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of the Promised Land: "And they
said one to another, Let us make a
captain, and let us return into Egypt"
(Num. 14:4).
Why does God hide Himself?
What can we say? Ancient Israel has
said it all!
In the Promlsed Land
When Israel was finally allowed to
enter the land promised to Abra–
ham's seed, they contin ually re–
belled. (That's not particularly sur–
prising.) The cycle went round and
round: Israel forsook God and was
conquered (Judges 2: 11 - 15), then she
cried out to God and was delivered
(Judges 2: 16)-but a very short time
later she forsook God again (Judges
2:17-19). The entire book of J udges
tells this amazing story.
Soon thereafter, Israel completely
rejected God's reign over them-<le–
manding a human king "like all the
[other] nations"
(1
Sam. 8:5-7).
Sorne 120 years later, lsrael's
northern ten tribes rebelled against
the house of David. Jeroboam, their
servant-king, resurrected again the
old Egyptian gods, instituted a new
priesthood, and changed God's an–
nual festivals- all to protect his own
reign, willfully ignoring the true God
(1
Kings 12:26-33).
Likewise the house of Judah re–
jected the men of God (and she be–
carne even more corrupt than her sis–
ter Israei- Ezek. 2.3:11). lsaiah was
aman of God. He told Hezekiah that
God would stop the besieging armies
of Assyria from even touching Jeru–
salem
( ll
Kings 19)- and that night
God killed 185,000 armed men
(verse 35). La ter, after Isaiah prayed
to God, the sun went backward ten
degrees
(ll
Kings 20:11 ). There was
no doubt who lsaiah's boss was! Yet
~me
years later, tradition tells us
that lsaiah was sawed in two by his
own people (Heb. 11 :37).
Jeremiah was ordained a prophet
from his mother's womb (Jer. 1:5).
He was always in the public eye–
revealing God's will, way and proph–
ecies. Jeremiah was God's represen–
tative- yet he was held in derision
daily, everyone mocked him (J er.
20:7), and the priests, prophets and
people conspired to kili him (Jer.
26:8).
The
PLAIN TRUTH March 1979
The house of Israe l was taken cap–
tive 721 to 718 B.C. by Assyria. Is–
rael had long since forgotten God's
Sabbath- and so even their identity
was lost. The house of Judah was
taken captive by Babylonia in 585
B.C. They retained the Sabbath and
kept their identity. But they
mongrelized God's truth so badly by
adding many pagan ideas (for exam–
ple, the immortality of the soul) that
a newfound religion was born.
The facts speak plainly- at every
step in their history Israel and Judah
hid from and rejected their God.
The Full Revelatlon
Whereas in the past God spoke
through many forms, fashions and
figures, and communicated by vari-
~~
God has revealed
Himself- by His
creation, by His
patriarchs and prophets,
and by the ministry of
Christ. God will reveal
Himself-to you
personal/y by His Spirit
now.
' '
ous means, methods and manners,
He was now ready to pour out the
whole story through a Son (Heb. 1:1-
2, Phillips translation). l t was exactly
483 years after Artaxerxes' decree
allowing the repatriated J ews to re–
bui ld Jerusalem- just as Daniel had
propbesied (Dan. 9:25)- when Jesus
Christ of Nazareth began His minis–
try in A.D. 27.
lt
was God Almigh–
ty's time to completely reveal Him–
self. He had become a human be-
ing!
.
As strange as it sounds, Jesus
Christ was the very God of the Old
Testament-the Ever-1iving One
called YHVH, the God of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob. He was the One
who had created the universe (John
1:3; Eph. 3:9). He had walked with
Adam, dined with Abraham, wres-
tled with Jacob. spoken with Moses,
and watched over Israel ( I Cor.
10:4). (Request our free article " ls
Jesus God?" for further proof.)
But this was vastly different-He
now became human Hesh, subject to
death (Phil. 2:7-8). For what reason?
To help His beloved creation- to
pave the way for His brothers to be–
come joint-heirs with Him in God's
family (Rom. 8: 17). God no longer
held anything back- here was His
full revelation to man.
But He was despised and rejected
of men ( lsa. 53:3)! He was beaten so
badly that His face emerged more
disfigured and His body more muti–
lated than any man in all history
(lsa. 52: 14) . That's what happened
when God "carne out of hiding."
Who called for Christ's blood?
Sorne of the same multitudes whom
He had taught and fed for weeks and
months and years. They knew He
was from God (John 3:2)-they saw
the miracles He performed. At one
time they even tried to make Him
king by force (John 6: 15). But at that
time they were under the heel of Ro–
man military occupation. The people
wanted Christ to throw out the Ro–
mans and establish a powerful inde–
pendent kingdom.
The multitudes were stunned when
Christ was captured. He was
supposed to expel the Romans! The
people didn't know what to think.
They were bewildered and in a state
of confusion.
Thc religious Jeaders took advan–
tage of this situation . They hated J e–
sus. They feared His growing popu–
larity with the common people. They
were afraid He would take away
their following (John 11 :47-48). To
prevent this these men sent a mob to
take Jesus secretly by night (Mark
14:1, 43-46). Then the chief priests
delivered Christ to the Roman goyer–
nor for execution out of envy (Mark
15:10).
At this point tbe priests and
scribes went about stirr ing up the
crowds against Christ.
lt
wasn't hard ·
todo. They said He was an impostor.
They said no true Messiah could be
captured and put in the hands of the
Romans. Soon a viciously rabid mob
was screaming for Christ's blood.
Faces Hushed with waves of frenzy
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