Biblical History Part 4

Copied from the sermon notes of Pastor Don Elmore

November 20, 2016

Scripture Reading: John 10:26-28, 31

26) “But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.

27) My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

28) And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

31) Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.”

The strangest thing happened with this sermon. When I finally got it all finished, it was about 9:30 Friday morning. I copied my notes that were underneath my article and transferred them to another page. I then went to my article and saved it. I was then going to print it out for Randa to proof it.

So, when I went to file and then clicked on “save as,” a different procedure was in place to save as. I thought that that was unusual, but I clicked the save button. Then it was hours of trying to find out what happened. The short of the story is that I lost the entire article. So, on Saturday at 1:00 pm I began the entire process of trying to recreate the sermon.

I don’t know what happened, but I tried to rely on the message of the sermon to teach me a lesson,--Nothing happens without God’s permission. It is a little bit different, but the theme is the same.

Were you taught in the public school system that anyone can become president of the United States if that person wants it? Could your next-door neighbor, Susie, be a candidate when she became over thirty-five years old? What about your best friend, Bill?

In today’s multicultural world, it could be Ki-Ki or Quez or even a transgendered person. But they are told by their high school social studies teacher that they could be picked by either party to run for the presidency. But that would be counter to what the Bible would say.

The Bible declares that the “scepter shall not depart from Judah…” (Genesis 49:10). What does that mean? In fact, what do all the blessings that Jacob gave to these twelve sons mean, if they are not the truth? These verses show that all the sons of Jacob were not equal in everything. Nor were they supposed to be.

Honest Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address lied when he said: “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

This is, of course, referring to Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence. The language is that of the Enlightenment (perhaps even Masonry), but not the Bible. The Bible never declares that all men were created equal. In fact, quite the opposite. For example: Before the foundation of the world, the Israelites were chosen by God to be His wife (under both Old and New Covenants alike). This is an exceptionally privileged position, “above all people that are on the face of the earth.” In Romans 9:10-13, the Apostle Paul informs us that before Esau was born, he was destined to serve Jacob so that “the purpose of God according to election might stand.” It may not be politically or religiously correct, but men were created to be anything but equal.

Some Israelites were chosen to be leaders, others were engaged in the priesthood, others were involved in shipping, others were followers. Their DNA had to be different to produce qualities that displayed in leadership, or in following a spiritual ability in writing the Scriptures or being a teacher or a farmer.

The blood covenant made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was a special agreement that God made with them that lasted forever. These three patriarchal fathers would produce the 12 sons that would be the kingdom of heaven on earth.

Today’s lesson will deal with the second division of the tribe of Judah listed in Biblical History, Part 1: Judah received the Scepter vs. Levi the Priesthood and Joseph the birthright.

JUDAH RECEIVED THE SCEPTER

When Jacob was still living, he was told that Joseph had been killed. But he had been sold to some traders and taken to Egypt instead. Joseph, through the providence of God, rises to be the next in command in Egypt and when his brothers come to Egypt during the severe drought to beg for some food, they are eventually reunited.

Joseph has his entire family join him in Egypt, about 70 people. There they stay for 215 years, the last years serving as slaves to the Egyptians. God, once again, intervenes and brings them out of slavery, across the Gulf of Aqaba, to Mount Sinai.

Once at Mount Sinai, God gives them His laws for them to obey. The Israelites agree to keep all of them and they are married. Israel is to be blessed if they keep them; cursed if they are disobedient to them. And who was their first king?

Answer, the LORD God of Israel was their first king. From Abraham to Samuel, about 1,400 years, the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob served under a theocracy, a God-rule.

Where was God’s throne? It was in the inner sanctuary in the Tabernacle and later the Temple. Only the high priest of Israel could enter that room on one certain day of the year. He had to follow a certain procedure on that one day of the year or he was met with immediate death. Here is a scripture was shows where God lived:

Leviticus 1:1: “And the LORD called unto Moses, and spoke unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation…”

God ruled over Israel—he was their king. He was their king for 1400 years! Questions:

• What other nation or nations was He the ruler over? None, only Israel.
• As king, did He aid Israel in their battles against other peoples? Yes.
• Were His laws considered to be the best laws in the world? Yes. When followed, they were considered a wonder of the world.

