GOD'S MINISTRY
THROUGH HIS SON JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH
BY THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Revs. Mr. and Mrs. H. Dean Daniels

E-mail: gods-ministry@hdd-gods-ministry.com

Web-site: http://www.hdd-gods-ministry.com/

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INTRODUCTION TO PROPHECY
by
Frank M. Boyd

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CHAPTER 1

THE BIBLE, A BOOK OF PROPHECY

The Bible, God’s divine book, the sacred word of the Christian faith, differs in many ways from the sacred writings of other religions - the Vedas and Shastras of Hinduism; the Zend-Avesta of the Zoroastrian fire-worshipers of Persia; the Koran of the Mohammedans - concerning the concept of God, but there is one fundamental difference. That difference is in the fact that the sacred books of all other religions have not a word of prophecy or a prediction of future events, while the Bible is full of such predictions - some already fulfilled, others in process of fulfillment in our day and time, and still others to be fulfilled in the future.

            Fulfilled prophecy and attested miracles, constitute the twin pillars which uphold the structure of the inspiration of the Scriptures.

The Prophetic Office (Old Testament Times)

            The word “prophecy” itself means “to speak forth,” and involves two kinds of utterance, namely, a message for the people of the day and time in which the prophet lived, and predictions of future events for the comfort, warning and guidance of God’s people. Thus the prophet has a twofold character:

As forth-teller who brings to light and then proclaims his message. This requires insight. We see this aspect of the prophet’s ministry of old in revealing to Israel her true spiritual condition and then giving forth God’s message warning of impending judgment.

As fore-teller, “a seer.” 1 Sam. 9:9. This requires foresight- to reveal in advance the future as if some telescope were placed to the prophet’s spiritual eye through which coming events were brought near and disclosed.

Examples and Scope of the Prophetic Office

            In Old Testament times God laid His hand on certain men and ordained them to be His mouthpiece, the channel through which He would speak His message to humanity. We find that Enoch (Gen. 5:21-24) prophesied. Jude 14. Moses is distinctly called a prophet of God. Deut. 18:15. Elijah, Elisha, Samuel, and the great voices of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, as well as the so-called “minor prophets,” like Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, etc.- all sounded forth their divinely imparted messages.

            In New Testament times we note John the Baptist, that unique character whom God ordained before his birth (Luke 1:13-17) to be His prophet and a forerunner of His Son, who also was a prophet. Deut. 18:15. the ministries of John and of Christ partook of the character of the Old Testament prophet.

            God never intended that the function of the prophet should cease. Even in His church He has set some to be “prophets.” Eph. 4:11. This New Testament ministry does not partake so strikingly of the character of predicting future events as did the office in the Old Testament, but rather was it given to complement or throw vivid light by inspired utterances on the Scriptures- the revelation of God already complete. See Acts 21:9, 10; 1 Cor. 14:29-32. These New Testament prophets speak unto the “edification, exhortation, and comfort” of the assembly of God’s people. 1 Cor. 14:30.

Definition of Prophecy

            Prophecy, then, particularly in the Old Testament sense, is “a miracle of utterance” or “a miracle of knowledge, a prediction of something future beyond the power of human sagacity to calculate.” –Binney.

            As illustrations of human inability to foretell future events, think of the following as examples: it would be impossible for any one of us to predict the condition of our own family, even ten years hence. We could not tell whether the family would be intact; who might have passed away, perhaps; what members would have been removed from the circle by marriage, etc. We could not predict the condition of out own city twenty-five years hence, whether it would have increased in population or whether from unseen causes the population would have slumped. Even statesmen who are accustomed to dealing with intricate internal problems, and who have extensive knowledge of the history of the past and of the trend of political movements, are unable to predict the condition of their own country twenty-five years hence. One has said, “It is always the unexpected that happens.” Who would have dared to predict in June 1914 the overthrow of the Romanoffs, the Hohenzollerns, and the Hapsburgs? Who in 1939, when World War II broke out, would have predicted the atomic bomb, the present alignment of the nations, and the chaotic conditions that are prevailing now?

CHAPTER 2

IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY OF PROPHECY

            Some people foolishly say that there is little if any value in the study of prophecy; that if we know the reality of personal Christian experience, what is the need of delving into the future of spending one’s time investigating portions of Scripture that do not directly concern us? The answer is, “All Scripture…is profitable....” 2 Tim. 3:16.

            1.  We need to be rounded out in Christian experience. 1 John 3:3. This passage clearly teaches the sanctifying effect in the life of the Christian of the knowledge of the imminence of the coming of the Lord (a prophetic event, still future).

            There are two aspects of the work of the Holy Spirit, both of which are necessary to produce a mature Christian experience.

             a. The subjective side- the work of the spirit in us. The Holy Spirit does an inward work in the new birth and in the various ministries that follow the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and His work of conforming us through sanctification of the Word into the image of Christ.

             b. The objective side- the great plan of God revealed to us. cf. 2 Peter 1:16-21. In this passage Peter relates the remarkable personal experience which he had on the Mount of Transfiguration and yet, in verse 19, he seems to place more value on the prophetic word as evidence to his flock than on his personal experience, no matter how remarkable that may have been. Weymouth translates verse 19 interestingly- “in the written record of prophecy we have something more permanent.” The Twentieth Century Version translates the same verse- “still stronger is the assurance that we have in the teaching of the prophets.” Someone might have doubted Peter’s word regarding what he saw, but he could now doubt, after weighing the evidence, the marvels of prophecy.

            2.  Prophecy holds first rank as evidence of the authenticity and genuineness of Scripture.

             a. It appeals to the reason of unregenerate men and requires no spiritual enlightenment to understand it. We have an excellent example of the rank of prophecy as evidence in the test between Hananiah and Jeremiah as recorded in Jeremiah chapter 28. (read this chapter.) There could be no doubt in the minds of the assembled people which of the two men was the chosen instrument of god and who spoke His word.

             b. The Bible rests its whole claim to veracity and authority upon fulfilled prophecy. God has ever confirmed His utterances by pre-announcing His purposes and then by bringing them to pass according to His word. cf. Deut. 18:18-22; Isa. 41:21-23; Jer. 28:9.

Summary of the Purposes of Prophecy

            1.  To vindicate God’s messenger. Jer. 28:9.

            Just as Jeremiah of old was proven to be the divine spokesman in the incident recorded in Jeremiah 28, so Isaiah. Ezekiel, Daniel, the other Old Testament prophets, and our Lord Himself- all are demonstrated to be trustworthy, because their predictions have been fulfilled.

            2. To authenticate God’s message.

Just as the messenger of God is clearly seen by fulfilled prophecy to be reliable. In Isaiah 41:21-23 God challenges the gods of the heathen nations round about Israel to prove by foretelling future events if they have any power. cf. also Isa. 48:8, 9; 46:9, 10; 48:3.

3.  To guide the course of God’s children. 2 Peter 1:19.

Prophecy acts to the spiritually enlightened mind as the chat and compass to guide upon the sea of this present life and as a lighthouse whose beams direct the Christian pilgrim into his desired haven and enable him to avoid the rocks and shoals that would wreck his spiritual vessel.

4.  To confirm and strengthen faith. cf. Dan. 10:19.

Daniel was greatly exercised in spirit during the earliest days of the Medo-Persian Empire concerning the destiny of his own people. He had been fasting and seeking God for three weeks and an angelic being, probably Gabriel, sent to Daniel from God’s throne, brought to him a further revelation of God’s plan for the Jews. Through this revelation and by the presence of the angel he was strengthened and encouraged.

So, a clear understanding of the pattern of events, a knowledge from God’s Word of the “signs of the times,” contributes mightily to the spiritual fortitude of the child of God. The prophetic word provides this.

5.  To build character.

 a. Through intimacy with God.

 One of God’s purposes in revealing His plans for the future to His children is His desire for fellowship with them in revealing His mind and heart to them. “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him.” To Abraham, His friend, God revealed the necessity of His judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah. This led to a very intimate conversation between Abraham and the Lord over the preservation of the possible righteous in Sodom.

 b. Through hope and expectation. Col. 3:1-3; Jas. 5:7, 8.

 For example, the knowledge of the truth of the Lord’s coming enables the Christian to avoid entangling himself in the many worldly movements and practices of these last days which, if entered into, would dull his spiritual sensibilities and perhaps even thwart God’s desire for the Christian's readiness for the Lord’s coming.

CHAPTER 3

LAWS OF PREDICTIVE PROPHECY

            Prophecy, to be genuine and authentic, must conform and does conform to certain definite laws or formulas.

            So deep were the impressions made by the study of these laws upon the mind of the writer of this course in his Bible School days, that he still thrills with the contemplation of them. May this be the experience of the student of “Prophetic Light.”

            In addition to the facts previously presented, that a prophet is vindicated and his message authenticated by the fulfillment of his predictions, there are definite laws governing predictive prophecy.

A prediction must be beyond the power of human foresight or sagacity. In other words, forecast based on observable trends are ruled out.

A prediction must contain a sufficient number of detail preclude guesswork.

Generalizations or mere suppositions or conjectures, such as “Real estate values will be down next fall,” do not fit the norm of real Bible prophecy. Compare such generalizations with the prediction by Christ that the age down to his coming would be characterized by “wars and rumors of wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places” (fulfilled and being fulfilled). The difference is apparent.

A sufficient time must elapse between the prediction and its fulfillment to preclude any agency of the prophet or of his contemporaries in bringing about the result.

For a group of commissioners of a great city to say that by a certain year a beautiful park area will be realized in that city and then for them to plan for and construct that park is not prophesying or fulfilling prophesy.

Note.- Dr. A. T. Pierson says: “Certain things characterize all Bible prediction; viz., remoteness of time, minuteness of detail, novelty of combination, mystery of contradiction.” For illustrations of the last two points see Ezek. 12:13, and Jer. 34:2, 3, and the historic explanation of the seeming contradiction of these two prophetic utterances, one by Jeremiah in Jerusalem and the other at the same time in the land of Babylon. Cf. 2 Kings 25:1-7.

“Fulfilled prophecy is a proof of inspiration because the Scriptures’ predictions of future events were uttered s long before the events transpired that no merely human sagacity or foresight could have anticipated them, and these predictions are so detailed, minute, and specific, as to exclude the possibility that they were fortunate guesses. Hundreds of predictions concerning Israel, and the land of Canaan, Babylon, Assyria, Egypt, and numerous personages- so ancient, so singular, so seemingly improbable, as well as so detailed and definite, that no mortal could have anticipated them- have been fulfilled by the elements, or by men who were ignorant of them or utterly disbelieved them, or who struggled with frantic desperation to avoid their fulfillment. It is certain, therefore, that the Scriptures which contain them are inspired. ‘Prophecy came not in olden time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.’ 2 Peter 1:21.” –Scofield.

Laws of Simple and Compound Probability

Often unbelievers in the miraculous nature of Bible prophecy will resort to statements such as, “It was just a coincidence,” etc. But there is an accurate, arithmetical formula which can be applied to any supposed prediction, which will reveal the extent of its genuineness and miraculous nature.

            This formula consists in the laws of simple and compound probability. The law of simple probability is:

            A prediction with one detail or feature has one chance in two of fulfillment; as for example, “It will snow on Christmas day.” It is obvious that either it will or will not snow on that day, two possibilities, one of which will fulfill the prediction.

            The law of compound probability is:

            A prediction with two features has one chance in four of fulfillment, and every detail added makes the probability of fulfillment less and less. As, for example, “Snow, accompanied by high winds, is the weather forecast for Christmas Day.” This ratio of probability may be expressed in mathematical terms by the fraction one-half (one chance in two) multiplied by itself as many times as there are features in the prediction. Again, the fraction of probability of fulfillment of a prediction with three features- “It will rain October 10^th; the rain will come from the north; and the drops will be big”- would be arrived at by multiplying one-half by itself three times: 1\2 x 1\2 x 1\2 or 1\8; that is, one chance in eight, or with four details 1\2 x 1\2 x 1\2 x 1\2, or 1\16. In other words a prediction with four details or features would have one chance in sixteen of being fulfilled.

            The intricate interrelation between the details of a prophecy and the rapid increase of the ratio of probable fulfillment, as details are added, can be illustrated by the warp and woof of cloth in which every thread of the warp touches every thread of the woof at right angles. In other words every detail of a genuine prophecy has a distinct relationship to every other detail, all of which makes the fulfillment so complicated.

            There are 333 details in the predictions of Scripture concerning the person and career of Messiah. The fraction of probability in this case would be expressed 1\2 (333), or one-half multiplied by itself 333 times. The result of this mathematical problem will give the fraction in round numbers of one over 84 plus 97 ciphers; thus:

                                    1                                 

     840000000000000000 (97 ciphers)

            In other words, the prophesies concerning Christ had one chance in all this multiplied of being fulfilled. To sum up the matter, only Omniscience could foretell events in such detail concerning a coming Deliverer, and only Omniscience could bring about the fulfillment of these marvelous prophecies logic and reason, even on the part of the unregenerate man who impartially examines these facts, will admit the supernatural therein.

CHAPTER 4

INTERPRETATIVE LAWS OF PROPHECY

In addition to the laws of predictive prophecy and those of simple and compound probability, there are several laws which apply to the field of interpretation and with which the student of the Word should be familiar.

Testimony to Jesus.

First in importance is the fact that all prophecy, whatever its subject matter, has some relation to God’s great plan of redemption and realizes its focus in a witness or testimony to Jesus, the Messiah, in whom every phase of redemption is to be consummated. He is the focal point of it all. Revelation 19:10 reads … The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, or according to Weymouth’s translation: “Testimony to Jesus is the spirit which underlies prophecy,” or as Goodspeed renders it: “For the testimony of Jesus is what inspires prophecy.”

            While the book of Revelation is a special unveiling of Christ in His relations to the church, to Israel, to the nations and to every individual human being, it is further true that all prophecy, all Scripture, is the unveiling of Him personally.

Development from seed to full maturity.

Messianic prophecy, particularly, begins in an all comprehensive seed-prophecy of Gen. 3:15 and develops into the blade, then the ear and then the full corn in the ear. In other words, prophecy is permeated with divine life and has grown from this miracle seed into a mighty, spreading tree, full of the fruits of God’s great redemptive purpose. (We shall be studying Messianic prophecy in a later chapter.)

The law of prophetic double reference.

            This law may be stated somewhat as follows: “Prophetic double reference is a method by which a prophecy of a person or event near at hand or immediate in fulfillment is made the means of teaching a deeper truth or of foretelling a future happening more remote. One event, near at hand in fulfillment, may be typical of a more remote fulfillment. Again, one obvious person addressed may be representative or typical of another hidden personality behind the scenes.”

            To illustrate. We meet this law in Isa. 7:13-16 and in Isa. 8:1-4. in the perspective of the promise of the Virgin Son there is blended a local coloring in the foreground, immediate in its fulfillment in the time of king Ahaz-“Butter and honey shall he eat that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that thou (Ahaz) abhorrest shall be forsaken by both her kings (Rezin, Pekah)” vv. 15, 16. The fulfillment of this immediate aspect of the prophecy seems to be in the record of 8:1-4, where the birth of Isaiah’s son, Maher-shalal-hash-baz, is to be the sign to that present generation of the failure of the confederacy of the kings of Israel and Syria.

            Another striking example of the law of double reference is found in Ezek. 28:1-9, where part of the prophecy is addressed to Ethbaal, the then reigning king of Tyre, a type of the Antichrist. However, there are elements in the prophecy which cannot possibly refer to any human being, but point to another personality (Satan) behind the scenes, or incarnate in the human. Satan inspired these godless kings of past history and he will give “his power and his seat and great authority” to a beast-king of the end-time. cf. also Gen. 3:14, 15 and Matt. 16:23, where the Lord addresses the serpent in one case and Peter in the other, but detects another personality concealed.

            The term “Israel” is used with a double designation in Scripture. In its broad, or generic, sense, it refers to the whole people, the twelve tribes and their descendants, who sprang from the loins of Israel (Jacob), their forefather. In its restricted sense it refers to the northern kingdom of the ten tribes, who split off from the house of David at the time of the secession under Jeroboam. The northern kingdom is also designated by the tribal name of Ephraim.

4. The law of prophetic perspective.

            “The law of prophetic perspective is a method of describing future events as if they were continuous and in immediate sequence.” cf. Isa. 61:1-3 and Luke 4:17-20. In reading the Book of Isaiah, the Lord Jesus leaves off after the words “the acceptable year of the Lord,” closes the book, and tells the people, “This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.” Had He continued to read and then given such and explanation of the passage, His word would have been untrue, for the “day of vengeance of our God” has not yet come and already a gap of almost two thousand years has elapsed since the beginning of “the acceptable year of the Lord,” and still “the day of vengeance” has not arrived. In other words, the prophet sees both advents as one would look at distant ranges of mountains, the intervening valleys not being visible, until one climbed to the top of the nearest range. This is “prophetic perspective.”

CHAPTER 5

OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECIES

            The Old Testament prophecies are almost endless in number and almost infinite in detail. These are concerning the nations surrounding Palestine, viz., Babylon, Egypt, Tyre, Edom, No (Thebes), etc. as well as many concerning Israel.

Examples of Prophetic Fulfillment

1. Tyre. Ezek. 26:1-14.

            This prophecy is dated in the year 595 B.C. The first six verses of the chapter give us a general statement of the coming overthrow of the city at the hand of more than one nation. Verses 7-11 deal particularly with the siege of Nebuchadnezzar against Tyre for 13 years, from 585 B.C. to 572 B.C. The city defied every effort of the king to take it, but finally through hunger the inhabitants were forced to submit. Nebuchadnezzar was so angered at this stubborn resistance that he destroyed the city and left it almost an utter ruin. Verse 12, however, did not find its fulfillment until 240 years later, when Alexander the Great asked permission of the inhabitants of Tyre, who had removed themselves to an island stronghold one-half mile out in the Mediterranean Sea, to come and worship in their city. He was refused, because the Tyrians knew that if he ever entered their city their doom was sealed. When he arrived on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea with his armies he was confronted with this island stronghold which defied capture. The city was taken by Alexander’s armies literally scraping (as the prophecy states) the stones, timber and dust (the rubble) of the old ruins into the Mediterranean Sea, thus making a causeway over which Alexander marched and captured the city. Verses 13 and 14 have found their fulfillment in that Tyre has never been rebuilt, and the glory of the once populous commercial center has been dragged in the dust.

2. Egypt. Ezek. 30:6, 12-16.

            The history of Egypt for 2500 years is a fulfillment of Ezek. 30:13. There has been no reigning prince in Egypt for this length of time. Verses 14-16 deal mostly with God’s judgment upon the populace and the magnificent city of Thebes (No).

