Joseph A Cortes

TeachingFaith Ministries

The Last Days

Volume 10

The Last Days: Volume 10 - PS 83

Table of Contents Page

Chapter One: God Will Have The Last Laugh 1

Chapter Two: Israel Divided (cont.) 11

Chapter Three: The Sins of Israel & Judah 22

Chapter Four: History of Judah 31

Chapter Five: Jeremiah’s Commission 43

Chapter Six: Did God Keep His Promise? 52

Chapter Seven: Go Marry A Whore 60

Chapter Eight: A Look at Romans 66

Chapter Nine: Romans (cont.) 73

Chapter Ten: Romans 9 81

Chapter Eleven: Romans 10 86

Chapter Twelve: Romans 10 (cont.) 94

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God Will Have The Last Laugh

Open your bible to Psalm 2 in the Old Testament.

This is one of those messages I preach once in a while that specifically shows off God’s Word.

When He says something, something is going to happen. I guess almost every message I preach

does that but once in a while I like to take secular history and match it up with God’s Word to

show you that it did come to pass and God kept His Word. This is one of those messages.

Let’s start with verse 1.

“Why do the heathen rage...” Or another translation is tumultuously assemble. “...and the

people imagine a vain thing?” Or meditate a vain thing. Why? “The kings of the earth set

themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his

anointed.”

Hotshot kings. Oh, they think they are in control of the present and the future. It was the same

thing back when David wrote this. The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take

counsel together against the Lord, and his anointed. They gather themselves together and rage,

and tumultuously assemble, and meditate a vain thing. They are not meditating on how they are

going to worship the Lord, and treat kindly the ones that do. Just the opposite.

Verse 3 goes on to say, “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.”

See, they really think that they can throw a Christian in jail because they are preaching the Word

of God and it will keep them from carrying out what God has planned for them to accomplish as

His instrument. Just because you throw them in prison does not mean they are in bondage. Oh

yes, in the here and now they are but Paul wrote more letters in prison which became epistles in

the New Testament, the inspired Word of God by the Holy Spirit through him, that gives us

insight into God’s own mind if you think about it. He did that behind bars. Actually, in pits too,

dungeons.

“Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the

heavens shall laugh.” The title of this message is God Shall Have the Last Laugh—and He’s

laughing all along too. These kings, these rulers, these governments, these politicians, no matter

what country you are in, do you think you’ve got everything under control? God allows certain

things to happen, but He has the last laugh. He knows what the end result is going to be.

Verse 4, “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.

Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex [trouble] them in his sore displeasure.

Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.” It should read, Yet have I anointed my king

upon Zion, the hill of my holiness. “I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me,

Thou art my Son: this day have I begotten thee.”

This is referring to a future event that still has not happened, because the one who will sit on that

holy hill of Zion will “break them with a rod of iron” according to verse 9. Iron indicates the

severity and the harshness of the judgment that is still yet to come on these kings and rulers and

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anyone else. “Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. Be wise now therefore, O ye

kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with

trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is

kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.”

See, I read a lot of history and I read it over and over. I dig up as much as I can. Just because I

think I have something figured out about what happened, as far as we know what happened in

history, doesn’t mean I let it go. I try to get my hands on everything and just keep researching,

reading and discovering even if it is just a little new thing to add into the knowledge I already

have concerning secular history and how it matches up with biblical history and how God has

kept His word all along.

Now this is something that is going to happen. I know some preachers think it is not referring to

the Messiah, Jesus the Christ, but I am telling you right now, that is exactly what this is referring

to: God shall have the last laugh and His son is coming with a rod of iron; “He that sitteth in the

heavens shall laugh”.

I can only imagine God sitting there, Jesus at His right side, looking down upon this world, how

all these hotshots think they have the world in their grip. From the fleshly perspective it seems

like that because we are here in the world. It’s like when you go to the polls, people vote on what

they wish here in California, a proposition. It wins by a majority but then the court system

overrules it. Then eventually if it gets to the Supreme Court, they’ll give a confusing opinion

about whatever the subject matter is. I don’t want to get into it now, but just recently something

like that happened here in California and the governor signed it into law. So, the will of the

people really didn’t matter much. They voted against what eventually happened, but their voices

were not heard. You hear all the time “Go vote,” or “It’s your civic duty as a citizen of this

country,” “Vote so your voice can be heard.” Maybe at one time in this country, but no longer.

No longer. I’m not telling you to go or not go. That is your choice. It is these kings of the earth,

the rulers, and the councils that dictate what they think our destiny is. Most people just give up

the fight. Well, God doesn’t. He allows all these governments and the rulers of these

governments from a local little municipality to a big city to a nation. I am telling you right now,

God is going to have the last laugh in this whole big mess called Earth.

Why am I preaching on Psalm 2? Just imagine you are in 70 AD. Everyone that has heard me

preaching The Last Days series knows what happened in 70 AD. The Romans came in and they

destroyed the city of Jerusalem and its temple. Everybody thought that was the end of the then-

known nation of Israel. Actually, the resistance did not end in 70 AD. The resistance kept on for

about another 65 years. Now most of the citizens of Jerusalem fled in 70 AD and the people of

the known nation of Israel at that time, which mostly consisted of the House of Judah, were still

called Israel. Most fled, but some stayed behind.

Now let me just share something with you: their flight can actually be traced genetically, a feat

that can only be accomplished if the group being tracked was moving rapidly and only in one

direction. And of course having done this, one large group headed across northern Africa and

ended up in Spain and Portugal. They became known as the Mediterranean Jews. The other

group moved up through Turkey and into Eastern Europe. They became known as the European

Jews. (There are other names for them too, but I am trying to keep this fairly simple

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geographically.) These certain groups left and they fled to these areas, plus they took with them

their own denominational viewpoints of how Judaism should be practiced. But not all the Jews

left. There were pockets of them that just stuck around and they kept resisting during different

periods in that 65 year stretch. They kept getting into the Romans craw, under their skin. They

kept being a problem for the Romans.

Of course all of you have heard of one of the uprisings. There has been movies and

documentaries about the uprising in 73 AD, three years after the destruction of Jerusalem and the

temple, the tragedy at Masada. Masada is up high on a mountain top. They put up a resistance

but eventually the Romans figured out a way to get up there and were able to get to them. Instead

of fighting, because they knew their death was eminent anyway, they decided to take their lives.

Almost a thousand people died in that particular Jewish resistance. Archaeologists actually found

the potshards with the soldier's names still on them, and the information that the doomed

individuals that were up there used to figure out who would die first. Of course they drew lots to

determine that outcome: the "winner" actually being the man that, after all the other men had put

their own families to death, took on the responsibility of executing all the others before taking

his own life. I can’t even imagine that, folks. Now you would think the last of the resistance died

there in 73 AD. Most fled in 70 AD to Spain or Portugal and those areas, and the rest through

Turkey to western Europe, but the resistance didn't die. The tragic event at Masada was followed

by the Bar Kochba revolt. Some of you may have heard of it. I’ll cover it briefly. That revolt can

be blamed on the Roman Emperor Hadrian.

Now the Roman Emperor-General Titus, at that time, presided over the earlier destruction of

Jerusalem and ultimately Masada, and he then became emperor in the Roman Empire. Domitian

followed Titus. He was another fervent follower of pagan deities and paganism. He revived all

kinds of cult practices, including the practice which demanded worship of the Emperor. The

result of that lead to a lot of Christians dying, but also Jews under his rule. Then after he was

gone, in 98 AD, came Hadrian. His name is actually, Publius Aelius Traianus Hadrianus

Augustus.

Hadrian thought after Masada (73 AD) that the Jews that were still left in the Promised Land,

especially around Jerusalem, were not going to revolt, not rebel. The numbers were not there

compared to 70 AD. And he thought the destruction of Jerusalem and the tragedy at Masada

would be good reminders. And if what happened at Masada didn’t remind them, the Romans

were not going to take it: they won’t let their homeland be theirs again. But in his conniving way

he devised a plan and tricked the remaining Jewish citizens that were still there that he would

rebuild the temple. And the Jews that were there thought, “Wow! Our temple is going to be

rebuilt. Hallelujah. Great news!” But the problem started shortly after when they discovered

what Hadrian meant by building a temple, including building a temple in the same spot where

the previous temple was destroyed. What Hadrian intended to do was not rebuild the temple that

was previously there, where Jews would go to worship and sacrifice amongst other things, but

build a Roman temple, and not just any temple, a temple built to honor the Roman God Jupiter—

which if you trace it down, has moon-god and sun-god definitions attached to it. He was going to

build this Jupiter temple right on top of the ruins of the second temple on the mount in

Jerusalem.

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Hadrian dispatched construction teams to the site of the temple, and his crews plowed it under.

They then started construction of a new Roman city (according to the Roman viewpoint) called

Aelia Capitolina, and it was to include all types of temples, not just the Jupiter temple, but other

temples dedicated to multiple Roman Gods. Then at the same time he decided he was going to

outlaw circumcision for the remaining Jews that were in the area.

That was the straw that broke the camel’s back for the remaining Jews there. One of the leaders

of the Sanhedrin, Rabbi Akiva, found someone willing, a warrior-type individual named Simon

Bar Kosiba as the Hope of Israel. Now he was given a different name when he was elected and

chosen to lead this new rebellion. His name (Kosiba) was changed to Bar Kokhba, which

literally means a son of a star. Bar Kokhba—which if you’ve heard the story is probably a name

you do remember—valiantly led an attack against Roman forces, and he won. The Jews that

were still in that area enjoyed one final victory at that time. They cut off the Roman garrison in

Jerusalem and managed to hold that particular territory for nearly three years, restoring not really

a sovereign version of Israel, but a little community as it was very condensed in area. Because of

the victory, they started minting their own coins using the Roman coins already in existence.

There simply stamped on top of those and even had their own financial currency that blocked out

any Roman involvement in the financial aspect of prosperity, if there was any in that particular

area at that time .

The Jewish rebellion caused many Roman casualties. You can guess that it did not sit well with

Rome. Hadrian had had enough. So he decided to put the remaining Jews that were there in

Israel in their place, destroy them really. He was furious and he would not let up until everything

was destroyed. In the summer of 135 AD, Bar Kokhba's revolt was brutally crushed at a fortress

named Betar located in the Judean highlands. Roman forces laid siege to the fortress, and the

ensuing battle went on until, according to the Jerusalem Talmud, the Roman's horses "were

submerged in blood to their nostrils."

In addition, Hadrian, in his madness, in his hatred of the Jewish problem, then tried to eradicate

the faith altogether. He prohibited the Law and the Hebrew calendar and burned a Torah scroll

on the temple mount. He executed most of the Sanhedrin (including Rabbi Akiva) and the Torah

scholars he could find. He went on a rampage. He wiped Israel off the map, and renamed it Syria

Palestina. Furthermore, he banned any Jews from entering Jerusalem from that point on while he

was still alive. Remember, it was plowed under years before and had now become the Roman

city, Aelia Capitolina.

Now the interesting part about all this history is the details in God’s Word. God had already

predicted what I just summarized for you and how it was going to happen hundreds of years

before it ever came to pass. God revealed the event to His chosen people, in detail. He used the

prophet Micah. Most preachers don’t preach on Micah. Micah deals mostly with the nation

Israel, the northern ten tribes, but also has something to say about Zion. When you are talking

about Zion, you are talking about the House of Judah and Jerusalem.

Go to Micah 4:1, “But in the last days it shall come to pass,”—we will look at this in the

future. it was not the last days in 135 AD. But if you read Micah, let’s just start with verse 3:10

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“They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for

reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet

will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon

us.”

Just because you start up a revolt and think you are fighting against the most powerful nation in

the world at that time, does not make you in God’s will. In their case, it wasn’t because

according to God’s timing and timeline it was not time for Israel to be re-established. 135 AD

would be 1800 years too soon. So it says in verse 12 of chapter 3, “Therefore shall Zion for

your sake be plowed as a field”. Highlight that. This is where we show off God’s Word.

“Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps,

and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.” And that is exactly what

happened.

Jeremiah also references Micah in chapter 26 verse 18. “Micah the Morasthite prophesied in

the days of Hezekiah king of Judah [so he is prophesying to the House of Judah], and spake to

all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a

field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of

a forest.”

Now some think the Babylonians did that. They destroyed quite a bit, but you have to look at key

things that happened in history to create timelines, and not just produce assumptions about what

you think God’s Word says and where it should be applied. That is why I study secular history

along with biblical history, because certain things come along those timelines that stand out like

a marker so you can create timelines.

I am sure the Bar Kokhba revolt and the Sanhedrin was hopefully thinking that , “Okay, the

Romans get the message now, we are going to fight back again, and we did them in. Many lives

were lost in the Roman forces. Maybe they will just go away and we can rebuild Israel as a

sovereign nation again.” Well no, not if it goes against God’s timing. That is why it is so

important to know what God’s Word says.

So Jeremiah is referencing what Micah just said. “Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed

as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high

places of the forest.”

Remember, Hadrian wiped Israel off the map and he renamed it Syria Palestinia. It was not

always known as Palestine. And he banned the Jews from entering Jerusalem. God did what He

promised. No doubt about it.

What is clearly evident in showing off God’s Word is what Hadrian did afterwards: he was so

proud of himself in what he did putting down that rebellion, he had a coin struck, one that

depicts him (remember he was the Emperor of Rome) behind a plow.

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This is an old coin. On the left side is

Hadrian. On the reverse side you see the

animals being used as the instrument to

plow through Jerusalem. On the far left of

the reverse side of that coin you can see a

figure, which is a man, Hadrian standing

behind a plow. He had this coin struck to

send a message that once and for all

(remember that, once and for all) he

eradicated the Jewish homeland.

This coin is a key marker when you are putting timelines together. That is why I take this

seriously. That is why I seem angry a lot with all the Christian science fiction out there that puts

out such nonsense. They do not have a clue to let us know where we are in God’s timeline

because they don’t know key markers that clearly state what happens. Now it should have been

evident in 135 AD for anyone that survived and saw this coin struck to make a point about it

whether you were a Christian or a Jew, but it was not God’s timing yet, I guess, for that to be

understood. Hadrian thought he finally, once and for all, eliminated, eradicated the Jewish

homeland.

Back to Psalm 2. “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in

derision.”

Well my friend, Israel and the House of Judah is alive and well today. Maybe not well in a

spiritual sense, but well as far as what God promised according to his futuristic timeline that He

created. Nations, governments, rulers can do what they will but the end will not change in how it

all is going to come down to the rod putting nations in derision. It will come to pass. You cannot

thwart the plans of God the Father and his only begotten Son. God is sitting up there with Jesus

Christ laughing. The Messiah will still take the throne in Zion. Period.

He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. Why? Because He’s saying, “I control history. Yes, I

allow things to happen throughout history’s timeline, but no nation, no ruler has the complete

control that they think they do”—including in this country, the United States of America,

including what is known as Israel today in the Middle East, or any other nation. God is in

control. Don’t you love it when God’s Word is shown off by using secular history to prove what

happens during history’s timeline. You cannot deny what Hadrian did. He plowed it and he

commemorated it with him behind a plow being pulled by beasts of burden, to memorialize the

destruction and the complete eradication of the Jews and their homeland.

Well, Mr. Hadrian, Mr. Bigshot, you were wrong. God does keep His Word, forever it is settled.

It does not change.

You have to be blind as a bat not to see the key markers along the way, and there are many of

them. I will touch on a few here and there on occasion as we march along through this series.

This is just another quick summary of what happened in God’s Word and He will have the last

laugh. And if He is in control of nations, governments and rulers, that are not serving Him,

imagine us who are serving Him, who are worshipping Him, who are adoring Him, how much

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more He will make sure we are under His control. No matter what comes our way, what comes

through our path, what journey we are on.

To finish up this message, our enemies might laugh but God will have the last laugh. As they say

on the street, He has our back, and then some. He is living in us, we are living temples which He

desires to place Himself in. It does not say we are going to be immune to persecution, hardships,

trials, and afflictions, but we have the promise that He will never forsake us or leave us. We just

have to keep on trusting and having confidence in Him. God’s Word proves it time in and time

out. The great tragedy of Christianity and why so many fall by the wayside is because there are

not enough people rightly dividing the Word of God to show you the evidence, that I have so

many times, concerning Hebrews 11. I know how it is preached everywhere else. But this ain’t

everywhere else.

Verse 1,“Now faith is the substance”—no, it is the FOUNDATION—“of the things hoped for,

the evidence”—the PROOF—“of things not seen.”

God will always be there because He has always been there, by looking back, He hasn’t failed.

What He said has come to pass.

Micah is writing this almost 700 years before the event. Jeremiah even quotes him. It came and

went along with so many other things that we’ve covered in this series up to this point. God is

not a man to lie. He does keep His Word. That is why we need to have a tight grip on it and Him;

to know what it says, not to over spiritualize it like so many do, but know what it says in context,

that gives us the proof that we need to see, that we can see time and time again, what has already

come and gone.

Most of history is behind us, a very small portion of it is left. God hasn’t disappeared from the

scene. He is sending His son. They are going to get the last laugh. And guess what? We are

going to be right behind Him. And if he wants us to laugh along with Him, we will if that is our

instruction. But one thing we know, as we are coming along with Him to be His servants

throughout whatever period—(I am not going to get into whether there is a millennium or not a

millennium right now; or a partial millennium, there are even theories on that)—but we are going

to be given responsibilities for something that is still coming around the bend after this is all said

and done. If you do not believe that, then you do not believe God’s Word. Why even listen to

any of it? Why even study it? Why even read it? I like to show it off. And in the process of

showing it off, it just gives you another piece of the puzzle of a historical timeline that God has

kept.