When Samuel was old, he made his sons, Joel and Abiah, judges over Israel. But these two sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, took bribes, and perverted judgment. Therefore, the elders of Israel came to Samuel and said to him to remove his sons as judges and make us a “king to judge us like all the nations” (1 Samuel 8:5).

This was a major, kingdom changing event. Israel rejected the LORD God as being their king and demanded a king that they may also be like all the nations of the world. Israel gave up one of the major things that made them different from any other nations on the face of the earth. They had a king that was their God. Now they declared that they would have a king like the other nations to judge and lead them in battle. The Hebrew monarchy then began with the choosing of Saul.

Saul was of the tribe of Benjamin. He started out very good and his outward appearance was superior, “but the LORD looketh on the heart”(1 Samuel 16:7). Saul’s rule was mostly a down ruler ship, with a few up moves. He even intruded into the priest’s office and was rejected by God. Only a descendant of the tribe of Levi could be a priest and Saul was of the tribe of Benjamin. He failed to keep the commandment of God and therefore, for his bad behavior the LORD God would not establish his kingdom forever.

Saul also demonstrated incomplete obedience in the war against the Amalekites (Amalek, the grandson of Edom). God had commanded him to “…utterly destroy all that the Amalekites had, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.”

Time out! God commanded Saul to do what? Kill every one of the Amalekites! Men, women, boys, girls, infants and suckling. All of them with no exceptions. Ask a Judeo-Christian why? Why would the God of the covenant people command His people to kill every single one of the Amalekites? I thought that they believe that all peoples are created equal?

But he didn’t follow all the commands of the LORD. For he had spared the king of the Amalekites, and the sheep, lamb, and many of the oxen. When Samuel went to the king and asked him why he disobeyed the command of the LORD, he admitted his sin and said that it was done “…because he feared the people, and obeyed their voice” (1 Samuel 15:24). So much for democracy. The majority is usually wrong.

Samuel replied that because He had “rejected the word of the LORD, He hath also rejected thee from being king”(1 Samuel 15:23). So, Samuel requested that king Agag, the king of the Amalekites be brought to him and he hewed him in pieces before the LORD. Samuel did what? He killed the king of the Amalekites as the LORD had commanded. Samuel then departed and saw Saul no more until the day of his death.

The LORD then told Samuel to go to the city of Bethlehem and visit the family of Jesse. He had chosen one of his sons to be the next king. Samuel visits Jesse and he begins to parade his sons before him; from Abinadab, the eldest, to all seven of them. But a strange thing happened. God did not pick any of the seven to be anointed king.

Samuel then asks Jesse, “Are all thy children here?” (1 Samuel 16:11).

Jesse replies: “They are all here but the youngest. He is a shepherd and he is watching over the sheep.” Samuel then instructs Jesse to bring the youngest son here for we will not sit down till he comes.

David enters the room. “He was ruddy, and of a beautiful countenance, and handsome. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him, for this is he.

Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren; and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day onward”(1 Samuel 16:12-13).

So, the LORD of Israel tells Samuel to anoint with oil a 16-year-old lad to be the next king of Israel. Saul was still king, but David is picked to succeed him. And David will go through a most trying time in the next 14 years before he is crowned king of Judah. Would you have wanted to be David?

It begins very calm and peaceful and soon turns to terrific events that produces envy, joy, adoration, jealousy, hatred and even depression. Saul was troubled by an evil spirit. Saul told his messengers to seek a man who was a skillful player on a harp that he should play upon his harp and that Saul would be well.

One of his servants told Saul that he knew of such a man. It was the youngest son of Jesse who was a shepherd. The servant was instructed by Saul to bring this youngest son of Jesse to him. The two hit it off. Whenever Saul was troubled by the evil spirit, David would play on his harp, Saul was refreshed and became well, and the evil spirit departed.