            “The grandeur of this ancient Egyptian city beggars description. The temple of Luxor presents to the traveler at once one of the most splendid groups of Egyptian grandeur. The extensive propylon, with two obelisks and colossal statues in front, the thick groups of enormous columns, the variety of apartments and the sanctuary it contains, the beautiful ornaments which adorn every part of the walls and columns, described by Mr. Hamilton, cause in the astonished traveler and oblivion of all he has seen before. If his attention be attracted to the north side of Thebes by the towering remains that project at great height above the wood of palm trees, he will gradually enter that forestlike assemblage of ruins and temples, columns, obelisks, colossi, sphinxes, portals, and an endless number of other astonishing objects that will convince him at once of the impossibility of a description….It is absolutely impossible to imagine the scene displayed without seeing it. The most sublime ideas that can be formed from the most magnificent specimens of our present architecture would give a very incorrect picture of these ruins; for such is the difference, not only in magnitude, but in form, proportion and construction, that even the pencil can convey but a faint idea of the whole. It appeared to me like entering a city of giants, who, after a long conflict were all destroyed, leaving the ruins of their various temples as the only proofs of their former existence.”-Belzoni. From “Wonder of Prophecy” by Urquhart.

            The glory of this magnificent city must have been of surpassing grandeur. God promised to bring it into the dust. He fulfilled His Word, yet left enough evidence remains in the ruins to reveal the great height from which she was debased.

3. Babylon. Isaiah 13, 14; Jeremiah 50, 51. See particularly Isa. 44:27, 28 and 45:1, 2. Cyrus, an instrument of God, is here called by name 150 years before his birth and 200 years before his kingdom was set up. Note also the announcement of how Babylon was to be captured in Isa. 45:1, 2.

            Babylon was built on both sides of the river Euphrates, which flowed through the midst of the city. Herodotus, the Greek historian, says that the river Euphrates, in passing through Babylon, was walled on either side, and that the brazen gates in these walls gave entrance to the city (vv. 1, 2). He records that on the night that Belshazzar was slain, these gates, by a strange oversight, were left open, and that the army of the Medes, having diverted the course of the river (44:27), marched up its dry bed and , entering the city, through the open gates, became master of it after the siege of two years. Belshazzar and his government deemed the city impregnable.

            4. Judea. Lev. 26:27-34.

            This passage was written about 1500 B.C., and before Israel ever entered the land of Palestine. It was partially and temporarily fulfilled at the time of the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities, but found its final and complete fulfillment at the time of Israel's great apostasy in rejecting Christ. The history of the nation from that time on has been a striking commentary of the inerrancy of God’s Word.

            a. “I will destroy your high places and bring your sanctuaries into desolation” (30, 31).

            The temple of Solomon and the idolatrous worship in high places of Israel were done away with by Nebuchadnezzar. Later the magnificent Temple of Herod, to the Romans one of the wonders of the world as it stood upon Mt. Moriah, giving it the appearance of being snowcapped, whose golden dome reflected the bright rays of sun, was completely destroyed by the Romans under Titus, A.D. 70.

            b. “I will scatter you among the nations.”

            The Jews were scattered at the time of the capture by Titus, but their complete scattering was accomplished in A.D. 135. a false Messiah by the name of Barchochebas, arose and led the fanatical Jews against the Romans, and they successfully resisted the Roman armies for some time until an able Roman general, Julius Severus, was summoned to subdue them. It is said that 500,000 of the Jews were killed at this time and many more thousands were taken and sold into slavery.

            c. “Your enemies shall dwell therein.”

            After the dispersal of the Jews the land was put up for sale by the Emperor Hadrian and was bought by the Gentiles, who flocked in to settle the land.

            d. “I will make your cities waste.”

            The threat, “your cities shall be a waste,” has long since been abundantly fulfilled. Travelers have spoken of the desolation of Palestine with positive amazement. Captain Condor refers to Judea as “this ruined land.” Of the Shefelah, or western lowlands, the most fertile and thickly populated district of the land of Israel, he says: “The ruins are so thickly spread over hill and valley that in some parts there are as many as three ancient sites to two square miles.” “Wonders of Prophecy”-Urquhart.

Recent years have witnessed the fulfillment of another group of prophetic Scriptures in the beginnings of the restoration of the land of Palestine in preparation for the events of the end-time under the rule of Antichrist.

            e. “Ye shall eat the flesh of your sons.” cf. also 2 Kings 6:29.

            This scripture was literally fulfilled during the straitness of the siege of Jerusalem, A.D. 70. when some of the Jewish soldiers were passing down a street within the city they smelled the odor of roasting flesh, and, slipping into a nearby house, they discovered a Jewish mother withdrawing her own child from the oven.

CHAPTER 6

OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECIES CONTINUED

            5. Samaria. Micah 1:5, 6.

            Literally has every word of the prophecy concerning Samaria’s debasement been fulfilled. There is little to indicate the situation of the once proud capital of Omri and Ahab. The hill upon which it was situated is cultivated for olive trees, vineyards and corn. “The stones of the great city have been taken up by the cultivators and piled together or thrown down the hillsides. Samaria has been changed into the ‘heap of the field’ and into the ‘plantings of a vineyard.’ Its stones are poured down into the valley and its very foundations laid bare.” “Wonders of Prophecy”-Urquhart.

            6. Jerusalem. Micah 3:12.

                        a. “The mountain of the house … as high places of the forest.” South of the Mosque of Omar there is a place 350 feet in extent, filled with lofty cypresses and other trees. This is the place where the temple, the House of the Lord, had its situation on Mt. Moriah.

                        b. “Become heaps.” Today heaps of ruined walls and towers mark the place where once the royal seat of David was, and where the glory of God was manifested in the Temple.

            Jerusalem has been the most besieged city in all the world. In Bible times it was overrun by the Assyrians, then in 587 B.C. it was captured by Nebuchadnezzar and the kingdom of Judah was sent into exile. Again, in 320 B.C. it was captured by Ptolemy I of Egypt and its fortifications were demolished; in 168 B.C., Antiochus, king of Syria, destroyed the walls and devastated the city. Pompey, general of the Roman armies, captured the city in 65 B.C., and then in A.D. 70 Titus captured the city and fulfilled the prophecy of the Lord in Matthew 24 in the destruction of the Temple, when not one stone was left upon the other that was not thrown down. In A.D. 135 it was again devastated by Julius Severus, Roman general. Chosroes II of Persia captured and devastated it in A.D. 614, Caliph Omar in A.D. 637, and then it was captured by the Crusaders in A.D. 1099. After a long siege it was taken by the Saracens, who reconquered it under the leadership of Saladin in A.D. 1187. It was held by the Moslems until 1917.

                        c. “Ploughed as a field.” Portions of Mt. Zion outside the present walls are now plowed and cultivated.

                        d. New Testament prophecy concerning Jerusalem. See Matthew 24; Luke 21; Mark 13.

            Note especially Matt. 24:2. At the siege of Jerusalem by Titus he gave specific orders that the temple built by Herod was to be spared, but the Roman soldiers were so angered at the Jews because of their stubborn resistance that they burned the Temple. It was afterwards razed to the ground until literally there was not “one stone left upon another.” Luke 21:24. We need only to read casually through the history of the Jews since the time of Christ to realize that this scripture has been fulfilled. Jerusalem has been “trodden down of the Gentiles”; but the change noted by the word “until” is about to be realized, for the groundwork is being laid for the fulfillment of God’s Word for the restoration of the Jews to their own city and land.

            True, they are endeavoring by their own efforts, with no intelligent dependence upon God, to re-establish Palestine as their national home in the turmoil of disturbed relations with Great Britain and the Arabs. Zeph. 2:1, 2. These efforts are doomed to failure, because their final restoration is to be on the basis of their national repentance (Zech. 12:10, 11), and it will be by direct divine intervention at the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. cf. Isa. 43:6, 7; 62:1-4; 65:17-25; Rev. 1:7, et al. It is interesting to note the effort of Satan through the Roman Emperor Julian, A.D. 354, to thwart Scripture concerning the complete cessation of their Temple worship. Hosea 3:4, 5; matt. 23:37-39. we shall let the historian Gibbon tell the story:

            “He (Julian) resolved to erect on the commanding eminence of Moriah a stately temple which might eclipse the splendor of the Church of Calvary on the adjacent hill of Calvary…and to invite a numerous colony of Jews whose stern fanaticism would always be ready to second…the hostile Pagan government. At the call of the great deliverer, the Jews from all provinces of the empire assembled on the Holy Mount of their fathers. The temple has in every age been the ruling passion of the children of Israel. In this propitious moment the Jews forgot their avarice and the women their delicacy. Spades and pickaxes of silver were provided by the vanity of the rich and the rubbish was transported in mantles of silk and purple. Yet on this occasion the joint effort of power and enthusiasm was unsuccessful.” “Wonders of Prophecy.”

            Ambrose, bishop of Milan, Chrysostom and Gregory, even rabbis-all report the strange event which occurred at this time.

            “Whilst Alypius, assisted by the governor of the province, urged with vigor and diligence the execution of the work, horrible balls of fire, breaking out near the foundation with frequent and repeated attacks, rendered the place from time to time inaccessible to the blasted and scorched workmen, and the victorious element continued in this manner, obstinately and resolutely bent, as it were, to drive them to a distance. The undertaking was abandoned.” “History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.”-Gibbon.

CHAPTER 7

MESSIANIC PROPHECY

            As noted in Interpretive Laws of Prophecy, the great subject of prophecy, both direct and related, is the Coming Deliverer, promised by God at the time of the fall of man. The focus of prophecy, then, is Messiah and the purpose of prophecy is to exalt Him- “that in all things he might have the pre-eminence.”

            Prophecy proceeds from outline to detail. The larger, more general statements are first given, then the intricate and detailed follow.

The First Prophecy Concerning Christ

            The first prophetic statement concerning the Coming Deliverer is found in Gen. 3:15- “The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpents head.” This is very general and broad in scope and could have been fulfilled in any man descended from Eve. When Cain was born Eve thought he was the realization of this promise. The last clause of Gen. 4:1 may be translated: “I have gotten the man, even Jehovah (the Coming One).”

The Messianic Line Prophetically Restricted

            God began then to restrict the lineage of Messiah, making prophecy, as it proceeds to unfold, more and more intricate and difficult of fulfillment.

            Upon the death of righteous Abel, God raised up a new seed, Seth, who in turn was the progenitor of Noah, who, with his family of three sons, survived the judgment of the flood. Of these sons Shem was chosen from whose line Messiah was to come and upon whom the blessing of God peculiarly rested. Gen. 9:26, 27.

            Note further that it was from Shem that Abraham came, the great father of the faith clan, who was called of God to leave his own kindred to go into a divinely appointed country. Gen. 11:10. 25-27, 31; 12:1-3; 15:1-4; 18:18. Abraham was to be the father of people as numerous as the stars of the heavens and as the sands of the seashores. These two symbols seem to indicate that his offspring was to be of two different kinds, a heavenly and an earthly, a spiritual and a natural.

            Then the line of Isaac is designated. Gen. 17:18, 19; 18:10; 21:1-3. Ishmael and all his descendants are thus eliminated as the source from which a Deliverer was to come. Jacob is pointed out to be the ancestor of Messiah and Esau and his descendants are eliminated. Messiah, then, could not come from any of the Arab peoples descended from Ishmael, nor could He come from the Edomites.

            Of Jacob’s sons, Judah is chosen to be the head of messiah’s lineage. Gen. 49:8-10. This is a very striking prophecy. Note the important statement: “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come and unto him shall the gathering of the peoples be.”

            The most prominent of Jewish commentators affirm that Shiloh is the Messiah. The passage states that He is to come before “the sceptre departs from Judah or a lawgiver from between his feet.” In other words, the tribal distinction of Judah should not be lost until Shiloh (the Messiah) come. The fact is that the tribe of Judah retained its tribal traditions and genealogies long after the ten tribes lost their distinction. When Jesus Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, appeared, the genealogies were there to substantiate His claims, but shortly after His ascension (A.D. 70) they were all burned in the Temple when Titus destroyed Jerusalem. But those genealogies are preserved to us today in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.

            How remarkably has the phrase, “to him shall be the gathering of the peoples” (literal), been fulfilled! The followers of Christ are found in every tribe and tongue, in every land and clime. The peoples (nations) have surely been gathered to him.

            Note also the prophecy of Balaam, the hireling prophet. Num. 24:7-19. Balaam, without desiring it and contrary to the directions of Balak that he should curse Israel, blesses him (Israel); and with divine prophetic foresight sees Israel's deliverance from her enemies, of which Edom and Moab are typical, this deliverance coming from a kingly personage who should shine forth as a Star out of Jacob. You will remember that Christ is called “The Bright and Morning Star.” Rev. 22:16.

The Prophetic Ministry of Messiah. Deut. 18:15-22.

            Moses, the great leader and prophet of God’s people, Israel, was told by Jehovah that He would raise up another prophet to His people like unto Moses himself. This was none other than the Lord Jesus Christ who came about fifteen hundred years later. Truly, Christ was a prophet like unto none other who preceded Him, for “never man spake like this man.”

The Royal Lineage of Messiah

            In God’s promise to David that his house and his kingdom should “be established forever” and his “throne established forever” (2 Sam. 7:14-16), the element of the royal lineage of Messiah is introduced. In David’s last words (2 Sam. 23:1-5) we see his unswerving faith in God’s promise to him. Isaiah and Jeremiah both give the prophetic interpretation of the promise to David, showing that he was to be a particular son of Jesse; and these prophets confirmed the covenant made with David. See Isa. 11:1, 2, 10, 11; Jer. 23:5; 33:17-21.

The Royal Line Established by Genealogical Records

            One might wonder why so much space in the first chapter of Matthew and the third chapter of Luke is taken up with a long list of names difficult for us to pronounce. But they have a most important and definite place in Holy Writ. They are there to substantiate Christ’s claim to be “son of Abraham, son of David,” in fulfillment of the covenant promise. Matt. 1:1. Scan these two records and you will note that the one in Matthew traces the line of Christ back from Joseph, Jesus’ foster father, to the familiar names of Jesse, Obed, Ruth, Boaz, Judas (or Judah), Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham.

            Jesus’ foster father, Joseph, is seen to be in direct succession to the throne of David through Solomon. But Christ, though the legal son of Joseph, if He had been the actual son of Joseph, had no right to the throne, because of a curse pronounced by God on the house of Jeconiah. Jer. 22:24-30.

            By this pronouncement of God He has carefully guarded the great truth of the virgin birth of Christ. If Jesus were the son of Joseph by natural generation, He would be under Jeconiah’s curse, would have no claim to the throne of David, and we would have no Saviour in Him.

            Thus enters the purpose of the second genealogical record recorded in Luke, chapter three. You will note the repetition of the familiar names from Matthew’s record in verses 31 to 34 of the record in Luke. But in verse 31 the name of Nathan, son of David, appears. While in verse 23 Joseph is designated as son of Heli, in Matthew 1:16 he is clearly begotten of Jacob. He could not be the actual son of both men. The explanation lies in the words “begat” and “the son of” (note italics). Sons-in-law in Hebrew genealogical records appear as sons. Evidently Heli was the father-in-law of Joseph and the actual father of Mary, who traces her line back to Nathan, son of David.

            Consequently, being the actual son of Mary by supernatural generation, Jesus our Lord, avoided the curse pronounced on Jeconiah, and by the marriage of Mary and Joseph he became legally the son of Joseph and inherited the rights and succession to the throne of David through Joseph’s lineage from Solomon. He was indeed not only Israel's Messiah, nut “King of the Jews” as appeared in the subscription over His head on the cross.

            How wonderful are the wisdom of God and the “ways” of the accomplishment of His divine purpose “past finding out!”

The Deity of the Messiah

            In the prophetic mold not only is the Savior and Messiah seen to be the “Son of man,” coming forth through a defiantly designated family tree, but a more mysterious revelation is introduced, a purely supernatural element. The Deliverer is to be virgin born. His name is to be “Immanuel” (Isa. 7:13-14), the “Mighty God,” “the Everlasting Father,” (Father of eternity or of the ages). Isa. 9:6, 7. He Himself is the Progenitor of the ages (Heb. 11:3), the Originator of the material creation (Col. 1:14-17), the great Architect of the “eternal purpose” of God.

            The Old Testament itself speaks of God’s Son in Prov. 30:4. This verse is the answer to the oft-repeated question of the Jewish seeker after truth, “Can God have a son?”

CHAPTER 8

MESSIANIC PROPHECY CONTINUED

The Time of Messiah’s Appearance

            Chapter nine of Daniel and particularly the portion, verses 24 to 27, is chronologically the most important prophetic passage in Scripture, for upon a clear understanding of it depends a sane, intelligent, symmetrical interpretation of other prophetic Scripture, especially the Book of Revelation. (The student should read these verses very carefully).

            In view of the fact that we shall no doubt recognize this passage further in other relations to Bible truth, we will give it somewhat comprehensive treatment here. Daniel (student of prophecy-Dan. 9:2) was earnestly seeking God at the expiration of the seventy-year period of Babylonian captivity. Jer. 25:11, 12. Babylon had been overthrown by the Medes, and the children of Israel were about to be permitted to return home by decree of Cyrus, first ruler of the Medo-Persian Empire. 2 Chron. 36:22, 23.

            To Daniel appeared the angel Gabriel who brought to him a further revelation of the divine purpose for Israel. Let the student keep in mind the following points as outlined by Alva J. McClain:

The entire prophecy has to do with Daniel’s “people” and Daniel’s “city,” that is, the nation of Israel and the city of Jerusalem. (v. 24).

Two different princes are mentioned, who should not be confused: the first is named Messiah the prince (v. 25); and the second is described as the prince that shall come (v. 26).

The entire time-period involved is exactly specified as Seventy Weeks) v. 24); and these Seventy Weeks are further divided into three lesser periods; first, a period of seven weeks; after that a period of threescore and two weeks; and finally, a period of one week (vv. 25, 27).

The beginning of the whole period of the Seventy Weeks is definitely fixed at “the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem” (v. 25).

The end of the seven weeks and threescore and two weeks (69 weeks) will be marked by the appearance of Messiah as the “Prince” of Israel (v. 25).

At a later time, “after the threescore and two weeks” which follow the first seven weeks (that is, after 69 weeks), Messiah the Prince will be “cut off,” and Jerusalem will again be destroyed by the people of another “prince” who is yet to come (v. 26).

After these two important events, we come to the last, or Seventieth Week, the beginning of which will be clearly marked by the establishment of a firm covenant or treaty between the Coming Prince and the Jewish nation for a period of “one week” (v. 27).

In the “midst” of this Seventieth Week, evidently breaking his treaty, the coming prince will suddenly cause the Jewish sacrifice to cease and precipitate upon this people a time of wrath and desolation lasting to the “full end” of the Week (v. 27).

With the full completion of the whole period of the Seventy Weeks, there will be ushered in a time of great and unparalleled blessings for the nation of Israel (v. 24).

            Let us examine at least a part of this prophecy carefully.

