|
|
The Founding of God’s Nation
The First Downfall of Man
We begin with the book of Genesis, the book of the story of creation and the start of God’s implementation of His Divine Plan through man. The world and God’s Kingdom started with just one man and the first man was Adam—born of the dust and the breath of God almost 6,000 years ago.
God said to when He created man:
“Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (Gen 1:2).8).
God gave no requisite in exchange for this authority and power of man. It is expected then that when He created man, God’s plan for man to fill and subdue the earth is unconditional. That would happen regardless if Adam and Eve sinned or not. Otherwise, the plan would be fallible and there is no certainty in all God’s promises. We call it the great Divine Plan.
|
|
We all know that Adam and Eve failed the test God gave them. They both ate the forbidden fruit.
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. (Gen 3:6)
But everything is possible for God. The Divine Plan can still push through regardless of man’s many shortcomings. He is still able to build His kingdom through the promised of blood and sacrifice of God Himself. The promise of God’s salvation was announced right there and then:
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Gen 3:15)
That offspring to the woman is Jesus Christ, the Son of God and man. One man’s life is equivalent to another man’s life. It takes the blood of the Creator to redeem His own entire creation. The equivalent of God’s life is exceedingly enough to redeem billions of life lost since the creation of the world. The first obstacle to the plan was therefore solved from the very beginning. Man could proceed to multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.
That was the first and effective strategy of the plan, the spiritual solution to man’s failures.
Almost a thousand years after the first downfall, great wickedness multiplied as men multiplied on the face of the earth. The first strategy is again at the risk of failing. God did just what was necessary— to wash the earth clean of all filthiness and restart civilization. That was the time of Noah and the great flood, exactly 1,656 years after Adam was created. Click here to see the biblical timeline from Adam's creation to the year 1,000 BC as derived from biblical descriptions.
|
|
“Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.” (Gen 7:4)
Later on, washing will be a part of the priest ritual before he enters the Temple. Likewise, in our time every Christian needs to “wash” with water we call baptism after salvation (1Pet 3:20-21). Only seven people including Noah were tasked to start generations all over again.
From hereon, we will follow on the progress of man as he struggled with his assigned task while God continues to deal with man with patience.
The Third Downfall, God Founded His Own Nation
A nation or a kingdom started with one man, then a family, a tribe, a nation and then finally a group of nations.
Man was created in Eden, in the plains of Asshur, in the middle of rich Mesopotamia Valley, now part of Iraq. Noah’s ark rested on the mountain range of Ararat, not very far from that valley. Again, civilization was to start in the same place. As men multiplied again over the face of the earth, kingdoms after kingdoms were established. The first known kingdom of man was established by Nimrod, “the mighty hunter before (in some manuscripts, against) the Lord”. It was known as Babylon, now in the heart of Iraq.
|
|
It was a small kingdom under one wicked ruler. With the flood still fresh in memory, they decided to build a tower in Shinar that reached up to heavens not only to make name for them but also to serve as a refuge in case there would be another flood, lest they scatter. God saw it evil for men to be united to do as they wish. When those nations planned and worked as one, nothing became too hard for them
The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” (Gen 11:6)
Anything was physically possible if they used their unity in evil ways including perhaps, ruining God’s plan that could eventually destroy man altogether. That is why the earth was divided among them, to each his own language. That occurred during the time of Peleg (Gen 10:25), which means it occurred only 100 years after the flood (Gen 11:10-16) and that means Noah and his family were still alive!
Eliminating the potential threat to His plan, God continued to the next strategy— a physical one, that is to establish His own nation apart from the rest of men’s nations and kingdoms. To this chosen nation, God will make Himself known, reveal His power and might so that the world would know Him and fear Him and therefore obey Him.