But shortly the ancient enemy of the Israelites, the Philistines, gathered their armies together on one mountain to fight against the Israelites who were gathered together on a mountain on the other side. In between the two mountains was the valley of Elah.

During this time, David returned to the flock of sheep that he kept on the outskirts of Bethlehem. David’s three oldest brothers joined with Saul in the army that was gathered to fight against the Philistines.

After over a month, Jesse told David to go to the battle site and take some provisions to his three brothers and to let him know how they were doing. David joined his three brothers in the Israel camp, and soon found a disturbing situation. For forty days, a huge giant drew near morning and evening and presented himself saying:

“Why are ye come to set your battle in array? Am I not a Philistine, and ye servants of Saul? Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me.

If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants; but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants and serve us.

And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together” (1 Samuel 17:8-10).

When David heard these words, spoken by this huge champion of the Philistines, he saw all the soldiers of Israel flee from him in great fear. And the men of Israel told David that any man who goes and fights against this giant and kills him, “the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and makes his father’s house tax-free in Israel” (1 Samuel 17:25).

But David takes this “battle-to-the-death challenge” to heart. If no one in Israel’s army is brave enough to fight this monstrous giant, then he would. This 16-year-old, harp playing, shepherd, would be Israel’s champion to fight the huge, God-defying monster in “the death challenge”. Winner take all. The losers become the slaves to the winner. No sense in having many casualties from both sides—just have one.

One of David’s brothers immediately gives his reasons why David is foolish in saying such a thing. The soldiers that are around him confirm what his eldest brother said. Another example of the majority being wrong.

But David’s words were reported to king Saul. Saul requests David to report to him. Now remember, Saul knows David. He played the harp to make him well when he was troubled by an evil spirit. He also tries to reason with David telling him that he:

• Isn’t even in the army,
• He is but a youth,
• He hasn’t fought any battles,
• And he is going to fight against a very tall, strong, and mighty enemy who is a veteran of many conflicts.

But David told Saul of his perspective. While he was watching the sheep, a lion and a bear captured some of the sheep and had them in their mouth ready to kill them. But he went after them and smote them and delivered the sheep out of their mouths.

For God, had delivered him out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, and it would be the same way with this uncircumcised Philistine. God would deliver him out of his hand.

This convinced Saul. He was persuaded. He told David to “go and the Lord be with thee”(1 Samuel 17:37). David tries on the body armor but rejects it. He meets this great champion with his regular clothes and his sling-shot. He fights against the champion on the other side who is covered with body armor and even has a soldier in front of him carry a shield to protect him from arrows and stones.

As they approached each other in this battle to the death, Goliath cursed David. David went running at Goliath and said to him, “Thou come at me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield; but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defiled” (1 Samuel 17:45).

We all know who won. David slung one of his five stones (the other four for Goliath’s four brothers) which hit him directly in the forehead. He went to the ground whereupon David ran atop him and pulled out his sword and cut off his head. Everyone was stunned. A major upset had just occurred. The Philistines ran off in fear with the Israelites chasing them.

Now let’s think about this for a minute. Everyone on both sides felt that the giant would slay the youthful David in a few seconds, parading his head around in a glorious victory lap. Question: Could David have been killed in this fight with Goliath? No.

Why not. If David had died, would you believe anything else God had said? David had been anointed with oil to be the next king of Israel. His brothers were there when he was anointed. They should have been his biggest supporters. But they weren’t. What would you believe if David was torn to smithereens by this huge giant and he wasn’t ever the king over Israel. Doesn’t God love everybody? No.

God killed Goliath just like he intervened to help David kill the lion and the bear. He protected David, just like he did while he was keeping his father’s sheep. And God continued watching and protecting him.

• Saul attempts to kill David over 12 times in the coming years.

• Saul throws his spear at David three times on different occasions and misses every time.

• Saul makes David a commander of 1,000 men and he survives when the LORD was with him.

