Revelation. But the book of Daniel is the key to the book of
Revelation. And in the book of Revelation, solely and alone, do we find the
world events of all prophecies correlated in order of time sequence. The book
of Revelation, then, holds the key for putting together all of the prophecies
in proper time order. And Revelation, too, was a closed and sealed book --
until our time, now. We realize that the living Jesus is the Revelator -- and
that He has stripped off the seals and opened this mystery book to right
understanding.
And where does that lead us? To the fact that prophecy
generally was written and preserved for our time today! And some 90 percent of
all prophecy pertains actually to this latter half of the twentieth century. And
the one central master key to prophecy as a whole is the identity of the United
States and the British nations in these prophecies for today!
These prophecies could not pertain to any time previous to
our precarious present!
It may not be generally realized -- but neither Britain nor
the United States became great world powers until the nineteenth century.
Suddenly, in the very beginning of the nineteenth century, these two -- until
then small, minor countries -- suddenly spurted to national power and greatness
among nations, as no nations had ever grown and multiplied in wealth, resources
and power before.
By 1804 London had become the financial hub of the world. The
United States had exploded out of its swaddling clothes of the 13 original
states and had acquired the expansive Louisiana Purchase. It was fast sprouting
up to become the mightiest nation of all time. But Britain burst forth to
greatness first, and until the World Wars had become the greatest empire,
or commonwealth of nations, in all history.
Could We Be Ignored?
Between them the British and the American peoples had
acquired more than two-thirds -- almost three-fourths -- of all the cultivated
physical resources and wealth of the world. All other nations combined
possessed barely more than a fourth. Britannia ruled the waves -- and the
world's commerce was carried on by water. The sun never set on British
possessions.
Now thiMk!
Could the British and American peoples be ignored in
prophecies of world conditions that fill a third of the entire Bible -- when
some 90 percent of all those prophecies pertain to national and international
world happenings of our time, now?
Staggering?
Indeed it is. And yet, precisely as prophesied, Britain's sun
has now set. As these same prophecies that foretold Britain's greatness
revealed far in advance, Britain has already been reduced to a second-rate or
third-rate power in the world.
And the United States? Today America finds herself heir to
just about all the international problems and headaches in this post-World-War-II,
chaotic, violent world. And the United States has won her last war -- even
little North Vietnam held her at bay. Many other nations sap America's national
strength, "and he knoweth it not," as God long ago foretold!
On the world scene nothing is so important right now as to
know where the white, English-speaking peoples are identified in scores and
hundreds of prophecies -- prophecies which describe vividly our sudden rise to
national power and reveal the causes of that greatness; prophecies that paint a
crystal-clear picture of our present international dilemma; prophecies that
open our eyes wide to see what now lies immediately ahead for our nations --
and what our ultimate and final status shall be.
Chapter 3
NATIONAL GREATNESS
PROMISED ISRAEL YET JEWS NEVER RECEIVED IT -- WHY?
PRIOR TO WORLD WAR II, THE American and British peoples had
acquired more than two-thirds of the cultivated resources and wealth of the
world. Yet, astonishing wonder though it be, we acquired nearly all of it
rather suddenly, since the year 1800. Never in all history did anything like
this occur. Never did any people or nation spread out and grow so suddenly and
rapidly into such magnitude of national power.
Yet we are beholding before our very eyes the diminishing and
evaporating of this national greatness, wealth and power. In the case of Great
Britain, it is disintegrating even more rapidly than it developed! Britain has
been almost overnight stripped of her colonies and her possessions -- source of
her wealth -- and reduced to a second-rate or third-rate power. Why? There is a
reason! It is bound up with history and divine promises pertaining to Israel.
Promises never yet inherited by the Jewish people. And now, unless the people and
the government of the United States will heed and take immediate and drastic
action, the American nation is slated to go down even more suddenly to utter
ignominy and loss of all national wealth, greatness and power!
And for the SAME REASON!
It behooves us without delay to quickly review that history
and open our eyes to divine promises and warnings almost wholly unrealized by
our peoples. It is all connected with the generally ignored plain and simple
Bible story that leads to knowledge of our incredible ancestry and modern
prophetic identity. And it is the most amazing and fascinating story you ever
read. Stranger than fiction -- yet it is TRUE!
Why Do We Have Israel's
Bible?
Millennia ago, this same national greatness, wealth and power
was promised by the Almighty to Abraham. Yet few have ever noticed this
astonishing fact in Scripture. We must realize, if we would understand, a
peculiar fact. The Holy Bible is the particular Book of a definite nationality
-- the children of Israel.
It is undeniable! Its history, from Genesis to Revelation, is
primarily the history of one nation or people -- the Israelites. Other nations
are mentioned only insofar as they come into contact with Israel. All its
prophecy, too, pertains primarily to this people of Israel, and to other
nations only insofar as they come into contact with Israel. The Bible tells of
these Israelites and their God. It was inspired by the God of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob, committed to writing through Israelites exclusively, and preserved
until after the New Testament was written by these Israelites. In its sacred
passages we read that all the promises and the covenants of God, all the
sonship and the glory, belong solely to Israel (Rom. 9:4).
Yet we must face the astounding fact that our white, English
-- speaking peoples -- not the Jews -- have inherited the national and
physical phases of those promises!
How could this have happened?
The Bible is an Israelitish Book, preeminently of and for the
Israelitish nationality, inspired by their God through their prophets. Is it
not indeed strange that we English-speaking peoples are today the greatest
believers in and exponents of this Book of the Hebrew people; that of all
nations we are the chief worshipers of Israel's God and Israel's Messiah -- in
name and in form, if not in truth and in deed?
The more these facts are realized, the more apparent it
becomes that a full knowledge of these Israelites is necessary to a right
understanding of the Holy Bible, which is chiefly concerned with them as a people.
And this knowledge becomes important if we are to understand the present status
of the American and British peoples in the world -- and their relation to
unprecedented world conditions at this fateful hour! Let us remember as we
approach this fascinating story that the Bible is concerned with the material,
the fleshly, the literal, racial and national, as well as with the spiritual.
Let us not spiritualize away national things, nor nationalize spiritual things.
Let us understand the sacred Word of God as it is!
Nation Began With One
Man
Before the days of Moses there was no nation on earth known
as God's particular nation. Prior to Moses there was no written Word of God; no
inspired Scriptures; no Holy Bible. Think of it! For more than two thousand five
hundred years -- two-and-a-half millennia -- mankind existed without any
written revelation from God! The only historic record of God's dealing with
mankind prior to Israel is the revealed history of the Bible. And -- even more
astonishing -- only the first eleven of the fifty chapters of Genesis are
devoted to the entire history of the world prior to Abraham, father of the
Israelites!
Surprising? Only the first eleven chapters of the very first
book of the Bible are used to record for us the history of the first
approximately 2,000 years -- more than one-third of its entire span.
God began this world with just one man -- Adam. Whatever God
does through human agencies must start the smallest, and, like the grain of
mustard seed, grow big. To this first man God communicated directly and
personally. God revealed all essential knowledge otherwise inaccessible to the
human mind. The basic essentials of all knowledge -- what is man? -- WHY is he
here? -- what's the PURPOSE of life? what is the WAY of life that
will produce peace, health, prosperity, happiness and joy? -- what is
man's END -- his deestiny? -- God revealed this basis of all knowledge to the
first man.
To Adam, God revealed Himself -- the Eternal Creator-Ruler of
earth and all the universe. God revealed to Adam that he was, unlike animals,
made in the form and shape of God with powers of mind possessed by no other
physical creature; with the potential, through free choice, of developing the
very character of God and of inheriting eternal life in the Kingdom of God. To
Adam God revealed the way of life that would result in everything man desires:
peace, enjoyable life, happiness, abundant well-being.
To produce these blessings -- to be the cause of such desired
effect -- God had set in motion His inexorable spiritual law. But Adam listened
to Satan and leaned to his own human understanding. He disobeyed God, rejected
the way to every desired result, and set out on the human course of greed and
vanity.
Mankind Spurns God's
Way
As men began to multiply on earth, Adam's sons followed in
his Satan-inspired course of human nature. Prior to Abraham, only three are
mentioned as accepting God's way of life -- only three during more than a third
of the whole span of the history of mankind. Abel was called righteous; Enoch
walked with God; and Noah was a preacher of righteousness, which is simply
obedience to God's government (Psa. 119:172). Aside from these three and
possibly Shem, there is not record that any man prior to Abraham yielded to the
rule of the Eternal.
By the time of Abraham men had lost all knowledge of the true
Creator-Ruler, His revelation of His purpose, and the way of God to peace and
happiness and to life eternal. Man pursued his own ways and devices, walking
contrary to the spiritual laws of God. Sin and violence filled the earth.
God Started His
Nation with One Man
It was in such a world, which had strayed far from God and knowledge
of the glorious benefits of God's rule and the worship of the true God, that
one man was honest and upright, submissive and teachable, strong and
purposeful. So God gave him a test command of obedience. To this man, Abram,
God commanded: "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and
from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee: And I will make of
thee a great nation" (Gen. 12:1-2).
Here was a command, which was a condition and a PROMISE,
provided the condition of obedience was met.
And so now, as God had started the whole world with one man,
He started His own peculiar nation in the world from one single man -- Abraham.
As the world, which has strayed far from God and the blessings of God's worship
and rule, was started with one man who rebelled against God and rejected His
rule, so God's own flesh-born nation, from which is to be reborn the Kingdom of
God, was started with one man who obeyed God without question, and accepted His
divine rule.
Did Abram stop to argue and reason? Did he say: "Let's
reason this out a bit first; here I am in Babylon, in the very center of all
this world's commerce, society and gaiety. Why can't you just as well
give me this promise right here, where everything is pleasant and alluring? Why
must I leave all this and go over to that uncivilized land?"
Did Abram quibble, resist, argue, rebel?
He certainly did not!
The inspired Scripture account states simply: "So Abram
departed." There was no arguing with God. There was no human reasoning
that God was wrong. There were no foolish questions: "Why must I leave
here?" "Can't I do as I please?" There was no stopping to say,
"Well, here's the way I look at it."
"Abram departed." Just plain, unquestioned
obedience!
And God established this man, whose name He later changed to
Abraham, as the father of His nation, Israel! To Abraham and his descendants
were all the promises of God made. And we must become like Abraham, and through
Christ one of his children, if we are to inherit the promise of eternal life in
God's Kingdom.
Of His peculiar flesh-born nation, Israel, the Eternal said:
"This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my
praise" (Isa. 43:21). That prophecy shall yet -- and soon -- be fulfilled!
Dual Promises to
Abraham
Few have realized it, but a duality runs all the way through
the plan of God in working out His purpose here below.
There was the first Adam, material and carnal; and there is
Christ, the second Adam, spiritual and divine. There was the Old Covenant,
purely material and temporal; and there is the New Covenant, spiritual and
eternal. God made man mortal, physical, of the dust of the ground and of the
human kingdom; but through Christ he may be begotten of God to become immortal,
spiritual, and of the Kingdom of God.
And in like manner there were two phases to the promises God
made to Abraham -- the one purely material and national; the other spiritual
and individual. The spiritual promise of the Messiah, and of salvation through
Him, is well known by the most superficial Bible students. They know that God
gave the spiritual promise to Abraham of Christ to be born as Abraham's
descendant -- and that salvation comes to us through Christ. But -- and this
will sound unbelievable, yet it is true -- almost no one knows what that
salvation is; what are the promises of salvation we may receive through Christ;
how we may receive them, or when -- incredible though that sounds! But that
truth belongs in another book.
What is essential to the theme of this book is the fact that
God also made another entirely different, most amazing national and material
promise to Abraham which has been almost entirely overlooked.
Notice now again how God first called Abram, and the twofold
nature of His promises: "Now the Eternal had said unto Abram, Get thee out
of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land
that I will show thee: And I will make of thee a GREAT NATION ... and in thee
shall all families of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 12:1-3).
Notice the twofold promise: 1) "I will make thee a GREAT
NATION" -- the national, material promise that his flesh-born children
should become a great nation -- a promise of RACE; 2) "... and in thee
shall all families of the earth be blessed" -- the spiritual promise of
GRACE. This same promise is repeated in Genesis 22:18: "And in thy seed
shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." This particular "one
seed" refers to Christ, as plainly affirmed in Galatians 3:8, 16.
Right here is where those who profess to be
"Christians" -- and their teachers -- have fallen into error and
scriptural blindness. They have failed to notice the twofold promise God made
to Abraham. They recognize the messianic promise of spiritual salvation through
the "one seed" -- Christ. They sing the hymn "Standing on the
Promises" -- falsely supposing the promises to be going to heaven at
death.
This is a pivotal point. This is the point where professing
"Christians" and their teachers jump the track of truth. This is the
point where they switch off the track that would lead them to the missing
master key to the prophecies. They miss the fact that God gave Abraham promises
of physical RACE as well as spiritual grace.
But the plain fact that the "great nation" promise
refers alone to race -- not the "one seed" of Galatians 3:16, who was
Jesus Christ the Son of Abraham and the Son of God, but to the plural, multiple
seed of natural fleshly birth -- is made certain by God's repetition of His
promise in greater detail later.
Notice carefully! Understand these promises!
"And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the
Eternal appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk
before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and
thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly ... thou shalt be a father of MANY
NATIONS. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be
Abraham; for a father of MANY NATIONS have I made thee" (Gen. 17:1-5).
Notice, the promise is now conditional upon Abraham's
obedience and perfect living. Notice, the "great nation" now becomes
many nations -- more than one nation. This cannot refer to the "one
seed," Christ. The following verses prove that.
"And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will
make nations of thee, and kings [more than one] shall come out of thee"
(verse 6). Notice, these nations and kings shall come out of Abraham --
physical generation -- multiple seed, not just one descendant through whom
scattered individuals may become Abraham's children by spiritual begettal through
Christ (Gal. 3:29). The scattered, individual Christians do not form NATIONS.
The Church, it is true, is spoken of as "a royal
priesthood, an holy nation" (I Peter 2:9), but Christ's Church
is not divided into "many nations." This is speaking of race, not grace.
"And I will establish my covenant between me and thee
and thy seed after thee in their generations ..." (Gen. 17:7). The
"seed" is plural -- "in their generations." "And I
will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger,
all the land of Canaan [Palestine], for an everlasting possession; and I will
be THEIR God" (verse 8).
Notice, the land -- material possession -- is promised to the
plural seed, of whom He is "their," not "his," God. The
plural pronoun "their" is used again in verse 9: "and thy seed
after thee in their generations."
--------------------
PHOTO CAPTION: GIBRALTAR, the strategic western
"gate" to the Mediterranean stood for three centuries as the symbol
of Britain's far-flung power. Today it is one of the Empire's few remaining
vestiges.
--------------------
But now examine this PROMISE carefully!
The future of great nations rests on the promises the eternal
Creator made to Abraham. The only hope of life after death for anyone --
regardless of race, color or creed -- is dependent on the spiritual phase of
these promises to Abraham -- the promise of grace through the "one
seed" -- Christ the Messiah!
How Much Land -- What
Size Nations?
These are not casual, incidental, unimportant promises. These
are basic -- the foundation for the establishment of the greatest world powers;
the basis for any personal salvation spiritually; for any hope of eternal life
for humans. These are stupendous promises. The future of mankind is based, by
the Creator God, on them.
Jesus Christ came "to confirm the promises made unto the
fathers" (Rom. 15:8) -- Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
A carnal cynic, whose mind is hostile to God and His promises,
purposes, and ways, tosses these tremendous promises aside, saying flippantly,
"Oh yeah? -- but what kind of "many nations"?
Twentieth- century style? Nations of 100 million or more people? Don't be
ridiculous! Those men who wrote the Bible knew nothing of nations that would be
"great" by our twentieth-century standards! They referred only to
little nations like there were then -- nations containing no more people than a
small township or county today!
"And then how much land did this promise include? Was
God supposed to have promised an inheritance out of the land of Canaan, as
mentioned in verse 8 of Genesis 17? And then in repromising this land to Jacob,
all the land that was included was "the land whereon thou liest" in
Genesis 28:13. How much land was that? Not more than a tiny plot two feet wide,
and about six feet long!"
A cynical objector actually argued thus!
So let's answer the sneering closed-minded cynic! Let's check
carefully, and see precisely what was promised under this phase of the promises
pertaining to race -- the physical, material, national promises. I leave the
checking of the spiritual phase of the promises to be explained in other
booklets or articles.
How much land was promised.
A Cynic Argues
But first hear out the refutation of the criticizing cynic.
"That promise," continues the objector, "of 'many nations' was
written in Hebrew, and the Hebrew word for "nation" is goi, and for
more than one, plural, it is goiim. It merely means some "people" --
it could mean just a little handful of Abraham's children and
grandchildren."
I mention this because a self-professed "scholar"
did one time make this very ridiculous statement and professed to reject this
entire important truth on these arguments primarily. If the reader cares to
check up on this Hebrew goi he will find it means "nation" -- or, in
the plural, "nations" or "peoples," without regard to size
of population. This is the word most often used -- actually hundreds of times
in the Old Testament -- for the various nations of the world, including the
largest nations. In the prophecy of Joel 3, verse 2, God says He will gather
"all nations." That is speaking of a time yet future, in this
twentieth century -- and the Hebrew goiim is used. There the word goiim
includes such nations as Russia, Germany, Italy, China, India --
pretty big nations.
But God promised that Abraham's literal, human, flesh-and-
blood descendants should become "a great nation" (Gen. 12:2); that He
would "multiply thee exceedingly" (Gen. 17:2); that "thou shalt
be a father of many nations" (verse 4); and that "I will make thee
exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee" (verse 6). As we
proceed along with other promises and prophecies, we shall see that biblical
language describes these as great and large nations.
And how much land? In Genesis 17:8, God promised "all
the land of Canaan," but in other scriptures He promised much more. In
Genesis 15:18: "In the same day the Eternal made a covenant with Abram,
saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt
[the Nile] unto the great river, the river Euphrates." The Euphrates is a
considerable distance to the east in the ancient land of Babylon, which is
today Iraq -- considerably east of Palestine.
But all of this objector's arguments are refuted and made
ridiculous by the very next verse from the one he quoted when he said that all
that was promised was a plot about 2 x 6 feet. He could have read this next
verse: "And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt
spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the
south" (Gen. 28:14).
Here the size of the "many nations" is compared to
the number of grains of dust of the earth. Elsewhere God compared the
populations of these promised nations to the grains of sand on a seashore and
to the stars -- uncountable for multitude.
As we proceed, the magnitude and the reality of these
promises will become quite evident.
Not Fulfilled in Jews
Again, notice carefully -- the Jews have never been more than
one nation. They are not, and never have been, many nations. So here is an
amazing prophecy, a solemn promise from Almighty God, that could not
be fulfilled in Christ, in Christians, nor in the Jews. We must look for a
number of nations apart from either the Church or the Jews. Amazing as it is,
we must do it or deny God's promise!
God put Abraham to the test, and Abraham, through faith,
obeyed -- even to being willing to sacrifice his only son, if need be. And
after that the covenant no longer was conditional. Now it became UNCONDITIONAL.
"By myself have I sworn, saith the Eternal, for BECAUSE
thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: that
in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as
the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy
seed shall possess the gate of his enemies [or, as correctly translated in the
Revised Standard Version, "And your descendants shall possess the gate of
their enemies." The Fenton translation renders it: "And your race
shall possess the gates of its enemies" -- so far the material, national
promises of race]; and in thy seed [Christ] shall all the nations of the earth
be blessed [this promise is spiritual, of grace]; because thou hast obeyed my
voice" (Gen. 22:16-18).
The promise now is UNconditional. God has sworn to make it
good. God does not promise these things if Abraham or his children do certain
things. He promises them to Abraham BECAUSE he already has performed his part
of the agreement. If these promises could be broken or annulled, then no
promise in the Bible is sure!
These promises cannot be broken or annulled. Not if it be
true that "heaven and earth shall pass, but my word shall NOT pass
away." Now God must perform His part without fail.
Notice an additional detail of the promise -- the nations who
are Abraham's racial descendants are to possess the gates of their enemies. A
gate is a narrow passage of entrance or exit. When speaking nationally, a
"gate" would be such a pass as the Panama Canal, the Suez
Canal, the Strait of Gibraltar. This promise is repeated in Genesis
24:60 to Abraham's daughter-in-law: "Be thou the mother of thousands of
millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them."
Notice, Abraham's descendants would possess vital geographic
passageways of their enemies -- "those which hate them." This has
never been fulfilled in the Jews, nor could it be fulfilled after Jesus Christ
returns to rule the nations and establish world peace. This promise could only
be fulfilled in the present world or else we must deny the Bible as God's
revealed Word. We must look for a people forming more than one nation -- yet
all one people, children of Abraham -- either now or in history who possess the
sea gateways of the world, or we must deny the Word of God. It is a test of the
inspiration of the Bible and of God's power to rule this world!
A Nation and a Company
of Nations
These tremendous promises were repromised to Isaac and to
Jacob. Ishmael and Abraham's other sons were rejected from this birthright.
Esau, Isaac's son and Jacob's twin brother, sold it and was rejected. The
promise, as confirmed to Isaac, is recorded in Genesis 26:3-5: "I will be
with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give
all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I swore unto Abraham thy
father; And I will make thy seed to MULTIPLY as the stars of heaven, and will
give unto thy seed all these countries ...." Notice! Twice God promised
"all these countries." That is millions of times larger than the 2 x
6 -- foot plot our "intellectual" cynic contended for. Also, Isaac's
descendants were to "MULTIPLY as the stars of heaven." That's thousands
of times larger than a tiny "township."
--------------------
PHOTO CAPTION: THESE TWO GATES control the long sea passage
from the western Mediterranean, through the Suez Canal to the southeastern end
of the Red Sea. Britain now controls only Gibraltar.
--------------------
To Jacob it is repeated in Genesis 27:26-29, where
MATERIAL blessing of wealth in the things of the ground is added, with the
prophecy that heathen nations shall be ruled by the birthright nations of
Israel. "Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness
[margin: fat places] of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine: Let people
serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let
thy mother's sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and
blessed be he that blesseth thee." And we find the promises again in
Genesis 28:13-14, where the added detail that these nations of Israel shall
eventually spread around the world is recorded. "And, behold, the Eternal
... said, I am the Eternal God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the
land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; And thy seed
shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west,
and to the east, and to the north, and to the south ...."
The original Hebrew for "spread abroad" means
"to break forth." This promise places no limit on how far east, west,
north and south Jacob's descendants should spread. Thus it indicates they would
spread around the earth. This is confirmed in Romans 4:13: "For the
promise, that he [Abraham] should be the heir of the world ...."
But this is not a promise that Abraham's descendants should
inherit, own, and possess the whole of the earth, leaving nothing for Gentiles
-- that is, prior to the new earth -- but rather that, in years and centuries
to come, they would spread and occupy certain areas in various parts of the
earth. Yet, the new earth -- after the millennium -- will be inhabited only by
those who shall be Abraham's children through Christ (Rom. 4:13).
There is a phase of this prophecy heretofore utterly
overlooked -- not before understood. Indeed these birthright Israelitish
nations have spread to and occupied various lands or areas in many locations
around the world. This occurred after they were -- 721-718 B.C. -- driven in a
captivity out of their own promised land of Samaria in Palestine. The next
verses in Genesis 28 complete this phase of the prophecy. "And,
behold," God continued, "I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places
whither thou goest [God is here referring, not to Jacob personally, but his
descendants who were to spread abroad in all directions], and will bring thee
again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I
have spoken to thee of" (verse 15).
--------------------
PHOTO CAPTION: HONG KONG on the coast of China is a key to trade
in the area. The Khyber Pass, today in Pakistan, controlled the entrance to the
sub-continent of India. Both were in British control.
--------------------
This generally unnoticed, but significant prophecy will be
fulfilled at the second coming of Christ. It is explained further in Jeremiah
23:7-8, and 50:4-6, 19-20, and other prophecies.
Repromised to Jacob
Still later, God appeared to Jacob, whose name was changed to
Israel, even further defining the makeup of these "many nations"
thus: "And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply;
A NATION and a COMPANY OF NATIONS shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of
thy loins" (Gen. 35:11). The Moffatt translation renders it "a
nation, [and] a group of nations." The Fenton rendering is "a nation
and an Assembly of Nations." The RSV translates it as in the Authorized
Version, above quoted. So the "many nations" are eventually to take
shape as a nation -- one great, wealthy, powerful nation -- and another company
of nations -- a group, or Commonwealth of Nations.
Mark carefully this crucial fact! This is basic, if you are
to grasp the all -- important key to all prophecy -- the very key to the real
meaning of the unprecedented world events of the present. This promise never
has been fulfilled in the Jews. It cannot be "spiritualized" away by
interpreting it as being inherited only through Christ. It could not pertain to
the Church, for there is but one true Church acknowledged in the Bible, and it
is not a nation, or a group of nations, but one Church of called -- out
individuals scattered through all nations. Yet this amazing promise MUST stand
fulfilled, unless we are to deny the Bible and God's sacred Word!
The very fate of the Bible as the revealed Word of God -- the
evidence of the existence of God -- hangs on the answer to this momentous
question. The Jewish people did not fulfill these promises. The promises do not
refer to the Church. The world with its great church leaders does not know of
any such fulfillment. Did God fail? Or has He made good this colossal promise
unknown to the world? The true answer is the most astonishing revelation of
Bible truth, of prophecy, and of unrecognized history!
Chapter 4
THE SEPARATION OF THE
BIRTHRIGHT AND THE SEPTRE
NOW WE COME TO A MOST VITAL distinction, and a bit of Bible
truth known to but a very few. Very few, indeed, have ever noticed that the
promises to Abraham were twofold. But the Bible itself makes sharp distinction
between these two phases of the promises.
The spiritual promises -- the promises of the "one seed,
Christ, and of salvation through Him -- the Bible calls the sceptre. But the
material and national promises relating to many nations, national wealth,
prosperity and power, and possession of the Holy Land, the Bible calls the
birthright.
Race, Not Grace
Let us understand the meaning of the terms:
"Birthright: native right or privilege" -- Standard
Dictionary; "any right acquired by birth" -- Webster's. A birthright
is something which is one's right, by birth. It has nothing to do with grace,
which is unmerited pardon and a free gift which is not one's right. It has to
do with race, not grace. Birthright possessions are customarily passed down
from father to eldest son.
"Sceptre: kingly office; royal power; badge of command
or sovereignty" -- Standard Dictionary. The promised kingly line
culminates in Christ, and involves grace to all.
We have seen how both sets of promises, right of birth and
gift of grace, were unconditionally made by God to Abraham. Both the birthright
and the sceptre were repromised by the Eternal to Isaac and to Jacob. But the
fact that should open your eyes, as a joyous truth newly discovered, is that
from that point these two sets of promises became separated! The sceptre
promises of the kingly line culminating in Christ, and of grace through Him,
were handed on to JUDAH, son of Jacob and father of all Jews. But the
astonishing truth is that the birthright promises were never given to the Jews!
Let that be repeated! Realize this! The birthright promises
were never given to the Jews!
Turn to these passages -- read them in your own Bible!
"The sceptre shall not depart from Judah ..." (Gen.
49:10).
"... But the birthright was Joseph's" (I Chron.
5:2).
Of course it is well understood that the sceptre went to
Judah and was handed down through the Jews. King David was of the tribe of
Judah. All succeeding kings of David's dynasty were of the House of David,
tribe of Judah. Jesus Christ was born of the House of David and the tribe of
Judah.
Another eye-opening truth completely unrealized by most
people today is the fact that only a part of the "children of Israel"
were Jews.
Read that little understood fact again!
The full explanation and proof of this must be reserved for
Chapter VI. Only those of the three tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi were
Jews. While all Jews are Israelites, most Israelites are not Jews!
So understand! The birthright promise did not pass on to the
Jews! But the sceptre -- the promise of Christ and of grace -- was passed on to
the Jews! "Salvation," Jesus said, "is of the Jews"! (John
4:22.) "The gospel of Christ," wrote Paul, "is the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the
Greek" (Rom. 1:16). The promises of grace were handed down through JUDAH!
But the promises which the Bible terms the
"birthright" have not been understood at all. Few have ever noticed
that God made any promises to Abraham other than the sceptre. Few know what is
in the Bible!
Birthright Never Given
to the Jews
Fewer still have understood that these great national
material promises were never given to the Jews! The astonishing and vital fact
that many have overlooked is "the birthright is JOSEPH'S." And, as we
shall see later, neither Joseph nor his descendants were Jews! Astounding as it
may be, it's true!
This knowledge about the birthright is the pivot of this
entire truth which will prove the key to the understanding of all prophecy!
It's of supreme importance that you get this clearly in mind!
"Birthright," as defined above, includes only that
which comes by right of birth. No one can receive eternal life as a right, from
natural birth. If it were our right, inherited by birth, it would not be by
grace. Salvation comes by grace -- God's gift, by undeserved pardon --
unmerited favor. We can receive only material possessions as a right by birth.
And when that right is passed down through generations to ever-multiplying
descendants, it finally devolves into a NATIONAL inheritance. It confers only
material possessions, power, or position. It does not bestow spiritual
blessings. It is a matter of race, not grace!
There is another distinction between a birthright and grace
we ought to understand. A birthright, as before stated, is normally passed on
from father to eldest son. There are no conditions which the recipient is
required to meet. The son does nothing to qualify for it. He receives it as his
right for no other reason than that he happened to be born his father's son. He
has a right to it without earning it or qualifying to be worthy of it. He
could, however, disqualify himself to keep, or even to receive it.
But the gift of immortality received by grace does have
qualifying conditions! It is not your right, nor mine, to receive the gift of
eternal life -- to be actually born as God's son -- literally a member of the
God FAMILY! Think what conditions would result if it were! A rebellious,
defiant, hostile, God-hating criminal or atheist could shake his fist at God and
say: "Look, God! I hate you. I defy you! I refuse to obey you! But I
demand your gift of eternal life! It's my RIGHT! I want to be born into your
divine family -- to receive all the vast POWER of a son of God, so I can use
that power to oppose you! I want to make your family a house divided against
itself. I will cause friction, hostility, hatred, unhappiness among all you
children! I demand that POWER, as your gift, as my right, so that I may abuse
that power -- use it for EVIL!"
Grace Requires Conditions
Most professing "Christians" -- and many teachings
of what is called "traditional Christianity" -- say there are no
conditions, nothing that we must do to receive God's glorious grace. They deny
that God requires obedience to His law! They twist the truth around by saying
that would be earning one's salvation! They do demand it of God, while they
still rebel against His law and refuse to keep it!
Think where that would lead! Understand this! Eternal life
is, indeed, God's free gift. You can't earn it! But it is not your right! You
cannot demand it of God as your right, while you defy God, rebel against His
government, refuse to let Him rule your life His way!
Therefore God has imposed CONDITIONS! Those conditions do not
earn you a thing! But God gives His Holy Spirit to those who obey Him (Acts
5:32). He does not pay it -- but the passage speaks of the Holy Spirit which
"God hath given to them that obey Him." It is still a free GIFT!
A rich man might have seven men standing before him, and say:
"I will give, as my free GIFT, $1,000 to any or all of you who will step
forward and receive it." Their stepping forward does not EARN it. It is
merely the condition required to receive the free GIFT.
The word "grace" means unmerited, undeserved
pardon! God pardons those who REPENT! And "repent" means to turn from
rebellion, hostility, disobedience. "Repent" means to turn to
obedience to God's law. The fact that God chooses not to give this wonderful
gift -- the gift of immortality, which carries with it divine power -- to those
who would misuse it for harm and evil; the fact that He chooses to give it only
to those who will rightly use it -- does not mean it comes by works instead of
grace. If there were no conditions, then everyone could demand it -- and it would
be received as a right by birth, instead of by grace!
The very fact of grace makes necessary God's required
qualifications. But it still is an undeserved GIFT! Obedience does not earn
anything -- that is only what we owe to God. A birthright requires no qualification.
It is a right by birth.