And maybe it took to the last days to see these key things but it should have been clearly seen

when that coin was struck, and what Hadrian did to the Jewish people...Wait a minute! It is not

the set time yet. But if you know anything about history, that is not what really happened. The

problem probably was, as we saw in Micah, “the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets

thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among

us?” Sounds like today doesn’t it? We have a lot trying to be preachers for hire and look for

ways to profit. Look at the prosperity doctrine and what it produces. They should be preparing

the people for what set times we are in and teaching God’s word to build trust and confidence in

God’s Word so that they hopefully say “Hey! I had faith before,” but in layer after layer after

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layer like I am presenting to you, it is made a little bit more solid each time because they see

God’s Word fulfilling itself. I happen to use secular history to prove it. I don’t even have to use

biblical history to prove it. Secular history proves it through an evil Roman emperor that thought

he had the last laugh. Well God has the last laugh over nations, rulers, governments, and He has

the last laugh over all of our enemies. He has the last laugh at all of our afflictions, conflicts, and

hardships. He is in control. He even has the last laugh on what I have been facing. I just have to

remember that and keep trusting and having confidence in Him. And the same goes to you in

whatever you are facing. They have the last laugh and thank God they do .

So, I find that an interesting little piece of the timeline history. I told you in the past that I would

fill in a little bit more of key events that stand out each time once you know the history to know

where God places things along His timeline, so we can accurately know where we are at even

today.

The Jews thought the nation of Israel was going to be rebuilt in 135 AD. Boy were they wrong.

Most of the world thinks, eventually, that probably the nation of Israel will not exist in the future

because of all its surrounding enemies. Well, guess what? They are dead wrong. I will continue

on that next time when we look at the tribes, where they went, and Psalm 83.

I think every little piece of the puzzle is faith building. It shows off God’s Word and says, “God

has been there the whole time and He has it all in control. He knows what He is doing. He has

His set times. Maybe it is not according to our time. And even our personal lives, He knows what

is happening with us and He will deal with those circumstances. Just keep trusting and faithing in

Him.

To be continued...

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The Last Days Study Guide

God Will Have The Last Laugh

1. What does Kokhba mean?

2. How many years did the Jews rebel against Rome after the destruction of the temple in 70

AD?

3. Name the prophet that seconded Micah’s prophecy.

4. Name the revolt that followed the Masada revolt.

5. What was Jerusalem renamed?

6. What was Israel renamed?

7. How did the Masada Jews die?

8. Who presided over the destruction of the temple in 70 AD?

9. List in chronological order of rulership the Roman Emperors mentioned in this chapter.

10. Name the rabbi that recruited Simon bar Kosiba.

11. Why were the Jews unsuccessful in their revolts?

12. What was the purpose behind teaching this history?

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Israel Divided (cont.)

Open your bible to I Kings 11:4

This is a chapter where we see Solomon turning from God. He had many wives and concubines

and his heart turned away from following the true God and going after other gods. His way was

not perfect with the Lord, as was the heart of his father David. There were consequences for

Solomon’s sins. Let’s just pick it up with verse 11.

I Kings 11:11- 13, “Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of

thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I

will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant. Notwithstanding in thy

days I will not do it for David thy father’s sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son.

Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son for David my

servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen.”

Quick Summary: The evil that Solomon created by beginning to follow other gods caused the

kingdom of Israel as a whole to be torn apart. Because of the promise God made David, a portion

of the kingdom was to remain with his son and his descendants. We see how that comes about in

the next chapter and how this prophecy would eventually be fulfilled. The end result would be

two kingdoms, not just one unified kingdom any longer. One kingdom (the ten northern tribes)

would be called Israel. The other was called the kingdom of Judah. Turn to I Kings 12:1.

I Kings 12:1-“And Rehoboam [Solomon’s son] went to Shechem: for all Israel were come to

Shechem to make him king. And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who was

yet in Egypt, heard of it (for he was fled from the presence of king Solomon, and Jeroboam

dwelt in Egypt;) that they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all the congregation of

Israel came, and spake unto Rehoboam, saying, Thy father [Solomon] made our yoke

grievous: now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke

which he put on us, lighter, and we will serve thee. And he [Rehoboam, king of the then still

united Israel] said unto them, Depart yet for three days, then come again to me. And the people

departed. And king Rehoboam consulted with the old men, that stood before Solomon his

father while he yet lived, and said, How do ye advise that I may answer this people?”

So he is looking for advice from counselors, the politicians his father used and had by his side, to

try to figure out what his response should be to the people complaining about the yoke—which I

will have more to say about momentarily.

“And they spake unto him, saying, If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt

serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for

ever.”

Sounds like good advice from this council.

“But he forsook the counsel”

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He didn’t take their advice. See, God is going to have His way one way or the other. I keep

saying that. God will have the last laugh when it is all said and done, when all prophecy is

fulfilled in these last days, and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth because they saw it

too late. God will have his last word. His promises and what he said was going to happen in the

past about Rehoboam’s present day was going to happen one way or the other. Nobody says

anything about it, but you would think that God was doing the nudging if you read between the

lines. How else would you even imagine that taking place. The only other option is God allowed

Satan take the lead and allows him to try to destroy Israel. You have one of two choices. Either

way, God’s word was going to be fulfilled.

Verse 8, “But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted

with the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood before him...”

Oh new hotshots come along. The younger generation always thinks they know best: they are all

caught up with the times and old people can’t figure that out. Old people can’t relate to the

younger people living in whatever generation. We still see that today. Listen, I was a young

whippersnapper at one time. I remember my teenage years. I remember not taking advice from

people that were much older, had much more experience, many times more wisdom. But we all

have this I-think-I-know-it-all attitude, especially when you are young. You almost think you are

invincible. Well, that is the place Rehoboam found himself. So he decided to take advice from

the young lads that grew up with him.

“... and he said unto them, What counsel give ye that we many answer this people, who have

spoken to me, saying, Make the yoke which thy father did put on us lighter? And the young

men that were grown up with him spake unto him, saying, Thus shalt thou speak unto this

people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter

unto us; thus shalt thou say unto them, My little finger shall be thicker than my father's

loins.”

‘Finger’ was added by the translators. You can use your imagination there; ‘my little ___ shall be

thicker than my father’s loins’.

“And now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my

father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.”

In other words, if you thought it was bad when my father was alive, you haven’t seen anything

yet. That is the kind of counsel he was getting from these other young lads that probably grew up

with him and he was close to. So, after the people got this kind of response...

I Kings 12:12, “So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king

had appointed, saying, Come to me again the third day. And the king answered the people

roughly, and forsook the old men's counsel that they gave him; And spake to them after the

counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your

yoke: my father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.

Wherefore the king hearkened not unto the people; for the cause was from the LORD, that he

might perform his saying, which the LORD spake by Ahijah the Shilonite unto Jeroboam the

son of Nebat.

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Now we know exactly where it is coming from. Up to this point we had the option. Was God

letting Satan control this persons mind? Or, was God (because He said this would happen) taking

the reins and saying, ‘I told Solomon there would be consequences for his sins. Therefore, now

you see it,’ just as we read in this chapter the result of those sins, and God’s word being fulfilled,

the Lord dictating how it happens.

I Kings 12:15, “Wherefore the king hearkened not unto the people; for the cause was from the

LORD, that he might perform his saying, which the LORD spake by Ahijah the Shilonite unto

Jeroboam the son of Nebat. So when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them [and the reply was harsh], the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in

David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to

thine own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents. But as for the children of Israel

which dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. Then king Rehoboam sent

Adoram, who was over the tribute [he was a tax collector, the people are sick of taxes, and were

told they were going to be taxed even more]; and all Israel [not the house of Judah] stoned him

with stones, that he died. Therefore king Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot, to

flee to Jerusalem.”

Rehoboam seeing what happened to his tax collecting representative high-tailed it out of there

and went back down to Jerusalem.

Verse 19, “So Israel rebelled [lit. fell away] against the house of David unto this day” Verse 20

(highlight this) , “And it came to pass, when all Israel heard that Jeroboam [who had earlier

fled for his life to Egypt] was come again, that they sent and called him unto the congregation

[Israel now being comprised of the ten tribes], and made him king over all Israel: there was

none that followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only.”

That is what I want you to remember. This is when the separation occurred, just as God

prophesied.

I Kings 12:21, “And when Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of

Judah[note the division there], with the tribe of Benjamin [just as God had prophesied], an

hundred and fourscore thousand chosen men, which were warriors, to fight against the house

of Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam the son of Solomon. [a civil war was about

ready to break out] But the word of God came unto Shemaiah the man of God, saying, Speak

unto Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah [no longer king of the north], and unto all

the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the remnant of the people, saying, [24] Thus saith

the LORD, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel: return

every man to his house; for this thing is from me. They hearkened therefore to the word of the

LORD, and returned to depart, according to the word of the LORD.”

At least Rehoboam had good sense to listen to Shemaiah. And of course we know that God was

not going to have any other way to possibly solve this problem, because He said the kingdoms

would be separated into two kingdoms because of the sins of Solomon. Rehoboam succeeded

his father to the throne of Israel, but because he refused to lower their taxes, the nation of Israel

(the 10 northern tribes) rebelled. It is kind of like the British colonies in the U.S. when the

Americas broke away from the king of England over taxes. Now there were other things included

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in that too that caused the rift, but taxes was the main one. So it is like déjà-vu all over again.

And it happened to the ancient nation of Israel.

Now Israel (the ten tribes to the north) made Jeroboam king and Rehoboam was king of Judah to

the south. Only the tribe of Benjamin stayed loyal to Solomon’s son. From this time forward, the

history of Israel is separated from the history of Judah. So this makes us look at everything from

this time forward, especially anything that is related to prophecy, with a different perspective.

The problem is ‘Christian Science Fiction’ theories, and those who teach on eschatology

especially, while accepting the separation, do not understand that separation still exists unto this

day. Yes we have a little nation called Israel in the Middle East, but is it Israel according to

Scripture? That is the question that needs to be answered and we need to find the answer for.

Now the modern nation of Israel as well as the nation of Israel during Christ’s time was

composed of Jews, and those Jews’ history goes back to the nation of Judah, not the nation of

Israel. Remember that also. The capital of Judah was Jerusalem. The capital of Israel after the

separation was Samaria. Samaria was north of Jerusalem.

Israel went into

captivity, taken by

the Assyrians

Empire about 100

years prior to the

Babylonians coming,

conquering, and

taking the house of

Judah into bondage

to Babylon and other

locations.

So this map gives

you a sense of the

geographic locations

of where the split

took place, and what

was considered the

house of Israel and

the house of Judah.

The capital of Israel

was Samaria, and the

capital of Judah was

Jerusalem.

This is important

because in bible

prophecy there is a

distinction between

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prophecies that apply to Judah and the prophecies that apply to Israel. If you do not make those

distinctions, you are all over the place. And that is what has happened, that is why there is so

much confusion and the ‘Christian Science Fiction’ theories out there.

Prophecies by major and minor prophets in scripture address the kingdoms, but from this point

on in Scripture, prophecies for Israel are usually designated by the terms Samaria, Ephraim, or

Israel as a whole. Those are the big three that we will concentrate on. Prophecies in scripture for

the house of Judah refer to Jerusalem, Judah, and Zion (in the right context). So you have

prophecies that are related to the house of Israel using those three names, which distinguishes

them from the house of Judah which uses Jerusalem, Judah and Zion.

This distinction is very important when studying prophecies especially prophecies concerning

end times or the last days, the times we are living in. We can see a lot of the fulfillments of

prophecy and how things turned out from the time the prophecy was given to what did

subsequently happen. But there are still prophecies relating to both of these nations that still exist

today that have not been completely fulfilled. That is what this last day’s study is all about, to

keep searching, digging, and finding the truth about what is still left to be fulfilled and what time

we are in—and, we are in the last days.

So the question is: How did history lose the ten tribes of Israel and associate only Jews with

Israel? In fact, if you look at the biblical history (you could look at other sources too), it wasn’t

until the split that anyone was referred to as ‘Jews’. Rehoboam followed God’s instruction, but

later when the kingdom of Judah went to war with the kingdom of Israel, it was then the term

‘Jew’ was first used in the bible at a certain point in II Kings.

II King 16:1, “In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah Ahaz the son of Jotham

king of Judah began to reign. Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, and reigned

sixteen years in Jerusalem, and did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD his God,

like David his father. But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel [he was just as bad as the

kings of the north], yea, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the

abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel.

And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every

green tree.”

They are sacrificing their children, burning their children alive to false gods, moon-god related

religions. Now take note of this next verse.

II Kings 16:5, “Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to

Jerusalem to war: and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him. At that time Rezin

king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drove the Jews from Elath...”

Here we have the first reference to the house of Judah being called Jews.

“...and the Syrians came to Elath, and dwelt there unto this day.”

Ahaz was the king of the house of Judah, the king to the south. Pekah was the king of Israel (the

10 northern tribes) at the time.

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Now the term Jew here is used while Israel with its ally Syria (at that time) is at war with Judah.

If this does not show you technically that Jews are not the nation of Israel, despite taking on the

name when they reoccupied what was then called Palestine, nothing I say is really going to

convince you at this point. Here we have a war that took place and a description of what the

House of Judah was going to be called from this point on, Jews. Highlight verse 6. Remember it.

And of course unfortunately from that point on the world, especially in the last 2000 years, came

to incorrectly associate the Jews with Israel, and they don’t recognize how the real nation of

Israel became lost to history. They recognize that the Assyrians took them, but what happened?

They didn’t come back. Oh, I know a few of the house of Israel fled down to the house of Judah,

but the majority of the house of Israel was taken into captivity when God punished Israel for its

sins.

Now when Jeroboam first became king over Israel, he was fearful of losing his control over the

kingdom to the south and the newly acquired power that he had. His fear was due to the Israelites

going to Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Tabernacles, and because of that he somehow would lose

his kingdom. And of course during the feast days that happened throughout the year people were

accustomed to going down to Jerusalem to worship, to bring their sacrifices and so forth. Since

Jeroboam didn’t want any outsiders to influence them while they were there, and now the house

of Judah were outsiders, on top of people being people, looking for any excuse for why they

didn’t have to make the trip...

Turn to I Kings 12:28.

“Whereupon the king [Jeroboam, king of the north] took counsel, and made two calves of gold,

and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem [typically a day or two’s

journey – but he said, that is a long burdensome trip]: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought

thee up out of the land of Egypt.”

If you have heard anything that I’ve preached before, he convinced them to start practicing the

sun and moon god religion all over again: ‘God, the one true Jehovah, did not bring you out of

Egypt’ – No! that golden calf did. He doesn’t even get his history down right! And these people

should have known their history to see how false that story was.

Look at our nation here in the United States of America, our history has changed quite a bit. In

an effort to influence our educational system, literalism was instituted after the 1900’s and they

started changing history. That is common knowledge to anyone that really looks into it. They

started changing history to fit their agenda. That is what Jeroboam, the king of the house of

Israel, is doing, changing the history to convince the people that they don’t need to make that trip

any longer to Jerusalem. Don’t burden yourself with that trip, these are the gods that brought you

out of the land of Egypt, the land of bondage. It was a flat out lie. And what happened?

I Kings 12:29, “And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan.”

He placed one the furthest north in Dan so they would not have to make the trip—which were

probably the easiest one’s to convince because they were the furthest ones from Jerusalem and

had the longest journey, about 60 miles—and then he put one in Bethel. Let me show you how

convenient he made the situation for them. Take a look at the map.

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Even if they traveled 20

miles a day, and some could

travel more than that, that is

still three days they would

have to make the trip. And

of course, he also put one in

Bethel. Bethel is only about

ten to thirteen miles from

Jerusalem. So they are not

even a full day’s journey

out from Jerusalem. He

made it really convenient

for the tribe of Dan and the

northern tribes of the house

of Israel.

Maybe he was trying to rub

it into the nose of the king

of the house of Judah, but

what he really did was rub

it into God’s nose,

substituting Him for false

gods.

“And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan. And this thing became a sin: for

the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan. And he made an house of high

places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.”

One did not even need to be part of the tribe of Levi. Remember the Levites were spread all over

because they could not have land. They would be in cities spread throughout the whole nation of

Israel. Most of the Levites drifted south with the separation of the kingdom, not all but most.

I Kings 12:32, “And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the

month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar.”

He duplicated the feast days when they would be traveling to participate in those particular feast.

“So did he in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Bethel the

priests of the high places which he had made. So he offered upon the altar which he had made

in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his

own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel:

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The month which he had devised of his own heart and ordained a feast unto the children of

Israel—not to the house of Judah, to the children of Israel—“and he offered upon the altar, and

burnt incense.”

From the time Israel separated from Judah, Israel took the fast track into idolatry. Israel, the

house of Israel (not the house of Judah), also stopped keeping the Laws of God pertaining to the

Sabbath and the Holy Days. Jeroboam, as we just read, set up a whole new system, a separate set

of holidays, for his subjects to keep.

Now God was long suffering for generations, not just a few years, but for generations and God

pleaded through his prophets with the house of Israel to stop this insanity and return to keeping

the commandments of God. But the people ignored the warnings, the pleadings. They did as they

pleased, and served not the God of their father’s. And it came to a point where God would then

prophesy what would happen to the house of Israel because of their continuing sins.

We can pick that story up I Kings 14:15,

“For the LORD shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel

out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river,

because they have made their groves [asherah groves, Asherah worship], provoking the LORD

to anger. And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who

made Israel to sin.”

Now this prophecy does not come to pass right away. God kept giving Israel chance after chance

to repent and turn away from this evil they were committing.

I know some ‘scholars’ have proposed that this prophecy is actually referring to the scattered

condition of Jews over the centuries. You just refuse, or maybe you are just not that scholarly, to

accept the division created by God because of the sins of Solomon. To say anything different is

to go against what God said would happen. If you look at I Kings 14, it will show God made a

distinction between the sins of Israel and the sins of Judah, because if you look later in the same

chapter, verse 21, it reads...

“And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty and one years old

when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the

LORD did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother's name

was Naamah an Ammonitess. And Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD...”

Earlier, Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. Now we have Judah, “and Judah did evil in the

sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had

committed, above all that their fathers had done. For they also built them high places, and

images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree. And there were also

sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the

LORD cast out before the children of Israel.”

So God addressed their sins too. But at this time it is not speaking of a national punishment. Do

you got it, folks?

