THE UNITED STATES
AND
BRITISH COMMONWEALTH
IN PROPHECY

Herbert W. Armstrong

This booklet is not to be sold It is a Free educational service in the public Interest, published by the Worldwide
Church of God.

© 1967, 1972, 1975, 1980 Worldwide Church of God. All rights reserved

People of the Western world would be Stunned -- dumbfounded -- if they Knew! The governments of the United States, Britain, Canada, Australasia, South Africa would set in motion Gigantic crash programs -- if they Knew! They could know! But they Don't! Why?

(Chapter 1) The Lost Master Key Has Been Found

 A staggering turn in world events is due to erupt in the next few years. It will involve violently the United States, Britain, Western Europe, the Middle East. It's already rather late for the free world to come awake to the real meaning behind current world events! Why do not the world's leaders see what is coming? Why are the world's best minds unseeing - the heads of state, scientists, educators, editors, news analysts, bankers, industrialists, leaders in business and commerce? They are totally unaware! Why?

Because they have been falsely educated and deceived into closing their minds to the great causes behind world events and trends. This world has been falsely educated to ignore causes and deal with effects! Yet all the world's problems and ills are simply a matter of cause and effect. There is a cause that has produced strife and war; poverty, wretchedness, inequality; crime, disease, mental ills. But the leaders do not know!

The world's leaders are the educated of the world. But they were not educated in BASIC TRUTHS - the foundations of right knowledge. The most necessary knowledge is not being taught! They do not know WHAT man is - or WHY! They know nothing of the purpose or meaning of life! They were taught to distinguish the true values from the false. They did not learn the real causes - the way to peace, to happiness, to universal abundance; nor the causes of war, unhappiness, inequality, world chaos.

They know nothing of the purpose being worked out here below. Consequently, they guide humanity on a course in conflict with that purpose, wreaking havoc upon a distressed, suffering, unhappy mankind. Lacking knowledge of the way to peace, the world does not have peace. Leaders talk of peace; they profess to work for peace; they cry out for peace - while they give approval and blind acceptance to the way that produces war!

This world has simply been going the wrong way!

This world is giving assent to, and conferring civilization's acceptance on, THE WAYS that are the CAUSES of all the world's ills.

And now we are fast approaching the final grand smash explosion that is going to stagger the mind of man beyond the bounds of sanity. Forces are at work today on plans, programs, conspiracies, movements that soon will erupt into a world explosion of violence and chaos such as never happened before, and never will again. Men today are tampering with forces of nature they lack the prudence, knowledge, ability and wisdom to control.

In this folly of educated ignorance, it has become fashionable today and intellectually titillating to ignore the great basic cause of all things; the fact of the purpose being worked out here below, and the master plan for its working out; the invisible but Supreme Power now soon to intervene and drastically alter the course of history - before mankind blasts itself out of existence.

Unreal though it may seem to those steeped in modern educational deceptions, some 2,500 years ago the Supreme Power of the universe inspired a man named Isaiah to quote Him, saying: "I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand" (Isa. 46:9-10). The great world powers are formulating their policies - laying their plans. But the next few years will see astounding events explode in a manner very different than the nations plan! Why?

Because there is the great God who says: "The Eternal wrecks the purposes of pagans, he brings to nothing what the nations plan; but the Eternal's purpose stands for ever, and what he plans will last from age to age. . . The Eternal looks from heaven, beholding all mankind; from where he sits, he scans all who inhabit the world; he who alone made their minds, he notes all they do" (Ps. 33:10-15, Moffatt translation).

This same Eternal God said: "To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things. . ." And again: "Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance. . . . All nations before him are as nothing. . ." (Isa. 40:25-26, 15, 17).

Through His inspired prophets, the great God caused to be written, some 2,500 years ago, and preserved in writing to our time prophecies filling approximately a third of the whole Bible. In them, He named every city of consequence of that time on earth - and also every nation! And He foretold precisely what would, through the years, happen to every city and every nation! In very instance the prophecies came to pass!

What was prophesied HAPPENED to Babylon, to Tyre, Sidon, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron; to Egypt, Assyria, Chaldea, Persia, Greece and Rome. There has not been a miss! Those prophecies were accurate.

And now, in other prophecies, the same supreme God has foretold precisely what is going to happen to the United States, the British nations, Western Europe, the Middle East, Russia!

Yet the best minds in the world are in total ignorance of the unprecedented cataclysm that is about to strike. And why have these prophecies not been understood or believed? Because the vital KEY that unlocks prophecy to our understanding had been lost. That key is the identity of the United States and the British peoples in biblical prophecy.

That key has been found! We present it to those whose unprejudiced eyes are willing to see.

The events prophesied to strike the American and British peoples in the next few years are SURE!

God says: "Surely the Lord Eternal will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7). These colossal world events, shrinking the first two World Wars into insignificance, WILL COME, but not until the warning has been made available for those whose eyes are willing to see.

Chapter One                   (Return to table of contents)

This may sound incredible, but it's true. Editors, newscasters, 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 Churchill declared before the United States Congress: "He 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." But he did not understand that purpose! That great purpose long ago was master-planned by the Master Mind of the universe.

It is true, though almost totally unrealized: Mankind was put on this earth for a PURPOSE! And the Maker of mankind sent along with the human product of His making an INSTRUCTION BOOK to reveal that purpose and to guide man in happily, enjoyably fulfilling it. But the human race has rejected the revelation and the guidance and has preferred to stumble on in the darkness of its own futile reasoning's.

About one-third of that Instruction Book is devoted to basic education - revealing to man the necessary foundational knowledge otherwise undiscoverable and unknowable: knowledge of what man is, why he is, where his destiny may lead, how to reach it and live happily along the way; revealing knowledge of the true values as distinguished from the false; knowledge of the way to peace, happiness, abundant well-being. In other words, the most necessary of all knowledge - the foundation on which to build discoverable knowledge.

Another approximate third of that Book is devoted to history - to those events and experiences fulfilling the master plan during the first four millennia of man's mortal sojourn, as examples for our admonition and guidance today.

And then approximately a third - grasp this! - an entire third of our Maker's revelation to mankind is devoted to prophecy - writing the history of future events before they occur. These foretold future events reveal the great purpose being finally worked out - being brought to its completion.

Now see why heads of state, 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.

A rational and right knowledge of this great purpose, of the Creator's master plan, of where in the progression of those foreordained events we stand today, and of major happenings prophesied yet to occur - this knowledge is the essential basis for understanding the significance and true meaning of today's dynamic world news. Without this vital knowledge, none dealing in news gathering and news reporting, none responsible for government policies can understand current world happenings or where they are leading. And not one saddled with such responsibilities does know! Why?

Two reasons, primarily: 1) They have been deceived by false education appealing to the vanity of intellect into prejudicial and disdainful rejection of the divine revelation which alone can impart this understanding; and 2) the vital key necessary to unlock closed doors of biblical prophecy had been lost.

The great world powers of our time have been, and are, the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, Germany, France, and other Western European nations. The missing vital KEY is simply the identity of these great world powers in biblical prophecy! The staggering and cataclysmic world-shaking events soon to erupt upon a shocked, stunned, bewildered world relate directly and specifically to the United States, Britain, Germany, Western Europe, and Russia.

Not knowing how and where these nations are specifically mentioned in basic and major prophecies, the educated of the world have been utterly blinded to the plain and simple meaning of prophecy. Due to this lost key more than anything else, the Bible has come to be discredited and rejected in this world's educational system. The unproved and unprovable theory of evolution has been substituted as the foundational concept which became the supposed rational approach to knowledge.

The colossal tragedy of it! Our peoples, being thus falsely and deceptively educated from little children, have, in a supposed era of advanced rationalism and enlightenment, actually been groping around in the darkness of ignorance, misunderstanding and confusion, fatally unaware of the earthshaking catastrophe into which they are being directly plunged.

Thus our peoples have forgotten and departed far from their Maker. They have shut their eyes and closed their ears to His dynamic revelation to mankind, which, to ears that can hear, thunders out the life-and-death warning to those in the responsible positions of power!

Is it too late? Have our leaders become so steeped in a deceptive false education, so stultified that they cannot be aroused from slumber? God help us now! Time is fast closing in on us!

But the all-important master key has been found!

That key is knowledge of the astonishing identity of the American and British peoples - as well as the German - in biblical prophecies. This very eye-opening, astounding identity is the strongest proof of the inspiration and authority of the

Holy Bible! It is, at the same time, the strongest proof of the very active existence of the living God!

An exciting, pulsating, vital third of all the Bible is devoted to prophecy. And approximately 90 percent of all prophecy pertains to OUR TIME, now, in this latter half of the twentieth century! It is a warning to us - to our English-speaking peoples - of immediate life-and-death import. The prophecies come alive once their doors are opened by this now discovered master key! This book will open, to open minds, this hitherto closed vital third of all the Bible. No story of fiction ever was so strange, so fascinating, so absorbing, so packed with interest and suspense, as this gripping story of our identity - and our ancestry.

Through it Almighty God 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 return to their living God, then our nations may be spared. God help us to UNDERSTAND!

Chapter Two                  (Return to table of contents)

One might ask, were not biblical prophecies closed and sealed? Indeed they were - until now! And even now they can be understood only by those who possess the master key to unlock them. But we have reached the approximate end of 6,000 years of biblical history. We have reached the end of an age! We are entering, right now, the world crisis at the close of present civilization. We face, today, conditions such as the world never before has witnessed. Today the big problem is the stark question of SURVIVAL! For the first time in world history, the weapons of mass destruction exist which can erase all life from the earth. Chiefs of government and world-famous scientists have been saying publicly we must adjust to living in fear of human annihilation, with no solutions in sight.

To those prejudicially cynical toward the Bible, I say: It is now your only hope! Science offers no solutions. The politicians and heads of government have no answers. In the Bible alone you will find the advance news of what is now certain to occur - and occur it will before mankind blasts itself out of existence!

