DID IT EVER STRIKE YOU AS MOST UNUSUAL that the Great SOVEREIGN should have raised up the ancient nation Israel to be his chosen people? Consider this seemingly paradoxical fact: the SOVEREIGN says He is not a respecter of persons. Is He, then, a respecter of nations? Does He have a favorite nation? Did it ever occur to you that the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament, Tanakh) is the book of, and concerning only, that one people Israel? Moreover, other nations are mentioned only if and as they encountered Israel?
Another shocker that is not understood or recorded by historians, in fact is nearly totally unknown by Judaism and only partially understood by a few Sabbath keeping "Christians," is that the Northern Kingdom of Israel was not Jewish! The entire Kingdom of Israel was never Jewish even if it sometimes contained some Jewish people. The first place in the Bible that the word Jews occurs is in II Kings chapter 16 and verse 6. Here, the nation ISRAEL WAS AT WAR, in an alliance with Syria, AGAINST THE JEWS!
The truth about Israel is one of the Mysteries of the Ages that we will cover later in this booklet. However, most will probably refuse to believe it even when it is pointed out in Scripture.
It is indeed true that the nation Israel was the SOVEREIGN's chosen people. However, understand that they were not chosen as "teacher's pet" or for special favors. They were chosen for a special PURPOSE. They were to prepare the ultimate establishment of the kingdom of the SOVEREIGN!
It is an intriguing story! The "Mystery of Israel" has great significance in the SOVEREIGN's PURPOSE for all peoples! One cannot understand the real purpose and incredible potential of man without this vital knowledge.
Man of Destiny
Abram, as he was originally named, was not seeking the SOVEREIGN. Nevertheless, the SOVEREIGN chose to call and test Abram. This ancient patriarch is later called the friend 1 of the SOVEREIGN Who was calling him for a very special purpose because He had seen in this man the potentialities of obedience to the SOVEREIGN and of leadership. ETERNAL was calling him to be prepared for special service and ultimately high position in the kingdom of the SOVEREIGN--the coming Wonderful World of Tomorrow. To this man, Abram, the SOVEREIGN commanded
...
Genesis 12:1-2.2 "...Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you."
As the SOVEREIGN had started the whole world with one man--Adam, He now started his own peculiar nation in the world from one man--Abraham. Likewise, the SOVEREIGN's own flesh-born nation, from which is to be reborn the kingdom of the SOVEREIGN, was started with one man who obeyed the SOVEREIGN without question, and accepted His sovereignly rule.
Did Abram stop to argue and reason? Did Abram quibble, resist, argue, or rebel? He certainly did not ! The Scripture states simply, "So Abram departed." In addition, he did not give his opinion about it. Abram simply departed. Just plain, unquestioned obedience!
Abram was in the very center of this world's developing civilization. The SOVEREIGN had chosen Abram to become the patriarch of His nation Israel. He established this man (Abram), whose name he later changed to Abraham, as the father of His nation, Israel! To Abraham and his descendants were all the promises of the SOVEREIGN made. Therefore, we have no choice. We MUST become like Abraham, and love our CREATOR with all of our heart and mind, if we are to be a part of the Righteous Remnant and inherit the promise of eternal life in the SOVEREIGN's kingdom. Of his peculiar flesh-born nation, Israel, ETERNAL said....
Isaiah 43:21. "...This people I have formed for Myself; they shall declare My praise."
That prophecy shall be fulfilled! Many will ask the question, "So what difference does it make?" not knowing ETERNAL's PURPOSE AND PLAN for humankind.
There Is a Purpose
A large, exciting, and pulsating part of all Scripture is devoted to prophecy, of which approximately 90% relates to our day, these latter days of time now in the Twenty-first Century. It is a warning to us--to our English-speaking peoples and ALL nations of the earth.
The warning is of immediate life and death importance. The prophecies come alive once their doors are opened by this discovered master key! This vital part of Scripture had been closed! No story of fiction ever was so strange, so fascinating, so absorbing, so packed with interest and suspense, as this gripping true saga of the identity of the Biblical Children of Israel and the prophecies about them. Through it all, our Almighty CREATOR gives momentous warning!
Those who read and heed may be spared unprecedented cataclysmic tragedy soon to strike. If our peoples and their governments will awaken, heed, and turn to their loving CREATOR, then our nations MAY be spared. "Oh ETERNAL,3 help us to understand and open our eyes to see!" Our loving CREATOR states about the Children of Israel:
2 Chronicles 7:14. "If My people who are called by My Name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."
The next statement may sound incredible, but it is true. Editors, newscasters, and foreign correspondents do not understand the real meaning of the world news they report, analyze, and discuss. Heads of government are utterly unaware of the true significance of the very world-shaking events with which they deal. They have no conception of where these events are leading. Incredible? Perhaps, but true!
Winston Churchill4 declared before the United States Congress: "[A person] must indeed have a blind soul who cannot see that some great purpose and design is being worked out here below of which we have the honor to be the faithful servants." Alas Winston Churchill did not understand that purpose! The Master Mind of the Cosmos5 master-planned that great-unknown purpose long ago.
Why This Ignorance?
Now see WHY heads of states, news analysts, and the great minds of our time do not comprehend the real meaning of world events as they are shaping up right now. The knowledge of the CREATOR's master plan for humankind and where we stand today in the progression of those foreordained events are a mystery to the majority of the people! Where we stand today in the cusp of these major prophetic events, seemingly now beginning to occur is needed for understanding the significance and true meaning of today's dynamic world news.
Without this vital knowledge, none of the news media, as well as none of those who are responsible for government policies, can understand where current world events are leading. The Shepherds are not leading the sheep in the right direction.
