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slave population in Babylon back
to Jerusalem under Zerubbabel 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
intermarry with Canaanites, Hit–
tites, Perizzites, Jebusites and
other races, "so that the holy seed
[racially pure, for they had not
the Holy Spirit] have mingled
themselves with the people of
those lands ..." (Ezra 9:2).
The prophet Ezra was ANGRY!
He stood up befare the congrega–
tion and said:
"Y
e have trans–
gressed, and have taken strange
wives, to increase the trespass of
Israel. Now therefore ... sepa–
rate yourselves from the people of
the land, and from the strange
wives" (Ezra 10:10-ll).
Jesus Christ was born ofthe tribe
of Judah, and it was necessary that
HE be of the original pure racial
strain, even as Noah was.
BuT- nevertheless, the Old
Covenant with Israel at Sinai was a
type and forerunner of the NEW
COVENANT.
lt
wi ll be made with
the New Testament CHURCH,
which is the
spiritua/
Israel and
Judah (Jeremiah 31:31 , Hebrews
8:6, 10) .
Meanwhile, an individual few
in Old Testament Israel did obey
God and by becoming God 's
prophets, they became part of the
very foundation
of the New Tes–
tament CHURCH OF Goo. The
Church is built on the salid
FOUNOATION of tbe prophets
(Old Testament) and apostles
(New Testament) , Jesus Christ
Himself being " the cbief corner–
stone" (Ephesians 2:20).
Among them, Elijah probably
will be head, under Christ and
Abraham- Jsaac-Israel, over the
Church, worldwide. John the
Baptist may be under Elijah.
There are indications th at the
prophet Daniel will be head over
a ll gentile nations, and under
Mases and Christ.
Fulfilllng The ir Role Desplt e
Themselves
But in what manner did the
ancient nation Israel play a part
42
in preparation for the KINGOOM
OF Goo?
I have al ready mentioned bow
the intellectuals and scholarly of
this world feel that, given suffi–
cient KNOWLEOGE, human carnal
MAN could salve all problems.
God let many generations of
ancient Israel and Judah PROVE
by hundreds of years of human
experience, that the
best
of hu–
manity, wi thout God's Holy Spir–
it CANNOT SOLVE HUMAN PROB–
LEMS ANO EVILS!
J
have spoken, during the past
1O
years, to many heads of gov–
ernments over Europe, Asia,
Africa, South America. In Chi–
na, I believe the Communist
heads of government believe that
communism, once it gains con–
trol of the earth, will salve all
problems and evils. But many
kings, emperors, presidents and
prime ministers
1
have conferred
privately with now realize tbe
problems a r e
beyond
human
ability to salve. And this I said
plainly to many leaders of the
People's Republic of China.
The problems and evils are of a
spiritual
nature. And a carnal
mind without God's Spirit cannot
come to grips with spiritual prob–
lems.
Tbe many decades and centu–
ries of ancient Israel PROVEO
THAT! Until Israel, God withheld
knowledge of the
right ways
of
human living from mankind. To
Israel God gave His statutes and
judgments, as well as His spiri–
tual law. But these perfect laws
did not , without God's Holy
Spirit, salve the nation's prob–
lems!
God
could
say:
"1
am Goo.
Take my word for it." But God
gave PROOF, through Israel , that
WITHOUT the Holy Spirit, MAN IS
HELPLESS! They even had Goo to
appeal to. But they did not have
H is Spi rit within them. Only
their ·prophets had the Holy Spir–
it!
That lesson once PROVEO, God
has given those in His Church
His Holy Spirit.
There is, of course, a great deal
more that could be said about
ancient Israel. After King Solo–
mon's deatb they split up into two
nations. The nation, Israel, re–
jected Solomon's son as natural
beir . They chose Solomon's gen–
eral manager (as we would call
him today), Jeroboam, and later
set the throne of Israel in a new
city, Samaria, to the north of
Jerusalem.
T hereupon, Judah seceded
from Israel in arder to retain
their King Rehoboam and capital
city Jerusalem. The tribe of Ben–
jamín seceded with Judah. They
took the new name, Kingdom of
J uoAH. They carne to be called
"Jews"-a nickname for their
national name, JuoAH.
One of the first things King
Jeroboam did was to put the best
educated of the nation, the priest–
ly tribe of Levi, out of the priest–
bood . He put illiterate people in
their place as priests. Then the
tribe of Levi moved down (or
actually up) nearer Jerusalem and
became part of the Kingdom of
Judah.
One of the strangest mysteries
of our time is the actual relation–
ship our American and British
Commonweal th peoples have
come to have with the people who
retained the name " ISRAEL."
They lost their identity through
the years. My book
The United
States and Britain in Prophecy
reveals that story-one of the
most amazing of our t ime.
In final conclusion of this chap–
ter, remember, God creates and
does what He does by a principie
of OUALITY.
God is creating MAN in dual
stages. First, was the carnal first
man, Adam. But the spiritual
creation started with the second
Adam, J esus Christ.
Even so, God is forming the
KINGOOMOF Goo in dual stages.
First was old covenant Israel.
They were carnal minded. Even
with the revelation of God's laws
and God's truth, they could not
comprehend nor follow God 's
true ways.
Old Testament Israel was the
CONGREGATION (Church) of
ISRAEL. In the N Ew TESTAMENT
we are the CHURCH OF Goo.
But the Church of God of the
New Testament is offered the
SECONO Spirit- the Holy Spirit
The
PLAIN TRUTH