GodÊs Plan for World Order Section Five

Transcription

1 XVII. SON OF GOD AND SAVIOUR The Deity of Jesus 127. When God first formed Israel as a nation, He was by rights their King, until, in the days of Samuel He was rejected in favour of a human king. When Jesus becomes King of Israel, God will be restored to his rightful position as Supreme Ruler, for Jesus is both God and man. The Deity of Jesus is proclaimed when the New Testament interprets certain passages in the Old Testament as referring to Him; for example, the Psalm which reads, Thou art My Son, this day I have begotten thee.. No such thing was ever said to an angel, and therefore Jesus is not to be regarded as a superior kind of angel or created being. On the contrary another Psalm applied to Jesus says, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the earth, thus declaring that He is the Creator. In yet another Psalm God said to the Son, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; here Jesus, the Son of God, is specifically addressed as God, and this is the sense in which that title is to be understood. The Significance of the Title "Son of God 128. By taking upon Himself the title Son of God, and claiming God as His Father, Jesus declared Himself to be equal with God. This fact was fully understood by the Jews at that time, even though they did not admit that the claim itself was valid. For example, when they questioned Him about healing a man on the Sabbath day, Jesus replied, My Father works hitherto, and I work. Thereupon the Jews sought to kill Him, not only because He had broken the Sabbath, but because He had said that God was His Father, thereby making Himself equal with God. On another occasion, when Jesus said, I and My Father are one, the Jews threatened to stone Him. When He asked them for which of His good works they were going to stone Him, they replied, We do not stone you for any good work, but for blasphemy, because you, being only a man, make yourself out to be God. As God Jesus Forgave Sins 129. Sins are transgressions of God's law; they are offences against Him, and therefore He alone can forgive them. Nevertheless, to a man who was brought to Him suffering from paralysis, Jesus said, Your sins are forgiven. This was done in the presence of a large crowd of people, amongst whom were many scribes and doctors of the law who had gathered to hear His teaching. Their knowledge of the law at once led them to ask, Who is this that blasphemes? Who can forgive sins but God alone? Immediately Jesus replied that He had the power to forgive sins, and thereby He made it known that He was God. As God Jesus Received Worship 130. The law forbids the worship of any being other than God: Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt. thou serve. On several occasions people were so awestruck that they were about. to worship the disciples, but every time they were forbidden to do so; in the book of Revelation John was about to worship one of the angels, but immediately he was told, See that you don t do it: worship God. In contrast with these examples we read of many occasions when Jesus received worship: There came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean: There came a certain ruler and worshipped Him saying, my daughter is even now dead. After His resurrection the women came and held His feet and worshipped Him; and when He appeared to the disciples in Galilee, they worshipped Him. Many more examples could be given, yet never once did Jesus rebuke His Worshippers, for He was God, to Whom worship was due. The Humanity of Jesus 131. Although Jesus was God, yet He humbled Himself and took the form of a man, and as a man suffered death on the cross. Although God created man to have dominion over all His earthly creation, yet he was to be for a while lower than the angels, therefore Jesus in like manner became for a time lower than the angels that He might suffer death on behalf of every man, and so defeat the devil and deliver the human race from the fear of death. He became in all respects similar to His fellow human beings, being tempted like other men, so that He might have sympathy with all those that are tempted. But although He was tempted, yet He was without sin. 30

2 The Sinlessness of Jesus 132. The Jews made every effort to find fault with Jesus, so that they might have cause to put Him to death. He was tried first before the council of the chief priests, and many false witnesses gave testimony against Him, that He had broken the Law of God. but these failed, because they did not agree in what they said. Finally, the high priest asked Him to state on oath whether He was the Christ, the Son of God. When He gave the true answer, He was charged and condemned to death for blasphemy, on the assumption that His statement was false. Then He was tried before the Roman governor, but Pilate repeatedly declared that according to human law he could find no fault in Him and sought to release Him. Nevertheless, the will of the mob prevailed, and in spite of His innocence He was led away to be slaughtered. Jesus the Lamb of God 133. When Jesus, the Man who had lived a sinless life, was crucified, He was shown to be the Lamb of