The Apostate, chapter 4
To: In residence Churches of God. God’s 10tn month, Tevet 3, 5,781. 12/18/2020.
The Son of God, ‘Jesus’ came to the Israelites He chose through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, making them heirs with Abraham. He changed Jacob’s name to Israel, meaning God fights. See Genesis 25:28. When Isaac’s wife’ Rebekah’ was pregnant with twins boys struggling in her womb she wasn’t sure she wanted to be pregnant, so she went to the Lord in prayer. The Lord said to her; ‘two nations are in your womb and two peoples will be separated from within you. One will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.’ The twins were named Esau and Jacob, the weaker, ‘Jacob’ cheated the stronger, ‘Esau’ of his birthright. Isaac loved Esau and Rebekah loved Jacob, so Rebekah helped Jacob deceive Isaac by pretending to be Esau and obtain Esau’s birthright blessings.
Esau’s marring a Hittite woman, caused Isaac and Rebekah much anxiety. So Isaac sent Jacob away to find a wife and blessings went as follows.
(Gen 27:28-29; May God give you the dew of the sky and the richness of the earth, and plenty of grain and new wine. May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. You will be lord over your brothers, and the sons of your mother will bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed, and those who bless you be blessed.)
This prophesied blessing through Isaac is more a millennia prophecy than for this pre-millennial age. (See Isaiah 22: 35: 51: 65: and Jeremiah 31. Isaac commanded Jacob; (You must not marry a Canaanite woman! Leave immediately for Paddan Aram! Go to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father and find yourself a wife there, among the daughters of Laban, ‘your mother’s brother.’ May the sovereign God bless you! May He make you fruitful and give you a multitude of descendants! Then you will become a large nation. May He give you and your descendants the blessing He gave to Abraham so that you may possess the land God gave to Abraham, the land where you have been living as a temporary resident.)
Jacob married two sisters and each gave him their servant maids to wife out of jealousy, when their pregnancies didn’t happen according to desires. Thus Jacob fathered twelve sons and at least one daughter. The Israelites became twelve tribes and ultimately became Egyptian slaves until God’s set time of deliverance as promised Abraham.
It was the Lord God, ’Jesus’ who delivered Israel through His servant Moses. True to prophecy Israelites were a stubborn people desiring to go the way that seemed right, rather than obey their Deliverer. So after deliverance from Egypt and the promised lands gifted, they turned to gentile gods. The Lord God, ‘Jesus’ dispersed them to gentile nation bondage again. Jesus tells their millennial future through Isaiah.
(Isaiah 65:9-16; I will bring forth descendants from Jacob and from Judah, people to take possession of My mountains. My chosen ones will take possession of the land, My servants will live there. Sharon will become a pasture for sheep, and the Valley of Achor a place where cattle graze; they will belong to My people, who seek Me.
But as for you who abandon the Lord and forget about worshiping at My holy mountain, who prepare a feast for the god called, ‘Fortune’ and fill up wine jugs for the god called ‘Destiny,’ I predestine you to die by the sword, all of you will kneel down at the slaughtering block, because I called to you, and you did not respond, I spoke and you did not listen. You did evil before Me; you chose to do what displeases Me.
So this is what the sovereign Lord says; Look, My servants will eat, but you will be hungry! Look, My servants will drink, but you will be thirsty! Look, My servants will rejoice, but you will be humiliated! Look, My servants will shout for joy as happiness fills their hearts! But you will cry out as sorrow fills your hearts; you will wail because your spirits will be crushed. Your names will live on in the curse formulas of My chosen ones. The sovereign Lord will kill you, but He will give His servants another name. Whoever pronounces a blessing in the earth will do so in the name of the faithful God; whoever makes an oath in the earth will do so in the name of the faithful God. For past problems will be forgotten; I will no longer think about them.
For, look I am ready to create a new heavens and a new earth! The former ones will not be remembered; no one will think about them anymore. But be happy and rejoice forevermore over what I am about to create! For, look I am ready to create Jerusalem to be a source of joy, and her people to be a source of happiness. Jerusalem will bring Me joy, and My people will bring Me happiness. The sound of weeping or cries of sorrow will never be heard in her again.
Never again will one of her infants live just a few days or an old man die before his time. Indeed, no one will die before the age of a hundred, anyone who fails to reach the age of a hundred will be considered cursed. They will build houses and live in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. No longer will they build a house only to have another live in it, or plant a vineyard only to have another eat its fruit, for My people will live as long as trees, and My chosen ones will enjoy to the fullest what they have produced. They will not work in vain, or give birth to children that will experience disaster. For the Lord will bless their children and their descendants. Before they even call out, I will respond; while they are still speaking, I will hear.