• Saul’s daughter is offered to David, if he will “fight the LORD’s battles like a valiant man.”He does and Saul’s daughter is given to another man.

• Saul offers his other daughter, Michal, to David if he would give him 100 Philistine foreskins. David presents him with 200 Philistine foreskins and marries her.

• Saul orders his son Jonathan and his servants to kill David. But Jonathan speaks good about David to his father and it does not come to pass.

• Saul sends messengers to David’s house to kill him. Michal lets David escape through a window and he flees.

• Saul sends three groups of men to Naioth to take David, but they all begin to prophesy. The attempt to kill David fails again.

• Saul sought to kill David every day, while David was in the wilderness with six hundred men. But God delivered him not in to his hand.

This continued until finally Saul was killed in battle. It was 14 years from the time David was anointed king of Israel until Saul died. Question: Could David have been killed or could he have even gotten sick and died before he became king of Israel?

The answer is again a very big NO! And David was still not anointed king over Israel. Most Christians are unaware that David was only crowned king over the tribe of Judah. Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, was made king in his stead. War was fought between Benjamin and Judah for 7 ½ years until a victor was found. Ishbosheth was king over more people and territory that David was until David was finally victorious. David ruled over Judah for 7 years and over all Israel for 33. Thirty-three. Hmmm. That’s an interesting number.

God’s word came to pass. David, a man after God’s own heart, became king over all the covenant people. David had his ups and downs, but he always repented of his failings. During his kingship, he desired to build God a magnificent, wonder-of-the-world, building for Him to reside in. No more tents, but a wonderful Temple.

God was pleased with this consideration that David had, and he told him that his son would be the one to build it. His job was to prepare for the building of it. And furthermore, God made this covenant with David,--that God would establish the kingdom to be ruled by David’s seed. In other words, because David decided to build God a great house, God would build David, in return, a great house. His seed would be the ruler of Israel.

2 Samuel 7:15-16:

15) “But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee.

16) And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee; thy throne shall be established forever.”

David’s sons would commit iniquity, and they would be punished, but they would still have mercy and keep the throne forever. Well, it didn’t take long for this to occur.

After Solomon’s death, a split happened in Israel. No longer did David’s sons rule over all Israel. They only ruled over the kingdom of Judah (the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi). The other ten tribes did not have the seed of David ruling over them. All the 20 kings of Judah were of David’s seed. His son, his grandson, his great-grandson, his great-great grandson and so forth, were the royalty of Judah.

There was a brief interruption, when they were ruled by a queen who was the descendant of Ahab and Jezebel of the House of Israel. She attempted to wipe out completely all the males of the House of David, and she eliminated all of them but a very young child who was providentially spared. And when this young seed of David reached the age of seven, he was crowned King of Judah. Athaliah, the queen, heard the noise and went to the Temple and saw who they had made king. She was immediately killed by the guards by the way by which the horses came into the king’s house.

The House of Israel had kings who were of Ephraim’s, Issachar’s, and other tribes’ seed besides David of Judah’s seed. They all were very evil kings. They were so evil that the house of Israel, after their split with the house of Judah, never worshiped the LORD God of Israel. They worshiped other gods; mainly the God of Baal. They even neglected the house that David wanted built to house the LORD God of Israel—the Temple at Jerusalem. The House of Israel built two other temples for their people to worship in. They even got for these new two houses of worship different men to be priests than the ones that God had said to use. No Levites were priests of these two houses. And likewise, no king of the house of David was king over the house of Israel when it was the northern nation of Israelites.

But what happened when the nation of Judah (Judah, Levi and Benjamin) was displaced into their captivities. The Assyrians and Babylonians totally ransacked Judah and they had to spend 70 years in the land of their captives. When about 40,000 of the captives returned to Judah after being in captivity for 70 years, who became the king of Judah? There was no descendant of David on the throne. They didn’t have a king for about 500 years, until Herod. But Herod was not a descendant of David. He wasn’t even an Israelite. He was an Edomite (Jew).