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I told you we would go through a lot of history to figure out where the hidden ones went and

how this happened, so I hope you are not tuning out because you are not fond of history. It is

important to establish this history—which I’ve already condensed down by about fifty percent.

God keeps his word. If God says it, it is going to happen. He has the last word. He is in control of

history. If he can control history this way, he sure can control our lives. He knows what is

happening with us whether it is health, finances, relationships, you name it. Run to Him and ask

Him to guide your present and future history because it all comes to pass through Him eventually

and with Christ at the right side of the Father who pleads and mediates for us when we

communicate with Him what our heart’s desires. And if it falls in His will—not the way it is

used so frequently in the ‘Christian’ world—about denying yourself and taking up your cross for

the cause of Christ and following Him, He will not desert you. He will make sure that your

history is completed and fulfilled, what He has commissioned you to be part of on this planet in

the here and now.

We could be living in the last days when we see His return before even the first death, the

physical death. If that doesn’t get you excited, nothing will. Why are you even a Christian?

To be continued...

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The Last Days Study Guide

God Will Have The Last Laugh

1. How do we know God made a distinction between the House of Judah and the House of

Israel after they split?

2. Who is Jeroboam’s father?

3. Name the capital of Israel after the split.

4. Give the distinguishing alternative names for the House of Israel and the House of Judah.

5. Which scripture show the first use of the term ‘Jews’?

6. Give one reason from the chapter why the northern tribes were lost from history.

7. Where was Jeroboam when Rehoboam became king?

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The Sins of Israel & Judah

Open your bible to I Kings 14:15.

In the last chapter, we covered the house of Israel and how they sinned against God. We will

pick up where we left off.

I Kings 14:15, “For the LORD shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall

root up Israel out of this good land [note that], which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter

them beyond the river, because they have made their groves, provoking the LORD to anger.

And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel

to sin.”

When this prophecy was given, it didn’t come to pass right away. It took some time. God gave

Israel chance after chance to repent and turn back to Him from the evil that they were doing.

They didn’t.

I also mentioned that commentators and scholars (that even bother to teach on these particular

verses and this type of history we find in the Old Testament) have proposed that what it is saying

in this prophecy(because it was still prophecy in I Kings 14:15) was referring to the scattered

condition of the Jews over the centuries. I have already proven using God’s Word that the Jews

were separated from the house of Israel. That was the house of Joseph with Benjamites and

Levites in it. If you put I Kings 14 under the microscope and examine it, God does make a

distinction through His word between the sins of Israel and the sins of the house of Judah as we

read at verse 21,

“And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty and one years old

when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the

LORD did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother's name

was Naamah an Ammonitess. And Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD [highlight that],

and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that

their fathers had done. For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every

high hill, and under every green tree. And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did

according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children

of Israel.”

So here God is also addressing the house of Judah’s sins, but at this time he does not speak of a

national punishment. He deals with the house of Israel and he deals with the house of Judah.

Now following century after century of national sin, God made the promise of scattering the

people of Israel, and it came true. God explains why in Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 20:10, “Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought

them into the wilderness. And I gave them my statutes, and shewed them my judgments, which

if a man do, he shall even live in them. Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign

between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them.” Highlight verse 13. [13], “But the house of Israel [the ten northern tribes] rebelled against me

23

in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a

man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would

pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.”

Now the house of Israel, when we jump from this point of history that God’s Word is referencing

here to I Kings 14, it is defined in two different ways because before the separation it was all

Israel, they were the children of Israel. Israel is Jacob’s name after God changed it from Jacob to

Israel. Some translations you see it means ‘prince with God’ or ‘one who has peace with God’.

They all pretty much fit, it doesn’t matter. But when they rebelled in the wilderness, it says in

verse 13,

“But the house of Israel [the ten northern tribes] rebelled against me in the wilderness: they

walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even

live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury

upon them in the wilderness, to consume them. But I wrought for my name's sake, that it

should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out. Yet also I lifted

up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I

had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands; Because they

despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their

heart went after their idols. Nevertheless mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither

did I make an end of them in the wilderness.”

It makes you wonder what happened in that wilderness throughout that whole time.

“But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers,

neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols: I am the LORD your

God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; And hallow my sabbaths; and

they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.

Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept

my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them;”

Now that was all part of the Law. We no longer live under that.

“... they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish

my anger against them in the wilderness. [22] Nevertheless I withdrew mine hand, and

wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the heathen, in

whose sight I brought them forth. [23] I lifted up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness,

that I would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries; [24]

Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted

my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers' idols.”

We followed this in the moon god section of the last days series. Remember how Israel would be

following God, living up to the commandments and the statutes anywhere from 20-40 years, then

they would find themselves right back in idol worship again. They would get into a heap of

trouble, cry out to the one true God again, God delivers them, not long goes by, the next thing

you know, they are following the same or worse false idols and false gods. You see that repeated

over and over in the book of Judges. They seem like they will never learn their lesson. God

24

eventually has a day when he’s had enough of it and removes them from their land. Additionally,

one of the sign posts of recognizing Israel, the house of Israel, is keeping the Sabbath. Because

they refused to keep it along with the other statutes, they lost their identity. That is why they are

called the ‘Lost Tribes’ of Israel. They lost their identity.

Go to Exodus 31:13.

“Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep”—like I

said, this was the Law; we are no longer under the Law—“for it is a sign between me and you

throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.”

The word ‘sabbaths’ in the plural means both the weekly sabbaths and the holy days, which are

also called the ‘high sabbaths’ . Because Israel decided over and over that they would not keep

these sabbaths, they would lose that identifying sign.

Now Judah also became an evil nation in the sight of God. They also abandoned the sabbath and

the holy days somewhat like Israel did if you know your history. They later repented in doing

what they did and started keeping the sabbath and the holy days again. Because of their

repentance and keeping those sabbaths, which is an identifying sign, they never lost their

identity. They never lost their identifying sign. The house of Israel did. They lost their

identifying sign.

I really feel sorry for people who read the bible from beginning to end, especially in the Old

Testament. One can’t put the proper perspective on how history went down because there are so

many intermingling stories that God wanted recorded. Also, they are not necessarily in

chronological order, as you would read the bible from front to back, or at least through the major

and minor prophets particularly.

We find the fate of Israel recorded in II Kings 17:5. Here comes what God prophesied.

“Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria [the

capital of the house of Israel], and besieged it three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea the king

of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and

in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.”

The Assyrian Empire was

mostly located west of the

Euphrates river to the eastern

portions of the Tigress River

and into Media or Medo-

Persia. They took the house

of Israel and they placed them

in that general area including

a little bit south into present

day Iran. So they were taken

to these certain sections of the

present day Middle East

which generally occupies

25

Syria, Iraq, Iran (the biggest of the three), or western Iran, and they were settled into that general

populace.

Verse 7, “For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God,

which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of

Egypt, and had feared other gods, And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD

cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.

[9] And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD

their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to

the fenced city. And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every

green tree: And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the

LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger:

For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing. Yet

the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers

[it’s not like they didn’t have any warning], saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my

commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers,

and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets. Notwithstanding they would not hear, but

hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their

God. And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his

testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and

went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged

them, that they should not do like them. And they left all the commandments of the LORD

their God, and made them molten images, even two calves [back to calf making again], and

made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. And they caused their

sons and their daughters to pass through the fire...”

They are worshipping Baal and other forms of worshipping false gods closely related to that,

which were all part of the sun and moon-god worship.

“...and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the

LORD, to provoke him to anger. [Highlight this next verse] [18] Therefore the LORD was very

angry with [the house of] Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the

tribe of Judah only.” Which as we already covered, Judah became known as Jews.

This all happened in 721 BC. The house of Israel was finally carried out as captives to Assyria to

those locations mentioned in II Kings 17, no longer in their own land, no longer in their homes,

no longer living in their cities in the geographical location of the house of Israel at that particular

time. The ten tribes of the house of Israel that were carried into captivity were Ruben, Simeon,

Zebulon, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Naphtali, Asher, Ephraim, and Manasseh. (Remember Joseph was

split into two tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh.) The tribes of Judah consisted of Benjamin, Judah,

and the Levites from the tribe of Levi. Those stayed in Judah and only Benjamin and Judah were

loyal to their king Rehoboam. The Levites were the priestly tribe. They didn’t have land of their

own. They were taken care of according to God instructions in the Law, by all the other tribes.

They couldn’t own any land, but they were taken care of. The tithes of the other tribes were what

fed and clothed and provided for the Levite priests and their families.

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When Jeroboam decided that he would not follow the one true God and went into idol

worshipping and ceased to observe the holy days, the Sabbath and so forth, there was no need for

these priests any longer, so he kicked them out and they went south. Most of the Levites were not

originally in Jerusalem, not in the house of Judah. Most of them were scattered north. And when

Jeroboam decided he no longer had need of their services, they went south into the house of

Judah for the most part. So out of the original 13 tribes, ten were carried off into the Assyrian

empire.

Go to Leviticus 26. Here God lays out for them the blessings and the punishments that Israel

would experience. They would receive blessings for their obedience but they also would receive

punishment if they were not. Leviticus was written by Moses. At the very beginning of the

covenant that God made with Israel, the consequences of disobeying were clearly spelled out for

them. No one can be confused about that. But blessings were also spelled out if they remained

obedient, which they did not. We find that here. Let’s start with Leviticus 26:1 and read the

history.

“Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither

shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your

God. Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD. If ye walk in

my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; Then I will give you rain in due

season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing

time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. And I will give

peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil

beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. And ye shall chase your

enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. And five of you shall chase an hundred,

and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you

by the sword. For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and

establish my covenant with you.”

It makes you wonder why anyone would backslide. So much promise, so many blessings would

flow to this group of people if they’d just remain faithful and obedient. We shouldn’t point

fingers though. There are supposedly Christians every day that backslide and we have eternal life

with eternal rewards to look forward to. Some may say, “But that is something you cannot see.”

Well, you better start seeing it even though it isn’t right in your face and visible, whether you are

a Christian or not. That is why they backslide; they don’t want to believe in the unseen. The only

way present-day Christianity can keep them captured in their fold is to promise them silly

nonsense (e.g., prosperity doctrine, give to God to get rich). So everyone is trying to get rich now

by giving, which creates additional problems. And by the way, if you want to learn how to give

correctly, we have a series in video and print, titled Where Is Your Heart. I haven’t had a chance

to continue what I started but you have enough there to start with, more than you can find

anywhere else in today’s present ministries teaching correctly on giving. But continuing...

Verse 10, “And ye shall eat old store, and bring forth the old because of the new. And I will set

my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you, and

will be your God, and ye shall be my people. I am the LORD your God, which brought you

forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the

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bands of your yoke, and made you go upright. But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not

do all these commandments; And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my

judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant: I also

will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague,

that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for

your enemies shall eat it. And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your

enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you.

And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for

your sins.” We’ll need to come back to that. “And I will break the pride of your power; and I

will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass: And your strength shall be spent in

vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their

fruits. And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times

more plagues upon you according to your sins. I will also send wild beasts among you, which

shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your

high ways shall be desolate. And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk

contrary unto me; Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven

times for your sins. And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my

covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence

among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. And when I have broken the

staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you

your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied. And if ye will not for all this

hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me; Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury;

and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. And ye shall eat the flesh of your

sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. And I will destroy your high places, and cut

down your images, and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols, and my soul shall

abhor you. And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and

I will not smell the savour of your sweet odors. And I will bring the land into desolation: and

your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it.”

Highlight this next verse, 33, “And I will scatter you among the heathen [and that is what God

did], and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities

waste.”

If you know a little bit about biblical history, the obvious happened. God did what God said he

would do. He scattered Israel among the heathen nations. Now the promise to chastise Israel did

come to pass seven times and the date of Israel’s captivity was 721 BC, some think 723 BC. At

this point, I am not going to get too particular about that date because we have to look at the

‘seven times’ and what happened and how long that was. Once you understand that it will allow

history itself to reveal who these birthright nations became after they were let go and able to get

out of Assyria.

As we can see by looking at history and not ignoring it, we can see how they tracked across

western Europe, eastern Europe, and for the most part Ephraim and Manasseh eventually

winding up in the British Isles before coming here to the United States of America.

There is a problem, even though God would eventually punish Israel, there were still

unconditional promises on the shelf that God made long long ago long before 721 BC. If God is

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not a man to lie, these promises have to be kept. Remember the promises that God made to

Abraham, a great nation and a multitude of nations. But when would this take place? What does

seven times mean? I am pretty sure most of you have a good idea how to do those calculations

using some of the principles we already covered in the last days series.

Israel was carried away to the Assyrians and the promises of the birthright carried away with

them (because that is still there, that hasn’t changed). The house of Israel never returned to the

land of their fathers. “Well, there is a little Israel there now in their country.” Not the house of

Israel.

Now, God also punishes Judah. They continued also with their sinning in the eyes of God, but

their national punishment was still approximately 130 years away. They would be taken into

captivity and the house of Judah would be temporarily destroyed by the Babylonian empire. We

will read the history of that in the scriptures but it didn’t come to pass until about 130 years later.

What also and finally caused their national captivity was Sabbath breaking and idolatry. That is

where I will pick it up next time when we look into the sins and the punishment of house of

Judah.

The purpose of this is to demonstrate the punishments and the differences between what the

house of Israel received and what the house of Judah received for breaking God’s laws, the holy

days and the high holy days and also all the idolatry that went on.

To be continued...

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The Last Days Study Guide

The Sins of Israel and Judah

1. List some of the punishments God warned would come upon Israel if they did not repent?

2. What does the name Israel mean?

3. What does the term sabbaths designate?

4. What makes it difficult to get a proper understanding of biblical history?

5. How did the house of Israel lose its identity?

6. Who wrote Leviticus?

7. Who rebelled against God in the wilderness?

8. List the member tribes of the house of Israel.

9. Where was the house of Israel relocated?

10. Where did most of the Levites live prior to the reign of King Rehoboam?

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History of Judah

You have probably read at least once in your lifetime the scriptures I’ll be covering in this

message but now I want you to put these scriptures in context of this last days series section of

Psalm 83 and the hidden ones. Some of the information in Scripture is repetitive, but it serves a

purpose and it’s important to know.

We are at the point where God is dishing out the punishments for Israel and Judah. Israel was

conquered by the Assyrian empire. Then about 130 years later Judah was conquered by the

Babylonian empire through several skirmishes until eventually they destroyed Jerusalem and the

temple taking the last king of the house of Judah into captivity where he died in a prison. Israel

never returned to the land of their fathers; and Judah, like Israel, continued in the sin that was

evil and wicked in the eyes of God. They would eventually get punished for some of the same

reasons; not keeping the Sabbath, breaking the laws, and idolatry.

What finally caused the punishment of the house of Judah and their national captivity is recorded

in Jeremiah 17:1-27.

“The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven

upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars; Whilst their children

remember their altars and their groves by the green trees upon the high hills. O my mountain

in the field, I will give thy substance and all thy treasures to the spoil, and thy high places for

sin, throughout all thy borders. And thou, even thyself, shalt discontinue from thine heritage

that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou knowest

not: for ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn for ever. Thus saith the LORD;

Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth

from the LORD. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good

cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not

inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. For he

shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall

not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of

drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. The heart is deceitful above all things, and

desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give

every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. As the partridge

sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave

them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.” Verse 12, “A glorious high

throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that

forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth,

because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters. Heal me, O LORD, and I

shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise. Behold, they say unto

me, Where is the word of the LORD? let it come now. As for me, I have not hastened from

being a pastor to follow thee: neither have I desired the woeful day; thou knowest: that which

came out of my lips was right before thee. Be not a terror unto me: thou art my hope in the

day of evil. Let them be confounded that persecute me, but let not me be confounded: let them

be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil, and destroy them

with double destruction.”

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Verse19, “Thus said the LORD unto me; Go and stand in the gate of the children of the

people, whereby the kings of Judah come in, and by the which they go out, and in all the gates

of Jerusalem; And say unto them, Hear ye the word of the LORD, ye kings of Judah, and all

Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates: Thus saith the

LORD; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the

gates of Jerusalem; Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day,

neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. But they

obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor

receive instruction. And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto me, saith the

LORD, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but hallow the

sabbath day, to do no work therein; Then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and

princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their

princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall remain for

ever. And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places about Jerusalem, and

from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the south,

bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and meat offerings, and incense, and bringing

sacrifices of praise, unto the house of the LORD. [27] But if ye will not hearken unto me to

hallow the sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem

on the sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the

palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.”

Highlight verse 27 because you are going to see a central theme here about why the punishment

came. It is not like they didn’t have any warning to change their ways. In fact, Jeremiah’s

ministry was devoted to warning the Jews of an impending invasion and captivity. Did they

listen? No. They would not repent. Eventually, the Babylonian empire siege them.

Nebuchadnezzar marched into Jerusalem taking many captives. He did not, though, drive all the

Jews out at that particular time. He did not even drive out their king at that time. He made him a

vassal king, a puppet king, doing whatever Nebuchadnezzar wished for him to accomplish or not

accomplish. He was a servant of Nebuchadnezzar and he stayed on the throne. And two more

kings after that first invasion also stayed on the throne in the house of Judah. We read part of that

in II Kings 24:1-20.

“In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant

three years: then he turned and rebelled against him. And the LORD sent against him bands

of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the

children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the

LORD, which he spake by his servants the prophets. Surely at the commandment of the LORD

came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to

all that he did; And also for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem with

innocent blood; which the LORD would not pardon. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim,

and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? So

Jehoiakim slept with his fathers: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead. And the king of

Egypt came not again any more out of his land: for the king of Babylon had taken from the

river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt.

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Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three

months. And his mother's name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. [9]

And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had

done. [10] At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against

Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the

city, and his servants did besiege it. [12] And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the

king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and

the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. [13] And he carried out thence all

the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in

pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the

LORD, as the LORD had said. And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all

the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none

remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land. And he carried away Jehoiachin to

Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the

land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. And all the men of might,

even seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths a thousand, all that were strong and apt for

war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon. And the king of Babylon

made Mattaniah his father's brother king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in

Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. And he

did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast

them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.”