But another objector might ask, are not most of the prophecies outdated Old Testament writings, addressed only to the ancient nation Israel, of no concern to us in our time? And the answer is an emphatic no! These scintillating, dynamic prophecies were, most of them, never given to ancient Israel.

The plain truth is, these prophecies were written for our people of our time, and for no previous people or time. They pertain to world conditions of today, and could not have been understood until today.

One of the very pivotal books of prophecy is the book of Daniel. Actually, the prophet Daniel was not the author of the book known by his name. The living God was its author! The message was transmitted to Daniel by God's angel. Daniel put to writing, to be preserved until our time, what he heard.

At the very close of his book, Daniel wrote: "And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. . . and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand" (Dan. 12:8-10).

So the prophecies of Daniel were CLOSED, sealed, locked up until now! But today we are living in "the time of the end." Today the "wise" do understand! But who are "the wise"? Only those who fear and obey God - and who have the master key to unlock the locked-up prophecies. God says: "The fear of the Eternal is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments" (Ps. 111:10). And even most professing "Christians" refuse utterly to do that. No wonder they can't understand.

And don't forget, the specific key that unlocks these closed doors of prophecy is the definite knowledge of the true identity of the American and British nations as they are mentioned in these prophecies.

Stop a moment and think. If the prophecies Daniel wrote could not be understood by him; if they were "closed up and sealed till the time of the end" - till the latter half of the twentieth century - as the angel said and as Daniel wrote, then they were closed to the ancient Israelites of that day; they contained no message for Daniel's time.

Think a little further.

These prophecies could not have been given to or known by the ancient Kingdom of Israel. Daniel wrote in and after the time of the Chaldean king Nebuchadnezzar's invasion and captivity of the Kingdom of JUDAH, 604 to 585 B.C. But the Kingdom of ISRAEL had long before been invaded, conquered, and its people moved out of Palestine - transported as slaves to Assyria - 721 to 718 B.C. (II Kings 17:18, 23-24), 117 to 133 years before Daniel wrote. Years before the book of Daniel was written, most of the Assyrians, with those Israelite slaves, had migrated from ancient Assyria northwest toward Europe. How far northwest - where they finally settled - was not then known. They had become known as the Lost Ten Tribes.

But today we do know.

Today, as Daniel wrote (12:4), knowledge has indeed increased. The whereabouts of the Lost Ten Tribes is one of the ancient mysteries now cleared up. But in Daniel's day they were lost from view - as if the earth had opened her mouth and swallowed them.

Daniel's prophecy, then, was not a message to the Old Testament Kingdom of Israel!

Now think further!

Nor was this prophecy a message for the Old Testament Kingdom of Judah. When Daniel wrote, the Jews already were slaves in Babylon. Daniel was one of the brilliant young princes of Judah, specially chosen for service in the king's palace in Babylon (Dan. 1:3-6). Daniel's strenuous duties in the Gentile king's service did not allow him to deliver this closed and sealed message to the scattered Jewish slaves. In this condition of slavery, the Jews had no system of religious meetings - no priesthood. There was no such thing as a printing press - no way to print and distribute literature. And besides, the prophecy was "closed up and sealed till the time of the end" - our time, now! The book of Daniel was not a message for the Jews of Old Testament times!

Finally realize: It is emphatically clear that these prophecies pertain to no time but to our time, in this twentieth century!

Then know this, further:

The greatest mystery book of the entire Bible, to most, has been the book of Revelation. But the book of Daniel is the key to the book of Revelation. And in the book of Revelation, solely and alone, do we find the world events of all prophecies correlated in order of time sequence. The book of Revelation, then, holds the key for putting together all of the prophecies in proper time order. And Revelation, too, was a closed and sealed book - until our time, now. We realize that the living Jesus is the Revelator -and that He has stripped off the seals and opened this mystery book to right understanding.

And where does that lead us? To the fact that prophecy generally was written and preserved for our time today! And some 90 percent of all prophecy pertains actually to this latter half of the twentieth century. And the one central master key to prophecy as a whole is the identity of the United States and the British nations in these prophecies for today!

These prophecies could not pertain to any time previous to our precarious present!

It may not be generally realized - but neither Britain nor the United States became great world powers until the nineteenth century. Suddenly, in the very beginning of the nineteenth century, these two - until then small, minor countries - suddenly spurted to national power and greatness among nations, as no nations had ever grown and multiplied in wealth, resources and power before.

By 1804 London had become the financial hub of the world. The United States had exploded out of its swaddling clothes of the 13 original states and had acquired the expansive Louisiana Purchase. It was fast sprouting up to become the mightiest nation of all time. But Britain burst forth to greatness first, and until the World Wars had become the greatest empire, or commonwealth of nations, in all history.

Between them the British and American peoples had acquired more than two-thirds - almost three-fourths - of all the cultivated physical resources and wealth of the world. All other nations combined possessed barely more than a fourth. Britannia ruled the waves - and the world's commerce was carried on by water. The sun never set on British possessions.

Now think!

Could the British and American peoples be ignored in prophecies of world conditions that fill a third of the entire Bible - when some 90 percent of all those prophecies pertain to national and international world happenings of our time, now?

Staggering?

Indeed it is. And yet, precisely as prophesied, Britain's sun has now set. As these same prophecies that foretold Britain's greatness revealed far in advance, Britain has already been reduced to a second-rate or third-rate power in the world.

And the United States? Today America finds herself heir to just about all the international problems and headaches in this post-World-War-II, chaotic, violent world. And the United States has won her last war - even little North Vietnam held her at bay. Many other nations sap America's national strength, "and he knoweth it not," as God long ago foretold!

On the world scene nothing is so important right now as to know where the white, English-speaking peoples are identified in scores and hundreds of prophecies - prophecies which describe vividly our sudden rise to national power and reveal the causes of that greatness; prophecies that paint a crystal-clear picture of our present international dilemma; prophecies that open our eyes wide to see what now lies immediately ahead for our nations - and what our ultimate and final status shall be.

Chapter Three                (Return to table of contents)

Prior to World War II, the American and British peoples had acquired more than two-thirds of the cultivated resources and wealth of the world. Yet, astonishing wonder though it be, we acquired nearly all of it rather suddenly, since the year 1800. Never in all history did anything like this occur. Never did any people or nation spread out and grow so suddenly and rapidly into such magnitude of national power.

Yet we are beholding before our very eyes the diminishing and evaporating of this national greatness, wealth and power. In the case of Great Britain, it is disintegrating even more rapidly than it developed! Britain has been almost overnight stripped of her colonies and her possessions - source of her wealth - and reduced to a second-rate or third-rate power. Why? There is a reason! It is bound up with history and divine promises pertaining to Israel. Promises never yet inherited by the Jewish people. And now, unless the people and the government of the United States will heed and take immediate and drastic action, the American nation is slated to go down even more suddenly to utter ignominy and loss of all national wealth, greatness and power!

And for the SAME REASON!

It behooves us without delay to quickly review that history and open our eyes to divine promises and warnings almost wholly unrealized by our peoples. It is all connected with the generally ignored plain and simple Bible story that leads to knowledge of our incredible ancestry and modern prophetic identity. And it is the most amazing, the most fascinating story you ever read. Stranger than fiction - yet it is TRUE!

Millennia ago, this same national greatness, wealth and power was promised by Almighty to Abraham. Yet few have ever noticed this astonishing fact in Scripture. We must realize, if we would understand, a peculiar fact. The Holy Bible is the particular Book of a definite nationality - the children of Israel.

It is undeniable! Its history, from Genesis to Revelation, is primarily the history of one nation or people - the Israelites. Other nations are mentioned only insofar as they come into contact with Israel. All its prophecy, too, pertains primarily to this people of Israel, and to other nations only insofar as they come into contact with Israel. The Bible tells of these Israelites and their God. It was inspired by the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, committed to writing through Israelites exclusively, and preserved until after the New Testament was written by these Israelites. In its sacred passages we read that all the promises and the covenants of God, all the sonship and the glory, belong solely to Israel (Rom. 9:4).

Yet we must face the astounding fact that our white, English-speaking peoples - not the Jews - have inherited the national and physical phases of those promises!

How could this have happened?

The Bible is an Israelitish Book, preeminently of and for the Israelitish nationality, inspired by their God through their prophets. Is it not indeed strange that we English-speaking peoples are today the greatest believers in and exponents of this Book of the Hebrew people; that of all nations we are the chief worshipers of Israel's God and Israel's Messiah - in name and in form, if not in truth and in deed?

The more these facts are realized, the more apparent it becomes that a full knowledge of these Israelites is necessary to a right understanding of the Holy Bible, which is chiefly concerned with them as a people. And this knowledge becomes important if we are to understand the present status of the American and British peoples in the world - and their relation to unprecedented world conditions at this fateful hour! Let us remember as we approach this fascinating story that the Bible is concerned with the material, the fleshly, the literal, racial and national, as well as with the spiritual. Let us not spiritualize away national things, nor nationalize spiritual things. Let us understand the sacred Word of God as it is!

Before the days of Moses there was no nation on earth known as God's particular nation. Prior to Moses there was no written Word of God; no inspired Scriptures; no Holy Bible. Think of it! For more than two thousand five hundred years - two-and-a-half millennia - mankind existed without any written revelation from God! The only historic record of God's dealing with mankind prior to Israel is the revealed history of the Bible. And - even more astonishing - only the first eleven of the fifty chapters of Genesis are devoted to the entire history of the world prior to Abraham, father of the Israelites!

Surprising? Only the first eleven chapters of the very first book of the Bible are used to record for us the history of the first approximately 2,000 years - more than one-third of its entire span.