            The word “weeks” means literally “sevens.” Thus the 24^th verse simply asserts that “seventy sevens are determined” (divided off) in the purpose of God to accomplish certain ends for His people Israel. Now what unit of length are we to use in the computation of these sevens? The answer is found in the fact that Daniel had been thinking not only in terms of years but also in a definite multiple of “sevens” (10x7) of years. Dan. 9:1, 2. Again, as McClain states it, “Daniel knew that the Babylonian captivity had been based on Jewish violations of the divine law of the Sabbatical year. Since, according to 2 Chron. 36:21, the Jews had been removed from off the land so that it might rest for seventy years, it should be evident that the Sabbatical year had been violated for 490 years, or exactly seventy ‘sevens’ of years.”

            If these “weeks” are composed of years, what is the length of the year? The evidence is supplied by the Word of God, which reveals these years to be of 360 days duration. In the account of the flood, comparing Gen. 7:11 and 8:4, we discern that it lasted “five months.” The length of this period is given in Gen. 7:24 and 8:3 as “one hundred fifty days.” Thus the earliest known month of Biblical history was 30 days in length. Twelve months of this length would give us a 360-day year.

            There is further evidence in Rev. 12:6, 13, 14 and 13:4-7 to the same fact, but this will not be enlarged upon at this point.

            When did the period of seventy weeks or 490 years begin? With a commandment or decree “to restore and to build Jerusalem.” Some interpreters have identified this “commandment” with the decrees of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, recorded in the Book of Ezra. But these decrees, without exception, had to do with the rebuilding of the Temple, not the city. Read Ezra 1:1, 2; 4:1-5, 11-24; 6:1-5, 14, 15; 7:11, 20, 27, and note the repeated expression “house of the Lord.”

            But there is only one decree in Old Testament history which can possibly be identified as the command of Daniel 9:25. Read carefully Neh. 1:1-4; 2:1-8. It was the ruined condition of his beloved city, Jerusalem, that moved Nehemiah’s heart to tears and his countenance to sadness in the presence of the Persian king. This all led to the grace of the king toward his cupbearer, and the issuing of the decree in the month Nisan in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king. Neh. 2:1.

            The twentieth year of Artaxerxes’ reign, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, was 445 B.C. Nisan, the first day, would be on our calendar March 14, 445 B.C.

            Our interest at this point is to determine what this prophecy in Daniel reveals as to the time of Messiah’s appearance. Note that the prophecy says: “From the going forth of the commandment…unto Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks.” This would be a total of sixty-nine weeks or sevens of years, making 48883 years of 360 days each, a grand total of 173,880 days. From March 14, 445 B.C. this number of days reaches to April 6, A.D. 32. Thus that date is fixed as the end of the era of the sixty-nine weeks. It should mark the day of Messiah’s manifestation as Prince of Israel. Sir Robert Anderson, for many years head of England’s Scotland Yard, corresponding to our FBI, and a devout Christian, gives us his conclusion in his book “The Coming Prince,” that April 6, A.D. 32, was the tenth of Nisan, the momentous day on which Christ rode into Jerusalem on the “foal of and ass” and offered Himself to the populace as the prince and king of Israel. Zech. 9:9; Luke 19:28-44; Matt. 24:1-11.

            The importance of that “day” is seen in that while Christ had previously forbidden His disciples to make Him known as Messiah, he now rebuked the Pharisees’ objections and commended the disciples’ shout. Luke 19:39, 40. And when He lamented over the city, because he knew of His coming rejection, De sadly referred to “this thy day” and the “time of thy visitation,” evidently as the day God had fixed in Daniel’s prophecy, the day on which the Messiah would manifest Himself as “prince” to Israel. “The things which belong unto thy (Israel's) peace” (Luke 19:42) were distinctly foretold in Daniel 9:24, but they rejected the king and crucified Him. Consequently, their “house (temple) was left unto them desolate.” Matt. 23:37, 38.

            Returning now to Daniel 9:26 we note that “Messiah shall be cut off.” This was fulfilled by His crucifixion and rejection. It is further stated that “the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.” This was fulfilled by the Romans in A.D. 70 according to Christ’s own prophecy in Matt. 24:1, 2.

            Thus Messiah must have come between the date of Artaxerxes’ decree and A.D. 70, the date of the desolation of Jerusalem by the Roman armies. He did come “in the fullness if time.” Gal. 4:4.

CHAPTER 9

MESSIANIC PROPHECY CONTINUED

Other Prophecies Concerning the Messiah

            There are many most interesting predictions concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, marvelously fulfilled in every detail. Let us look at a few of them.

1. The place of Messiah’s birth was foretold by the prophet Micah, who lived seven hundred years before: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” Micah 5:2.

            A highly significant event in the fulfillment of this prophesied advent at Bethlehem and which is so often passed over with little thought as to all that is implied, is the decree of the emperor, Caius Octavianus Augustus of Rome, as recorded in Luke 2:1-5 KJV: “And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.” An examination of all that is implied in the fulfillment of Micah 5:2 should yield wonder and awe in our hearts at the wisdom and ways of God.

            Where were Mary and Joseph at the time of this decree and prior to their journey to Bethlehem? The passage answers, “In Nazareth of Galilee,” which is about seventy miles from Bethlehem. It is clear that the decree of Caesar, from the divine standpoint, was made in order to bring Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem. In other words, the whole Roman Empire was all astir with the activities of a census-taking, just to cause a couple of simple Jewish peasants to journey from Nazareth of Galilee to Bethlehem of Judea, so that their child should be born there rather than in the northern town. The decree came, too, at a time when naturally a mother soon to give birth to her child, should not be traveling, especially in those days when it could not be done in comfort, for it was necessary either to walk or to use one of the old methods of transportation, donkey back or camel back.

            The issuing of a decree or proclamation in modern days is a simple matter. A high-powered radio station can carry a message to be heard simultaneously all over the world. This was not the case in those days of long ago. After the decree was signed, runners, couriers on horseback or camelback had to carry the instructions to every outlying province of the great Roman dominion. In order to realize the divine purpose and to fulfill the prophecy of Micah, it had to reach Galilee at a precise time. Did the emperor of Rome have two obscure Jewish young people in mind when he issued the decree for a census-taking? Nay, verily. But God did and His superintendence saw to the timing of the proclamation and to its arrival by the long, devious way at the precise moment in Nazareth.

            As was the custom in those days, Joseph and Mary journeyed for the enrollment of the census to the ancestral town of Bethlehem, since both of them were of the household and lineage of David, whose birthplace was there. In the apparent commonplace of this historical event in the fulfillment of Micah’s prophecy, we see the unerring hand of God in bringing to pass His word.

            2. The sufferings on the cross and the gambling for His garments.  Psalm 22:1, 6-20.

            We may forget the fact that while David wrote many Psalms, expressing the feelings and experiences of himself and others, he was also a prophet. Acts 2:29, 30. In Psalm 22, he gives voice by inspiration by the Father which the Lord Jesus experienced when He cried, as He bore our sins, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Can we ever understand the anguish of His heart as He hung there in the agony of His bodily and mental suffering, mocked and reviled by His enemies? Beneath His cross He saw the hard, callous, unfeeling soldiers gambling as to who should possess His seamless robe.  cf. Matthew 25:35, 39-46.

            3. The death and subsequent resurrection of Christ.  Psalm 16:10.

            David again voices his own hope of resurrection an Psalm 16, but prophetically sees the reality of the death of his greater Son and Lord, as His soul descends to “hell” (Hebrew “sheol,” the place of departed spirits. cf. Acts 13:33-37; Ephesians 4:10.

            4. The price paid for His betrayal. Zechariah 11:12, 13.

            You will recall that Judas bargained with the chief priests to betray Christ for thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26L14-16), and then in deep remorse for his perfidy brought by the money to the priests and elders, cast it down in the court of the temple, and then took his own life.  Matthew 27:3-10. This incident was foreseen by the prophet Zechariah. In the record of Matthew 27:9 there seems to be a contradiction for apparently this prophecy is attributed to Jeremiah. This can be explained by the fact that the Jews used to say that the spirit of Jeremiah rested upon Zechariah, and so they were as one prophet, or that this prophecy was actually spoken by Jeremiah but written by Zechariah.

5. Messiah’s silence before His enemies. Isaiah 53:7.

Jesus in the nobility of His character and complete assurance of an unsullied conscience did not deem it necessary to answer His accusers, but maintained that a dignified silence before them, knowing that all was in His Father’s hands for His later vindication, after the ordeal of the cross. cf. Matthew 26:59-63f.c.

6. Christ’s burial with the rich. Isaiah 53:9.

The archaeologist has established from records brought to light by his spade that Joseph of Arimathea was the wealthy uncle of Jesus on His mother’s side and was the great “tin magnate” of those days. He was an importer of the metal from Britain. He was a believer in Christ, and with Nicodemus besought Pilate, the Roman governor, for the body of Jesus. His request was granted; they prepared the body for burial and laid it upon the sill in his own family sepulchre. cf. Matthew 27:57-60.

CHAPTER 10

THE COVENANTS OF THE BIBLE

A covenant is a solemn agreement or compact made between two persons or parties. Dr. Marvin R. Vincent in his “Word Studies in the New Testament” gives the following exegesis of the Greek word translated both “testament” and “covenant.” But more correctly “covenant”: “To distribute, dispose of, hence the disposition of one’s property.” On the idea of disposing or arranging is based that of settlement or agreement, and thence of a covenant. The Hebrew word, of which the New Testament Greek Word is a translation, is always used with the verb “to cut.” Thus to make a covenant is literally to cut a covenant, referring to the fact that victims, slain in ratification of covenants, were cut or divided.

            The procedure of ratification by the shedding of blood is seen in the solemnity of God’s covenant with Abraham (Genesis 15:7-18), when the great patriarch, according to divine instructions, slew the sacrificial animals, divided or cut them in halves and laid them on the ground. Then a strange manifestation of the divine presence was seen passing between the pieces (Genesis 15:17). This whole procedure indicated the inviolability of the promise God was making to His “friend,” with the most positive assurance of its fulfillment. Blood covenanting is seen frequently in the Scriptures and from time immemorial has been the practice of the nations. (Se “Blood Covenant” by Henry Clay Trumbull.) See 1 Kings 20:34; Isaiah 28:15; 1 Samuel 18:3; Mark 14:24; Luke 1:72; Luke 22:20; Galatians 3:15, for uses of the word “covenant.”

            The Scriptures set forth eight covenants which God has made with man on various occasions: the Edenic (Genesis 1:28-31), which conditioned the life of man in innocency; the Adamic (Genesis 3:14-21), which conditioned the life of man after the fall and gave promise of a Redeemer or Savoir; the Noahic (Genesis 9:1-17), which established the principle of human government and assured the continuance of life on the earth; the Abrahamic (Genesis 12:1-3; 15:1-18; 17:1,2), which founded the nation of Israel, established with the principle of justification by faith, and gave to Israel the Near East, as we modernly call it; the Mosaic (Exodus 19:1-25; 20:1-18), which gave Israel God’s holy law, revealed His holiness, and promised blessing upon condition of obedience, and divine chastisement for unfaithfulness (see Leviticus Chapter 26); the Palestinian (Deuteronomy Chapter 28, Chapter 29, Chapter 30:1-10; Acts 15:14-17; Romans 11:25-27), which assures the final restoration and conversion of Israel; the Davidic (2 Samuel 7:12-17; 1 Chronicles 17:7-14; Psalms 89_34-37), which promises the throne of Israel to David’s posterity (fulfilled in Christ-Luke 1:31-33); and the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-40; Ezekiel 36:25-28; Luke 22:20), which assures the spiritual transformation of Israel and of all who believe in Christ.

            We shall devote our attention in this course particularly to the Abrahamic, Davidic, and the New Covenants.

The Abrahamic Covenant

Black and dismal racial failure is written in the record of man’s sin and disobedience in Genesis. The whole race, except for the family of Noah, perished in the flood, because “the wickedness of man was great in the earth and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5.

            Again, as the descendants of Noah’s sons began to multiply, they departed from the righteousness and faith of the great patriarch. Nimrod, the grandson of Ham, was the founder of the ancient kingdoms of Babel (later, Babylon) and Asshur (later, Assyria). “He began to be a mighty one in the earth.” A great hero or leader of men, an organizer, a builder. His leadership was evidently in defiance of the Lord. The widespread spirit of rebellion against the Lord culminated in the boastful pride and blasphemous self-assertion which inspired the building of the tower of Babel, designed to reach up to heaven. In defiance of God’s command to Noah (Genesis 9:1) these ancient inhabitants of Shinar (Mesopotamia) concentrated their activities in one spot and organized with the marks of confederated human greatness.

            God could not tolerate such blasphemy, so “came down,” confounded their language and scattered them upon the face of the earth. Genesis 1:6-9.

            God now proposed to bring into being the people of Israel, as a witness among the nations to the one true Deity, to produce the sacred Scriptures, and to be the means through which the promised Redeemer (Genesis 3:15) would come. This nation of Israel had its rise in the call and history of the great patriarch Abraham.  Genesis 12 to 15.

            Terah had taken Abraham, his son, his daughter-in-law, Sarai, and his grandson, Lot, for Ur, their native city to Chaldea, to Haran far to the northwest, on their way to the land of Canaan. Here Terah died and the Lord appeared to Abram with the call to complete separation from his former homeland and from the paganism of his kindred.

            God promised Abraham a threefold blessing. First, “I will bless thee and make thy name great.” Genesis 12:2. The record of Abraham’s life evidences the divine favor. God prospered him materially (Genesis 13:2) and protected him and his wife Sarai from possible dire consequences of his ill-advised excursions out of the promised land into Egypt and Philistia. cf. Genesis 12:10-20; 20:1-18. The Lord increased his household and wrought a signal victory over the confederated kings of the day, who had attacked Canaan land and had taken Lot, Abraham’s nephew, and his family captive. cf. Genesis Chapter 14. His name became great in his day and time.

            Spiritually God blessed Abraham. “Abraham believed God” and He “counted it to him for righteousness.” In thus counting God faithful and true to the promise of a son and heir to be given him in his old age, he became the “father of the faith clan,” the great Spiritual exemplar of the gospel of salvation by grace through faith, Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:1-5; Galatians 3:13, 14. His name was and still is esteemed great by Israel, his natural seed, and by his spiritual seed, the “children” of faithful Abraham.

            Second, then Jehovah God promised a blessing to Abraham’s posterity-“I will make thee a great nation” (Genesis 12:2); “I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth” (Genesis 13:16). From his loins came the patriarchs Isaac and Jacob, whose sons gave their names to the twelve tribes which sprang from them. The nation of Israel has never been as numerous by comparison with other nations. But no other people like Israel has exerted so great an influence in the world as a witness to the one living and true God, and her history as a national commentary on the veracity of the Holy Scriptures. What God spoke concerning them has been fulfilled to the very letter. She will yet take her place in the forefront of the nations, when her destiny is fully realized in her restoration. Amos 9:11-15, Isaiah 60:14, 15, 21.

            Third, God promised-“Thou shalt be a blessing”; and “in thee shall all families of the earth nr blessed.” Genesis 12:2, 3. In Galatians 3:14 Paul speaks of the “blessing of Abraham.” That blessing as we have already seen involved a multiplied seed or progeny as numerous and “the sands of the sea.” and as the “dust of the earth,” for God repeated His promise. Genesis 13:16; 22:17. This blessing also involved the grant of a distinct portion of the earth’s surface to his posterity (Genesis 13:14; 15-18)-“from the river of Egypt unto the great river Euphrates,” a land “flowing with milk and honey.”

            These boundaries define a territory much larger than the nation of Israel, Abraham’s seed, had ever yet possessed even in the prosperous days of David and Solomon. It was and can be made a fruitful land under divine favor, and when Israel occupies that land (we shall learn of Israel's restoration later) she shall be a great blessing to the nation of the earth.

            But the greatest “blessing of Abraham” is the bestowment of justification and salvation on the alone basis of faith through Abraham’s “seed” who is the Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians 3:16. (See the genealogical records of Matthew 1:1-17; Luke 3:23-34.) Abraham’s faith was imputed to him for the righteousness, for he believed that what God promised He was able to perform, Galatians 3:6. That same kind of faith brings justification to every Gentile believer. God proclaimed in Abraham, long before Christ came, the principle of salvation by grace through faith. Galatians 3:7-9. Uncounted multitudes have entered into that “blessed” estate as they have followed in the footsteps of “faithful Abraham,” and have believed that what God promised He has performed in the atoning work of Christ on the cross.

            A vitally important factor in God’s covenant with Abraham is seen in the principle of blessing and cursing accorded individuals and nations as they dealt with Abraham and his descendants. “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee.” Genesis 12:3. The purpose of God that in Abraham and his seed “all the families of the earth shall be blessed” makes necessary the protection and preservation of Abraham and his posterity.

            Consequently, “the Lord plagues Pharaoh and his house with great plagues,” when the Egyptian king would have taken Sarah from Abraham. Genesis 12:14-20. Accordingly, dire threat of vengeance came to Abimelech, king of Gerar, for the same thing. Genesis 20:1-16. God prospered Isaac (Genesis 26:12-16), and this peacefully-minded patriarch was delivered from the scheming Philistines. They finally had to acknowledge that God was with him and made a covenant of friendship with him. Genesis 26:26-33.

            Jacob, though himself a schemer, now in the divine refining process, was protected from his unscrupulous uncle, Laban, and returned to Canaan under the blessing of God. When his sons and their posterity became a great nation in Egypt, God visited the tyrant Pharaoh and his people with the plagues and then redeemed Israel by Passover blood and supernatural power (Exodus Chapters 1-14), finally bringing them into the land He had promised them.

            But God was just as faithful in chastening Israel for disobedience and apostasy. The book of Judges is the sad record of sin and judgment by divine direction at the hand of foreign nations, But Israel's cries of distress brought deliverance through the Judges whom the Lord had raised up. God continued faithfully to chasten His people during the time of the monarchy (see 1 and 2 Kings), but when the chosen agencies of His judgment exceeded their commission and “laid it on” to heavily and “helped forward his affliction,” He in turn punished and humbled them. “It shall come to pass that when the Lord hath performed His whole work upon Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the King of Assyria and his high looks.” Isaiah 10:12. Thus spoke the Lord regarding the Assyrians. (See Isaiah 10:5-7.) Concerning Babylon whom God used to punish Judah, Isaiah prophesied: “Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called the lady of kingdoms. I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou didst show them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke.” Isaiah 47:5, 6.

            The record of history up to our own days shows that God has dealt and is dealing with nations according to their treatment of Israel or the Jew. Zechariah, speaking of the last days, prophesied: “I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all people of the earth be gathered together against it,” Zechariah 12:3. See also Zechariah 12:8-10; Zechariah 14:1-4.

            The psalmist wrote. “God shall bless us: and all the ends of the earth shall fear him.” Psalm 67:7. When Israel is restored to her place of leadership among the nations at the second coming of Christ, they will be greatly blessed with her. See, for example, Isaiah 19:23-25.