Abram came from Ur of Chaldeah, from the same Shinnar Valley where Babylon was located. Almost 200 years after the earth was divided or almost 300 years after the great flood, God called Abram as the chosen man who will father the nation that God will establish. The situation was understandable. During that time, Noah was still alive since he lived 350 years more after the flood (Gen 9:28). In the days of Nimrod to Abram, there are only few families living on earth born from the remnants of the flood. Tribes were just starting to flourish and each one wanting to outnumber and overpower the others through wealth and size of territories. Others started to forget God and worship idols. After Peleg’s time, there were as many languages as many families. God’s manifestation to man was virtually non-existent except from the testimonies of Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth but the passage of time made the people skeptical. Sometime during those dark eras, God sent to earth a great High Priest named Melchizedek to guide men about God’s ways. He would stay on earth until such time man is prepared enough to receive priesthood and obey God’s laws through Levitican succession. Yet, Melchizedek cannot stay on earth forever. This one mysterious man should go up to heaven and return again to fulfill God’s promises. That is why God has to form His own nation so He can demonstrate Himself fully, and establish His laws in every man’s heart. The family of Abram was chosen due to his spiritual commitment and having had a pure physical strain of God’s original creation.
With this purpose, God made promises to Abram, later changed to Abraham, and confirmed these promises three times:
“I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Gen 12:2-3).
The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.” (Gen 13:14-17).
The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” (Gen 22:15-18).
These three great promises of God consist of two parts:
The first was a physical promise- a blessing of possession and wealth, a great power over the enemies.
The second was spiritual promise- the promise of spiritual redemption. The Messiah was to come from his blood in a later generation. Not only will Abraham become the father of God’s nation but also of nations that will be blessed through his seed, The Messiah who is Christ Jesus.
Again, these are unconditional promises— by all means these must be fulfilled. No less than God swore by it in His own name. God cannot retract by it. It is as if, in our language, all systems go, by hook or by crook!
We notice that these promises of God were so powerful that they were endemic. They were passed on to his offspring through his maidservant and to the offspring’s offspring even to the children of later generations married to Gentiles. Except for that one promise of the birth of the Messiah who shall come from just one tribe, the tribe of Judah. The spiritual promise or blessing was exclusive to the tribe of Judah and it was already fulfilled through Jesus Christ's redemption of man.
He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. (Gal 3:14)
|
|
Still, Abraham and his generations should do their part or responsibility by doing God’s will. Although the physical promise is endemic, one thing this God’s nation should always adhere to is not to intermarry with the Gentiles. The reasons are, first, to preserve to the fullest their genetic strain as originally as God had chosen them physically and second, to avoid spiritual corruption. One way to execute that, God made a covenant of circumcision to Abraham to make them distinct with other nations. In the beginning, the strategy virtually prevented the daughters of God’s chosen nation to intermarry with the uncircumcised. Abraham observed the rule so strictly to the extent of requiring his servant to swear unto God that he would not get a Canaanite woman for his son’s wife (Gen 24:2-4). The servant then was on the strict order to look for Isaac’s wife.
The same rule goes true with Jacob’s wife and the rest of his generation later known as the people of Israel. (Deut 7:2-4, Ezra 10:10, Neh 13:23-27). Notice that suffering and defilement usually befell on those who violate this rule beginning with Cain, even until King Solomon.
Moreover, in those days I saw men of Judah who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab. Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples, and did not know how to speak the language of Judah. I rebuked them and called curses down on them. I beat some of the men and pulled out their hair. I made them take an oath in God's name and said: "You are not to give your daughters in marriage to their sons, nor are you to take their daughters in marriage for your sons or for yourselves. Was it not because of marriages like these that Solomon king of Israel sinned? Among the many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel, but even he was led into sin by foreign women. Must we hear now that you too are doing all this terrible wickedness and are being unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women?" (Neh 13:23-27)
The great promises are the very basic foundation by which the whole earth is to live by until finally God’s Kingdom is established on earth. Every great nation and major players of world events are descendants of Abraham and the product of these great promises. Soon we will understand the real meanings of these promises as we follow the life of the nation of Israel and the other sons of Abraham.
So important are the promises that it was reiterated over and over to Abraham and his descendants. Finally, remember this more specific promise to Jacob:
And God said to him, “I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will come from your body. (Gen 35:11).
Here, we find a more powerful end of the promise. God simply did not plan a great nation but also a community of powerful nations. Nothing on earth could hurt nor overpower such a community of powerful nations. With a power like that, it means such group of nations controls the wealth and power of the world by the time of the culmination of the physical promise.