God began this world with just one man - Adam. Whatever God does through human agencies must start the smallest, and, like the grain of mustard seed, grow big. To this first man God communicated directly and personally. God revealed all essential knowledge otherwise inaccessible to the human mind. The basic essentials of all knowledge - what is man? - WHY is he here? - what's the PURPOSE of life? - what is the WAY of life that will produce peace, health, prosperity, happiness and joy? - what is man's END - his destiny? - God revealed this basis of all knowledge to the first man.

To Adam, God revealed Himself - the Eternal Creator-Ruler of earth and all the universe. God revealed to Adam that he was, unlike animals, made in the form and shape of God with powers of mind possessed by no other physical creature; with the potential, through free choice, of developing the very character of God and of inheriting eternal life in the Kingdom of God. To Adam God revealed the way of life that would result in everything man desires: peace, enjoyable life, happiness, abundant well-being.

To produce these blessings - to be the cause of such desired effect - God had set in motion His inexorable spiritual law. But Adam listened to Satan and leaned to his own human understanding. He disobeyed God, rejected the way to every desired result, and set out on the human course of greed and vanity.

As men began to multiply on earth, Adam's sons followed in his Satan-inspired course of human nature. Prior to Abraham, only three are mentioned as accepting God's way of life - only three during more than a third of the whole span of the history of mankind. Abel was called righteous; Enoch walked with God; and Noah was a preacher of righteousness, which is simply obedience to God's government (Ps. 119:172). Aside from these three and possibly Shem, there is no record that any man prior to Abraham yielded to the rule of the Eternal.

By the time of Abraham men had lost all knowledge of the true Creator-Ruler, His revelation of His purpose, and the way of God to peace and happiness and to life eternal. Man pursued his own ways and devices, walking contrary to the spiritual laws of God. Sin and violence filled the earth.

It was in such a world, which had strayed far from God and knowledge of the glorious benefits of God's rule and the worship of the true God, that one man was honest and upright, submissive and teachable, strong and purposeful. So God gave him a test command of obedience. To this man, Abram, God commanded: "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation" (Gen. 12:1-2).

Here was a command, which was a condition and a PROMISE, provided the condition of obedience was met.

And so now, as God had started the whole world with one man, He started His own peculiar nation in the world from one single man - Abraham. As the world, which has strayed far from God and the blessings of God's worship and rule, was started with one man who rebelled against God and rejected His rule, so God's own flesh-born nation, from which is to be reborn the Kingdom of God, was started with one man who obeyed God without question, and accepted His divine rule.

Did Abram stop to argue and reason? Did he say: "Let's reason this out a bit first; here I am in Babylon, in the very center of all this world's commerce, society and gaiety. Why can't you just as well give me this promise right here, where everything is pleasant and alluring? Why must I leave all this and go over to that uncivilized land?"

Did Abram quibble, resist, argue, rebel?

He certainly did not!

The inspired Scripture account states simply: "So Abram departed." There was no arguing with God. There was no human reasoning that God was all wrong. There were no foolish questions: "Why must I leave here?" "Can't I do as I please?" There was no stopping to say, "Well, here's the way I look at it."

"Abram departed." Just plain, unquestioned obedience!

And God established this man, whose name He later changed to Abraham, as the father of His nation, Israel! To Abraham and his descendants were all the promises of God made. And we must become like Abraham, and through Christ one of his children, if we are to inherit the promise of eternal life in God's Kingdom.

Of His peculiar flesh-born nation, Israel, the Eternal said: "This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise" (Isa. 43:21). That prophecy shall yet - and soon - be fulfilled!

Few have realized it, but a duality runs all the way through the plan of God in working out His purpose here below.

There was the first Adam, material and carnal; and there is Christ, the second Adam, spiritual and divine. There was the Old Covenant, purely material and temporal; and there is the New Covenant, spiritual and eternal. God made man mortal, physical, of the dust of the ground and of the human kingdom; but through Christ he may be begotten of God to become immortal, spiritual, and of the Kingdom of God.

And in like manner there were two phases to the promises God made to Abraham - the one purely material and national; the other spiritual and individual. The spiritual promise of the Messiah, and of salvation through Him, is well known by the most superficial Bible students. They know that God gave the spiritual promise to Abraham of Christ to be born as Abraham's descendant - and that salvation comes to us through Christ. But - and this will sound unbelievable, yet it is true - almost no one knows what that salvation is; what are the promises of salvation we may receive through Christ; how we may receive them, or when - incredible though that sounds! But that truth belongs in another book.

What is essential to the theme of this book is the fact that God also made another entirely different, most amazing national and material promise to Abraham which has been almost entirely overlooked.

Notice now again how God first called Abram, and the twofold nature of His promises: "Now the Eternal had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will Shew thee: And I will make of thee A GREAT NATION. . . . and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 12:1-3).

Notice the twofold promise: 1) "I will make of thee A GREAT NATION" - the national, material promise that his flesh-born children should become a great nation - a promise of RACE; 2)

". . . and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed" - the spiritual promise of GRACE. This same promise is repeated in Genesis 22:18: "And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." This particular "one seed" refers to Christ, as plainly affirmed in Galatians 3:8, 16.

Right here is where those who profess to be "Christians" - and their teachers - have fallen into error and scriptural blindness. They have failed to notice the two-fold promise God made to Abraham. They recognize the messianic promise of spiritual salvation through the "one seed" - Christ. They sing the hymn Standing on the Promises - falsely supposing the promises to be going to heaven at death.

This is a pivotal point. This is the point where professing "Christians" and their teachers jump the track of truth. This is the point where they switch off the track that would head them to the missing master key to the prophecies. They miss the fact that God gave Abraham promises of physical RACE as well as spiritual GRACE.

But the plain fact that the "great nation" promise refers alone to race - not the "one seed" of Galatians 3:16, who was Jesus Christ the Son of Abraham and the Son of God, but to the plural, multiple seed of natural fleshly birth - is made certain by God's repetition of His promise in greater detail later.

Notice carefully! Understand these promises!

"And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Eternal appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly . . . . thou shalt be a father of MANY NATIONS. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of MANY NATIONS have I made thee" (Gen. 17:1-5).

Notice, the promise is now conditional upon Abraham's obedience and perfect living. Notice, the "great nation" now becomes many nations - more than one nation. This cannot refer to the "one seed," Christ. The following verses prove that.

And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings [more than one] shall come out of thee" (verse 6). Notice, these nations and kings shall come out of Abraham - physical generation - multiple seed, not just one descendant through whom scattered individuals may become Abraham's children by spiritual begettal through Christ (Gal. 3:29). The scattered, individual Christians do not form NATIONS. The Church, it is true, is spoken of as "a royal priesthood, an holy nation" (I Peter 2:9), but Christ's Church is not divided into "many nations." This is speaking of race, not grace.

"And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations . . ." (Gen. 17:7). The "seed" is plural - "in their generations." "And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan [Palestine], for an everlasting possession; and I will be THEIR God" (verse 8).

Notice, the land - material possession - is promised to the plural seed, of whom He is "their," not "his," God. The plural pronoun "their" is used again in verse 9: "and thy seed after thee in their generations."

But now examine this PROMISE carefully!

The future of great nations rests on the promises the eternal Creator made to Abraham. The only hope of life after death for anyone - regardless of race, color or creed - is dependent on the spiritual phase of these promises to Abraham - the promise of grace through the "one seed" - Christ the Messiah!

These are not casual, incidental, unimportant promises. These are basic - the foundation for the establishment of the greatest world powers; the basis for any personal salvation spiritually; for any hope of eternal life for humans. These are stupendous promises. The future of mankind is based, by the Creator God, on them.

Jesus Christ came "to confirm the promises made unto the fathers" (Rom. 15:8) - Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

A carnal cynic, whose mind is hostile to God and His promises, purposes, and ways, tosses these tremendous promises aside, saying flippantly, "Oh yeah? - but what kind of 'many nations'? Twentieth-century style? Nations of 100 million or more people? Don't be ridiculous! Those men who wrote the Bible knew nothing of nations that would be 'great' by our twentieth-century standards! They referred only to little nations like there were then - nations containing no more people than a small township or county today!

"And then how much land did this promise include? Was God supposed to have promised an inheritance out of the land of Canaan, as mentioned in verse 8 of Genesis 17? And then in repromising this land to Jacob, all the land that was included was 'the land whereon thou liest' in Genesis 28:13. How much land was that? Not more than a tiny plot two feet wide, and about six feet long!"

A cynical objector actually argued thus!

So let's answer the sneering closed-minded cynic! Let's check carefully, and see precisely what was promised under this phase of the promises pertaining to race - the physical, material, national promises. I leave the checking of the spiritual phase of the promises to be explained in other booklets or articles.

How much land was promised?

But first hear out the refutation of the criticizing cynic. "That promise," continues the objector, "of 'many nations' was written in Hebrew, and the Hebrew word for 'nation' is goi, and for more than one, plural, it is goiim. It merely means some people - it could mean just a little handful of Abraham's children and grandchildren."

I mention this because a self-professed "scholar" did one time make this very ridiculous statement and professed to reject this entire important truth on these arguments primarily. If the reader cares to check up on this Hebrew goi he will find it means "nation" - or, in the plural, "nations" or "peoples," without regard to size of population. This is the word most often used - actually hundreds of times in the Old Testament - for the various nations of the world, including the largest nations. In the prophecy of Joel 3, verse 2, God says He will gather "all nations." That is speaking of a time yet future, in this twentieth century - and the Hebrew goiim is used. There the word goiim includes such nations as Russia, Germany, Italy, China, India - pretty big nations.

But God promised that Abraham's literal, human, flesh-and-blood descendants should become "a great nation" (Gen. 12:2); that He would "multiply thee exceedingly" (Gen. 17:2); that "thou shalt be a father of many nations" (verse 4); and that "I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee" (verse 6). As we proceed along with other promises and prophecies, we shall see that biblical language describes these as great and large nations.