What the Birthright
Conferred
Just what special material inheritance was passed on by the
birthright few have understood. Yet it conferred the richest, most
valuable material inheritance ever passed from father to son -- the most
colossal wealth and power ever amassed by man or empire! The magnitude of this
birthright is staggering!
It includes all the first phase of God's tremendous promises
to Abraham. This legacy guaranteed on the authority of God Almighty, unconditionally,
multitudinous population, untold wealth and material resources, national
greatness and world power!
--------------------
PHOTO CAPTION: HUGE FLOCKS OF SHEEP were among the blessings promised
to Abraham's descendants.
--------------------
PHOTO CAPTION: BLESSING: golden wheat -- millions of acres --
promised to birthright nations.
--------------------
Not only had God promised that a world-dominant nation and a
company, or commonwealth, of nations whose peoples descended from Abraham would
be as populous as the grains of sand of the seashore- -as the stars in
multitude; not only did He promise they should possess the gate (Fenton
translation: gates) of enemy nations, which alone signifies world dominance and
power; but the birthright finally included vast material wealth and unlimited
national resources. That was made plain in the blessing given to Jacob, as we
shall soon see.
The Birthright Denied
to Ishmael
Except in cases of divine intervention, which occurred three
times, the inheritance of the birthright fell automatically to the eldest son
in each generation.
Isaac was chosen by the Eternal to inherit both the sceptre
and birthright. Abraham had other sons. Ishmael was the eldest. But God chose
Isaac, and "Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac" (Gen. 25:5).
Isaac, however, was Abraham's firstborn lawful son. Ishmael was the son of
Hagar, Sarah's Egyptian handmaid.
Abraham loved Ishmael and desired for him to have the birthright.
"And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!"
(Gen. 17:18.)
Sarah his wife was barren. "And God said, Sarah thy wife
shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will
establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed
after him. And as for Ishmael, I ... will make him fruitful, and will multiply
him exceedingly ... and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant will I
establish with Isaac ..." (verses 19-21).
Regarding the future nation to spring from Ishmael, the angel
of the Eternal had said to Hagar: "He will be a wild man; his hand will be
against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell to the
east [correct translation] of all his brethren" (Gen. 16:12).
Two clues are given here: 1) Ishmael's descendants were to
become a great nation but the birthright nations were to be greater; and 2)
they were to dwell to the east of their brethren that is, of Isaac's
descendants who had the birthright. The children of Ishmael have become the
Arabs of today. The nation and company of nations who hold the birthright must,
therefore, be larger, wealthier, more powerful, and must be found
geographically west of the Arab nations.
Abraham was the human type of God the Father, and Isaac of
Christ. There are many parallels. Space prohibits expounding them here, except
to note that if we are Christ's we are Abraham's children (Gal. 3:29), and
Abraham is the "father of the faithful" (see Gal. 3:7); that Abraham
was called on to be willing to sacrifice his only (legitimate) son (Gen. 22:2)
even as God gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, for the sins of the
world; that Isaac's wife Rebekah is a type of the Church, and she had to fall
in love with him and accept him as her husband before she saw him with her
eyes; and that Isaac was born by promise, and by a miracle from God, even as
Jesus was miraculously born of the virgin Mary.
Isaac had twin sons, Esau and Jacob. Esau was the firstborn,
and therefore the legal inheritor of the birthright. But Esau undervalued it
and sold it to Jacob.
Esau Sells the
Birthright
God had chosen Jacob to possess these promises before the
twins were born. But Jacob, influenced by his mother instead of waiting on the
Eternal, resorted to deception and took it from Esau.
The Eternal had said to Rebekah, regarding Esau
and Jacob, that they were the beginning of two nations -- "two manner
of people ... the one people shall be stronger than the other people,"
said God, "and the elder shall serve the younger" (Gen. 25:23).
Their descendants, then, were to become two different types
of people. The story of Jacob's premature and deceptive acquisition of the
birthright continues, in Genesis 25:27-34.
"And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man
of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved
Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob. And Jacob sod
pottage [boiled porridge -- Fenton's translation]: and Esau came from the
field, and he was faint: And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with
that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called
Edom."
"Edom" means, literally, "red soup," and
is so translated in the Fenton version. It will prove another "key"
to Bible understanding for the reader to carefully fasten in his memory the
fact that "Edom" refers to Esau. Many prophecies pertaining to the
present and future employ the name Edom. They cannot be understood unless it is
realized that they refer to the descendants of Esau, primarily the Turkish
nation today.
"And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy
birthright. And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit
shall this birthright do to me? And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he
swore unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau
bread and pottage of lentils; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went
his way: thus Esau despised his birthright." Later, Jacob subtly took from
Esau his blessing. The story of this deception is found in Genesis 27.
Jacob's Deception
It was at a time when Isaac was old, his eyesight dimmed with
age. Nearing the end of his life, he called Esau and requested that he go to
the field and hunt for the venison, prepare it and bring it to him. He would
then bestow the blessing confirming the birthright.
But Rebekah overheard, and sent Jacob quickly for two kids of
the goats. These she prepared in the same tempting way that Isaac loved his
venison. Then she took some of Esau's clothes and put them on Jacob. Now Esau
was very hairy, while Jacob was smooth, so Rebekah carefully placed the skins
of the two kids upon Jacob's hands, arms, and smooth part of his neck.
In this disguise, with his imitation venison, Jacob went in
to receive his father's blessing. "And Jacob said unto his father, I am
Esau thy firstborn" (Gen. 27:19).
Isaac was surprised he had found the venison so quickly and
became suspicious. Jacob lied again, asserting the Eternal had brought the
venison to him. Isaac detected the voice was that of Jacob.
"And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that
I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not. And Jacob
went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, the voice
is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. And he discerned him
not, because his hands were hairy, as his Brother Esau's hands: so he
blessed him" (verses 21-23).
What the Birthright
Included
Now notice carefully what that blessing included!
"And his father Isaac said unto him, Come near now, and
kiss me, my son. And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of
his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the
smell of a field which the Eternal hath blessed: Therefore God give thee of the
dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine
[Fenton's translation: increase and possession]: Let people serve thee, and
nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons
bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that
blesseth thee" (verses 26-29).
Note it! Materialistic promises, national in nature, every
one! Not one of them pertaining to salvation. None having to do with life after
death. Nothing spiritual here! All pertaining purely to this present fleshly life!
NATIONAL prosperity -- rainfall, plenty of corn and wine, the fatness of the
earth, or, as the margin reads, the fat places of the earth -- increase and
possession. "Nations shall bow down to thee!" "Let people serve
thee."
When Esau returned and found how Jacob had supplanted him, he
was very bitter. He pleaded for a blessing, too. But Isaac could not retract
the blessing given to Jacob. So he passed on to Esau the following prophecy:
"Behold, thy dwelling shall be [correct translation:
away from] the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above; and
by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to
pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off
thy neck. And Esau hated Jacob ..." (verses 39-41).
In verse 39, quoted above, the Hebrew preposition
"min" should be translated "from" or "away from,"
not "of." Actually, the prophesied lot of Esau was more of a curse
than a blessing. The Revised Standard Version translates it: "Behold, away
from the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be, and away from the dew of
heaven on high." Moffatt renders it: "Far from rich soil on earth
shall you live, far from the dew of heaven on high." Actually, the Hebrew
words convey the dual meaning, and both have happened to Esau's descendants.
Prophecy for Turkey
The sparse records of history, with other proofs, show that
many of the descendants of Esau became known as Turks. Therefore we must
remember that prophecies pertaining to the latter days referring to Edom, or
Esau, refer generally to the Turkish nation.
In Isaac's dying prophecy, he foretold that Esau's
descendants would come to a time when they should have dominion, and then break
the yoke of the Israelites from off their necks. That has happened. The
children of Israel, through sin, were driven out of the promised
land that belonged with the birthright. The Turks came to power and
dominion and for many centuries possessed that land. Those descendants, the
Turkish people, occupied Palestine 400 years before Britain took it in 1917.
Esau's descendants always have lusted for that land, central promise of the
birthright! The Turks have truly lived by the sword!
The Lesson for Us
But let's return to our story. Before Jacob was born, God had
spoken to his mother and revealed to her that Jacob should receive the
birthright. Instead, however, of waiting for the Eternal to bring this about in
His own way, she schemed with Jacob to take it by lying and deception.
There is a lesson here for us today. As Isaac is, in a sense,
a type of Christ, so Rebekah is, in a sense, a type of the Church, in which
still dwells weakness and carnality.
Sometimes we become too much in a hurry. We ask the Almighty
for things He has promised in His Word. Then we try to dictate to Him just how
and when it shall be accomplished! We need to learn to "wait upon the
Lord." He always does things in His way, and in His own time. And He
distinctly tells us that His ways are not our ways! Once we commit a thing to
the Almighty, let us have not only the trust, but the respect, for the One so
great, that we will leave the matter in His hands.
Had Jacob trusted the Eternal instead of taking this into his
own hands in a wrong way, the birthright would have come to him more honorably.
Under the circumstances, Jacob, which name means "supplanter," had
far more difficulty securing God's blessing upon the precious possession than
his predecessors.
But after years of trial and test -- after finally wrestling
all night with the angel (Gen. 32:24-29) -- after confessing his name as
"supplanter" -- God bestowed His blessing upon Jacob, took away his
reproachful name, and gave him a new, untainted name, ISRAEL -- which means
"prevailer," or "overcomer with God."
And thus we see that through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the
promises were handed down to one man at a time. There was no branching out
toward national growth until the days of Jacob. For three generations it had
been a "one-man nation." But Jacob had twelve sons, and through them
the future great nation and company of nations were started on their way.
Reuben Lost the
Birthright
The next legal inheritor of the birthright was Reuben,
firstborn son of Israel, by his first wife, Leah. But Reuben, like Esau, lost
it. And Joseph, eleventh-born of Jacob, but firstborn of Rachel, his second and
truly loved wife, received it.
The birthright belonged, legally, to Reuben, not Joseph. It
is related in I Chronicles 5:1-2 how it fell to Joseph: "Now the sons of
Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn; but, forasmuch as he
defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the
son of Israel: and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright
[or, RSV, "so that he (Reuben) is not enrolled in the genealogy according
to the birthright"]. For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him
came the chief ruler; but the BIRTHRIGHT WAS JOSEPH'S)."
So at this point the two divisions of the Abrahamic promises
-- the birthright, involving material and national promises, and the sceptre,
including the kingly and spiritual promises -- were separated.
It is of first importance to keep in mind that the
birthright, including the promised land now called Palestine, the
assurance of multitudinous population, material and national prosperity,
dominance over other nations, was now given to JOSEPH and his sons.
Mark that well! This BIRTHRIGHT was not to be inherited by
all the tribes of Israel! It was not given to the Jews! Only a part of the
Israelites -- the descendants of Joseph -- was to inherit these tremendous
national promises!
These material promises for this life, then, belonged to an
altogether different tribe among the children of Israel than the sceptre
promise of the kingly line culminating in Jesus Christ, which spiritual promise
belonged in the tribe of Judah!
These national promises of the multitudinous seed then became
the possession of an altogether different tribe than the promise of the one seed,
Christ, who sprang from Judah! This fact of the two sets of promises, stressed
in the preceding chapter, ought to be plain and clear to every reader by now.
Fix it permanently in mind. It is one of the vital keys to
Bible understanding!
At the time of Jacob's death, he and his sons were living in
Egypt. We assume, of course, that you are familiar with the story of how Joseph
was sold by his brothers into Egypt; of how he there became food administrator
and prime minister, next under the king and in actual rule of the nation; of
the seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of famine, in which food had
been stored only in Egypt under Joseph's supervision; of the visit of Joseph's
brothers to Egypt in quest of food, and how Joseph induced them to bring their
father and brother Benjamin down to Egypt; and finally, of the dramatic
revelation of Joseph's identity to his brethren, amid weeping and rejoicing.
And how prophetic that was! As we shall see, Joseph, in his
descendants, shall soon once again have his true identity revealed to his
brothers -- and to the world. And how hidden from the world is that identity
now!
Birthright to Joseph's
Sons
And now the time came to pass on the birthright to another
generation. Let us re-create the dramatic scene.
It occurred in Egypt, after Joseph had succeeded in having
his father brought there, as well as all his brothers. Joseph, remember, was
prime minister of the nation.
It was reported to Joseph that Jacob, his father, was ill. He
took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, sons of an Egyptian mother,
and hastened to the dying patriarch's bedside.
"And Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed. And
Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of
Canaan, and blessed me, and said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful,
and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give
this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession" (Gen.
48:2-4).
Notice carefully these promises!
The birthright is about to be passed on to another
generation. Notice that nothing whatsoever is said about all the families of
the earth being blessed in his seed -- the one seed. Nothing is said about
kings. Nothing is said about spiritual blessings whatever. These promises are
those of the birthright. These promises are of multiple seed -- a multitude of
people -- and possession of the promised land. Now let us continue.
"And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were
born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are
mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine" (verse 5).
Thus did Jacob adopt Joseph's two sons, making them, legally,
his own sons. This, no doubt, was done because they were half-
blooded Egyptians. Israel made them his own adopted sons, so the birthright
could be passed on to them. Notice, too, that in the first verse of this 48th
chapter of Genesis, Manasseh's name is mentioned first, because Manasseh was
the elder. But old Jacob now mentioned the name of Ephraim first. Here we see
supernatural guidance!
Jacob said to Joseph: "Bring them, I pray thee, unto me,
and I will bless them. Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he
could not see" (verses 9-10).
The birthright, remember, belongs legally to the firstborn,
unless altered by divine intervention. The inheritor of the birthright, in
receiving the blessing conferred upon him, should have had Jacob's right hand
resting upon his head. That is why "Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his
right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward
Israel's right hand, and brought them near unto him" (verse 13).
Name Israel Given to
Joseph's Sons
But once again the Eternal intervened in conferring this
momentous birthright! Jacob, though blind so he could not see the lads before
him, crossed his hands, "and Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid
it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's
head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn. And he
blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did
walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, the Angel which
redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them,
and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a
multitude in the midst of the earth" (verses 14-16).
Let who grow into this promised multitude? Let whose
descendants become that numerous seed, which shall number into billions? Not
Judah, the father of the Jews -- note it! -- but EPHRAIM AND
MANASSEH! Why have the eyes and understanding of church leaders and Bible
students been blinded to this plain fact of Scripture?
Notice, Israel did not confer this blessing on just one, but
on both -- "Bless the lads," he said. This blessing went upon them
jointly. "Let my name be named on them" was part of this blessing.
His name was ISRAEL. Hence, it was the descendants of these lads, not the
descendants of Judah, or the Jews, who were named ISRAEL. How clear it is that
the name Israel was to be indelibly stamped on EPHRAIM and MANASSEH!
A shocking fact -- and yet plainly proved, right before your
eyes! And remember, this scripture needs not "interpretation" or
"special meaning" or "hidden symbolism" for you to
understand! Here is the plain, simple statement that Jacob's name, which was
changed to Israel, would become the very POSSESSION and property -- the label
on the peoples of Ephraim and Manasseh!
WHO, then, according to you Bible, is the real Israel
(racially and nationally) of today?
Ephraim and Manasseh!
Ephraim and Manasseh together received the right to the name
ISRAEL. It was to become the national name of their descendants. And their
descendants were never Jews! Fix this fact firmly in your mind!
Thus it is that many of the prophecies about
"Israel" or "Jacob" do not refer to Jews or to any of the
nations that are today the descendants of the other tribes of Israel. Mark that
well! Few, indeed, are the clergymen, theologians, or professed Bible scholars
who know that today. Many refuse to know it!
Together the descendants of these two lads, Ephraim and
Manasseh, were to grow into the promised multitude -- the nation and company of
nations. These national blessings are poured upon them jointly. These are the
collective blessings which the lads together received -- but not the other
tribes.
Jacob Crosses Hands
But at this juncture, Joseph noticed that Jacob's right hand
was not resting upon the head of the firstborn. He endeavored to remove it.
"Not so, my father," said Joseph, "for this is
the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head. And his father refused, and
said, I know it, my son, I know it: he [Manasseh] also shall become a people,
and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than
he, and his seed shall become a multitude [or, COMPANY] of nations. And he
blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying,
God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before
Manasseh" (Gen. 48:18-20). Here the promises are no longer collective,
possessed jointly. Jacob now was prophesying as to the blessings of each,
individually.
As we have seen from the preceding chapter, the numerous seed
was to become "a nation, and a company of nations." Now we see that
the "nation" to become truly great is to spring from the seed of
Manasseh, the son of Joseph. The "company of nations" is to grow out
of Ephraim. Notice that, before dividing the promises, this prophetic blessing
indicated plainly that the descendants of these lads should remain together,
and together grow into a great multitude, then become separated, Manasseh
becoming a great nation, and Ephraim a still greater company of nations.
Here, then, is yet another detail of the future national
characteristics of these people. We must not look for the fulfillment among the
sons of Judah. Nor among descendants of any other of the twelve tribes.
The promise of a future great nation and a company of
nations, together great for multitude, rich in national material prosperity, possessing
the "gates" of the earth's other nations, applies solely to these
lads and the two tribes which sprang from them.
We might add here, too, that the tribes of Ephraim and
Manasseh never became such in the times of Bible history. Some might suppose
the house of Judah was the nation, and the ten tribes, the company of nations.
But none of these promises went to Judah. Nor were they to be fulfilled in any
of the other tribes, save Joseph's double portion, the two tribes of Ephraim
and Manasseh!
It was Ephraim who was to become the company, or multitude,
of nations, and Manasseh who was to become the great single nation. And these
promises never were fulfilled in them, in times of Bible history. If these
promises ever have been fulfilled, we must look for their fulfillment between
the close of Bible history and the present!
Prophecy for Today
While still in the spirit of prophecy, Jacob called his
twelve sons together to tell them what their posterity should become "in
the last days."
Here are prophecies which should assist us in identifying the
tribes of Israel today -- for surely these are the last days! We shall here take
space to consider only the destiny of Judah and of Joseph. Joseph's descendants
were actually divided into two tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh, and usually are
called by those tribal names instead of the name "Joseph." The fact
that these tribes are here spoken of as "Joseph' plainly indicates that
the prophecy applies jointly to Ephraim and Manasseh.
"And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather
yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the
last days .... Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand
shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down
before thee. Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up:
he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him
up? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver [margin, ruler's
staff] from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the
gathering of the people be" (Gen. 49:1, 8-10). The Hebrew word here
translated Shiloh means the Messiah, the Prince of Peace, or the one
"seed" of Abraham. (See "Young's Analytical Concordance to the
Holy Bible".)
Promised to Joseph
Regarding Joseph, the combined Ephraim-Manasseh tribes, at
this present day, Israel prophesied: "Joseph is a fruitful bough [here is
pictured the birthright promise of multitudes in fulfillment], even a fruitful
bough by a well; whose branches [margin, daughters] run over the wall"
(verse 22).
In other words, in the last days we are to find the children
of Joseph a numerous people, a great nation and a company of nations, whose
daughters, or children, shall "run over the wall" -- that is, run
over, or past, the nation's boundary -- in other words, be a colonizing people!
Further, in the prophecy for Joseph for these "last days": "...
the Almighty ... shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of
the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb: the
blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto
the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph,
and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from [margin: is prince
among] his brethren" (verses 25- 26).
We shall see that these descendants of Joseph, possessing
these birthright promises -- to become numerous, to colonize, thus spreading to
the "north and the south, and east and the west," until they
encircled the globe, to possess the "gates" of enemy nations -- never
returned to Jerusalem from Assyria, where they were driven with the ten tribes
after 721 B.C., and were never again mixed with Jews from that time! Here are
promises and prophecies which never have been fulfilled by the Jews, by the
Church, by the American Indian, or any other fanciful counterparts of modern
Israel. But they are fulfilled today if the Word of God is to stand!
Chapter 5
THE DAVIDIC COVENANT
AFTER THE DEATH OF JACOB AND his twelve sons in Egypt, their
children grew in about two and a quarter centuries to a population probably
between two and three million in that land.
But Israel's children became slaves: "And Joseph died,
and all his brethren, and all that generation. And the children of Israel were
fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty;
and the land was filled with them. Now there arose up a new king over Egypt,
which knew not Joseph .... And the Egyptians made the children of
Israel to serve with rigour: and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage
..." (Ex. 1:6-14).
Then God raised up Moses and fitted him in a special way to
lead these children of Israel out of the bondage that had come to them in
Egypt.
When they reached Mt. Sinai, in the peninsula wilderness, God
made a covenant with them establishing them as a NATION -- His nation -- among
the kingdoms of the world. Their government was theocratic, with the civil, as
well as the spiritual and religious laws, given directly from God. God Himself
was their King and He ruled them by a system of judges.
Israel's First King Was
God
God was Israel's only King! Israel was both church and state.
In Acts 7:38 we are told that the Israelites formed the church in the
wilderness. The word "congregation" of Israel used throughout the Old
Testament has the same meaning exactly as the word "church" in the
New. Israel, consequently, had more than one set of laws. God gave Israel a
twofold form of government. The congregation, or church, was given ritualistic
laws -- animal sacrifices, meat and drink offerings, carnal or fleshly
ordinances.
But Israel also was a civil government; thus for it God
established civil officers and civil laws -- statutes and judgments. The one
great central code of law, basis for both church and civil government -- the
overall SPIRITUAL CODE -- was the TEN COMMANDMENTS, spoken by God directly to
all the congregation, written with the very finger of God in tables of stone.
For several generations after leaving Egypt, God was their
King! (This history is found through the books of Moses, Joshua and Judges.)
Each tribe kept separate by itself, but together they formed one nation in much
the same manner as the United States is one nation composed of individual
states.
Each tribe occupied its own land, or district. The Levites
became the priestly tribe, mingling throughout the other tribes, having no
inheritance in the land and no separate territory (except for cities) of their
own. To offset this, however, the children of Joseph were divided into two
tribes -- Ephraim and Manasseh -- thus leaving twelve distinct and separate tribes,
each occupying its own territory or province, in addition to the Levites who
were sprinkled among the tribes.
All these years the birthright and the sceptre remained within
the one nation -- the birthright, of course, being handed down through the
tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, the sceptre with Judah.
Dissatisfied With God
The children of Israel were human, even as you and I. They
continually grumbled and complained. Their carnal minds were hostile to God and
His laws, even as human minds today (Rom. 8:7). Soon they became dissatisfied
with God as their King and demanded that a man should be their king as in the
Gentile nations around them. So today, we want to be like the non-Christians
around us instead of conforming strictly to the ways of God as we are
instructed in His Word! Human nature has ever been thus.
When the elders of Israel came to Samuel demanding a man be
made their king, it naturally displeased Samuel, their prophet. But the Eternal
said: "Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto
thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should
not reign over them .... howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and
shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them" (I Sam.
8:7-9).
Saul was their first human king. He refused obedience to God
and was finally rejected. He was slain in battle. His sole surviving son,
Ishbosheth, was slain after a reign of only two years (II Sam. 2:10). However,
Ishbosheth never reigned over Judah. With this short reign over part of Israel,
Saul's dynasty ceased. That is how God rejected him. His dynasty was cut off!
David's Dynasty Forever
David succeeded Saul. David sat on the Eternal's throne.
David's son Solomon succeeded him, also sitting on the Eternal's throne.
"Then Solomon sat on the throne of the Eternal as king instead of David
his father" (I Chron. 29:23; see also II Chron. 9:8).
I wish here to impress another special point. Before Saul,
the Eternal had been King over Israel. These human kings were sitting upon the
Eternal's throne. The Eternal -- "Lord" -- is Jesus Christ who was
with the Father before the world was (John 17:5 and 1:1-2,14). Jesus is both
the "root" and the "offspring" of David (Rev. 22:16). Since
He was the "root," the throne was His before David was born. David
merely sat upon the Eternal's throne. Secondly, since Jesus was David's lawful
fleshly Son, this same throne shall once more become His right by inheritance,
continuing David's dynasty. And so, when Christ returns to earth, David's
throne will be doubly His right!
Now we come to a seemingly incredible fact -- fantastic --
almost unbelievable, but true! While David was king, God made with him a
perpetual covenant, unconditionally, which God cannot and will not break! This
covenant is even more amazing, and less understood, than the unconditional
covenant with Abraham!
I want you now to plant firmly in mind the specific nature
and character of the covenant the Almighty made with David. For it is a vital
link in the purpose and mission of Christ -- an important KEY to Bible
understanding!
In II Samuel 23:1, 5, we find: "Now these be the last
words of David .... God ... hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things, and sure." In other words, a covenant that shall endure
forever and cannot fail!
Turn back to the seventh chapter of II Samuel for more
specific details. God gave David this covenant promise at a time when David was
much concerned over the Ark of the Covenant dwelling in a tent. David wanted to
build a great temple at Jerusalem.
"And it came to pass that night, that the word
of the Lord came unto Nathan, saying, Go and tell my servant David, Thus saith
the Lord, Shalt thou build me an house for me to dwell in? ...When thy days be
fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after
thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels [Solomon], and I will establish his
kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the
throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If
he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the
stripes of the children of men: But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as
I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thine house and thy
kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: THY THRONE SHALL BE
ESTABLISHED FOR EVER" (II Sam. 7:4-5, 12-16).
Points to Notice
Notice carefully these points:
1) David's throne was set up and established with Solomon,
David's son.
2) The throne -- David's throne (verse 16) -- was established
FOREVER in Solomon (verse 13). Observe that this nowhere says that when Christ
comes, God will establish it in Him forever. It says it was to be established
forever in Solomon.
3) What if Solomon, or the children of Israel, disobey? Would
that cancel this covenant? Verses 14-15 plainly say that if they commit
iniquity, God will chasten them with the rod of men, but will NOT break this
covenant. The throne shall go on forever just the same!
4) Notice particularly, in case of disobedience, God will not
take the throne away as He took it from Saul. How did He take it from Saul?
Saul's dynasty ended! No son of Saul ever sat on the throne. But Solomon's
dynasty would not end. The punishment for disobedience would be chastening at
the hands of men.
5) Since God did firmly establish this throne with David and
with Solomon, if David's throne ceased from existence, even for the length of
one generation, could we say it had been established forever as God here
promised?
Here is the fact as little realized as any in the Bible!
Almighty God made an absolutely binding -- just how binding we shall see! --
covenant with David, unconditionally guaranteeing that there should never be a
single generation from that time forward when there would not be a descendant
of David, in UNBROKEN DYNASTY sitting on David's throne, ruling over children
of Israel! It was the promise of a continuous, unbroken dynasty -- all
generations forever -- that was guaranteed.
This is hard to believe! Yet God promised and unalterably
guaranteed just that! There were no conditions. Nothing that would happen could
prevent it. The sins of the people were not to change it. The promise stood
immutable!
The End of the Record
But where is that throne today?
The history of the Bible records a line of kings, all
descendants of David in continuous dynasty, down to King Zedekiah. But in the
year 585 B.C. this last recorded king ever to sit on this throne was captured
by the armies of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, his eyes were put out, he was
taken to Babylon, and there died in a dungeon!
Moreover, all his sons were slain! All the nobles of Judah
who were not already imprisoned or enslaved at Babylon at that time were
killed, so that none could remain to sit on the throne of David! The Chaldeans
destroyed Jerusalem, burned the Temple and the king's
houses, took the Jews, a captive, slave people to Babylon. There is
certainly no record of any king of the line of David ruling over Judah from
that day to this. However, the line of Jehoiakin to Jesus survived in Babylonish
captivity -- so Jesus was a descendant of David.
Some will say, however, that this throne is established today
in Christ. But Christ has not yet taken over this throne! He pictured Himself
as the nobleman (Luke 19:12) who went to a far country (heaven) to get for Himself
a Kingdom, and, who, after receiving the right to the Kingdom, would return.
Jesus Christ will not sit upon the throne of David until His second coming to
earth, yet in the future!
But what of the nearly 600 years between King Zedekiah and
the birth of Christ? Who was reigning over the Israelites and sitting on
David's throne during those generations? If no one, then we must conclude God
broke His Word, or the Scripture has been broken!
The answer is a mystery more astounding than any tale of
fiction! The Bible reveals it, step by step.
But, then again, some will point to the expression "I
will stablish" (II Sam. 7:13) and conclude that possibly God meant at the
second coming of Christ He would establish that throne forever. And still that
will not do. From whom would Christ take over David's throne if that throne has
ceased these centuries to exist? But God plainly promised He would establish
that throne in Solomon: "And I will stablish the throne of his [Solomon's]
kingdom forever." He was not speaking of establishing it many centuries
later in Christ -- at His second coming. The "he" referred to is
Solomon -- not Christ, for God said: "If he commit iniquity, I will
chasten him" (II Sam. 7:14).
But now I give you a scripture that ends all speculation as
to when this throne was established: "Hear me, thou Jeroboam, and all
Israel; ought ye not to know that the Eternal God of Israel gave the kingdom
over to Israel to David FOR EVER, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of
salt?" (II Chron. 13:4-5.) The margin says "PERPETUAL covenant."
This shows the establishing of the throne was then in the past! God gave, did
give, this kingdom to David and his sons -- not his Son, Christ, but his sons,
plural -- continuously forever.
Established for All Generations
"I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn
unto David my servant, Thy seed [dynasty -- Moffatt] will I establish forever,
and build up thy throne to all generations" (Ps. 89:3-4). Note it! This
throne, established forever, was built up to all generations. God did establish
that throne, beginning with David and Solomon. We have a record of it for a
number of generations -- as far as King Zedekiah, 585 B.C.
It was established to all generations, continuously,
perpetually, FOREVER! That term "all generations" certainly must
include those generations from Zedekiah to the birth of Christ. Who occupied
that throne during those generations?
Christ is not sitting on that throne now, but on the throne
of Almighty God in heaven (Rev. 3:21).
So what about this present generation? Where is there a
descendant of David today sitting in an unbroken line of kings on the throne of
David, ruling over children of Israel?
Can one wonder that men like Thomas Paine and Robert
Ingersoll lost faith in the Bible? They saw these unconditional promises, but
they could not see how they had been kept. Yet, if we have patience, we shall
see!
But to continue, in the 89th Psalm, with the 28th verse:
"My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand
fast with him. His seed [dynasty -- Moffatt] also will I make to endure
forever, and his throne as the days of heaven."
Consider a moment the meaning of the word "seed" in
this sense. Moffatt's translation in modern English properly translates it
"dynasty." The Revised Standard Version translates it "his
[David's] line" -- that is, continuous line or succession of sons,
generation after generation. This "seed" is not the general
population of the children of Israel. This is speaking of David's seed, or
David's sons. His sons were to be kings. David was of the tribe of Judah,
possessor of the sceptre, not the birthright, promise. His "seed,"
therefore, was the kingly line. So, literally, it means his dynasty, his line
of successive sons.
Now while his throne is enduring through all generations, as
the days of heaven, consider the next verse: "If his children forsake my
law, and walk not in my judgments; if they break my statutes, and keep not my
commandments; then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their
iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take
from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor
alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness
that I will not lie unto David. HIS SEED [dynasty] shall endure FOR
EVER, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established for ever as
the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven" (Ps. 89:30-37).
This is speaking of those generations when his children may
disobey and forsake God's law. Some today are excusing their inability to
locate this throne by saying the covenant was conditional -- that because the
children of Israel disobeyed God, the covenant was broken. But what does the
Almighty say? If the children disobey and transgress, they shall be punished
for their transgression -- but not by the breaking of God's unconditional
covenant with David!
Some say Christ took over the throne. But He didn't. Instead
He was crucified, resurrected, and ascended to heaven. He shall come, and soon
now, to sit upon that throne as the King of kings and Lord of lords. But how
could Jesus Christ, when He returns again to earth, take over and sit upon a
throne that long ago ceased to exist?
Will Christ Come to a Nonexistent Throne?
If the throne of David ceased with Zedekiah, then it does not
exist today. And if it does not exist, how shall Christ sit upon a nonexistent
throne? (See Luke 1:31-32.) And, since it was to continue through all
generations, how about those many generations between Zedekiah and the birth of
Jesus?