“King” denotes power, authority and supremacy. God also promised people of great authority in every field of endeavor—such as arts, economics, science and technology. Those who mastered the foundations of civilization will control the world. The fates of nations were already foretold from the very beginning.
The nation of Israel started from a small family, one, then two, then twelve—called the sons of Jacob or sons of Israel. The nation God has promised is now a tribe after three generations. Many bigger nations around them were already established, having their own territories, kings, laws, and gods. It was still dangerous for this very young tribe to expose themselves socially to the bigger nations around them not because of their population size but because of what God had always warned the tribe about- spiritual corruption.
The tribe of Israel struggled into a long, hard climb enduring lots of sacrifices. The sons of Jacob or Israel never really had a clear idea on the meaning of the promises God gave to their forefathers.
Jacob or Israel had twelve sons to two wives and two maidservants. The names of his wives were Leah and Rachel, the latter he loved more and whom he labored for 14 long years (Gen 29:15-30). The maidservants were Bilhah and Zilpah. The Bible never mentioned the race of the maidservants except that they originated from the land of Paddan Aram, near the land of Abraham’s ancestry in Northwest Mesopotamia Valley.
Israel’s sons to Leah were Reuben the firstborn, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun.
His sons to Rachel were Joseph, the firstborn and Benjamin.
His sins to the maidservant Bilhah were Dan and Naphtali and to Zilpah, Gad and Asher.
The material promises of God is passed on to generations through the firstborn, hence these are birthright promises except when voluntarily surrendered. See the account of Esau and Jacob in Gen 25:29-34. That means to say that birthright does not belong to all the sons. It was an exclusive right of the firstborn.
Among the sons of Israel, the legal inheritor is Reuben being the firstborn but because of Reuben’s great sin, he lost his birthright.
The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (he was the firstborn, but when he defiled his father’s marriage bed, his rights as firstborn were given to the sons of Joseph son of Israel; so he could not be listed in the genealogical record in accordance with his birthright, and though Judah was the strongest of his brothers and a ruler came from him, the rights of the firstborn belonged to Joseph) . . . (1Chronicles 5:1-2).
This was the sin of Reuben:
“While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard of it.” (Gen. 35:22)
At this point, we can already see clearly that the composition of the promises— the physical promise and the spiritual promise were separated. The physical or birthright promise belonged to Joseph and the spiritual promise belonged to Judah.
The Bible gave as a very detailed account on the genealogy of Jesus Christ in the first chapter of Matthew which traces the roots of the Lord Jesus to Judah, thus fulfilling the promise of the spiritual seed or offspring . . .
...”and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” (Gen 22:18).
Later on, we will also discover a lot more revelations about the spiritual promise in relation to the world current events and the things to come. We are now ready to follow through the physical part of the promise starting with Joseph.
Understanding the Life of Joseph
This is the part of the plan that is least understood. To tell the readers frankly, understanding the truth about the life of Joseph reveals many mysteries and the marvelous works of God. Finally, we will be able to understand the words of God through the prophets from Moses to John the Apostle in the Book of Apocalypse.
The life of Joseph is the most detailed among the forefathers of the nation of Israel. His biography alone took one third of the book of Genesis. It is important for us to know and understand well with wisdom why is this so. God should have something very important to impart through the life of Joseph, a recipient of the birthright promise. Never before does it come to mind that all the destinies of great nations today, came to pass and fulfilled simply due to the fate or the life of Joseph as God had planned.
Joseph, the firstborn to Rachel was well loved by his father. His brothers were jealous toward him. When he was seventeen years old, he had dreams about himself being exalted by his own father and brothers (Gen. 37:1-11). The dreams angered his own brothers and hated him all the more. Immediately, they had conspired evil thing against him.
One day, his brothers sold him to Medianite merchants who were Ishmaelites by race (Gen 37:27-28). That means they had the blood of their forefather Abraham in their veins. And in turn, they sold Joseph in Egypt, to Potiphar, then a captain of the guard of Pharaoh’s official.
Israel, their father mourned refusing to be comforted about his son’s “death”. His eleven other sons made him believe Joseph was devoured by a ferocious animal.
