Genesis 1:1
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."
From here let's go all the way to chapter 12 where the flood and the tower of Babel is now history, and the new human race is on the scene, and remember we're not yet billions since we're only about 400 years this side of the flood, but there's still lots of people, probably a few million. Here we are at 2000 BC and we have the beginning of the Jewish nation with the call of Abram as the seed within his bowls or loins. Now look at what it says.
Genesis 12:1
"Now the LORD had said unto Abram, (Abraham) `Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:'"
Now why do you suppose God told him to leave his home and the country wherein it stood? One reason is that it was as was all the nations in abstract paganism except one very small group of men who had been keeping Abram for almost 30-40 years until it was safe for him to return to his fathers house and family. You may ask how does he know this? Because of two books not in our Bibles any longer, they being Enoch and Jasher. These two books have a lot to say about our early history which the Bible leaves out or has a blank post for. And here's what frustrates me they fill in these holes and bring new meaning to some of the quotes made by Jesus, Paul and others of the old prophets, Moses being one. Now on to the land which means what it says, and it says what it means. Where is land? On the planet. Now we're not talking about something up in Heaven, though for those of the new birth Christ is indeed the Beulah land or our land of spiritual promise. The land that with Abram God caused their eyes to be fixed upon because it contained the city not made by mans hands and which is eternal in the heavenlies. But this is not the land we're talking about the land here is something on the planet earth. Now verse 2. God says to this one man -
Genesis 12:2-3
"And I will make of thee a great nation, (and of course it's the Nation of Israel or is it? Because those who acquire the obedience of trusting God or that take of Him, His word, He says that He'll) and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."
You see those who have acquired the trusting in and then the faith of God through love of God will be blessed of God through Christ. Now hang onto that, and come all the way over to chapter 13, and let's just drop in at verse 14.
Genesis 13:14-17
"And the LORD said unto Abram, (Abraham) after that Lot was separated from him, `Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered (now the dust here is Israel as they are earthy, carnal, practical or of the flesh which is simply to say: that all who mind the things of this world are of NO heavenly good). Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.'"
Here's our reason for doing all this. Is this a heavenly promise or an earthly promise? Well it's earthly! All of this is earthly. We're going to have a geographical area of land over there on the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, and they're going to multiply as the sand of the seashore (people). Now this is all earthly. Everything that God is going to continue to promise this man, in fact let's just take a brief run at some of this. Come on up to Genesis 46, and by now several hundred years have elapsed. Abraham has come and gone. Isaac has come and gone but remember he's the promised son so he's what? Spiritual. Jacob (he wrestled with the angel of the Lord and his hip was touched and placed out of joint which caused him to be lame, earthy) is now filling the scene with his 12 sons, and Joseph, one of his sons, is down in Egypt. Famine has hit Canaan and the rest of the world, but Joseph has the remedy because he piled up the grain in the good years. Now remember God has told Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to "stay in Canaan. Don't you go down into Egypt, because you'll get into trouble", and the family knew that. But now God does something different. How can God now tell them to go down in Egypt? Well because He's a Sovereign God, and God can do whatever He wants to do. It's now time for Jacob to do something that was anathema to him before. God says, "Go down into Egypt for I have a reason." Now in verse 1.
Genesis 46:1-2
"And Israel (Jacob) took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beer-sheba, and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac. (Beer-sheba is down south of Jerusalem about 80 miles, and is almost due east of Goshen in Egypt where Israel would finally go into slavery) And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, 'Jacob, Jacob', And he said, 'Here am I'. And he said, 'I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt: for I will there (in Egypt) make of thee a great nation':"
Was that a heavenly promise or an earthly one? Earthly. There is nothing of heavenly value here. This is an earthly people with earthly promises, and now Jacob is told to go on down into Egypt where his son Joseph is, because in God's eternal purposes what's going to happen? The Hebrews are going to have a population explosion, and they're going to come out of Egypt some 215 years later with a population of 5-7 million people. And that number would be more numerous than any other nation in the Middle East. All right, God's purposes required that they had to go down into Egypt, they had to go into slavery, they had to be ready to come out when Moses led them out. It was all part of the divine purpose, but what we're emphasizing is, it was all earthly. Remember that's why we came here from Ephesians 1:10.