The very important fact that the glorified King of kings is coming
to sit on an existing throne is further affirmed by the prophet Jeremiah. In
the 33rd chapter is a prophecy of events to occur at the time of Christ's
coming in supreme power and glory! At the time of writing this prophecy, the
prophet was imprisoned in Jerusalem. The armies from Babylon were taking the
Jews captive. God said to Jeremiah, "I will ... shew thee great and mighty
things, which thou knowest not ....concerning the houses of this city, and
concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are thrown down ..."
(verses 3-4).
Jeremiah knew the kings' houses in Jerusalem were being
destroyed -- the throne of David removed from Jerusalem. He was, as will be
shown later, to be God's agent in rooting out that throne from Jerusalem. God
was now revealing to him a reassuring fact. The throne of David would, in this
end time, be again planted in Jerusalem. God now reassures the prophet that the
throne will rule continuously over Israelites until that time. It will be the
same continuous dynasty. The Messiah will sit on an existing throne!
Here is the prophecy of what is to happen at Christ's
glorious coming to rule: "Behold, the days come, saith the Eternal,
that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house
of Israel and to the house of Judah" (verse 14). Notice carefully! This
promise of David's continuous dynasty is a promise to the house of Israel, as
well as to Judah. Since the division into two nations, that throne had not been
connected with Israel -- only with Judah. But the promise to be fulfilled at
Christ's coming connects it with Israel as well as Judah!
Continue: "In those days, and at that time, will I cause
the Branch of righteousness [the Messiah] to grow up unto David; and he shall
execute judgment and righteousness in the land" (verse 15). This speaks of
Christ's rule as King of kings. Jesus, a descendant of David by human birth
(Rom. 1:3), was the righteous Branch, or offshoot of David.
Continue: "In those days shall Judah be saved, and
Jerusalem shall dwell safely .... For thus saith the Eternal; David shall never
want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel" (verses 16-17).
Note it! It does not say David shall not, finally, after 2,500 years without a
man on the throne, want for one. It says David shall NEVER -- at any time --
through all generations -- want for a descendant to remain sitting on his
throne!
And over whom?
Throne Not Over Jews
Not Judah! Read it in your own Bible! During these more than
2,500 years, David shall not want for a man to sit upon the throne of the house
of Israel -- not Judah!
The throne was, at the time God revealed this prophecy to
Jeremiah, being rooted out of Judah. During these 2,500 years between then and
Christ's coming, it was to be the throne of the house of ISRAEL!
After the coming of Christ to rule, it is evident that Israel
is again to offer sacrifices, burnt offerings and meat offerings. In Ezekiel's
prophecy, from the 40th chapter to the end of the book, covering this period
after Christ's coming, these sacrifices are mentioned. But, after Christ's
return, when they are again to be offered, the tribe of Levi will not have been
destroyed -- descendants of the priestly tribe will still be living. Notice
verse 18 of Jeremiah 33: "Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man
before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do
sacrifice continually."
This does not say they shall have, all these years prior to
Christ's coming, continually offered sacrifices. Other scriptures
show plainly sacrifices should not have been offered by Christians after
Christ's own sacrifice, and they were not offered by Jews after the destruction
of the Temple in A.D. 70. But other prophecies already quoted show just as
plainly that David's descendants should be ruling on David's throne through all
generations, beginning with Solomon.
Since many of the Levites undoubtedly remained among the Ten
Tribes -- although we know many continued among the Jews -- and since those
remaining among the Ten Tribes have lost their identity along with all Ten
Tribes, it is entirely possible that many if not most, of the called true
ministry of Jesus Christ through the centuries have been of the tribe of Levi.
Notice, now, how binding is God's covenant with David.
"Thus saith the Eternal; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my
covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their
season; then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he
should not have a son to reign upon his throne ..." (verses 20-21).
What People Say
Continue: "Considerest thou not what this people have
spoken, saying, The two families which the Eternal hath chosen, he
hath even cast them off? Thus they have despised my people, that they should be
no more a nation before them" (verse 24).
That is what the people have been saying, as they were
prophesied to say! They say the Jews were scattered among many, if not all,
nations -- scattered individuals -- but no longer a nation having its own
government! And the Ten Tribes were supposed to have been "lost," or
to have gone out of existence, or to be just part of the scattered individual
Jews! Yes, so the Jews themselves have said and so the world has said! But what
does God say?
Continue, next verse: "Thus saith the Eternal; If my
covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances
of heaven and earth; then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my
servant, so that I will not take any of his seed [dynasty] to be rulers over
the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to
return, and have mercy on them" (verses 25-26).
The Test of Bible Truth
Strong words, those! Unless you can stop this old earth from
turning on its axis -- unless you can remove the sun and the moon and stars
from heaven, says the Almighty, you cannot prevent Him from keeping His
covenant to maintain continuously, through all generations, forever, from the
time of David and Solomon, a descendant of David in one continuous dynasty on
that throne!
He would not necessarily rule over all the house of ISRAEL,
or the Jews -- but at least some of them, and enough to form a nation.
This cannot be applied to mean that there would not have been
a continuous throne, or that it applies only to the "one seed" --
Christ -- finally coming to rule. Notice, it says specifically, "... so
that I will not take any of his seed to be RULERS [more than one] over"
Israelites. It is speaking of continuous, multiple rulers -- not one Ruler
coming to sit on a throne that 2,500 years before had ceased to exist!
The COVENANT PROMISE to David is plain and definite. Either
his dynasty has continued and exists today, ruling over the house of ISRAEL
(not the Jews), or God's Word fails!
Remember again the sceptre promise, which includes this line
of kings until it culminates in Christ at His second coming: "The sceptre
shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver [margin, ruler's staff] from
between his feet, UNTIL SHILOH [Christ] COME; and unto him shall the gathering
of the people be" (Gen. 49:10).
Has the sceptre departed from Judah? Has the throne ceased?
Or does it, as God so bindingly promised, exist today so that Christ can take over
and sit upon a functioning, continuous throne when He comes?
The infallibility of the Bible is at stake! God's Word is at
stake!
Chapter 6
CHILDREN OF ISRAEL
BECOME TWO NATIONS
THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL is not Jewish! Those who constitute it
are not Jews, and never were! That fact we shall now see conclusively, beyond
refute.
After David's death, his son Solomon succeeded him to the
throne over Israel. Solomon taxed the people excessively and reigned in a
gorgeous splendor probably never equaled before or since.
He also married Gentile wives from outside nations. Because
of them, he burned incense and sacrificed to Moloch and other idols. As a
result of this, "the Eternal said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done
of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have
commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to
thy servant. Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy
father's sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. Howbeit I will
not rend away ALL the kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son for David my
servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen" (I Kings
11:11-13).
Israel Separated from David's Throne
Note it! It is the kingdom, not part of it, which is to be
rent away. It is the part, one tribe, which is to remain. And note -- for right
here is expressed the great WHY of this whole question -- though Solomon
himself deserved to have it rent away, God will leave one tribe, not because of
leniency toward Solomon, but "FOR DAVID'S SAKE"!
God has made a perpetual covenant with David,
unconditionally, which He cannot and will not break. David's dynasty cannot be
broken! That is the reason the sceptre promise is not destroyed, but the ruler
is to be permitted to rule on, without a single generation's gap, over at least
a part of the children of Israel.
In I Kings 11:26 you read of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, an
Ephrathite, or Ephraimite, Solomon's servant. He was made ruler over the
"house of Joseph" -- or Ephraim and Manasseh.
Speaking to Jeroboam through Ahijah the prophet, the Eternal
says: "Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and
will give ten tribes to thee .... Howbeit I will not take the whole kingdom out
of his hand ... for David my servant's sake, whom I chose, because he kept my
commandments and my statutes. But I will take THE KINGDOM out of his son's
hand, and will give it unto thee, even ten tribes. And unto his son will I give
one tribe, that David my servant [remember why] may have a light always before
me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen me to put my name there. And I
will take thee, and thou shalt reign according to all that thy soul desireth,
and shalt be king over Israel" (I Kings 11:31- 37).
These words make plain two facts: The nation Israel is to be
taken away from Solomon's son and given to Jeroboam. It is not just a tribe, or
a few tribes, but the nation called by the title Israel which this Jeroboam, of
the tribe of Ephraim, is to rule.
The ten-tribed kingdom was the one to which the national
title "Israel" was given. For truly, the name "Israel" was
named on the sons of Joseph! (Gen. 48:16.) Wherever they are, the Bible calls
them by the national name ISRAEL. To the world, their identity today is lost. But,
in biblical prophecy, it is they -- not the Jews- -who are called ISRAEL!! And
they were iin, and headed, the ten- tribed nation ISRAEL.
On the other hand, because of His promise to David, the
Eternal left one tribe, Judah, in Jerusalem under the sons of Solomon, so that
a son of David might continue to sit on the throne of David over children of
Israel. God had promised David, unconditionally, that the time would never come
when he would not have a son or descendant sitting on the throne ruling over children
of Israel.
Now, in later actual history, we see that promise being
carried out -- that covenant made binding! The children of Judah, though they
do not constitute all the children of Israel and though they are not called by
that national title, nevertheless are children of Israel, and thus God can keep
His promise to David; can avoid abolishing the sceptre promises made to
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And at the same time God can visit punishment upon
Solomon by taking away the nation Israel and leaving a son of the sceptre
promise sitting on the throne over only one tribe. Note the very important
point that, though a punishment must be inflicted, God does not break any of
His promises.
David's Dynasty
Rules Over Judah
God had promised that "the sceptre SHALL NOT DEPART FROM
JUDAH." He did not break that promise. Now note carefully that the ten
tribes, rent away, are called by the title "Israel," and that the one
tribe remaining under Rehoboam, Solomon's son, is merely called "Judah"
or the "house of Judah." They go by their tribal name, while the
ten-tribed kingdom continues to carry the national name "Israel."
Actually, Israel rejected its king and set a new king,
Jeroboam, on Israel's throne. The tribe of Judah seceded from the nation Israel
in order to retain Rehoboam as their king. But now Rehoboam, David's grandson,
became king of a new nation. That new nation was not the kingdom of Israel. It
was the kingdom of Judah! Now see how it happened.
When Solomon's son, Rehoboam, succeeded to the throne, the
people at once demanded that the heavy taxes imposed by Solomon be reduced.
They sent their leader, Jeroboam, as spokesman, to Rehoboam.
Pleaded Jeroboam: "Thy father made our yoke grievous:
now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke
which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee" (I Kings 12:4).
The reply was: "My father hath chastised you with whips,
but I will chastise you with scorpions" (verse 11).
Israel rebelled. The command to the people was: "To your
tents, O Israel"! The challenge to the royal family was: "Now see to
thine own house"! (Verse 16.)
"So Israel rebelled against the house of David unto this
day [the day this was written]. And it came to pass, when all Israel heard that
Jeroboam was come again, that they sent and called him unto the congregation,
and made him king over ALL ISRAEL: there was none that followed the house of
David, but the tribe of JUDAH only" (I Kings 12:19-20).
Then "Rehoboam ... assembled all the HOUSE OF JUDAH,
with the tribe of Benjamin" (verse 21). Rehoboam commenced to fight to
subdue and bring back the house of Israel, but God said, "Ye shall not ...
fight against your brethren the children of Israel ... for this thing is from
me" (verse 24).
Israel Divided into Two Nations
Did you notice that it is now the ten-tribed kingdom (headed
by the Ephraim-Manasseh tribes with an Ephraimite as their king), the inheritor
of the birthright promises, which is called the HOUSE OF ISRAEL?
The tribe of Judah left to Rehoboam, along with the
Benjamites and later, after Jeroboam kicked them out of office in Israel, the
priestly tribe of Levi, is called in Scripture, not Israel, but the house of
Judah. They are all actually children of Israel but are no longer called by
that national title. This is emphasized so much because the common conception
is exactly the opposite.
The average conception today seems to be that the tribe of
Judah which remained carried the title "Israel." Most people seem to
think of the Ten Tribes as merely certain tribes driven out from the nation
Israel.
But it is ISRAEL which now sets up its kingdom under the
Ephraimite Jeroboam, in the land of Samaria, north of Jerusalem. It is not
Israel, but Judah -- a mere three tribes broken off from Israel -- which is
left behind in Jerusalem.
--------------------
PHOTO CAPTION: THE LARGE MAP ABOVE shows the various
locations to which the ten tribes of Israel were carried captive by Assyria.
Smaller map (inset) distinguishes the separate kingdoms of Judah and Israel.
--------------------
The Ten Tribes were not broken off from Israel. Israel
did not remain in Jerusalem. Instead, Judah was broken off from Israel.
Israel at War with the Jews
Notice it carefully! The house of Judah, now including the
tribe of Benjamin under King Rehoboam of David's dynasty, was about to fight
against the nation Israel -- with its ten tribes headed by Ephraim and
Manasseh.
Now let us have scriptural proof that the ten-tribed people
called Israel, often prophetically spoken of as Ephraim, are not Jews and never
were Jews! Remember that the term "Jew" is merely a nickname for
"Judah." Hence, it applies to the one nation, or house of Judah only
-- never to the house of Israel.
From any exhaustive concordance you can learn that the first
time in all the Bible that the word "Jew" occurs is in II Kings 16:6.
Nowhere in all the Bible before this does the name "Jew" appear.
Notice it!
Ahaz began to reign as king of Judah (verse 1). He sat on
David's throne (verse 2). At this time, a man named Pekah was king of Israel.
King Pekah of Israel formed an alliance with Rezin, king of Syria, against
Judah, and together the armies of Israel and Syria, allied, came up against
Jerusalem. They besieged King Ahaz of Judah, but could not overcome him (verse
5). "At that time," says verse 6, "Rezin king of Syria [the ally
of Israel, fighting with Israel against Judah] recovered Elath to Syria, and drove
the Jews from Elath" (verse 6). The first place in the Bible where the
word "Jew" is used, we find Israel at war against the Jews!
Who drove the Jews out of Elath? The ally of King Pekah of
Israel! The army fighting with Israel against Judah. And the children of Judah who
resided in the town of Elath are called Jews in a manner which distinguished
them from the house of Israel, with whom these Jews were at war! Observe the
significance of that!
The first place in Scripture where the name Jew appears, the
Jews were at WAR against ISRAEL! They are of a different nation altogether.
They are, individually, children of Israel. But they do not have that national
title -- house of Israel.
It is wrong to call the Jews of today "Israel."
They are not the nation Israel -- they are Judah! And wherever Israel is today,
remember that Israel as a national name does not mean JEW! Whoever the Lost Ten
Tribes of Israel are today, they are not the Jews! Wherever you see the name
"Israel," or "house of Israel," or "Samaria," or
"Ephraim" used in prophecy, remember this: IT NEVER REFERS TO THE
JEWS, but to Israel, which was at war against the Jews!
House of Israel Not Jews
No place in all the Bible does the term "Israel"
refer to the Jews exclusively. When the sense is not national but individual,
the term "Israel" alone, or "children of Israel," or
"men of Israel" may, and sometimes does refer to or include the Jews.
Such an expression, for instance, as "ye men of Israel," which
frequently occurs in the New Testament, refers to Israelites as individuals in
a collective sense, not a national sense. It usually refers to Jews as
individual descendants of the patriarch Israel (Jacob).
Moses may not, scripturally, be called a Jew. He was a
Levite. Abraham was not a Jew. Neither was Isaac nor Jacob -- nor Adam or Noah
for that matter. The descendants of the patriarch Judah are racially Jews and
also all who joined themselves nationally to the tribe of Judah -- those of the
tribes of Benjamin and Levi.
Jews are Israelites, just as Californians are Americans. But
most Israelites are not Jews, just as most Americans are not Californians. The
Jews are the house of Judah only, A PART of the Israelites. But when these
people are spoken of as nations, rather than as collective individuals, the
term "Israel" never refers to the Jews. "House of Israel"
never means "Jews." The three tribes at Jerusalem under the Davidic
king are called, merely, the house of Judah.
But of Ephraim and Manasseh, sons of Joseph, the dying Israel
had said, "Let my name be named on them" (Gen. 48:16). And truly they
now bear the name of Israel.
From here on, the tribe of Judah, with Benjamin and the tribe
of Levi, is called "JUDAH" -- not ISRAEL. The ten tribes, headed by
Ephraim and Manasseh, from this time on are called "Israel." They are
not Jews and never were called Jews! From this time on, the children of Israel,
twelve tribes in all, are divided into two nations!
And now, for the first time, the birthright goes into one
nation, Israel, headed by Ephraim-Manasseh, while the sceptre remains in
another nation, called the "house of Judah." The two phases of the
promises to Abraham now are divided between two entirely separate nations!
For many generations Israel and Judah remained as separate
nations, in adjoining territories, having their own separate kings. Why should
ministers and professed Bible students be in ignorance of this, when four whole
books of the Bible, I and II Kings and I and II Chronicles, are devoted to
explaining it and recording the history of these separate, rival kingdoms? Look
at the maps in the back of your Bible. There you will see the territory of each
nation plainly shown.
--------------------
PHOTO CAPTION: JERUSALEM and Samaria were the capital cities
of the two separate nations Judah and Israel.
--------------------
Judah retained the city of Jerusalem, its capital, and the
territory known as Judea. Israel occupied the territory north of Judea. Samaria
became its capital city, and the house of Israel often is called
"Samaria" in prophecy. This, too, is a vital "key" to
understanding prophecy. "Samaria" never refers to the Jews in
prophecy -- but always the ten tribes, the house of Israel.
We want to impress, here, that Israel and Judah are not two
names for the same nation. They were, and still are, and shall be till the
second coming of Christ, TWO SEPARATE NATIONS. The "house of Judah"
always means "Jew." This distinction is vital, if we are to
understand prophecy. Because most so-called Bible students are in ignorance of
this basic distinction, they are unable to rightly understand prophecy!
The next place where the term "Jew" is mentioned in
the Bible, the house of Israel had been driven out into captivity, lost from
view, and the term applies only to those of the house of Judah.
Israel Rejects God's Rule
Immediately on becoming king over the house of Israel,
Jeroboam (tribe of Ephraim) set up two golden calves, introducing idol worship
in the kingdom (I Kings 12:28-33). Jeroboam was afraid lest his subjects, in
going once a year to Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Tabernacles, should return
to Rehoboam and he should lose his new throne. The introduction of idolatry was
to prevent this and to keep the people home.
This idolatry with Sabbath-breaking (Ezek. 20:10-24) was the
great national sin which became such a curse to Israel. Generation after
generation God pleaded with the house of Israel to turn from tradition -- from
their fathers' ways -- and to return to keeping God's commandments. But through
nine different dynasties under 19 kings, Israel continued these national sins
-- sins so great in God's sight that finnnally God caused them to become a
conquered, captive nation.
Now let us note a passage which has been consistently
misinterpreted. In I Kings 14:15-16 we find: "The Eternal shall smite
Israel [not Judah], as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up
Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter
them [not Judah] beyond the river, because they have made their groves,
provoking the Eternal to anger. And he shall give Israel [not Judah] up because
of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin."
This is dealing specifically with the result of Jeroboam's
idol worship in Israel -- in the northern ten-tribed kingdom which possessed
the birthright promises. It is these people who were to be rooted up and
scattered beyond the river. Not the Jews. Yet this passage is quoted by nearly
all students of prophecy as pertaining to the scattered condition of the Jews
today -- the very people to whom it does not apply. This is one example of the
fact that what we are here covering is a veritable KEY to an understanding of
many long-hidden prophecies. Unless this is kept firmly in mind, prophecy can
never be correctly understood.
The people which this passage says shall be rooted up and
scattered beyond the river never were called Jews. They were the people headed
by Ephraim and Manasseh, possessors of the unconditional promises of becoming a
great nation and a company of nations -- becoming so numerous they would number
into the hundreds of millions, possessing the gates of enemy nations,
becoming a colonizing people, spreading out till their colonies spread around
the globe.
Yet many who come to see this distinction between Israel and
Judah -- between Jews and the other tribes -- after having seen it as a great
new light, will, by force of years of habit, fall right back into the old rut
and apply texts referring to Israel to the Jews!
The terms "house of Israel" or "all
Israel," when the meaning is national, or the terms "Jacob," or
"Rachel," or "Ephraim," or "house of Joseph," or
"Samaria," often used in the Bible in prophecy, RELATE TO THE
TEN-TRIBED BIRTHRIGHT PEOPLE, NOT TO THE JEWS. This is a KEY, and a master key,
to Bible understanding!
Israel Driven Out and Lost
In the years 721-718 B.C., the house of Israel was conquered
and its people were soon driven out of their own land -- out of their homes and
cities -- and carried captives to Assyria, on the southern shores of the
Caspian Sea! And then ... LOST FROM VIEW!
"Therefore the Eternal was very angry with Israel, and removed
them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only"
(II Kings 17:18).
The Eternal removed who? Israel! It is Israel which was
removed and driven from the Eternal's sight until they became lost from view.
Who was left? Judah ONLY -- only the Jews! Israel was now
gone! They became known as the LOST Ten Tribes and are so designated today.
Gentiles Replace the House of Israel
Now notice II Kings 17:22-23: "For the children of
Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from
them; until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his
servants the prophets. So was Israel [not Judah -- not the Jews] carried away
out of their own land to ASSYRIA unto this day [written about 620 B.C.]."
Observe that the people who had the national title "Israel" and the
birthright promises, who were not the Jews, were carried away out of their own
land -- Samaria. They left that land -- never yet to return!
Now note the following verse of this same passage: "And
the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava,
and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed THEM in the cities of Samaria
instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the
cities thereof" (II Kings 17:24).
It is these foreigners who were living in the land of Samaria
in the time of Christ and who were called Samaritans in the Gospel records. It
is well to keep that in mind. For the Samaritans of the New Testament were not
in any sense a racial mixture with the Israelites. Only one individual -- a
priest -- returned from among the captive Israelites to teach the newly planted
Gentiles the corrupted religion of Israel (II Kings 17:27-28).
These people from the land of Babylon, however, did not
follow God, nor God's ways, nor His religion. The very next verse shows this:
But "every nation [still] made gods of their own ..." (II Kings
17:29).
The general state religion of the Assyrians and Babylonians
was the Chaldean mystery religion. This was the religion of Simon the sorcerer
(Acts 8) who believed Philip's miracles, appropriated the name
"Christian," and started a new counterfeit "Christianity"
after the apostle Peter rejected him as being bound in "iniquity" --
i.e., "lawlessness." He took the name of Christ, rejected God's law,
and added licentious false "grace" to the Babylonian mystery
religion, calling it "Christianity." This false
"Christianity" has deceived millions, down to this present evil
generation!
A more detailed account of the captivity of Israel is found
in II Kings 18:9-12 and 17:5-18. The house of Israel began to "abide many
days without a king" (Hosea 3:4). Since they were the people who carried
the title "Israel," it is they, not Judah, who must become lost in
identity!
Israel, Not Judah, Lost
The Scriptures plainly tell us that Israel was to lose its
identity, its language, its religion, its land, and its name.
In Deuteronomy 32:26, God had warned them through Moses:
"I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would MAKE THE REMEMBRANCE
OF THEM TO CEASE FROM AMONG MEN." That warning cannot be applied to the
Jew! The remembrance of the Jews has not ceased. The remembrance of them could
not cease unless their identity and name were lost. This applies to the LOST
tribes, not to the Jews.
Now notice Isaiah 8:17: "And I will wait upon the Lord,
THAT HIDETH HIS FACE FROM THE HOUSE OF JACOB." Jacob's name was changed to
Israel. In other words, this applies to the house of Israel -- the ten-tribed
kingdom -- who were cut off from the presence of God. They consequently lost
the knowledge of the true God, and the true religion.
The Eternal would cease speaking to them in their own Hebrew
tongue, but with "another tongue will he speak to this people" (Isa.
28:11). This cannot apply to the Jews, who still read their Bibles in the
Hebrew tongue.
Isaiah 62:2: "And the Gentiles shall see thy
righteousness, and all kings thy glory [after Christ returns]: and thou shalt
be called by a NEW NAME, which the mouth of the Lord shall name." While
this prophecy refers directly to the future, after Christ's return, it has also
been fulfilled, typically, foreshadowing that time, by the fact that Israel is
known by a different name today. That cannot apply to the Jews. They were known
then, and today, as Jews.
Israel Never Returned
The house of Israel did not return to Palestine with the Jews
in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, as some erroneously believe. Those who
returned to rebuild the Temple and restore worship in Jerusalem at that time,
70 years after Judah's captivity, were only those of the house of Judah whom
Nebuchadnezzar had carried to Babylon.
Note well these facts.
1) In 721-718 B.C. ISRAEL began to be "carried away out
of their own land to Assyria" (II Kings 17:23). They were soon all removed
-- completely. "There was none leftttt but the tribe of Judah only"
(II Kings 17:18). JUDAH, only, remained.
2) More than 130 years later, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon
carried the Jews -- Judah -- who only remained in Palestine away to Babylon. So
none of the house of Israel dwelt in Palestine at the time of this captivity of
Judah.
3) Those who returned to Palestine to rebuild the Temple and
restore worship 70 years after Judah's captivity were ALL of the house of Judah
-- all JEWS -- all of those whom Nebuchaaaadnezzar had carried away. They
returned again "unto Jerusalem and Judah, every one unto his city"
(Ezra 2:1).
Only those of the tribe of Judah, together with remnants of
Benjamin and Levi, who constituted the house of Judah, returned at that time.
"Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the
priests, and the Levites" (Ezra 1:5).
There are, of course, those who reject this truth God has seen
fit now, in our time, to reveal -- and who falsely represent that ALL
Israelites, including the ten-tribed house of Israel, returned to Jerusalem at
the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.
They will sift out instances where the word
"Israel" is used in connection with individuals or people of the
HOUSE OF JUDAH and misrepresent that they are the HOUSE OF ISRAEL. Let it be
repeated for emphasis: Jews are Israelites -- but only part of the Israelites
are Jews. The term "Jew" is a nickname for the national name Judah.
Jews are, truly, men of Israel -- or people of Israel -- but they are not of
the NATION called the HOUSE OF ISRAEL, or KINGDOM OF ISRAEL.
Those who refuse this truth turn to such a passage as this:
"And the residue of Israel, of the priests, and the Levites, were in all
the cities of Judah, everyone in his inheritance" (Neh. 11:20). Because
the word "Israel" is used, they will claim these are all twelve
tribes. But it is specifically speaking of priests and Levites -- and they are
of the house of Judah, but not of the ten-tribed house of Israel. They were
truly the "residue of Israel" -- the "residue" of the
twelve tribes; they were Israelites, but they were not of the nation called the
house of Israel. They returned to their inheritance in the land of Judah.
Nehemiah says plainly: "These are the children of
the province, that went up out of the captivity [the captivity to
Babylon -- captivity of JUDAH, not the house of Israel], of those that had been
carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away
..." (Neh. 7:6). And none of the Ten Tribes had been left in Palestine
after the Assyrian captivity more than 100 years before (II Kings 17:18).
Ezra says: "And the children of Israel, the priests, and
the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication
..." (Ezra 6:16). These were people of the kingdom of Judah -- not the
kingdom of Israel -- but they were "children of Israel."
Names and genealogies are given in Ezra and Nehemiah of those
who went back to Palestine from Babylon -- and there was none from any of the
Teen Tribes! Consequently those in Jerusalem at the time of Christ were of
these three tribes, not of the house of Israel. And most, if not all, of those
converted were of the tribe of Benjamin, as Paul said he was.
The house of Israel became known as the LOST Ten Tribes! Now
known by another name, speaking a different language!
By what name are they known today? Whoever they are, wherever
they are, it is they, and not the Jews, who are the birthright possessors. It
is they, not the Jews, who, after the ending of their punishment in A.D.
1800-1803, must inherit the UNbreakable promises to Abraham of national
greatness, resources, wealth and power. It is Manasseh who was to become the
world's greatest single nation; Ephraim a great commonwealth of nations! Who
can they be today?
Chapter 7
JEREMIAH'S MYSTERIOUS
COMMISSION
WE COME NOW TO ONE OF THE most fascinating and gripping
phases of this strange story of Israel -- indeed, the very connecting link between
prophecy and present-day fulfillment -- yet totally unrecognized by
theologians.
After the house of Israel, the northern kingdom whose capital
was Samaria, was driven into Assyrian captivity, 721-718 B.C., the Kingdom of
JUDAH continued on in the southern part of Palestine known as Judea. At that
time Judah, as a nation, had not yet rejected the government and religion of
God. God had continued to keep His covenant with David. David's dynasty had
continued on the throne over part of the Israelites -- the house of JUDAH --
the Jews.
But after Israel had become lost from view, Judah turned from
the ways and government of God, going after the ways of the Gentile nations,
sinning even worse than Israel, until finally the Eternal drove Judah, too,
into national captivity and slavery.
Before Judah's apostasy, God had said, through the prophet
Hosea: "Though thou, ISRAEL, play the harlot, yet let not JUDAH offend
..." (Hosea 4:15). But later, the Eternal said to Jeremiah: "Have you
seen what she did, that faithless one, ISRAEL, how she ... played the harlot?
...and her false sister JUDAH saw it. She saw that for all the adulteries of
that faithless one, ISRAEL, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce; yet
her false sister JUDAH did not fear, but she too went and played
the harlot .... Faithless ISRAEL has shown herself less guilty than
false JUDAH" (Jer. 3:6-11, RSV).
Here, again, it is made distinctly plain that the 12 tribes
of Israel were divided into two totally separate nations. And yet opponents of
the truth revealed in this book deny these plain scriptures -- and attempt to
discredit those who reveal it.
Now see how Judah (the Jews) -- more than 130 years after
ISRAEL'S captivity -- also was removed from their land. They were taken as
slaves to Babylon -- not to Assyria, where ISRAEL had been taken.
"And the Eternal said, I will remove JUDAH also out of
my sight, as I have removed ISRAEL, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which
I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there" (II
Kings 23:27).
And so, more than 130 years after Israel's captivity, the
time came when God caused the Jews also to be driven out of their land in
national captivity and slavery.
Jeremiah's Strange Commission
For this purpose God raised up a very special prophet whose
real call and commission few indeed understand. This prophet was Jeremiah.
Jeremiah played a strange and little realized role in this captivity.
Something of the importance of this mission may be gleaned
from this significant fact: The Bible mentions three men only who were
sanctified for their respective offices before they were born- -and of these
three Jeremiah was the first. The other two were John the Baptist and Jesus
Christ!
The Eternal first spoke to Jeremiah when he was but a young
lad about, some evidence indicates, seventeen years of age. By the time his
mission was completed he was an aged, white-haired patriarch.
This vital yet little-known call and commission is described
in the opening verses of the first chapter of the book of Jeremiah.
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you," the Eternal said to
him, "and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a
prophet to the nations" (Jer. 1:5, RSV).
But Jeremiah was frightened -- afraid! "Ah, Eternal
God!" he replied. "Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only
a youth."
But the Eternal answered, "Do not say, "I am only a
youth"; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I
command you, you shall speak. Be not afraid of them, for I am with you to
deliver you" (verses 6-8).
Then the Eternal put forth His hand and touched Jeremiah's
mouth. "See," said God, "I have set you this day over nations
and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow,
TO BUILD AND TO PLANT" (verses 9-10). Or, as this tremendous commission is
worded in the Authorized Version: "to root out, and to pull down, and to
destroy, and to throw down, to BUILD, AND TO PLANT."
Flag of Ulster,
Northern Ireland
Notice, Jeremiah was set over NATIONS -- more than one
kingdom. He was a Jewish lad, living in Judah. He was set a prophet over Judah
-- but not Judah alone. Over NATIONS -- over KINGDOMS! He was set over these
kingdoms to do two things: first, to "pluck up," or "root
out," to "pull down," or to "overthrow," and second,
TO BUILD, AND TO PLANT.
Not Realized Today
Look at it in your own Bible! Jeremiah was used of God as a
prophet to warn the nation Judah of their transgressions against God's
government and ways. He was sent to warn this rebellious nation of impending
punishment -- their invasion and captivity at the hands of the Chaldean armed
forces -- unless they acknowledged their guilt and changed their ways. He was
used as a go-between -- an intermediary -- between the kings of Judah and
Babylon.