As time passed by, Joseph prospered in the land of Egypt because the Lord blessed him in every way. He was so successful that during his stay in Egypt, the house of Pharaoh experienced prosperity.
Joseph was well built and handsome (Gen 39:6). The Pharaoh’s wife took notice and devised ways to entice him to sleep with her. Despite her persistence, he refused. One day, the woman lied to the Pharaoh that he was maligned by Joseph while everybody was away. Believing his wife, the master sent Joseph to prison. But the Lord was with Joseph and had given him wisdom to interpret dreams.
During one of those times he was in prison, he interpreted Pharaoh’s dream— that there will be seven years of abundance and seven years of famine immediately thereafter throughout all the land of Egypt. He advised the Pharaoh to get prepared and store food reserves while the country is in abundance.
Impressed and satisfied, the Pharaoh of Egypt appointed him as the food minister as well as the second in command in the whole land of Egypt next only to the Pharaoh himself.
Since Joseph is now a high Egyptian official, he was given an Egyptian name, Zaphenath-Paneah. Take note from hereon, the pivotal point in regards to the physical promises of God to the patriarchs, Abraham and Isaac and his father Israel. Regardless of the culture and race he was with, Joseph was still a Hebrew and the physical promise was still with him. He was given an Egyptian wife! Her name was Asenath the daughter of Potiphera, an Egyptian priest of On, then a great city in Egypt.
Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-Paneah and gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, to be his wife. And Joseph went throughout the land of Egypt. (Gen 41:45).
The Pharaoh was determined to convert Joseph into full Egyptian in faith and his descendants into full Egyptians by blood! This would have been an absolute no-no in the days of Abraham and Isaac. Perhaps during that time of easy and comfortable living, Joseph was not concerned anymore about his birthright nor was even aware at all about it.
Of course, God knew about every passing minute of Joseph’s life. He let the crucial event of his life transpired for it has been part of His great Divine Plan. Why, and what was His plan?
Have you ever notice that the country of Egypt always stood prominent even in the early days in the book of Genesis?
In the times of Abraham while he and his family were still nomads, they experienced the same fate of famine and Egypt was their place of refuge (Gen 12:10). Egypt is biblically and historically known to be a wealthy country, a great political and military power, the center of world trade for generations lasting to thousands of years. It had seemed all along that the land of Egypt was more blessed than the young tribe of Israel itself. For over three generations, the promise of wealth and power to nation of God did not seem to pull off at all. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all passed away without having seen even a slight fulfillment of prosperity. But God had a very sure timetable no one in those times knew. At last we will be able to understand them all in these last days.
|
|
Let us recall one of God’s birthright promises to Abraham.
The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. (Gen 13:14-17).
It was purely a territorial possession and physical offspring. When God lifted Abraham’s eyes to all corners where he stood, Abraham had seen lands beyond the horizon farther than ordinary eyes could see! Human eyes can see only few miles to the horizon depending on the altitude of where you stand and therefore that covers only a very small area for a descendants numbering to almost infinite as the dust of the earth. In another occasion, God called Abraham in the open field under a clear sky and showed him the stars that is infinite in numbers as the sand of the seashore (Gen. 22:17). God simply showed Abraham a visual idea of how large his nation would be—his offsprings will be as infinite in number as the stars in the heavens, as the sands of the seashore. Anyone knows that the stars we now see do not count as such. If we are patient enough, we may be able to count a thousand visible stars and that would only be equivalent to a teaspoon of sand. There was only one way for Abraham to see billions of stars... God magnified the heavens as if Abraham was seeing through a powerful telescope. Today, every science student knows how infinite is the number of stars in the entire universe. Galaxies are more than the leaves of the grass in the field with billions of stars in every galaxy.
Therefore when God showed Abraham the land of promise, his horizon surely includes the nearby Egypt, the most powerful nation at that time. In fact we will later realize that this horizon includes all the lands of the earth and even beyond!
By bringing Joseph into the land of Egypt, God had simply begun to implement a complex strategy for His nation Israel to possess all lands and races by all means- through regeneration, by military conquest, and spiritual rebirth (Gal. 3:7-8) through the promised seed, Jesus Christ.