Verses nine and ten show they had warning but never took heed to the warning.

In the eleventh year of King Zedekiah the Chaldean army, the Babylonian empire’s army comes

and besieges Jerusalem again. The city was torn apart, the Temple and palaces were destroyed,

and all the sons of King Zedekiah were killed right before his eyes.

So we have a problem because King Zedekiah would eventually die in prison. People who do not

believe in the lost tribes and where they went have a hard time trying to explain this away. How

was the dynasty going to be carried on? That was God’s promise to David. All the princes, all the

sons were killed. How was the dynasty going to carry forth? King Zedekiah didn’t produce any

more sons. In fact, they plucked out his eyes before they took him bound in chains to Babylon

where he died.

We also read of this history in II Kings 25:1-33.

“And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the

month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he, and all his host, against Jerusalem,

and pitched against it; and they built forts against it round about. And the city was besieged

unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. And on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine

prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land. And the city was

broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls,

which is by the king's garden: (now the Chaldees were against the city round about:) and the

king went the way toward the plain. And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and

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overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all his army were scattered from him. So they took

the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon

him. And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and

bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon. And in the fifth month, on the

seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of

Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto

Jerusalem: And he burnt the house of the LORD, and the king's house, and all the houses of

Jerusalem, and every great man's house burnt he with fire. And all the army of the Chaldees,

that were with the captain of the guard, brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about. Now

the rest of the people that were left in the city, and the fugitives that fell away to the king of

Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude, did Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carry

away. But the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and

husbandmen. And the pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and

the brasen sea that was in the house of the LORD, did the Chaldees break in pieces, and

carried the brass of them to Babylon. And the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the

spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away. And the

firepans, and the bowls, and such things as were of gold, in gold, and of silver, in silver, the

captain of the guard took away. The two pillars, one sea, and the bases which Solomon had

made for the house of the LORD; the brass of all these vessels was without weight. The height

of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the chapiter upon it was brass: and the height of the

chapiter three cubits; and the wreathen work, and pomegranates upon the chapiter round

about, all of brass: and like unto these had the second pillar with wreathen work.

And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest,

and the three keepers of the door: And out of the city he took an officer that was set over the

men of war, and five men of them that were in the king's presence, which were found in the

city, and the principal scribe of the host, which mustered the people of the land, and

threescore men of the people of the land that were found in the city: And Nebuzaradan

captain of the guard took these, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah: And the

king of Babylon smote them, and slew them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was

carried away out of their land. And as for the people that remained in the land of Judah,

whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedaliah the son of

Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ruler. And when all the captains of the armies, they and their

men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, there came to Gedaliah to

Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Careah, and Seraiah the

son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their

men. And Gedaliah sware to them, and to their men, and said unto them, Fear not to be the

servants of the Chaldees: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon; and it shall be well

with you.

But it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of

Elishama, of the seed royal, came, and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah, that he died,

and the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him at Mizpah. And all the people, both small

and great, and the captains of the armies, arose, and came to Egypt: for they were afraid of

the Chaldees. And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin

king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that

Evilmerodach king of Babylon in the year that he began to reign did lift up the head of

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Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison; And he spake kindly to him, and set his throne above

the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon; And changed his prison garments: and

he did eat bread continually before him all the days of his life. And his allowance was a

continual allowance given him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life.”

Next we have II Chronicles that gives us the history about Judah being carried into a foreign

land, II Chronicles 36:1-23.

“Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his

father's stead in Jerusalem. Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign,

and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. And the king of Egypt put him down at Jerusalem,

and condemned the land in an hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. And the king of

Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and turned his name to

Jehoiakim. And Necho took Jehoahaz his brother, and carried him to Egypt. Jehoiakim was

twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem:

and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God. Against him came up

Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon.

Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of the LORD to Babylon, and put

them in his temple at Babylon. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and his abominations

which he did, and that which was found in him, behold, they are written in the book of the

kings of Israel and Judah: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead. Jehoiachin was eight

years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem:

and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD. And when the year was expired, king

Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the house of the

LORD, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem. Zedekiah was one

and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And he

did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God, and humbled not himself before

Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the LORD. And he also rebelled against

king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God: but he stiffened his neck, and

hardened his heart from turning unto the LORD God of Israel. Moreover all the chief of the

priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and

polluted the house of the LORD which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. And the LORD God of

their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had

compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: But they mocked the messengers of God,

and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against

his people, till there was no remedy. [17] Therefore he brought upon them the king of the

Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had

no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave

them all into his hand.” Over and over the story is being told in these scriptures, confirming

each other in a sense. “And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the

treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these

he brought to Babylon. And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of

Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels

thereof. [20] And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where

they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: To fulfill the

word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as

long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten years.”

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II Chronicles 36:22, “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD

spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of

Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also

in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the

LORD God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem,

which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? The LORD his God be with him,

and let him go up.”

So in the first year of Cyrus, they were allowed to go back.

Jeremiah 39:1-18 verifies it.

“In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadrezzar king

of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem, and they besieged it. And in the eleventh year

of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, the city was broken up. And all

the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate, even Nergalsharezer,

Samgarnebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, Nergalsharezer, Rabmag, with all the residue of the

princes of the king of Babylon. And it came to pass, that when Zedekiah the king of Judah

saw them, and all the men of war, then they fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the

way of the king's garden, by the gate betwixt the two walls: and he went out the way of the

plain. But the Chaldeans' army pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of

Jericho: and when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of

Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgment upon him. Then the king

of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes: also the king of Babylon slew

all the nobles of Judah. Moreover he put out Zedekiah's eyes, and bound him with chains, to

carry him to Babylon. And the Chaldeans burned the king's house, and the houses of the

people, with fire, and brake down the walls of Jerusalem. Then Nebuzaradan the captain of

the guard carried away captive into Babylon the remnant of the people that remained in the

city, and those that fell away, that fell to him, with the rest of the people that remained. But

Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, which had nothing, in the

land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.

Now Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon gave charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the

captain of the guard, saying, Take him, and look well to him, and do him no harm; but do

unto him even as he shall say unto thee. So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard sent, and

Nebushasban, Rabsaris, and Nergalsharezer, Rabmag, and all the king of Babylon's princes;

Even they sent, and took Jeremiah out of the court of the prison, and committed him unto

Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, that he should carry him home: so he dwelt

among the people.

Now the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, while he was shut up in the court of the

prison, saying, Go and speak to Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, Thus saith the LORD of

hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring my words upon this city for evil, and not for

good; and they shall be accomplished in that day before thee. But I will deliver thee in that

day, saith the LORD: and thou shalt not be given into the hand of the men of whom thou art

afraid. For I will surely deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy life shall be

for a prey unto thee: because thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the LORD.”

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All these chapters in these different books verify what occurred. Why did God go out of his way

in giving us so much information by different people who were prophesying of what would

happen and then eventually writing down what did happen if it wasn’t important for us to

understand and remember for a purpose? I don’t think it was just for the history of it.

Then go to Jeremiah 52:1-34.

“Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years

in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. And

he did that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had cast

them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. And it came

to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that

Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched

against it, and built forts against it round about. So the city was besieged unto the eleventh

year of king Zedekiah. And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was

sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. Then the city was broken

up, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate

between the two walls, which was by the king's garden; (now the Chaldeans were by the city

round about:) and they went by the way of the plain. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued

after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered

from him. Then they took the king, and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah in

the land of Hamath; where he gave judgment upon him. And the king of Babylon slew the

sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah. Then he put

out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in chains, and carried him to

Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.

Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of

Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, which served the

king of Babylon, into Jerusalem, And burned the house of the LORD, and the king's house;

and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great men, burned he with fire: And

all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down all the

walls of Jerusalem round about. Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away

captive certain of the poor of the people, and the residue of the people that remained in the

city, and those that fell away, that fell to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude. But

Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left certain of the poor of the land for vinedressers and

for husbandmen.

Also the pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brasen sea

that was in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans brake, and carried all the brass of them to

Babylon. The caldrons also, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the bowls, and the spoons,

and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away. And the basons, and

the firepans, and the bowls, and the caldrons, and the candlesticks, and the spoons, and the

cups; that which was of gold in gold, and that which was of silver in silver, took the captain of

the guard away. The two pillars, one sea, and twelve brasen bulls that were under the bases,

which king Solomon had made in the house of the LORD: the brass of all these vessels was

without weight. And concerning the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a

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fillet of twelve cubits did compass it; and the thickness thereof was four fingers: it was hollow.

And a chapiter of brass was upon it; and the height of one chapiter was five cubits, with

network and pomegranates upon the chapiters round about, all of brass. The second pillar

also and the pomegranates were like unto these. And there were ninety and six pomegranates

on a side; and all the pomegranates upon the network were an hundred round about.

And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest,

and the three keepers of the door: He took also out of the city an eunuch, which had the

charge of the men of war; and seven men of them that were near the king's person, which

were found in the city; and the principal scribe of the host, who mustered the people of the

land; and threescore men of the people of the land, that were found in the midst of the city. So

Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to

Riblah. And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death in Riblah in the land of

Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive out of his own land.

This is the people whom Nebuchadrezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year three

thousand Jews and three and twenty: In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar he carried

away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty and two persons: 30In the three and

twentieth year of Nebuchadrezzar Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive

of the Jews seven hundred forty and five persons: all the persons were four thousand and six

hundred.

And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of

Judah, in the twelfth month, in the five and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach

king of Babylon in the first year of his reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah,

and brought him forth out of prison, And spake kindly unto him, and set his throne above the

throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon, And changed his prison garments: and he

did continually eat bread before him all the days of his life. And for his diet, there was a

continual diet given him of the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death,

all the days of his life.”

That gets us caught up on where we need to be.

Now two important things happen concerning the history of Judah, not only king Zedekiah being

taken into captivity and put in prison until he died but secondly, there was no one left to be king.

No matter how you look at it, it appears God’s promise to David was broken just by reading that

history. Any intelligent person that just sits and reads this history has to ask themselves, How did

God keep his promise. And if God won’t keep his promise for that, for David’s sake as he said

he would, then what makes us think he will keep his promises to us, whatever we are claiming in

faith? Something has to be fixed. Well, nothing really has to be fixed. It has been there all along.

Something has to jump out at you to show you that God did keep his word.

So after 70 years the Jews were allowed back into Jerusalem to rebuild, and by that time the

nation of Israel, if they were still in captivity to the north, which they weren’t, would have

already been in their captivity for 200 years. Where were they? Those who returned to Jerusalem

to rebuild the temple and to establish worship of God again were all from the house of Judah, all

Jews.

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Go to Ezra 2:1 records the return of the house of Judah. “Now these are the children of the

province that went up out of the captivity, of those which had been carried away, whom

Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon, and came again unto

Jerusalem and Judah...” together with the remnants of Benjamin and Levi. So only those of the

tribe of Judah and remnants of Benjamin and Levi went back. By the way, everyone had the

opportunity to go back but they did not. I guess they found present-day surroundings of Iraq

comfortable because not all of them returned.

Ezra 1:5, “Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and

the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the

LORD which is in Jerusalem.”

It was this rebuilding of the temple that Christ came to 2000 years ago. Israel’s temple that Christ

came into. But the nation of Israel that Jesus was born into was only composed of three of the

tribes of the original 13. That is why Christ spoke of the lost house of Israel.

You may recall that it reads in Matthew 10:5-6, “These twelve Jesus sent forth, and

commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles [nations], and into any city of

the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

They were still lost. Where did they go? I think the disciples knew where they went because

Jesus probably told them. Remember one gospel records that Jesus gave so much information

that volumes of books could not contain it all. We are just getting a glimpse of what we should

know, but I am sure the disciples were walking libraries of information.

Verse 7, “And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Because Judah had been punished for sabbath breaking, the laws concerning the sabbath or the

breaking of it became very strict and they became more legalized about it. If you read through

the book of Ezra and Nehemiah, what started as a good intention of reestablishing the sabbath

became more of a legalized burden by the time Christ came around. That can be seen throughout

the gospel record when he is dealing with the Pharisees.

Now you may be thinking, “During the time of Christ, there was a king in Judea.” Yes there was,

it was king Herod but he was another puppet king placed there by the Roman Empire. He was

not a descendant of David. So where was the king that God promised that would be part of

David’s ancestry that would be king of Israel?

We will get to that. What we have covered so far is:

After Solomon died, the kingdom was split into two nations, the houses of Israel and the house

of Judah. Because of their sins God allowed the house of Israel in 721 BC to be conquered by the

Assyrians and removed from their land. They lost their language and identity as their captivity

went on. As they escaped or were finally let loose from captivity they never went back to their

homeland. That is important to remember.

Now Judah sinned also and God punished them. The armies of King Nebuchadnezzar came in

and carried them away. The last descendant of King David to sit on the throne of Judah was King

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Zedekiah in about 585 BC. Now King Zedekiah and all his sons were murdered. After 70 years,

when that punishment was concluded, some of the people of the house of Judah returned to their

homeland and rebuilt the temple. Then Nehemiah came in later and rebuilt the walls.

The nation that Jesus was born into was composed of just Jews, descendants of Judah,

Benjamin, and Levi – not the entire nation of Israel.

Finally, Christ spoke of the lost house of Israel. It was a commandment, not a request, that these

disciples go preach to the lost house of Israel.

Now what about David’s throne? What about the promise? It seems by the scriptures we just

covered that God did not keep his promise but broke it. Who was their leader? Who was their

prophet? And what about the promise of a lasting dynasty? A lasting lineage? We’ll get back to

that next time when we teach on this subject.

To be continued...

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The Last Days Study Guide

History of Judah

1. What was Zedekiah’s original name?

2. In what year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign did the remnant in Jerusalem get carried away

leaving only the very poor?

3. Who would have his life for a prey?

4. After the Jews were taken captive, how long was it before they were able to return to

their land?

5. Why does the death of Zedekiah and all his sons pose a problem for detractors of “lost

tribes” teaching?

6. What did Jesus command regarding the house of Israel?

7. After reading this chapter, how has your view of the demographics of Israel at the time of

Jesus change, if at all?

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Jeremiah’s Commission

Open your bible to Jeremiah 33.

We’ve been tracking through the Old Testament where the lost tribes of Israel went. I am

assuming you are caught up. If you are not you need to get caught up. Much of this won’t make

since unless you have all the background.

Jeremiah 33:19, “And the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, saying, Thus saith the

LORD; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there

should not be day and night in their season; Then may also my covenant be broken with David

my servant [what covenant?], that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with

the Levites the priests, my ministers.”

If you could somehow break the laws of creation, the days He took to establish the day and the

night, then maybe you can even break the covenant that God made with David that he should not

have a son to reign upon the throne, and with the Levites the priests, my ministers.

That is where we left off last time. The last king of the house of Judah was taken prisoner, his

eyes gouged out, and he died in a prison. All his sons were killed. And since that day there has

not been a son that came from David’s lineage, his servant, with the Levites the priests, which

were God’s ministers. There just hasn’t been.

“Well I thought Jesus came from the house of Judah.”

We’ll get to that, but there just has not been a king sitting on the throne in Jerusalem since

around 585 BC to our day 2600 years later. There just hasn’t been. So, how did God keep His

word? Did God break his covenant? We still see day and night, don’t we? God was saying if I

break my covenant with David, then night would probably become day and day would become

night, or some kind of squirrelly system of a rotation freak show in the skies would take place

that has no resemblance to day or night. But that hasn’t happened yet, has it? God is still on his

throne and He has kept His covenants, but that hasn’t happened yet in Jerusalem in that tiny little

country in the Middle East called Israel.

Now as far as the birthright promises go, when God gave those (as we looked at with Abraham,

Isaac, and Jacob), He had plenty of time to keep his promises to those three individuals. He never

did says when he would keep those promises. You can timeline it out, but he never really did

say. But the promise that He made to David, that is a whole different matter. If one generation of

David’s descendants ever died out, the promise, the covenant would be broken. That is what

Jeremiah 33:19-21 is declaring. And God made this promise through the prophet Jeremiah. It

doesn’t seem strange to me that He used Jeremiah to proclaim this particular promise because it

would be Jeremiah that God would use to make sure that God’s Word, God’s Covenant, God’s

Promise would be kept.

When we go to Jeremiah chapter one, we can clearly see he was not that thrilled with his

commission. It reads in Jeremiah 1:5, “Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

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Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee...” You might think, “Well, that is different.” Yes

it is; talk about having no say over your life. I find it amusing how people think they can control

their lives; do what they think they can do without God’s help, and they will “find their own

way.” You will find your way into a lost pathetic existence. That is what you will find.

“Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I

sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet [gave thee the role of a prophet] unto the

nations.”

Jeremiah was not just a prophet to one nation. He was a prophet to nations (plural). He was first

called as a young man at about the age of 17 years old. Before he was finished with his

commission he was probably an old white-haired man, not there in Israel or near Jerusalem, but

as we shall see, far far away from that geographic area. We see what his commission was, what

God gave him to do in verse 10 of the same chapter.

“See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull

down, and to destroy, and to throw down,”—those four things are a negative assignment if you

really think about it, but He also says—“to build, and to plant.” And if you study the Old

Testament at this time period when Jeremiah lived, and where he supposedly lived before he

disappears from the scene, you cannot find in history where he found himself in a place to build

or to plant anything - at least that is what we have been told. Jeremiah was a prophet over the

house of Israel and the house of Judah. His commission at first was to tear down something, to

pull down, and to destroy something, but then eventually to build and plant something. Now he

also was used by God to warn Judah of the coming invasion because of their unfaithfulness, and

it would come at the hands of the Babylonians, unless they repented, which they didn’t do. God

used the Babylonian Empire, Babylon, and Jeremiah as the messenger, to tear down the kingdom

of Judah and the throne of David right in the very heart of that nation, the house of Judah. But

God also commanded him to build and to plant. The question is, What in the heck did he build

and what the heck did he plant? If the throne of David was to be rooted out and replanted, then

obviously it would have to happen somewhere else because it never happened from that point on

until the now.