God ; He was in fact the lamb without blemish and without spot which the Old Testament law prescribed as the sacrifice for sin. It had long been foretold by Isaiah that One would come, who would suffer and die for the sins of His people, although He Himself would have done no wrong, and when Jesus began His ministry John the Baptist proclaimed that He was the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. Peter, in quoting the prophecy of Isaiah, pointed out that it had been fulfilled in every detail, when Jesus was tried and crucified, and that He bare replenishment for our sins in His own body on the cross. XVIII. PERSONAL SALVATION All have Sinned 134. The law of the Lord required first that a man shall be wholeheartedly devoted to the service of God, and secondly that he should love his neighbour as himself; failure to do this is sin. The human race has entirely departed from any such law, for not only do they ignore God, but they deceive one another, and are interminably engaged in bloodshed, war and destruction. There is no one who can say that he has fully complied with the law; All have sinned and fallen short of the required standard. Therefore, in the eyes of the law no one can be declared righteous. But although the law makes everyone guilty before God, it was not the purpose of the law that everyone should be condemned to death; its purpose was only to state what is right and wrong. Justification by Faith 135. God has, however, made it known that there is another kind of righteousness, namely, the righteousness by faith in the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross. Even though all have sinned, all who believe that Jesus died on the cross for their sins are declared righteous, that is to say, they are justified before God. There are, therefore, no grounds for boasting that one person is better than another in the sight of God, for all must first confess that they have sinned, before they can believe that Jesus died for their sins; a man is declared righteous solely on the grounds of this faith, regardless of the extent to which he has obeyed the law. The example of Abraham 136. There is nothing new in the principle of justification by faith. God told Abraham in his old age that he would have a son and heir, and we read that Abraham believed God, and that this faith was counted to him for righteousness. Now this was before Abraham had received the sign of circumcision by which Israelites distinguished themselves from the Gentiles. The principle of justification by faith is seen, therefore, by this example to be universal and available to all who believe, whether they be Jews or Gentiles. People of all races and nationalities who believe that Jesus died for them as a sacrifice for their sins, are justified before God on account of that faith; and the question of whether they have fulfilled the law or not does not arise. The Terms of the New Covenant 137. Now the sacrifices prescribed by the law in the Old Testament made nobody any better, for people continued to sin again and again, and sacrifices had to be offered year after year. But the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross was of greater value, for by it a new covenant between God and man was brought into operation. Under the old covenant made at Sinai, the Israelites agreed to obey God's law by their own efforts, and the whole history of Israel and Judah in the Old Testament makes it quite obvious that man is unable to keep God s law by his own unaided efforts. Therefore God made known through the prophets the terms of a new covenant, 31

3 under which He promised to give man a new heart and endue him with a new Spirit to help him to obey the law: I will put My Spirit the Holy Spirit within you, says God in this covenant, so as to cause you to live according to My laws, and so that you will keep My commandments. The New Covenant made Effective 138. Although the terms of the new covenant had already been stated by the Old Testament prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel, they were first made effective and put into operation by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Written down some time before he dies are the terms of a man s will, but it is not until after his death that it is put into operation and his possessions are handed over to those to whom he has bequeathed them. In the same way the terms of the old covenant at Sinai were written down and only became operative when Moses had made the prescribed sacrifice of calves and goats. Likewise, the new covenant was written down by the prophets in Old Testament times and was later put into effect by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. The sacrifice of Jesus is, therefore, of far greater value than that of goats and calves, for it made it possible for every man to conquer sinful habits by the help of God s Spirit, and so in course of time to cease from sin. Being Born Again 139. When Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, came to Jesus to enquire about the kingdom of God, Jesus told him. Unless a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus asked what was meant by being born again, and Jesus explained