Now, in Joseph’s time, the tribe of Israel consists only of twelve family members. They cannot yet attempt at this time to conquer kingdoms as powerful as Egypt in military combat. Nevertheless God was conquering Egypt by other means... by regeneration! Read the Scriptures cover to cover and find out that never at anytime that Israel had provoked a direct military confrontation with Egypt and won. In fact, after King Solomon sinned, Israel was instead attacked by the Egyptians and desecrated the Temple Solomon built (1Kings 14:25-26). Likewise, King Josiah, one of the righteous kings of the House of Israel was defeated and killed in a battle against Egypt allied with Assyria (2Kings 23:29). And yet no one knew this early that Joseph had already conquered Egypt by marrying an Egyptian. How? We will see.
Joseph had two sons, Manasseh, the firstborn and Ephraim. Automatically, the birthright belongs to the firstborn, Manasseh but it was not the case, for in the end, Ephraim received the birthright promise instead of Manasseh. Why? The Bible is silent about the reason why. One should know that this is the pivotal key to understanding the rest of the prophecies from hereon. The meaning is hidden and reserved for the last days, our time—now is the time to understand. This is the very reason why the life of Joseph had to be written for us in detail. It is very important to know why God had to switch the birthright from the firstborn to the younger. The wise needs not a lengthily biblical explanation.
God had chosen Abram because he was righteous and also he was a descendant of Shem. His son Isaac and grandson Jacob had to marry women who were descendants of their own bloodline. Surprisingly this time it is not the case.
Obviously, by marrying an Egyptian, Manasseh acquired a big measure of Egyptian blood and Ephraim retaining the Hebrew blood. That is exactly and should be the only reason why he was not made recipient of the birthright although he was the firstborn. The Scriptures gave us no other reason... Manasseh was faultless. The reason that the promise was physical, the full promise should be passed on to the purer Hebrew strain, otherwise, the promise of physical race as many as the dust of the earth will be lost very early, or possibly, Hebrews can not be easily distinguished with Egyptians. However, Mannaseh had still a share of the great physical blessings for he was still Abraham’s descendant but not to the full measure. The great name, power and wealth that was in the nation of Egypt at that time were already absorbed in him at that very moment. Soon Egypt shall slowly fade and rise in the latter generations through the person of Manasseh. Egypt was already masterfully defeated without bloodshed, a sure, clean victory through God’s marvelous maneuver. In the fulfillment of the promise, Mannaseh would be like the old Egypt, the greatest military power in the world, the economic giant and place of refuge of nations.
Let us read the dramatic account:
During the great famine, Israel’s family was reunited in the land of Egypt and Joseph’s secret identity was revealed and literally fulfilling his dreams about his father and brothers bowing before him. This family reunion is a very remarkable event we should remember as we go through the final chapters of this book.
And Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right toward Israel’s left hand and Manasseh on his left toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them close to him. But Israel reached out his right hand and puts it on Ephraim’s head, though he was the younger, and crossing his arms, he put his left hand on Manasseh’s head, even though Manasseh was the firstborn. Then he blessed Joseph and said, “May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, the Angel who has delivered me from all harm- may he bless these boys. May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they increase greatly upon the earth.” (Gen 48:13-20).
When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand on Ephraim’s head, he was displeased; so he took hold of his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head.
Joseph said to him, “No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.”
But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations.”
He blessed them that day and said, “In your name will Israel pronounce this blessing: ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’” So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.
That’s it! Everything was fully laid out in these blessings of Israel to his grandsons. Let us enumerate the vital components of Israel’s blessings:
1. They will be called by the name Israel, Isaac and Abraham. That means the birthright belongs to both of them. In wherever their descendants live, those places will be Israel, the land of God’s chosen people.
2. They would increase greatly in number not only in Egypt but also upon the face of the earth. The promise of God is contagious. Although Ephraim is the supposed sole owner of the birthright, Manasseh got also the share of the blessing. Both of them will be great and numerous.
But here’s the difference. Israel crossed his hands in blessing the kids, his right hand over Ephraim. During those moments, he was spiritually enlightened with the truth. It was very unusual and everyone was perplexed. It was the Spirit of God speaking through him. He prophesied what would transpire to their generations in the far future.