CHAPTER 11

THE COVENANTS OF THE BIBLE, CONTINUED

The Davidic Covenant

            You will remember that the first promise of a Deliverer from sin and Satan is found in Genesis 3:15. Then is the prophetic perspective, 2,000 years later looms the high point of the covenant with Abraham, which we have just studied.

            Abraham has slept with his fathers and has been buried in the cave of Macphelah. Isaac, his son and heir of promise, has likewise passed on. Jacob, Joseph and his brethren, Jacob’s sons have died. Their descendants, the Israelites, have become a great multitude of people in Egypt. God has delivered them from Pharaoh but His “mighty power and stretched-out arm,” and Moses has led them through the wilderness to Kadesh-barnea where the unbelieving generation ignominiously perished after forty years’ wandering.

            The leadership has fallen to Joshua, who had led them to victory over the Canaanites. One may wonder why God dispossessed these people to make room for Israel. But there was a divine motive and justifying cause. These nations were wholly given over to idolatry, accompanied by the vilest immoral practices. Archaeology has conclusively proven that they sacrificed their children-babies even a few months old or less-to their heathen gods. Their cup of iniquity was full and like the rotten apples in a barrel, they must be eliminated to prevent the utter corruption of the race. The few of these peoples came “snares and traps,” “scourges” in their sides, and “thorns” in their eyes. Joshua 23:13.

            Then came the period of the Judges, when Israel was ruled over temporarily by men whom God raised up to deliver them from their oppressors, when they “cried unto the Lord.” The last and greatest of these judges was the godly, faithful Samuel, prophet of God, wise ruler, and faithful servant of the Almighty. At this time Israel asked for a king to rule them like the nations round about. God gave them Saul, who miserably failed, and now David, the son of Jesse, the “man after God’s own heart,” occupies the throne.

            God has prospered him, given him victory over his enemies, and now toward the end of his life he desires to build a magnificent temple for the glory of Jehovah, his God. But the Lord does not permit this. He sends the prophet Nathan to David, with whom God now makes a covenant, which we will call the Davidic. Its terms are given us in 2 Samuel 7:1-17.

            The prophet’s words (2 Samuel 7:10) now take up the thread of the Abrahamic Covenant, and God promises to Israel a settled and permanent abode. He tells David that in him, as its head, He would make him “an house,” that is, create a kingly dynasty. David should have a son, who would build the temple of the Lord’s and David’s dynasty and his kingdom should be an everlasting one.

            Solomon, of course, was the immediate fulfillment of this prophecy, but "a greater than Solomon is here.” cf. Luke 11:31. In this “covenant” scripture we see an instance of our law of double reference. The very language of v. 14-“I will be his father and he shall be my son” is found in Hebrews 1:5, where God clearly identifies the Lord Jesus Christ and the “Son” through whom He has spoken (Hebrews 1:2), and in whom the complete fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant lies.

            We shall trace briefly this fulfillment. Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, refused to lighten the tax burden, which supported the tremendous scope of activities of his father, and ten of the twelve tribes split off or seceded, under the leadership of Jeroboam, an officer exiled during Solomon’s reign. The history of this kingdom, called Israel, and that of the two tribes, who remained loyal to David’s house, named after the tribe of Judah, run parallel for about three hundred fifty years. The powerful Assyrian Empire overwhelmed Israel and took them captive in 721 B.C. 2 Kings 18:9-12.

            About a century and a half later, in 587 B.C., Judah, who even exceeded Israel in idolatrous abominations, was removed into Babylonian bondage. 2 Kings 25:1-11. Jeremiah (Jeremiah 25:12) had prophesied that this captivity should last seventy years, for since God had promised the continuity of David’s dynasty, Judah must be restored again. About 50,000 exiles returned (2 Chronicles 36:22, 23), rebuilt the temple, and later restored the city of Jerusalem. See books of Ezra and Nehemiah.

            But for over five hundred years Judah remained subject to the Empire of Persia, then to Greece, and at length to Rome. Caesar Augustus is Emperor at Rome, and Herod the Great, son of an Idumean (Edomite), rules by Roman sufferance as King of Judea.

            Suddenly Old testament prophecy (Isaiah 7:14; 9:6, 7) bursts into fulfillment as angels announce to the shepherds on the Galilean hills: “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior which is Christ the Lord.” The angel Gabriel had previously announced to Mary, His mother, “He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and His father David: and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end,” Luke 1:32, 33.

            The prophet Jeremiah has foretold the coming of this “Prince of the House of David”: “Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” Jeremiah 23:5, 6.

            Then about thirty years after this mysterious birthday, the voice of a rugged, home-spun prophet breaks the silence with the pointed message: “Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The babe, whose advent was announced by the angels at Bethlehem, has now become a man. He is the promised Messiah and this “voice” is that of His forerunner, John the Baptist.

            Is this not the prophetic day, when Israel shall be exalted as the “head” of the nations and “not the tail”? Deuteronomy 28:13. Is this not the hour when Israel's enemies shall become the footstool of her feet? True, the door into the spiritual kingdom was opening wide to all who would enter, but the blind unbelief, the hypocrisy, over-weening pride, and hard-heartedness of the religious leaders, the people and the Roman government combined to bring to a cruel death that Christ, “who went about doing good.” “He came unto his own and his own received him not.” “He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.”

            Even His disciples expressed their frustration, disappointment, and sorrow over His death-“we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel.” Luke 24:21. But behold! He has risen from the dead and for forty days has appeared to individuals and groups. Surely this must be the time for the setting up of the kingdom and so the disciples ask-“Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” Acts 1:6.

            The reply of the Lord Jesus Christ was not a denial that the Kingdom in outward manifest form, as prophetically described, would be set up but rather that the hour had not yet come for this great event. “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power, But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while the looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, tow men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” Acts 1:7-11.

            His return was definitely promised, but the time withheld. The promised enduement with the power of the Holy Ghost came at Pentecost and the witness of the early Jewish church to her risen ascended Lord began. But severe persecution drove them out of Jerusalem and “they went everywhere preaching the word.” Acts 8:1-4. Samaritans (Acts 8:5-17) and Gentiles began to hear the word and responded to the gospel call. Even Peter himself in his bigoted Jewish exclusiveness had to have a rebuke and extraordinary supernatural experience before he would bring the message of salvation to Cornelius’ household. Acts, chapter 10.

            This opening of the door to salvation to the Gentile baffled the leaders of the Jewish church at Jerusalem. They called Peter into question for fellowshipping with the Gentiles. He clearly and unequivocally explained his recent experience in Cesarea and closed his defense with the words, “What was I, that I could withstand God?” Acts 11:17. This confused state of mind of the Jewish believers over the opening of the door of salvation to the Gentiles led to the church council described in Acts, chapter 15.

            Out of the conference came a clarification of the relation between the Jews and Gentiles in regard to the gospel and to Christian practice and gives us one of the clearest dispensational passages in the New Testament Scriptures. Acts 15:13-17. “And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying Men and brethren, hearken unto me: Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for is name. And to this agree the words of the prophets: as it is written: After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will set it up: that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.”

            The import of this scripture is that God’s present purpose, during a church dispensation is to call out a people from all nations for His name. When this is accomplished, He will again resume His dealings with Israel, will restore them to headship of the nations, and fulfill in completest literalness the Davidic Covenant-to set His King, the Lord Jesus Christ, upon the holy hill of Zion in Jerusalem. (Review again 2 Samuel 7:12-16; Jeremiah 23:5, 6; Luke 1:31-33.)

CHAPTER 12

THE COVENANTS OF THE BIBLE, CONTINUED

The New Covenant

            The book of Jeremiah is a sad record of the effort of a long-suffering God to turn the nation of Judah aside from the inevitable judgment which would meet them in the course of idolatry which they were pursuing. On every high hill in the midst of the groves of trees were idolatrous rites and abominable license of nature worship openly practiced. As Dr. F. B. Meyer puts it: “The face of the country was thickly covered with temples erected for the worship of Baal and Astarte, and all the host of heaven, and with lewd idols. In the cities, the black-robed chemarim, the priests of these unhallowed practices, flitted to and fro in strange contrast to the white-stoled priests of Jehovah. The people were taught to consider vice as a part of the religion, and to frequent houses dedicated to impurity. All kinds of evil throve unchecked. The poor men were plundered, the innocent falsely accused; wicked men lay in wait to catch men; theft and murder, adultery and idolatry, like spores of corruption, filled the foetid air and flourished on the tainted soil.” Jeremiah 2:20, 27, 34; 5:7, 8, 26; 9:2.

            Jeremiah thundered against the kings, priests, false prophets and the people at large his scathing denunciations of these conditions. They hypocritically swarmed the temple courts saying, “The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these,” but their hearts were “set on evil.” The Babylonian captivity was prophesied and impending in Jeremiah’s day and in due course that dire calamity fell.

            But God in His grace and mercy looked beyond those dark days of sin and its consequences, and through the voice of that same prophet promised a better day of great blessing and prosperity based on the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants. It was a covenant involving a change in the hearts of His people themselves. This change, as Isaiah also saw it, was to be brought about by the divine chastenings, which would produce pungent repentance: “I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin. And I will restore the judges at the first, and thy counselors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city, Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.” Isaiah 1:25-27.

            Jeremiah’s message was clear cut in its denunciation of sin, but just as clear in the revelation of the glorious spiritual transformation that would take place: “Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it on their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his own neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Jeremiah 31:21-34.

            The language of this divine covenant (v. 33) shows its clear relation to the “new covenant.” Whose meaning Jesus endeavored to explain to His disciples as the last supper before His crucifixion when He said, “This cup is the new testament (literally covenant) in my blood, which is shed for you.” Luke 22:20.

            It involves an inward, subjective change, the work of the Spirit of God imparting a new nature, making man a “new creature (creation)” in Christ Jesus. The blessings of this new covenant promised to Israel, we Christians are now experiencing. The nation of Israel at large, in ignorance of God’s already provided righteousness, are still “going about to establish their own righteousness,” because they “have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” Romans 10:3. But we, the “sons of God,” by faith in the finished atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ, have already entered into the blessing of the “new covenant,” prophesied so long ago. The shed blood of Jesus Christ has made its blessings available to us and had ratified it in the presence of a holy God. We have received a new nature, the “stony heart” of resistance to God’s will has been removed, a disposition to respond to God has been imparted, and God has bestowed His righteousness upon us through the dynamic of His Holy Spirit. cf. Ezekiel 36:26, 27; Romans 8:1-4.

            God will not fail to keep this “new covenant” with His chosen people Israel “for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” Romans 11:29. Israel through unbelief, as a nation, though comprising the natural branches, springing from the “good olive tree” of the divine covenants, have been “broken off” and we Gentiles, like olive branches, “wild by nature,” have been grafted into that good olive tree, and are drawing from it the sap and fruitfulness of those glorious covenant promises made to Israel.

            This leads us to an examination of what Scripture teaches concerning the church, “the body of Christ.”

CHAPTER 13

THE CHURCH

            The Old Testament has much to say concerning the coming Kingdom of God, which is to be presided over by the promised Messiah, with the consequent blessing to Israel and the Gentile nations, but concerning what we know as the church, the distinctive body of people composed of both Jew and Gentile, it brings no clear revelation. That revelation was reserved for this present age.

            Paul, in speaking of the gospel which he preached, and which he calls “my gospel.’ Refers to it as “the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest…to all nations for the obedience of faith.” Romans 16:25,26. In alluding to this same preaching and gospel in Colossians 1:23-27. he describes his unique position as a steward to the Gentiles to make known “the riches of the glory of the mystery, which hath been hid from ages and generations,” This mystery was Christ revealed in the life of the individual believer and among His saints, by whom we shall be perfected to enter the glorious presence of God.

            Most emphatically doe the great apostle express this in Ephesians 3:3-9. The mystery of the church had been revealed to Paul by the Holy Spirit. It had been kept hidden in other ages from the sons of men. The substance of this mystery was that “the Gentiles should be fellow heirs (with the believing Jews) and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ through the gospel.”

            The purpose of God to form a new spiritual body of both Jews and Gentiles was in the mind of God before the world began. cf. Ephesians 1:4,5. He foresaw the fall, the result of sin, and foreordained the sacrifice of His Son to reconcile man unto Himself. Revelation 13:8; 1 Peter 1:20. In the “fullness of time” the Son of God “was made flesh and dwelt (took up residence in a tent) among us.” He perfectly fulfilled every point in the moral and ceremonial law, so that He qualified as “the Lamb without blemish and without spot,” who gave Himself upon the altar of sacrifice as an atonement for man’s sin. Death could not hold the Sinless One, consequently He arose triumphantly the third day and after forty days ascended to the place of exaltation, now won by a glorious conquest, which He had before He came into this world. Philippians 2:6-10.

            When Jesus faced the cross He revealed to His disciples the purpose of founding the church. Matthew 16:13-20. “The contention of the Roman Catholic Church that the church was founded upon Peter and that the popes are his successors, is not borne out by Scripture. The name ‘Peter’ is from the Greek word ‘petros,’ which means according to distinction observed in classical Greek, a fragment of a rock; while the Greek work ‘petra,’ used in this same passage, means a mass of rock and is used of a ledge of rocks or a rocky peak.

            “The name Peter, ‘Petros,’ is clearly distinguished from the confession of Peter-“Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God’-upon which, as a fundamental article of faith (see John 3:18; 20:31), or upon Christ Himself, the ROCK, the church was to be founded. cf. Acts 4:11, 12; 1 Peter 2:3-8; 1 Corinthians 3:11; Ephesians 2:20-22. If Peter were the rock upon which the church was to be built, surely the mystery of the church would have been revealed to him rather than to Paul.” Ephesians 3:9-10.-“Ages and Dispensations”-Frank M. Boyd.

            At the present time the church, the ecclesia, the “called out” body of believers from every tongue, tribe, people and nation, is being formed. The call or summons of the gospel is sounding forth and those who have responded and are responding, down to the last one before the coming of the Lord, together will make up that spiritual body of Christ.

            The Holy Spirit began the formation of that body at Pentecost and God has ever since been “adding to the church daily such as are being saved,” Acts 2:47. The Spirit convicts the sinner, he responds to the message of the gospel-“Christ died for our sins”-he is regenerated and received the witness of the Spirit that he “has passed from death unto life.” So, all that have had such an experience since Pentecost (and possible the Old Testament saints, like Abraham-saved by faith) will comprise the “general assembly and church of the first-born.” Hebrews 12:23.

            By the various spiritual offices which Christ has ordained for His church-apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers-He is perfecting His saints for Christian ministry, building up the body of Christ, moving us toward that oneness of understanding, adding to our store of experimental knowledge, and bringing us (who will) to a maturity of Christian character and holy graces. Ephesians 4:12,13.

            The church is likened to a house or household, the family aspect of life, over which God presides and in the circle of which we are able to conduct ourselves praiseworthily. 1 Timothy 3:15. The church is compared to a temple (1 Corinthians 3:16,17; Ephesians 2:20-22) for God’s indwelling, where He may reveal Himself and display His glory. It is the New Testament counterpart of the Old Testament order of the tabernacle where God manifested His presence in the pillar of cloud and fire “in the midst” of Israel.

            The church is also symbolized by a body, like the human body. Of which we as believers are individual members and Christ the Head. 1 Corinthians 12:27-31; Ephesians 1:22, 23; Colossians 1:18. Paul vividly presents this truth in the language of Ephesians 4:16 “From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”

            The true church of Christ, then, is not an organization, which we can join like a society, lodge or union, in fact, the presence of our names on the roster of some denominational group of professing Christians does not in itself assure us of a place in Christ’s body. To many people, joining the church is just this very thing, a mere outward consent to occasionally come together ostensibly to worship God, and in whose circle the social aspects of life are prominently emphasized.

            The church is an organism, every member of which is vitally united to every other member, be it small or large, be its function simple or more complex, be its place humble or more prominent. How necessary, then, that every one of us shall be a healthy, vigorous member, that we may contribute to the well-being of Christ’s body everywhere!

            The church is also called the bride of Christ. She is now “espoused to Him as a chaste virgin.” 2 Corinthians 11:2. The first Adam had his bride; so will the second Adam have a bride. Revelation 19:7-9 pictures a wonderful scene in the heavenlies when our kingly Bridegroom will take Himself His Bride in holy spiritual wedlock. Then shall occur that glorious “general assembly” or “panegyric,” as it called in the original Greek. Hebrew 12:23. The Greeks also used this word to indicate a festival of the whole people to celebrate public games or other solemnities. Such an assembly was characterized by great rejoicing, Every tasty viand was served, the highest degree of good fellowship was enjoyed. This is only mildly descriptive of the day of days when the saints gather for the “marriage supper of the Lamb” in the heavenlies.

            In the Old Testament, Israel is the wife of Jehovah. Of her it is said, “Thy Maker is thy husband.” Isaiah 54:5. Because of her unfaithfulness she is cast off as a wife, but upon her repentance she will be restored to His divine favor. Ezekiel 16; Hosea 2:1-23. In the New Testament the church is the bride of Christ. Israel is to abide in a restored Palestine during the millennium, while the abode of the church will be that glorious city, which John saw coming down from heaven, the New Jerusalem. Revelation 21:2, 9-11.

            Now what is the mission of the church in his present world? The church does not exist to provide social entertainment for her members-gymnasiums, pool tables, bowling alleys, etc. Nor is she to be a house of merchandise, where for price she grants indulgences and releases souls from purgatory.

            But she is to be a beacon light to guide the storm-tossed spiritual mariner to a safe and sheltered harbor in Christ. Philippians 2:15,16. Like salt, she is to be a preserving element to retard corrupting influences in society. Matthew 5:13. It is the presence of the true church in the world through the centuries that has permitted God justly restrain His final judgment. Her members are commissioned to evangelize a lost world, to proclaim the glorious gospel of Christ. Mark 16:15-20. Every Christian is to be an example to live Christ (1 Peter 2:9), and all are to be ambassadors of the kingdom of heaven in a world which is alien to us (2 Corinthians 5:20), “for our conversation (citizenship or commonwealth) is in heaven.” Philippians 3:20.

            We shall discuss in the next chapter her future and her relation to the kingdom.

CHAPTER 14

THE CHURCH, CONTINUED

The Future of the Church

Its Relation to the Kingdom of God

            The Roman Catholic Church considers itself to be the kingdom of God upon earth and pronounces that the Pope is the vice-regent of Christ, who rules that kingdom. Rarely is there a Catholic theologian who admits the great truth of the coming of Christ to reign. The dogma of Roma is that eventually by the spread of Romish power through missions, by political propaganda and intrigue, she will finally control the whole world, while at the same time eliminating in any way deemed expedient, even by violence, all forces opposed to her.