It is well known that Jeremiah was used in warning Judah of
the impending captivity, and the "pulling down" or
"overthrowing" of the throne of David in the Kingdom of Judah.
It is generally understood that the house of Judah was
invaded by the armies of King Nebuchadnezzar; that the Jews were taken captive
to Babylon; that they ceased from being a kingdom; that there no longer existed
a ruler of David's dynasty on the throne over the Kingdom of Judah.
What, then, does this mean? Did God, at last, forget His
covenant promise to David that David's dynasty should never cease -- that
David's throne was established in Solomon to continue through ALL GENERATIONS FOREVER?
Had God Almighty now forgotten that He had sworn that He would not alter this
promise -- even though the kings and the people rebelled and sinned? The
faithfulness of God is at stake. The inspiration of the Holy Bible as His
revealed WORD is at stake!
But note it! See it in your own Bible! Jeremiah was divinely
commissioned to pull down and to overthrow that very throne of David in Judah
-- but notice the second half of the commmmmission. TO BUILD AND TO PLANT! To
build and to plant WHAT?
Why, naturally, that which he was used in "rooting
out" of Judah -- THE THRONE OF DAVID which God swore He would preserve
forever! Jeremiah was set over not just the one nation, Judah -- but over
NATIONS. Over THE KINGDOMS -- the Kingdom of Israel as well as Judah!
He was used in "rooting out" that throne from
Judah. Then what was Jeremiah commissioned to do in Israel? Notice the second
half of his strange and little-understood commission -- to BUILD and to PLANT!
So far as the world knows, the last king to sit on that
throne of David was Zedekiah of Judah. He was thrown down off the throne and
the throne rooted out of Judah in the year 585 B.C. -- nearly 600 years before
Christ!
What happened to that throne? Where was that throne between
585 B.C. and the time of Christ, 600 years later? We know Jeremiah did not
plant and REBUILD it in Babylon. God had promised that David's throne should
rule over ISRAELITES through all generations- -not over Gentiles. We have the
history of the continuance of the Gentile throne in Babylon.
David's throne was never again planted or built among the
Jews! It was not reigning over the Jews in the time of Christ. The Jews were
then under the Roman rule. Jesus did not ascend any such throne. The throne was
not functioning in Judah -- it was not existing at that place or over that
people -- it was not there for Jesus to take ovver. And Jesus said plainly that
His Kingdom was not of this present age! Yet He was born to sit upon this very
THRONE OF HIS FATHER DAVID (Luke 1:32)!
But that throne was divinely commissioned to be planted and
REBUILT by the prophet Jeremiah -- during his lifetime! Jeremiah was set over
both Judah and Israel. To be used in rooting out David's throne in Judah. But
more! To plant and to build, then, of necessity, among the house of ISRAEL, lo,
these many days without a king -- among LOST Israel, now supposing herself to
be GENTILE! Therefore the identity and location of the replanting must remain
hidden to the world until this time of the END in which we live.
Tearing Down the Throne
The life and work of Jeremiah is a most fascinating story.
The first chapters of the book of Jeremiah are devoted to his ministry, warning
of the impending captivity of the Jews. He warned the kings, the priests,
prophets and people of Judah, delivering God's message. They threw him in
prison -- and they refused to heed or obey God.. Then God caused their
captivity.
It is generally known that Babylon took Judah in three
different stages. The first siege was in 604 B.C., a date about two years later
than has been commonly reckoned, but a date now firmly established. The land
did not completely pass into the hands of these Gentile Babylonians, however,
until a full time-cycle of 19 years later, or 585 B.C. You can read the part
played by Jeremiah in this captivity in the book of Jeremiah.
But now notice an interesting fact. The last and final king
recorded either in Bible or secular history as having sat on the throne of
David was King Zedekiah of Judah. Remember his name. Now notice II Kings 24:18:
"Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign, and he
reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal, the
daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah."
Now notice briefly a description of the final tearing down
and rooting out of this throne of David: "In the ninth year of Zedekiah
king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all
his army against Jerusalem, and they besieged it. And in the eleventh year of
Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was
broken up .... And it came to pass, that when Zedekiah the king of
Judah saw them, and all the men of war, then they fled ....But the
Chaldeans' army pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho:
and when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of
Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgment upon him. Then
the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes: also
the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah. Moreover he put out
Zedekiah's eyes, and bound him with chains, to carry him to Babylon" (Jer.
39:1-7).
In the 52nd chapter, first 11 verses, we find almost a word-
for-word description of the same events with the added phrase: "... and put
him [Zedekiah] in prison TILL THE DAY OF HIS DEATH."
These passages bring out these points:
1) The king of Babylon slew all the sons of Zedekiah who were
heirs to the throne of David.
2) He also slew all the nobles of Judah so as to leave no
possible heirs for that throne.
3) Finally, after putting out Zedekiah's eyes, the king who
sat on David's throne was himself taken to Babylon where he died in prison.
4) Thus, as it appears, and as the whole world has believed,
the throne of David ceased, with no possible heirs, or sons, to keep the
dynasty alive. Certain it is that from that day on, the throne never again has
existed in Judah, in Jerusalem, or among the Jews!
What About Jeconiah?
It is true that a former king of Judah was at that time in
the dungeons of Babylon -- and he had sons to continue David's line. Former
King Jeconiah (Jehoiachin), taken to Babylon in chains, was restored to honor
37 years after the captivity (see II Kings 25:27- 30). He was even given the
title "king" along with numerous other captive, vassal
"kings."
One of Jeconiah's sons was Salathiel, who was the father of
Zorobabel, the son of royal seed through whom Jesus Christ Himself traced His
royal ancestry back to David! (Matt. 1:12.) And Zorobabel -- or Zerubbabel --
was the man God caussed Cyrus, king of Persia, to make a decree giving him the
governorship -- not the crown of a king -- to return to Jerusalem and rebuild
the House of God, the Temple, seventy years after the captivity.
Yet neither Jeconiah nor any of his sons or grandsons reigned
as king in Judah. Why?
If there was a descendant of the line of David who lived
through the captivity, why wasn't he restored to the throne when he was
returned to Jerusalem? Why? Simply because God would not permit it!
It is God who makes kings -- and unmakes them! God was
determined to remove the crown of David from the ruling line of Pharez and
place it on the head of a son of Zarah. Yet a royal line straight from David
had to remain in the area so the Christ could be born of David's seed yet
hundreds of years in the future. And God also had to keep His promise to David
that he, David, would never lack a descendant to sit on the throne! Many
intricate and fascinating prophecies had to be carried out -- some seemingly
contradictory -- a difficult job to perform, an awesome commission from God to
Jeremiah!
"As I live, saith the Lord, though Coniah [Jeconiah] the
son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I
pluck thee thence"! (Jer. 22:24.) God had determined an end for this line
of kings. He was removing the crown -- not permitting Jeconiah's sons to reign
on Judah's throne! God was turning over (overturning) the throne to another branch
of Judah's family.
God told Jeremiah forcefully, "Thus saith the Lord,
Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no
man of his seed shall prosper, SITTING UPON THE THRONE OF DAVID, AND RULING ANY
MORE IN JUDAH"! (Jer. 22:30.)
God spoke! Jeremiah wrote! History was designed and done as
God said! Jeconiah had children -- God Himself caused this fact to be recorded
(see I Chron. 3:17; Matt. 1:12), but as far as the THRONE OF DAVID was
concerned HE WAS CHILDLESS -- none of his children ever occupied that throne!
The crown had now been removed from the Pharez line, uprooted
from Judah, any immediate candidates to the throne killed, and Jeconiah
incarcerated in a Babylonian prison, written childless as far as the throne was
concerned by the command of God Almighty!
Jeremiah had now accomplished the first part of his great
commission. The throne had been rooted out, the kingdom torn completely down.
Judah was now beginning HER national punishment.
Where Did Jeremiah Go?
But what about the second part of Jeremiah's important
commission?
Jeremiah was among these captive Jews. He must be free to
carry out the second part of his commission.
So, "Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon gave charge
concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, saying, Take him,
and look well to him, and do him no harm; but do unto him even as he shall say
unto thee" (Jer. 39:11-12). "And the captain of the guard took
Jeremiah, and said unto him ....behold, I loose thee this day from the chains
which were upon thine hand. If it seem good unto thee to come with me into
Babylon, come; and I will look well unto thee: but if it seem ill unto thee to
come with me into Babylon, forbear: behold, all the land is before thee:
whither it seemeth good and convenient for thee to go, thither go
.... So the captain of the guard gave him victuals and a reward [money],
and let him go" (Jer. 40:2-5).
So Jeremiah was left absolutely free to do as he pleased,
supplied even with expense money, and given complete freedom, so that he might
perform the second half of his mission. Where did he go?
We come now to an amazing, fascinating, thrilling part of the
book of Jeremiah which has been almost entirely overlooked. "Then went
Jeremiah unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and dwelt with him among
the people that were left in the land" (verse 6).
--------------------
PHOTO CAPTION: KING NEBUCHADNEZZAR and its army conquered the
southern kingdom of Judah and carried its people captive to Babylonia -- far to
the south of those areas to which the northern tribes had earlier been taken by
the Assyrians.
--------------------
Now this Gedaliah had been made governor over a remnant
of Jews in the land by the king of Babylon, and since Jerusalem was destroyed,
he had made Mizpah his headquarters. But the king of Ammon plotted with a Jew
named Ishmael to assassinate Gedaliah. The plot was executed; the governor and
part of the Jews were slain. Jeremiah was among the survivors.
"Then Ishmael carried away captive all the residue of
the people that were in Mizpah, even the king's daughters, and all the people
that remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard [from
Babylon] had committed to Gedaliah ... and carried them away captive, and
departed to go over to the Ammonites" (Jer. 41:10).
Ah! Did you catch it? Read that passage again. Among these
Jews were the king's daughters! Daughters of Zedekiah, king of Judah, and of David's
dynasty!
King Zedekiah had died in prison in Babylon (Jer. 52:11). All
his sons had been killed. All the nobles of Judah had been killed. All possible
heirs of Zedekiah to David's throne had been killed -- except the king's
daughters! Now we see why Jeremiah went to Mizpah!
Jeremiah Escapes
Soon a man named Johanan replaced Ishmael as leader. And in
fear of reprisals from Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldean army, Johanan and the
captains appealed to the prophet "and said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let,
we beseech thee, our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us unto
the Lord thy God ... that the Lord thy God may shew us the way wherein we may
walk" (Jer. 42:2-3). They were like so many professing Christians today.
They come to God's minister with solemn assurances that they surely do want to
know God's will; they promise, as did these, "we will obey the voice of
the ETERNAL our God" (verse 6).
But did they mean it? Such people seldom do. Human nature
wants to be good -- or think it is good -- but it does not want to
do good.
The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, and He told them not
to fear, that He would protect and deliver them. But the people wanted to flee
to Egypt. This the Lord warned them not to do. If they did, the sword of Nebuchadnezzar
which they feared would overtake them there, and they would die. "If ye
wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt," God said, "and go to
sojourn there; then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye feared,
shall overtake you there ... and there ye shall die" (Jer. 42:15-16).
But, as people usually do, they rejected God's warning.
"Thou speakest falsely," Johanan answered, "the ETERNAL our God
hath not sent thee to say, Go not into Egypt" (Jer. 43:2-3). "So
Johanan ... and all the people, obeyed not the voice of the ETERNAL (verse 4).
People who loudly profess to want to do God's will usually will not accept
God's Word as being His will, unless it is their will!
And so Johanan "took all the remnant of Judah ... even
men, and women, and children, and the king's daughters ... and Jeremiah the
prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah [Jeremiah's scribe, or secretary]. So
they came into the land of Egypt" (Jer. 43:5-7).
On reaching Egypt, God warned these Jews again through
Jeremiah that they should die there by the sword and famine, and "none
shall return but such as shall escape"! (Jer. 44:12-14.) Yes, a few in
this company are under divine protection. A divine mission is to be performed.
They shall ESCAPE! The Eternal continues: "Yet a small number that escape
the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah"
(Jer. 44:28).
Under Divine Protection
Baruch was Jeremiah's constant companion and secretary. It is
important to note here God's promise of protection to him: "Thus saith the
Lord, the God of Israel, unto thee, O Baruch .... Behold, that which I have
built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even
this whole land ....but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places
whither thou goest" (Jer. 45:2-5). Baruch's life, like Jeremiah's, was
under divine protection!
Now previously the Eternal had said to Jeremiah, "Verily
it shall be well with thy REMNANT." The only "remnant" left for
Jeremiah's mission of transplanting the throne was the king's daughters.
"Verily," continued the Eternal, same verse, "I will cause the
enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of
affliction" (Jer. 15:11). This God literally did, as described in chapter
39:11-12 and chapter 40:2-6, which I have covered previously.
Notice, it is to be well with the royal material given to
Jeremiah with which to build and to plant -- and Jeremiah is to be protected
and to go to a land that he knows not! Who else was to go to a land they knew
not? The ten-tribed birthright kingdom, Israel!
So Jeremiah and his little royal remnant are to escape out of
Egypt, return to Judah, and then -- where? To the place where the "lost
ten tribes" had gone, as we shall see!
Now let Isaiah complete this prophecy: "For out of Jerusalem
shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of
the Lord of hosts shall do this. And the remnant that is escaped of the house
of Judah shall AGAIN TAKE ROOT DOWNWARD, AND BEAR FRUIT UPWARD" (Isa.
37:32, 31).
This same prophecy is found also in II Kings 19:30-31. It is
a prophecy given through Isaiah in the 14th year of the reign of King Hezekiah
of Judah, when King Sennacherib of Assyria threatened invasion of Judah. It was
a prophecy to happen later -- not during Hezekiah's reign. Some critics,
seeking to overthrow this basic and important truth, argue that this same
remnant is mentioned also in II Chronicles 30:6. But that event is not a
prophecy, but a historic account of an event in the first year of Hezekiah -- and
that remnant did not escape from Jerusalem, but they were Jews who escaped from
Sennacherib's forces threatening invasion of Judah -- they escaped into, not
out of Judah. And nothing is said here about "taking root downward, and
bearing fruit upward," as in both Isaiah 37 and II Kings 19.
This prophecy is so important it is recorded twice! It does
refer to the remnant to escape later -- to Jeremiah's escape. This remnant with
Jeremiah -- at least one of the king's daughters -- shall take root downward!
That is, BE REPLANTED!
And then bear fruit upward! Be built! Has God failed in His
solemn covenant to keep alive David's throne? Where was this planting and
building? Can we find it in God's Word? We can! The place and the people among
whom the throne was reestablished are clearly identified!
Chapter 8
THE MYSTERIOUS BREACH
WHERE DID JEREMIAH GO WITH Baruch his secretary and one or more
of the royal daughters of the king? History stops short at this point.
Enlightened students of Bible history have long known that the Ten Tribes --
called by the name "house of Israel" -- have been lost in identity
and historic knowledge, and exist today among the Gentile nations,
unrecognized. Their identity and location God has hidden from the world.
Yet, in this end time, when knowledge is to increase, when
the "wise" are to understand (Dan. 12:4,10), we shall find the secret
revealed through prophecy which could not be understood until now. But first,
we must consider a mysterious "breach" that occurred in the days of
Judah, son of Jacob.
Judah was the father of twin sons. The firstborn was royal
seed, for through him the sceptre promise was to be carried down. It seems the
midwife knew twins were about to be born. It is recorded that just before birth
one of the twins "put out his hand: and the midwife took and bound upon
his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first." But the
child drew hack his hand and the other was actually born first.
The midwife exclaimed, "How hast thou broken
forth? This breach be upon thee [margin, wherefore hast thou made
this breach against thee?]: therefore his name was called Pharez," meaning
"breach." The other twin was named Zarah (Gen. 38:27-30).
Why should this strange occurrence be recorded in Bible
history unless this breach was to be healed between the sons or their
descendants at some future time? Yet it never occurred in their lifetime.
Zarah, of the scarlet thread, had five sons (I Chron. 2:6).
Did a descendant of Zarah finally get the throne, in a manner healing the
breach? David, Zedekiah, Christ -- all were of the PHAREZ branch --
none of Zarah.
Now consider: 1) the fact of the breach means the transfer of
the sceptre from the Pharez to the Zarah line. 2) Such transfer never occurred
before King Zedekiah of Judah, who was descended from Pharez. 3) Therefore it
had to occur after Zedekiah was dethroned. 4) Since David's line (Pharez) is to
remain on the throne through all generations forever, it could only occur at an
OVERTURN of the throne by a marriage between a Pharez heir to the throne and
one of the Zarah line, thus healing the breach.
The Three Overturns
History shows the descendants of Zarah became wanderers,
journeying to the north within the confines of the Scythian nations, their
descendants later migrating to Ireland in the days of King David.
But meanwhile, the Pharez-David-Zedekiah line possessed the
sceptre -- was HIGH -- exalted. The Zarah line, feeling it rightfully should
possess the sceptre, and some day would, was low, abased -- so far as royal
power was concerned.
Now consider a much misunderstood passage of prophecy. If you
will begin reading at the 18th verse of the 21st chapter of Ezekiel, you will
see plainly that the Eternal is here speaking of the captivity of Judah by the
king of Babylon. And, beginning in the 25th verse, He says: "And thou,
profane wicked prince of Israel [Zedekiah], whose day is come, when iniquity shall
have an end, thus saith the Lord God; remove the diadem, and take off the crown
[as did happen, through the first half of Jeremiah's commission]: this [the
crown] shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is
high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until
he come whose right it is; and I will give it him."
Let us understand that clearly. "Remove the diadem,
and take off the crown." King Zedekiah, of David's dynasty, had the
crown. This says it is to be removed. It was removed. He died in Babylon; his
sons and all the nobles of Judah were killed.
"This shall not be the same." The diadem is not to
cease, but a change is to take place -- the throne is to be overturned --
another is to wear the crown. God's promise to David is not to go by default!
"Exalt him that is low, and abase him that is
high." Who is "high"? King Zedekiah of Judah. Now he is to be
abased. He is to lose that crown. Judah has been "high," while Israel
has been "low" -- these many years without a king (Hosea 3:4). The
Pharez line has been "high"; the Zarah line "low."
"I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall
be no more, until he come whose right it is." What was to be overturned?
The diadem, and the throne. Not once -- it is to be overturned three times.
Overturned by abasing Zedekiah, the house of Judah, the Pharez line, and
exalting, now, the house of Israel, and one of the Zarah line! The first of the
three overturns was performed as the first half of Jeremiah's commission.
"And it shall be no more." Does this mean the
throne -- the crown -- is to cease to exist? Not at all! How could it be
overturned two more times -- that is, TRANSFERRED from one to another, if it
ceased to exist? How, after these three transfers of the crown, could it be
given to Him -- Christ -- whose right it is, at His second coming, if it ceased
altogether to exist? How could he who was "low" now be exalted by the
crown, if that crown was to be no more? No, the meaning is: "It shall be
no more overturned until the second coming of Christ"! And then it shall
be given to Him!
God will not break His unalterable promise made to David!
Through every generation David shall have a descendant wearing that crown! The
second half of Jeremiah's commission must now be performed. That throne must be
transplanted, and again BUILT. The crown must be overturned -- transferred to
another! But WHERE? To WHOM?
A "Riddle" and a "Parable" Tells!
The strange truth of the PLANTING and the REBUILDING of
David's throne is revealed in "a riddle and a parable" couched in
symbolic language never understood until this latter day. Yet it stands today
so clearly explained a little child could understand!
It fills the 17th chapter of Ezekiel's prophecy. The whole
chapter should be carefully read. Notice, first, this prophetic message is
addressed, NOT to Judah, the Jews, but to the house of Israel. It is a message
to give light to the lost ten-tribed house of ISRAEL in these latter days!
First, Ezekiel is told to speak a riddle, and then a parable.
The riddle is found in verses 3 to 10. Then, beginning in verse 11, the Eternal
explains its meaning. "Say now to the rebellious house [God says, the
"rebellious house," being ten-tribed ISRAEL (Ezek. 12:9), to whom
Ezekiel is set a prophet (Ezek. 2:3; 3:1, etc.)], Know ye not what these things
mean? tell them ..." and then the riddle is clearly explained.
A great eagle came to Lebanon and took the highest branch of
the cedar. This is explained to represent King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon who came
to Jerusalem and took captive the king of Judah. The cropping off of the
cedar's young twigs and carrying them to a land of traffic is explained to
picture the captivity of the king's sons. "He took also of the seed of the
land" means Nebuchadnezzar took also of the people, and the mighty of the
land of Judah. He "set it as a willow tree. And it grew, and became a
spreading vine of low stature" means the Jews were given a covenant
whereby, although they were ruled over by the Chaldeans, they might live in
peace and grow. The other "great eagle" is explained to represent
Pharaoh of Egypt.
Thus the riddle covers the first half of Jeremiah's
commission. Now notice what is revealed concerning the second part- -the
PLANTING of David's throne! It comes in the parable, verses 22-24: "Thus
saith the Lord God; I will also take of the highest branch of the high
cedar." From God's own explanation we have learned that the cedar tree
represents the nation of Judah; its highest branch is Judah's king. The riddle
told us Nebuchadnezzar took the highest branch -- the king. The parable now
tells us God -- not Nebuchadnezzar, but God will take of the highest branch.
Not the branch, but OF the branch -- of Zedekiah's children. But Nebuchadnezzar
took, and killed, all his SONS.
God, through his prophet Jeremiah, is now going to take of
this highest branch and "SET IT" (verse 22). "I will crop off
from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it
upon an high mountain and eminent," continues the Almighty! Ah!
"A tender young twig"! The twigs of this highest branch represent the
children of King Zedekiah! Certainly a tender young twig, then, represents a
DAUGHTER! "... and will PLANT it." Could symbolic language say
plainer this young Jewish princess is to become the royal seed for PLANTING
again of David's throne? Where? "... upon an high mountain and
eminent," says the Eternal! A "mountain" in symbol always
represents a NATION.
But Which Nation?
"In the mountain of the height of ISRAEL will I plant
it," answers the Eternal! David's throne now is to be planted in Israel,
after being thrown down from JUDAH! Could language be plainer? "... and it
[the tender young twig -- the king's daughter] shall bring forth boughs, and
bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar."
Did David's throne cease with Zedekiah of Judah? Did God
forget His covenant? No! Compare this language with the passage in Isaiah
37:31-32: "The remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again
take root downward [be planted], and BEAR FRUIT UPWARD." It was PLANTED IN
ISRAEL, who removed from Judah! After this Hebrew princess is
"planted" on the throne, now in ISRAEL, lost from view -- that throne
is to BEAR FRUIT. She is to marry, have children, and her sons are to continue
David's dynasty!
"... and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in
the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell" (Ezek. 17:23).
"Lost" Israel, now having acquired the throne and become again a
self-ruling nation, shall, in time, spread around the earth gaining dominance
and power. They shall inherit the unconditional promises of the BIRTHRIGHT,
according to God's covenant with Abraham!
"And all the trees of the field ..." (verse 24). A
"tree" in this riddle and parable is likened to a nation. In other
words, "all the nations of the earth." "... shall know
that I the Lord have brought down the high tree." Judah, the high tree,
having the throne 130 years after Israel had been taken captive, now is brought
down to the low stature of slavery. "... have exalted the low
tree." For 130 years Israel had been a "low tree." Now Israel is
exalted, becomes again a thriving nation with a Davidic king.
"... have dried up the green tree [Judah], and have made the dry
tree [Israel] to flourish."
Compare that language with Ezekiel 21:26: "Remove the
diadem, and take off the crown ... exalt him that is low, and abase him that is
high. I will overturn ..." etc. It is speaking of transferring the throne
from Judah to Israel.
ISRAEL had already been independent in Ireland for four
centuries. Israel in Ireland already had a kingly line onto which Zedekiah's
daughter was grafted. The Irish Israelites were an ancient colony and had not
gone into Assyrian captivity.
ISRAEL, headed by the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, who
possessed the birthright, now would flourish, become prosperous in due time.
"I the Lord have spoken and have done it" (Ezek. 17:24).
Yes, that BIRTHRIGHT is in ISRAEL. Though lost, though
supposed to be a Gentile nation, they are the people who were to grow into the
promised multitude -- the great nation and the company of nations, possessing
the gates of their enemy nations, becoming a colonizing people spreading around
the world, being blessed with national resources and wealth. And, when they
become thus powerful and nationally dominant, remember, David's throne will be
found transplanted among them!
But where did Jeremiah, with his royal seed for the
transplanting, go to find the lost house of Israel? Where are they today? How
was the "breach" healed, and how did a son of Zarah ascend the
throne? Can we tell?
We CAN! The exact, precise location is revealed in Bible
prophecy! We can pick up Jeremiah's trail in actual history besides!
Chapter 9
ISRAEL'S NEW LAND
WE ARE READY NOW TO SEARCH out the actual location of the
lost tribes of the outcast house of Israel. We know they exist today as a
nation, and a company of nations, powerful, looked upon as Gentiles. And when
we find them, we shall find the throne of David!
Many passages of prophecy tell of these people in these
latter days. Prophecies not to be understood until this "time of the
end." Prophecies containing a message to be carried to these people by
those to whom God reveals it!
First, fix in mind these facts:
The prophet Amos wrote, in the days of the 13th of the 19
kings of the house of Israel (Amos 1:1): "Behold, the eyes of the Lord God
are upon the sinful kingdom [house of Israel -- Judah had not yet sinned], and
I will destroy it [the kingdom, or government, not the people] from off the
face of the earth .... For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of
Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the
least grain fall upon the earth" (Amos 9:8-9).
This prophecy usually is applied to the scattered condition
of the Jews. But it has nothing to do with the Jews, or house of Judah, but
refers to the ten-tribed house of ISRAEL -- driven to Assyrian captivity, then
migrating from there and scattering among other nations before the Jews were
taken to Babylon. This prophecy says that ISRAEL (not Judah) was to be sifted
among other nations -- these Israelites losing their identity -- yet God has
protected and kept them: "yet shall not the least grain fall upon the
earth."
A New Homeland
It was during this time that the children of the house of
Israel were to "abide many days without a king" (Hosea 3:4). That
these people did sift through all nations is clear. Many New Testament passages
indicate this. Although many of them still were scattered among various nations
in the first century A.D., a portion of them had become established in a
definite location of their own by Jeremiah's time -- 140 years after their
original captivity.
But these Israelites who possessed the birthright eventually
were to come to a new land of their own. The Eternal says, in II Samuel 7:10
and I Chronicles 17:9: "Moreover I will appoint a place for my people
Israel, and will PLANT THEM [Jeremiah was commissioned to do the PLANTING of
the throne among them], that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move
no more." The context of the whole passage shows this refers, not to
Palestine, but a different land where these scattered Israelites were to gather
after being removed from the promised land of Palestine, while that
land was lying idle and in possession of the Gentiles.
Notice carefully! After being removed from Palestine, being
sifted among all nations, abiding many days without a king, losing their
identity, they are to be "planted" in a faraway strange land now to
become their own. And, note it, after reaching this place they are to move now
more! That is, of course, during this present world.
While other prophecies indicate these birthright holders were
to become a colonizing people, spreading around the world, it is plain that the
spreading out must be from this appointed place, which must remain the
"home" seat of government for David's throne.
Mark this clearly! Once this "place of their own"
was reached, and the throne of David planted there, THEY WERE TO MOVE NO MORE.
Therefore, the location of this people today is the place where Jeremiah
planted David's throne more than 2,500 years ago!
Therefore prophecies pertaining to this day, or to the
location of this people just prior to Christ's return, will tell us the
location of Jeremiah's planting. The house of Israel is yet to return, at
Christ's coming, to Palestine -- yet to plant grapes in Samaria, their original
country. Prophecies telling where they shall, in that future day, migrate FROM
will reveal the location of "lost" ten-tribed ISRAEL! The two
succeeding "overturns" of the throne, too, must be located in this same
general locale.
Lost Israel Located
Without further suspense, let us see where prophecy locates
these birthright holders, now possessing the throne of David and having
received earth's richest national blessings. Remember they are distinguished
from Judah -- the Jews -- by various names: "EEphraim,"
"Joseph," "Jacob," "Rachel" (the mother of
Joseph), "Samaria" (their former home), "Israel."
According to Hosea 12:1: "Ephraim ... followeth after
the east wind." An "east wind" travels west. Ephraim must have
gone west from Assyria. When the Eternal swore to David that He would
perpetuate his throne, He said: "I will set his hand [sceptre] also in the
sea" (Ps. 89:25). The throne is to be "set," planted, "in
the sea."
Through Jeremiah the Eternal said: "Backsliding Israel
hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah. Go and proclaim these words
toward the NORTH, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the
Lord" (Jer. 3:11-12). Israel is clearly distinguished from Judah. Of
course Israel was north of Judah while still in Palestine -- but when these
words were written by Jeremiah, Israel had been removed from Palestine more
than 130 years and had long since migrated, with the Assyrians, north (and
west) of Assyria's original location.
And in these last days messengers are to go "toward the
NORTH" (of Jerusalem) in order to locate lost Israel and proclaim this
warning. So the location, we now find, is toward the north, also west, and in
the sea.
The 18th verse, same chapter, says: "In those days the
house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel [margin, to the house of
Israel], and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land
that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers." At the future
exodus, at Christ's coming, they are to return to Palestine out of the land of
the north!
After saying, "How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?"
the Eternal, speaking through Hosea, says: "Then the children shall
tremble from the west" (Hosea 11:8, 10).
Again: "Behold, I will bring them from the north
country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth" (Jer. 31:8). This
prophecy is for consideration in the "latter days" (Jer. 30:24;
31:1), and is addressed to "Israel" (verses 2,4,9), to
"Ephraim" (verses 6, 9), and "Samaria" (verse 5). Here is
added another hint- -"the coasts of the earth" (verse 8) --
evidencing they are dominant at sea and indicating they have spread abroad
widely by colonization.
Referring to the house of ISRAEL, not Judah (Isaiah 49:3,6),
God says: "Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the
NORTH and from the WEST; and these from the land of Sinim" (Isa. 49:12).
In the Hebrew, the language in which this was originally inspired, there is no
word for "northwest," but this term is designated by the phrase, "the
north and the west." It means, literally, the northwest! The Vulgate
renders "Sinim" as "Australi," or "Australia." So
we now have the location northwest of Jerusalem and even spreading around the
world.
Hence, Israel of TODAY -- Israel of the day of Jeremiah's
"transplanting" of David's throne -- is located specifically as
northwest off Jerusalem and in the sea! Let us locate this land more
specifically!
The same 49th chapter of Isaiah begins with this:
"Listen, O isles, unto me." The people addressed, Israel, are called
"O isles" in the first verse and "O Israel" in the third
verse. This term "isles" or "island" is sometimes
translated "coastlands."
The 31st chapter of Jeremiah, locating Israel in the
"north country," says: "I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is
my firstborn. Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations [Ephraim, Manasseh], and
declare it in the isles afar off ..." (Jer. 31:9-10).
Again: "Keep silence before me, O islands ... thou,
Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen" (Isa. 41:1,8).
In Jeremiah 31:10, the message is to be declared "in the
isles afar off" and is to be shouted in "the CHIEF OF THE
NATIONS" (verse 7). So, finally, today, as in Jeremiah's day, the house of
Israel is in the isles, which are "in the sea," the chief of the
nations, northwest of Jerusalem. A coast-dwelling, and therefore sea- dominant
people. Certainly there can be no mistaking that identity!
Take a map of Europe. Lay a line due NORTHWEST of Jerusalem
across the continent of Europe, until you come to the sea, and then to the
islands in the sea! This line takes you directly to the British Isles!
Of proof that our white, English-speaking peoples today --
Britain and America -- are actually and truly the birthright tribes of Ephraim
and Manasseh of the "lost" house of Israel there is so much we shall
have space for but a small portion in this book.