And how much land? In Genesis 17:8, God promised "all the land of Canaan," but in other scriptures He promised much more. In Genesis 15:18: "In the same day the Eternal made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt [the Nile] unto the great river, the river Euphrates." The Euphrates is a considerable distance to the east in the ancient land of Babylon, which is today Iraq - considerably east of Palestine.

But all of this objector's arguments are refuted and made ridiculous by the very next verse from the one he quoted when he said that all that was promised was a plot about 2 x 6 feet. He could have read this next verse: "And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south" (Gen. 28:14).

Here the size of the "many nations" is compared to the number of grains of dust of the earth. Elsewhere God compared the populations of these promised nations to the grains of sand on a seashore and to the stars - uncountable for multitude.

As we proceed, the magnitude and the reality of these promises will become quite evident.

Again, notice carefully - the Jews have never been more than one nation. They are not, and never have been, many nations. So here is an amazing prophecy, a solemn promise from Almighty God, that could not be fulfilled in Christ, in Christians, nor in the Jews. We must look for a number of nations apart from either the Church or the Jews. Amazing as it is, we must do it or deny God's promise!

God put Abraham to the test, and Abraham, through faith, obeyed - even to being willing to sacrifice his only son, if need be. And after that the covenant no longer was conditional. Now it became UNCONDITIONAL.

"By myself have I sworn, saith the Eternal, for BECAUSE thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies [or, as correctly translated in the Revised Standard Version, "And your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies." The Fenton translation renders it: "And your race shall possess the gates of its enemies" - so far the material, national promises of race]; and in thy seed [Christ] shall all the nations of the earth be blessed [this promise is spiritual, of grace]; because thou hast obeyed my voice" (Gen. 22:16-18).

The promise now is UNconditional. God has sworn to make it good. God does not promise these things IF Abraham or his children do certain things. He promises them to Abraham BECAUSE he already has performed his part of the agreement. If these promises could be broken or annulled, then no promise in the Bible is sure!

These promises cannot be broken or annulled. Not if it be true that "heaven and earth shall pass, but my word shall NOT pass away." Now God must perform His part without fail.

Notice an additional detail of the promise - the nations who are Abraham's racial descendants are to possess the gates of their enemies. A gate is a narrow passage of entrance or exit. When speaking nationally, a "gate" would be such a pass as the Panama Canal, the Suez Canal, the Strait of Gibraltar. This promise is repeated in Genesis 24:60 to Abraham's daughter-in-law: "Be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them."

Notice, Abraham's descendants would possess vital geographic passageways of their enemies - "those which hate them." This has never been fulfilled in the Jews, nor could it be fulfilled after Jesus Christ returns to rule the nations and establish world peace. This promise could only be fulfilled in the present world or else we must deny the Bible as God's revealed Word. We must look for a people forming more than one nation - yet all one people, children of Abraham - either now or in history who possess the sea gateways of the world, or we must deny the Word of God. It is a test of the inspiration of the Bible and of God's power to rule this world!

These tremendous promises were repromised to Isaac and to Jacob. Ishmael and Abraham's other sons were rejected from this birthright. Esau, Isaac's son and Jacob's twin brother, sold it and was rejected. The promise, as confirmed to Isaac, is recorded in Genesis 26:3-5: "I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; and I will make thy seed to MULTIPLY as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries. . . ." Notice! Twice God promised "all these countries." That is millions of times larger than the 2 x 6-foot plot our "intellectual" cynic contended for. Also, Isaac's descendants were to "MULTIPLY as the stars of heaven." That's thousands of times larger than a tiny "township."

To Jacob it is repeated in Genesis 27:26-29, where MATERIAL blessing of wealth in the things of the ground is added, with the prophecy that heathen nations shall be ruled by the birthright nations of Israel. "Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness [margin: fat places] of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine: Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee."

And we find the promises again in Genesis 28:13-14, where the added detail that these nations of Israel shall eventually spread around the world is recorded. "And, behold, the Eternal . . . said, I am the Eternal God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. . . ."

The original Hebrew for "spread abroad" means "to break forth." This promise places no limit on how far east, west, north and south Jacob's descendants should spread. Thus it indicates they would spread around the earth. This is confirmed in Romans 4:13: "For the promise, that he [Abraham] should be the heir of the world. . . ."

But this is not a promise that Abraham's descendants should inherit, own, and possess the whole of the earth, leaving nothing for Gentiles - that is, prior to the new earth - but rather that, in years and centuries to come, they would spread and occupy certain areas in various parts of the earth. Yet, the new earth - after the millennium - will be inhabited only by those who shall be Abraham's children through Christ (Rom. 4:13).

There is a phase of this prophecy heretofore utterly overlooked - not before understood. Indeed these birthright Israelitish nations have spread to and occupied various lands or areas in many locations around the world. This occurred after they were - 721-718 B.C. - driven in a captivity out of their own promised land of Samaria in Palestine. The next verses in Genesis 28 complete this phase of the prophecy. "And, behold," God continued, "I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest [God is here referring, not to Jacob personally, but his descendants who were to spread abroad in all directions], and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of" (verse 15).

This generally unnoticed, but significant prophecy will be fulfilled at the second coming of Christ. It is explained further in Jeremiah 23:7-8, and 50:4-6, 19-20, and other prophecies.

Still later, God appeared to Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, even further defining the makeup of these "many nations" thus: "And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; A NATION and a COMPANY OF NATIONS shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins" (Gen. 35:11). The Moffatt translation renders it "a nation, [and] a group of nations." The Fenton rendering is "a nation and an Assembly of Nations." The RSV translates it as in the Authorized Version, above quoted. So the "many nations" are eventually to take shape as a nation - one great, wealthy, powerful nation - and another company of nations - a group, or commonwealth of nations.

Mark carefully this crucial fact! This is basic, if you are to grasp the all-important key to all prophecy - the very key to the real meaning of the unprecedented world events of the present. This promise never has been fulfilled in the Jews. It cannot be "spiritualized" away by interpreting it as being inherited only through Christ. It could not pertain to the Church, for there is but one true Church acknowledged in the Bible, and it is not a nation, or a group of nations, but one Church of called-out individuals scattered through all nations. Yet this amazing promise MUST stand fulfilled, unless we are to deny the Bible and God's sacred Word!

Here is the enigma of the ages! Is this a divine promise unkept? Thomas Paine and Robert Ingersoll lost faith in God and rejected the Bible because they believed these national promises were never fulfilled.

The very fate of the Bible as the revealed Word of God - the evidence of the existence of God - hangs on the answer to this momentous question. The Jewish people did not fulfill these promises. The promises do not refer to the Church. The world with its great church leaders does not know of any such fulfillment. Did God fail? Or has He made good this colossal promise unknown to the world? The true answer is the most astonishing revelation of Bible truth, of prophecy, and of unrecognized history?

Chapter Four                 (Return to table of contents)

Now we come to a most vital distinction, and a bit of Bible truth known to but a very few. Very few, indeed, have ever noticed that the promises to Abraham were twofold. But the Bible itself makes sharp distinction between these two phases of the promises.

The spiritual promises - the promises of the "one seed," Christ, and of salvation through Him - the Bible calls the sceptre. But the material and national promises relating to many nations, national wealth, prosperity and power, and possession of the Holy Land, the Bible calls the birthright.

Let us understand the meaning of the terms:

"Birthright: native right or privilege" - Standard Dictionary; "any right acquired by birth" - Webster's. A birthright is something which is one's right, by birth. It has nothing to do with grace, which is unmerited pardon and a free gift which is not one's right. It has to do with race, not grace. Birthright possessions are customarily passed down from father to eldest son.

"Sceptre: kingly office; royal power; badge of command or sovereignty" - Standard Dictionary. The promised kingly line culminates in Christ, and involves grace to all.

We have seen how both sets of promises, right to birth and gift of grace, were unconditionally made by God to Abraham. Both the birthright and the sceptre were repromised by the Eternal to Isaac and to Jacob. But the fact that should open your eyes, as a joyous truth newly discovered, is that from that point these two sets of promises became separated! The sceptre promises of the kingly line culminating in Christ, and of grace through Him, were handed on to JUDAH, son of Jacob and father of all Jews. But the astonishing truth is that the birthright promises were never given to the Jews!

Let that be repeated! Realize this! The birthright promises were never given to the Jews!

Turn to these passages - read them in your own Bible!

"The sceptre shall not depart from Judah. . ." (Gen. 49:10).

". . .But the birthright was Joseph's" (I Chron. 5:2).

Of course it is well understood that the sceptre went to Judah and was handed down through the Jews. King David was of the tribe of Judah. All succeeding kings of David's dynasty were of the House of David, tribe of Judah. Jesus Christ was born of the House of David and the tribe of Judah.

Another eye-opening truth completely unrealized by most people today is the fact that only a part of the "children of Israel" were Jews.

Read that little understood fact again!

The full explanation and proof of this must be reserved for Chapter VI. Only those of the three tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi were Jews. While all Jews are Israelites, most Israelites are not Jews!

So understand! The birthright promise did not pass on to the Jews! But the sceptre - the promise of Christ and of grace - was passed on to the Jews! "Salvation," Jesus said, "is of the Jews"! (John 4:22.) "The gospel of Christ," wrote Paul, "is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the JEW first, and also to the Greek" (Rom. 1:16). The promises of grace were handed down through JUDAH!

But the promises which the Bible terms the "birthright" have not been understood at all. Few have ever noticed that God made any promises to Abraham other than the sceptre. Few know what is in the Bible!

Fewer still have understood that these great national material promises were never given to the Jews! The astonishing and vital fact that many have overlooked is "the birthright is JOSEPH'S." And, as we shall see later, neither Joseph nor his descendants were Jews! Astounding as it may be, it's true!