We already covered this; the last king that sat on the throne of David was Zedekiah. Zedekiah

was part of the house of Judah. If you want to put a timeline on this, that throne ceased in Judah

around 585 BC, almost 600 years before Jesus Christ was born. So did God forget about the

covenant with David, or did God use Jeremiah as it says in here to ‘replant’ the throne of David

(more than likely) not in the house of Judah, but in the house of Israel, lost Israel?

Jeremiah had a commission but he didn’t want to necessarily get involved in the commission. If

you go back to verse six in the first chapter of Jeremiah, “Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I

cannot speak: for I am a child. But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou

shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not

afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee [lit. snatch you away], saith the LORD.

Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me,

Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.”We will always find excuses not to do what we are

suppose to be doing and not be where God wants us.

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Listen, for a good portion of his early life he spent most of his time with a very negative message

if you really think about it. It sure wouldn’t fly today. You have to be happy go lucky and

prosperous and this and that. God forbid anyone say ‘Thus saith the Lord, it’s time you need to

be rooted up and pulled down.’ That is what the church world needs mostly, is to be rooted up

and pulled down from their entertainment for Jesus programs amongst other things, which does

nothing but cater to people in the flesh.

After Jeremiah fulfilled his commission given here in scripture to throw down Judah by what

God would say through Jeremiah’s lips as Jeremiah was being used, God eventually used him

also to build up. I believe he went to the lost house of Israel. Now even though Jeremiah went

into captivity with Judah, God saw to it that he would escape that captivity eventually. We find

that record in Jeremiah 40.

Verse 1, “The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after that Nebuzaradan the

captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him being bound in

chains among all that were carried away captive of Jerusalem and Judah, which were carried

away captive unto Babylon. And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah, and said unto him,

The LORD thy God hath pronounced this evil upon this place. Now the LORD hath brought

it, and done according as he hath said: because ye have sinned against the LORD, and have

not obeyed his voice, therefore this thing is come upon you. [4] And now, behold, I loose thee

this day from the chains which were upon thine hand.”

It is amazing how God can even use the captor to loosen the bonds, the chains which were

attached to his very hands as he was led away as a captive.

“If it seem good unto thee to come with me into Babylon, come; and I will look well unto thee:

but if it seem ill unto thee to come with me into Babylon, forbear: [highlight this] behold, all

the land is before thee...”The choice is yours. “...whither it seemeth good and convenient for

thee to go, thither go.”

It is amazing. There is really no explanation except that God intervened here and had this

particular individual that is leading these people away, the captain of the guard, to have a change

of heart and let loose Jeremiah, and probably a few others that were part of his inner group. The

guard was saying, The choice is yours. Sure it will look good for me if you come along with me,

but that is not the choice I am giving you. If you don’t want to do that and you want to take off

and go in a different direction, I will let you loose.

“Now while he was not yet gone back, he said, Go back also to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam

the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon hath made governor over the cities of Judah,

and dwell with him among the people: or go wheresoever it seemeth convenient unto thee to

go. So the captain of the guard gave him victuals and a reward, and let him go. Then went

Jeremiah unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and dwelt with him among the people

that were left in the land.”

Now why did Jeremiah go to Mizpah? There is an important reason why. Gedaliah was made

governor (or at least temporary governor) over the remnant of the Jews that were not taken out of

the land yet by the king of Babylon. And since Jerusalem was destroyed, Mizpah became the

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new headquarters at that time. But to give you some of the history without reading too much of

it, the king of Ammon at that time plotted with a Jew named Ishmael to assassinate Gedaliah.

Their evil plot was to execute that governor that was temporarily established and part of the Jews

would also be slain. Jeremiah was among the survivors and you see in Jeremiah 41:10 (Gedaliah

is murdered just before that) it reads,

“Then Ishmael carried away captive all the residue of the people that were in Mizpah, even the

king's daughters, and all the people that remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain

of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam: and Ishmael the son of Nethaniah

carried them away captive, and departed to go over to the Ammonites.”

The kings daughters. Highlight that. So now we have the king’s daughters coming into the

picture here. We know all the king’s sons were dead. Not a single one survived. But there is

mentioned here now even the kings daughters. Among these Jews that were taken away were

the king’s daughters, daughters of Zedekiah, king of Judah, and of, more importantly, David’s

dynasty. King Zedekiah died, all his sons had been killed, all the princes of Judah were slain, all

possible heirs to the throne were murdered—except, the king’s daughters. That is why Jeremiah

went to Mizpah.

Of course, this raises the question, and gets bible scholars all tied up in knots because they argue,

“Well, then how does the promise fulfill itself when Jesus finally comes on the scene?” Well

that is through another line. You can read it for yourself. Go to Matthew 1:1 so we can cover it

briefly. Bible scholars have speculated that Jechonias kept David’s lineage alive. Even Christ,

Jesus himself, traced his lineage back to David and Abraham through Jechonias line. Now

everyone just reads through this quickly, and I don’t blame them because there are a lot of names

there, but Matthew 1 begins,

“The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; And

Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram;

And Aram begat [...]” and it goes on and on, and we get to verse six, “And Jesse begat David

the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias; And

Solomon begat Roboam [...]” all the way up to verse twelve and it reads, “And after they were

brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel; And Zorobabel

begat Abiud; [...] and Matthan begat Jacob; [16] And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of

Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until

the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into

Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.”

So Christ coming from the house of Judah, which he did, was fulfilled through the Jechonias

line, that was also part of the lineage of the house of David. There is only one problem, when

Jesus came, the one sitting on the throne was not through this line. It was a puppet king

established by the Roman Empire and there has not been one since Zedekiah sitting on the throne

of David in Jerusalem or anywhere in Israel.

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But we need to go a little bit deeper into the history so you can do further research on your own

because we also have another problem here, a puzzle that needs to be solved. God told Jeremiah

that Jechonias would not have a son as king of the throne of David.

See a lot of bible scholars like to say, “Well ha! It’s through the line of David so that still fulfills

it or comes close enough to fulfill that promise that God would have someone there in Israel

somewhere.” Even though it fulfills the covenant that God made where Jesus would eventually

come from part of that lineage, through David’s lineage, it still poses a problem. Just because

they came from that lineage... (and there were plenty of individuals after Jechonias because he

begat others and they begat others all the way up to the time of Jesus as we saw in Matthew 1:16,

and 14 generations went by), none of them were sitting on the throne. Even Christ didn’t sit on

the throne at that point. Scholars don’t want to bring up the throne.

Jeremiah 22:24, 30

“As I live, saith the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim [Jechonias] king of Judah

were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence; [...] Thus saith the LORD,

Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed

shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.

Even though Christ traces his Davidic lineage back through Jechonias, it does not solve the

paradox of David’s covenant. But history records that after Jeremiah was released from Babylon,

with the royal daughters, he and another person (Baruch) traveled to Egypt. And the leader of

that group was none other than Jeremiah along with Baruch and the king’s daughters and a few

others but most of those people died by the sword in Egypt just like God warned would happen.

Only Jeremiah and those in his charge and that remained in his charge escaped. We see that in

Jeremiah 42:7.

“And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah. Then

called he Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces which were with him,

and all the people from the least even to the greatest, And said unto them, Thus saith the

LORD, the God of Israel, unto whom ye sent me to present your supplication before him; If ye

will still abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you,

and not pluck you up: for I repent me of the evil that I have done unto you. Be not afraid of

the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the LORD: for I am

with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand. And I will shew mercies unto you, that

he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return to your own land. But if ye say, We will

not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the LORD your God, Saying, No; but we will

go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor

have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell: And now therefore hear the word of the

LORD, ye remnant of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; If ye wholly set

your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there; Then it shall come to pass, that the

sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof

ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die.”

Had they obeyed God and not gone into Egypt, maybe this whole tale would have turned out

differently because He said, “I then will I build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant

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you, and not pluck you up.” Right there they disobeyed God, outright rebellion, and they went

into Egypt... for whatever reason it was. Now after going to Egypt, God warns them again from

the mouth of Jeremiah that they would die either by the sword or famine and none shall return.

You find that in 44th chapter of Jeremiah verses 12-14.

“And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to

sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed, and fall in the land of Egypt; they shall even be

consumed by the sword and by the famine: they shall die, from the least even unto the greatest,

by the sword and by the famine: and they shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a

curse, and a reproach. For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have

punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: So that none of the

remnant of Judah, which are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or

remain, that they should return into the land of Judah, to the which they have a desire to

return to dwell there: for none shall return but such as shall escape.”

Yet a small number that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of

Judah. Jeremiah, Baruch, the royal daughters did escape and did return to the land of Judah. The

problem here is that this is where the bible stops on the travels of Jeremiah and wherever

Jeremiah went. There is no one to tell the story of where he was going, what his plans were, how

far he got to send a message back to the house of Judah in that geographical area. So to continue

in this, we have to sort out stories, we have to sift through clues, mostly concerning prophecy,

and using secular history. Can it be done? Sure it can. Jeremiah didn’t build or plant to establish

the throne of David, the covenant promise that God made to David, in the Middle East any

longer, in that little area that we call Israel today. That is still coming, where it centers back in

that general area, but not yet. So where did he establish that? This unconditional promise to

David has to be kept, or why even take God’s Word as real. The only hope that we have left is to

track Jeremiah’s travels, to track these royal daughters travels under the charge of Jeremiah.

In the book of Isaiah, there is a slight clue of the trail and how to pick up on it. Isaiah 37:31.

“And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and

bear fruit upward: For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant,”—that will take root

downward and bear fruit upward—“and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the

LORD of hosts shall do this.”

So, who is this referring to? I proclaim that it is referring to Jeremiah and the royal daughters.

I skipped some history in-between the verses that we’ve just covered. You can go back and in-

between the chapters and catch up for yourself if you need and get the full picture of what really

happened, the warnings, not heeding to the warnings, and eventually the captivity, what

happened during that captivity in different time periods a few years apart, the trip down to Egypt

and the trip out of Egypt. The trail then dries up and we have to find Jeremiah and the royal

daughters using secular history, and pick up the trail again to see where they put their roots

downward and put their roots upward.

Can we do that? Yes we can. Will we do that? Yes we will. That is where we will pick it up next

time.

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I hope you are understanding the points I’m making. You can’t just throw all this out and ignore

it. I feel for those who read through the bible from Genesis to Revelation, which is all fine and

dandy, because they do not have a comprehension of what they are reading and what really

happened. They just read to read. They are missing out on a lot. The bible is rich with

information but we have to be biblical detectives to bring out the truth and see no matter what,

God keeps his word. And He did – but not through the Jechonias line, and we know that for a

fact because He mentioned that, No no, your line will no longer be a candidate for being a king

or any of your sons sitting on a throne of David. The line would continue and Jesus traced his

lineage all the way back to David with Jechonias somewhere there in the middle, but not in the

middle as a reigning dynasty, just in the middle because he was part of the lineage from David. If

you want to read more about that, go ahead. I gave you the verses. Read around it. But God kept

His word as far as Jesus arriving on the scene and where he would come from, and He kept it and

we will see for ourselves that David’s covenant, the promise of a dynasty on a throne somewhere

would not be broken. We still have some work to do.

To be continued....

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The Last Days Study Guide

Jeremiah’s Commission

1. What was Jeremiah’s commission?

2. Where did Jeremiah go after he was released from Babylonian captivity?

3. What did God say would happen in Egypt?

4. When was Jeremiah ordained?

5. Who escaped Egypt with Jeremiah?

6. If the dynasty of David ended with Zedekiah’s sons, how did Jesus fulfill prophecy

during his first advent?

7. How do scholars skirt the blatant prophecy issues of the Davidic Covenant?

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Did God Keep His Promise?

Open your bible to Isaiah 37.

The unconditional promise to David still has to be kept. There is no king in the territory of the

house of Judah in Jerusalem and there hasn’t been since 585 BC. Either God’s word is not true

not reliable and God is a liar, or it is. Well it is. You just won’t find a king or someone from the

Davidic line there in Jerusalem. You can find it somewhere else and that is where we are heading

in this teaching, where that somewhere else is.

Last time we looked at the royal daughters. They were the only hope left and they went with

Jeremiah and Baruch and others. Now we pick up a tiny clue, a faint trail that can be picked up in

Isaiah 37:31.

“And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and

bear fruit upward: For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of

mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.”

What remnant? This remnant that you find in these verses are none other than Jeremiah and the

princesses of Zedekiah that went on the journey, that traveled with him. You see them taking

root downward and bearing fruit upward. What does ‘bear fruit upward’ mean? Taking root and

bearing fruit, if you study scripture, is always symbolic of children. That means this remnant

would not stay a remnant very long. It would become a people and a people to be reckoned with,

and it would have leadership both in a ministerial way and also in a ruling capacity.

History and scripture show that David’s lineage is no longer in Judah. It isn’t. Prove otherwise.

So if it is not in Judah, if it is not there in what we call Israel today, then where is it? The only

place left for the throne of David to continue would be in the lost house of Israel...if it can be

proven. If we can find the lost tribes, I believe, then the remnant according to Isaiah can also be

found.

These princesses that went along with Jeremiah were none other than the descendants of king

David. The sons all died, were murdered, but the princesses lived on. If we can find where they

were transplanted, then I believe that is also where we can find the throne of David. I believe

through these journeys and eventually where they landed and settled the Davidic covenant and

the birthright promises were combined. We see a little glimpse of that in Psalm 89:3. These are

all clues. Like I’ve said many times over, we have to be biblical detectives. Stay within scripture

to try to find out if scripture gives us any clues.

“I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, Thy seed will I

establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.”

There is a pause there, meant to make you stop and think about what has just been said to you or

in this case sung to you for a while. Why would God’s word want you to stop there and just think

about it for a while? Because if this is not true, if this covenant was broken, then the rest of

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God’s word, anything that God has said, should not really be considered as a reliable source of

life giving information as you were led to believe. So think about it; is God telling the truth or is

He telling a lie?

Psalm 89:20, “I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him: With

whom my hand shall be established...”

If God’s word is true, then where are his descendants that he would establish by his hand forever

and build a throne to all generations?

“With whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him... [Verse 24]

But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name shall his horn be

exalted.”

Where is his horn exalted?

Psalm 89:25, “I will set his hand also in the sea [really?], and his right hand in the rivers. He

shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation

Now where in the world did God do that? Where has that promise been kept? In the territory of

the house of Judah or any areas of Israel today? No.

The word ‘hand’ there used in verse 21 and 25 comes from the Hebrew word yad. This word

carries several definitions with it, but if you literally translate it, it means a ‘symbol of power’. It

is sometimes translated as ‘consecrate’ or ‘sign’. I think we can use all these definitions. Now,

there are more translations than these but it is ‘symbolic of power; consecrate; sign’. The throne

that God is speaking of a symbol or a sign of power and of a king, one that is consecrated of

God. Why? The king might still be a horrible king, he might be like the kings of the Old

Testament in that most were bad and only a few were good, but it is consecrated of God because

God kept his commitment and word with David, the Davidic Covenant.

Now we know that the Bible does not say that Jeremiah traveled to the lost tribes of Israel.

Remember the lost tribes of Israel were taken about 130 years prior to Jeremiah beginning his

journey with the royal daughters of the Davidic line. And, those tribes had already left their

bondage, their captivity, because the Assyrian empire crumbled. Most went through the

Caucuses Mountains. Somehow, somewhere, at some time in history after Jeremiah and this

remnant left Israel, they caught up with them.

We see in the bible record that God gave Jeremiah several prophecies to deliver to Israel. And

when Jeremiah received these prophecies, he was still with the people of Judah. And when the

prophecies were dedicated just for Judah, they were delivered by Jeremiah to Judah. But then

when God warned Israel (which could only mean Ephraim and Manasseh because they were

given the name Israel at the death of Jacob), how did he tell them? Did God tell Jeremiah where

Israel was? Remember, he was a prophet for both. He was the deliverer for God’s messages for

both the house of Judah and the house of Israel. Well, the house of Israel is gone, so how is he

going to deliver it and where is he going to deliver it? Where did God tell Jeremiah Israel was?

Go to Jeremiah 31:7.

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“For thus saith the LORD; Sing with gladness for Jacob”

How? Why? If I were Jeremiah I would says, “Why! They are not here any longer. They were

taken into bondage 130 years ago. Why should we sing for gladness for Jacob?”

“...and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O LORD, save thy

people, the remnant of Israel.”

Not the remnant of Judah, but the remnant of Israel. Now he is a prophet for the house of Israel.

Verse 8, “Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts

of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that

travaileth with child together: a great company shall return thither.”

The question is, has this happened yet? Jeremiah has to deliver the message, but when was this

message suppose to be applied, for what time period?

Verse9, “They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause

them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am

a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.”

Now we know who He is directly speaking to. I am a father to Israel (and remember Ephraim

and Manasseh carried Jacob’s name Israel with them; and that was according to Jacob’s

instructions).

“Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off [highlight that],

and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.”

Declare it in the isles a far off? What isles?

I got news for you, whoever this house of Israel is, wherever Ephraim and Manasseh are, there is

a gathering that is going to take place.

Now this prophecy is directed to Israel in the wilderness. If you look at verse 2 in this same

chapter, we read,

“Thus saith the LORD, The people which were left of the sword found grace [where?] in the

wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.” (‘even’ was added by the

translators)

Everything we’ve read so far is a prophecy that proclaims God’s intention some day to bring

them back to their homeland. I believe this will be accomplished at the return of Jesus Christ.

Now God addresses Ephraim directly (remember he was promised to become a company of

nations) and says He will bring scattered Israel from the coasts and from the islands; England

and the United States primarily, but there are others, possibly Canada and even Australia, and

some other minor nations. He will bring scattered Israel from the coasts and from the islands, but

there is also another clue. He will bring them from the north. North means north from Jerusalem.

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So the question is, are there any clues besides these I just gave you that talks about Israel and

where they can be found?

Go to Hosea 12:1. This is another interesting tidbit, I guess you could say, another hint.

“Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind...”