Britain's Hebrew Names
A most interesting fact is the Hebrew meaning of the names of
the British people. The house of Israel is the covenant people. The Hebrew word
for "covenant" is beriyth, or berith. After Gideon's death, Israel
followed the false pagan god Baal. In Judges 8:33 and 9:4, the word
"covenant" is used as a proper name coupled with the name
"Baal." This is quoted in the English text, Authorized Version,
without being translated, as "Baalberith," meaning (margin)
"idol of the covenant."
The Hebrew for "man" is iysh, or ish. In English,
the ending "-ish" means "of or belonging to (a specified nation
or person)." In the original Hebrew language vowels were never given in
the spelling. So, omitting the vowel "e" from berith, but retaining
the "i" in its anglicized form to preserve the "y" sound,
we have the anglicized Hebrew word for covenant, brith.
The Hebrews, however, never pronounced their "h's."
Many a Jew, even today, in pronouncing the name "Shem," will call it
"Sem." Incidentally, this ancient Hebrew trait is also a modern
British trait. So the Hebrew word for "covenant" would be pronounced,
in its anglicized form, as brit.
And the word for "covenant man," or "covenant
people," would therefore be simply "BRIT-ISH." And so, is it
mere coincidence that the true covenant people today are called the
"BRITISH"? And they reside in the "BRITISH ISLES"!
The house of Israel not only was to lose its identity, but
its name. It was to be called by a new name, since they no longer were to know
their identity as Israel, as God said plainly in Isaiah 62:2, referring to
these latter days, and to the millennium.
To Abraham God said, "In ISAAC shall thy seed be
called," and this name is repeated in Romans 9:7 and Hebrews 11:18. In
Amos 7:16 the Israelites are called "the house of ISAAC." They were
descended from Isaac, and therefore are Isaac's sons. Drop the "I" from
"Isaac" (vowels are not used in Hebrew spelling), and we have the
modern name "SAAC'S SONS," or, as we spell it in shorter manner,
"SAXONS"!
Dr. W. Holt Yates says, "The word "Saxons" is
derived from the "sons of Isaac," by dropping the prefix
"I." "
Many confuse the Anglo-Saxons with the German or Old Saxons
who still live in Germany. The German Saxons derive their name from an Old High
German word, Sahs, meaning "sword" or "knife." These
sword-carrying Germans are an entirely different people from the Anglo-Saxons
who migrated to Britain.
Dan a Serpent's Trail
As the Eternal intended that "lost" Israel was to
be located and found in these last days, we should expect some kinds of signs
or waymarks to have been left along the trail by which ancient Israel journeyed
from Assyria, the land of their original captivity.
Speaking to Ephraim (verse 20), the Eternal says in Jeremiah
31:21: "Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps: set thine heart toward
the highway, even the way which thou wentest." In Scripture we find the
"waymarks," or highway signs, which they set up along the road they
traveled.
In Genesis 49:17, Jacob, foretelling what should befall each
of the tribes, says: "Dan shall be a serpent by the way." Another
translation of the original Hebrew is: "Dan shall be a serpent's
trail." It is a significant fact that the tribe of Dan, one of the Ten
Tribes, named every place they went after their father Dan.
The tribe of Dan originally occupied a strip of coast country
on the Mediterranean, west of Jerusalem. "And the coast of the children of
Dan," we read in Joshua 19:47, "went out too little for them:
therefore the children of Dan went up to fight against Leshem, and took it ...
and called Leshem, DAN, after the name of Dan their father."
In Judges 18:11-12, it is recorded that Danites took Kirjath-
jearim, and "called that place Mahaneh-dan unto this day." A little
later the same company of 600 armed Danites came to Laish, captured it, and
"they called the name of the city DAN, after the name of Dan their
father" (verse 29). So notice how these Danites left their "serpent's
trail" by the way -- set up waymarks by which they may be traced today.
Remember, in the Hebrew, vowels were not written. The sound
of the vowels had to be supplied in speaking. Thus, the word "Dan" in
its English equivalent could be spelled, simply, "Dn." It might be
pronounced as "Dan," or "Den," or "Din," or
"Don," or "Dun" -- and still could be the same original
Hebrew name.
The tribe of Dan occupied two different districts, or
provinces, in the Holy Land before the Assyrian captivity. One colony lived on
the seacoast of Palestine. They were principally seamen, and it is recorded Dan
abode in ships (Judges 5:17).
When Assyria captured Israel, these Danites struck out in
their ships and sailed west through the Mediterranean and north to Ireland.
Just before his death, Moses prophesied of Dan: "Dan is a lion's whelp: he
shall leap from Bashan" (Deut. 33:22). Along the shores of the
Mediterranean they left their trail in "Den," "Don," and
"Din."
Irish annals and history show that the new settlers of
Ireland, at just this time, were the "Tuatha de Danaans," which
means, translated, "Tribe of Dan." Sometimes the same appears simply
as "Tuathe De," meaning the "people of God." And in Ireland
we find they left these "waymarks": Dans-Laugh, Dan-Sower, Dun- dalk,
Dun-drum, Don-egal Bay, Don-egal City, Dun-gloe, Din-gle, Dunsmor (meaning
"more Dans"). Moreover, the name Dunn in the Irish language means the
same as Dan in the Hebrew: judge.
But the northern colony of Danites was taken to Assyria in
the captivity, and thence with the rest of the Ten Tribes they traveled from
Assyria by the overland route.
After leaving Assyrian captivity, they inhabited for some
time the land just west of the Black Sea. There we find the rivers Dnieper,
Dniester, and the Don.
Then, in either ancient or later geography, we find these
waymarks: Dan-au, the Dan-inn, the Dan-aster, the Dan-dari, the Dan-ez, the
Don, the Dan, and the U-don; the Eri-don, down to the Danes. Denmark means
"Dan's mark."
When they came to the British Isles they set up the
"waymark" names of Dun-dee, Dun-raven; in Scotland the
"Dans," "Dons" and "Duns" are as prolific as in
Ireland. And so the "serpent's trail" of Dan sets up waymarks that
lead directly to the British Isles!
Ancient Annals of Ireland
Now briefly let us consider what is found in the ancient
annals, legends, and history of Ireland, and we shall have the scene of
Jeremiah's "planting" and the present location of "lost" Israel.
The real ancient history of Ireland
is very extensive, though colored with some legend. But with the facts of
biblical history and prophecy in mind, one can easily sift out the legend from
the true history in studying ancient Irish annals. Throwing out that which is
obviously legendary, we glean from various histories of Ireland the following:
Long prior to 700 B.C. a strong colony called "Tuatha de Danaan"
(tribe of Dan) arrived in ships, drove out other tribes, and settled there.
Later, in the days of David, a colony of the line of Zarah arrived in Ireland
from the Near East.
PHOTO CAPTION: MAP ILLUSTRATES ROUTE
of Jeremiah's trip to Ireland. According to tradition, he set up the royal
dynasty in Ireland, which was overturned and planted in Scotland and later
moved to England.
PHOTO CAPTION: THE OLD CORONATION CHAIR, at right, in
Westminster Abbey, London. Under it lies a stone, said to have been brought to
Ireland by Jeremiah the prophet and upon which many kings of Scotland and
England have been coronated.
--------------------
Then, in 569 B.C. (date of Jeremiah's transplanting),
an elderly, white-haired patriarch, sometimes referred to as a
"saint," came to Ireland. With him was the princess daughter of an
eastern king and a companion called "Simon Brach," spelled in
different histories as Breck, Berech, Brach, or Berach. The princess had a
Hebrew name Tephi -- a pet name -- her full name being Tea-Tephi.
Modern literature of those who recognize our national
identity has confused this Tea-Tephi, a daughter of Zedekiah, with an earlier
Tea, a daughter of Ith, who lived in the days of David.
This royal party included the son of the king of Ireland who
had been in Jerusalem at the time of the siege. There he had become acquainted
with Tea-Tephi. He married her shortly after 585 -- when the city fell. Their
young son, now about 12 years of age, accompanied them to Ireland. Besides the
royal family, Jeremiah brought with them some remarkable things, including a
harp, an ark, and a wonderful stone called "lia-fail," or "stone
of destiny." A peculiar coincidence (?) is that Hebrew reads from right to
left, while English reads from left to right. Read this name either way -- and
it still is "lia-fail."
Another strange coincidence -- or is it just coincidence?
is that many kings in the history of Ireland, Scotland, and England have
been coronated sitting over this stone -- including the present queen. The
stone rests today in Westminster Abbey in London, and the coronation chair is
built over and around it. A sign beside it labels it "Jacob's
pillar-stone" (Gen. 28:18).
The royal husband of the Hebrew princess Tea was given the
title Herremon upon ascending the throne of his father. This Herremon has
usually been confused with a much earlier Gede the Herremon in David's day --
who married his uncle Ith's daughter Tea. The son of this later king Herremon
and Hebrew princess continued on the throne of Ireland and this same dynasty continued
unbroken through all the kings of Ireland; was overturned and transplanted
again in Scotland; again overturned and moved to London, England, where this
same dynasty continues today in the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.
Another interesting fact is that the crown worn by the kings
of the line of Herremon and the other sovereigns of ancient Ireland had twelve
points!
Queen Elizabeth on David's Throne
In view of the linking together of biblical history,
prophecy, and Irish history, can anyone deny that this Hebrew princess was the
daughter of King Zedekiah of Judah and therefore heir to the throne of David?
That the aged patriarch was in fact Jeremiah, and his companion was Jeremiah's
scribe, or secretary, Baruch? That King Herremon was a descendant of Zarah,
here married to the daughter of Pharez, healing the ancient breach? That when
the throne of David was first overturned by Jeremiah, it was REPLANTED in
Ireland, later overturned a second time and replanted in Scotland, overturned a
third time and planted in London? When Christ returns to earth to sit on that
throne, He shall take over a live, existing throne, not a nonexistent one (Luke
1:32).
And the British Commonwealth of Nations is the only COMPANY
OF NATIONS in all earth's history. Could we so exactly fulfill the
specifications of the birthright, and not be the birthright people?
The United States expanded rapidly in national resources and
wealth after 1800, but reached world dominance among nations later than the
British Commonwealth. It became a giant world power by the end of World War I.
The United States Is Manasseh
From the prophetic blessings passed on by the dying Jacob, it
is apparent that Ephraim and Manasseh were in a large measure to inherit the
birthright jointly; to remain together for a long time, finally separating.
In Genesis 48 Jacob first passed the birthright on to the two
sons of Joseph jointly, speaking of them both together. Then, finally, he spoke
of them separately -- Manasseh was to become the single great nation; Ephraim,
the COMPANY of nations.
And in his prophecy for these latter days Jacob said,
"Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose
branches run over the wall" (Gen. 49:22). In other words, Joseph --
Ephraim and Manasseh jointly and together -- was to be a colonizing people in
this latter day, their colonies branching out from the British Isles around the
earth.
Together Ephraim and Manasseh grew into a multitude, then
separated, according to Jacob's prophetic blessing of Genesis 48. Our people
have fulfilled this prophecy.
But how can we be Manasseh when a large part of our people
have come from many nations besides England? The answer is this: A large part
of Manasseh remained with Ephraim until the separation
of NEW England. But our forefathers were to be sifted through many
nations, as corn through a sieve, yet not a grain to fall to the earth or be
lost (Amos 9:9). Our people did filter through many nations. Ephraim and much
of Manasseh finally immigrated to England together, but many others of Manasseh
who had filtered into and through other nations did not leave them until they
came, as immigrants, to the United States AFTER the New England colony had
become the separate nation. This does not mean that all foreigners who have immigrated
into this country are of the stock of Manasseh, but undoubtedly many are.
Israel, however, always did absorb Gentiles, who became Israelites through
living in Israel's land and intermarrying.
Thus we have become known as the "melting pot" of
the world. Instead of refuting our Manasseh ancestry, this fact actually
confirms it. The proof that we are Manasseh is overwhelming. Manasseh was to
separate from Ephraim and become the greatest, wealthiest single nation of
earth's history. We alone have fulfilled this prophecy. Manasseh was in fact a
thirteenth tribe. There were twelve original tribes. Joseph was one of these
twelve. But when Joseph divided into two tribes and Manasseh separated into an
independent nation, it became a thirteenth tribe.
Could it be mere coincidence that it started, as a nation,
with thirteen colonies?
But what about the other tribes of the so-called "Lost
Ten Tribes"? While the birthright was Joseph's, and its blessings have
come to the British Commonwealth of Nations and the United States of America,
yet the other eight tribes of Israel were also God's chosen people. They, too,
have been blessed with a good measure of material prosperity -- but not the
dominance of the birthright.
We lack space for a detailed explanation of the specific
identity of all of these other tribes in the nations of our twentieth century.
Suffice it to say here that there is ample evidence that these other eight
tribes have descended into such northwestern European nations as Holland,
Belgium, Denmark, northern France, Luxembourg, Switzerland,
Sweden, Norway. The people of Iceland are also of Viking stock. The
political boundaries of Europe, as they exist today, do not necessarily show
lines of division between descendants of these original tribes of Israel.
Chapter 10
BIRTHRIGHT WITHHELD
2520 YEARS!
THE MOST REMARKABLE FULFILLMENT of biblical prophecy in
modern times was the sudden sprouting forth of the two mightiest world powers
-- one, a commonwealth of nations forminnng the greatest world empire of all
time; the other, the wealthiest, most powerful nation on earth today. These
birthright peoples came, with incredible suddenness, into possession of more
than two-thirds -- nearly three- fourths -- of the cultivated wealth and
resources of the whole world! This sensational spurt from virtual obscurity in
so short a time gives incontrovertible PROOF of divine inspiration. Never, in
all history, did anything like it occur.
But why did this unprecedented national wealth and power come
to our birthright inheritors only after the year A.D. 1800? Why did not this
national dominance come to the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh millennia ago --
in the days of Moses, or Joshua, or David, or Elijah?
A "Nation" and a "Commonwealth of
Nations"
Remember now the birthright promise was given to the two
tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh -- not to the other tribes or their descendants.
These two birthright tribes were part of the northern kingdom of Israel.
Notice again the original promise: "A nation and a
company of nations shall be of thee" (Gen. 35:11).
In passing on the birthright promise the dying Jacob (Israel)
said of Ephraim and Manasseh, sons of Joseph, "... let my name be named on
them" (Gen. 48:16). Hence it is THEY -- the descendants of Ephraim (the
British) and Manasseh (Americans) -- not the Jews, who are referred to in
prophecy under the names of Jacob or Israel. Continuing, Jacob added, "...
and let them grow into a multitude."
Then, speaking of Manasseh and his descendants alone, Jacob
said prophetically: "... he also shall become a people [nation], and he
also shall be GREAT: but truly his younger brother [Ephraim] shall be greater
than he, and his seed shall become a MULTITUDE [a company, or COMMONWEALTH] of
NATIONS" (Gen. 48:19).
In A.D. 1800 the United Kingdom and the United States were
small and insignificant among the earth's nations. The United Kingdom consisted
only of the British Isles, a very small part of India and of Canada and a few
little islands. The United States consisted only of the original 13 colonies
and three added states. Neither possessed any great wealth or power.
But beginning in 1800 these two little nations began to
sprout and to grow into vast national riches and power such as no people ever
possessed. Soon Britain's empire spread around the world, until the sun never
set upon her possessions. Canada, Australia, South Africa were given dominion
status -- made free and independent nations, ruling themselves independent of
England -- a company, or commonwealth, of nations joined together, not by legal
government, but solely by the throne of David!
But why was that tremendous birthright, which was promised
unconditionally to Abraham, repromised to Isaac and Jacob, never bestowed for
millennia of time -- until after A.D. 1800? The answer is amazing -- exciting!
--------------------
PHOTO CAPTION: THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION brought the
birthright tribes to national prominence. Photos show a gold smelter and a
steel mill.
--------------------
To understand this miraculous burst into world dominance, it
is necessary to examine the very pivot of Old Testament prophecies- -the 26th
chapter of Leviticus.
Prophecy for Now
This remarkable prophecy pertains to our time, as well as
giving warning to the people of Israel in Moses' day. Few realize that the
prophecies of the Old Testament pertain, primarily, to this 20th century --
not, in many cases, to Old Testament times at all.
Most ministers and church leaders today were schooled in the
theological seminaries of their particular denominations. They were taught,
nearly altogether, from sectarian books, not from the Bible. Many of these will
say: "We are a New Testament church," supposing Old Testament
prophecies pertained only to Old Testament times, having no meaning for us
today. That is an error and a delusion! Many Old Testament prophecies were
never written for, nor read by or to, the Israelites of those times. The New
Testament Church of God is actually built on the FOUNDATION of the Old
Testament prophets, as well as the apostles (Eph. 2:20).
Daniel wrote after both Israel and Judah had been removed
from Palestine as slaves. He had no way to communicate his prophecies to his
enslaved countrymen -- and besides, the meaning was closed and sealed until our
time, now (Dan. 12:8-9).
Ezekiel was a prophet, not to the Jews of the house of Judah,
though he was among them in their captivity. But his prophecy was to be
delivered to the house of Israel -- driven out some 130 years before, and by
Ezekiel's time lost from view. His prophecy was to be delivered to the house of
Israel TODAY, in this 20th century, by God's ministers who now know their
identity!
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PHOTO CAPTION: AN OVER-ABUNDANCE -- Top, wheat being poured
into streets. That's how great the surplus was! Bottom, air view of giant grain
storage bins in the U.S. wheat belt.
--------------------
And this prophecy of Leviticus 26, though written by Moses
before the Israelites had entered the promised land, is one of dual
fulfillment. It was a warning to those of Moses' day, but its final
fulfillment, as we shall see, has taken place and is now taking place -- in our
time. And, through the dual fulfillment, typical of so many prophecies, it is
also a WARNING to the American and British peoples of impending events!
Leviticus 26 is the basic prophecy of the Old Testament. It contains a vital,
living, tremendous message and warning for our people today!
The Pivotal Prophecy
In this central prophecy, God reaffirmed the birthright
promise -- but with conditions -- for those of Moses' day! The birthright tribes
of Ephraim and Manasseh were then with the other tribes -- as one nation.
Obedience to God's laws would bring the vast national wealth and blessings of
the birthright not only to Ephraim and Manasseh, but the whole NATION would
automatically have shared them at that time.
Notice carefully that two of the Ten Commandments are
mentioned for emphasis. These were the main test commandments! They were the
test of obedience, and of faith in and loyalty to God. God said: "Ye shall
make you no idols nor graven image ... to bow down unto it: for I am the
Eternal your God. Ye shall keep MY Sabbaths ..." (verses 1-2).
There was a condition -- a great big "if" -- to
their receiving actual fulfillment of this stupendous birthright promise in
their time! God said: "If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my
commandments, and do them; then I will give you rain in due season, and the
land shall yield her increase ..." (verses 3-4). All wealth comes out of
the ground. They would enjoy bumper crops the year round, one harvest on the
heels of another. Verse 6: "And I will give PEACE in the land ... and none
shall make you afraid ... neither shall the sword [of war] go through your
land." What a blessing! What nation enjoys continuous peace, without fear
of invasion?
Of course, in this world, every nation has enemies. What if
enemy nations attacked? Verses 7-8: "And ye shall chase your enemies, and
they shall fall before you by the sword. And five of you shall chase an
hundred, and an hundreds of you shall put ten thousand to flight ...."
Since many nations in this world always have been aggressors,
Israel would have been attacked. A nation with the military superiority to
defeat all attackers would soon become the dominant, most powerful nation on
earth -- especially with resources and great wealth from the ground. Verse 9:
"For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply
you, and establish my covenant with you."
The Great Big If
But here comes the alternative -- IF the conditions are not
met: "... if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these
commandments ... I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you
terror, consumption, and the burning ague [fever], that shall consume the eyes,
and cause sorrow of the heart [RSV: waste the eyes and cause life to pine
away]: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. And I
will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they
that hate you shall reign over you ..." (verses 14-17). They would be invaded,
conquered, become once again slaves -- as they had been in Egypt before God
freed them.
Now What Did Happen?
These Israelites griped, grumbled,
complained, doubted God almost from the very night they left Egypt.
God miraculously delivered them from the pursuing Egyptian army at the Red Sea.
God sent manna and quails from heaven to feed them. God caused drinking water
to gush from the great rock. But always they complained, showed a rebellious
attitude.
The children of Israel, under Moses, came to the desert at
the foot of Mount Sinai. There Moses was called up the mountain where God spoke
to him. God here offered Israel the opportunity to become HIS NATION -- under
His rule, and, upon obedience and loyalty to His government, to receive the fabulous
national birthright of world dominance.
The ETERNAL said: "Now therefore, If ye will obey my
voice indeed, and keep my COVENANT, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto
me above all people: for all the earth is mine" (Ex. 19:5). Notice, God
did not force them to become His nation -- a "peculiar" nation,
different from the apostate Gentile kingdoms. The choice was theirs!
The Beginning of a Nation
Moses returned to camp. He laid God's proposed agreement
(covenant) before that vast congregation of perhaps two or three million
people.
"And all the people answered together, and said, All
that the Lord hath spoken we will do" (verse 8).
For two days the people were specially prepared for a
tremendous event. They were to hear the very voice of God from the mountain. On
the third day, amid a fantastically tremendous supernatural display of thunder
and lightning and thick clouds swirling over the mountain, God's tremendous
voice -- exceedingly loud -- thundered in their ears the basic law of His
government -- the great SPIRITUAL law defining, in principle, God's WAY of life
-- the way to avoid the evils besetting the world -- the way that would cause
peace, happiness, prosperity.
That vast assemblage actually heard the voice of THE ETERNAL
GOD, delivering to them the Ten Commandments! The people were frightened! They
trembled! It was an awesome experience which had never happened before -- and
has never occurred since!
Then, through Moses, God outlined in more detail His
proposition for setting them up as God's NATION. Again, the people answered
with a unanimous voice, "All the words which the Lord hath said will we
do" (Ex. 24:3). Moses wrote all the terms of this COVENANT -- this
AGREEMENT making these ex-slaves God's nation -- this agreement which also was a
marriage covenant, with the Eternal as husband, binding the wife (Israel) to
obey her husband.
Moses read the terms and conditions -- the "book of the
covenant" -- before all the people. Again came thee unanimous decision on
their part: "All that the Eternal hath said will we do, and be
obedient" (Ex. 24:7).
Old Covenant a Marriage
The covenant agreement between God and this people -- called "the
old covenant" -- was then ratified and put into effect with BLOOD (Ex.
24:5-8).
This "old covenant" was mediated by Moses. It
married a mortal, human people to the Eternal. They became HIS NATION. They had
promised loyal obedience as citizens. This "old covenant" was based
on the birthright promise God had made to Abraham. But human mortals, filled
with the vanity, envy, lust and greed of human nature, seldom remain faithful.
So the living Christ is now coming soon to be the Mediator of the new covenant,
based on better promises (Heb. 8:6-10 and 9:15). But the NEW covenant will not
be made with human mortals who do not keep their promises. God has been
preparing -- and still now is preparing -- a people to be made immortal. These
immortals are to be married to Christ. And He died, rose, and sent
God's HOLY Spirit "that he might sanctify and cleanse" this
NEW Testament "wife" (Eph. 5:26-27).
The new covenant will be made with a people who already have
been proved, by their Christian life of obedience, faith, growing in spiritual
character and knowledge, and overcoming -- a people then made immortal and holy
and perfect.
The NEW covenant is based on the sceptre promise made to
Abraham -- through the coming KING of kings, Jesus Christ, of the very dynasty
of David.
They Turn to Idolatry
But notice how these mortal Israelites performed.
After the old covenant between God and Israel had been
ratified, God called Moses up into the mountain. Moses was kept there forty
days, receiving detailed instructions for the congregation (church) and for the
nation -- for with the Israelites church and state were united.
After Moses had been gone some days, the people said to
Aaron, "Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses,
the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become
of him." So they took their golden earrings and trinkets, and Aaron had
them made into a golden calf for an idol (Ex. 32:1-4).
Moses came down from the mount carrying the two tablets of
stone on which the Eternal had engraved the Ten Commandments with His own
finger. On seeing this golden idol and the people worshiping it in merriment
and dancing, he lost his temper and in a rage threw down the tablets of stone
and broke them.
Of course, just as some very large religious bodies who claim
to be Christian do today, they merely said this calf represented God -- it
pictured to them what they supposed God looked like.
After making this molten gold calf, Aaron proclaimed a feast
"to the Eternal" (Ex. 32:5), during which they worshiped before the
IDOL. Go into an Anglican church or a Roman Catholic church today and
ask the priest or official whether the images of "Christ" and of
"Mary" are IDOLS -- whether or not they are worshiping idols. They
will indignantly say, "No! We don't worship idols. We don't worship the
images. We don't claim the images actually are Christ or Mary -- only that they
represent, or picture to us, what Christ or Mary look like!"
Well, that is precisely the way ALL PAGANS ALWAYS WORSHIPED
IDOLS! But God's wrath waxed HOT at this (Ex. 32:7-10). God will NOT ACCEPT
such worship! See also Deuteronomy 12:30-31.
Withheld 40 Years
In the second year after leaving Egypt, God had moved the
Israelites to a new camp in the wilderness of Paran (Num. 10:11- 12). God then
told Moses to send twelve men -- one leader or ruler from each tribe -- to spy
out the promised land and bring back a report on the land and its inhabitants
(Num. 13:1-2).
These men were gone 40 days. On their return, all but two --
Joshua and Caleb -- misrepresented what they had seen, giving an evil report.
When Joshua and Caleb reported the truth, the people tried to stone them. They
accepted the evil report, complained against God, doubted, rebelled, disobeyed.
Have you ever wondered why these Israelites were 40 years in
the desolate, barren, desert-and-mountain wilderness getting to
the promised land? It was not because it required 40 years of travel.
These men sent to report on it journeyed to it, walked all over it from one end
to the other and returned -- round trip -- in 40 days. But the people griped,
disbelieved God, disobeyed, and refused to go forthwith to POSSESS IT; instead
of deciding to march ahead and POSSESS this great prize God wanted to give
them, they despised it, lacked faith to go in and possess it, refused to march
forward.
This promised land is a type of the glorious
Kingdom of God, which the living Savior, Jesus Christ, offers us. But today we,
the descendants of those Israelites, despise it, prefer the "slavery"
of sin, fail to exercise the FAITH to go on and POSSESS God's Kingdom. We, too,
rebel, disbelieve, and disobey. And those who thus despise it shall not enter
that glorious Kingdom with eternal life in happiness and accomplishment.
To this rebellious population, God said: "Your carcasses
shall fall in this wilderness ... ye shall not come into the land ... save
Caleb ... and Joshua .... But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey,
them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised"
(Num. 14:29-31).
"And," continued God, "your children shall
wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your
carcasses be wasted in the wilderness" (verse 33).
And now comes the "day-for-a-year principle":
"After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty
days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years
..." (verse 34). And this punishment was, in fact, a WITHHOLDING of the
promised blessing for this duration of forty years.
Idolatry Again
That generation of Israelites was not allowed to enter
the promised land. They spent forty years in the wilderness. Their
children entered the Holy Land under Joshua's leadership.
Then what?
They became so busy occupying their promised land, driving
out the many little kingdoms, that during Joshua's life and a little longer
they served God and prospered. They were making a nice start toward inheriting
-- in their day -- the tremendous blessiiings of the birthright.
But after Joshua died "and also all that generation ...
there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Eternal, nor yet
the works which he had done for Israel. And the children of Israel did evil in
the sight of the Eternal, and served Baalim: And they forsook the Eternal God
of their fathers .... And the anger of the Eternal was hot against
Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and
he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could
not any longer stand before their enemies. Whithersoever they went out, the
hand of the Eternal was against them for evil, as the Eternal had said, and as
the Eternal had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed" (Judges
2:10-15).
So, precisely as God had warned in verses 14-17 of Leviticus
26, God did appoint over them terror; they did sow their seed in vain, for
their enemies ate it. God did set His face against them!
God's WORD STANDS! What a pity neither individuals nor
nations seem able to believe that!
But that was not the end. God is a merciful, forgiving God.
He repeatedly gave them another chance. Continue the history in the book of
Judges: "Nevertheless the Eternal raised up judges, which delivered them
out of the hand of those that spoiled them. And yet they would not hearken unto
their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves
unto them: they turned quickly out of the way ..." (Judges 2:16-17).
This happened repeatedly. Every time they were put under the
yoke of another nation, as vassals, they cried out to God for deliverance. But
also every time God sent a judge to free them, they quickly turned from God. As
soon as things were going well for them, these people turned again to idolatry.
But were they so different from us, their descendants today?
Most of us seek God only when in trouble -- only when in our self- interest we
feel we need Him!
Up until this time, though these people had complained,
lacked faith, gone contrary to God repeatedly, nevertheless, they still
recognized God as their only Ruler. They may not have trusted in, or obeyed Him
and His rule, but they acknowledged no other Ruler.
They Reject God as King
But in the days of Samuel they rejected God even as their
national King -- as their civil Ruler. They demanded a human king, like all the
unbelieving Gentiles (I Sam. 8:1-7). This probably took place near the end of
1112 B.C.
To reject God as Ruler was the greatest sin. Up until this
time they had recognized Him -- had looked to no other as King. This seems to
have begun the years of complete sin, for which God punished them.
Nevertheless, under the "old covenant" of Mt.
Sinai, they were still God's nation. God still dealt with them. He did not
"divorce" them until 721-718 B.C., as we shall see.
They suffered under Saul. They began prospering under King
David, and in Solomon's reign they reached a considerable state of prosperity.
However, they had not yet flowered into the full predominant-world-power status
promised under the birthright. And Solomon's prosperity turned him to idolatry.
Again they were violating the condition for receiving the birthright.
When Solomon's son Rehoboam became king, he threatened to put
still heavier tax burdens on the people. Thereupon the nation rejected Rehoboam
and set up Jeroboam, of the tribe of Ephraim, as king.
A Nation Divided
This caused division! In order to retain the Davidic dynasty,
Judah thereupon seceded. With Benjamin, and most of Levi, they formed a new
nation -- the kingdom of Judah! No longer did they have the national name
"Israel." The people of this new-formed kingdom of Judah are the ones
who became known as the Jews. The people of the kingdom of ISRAEL, occupying
the northern part of Palestine north of Jerusalem, never were called Jews.
Now the birthright and sceptre promises were divided into TWO
NATIONS. Remember, Ephraim and Manasseh shared the birthright. If it were then
inherited, the others of the TEN-TRIBED nation of Israel would have
automatically shared it with them -- since they were part of the same nation!
But under Jeroboam the ten-tribed nation Israel completely
violated God's laws, particularly the two test commandments. Almost the first
act of Jeroboam was setting up idols. And he changed God's autumn festivals
from the seventh to the eighth month. There is ample evidence that he also
changed God's Sabbath from the seventh to the "eighth" day (first day
of the week). This will be shown in a later chapter.
Even after all this, God gave the nation every chance to
qualify for the tremendous birthright blessings. During the reigns of nineteen
kings in seven different dynasties, God pleaded with them through His prophets.
But this rebellious nation showed no disposition to turn to God's ways. They
had been punished repeatedly. But they refused to learn the lesson experience
should have taught them.
The Seven Prophetic Times
Now continue in Leviticus 26: "And if ye will not yet
for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your
sins" (verse 18).
It is important to UNDERSTAND this!
This expression "seven times" is translated into
the English from a Hebrew word which conveys a dual meaning. The original
Hebrew word Moses wrote is shibah. It is defined as "seven times,"
and also as "sevenfold." The "seven times" implies duration
or continuation of punishment. But the word also conveys the meaning of
"sevenfold," or seven times greater intensity of punishment -- as a
punishment that is sevenfold more intense. In this sense, the meaning would be
the same as in Daniel 3:19, where King Nebuchadnezzar, in a rage, commanded
that the furnace into which Daniel's three friends were to be thrown should be
made seven times hotter.
Now understand the "seven times" -- or seven
prophetic "times." For this is a prophecy. In prophecy, a
"time" is a prophetic 360- day year. And, during Israel's punishment,
each day represented a year being fulfilled.