that there was a spiritual birth, as well as a natural birth: just as a child receives the spirit of life when he is born in the natural way, so must a man receive the Holy Spirit promised in the new covenant when he is born spiritually. In the time of Moses many Israelites were dying of snake bites in the wilderness, but they were miraculously saved, if in faith they looked at a brazen serpent which Moses set up on a pole. In the same way, if a man wishes to enter into the new covenant relationship with God, receiving the Holy Spirit into his heart to help him keep God s law, all that he need do is to believe that God had made that promise available to him through the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross, and he will be born again. Resurrection to Eternal Life 140. Those who are born again and do not live according to their old natural desires but are led by the indwelling Holy Spirit are no longer condemned under the law. But those who have been born only in the natural way, are interested only in natural things, and give way to the weaknesses of human nature. They are under condemnation, for human nature rebels continually against God, and those who are governed by it cannot please Him. Those who are born again of the Spirit of God and are led by the Holy Spirit, are called sons of God, and just as Jesus Himself was raised from the dead, so will they also be raised from the dead to inherit eternal life in the Kingdom of God. XIX. NATIONAL SALVATION Do the Gentiles Replace Israel? 141. People of all races and nationalities who believe that Jesus died for their sins, are accounted righteous before God on account of that faith ( 136). This blessing was foreseen in the promise (No.6 on p ) made to Abraham, In thee and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. This promise refers to one particular seed, namely Christ, for all nations receive the blessing of salvation through faith in Him. All who are thus justified by faith, and have received the Holy Spirit, are spiritually children of God and of Christ: therefore, if they are Christ s they are spiritually Abraham s seed. The question is, are we to suppose that the Gentiles, who were never given the law, being justified by faith, alone find favour with God, whereas Israel which tried to keep the law and failed, are to be cast off for their lack of faith? Not all Israelites Inherit the Promises 142. In order to answer this question, we must distinguish between individual Israelites and Israel as a nation. The promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob belong to Israel as a nation, and these national promises were not made conditional upon 32

4 keeping the law which, in fact, was not given until 430 years after Abraham's time. The point is that not all individuals who have sprung from Israel inherit the promises, any more than all the sons of Abraham received them from their father. Abraham had many sons, but Isaac alone inherited the promises ( 4-7); Isaac had two sons, Esau and Jacob, but Jacob alone received the birthright ( 11-13). The promise that Israel would become a nation and company of nations was inherited by Ephraim and Manasseh ( 20-21) not by the house of Judah, which in the days of Jeremiah was condemned to be destroyed (.102). The Remnant in Judah and Israel 143. Although the house of Judah as a nation was condemned to destruction, God had had mercy on them and restored them in order that they might bring forth Jesus, the King and Saviour, and the members of the early church. When the house of Israel, who were to become as the sand of the sea for multitude, were taken captive by the Assyrians, the Jewish remnant had been spared for this purpose. If, then, we ask whether God cast away His people Israel after the crucifixion, the answer is, Certainly not! There always remains a remnant who inherit the promises. Elijah once thought that he was the only faithful one left, but the Lord revealed to him that there were still seven thousand left in Israel who had not worshipped Baal. In like manner in Paul s day there was a faithful remnant of the house of Israel in exile, through whom the promises would be fulfilled. The Grafting in of the Gentiles 144. The failure of the Jews to accept Jesus as their Messiah was, in fact, a blessing in disguise; for, as a consequence, salvation by faith in His Blood was made available to the Gentiles. The kingdom of God is like an olive tree from which some of the branches of Israel, who should naturally belong to it, have been lopped off because of their unbelief, while some of the Gentiles, like wild olives, have been grafted in. That, however, should not give them ground for boasting that the Israelites were cut off specially for their benefit; they were cut off for unbelief, and Gentiles could as easily be cut off for the same reason. But the important fact is that if the Gentiles, contrary to nature, were grafted in on account of their faith, how much more easily can Israelites be grafted in again if they have the necessary faith? The National Salvation of Israel 145. For a time, Israel became partly blinded to the truth, but ultimately all Israel will be saved; for it has been