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Standard of Living!
(Continued from page 21)
2,520 years and then in that far, far
future, con fer the birthright na–
tional and material promises to the
descendan ts of Israel through
Ephraim and Manasseh.
God promised them, through
Moses, ON CONDITION of obe–
dience, adequate rain, abundant
crops the year round, peace and
such military power that a hundred
of them could put ten thousand
enemy invaders to flight.
But rsrael under Moses did not
obey or keep their part of the old
covenant!
They did so only at intervals dur–
ing the days of the judges. In the
day when God ruled them through
the prophet Samuel, they rejected
God as their ruler and king, and
demanded a human king like the
nations of the world.
I have already covered how in
the days of King Rehoboam, after
Solomon's death, they spli t into
TWO OIFFERENT NATIONS.
At that time, the birthright
promise remained with the tribes of
Ephraim and Manasseh in the
kingdom of ISRAEL, while the
scepter promise, to be realized
through Christ, remained in the
nation JuoAH.
Later , King Shalmaneser of
Assyria invaded, conquered and
removed the nort hern n ation
IsRAEL from their land of Samaria,
carrying them off as slaves to
Assyria and Media.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar of
Babylon invaded and moved the
nation JuoAH as slaves into the
land of Chaldea.
The Assyrians,
with
the ten
tribes of ISRAEL, then migrated
northwest. The ten tribes, now
known as the "LosT Ten Tribes,"
moved into Western Europe and
Britain-Ephraim and Manasseh
largely settling in Britain.
But they had LOST their identify–
ing Sabbath, their Hebrew lan–
guage, and their identity. They
supposed, and the world supposed,
they were Gentiles.
A cont ingent of Jews of the
former kingdom of Judah were sent
by King Cyrus of Persia to form a
colony in Jerusalem, under Zerub-
28
babel as governor, and to build the
second temple on the
~ite
of Solo–
mon's temp l e.
It
had been
destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar.
But NONE of the ten-tribed
"lost' ' ISRAEL were among those of
this colony. Some tribal names are
recorded in the book of Ezra, but
NONE of the ten-tribed ISRAEL are
mentioned.
Other Jews, outside of this colo–
ny, were scattered into various
nations through the centuries.
Where the U.S. and Britain
Are Mentioned in
Biblical Prophecy
Prophecy mentions that Britain
(Ephraim) would lose her first col–
ony. The colony that grew into the
United States was that colony.
Now the 2,520 years the birth–
r ight was to be withheld from
ISRAEL- because of their contin–
ued disobedience, breaking their
part of the old covenant- expired
about 1800.
The big colony Ephraim was to
lose was the United States–
descended from co-birthright hold–
er Manasseh. The United States
became the ONE promised GREAT
nation. Britain became head of the
great Commonwealth of Nations.
Neither Britain nor America
deserved
the unprecedented
wealth, greatness and national
power of Abraham's birthright.
But God had promised it UNCONDI–
TIONALLY to Abraham.
lt
was CON–
DITIONAL to ancient Israel.
Though our two great peoples
did not deserve it, God was bound,
and kept his PROMISE!
Y
et, once
God had FULFILLED bis promise to
Abraham by giving us that national
wealth, power and greatness, it
became CONDITIONAL On
US
wheth–
er we should retain
it!
As ancient Israel did not keep
God's statutes, commandments,
sabbaths; NEITHER HAVE WE!
At this point let me bring in
another bit of historie back–
ground.
Go back, for a moment, to the first
man, Adam. Prior even to Adam's
creation, the earth had been popu–
lated by angels. The angels had
SINNED (11 Pet. 2:4). God had set
over them HlS GOVERNMENT, admin–
istered by the mighty archangel
Lucifer (Isa. 14 and Ezek. 28). This
Lucifer, the most powerful sptrtt
being God had created, was placed
on the throne of the earth. But he
rebelled against and rejected the
GOVERNMENT
~F
Goo. He led bis
angels in the opposite direction–
rebellion against the law of God–
vanity, lust and greed, envy and jeal–
ousy, competition with strife and
violence, darkness of error instead of
light of truth, destruction instead of
creative construction. This Lucifer
had become Satan the devil. His
angels had become demons-evil
spirit beings.
Unti l a successor qualifies and is
set on that throne of the earth
administering the GOVERNMENT OF
Goo, Satan remains, t hough now
disqualified-and the GOVERN–
MENT OF Goo is not being adminis–
tered over the earth, earthwide.
When God created the first
human, Adam, he thoroughly
instructed this man and Eve, bis
wife. He instructed them in the law
and government of God, in the
rebellion and sin of the angels. In
the Garden of Eden were two sym–
bolic trees. One, the tree of life,
symbolized the Holy Spirit of
God- the way of life of God and
bis law-the gift of eterna! life.
Adam and Eve were created with
only mortal, temporary physical ·
life. The other tree, the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, sym–
bolized the taking to themselves–
IF they disobeyed God in so
doing- the knowledge of what is
good and what is evil, rejecting the
gift of eternal life.
When Adam and Eve chose the
forbidden fruit, rejecting God and
his government, God drove them
out of the garden, and barred the
way of entrance, test humans
rejecting God's sovereignty over
them go back, take of the tree of
life, and receive eterna) life IN SIN.
This would have brought on all
such an eterna) life in the inde–
scribable misery and torment of
unhappiness, despair in resentment
and bitterness, and pain of mental
frustration.
God is a God of LOVE-outgoing
concern for tbe GOOD OF MANKIND,
c reated in bis image, with tbe
potential of being BORN into the
very Goo FAMILY!
God could not allow any such
indescribable eternity of anguish
The
PLAIN
TRUTH