            But Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world, else my servants fight.” Christ’s kingdom is not of this world in origin, for it stems from heaven, from the throne of God; neither is it of this world in spirit, for it is motivated by love; nor is it of this world in the method of its maintenance, for it is not extended and sustained by force or compulsion, but by the power of the Holy Spirit.

            The kingdom of God is not concerned with material things, but its animating spirit is righteousness, and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost,” as the apostle Paul affirmed it. Romans 14:17.

            God is not now in this present age setting up His kingdom in its outward manifest sense, but its gathering out those who will eventually be the rulers and administrators, along with Christ, when He shall return to sit upon the throne of David in fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant, which we have already studied. cf. Luke 1:31-33.

            In this chapter we shall consider the relationship between the church and the kingdom. In the New Testament we find the terms “kingdom of God” and “kingdom of heaven” used. They are interchangeable at least in Matthew 14, Mark 4, and Luke 13 where they are found in the same context-the parable of the “mustard seed.” cf. Matthew 13:31; mark 4:30; Luke 13:18. However, the term “kingdom of God’ unquestionably has a scope of meaning, universal in fact, that includes all created mortal intelligences that owe allegiances to God-good angels, the saints of all past and future dispensations, and the true church of the present. See Luke 13:28, 29; Hebrews 12:22,23.

            We have already traced the development of the kingdom of God in the study of the Davidic Covenant up to the purpose of God to call out a people from all nations for His name. This leads us to a further analysis of the meaning of the terms “kingdom of God” and “kingdom of heaven” as used in the Gospels.

            When John the Baptist came preaching “repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2); when Jesus proclaimed the same message (Matthew 4:17); when the twelve were sent forth by Him to make the same proclamation (Matthew 10:7); and when the seventy were commissioned to preach “the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you” (Luke 10:11), the reference was clearly to the opening of the door of this present gospel dispensation to all who would enter in. The gateway is the experience of the new birth. John 3:3.5.

            We have already seen the beginning of this spiritual kingdom in Chapter 11 as recorded in the early chapters of Acts. Now our Lord Himself unfolds in the series of parables in Matthew 13 what the course and end of this spiritual kingdom would be as far as its visible aspects are concerned. In other words, He draws a vivid picture in those parables of what we call Christendom-all that goes under the name of Christianity of the kingdom of God, and yet which may be merely external and only professedly Christian.

            In these parables of Matthew 13 we clearly see that the world will not be converted by the preaching of the gospel, but that the entire dispensation of the spiritual kingdom in which we are now living, up to the end, would be characterized by a mixture of good and evil. In the parable of the sower (13:3-8; 18-23) we discover that all gospel seed-sowing does not produce fruit due to the kinds of heart-soil into which it falls. The enemy (Satan and his demonic forces) snatches away the seed from the hard-beaten unplowed “wayside” heart. The seed which fell in the shallow soil of the unstable heart is blasted by the fierce winds of persecution and scorched by the sun of tribulation, so that though the message was apparently enthusiastically received, the hearers’ response soon withered and died. Then there was the hearer, represented by the seed that fell among thorns, which symbolize the worldly, material desires that caused the seed to be choked. But while fruitage does not result from all the seed sown, there is a blessed response of some, who are added to the spiritual kingdom.

            Even in the fruitful field Satan sows his tares or darnel which grows with the good grain until the harvest. 13:24-30; 36-43. This Satanic mixed seed represent the “children of the wicked one” in contrast with the “children of the kingdom.” So much like the latter apparently that it is difficult to distinguish them from each other. Here we see the introduction of Satan’s false gospels, producing a counterfeit Christianity. The harvest is the end of the age, when the real grain is gathered into the heavenly garner, while the tares are bundled up for destruction.

            The parable of the mustard seed (13:31,32), is a picture not of the growth of the kingdom from a small beginning until it files the whole earth and shelters the nations (birds) in its branches, but a picture of the huge, outward, abnormal, and unsubstantial growth. The mustard seed is only an herb, but here, contrary to its nature, it becomes a tree. This pictures Christendom spreading into a great institution, even political in character (cf. the Romish Church), within whose folds unconverted people, even demon powers find shelter. cf. Revelation 18:2.

            Briefly the parable of the leaven (13:33) represents the introduction of evil doctrine into the true teaching of Christ. The leaven distinctly represents false doctrine as the Lord Himself interpreted it. cf. Mark 8:15; Matthew 16:11,12. “The three measures of meal,” in the symbolism of the Old Testament meal or meat offering, represents Christ the “Bread of Life” and His teaching. John 6:35,63. False doctrine as we find it in the Christian church today is quite fully comprehended in what Pharisaism, Sadduceeism, and Herodianism represent. The Pharisees (Matthew 23:14-16, 23-28) represent. The Pharisees represent mere externalism in religion, hypocrisy, a “form of godliness without the power thereof”; the Sadducees (Matthew 22:23) were the liberals, the modernists of Christ’s day, who denied the supernatural; and the Herodians (Matthew 22:16-21; Mark 3:6) were Jews who were quite willing to come under the yoke of Rome, but who had evidently given up completely the Messianic hope. They were a worldly political party. They have their modern counterpart in the political activities of Christendom, which would set up the kingdom of God upon earth by reform, legislation, education, and alliance with the world. Condensed from “Ages and Dispensations” –Frank M. Boyd.

            Our Lord called these parables “mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.” They reveal a spiritual condition in which there is a mixture of good and evil, in which Satan is active to pervert and corrupt the principles of the true “kingdom of God.” To bring reproach upon it, and to prevent it, if it were possible, its establishment. But finally the Lord “shall gather them that do iniquity” (Matthew 13:41), when His judgments are poured out at the end of this age.

            When the last member of His true church, the body of Christ, has been called out of this “present evil world” and added to the number of His elect, the trumpet shall sound and “those who sleep in Jesus” and the living believers shall be caught up to be forever with the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:51,52. The church’s destiny is to be with her Lord and to be associated with Him in His glorious reign here upon the earth. Revelation 2:26,27; 3:21; 20:4-6.

            Then will come the answer to the petition of the Lord’s prayer-“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.” The kingdom of God, now veiled, now in mystery form, will be manifested outwardly and Christ shall reign on the throne of David for one thousand years.

CHAPTER 15

THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES

            Our Lord Jesus Christ in His special private teaching to His disciples as recorded in Matthew 24 and in the parallel message in Luke 21 introduces a vitally important subject when He said (Luke 21:24): “And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” This clearly implies that there will be “times” or a period when the Gentile nations will have the ascendancy over Israel or the Jewish nation. It was and still is His purpose to establish His kingdom in outward manifest form through the fulfillment of His promises to Abraham and David and in the exaltation of Israel to be the “head and not the tail.” See Deuteronomy 28:12,13.

            But that chosen nation miserably failed God, so it was necessary to permit the nations about them to exact tribute from them, to oppress them, and finally lead them into captivity. Israel forfeited her position of privilege by her disobedience, idolatry, and general iniquity. God had to withdraw His protecting hand from her as a nation.

            In the following chapters we shall use the term “Israel” interchangeably with Judah, except where definitely stated otherwise, as applying to the natural descendants of Abraham. We have noted in past chapters the division of the twelve tribes into two nations, called Israel (the ten northern tribes) and Judah (constituted of Judah and Benjamin). God purposes ultimately that this distinction is to be lost in the restoration of the nations to divine favor. See Isaiah 11:12,13; Ezekiel 37:15-22. In fact the present Jewish nation represents both. There are no “Lost Ten Tribes.”

            This period of Gentile ascendancy began about 606 B. C. when the great King Nebuchadnezzar (or Nebuchadrezzar) was on the throne of Babylon. You will find most interesting the dealings of God with this proud Oriental monarch as recorded in the book of Daniel. The story of this Gentile ascendancy is found in history in Jeremiah 27 and in prophecy in Daniel 2.

            Babylon had now risen to great power by defeating Assyria, which had taken the ten tribes into captivity in 721 B. C. Judah, the southern kingdom, still remained in the land. Zedekiah was king in Jerusalem, and the faithful, intrepid, uncompromising prophet Jeremiah was thundering out his denunciations of the king, priests, false prophets, and people at large.

            Babylon in her onward march to empire must subdue the smaller nations contiguous to Judah, namely, Edom, Moab, Tyre, Sidon, and Ammon. Evidently there is a clear recognition by these nations of their danger from Babylon and all that this implies in the way of possible disaster to them. Their representatives are gathered in Jerusalem for an international conference as Jeremiah chapter 27 shows. Zedekiah probably presides and the discuss ways and means unitedly to withstand the Babylonian encroachments.

            God makes this council of nations the occasion to send a message by word and symbol to them by the prophet Jeremiah, whom He has previously prepared and instructed. See Jeremiah 27:1. He is told to “make bonds and yokes,” possibly chains and replicas of the ox-yoke, and to appear before the representatives at this council with these “bonds and yokes” across his shoulders and neck. He dramatically gives each national representative one of these graphic symbolisms to be taken back to his king with the following message from Jehovah, the true God: “I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me. And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; . . .and all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son [Nebuchadnezzar, Nabonious, Belshazzar], until the very time of his land come…And it shall come to pass , that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Neduchanezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the Lord, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.”

            Jeremiah gives Zedekiah the same message: “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people and live.” But this froward, defiant, self-sufficient king refused to heed the divine promise of the leniency and he and his kingdom were led away into Babylonian bondage. See 2 Chronicles 36:11-21. Thus began the “times of the Gentiles.” For ever since has the nation of Israel been subservient to other nations.

            While this “Allied Conference” was in progress in Jerusalem a momentous scene takes place in Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar dreams (Daniel 2) and is terrified by what he sees. In the morning he has forgotten the dream. He calls for all his magicians and astrologers and demands that they recall it and interpret it. They are helpless, but the Hebrew prophet, Daniel, who had been brought to Babylon a captive at the time of the deportation of Jehoakim, king of Judah, is called in and by divine revelation and recalls and interprets the dream.

            Daniel sees a great, terrifying image with a head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron , and feet of iron and clay mixed. He notes further a “stone cut out without hands,” which smote the image on the feet, The entire image was dissolved and became like chaff, which the wind blew away. The stone became a great mountain filling the whole earth.

            The interpretation was simple. The head of gold symbolizes the mighty Babylonian Empire; the breast and arms, the Medo-Persian dominion; the belly and thighs, the Graeco-Macedonian Empire of Alexander the Great; and the legs of iron the political Roman Empire. The two legs represent the eastern and western divisions of the Roman Empire with their capitals at Constantinople and Rome. The ten toes o the feet represent ten separate kingdoms into which the Roman Empire will be divided in the end time. cf. also Revelation 17:12.

            Their composition of symbolic iron and clay represents the inherent weakness of a mixture of two diverse elements, the iron of imperialism or monarchy and the clay of popular mass ultra-democratic movements, such as socialism and communism.

            The smiting and complete destruction of the image by the “stone” pictures the end of the Gentile misrule accomplished by the setting up of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, not by a gradual process of spiritual change but by a sudden cataclysmic overthrow. This is no doubt the time of the judgment of the nations recorded representatively  and in miniature by Matthew (ch. 25:31-46) and by the prophet Joel (ch.3:9-17).

            Our Lord Jesus Christ shall come from heaven with power and great glory, shall judge the nations at Armageddon (Revelation 16:14-16; Revelation 19:11-21), and shall set up His everlasting kingdom. He will restore the remnant of Israel which has refused to bow to the Antichrist at the end of this age and will make them the nucleus of a renewed righteous people in the place of ascendancy and exaltation, the “head: and not the “tail.” cf. Joel 3:9-16; Amos 9:11-15.

            This will end the time of the Gentiles,” and Israel shall come into her rightful inheritance, after being purged by the fires of the days of “Jacob’s trouble” (Jeremiah 30:4-9), the time of the great tribulation.

CHAPTER 16

THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL

            There is an idea current in the minds of some misguided Bible interpreters that the church has superseded the nation of Israel in the divine purpose and that the Old Testament prophecies concerning a glorious future for Israel are to be interpreted spiritually and that they refer to the church as spiritual Israel. The man-made headings to Old Testament chapters in many Bibles are misleading and make many scriptures refer to the church when they clearly denote literal Israel. May we state most emphatically that the word Israel, wherever found in both Old and New Testaments refers to one of the following three things:

To Jacob, son of Isaac, whose name was changed at Peniel to Israel, meaning “Prince of God.” Genesis 32:28.

To the kingdom of the ten tribes, which seceded from the house of David and became known as the kingdom of Israel, whose capital city was Samaria. 1 Kings 12:16. The context will show when this is meant.

To the twelve tribes, descendants of Jacob-Israel-who united as a nation will inherit the promises of final restoration and regathering to the land of Palestine.

Note how when Ezekiel beholds the kingdoms of Judah and Israel united under the figure of two sticks joined supernaturally in his hand, the whole twelve tribes are afterward called Israel. Ezekiel 37:15-19. Note especially verses 21, 22, 25 and 28 of that chapter. cf. also Hosea 3:4,5; Joel 3:16, 17; Amos 9:14-15; Acts 1:6; 3:13; James 1:1. Note the distinction which Paul makes in Galatians 6:15, 16 between the “new creature” in Christ, where no outward mark of circumcision or its absence counts, and “the Israel of God” to which he belonged by birth and over whom he jealously yearned.

            It is clearly implied in Luke 21:24 in the words of our Lord concerning Israel’s scattering and oppression that their treading down has a limit. It continues “until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” When those “time” come to an end, then Israel’s time as a nation will begin again, she will be restored to her own land from her dispersion, and will be the recipient of the divine favor when her Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ, shall reign.

            The perpetuity of God’s covenants with Abraham and David is clearly seen in the language of the promise: “All the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it and to thy seed forever” (Genesis 13:15); “thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee: thy throne shall be established forever.” 2 Samuel 7:16.

            It is true that Israel’s unfaithfulness has caused a break in the continuity of the possession of the land and the continuance of the kingdom. The kingdom of David was divided by the revolt if ten tribes under the leadership of Jeroboam, who protested the plan of Rehoboam to continue the heavy tax burden of his father Solomon. Then, both the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah were taken into Assyrian and Babylonian captivity in the years 721 and 587 B.C.

            The return from captivity in 536 B.C. by decree of Cyrus of Persia was in meager numbers and the land and people of Palestine have continued to be under foreign overlords-Persia; Graeco-Macedonia; Syria, a division of Alexander’s Empire; Rome; the Saracenic Empire; Turkey. (See chapter six for the history of the sieges of Jerusalem.) And still Palestine is not possessed by the Jew who in restricted numbers is there only by sufferance of the nations in a divided world.

            But the voices of the prophets are crystal clear concerning Israel’s restoration to their land as a repentant purified people under great divine blessing and prosperity, with Gentile nations vying with each other to wipe out the stigma of their centuries-long oppression of God’s chosen people.

            Hear in what tones those prophetic voices speak. Isaiah, in one of his earliest messages and in the midst of a scathing rebuke of idolatry and sin, speaks: “Therefore saith the Lord of Hosts, the mighty one of Israel, I will turn my hand upon thee and purely purge away thy dross and take away all thy tin: and I will restore thy judges as at the first and thy counsellors as the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, the city of righteousness, the faithful city.” Isaiah 1:24-26. Evidently the history of Jerusalem shows no place when this has been true. It must still be expected or else God’s word fails.

            Again, Isaiah, the great prophet of the evangel, pictures the righteous rule of the coming Messiah over regathered Israel and the nations: “And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign (rallying place) of the people (Israel); to it shall the Gentiles seek…And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set His hand a second time (the first time was the return from Babylon) to recover the remnant of His people. …And he shall set up an ensign of the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.” Isa. 11:10-12.

            Jeremiah, the fearless prophet of judgment, sounds the comforting note of mercy and restoration in chapters 23 and 33. In both chapters he is speaking of the return from Babylonian captivity, but looks beyond this to a more glorious day. He says: “Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell in safety: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.” Jer. 23:5-8. This King is none other than David’s greater son, Israel's Messiah, and our Lord Jesus Christ. Again Jeremiah uses almost identical language. (Jer. 33:7-9; 15-17) and goes on to affirm that no more can Jehovah’s word fall to the ground than that the ordinances of recurring day and night and the sequence of the seasons can fail (vv. 19-26). See also Jer. 31:35-37.

            Ezekiel, the prophet of the exile, who was taken in the second deportation about 598 B.C. (2 Kings 24:10-16) had many symbolic visions. One of the most striking was of a valley of dry bones. Ezek. 37. This vision does not depict a physical resurrection and regathering out of their dry, dead, disjointed state among the nations back to the “land of Israel.” See verses 11-14.

            In this same remarkable chapter Ezekiel sees a reunited people under the symbolism of two sticks which the Lord joins in Ezekiel’s hand in the presence of the people. This demonstration on pantomime is followed by the prophecy that Israel and Judah shall be one nation (v. 22), that David shall be resurrected to be their king and “shepherd” (v. 24), that they will again occupy the land of their fathers forever (v. 25) and that God will again dwell in the midst of his people by an everlasting covenant. (vv. 26-28).

            All of this marvelous blessing is in accord with the “new covenant” of repentance, spiritual transformation and forgiveness of sin, which the Lord makes with them. See Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:25-28. They will then recognize that Jesus of Nazareth, whom they rejected so long ago, is their Messiah. Their repentant hearts will then apprehend the meaning of that “fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness.” Zech. 12:10 to 13:1.

            One could well marvel at the unusual thing which God told prophet Hosea to do. He was instructed to marry an unchaste woman, who was unfaithful to him after having borne him two sons and a daughter. Nevertheless, Hosea is not to put her away, but is still to love her. All this strange procedure is to cause Hosea, God’s messenger to His unfaithful people Israel, to experience the Lord’s own divine emotional feeling as expressed in “His love towards the children of Israel,” despite their unfaithfulness. The prophet concludes the account of this strange procedure with a prophecy of long alienation from God, but of ultimate restoration: “For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king and without a prince, and without sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod and without teraphim. Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days.” Hosea 3:4, 5.

            That all these prophecies were not fulfilled in the return from Babylonian bondage, as some might contend, is clear from the fact that Jerusalem was not then, nor since, called “the faithful city, the city of righteousness,” nor were Judah and Israel cleansed from their iniquity, nor regathered to the land. Nor has Jerusalem even been “A rejoicing and her people a joy,” nor has the Lord had occasion to “rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in (his) people.” Isa. 65:17-19. We must still look to the future for this unique day.

            Zechariah, one of the prophets after the Babylonian captivity, sees in the perspectives of a distant future the nations gathered “against Jerusalem to battle,” but to be dealt with by direct divine intervention to encompass their final defeat, when the Lord shall come again to Olivet, whence He ascended into heaven and when He “shall be king over all the earth.” Zech. 14:1, 4, 9.

            Our Lord Himself spoke very specifically about the tribulation days of the end time, when an “elect” of Israel should escape and when he would come in power and great glory to regather them back to their land. Matt. 24:15-31.