This knowledge about the birthright is the pivot of this entire truth which will prove the key to the understanding of all prophecy! It's of supreme importance that you get this clearly in mind!

"Birthright," as defined above, includes only that which comes by right of birth. No one can receive eternal life as a right, from natural birth. If it were our right, inherited by birth, it would not be by grace. Salvation comes by grace - God's gift, by undeserved pardon - unmerited favor. We can receive only material possessions as a right by birth. And when that right is passed down through generations to ever-multiplying descendants, it finally devolves into a NATIONAL inheritance. It confers only material possessions, power, or position. It does not bestow spiritual blessings. It is a matter of race, not grace!

There is another distinction between a birthright and grace we ought to understand. A birthright, as before stated, is normally passed on from father to eldest son. There are no conditions which the recipient is required to meet. The son does nothing to qualify for it. He receives it as his right for no other reason than that he happened to be born his father's son. He has a right to it without earning it or qualifying to be worthy of it. He could, however, disqualify himself to keep, or even to receive it.

But the gift of immortality received by grace does have qualifying conditions! It is not your right, nor mine, to receive the gift of eternal life - to be actually born as God's son - literally a member of the God FAMILY! Think what conditions would result if it were! A rebellious, defiant, hostile, God-hating criminal or atheist could shake his fist at God and say: "Look, God! I hate you. I defy you! I refuse to obey you! But I demand your gift of eternal life! It's my RIGHT! I want to be born into your divine family - to receive all the vast POWER of a son of God, so I can use that power to oppose you! I want to make your family a house divided against itself. I will cause friction, hostility, hatred, unhappiness among all your children! I demand that POWER, as your gift, as my right, so that I may abuse that power - use it for EVIL!"

Most professing "Christians" - and many teachings of what is called "traditional Christianity" - say there are no conditions, nothing that we must do to receive God's glorious grace. They deny that God requires obedience to His law! They twist the truth around by saying that would be earning one's salvation! They do demand it of God, while they still rebel against His law and refuse to keep it!

Think where that would lead! Understand this! Eternal life is, indeed, God's free gift. You can't earn it! But it is not your right! You cannot demand it of God as your right, while you defy God, rebel against His government, refuse to let Him rule your life His way!

Therefore God has imposed CONDITIONS! Those conditions do not earn you a thing! But God gives His Holy Spirit to those who obey Him (Acts 5:32). He does not pay it - but the passage speaks of the Holy Spirit which "God hath given to them that obey Him." It is still a free GIFT!

A rich man might have seven men standing before him, and say: "I will give, as my free GIFT, $1,000 to any or all of you who will step forward to receive it." Their stepping forward does not EARN it. It is merely the condition required to receive the free GIFT.

The word "grace" means unmerited, undeserved pardon! God pardons those who REPENT! And "repent" means to turn from rebellion, hostility, disobedience. "Repent" means to turn to obedience to God's law. The fact that God chooses not to give this wonderful gift - this gift of immortality, which carries with it divine power - to those who would misuse it for harm and evil; the fact that He chooses to give it only to those who will rightly use it - does not mean it comes by works instead of grace. If there were no conditions, then everyone could demand it - and it would be received as a right by birth, instead of by grace!

The very fact of grace makes necessary God's required qualifications. But it still is an undeserved GIFT! Obedience does not earn anything - that is only what we owe to God. A birthright requires no qualification. It is a right by birth.

Just what special material inheritance was passed on by the birthright few have understood. yet it conferred the richest, most valuable material inheritance ever passed from father to son - the most colossal wealth and power ever amassed by man or empire! The magnitude of this birthright is staggering!

It includes all the first phase of God's tremendous promises to Abraham. This legacy guaranteed on the authority of God Almighty, unconditionally, multitudinous population, untold wealth and material resources, national greatness and world power!

Not only had God promised that a world-dominant nation and a company, or commonwealth, of nations whose peoples descended from Abraham would be as populous as the grains of sand of the seashore - as the stars in multitude; not only did He promise they should possess the gate (Fenton translation: gates) of enemy nations, which alone signifies world dominance and power; but the birthright finally included vast material wealth and unlimited national resources. That was made plain in the blessing given to Jacob, as we shall soon see.

Except in cases of divine intervention, which occurred three times, the inheritance of the birthright fell automatically to the eldest son in each generation.

Isaac was chosen by the Eternal to inherit both the sceptre and birthright. Abraham had other sons. Ishmael was the eldest. But God chose Isaac, and "Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac" (Gen. 25:5). Isaac, however, was Abraham's firstborn lawful son. Ishmael was the son of Hagar, Sarah's Egyptian handmaid.

Abraham loved Ishmael and desired for him to have the birthright. "And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!" (Gen. 17:18.)

Sarah his wife was barren. "And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his mane Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. And as for Ishmael,

I . . . will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly . . . and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac . . ." (verses 19-21).

Regarding the future nation to spring from Ishmael, the angel of the Eternal had said to Hagar: "He will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell to the east [correct translation] of all his brethren" (Gen. 16:12).

Two clues are given here: 1) Ishmael's descendants were to become a great nation but the birthright nations were to be greater; and 2) they were to dwell to the east of their brethren - that is, of Isaac's descendants who had the birthright. The children of Ishmael have become the Arabs of today. The nation and company of nations who hold the birthright must, therefore, be larger, wealthier, more powerful, and must be found geographically west of the Arab nations.

Abraham was the human type of God the Father, and Isaac of Christ. There are many parallels. Space prohibits expounding them here, except to note that if we are Christ's we are Abraham's children (Gal. 3:29), and Abraham is the "father of the faithful" (see Gal. 3:7); that Abraham was called on to be willing to sacrifice his only (legitimate) son (Gen. 22:2) even as God gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, for the sins of the world; that Isaac's wife Rebekah is a type of the Church, and she had to fall in love with him and accept him as her husband before she saw him with her eyes; and that Isaac was born by promise, and by a miracle from God, even as Jesus was miraculously born of the virgin Mary.

Isaac had twin sons, Esau and Jacob. Esau was the firstborn, and therefore the legal inheritor of the birthright. But Esau undervalued it and sold it to Jacob.

God had chosen Jacob to possess these promises before the twins were born. But Jacob, influenced by his mother instead of waiting on the Eternal, resorted to deception and took it from Esau.

The Eternal had said to Rebekah, regarding Esau and Jacob, that they were the beginning of two nations - "two manner of people . . . the one people shall be stronger than the other people," said God, and the elder shall serve the younger" (Gen. 25:23).

Their descendants, then, were to become two different types of people. The story of Jacob's premature and deceptive acquisition of the birthright continues, in Genesis 25:27-34.

"And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob. And Jacob sod pottage [boiled porridge - Fenton's translation]: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint: And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom."

"Edom" means, literally, "red soup," and is so translated in the Fenton version. It will prove another "key" to Bible understanding for the reader to carefully fasten in his memory the fact that "Edom" refers to ESAU. Many prophecies pertaining to the present and future employ the name Edom. They cannot be understood unless it is realized that they refer to the descendants of Esau, primarily the Turkish nation today.

"And jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me? And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.

Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright." Later, Jacob subtly took from Esau his blessing. The story of this deception is found in Genesis 27.

It was at a time when Isaac was old, his eyesight dimmed with age. Nearing the end of his life, he called Esau and requested that he go to the field and hunt for venison, prepare it and bring it to him. He would then bestow the blessing confirming the birthright.

But Rebekah overheard, and sent Jacob quickly for two kids of the goats. These she prepared in the same tempting way that Isaac loved his venison. Then she took some of Esau's clothes and put them on Jacob. Now Esau was very hairy, while Jacob was smooth, so Rebekah carefully placed the skins of the two kids upon Jacob's hands, arms, and smooth part of his neck.

In this disguise, with his imitation venison, Jacob went in to receive his father's blessing. "And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy firstborn" (Gen. 27:19).

Isaac was surprised he had found the venison so quickly and became suspicious. Jacob lied again, asserting the Eternal had brought the venison to him. Isaac detected the voice was that of Jacob.

"And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not. And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau's hands: so he blessed him" (verses 21-23).

Now notice carefully what that blessing included!

"And his father Isaac said unto him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son. And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Eternal hath blessed: Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine [Fenton's translation: increase and possession]: Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee" (verses 26-29).

Note it! Materialistic promises, national in nature, every one! Not one of them pertaining to salvation. None having to do with life after death. Nothing spiritual here! All pertaining purely to this present fleshly life! NATIONAL prosperity - rainfall, plenty of corn and wine, the fatness of the earth, or, as the margin reads, the fat places of the earth - increase and possession. "Nations shall bow down to thee!" "Let people serve thee."

When Esau returned and found how Jacob had supplanted him, he was very bitter. He pleaded for a blessing, too. But Isaac could not retract the blessing given to Jacob. So he passed on to Esau the following prophecy:

"Behold, thy dwelling shall be [correct translation: away from] the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above; and by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck. And Esau hated Jacob . . . " (verses 39-41).

In verse 39, quoted above, the Hebrew preposition min should be translated "from" or "away from" not "of." Actually, the prophesied lot of Esau was more of a curse than a blessing. The Revised Standard Version translates it: "Behold, away from the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be, and away from the dew of heaven on high." Moffatt renders it: "Far from rich soil on earth shall you live, far from the dew of heaven on high." Actually, the Hebrew words convey the dual meaning, and both have happened to Esau's descendants.

The sparse records of history, with other proofs, show that many of the descendants of Esau became known as Turks. Therefore we must remember that all prophecies pertaining to the latter days referring to Edom, or Esau, refer generally to the Turkish nation.