This "day-for-a-year principle" is explained in two
other passages dealing with the duration of Israel's punishment. One of these
we have already covered. God punished that generation of Israelites Moses had
led out of Egypt by withholding from them entry into the promised land FORTY
YEARS. That promised land was a beginning part of the birthright. God
punished them on the principle of a YEAR for every DAY -- forty years' DURATION
of punishment for the 40 days of transgression.
Ezekiel's "Day for a Year"
In order to impress on the prophet Ezekiel the seriousness of
Israel's years of rebellion against God's rule and God's law which would cause
great blessings, God imposed this very principle on him -- but it was enacted
in reverse.
The sins of the house of Israel had continued from their
rejection of God as King for 390 years. Naturally God could not expect this
prophet, in a human lifetime, to undergo the bearing of these years of sin on
the basis of each day of sinning being borne by him for a year. That would have
required 2,000 lifetimes. So God reversed the actual application of the
principle. Ezekiel was required to bear Israel's sins a day for each year they
had sinned. But it still was the "day-for-a-year principle"!
Ezekiel was told to lie on his left side, in an imaginary
siege against Jerusalem, pictured on a tile before him. "Lie thou also
upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it:
according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear
their iniquity. For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity,
according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt
thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And when thou hast accomplished
them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the
house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year"
(Ezek. 4:4-6). It is mentioned further in verse 9.
But in the other application of the "day-for-a-year
principle," previously explained, where it applied also to a duration of
punishment put on THE PEOPLE, the punishment was to be borne by them on the
basis of a year of punishment for each day. Also in this case, the punishment
was the number of years during which a promised blessing was withheld.
Now when we come to the expression "then I will punish
you seven times more for your sins" in Leviticus 26, it is evident both by
its manner of wording in the sentence and by the fact of actual fulfillment
that it was speaking of a DURATION of seven prophetic "times," or
YEARS. And on this "year-for-a-day principle," it becomes seven
360-day years -- a total of 2520 days. And when each day is a year of
punishment -- in this case, as in Numbers 14:34, a withholding of a promised
blessing -- the punishment becomes the withdrawing of and withholding the
promised blessings for 2520 years! For that is precisely what did happen!
What is a "Time"?
But now did you notice I said that a prophetic
"time" is a 360-day year? Why not a year of 365 1/4 days? Why not a
solar year?
In ancient biblical times, a year was figured on a basis of
twelve 30-day months. Previous to the time, in Moses' day, when God gave His
people the sacred calendar, the 30-day month was used.
Notice Genesis 7:11: "In the six hundredth year of
Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same
day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of
heaven were opened." Now verse 24: "And the waters prevailed upon the
earth an hundred and fifty days."
Next, Genesis 8:3-4: "And the waters returned from off
the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the
waters were abated. And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth
day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat."
So notice -- the flood started on the 17th day of the second
month. At the end of 150 days, the ark rested on Mount Ararat, on the 17th day
of the 7th month. That was five months to the day. Five 30-day months are
precisely 150 days. So months, then, were 30-day months!
We find it definitely figured this way in both Daniel and
Revelation. In Revelation 12:6, a prophecy of an event which in actual history
did last 1260 solar years is spoken of as "a thousand two hundred and
threescore days." So here, again, a prophetic day was a year in
fulfillment. In Revelation 13:5 (referring to a different event but the same
amount of time) this same period of 1260 days being fulfilled in 1260 solar
years is spoken of as "forty and two months." Now 42 calendar months,
according to the calendar now in use, would not be 1260 days, but 1277 days --
or, if no leap year occurred, 1276. Or, if the extra half-year happened to be
the last half of the year, it would be 1278, 1279 or 1280 days. But the 42
months of Revelation 13:5 is the same amount of time as the 1260 days of
Revelation 12:6. So the 42 months were 30-day months.
The same amount of days is spoken of in still different
language in Revelation 12:14 as "a time, and times, and half a time."
The "time" is one prophetic year; the "times" is two more
prophetic years; and the whole expression is 3 1/2 prophetic "times,"
which is a literal 1260 days -- or 3 1/2 years of thirty-day months. Seven of
these "times" then would be 2520 days -- and on a day-for-a-year
basis, 2520 yyears!
Then in Daniel 12:7 the same expression "time, times,
and an half [time]" is mentioned.
Enough space is being taken here to make this concept plain,
clear, understandable. For it is basic to several key prophecies.
A prophetic "time," then, is a 360-day year -- or a
plain 360 days. And during those years of Israel's punishment, as made plain by
combining Leviticus 26:18 with Ezekiel 4:4-6, Numbers 14:34, and Revelation
13:5 and 12:6, each day of a prophetic "time" was one year in
fulfillment. In Leviticus 26:18, and in Revelation 12:6 and 13:5, this meaning
is verified and PROVED by the fact that the prophecy was fulfilled in precisely
the time indicated.
Birthright Withheld 2520 Years
Now back again to the pivotal prophecy of Leviticus 26.
These Israelites had not listened to God -- had not qualified
to become recipients of the fabulous, overwhelming birthright national
blessing. They had broken especially the two test commandments emphasized in
verses 1 and 2 of this chapter. God had punished them in the manner He had said
He would, as described in verses 14-17.
Now God said, as quoted before, "And if ye will not yet for
all this" -- all He had punished them with, described in verses 14- 17 --
"hearken unto me, then I will puuunish you seven times more for your
sins."
Because of the manner in which this warning is worded,
compared with the manner of wording where the "seven times" is again
mentioned -- and because the birthright actually was withheld PRECISELY 2520
years -- it is certain that the meaning of the "seven times" in verse
18 is a DURATION of seven 360-day YEARS, each day being a year in fulfillment
-- total: 2520 actual YEARS! And the verrrry enforcing of the
"day-for-a-year principle" also implies a multiplied intensity of the
punishment.
Actually, they had sinned the 390 years mentioned in
Ezekiel's prophecy (Ezek. 4:4-5). Even from the time they rejected God as their
national King, God allowed them to remain in the promised land those
additional 390 years! During all these years God continued to send prophets to
warn and plead with them. Had they repented and turned back to God and His
ways, they still could have received the richest national blessing of all
history. But they would not. Rather, they increased in sins!
So finally God took completely away from them -- for a
duration of 2520 years -- this opportunity to reap such vast material
prosperity and power.
Israel Becomes Lost
Finally God drove them out of the Promised Land!
All these 390 years of national sin (Ezek. 4:5), of rejecting
Him and His ways, God continued to deal with them. He kept contact with them.
He sent His prophets to them. At any time during these years of their
rebellion, they could have repented, turned to God, and received this vast
national status.
But now, at last, God drove them out of His land! He
"removed them out of his sight" (II Kings 17:18).
Again it is repeated (verse 23), He "removed Israel out
of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel
carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day."
From that time, God sent no prophets to them. He gave them no
more chance to receive the greatest national blessing of all history -- until
the end of the 2520 years! He hid, as it were, His face from them! He removed
them out of His sight. He pleaded no longer with them. They had not qualified
for nor deserved His blessings! Now He left them a slave people, to shift for
themselves. He left them to their own devices!
They had rejected even the identifying sign by which they
were to be known and recognized as God's people Israel. So now they soon lost
even their identity! No longer were they known by the world as God's people. No
longer did they call themselves God's people.
They became lost! The "LOST TEN TRIBES." Lost in
name. Lost in identity. Lost spiritually! They had lost their tremendous
birthright -- for a duration of many generations! In due time, as a second and
third generation came along, they lost even their Hebrew language! They
regarded themselves as Gentiles! The world supposed they were Gentiles!
Apostles to Britain?
Generations later, Jesus of Nazareth, well knowing where they
had migrated, sent His twelve original apostles to make known to them His
precious gospel of God's Kingdom -- God's government! It was the apostle Paul
who was sent to the Gentiles.
Did you never wonder why, after Acts 15, we read no more of
the twelve apostles? Except for a trip by Peter to Babylon, they had gone to
"lost" Israel!
Regarding the original apostles, the Bible says: "These
twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, GO NOT into the way of the
Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans [Gentiles]
enter ye not: But go rather to the LOST sheep of the house of
Israel" (Matt. 10:5-6). Yes! The lost Ten Tribes.
But Jesus never begged, urged, pleaded with anyone
to "get saved!" Nor did His apostles! That is a modern Protestant
method. They merely proclaimed the truth, leaving it to every hearer to make
his own decision whether to act on it.
Yes, the British Isles heard Christ's gospel! But they
accepted, instead, the idolatry of the Druids, pagan worship, and the
counterfeit "Christianity" of the Roman Babylonian mystery religion,
and even spawned the devil's religion of the evolutionary concept.
Birthright Conferred at Last!
But when that 2520-year withholding of the birthright had
expired, God was faithful to His unconditional promise to Abraham! Not because
of any British or American goodness, superiority, or worthiness, but because of
God's faithfulness to His promise, beginning in 1800 these two birthright
peoples suddenly burst forth as the greatest world powers in all history!
This national wealth and power came not because our peoples
in any manner finally qualified for it. They never did! But consider:
The very fact of a withholding of the birthright from them
for a definite duration in itself implies a conferring of it at the end of the
2520 years. And remember, God had promised this birthright to the descendants
of Abraham unconditionally because of Abraham's faithfulness and obedience
(Gen. 26:5). God was bound by His promise to confer this stupendous national
blessing regardless of the righteousness or wickedness of the descendants. But
God had not bound Himself to bestow it upon any one particular generation.
Thus God was able to offer it conditionally to Old Testament
Israel in and after Moses' day. The people of those generations could have had
it upon compliance with the conditions! Denying it to those particular
generations -- withholding it for 2520 long years, even -- did not violate
God's unconditional PROMISE to Abraham.
But the very fact of a withholding for the definite duration
of 2520 years implies the direct conferring of that national blessing on
expiration of that definite period of withholding -- regardless of any further
qualifying or deserving on the part of the people. This must be so because of
God's faithfulness to His UNCONDITIONAL PROMISE to Abraham.
So -- beginning A.D. 1800-1803, after 2520 years -- God did
cause the birthright nations -- and them only -- to become suddenly the
recipients of such national wealth, greatness and power as no nation or empire
ever before had acquired! Together they -- the British and Americans,
descendants of only one original tribe, Joseph -- came into possession of more
than two-thirds -- almost three- fourths -- of all the cultivated resources and
wealth of the whole world!
It sounds incredible! All other nations combined shared
between them only little more than a fourth of the world's wealth. And that
includes the nations descended from other tribes of Israel. It includes such
nations as Germany, Italy, Russia, China -- all other nations on the whole
earth.
The most amazing fact of all history is this sudden
skyrocketing from virtual obscurity of two nations to the most fabulous wealth
and economic power ever possessed by any people. Britain
became GREAT Britain -- a gigantic, stupendously wealthy commonwealth
of nations -- the United States, the greatest nation of history.
More amazing still are the unbelievably shocking facts of the
present -- of how -- and WHY -- we are losing it faster than it came!
WHY? The incredible facts, the reasons, and what's now ahead
will follow!
Chapter 11
WHY ISRAEL LOST IDENTITY
THE MYSTERY IS NOW REVEALED! Not only the answer to what
happened to the "LOST Ten Tribes" -- but also why they so completely
lost their identity!
The main vanguard of the Israelites -- the northern kingdom
-- who bore the national name "Kinggggdom of ISRAEL" -- became a
nation lost in all history.
So far as historic records are concerned, the earth might as
well have opened her mouth and swallowed them.
History does record their captivity by Assyria, 721-718 B.C.
They were removed from their cities, towns and farms in their northern part of
Palestine, taken as slaves to Assyria, on the southern shores of the Caspian Sea.
But by 604-585 B.C., when the southern kingdom of JUDAH was taken captive by
Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the Assyrians had migrated northwest -- and the
ten-tribed Israelites with them!
Utterly Lost
They were utterly GONE! They were lost from view! How far
northwest they proceeded, or where they finally settled, comes to a blank page
in history.
How do historians and theologians explain this?
Not knowing the true answer, they explain it erroneously.
They assume, in error, that all Israelites were Jews, and that the thirteen
million Jews in the world today constitute the entire population of Israelites
remaining alive at this time. Some theologians falsely claim that all of the
ten tribes who went into Assyrian captivity in 721-718 B.C. returned to Jerusalem
with the Jews who returned to build the Temple there seventy years after
Judah's captivity, 604-585 B.C. But that is total error. Only part of Judah
went back. And those who returned were all of the three tribes of Judah,
Benjamin and Levi. Check the genealogies in Ezra and Nehemiah.
The Jews are assumed to be Israel -- and all of Israel --
because they never lost their identity! There is a reason why the Jews did not
lose their identity, while the house of ISRAEL did!
God had given them a very special everlasting COVENANT
containing a SIGN of IDENTITY.
The Special Covenant of Identity
It is not generally known or recognized that the Eternal made
with His people, while still at Mt. Sinai, a separate, special, eternally
binding COVENANT, providing for a SIGN of IDENTITY.
At this juncture, it must be pointed out that these people
Israel were the only people on earth with whom God then dealt personally as HIS
PEOPLE.
Remember, Adam and Eve had rejected the symbolic tree that
represented God's Holy Spirit, and a Father-and-son relationship with Him.
Their descendants, cut off from God, strayed so far from His ways that by the
time of Noah the earth was filled with corruption and violence.
After the Flood, within two generations the world as a whole
was following the apostate ways of Nimrod (Gen. 10:812; 11:1-9), and his
mother-wife founded the apostate pagan religion that has engulfed and deceived
the world ever since. This apostate religious system, started by Semiramis,
flowed into all nations. In its perversions of truth, it evolved into different
varieties and appeared under different national names in different nations. But
it was the same basic system of apostasy. It cut the world off from God! And it
grips a deceived world TODAY -- in its various forms, called by the names of
various religions.
God selected these children of Israel because of the obedience
of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. While they were in servitude and slavery He called
them as His people, to whom HIS TRUTH -- His true religion and way of life and
intended DESTINY for mankind -- should be revealed.
God's TRUTH and God's way revealed to these Israelites is
simply God's TRUTH and His WAY for all peoples in all times and ages! Israel,
had they followed God's ways, was intended to be a living EXAMPLE to all
nations.
Jesus came, not to do away with God's TRUTH or God's WAY, not
to bring a new religion, but to reveal additional truth about the coming
Kingdom of God and how we may be born into it.
True, Old Testament Israel was given certain sacrificial
rites and rituals which served merely as a reminder of sin (Heb. 10:1-4; 9:10),
only as a temporary substitute for Christ -- until He should come. When the
reality came, the substitute was dropped. But God's TRUTH and WAY remain
eternally! Therefore God was revealing to Israel what HIS WAY is for all people
of all time -- including TODAY!
This special identifying COVENANT, then, ordained FOREVER,
applies to all Christians today -- to all who are reconciled to God as HISS
PEOPLE!
This special eternally binding COVENANT is found in Exodus
31:12-17. It has to do with one of those two test commandments, which, we saw
in the last chapter, Israel was driven out and deprived of the birthright for
violating.
The Identifying Sign
"And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak
thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep
..." (Ex. 31:12-13).
Notice which day is "the Lord's day." The Eternal
calls the Sabbaths "my Sabbaths." The Sabbaths are His -- they did
not belong to Israel -- they are not our days, but the Lord's. They are not
"the Jewish Sabbaths" or "the Gentile Sabbaths." The
Sabbath is a space of time. That time, whenever it arrives, not ours, but
God's.
And it applies the same to us today as to our forefathers
then. If we appropriate it for ourselves -- for our own use, whether work,
pleasure, or whatever -- we are stealing that time from God!
Notice again! He said: "My Sabbaths ye shall keep."
In Exodus 20:8 He commanded us to "keep it [the Sabbath] holy" -- God
made it HOLY TIME and commanded us to keep it holy -- not to profane what is
holy to God.
Now study this special covenant a little further: "...
for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may
know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you" (Ex. 31:13). What
tremendous meaning is packed in that portion of this sentence! Yet most people
read right past it, failing to get the vital truth it contains!
Notice! Here is the purpose of the Sabbath: "... for it
is a SIGN ...." What is a sign?
You walk down a main street in the business section of a
city. Everywhere you see signs identifying stores, offices, factories. If you
want to know what a sign is, just turn to the word in the Yellow Pages (the
classified business listings of your telephone directory). You will find such
names as "Jones Neon Sign Company" or "Smith Brothers
Signs." If you call one of them on the telephone and ask, "What do
you make or sell?" he will tell you that they make signs for business
firms, institutions, or professional individuals to hang in front of their
places of business. The sign identifies whose establishment, institution or
office is inside.
It Identifies
A sign is a badge, symbol, or token of identity. You see the
sign, "A. B. Brown, Furniture and Furnishings." The sign identifies
the owner. It tells you what kind of business he owns. Webster's dictionary
defines a sign thus: "A publicly displayed notice on a building, office,
etc. to advertise the business there transacted, or the name of the person or
firm conducting it. Something indicating the existence of a thing; a
token." And, of course, there are the special technical meanings in
mathematics, medicine, astronomy.
The word which Moses wrote in the Hebrew language which is
translated "sign" is "'"with," and the Hebrew-English
dictionary defines it as "signal, as a flag, beacon, monument, evidence,
etc.- -mark, miracle, sign, token." A flag identifies a nation. A
beacon is a signal to announce the existence of something warned about. A token
is a visible sign; something that serves as an identifying signal to make
something known, as a white flag is a token of surrender.
God commanded His people to keep His Sabbath as a sign. It is
a sign between God's people and God: "... a sign between me and you,"
the commandment says. It is a badge or token of IDENTITY. It advertises, or
announces, or proclaims certain identifying knowledge. But WHAT KNOWLEDGE? God
answers: "... that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify
you."
Who Is God?
Note those words carefully! It is the sign that IDENTIFIES to
them who is their God! It is the sign by which we may know that He is the Lord!
It identifies God!
But doesn't everybody know who God is? Absolutely not! This
whole world is deceived -- so says your Bible.
This world has a god -- a false god -- Satan the devil! He
pretends to be "an angel of light" (II Cor. 11:14). He has his
religious organizations -- his churches. Not all are Buddhist, Shintoist,
Taoist, Confucianist. Many have appropriated the very name
"Christian," but their ministers, says your Bible, actually are
Satan's ministers: "And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into
an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be
transformed as the ministers of righteousness" (II Cor. 11:14-15).
But do they actually call themselves the ministers of CHRIST?
Read the verse just before the two just quoted -- verse 13: "For such are
false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of
Christ." Yes, Satan is the great counterfeiter. He palms himself off as
GOD. He is called, in your Bible, the god of this world (II Cor. 4:4). He palms
off his ministers as the ministers of CHRIST -- and they accuse the true
ministers of Christ of being "false apostles" to divert suspicion
from themselves!
Does this world's "Christianity" really know the
TRUE GOD? It is deceived into believing it does, and a deceived world may be
sincere in that false belief. One's god is the one, or the thing, whom he
serves and obeys. But the true GOD is the One whom we should obey.
--------------------
PHOTO CAPTION: BABYLONIAN MOTHERS bowing before Nimrod, high
priest of the sun god, present their babies to be purified by being sacrificed
in fire. Nimrod founded an apostate pagan religious system that has engulfed
and deceived the world.
--------------------
This world is not taught to OBEY GOD! Its false
"Christianity" teaches that God's law is "done away." It
actually puts human conscience, actuated by Satan's false teaching, in place of
God's law! It does not teach, as did Christ, that we must actually live by
every word of God -- all of the BIBLE! It OBEYS Satan by sinning! Satan,
therefore, is this world's god!
The Purpose of the Sabbath
God gave man His Sabbath for the purpose of keeping mankind
in the true knowledge and true worship of the true God. But how does the
Sabbath identify God -- how does it point to the true God, rather than the
false? Does not Sunday do just as well? Positively not!
Notice verse 17 of this special Sabbath covenant: "It is
a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD
made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was
refreshed" (Ex. 31:17).
It was on the seventh day of that creation week that He
rested from the work of creation. Not Sunday, the first day of the week. Only
the seventh day of the week points back to CREATION.
How does that identify who God is?
If you believe anyone else or anything else is God, I will
prove that my God is the true God, because whatever else you may think is God
was made or created by the true God. He who created and made everything else is
GREATER than whatever He made -- superior to anything else that could be called
god.
CREATION is the proof of God -- of His existence. It -- the
act of creating -- identifies Him!
So God took the most enduring, lasting, imperishable thing
man can know -- a recurring space of time -- the only day that is a memorial of
the act of creating. He took the only day which points, constantly, every
seventh day of the week, to God's resting on the seventh day of creation week
from creating; which points to the existence of the Almighty, All-Powerful,
All-Ruling God -- the Creator!
And God set that particular day apart from others as His day
-- God made that particular day sacred aaaand holy to HIM -- designating it as
the very day on which He commands His people to assemble for WORSHIP -- the day
man is commanded to REST from his own work and physical pleasure -- and to be
refreshed by assembling with other obedient worshipers in spiritual fellowship!
No other day is a memorial and reminder of CREATION. True,
Satan has deceived a deluded world into supposing Christ's resurrection
occurred on Sunday morning at sunrise -- the very time which has always been
the time of pagan SUN worship. But this supposition is not true! Write for our
free booklet about the resurrection ("The Resurrection Was Not on
Sunday!"). You will be amazed! Also write for our special free booklet on
Easter ("The Plain Truth About Easter"). They are shocking
eye-openers -- and the truth you can verify and prove at your public library.
The resurrection of Christ actually occurred on the Sabbath,
not on Sunday! And, further, nowhere in the Bible does God tell us to celebrate
the day of Christ's resurrection! That is a pagan custom of MEN, on apostate
man's authority alone -- contrary to the commands of God!>
Identifies People of God
So here we find a GREAT PURPOSE in the Sabbath. It identifies
God! The very day which God set aside for assembly and worship points as a memorial
to whom we are to worship -- the CREATOR-RULER of all that is!
But that is not all! The Sabbath also was given as a sign
which identifies who are the PEOPLE of God and who are not! Notice! Not only
does this special covenant say, "... that ye may know that I am the Lord
..." but read the remainder of that sentence: "... that ye may know
that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you" (Ex. 31:13).
Notice the tremendous MEANING of that!
What does the word "sanctify" mean? It means
"to set apart for holy use or purpose." On the seventh day of the
very creation week, the Eternal sanctified -- that is, HE SET APART for HOLY
use -- the Sabbath day. But now we see that God says it is a sign that He, the
Eternal, also sanctifies -- sets apart from other people as His, for His HOLY
PURPOSE -- those who are His people.
In Old Testament times His people were the people of ISRAEL.
In New Testament times, His people are those of God's own Church -- the truly
converted, spirit-begotten CHRISTIANS!
But how does the Sabbath set them apart -- separate them --
from those who are not God's own true people?
Well, if you have begun to keep God's Sabbath holy, as He
commands, you have found the answer already, by actual experience. If you
haven't, just start keeping God's Sabbath holy as He commands you -- and you'll
soon learn that you are automatically set apart from all other people! The
world, people you know -- some of your family and relatives, business
associates, or contacts -- they will set you apart!
The Sabbath is God's sign, which identifies not only God as
CREATOR-RULER, but it also identifies those who are truly His people!
But HOW?
Definition of God
Let me give you still another definition of God. Although the
only wise and true God is the Great Creator-Ruler of the universe, there are
many false or counterfeit gods. Satan palms himself off to the deceived as God
-- and indeed the Bible plainly calls hiiiim the god of this world. Idols were
worshiped as gods -- and still are, today, even in so-called
"Christian" churches. Whoever, or whatever, you serve and obey is
your god!
The very word "Lord" means ruler,
master, boss -- the one you obey! Jesus exclaimed: "And why call
ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46.) If
they did not OBEY Him, then He was not their Lord! So WHY did they call Him
LORD, when He was not their Lord?
Then again, Jesus said: "Not everyone that saith unto me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will
of my Father which is in heaven" (Matt. 7:21). Only they who obey God can
be His children and enter His Kingdom! Your God is the one you OBEY!
Notice again: "Know ye not, that to whom ye
yield yourselves servants to OBEY, his servants ye are to whom ye OBEY?"
(Rom. 6:16.)
Regarding idols as false and counterfeit gods, the second
commandment says: "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them
[that is, OBEY them]: for I the Eternal thy God am a jealous God, visiting the
iniquity [disobedience] of the fathers upon the children unto the third and
fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of
them that love me, and keep my commandments" (Ex. 20:5-6).
The Real Test Commandment
How significant! The Sabbath command is the ONLY one of the
ten which is a SIGN identifying WHO are the real and true Christians today! It
is the real test command!
A man may be honest and upright in his dealings with others
-- he may have a reputation of not lyingggg or stealing. But that does not
IDENTIFY him -- set him apart -- especially as a Christian!
Many non-Christians honor their parents -- at least so far as
other people know. Many are regarded by others as truthful, true to husband or
wife; many do not swear or use profanity; and most are not murderers -- in the
eyes of others.
But their supposed conformity to these commandments does not
stamp them as different -- as being God's people! Actually, few keep even these
commandments in the spirit, but that is not obvious to the world. But it is
very obvious to the world when one keeps God's Sabbath!
That's why few do! People don't want to be identified as
being apart from the world -- as belonging to God, apart from the world! People
want to be identified, in the eyes of others, as belonging to the world -- but
feel ashamed to be identified, in the eyes of friends, business contacts,
relatives, as belonging to God.
The people of the world are willing to acknowledge the other
nine commandments -- but the Sabbath command is the one they positively REBEL
against! It is THE ONE that is the crucial test of obedience! It IDENTIFIES
those who have surrendered their wills to God -- who obey God, regardless of
persecution or cost!
Oh, it sets you apart, all right! What a SIGN!
It identifies the TRUE God on the very DAY He set apart for
assembly and worship. It identifies the REAL people of God! It identifies those
who keep the Sabbath as being God's people -- to the world, that is! Actually,
few Jews really keep the Sabbath HOLY! It may not identify them to God as His
people, spiritually! But they do at least acknowledge that particular day! And
even though in God's sight they profane it, it identifies them to the world!
God's SIGN is one you accept voluntarily -- of your own
volition, or not at all. But the "beast" (symbol of the coming
resurrected, so-called Holy Roman Empire in Europe) has a MARK, which is soon
going to be BRANDED ON, by physical FORCE! And it has something to do with
"buying or selling" -- trading, business, earning a living, having a
job (Rev. 13:16-17; Rev. 13 and 17). Yes, this is the TEST COMMAND -- the one
on which YOUR VERY SALVATION and ETERNITY DEPEND!
I have said that God made the Sabbath a separate, eternal,
and perpetual covenant entirely separate and apart from what we term "the
Old Covenant" made at Mt. Sinai. How, then, is it a COVENANT?
But Is It a Covenant?
Let's define the word "covenant." Webster defines a
covenant as: "An agreement between persons or parties. A solemn
compact." A covenant is a contract, or agreement, by which one party
promises certain rewards or payments in return for certain stipulated
performance by the other party.
The Old Covenant between God and the children of Israel made
at Mt. Sinai imposed upon the people certain terms and conditions to be
performed: obedience to the Ten Commandments. It promised the reward of making
Israel a nation "ABOVE all people." The promises were purely national
and material, for this world. The NEW Covenant is founded on BETTER PROMISES
(Heb. 8:6), which consist of an "ETERNAL inheritance" (Heb. 9:15).
Once a covenant is signed, sealed, or ratified -- confirmed
-- it cannot be added to (Gal. 3:15). Annnnything appearing beneath the signature
is not legally any part of the covenant. You read of the actual making of the
Old Covenant and sealing it with blood in Exodus 24:6-8. And notice (verse 8),
it concludes with the words "the covenant, which the LORD hath made with
you." It was then already made -- completed.
We do not come to the making of this special eternal Sabbath
covenant until seven chapters later. It is, therefore, NO PART of the Old
Covenant!
But, again, is it a COVENANT?
The wording in your Bible says it is! Notice Exodus 31:16:
"Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the
Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a
perpetual covenant."
"Perpetual" means continuous and unbroken. But was
it to last FOREVER? Read the following verse: "It is a SIGN between me and
the children of Israel forever."
Now what is the condition to be performed? The keeping holy
of the Sabbath! "It is HOLY unto you," says God (verse 14). And what
is the reward promised upon performance of the condition? It is not only a
SIGN, but also a compact or COVENANT "between me and you," says God,
"that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you."
There it is! God promises to SANCTIFY THEM -- He will set
them apart as HOLY -- as His HOLY PEOPLE! Can you ask for a BIGGER promise?
Yes, it is a COVENANT! It is a separate, totally different
covenant. Even if one tries to argue that the Old Covenant is
"abolished" and that therefore the Ten Commandments are abolished, he
cannot argue that this covenant was to last only until the cross. The covenant
is binding "throughout your generations" (verse 13); "a
perpetual covenant" (verse 16) and "forever" (verse 17).
Sign for Israel Only?
"Yes," says the rebellious one who would argue his
way out of obedience, "but it is between God and the children of ISRAEL.
It is throughout Israel's generations; it is between God and the ISRAELITES
forever.
Oh -- then you admit it is binding FOREVER on Israelites --
and throughout their generations? There are TWO answers to that argument that
will condemn you, if you so argue, to the LAKE OF FIRE!
1) No one can deny that this absolutely BINDS the people of
Israel to keep the Sabbath FOREVER, and throughout their generations
perpetually. Their generations are still going on. Therefore it is binding on
them today.
Also you have to admit that salvation and Christianity are
open to Jews and all Israelites. The gospel "is the power of God UNTO
SALVATION to everyone that believeth; TO THE JEW FIRST, and also to the
Greek" (Rom. 1:16).
So then the Jew can be a converted CHRISTIAN! Indeed, the
Church at the beginning was nearly altogether Jewish! So the JEW, even though a
Christian in God's CHURCH, is BOUND to keep God's Sabbath as a perpetual
covenant, throughout his generations, FOREVER!
Now, does God have TWO KINDS of Christians? Is it SIN for a
Jewish Christian to break the Sabbath, and sin for all others to KEEP it? Must
Jewish Christians assemble on the Sabbath, and those of other nationalities on
Sunday? Didn't Jesus say a house divided against itself would fall?
Are there TWO KINDS of Christians? Read Galatians 3:28-29:
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is
neither male nor female: for ye are ALL ONE IN CHRIST JESUS. And if ye
[Gentiles] be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the
promise."
So, since the Sabbath is BINDING TODAY on the Jewish part of
God's Church, and there is no difference -- we are all ONE in Christ- -it is
also binding on Gentiles!
We Are Israel
2) But there is another answer to this argument: The peoples
of the United States, the British Commonwealth nations, and the nations of
northwestern Europe are, in fact, the peoples of the TEN TRIBES of the HOUSE OF
ISRAEL. The Jewish people are the house of JUDAH.
But if the Sabbath is God's sign to identify His people
Israel, then why don't our nations keep it today?
The answer to that question is the answer to another: Why are
the Ten Tribes of the HOUSE OF ISRAEL called "the LOST Ten Tribes"?
And why do our nations think they are Gentiles? Why don't they KNOW their true
identity?
Ah, now we have a staggering, startling, surprising truth to
reveal! Here's a dumbfounding truth, far stranger than fiction!
Here are FACTS, hidden for centuries, more intriguing than a
mystery novel! Why is the Sabbath called, disrespectfully, sneeringly,
"the Jewish Sabbath"? WHY does the world think all Israelites are
Jews, and that the Jews are ALL of the Israelites?
Here's an astonishing surprise to those who have believed
that! The Jews are only a small minority of the Israelites.
Israel Lost Sign
Nowhere in all the Bible are any of the ten-tribed nation of Israel
called Jews. That name -- JEWS -- applies only to the kingdom of JUDAH. Jews
are Israelites, truly -- but only part of the Israelites are Jews!
Almost immediately on being made a king, Jeroboam became
afraid that, when his people journeyed to Jerusalem to attend the annual
festivals, they would see and desire Rehoboam again for their king. He took
swift action to protect his own position.