I don’t know if you know anything about east winds but they don’t travel east, east winds travel

west. It makes you wonder why they call them east winds when they travel west, but that is just

the way they do it even to this day. East winds travel west. It’s another little clue of the possible

direction they went.

Now if we go back to Isaiah we see through Isaiah God also prophecies of a time when Israel

would be gathered together. We see it in Isaiah 49:1, “Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye

people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother

hath he made mention of my name. [...] And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the

womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I

be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength. And he said, It is a

light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the

preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my

salvation unto the end of the earth.”

If you think England and the United States, primarily, have not been a light to the gentiles or

nations ... that these two key nations, individuals coming out of those nations that proclaimed the

gospel of the good news of Jesus Christ to the world in the last two to three hundred years

weren’t a light, then you do not know your history.

“I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end

of the earth. Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom

man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and

arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of

Israel, and he shall choose thee. Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard

thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a

covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; That

thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves.

They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places. They shall not

hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them

shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them. And I will make all my

mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted. [highlight this next verse, verse 12]

Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these

from the land of Sinim. Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing,

O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his

afflicted.”

In the Hebrew, which the original was written in, there is no word for northwest as we would

spell it out today; that is why we see in verse 12 “the north and from the west” or ‘the north and

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the west’. It kind of designates what our understanding of northwest is today. So it can mean

northwest even though that isn’t the way the Hebrew would say it: it means the same thing.

So God spoke also to Ephraim through the prophet Isaiah. And if we look at Hosea again, in

chapter 11 it reads,

“When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt. As they called

them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven

images. I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I

healed them. I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they

that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them. He shall not return into the

land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return.” Because

they rebelled and didn’t return to God. “And the sword shall abide on his cities, and shall

consume his branches, and devour them, because of their own counsels. And my people are

bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, none at all would

exalt him. How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I

make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my

repentings are kindled together. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not

return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and

I will not enter into the city. They shall walk after the LORD: he shall roar like a lion: when

he shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west.”

When they start roaring, the roaring comes from the west, folks.

Verse 11, “They shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria:

and I will place them in their houses, saith the LORD. Ephraim compasseth me about with

lies, and the house of Israel with deceit: but Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the

saints.”

The prophecy you see here addresses Ephraim who was taken by the Assyrian sword—but God

will gather them again and they shall tremble from the west. They shall tremble from the west.

Ephraim is from the north and the west; that was where their first settling down place many

centuries ago was and where you can find them. Now they didn’t stay in that location, for anyone

that knows their history. People migrated and ventured out to the United States of America, to

Canada, and other far extremes of this world, but their first location was from the north and the

west. Ephraim is from the north originally, and then the west. If you take a line and draw it from

Jerusalem all the way to the British Isles, you get a northwest direction on a compass. You don’t

have to take my word for it. Look up any map and see it for yourself. Do the research. If you take

a line and draw it from Jerusalem to the northwest, the isles of the sea in the northwest are the

British Isles.

Jeremiah and the royal daughters from the royal seed went to Britain. The proof is available in

recorded history. Also the house of Israel, the lost tribes of the ten tribes of Israel went from

Palestine all the way to the USA.

So in summary, what have we covered?

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Even though king Zedekiah (the last king to sit on the throne) was killed, eventually dying in a

prison and his sons were killed, we know his daughters were spared. We know that God allowed

Jeremiah to escape captivity (which I haven’t even covered that much of yet) with Baruch and

then to move on with the king’s daughters. God used Jeremiah to reestablish the throne of David

and He would do it among the lost house of Israel. Prophecies, some of which we read just now,

reveal that the people of Ephraim traveled northwest of Jerusalem and eventually went to live in

the islands and then eventually they went even further west, not all of them but certain tribes.

God knows what He is doing. He knows how to keep His covenant. Either you are going to

believe that or you are not. If you don’t believe it, then you refuse to take a look at what history

clearly shows; that David’s line did not die out, it just re-established elsewhere.

Right now, the birthright and the ruling right are combined in the lost house of Israel... for now.

The birthright promises and the scepter promise are combined in the house of Israel. It is not

always going to stay that way but it is going to stay that way as long as God wants it to. And it is

not lost, it was hidden.

I had a message come in from someone on this topic and it is a good message.

If the history is boring for some, I understand... but as they stick with the history, they will be

greatly encouraged and in awe of How God keeps His word even when it appears to disappear.

When you said there is a problem in that "this is where the bible stops" regarding Jeremiah,

Baruch and the royal daughters. The Bible stops here because this was God's method of hiding

His hidden ones. It's kinda like being "sealed".

Well said. They are not hidden any longer. The world still doesn’t recognize who they are but for

true seekers of God’s Word and how He keeps His word, the truth is there. We just have to pull it

out like biblical detectives or like any detective would do in his research. We just have to be

biblical detectives piece by piece to fit the puzzle, not forcing it, to fit it perfectly. And that is

what I plan to do. I wish I could spend more time on this but it’s just not feasible in this series. It

needs to be a series of its own. I am just briefly touching areas. Hopefully I can come back and

fill in some of the gaps. This is just to get you through so you can see where the hidden ones

finally are located and who we are talking about. That is the whole objective of what we are

doing in the last days series on the hidden ones.

And you see it today, there is still an alliance within the house of Israel that is strong. Kind of

ironic, isn’t it? The United States and Britain are close allies, including with Israel, Canada,

Australia, and those allies. Hmm. It makes you wonder why.“Well, they are all English speaking

people.”Why?

God is in control, folks.

To be continued...

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The Last Days Study Guide

Did God Keep His Promise?

1. What is an east wind?

2. What does taking root and bearing fruit mean?

3. What is the purpose of ‘selah’?

4. What does yad mean?

5. Where was Jeremiah when God gave him words for Ephraim?

6. Who is Jeremiah 31:2 speaking about?

7. What is the purpose of going over this history?

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Go Marry A Whore

Open your bible to the book of Hosea. This will just be an introduction to the book.

Last time I taught on Jeremiah and the royal daughters, the only surviving kin with David’s

lineage because king Zedekiah and all his sons died. I want to leave Jeremiah and the king’s

daughters for a moment and backtrack. As I preach through this part of the series on the last

days, it has been one of the most frustrating sections because I have to quickly race through the

Lost Tribes teaching. Ideally, I would spend two to three years on it. I’m trying to do all this in a

matter of months. God willing. So I am briefly going through many different books of the bible

and history to give you basically an outline about who those hidden ones in Psalm 83 really are

and where they are today. So let’s leave Jeremiah and his daughters who were a little bit more

than 130 years after the fact from when this prophet Hosea was given a word from the Lord to

deliver to the people.

Hosea’s name means salvation. He sure didn’t have much of a message until you get to the end

of the book and find how God has had mercy. His ministry was between 770-720 BC. He was

prophesying against the ten northern tribes, which were the house of Israel. He began

prophesying, which we will see in these chapters, at the end of a period which was

materialistically prosperous under king Jeroboam II, the king of the north. During Hosea’s

lifetime, this nation was spiritually bankrupt. They were awful. If you go through their list of

kings, not a single one was any good. They all did evil in the sight of the Lord. The leaders

permitted them to practice idolatry and they surely committed spiritual idolatry to the Lord.

So with that quick introduction, let’s take a look at the book of Hosea. You can read the whole

book if you want, I am just going to highlight some Scriptures.

Hosea 1:1, “The word of the LORD that came unto Hosea”. Verse 2, “The beginning of the

word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of

whoredoms:”

Go marry a whore. Don’t get mad at me, I’m not saying this, God is saying it. He is telling the

prophet of God to marry a whore. Imagine if that could be pulled off in today’s Christian world?

“God told me to go marry a whore, but not just any whore, a whore who is going to be unfaithful

to me anyway.” Unfaithful how? Most people when they hear whore or whoredoms think only of

the adultery part of it, fooling around, having many lovers, however you want to say it, but that

word whoredoms has more than just that definition. It can mean many lovers, infidelity, but also

comes with the meaning of someone who practices idolatry. When you understand the Hebrew

definition of whoredoms, that is really what this whole book is identifying. The ten northern

tribes, the house of Israel was unfaithful to God because it had many lovers (instead of the one

true God as their love) which included the practice of false religions, false worship, bowing to

false statues. It was paganism at its best. Hosea’s is told by the Lord that his life would be an

example, a sign of what is going to happen to this nation. Some people try to say, “Maybe it

didn’t happen. It’s just symbolic.” Well it doesn’t say it is symbolic no matter where you look in

this whole book, so I am going to take this, as it was, a drama being played out with God as the

director to make His point.

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Hosea 1:2, “The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea,

Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms: and children of whoredoms: for the land hath

committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD.”

This was the warning which was being played out in a human play and the children of Israel still

wouldn’t get the message. They kept with their unfaithfulness and their whoredoms, their

practice of a false religion, or many religions really.

“So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son.

And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge

the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house

of Israel. And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley

of Jezreel. And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her

name Loruhamah:”

What does Loruhamah mean? Not having obtained mercy. The drama is being played out. Even

the children have a role in it by their actual name.

“...Loruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take

them away.”

And He sure did take them away - about 130 years (give or take) before the southern kingdom,

the house of Judah was taken by the Babylonians.

“But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah”—which He did. They would eventually fall

into whoredoms too, but not yet—“and will save them by the LORD their God”—which He did,

when the Assyrian Sennacherib wanted to take them into captivity and destroy the house of

Judah—“and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by

horsemen.” That’s right. An angel came in and slew 185,000. “Now when she had weaned

Loruhamah, she conceived, and bare a son. Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are

not my people, and I will not be your God.”

One child named not obtaining mercy and another named not my people. The house of Israel

would no longer be considered His people, His chosen ones. But verse ten says, “Yet the number

of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor

numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not

my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.”

Did that happen? We will see. Let’s jump forward to Hosea 2:23.

“And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not

obtained mercy”—so they do not have mercy now, but there is a time coming that God will have

mercy—“and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall

say, Thou art my God.”

Has this happened? God divorced them. He didn’t want to have anything to do with them: they

were not going to obtain mercy at that time and they would be considered not His people. But He

also said there is going to come a time when He would have mercy and they would be His people

again, and these house of Israelites will say “thou art my God”.

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Hosea 3:5, “Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and

David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.”

In the “latter days.” Interesting verse there. Let’ move on. Go to chapter 11.

Hosea 11:8, “How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I

make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my

repentings are kindled together. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not

return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and

I will not enter into the city. They shall walk after the LORD: he shall roar like a lion: when

he shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west.”

It doesn’t say north, south, or east—the center part being, let’s just call it Jerusalem for now, or

in their case Samaria, which was north of Jerusalem . Where do Ephraim and the house of Israel

tremble from? This gives us a clue as to where they will travel after they are released from their

captivity—because the Assyrian Empire was overcome by the Babylonian Empire, they were

released. You’ve heard the saying “go west,” they sure did.

Interesting verse here:

“They shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria: and I will

place them in their houses, saith the LORD.”

Let’s skip forward to Hosea 14:1,

“O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.” Verse 4, “I

will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.”

How did that healing happen? What event in history made that even possible? To even have a

clue...well, you probably can guess, but to have a better understanding of that, that is why we

have to go to the New Testament and dig in to get some of these answers. And we will. “But I

never read anything like that.” You will.

“I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.

His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.

They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the

vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon. Ephraim shall say, What have I to do

any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me

is thy fruit found. Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall

know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the

transgressors shall fall therein.”

In a sense, we are being told to get some wisdom concerning these passages and not the garblely-

goop general commentary that doesn’t even have a clue what they are talking about that we find

written about these passages in the book of Hosea.

“Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the

ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall

therein.”

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Now this was just a little bit of an introduction to the book. Read it for yourself. Make sure you

put everything in a correct timeline if you can. Hopefully I will be able to spend more time on

this as I quickly go through this book, which prophesied what would happen to the house of

Israel, the ten northern tribes. And it did happen: they were overtaken by the king of Assyria and

taken into captivity into bondage, and they were transported east in their captivity. But once they

came out of their captivity, they went west. WEST. We will track that.

Do I think Jeremiah and the royal daughters went with them? No. This happened before Jeremiah

and the royal daughters were even able to do that. Do I think Jeremiah and the royal daughters

caught up eventually? Absolutely, by taking a different route. And I will be covering that also.

So that is just a small introduction, but I will also address a query that a Davidic male was not

necessary for the covenant to continue that God had promised. We will take a look at that. What

I am saying is keep your mind open and don’t become legalistic. I believe God had many

options.

To be continued...

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The Last Days Study Guide

Did God Keep His Promise?

1. What does Loruhama mean?

2. What does Loammi mean?

3. What does Hosea mean?

4. What was Hosea’s commission?

5. What was the purpose of Hosea’s commission?

6. Where was Jeremiah and the royal daughters of Zedekiah when Hosea prophesied this?

7. How long was Hosea’s ministry?

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A Look at Romans

Ninety-nine percent of people that teach on the lost tribes of Israel stay in the Old Testament. It

is where we will find most of the information to at least possibly track where they went, using

history with the Scriptures, and then eventually where they actually migrated to, and where

Jeremiah built and planted along with Zedekiah’s daughters and others. But there is plenty in the

New Testament too. I don’t know why they avoid it. They really stay out of the NT (at least

everyone I’ve listened to teach on this subject matter). They have some references here and there

but mostly they stay in the Old Testament.

I contend there is plenty to say about the lost tribes of Israel if you know how to look for it in the

New Testament. The champion of giving us the information was Paul. “Has he?” Absolutely.

Most people study the book of Romans and never see it. Be honest with yourself; how many of

you ever heard anyone laying down information concerning the lost tribes of Israel using Paul’s

letter to the Romans? And that is for starters. Most people don’t even know who Paul was

writing to, the different groups of people and how he categorized them in the book of Romans.

It is true enough that Paul was writing to the Romans but he broke it up into four groups of

people:

1) Pagan Man

2) Jews

3) Israel

4) Church

That is how Paul starts, with Pagan Man, and then it is intertwined through the first eight

chapters especially. Then he deals with the Jews up to the 9th chapter. Then he deals with Israel.

And lastly, though it is intertwined throughout the whole book, he deals with the Church. Read

the book of Romans after this message and see for yourself. Unless you understand these four

groups of people and how they are used by Paul in his communications in this letter to the

Romans to give us insight and to instruct us, you’ll miss the mark. It is quite clear when he is

talking to the Jews, what he is saying. I contend the same thing is true with Israel, or let’s just

say the Lost Tribes of Israel.

Open your bible to Romans 9:1. We are in that third category, Israel, the Lost Tribes.

“I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,

That I have great heaviness [pain or grief] and continual [unceasing] sorrow in my heart. For I

could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to

the flesh”—then something very strange happens here—“who are Israelites”.

It is very clear prior to this ninth chapter who Paul is talking to, the Jew. He begins dealing with

man in general (pagan man), but now he gets to a certain section of his letter, the ninth chapter in

our bible (some of your bibles will say The People of Israel or Israelites or whatever), and then

he states a very strange thing, “who are Israelites.” Who?

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“...to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants [testaments], and the

giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises...”

Some will say, “Ah ha! That has to include the house of Judah.” Oh really? Not so. You see,

Jesus changed that. Most people miss that and we will get to that in a minute.

Who are the Israelites “to whom pertaineth [pertaineth is added by the translators] the adoption,

and the glory, and the covenants [testaments], and the giving of the law, and the service of

God, and the promises; Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ

came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.”

Paul now introduces the Israelites – not the Jews, not the Pagan Man, not even the Church, but

the Israelites. “I was never told that.” Well, you have been in the dark long enough. He uses the

words Israel, nations (which most of the time is translated gentiles [see The Last Days, vol. 9]),

and Greek or the Greek. The word Greek, depending on the context of Scripture, can mean a

name, a description, or may be looked upon as representing Israel in culture and in scholarship.

So we have Israel, nations or gentiles, Greek or the Greek.

Now this is the Israelites or Israel’s, the Lost Tribes’ bill of rights. Make a note of that in your

bible. It is similar to the Bill of Rights we have in the United States, but this is Israel’s, which

does not include the house of Judah (Jews), but is Israel’s Bill of Rights:

“Who are Israelites; to whom the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants [testaments] , and

the giving of the law [which most of you think still rests with the Jew], and the service of God,

and the promises; Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came,

who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.”

This is the Lost Tribes of Israel’s Bill of Rights. If I communicate anything in this message, I

want you to understand that. Up to this chapter, he is dealing with Pagan Man or the Jews. Now

he is dealing with the people of Israel (not the tiny nation but the Israelites), the Lost Tribes.

We’ll use scripture to prove that. These bill of rights includes the Birthright, which Jacob or

Israel gave to Joseph’s sons. That was part of the adoption.

I know what you are going to say, “If if you go to I Chronicles 5:2 it reads, ‘For Judah prevailed

above his brethren and of him came the chief ruler, but the birth right was Joseph’s.’” And it

was no different in Paul’s day. He didn’t think of something different than what was already

stated in the Scriptures. The Birthright was with Joseph, and it got carried down through

Ephraim and Manasseh. The Birthright was still with Israel in Paul’s day and not with the Jews.

Now to the Jews were committed the Oracles of God, you are going to say, and that is true. Right

from the beginning they were the defenders of the faith. That is true. That responsibility laid

chiefly with Judah. That is true. “When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a

people of strange language; Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion.” (Ps. 114:1-2)

That is in Scripture. So the house of Judah had the custody of the Oracles of God. That was the

primary and chief privilege of the house of Judah and it remained their right up to a certain point

when the Lord said to them, “the kingdom is taken from you” speaking to the house of Judah

“and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” What nation?

Matthew 21:43, “Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and

given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.”

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As I said, to Israel came an inheritance from Joseph and Ephraim, the Birthright of Israel, their

Bill of Rights, what we just read. It doesn’t matter that Israel became lost. It doesn’t matter that

they wouldn’t for the most part be practicing the Law (even though until they were evangelized

as they traveled and migrated they had some elements of the Law) and they practiced their own

way. Yes, they became uncircumcised. Yes, they became gentile-ized: they became gentiles as

we’ve come to understand it (even though most don’t understand what Scripture actually means

by that word gentiles). And yes they held the Birthright separate and it is still true today.