            Who can gainsay Paul’s understanding of the Scriptures and his affirmation of Israel’s partial blindness, only until the full complement of the Gentiles be gathered in, and his belief in the national salvation of Israel, when the Deliverer comes and they are morally and spiritually cleansed? Romans 11:25-27.

            Again, our Lord Himself just before His ascension to heaven, when the disciples asked the question, “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” did not deny the truth of this restoration, but simply answered that the “times and seasons” were in the authority of the Father. Acts 1:6, 7.

            A glorious day of restoration and peace awaits that nation so long scattered, oppressed, and afflicted!

CHAPTER 17

ANTICHRIST

            Antichrist? What questions are aroused in one’s mind in contemplation of such a theme! It is evident from the derivation of the word that it means “against” or “instead of” Christ. The beloved apostle John, who so deeply loved his Lord and enjoyed a unique place of fellowship with Him, tells us that in his day, the first century, there were already “many antichrists” present-those who denied the essential deity and true humanity of Christ and who were opposed to Christ and hated Him. cf. 1 John 4:1-3; 2 John 7. But John also definitely mentions the coming of a person whom he designated Antichrist. 1 John 2:18. The questions naturally arise-What does Scripture reveal concerning this person? When will he appear? What will he be like? What will he do? etc. Let us seek the answers.

            We have already studied God’s purposes and plans in the covenants with Abraham and David. We have seen that the nation of Israel failed in her obedience and witness to Jehovah as the true and living God and was temporarily set aside and placed under the dominion of Gentile powers “until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” We have discovered also that God’s present purpose is “to take out of them (the Gentiles) a people for his name” by the preaching of the gospel.

            In our study of the “times of the Gentiles” we found in Daniel that they would end in catastrophic judgments upon the nations at the second coming of the Lord at which time He will set up His own kingdom of righteousness and peace. Now let us trace again briefly the course of these “times” with especial emphasis on their ending.

            The “times of the Gentiles” began with the reign of that great Oriental despot, Nebuchadnezzar, who on one occasion (Dan. Ch.3) set up a huge image, doubtless himself, in the plain of Dura and demanded that his subjects fall down and worship it upon the pain of death for disobedience in the fiery furnace. Thus the “time of the Gentiles” were ushered in with the worship of the image of a man. It will be interesting to note later that these “times” will end with the enforced worship of the image of a man.

            Daniel traced the course of the empire through a succession of four federated dominions until the time of the establishment of the kingdom of God (Daniel 2 and 7) namely, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Graeco-Macedonia, and Rome. This latter or Roman Empire assumed the form in the end time of a ten-kingdomed confederacy as symbolized by the ten toes of the image (Dan. 2) and by ten horns which arise from the fourth beast. Dan. 7:24. Then another “horn” or “king” shall gain the ascendancy over them all by first subduing three kings. This horn or king is the final world ruler in the last days of this age, who is usually designated the Antichrist.

            In Daniel chapter eight the prophet beholds a “little horn” arising from one of the subdivisions into which the Grecian Empire was divided among four of Alexander’s generals upon the death of that world conqueror. True, the career of an evil king, Antiochus Epiphanes, 175-164 B.C., who arose from Syria, one of these divisions, and who viciously persecuted the Jews and endeavored to overthrow their worship of Jehovah, partially fulfilled this prophecy. He predicted in a book, “The Budding Fig Tree,” written twenty-two years ago, that there would come a revival of the four divisions of Alexander’s Empire as independent kingdoms in the last days, comprising Greece, Egypt, Syria and Turkey. Greece has been an independent nation since 1829; Egypt has gained her independence from Turkey and Britain in recent years; Turkey was reduced to the exact limits of the ancient dominion of Lysimachus, Alexander’s general, by the events of World War I; and now Syria is independent as the outgrowth of  World War II. Thus it looks as if the stage is being set for the rise of the “little horn,” who comes “in the latter time of their kingdom” (the four divisions of Alexander’s empire), “when transgressors are come to the full” (the time when the world’s lawlessness and iniquity is fully mature). This final king id to “be mighty, but not by his own power,” indicating authority and power derived from another, assuredly Satan (we shall see this later). See Dan. 8:23, 24.

            He “shall stand up against the Prince of princes” (v. 25), which locates him at the end of the age in blasphemous opposition even to the Christ, who is “king of kings.” cf. Rev. 19:15-20. Thus does it seem clear that Antiochus did not completely fulfill Daniel eight. The vision of Daniel eight seems to have been given to show that Syria, Egypt, Greece and Turkey would constitute four of the ten final confederated nations and that out of then “the little horn,” Antichrist would come.

            Daniel also beheld this final ruler as “the prince that shall come” (9:26) and “the king” (11:36) who finally establishes his dominion over Palestine (11:45) at the ushering in of the great tribulation (Dan. 12:1).

            You will recall that in our study of Daniel’s seventy weeks (9:24-27) we found that the “time of the end” comprises seven years, at the beginning of which “the prince that shall come” makes a firm covenant with “many” of the Jews living in Palestine. He then breaks that covenant after three and one-half years, causes “the sacrifices and oblation to cease,” and sets up “the abomination that maketh desolate” (9:27; 12:11). This all seems to involve permission by Antichrist to the Jews to resume their ancient sacrificial worship, which agreement is then repudiated, and demand made that they now worship his image. But “he shall come to his end and none shall help him.”

            The New Testament reveals much about this coming Antichrist. Our Lord apparently makes reference to him when he rebuked the Jews for the caviling over the healing of the impotent man on the Sabbath. John 5. They were refusing to believe Him despite the many witnesses to His Messiahship. He predicted that as Jews they would receive an imposter who cam in self-exaltation-“I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.” John 5:43.

            In Matthew 24 our Lord refers to what we have previously noted in Dan. 9:27 and 12:1 concerning the “abomination of desolation.” Matt. 24:15. This is a reference to the act of the Antichrist in setting up an image of himself in the Jewish temple of the last days. 2 Thess. 2:4. In this passage in 2 Thessalonians Paul is writing to clear up some of the misapprehensions of these believers. Because they were enduring persecution, they had been misled by false messages and a forged letter supposedly from Paul that they were already in the day of the Lord (the great tribulation) and had missed their “gathering together unto him” (the rapture or translation of the saints.) 2 Thess. 2:1, 2.

            Paul proceeds to show them that previous to the day of the Lord there must be an apostasy or falling away from the faith and the revelation of the “man of sin” (lawlessness) who in blasphemous self-exaltation and self-deification would claim to be God Himself. 2 Thess. 2:3,4. This again is a reference to the person we know as Antichrist.

            The rule of this evil personage is upheld and maintained by Satanic power performed through an individual called “that Wicked,” who works with signs and wonders and falsehood to deceive mankind in the last days. 2 Thess. 2:8,9. We feel that the student at this point should be able to decide for himself between divergent views. We proceed.

            This passage in 2 Thess. 2:1-10 logically relates, in the mind of the informed Bible student, to Revelation 13. This chapter opens: “And he (the dragon-Satan) stood upon the sand of the sea and I (John) saw a beast coming upon the sand of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns ten diadems and upon his heads names of blasphemy.” Rev. 13:1. The “beast” symbolism is easily interpreted by Scripture. Daniel 7:17 and 23 prove that the “beast” is a symbol of a king and of the kingdom over which he rules.

            Revelation 13 goes on to reveal that this king and kingdom embody the nature and characteristics of the ancient kings and empires of Babylon, Medo-Persia and Graeco-Macedonia. (Cf. the “leopard.” “bear,” and “lion” symbolisms with Daniel 7:4-6.) This beast-king is Satanically inspired and empowered; he is held in awe and worshipped by the whole world; he is a great military genius; he is a blasphemer of God and all true religion; he is a persecutor of the saints; and attains to world-wide dominion. Revelation 13:1-10.

            This portion of the chapter corresponds in the minds of some Bible expositors to 2 Thess. 2:3, 4, who see in 2 Thess. 2:8, 9, in the reference to “that Wicked,” Paul’s vision of the second beast, whom John saw in Rev. 13:11-18 and called in Rev. 19:20 “the false prophet.” You will note the similarity between 2 Thess, 2:8, 9 and Rev. 13:11-18. Both are Satanically empowered. Both work signs and wonders, whose purpose is to deceiving men into believing “the lie” of the first beast who claims to be God. Since the activity of this second beast is religious in character, some Bible expositors consider him to be the Antichrist, who may be an apostate Jew, who deceived his own people into worshiping the first beast, the Gentile civil ruler.

            The first beast comes up out of the “sea,” which is a symbol of the nations in turmoil. cf. Isa. 57:20, 21; Rev, 17:15. Satan produces his masterpiece, the incarnation, so to speak, of himself. cf. the “seven heads and ten horns” of Rev. 13:1 with Rev. 12:3. The second beast comes up out of the “earth,” an apt symbolism for Israel, whose destiny is to rule the earth. For this reason the second beast or “false prophet” may be a Jew, as previously stated.

            Here we have the Satanic trinity counterfeiting the Godhead, a terrific caricature of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Note that the end of the age, the consummation of the “times of the Gentiles” involves the worship of an image upon penalty of economic boycott and inevitable death. The “mark of the beast” is logically some identifying brand or tattoo in the forehead or hand. This is the simple and natural interpretation.

            This unholy trinity meet a fearful doom. When our Lord comes from heaven to judge the nations at the end of this age, these two men (for such they are) are cast alive into the lake of fire. Rev. 19:20. Satan is first bound for a thousand years and cast into the “bottomless pit” (the abyss), and finally after his ill-starred release and rebellion against God, he is cast into a lake of fire, where the beast and the false prophet still are after a thousand years. Rev. 20:7-10.

CHAPTER 18

THE TRIBULATION AND THE CHURCH’S RELATION TO IT

            In His discourse on the Mount of Olives in answer to the questions of His disciples, Christ Himself mentions the coming of an unparalleled time of tribulation. Matt. 24:21, 22. This tribulation was not fulfilled by the sufferings that befell Jerusalem at the hands of the Romans in A.D. 70, as some would wrongly interpret, for the coming of the Lord from heaven which is prophesied in Matt. 24:30 to immediately follow the tribulation, obviously did not take place after the fall of Jerusalem.

            In Jeremiah 30:4-9 the prophet has a vision of the ultimate deliverance of Israel from the yoke of foreign nations and of their restoration to divine favor, but immediately before this is realized he sees the nation passing through the time of “Jacob’s trouble.” In Daniel 12:1 is a specific reference to this time of trouble in the end of this age, when the heavenly hosts led by Michael, the archangel, take up the struggle against Israel's enemies, both visible and invisible, and bring about the deliverance of the righteous Israelites.

            In the prophecies of the Old Testament an expression, “The day of the Lord,” is frequently found, e.g. in Joel 1:1:15; 2:1; 3:14; Isaiah 2:10-22. It sometimes refers to an immediate judgment of the Lord nearer to the prophet’s day, but as the context will clearly show, often comprehends a more remote judgment just preceding the time of Israel's restoration. This latter day of the Lord id the tribulation period. This expression also has an application to the millennial reign of Christ, for as the term implies, it is a time of definite direct intervention by God in the affairs of men on earth, either in judgment of blessing.

            The length of the tribulation period can be worked out from that important dispensational passage in Daniel 9:24-27, discussed in chapter 8. The tribulation period is the seventieth or last “week” or “seven,” usually termed Daniel’s seventieth week.

            What will happen during this period? Let us return to a further consideration of Daniel 12:1 and what precedes in the previous chapter of Daniel. In the latter part of Daniel 1, vv. 36-45, is recorded the rise to power in the last days of a great ruler who is “the king.” v. 36. This is none other than “the man of sin,” “the son of perdition,” of 2 Thess. 2:3,4, and the “beast” of Rev, 13:1-8, who in blasphemous self-exaltation, and lawless disregard for all established order, tradition, and religious standards (11:37), by his military genius and wealth (vv. 38, 39) gains the ascendancy over the Near East (Syria, Egypt, Palestine) and establishes himself in Jerusalem and the Holy Land (vv. 40-45). Apostate Jews (Dan. 12:10) will yield him allegiance, but a faithful remnant will be loyal to God. It is in behalf of these that God moves through Michael. Daniel 12:1. This will take place in the latter half of Daniel’s seventieth week. (cf. Dan. 12:7-“time, times and half a time” means 3 ½ years.)

            John saw this same period in his vision in Revelation 12, where Israel is revealed symbolically as the sun-clothed, star-crowned woman from whom the man-child (Christ) is born. This same intervention of Michael in Israel's behalf in the last days is seen in v. 7, when the “war in heaven” takes place. (Note in Rev. 12:6, 14 the same chronological period as in Dan. 12:5.) This spiritual conflict is to defeat Satan and to preserve the “woman” from destruction. This is Satan’s final effort to do away with God’s chosen people Israel in order to thwart His purpose to bless the nations through them during the millennium. This effort of the nations, inspired by Satan, to destroy the Jews constitutes for them the “time of Jacob’s trouble,” the great tribulation.

Let us further see what will happen during the last seven years of this age. At the beginning of this period Antichrist makes a covenant with the mass of apostate Jews. Dan. 9:27. After three and one-half years he breaks this covenant, which probably has permitted the re-establishment of their ancient sacrificial worship, and sets up in the Holy of Holies of the renewed temple, what is called by Daniel and by Jesus Himself “the abomination of desolation.” Dan. 9:27; Matt. 24:15. This abomination is probably an image of the Antichrist himself placed there with the requirement that all shall worship it. See Rev. 13:15. The last half, then, of Daniel’s seventieth week will be THE GREAT TRIBULATION. cf. Matt. 24:15, 21.

            To recapitulate, then, the tribulation directly concerns Israel and is the judgment of God upon the King and Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. You will remember that the chief priests and the elders, with the multitude, in demanding the death of Christ, said, “His blood be on us and on our children.” Matt. 27:25. The tribulation is also a refining process to prepare some of the Jews for Christ’s coming and to purge out the rebels. Ezek. 20:33-44. The tribulation also affects the whole world because of its ungodliness and ill-treatment of the Jews. The first part of these final seven years will likely be a time of great prosperity-“peace and safety” (1 Thess. 5:3)-when the world will believe that they have reached Utopia under the Satanic superman, the last world ruler.

            But in the latter part of this period God’s judgment will be poured out in increasing severity (see Revelation 16), and the earth will be visited with frightful plagues. At the end of this seven years when Jerusalem is encompassed with the armies of  the confederated nations under the “beast-king” (Zech. 14:1-4; Joel 3:9-17), and when all hope for the Jewish nation seems to be cut off and they are about to be swallowed up by their enemies, repentant Israel will call upon the Lord for help. Isa.64; Zech, 12:8-10. The Lord will manifest Himself from heaven as their personal Deliverer, will take vengeance on their enemies, and set up His glorious millennial kingdom. Matt. 24:27-31; Joel 3:-17. Condensed from “Ages and Dispensations”-Frank M. Boyd.

The Church in Relation to the Tribulation

            God’s redemptive purpose for His church for the world is moving toward a very definite, predestined goal. Scripture reveals that those who have died in saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ will be raised from the dead, and along with them the believers living at the end of the age will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, when the trumpet of God shall sound. 1 Thess. 4:13-17; 1 Cor. 15:51, 57. In the Old Testament there are two remarkable instances of men translated from life here on earth immediately into heaven-Enoch before the flood (Gen. 5:24; Heb. 11:5) and Elijah (2 Kings 2:11). In Luke 9:28-31 is the record of a miniature and representative rehearsal of the glory of Christ when He shall come again and of the classes who will participate in that glory, On the Mount of Transfiguration along with Christ were seen Moses and Elijah. Moses was representative of those who have died and Elijah of those who did not taste death, both sharing the same destiny. Peter designates this transfiguration incident “the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:16.

            The time of the catching away of the true church is a mater of the utmost importance to the believers. Some teach that the church will be caught up before the tribulation, others that believers will go through the tribulation. Some misapprehensions concerning the Lord’s return and related events will be cleared up if we state that correctly speaking the rapture, so-called, is not the second coming at all. The second coming is the visible, local, bodily appearing of Christ in the clouds of heaven as He returns to this earth to the Mount of Olives, whence He ascended. Acts 1:11; Matt. 24:30; Zech. 14:4. The rapture is the summons by Christ of living and dead believers into His presence in heaven. 1 Thess. 4:13-18.

            Between the rapture and the revelation of Christ from heaven there is an interval of surely three and one-half years, if not seven, during which the church is judged for rewards, the marriage supper of the Lamb takes place in heaven, and upon earth Antichrist rules and the great tribulation runs its course. If the Lord is to come with his saints, as pictures in Rev. 19:8, 14, He must have gathered the unto Himself, and since we are to rule and reign with Him on earth (Rev. 2:26, 27; 3:21), our place during the millennial age must have been assigned to us previous to the revelation. Pre-tribulation rapture is certainly logical and reasonable.

            Let us look at some reasons from Scripture why we believe that the church will not go through the tribulation.

First, we look in vain through the Word for specific mention of the church in connection with the tribulation. Israel is identified therewith, the nations are so identified, and so are ungodly individuals, but not the church as a body of true believers.

            Second, the promise to the overcomer of the church at Thyatira (Rev. 2:28)-“I will give him the morning star.” In Rev. 22:16 Christ speaks of Himself as the “Bright and Morning Star.” This promise seems to refer to that aspect of the reward in Christ, embraced in the believer’s being gathered to the Lord’s presence before the sunrise of the kingdom. If one desires to see the morning star, he must rise early, because it appears at the darkest hour of the night just before the dawn begins to break.

            The rising of the “Sun of Righteousness” (Mal. 4:1,2) is a distinct promise to Israel of the coming of their Messiah in the full-orbed day of His glory, breaking upon her after the dark hour of Jacob’s trouble. When the millennial day breaks, the morning star will have appeared and the saints will have been gathered secretly into the presence of the Lord, afterward to come forth to share in the administration of the kingdom, which is to be ushered in by the ascendancy of Christ, the “Sun of Righteousness.”

Third, the promise to Philadelphia, the church of brotherly love, the true church of the last days-“Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth,” Rev. 3:10. We do not know to what else refer “the hour of temptation” (testing, proving, affliction), universal in its scope, that to the tribulation time so frequently set here in the Greek is unmistakably clear and specific. It is literally “I will keep you out of,” not “in” or “through.” We all know the import of a sign “Keep Out.” This is just the meaning.

            Fourth, the tribulation time is distinctively a time of judgment, a time of “wrath,” visited upon an ungodly world, an apostate church, and a backslidden Israel. The most awful of these judgments are the “vials.” Revelation 16. Note the language used in Rev. 15:1; 16:1, 19-“plagues . . . filled up the wrath of God,” “vials of the wrath of God,” “wine of the fierceness of His wrath.” The assurance of the Lord to His own is that they are “not appointed unto wrath” (1 Thess. 5:9); that they “shall be saved from the wrath through Him (Christ)” (Rom. 5:9); that the believer is delivered from the wrath to come.” 1 Thess. 1:10.