So, what happened to the Davidic covenant? Was it true or not? We are left with a choice:

Either...

The LORD put his promise of the eternal throne of David on the back-burner for over 500 years before fulfilling His promise to David in Jesus (who never actually took the throne) and, then again, putting the promise on the back-burner for at least another 2000 years before the return of Jesus Christ, at which time He will somehow claim a throne that nobody remembers and has not existed anywhere since King Zedekiah’s time…

OR…

The LORD has remained true to His promise and has actively watched over the throne of David throughout history, keeping it ready for the return of Christ, who will claim His rightful throne and rule His covenant people once again.

Jeremiah 33:17:

17) “For thus saith the LORD, David shall never lack a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel…”

This verse doesn’t say that someone (male) of the tribe of Judah will sit upon the throne of the House of Israel or it doesn’t say that someone of the house of Abinadab, one of David’s brothers, will sit upon the house of Israel, but someone of the house of Davidwill sit upon the throne of the House of Israel.

After the House of Israel was scattered among the heathen, the command of God was that David’s seed would rule over them. The kingdom that refused any of David’s seed to rule over them for over 200 years of their existence, would now have them to rule over them, even if most of the people didn’t know that their kings were from the seed of David.

Psalm 89:3-4:

3) “I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David, my servant:

4) Thy seed will I establish forever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.

The LORD swore to David that his offspring would never be wiped out. They would always exist. His throne would be for all generations.

Psalm 89:28-37:

28) “My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.

29) His seed also will I make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven.

30) If his children forsake my law, and walk not in mine ordinances,

31) If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments;

32) Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.

33) Nevertheless, my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor allow my faithfulness to fail,

34) My covenant will I not break, nor will I alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.

35) Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.

36) His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me.

37) It shall be established forever like the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.”

The throne shall endure as long as the sun and moon. It is a faithful witness. This is confirmed in the holy Scriptures:

Luke 1:32-33:

32) “And He (Jesus) shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father, David.

33) And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end.”

It shouldn’t then be a surprise when you learn that all of Europe’s kings are related. And some say that all but one of America’s presidents are related to the English kings.

What a minute. Now I get it. What gospel was preached by Jesus and His disciples.

Matthew 4:23

23) “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.”

The gospel (good news) of the kingdom. What kingdom? This is the kingdom that Judeo-Christians do not know about. I didn’t know what it was when I was in their churches. I even asked about it and was promised a Sunday sermon about it, but the preacher had to renege. He didn’t know it either.

This kingdom was the same kingdom that God was once the king over. At His birth, it was in a deplorable state. It was mainly in a state of divorcement and was ruled over by their enemies and those that hated them. What good news this was. Once again the kingdom would be soon united. The Savior would come and die in place of them. He would fulfill the animal sacrifices.

The kingdom would be reestablished to God and be reconciled to each other. The two kingdoms would be one.

Luke 12:31-32:

31) “But rather seek ye the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you.

32) Fear not, little flock: for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

Isn’t that the best news that a Christian could hear. Didn’t a few Christians even write in the name of Jesus Christ when they voted for president? Don’t we want to return to the way that it used to be?

The world wants their God, Lucifer, to be the ruler of the world. We want our God, to once again be the king of our kingdom, the covenant people of God. It is a battle of our God verses their god.

The word “kingdom”is used throughout the Bible. We have the parables of the kingdom. The words, “Thy kingdom come”is in the Lord’s prayer. But “Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.”

And, “But those mine enemies, who would not that I should reign over them, bring here, and slay them before me”(Luke 9:27). Seems like politics and God’s law mix. Separation of Church and State is another Jewish myth.

It is apparent that the covenant people after a long, long trial of other kings will go back to the theocracy that they once had when they were married to Jesus Christ. I think that Israel is tired of all the bad kings that they have had. We, in the United States, are tired of all the corrupt politicians. We want Jesus Christ to be our king.

Blessed be the LORD God of Israel.

To be continued.