The tribe of Levi composed the priesthood. They were the
leaders -- the best educated. The Levites, living off the tithes, had enjoyed
incomes two or three times larger than the other tribes. With one swift stroke,
Jeroboam demoted the Levites, set the lowest and most ignorant of people to be
the priests. He could control them! Thus he would control the religion, like
Gentile kings had always done. Thereupon many, if not most, of the Levites went
back into the kingdom of JUDAH -- and became known as JEWS.
So immediately Jeroboam set up two great idols for his people
to worship. He ordered the fall festivals to be observed in the eighth month,
at a place of his choosing north of Palestine -- instead of in the seventh
month, and at Jerusalem as God ordered (I Kings 12:28-32). Also Jeroboam
changed the Sabbath day from the seventh to the eighth -- that is, to the day
following the seventh day, which, of course, was actually the first day of the
week. Thus he set the day for worship to coincide with the pagan DAY OF THE
SUN, now called Sunday!
Through the rule of 19 kings and seven successive dynasties,
the ten-tribed house of Israel continued in the basic twin sins of Jeroboam:
idolatry and Sabbath-breaking. Several of the kings added other evil and sinful
practices.
But in 721-718 B.C., God caused the house of Israel to be
invaded and conquered by the kingdom of Assyria. These Israelites were removed
from their farms and their cities and taken to Assyria on the southern shores
of the Caspian Sea as slaves. But the house of JUDAH -- the Jews, a separate
and different nation -- were not invaded until 604 B.C.
Two or three generations after the captivity of Israel,
however, the Chaldeans rose to WORLD POWER, forming the first
WORLD-ruling empire. Under Nebuchadnezzar the Chaldeans (Babylon) invaded
JUDAH (604-585 B.C.).
The Assyrians -- before 604 B.C. -- left their land north of
Babylon and migrated northwest -- through the lands that are now Georgia, the
Ukraine, Poland, and into the land that is called Germany today. Today the
descendants of those Assyrians are known to us as the GERMAN people.
The people of ten-tribed Israel also migrated northwest.
Though the Assyrians had taken Israel into captivity, the Israelites did not
remain as slaves of the Assyrians in Europe. They continued on a little further
-- into Western Europe, the Scandinaviannn peninsula, and the British Isles!
Now why did they come to be known as the "LOST Ten
Tribes"? They had lost their national identifying sign!
King Jeroboam had changed their day of worship from the
seventh to the first day of the week -- the day of the SUN -- Sunday! All
succeeding kings followed this practice, as well as idolatry!
As long as they remained in the LAND of Israel and called
themselves "the KINGDOM OF ISRAEL" their identity was known. But in
Assyria they were no longer a nation with their own government and their own
king. They were mere slaves. They took up the language of the Assyrians as
succeeding generations grew up. They lost the Hebrew language as biblical
prophecy said they would. They lost all national identity.
After several generations, the tribe of Joseph, divided into
the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, came to call themselves British. They
retained a few Hebrew earmarks. Berith or b'rith in Hebrew means
"covenant," and ish means "man." Thus, in Hebrew, British
means "covenant man," which, truly, they are.
The tribe of Reuben settled in the country that is France
today. They had lost their national identity. But the French have the very
characteristics of their ancestor, Reuben. Today, through our free booklet in
the French language revealing this ancestry and national identity, thousands of
French people are beginning to learn their own true identity.
The TEN TRIBES, known as the house of ISRAEL, lost their
identifying tag -- God's Sabbath.
That is why they lost their national identity!
Why Jews Are Recognized
But JUDAH kept the Sabbath! They did not continue long to
keep it holy, or to keep it God's way -- but they did recognize it, as they do
today, as the day of rest they acknowledge and observe. Result? All the world
looks on them as the chosen people of God! The world thinks they are ISRAEL --
not merely Judah!
The Jews' identity has not been lost! And since their
identity as racial descendants from ancient Israel is known -- and that of the
far more numerous "LOST TEN TRIBES" is not known -- the world supposes
that the Jews are ISRAEL, instead of JUDAH. The Jewish people believe it
themselves! And so, here again, the whole world is deceived, even as to the
true identity of who really are the chosen birthright people of God!
Yes, the Sabbath, God's day -- the true Lord's day -- is,
after all, the day for our people doubly: first, because it is for ALL people
of God, even Gentile-born people who are now Christ's; secondly, because
racially, even by fleshly birth, it is God's day which He gave our own forefathers
and commanded to keep holy FOREVER!
Why Israel Made Slaves
Do you know WHY the kingdom of Israel was invaded by Assyria,
conquered, removed from their land as slaves in 721-718 B.C.? Do you know WHY
the Jews (kingdom of Judah) were later taken captive and scattered over the
world? Both houses of Israel were sent into national punishment and banishment
from Palestine because they broke God's Sabbath!
Does it make any difference? It certainly made a lot of
difference to GOD! And He says He has not changed -- He is the same yesterday,
today, and forever! (Heb. 13:8.)
First, see why the Jews were invaded, conquered by
Nebuchadnezzar and taken into Babylonian captivity during the years 604-585
B.C.
Seventy years after that captivity, according to Jeremiah's
prophecy (Jer. 29:10), many of the Jews returned to Palestine to rebuild the
Temple and restore the worship there. The prophet Nehemiah tells why they had
been driven into captive slavery 70 years before: "In those days saw I in
Judah some treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and
lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which
they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day: and I testified against them in
the day wherein they sold victuals .... Then I contended with the nobles of
Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and
profane the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring
all this evil upon us, and upon this city? Yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel
by profaning the Sabbath" (Neh. 13:15-18).
There it is in plain language! Sabbath-breaking was a prime
cause of Judah's captivity! It was so important to God that He punished His own
chosen people with this most severe national punishment -- defeat in war, being
taken from their land and made SLAVES in a foreign land! SIN is defined by God
as the transgression of His LAW (I John 3:4). His LAW says: "Remember the
Sabbath day, to keep it holy .... the seventh day is the Sabbath of
the LORD thy God." To work on the Sabbath, to defile it by your own
pleasure seeking, doing business, etc. is a MAJOR SIN, punishable by ETERNAL
DEATH!
Jews Were Warned
The Jews were without excuse. They had been warned by the
prophets. Notice the warning through Jeremiah: "Thus saith the Eternal;
Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day ... neither do
ye any work, but hallow ye the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers ....
But if ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the Sabbath day, and not to bear a
burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; then
will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of
Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched" (Jer. 17:21-22, 27).
That was the warning. The Jews did not heed it. Now see what
happened!
"Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month,
which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, came
Nebuzar-adan, captain of the guard [today we would call him general of the
armies, or field marshal], which served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem,
and burned the house of the Eternal, and the king's house; and all the houses
of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great men, burned he with fire"
(Jer. 52:12-13).
When God warns, the punishment is SURE!
Why Israel Defeated
Now see what happened to the other nation of Israelites, the
kingdom of Israel, 117 years before Judah's captivity.
God had laid down the choice to these people in the days of
Moses, long before they were divided into two nations. This was fully covered
in the previous chapter, regarding Leviticus 26. Now see what God said about it
through the prophet Ezekiel.
Ezekiel was given a message from God to the HOUSE OF ISRAEL
(not Judah -- the Jews). Ezekiel was among the Jewish captives after their
captivity, which occurred more than a hundred years after Israel's captivity.
By that time the Assyrians had long since left their land on the southern
shores of the Caspian Sea and migrated northwest, finally settling in the land
today called Germany.
The people of the house of Israel also migrated northwest
across Europe. But they did not stop in Germany. They continued on farther west
and north -- into Western Europe -- France, Belgium, Holland, the Scandinavian
countries, and the British Isles -- where they are to this day, except for the
tribe of Manasseh, which much later migrated to North America and became the
United States.
The prophet Ezekiel was commissioned to go from where he was,
among the Jews, to the HOUSE OF ISRAEL. "Go speak unto the HOUSE OF
ISRAEL," said God (Ezek. 3:1), and again: "Go, get thee unto the
house of Israel" (verse 4).
But Ezekiel never took that message to the lost house of
Israel. He couldn't. He was a slave among the Jews.
Yet he is taking it to them, today, by means of having
written it in his book in the Bible -- and by the fact that it is being taken
to those very people today by "The Plain Truth" and "The World
Tomorrow" broadcast!
It is a prophecy! It is a message for our peoples today! You
are reading it NOW! God help you to heed!
Prophecy to Us, Today
Speaking first of ancient Israel, God says, in Ezekiel 20:
"Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought
them into the wilderness. And I gave them my statutes, and shewed them my
judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. Moreover also I gave
them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might
know that I am the Lord that sanctify them" (verses 10-12).
Notice, this passage repeats the exact wording of the
forever- binding Sabbath covenant of Exodus 31:12-17! Now continue: "But
the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in
my statutes, and they despised my judgments ... and my Sabbaths they
greatly polluted" (verse 13).
Then God pleaded with their children, a generation later:
"But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the
statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile
yourselves with their idols: I am the Eternal your God; walk in my statutes,
and keep my judgments, and do them; and hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a
sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Eternal your God"
(verses 18-20).
The entire emphasis here is differentiating between God's
statutes, judgments and Sabbaths on the one hand, and their fathers'
different Sabbaths, statutes and judgments. They were observing a different day
from God's Sabbath! They had already turned to the pagans' day, today called
SUNday -- the day of the SUN and SUN worship!
"Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me,"
continued God, through the prophet Ezekiel. "... They polluted MY
Sabbaths" (verse 21).
So what did God finally do -- generations later?
He scattered them, in national captivity and slavery (verse
23). But WHY?
"Because they had not executed my judgments, but had
despised my statutes, and had polluted my Sabbaths, and their eyes were
after their fathers' idols" (verse 24). That's why! Did it make any
DIFFERENCE?
But now continue on in this amazing prophecy! Notice the
prophecy FOR US, TODAY!
Speaking of a time, sometime soon, in our time, God says to
OUR peoples: "As I live, saith the Lord Eternal, surely with a mighty
hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with FURY poured out, will I RULE OVER
YOU (verse 33).
The expression "fury poured out" refers to the
SEVEN LAST PLAGUES, at the very time of the second coming of Christ (compare
Rev. 16:1). The time when Christ will RULE over us is at and after His second
coming. So this, then, is a PROPHECY for OUR TIME!
Every prophecy in the Bible showing where our people (Israel)
will be, at the second coming of Christ and the coming great exodus back to
Palestine, pictures them in captivity and slavery ONCE AGAIN.
Continue the prophecy: "And I will bring you out from
the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered
... with FURY POURED OUT. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the
people [COMING EXODUS -- Jer. 23:7-8], and there will I plead with you FACE TO
FACE (verses 34-35).
Notice it! This is the Word speaking -- CHRIST! He will then
be on earth again in person! And then He is going to plead with our people FACE
TO FACE.
It's time to awake to the immanency and the stark SERIOUSNESS
of this!
Perhaps only one lone voice is warning you! But God used one
lone voice to warn the world in Noah�s day; one lone voice in Elijah's day; one
lone voice in the day of John the Baptist; and after John the Baptist was put
in prison, one voice in the person of Christ Himself! If you rely on the
majority of sinning people, you will suffer their penalties with them!
Notice how He will plead!
"Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness
of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with YOU, saith the Lord Eternal .... And
I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me
... and ye shall know that I am the Lord" (verses 36-38).
How did He plead with them? He pleaded: "Hallow MY
Sabbaths, instead of your fathers', so that you may know that I am the Lord.'
And those of us who do go into Palestine shall KNOW HE is the LORD.
How shall we know?
By His Sabbath sign!
Read verses 42-44 in your own Bible! He says our people, when
they are no longer rebellious and who will then be keeping His Sabbath, shall
remember their ways in which they were defiled and shall LOATHE themselves for
their Sabbath-breaking! This is pretty strong teaching! It is the Word of God
speaking to you!
Chapter 12
THE BIRTHRIGHT -- AT ITS ZENITH -- AND NOW!
HOW GREAT, HOW POWERFUL, AND how wealthy did the British and
American people become? And what is suddenly happening to us now? Why has
Britain already lost most of her colonies -- her possessions- -her resources,
wealth, power and influence in the world? Why is Britain no longer considered
Great Britain -- a GREAT world power?
Why is the United States now discredited, despised,
hated throughout so much of the world? Why could we not win the Korean War? Why
couldn't the United States whip little North Vietnam?
First, realize just how great -- how rich and powerful -- the
American and British people did become.
People are prone to take their status -- and that of their
country -- for granted. Few realize what unprecedented affluence our countries
enjoyed. We judge all things by comparison. The average Briton, Australian or
Canadian has never traveled through the illiterate, poverty-stricken,
disease-infested backward areas of China, India, the Middle East or black
Africa. He has not observed the squalor, the stench, the poverty and
wretchedness in which the largest part of mankind lives.
Nor has the average American visited those vast
underprivileged areas, nor even the countries of Europe -- prosperous compared
to the teeming illiterate masses, yet poor by comparison to American standards.
No, our people generally have not realized. Nor have they been grateful. Nor
have they given God thanks, nor accepted the responsibility that accompanies
their lavish blessings.
Few realize that every desired, prized possession imposes
with it the obligation of responsibility for its use. Does the eight- year-old
boy who is given a shiny new bicycle by his parents feel a consciousness for
the responsibility imposed on him -- unless the fact is impressed on him by his
parents -- for the care of it, and the carefulness with which he must ride it
to avoid injuring himself or others?
When God lavished on our peoples such wealth and power and
economic possession as no peoples have ever before enjoyed, did we appreciate
what we had or feel the commensurate sense of RESPONSIBILITY for its wise and
proper use?
WE DID NOT! We didn't even recognize HOW GREAT was our
blessing, let alone feel a sense of obligation for our custodianship before our
Maker! Just HOW GREAT, then, was this birthright blessing?
The Birthright Wealth
Read again the prophetic promises of Genesis 22:17.
To Abraham God said: "That in blessing I will bless
thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven,
and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the
gate of his enemies."
And again, the inspired prophetic parting blessing upon
Rebekah, leaving her family to become the wife of Isaac: "And they blessed
Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of
thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate
them" (Gen. 24:60).
Earlier we quoted the correct Fenton translation: "...
and your race shall possess the gates [plural] of its enemies." As
explained there, the "gates" of enemy nations are the strategic SEA
GATES of entrance to or exit from these nations. Although all wealth comes from
the ground, prosperity and affluence on a national scale always have come also
by industry and COMMERCE. And commerce between nations has been transacted
almost altogether by the SEA- LANES of the world -- by SHIPS, and, within a
continent, by railroads.
How significant, then, that Robert Fulton operated the first
steamboat in 1803 -- precisely when Britain and America suddenly began to
MULTIPLY in national wealth! And also that it was the nineteenth century that
saw the development of the railroads!
As explained before, since the birthright pertains to
NATIONS, the "GATE" of our enemies would be such passes as Gibraltar,
Suez, Singapore, the Panama Canal, etc.
Britain and America came into possession of every such major
"gate" in this world! So we MUST be modern Israel. World War II hinged
on these "gates." They had become not only strategic passes, but the
world's greatest fortifications. But today, we have lost most of them, most
recently, the Panama Canal -- and it appears that soon Gibraltar, too, will be
lost. Why?
Notice Genesis 39:2, 23: "The Eternal was with Joseph,
and he was a PROSPEROUS man ....the Eternal was with him, and that which he
did, the Eternal made it to PROSPER." And God did prosper Joseph's
descendants, Britain and America, with the fabulous birthright promised Joseph's
sons!
Consider Moses' dying prophetic blessing, foretelling what
would happen to each of the tribes in these latter days.
"And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the Lord be his land,
for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth
beneath, and for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the
precious things put forth by the moon, and for the chief things of the ancient
mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, and for the
precious things of the earth and fullness thereof ... let the blessing come
upon the head of Joseph [Ephraim and Manasseh both] ....His glory is like the
firstling [firstborn�birthright holder] of his bullock, and his horns are like
the horns of unicorns [Great Britain's national seal today]: with them he shall
push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten
thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh" (Deut.
33:13-17).
Whoever is Ephraim and Manasseh today must have been in
possession of the earth's choicest agricultural, mineral, and other wealth --
the great gold and silver mines; iron, oil, and coal; timber and other
resources.
What nations fulfill these prophecies? Why, only Great
Britain and America!
More than half of all tillable, cultivatable, temperate zone
lands of this earth came after A.D. 1800 into the possession of our two great
powers alone! The rich agricultural lands of the Mississippi Valley; the vast
wheat and grain fields of the Midwest, of Canada and Australia; the great
forest lands of the Pacific Northwest and many other parts of the world; the
gold fields of South Africa, Australia, Alaska and the United States; the great
coal mines of the United States and British Isles; the natural waterfalls and
means of power and consequent prosperous industrial and manufacturing districts
of England and the eastern United States; the choicest fruit lands of our
Pacific Coast and Florida. What other nations combined ever possessed such
material wealth?
And nearly all this wealth came to us after A.D. 1800!
The Actual Statistics
Just to what extent has Almighty God fulfilled His promises
in us to the descendants of Joseph in these latter years since A.D. 1800-
-promises of "the precious fruits bbbbrought forth by the sun ... the chief
things of the ancient mountains ... and the precious things of the earth"?
Said Charles M. Schwab, steel magnate, before the
Massachusetts Bankers Association, January 5, 1921: "Our United States has
been endowed by God with everything to make it and keep it the foremost
industrial and commercial nation of the world."
World petroleum output in 1950 was almost 3,800 million
barrels. Of this total the United States alone produced more than one-half --
nearly 52%. Together, the British Commonwealth and the United States produced
60% of the crude petroleum, not including our vast foreign investments. But by
1966 -- the fateful year in which the British Colonial Office in London closed
its doors, marking the official death of the British Empire -- that 60% of all
the world's crude petroleum output had been reduced to 32%.
Britain and America mined 1 1/2 times as much coal as all
other nations combined. But by 1966 our portion had shrunk to less than
one-third of the world production -- 30.9%!
Together, the British Commonwealth and America produced, in
1950, three-fourths of the world's steel -- the United States alone producing
almost 60% or 105,200,000 short tons in 1951. We produced 1 1/3 times as much
pig iron as all other nations combined.
By 1966, this basic index of wealth had skidded down to one-
third (33.6%) of steel production and only 17.8% (one-sixth) of the pig iron.
We possessed nearly 95% of the world's nickel (chiefly from
Canada); 80% of the world's aluminum; 75% of the zinc. But where did we rate in
1966? Only 3.6% of the world's nickel; 40.2% of its aluminum (aluminium); 12.4%
of its zinc.
In 1950, the British Commonwealth completely dominated the
production of chromite (from South Africa). Together Britain and America
produced two-thirds of the world's rubber, and dominated the world's copper,
lead, tin, bauxite and other precious metal outputs. But by 1966, we produced
only 2.3% of the world's chromite, 23.4% of its copper, 9.9% of its lead, no
tin, and 6.3% of its bauxite.
The British Commonwealth produced two-thirds of the world's
gold -- about � 266,000,000 ($642 million) in 1950 -- while the United States
had three times as much gold reserve as the total for the rest of the world.
But by 1966 the U.S. gold supply had been drained so much that the dollar was
in serious jeopardy.
We produced and utilized two-thirds of the world's output of
electricity -- the United States producing 283 thousand million kilowatt-hours
in 1948, and the United Kingdom and Canada outstripping Russia, Germany and
France combined. But by 1966 we produced only 20.1%!
Great Britain and the United States did possess well over half
of the world's merchant fleet tonnage. But by 1966 the figure was only 32.5%.
The British Isles constructed more vessels than any other place on earth. But
less than two decades later two or three Gentile nations had already
outstripped Britain and America. In 1950, we also possessed about one-half of
the world's railroad mileage. By 1966 our combined railway freight shipping was
only 26% of the world total.
Whereas the United States alone once produced 73% of the
automobiles, by 1966 the U.S. combined with the U.K. produced 55% -- 44% from
the U.S. alone. Japan, Germany, France, and Italy are making huge gains.
How Did We Get It?
How did we come into possession of all this vast wealth of
the earth? Did we acquire it through our own human wisdom, foresight, energy,
ability and power?
Let Abraham Lincoln answer: "We find ourselves in the
peaceful possession of the fairest portion of the earth, as regards fertility
of soil, extent of territory, and salubrity of climate .... We ... find
ourselves the legal inheritors of these fundamental blessings. We toiled not in
the acquirement or the establishment of them."
Again, in his proclamation of April 30, 1863, for a
nationwide day of fasting and prayer, this great President said: "It is
the duty of nations, as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the
overruling power of God ... and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in
the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are
blessed whose God is the Lord .... We have been the recipients of the choicest
blessings of heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and
prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation ever
has grown; BUT WE HAVE FORGOTTEN GOD! We have forgotten the gracious Hand which
preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we
have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that these blessings
were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own."
And because Lincoln saw a nation who had forgotten God -- a
nation drunk with a success not due to its own efforts -- a nation taking all
the credit and glory to itself, this great president called upon the nation for
a day of fasting and prayer to confess this national sin before God. The fate
of the nation hung in the balance when he issued that proclamation. But God
heard and answered that great national prayer offensive -- and the nation was
then preserved!
But today the threat to our fate is a thousand times more
seriously hanging in the balance. And today we do not have a president or a
prime minister with the vision, understanding and courage to bring our nations
to their knees!
Abraham Lincoln knew these great material blessings had not
been earned, but had been given to our people by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
of Israel.
And we should face the facts today and know that we were
given all this vast unprecedented material wealth because God promised it,
unconditionally, to Abraham. And He promised it to Abraham because Abraham obeyed
God, kept God's laws and commandments.
The birthright blessing was denied our forefathers after
Moses' day because they REFUSED to live by God's laws.
And today God warns us, through many prophecies in Jeremiah,
Ezekiel, Isaiah, Micah, and many others, that unless we of this generation
REPENT of our sins, and turn to Him with fasting, and with weeping, and earnest
PRAYER, He will destroy our cities, all our fortresses, with the foreign sword;
that He will punish us at the hand of a CRUEL ONE; that we shall be invaded,
defeated, reduced to SLAVES! GOD HLEP US TO HEED THAT WARNING!
In conclusion, we ask: If we are not national Israel -- the
so- called "lost" Ten Tribes -- prosperous Joseph-Israel --
birthright Israel -- actual inheritors of the birthright blessings which were
to be bestowed beginning A.D. 1803, then who else can be? No other nation or
combination of nations possessed these blessings of the birthright -- for we
held more than two-thirds -- nearly three-fourths- -of all the raw materials, resources,
and wealth of this entire round earth, and all other nations combined shared
among them only a small part.
Do you know of stronger proof of the divine inspiration of
the Holy Bible as the revealed Word of the living God? Could mortal men have
written, without divine inspiration, those prophecies we have considered in
this book; made those PROMISES to Joseph -- Israel; and, after a lapse of 2520
years, beginning the exact years of 1800-1803, have had power to bring them
about in fulfillment? These are no small or trifling promises. They involve
possession of the great wealth and vast natural resources of the whole earth.
Present these facts as a challenge to your atheistic and
agnostic friends. Ask them to answer, if they can, whether any but the power of
the Eternal Creator Himself could have made and had committed to writing such
promises thousands of years ago, and, at precisely the promised time thousands
of years later, brought about their fulfillment!
How any American -- any English-speaking inheritor of God�s
choicest material blessings -- can, in the face of such stupendous,
overwhelming fulfillment of prophecy -- such awe-inspiring demonstration of the
power and might and faithfulness of Almighty God -- accept and partake of these
blessings, and then carelessly ignore God's WARNING that our sins today are
INCREASING, or fail to get to his knees before the great Almighty, repent, and
INTERCEDE in heartrending PRAYER for all Israelite nations, and HELP in every
way he can to warn our people now of their impending PERIL, seems impossible to
conceive.
Chapter 13
AND NOW WHAT? THE PROPHECIES FOR THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE
THE BIRTHRIGHT, ONCE WE RECEIVED it, was stupendous, AWESOME
-- unequalled among nations or empires! But what have our peoples done with
that awesome blessing?
They were still ISRAELITES, even though they themselves knew
it not! They were still rebellious, "stiff-necked," stubborn!
Once the British peoples and the Americans -- the
"lost" Israelites now supposing they are Gentiles -- found themselves
basking in the pleasant sunshine of such wealth and power, they were less
willing than their ancient forefathers to yield to their God and HIS WAYS. They
felt no need of Him, now! It seems few ever turn to God until they find
themselves in desperate need or trouble.
But after God had withheld the birthright 2520 years, and
then, when our peoples deserved nothing from God, He suddenly bestowed on us
national blessings unparalleled in history -- the unconditional promise to
Abraham was kept! No longer is God obligated by His promise to continue our
undeserving peoples in world prestige, wealth and greatness. Once we had been
given such unrivaled position, it was up to us whether we should keep it.
So now back to Leviticus 26. We had previously covered verses
1 through 18. God said that IF, for all these previous punishments, the
Israelites would not listen to and obey Him, He would punish them the duration
of 2520 years. Then what?
If, after that 2520 years of withholding the birthright, our
people -- with the birthright -- still rebel, God continues, verse 19:
"And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as
iron, and your earth as brass." God has already begun that!
We Had Pride in Our Power!
God could not speak about breaking the pride of our national
POWER until after that birthright power had been bestowed! He put our nations
in the position of possessing the greatest national power any nation or empire
ever possessed. We had great pride in that national power -- in our national
prestige.
I remember hearing President Theodore Roosevelt tell of HIS
PRIDE in that power -- and how he used it when he was president. The Germans
were sending a battleship steaming toward Manila Bay, threatening to take over
the Philippines. The Philippines were then a United States possession.
President Roosevelt sent the Kaiser a terse note demanding that the German
warship be immediately withdrawn.
"The Kaiser didn't know, then, that I meant it!"
snapped Mr. Roosevelt. "So I sent another note. Only, I didn't send this
second note to the Kaiser. I sent it to Admiral Dewey, in command of the United
States Pacific fleet. It ordered the entire fleet to steam full speed toward
the German battleship, and if it did not turn around and go back, to SINK
IT!" said Mr. Roosevelt with emphatic force! In those days, before World
War I, we had pride in our national power!
Today even little nations dare to insult, trample on, or burn
the United States flag -- and the United States, still having power, does no
more than issue a weak protest! What's happened to the PRIDE of our power?
--------------------
PHOTO CAPTION: THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES is set ablaze by
anti- U.S. demonstrators. American power and leadership has steadily declined
to where the United States is called a "paper tiger."
--------------------
We have already LOST IT! God said, "I will break the
pride of your power!" And HE DID!
Other prophecies reveal we are to have soon such drought and
famine that disease epidemics will follow, taking millions of lives. When our
heaven is as iron, our earth as brass, we will realize rain does not come down
from iron, and an earth hard as brass is not getting rain, not yielding food!
Verse 20: "And your strength shall be spent in vain: for
your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land
yield their fruits."
But will America and Britain heed? They never have!
Then what? After all that, THEN WHAT?
Verse 21: "And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not
hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to
your sins."
There again, as in verse 18, is that Hebrew word shah.
Actually, in the Hebrew in which Moses wrote, there are not the two Hebrew
words, one meaning "seven" and the other "times." There is
just the one word, shah.
As explained previously, the word is defined as "seven
times," and also as "sevenfold." The "seven times"
conveys duration of punishment. The "sevenfold" meaning of the same
word conveys intensity of punishment.
Now More Intense Punishment
Because of its use and construction in the sentence, and
because of what actually happened, it is certain that in verse 18 this Hebrew
word shah refers to DURATION of punishment -- seven prophetic times, which,
during this punishment, was an actual 2520 YEARS!
But also, because of the very different sentence structure
and because there cannot now be another 2520-year WITHHOLDING of what has now
been bestowed, it is just as certain that the shah in verse 21 refers to a sevenfold
INTENSITY of punishment. Notice, the wording in verse 21 is entirely different
from verse 18. This time it is not worded "seven times more for your
sins," but "seven times more PLAGUES." The expression
"seven times" in verse 21 is descriptive of PLAGUES to be brought on
them.
So now, if twentieth-century Ephraim and Manasseh -- Britain
and America -- refuse to turn to God in obedience -- refuse to live the way
that causes, retains, and increases blessings, God will punish them in a manner
far more INTENSE -- and even strip entirely from them this colossal,
unprecedented national blessing -- returning them to captivity and slavery --
as continuing verses of this prophecy show.
Do you think so great a fall could not come to so great
powers as Britain and America? Do you say, "It can't happen HERE?" Do
you think the GREAT GOD who was able to GIVE them such unprecedented world
leadership and power and wealth is not able to take it away from them and throw
them, like their ancient forefathers, back into SLAVERY?
You need to OPEN YOUR EYES to the fact that Britain's sun
already has SET! You need to WAKE UP to the fact that the United States, even
still possessing unmatched POWER, is afraid -- fears -- to use it, just as God
said:: "I will break the PRIDE of your POWER"; that the United States
has stopped winning wars -- that America was unable, with all its vast power,
to conquer little North Vietnam! The United States is fast riding to the
GREATEST FALL that ever befell any nation!
The handwriting is on the wall!
You need, now, to UNDERSTAND the remainder of this prophecy
of Leviticus 26 -- and also of Deuteronomy 28 -- and the many other prophecies
relating to them and events soon to VIOLENTLY affect YOUR life!
You need to look at the prophecies of Jesus, of Jeremiah, of
Isaiah, and others describing how much more intense is to be the punishment God
is going to lay on the British and American people.
For MANY prophecies warn us of a CERTAINTY that it will be
trouble such as NEVER happened to any nation or people!
Knowing our identity -- knowing how the British and American
peoples are identified in the prophecies -- you need now to become AWARE of
what is said about us in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Joel, Hosea, Amos,
and the other prophecies -- what JESUS foretold -- as well as in these
prophecies written by Moses!
And you need, also, to know why a just and loving God is
going to punish His chosen people -- people He chose for a glorious PURPOSE
they have refused to perform.
The very fact of punishment implies CORRECTION. We need to
understand that correction is applied to correct WRONG WAYS harmful to us -- to
turn us around into RIGHT WAYS that will cause desired blessings! Understand!
God punishes every son He loves (Heb. 12:6).
Understand also human nature! Human nature wants to be good
-- to consider itself and be considered good, while it wants only to do evil.
It wants the good result. But it wants to receive the good while it sows the
evil. It somehow fails to grasp the truth that as we sow, so also shall we
reap! It's all a matter of CAUSE and EFFECT!
God's punishment only reflects God's LOVE -- turning us from
causing evil results to the way that brings happy results! God is now about to
STOP US from bringing colossal evils on ourselves! God is not angry because we
are harming HIM -- but because we are harming ourselves -- whom God loves!
Punishment Is Correction
The prophecies do not stop with revealing the unprecedented
multiplied intensity of punishment already beginning to descend upon America
and Britain. The prophecies record also the result of that intensified
punishment. The result will be a corrected people. The result will be an
eye-opening realization of what we have done to ourselves. The supreme
punishment will teach us, at last, our lesson! The punishment will break our
spirit of REBELLION! It will lift us up from the cesspool of rottenness and
evil into which we have sunk. It will teach us the way to glorious peace,
prosperity, abundant well-being!
On beyond the frightful national calamities now descending
upon us will come a BLESSING inconceivably greater than the national material
birthright we have possessed.
We have to learn that material goods are not the source of
happiness. I have often mentioned the many rich men I have known -- men whose
bank balances were full -- but their lives were empty! Material prosperity is
indeed desirable -- but it is not the source of happiness.
After all, real happiness is a spiritual commodity! The birthright
was only one of TWO major promises God made to Abraham. The sceptre promise
involved not only a dynasty of human kings. It need not have included them at
all -- had the Israelites retained and been obedient to God as their King. The
sceptre pointed primarily to CHRIST and spiritual salvation through Him.
Our peoples have basic lessons yet to learn. The TRUE VALUES
are spiritual. Actually, God's law is a spiritual law. It involves physical
acts -- but it is based on spiritual principles. And it requires God's Holy
Spirit dwelling in the mind to fulfill!