The argument has often been advanced that is the martyrs of the early church suffered death for their faith, why should the saints of the last days be exempt from the death and distress coincident with the tribulation? The answer is that martyrdom at the hands of ungodly men, inspired by Satan has often been the portion of the true believer through the centuries, even up to the present day. BUT there is all the difference in the world between such a fate and to be compelled, along with an ungodly generation of antichristian spirit in the end of the age, to come directly under the WRATH of God.

Fifth, the promise to the church concerning her gathering unto the Lord is signless and timeless. Various signs and chronological measurements distinctively apply to Israel-“weeks”; “time, times, and half a time” “forty-two months”; “1260 days”; “2300 days”; etc., but such are not recorded in connection with the church and her destiny.

            Sixth, our Lord in Luke 17:26-30 states the analogy between the days of Noah before the flood and the days of Lot when God overthrew the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and the days when the Son of man is revealed (the second coming). Enoch has always been regarded as a type of the raptured saints. When was he translated in relation to the flood? Certainly before. God’s fiery judgment upon the cities of the plain was withheld until after righteous Lot had departed. If the Lord regarded this compromiser sufficiently to save him from the fate of the wicked inhabitants of Sodom, He surely will regard with favor His true saints of the last days when He visits with retribution the ungodly at the close of this age.

CHAPTER 19

THE MILLENNIUM

            In the study of the Scriptures, among others, there is the guiding principle of consummation. God has planned and God is moving toward a definite goal in the working out of His redemptive purpose. All things will be eventually headed up in His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Eph. 3:10. The keys of all the life and story of God’s great household are in His hands and His (Christ’s) management will conduct  the whole operation to its final goal. Salvation is infinitely broader in scope than escape from God’s righteous wrath upon the sinner. God having accomplished our redemption in the cross, purposes in the ages to come to show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us through Christ Jesus. Eph. 2:7.

            The kingdom of God in the Old Testament is seen in prospect and in promise. Under the law with its ordinances of divine service it is seen in type and shadow. At present in this dispensation of grace the kingdom is actually being established in its spiritual phase. The kingdom of God is now, even though in its earthly elements there is a mixture of good and evil because of Satan’s activities to corrupt it, as we saw in the parables of Matthew 13. (See chapter 14.)

            But the kingdom of God, now in its spiritual phase, is to be established actually and manifestly upon the earth. The Lord’s prayer-“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”-will surely be answered when Christ shall reign on “the throne of His father David.” This is the period just ahead of us, the age to come, the millennium.

            Millennium, from two Latin words, “mille,” thousand, and “annum,” year, means a thousand years. This period of time is mentioned six times in one passage of Scripture, Rev. 20:1-7. It is the time when Satan will be bound and Christ will reign on the earth. This kingdom is set up at the revelation of Christ from heaven (Rev. 19:L1-21) to destroy Antichrist (2 Thess. 2:8) and to judge the nations (Joel 3:9-17).

The Form of Government

            The earth has been ruled by a man under many forms of government-monarchy, oligarchy, democracy, etc., but the millennial form of rule will be a theocracy, i.e., God Himself will be sovereign in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Luke 1:32, 33; Dan. 7:13, 14. There seems to be much evidence in the Scripture that David, of whose line Christ came in the flesh, will have part in the government over restored Israel as a prince or vicegerent. cf. Hosea 3:5; Jer. 30:9; Ezek. 37:24, 25. Further, Christ distinctly promised to the disciples that he would “sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Matt. 19:28.

The Seat of Government

            None of the present world capitals, however important or dignified, will be the seat of government during the millennium, but JERUSALEM, restored and rebuilt. Then will be actually fulfilled the Psalmist’s vision-“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion, on the sides of the North, the city of the great King. God is known in her palaces for a refuge.” Psa. 48:1-3; cf. also Isa. 2:2-4.

The Millennial Land

            As we have learned (chapter 10), God has given a distinct grant of land to Abraham and his seed forever. Gen. 15:18; 13:14,15. The original grant extends from the River of Egypt (the Nile or the Wady el Arish) to the River Euphrates. If the whole length of the Euphrates is meant (and there is no reason to doubt this) then the whole peninsula of Arabia would be included. Further ground for believing this is seen in the references in Deut. 11:24 and Ezek. 47:18 to the “uttermost sea” and “the east sea,” which can scarcely refer to the Dead Seam but to the Indian Ocean.

            In Ezek. 48:1-35 is set forth the apportionment of this territory to the twelve tribes of Israel in broad bands extending from east to west, beginning with the tribe of Dan on the north and ending with the tribe of Gad on the south. Between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin is a portion to be known as the Holy Oblation. This territory of the holy oblation is approximately 60 miles square, in which will be located the millennial city in the southern section, and in the territory just north of the city, will be the temple enclosure of about one mile square. Land for the priests and Levites who will serve in the temple is reserved.

The Millennial River

            The passage in Ezek. 47:1-12, while presenting beautiful possibilities of spiritual adaptation to the rivers of salvation, in its primary significance is surely descriptive of a literal river flowing out from the temple eastward and emptying into the Dead Sea. The healing waters of this river cause the Dead Sea to be transformed from its present saltiness so that fish abound in its waters. The channel for this river to flow eastward (impossible at present) is doubtless made by the upheaval which occurs at the time the Lord returns to the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:4), causing that mountain to cleave in the midst, forming a valley.

The Millennial Order of Worship

            The prophet Ezekiel (chapters 40-48) had a most remarkable vision if the millennial order, civil and religious. There are varying views of the significance of Ezekiel’s vision, but the logical and reasonable view in the light of other Scripture is that he saw the temple that shall be built in the millennial age with the accompanying details of the civil and religious order.

            That the great detail in measurements given to Ezekiel is not a meaningless jumble of figures is proven by Dr. James M. Gray in hid “Christian Workers’ Commentary.” While lecturing in Edinburgh, Scotland, Dr. Gray says that he “received a communication from G. S. Aitkin, Esq., an architect of that city, who had studied this vision of the temple from a technical standpoint, and made a plan of it, finding a place for every measurements and read a paper on the subject before the Royal Institute of British architects.

            Although he “did not understand the intrinsic meaning of the whole passage,” Dr. Gray, Mr. Aitkin concurred “that it might refer to the future rebuilding of the Jewish temple at Jerusalem.”

            The rebuilding of a temple, the renewal of certain sacrifices and feasts, as evidently set forth in these chapters of Ezekiel, requires some explanation. This can be done satisfactorily and logically. When we remember that this does not depict a strictly Christian order of things under which we are at present living, it will help us understand. God is dealing again with the Jewish nation which was set aside temporarily from covenant blessing, but which will be taken back again into divine favor. They will be the great witness among the nations during the millennial age to Jehovah, their God.

            The renewal of the sacrifices may be viewed as retrospective and memorial to a nation, just as the Lord’s Supper, with its memorials of the broken body and shed blood, as celebrated by the church, depicts Christ in all the aspects of His sacrifice for us. Then will Israel understand the true meaning of those sacrifices as pointing to their Messiah and His perfect antitypical work on their behalf.

            It should not be thought strange that when the nation of Israel is restored to the Land of Palestine and to the place of a national blessing, that the feasts of passover and of tabernacles (Ezek. 45:21; 45:25; Zech. 14:16-19) should be reobserved. They mark the time of national deliverance from death and judgment in Egypt and the preservation in the wilderness, events vivid in their national consciousness.

Spiritual Conditions of the Millennium

The spiritual conditions of the millennial age will be in decided contrast with what prevails in the world now.

1. There will be a wonderful outpouring of the Spirit upon renewed Israel and the other nations. The promises of Joel 2:28, 29, while partially fulfilled at Pentecost and again in these latter days, will have its complete fulfillment in the millennial age. cf. also Zech. 12:10; Ezek. 36:25-27. The context in which these verses are found shows that this blessing is to follow the judgments of the end time will be delivered.

2. There will be universal knowledge of the Lord. Zech. 8:22, 23; Isa. 11:9; Jer. 31:34. Evil now prevails and many nations are still in the darkness of heathenism, but then righteousness will be in the ascendancy and all nations will be acquainted with the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel. cf. Mal. 1:11.

3. The Shekinah glory, revealing the manifest presence of the Lord among His chosen people of old, will be seen overshadowing the city of Jerusalem again. The prophet Ezekiel saw a vision of the glory of God departing gradually from the temple and city of Jerusalem and finally disappearing over the Mount of Olives. Ezek. 9:3; 10:4; 10:18; 11:23. This was on account of the awful idolatrous abominations of Israel. Again, he saw the “glory” returning from the east and filling the millennial temple. Ezek. 43:1-5. cf. also Isa. 4:4,6.

4. The age to come will be characterized by the absence of the sinister influences of Satan, arch-enemy of God and man, for he will be bound and cast into the “bottomless pit’ so that he will not be able to deceive the earth’s inhabitants for a thousand years. Rev. 12:7-12; 20:1-3.

General Conditions of Prosperity and Blessing

1. Universal peace will prevail throughout the world. Isa. 2:4; Micah 4:3,4. Earth’s inhabitants will no longer groan under the enormous burden of taxation now required to maintain huge armies and armaments. The Prince of Peace Himself will reign along with His Bride, the saints who, He has been calling out during the present period of the church.

2. The land of Palestine, once “land of what and barley and vines and figs and pomegranates; a land of oil olive and honey,” but desolated and cursed under the judgments of God, will again become fruitful. Through the efforts of the modern Zionist Movement the land has been restored to some extent, but the full blessing awaits the return of the Lord, when copious showers of the seasonal early and latter rains will cause the land to bring forth abundantly. Joel 3:18; Amos 9:13, 14; Isa. 35:1; Psa. 67:6; Joel 2:23-26; Ezek. 36:8-11.

3. The ferocity of the beasts will be removed and all the different species of animals will live at peace with one another, A small child will be perfectly at home in their midst. Isa. 11:6.

4. Man will again live to a great age. Isa. 65:20, 22; Zech. 8:4. This may result from some change in the climate and condition of the atmosphere due to the removal of Satan’s evil influence. cf. Job 1:19. It seems also that the beneficent rays of the sun and moon will be increased in their intensity. Isa. 30:26.

Let us remember that the millennial age is not the perfect one, for sin will be present in some measure (cf. Isa. 65:20), evidenced by the fact that when Satan is loosed at the end of the thousand years in the purpose of God, doubtless, to prove what is in men’s hearts, there will be a multitude who will follow Satan in rebellion and will meet swift and summary judgment. Rev.20:7-9. Christ is to rule the nations “with a rod of iron,” which implied that compulsion will have to be used in some cases to insure righteousness and justice. cf. Rev. 19:15; Psa. 72:12-14. (Psalm 72 is distinctively one of the Messianic Psalms.) But it will be a glad day when Christ comes to bring order out of this world’s chaos!

CHAPTER 20

THE JUDGMENTS

            Perhaps the most solemn sense latent in the consciousness and conscience of man is that of a coming day of judgment or accounting to a sovereign holy God. Scripture affirms that such a day awaits every son of Adam-“it is appointed unto man once to die, but after this is the judgment.” Heb. 9:27.

            But this is not to be, as some misguided Christians believe, a day of general judgment when all the righteous and wicked of all ages and dispensations will be brought en masse before the throne of God and there be judged for eternal life. Light is clearly thrown on this vital subject by the fact that Scripture speaks of three thrones or judgment seats:

            1. The judgment seat, or bema, of Christ in the heavenlies. 2 Cor. 5:10. Only believers will be present there.

2. The throne of Christ’s glory, the “throne of David,” when He will judge the living nations and rule over those who are left after the battle of Armageddon. Matt. 25:31, 32.; Luke 1:32.

3. The great white throne heaven, before which the wicked dead will be summoned. Rev. 20:11, 12.

Further light is shed on this theme when we note the threefold relationship which every child of God bears to the Lord: (1) as a sinner, saved by grace, he was judged at CALVARY, WHERE Christ took his place; (2) as a son in the family now, he is being judges (chastened, child trained) by a faithful Heavenly Father; (3) as a servant, he will be judged in the presence of the Great Husbandman as to His conduct, life, and service in the vineyard.

Thank God! Judgment can be forever past for the Christian as far as his eternal salvation is concerned, and this matter so vital to him, need never come into question. As he realizes in the fullest committal of himself to the facts, that Christ took his place at Calvary and bore his sins away, he is now “loosed” from them and “there is therefore no condemnation (judgment) to them who are in Christ Jesus.” 1 John 2:2; Heb. 10:10; Gal. 3:13; 1 Pet. 2:24; Rom. 8:1,2.

The Judgment Seat of Christ

However, there is a judgment day coming for every believer-“For we (believers) must (imperative) appear (be made manifest in our true light) before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive (as a recompense) the things done n his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad (worthy of reward or worthless).” 2 Cor. 5:10; Rom.14:10.

This judgment will be for the distribution or withholding of rewards, according to the faithfulness or unfaithfulness of the believer as a steward in the Master’s house. In 1 Cor. 3:11-15 the apostle Paul reveals that all believers are rearing a spiritual structure on one foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ, but that structure may be composed of worthless perishable material such as wood, hay, and stubble; or on the other hand it may be of lasting valuable elements, gold silver, and precious stones, which will withstand the fire of the judgment day.

Before whom shall the Christian appear? See the picture in Rev. 1:13-17. What can escape the penetrating gaze of the glorified Son of God? Who would presume to think that he could hide anything from His scrutiny? Let us permit Him to deal here and now with everything that we would be ashamed of then. Here lies the importance of the principle of self-judgment, as Paul states it in 1 Cor. 11:31. Under the faithful searching gaze of the Holy Spirit now, we can be made aware of the quality of our deeds, our thoughts, our motives. Is there any bigotry, personal ambition, love of authority in our nature? Let it be cleansed from our lives now.

After the Grecian games were over, all the runners, wrestlers, and athletes, successful and unsuccessful, were assembled before the “bema” or judge’s seat, on which the umpire sat, and the winners received a “corruptible” or fading crown of laurel leaves. What disappointment there must have been to those who were unsuccessful, as they stood aside, while the others were rewarded midst the plaudits of the assembled crowds! 1 Cor. 9:24-27.

Let us prepare the way beforehand that “we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.” 1 John 2:28.

The Judgment of Israel

As we have already studied in the lessons on the Abrahamic and Davidic Covenants, Israel bears a peculiar relationship to God by His sovereign choice to make them His witnesses among the nations of the earth. Isa. 43:10; Rom. 3:1, 2. Because of this covenant relationship God calls them “My sons” (Isa. 43:6) and deals with them as such for their disobedience. Stephen’s indictment of them (Acts 7:51-53) is only too true. Consequently the hand of the Lord has been upon them in judgment through the centuries. Jerusalem has been besieged and destroyed more times than any other city in the history of the world. The Jews have been scattered, according to prophecy, in a world-wide dispersion.

“From among them God has been gathering ‘a remnant according to the election of grace’ during this present church dispensation, but the mass of the Jews through the centuries have been unbelieving and apostate. They rejected God and asked for a king like the other nations in the days of Samuel. When Christ their own Messiah and Deliverer came,  they said, “Away with Him, we will not have this man to rule over us.’ Even after His redemptive work had been completed and the door of salvation was open to them, they refused the conviction of the Holy Spirit, rejected His messengers (e.g. Stephen) and brought upon themselves the judgment of the destruction of their city by the Romans, A.D. 70, and their subsequent scattering among the nations.” “Ages and Dispensations”-Frank M. Boyd.

But as we studied in chapter 16, God purposes to regather them as a people from among the nations, restore them to their own land, and to make then a blessing to the nations of the earth, who survive the great tribulation days. The prophetic forecast of the last days, as far as Israel is concerned, reveals them as deceived by the Antichrist, suffering the horrors of the time of “Jacob’s trouble.” When they are about to be swallowed up by the jealous, covetous nations at the end of the tribulation, they will be made to “pass under the rod” (Ezek. 20:37), the righteous will call upon the Lord in deep repentance (Zech. 12:9-13:1), the rebels will be destroyed from among them (Ezek. 20:38), and the faithful remnant of those days will become the nucleus of the renewed, restored Israel. See Jer. 23:5-8; Isa. 19:23-25; Isa. 60:10-22, Ezek. 35:8-15; Amos 9:11-15.

The Judgment of the Nations

In Matt. 25:31-46 is recorded what is correctly designated the judgment of the nations. This event is one of these related to the end of this age and the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. It does not concern the church, for she will be associated with Christ in this judgment (1 Cor. 6:2, 3); nor are the Jews specifically and are not numbered among the nations. Num. 23:9. This is a judgment not of individuals but of nations and the picture given in Matthew 25 is a representative, miniature one. Nations cannot be conceived of as being gathered before the throne of Christ, except representatively, and symbolically, as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats.

The sheep represent one class of nations while the goats represent another class. The brethren are the Jews, Christ’s brethren. John 7:3, 5; 20:17; Acts 1:14. The basis of the decision is the treatment by the nations of the Jewish people. This is a principle of divine dealing with the nations laid down centuries ago in God’s covenant with Abraham. Gen. 12:1-3; cf. also Isa. 10:5, 6, 12; Isa. 47:5,6. The reference here is not alone to Abraham but also to his seed.

“The actual drama of this judgment is enacted in the vicinity of Jerusalem, the valley of Jehoshaphat, the plain of Megiddo, at the battle of Armageddon. Rev. 16:13-16; 19_11-21. In Joel 3:9-17, God challenges the nations to their utmost effort to thwart Him and His purposes for Israel and they are seen gathered against Jerusalem in blasphemous defiance of the Almighty. See Zech. 14:1-3. In the midst of the display of terrestrial and celestial signs of the Lord burst forth from the heavens for the deliverance of His covenant people and the nations are judged and Israel is delivered from being swallowed up. cf. Matt. 24:29-31. The remnant of Israel will then be regathered from among the nations of the earth and the millennial kingdom with the Jews, ‘the head’ and not ‘the tail’ will come into their own as God’s peculiar people. The remnant of the nations (the sheep) will acknowledge God and vie with Jews to do Him honor.” Zech. 14:16. “Ages and Dispensations”-Boyd.

The Judgment of the Wicked Dead

This most solemn judgment is described in Rev. 20:11-15. Some misguided interpreters of Scripture have treated this judgment and that of Matthew 25 as the same. There are vital differences. The contrasts are marked. We list them below:

Matthew 25:31-46	Rev. 20:11-15
No resurrection	Resurrection
Living nations judged	The dead judged
Takes place on earth (Joel 3:2)	Heaven and earth fled away
Three classes: sheep, goats, brethren	One class only-the dead of all ages
No books are mentioned	Books opened
Before the millennium	After the millennium

The judgment of the wicked dead takes place 1,000 years after the judgment of the nations, and is in the infinite reaches of the heavenlies and not on earth as the latter. The great assize of Revelation 20 probably tales place at the same time as the renovation of the earth by fire as described by Peter (2 Peter 3:7, 12, 13), both of which events are preparatory to the “new heaven and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.”