This has nothing to do with the Church incidentally. The Church has its own rights and

privileges. Paul makes that very clear in this same letter to the Romans. And those rights and

privileges which we see outside the book of Romans in the book of Acts and other books came at

the time of Pentecost. You can’t take that away. But We are not talking about the Church, we are

talking about Israelites.

And by the way, the Church did not inherit, like some believe, the Bill of Rights that I just read

to you. The reasons are usually pretty weak from the ones that believe that. Why? It is not

necessary. We are not talking about a national organism such as the Jews or the Israelites. When

you speak about the Church, it is the Bride of Christ. It is a whole separate thing. But God’s

promises of not only the events that lead up to the latter days, but the latter days themselves still

have to be fulfilled through national organizations (in this case let’s just say governments) or

God’s Word is not true because things would be left unfulfilled. And as we’ve seen so far, God is

in the business of fulfilling what He says He will do. He is not a man to lie. He always comes

through. So therefore the Church did not inherit the Bill of Rights that we read in Romans 9:4-5.

In fact this kind of introduces, no matter how you look at it, the doctrine of selection and

exclusion—and specifically, those of the sons of Abraham. I know some don’t like to hear that

but if you look at God’s Word starting with verse 6 it reads, “Not as though the word of God

hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel...”

Let’s look at the sons of Abraham. Isaac was the only seed. There were other sons but they were

not included in the covenant, were they? So don’t think this is strange. Of the sons of Isaac,

Jacob was the seed. You can see from Scripture that Esau was excluded.

Romans 9:6, “Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all

Israel, which are of Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all

children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the

flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the

seed. For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son. And

not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (For the

children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God

according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) It was said unto her,

The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.”

You have to move carefully here, folks. You have to keep your focus and mind fixed on the

question at issue here.

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It is the selection of one particular line of descent—which can clearly be seen when we look at

the book of Exodus chapters 19 and 20 where God chooses His kingdom nation. All of the sons

from Abraham were excluded except Isaac. There are other nations coming from these sons, or

national organizations as I said earlier. And whether you like it or not, they must all give place to

Israel’s organization. That is the way God set it up. I am not inventing anything. Those of you

seasoned in the Scriptures know this to be true. This is not Joe Cortes’ cockamamie idea. This

comes straight out of the Bible. Why? Because God had mercy on Israel, and for Israel He also

provided redemption. He granted continuance as He has selected and granted His kingdom of

priests forever.

Now I am not trying to preach a message of election or rejection of individuals from the

standpoint of salvation or eternal life. That is not the purpose of this message. We are reading in

Scripture what we’ve covered before in the past, of a race selected to be a vessel unto honor for

the Lord’s service. And the object of that service, which I already covered, is plain in Scripture.

In thee “and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” Period. And in that seed,

He included and He excluded, for the reasons we find in Scripture, which I already covered

many times over in the past.

If you really think about it Pharaoh was raised up not just as an individual, but also as one of

these national organizations or governments; he was the king of Egypt. And he was raised up in

order that in him in his official capacity, the King of Israel might manifest His power as an

object lesson to the nations of the world. Some translators even translated it, that He might show

His government. Hey, the Lord has the right whether you like it or not. And He was justified in

exercising that right, whether you like it or not, for carrying out His purposes. It doesn’t matter if

you think it is fair or not. And He did make a race that would be a vessel unto honor.

Romans 9:14, “What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For

he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy [like I just said], and I will

have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of

him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even

for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my

name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will

have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay

but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that

formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same

lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?”

Make note here. Each vessel is made by God. Each vessel is rendered to be in His service. Now

some vessels, if you really want to put a simple understanding to it, are made for cleaning

purposes, others for a music room or a library, or whatever their purpose. All serve, but some in

honor as vessels of mercy.

What Paul does here in writing this epistle (c. 60 AD) is bring the argument down to specific

facts as to these very chosen Israelites and the position they hold in relation to the covenant and

the Gospel. He addresses not only the Jews, but also of the Gentiles or the ethnon or ethnos. He

is writing to more than one group of people. As I said, Romans is broken up into four different

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groups that he writes to. He spends most of his time in this letter on groups two and three, but

they all are there.

Romans 9:22, “What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured

with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make

known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,

Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the [nations] Gentiles?”—not

‘gentiles’ but OF THE NATIONS. (Make that correction in your bible.)

He is speaking of the seed that was elected to carry forward the covenant established with

Abraham and his seed. That covenant was to last forever. That covenant would see, experience

and go through kings, people, territories, you name it.

If you think about it, in the past there had to be a whole series of exclusions. If you go all the

way back to the Old Testament, Ham and Japheth were excluded from the seed of Noah. Every

son of Abraham, as I said, except Isaac. Esau was excluded between the two sons of Isaac. But

there would be another exclusion at the commencement of (let’s just call it) the Christian

dispensation. Who was that? What was that? What other exclusion commenced upon the

Christian dispensation?

To be continued...

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The Last Days Study Guide

A Look at Romans

1. To whom was committed the Oracles of God?

2. List the four groups Paul categorizes.

3. Why didn’t the Church inherit the Bill of Rights of the Israelites?

4. What doctrine does Romans 9:6 introduce?

5. To whom did Paul spend most of his time addressing Romans?

6. Why does the giving of the law pertain to the Israelites?

7. Explain Paul’s uses of the term Greek for the House of Israel.

8. Who determined the placement of the kingdom responsibility?

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Romans (cont.)

Open your bible to Romans 9. We are going to pick up where we left off trying to find the

hidden ones, which are not the people living in Israel today, the Jews or the house of Judah.

Let us keep in mind that we are reading of that seed that was elected to carry forth

the Covenant established with Abraham and his seed forever. In the past, there

has been a whole series of exclusion.

In the last message I was giving you a list of exclusions. Exclusions from what? The seed that

would carry forth the Covenant.

Ham and Japheth were excluded of the seed of Noah. Every family of Shem—but

the one line of descent to Abraham—were excluded. Of the sons of Abraham,

every son but Isaac was excluded. Esau was excluded of the two sons of Isaac. But

from the time of Israel, the descent had run like a river full and bank high until

the time of Christ. And there was to be another exclusion at the commencement of

the Christian dispensation. All the seed of Isaac who remained out of Christ were

to be excluded from the kingdom. The question here is not of salvation and eternal

life, but of the vessels of honor who should carry on the ministration of the

kingdom. That kingdom [according to this author, and I also believe] must have as

its basis a Christian nation and a company of nations.

Discussing the same thing in Galatians [3:16] the apostle Paul says, “Now to

Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of

many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” This statement is shortened

by the Apostle. The facts as written in full in the Scriptures are: As to the Old

Testament dispensation, the Lord said in His Covenant to Abraham, “And as for

Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him

fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I

will make him a great nation. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac...for in

Isaac shall your seed be called.” And as with Isaac, the seed was called in former

dispensations. So now the seed shall be called in Christ. “He saith not, And unto

the seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed which is Christ.” This would

be something like the full Scriptural statement, the knowledge of which the

apostles assumes. This exclusion in the Christian dispensation should leave a

“seed” taken from two branches of the Israel stock, descended from Isaac.

Not of the Jews only, but also of the ethnon or ethnos, which translated in the Greek is “nations”.

Of this seed should be formed that Christian nation which should be the Israel of

the Christian dispensation. There is no manner of doubt as to who, where, and are

the Jews.

I don’t think anybody doubts that.

But who are the nations who are here referred to as the Gentiles? For out of these

two branches of people must the vessel of honor, the Israel kingdom nation, be

formed. The Gentiles are not the heathen. We are saved the trouble of wandering

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over the matter by the fact of the apostle Paul goes to great pains to make it

absolutely clear that he talking of the Israel which separated from Judah and

dwelt as a separate kingdom in the land of Israel, and which was still separate and

distinct from Judah in his day.

That is about 2000 years ago around 60 AD.

In order to make this sure for the student of his writings then [and now, even more

importantly now I believe], he calls 3 witnesses as to the identity of Israel.

The three witnesses are Hosea, Elijah, and Isaiah.

Each of his witnesses gives his testimony in such a clear cut manner that there

can be no doubt and no gainsaying them. In as much as the apostle puts Judah

over Israel in his day, there can logically arise no question as to an earlier fusion

of Judah and Israel, either at the time of the return of the Jews from Babylon or

after. Those who have been busy asserting such a fusion should have given more

careful heed to the Apostle Paul’s clear statement and his clearer proof and thus

have avoided falling into such manifest error.

Inasmuch as the Apostle puts forward the Israel nations as well known and

outstanding, separate alike from Judah, and from the Pagan world in his day, they

cannot have been that absorption of Israel among the heathen nations which

some other schools contended for. In the Apostle’s day there were “not the Jews

only but also the Gentiles”. These latter were Israel of the ten tribes, distinct from

the Jews and also from the cosmos (mankind) in general or the non-Hebrew

world.

Let us look at the proof. First he calls Hosea.

Romans 9:24, “Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles [

or nations]? As he said also in Hosea, I will call them my people which were not my people,

and her beloved which was not my beloved. And it shall come to pass in the place where it was

said unto them you are not my people they shall be called the children of the living God.”

They were loved but then because of their continuing idolatry and sin, God divorced them. But

He also promised that they would be His beloved again in the future. That is why Paul calls these

three witnesses. Paul doesn’t make any mistake. These three witnesses were prophesying to the

ten tribes of the north.

How can we be sure that Hosea was talking about the ten tribes of Israel and not the house of

Judah?

Hosea 1:6, “And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her

name Loruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly

take them away. But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the

LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by

horsemen.[...] Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not

be your God. Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which

cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was

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said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the

living God.”

In other words, beloved, divorced, and loved again.

Hosea 1:11, “Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together,

and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be

the day of Jezreel.”

Can anything be clearer than the separation of the ten tribes of Israel from Judah? Hosea is

speaking to the ten tribes of Israel. And he also mentions the house of Judah here and how they

would be spared. They would be spared but not by some human army. An angel came down and

wiped out 185,000 Assyrians and it wasn’t until about 130 years later when the Babylonian

Empire (the beastly empire that was ruling in that day in the Middle East) came up and finally

conquered Judah; because Judah did go into sin also and they practiced idolatry, and in some

cases maybe even worse than what Israel did.

It is the same ten tribes of Israel whom Paul is speaking of when he refers to Gentiles or (let’s

correct the translation) ethnos, the nations, the ten tribes. He uses Hosea as a first example. I

think Paul knew people wouldn’t believe that. I think Paul in his day, just like today, believed

that there would be hardheads who would refuse to separate the House of Judah and the House of

Israel. So therefore, what does he do? He calls up a second witness.

Romans 9:27, “Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of

Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved”—a remnant out of that shall be

saved—“For he will finish the work [lit. the account], and cut it short in righteousness:

because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.”

Paul is referring to is Isaiah 10:5-23.

“O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send

him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a

charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the

streets. Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to

destroy and cut off nations not a few. [...] Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her

idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?”

And he continues all the way to verse 23.

Now there is no doubt when He is dealing with Israel and when He is dealing with Judah. Here

He is dealing with Judah. I preached a message on this. The first example is dealing with Israel.

Here He is dealing with Judah and what the Assyrians would try to do but not be successful in—

even though they were successful against the house of Israel. When the Assyrians carried the war

to Jerusalem against Judah, the angel of God destroyed all 185,000 of them in a single night.

Paul speaks of the house of Israel (by using the first two examples) and the house of Judah. The

instructions are fairly clear in the prophecy—which was written beforehand: before the

Assyrians did what they did to the house of Israel; and then over a century later, what would

eventually happen to the house of Judah. There is no doubt which family branch these prophets

were speaking to. Paul makes it clear. That is why he keeps calling up these three witnesses.

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For our last witness, Go to Romans 11:1.

“I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed

of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew.

Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? [Elijah was a prophet to the northern kingdom]

how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets,

and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith the

answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed

the knee to the image of Baal. Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant

according to the election of grace.”

How many people have read through these passages and really put these pieces together? I don’t

fault you really, I fault the watchmen who are not doing very good in watching for your sake.

There is a remnant that hasn’t bowed to whatever baal means today, whatever baal meant to Paul

– a remnant according to the election of grace. Not of works, grace.

Now we must make a long quotation. This matter is too important if we would

make assurance doubly sure in our reading of this portion of the Epistle to the

Romans, the meaning of which the Apostle settled so surely by these very

passages:

This person then references I Kings 18. I’ve preached on it before, but to re-familiarize you with

the story, verses one and two say, “And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the

LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send

rain upon the earth. And Elijah went to shew himself unto Ahab. And there was a sore famine

in Samaria.”

Again, that is the northern tribes, the house of Israel. Now go to I Kings 18:17-24,

“And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that

troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's

house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed

Baalim. Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets

of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at

Jezebel's table.

So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount

Carmel. And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two

opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people

answered him not a word. Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet

of the LORD; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. Let them therefore give us

two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on

wood, and put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no

fire under: And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD:

and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is

well spoken.”

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The story continues onward. You can read it for yourself. Read the rest of chapter 18.

Then we get to I Kings 19:1-4,

“And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets

with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me,

and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time.

And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which

belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the

wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he

might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than

my fathers.”

Jezebel was determined to get her revenge. She wasn’t successful. Elijah got scared and went

south. There is the still small voice event. You can read all that through the end of the chapter.

Now these historic things happened in and to the Northern Kingdom, the ten tribes of Israel. It is

not to Judah. The Assyrian king would come to take those Israelites into captivity, and even

though he tried with Judah, he was not successful. God made sure of that just as it was

prophesied years before the event. These things happened and Paul recounts or retells the stories

using the Old Testament to lay the foundational basis of whom he is referring to. It was not to

Judah nor to any other heathen nation. Israel then, and even now, was a separate nation from

Judah. They had their own king and they had their own separate government.

Does not all this settle absolutely beyond dispute that the ethnon or ethnos of

Romans 9 and 11 (described as gentiles, or rather as in the original, ‘nations’) is

none other than Israel of the ten tribes?

Even them become a company of nations.

The three great matters which are here set forth from the prophet are as follows:

In Hosea, the divorce of a ten-tribe Israel, as prophesied by Hosea, and as history

later records it; with promise of Redemption, and final restoration. In Isaiah, the

prophesy of the conquest of ten-tribe Israel by Assyria, as prophesied by Isaiah,

and as history later records it.

And of course Elijah, the last example, the last witness called up to testify.

And Elijah, the prophet of the ten-tribe nation at Mt. Carmel summoned by king

Ahab, and the testing between the prophets of baal and Elijah. All these are great

facts in Israel’s history—not in the history of Judah and not in the history of any

other nation. Thus the identity of the ‘gentiles’ (ethnon, ethnos) of the Apostle

Paul in these Israel chapters is settled. They are the ten-tribe Israel.

I cannot fathom why preachers, seminaries, cannot distinguish the two. I have researched these

chapters every which way you can, pulled up every bit of information I could get my hands on

from around the world, and it baffles me to no end why ninety-nine and a half percent of all

preachers just don’t want to recognize it, and, if they do recognize it (and I am sure some do),

they don’t want to seem like a nut because it is something different than what was taught in these

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seminaries, and what is preached at all these churches. Yet it is so important and important

enough for Paul to recognize it and make the distinct separation between the two houses.

I hope you are starting to see it for yourself. I want you to review these Scriptures and remember

this lesson: that Paul recounts these Old Testament prophets to lay the basis of why he

understood—and why we should understand—who the house of Israel and the house Judah were

and still are today.

To be continued...

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The Last Days Study Guide

Romans (cont.)

1. Paul uses the word ethnon or enthos (translated ‘gentiles’) in Romans’ chapters nine and

eleven to designate who?

2. What three prophets does Paul draw upon for his explanation of the ethnos?

3. Explain the doctrine of exclusion.

4. Explain the scope of the doctrine of exclusion.

5. How do we know Hosea wasn’t talking about the house of Judah?

6. How does this information affect your view of New Testament accounts?

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Romans 9

Open your bible to Romans 9:30.

The last time we looked at Romans 9, Paul called to witness Hosea, Isaiah, and Elijah. He used

these witnesses because they were prophets to the house of Israel the northern ten tribes, not to

the house of Judah the southern tribes. He is making a point about who the Gentiles (the

Israelites) were known as. They had fallen away and sinned in worshipping other gods and false

idols and were punished. Then, they lost their identity after the Assyrians came in and took them

into captivity. As a result, they were not called “my people” any longer according to God, but

they would find redemption at a certain time down the timeline. In the New Testament, the

Israelites are just called gentiles but that is not really a correct translation as we saw. It should

really be translated “nations” not gentiles. It is one of the biggest errors of the New Testament

and I think by design, until a set time when these gentiles, nations, would finally be discovered

not just as gentiles but as the “sons of the living God” as it states in the Old Testament.

Paul calls Hosea to be a witness here in Romans 9 because Hosea was a prophet to the northern

tribes—he actually lived it out—and he stated that the divorce of the ten-tribe Israel nation

would occur, getting the word from the Lord and what would happen to them; but there came a

promise of redemption also and a restoration. In Isaiah, you see the prophecy of the conquest of

the ten tribes of Israel once again by the Assyrians, as prophesied in the book of Isaiah, and even

secular history records that. And Elijah obviously was another ten tribe prophet. He was

summoned by king Ahab, and the test between the prophets of baal and Elijah on Mt. Carmel.

These are all prophets that Paul brings to witness using the examples of what they did—which

they didn’t do in the house of Judah, but in the house of Israel—and Paul is trying to make clear

who he is talking about. Paul didn’t come up with the word gentiles. His word was “nations” in

the Greek, ethne and ethnos. All these are great facts in Israel’s history if you study the Old

Testament. These events were not in the history of Judah and never were; and, they are not in

any other history of any other nation either.

So we are going to move forward now on the identity of the Gentiles, the ten-tribe Israel.

Romans 9:30, “What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after

righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. But

Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of

righteousness.”