A wolf and a lamb will graze together; a lion, like an ox, will eat straw, and a snake’s food will be dirt. They will no longer injure or destroy on My entire royal mountain,” says the Lord.)
A New Israel, A New Covenant.
The New Covenant is with a spiritually called out people the Lord chooses to be His own spiritual Israelites.
(John 1:11-13; Jesus came to what was His own, but His own people did not receive Him. But to all who have received Him; those who believe IN His name, He has given the right to become God’s children;–children not born by human parents or by human desire or a husband’s decision, but by God.)
Such are a people gifted to believe IN Jesus, and be parented by God the Father. Not by human decision, but God’s. Jesus’ own are spiritual Israelites, chosen by promises to Abraham. All faithful believers have Abraham for their example. Noah, Enoch, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Jesus’ prophets, apostles and all believers in Jesus are chosen. Their asset is believing in God! God reveals and all these believe. With belief comes trials, ‘obstacles like the demonic abominations the populous around us practice’ and our own inherited nature to overcome
Abraham was tested; consider that major test: God commanded him to sacrifice his promised son ‘Isaac’ and Abraham was willing; faithfully knowing that God was able to keep His promises. Knowing God would resurrect. (Review that promise, see Genesis 22)
What was this earth’s population like when Abraham was chosen? As today, the whole world’s populations were doing what seemed right to their inherited intellect, to their own fleshly instinctive nature. Each yielding to their notions about what’s right, wrong, good and evil, rather than believing God.
But, God had a plan then and now that He’d carried out in spite of deceived mankind yielding to Satan. God’s calling Abraham was a new beginning, making promises that included Jesus as ‘the Seed’ and the called spiritual heirs. God made Abraham a spiritual father to all who’d believe in Jesus. No apostasy in the way Abraham and Jesus’ followers believe.
(Hebrews 11:17-19; By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He had received the promises, yet he was ready to offer up his only son. God had told him, ‘Through Isaac your descendants will carry on your name’ and Abraham reasoned that God could even raise him from the dead, and in a sense he received him back from there.) Hebrews 11: is called the faith chapter for good reason, study the whole.
What about the apostasy taking place in this age? Religious folks would argue the point, but the simple truth is; ‘going against God’s Way and making Jesus’ teaching fit one’s own desired opinion is the apostasy.’ People’s intellectual fleshly inherited nature wants to go along, ‘go with the flow and follow what’s popular.’ God’s Way is truth, ‘let God be true though every person a liar.’ See Romans 3:4)
God had Abraham separate from the populations at large, ‘walk with Him and be His friend.’
Daniel was allowed to see this age. After foreseeing destructive rule on earth, he was allowed to see the future demise of Satan. Symbolically, Daniel saw ten horns representing rulers.
(Dan 7:20-28; I also wanted to know the meaning of the ten horns on its head, and of that other horn which came up and before which three others fell. This was the horn that had eyes and a mouth speaking arrogant things, whose appearance was more formidable than the others. While I was watching, that horn began to wage war against the holy ones and was defeating them, until the Ancient of Days arrived and judgment was rendered in favor of the holy ones of the Most High. Then the time came for the holy ones to take possession of the kingdom.
This is what He told me: ‘The fourth beast means that there will be a fourth kingdom on earth that will differ from all the other kingdoms. It will devour all the earth and will trample and crush it. The ten horns mean that ten kings will arise from that kingdom. Another king will arise after them, but he will be different from the earlier ones. He will humiliate three kings. He will speak words against the Most High. He will harass the holy ones of the Most High continually. His intention will be to change times established by law. They will be delivered into his hand for a time, times, and half a time. But the court will convene, and his ruling authority will be removed – destroyed and abolished forever!
Then the kingdom, authority, and greatness of the kingdoms under all of heaven will be delivered to the people of the holy ones of the Most High. His kingdom is an eternal kingdom; all authorities will serve Him and obey Him. This is the conclusion of the matter. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts troubled me greatly, and the color drained from my face. But I kept the matter to myself.)
The demonic apostasy that was beginning in Jude’s day has filled this earth. No need to set dates or put names and faces to these despots who are destined to persecute God’s holy ones, ‘Christians.’ They are destined to speak arrogantly against our Creator and trouble followers of Jesus. Christians hate what Satan is doing to this earth’s populations, but these things don’t seem to trouble today’s religious? More about Daniel another time.