1. He will be greater than his brother.
2. His descendants will become a group of nations. Ephraim’s descendants therefore will fulfill God’s promise to Jacob when He said “ . . . a community of nations will come from you, and kings will come from your body.” (Gen 35:11). Read also Gen 28:3; 48:4.
He will become numerous and a great nation. Thus he would be the great nation in the same promise “A nation . . . will come from you, and kings will come from your body.”
In summary, Ephraim will become a greater group of nations and Manasseh, simply a great nation.
In the same setting, Jacob, or Israel blessed his other sons and revealed what will happen to them in the days to come. The “days to come” covers the time well beyond their lifetime.
Israel blessed his sons within the heart of the land of Egypt, in the time of great famine. During that very moment, the fullness of Egypt is already absorbed in the blood of Manasseh. The old Egypt is being slowly but surely conquered and defeated without a battle fought. Manasseh shall soon be the great new nation of Egypt in the last days! He had also the great material blessing of power— politically, militarily, economically in great abundance. He will be the same nation as place of refuge, the center of trade. But in the same time, he is Israel, the nation of God.
Obviously, it could not have been the Egypt as we know it today. Today’s Egypt is one among the average or poorest nations of the world with a gross domestic product (GDP) of only around US$93,045M which is ranked 52nd in the world as of this writing. It is a small, harmless nation, a mere remnant of the old great nation of Egypt. Also notice that many prophecies concerning Egypt depict a nation that is very powerful, wealthy and mean. Almost all prophets mentioned Egypt in their writings.
Likewise, the nation of Israel as we know it today is just as small and hardly a world power, militarily, economically, and with just a small population. It's GDP is ranked 41st as of 2005. It is not so convincing for us today that they are fully blessed according to the physical promised.
Nevertheless, the second strategy was accomplished. The foundation of God’s chosen nation was already laid. This nation has to grow without fail pursuing the goals God had set.
And you will ask, what happen to the prophecies? Were they fulfilled at all? Did God fail in is promise? Certainly not. Everyone will be astonished as we begin the search for the real Egypt and the real nation of Israel.
The world’s present state is too volatile than at anytime in the past history. No way that we do not have a part in the prophecies of the Scriptures. The world has reached the point of the climax; it has reached the limit of its carrying capacity to sustain its population. Nations are established within their own boundaries and no more new territories to set foot on. The focus today is no longer finding or expansion of territories as in the days of old but survival through economic struggle, productivity, and political supremacy. The horizons and territories promised to Abraham could not have been set in the future for there is any more land to conquer. That could not have happened in the past days of the kingdom of Israel, for they were conquered and fell and ultimately lost with no trace. The majority of the prophecies are truly intended for our times.
That great nation and group of nations should be around us today, still controlling the world and its economy, that is, if the prophecies are to be credible. They should be rich, powerful and numerous. The Israel we know today is just a part of the whole kingdom without in them the descendants of Manasseh and Ephraim and the other ten tribes. Besides, it is still one of the smallest in the world and still surrounded by its enemies, a far cry from the awesome rewards contained in the birthright promise.
|
|
What had happened to the promises? Only by understanding the power of God shall we even more confirm our faith in Him. If we know the promises, we should also know the outcome and our hearts would rejoice upon His great power!
There are two ways by which we shall know the outcome of these promises. We need to identify the nations. Who is Manasseh today? Where is Ephraim, the community of peoples? And where are the rest of the Israelites or Hebrew peoples? First, we need to follow their lives through the pages of the Bible and second, we shall know them by their fruits. We shall use both ways of identifying them.
Once we had identified these peoples, it becomes easy to understand the prophecies of the Bible. We will also be able to discern the present and the future of the world. We shall find out ultimately that all present events are related to the promises to Abraham, and to his seed, Jesus Christ and God’s objective— the establishment of His permanent kingdom on earth. This plan is awesomely complex but perfectly being carried out smoothly in the span of six thousand years. It had been laid out in the pages of the Bible for centuries and yet no one seems to realize that the Bible has been a perfect blueprint of God’s master plan and architectural genius.
