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When God moved his two mil–
lion-plus Israelites in there, he
commanded them through Moses:
" When ye are passed over J or–
dan into the land of Canaan; then
ye shall drive out all the inhabitants
of the land from before you, and
des troy all t hei r pictures, a nd
destroy all their molten
images ... and ye shall dispossess
the inhabitants of the land, and
dwell therein: for
1
have given you
the land to possess it. ... But if ye
will not drive out the inhabitants of
the land from before you; then it
shall come to pass, that those which
ye Jet remain of them shall be
pricks in your eyes, and thorns in
your sides, and shall vex you in the
land wherein ye dwell" (Num.
33:51-53, 55).
Natlonally-Rellglously Separate
lt's time we UNDERSTAND THIS!
This nation Israel was Goo's
NATION. But they were
a physica/,
not a spiritual nation.
Yet God
gave them HIS Church, as well as
national government and re)jgion.
Goo INTENDED TO KEEP THEM
PHYSICALLY SEPARATE from other
nations- both nationally and reli–
giously.
For them to intermarry with
other neighboring people would
result in two things: It would lead
them into other idolatrous religions
and alter thei r cultural and national
heritage!
The lsraelites DIO NOT OBEY
Goo!
Much later, after the captivities
of both Israel and Judah, God sent
a colony of Jews from the Judahite
slave population in Babylon back to
Jerusalem under Zeru bbabel as
governor of the colony, to build the
second Temple.
Among this colony were the
prophets Ezra and Nehemiah .
Against God 's command , the
people of the colony began to inter–
marry with Canaanites, Hittites,
Perizzites, J ebusites a nd other
races, ..so that the holy seed [of
pure strain, for they had not. the
Holy Spirit] have mingled them–
selves with the people of those
lands ..." (Ezra 9:2).
The prophet Ezra was ANGRY!
He stood up before the congrega–
tion and said: "Ye have t rans–
gressed, and have taken strange
March 1986
wives, to increase the trespass of
Israel. Now therefore ... separate
yourselves from the people of the
land, and from the strange wives"
(Ezra 10:10-11) .
J esus was born of the tribe of
Judah, and it was necessary that HE
be of the original genetic strain,
even as Noah was.
once it gains control of the earth,
will solve all problems and evils.
But many kings, emperors, presi–
dents and prime ministers 1 have
conferred privately with now real–
ize the problems are
beyond
human
ability to solve. And this I said
plainly to many leaders of t he
People's Republic of China.
BuT-nevertheless, the
Old Covenant with Israel
at Sinai was a type and
forerunner of the NEw
COVENANT.
lt
will be
made with the New Tes–
tament CHURCH, whicb is
the
spiritua/
Israel and
Judah (J er. 31:31; Heb.
8:6, 10).
bis nation Israel was
God's nation. But
Meanwhile, an individ–
ual few in Old Testament
Israel d id obey God and
they were a physical, not a
spiritual nation.
by becoming God's prophets, they
became part of the
very foundation
of the New Testament CHURCH OF
Goo. The Church is built on the
soJid FOUNDATION of the prophets
(Old Testament) and apostles
(New Testament), J esus Christ
himself being "the chief corner
stone" (Eph. 2:20).
Among them, Elijah probably
wi ll be head, under Christ and
Abraham-Isaac-lsrael, over the
Church, worldwide. John the Bap–
t ist may be under Elijah. There are
indications that the prophet Daniel
will be head over all gentile nations,
and under Moses and Christ.
Fulfllllng Thelr Role
Desplte Themselves
But in what manner did the ancient
nation Israel play a part in prepara-
. tion for the KINGDOM OF Goo?
1 have al ready mentioned how
the intellectuals and scbolar ly of
this world feel that , given sufficient
KNOWLEDGE, human carnal MAN
could solve all problems.
God let many generat ions of
ancient Israel and Judah PROVE by
hundreds of years of human experi–
ence, that the
best
of humanity,
without God's Holy Spirit, CANNOT
SOLVE HUMAN PROBLEMS ANO
EVILS!
I have spoken, during the past 20
years, to many heads of govern–
ments over Europe, Asia, Africa,
South America. In China, 1 bel ieve
the Communist heads of govern–
ment believe that communism,
The problems and evils are of a
spiritua/
nature. And a carnal mind
without God's Spirit cannot come
to grips with spiritual problems.
The many decades and centuries
of ancient Israel PROVEO THAT!
Unti l Israel , God withheld knowl–
edge of the
right ways
of human
living from mankind. To Israel God
gave bis statutes and judgments, as
well as his spiritual law. But these
perfect laws did not , without God's
Holy Spiri t, solve the nation's prob–
lems!
God
could
say: "1 am Goo. Take
my word for it." But God gave
PROOF, through Israel, that WITH–
OUT the Holy Spirit, MAN IS HELP–
LESS! They even had Goo to appeal
to. But they did not have his Spirit
within them.
Let this point be emphasized.
Wben the first ma n , Adam ,
rejected the tree of life, and took to
himself the knowledge of good and
evil, he limited his power and abili–
ty to do good to the leve! of bis
human spirit. There is good as well
as evi l in human nature. Good is a
spiri tual attribute, not a physical or
material act ion. Had Adam taken
of the tree of Ji fe, the Holy Spirit of
God would have entered him and
joined with his spi rit, uniting him
with God as a son of God. The
Holy Spirit meant more than spiri–
tual knowledge of good. Not the
hearers of the law (good) but the
doers of the law are justified (Rom.
2: 13). Love is the fulfilling of the
law- but not human love.
It
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