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connected wi th the generally ignored plain and simple
Bible story that leads to knowledge of our incredible
ancestry and modero prophetic identity. And it is the
most amazing, the mos t fascinating story you ever read.
Stranger than fiction-yet it is TRUE!
Why Do We Have lsrael 's Blble?
Millennia ago, this same national greatness, wealth and
power was promised by the Almighty to Abraham. Yet
few have ever noticed this astonishing fact in Scripture.
We must realize, ifwe would understand, a peculiar fact.
The Holy Bible is the particular Book of a definite
nationality- the children oflsrael.
It is undeniable! Its history, from Genesis to Revela–
tion, is primarily the history of one nation or people- the
Israeli tes. 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 tbey come into contact witb Israel.
The Bible tells of these Israelites and their God. It was
inspi red 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 ofGod, 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 in–
herited the na tional and physical phases of those prom–
ises!
How could this have happened?
The Bible is an Israelitish Book, preeminently ofand for
the Israelitish nationality, inspired by their God through
their prophets. Is it not indeed strange that we English–
speaking peoples are today the greates t believers in and
exponents of this Book of the Hebrew people; that of all
na tions we are the chief worshipers of Israel's God and
Israel's Messiah-in nameand in form, ifnot in truth and in
deed? The more these facts are realized, the more apparent
it becomes that a fuU knowledge of these lsraelites is
necessary toa right understandingofthe Holy Bible,which
is chiefty concerned with them as a people. And this
knowledge becomes important ifwe are to understand the
present status of the American and British peoples in the
world- and their relation to unprecedented world condi–
tions at this fateful hour! Let us remember as we approach
this fascinating story that the Bible is concerned with the
material, the fteshly, the literal, racia l 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 ofGod as it is!
Natlon Began Wlth One Man
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
The PLAIN TRUTH October-November 1978
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 historie 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 chap–
ters of Genesis are devoted to the . entire history
of the world prior to Abraham, father of the Israel–
ites!
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 j ust 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 matv God communicated directly and
personally. God revealed all essential knowledge other–
wise inaccessible to the human mind. The basic essen–
tials of all knowledge-what
is
man?- WHY is he here?–
what's the PURPOSE of life?- what is the WAYof 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 Eterna! Cre–
ator-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
phys ical creature; with the potential, through free
choice, of developing the very character of God and of
inheriting etemallife in the Kingdom of God. To Adam
God revealed the way of life that would result in every–
thing man desi res: peace, enjoyable life, happiness,
abundant well-being.
To produce these blessings- to be the
cause
of such
desired
e.!Ject- God
had set in motion His inexorable
spiritual law. But Adam listened to Satan and leaned to
his own human understanding. He disobeyed God, re–
jected the way to every desired result , and set out on the
human course of greed and vanity.
Manklnd Spurns God's Way
As men began to multiply on earth, Adam's sons fol–
lowed in his Satan-inspired course of human nature.
Prior to Abraham, only three are mentioned as accept–
ing God's way of life-only three during more than a
third of the whole span of the history of mankind. Abe!'
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 a ny man prior to Abraham yielded to the rule ofthe
Eternal.
By the time of Abraham men had lost all knowledge
of the true Creator-Ruler, His revelation of His purpose,
and the way ofGod to peace and
(Continued oñ page 38)
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