All the way up through the Old Testament we see that God never speaks of the Nation of Israel going to Heaven or being numbered among the stars. When they die or the nation becomes a full participant in the Covenant promises, it's always on the earth, and never lose sight of that. All the promises that God makes to the Nation of Israel after Isaac, are earthly promises. Why do you suppose this was? Because they were as we all are, spiritually dead to Him because of sin and remember that sin is unbelief, (lawlessness and wickedness) as contained in this one word iniquity, which is used often within the Old Testament. When we understand that then when Christ begins to minister to the Nation of Israel in Matthew it's the same thing. Jesus doesn't tell them to prepare for the glory land, they're to prepare for what? This coming Kingdom of which their Messiah is going to be the King. As the material fulfillment of these earthy promises but what did they do? And why did they do it? They miss read or miss understood the language used of God which was spoken to them and then written down but even in the writing it was askew. And why? Because the veil of evil which was upon them because they had an evil heart within them. Just as all mankind does from the moment of the fall into death and sin through that death.
Let us take you to Daniel chapter 2. Let's drop in at verse 35, and of course Daniel is interpreting the dream that King Nebuchadnezzar had, and this is part of the dream. The king sees this great image with the head of gold and the chest of silver, and the belly of brass, and the legs of iron and the feet and toes made of iron mixed with clay. This was a picture of all the great Gentile Empires that were in proximity with Israel. That's why we do not feel that America herself is in prophecy. Remember all prophecy deals only with the nations of world that had something to do with Israel in the past, and America hasn't. Now there may be a lot of Hebrews in America, but that doesn't count for that.
Because all the nations in the Old Testament historical setting that had proximity with Israel are in prophecy. So we have all these empires. First the great one was the Babylon, then came the Medes and Persians, then the Greeks, and finally the Romans. These were all in the area of Jerusalem or Palestine which surrounded it and had to do with the Nation of Israel. Then lastly the ten toes of iron and clay, we feel are the revived Roman Empire which is western Europe as we see it coming to the forefront today. Watch western Europe because it's coming up, up and just be aware. European companies are buying up American companies, and we're losing our clout, and they're gaining. We know that the day will come when Western Europe will be the empire of the world. Now verses 35 and 44. So as this whole Gentile system then finally prepares for it's demise, (Psalm 2:9, Romans 12) the Second visible Coming of Christ at the end of the Tribulation-
Daniel 2:35a
"Then was the iron, the clay,..."
This image was standing so Daniel is starting with the feet. It's like a giant roller is going to come and smash it, and start rolling over its feet. This represents the coming of Christ, and He will destroy first the empire that is contemporary with that day which is the revived Roman empire. Then in this revived Romans empire are all the remains of the previous empires. Now if we know anything about history, we know that banking, and business, and money for usury began at Babylon. That's why the Hebrews settled down so quickly in Babylon. Then came the Medes and Persians and many of their attributes are still with us today. Then the Greek culture is still very evident also, and the Romans were very careful not to destroy these cultures, and integrated them into their own empire. So much of Greek philosophy, architecture and literature are still with us. Now comes the Roman empire, and the primary thing that is still with us today that began with Rome was our whole system of courts and law. Rome was the first empire to "declare a man innocent until he was proven guilty". See that's why the Apostle Paul appealed to Rome, because even Israel wouldn't give him a fair trial. That's when he told them, "Since you won't give me a fair shake then I appeal to Caesar." Paul knew that in Caesar's court he would have as good a chance to be proven innocent, and then be released. That's what we have in all those previous empires, but now look what happens when Christ comes -
Daniel 2:35
"Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; (totally annihilated) and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them (the Romans just dissolved from the visible scene): and the stone (which is Christ at His Second visible Coming) that smote the image (and destroyed the world system) became a great mountain, (or Kingdom) and filled the whole earth."(this just fits so nicely with Psalm 2 and verse 9) now to verse 44:
Daniel 2:44
“In the days of these kings shall the God (this is Christ) of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.” (again Psalm2:9; Matthew 21:44; Revelation 2:26-27, 12:5; now back to Jeremiah 19:11, Isaiah 60:12)
Notice it filled the whole earth. See how plain this is? Before I progress what one name is missing or is it included among the term nations? The name of Israel, and why is that? Contemplate this for a while. Now let's back up for a moment to the Book of Isaiah chapter 2, and verse 2. Remember this earthly aspect is all we're talking about in the Ephesians 1:10 when all things are going to be finally consummated in that final dispensation, or final 1000 years. That's why we wanted to come back here and reconstruct the earthly promises, because they're all going to be aligned with the heavenly promises of the Church, and it's all going to come under one umbrella of Christ. Now they're not going to be mixed like a lot of folks are trying to do today. They're still going to maintain their separate entities, but they're both under the headship of Christ, the King of Kings and LORD of Lords. And we'll be dealing with the heavenly part when we finish the earthly.
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