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Turn to these passages-read them in your own Bible!
"The sceptre shall not depart from Judah ... " (Gen.
49 :10).
" ... But the birthright was Joseph's" (I Chron. 5:2).
Of course it is well understood that the sceptre went to
Judah and was handed down through the Jews. King
David was of the tribe of Judah. All succeeding kings of
David's dynasty were of the House of David, tribe of
Judah. Jesus Christ was born of the House of David and
the tribe of Judah.
Another eye-opening truth completely unrealized by
most people today is the fact that only a
pan
of the
"children of Israel" were Jews.
Read that little understood fact again!
The full explanation and proof of this must be re–
served for a later article.
Only
those of the three tribes of
Judah, Benjamín and Levi were Jews. While all Jews are
Israelites, most Israelites are
not Jews!
So understand! The birthright promise
did nor
pass on
to the Jews! But the sceptre-the promise of
Chrisr
and
of
grace-was
passed on to the Jews! "Salvation," Jesus
said, "is of the Jews" ! (John 4:22.) "The gospel of
Christ," wrote Paul, "is the power of God unto salvation
to every one that believeth; to the JEw
first,
and also to
the Greek" (Roro. 1: 16). The promises of
grace
were
handed down through JUDAH!
But the promises which the Bible terms the "birth–
right" have not been understood at all. Few have ever
noticed that God made any promises to Abraham other
than the sceptre. Few know what is in the Bible!
Blrthrlght Never Glven to the Jews
Fewer still have understood that these great national
material promises were never given to the Jews! The
astonishing and vital fact that many have overlooked is
"the birthright is JosEPH's." And, as we shall see later,
neither Joseph nor bis descendants were Jews! Astound–
ing as it may be, it's true!
This knowledge about the birthright is the pivot of this
entire truth which will prove
the key
to the understand–
ing of all prophecy! It's of supreme importance that you
get this clearly in mind!
" Birthright," as defined above, includes only that
which comes by right of birth. No one can receive eter–
nallife as a
right,
from natural birth. If it were our right ,
inherited by birth, it would not be by grace. Salvation
comes by
grace-God's gift,
by undeserved pardon–
unmerited favor. We can receive only
material
posses–
sions as a right by birth. And when that right is passed
down through generations to ever-multiplying descen–
dants, it finally devolves into a NATIONAL inheritance. It
confers only material possessions, power, or position. It
does
not
bestow
spiritual
blessings.
lt
is a matter of race,
not grace!
There is another distinction between a birthright and
grace we ought to understand. A birthright, as before
8
stated, is normally passed on from father to eldest son.
There are no conditions which the recipient is required
to meet. The son does nothing to qualify for it. He
receives it as bis right for no other reason than that he
happened to be boro bis father's son. He has a right to it
without earning it or qualifying to be worthy of it. He
could, however,
disqualify
himself to keep, or even to
receive it.
But the gift of immortality received by grace
does
have
qualifying conditions!
It
is not your right, nor mine, to
receive the gift of eterna! life- to be actually
born
as
God's son-literaUy a member of the God FAMILY!
Think what conditions would result if it were! A re–
bellious, defiant, hostile, God-hating criminal or a theist
could shake bis fist at God and say: "Look, God! 1 bate
you. 1 defy you! I refuse to obey you! But I
demand
your
gift of eternallife! lt's my RIGHT!
1
want to be boro uno
your divine family-to receive all the vast POWER of a
son of God, so I can use that power to oppose you! 1
want to make your family a house divided agaiost itself.
1 will cause friction, hostility, hatred, unhappiness
among all your children! l demand that POWER, as your
gift,
as my
right,
so that l may abuse that power- use it
for EVIL!"
Grace Requlres Condltlons
Most professing "Christians"- and many teachings of
what is called "tradi tional Chris tianity"-say there are
no conditions, nothing that
we
must do to receive God's
glorious grace. They deny that God requires obedience
to His law! They twist the truth around by saying that
would be
earning
one's salvation! They
do
demand it of
God, while they still rebel against His law and refuse to
keep it!
Think where that would lead ! Understand this! Eter–
nallife is, indeed, God's free gift. You can't earn it! But
it is not your right! You cannot demand it of God as
your right , while you defy God, rebel against His gov–
ernment, refuse to let Him rule your life His way!
Therefore God has imposed CONDlTIONs! Those con–
ditions do not earn you a thing! But God
gives
His Holy
Spirit to those who obey Him (Acts 5:32).
The word "grace" means unmerited, undeserved
par–
don!
God
pardons
those who REPENT! And "repent"
means to
turn Jrom
rebellion, hostility, disobedience.
"Repent" means to turn to obedience to God's law. The
fact that God chooses
not
to give this wonderful gift–
this gift of immortality, which carries with it divine
power- to those who would misuse it for harm and evil ;
the fact that He chooses to give it only to those who will
rightly use it- does not mean it comes by
works
instead
of grace. If there were
no
conditioos, then everyone
·could demand it- and it would be received as a right by
birth, instead ofby grace!
The very
Jact
of grace makes necessary God's required
qualificatioos. But it sti ll is an undeserved GIFT! Obedi-
The
PLAIN TRUTH December 1978