Who are the shepherds? In ancient times, the king or leader was responsible for the physical protection of the people as well as their spiritual protection. Therefore, in today's world, all people who hold offices of a governmental or religious nature are the Shepherds of the people.6 This includes all public officials whether elected or appointed as well as all theologians, preachers, ministers, pastors, or anyone who speaks in any religious or leadership capacity.
Sadly, not one Shepherd saddled with leadership responsibilities knows the purposed destination of humankind! Why? There are two reasons primarily:
- They are deceived by false education that is prejudicial to and with disdainful rejection of the true Scriptural revelation, which alone can impart this understanding.
- The vital key necessary to unlock the closed doors of Scriptural understanding has been lost.
Not knowing how or where the modern nations are specifically mentioned in prophecies, the world is utterly blinded to the plain and simple meaning of prophecy. Due to this lost key, Scriptures have come to be discredited and rejected in this world's educational system. The baseless and unprovable theory of evolution has been substituted as the foundational concept to the supposed rational approach to knowledge. Thus, from little children, all peoples have been falsely and deceptively educated. In an era of advanced rationalism and enlightenment, our people are actually groping around in the darkness of misunderstanding and confusion, fatally unaware of the earthshaking catastrophe into which they are being directly plunged.
Our peoples have forgotten and departed far from their Maker who designed, created, and maintains the unlimited Cosmos. They have shut their eyes and closed their ears to His dynamic revelation to humankind which, to ears that can hear, thunders out the life-and-death warning to those in responsible positions of power!
The understanding of the End-Time prophecies of the Children of Israel, Abraham's children through Jacob, is based on the knowledge of the awesome fantastic promises that ETERNAL SOVEREIGN CREATOR gave to His servant Abraham. These promises are divided into the two-fold division of the promises to Abraham--Judah's Scepter and Joseph's Birthright.
Is it too late? Have our leaders become so steeped in deceptive false education, so brain-dead (from power and high living) that they cannot be aroused from slumber? ETERNAL CREATOR, help us now to understand! Time is fast closing in on us!
There Is Purpose for Human Life
Do YOU know why you are alive? Few people have even the vaguest idea that humankind was put on the earth for a PURPOSE, let alone what that purpose might be. Moreover, the Maker of humankind sent along with His human creation an instruction book to reveal that purpose7 and to guide us humans in happily and enjoyably fulfilling it. However, the human race has rejected that revealed knowledge, preferring to stumble on in the darkness of its own futile reasoning. That
instruction book, the Hebrew Scriptures
(Tanakh, Old Testament
) contains
three basic types of revealed knowledge to humankind:
- Basic education revealed to man to provide the necessary foundational knowledge otherwise undiscoverable and unknowable. The revealed knowledge of what man is, why he is, where his destiny will lead, how to reach it, and how to live happily along the way is described in detail in the Hebrew Scriptures. In other words, it is the most necessary of all knowledge and is the foundation on which to build discoverable knowledge.
- History of those events and experiences fulfilling the master plan during the first six millennia8 on man's mortal sojourn as examples for our admonition and guidance today.
- Prophecy is our Maker's revelation to humankind--writing the history of future events in advance of their occurrence. The prophecies foretell future events revealing how the great purpose is being brought to its completion.
Supreme Master Plan
The CREATOR, the SOVEREIGN, is producing a family in and through man! The SOVEREIGN's ultimate transcendent PURPOSE is breathtaking beyond words. The establishment of the ancient nation Israel is an integral part of the supreme master plan.9
Seven generations after the Flood, ETERNAL found a man who would obey Him. His name was Abram. He lived in Haran, in Mesopotamia. This man was to become a physical example of how the SOVEREIGN, the Father, operates. It was from Him that the nation Israel descended. Through Israel the SOVEREIGN raised up his prophets and in due time the SOVEREIGN's first born son,10 David son of Jesse (Daviyd ben Yishai).
Psalm 89:20-28. "I have found My servant David; with My set-apart oil I have anointed him, with whom My hand shall be established; also My arm shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not outwit him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him. I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague those who hate him. But My faithfulness and My mercy shall be with him, and in My Name his horn shall be exalted. Also I will set his hand over the sea, and his right hand over the rivers. He shall cry to Me, 'You are my Father, my SOVEREIGN, and the Rock of my salvation.' Also I will make him My FIRSTBORN11 , the highest of the kings of the earth. My mercy I will keep for him forever, and My Covenant shall stand firm with him."
Continued in Chapter 2
[ Chapter 2 ]
[ The Promises to Abraham - Introduction Index Page ]
[The Hope of Israel Main Page ]
Footnotes
1. See 2 Chronicles 20:7; Isaiah 41:8
2. Unless noted all Scripture will be from the New King James Version and all emphasis is the author's
3. We will use the name ETERNAL instead of the pagan word "Lord" and CREATOR, The Mighty One, or SOVEREIGN for the common used term "God."
4. Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WinstonChurchill Spencer-Churchill, was best known as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. Churchill was one of the most important leaders in modern British and world history.
5. The Hubbell telescope has discovered many universes other than our own; thus the word Cosmos includes the entire range of unknown unnamed universes
6. For complete details, see our article, "Warning to the Shepherds of Israel."
7. For complete details, see our article, "The Wonderful World of Tomorrow."
8. For complete details, see our article, " What Year of the World Was the Year 2000?"
9. To fully understand this statement, refer to our article, "Death, Awakening, and Salvation."
10. For complete details, see Psalm 89:20-28 especially verses 27 and Psalm 2:7.
11. When King David is awakened from the grave he will then become the Firstborn son, see our article, "New Proof of the Messiah."