In Isaac's dying prophecy, he foretold that Esau's descendants would come to a time when they should have dominion, and then break the yoke of the Israelites from off their necks. That has happened. The children of Israel, through sin, were driven out of the promised land that belonged with the birthright. The Turks came to power and dominion and for many centuries possessed that land. Those descendants, the Turkish people, occupied Palestine 400 years before Britain took it in 1917. Esau's descendants always have lusted for that land, central promise of the birthright! The Turks have truly lived by the sword!

But let's return to our story. Before Jacob was born, God had spoken to his mother and revealed to her that Jacob should receive the birthright. Instead, however, of waiting for the Eternal to bring this about in His own way, she schemed with Jacob to take it by lying and deception.

There is a lesson here for us today. As Isaac is, in a sense, a type of Christ, so Rebekah is, in a sense, a type of the Church, in which still dwells weakness and carnality.

Sometimes we become too much in a hurry. We ask the Almighty for things He has promised in His Word. Then we try to dictate to Him just how and when it shall be accomplished! We need to learn to "wait upon the Lord." He always does things in His way, and in His own time. And He distinctly tells us that His ways are not our ways! Once we commit a thing to the Almighty, let us have not only the trust, but the respect, for the One so great, that we will leave the matter in His hands.

Had Jacob trusted the Eternal instead of taking this into his own hands in a wrong way, the birthright would have come to him more honorably. Under the circumstances, Jacob, which name means "supplanter," had far more difficulty securing God's blessing upon the precious possession than his predecessors.

But after years of trial and test - after finally wrestling all night with the angel (Gen. 32:24-29) - after confessing his name as "supplanter" - God bestowed His blessing upon Jacob, took away his reproachful name, and gave him a new, untainted name, ISRAEL - which means "prevailer," or "overcomer with God."

And thus we see that through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the promises were handed down to one man at a time. There was no branching out toward national growth until the days of Jacob. For three generations it had been a "one-man nation." But Jacob had twelve sons, and through them the future great nation and company of nations were started on their way.

The next legal inheritor of the birthright was Reuben, firstborn son of Israel, by his first wife, Leah. But Reuben, like Esau, lost it. And Joseph, eleventh-born of Jacob, but firstborn of Rachel, his second and truly loved wife, received it.

The birthright belonged, legally, to Reuben, not Joseph. It is related in I Chronicles 5:1-2 how it fell to Joseph: "Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel: and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright [or, RSV, "so that he (Reuben) is not enrolled in the genealogy according to the birthright"]. For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler; but the BIRTHRIGHT WAS JOSEPH'S)."

So at this point the two divisions of the Abrahamic promises - the birthright, involving material and national promises, and the sceptre, including the kingly and spiritual promises - were separated.

It is of first importance to keep in mind that the birthright, including the promised land now called Palestine, the assurance of multitudinous population, material and national prosperity, dominance over other nations, was now given to JOSEPH and his sons.

Mark that well! This BIRTHRIGHT was not to be inherited by all the tribes of Israel! It was not given to the Jews! Only a part of the Israelites - the descendants of Joseph - was to inherit these tremendous national promises!

These material promises for this life, then, belonged to an altogether different tribe among the children of Israel than the sceptre promise of the kingly line culminating in Jesus Christ, which spiritual promise belonged in the tribe of Judah!

These national promises of the multitudinous seed then became the possession of an altogether different tribe than the promise of the one seed, Christ, who sprang from Judah! This fact of the two sets of promises, stressed in the preceding chapter, ought to be plain and clear to every reader by now.

Fix it permanently in mind. It is one of the vital keys to Bible understanding!

At the time of Jacob's death, he and his sons were living in Egypt. We assume, of course, that you are familiar with the story of how Joseph was sold by his brothers into Egypt; of how he there became food administrator and prime minister, next under the king and in actual rule of the nation; of the seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of famine, in which food had been stored only in Egypt under Joseph's supervision; of the visit of Joseph's brothers to Egypt in quest of food, and how Joseph induced them to bring their father and brother Benjamin down to Egypt; and finally, of the dramatic revelation of Joseph's identity to his brethren, amid weeping and rejoicing.

And how prophetic that was! As we shall see, Joseph, in his descendants, shall soon once again have his true identity revealed to his brothers - and to the world. And how hidden from the world is that identity now!

And now the time came to pass on the birthright to another generation. Let us re-create the dramatic scene.

It occurred in Egypt, after Joseph had succeeded in having his father brought there, as well as all his brothers. Joseph, remember, was prime minister of the nation.

It was reported to Joseph that Jacob, his father, was ill. He took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, sons of an Egyptian mother, and hastened to the dying patriarch's beside.

"And Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed. And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, and said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession" (Gen. 48:2-4).

Notice carefully these promises!

The birthright is about to be passed on to another generation. Notice that nothing whatsoever is said about all the families of the earth being blessed in his seed - the ONE seed. Nothing is said about kings. Nothing is said about spiritual blessings whatever. These promises are those of the birthright. These promises are of multiple seed - a multitude of people - and possession of the promised land. Now let us continue.

"And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine" (verse 5).

Thus did Jacob adopt Joseph's two sons, making them, legally, his own sons. This, no doubt, was done because they were half-blooded Egyptians. Israel made them his own adopted sons, so the birthright could be passed on to them. Notice, too, that in the first verse of this 48th chapter of Genesis, Manasseh's name is mentioned first, because Manasseh was the elder. But old Jacob now mentioned the name of Ephraim first. Here we see supernatural guidance!

Jacob said to Joseph: "Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them. Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see" (verses 9-10).

The birthright, remember, belongs legally to the firstborn, unless altered by divine intervention. The inheritor of the birthright, in receiving the blessing conferred upon him, should have had Jacob's right hand resting upon his head. That is why "Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near unto him" (verse 13).

But once again the Eternal intervened in conferring this momentous birthright! Jacob, though blind so he could not see the lads before him, crossed his hands, "and Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn. And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, the Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth" (verses 14-16).

Let who grow into this promised multitude? Let whose descendants become that numerous seed, which shall number into billions? Not Judah, the father of the Jews - note it! - but EPHRAIM AND MANASSEH! Why have the eyes and understanding of church leaders and Bible students been blinded to this plain fact of Scripture?

Notice, Israel did not confer this blessing on just one, but on both - "Bless the lads," he said. This blessing went upon them jointly. "Let my name be named on them" was part of this blessing. His name was ISRAEL. Hence, it was the descendants of these lads, not the descendants of Judah, or the Jews, who were named ISRAEL. How clear it is that the name ISRAEL was to be indelibly stamped on EPHRAIM and MANASSEH!

A shocking fact - and yet plainly proved, right before your eyes! And remember, this scripture needs no "interpretation" or "special meaning" or "hidden symbolism" for you to understand! Here is the plain, simple statement that Jacob's name, which was changed to Israel, would become the very POSSESSION and property - the label on the peoples of Ephraim and Manasseh!

WHO, then, according to your Bible, is the real Israel (racially and nationally) of today?

Ephraim and Manasseh!

Ephraim and Manasseh together received the right to the name ISRAEL. It was to become the national name of their descendants. And their descendants were never Jews! Fix this fact firmly in your mind!

Thus it is that many of the prophecies about "Israel" or "Jacob" do not refer to Jews or to any of the nations that are today the descendants of the other tribes of Israel. Mark that well! Few, indeed, are the clergymen, theologians, or professed Bible scholars who know that today. Many refuse to know it!

Together the descendants of these two lads, Ephraim and Manasseh, were to grow into the promised multitude - the nation and company of nations. These national blessings are poured upon them jointly. These are the collective blessings which the lads together received - but not the other tribes!

But at this juncture, Joseph noticed that Jacob's right hand was not resting upon the head of the firstborn. He endeavored to remove it.

"Not so, my father," said Joseph, "for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head. And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he [Manasseh] also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude [or, COMPANY] of nations. And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh" (Gen. 48:18-20). Here the promises are no longer collective, possessed jointly. Jacob now was prophesying as to the blessings of each, individually.

As we have seen from the preceding chapter, the numerous seed was to become "a nation, and a company of nations." Now we see that the "nation" to become truly great is to spring from the seed of Manasseh, the son of Joseph. The "company of nations" is to grow out of Ephraim. Notice that, before dividing the promises, this prophetic blessing indicated plainly that the descendants of these lads should remain together, and together grow into a great multitude, then become separated, Manasseh becoming a great nation, and Ephraim a still greater company of nations.

Here, then, is yet another detail of the future national characteristics of these people. We must not look for the fulfillment among the sons of Judah. Nor among descendants of any other of the twelve tribes.

The promise of a future great nation and a company of nations, together great for multitude, rich in national material prosperity, possessing the "gates" of the earth's other nations, applies solely to these lads and the two tribes which sprang from them.

We might add here, too, that the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh never became such in the times of Bible history. Some might suppose the house of Judah was the nation, and the ten tribes, the company of nations. But none of these promises went to Judah. Nor were they to be fulfilled in any of the other tribes, save Joseph's double portion, the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh!

It was Ephraim who was to become the company, or multitude, of nations, and Manasseh who was to become the great single nation. And these promises never were fulfilled in them, in times of Bible history. If these promises ever have been fulfilled, we must look for their fulfillment between the close of Bible history and the present!

While still in the spirit of prophecy, Jacob called his twelve sons together to tell them what their posterity should become "in the last days."

Here are prophecies which should assist us in identifying the tribes of Israel today - for surely these are the last days! We shall here take space to consider only the destiny of Judah and of Joseph. Joseph's descendants were actually divided into two tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh, and usually are called by those tribal names instead of the name "Joseph." The fact that these tribes are here spoken of as "Joseph" plainly indicates that the prophecy applies jointly to Ephraim and Manasseh.

"And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days . . . . Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver [margin, ruler's staff] from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be" (Gen. 49:1, 8-10). The Hebrew word here translated Shiloh means the Messiah, the Prince of Peace, or the one "seed" of Abraham. (See Young's Analytical Concordance to the Holy Bible.)