If those who have part in the “first resurrection” are “blessed and holy” (Rev. 20:6), then the rest of the dead who live not until the end of the millennium, are of necessity not blessed and holy. This fact leads us to believe that only the wicked dead appear before the great white throne. The presence of the “book of life” might lead to the conclusion that some righteousness may be there. If so, the must be those who may die during the millennium, provided death comes to the righteous of that age, which might be questioned. The presence of the book of life might be questioned. The presence of the book of life may be explained as necessary to condemn those who plead their good works as meriting consideration, when they should have accepted Christ, as a consequence of which, their names would have been recorded in that book.

The principle of degrees of punishment is clearly enunciated by our Lord Himself. Luke 12:47, 48. The wicked dead are judged according to their works, which probably determine the nature of punishment they receive.

The lake of fire is the final place of separation from God. Death and hell (hades) are forever banished to this place, the universe is purged from all evil, and righteousness shall prevail in a renewed heaven and earth.

CHAPTER 21

WORDS, TERMS, AND PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION

Age (See WORLD)

This word is the English rendering of a Greek word “aion,” which carries the idea of a period of time, limited, indefinitely long, or eternal. It is this Greek word which is incorrectly translated “world” in the A.V. The “end of the world” (Matt. 13:39, 49); “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4); “this present evil world” (Gal. 1:4) should be rendered “end of the age,” “god of this age,” “this present evil age,” for the meaning is definitely a period of time.

“Aion” is also used in its adjective form and combined forms to refer to eternity or “forever and ever.”  Rev. 14:11; 20:10; 22:5, etc.

Dispensationally an age is a period of time ushered in and closed by divine intervention with a decided change in the earth’s surface or condition, involving the earth’s inhabitants. To illustrate. The period before the Flood is called the antediluvian age; the time in which we are now living is the present age; and the millennium is the age to come.

Antichrist (See chapter 17.)

A definite person, destined to appear at the end of this age, before Christ’s revelation from heaven, who is Satanically inspired and empowered and who is blasphemously opposed to God and Christ. cf. 1 John 4:1-3; 2 John 7; 1 John 2:18; 2 Thess. 2:1-10.

Apostasy

            While this word is not found in our English Bible, it is the English spelling of the Greek word “apostasia,” translated “falling away” in 2 Thess. 2:3. The word “apostasy” is used so much in discussion of the signs of the near return of our Lord that is should be defined and understood.

            “Apostasia” means literally “to stand away from,” i.e. to desert, for example, one’s party, religion, or a position previously taken. To be a religious apostate is to repudiate one’s previous beliefs. So an apostate is not an unbeliever in Christ, nor a backslidden Christian, out of fellowship with God, nor one who may err on some point of doctrine, but one who once knew or professed to know the truth of Christianity, but who has definitely renounced it.

            He may still maintain an outward profession, but has turned away from some vital aspect of his former faith, e.g., the deity of Christ, His virgin birth, the necessity of blood atonement, etc. Our pulpits and theological seminaries today, once filled and staffed by thoroughly evangelical Christians, are honeycombed with men who deny every fundamental of the Christian faith.

Armageddon

            The word itself means “the mount of Megiddo (gathering together in troops)” or possibly “the mount of those hewn down.” Megiddo was a city of the Manassites, situated at the eastern entrance of the great plain of Esdraelon of the tribe of Issachar, and famous for a double slaughter, first of the Canaanites (Judges 5:19) and again of the Israelites (2 Kings 23:29). In the book of Revelation it signifies the place where the kings opposing Christ are to be destroyed with a slaughter like that of old. More battles have been fought on this plain than on any other field in the world. The latest was the victory of General Allenby in 1917, completing the conquest of Palestine from the Turks.

            The battle of Armageddon (Rev. 16:13-16; Rev. 19:11-21; Joel 3:9-17) will be fought in this plain, with its final phases extending down in the valley of the Jordan to the vicinity of Jerusalem, which will be invested by hostile armies in the “valley of Jehoshephat.” Joel 3:12.

Beast (See Daniel 7:3 et seq.; Rev. 13:11 etc.)

            This symbolic term is clearly defined for us in Daniel 7:17, 23 as referring to a king and to the kingdom over which he is sovereign. Thus we are not left in doubt as to its identical meaning in Revelation 13.

            However, we shall need to exercise care in interpreting the word “beast” in Rev. 4:6-9. Here is a decidedly different Greek word in the original. The word in Rev. 13 is “therion” (a wild beast) and in Rev. 4 “zoon,” plural “zoa;” from a Greek root meaning “life.” The correct rendering, then, in Rev. 4 is a “living creature.”

Day of the Lord (See chapter 18; Joel 1:15; 2:1; 3:14; Isa. 2:10-22, et.al.)

A day, or period, when God directly and definitely intervenes in the affairs of men on earth, either in judgment or blessing. In Joel 1:15 it refers to the prophet’s own time when God was chastening His people Israel by sending drought, plagues, and pests to rouse them to a sense of their unfaithfulness and sin. In Joel 2:1-11 the prophet’s vision focuses on a more remote day, when great terrestrial and celestial signs accompany God’s judgments. Some expositors see in Rev. 9:1-11 John’s vision corresponding to Joel’s prophecy of an irruption of demon powers from the pit or abyss to torment men in the last days.

Dispensation (See Eph. 1:10; 1 Cor. 9:17; Eph. 3:2; Col. 1:25)

            In these four occurrences of this word in the New Testament, it is a translation of a Greek word “oikonomia,” our English equivalent being “economy”-which originally meant a stewardship or the managing of a house or household. Paul says that such a gospel stewardship or responsibility was committed unto him.

            As applied to God’s activities dispensations is a study of how God in managing His great universal household, of His various methods of dealing with all intelligences under His moral sway, of His great plan of redemption, and of His testing of men for place in His great perfect future kingdom. As applied to the Bible itself it reveals the different classes of people God addresses in the Scripture, the various ages or periods marked off by the Lord for the accomplishing of His purposes. Dr. Schofield defines a dispensation in the latter sense as a “period of time during which man is tested in respect of obedience to some specific revelation of the will of God.”

            Many premillennial Bible teachers distinguish seven periods or dispensations in the Scriptures:

Innocence, when man was put to the simple test recorded in Gen. 2:17, with a warning of the consequences of disobedience. He failed.

Conscience, when man knowing good and evil, is responsible to choose the good and to reject the evil. He was also given the way of approach to God through sacrifice. Gen. 4:1-8:14.

Human government, when man becomes responsible to govern the world for God and is given the far-reaching prerogative of capital punishment, or of punishing murder with death. Gen. 8:15-11:9.

Promise, exclusively given to Abraham and his descendants, in a covenant of grace, and unconditional. This dispensation lasted until the law was given at Sinai. Gen 12:1 to Exodus 19:8.

Law, extending from Sinai to Calvary. Exodus 19:9; John 19:30.

Grace, which begins with the atoning death of Christ on Calvary, sealed by His resurrection, made dynamic by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and extending to the Second Coming of the Lord. John 1:17; 2 Cor. 6:2.

Millennium, which continues from Christ’s second coming for 1,000 years. Rev. 20:1-4.

Double Reference, Law of Prophetic

This interpretative law was explained and illustrated in chapter 4, but we restate it here for emphasis and review. “Prophetic double reference is a method by which a prophecy of a person or event near at hand or immediate in fulfillment is made the means of teaching a deeper truth or of a foretelling a future happening more remote. One event, near at hand in fulfillment, may be typical of a more remote fulfillment. Again, one obvious person addressed may be representative or typical of another hidden personality behind the scenes.”

Gentiles

            A translation of Hebrew and Greek words meaning “nations” and frequently rendered in the Old Testament “heathen.” The word “heathen” modernly carries with it the concept of idolatry, but the word “goyim” in the Hebrew simply distinguishes other nations, not in covenant relations with God, from Israel, God’s chosen people.

            In Luke 21:24 we read of “the times of the Gentiles” (discussed in Chapter 15), and in Romans 11:25 of the “fullness of the Gentiles.” This latter expression means “the full complement of the Gentiles,” and Paul is teaching that when that full complement is gathered into the church, then God will actively move to restore Israel to her place of world blessing and prominence as head of the nations.

Hebrew, Israel, Jew

            The word Hebrew is derived from Eber which means “across.” It was first applied to Abraham (Gen. 14:13), for he was from across or over the Jordan.

            The word Israel means “to rule with God,” or “having power with God.” Gen. 32:38. It was the name given by the angel of Jehovah to Jacob, when he was left alone at the crossing of the brook Jabbok. After wrestling with Jacob and upon Jacob’s insistence-“I will not let thee go except thou bless me”-the angel said, “Thy name shall be no more Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.” Gen. 32:26-28.

            Thus the descendants of Jacob, or Israel, came to be called the children of Israel or Israelites. In a narrower sense the designation applies to the ten tribes or northern kingdom of Israel, who seceded from loyalty to David. 1 Kings 12:16.

            The word Jew-Hebrew, “Yehudi”-is derived from the word Judah-Hebrew, “Yehudah”-and refers specifically to the descendants of Judah, the son of Jacob. It came to be associated with the people of the two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, or the southern kingdom of Judah, who remained loyal to David’s dynasty.

            The word Jew is a New Testament for Israelite; in fact the words, Hebrew, Israel, and Jew, are used in Scripture synonymously of the same people, the modern nation, called the Jews. Paul in 2 Cor. 11:22 expresses three significant questions and corresponding answers: “Are they Hebrews” So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I.” In Acts 21:39 Paul calls himself a “Jew of Tarsus.” In Romans 11:1 he calls himself an “Israelite.”

            “In 560 B.C. Jeremiah explains that a Hebrew is a Jew, which shows that even 500 years before Christ the word Jew was used to make clear and explain the term Hebrew (Jer. 34:9).”-Zeidman.

            There is no truth in the theory of the supposed Ten Lost Tribes of Israel or of British Israelism. Paul recognized in his day the existence of the twelve tribes in his nation of Israel or the Jews. Acts 26:7. James addresses himself to “the twelve tribes scattered abroad.” James 1:1.

Kingdom (Discussed fully in chapter 14.)

Mystery

            This word was used by the Greeks to denote something hidden or secret, and in the plural to denote religious secrets confided only to the initiated and not to be communicated by them to ordinary mortals. It occurs chiefly in Paul’s writings and is lifted by him from the Greek esoteric concept to a higher spiritual plane to refer to something previously hidden, but now revealed in the purpose of God, but still retaining a distinctively supernatural element. The “mysteries” of the New Testament are of the intensest interest. Dr. C. I. Scofield in his Bible outlines the greater mysteries as follows:

            (1) The mysteries of the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 13:3-50); (2) the mystery of Israel's blindness during this age (Rom. 11:25, with context); (3) the mystery of the translation of living saints at the end of this age (1 Cor. 15:51, 52; 1 Thess. 4:14-17); (4) the mystery of the N. T. church as one body composed of Jew and Gentile (Eph. 3:1-11; Rom. 16:25; Eph. 6:19; Col. 4:3); (5)the mystery of the church as a the bride of Christ (Gal. 2:20; Col. 1:26, 27); (7) the “mystery of God, even Christ,” i.e. Christ as the incarnate fulness of the Godhead embodied, in whom all the divine wisdom for man subsists (Col. 2:2, 9; 1 Cor. 2:7); (8) the mystery of the process by which godlikeness is restored to man (1 Tim. 3:16); (9) the mystery of iniquity (2 Thess. 2:76; Matt. 13:33); (10) the mystery of the seven stars (Rev. 1:20); (11) the mystery of Babylon (Rev. 17:5,7).

Perspective, the Law of Prophetic

This law was explained and illustrated in chapter 4. We restate it here. “The law of prophetic perspective is a method of describing future events as if they were continuous and in immediate sequence.” cf. Isa. 61:1-3 with Luke 4:17-20.

Rapture

            While this word itself is not a Scriptural one, yet it clearly describes the event, consummating our salvation, when the bodies of believers living and dead (cf. Rom. 8:19-23) will be transformed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the sound of the trumpet, summoning them into the presence of the Lord at the close of this present age. 1 Thess. 4:13-18; 1 Cor. 15:51-54. This event precedes the revelation of Christ from Heaven in His second coming. Acts 1:11; Rev. 19:11-16, et al.

Recurrence, Law of (See Gen. 41:32; Matt. 18:16; Job 11:6.)

The law of recurrence simply means that in writing the Bible the Holy Spirit, the author, repeats Himself. The Scripture references at the head of this paragraph state this divine principle. Joseph told Pharaoh that the reason his dream was doubled was because it was established by God.

            The book of Job also gives us a hint of this secret of wisdom, which indeed this law of recurrence is. It is the key to the right understanding of much of the Bible. Radical higher critics for years have been stating that the book of Genesis was written by two different men, because there are two accounts of creation in the first two chapters. This is not so, for Christ Himself establishes Moses’ authorship of it.

            Right here and in the first two chapters the Lord reveals a key to understanding the Bible. Chapter one tells us that God created man “male and female,” while in chapter two he reveals the details of creation, how Adam was made from the “dust” and how Eve was created out of Adam’s side while he was in a deep sleep.

            Again, God promised Abraham that his seed should be as the “dust of the earth.” Gen. 13:16. Later God told him that his seed should be as the “stars” for the multitude. Gen. 15:5. Then, “lest we get an impression that the ‘dust’ and the ‘stars’ mean one and the same seed, He witnesses a this time and puts the two together, so we may know that Abraham is to have two seeds, the earthly seed, likened to the dust, and the heavenly seed, likened to the stars. And in these three repetitions He mentions each of the two seeds just two different times.”-Waehlte.

            The historical books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles record the history of David and of the kings of Israel and Judah. Chronicles repeats much of Kings, but with more emphasis on the history of the kings of Judah, David’s line, from whom Messiah was to come.

            In the prophetic books, a jumble to many Christians, the prophets often write about the same great future events. They all speak of the second coming of Messiah (Acts 3:21). If we keep in mind the coming of the Messiah in glory and power, the great tribulation, and the millennial reign, when reading the prophets, our understanding will be richly enlightened.

            We clearly see the law of recurrence in the four Gospels, each of which presents an account of the life of Christ, but each with a different divine purpose and viewpoint in the mind of the Holy Spirit. Each writer repeats much of what the others have written, but also adds many things which the others do not mention. It is believed that Matthew and Mark (two witnesses) were written to the Jews, and that Luke and John (two witnesses) were written to the Gentiles.

            Lack of space will not permit discussing this law as it occurs in the epistles and in the book of Revelation.

Remnant

            Remnant, a word frequently used in the Old Testament especially, is one of real importance in the study of Scripture. It means “that which remains of anything, the piece remaining after the last cutting.” Remnant sales in our great department stores will illustrate the meaning.

            For example of a bad remnant of Israel, note 1 Kings 14:10, R.V.; Ezekiel 23:25, etc. For example of a good remnant, see Isa. 1:9; 11:16; Jer. 23:3; Rom. 9:27; 11:5; Rev. 12:7. All through Israel's history there were a righteous few, who remained faithful to God. Elijah thought that there were non in his day who had not “bowed the knee to Baal,” but the Lord informed him that there were 7,000 loyal Israelites. 1 Kings 19:18. Ezekiel saw in vision those who were sealed for preservation in the end days of Judah’s history-“the men that sigh and cry for all the abominations that be done.” Ezek. 9:4.

            During this present church dispensation there is "A remnant (of Jews) according to the election of grace.” Rom. 11:4,5. But the vital remnant of all will be those who during the tribulation days refuse to follow Antichrist and turn in repentance to Jesus their Messiah. They will be the nucleus of the new nation of Israel, for its perpetuation on earth, and will enjoy the blessings of the millennial kingdom. cf. Zech. 12:10; 13:9; Rev. 7:4-8.

Restitution

            Used once in a prophetic sense in Acts 3:21. This word has been twisted out of its context here and its real import to mean that eventually all the wicked and even Satan will be saved, but its scope is clearly limited in the words “by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began,” and by the fact that Peter is here addressing the Jews.

            The context clearly shows that Peter meant what the prophets had spoken concerning the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant, Israel's restoration to her land, and the establishing of the kingdom when Messiah returns.

Revelation

            This word is a translation of a Greek work which literally means “an unveiling, a disclosing, a manifestation.” Our English transliteration of the word “apocalypse.”

            Revelation is the title of the last book of the New Testament , whose content is the unveiling of the Lord Jesus Christ in all the dignity of His person and offices.

            The word is also used to refer to the visible, local, bodily appearing of Christ from heaven at His second coming (Rev. 19:11-19) in contradistinction to the rapture, when the saints are gathered to “meet the Lord in the air.” 1 Thess. 4:17.

Tribulation (See chapter 18.)

Time, Times, and Half dividing) of Time

            An expression used in Dan. 7:25; 11:7; Rev. 12:17 to refer to the latter half of Daniel’s seventieth week, or the last seven years of this age, the tribulation period. It ids three and one-half years long and is the identical period with the “1260 days” and “forty two months” of Rev. 12:12 and Rev. 13:5, when Antichrist rules upon the earth and “whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming,” 2 Thess. 2:8.           

Weeks (See chapter 8.)

World

            Frequently used in the New Testament especially. The Bible student must needs carefully recognize the context in which he finds this word and to distinguish that it is the translation of four decidedly different Greek words, as follows:

Kosmos-meaning the material universe (2 Peter 3:6); the present order of things human, satanically inspired and dominated (1 John 5:19; 1 John 2:15 and many others).

            Aion-(See AGE) a meaning that a period of time of a significant character, a state of things marking an age or era. Matt. 13:39, 49; 2 Cor. 4:4; Gal 1:4.

            Ge-the earth, the soil, the surface of the earth, the land as opposed to the sea (Rev. 13:3) and by metonymy in this latter passage referring to the inhabitants of the earth.

            Oikoumene-the habitable earth, the world of men. Matt. 24:14; Heb. 1:6, et al. One can readily see how appropriate this meaning is in the passages above.

Zion

            A word never applied to the church, but often spiritualized to so refer. Much confusion of interpretation has thus resulted, for in the minds of many al the Old Testament promises are applied to the church and all the curses to Israel.

            Zion, mentioned over one hundred times in the Old Testament, literally means “castle,” and was one of the hills originally of Jerusalem, taken from the Jebusites by David (2 Sam. 5:7), where he placed the ark and gave the hill a sacred distinction. 2 Sam. 6:10-12.

            Zion is frequently the designation given to Jerusalem (Psa. 48; 69:35; 133:3; Isa. 3:16; 60:14, and others). It is only once used symbolically of heaven. Heb. 12:22.

Revs. Mr. & Mrs. H. Dean Daniels Sui Juris