The Beginning (for us)

Transcription

1 Instant Bible V Instant Bible... 1 The Beginning (for us)... 2 The Exodus... 3 The Law... 4 The Conquest of Canaan... 5 The Time of the Judges... 6 Israel becomes a kingdom... 6 Judah remains in the land... 8 Jesus the Messiah (first time)... 9 The Apostles From Jesus first time to Jesus second time Messiah Returns Church Doctrine says: There is no unified body of church doctrine the varied doctrines of the different denominations are, in fact, what MAKE FOR the different denominations. The unifying factor for the different denominations is an understanding and belief in part, but not all, of what the Bible says. In large part this is due to the obscurity of some key phrases and the tendency of men to try to explain what they do not understand. Page 1

2 The Beginning (for us) God creates the heavens and the earth God creates man woman family The family grows and grows and grows 10 th generation: God wipes out all of the family except Noah, his wife, 3 sons and their wives Family grows and grows God creates nations Nations are greatly extended families, identified by: 1. One language 2. A territory that is theirs, known as a COUNTRY 3. A common ancestry (augmented by the principle of ADOPTION, by which strangers can be brought into the extended family) Tower of Babel God splits the original family by changing the language of each branch, whereupon the different branches separate, becoming nations and moving over time to many different parts of the world God creates and anoints His CHOSEN Nation - Israel Abram Isaac Jacob Many promises are made to Abram and these promises pass on to his family His name is changed to Abraham (from father of a nation to father of nations ) Name Israel given to Abraham s grandson Jacob Jacob has 12 sons and one daughter Jacob s son Joseph is sold by his brothers into slavery in Egypt, but over 30 years ends up as the chief assistant to Pharaoh Famine strikes the land of Canaan, resulting in Jacob moving his whole family to Egypt, where they are cared for by Joseph As the LORD told Abraham, Jacob s family spends 400 years in Egypt first enjoying the best of the best, and then reduced to slavery Israel grows in Egypt Jacob passes the name Israel on to the two boys (Ephraim & Manasseh) he adopts from his son Joseph Page 2

3 The families of the other sons of Jacob are to be known by the name (Israel) of their brothers Ephraim and Manasseh (first they are known as Israel and then, when the separation of the tribes is near, as the House of Israel) Judah (son of Jacob) is to rule over Israel and to preserve and make available the law and the prophets Israel grows from 1 to 12, then 14, then 13 tribes grows from 70 people to 624,000 MEN ages 21 to 60 during the 400 years in Egypt The Exodus After Abraham s family spends 400 years in Egypt, the sin of the Amelekites is full and Israel begins its march to Canaan, the Promised Land. During the march, the Israelites pause twice at Mount Horeb ( Mount Sinai ) on the west side, and then on the east side. At the second pause, Moses is brought up onto the mountain for several periods of time, during which the Ten Commandments and much of the rest of the law is handed down from God to Moses and Moses scribes, who write it down Because of the sins of almost all the Israelites early in the march, the trip is extended to 40 years, and none of the persons who were adults at the time they left Mount Horeb is alive when Israel finally enters Canaan except two men: Joshua and Caleb (Note: when God said that the two would survive everyone else, He never said that Moses would enter Canaan.) After building the tabernacle during their stay on the east side of Mount Horeb, Israel began to move. The order of march was prescribed by the LORD and was always the same a column of 6 echelons. Page 3 The first echelon was comprised of three tribes. The second echelon consisted of the Ark of the Covenant and the priests. The third echelon consisted of three tribes. The fourth echelon consisted of three tribes. The fifth echelon consisted of the remainder of the Levites with the parts making up the structure of the tabernacle.

4 The sixth echelon consisted of the remaining three tribes. (Some say) God gives the Ten Commandments, Moses gives the law of Moses The Law Page 4 After providing Moses with the Ten Commandments twice God then dictated to him the remainder of the law that appears in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. (Jewish scholars have counted 613 Mitzvah, commandments to do or not do certain things.) People fear the law and often do anything they can to avoid understanding it but it is nothing to be feared, since it is simply rules for getting along fairly and well with both God and other people. The law actually came into the world with Adam, Eve and their family. Its presence is demonstrated in various passages, as in the story of Cain and Abel first, the matter of Cain s unsatisfactory offering and Abel s satisfactory offering. Second, when Cain kills Abel, the LORD points out to Cain that Abel s blood cries out from the ground. The LORD S resolution of the matter is to send Cain into XXX after marking him with a mark that warned everyone to leave him alone identical to the treatment he would have received under the law written down by Moses for a man who killed but did not murder someone the protected XXX being as close to banishment to a city of refuge as was possible at the time. At the time of the exodus, the LORD used Moses to reduce the whole of the law to written form. This provided God s chosen people with a durable form that could be copied, studied, and disseminated to others. The LORD assigned to Israel two functions to be the sword of the LORD (the literal sword a nation of warriors when needed), and to be the signpost of the LORD to attract other nations to Him. The law was (and is) a powerful tool for that purpose, when compared to the laws found in all other nations that were drafted by men. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