Regarding Joseph, the combined Ephraim-Manasseh tribes, at this present day, Israel prophesied: "Joseph is a fruitful bough [here is pictured the birthright promise of multitudes in fulfillment], even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches [margin, daughters] run over the wall" (verse 22).

In other words, in the last days we are to find the children of Joseph a numerous people, a great nation and a company of nations, whose daughters, or children, shall "run over the wall" - that is, run over, or past, the nation's boundary - in other words, be a colonizing people! Further, in the prophecy for Joseph for these "last days": ". . . the Almighty . . . shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb: the blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from [margin: is prince among] his brethren" (verses 25-26).

We shall see that these descendants of Joseph, possessing these birthright promises - to become numerous, to colonize, thus spreading to the "north and the south, and east and the west," until they encircled the globe, to possess the "gates" of enemy nations - never returned to Jerusalem from Assyria, where they were driven with the ten tribes after 721 B.C., and were never again mixed with Jews from that time! Here are promises and prophecies which never have been fulfilled by the Jews, by the Church, by the American Indian, or any other fanciful counterparts of modern Israel. But they are fulfilled today if the Word of God is to stand!

Chapter Five                  (Return to table of contents) 

After the death of Jacob and his twelve sons in Egypt, their children grew in about two and a quarter centuries to a population probably between two and three million in that land.

But Israel's children became slaves: "And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them. Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph . . . . And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage . . ." (Ex. 1:6-14).

Then God raised up Moses and fitted him in a special way to lead these children of Israel out of the bondage that had come to them in Egypt.

When they reached Mt. Sinai, in the peninsula wilderness, God made a covenant with them establishing them as a NATION - His nation - among the kingdoms of the world. Their government was theocratic, with the civil, as well as the spiritual and religious laws, given directly from God. God Himself was their King and He ruled them by a system of judges.

God was Israel's only King! Israel was both church and state. In Acts 7:38 we are told that the Israelites formed the church in the wilderness. The word "congregation" of Israel used throughout the Old Testament has the same meaning exactly as the word "church" in the New. Israel, consequently, had more than one set of laws. God gave Israel a twofold form of government. The congregation, or church, was given ritualistic laws - animal sacrifices, meat and drink offerings, carnal or fleshly ordinances.

But Israel also was a civil government; thus for it God established civil officers and civil laws - statutes and judgments. The one great central code of law, basis for both church and civil government - the overall SPIRITUAL CODE - was the TEN COMMANDMENTS, spoken by God directly to all the congregation, written with the very finger of God in tables of stone.

For several generations after leaving Egypt, God was their King! (This history is found through the books of Moses, Joshua and Judges.) Each tribe kept separate by itself, but together they formed one nation in much the same manner as the United States is one nation composed of individual states.

Each tribe occupied its own land, or district. The Levites became the priestly tribe, mingling throughout the other tribes, having no inheritance in the land and no separate territory (except for cities) of their own. To offset this, however, the children of Joseph were divided into two tribes - Ephraim and Manasseh - thus leaving twelve distinct and separate tribes, each occupying its own territory or province, in addition to the Levites who were sprinkled among the tribes.

All these years the birthright and the sceptre remained within the one nation - the birthright, of course, being handed down through the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, the sceptre with Judah.

The children of Israel were human, even as you and I. They continually grumbled and complained. Their carnal minds were hostile to God and His laws, even as human minds today (Rom. 8:7). Soon they became dissatisfied with God as their King and demanded that a man should be their king as in the Gentile nations around them. So today, we want to be like the non-Christians around us instead of conforming strictly to the ways of God as we are instructed in His Word! Human nature has ever been thus.

When the elders of Israel came to Samuel demanding a man be made their king, it naturally displeased Samuel, their prophet. But the Eternal said: "Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them . . . . howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them" (I Sam. 8:7-9).

Saul was their first human king. He refused obedience to God and was finally rejected. He was slain in battle. His sole surviving son, Ishbosheth, was slain after a reign of only two years (II Sam. 2:10). However, Ishbosheth never reigned over Judah. With this short reign over part of Israel, Saul's dynasty ceased. That is how God rejected him. His dynasty was cut off!

David succeeded Saul. David sat on the Eternal's throne. David's son Solomon succeeded him, also sitting on the Eternal's throne. "Then Solomon sat on the throne of the Eternal as king instead of David his father" (I Chron. 29:23; see also II Chron. 9:8).

I wish here to impress another special point. Before Saul, the Eternal had been King over Israel. These human kings were sitting upon the Eternal's throne. The Eternal - "LORD" - is Jesus Christ who was with the Father before the world was (John 17:5 and 1:1-2, 14). Jesus is both the "root" and the "offspring" of David (Rev. 22:16). Since He was the "root," the throne was His before David was born. David merely sat upon the Eternal's throne. Secondly, since Jesus was David's lawful fleshly Son, this same throne shall once more become His right by inheritance, continuing David's dynasty. And so, when Christ returns to earth, David's throne will be doubly His right!

Now we come to a seemingly incredible fact - fantastic - almost unbelievable, but true! While David was king, God made with him a perpetual covenant, unconditionally, which God cannot and will not break! This covenant is even more amazing, and less understood, than the unconditional covenant with Abraham!

I want you now to plant firmly in mind the specific nature and character of the covenant the Almighty made with David. For it is a vital link in the purpose and mission of Christ - an important KEY to Bible understanding!

In II Samuel 23:1, 5, we find: "Now these be the last words of David . . . . God . . . hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure." In other words, a covenant that shall endure forever and cannot fail!

Turn back to the seventh chapter of II Samuel for more specific details. God gave David this covenant promise at a time when David was much concerned over the Ark of the Covenant dwelling in a tent. David wanted to build a great temple at Jerusalem.

"And it came to pass that night, that the word of the Lord came unto Nathan, saying, Go and tell my servant David, Thus saith the Lord, Shalt thou build me an house for me to dwell in?. . . When thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels [Solomon], and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: THY THRONE SHALL BE ESTABLISHED FOR EVER" (II Sam. 7:4-5, 12-16).

Notice carefully these points:

1) David's throne was set up and established with Solomon, David's son.

2) The throne - David's throne (verse 16) - was established FOREVER in Solomon (verse 13). Observe that this nowhere says that when Christ comes, God will establish it in Him forever. It says it was to be established forever in Solomon.

3) What if Solomon, or the children of Israel, disobey? Would that cancel this covenant? Verses 14-15 plainly say that if they commit iniquity, God will Chasten them with the rod of men, but will NOT break this covenant. The throne shall go on forever just the same!

4) Notice particularly, in case of disobedience, God will not take the throne away as He took it from Saul. How did He take it from Saul? Saul's dynasty ended! No son of Saul ever sat on the throne. But Solomon's dynasty would not end. The punishment for disobedience would be chastening at the hands of men.

5) Since God did firmly establish this throne with David and with Solomon, if David's throne ceased from existence, even for the length of one generation, could we say it had been established forever as God here promised?

Here is the fact as little realized as any in the Bible! Almighty God made an absolutely binding - just how binding we shall see! - covenant with David, unconditionally guaranteeing that there should never be a single generation from that time forward when there would not be a descendant of David, in UNBROKEN DYNASTY sitting on David's throne, ruling over children of Israel! It was the promise of a continuous, unbroken dynasty - all generations forever - that was guaranteed.

This is hard to believe! Yet God promised and unalterably guaranteed just that! There were no conditions. Nothing that would happen could prevent it. The sins of the people were not to change it. The promise stood immutable!

But where is that throne today?

The history of the Bible records a line of kings, all descendants of David in continuous dynasty, down to King Zedekiah. But in the year 585 B.C. this last recorded king ever to sit on this throne was captured by the armies of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, his eyes were put out, he was taken to Babylon, and there died in a dungeon!

Moreover, all his sons were slain! All the nobles of Judah who were not already imprisoned or enslaved at Babylon at that time were killed, so that none could remain to sit on the throne of David! The Chaldeans destroyed Jerusalem, burned the Temple and the king's houses, took the Jews, a captive, slave people to Babylon. There is certainly no record of any king of the line of David ruling over Judah from that day to this. However, the line of Jehoiakin to Jesus survived in Babylonish captivity - so Jesus was a descendant of David.

Some will say, however, that this throne is established today in Christ. But Christ has not yet taken over this throne! He pictured Himself as the nobleman (Luke 19:12) who went to a far country (heaven) to get for Himself a Kingdom, and, who, after receiving the right to the Kingdom, would return. Jesus Christ will not sit upon the throne of David until His second coming to earth, yet in the future!

But what of the nearly 600 years between King Zedekiah and the birth of Christ? Who was reigning over the Israelites and sitting on David's throne during those generations? If no one, then we must conclude God broke His Word, or the Scripture has been broken!

The answer is a mystery more astounding than any tale of fiction! The Bible reveals it, step by step.

But, then again, some will point to the expression "I will stablish" (II Sam. 7:13) and conclude that possibly God meant at the second coming of Christ He would establish that throne forever. And still that will not do. From whom would Christ take over David's throne if that throne has ceased these centuries to exist? But God plainly promised He would establish that throne in Solomon: "And I will stablish the throne of his [Solomon's] kingdom FOR EVER." He was not speaking of establishing it many centuries later in Christ - at His second coming. The "he" referred to is Solomon - not Christ, for God said: "If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him" (II Sam. 7:14).

But now I give you a scripture that ends all speculation as to when this throne was established: "Hear me, thou Jeroboam, and all Israel; ought ye not to KNOW that the Eternal God of Israel GAVE the kingdom over to Israel to David FOR EVER, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?" (II Chron. 13:4-5.) The margin says "PERPETUAL covenant." This shows the establishing of the throne was then in the past! God gave, did give, this kingdom to David and his sons - not his Son, Christ, but his sons, plural - continuously forever.