foretold by the prophets that a Deliverer, namely Jesus, would come, who would take away ungodliness from the nation Israel under the terms of the New Covenant. Although for a time they were enemies of God, yet nationally they are His beloved on account of the promises made to the patriarchs and the gifts and promises of God are irrevocable. But there is no favouritism for individuals: as individuals the Gentiles were in ancient times without knowledge of God, but the Lord had mercy and made a way for them to enter His kingdom by faith; so Israelites also became without faith, and God will have mercy on them in like manner. As individuals all people, both Gentile and Israelite, have been placed on an equal footing, and are given exactly the same opportunity to enter the kingdom through faith. Jesus the Redeemer of Israel 146. Provision for the national salvation of Israel was foreseen in the Old Testament sacrifice that was made every year for the sins of the people, and which foreshadowed the sacrifice of Jesus as national Saviour ( 34-35). The prophets also foresaw that the Lord Himself was the Redeemer of Israel, and that it is He Who has blotted out their transgressions. Just before the Saviour was born, an angel revealed to Joseph that the child should be called Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. Again Zacharias, father of John the Baptist, inspired by the Holy Spirit, declared that the Lord had visited and redeemed His people, so that they might serve Him in holiness and righteousness in fulfilment of the promises made to Abraham. The New Covenant with Israel 147. As in the case of personal salvation, the Holy Spirit must be given to Israel as a whole to guide and direct the nation to live according to God s laws, and not lapse again into sin. In fact the new covenant is actually stated by the Old Testament prophets to be primarily a national covenant which God is to make with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. The time would come, declared Jeremiah, when God will put His Spirit within His people so 33

5 that every individual in the nation, from the least to the greatest of them, would know and serve Him. God has sworn that Israel shall be a nation for ever, and He has undertaken to make them a holy nation in this way. XX. THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL IN EXILE. The Prophetic Warnings of Hosea and Amos 71. In the reign of Jeroboam II, son of Joash, the LORD gave Hosea a prophecy foretelling the punishment of Israel in three stages: first that the dynasty of Jehu would come to an end, secondly that God would no longer deliver Israel from her enemies, although He would save Judah by a miracle, and thirdly that Israel would cease to be called His people, and He would cease to be their God; nevertheless in fulfilment of the Abrahamic covenant, Israel would eventually become exceedingly numerous, and would finally be re-united with Judah under one King. At the same time Amos also prophesied, that the house of Jeroboam was about to cease, and that Israel would be carried away into captivity. Yet, although they were to be scattered among the nations where all the wicked would perish, they would not be lost, but would eventually be restored to their own land. The Rise of Assyria 72. When Jeroboam II died in 755 B.C. he was succeeded by his son Zachariah, who reigned only six months before the predicted doom fell, for he was assassinated by Shallum. A month later Shallum himself was murdered by Menahem, who put down all other opposition and reigned for ten years. During his reign, in 745 B.C. 73, Tiglath-pileser (also called Pul) came to the throne in Assyria and a new era began, for he immediately embarked on a series of aggressive wars which ultimately engulfed Israel. From B.C. 73 he was fighting against Syria, Israel s northern neighbours, and exacted tribute money from all the surrounding tribes 74. Menaham paid him a thousand talents of silver to retain his freedom and collected the money from all the rich men of the land. Tiglathpileser, however, continued to attack Syria, and captured Arpad in 740 and Calno in 738 B.C. 73. Israel and Syria Attack Judah 75. Then for a few years Tiglath-pileser diverted his armies towards his eastern frontier, whereupon Pekah king of Israel made an alliance with Rezin king of Syria for the purpose of attacking Judah. As a consequence, the Syrians took many of the Jews captive to Damascus, while the Israelites not only slew a great many in battle but they also took much spoil and a large number of captives and carried them off to Samaria. However, a prophet of the LORD rebuked the Israelites for their excessive violence against the Jews, so they generously returned the spoil and released the prisoners. Ahaz Sends to Assyria for Help 76. But at that time the LORD sent Isaiah the prophet to reassure Ahaz king of Judah that he had nothing to fear from these two kings who had conspired against him, for it would not be long before the Assyrians would return and rid the land of both of them. But Ahaz was hard pressed, for the Edomites and the Philistines were also attacking him from the south. Instead of waiting for the LORD to