5 The Conquest of Canaan Moses angers the LORD, who tells him he will not enter into Canaan with Israel In the second year of the Exodus, when the men of Israel had angered the LORD and He had told them that none of them but Joshua and Caleb would live to enter Canaan, it was never said that Moses would enter Canaan At the end of the exodus, Moses is called out of the camp by the LORD, taken up into a mountain to look across the Jordan river to see the land of Canaan, and then dies and his body is hidden by the LORD. Israel mourns his death for 30 days. Joshua replaces Moses and more he takes the lead over Israel as it crosses Jordan and enters into Canaan. A number of battles are fought, in which Israel is generally the winner, and over a ten year period all of the tribes come to occupy their lands. Some of the tribes expel the Canaanite tribes from lands assigned to those Israelite tribes, but a number of them do not. Notably, Benjamin fails to expel a Canaanite tribe from Jerusalem, the city God has chosen as His own. Page 5 In the 33 rd chapter of Numbers, the LORD told Israel that they were being given the land of Canaan to live in on condition that they expel all of the Canaanite tribes and that if they failed to do this, then the LORD would do to them what He had brought them to do to the Canaanites. This warning is repeated in the book of Deuteronomy, with the further warning that when He expelled Israel from the land, He would also take away their identity so that neither they nor anyone else would know who they were. By the end of the book of Joshua and the beginning of the book of Judges, Israel had failed so miserably to expel the Canaanites (because they repeatedly failed to put their faith and trust in the LORD to help them do the job as He had promised), that He withdrew His offer of help and left it up to them alone to complete the job which they could not and did not do. From that time forward, Israel and Judah were under condemnation

6 that they WOULD BE expelled from the land when God s patience with them ran out. The Time of the Judges For the next 450 years, Israel lives in the model that God has set forth for them, but not in the mode. There are no lawmakers the law they are to live by has been given them by God. The only officials in the nation are the priests, of the tribe of Levi, and the judges, also of the same tribe. But the people repeatedly stray away from what they have been told, and God rewards their infidelity with periods of domination by various foreign powers, notably the Philistines (a Canaanite tribe Israel was to have destroyed). When the people turn from their sinful ways and seek to return to God, He rewards them by appointing a Judge a temporary ruler who leads them to shake off the affliction of their oppressors. Israel becomes a kingdom Saul is anointed king. When Saul is killed, David succeeds him as king. LORD knew and said through Moses that the time would come when Israel will set a king to rule over themselves (Deuteronomy 28:36) Now the people demand a king, contrary to God s intentions (I Samuel 8) God never intended for Israel to be ruled by a king for one thing, true kings make laws as well as enforce them, and God intended to be the only lawmaker for Israel but now the people demand a king so the LORD gives them what He warned them they would get: Saul the Benjamite. Saul reigns over Israel 40 years and dies in a battle. The people having gotten what they asked for and having seen the result, the LORD is free to give them the successor king He prefers (since they still want a king) David, a man after the LORD S own heart, and of the tribe of Judah as stated in Genesis 49. Page 6