PUNISHMENT implies CORRECTION. Correction means a change of
course. It means REPENTANCE -- and repentance means turning around and going
the OTHER WAY!
Now, before I give you these sensational prophecies,
understand WHY national punishment must come, and who needs the correction!
ONLY those who are sowing EVIL need it -- who are transgressing God's right
WAYS -- God's law! Those, and only those, who are bringing on themselves the
evils that result from transgression.
And UNDERSTAND THIS: Although the NATIONS as a whole are to
be put through this unprecedented punishment, yet those individuals who yield
to accept God's correction without the punishment shall be protected from it!
No one need suffer this intense tribulation!
Sevenfold More Plagues
Now notice again what is laid down in Leviticus 26.
After the national birthright had been withheld 2520 years
and then bestowed; after God gave our peoples that national POWER, and has now,
because of our national rebellion against His laws, broken the pride of our
power; after He shall have punished us with unprecedented DROUGHT and epidemics
of disease in its wake, then IF the British and Americans still continue in
their evil ways -- still refuse to repent and turn to their God -- He warns:
"... I will bring seven times more PLAGUES upon you according to your
sins." Read that in the Revised Standard Version: "... I will bring
more plagues upon you, sevenfold as many as your sins" (verse 21).
What people do not seem to realize is that sin does bring
upon the sinner the consequences of sin -- the plagues of suffering. The Bible
defines sin as the transgression of God's law (I John 3:4), and the law of God
is a spiritual law (Rom. 7:14).
Let's understand this! I have said that money is not the
source of happiness. Money can buy only material things or services. But there
must be the spiritual content, as well as the physical, to happiness. Material
things alone do not provide satisfying happiness. God's law is a spiritual law.
In other words, it is THE WAY to peace, happiness, abundant well-being. Going
that way is what God supplied to CAUSE real happiness.
Conversely, then, can we not see that transgressing that way
is to cause unhappiness, pain and suffering, emptiness, heartaches, fears and
worries, frustrations? All these evils are caused by transgressing God's law.
The sinner is really plagued with these evils he brings on himself.
Now study again that 21st verse of Leviticus 26. Punishment
is CORRECTION. To teach us the lesson we have failed to learn by experience,
God is going to plague our peoples SEVENFOLD more than our sins already have
plagued us -- sevenfold more punishment than we have brought on ourselves!
Or, as the Authorized Version says, "seven times more
plagues upon you according to your sins." Sevenfold INTENSITY of
punishment -- OF CORRECTION!
Slavery Once Again
Notice now verses 23-25 (RSV): "And if by this discipline
you are not turned to me, but walk contrary to me, then I also will walk
contrary to you, and I myself will smite you sevenfold for your sins. And I
will bring a sword upon you ... and you shall be delivered into the hand of the
enemy."
SLAVERY once again!
Get the real meaning of this! Our SINS have brought
punishment. This punishment we have brought on ourselves. If we still refuse to
learn the lesson, and be corrected for our own good, God says, "I myself
will smite you sevenfold." We have brought the consequences of SIN on
ourselves -- now God will Himself bring on us sevenfold more intense punishment
-- punishment that is CORRECTION!
Now read on to verse 33 (RSV): "And if in
spite of this you will not hearken to me, but walk contrary to me, then I will
walk contrary to you in fury [the seven last plagues -- Rev. 15:1], and
chastise you myself sevenfold for your sins .... And I will LAY YOUR
CITIES WASTE .... And I will scatter you among the nations."
God is going to keep multiplying chastening -- correction --
upon our peoples until they do turn from their evil ways -- until they turn to
the ways that cause peace, happiness, prosperity, all the good things!
How UNTHINKABLE! -- that our Maker shall have to force our
peoples to be happy, to have peace, to be able to enjoy prosperity, to yield,
to accept -- our own choice -- eternal life in abundant well- being and joy for
all eternity!
How UNBELIEVABLE! -- that human nature, desiring these
blessings, has insisted stubbornly in going the way that cuts them off and
causes PUNISHMENT -- CORRECTION -- and then refuses to be corrected until it is
MULTIPLIED in intensity sevenfold! Yes, sevenfold -- three successive times!
How GREAT is our God -- and WHAT LOVE for our peoples He
expresses, in patiently tolerating and correcting us UNTIL we accept His
boundless BLESSINGS!
Chapter 14
WHAT'S PROPHESIED TO HAPPEN, NOW -- TO AMERICA AND BRITAIN
JUST AS GOD HAS BESTOWED ON us such material blessings as
never before came to any nations, now to correct us so we may enjoy such
blessings, He is going to bring upon our peoples such national disaster as has
never before struck any nation! Many prophecies describe this!
The Tremendous Prophecy of Micah
An important additional proof of modern Israel's identity is
found in a fantastic, detailed and most specific prophecy found in Micah
5:7-15. It is speaking specifically about the "remnant" of Israel --
modern Israel today -- wherever it is. It describes the wealth, the beneficent
dominance among nations, and then the coming downfall of the American and
British Commonwealth peoples in detail!
Notice: "And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst
of many people [nations] as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass,
that tarried not for man, nor waited for the sons of men" (verse 7).
Remember that dew and showers are absolutely necessary to agricultural
productivity and are a symbol of national BLESSING and WEALTH from God.
Continue: "And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the
Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest,
as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth
down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver" (verse 8).
Again, this symbolism describes the last generation of Israel
as a GREAT POWER -- as a lion among the other nations of the earth.
"Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries,
and all thine enemies shall be cut off" (verse 9). They WERE cut off from
the beginning of God's birthright blessing on America and Britain starting
about 1803, through the First World War, the Second World War, until the
turning point of the Korean War at the end of 1950.
Since that time, however, these blessings are surely being
taken away -- and neither America nor Britain has come out on top in any major
skirmish since that time!
So this prophecy shows that at the very time we were
receiving God's blessings, we were a tremendous BLESSING to the other nations
of the earth -- for it is our peoples who have rescued the other nations of the
world time and again through the Marshall Plan, the Point Four program, the
Alliance for Progress, the hundreds of millions of bushels of wheat for India
and other starving nations, etc. The Hoover Program saved up vast food supplies
after World War I. It saved millions in other nations from starvation!
Anciently Joseph saved up the wheat and food and made it
available to others. MODERN Joseph did also. BUT -- we are stiff- necked and
rebellious toward God and His law, while our ancient forefather Joseph served
and obeyed God with a whole heart.
It is our peoples who have been like a "lion" among
the other nations of the earth -- preserving in two great world wars the peace
of the world and stability for all human life on this planet!
Sudden Destruction
Yet, in this detailed prophecy, God says: "And it shall
come to pass IN THAT DAY, saith the Lord, that I will cut off thy
horses" ["war-horses," Moffatt translation] -- tanks, ships,
rockets -- "out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy
chariots: and I will cut off the cities [by hydrogen bombs?] of thy
land, and throw down all thy strong holds" (verses 10-11).
God says He will do this! GOD determines the outcome of wars
(Ps. 33:10-19).
How plain can you get? Here God identifies the GREAT peoples
of the earth who are the most wealthy and beneficent, the most POWERFUL -- yet
at the very time their power reaches its zenith, He suddenly "breaks"
the pride of their power (see Leviticus 26:19), cuts off their implements of
war and destroys their cities! Why?
Because, as the prophet continues to explain, we have too
much "witchcraft" and too many "soothsayers" -- false
ministers -- in our lands who refuse to preach with authority the commandments
and ways of the living God!
Therefore, God will punish and destroy us -- unless we repent
-- just before and leading up to the uttttter destruction to come "upon the
heathen" (verse 15), which will take place at the very END of this age and
at the second return of Jesus Christ as King of kings!
There is no other people that even remotely fulfills this
great prophecy! But the American and British Commonwealth peoples fulfill it
precisely!
As the "pride of our power" continues to be BROKEN,
as the British continue to lose their foreign sea gates and possessions around the
earth, as America signs away ownership of the Panama Canal -- control over this
vital sea gate -- as our gold supply drains away from this nation, weather
upsets increase, this focal prophecy alone represents giant PROOF as to where
the modern "remnant" of the peoples of Israel resides today!
Punishment on All Nations!
It will now be made plain -- from God's own warning
prophecies -- that this greatest multiplied intensity of corrective punishment
will fall on Britain and America -- including British peoples in Commonwealth
countries. And it will strike them down first!
But they are not the only nations to suffer corrective
disaster. God is Creator of all other nations, too! God is concerned about the
people and races we have called "heathen." They, too, are human.
They, too, are made in God's own likeness, with the potential of being molded
into God's spiritual and character IMAGE! God sent the apostle Paul to Gentile
nations!
All mankind has rebelled against, rejected, and turned from
God and His ways! There can never be peace on earth until all nations will have
been turned to God and His ways, ruled by His supreme government!
All mankind, right now, is caught in the vortex of the
swiftly accelerating crisis marking utter destruction of this world's man-
built, Satan-inspired civilization.
Through Jeremiah God says: "A noise shall even come to
the ends of the earth; for the Eternal hath a controversy with the nations, he
will plead with all flesh" -- how? Right now The World Tomorrow program
carries His peaceful pleading worldwide, but the world, except for scattered
individuals, does not heed this kind of "pleading." The next words
tell HOW God is now about to plead: "... he will give them that are wicked
to the sword, saith the Eternal .... Behold, EVIL shall go forth from nation to
nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the
earth" (Jer. 25:31-32).
God will use a Nazi-Fascist Europe to punish Britain-America.
Then He will use the Communist hordes to wipe out the Roman Europe.
We are entering a time of world trouble -- utter world chaos!
There is war, strife, violence in Asia, Africa, South America -- as
well as Europe and North America. The population explosion is a worldwide
threat to human existence. Crime, violence, sickness, disease, inequality,
poverty, filth, squalor, degeneration, suffering -- these infest ALL
nations!
But, as salvation is given first to Israel, so is corrective
punishment!
Our Great Tribulation
Notice Jeremiah's prophecy:
"For thus saith the Eternal; We have heard a
voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask ye now, and see
whether a man doth travail with child? Wherefore do I see every man with his
hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into
paleness? Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is
even the time of Jacob's TROUBLE" (Jer. 30:5-7).
Remember -- in passing on the birthright to the two sons of
Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh (Gen. 48:16), Jacob said, "Let MY NAME be
named on them" -- on Ephraim and Manasseh -- who today are Britain and
America. This tells ON WHOM this most terrible of national calamities is to
fall -- on Britain and America.
But now when is it to fall? Do not assume this is referring
to anything that did happen to ancient Israel. Read right on -- see when this
prophecy is to be fulfilled!
Continue in Jeremiah 30:7: "... it is even the time of
JACOB'S trouble; but he shall be saved out of it." (After he has learned
his lesson IN it!) Continuing from RSV, "And it shall come to pass in that
day, says the Eternal of hosts, that I will break the YOKE from off their neck
[yoke of slavery], and I will burst their bonds, and strangers shall no more
make servants of them. But they shall serve the Eternal their God and David
their king, whom I will raise up for them." (David, at the time of the
RESURRECTION -- at the very time of Christ's coming!)
So the time is just prior to Christ's COMING -- coming to
liberate our peoples -- even as Moses liberated ancient Israel from Egyptian
slavery.
Jesus Foretold It!
Other prophecies speak of this same time of national calamity
greater than any before. The pivotal New Testament prophecy is that of Jesus on
the Mount of Olives -- recorded in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21.
The apostles had asked Jesus privately when His second coming
would occur -- and the END of this world and the beginning of the happy world
tomorrow. Jesus said the SIGN by which we might know when this is very NEAR
would be that His original gospel of the Kingdom of God would be preached in
all the world as a witness to all nations (Matt. 24:14). But what else -- just
before His coming?
Jesus continued: For then shall be GREAT TRIBULATION, such as
was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved
[alive]: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened" (Matt.
24:21-22).
Here is described the greatest time of TROUBLE -- TRIBULATION
-- in all history, or ever to be. Jeremiiiiah described it as "Jacob's
trouble," so great "that none is like it."
Daniel described the same most severe trouble of all history.
Speaking of a time now in our immediate future, Daniel foretold: "And at
that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince [archangel] which standeth
for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of TROUBLE, such as
never was since there was a nation even to that same time" (Dan. 12:1).
The same most intense punishment on Britain and America. And
WHEN? Continue, same verse, "... and at that time thy people shall be
delivered [from this enslaved trouble], every one that shall be found written
in the book. And many of them that sleep [are dead] in the dust of the earth
shall awake [RESURRECTION], some to everlasting life ..." (verses 1-2).
The time is just before the RESURRECTION of the just, at
Christ's coming. As Moses delivered the ancient Israelites from Egyptian
slavery, so CHRIST is coming to deliver modern Britain and America from the
now-impending Babylonish slavery. (See Deuteronomy 18:15; Acts 7:37; Jeremiah
23:5-8).
Jeremiah described it as a "YOKE" on the necks of
our peoples. WHOSE "YOKE" of slavery? Isaiah tells us!
In verse 1 of Isaiah 47 the prophetic message is addressed to
the daughter of Babylon. Not the Babylon of ancient days. Not Nebuchadnezzar's
Babylon of 600 years before Christ -- but a DAUGHTER of that Babylon, now, in
our twentieth century. In prophecy a woman, or a daughter, means a CHURCH -- a
religious organization.
This particular "lady" of this prophecy is pictured
as a lewd harlot and "a lady of kingdoms." That is, a great CHURCH
ruling over nations. This same modern "female" Babylon is pictured also
in the 17th chapter of Revelation -- there called a "great whore,"
sitting on or ruling over "many waters," which are interpreted in
verse 15 as "peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." Her
name is there given as "mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots
and abominations of the earth." In other words, the Babylonian mystery
religion -- the same religion of the ancient Babylon -- but now grown GREAT and
ruling over many nations of different languages.
Her KINGDOMS over which she ruled were called "The Holy
Roman Empire" of A.D. 554 to 1814, briefly revived by Mussolini and SOON
to have a last and final "resurrection" by a political -- military
union of ten in Europe (Rev. 17:8-14).
And the TIME this "great whore" sitting astride the
political- military "beast," they shall fight in war against the
glorified CHRIST at His second coming (Rev. 17:14).
Now back to Isaiah 47. God says to this mistress of kingdoms:
"I was wroth with my people [Israel -- Britain-America], I have polluted
mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand [in tortured slavery]: thou
didst shew them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy
yoke" (verse 6).
That YOKE of SLAVERY without mercy is to be laid on the U.S.
and Britain by the coming united nations of Europe! It has started already,
through the economic Common Market and the recently implemented EMS (European
Monetary System). Its leaders talk continually of POLITICAL union -- which
means, also, military. So far they have been unable to bring about full
political union. This will be made possible by the "good offices" of
the Vatican, who alone can be the symbol of unity to which they can look. Two
popes already have offered their "good offices" toward such union.
The prophecy does not literally say so, but in all
probability, by present indications, the head of this new world power will be
in central Europe. And it will precipitate World War III. And this time it will
be allowed to succeed!
Many of the ancient Assyrians migrated NORTHWEST from their
ancient land south of the Caspian Sea -- and settled in central Europe, just as
the House of Israel migrated from the land of their captivity to the coastlands
of northwest Europe. So when you read about Assyria in prophecies pertaining to
now, they refer to central Europe.
So, history is to repeat! It was ancient Assyria which
invaded the House of Israel, and carried them out of Samaria into the
Assyrian's own land.
And where, today, are the ancient BABYLONIANS -- the
Chaldeans? They migrated west and settled in ITALY. Their religion was the
Assyrian-Babylonian MYSTERY religion. It is going to come as a breathtaking,
awesome, shocking surprise when the world learns that one Simon, the sorcerer
of Samaria in the time of the original apostles, leader of the BABYLONIAN
MYSTERY religion having the title of PATER or PETER, meaning PAPA, actually
appropriated the NAME of Christ and the Christian principle of GRACE, which he
turned into LICENSE, doing away with GOD'S LAW (Jude 4) and started what is
today called "Christianity." How astonished the world will be to
discover that it is NOT, and never was, the outgrowth of the CHURCH OF GOD,
founded by Jesus Christ and His apostles!
This knowledge will soon burst on an incredulous world as a
BOMBSHELL! People will be SHOCKED to learn how they have been DECEIVED! When
Gods time comes, the "news-bomb" will be exploded!
What Is the Great Tribulation?
Now it becomes painfully clear! The Great Tribulation is this
sevenfold intensity of corrective punishment which God is now soon going to lay
on Britain-America!
Notice a few brief excerpts from Ezekiel's description of it!
"A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and
with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall
fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part [the
remainder] into all the winds [slavery], and I will draw out a sword after
them. Thus shall MINE ANGER be accomplished, and I will cause MY FURY [last
PLAGUES] to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I
the Eternal have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in
them" (Ezek. 5:12-13).
Further: "In all your dwelling places the CITIES shall
be laid waste" (Ezek. 6:6). This could never have happened until the
hydrogen bomb! Cities laid completely WASTE. ALL of them -- "in all your
dwelling places."
Drought -- Famine, First
Now let the prophet Joel add more.
Joel's prophecy was for the far, far future -- verses 1-3 of
chapter 1. Then he shows a plague of different kinds of locusts, devouring the
fruits and food crops -- stripping off bark from fruit trees. "He hath
laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and
cast it away; the branches thereof are made white" (Joel 1:7).
Continue -- now comes devastating DROUGHT: "The field is
wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up,
the oil languisheth .... because the harvest of the field is perished
.... all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is
withered away from the sons of men" (verses 10-12). This is to happen just
prior to the terrible plagues of "the DAY OF THE LORD" (verses
14-15).
Continue the prophecy: "The seed is rotten under their
clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for
the corn is withered. How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle
are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made
desolate. O Lord, to thee will I cry: for the fire [hot sun] hath devoured the
pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the
field. The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are
dried up ..." (verses 17-20).
Next -- Military Invasion and Defeat!
Next in time order, beginning chapter 2, the alarm of WAR:
"Blow ye the trumpet in Zion [alarm of war], and sound an alarm in my holy
mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the DAY OF THE LORD
cometh, for it is nigh at hand" (verse 1).
"Therefore also now, saith the Eternal,
turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with
weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and
turn unto the Eternal your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger,
and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil" (verses 12-13).
AT LAST! -- Repentance in Tribulation!
Once God does add these repeated SEVENFOLD-INTENSITY of
corrective punishments on our peoples -- when they have had their wealth,
prosperity, their land -- the birthright and everything they possessed and set
their hearts on TAKEN AWAY FROM THEM -- AT LAST they will be humbled and will
cry out to God for mercy and deliverance!
Right now God's WARNING MESSAGE of this terrifying greatest
trouble is being THUNDERED over The World Tomorrow program into ALL PARTS OF
THE WORLD -- as a witness! Multiple millions are reading it in The Plain Truth!
We know only too well that the people as a whole will not
heed! We are grateful that God is laying it on the hearts of a few thousand
every year to LISTEN (hearken -- to use biblical Authorized Version language)
and to take it seriously -- to REPENT and come to God through Jesus Christ as
Savior.
Yes, a few thousand every year -- thousands PRECIOUS beyond
estimate! But NOT the people as a whole. Not now!
We know full well that the real HARVEST of our labors in
GOD'S WORK, preparing the way for Christ's coming, is NOT NOW! But when
everything these peoples have has been taken from them -- when they are slaves
in foreign lands -- when they are cruelly treated, beaten, unmercifully even
martyred and put to death -- THEN millions of those who remain alive WILL cry
out to God -- WILL repent -- WILL turn to live God's WAY. That is when the REAL
HARVEST FROM THIS PRESENT WORK OF GOD will be reaped.
Millions, then, will remember they heard Christ's true
message over The World Tomorrow -- read it in The Plain Truth!
Then they will say: "That was the true message sent by
God after all!" Many will take it lightly now -- just as Israelites of old
took God's message to them through His prophets. But when these things really
HAPPEN -- when people realize NO ONE ELSE warned them -- then they will KNOW
just WHO are the real FALSE prophets today! Then they will KNOW
which is God's truth!
The pitiful, pitiful tragedy of it! This realization will
come TOO LATE to save the many from this repeated sevenfold punishment! BUT,
for millions, not too late for their salvation -- for God's GIFT of ETERNAL
LIFE!
Millions Finally Converted!
Notice the prophecies of this very thing! Return for a moment
to Jeremiah's prophecy. The 30th chapter, from which I quoted, ends with these
words: "... in the latter days ye shall consider it." The prophecy is
for OUR TIME, now!
Read right on in chapter 31:
"At the same time, saith the Eternal, will I be the God
of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people. Thus saith the
Eternal, The people which were left of the sword [those still then alive] found
grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when he went to find him rest"
(marginal rendering). Or, as in the RSV, "... when Israel sought for rest,
the Eternal appeared to him from afar." Or, as in the Moffatt translation:
"... Those who survive the sword shall find grace in the dungeon."
That is, in captivity and in slavery!
Continue, "Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be
built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, and
shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry .... They shall come with
weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by
the rivers of waters in a straight way [God's law!], wherein they shall not
stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn
[birthright-holder]. Hear the word of the Eternal, O ye nations, and declare it
in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and
keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock" (Jer. 31:4, 9-10).
Later Jeremiah was inspired to write: "In those days,
and in that time, saith the Eternal, the children of Israel shall come, they
and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek
the Eternal their God. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces
thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the Eternal in a
perpetual covenant [the NEW COVENANT] THAT SHALL NOT BE FORGOTTEN. MY PEOPLE
HATH BEEN LOST SHEEP: their shepherds [professing Christian ministers] have caused
them to go astray ..." (Jer. 50:4-6).
Later in this chapter: "In those days, and in that time,
saith the Eternal, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall
be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon
them whom I reserve [leave as a remnant]" (verse 20).
Hosea Summarizes It
This whole matter of Israel's rebellion against RIGHT WAYS,
of God's driving them out, divorcing them, withholding the bestowal of the
birthright for 2520 years -- and of Israel's final redemption after the three
additional sevenfold more intense corrective punishments -- is summarized by
the prophet Hosea.
But Hosea also becomes very concise, direct, and specific in
detailing Britain-America's national ATTITUDE right now!
To picture this whole course of infidelity, rejection,
withholding of blessing, extreme correction, and final awakening of Israel, God
directed the prophet to marry a whore -- to picture what Israel was to God. She
bore him a son. God instructed Hosea to name the son Jezreel, meaning "God
will disperse." For God said, "... I will ... cause to cease the
kingdom of the house of Israel .... I will break the bow of Israel in
the valley of Jezreel" (Hos. 1:4-5). The kingdom -- the government -- did
cease at the Assyrian captivity -- 721- 718 B.C.
Hosea's harlot wife conceived again, and bore a daughter. God
instructed that she be named "Lo-ruhamah," meaning "no
mercy" for, saith God, "... I will no more have mercy upon the house
of Israel; but I will utterly take them away" (verse 6).
Later this lewd wife had another son. "Call his
name," saith God, "Lo-ammi [meaning "not my people"]: for
ye are not my people, and I will not be your God" (verse 9).
Yet to Find the True Riches
"Yet," continued the Eternal, "the number of
the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be
measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it
was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye
are the sons of the living God. Then shall the children of Judah [the Jews] and
the children of Israel ["Lost Ten Tribes"] be gathered together, and
appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land [spread out
far beyond their land -- Moffatt translation]: for great shall be the day of
Jezreel" (Hosea 1:10- 11).
There, in brief, is a picture of the whole course of God's
dealing with Israel. Today, our people say they are not "Israel."
That is, NOT God's people! They think that the Jews, and the Jews only, are Israel.
But very soon, now, they are going to KNOW their identity. Thousands will learn
it from this very book you are now reading. The MILLIONS will learn it at
Christ's coming!
In Hosea 2, God says, in regard to our now having possessed
the unprecedented WEALTH of the birthright promise: "For she did not know
that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and MULTIPLIED her silver and gold,
which they prepared for Baal. Therefore will I return, and TAKE AWAY my corn in
the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool
and my flax given to cover her nakedness [her SIN]" (verses 8-9).
But finally, when the correction becomes INTENSE enough, our
peoples will acknowledge their transgressions, WILL REPENT, WILL SEEK THEIR
GOD!
God's People -- At Last!
"And it shall be at that day, saith the Eternal, that
thou shalt call me Ishi ["MY HUSBAND"]; and shalt call me no more
Baali ["MY LORD"]" (verse 16).
"And," concludes this second chapter, "I will
have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which
were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art MY
GOD" (verse 23).
Then begins God's MESSAGE TO OUR PEOPLES TODAY -- especially
to the British peoples!
"Hear the word of the Eternal, ye children of Israel
[you people of the British Commonwealth and the United States!]: for the
Eternal hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is
no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. By swearing, and lying,
and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood
toucheth blood. Therefore shall the land [of America and Britain] mourn, and
every one that dwelleth therein shall languish ..." (Hosea 4:1-3).
To the modern ministers in the churches of Britain and America,
God says: "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou
hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest
to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy
children. As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I
change their glory into shame" (verses 6-7).
Speaking of the coming manifold INTENSITY of corrective
PUNISHMENT, God says, "... in their affliction they will seek me
early" (Hos. 5:15).
To Britain Today!
Speaking of modern Britain God says: "Israel [Britain]
indeed is STUBBORN as a restive heifer; how can the Eternal feed them
now ... ?" (Hos. 4:16, Moffatt translation.) God
"feeds" His people today with HIS WORD -- HIS GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM
OF GOD -- HIS WARNING of what is quickly to come! The British government would
not allow any broadcasting facilities within its jurisdiction that might be
used by God's servants to proclaim God's MESSAGE OF THIS HOUR to the British
peoples!
But God was determined to get His message to the British!
So, the first week in 1953, God's message started getting
into Britain from Europe -- when "The World Tomorrow" program began
going out on the superpowered voice of Radio Luxembourg!
When Radio Luxembourg was no longer effective for this
message, God raised up broadcasting stations on SHIPS, ANCHORED JUST OUTSIDE
BRITAIN'S JURISDICTION. "The World Tomorrow" WAS THEN THUNDERED over
all of Britain DAILY, from SEVEN of these ships. They were not illegal. They
violated no law of man. They DID proclaim faithfully THE LAW OF GOD! But the
British authorities falsely called them "pirate" ships. They were NOT
pirates. They were not marauders. They did not invade the land and pillage or
steal. They harmed no one!
But most governments of MAN would like to CONTROL what their
PEOPLE hear or do not hear! They want to CONTROL your thinking for you!
The British government and the national Church of England
would LEGALIZE the revolting perversion of homosexuality! They would CONDONE
heinous SINS, but no door inside the U.K. is open to broadcasting God's
MESSAGE!
But God did get His message to Britain.
God Said It! God Did It!
God has said, "Surely the Lord Eternal will do nothing,
but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7),
and in the verse just before this, "Shall a trumpet be blown in the city,
and the people not be afraid?"
God has said, IN YOUR BIBLE, that He would get the warning to
His people Ephraim-BRITAIN. He has foretold: "Ephraim shall be desolate in
the day of rebuke [and Britain is rapidly headed toward that prophesied
desolation now]: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall
surely be" (Hos. 5:9).
Also, God said of Britain and America: "Ephraim, he hath
mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned [half- baked].
Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs
are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not. And the pride of Israel
testifieth to his face: and they do not return to the Eternal their God, nor
seek him for all this. Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart: they
call to Egypt, they go to Assyria [Germany]. When they shall go, I will spread
my net upon them; I will bring them down as the fowls of the heaven; I will
chastise them, AS THEIR CONGREGATION HATH HEARD" -- from "The World
Tomorrow" broadcast warning! (Hos. 7:8-12.)
Yes, God said long ago He would GET THE WARNING into the
hearing of Britain. Even though He had to do it FROM OUTSIDE BRITISH
JURISDICTION, God moved miraculously to get His message thundered to all
Britain.
Britain has been warned!
And the British government has NO POWER whatsoever to prevent
the manifold INTENSITY of corrective PUNISHMENT a loving God is going to cause
to strike!
GOD'S PURPOSE SHALL STAND!
They Will Realize!
Someday, people will wake up to REALIZE this is the Work of
God!
Of British churchianity, God says, "The Ephraimites are
wedding to idolatry; LET THEM ALONE! -- a drunken band, a lustful
company, in love with shameful worship, not with my glory. When the whirlwind
sweeps them off, they shall feel shame for their altars" (Hos. 4:17-19 --
Moffatt translation).
God says, "I withdraw to my own place, till they feel
their iniquity and seek my face, searching for me in their distress, crying,
"Let us return to the Eternal, for he has torn us, he will heal us, he has
wounded, he will bind us up: in a day or two [Authorized Version -- after two
days] he will revive us, and on the third day he will raise us to live under
his care ..." " (Hos. 5:15- 6:2, Moffatt translation). The coming
Great Tribulation probably will last about 2 1/2 years -- the "Day of the
Lord" about one year -- then comes the RESURRECTION and second coming of
Christ!
The entire book of Hosea carries a blistering message and
warning to the BRITISH PEOPLE TODAY!
You Can Escape This Punishment!
God warns us through prophecy that our sins are fast
increasing. And now the day of reckoning is here! The foreign sword always has
attacked us. In this fearful, awesome atomic age, World War III will start with
nuclear devastation unleashed on London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, New
York, Washington, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Pittsburgh, without warning!
God help our nations to wake up before it's too late!
Yes, we are God's chosen people ISRAEL! Think what that
means! Chosen, not for favors while we defy our God, but chosen for SERVICE we
have failed to perform.
We should shout for joy at the discovery of our true
identity- -and we should be brought to REPENT -- and to TURN TO GOD -- and to
get back of this crusade by radio and by printed word to WARN our people, and
to call upon God in REAL heartrending prayer for divine deliverance.
The sevenfold INTENSITY of punishment now soon to come upon
the American and British peoples is simply the prophesied GREAT TRIBULATION! It
will be the most frightfully intense PUNISHMENT, and time of TROUBLE, ever
suffered by any people!
Yet YOU need not suffer in it.
This terrifyingly severe PUNISHMENT is simply the CORRECTION
our peoples have made necessary to bring them to the ways of living
which cause desired blessings, instead of terrible curses. It is
CORRECTION -- for the peoples' GOOD!
As GOD LIVES, this punishment is soon to strike! This book
has given the WARNING from God and His Word!
Will the U.S. and British nations HEED? They could yet avert
this colossal national tragedy, IF they would!
But if you -- you now reading this, you as an individual --
will be corrected, voluntarily, before God lets this indescribably horrendous
chastening strike; if YOU come to real REPENTANCE, realizing HOW TERRIBLY WRONG
you have been; if you can see yourself as you really are -- as a rebellious
wrong, evil person; and if you can SURRENDER to the loving, all-merciful, yet
all-POWERFUL GOD -- and make it an UNCONDITIONAL surrender, coming to Almighty
God through the living Jesus Christ as personal Savior -- then NO PLAGUE shall
come near you! (Ps. 91:8-11), but you shall be accounted worthy to escape all
these frightful things and to STAND before Christ at His return (Luke
21:35-36).
Those in the true Body of Christ shall be taken to a place of
SAFETY, until this Tribulation be over (Rev. 3:10-11, applying to those
faithful in GOD'S WORK now going to the world; Rev. 12:14; Isa. 26:20).
But you must make your own decision -- and to NEGLECT doing
so is to have made the WRONG decision!
Most people, we know only too well, will take this SERIOUS
WARNING lightly -- put it out of mind -- turn to other immediate interests of
no importance by comparison! That is why a loving, just, all-wise, all-POWERFUL
God is going to take away from them these unimportant counter-interests, and
apply such intensified CORRECTION that they shall, finally, come to their
senses, and turn to Him and His WAY which will bring them eternal happiness and
abundant blessings!
But YOU need not have to suffer this intensified correction,
greater than any trouble ever suffered by humans.
By God's direction and authority, I have laid the truth
before you! To neglect it will be tragic beyond imagination! To heed it will
bring blessings, happiness and glory beyond description!
The decision is now YOURS!
. . .
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