fulfil the promise given by Isaiah, he sent messengers with a present of gold and silver taken from the temple and the palace to ask Tiglath-pileser to help him. Therefore, Isaiah told him that because he had not relied upon God but continued to be afraid of the kings of Israel and Syria, the Assyrians would indeed come sooner, but in the end, they would also invade his own land Judah. The First Israelites Taken Captive 77. In answer to the request of Ahaz the Assyrians came, and in 734 B.C. raided all the Mediterranean coast, directing their attack mainly against the Philistines 73. Then in 733 and 732 they besieged and took Damascus the capital of Syria 73 and killed Rezin. At the same time 78 Tiglath-pileser conspired with Hoshea to put Pekah king of Israel to death, and the Assyrians carried away into captivity the Israelite tribes from Galilee as well as Reuben, Gad and part of Manasseh which dwelt east of Jordan, and they took them away to Halah and Habor and Hara by the river Gozan. 34

6 The Fall of Samaria 79. Under the suzerainty of Assyria Hoshea became a puppet king of Israel and was obliged to pay tribute every year. However, after a while Hoshea made an alliance with Egypt and ceased to pay tribute to the Assyrians. Therefore in 723 B.C. Shalmaneser came and invaded Israel and carried away the rest of the ten tribes, removing some to the Gozan district and others to the cities of the Medes in N.W. Persia. Samaria, the Israelite capital, was besieged for nearly three years, but in 721 B.C. it was finally taken by Sargon who followed Shalmaneser as king of Assyria. 80 The kingdom of Israel ceased to exist and the ten tribes, including the birthright tribes Ephraim and Manasseh, were taken into exile as had been foretold by Moses and all the prophets. The Invasion of Sennacherib 81. When Isaiah was given his commission to predict the exile of the northern tribes of Israel the LORD had told him that their cities would be left without inhabitant, and the land would be utterly desolate; even though the people turned a deaf ear to him, he was to go on prophesying until he saw these conditions fulfilled. After the fall of Samaria there was still a scattered remnant left in the villages of Israel, but in 701 B.C. Sennacherib, king of Assyria, carne and invaded the whole land and, as Isaiah had foretold in the time of Ahaz, he captured all the fortified cities of Judah with the exception of Jerusalem. While the Assyrians were still besieging Lachish, Hezekiah king of Judah tried to buy Sennacherib off by sending him silver and gold from the temple treasures, but still the Assyrians carne on and besieged Jerusalem. It was only after Hezekiah had asked the LORD for help, that by a miracle the greater part of the Assyrian army died in their camp overnight, and the city was saved. Nevertheless, Sennacherib carried off to Assyria more than 200,000 captives both Israelites and Jews 82, and at last the land became utterly desolate, as Isaiah had foretold. Were the ten Tribes Lost? Although there is an abundance of prophecy in the Bible concerning the destiny of the house of Israel, there is no record of their history in exile. Hosea and Amos, who foretold their captivity, made it plain that they would not be lost, and would eventually be restored 71; but if secular historians have found no mention of exiled Israelites in ancient records, that is simply because the Assyrians did not call them by that name. The Assyrian Name for Israel. Before their exile Israel was usually called Bit-Khumri in Assyrian records, that is the sons of Omri, the king who had founded Samaria. For example, on the Black Obelisk which stands in the Assyrian galleries of the British Museum, there is an illustration of Jehu paying tribute to Shalmaneser, king of Assyria. The inscription says, This is Iaua (Jehu), the son of Khumri.(Omri) 148 Omri in Hebrew begins with the consonant ayin, formerly called gayin, which was pronounced as a guttural h ; that is gh or kh ; the Israelites would therefore have said Ghomri, and the Assyrians wrote this Khumri 149 When the Israelites went into exile, they ceased to be called Israel, a ruler with God, and became known by other names such as Beth-Khumri or Ghomri. The Israelites were removed to both Media and northern Mesopotamia between 732 & 700 B.C, 76-81, and within 50 years of those dates a people whom the Assyrians called Gimira appeared for the first time in both of those areas. To account for the appearance of the Gimira, historians have adapted the theory of the Greek historian Herodotus, that they came from the Crimea, having been driven out along the snores of the Black Sea by the Scythians, who themselves had come from the river Araxes south of the Caucasus! 150. To make this story more plausible, historians say that Herodotus really meant the Volga, not the Araxes, although on every other occasion where he mentions the Araxes, it is evident that he knew where that river was. But historians cannot explain why the Gimira were driven out of S. Russia by the Scythians before 700 B.C., while archaeology has shewn that the Scythians did not arrive in Russia until after The First Record of Israelites in Media. In 707 B.C., Assyrian frontier posts reported that the armed forces of Urartu (Ararat) were invading the district south of Lake Urmia in Media, where the Israelites had been placed in exile fourteen years earlier. Their reports say that when the king of Urartu came into the land of Gamir, his army was routed. Gamir is evidently a corruption of 35