"I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, Thy seed [dynasty - Moffatt] will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations" (Ps. 89:3-4). Note it! This throne, established forever, was built up to all generations. God did establish that throne, beginning with David and Solomon. We have a record of it for a number of generations - as far as King Zedekiah, 585 B.C.

It was established to all generations, continuously, perpetually, FOREVER! That term "all generations" certainly must include those generations from Zedekiah to the birth of Christ. Who occupied that throne during those generations?

Christ is not sitting on that throne now, but on the throne of Almighty God in heaven (Rev. 3:21).

So what about this present generation? Where is there a descendant of David today sitting in an unbroken line of kings on the throne of David, ruling over children of Israel?

Can one wonder that men like Thomas Paine and Robert Ingersoll lost faith in the Bible? They saw these unconditional promises, but they could not see how they had been kept. Yet, if we have patience, we shall see!

But to continue, in the 89th Psalm, with the 28th verse: "My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed [dynasty - Moffatt] also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven."

Consider a moment the meaning of the word "seed" in this sense. Moffatt's translation in modern English properly translates it "dynasty." The Revised Standard Version translates it "his [David's] line" - that is, continuous line or succession of sons, generation after generation. This "seed" is not the general population of the children of Israel. This is speaking of David's seed, or David's sons. His sons were to be kings. David was of the tribe of Judah, possessor of the sceptre, not the birthright, promise. His "seed," therefore, was the kingly line. So, literally, it means his dynasty, his line of successive sons.

Now while his throne is enduring through all generations, as the days of heaven, consider the next verse: "If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. HIS SEED [ dynasty] shall endure FOR EVER, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven" (Ps. 89:30-37).

This is speaking of those generations when his children may disobey and forsake God's law. Some today are excusing their inability to locate this throne by saying the covenant was conditional - that because the children of Israel disobeyed God, the covenant was broken. But what does the Almighty say? If the children disobey and transgress, they shall be punished for their transgression - but not by the breaking of God's unconditional covenant with David!

Some say Christ took over the throne. But He didn't. Instead He was crucified, resurrected, and ascended to heaven. He shall come, and soon now, to sit upon that throne as the King of kings and Lord of lords. But how could Jesus Christ, when He returns again to earth, take over and sit upon a throne that long ago ceased to exist?

If the throne of David ceased with Zedekiah, then it does not exist today. And if it does not exist, how shall Christ sit upon a nonexistent throne? (See Luke 1:31-32.) And, since it was to continue through all generations, how about those many generations between Zedekiah and the birth of Jesus?

The very important fact that the glorified King of kings is coming to sit on a existing throne is further affirmed by the prophet Jeremiah. In the 33rd chapter is a prophecy of events to occur at the time of Christ's coming in supreme power and glory! At the time of writing this prophecy, the prophet was imprisoned in Jerusalem. The armies from Babylon were taking the Jews captive. God said to Jeremiah, "I will . . . .shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not . . . . concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are thrown down . . ." (verses 3-4).

Jeremiah knew the kings' houses in Jerusalem were being destroyed - the throne of David removed from Jerusalem. He was, as will be shown later, to be God's agent in rooting out that throne from Jerusalem. God was now revealing to him a reassuring fact. The throne of David would, in this end time, be again planted in Jerusalem. God now reassures the prophet that the throne will rule continuously over Israelites until that time. It will be the same continuous dynasty. The Messiah will sit on an existing throne!

Here is the prophecy of what is to happen at Christ's glorious coming to rule: "Behold, the days come, saith the Eternal, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah" (verse 14). Notice carefully! This promise of David's continuous dynasty is a promise to the house of Israel, as well as to Judah. Since the division into two nations, that throne had not been connected with Israel - only with Judah. But the promise to be fulfilled at Christ's coming connects it with Israel as well as Judah!

Continue: "In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness [the Messiah] to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land" (verse 15). This speaks of Christ's rule as King of kings. Jesus, a descendant of David by human birth (Rom. 1:3), was the righteous Branch, or offshoot of David.

Continue: "In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. . . . For thus saith the Eternal; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel" (verses 16-17). Note it! It does not say David shall not, finally, after 2,500 years without a man on the throne, want for one. It says David shall NEVER - at any time - through all generations - want for a descendant to remain sitting on his throne!

And over whom?

Not Judah! Read it in your own Bible! During these more than 2,500 years, David shall not want for a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel - not Judah!

The throne was, at the time God revealed this prophecy to Jeremiah, being rooted out of Judah. During these 2,500 years between then and Christ's coming, it was to be the throne of the house of ISRAEL!

After the coming of Christ to rule, it is evident that Israel is again to offer sacrifices, burnt offerings and meat offerings. In Ezekiel's prophecy, from the 40th chapter to the end of the book, covering this period after Christ's coming, these sacrifices are mentioned. But, after Christ's return, when they are again to be offered, the tribe of Levi will not have been destroyed - descendants of the priestly tribe will still be living. Notice verse 18 of Jeremiah 33: "Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually."

This does not say they shall have, all these years prior to Christ's coming, continually offered sacrifices. Other scriptures show plainly sacrifices should not have been offered by Christians after Christ's own sacrifice, and they were not offered by Jews after the destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70. But other prophecies already quoted show just as plainly that David's descendants should be ruling on David's throne through all generations, beginning with Solomon.

Since many of the Levites undoubtedly remained among the the Ten Tribes - although we know many continued among the Jews - and since those remaining among the Ten Tribes have lost their identity along with all Ten Tribes, it is entirely possible that many if not most, of the called true ministry of Jesus Christ through the centuries have been of the tribe of Levi.

Notice, now, how binding is God's covenant with David. "Thus saith the Eternal; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season; then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne . . ." (verses 20-21).

Continue: "Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the Eternal hath chosen, he hath even cast them off? Thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them" (verse 24).

That is what the people have been saying, as they were prophesied to say! They say the Jews were scattered among many, if not all, nations - scattered individuals - but no longer a nation having its own government! And the Ten Tribes were supposed to have been "lost," or to have gone out of existence, or to be just part of the scattered individual Jews! Yes, so the Jews themselves have said - and so the world has said! But what does GOD say?

Continue, next verse: "Thus saith the Eternal; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed [ dynasty] to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them" (verses 25-26).

Strong words, those! Unless you can stop this old earth from turning on its axis - unless you can remove the sun and the moon and stars from heaven, says the Almighty, you cannot prevent Him from keeping His covenant to maintain continuously, through all generations, FOREVER, from the time of David and Solomon, a descendant of David in one continuous dynasty on that throne!

He would not necessarily rule over all the house of Israel, or the Jews - but at least some of them, and enough to form a nation.

This cannot be applied to mean that there would not have been a continuous throne, or that it applies only to the "one seed" - Christ - finally coming to rule. Notice, it says specifically, ". . . so that I will not take any of his seed to be RULERS [more than one] over" Israelites. It is speaking of continuous, multiple rulers - not one Ruler coming to sit on a throne that 2,500 years before had ceased to exist!

The COVENANT PROMISE to David is plain and definite. Either his dynasty has continued and exists today, ruling over the house of ISRAEL (not the Jews), or God's Word fails!

Remember again the sceptre promise, which includes this line of kings until it culminates in CHRIST at His second coming: "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver [margin, ruler's staff] from between his feet, UNTIL SHILOH [Christ] COME; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be" (Gen. 49:10).

Has the sceptre departed from Judah? Has the throne ceased? Or does it, as God so bindingly promised, exist today so that Christ can take over and sit upon a functioning, continuous throne when He comes?

The infallibility of the Bible is at stake! God's Word is at stake!

Chapter Six                    (Return to table of contents)

The house of Israel is not Jewish! Those who constitute it are not Jews, and never were! That fact we shall now see conclusively, beyond refute.

After David's death, his son Solomon succeeded him to the throne over Israel. Solomon taxed the people excessively and reigned in a gorgeous splendor probably never equaled before or since.

He also married Gentile wives from outside nations. Because of them, he burned incense and sacrificed to Moloch and other idols. As a result of this, "the Eternal said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant. Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father's sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. Howbeit I will not rend away ALL the kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen" (I Kings 11:11-13).

Note it! It is the kingdom, not part of it, which is to be rent away. It is the part, one tribe, which is to remain. And note - for right here is expressed the great WHY of this whole question - though Solomon himself deserved to have it rent away, God will leave one tribe, not because of leniency toward Solomon, but "FOR DAVID'S SAKE"!

God has made a perpetual covenant with David, unconditionally, which He cannot and will not break. David's dynasty cannot be broken! That is the reason the sceptre promise is not destroyed, but the ruler is to be permitted to rule on, without a single generation's gap, over at least a part of the children of Israel.

In I Kings 11:26 you read of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, an Ephrathite, or Ephraimite, Solomon's servant. He was made ruler over the "house of Joseph" - or Ephraim and Manasseh.

Speaking to Jeroboam through Ahijah the prophet, the Eternal says: "Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee. . . Howbeit I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand . . . for David my servant's sake, whom I chose, because HE kept my commandments and my statutes. But I will take THE KINGDOM out of his son's hand, and will give it unto thee, even ten tribes. And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant [remember why] may have a light always before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen me to put my name there. And I will take thee, and thou shalt reign according to all that thy soul desireth, and shalt be king over Israel" (I Kings 11:31-37).

These words make plain two facts: The nation Israel is to be taken away from Solomon's son and given to Jeroboam. It is not just a tribe, or a few tribes, but the nation called by the title Israel which this Jeroboam, of the tribe of Ephraim, is to rule.

The ten-tribed kingdom was the one to which the national title "Israel" was given. For truly, the name "Israel" was named on the sons of Joseph! (Gen. 48:16.) Wherever they are, the Bible calls them by the national name ISRAEL. To the world, their identity today is lost. But, in biblical prophecy, it is they - no