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rejected from this birthright. Esau, lsaac's son and Ja–
cob's twin brother, sold it and was rejected. The promise,
as confirmed to Isaac, is recorded in Genesis 26:3-5:
"1
will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and
unto thy seed,
1
will give all these countries, and
1
will
perform the oath which
1
sware unto Abraham thy
father; and
1
will make thy seed to
MULTIPLY
as the stars
of heaven,
and will give unto thy seed all these coun–
tries.... " Notice! Twice God promised "aiJ these coun–
tries." That is millions of times larger than the 2 x 6-foot
plot our " intellectual" cynic contended for. Also, lsaac's
descendants were to
"MULTIPLY
as the stars of heaven."
That's thousands of times larger than a tiny "town–
ship."
To Jacob it is repeated in Genesis 27:26-29, where
MATERIAL
blessing of wea lth 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 tbe dew of heaven, and the fatness
(margin: fat places] of the earth, and plenty of corn and
wine: Let people serve thee, and na tions bow down to
thee: be lord over thy brethren, and Jet thy mother's sons
bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee,
and blessed be he that blesseth thee."
To Spread Worldwide
And we find the promises again in Genesis 28:13-14,
where th e added detail that these nations of Israel sha ll
eventually spread a round the world is recorded. "And,
behold, the Eterna! ... said , 1 am lhe Eterna! God of
Abraham 1hy father, and the God of Isaac: the land
whereon thou liest, to thee will 1give it, and to lhy seed;
and lhy seed shall be as the dusl of lhe earth, and thou
sha lt spread abroad to the west, and to lhe east, and lo
the north, and lo the south.... "
The original Hebrew for "spread abroad" means " to
break forth. " This promise places no limit on how far
east, wesl, 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 prom–
ise, tha t he (Abraham] s hould be the heir of the
world .... "
Bul this is not a promise that Abraham's descendants
shou ld inheri t, own , and possess the whole of the earth ,
leaving nothing for Gentiles- that is, prior to the new
earlh- but rather that, in years and centuries to come,
they wo uld spread and occupy certain areas in various
parts of the earth . Yet, the new earth- after the miUen–
nium- 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 underslood. Indeed lhese birth–
righl lsraelilish nations
hove
spread lo and occupied
various lands or a reas in many localions around the
world. This occurred after they were- 72 1-718 B.C.–
driven in a captivity out of their own promised land of
The
PLAIN TRUTH October-November 1978
Samaria in Palest ine. The next verses in G enesis 28
comple te this phase of the prophecy. "And, behold,"
God continued, " I am with thee, and will keep lhee in a ll
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
1
will not leave thee, until
1
have done that which
I
have spoken to thee of" (verse
15).
This generally unnoticed, but significan! prophecy will
be fulfilled a t the second coming of Christ.
lt
is ex–
plained further in Jeremiah 23:7-8, and 50 :4-6, 19-20,
and other prophecies.
Repromlsed to Jacob
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, 1
am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply;
A NATION
and a
COMPANY OF NATIONS
sha il be Of thee, and kings
shall come out of thy loins" (G en. 35: 11). The Moffatt
translation renders it "a nation, anda group of nations."
The Fenton rendering is "a nation and an Assembly of
Nations." The RSV translates it as in the Authorized
Ve rsion, above quoted. So the "many nations" a re even–
tually 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 lo grasp the a ll -important key to all propbecy- the
very key to the real meaning of the unprecedented world
events of the present. This promise never has been fu l–
filled in the Jews. l t cannot be "spiritualized" away by
interpreting it as being inherited only through Christ.
It
could not pe rtain to the Church, for there is but one true
Church acknowledged in the Bible, and it is nota na tion,
or a group of nations, but one Church of called-out
individuals scattered through a ll nations. Yet this amaz–
ing promise
MUST
s tand fulfilled , unless we a re to deny
the Bible a nd God's sacred Word!
He re is the enigma of lhe ages! Is lhi s a divine prom–
ise unkepl? Thomas Paine and Roberl IngersoU lost
faith in G o d a nd rejec ted th e Bible because
they believed these nationa l promises were never ful–
filled.
The very fale of lhe Bible as lhe revealed Word of
God - the evidence of th e existence of God-hangs on
the answer to this momentous qu estion. The Jewish
people did not fulfill these promises. The promises do
no t refer to the Church. The world with its great church
leaders does not know of any such fuiJiHment. Did God
fail? Or has H e made good this colossal promise
unknown to the world? The true answer is the mos t
astonishing reveJation of Bible truth, of prophecy. and of
unrecognized history!
o
(To Be Continued)
41