Fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant Promises: To Become Kings, Part 1
Notes on Pastor Lawrence's Bible Study Course
Fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant Promise:
TO BECOME KINGS, Part 1
Pastor Don Elmore's Review Notes
The promise was first given to Abraham: "I will make you exceedingly fruitful,and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you" -- Genesis 17:6.
Then it was made to Abraham's grandson: Jacob/Israel: "Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him. God said to him, 'Your name is Jacob; you shall not longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.' Thus He called him Israel. God also said to him, 'I am God Almighty; be fruitful and multiply: a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come forth from you" -- Genesis 35:9-11.
The promise was fulfilled through Jacobs fourth-born son: Judah. "Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons shall bow down to you. Judah is a lion's whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up, he couches, he lies down as a lion, and as a lion, who dares rouse him up? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and to him shall be the obedience of the people" -- Genesis 49:8-10.
The word scepter is shown in scripture to signify kingly authority and royalty (Esther 4:11); it is used to describe the authority of God in His Kingdom (Psalm 45:6); and Psalm 45:6 is restated in Hebrews 1:8 referring to Jesus Christ. Heraldic symbol of the Lion of Judah is found in the British Royal Arms, Arms of the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Belgium....
Unknown to most Christians is the ancient history of Europe. 1 Chronicles 2:3 begins the chronological history of Judah's descendants. Judah had five sons; two were killed by GOD before they had children; another had a Canaanite wife and he had two children by his daughter-in-law who had been widowed--Tamar. Tamar gave him two twin sons: Pharez and Zerah.
Pharez had two sons and from one of these sons came our Savior; Zerah had five sons (1 Chronicles 2:6):
- Zimri
- Ethan
- Heman
- Calcot
- Darda
Almost all of the European kings trace their lineage to Troy through Brutus. Who founded Troy's royal line? "Dardanus is said to have built Troy [1487 BC] about thirty-four years before the Exodus" -- British History Traced from Egypt and Palestine, p. 27, L. G. A. Roberts. "Daranus...became the founder of the royal house of Troy" -- Encyclopedia Britannica, 1943 Edition, Vol. 7, p. 56. Dardanus/Darda was one of the five sons of Zerah, son of Judah.
Darda's descendent "Brutus the Trojan, the reputed founder of the City [of London or New Troy]" begins royal dynasty of Britain around 1103 B.C. -- Prehistoric London, pp. 8, 83-107, E. O. Gordon.
This just gives a short story of one of Zerah's five sons: Darda. Many of the Greek and Italian cities and later many of the cities of Ireland and England had descendants of Israelites. And many descendants of Zerah, whose father was Judah--carried the promise of God of the scepter.
The Bible tells us of many of the descendants of Pharez--the other son of Judah. David was the main descendant who was told that his descendants would be king over the House of Israel forever.
According to Luke 1:31-33, Jesus was to be given the throne of His father, David, and rule over the house of Jacob forever. "And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He 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: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end."
Who are the house of Jacob that Jesus Christ was given the throne? Jacob's name was changed to Israel--the house of Israel: 13 tribes; 11 sons of Israel and the 2 grandsons of Joseph. In Acts 2:29, 20 the Apostle Peter confirmed that our Savior would be seated on the throne of David: "Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;...."
At the time of the Apostle Peter, the house of Israel had been cut off from the covenant of God; with Him in the world; but by the blood of Jesus Christ they have been reunited with the House of Israel. But this presented many problems--for example, the House of Judah could not even eat with them for over 700 years. But now they were believing and becoming members of the church.
The believing Pharisees said to the Apostles that they (the house of Israel) had to become circumcised according to Moses as was the house of Judah. There was a large discussion on this topic in Acts 15. Simon Peter settled the argument by quoting from the prophet Amos. He said the "...God at first did visit the GENTILES, to take out of them a people for his name" (verse 14). In Amos it says that "...I will sift the HOUSE OF ISRAEL among all nations,...." (verse 9).
Are the "people" taken "from among the Gentiles" in Acts 15:14 the same as the ones specifically described in Amos 9:9 and as being the "House of Israel among all nations"? Does this not show the deliberate mistranslations in our Bibles!
Can anyone become king? Who was given the blessing of the scepter? Isn't is significant that our coming King was born in the same tribe that had the gift of the scepter. The sons of David were the only kings of Judah--After Jerusalem was sacked in 586 B.C. and the House of Judah was taken captive to Babylon, we no longer have a biblical record of any more kings ruling from the line of Judah/David. Did God's promise fail? Or did Judah and David's descendants continue their God-ordained role as kings over the many Israelite nations that had spread throughout Europe?
(To be continued)