7 David succeeds Saul as king over JUDAH. After 6-1/2 years of controversy and trials in Israel, the elders of Israel come to David and ask him to be king over them as well. David agrees and moves his throne from Hebron to Jerusalem. Solomon, son of David, succeeds his father on the throne. He is the wisest man who ever lived. He built the Temple. Lines of kings House of Israel last king was Hoshea, the 24th House of Judah last king was Zedekiah, the 24 th David the Jew the man after God s own heart, of the family that is to have the rule over Israel House of David (of Judah) to reign over Israel forever Line of Pharez first high, will end up abased Line of Zorah - low, will end up exalted These changes take nothing away from the house of David only from the line of Solomon Solomon asked God for wisdom to rightly judge the people of Israel but never thought to ask for the wisdom to keep himself from sin. Solomon oversaw the construction of the first Temple on Temple Mount (Mount Moriah) in Jerusalem. Near the end of his life, the LORD comes to Solomon and recounts to him his sins, including worshiping the false gods of his non- Israelite wives. Because of these things, the kingdom except for Judah will be taken away from his seed. After the division of Judah from the house of Israel. Judah alone will retain its identity when it is expelled from the land. House of Israel (except Judah) removed from the land House of Israel (except Judah) scattered like kernels of corn among the other nations of the world (scattered as individuals, not as families, let alone as nations) House of Israel removed from the land (Judah has not been part of the house of Israel since the death of Solomon, and will not be reunited until the time described in Hosea 1.) House of Israel separated into individual nations and their identities hidden from everyone, including themselves Throughout the Tanakh ( Old Testament ) the LORD repeatedly states His promise that He will care for Israel and not destroy them. See the Table of Promises and Prophecies Concerning Israel, Judah and the House of David attached to John s Chronological Bible. Israel (only Israel, which consists of Ephraim and Manasseh, and not the Page 7

8 Judah is the sole remainder of Israel. Ancient Israelites are commonly referred to as the Jews. other tribes of the HOUSE OF Israel) divided into four parts ( scattered into corners ) Israel (in four separate parts) travels a great distance in tents, over long periods of time, to the land that is being given to them Israel reunited and planted in a land of its own, where the children of evil will no more afflict it Israel will grow and grow, exceeding the size of its first land, spreading into other land/s ( enlarge thy tent ) Ephraim is at first the predominant part of Israel; divides into a multitude of nations that remain closely attached Manasseh eventually separates from Ephraim and becomes THE great nation Israel s true identity is now still unknown, particularly to itself Judah remains in the land Judah is all that remains of Israel Judah is separate from the house of Israel The house of Israel exists in distant lands of its own with its true identity hidden The Babylonian Captivity King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon recognized by God as My servant and rewarded for doing things God asked him to do (i.e. destroy Tyre, for which God gave him Egypt as a conquest) The Return of Judah to the land of Canaan and Jerusalem Rebuild the Temple Rebuild the City Page 8 Only a small portion of Judah about 20% - returns to Canaan. The great remainder stays in Babylon, where they have been doing very well for captives Wars of the King of the North and the King of the South Antiochus Epiphanies The Herods God s ancient judgment fulfilled against Judah

9 Ultimately Judah is removed from the land as promised to Solomon, the identity of Judah is NOT lost Jesus the Messiah (first time) Shortly before Judah is removed from the land, Jesus the Messiah Why Jesus camecomes to bring salvation and to introduce The Church Fulfill the law Gather together in one the lost children of Israel To whom Jesus was sent house of Israel To whom the disciples were sent house of Israel To whom the apostles were sent house of Israel After his death and descent into Sheol, to teach the dead in Sheol during his three days there To give witness to his identity by being raised from the dead returned from Sheol after three days, to give further instruction to his apostles, and then to ascend into (the third) heaven to sit at the right hand of his Father and make preparations until the time of his return to govern the earth After the ascension of Jesus to (the third) heaven The city and the temple destroyed Effects of the loss of the temple NONE NOTED The city and the temple destroyed ON SCHEDULE Effect of the loss of the temple Since the altar in the Temple at the top of Temple Mount (Mount Moriah) in Jerusalem is the ONLY place in the world where God s name can be shown forth and the sin and trespass offerings received, the destruction of the Temple would mean that thereafter there could be no forgiveness for sin, it was absolutely essential that the sin and trespass offerings be fulfilled once and for all by the perfect offering. Therefore the first coming of Messiah, to be the perfect offering, had to come before the destruction of the Temple. Page 9

10 Judas the perfect figure of the son of perdition for his unforgiven sins Judas is replaced by Matthias (Acts 1) The Apostles go forth to teach the world Paul is anointed as an Apostle and sent to the Gentiles all nations that are not Judah. The Apostles Originally identified as the twelve disciples One, Judas Iscariot, removed by suicide after betraying Jesus Judas REPENTS OF HIS SIN (Matthew 27:3 is specific and exact), is inhabited by the Holy Spirit (Zechariah 11:10-13), confesses that Jesus is the pure blood (Messiah, the son of God) which, by Paul s statement (Romans 10:9) means that Judas is SAVED On the night of his betrayal, Jesus says in prayer to his Father that he has lost none but the son of perdition. The next day, he says that he has lost NONE. The Apostles were originally directed to go ONLY to the lost children of Israel the 12 tribes of the house of Israel, now all but Benjamin departed from Canaan and only partially identifiable the remainder will lose their identity within only a matter of years. This directive is never changed and remains in effect after the ascension of Jesus to heaven. Paul is anointed as the THIRTEENTH Apostle by Jesus and sent ONLY to those tribes of the house of Israel who have already lost their identity ( the Gentiles ). He is directed in this by the Holy Spirit. From Jesus first time to Jesus second time Jesus establishes something new The Church which will preserve and teach the word of God and minister to people until Jesus returns The only remnant of Israel is the Jews Several thousand years ensue, during which time the House of Israel will not know who they are, and so they will not understand the prophecies for those years Israel and the tribes of the House of Israel (after their identities are Page 10