7 Ghomri, the Assyrian name for Israel, formed by the inversion of the final syllable -ri to -ir. Such inversions are common in Assyrian writings; for example, in the Annals of Sargon, Rusas, king of Urartu, is often called Ursa 152. The Assyrian scouts reported that the Gamera counterattacked, entered 0the land of Urartu, killed nine of their commanders and captured their commander-in-chief Kakkadanu 153. All historians recognise that the Gamera were the same people who, thirty years later in the reign of Esarhaddon, were called Gimira. Escape Through the Upper Euphrates Valley. It is mentioned in the Apocrypha that some of the ten tribes made their escape into the mountains of Asia Minor by way of the upper Euphrates valley 154. It was also recorded by the Assyrians, in the second year of Esarhaddon, 679 B.C. 155, that the Gimira had risen in rebellion under their leader Teuspa, and that the Assyrian army had pursued and defeated them in the upper Euphrates district 156. Nevertheless, a large number of Israelites escaped to the shores of the Black Sea and then moved west until they came into conflict with Gyges, king of Lydia, by whom they were defeated 157. They settled for a time in the region of Sinope 158, but in the reign of Ardys, son of Gyges, they again raided Lydia, this time entering Sardis the capital 159. Finally, about 600 B.C. the Lydian king Alyattes drove them out of Asia Minor altogether 160, and they crossed the Bosphorus and moved north into the Ukraine. There they spread eastwards from the river Sereth to the Crimea 161. The Greeks called these Gimira Kimmerioi, translated into English Cimmerians. The Assyrian Alliance with King Bartatua. Meanwhile the main body of Israelites in Media began, during the reign of Esarhaddon ( B.C.), to join with their neighbours in attacking Assyrian expeditions sent to their regions to collect horses and other tribute 162. At first the Assyrians called them Gimira, but later Iskuza: a rock-hewn inscription at Behistun, N. Persia, shows that the Persian equivalent for Gimira was Sakka 163, probably derived from Isaaca, or house of Isaac, the name by which the Israelites called themselves (Amos 7: 9 & 16). Ancient historians tell us that the people whom the Greeks called Scythians were called Sacae, or Sakka, by the Persians 164, and they got the name Scythian from the Assyrian Iskuza, which is also probably derived from Isaaca. With a view to stopping the attacks on his troops in Media, Esarhaddon made an alliance with Bartatua, king of the Iskuza, giving him his daughter in marriage on condition that Bartatua would render military help 165. The Scythians attained to considerable power in Media until the fall of the Assyrian empire in 612 B.C. A treasure recently found at Sakkiz, south-east of Lake Urmia, is believed to have belonged to King Bartatua, his Assyrian bride and their successors 166, for it includes objects of gold, ivory and bronze, some being of Assyrian workmanship, some purely Scythian, while others are Assyrian with Scythian elements. Some pieces contain features regarded as characteristic of Phoenician workmanship, which is understandable when it is realised that the Scythians were in fact Israelites. 36

8 INDEX OF AUTHORITIES GodÊs Plan for World Order Section Five XVII. The Son of God and Saviour Isaiah 43:15; 44:6; Hebrews 1: John 5:8-18; 10: Luke 5: Matthew 4:10; Acts 10:25-26; Revelation 22:8-9; Matthew 8:2-4; 9:18-19; 28: Philippians 2:5-8; Hebrews 2, vs.6-9 & 14-18; 4: Matthew 26:59-66; John 19: Isaiah 53:4-9; John 1:29; I Peter 2:21-25; 3:18. XVIII. Personal Salvation Matthew 22:36-40; Romans 3: Romans 3:21-28; 10: Romans 4: Hebrews 10:1-4; 8:6-13; Ezekiel 36: Hebrews 9: John 3:1-19; Numbers 21: Romans 8:1-18. XIX. National Salvation Galatians 3: vs.7-16 & 26-29; Romans 9: Galatians 3:17-18; Romans 9: Romans 9:21-29 and 11: Romans 11:11-24; Ephesians 2: Romans 11: Isaiah 44:21-23; Matthew 1:18-21; Luke 1: Jeremiah 31:31-37; Ezekiel 36: XX - The Ten Tribes in Exile. 148 Guide to the Babylonian & Assyrian Antiquities in the British Museum.(1922), p T. G. Pinches, The Old Testament In the Light of the Historical Records of Assyria and Babylon (3rd ed. 1908), p Herodotus IV, M. I. Rostovtsev, Iranians &"Greeks in South Russia, p Luckenbill: Ancient Records, II, S 10, 12, 20, etc L. Waterman: Royal Correspondence of the Assyrian Empire, Nos. 112, 146, 197, and Apocrypha: II Esdras 13: Sydney Smith: Babylonian Historical Texts, p. 14, lines Luckenbill: Ancient Records: II, S Luckenbill: Ancient Records: II, S Herodotus IV Strabo: I, iii, Herodotus, I, II Esdras 13: J, A. Knudtzon: Assyrische Gebete, Nos, I, 35, ;etc. E. G. Klauber: Politsche-religlose Texte, Nos. 20, L. W. King & R. C. Thompson, Sculptures & Inscriptions of Behistun, compare Pages 4; 96, & Herodotus VII. 64; Pliny, Natural History, VI, xix.. 37