11 Page 11 removed) are planted in new lands of their own, where they grow and thrive Israel will be the ensign for the LORD the signpost to show people where they can find and follow the true God of creation Israel will continue to be the sword of the LORD will engage in military actions for God s purposes (which will not be recognized as such by men, for the same reason that they do not recognize Israel) Ephraim becomes a multitude of nations Manasseh separates from Ephraim, becomes the great nation The parts of Israel, separated by seas and distance, remain in close contact with each other by way of fast messengers (including something new on the earth steamships) Early in Manasseh s summer (beginning of its time of great and rapid growth) there will be a great and traumatic event to purge it of great sin as, for instance, a civil war Ephraim and Manasseh, but particularly Manasseh, will be an ensign (signpost) and an army for the LORD Judah comes to the land(s) of Israel and is accepted into (rejoined with) the nation As much of Judah is reuniting with Israel, some of Judah will possess Judea and the city of Jerusalem, in troubled times and still afflicted by the Canaanite tribes, and a great war will ensue the battle of Har mageddon After Judah has reunited with Israel, they are brought up out of the land and returned to the land of Canaan and the city of Jerusalem Shortly before the return of Messiah, there will be a time of great trouble in Egypt (Mizraim), the work of the LORD. There will be great division and a time of something akin to civil war, leading to a terrible tyrant ruling over them. The Jewish nation (state of Israel) will invade and occupy a number of cities. The waters from the sea and the water from the Nile will fail, bringing commerce almost to a halt. A certain signpost that has been visible in the land for thousands of years will suddenly become

12 recognized to be the signpost of the true God. The people will turn to the LORD and be saved. Assyria, Egypt and Israel (Manasseh and Ephraim, NOT the State of Israel ) will join together to build a highway of commerce from Egypt to Assyria (would have to pass through the State of Israel) and Egypt, Assyria and Israel will serve the LORD together. When Jesus returns, all the members of the Church are taken up to heaven (a doctrine known as the rapture ) Israel is reassembled out of its scattered, unsaved parts and brought back to Canaan and Jerusalem Messiah Returns In the war leading up to Har mageddon (Armageddon) the non-israelite, non-jewish peoples occupying the lands that were promised to Abraham will be wiped out, culminating with the destruction of Babylon. We are not told who will do what to whom, only what the result will be the total elimination of a number of nations from the lands of the Middle East In the true Bible, there is no mention of Church. The word represented as church in the King James and subsequent translations actually means, as William Tyndale first translated it, congregation a substantially different concept. At no time does the Bible state that the saved will be taken to the heaven where God has His throne and His angels. Instead, after the thousand years of Jesus reign over the earth and the final revolt of the nations other than Israel, God will come and sit on His throne in the Temple on Temple Mount in Jerusalem with His people Israel (including the saved out of all other nations who have been adopted into Israel) The temple will be rebuilt on Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The Shekinah will come in by the east gate and the east gate will be locked until Jesus returns Jesus will return to occupy his throne in the rebuilt temple on Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where he will reign over the world for 1,000 years of peace and tranquility. Israel will be in the land promised to Abraham. Israel will follow the LORD and his son Jesus; the other nations of the world will be free to follow the god they choose, the real God or their own Page 12

13 imagined gods. Those who are saved will be resurrected to reign and rule with Jesus. At the end of the thousand years of peace, Satan will be released from his confines and will for a year and three months ( a time and a season ) incite all the other nations to war against Israel. All the nations will come to war against Israel. Fire will come down out of heaven and destroy them all, every last man. The LORD God will come down to Jerusalem and live with his people Israel. There will be a resurrection of the dead, SOME to life and SOME to the second death. They will stand in judgment before God s throne. Those not found in the book of life will suffer the second death. The time will come when there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and Israel will live with God forever. Page 13