But it may be said: Are not the gentiles here contrasted with Israel?

That is what the assumption has been by most scholars and teachers of God’s Word. So...

How then can the Gentiles be Israel?

Of course to remind us again, we cannot be confused by the term used here of ‘gentiles’. The

word was ethne or ethnos, nation, as I have shown; and stated they are the ten tribes of Israel,

which was even used by Paul in this Israel section of the epistle to the Romans.

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They were "Israel" [that is what they were known by] while they remained in their

own land [in the area designated for the ten tribes, in the northern kingdom].But

then and there they sinned and fell. They were deprived of the name "Israel"

when they were deported to Assyria. They then were named "The house of Isaac."

[We see that in Amos 7.] They became nations. They ceased to bear the Israel

name, and they ceased to be circumcised. They then became "Gentiles" and

continued so unto the Apostle's day.

So "the Gentiles" of a.d. 60 are compared with "Israel" of 975 b.c. Israel being

the progenitors of the Gentiles of Paul's day. To state it briefly: The ten tribes

were Israel then, 975 b.c. They had "now" become Gentiles in a.d. 60. They were

now attaining righteousness by faith as was manifested in the election of grace.

That is what it says at Romans 9:31. “But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness,

hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith,

but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone...”

When they tried to achieve it on their own, they failed. But in verse 30 it states, “What shall we

say then? That the Gentiles [the nations], which followed not after righteousness, have

attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith [pistis: by the hearing and

being persuaded by what they heard to be true].”

Maybe now we can understand when we move to Romans 10:14, “How then shall they [these

nations] call on him in whom they have not believed [pisteuo: have faith and confidence in]?

and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear

without a preacher?” The message still had to get to them for their restoration. “And how shall

they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that

preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”

Finally; delivering a message to the people who had been divorced by God, how they could be

restored through His only begotten son Jesus Christ, back in the right relationship with God,

right with God.

“But they have not all obeyed [or come under the possession of] the gospel. For Esaias saith,

Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the [spoken] word of God.”

Even though you can use this verse on a personal level, in context Paul is referring to how those

Israelites going to hear? How is that house of Isaac is going to hear if individuals are not sent

forth to preach to them how they may become righteous by faith in Jesus Christ? And how are

they going to hear if no one sends them? But once they would hear, faith would come by hearing

and hearing the Word, the spoken word of God.

Paul knew who he was writing to, and he knew what the process was for these divorced Israelites

(no longer named that) to become unified back with God, right with God, become righteous

again, filled with God’s righteousness by the Holy Spirit through His son Jesus Christ.

When, in olden days, as Israel, they sought righteousness by the deeds of the law,

they failed to attain, and were cast out of their own land because of their sin. Then

they were “Israel” and failed to obtain.

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(Once again go to Amos 7. It gives you, using different visions, a brief account of how God

changed his mind because of Amos, and how He was going to deal with fallen Israel. It is an

interesting read. You should read it.)

That is what these verses in Romans 9:30-33 state. They were Israel and they failed to obtain

while they were in their own land.

Now they were Gentiles or nations and by faith were attaining to righteousness

individually, and should yet attain nationally by faith what nationally they had lost

by failure in "works”.

The question is, has that happened yet?

Romans 9:32, “Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of

the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a

stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”

There is their position then at the end of the ninth chapter of Romans in a.d. 60,

or when the epistle was written.

In several demonstrations starting at the beginning of the chapter in verse 9 and going on into

chapter 10, Paul clearly wants the reader of these letters, and now us, to properly identify Israel,

the house of Isaac, the people who became divorced by God, who were different and separate

from the house of Judah. They are two different houses and Paul knew how to distinguish who

was who in each individual house. He wants the readers of Romans to understand that.

Israel dwelt separately from the Jew. After King Solomon there was a clear separation, two

houses, two nations really, no longer one as they were under the rule of David and the rule of

Solomon. Both were lead into captivity, one later than the other; one by the Assyrians, another

by the Babylonians. But the Jew came back, Israel never did. Israel never did....yet.

I think this is an interesting subject. If you don’t believe me believe Paul, he wrote about it. He

wrote about it more than any other apostle—even though James recognized that there were lost

tribes out there somewhere. His letter opens, “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus

Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.”

Did he know where the 12 tribes were when he wrote this? I believe he did. And not just James

and Paul but the others also. They knew Israel never came back. They became nations

somewhere else.

We are going to explore where that somewhere else is.

To be continued...

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The Last Days Study Guide

Romans 9

1. Why is Romans 9:30 not a contrast between Gentiles and Israel?

2. Who is being compared in Romans 9:30-33?

3. What promise is Romans 10:14-15 specifically fulfilling?

4. When was the house of Israel deprived of its name?

5. What name did the house of Israel become known as?

6. Not only did the house of Israel cease to bear the name of Israel, but what else did they

also cease in?

7. Other than Paul, what other apostle recognized there were twelve tribes?

8. What prophet gives us more details about how God would deal with fallen Israel?

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Romans 10

Open your bible to Romans 9.

When I first started to teach on this particular section in Romans 9, I had some people write to

me asking, “How do you know that for sure?” I think it is quite clear once one opens their eyes

to see what Paul is saying and who he is referring to. I said at the very beginning of this

extension of Psalm 83 to locate the “hidden ones” that Romans was broken up into four different

categories of people. Paul was writing to: 1) the World, the cosmos; 2) the Jews; 3) the ten tribes

of Israel; and lastly, the Church. Now it is not necessarily in this order. In fact, it jumps around a

little bit; the Jews precede chapter nine. That is why Romans is a very powerful book in the New

Testament. Obviously Paul covered the whole gauntlet of territory with the Jew, the ten tribes,

and the Church, plus the cosmos, which would include everything else.

I haven’t really said with any detail (though I mentioned it) where they eventually wound up,

which was the British Isles, the western part of Europe, the United States, and places like Canada

and Australia and so forth as Britain colonized the rest of the world. But in Paul’s day, they

didn’t spread out that wide and definitely not across the world. Paul knew where most of them

went and that was Britain – which I will get to in the near future. So we are going to pick up

where I left off.

We are in Romans 9 and 10, but I want to read you something first.

The Gentiles are identified with the ten tribes of Israel but it may be said that they

might possibly be amalgamated with the Jews and yet still remain Israel. [In other

words, they intermingled and still remained Israel.] So we look again and find that

their knowledge and that of the Jews was not knowledge in common. Evidence

conclusive that they were not dwelling together as one people. For instance, the

Jews knew the Law. Israel had a zeal of God but not according to knowledge.

We find that in Romans 10:1-2, “Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is,

that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not

according to knowledge.”

Most certainly then, they were not educated in the same schools. They did not

attend the same temple and synagogue services. They did not share the same

family life, for the life of the Jews was settled from the morning to night in

accordance with the Law.

If they are intermingled, how come ten of those tribes didn’t intermingle with the Law and

Jewish practices?

The Jews knew Jesus from the cradle and the manger to the cross on Calvary and

the tomb which they caused to be washed and sealed. All Jewry rocked with the agitation regarding Jesus Christ. [We find that in the Gospel records.] But of

Israel, the apostle Paul says, ‘How shall they believe on Him in whom they have

not heard?’

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Paul is referring to the house of Israel here because it starts in chapter nine with the people of

Israel, the Gentiles and what they are called, ethnos, ethne, not Gentiles but nations—meaning

the lost tribes that were taken into captivity by the Assyrian empire hundreds of years prior to

Paul writing this letter. But eventually they were released from their captivity and they went

north and west primarily and eventually settled in the British Isles for the most part. So

continuing in chapter ten, Paul is still referring to the house of Israel. The context has not

changed. And we know (and according to this particular author) that Jewry “rocked with

agitation” regarding Jesus Christ: they hated Him, that is why they had Him crucified. But Israel,

which knew nothing of Jesus Christ at that time, the apostle Paul says [vs 16], “But they have

not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?”

Jerusalem was home of the Christian faith. It was the birthplace of the Christian

Church. It’s temple, synagogues, and streets were stirred with the preaching of

Jesus and His apostles.

If you really think it through, they heard His report, but that was just the house of Judah. Of the

house of Israel, which Paul is referring to, he says “how should they believe on Him [Jesus

Christ] of whom they have not heard,” because they had left approximately six hundred years

before Jesus ever walked this planet. So they could not have heard Jesus’ message. That is,

unless Jesus went there. (And, some believe that He might have traveled with his uncle in those

“lost years of Jesus”. Maybe I will have something to say about that in the very near future also.)

Romans 10:14, “... how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?” Paul is

referring to the house of Israel here. Sure, if you want to Scripture pick you can apply this to

anyone who hasn’t heard the message of the Gospel, but in context it is referring to the house of

Israel.

Jerusalem was the home of the Christian faith. It was the birthplace of the

Christian Church. Its temple, the synagogues and streets were stirred with the

preaching of Jesus and His apostles. The day of Pentecost and the sad day of the

martyrdom of Stephen, preceded by the trial before the national assembly of the

Jews, had caused all Jewry to hear and to know but ten-tribe Israel was not there.

Regarding Israel the Apostle says, “How shall they hear without a preacher?”

That is Romans 10:14, “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and

how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a

preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are

the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”

Paul is still referring to Israel. They were distant. They were not in Jerusalem or anywhere

nearby Jerusalem. Literally, it was a foreign mission field.

Therefore, as to division of race; as to separation in the matter of knowledge; and

as to dwelling-place — Israel was separate from the Jews in the days of the

Apostle Paul. How important a study is this in the ethnology of the seed of

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the beginning of the Christian era.

The Epistle to the Romans was probably written within ten years of the destruction

of the nation of the Jews. Therefore, there remained no time for a subsequent

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merging of the Jew and Israel. After the destruction of Jerusalem in a.d. 70, the

nation of the Jews was scattered and there could be no future national merging.

In fact, it can’t be found anywhere in history. I challenge you. Find anywhere in history where

you think the lost tribes of Israel were finally located, and then somehow between the time Paul

wrote this and the time of Jerusalem’s destruction in ad 70 (approximately around ten years) that

you find all those lost tribes coming back to that little land in the Middle East called Israel, so all

thirteen tribes, not twelve, could once again be one complete family unit consisting of all the

tribes. You can’t find that anywhere in history because it didn’t happen. Paul knew that.

Therefore let the suggestion that Israel was merged with the Jews be laid aside as

contrary to the Word of God stated in plain historic setting.

Not just contrary to the Word of God—even though that is the most important source and the

only source I really need—but everywhere else in recorded history. It just didn’t happen, folks.

Equally is the theory that Israel was merged among the heathen nations contrary

to this clear-cut testimony of the Apostle Paul. Therefore let that also be laid aside

as contrary to the direct testimony of this inspired and scholarly traveller, St. Paul,

who was the Apostle of these very nations Israel, and magnified his office.

The vessels of honor should be formed "Not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles [ethnos or ethne]," or Israelites. But not all the sons of Isaac nor of the

ten-tribe Israel should be included in the vessel of honor, God's Kingdom- nation.

Just because they are from a tribe doesn’t mean they are going to be included in the vessels of

honor. You heard me right. British-Israelism was very popular and I’ve heard some people say,

“Well I’m part of the so-n-so tribe...”, whatever tribe they thought they were from, either

Ephraim or Manasseh or whatever, and thinking they were safe. Sorry, that does not get you to

Heaven. You do not become a vessel of honor just because you are part of a tribe.

Romans 9:6: “For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel. Neither, because they are the

seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.”

The Apostle Paul writing on this same matter to the Galatians gives the converse

of this statement as follows: “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises

made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed,

which is Christ.” (Galatians 3:16)

The former statement regarding Isaac refers to the Mosaic dispensation,

primarily, but it still carries on into the Christian dispensation. Every one of the seed in Christ [that is the key right there] is also of the seed of Abraham either by

birth or by adoption; as the Apostle shows clearly in the same chapter of Galatians

3:26-29. “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. [...] And if ye

be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

So going back to saying what I was just a few moments ago, just because you think you are part

of this tribe or that tribe, because you somehow located where the tribes eventually settled,

doesn’t mean you are safe, it doesn’t buy you entrance into heaven. It has to be through and by

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Christ Jesus. And then by being in Christ Jesus, either by birth or adoption, one is accounted as

the seed of Abraham.

Seeing that the Apostle puts the identification of Israel off by saying they are not

all Israel which are of Israel, proceeding after making that statement to build up

the identity of race for the "Gentiles," we are caused to see clearly that he has in

mind the kingdom nation which should be the vessel of honor. This vessel of

honor is contrasted with "the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction.” That is to

say in plain language, the nations are fitted for destruction whose organization

should be but temporary and which organizations should be destroyed ultimately,

and the people embraced in them should be added to "the Kingdom of our God

and of His Christ.”

These nations which shall be destroyed as nations, but whose people shall become

"the Kingdom of our God, and of His Christ," are such as the Edom nation, the

kingdom of Esau; and the "great nation" of the Arabs, the Kingdom of Ishmael;

as far as the Patriarchal age is concerned; and the Babylonian succession of

Empires; and all other non-Israel nations, in more modern times. It is plain then

that in this ninth chapter we are walking on the earth plane, among kings and

nations, lands and governments.

Now in the a.d. years [after the death of Jesus Christ], the seed of Isaac are to be

tested again. None but Christian people and NATIONS CAN HAVE PLACE IN

THE VESSEL OF HONOUR.

And just because it says “Christian” doesn’t mean they are part of the vessels of honor or have a

place in it. I am talking about true disciples of Jesus Christ, not just professors of it, but people

that actually live day by day faithing in Jesus Christ, used by Him as a vessel of honor, a disciple

for His purposes.

Doubtless in the world today there are countless people of Israel stock who are

organized upon the basis of other faiths. There are, in all likelihood, many

Buddhists, Parsees, Mohammedans, etc., who are Israelites by descent. We may

say it is certain that there are so. It is also exceedingly clear that these do not

share in the rule of the Kingdom. It is true that many, perhaps most of these, are

under the throne of Britain today. But they do not share in the ruling with God. It

is also true that many nations of other races and other faiths are in the Empire [This was written almost one hundred years ago in the context of the British

Empire]. But they also do not share in the ruling with God. They are ruled by the

kingdom nation.

Which by the way, as mentioned earlier, all of it is fitted for destruction...if you are not in Christ

Jesus.

In India, Egypt, and elsewhere, such peoples are eagerly demanding equal share

in the rule of the kingdom. They are agitating for it. But they are debarred by the

very law the Apostle is making clear here. In the ruling nation the "seed" which

inherits the Covenant [as mentioned in Galatians 3] and with it the rule, must be

also Christian.

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And by the way, not in the cheap way “Christian” is used today, but a real Christian.

All others find themselves in the same relationship to the Covenant holders as do

the sons of Ishmael and of Esau. Even the Jew is in precisely the same position,

and he can never be in any other as to rulership, until he nationally abides in

Christ. [When this author talks about nationally, he means the people]. Then he will

become again a leading tribe in Israel, openly sharing the rule. How wonderfully

clear is this presentation of the Apostle as to the nation Israel.

We have seen that chapter nine deals with Israel from the standpoint of the

election of race for the purposes of the kingdom, comparing and contrasting it

with the Esau and the Ishmael nations. The Apostle shows that for the purposes of

the further carrying forward of the Covenant activities Israel must be Christian.

[Or at least people in the house of Israel, some of them who are called and chosen to

be vessels of honor must be Christian.] All others of the Isaac descent will be set

aside as was Ishmael and Esau. These of Israel so set aside from the covenant are

called "The Remnant.”

If you are not a vessel of honor, you are part of the Remnant.

Those included in "the seed which is Christ" are called "The Seed." We now rise

to a higher plane in the tenth chapter of Romans.

I hope you understand what is being said here in Romans 9 and also at the beginning of Romans

10. Israel, the house of Israel, had a zeal of God but not according to the knowledge, the

knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And Paul is making his case: how can they hear, how

can they believe the report of the Gospel record if that message does not get to them. And how is

that message going to get to them if there is not a preacher that went there to proclaim that

message. That is why we read in Romans 10: 15, “How beautiful are the feet of them that

preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”

But they all did not obey the Gospel – which kind of makes one wonder, Who have not all

obeyed the Gospel? We are still talking about Israel, right? So they didn’t hear the Gospel,

maybe firsthand by Jesus, and that is why they need a further continuation of the Gospel message

until they get the message. Remember, the Jews for the most part didn’t accept the message of

the Gospel that came from Jesus’ own lips.

There are some that believe that Jesus made that trip with his uncle sometime before He started

His ministry in Jerusalem. I am in the same camp. He made that trip to what we would call

“Britain” today. But then Paul reminds us in verse seventeen, So then faith by hearing, literally,

hearing and hearing. I know of many people including myself who heard the Gospel message

but it didn’t sink in until the right time. So that is why Paul refers in verse seventeen to a

continual process. So faith by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. There the word is the

spoken word. It is rhema. The spoken word. So faith cometh by hearing. Faith there is pistis.

And as I have defined before, that first level of faith, pistis, being the part that you hear and hear

and become persuaded then to act upon what you heard and have confidence in where it can be

trusted, almost unmovable faith, so-be-it faith, amen faith. Paul knew that.

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Paul knew that they didn’t get the message. Back in the earlier part of Romans 10:3 we read,

“For they being ignorant,” Who? Still speaking of Israel, “of God’s righteousness and going

about to establish their own righteousness having not submitted themselves to the

righteousness of God, for Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone that

believeth.” There the word believeth is pisteuo: have trust and confidence that Christ was the end

of all law for righteousness. Now He is our righteousness. He provides it for us. He imputes us

with His righteousness. We just trust and faithe and have confidence in Him. They were still

trying to establish their own law so-to-speak and some of the law that they carried through those

centuries with them, by the way, was similar. I won’t have time to go into it in this teaching on

the Psalm 83 extension, but it is kind of ironic, I guess, or coincidence that some of the law they

practiced, religious law in Britain, has a number of similarities to what was practiced in that little

land in the Middle East called Israel. They tweaked it to their own benefit and agenda, but they

established their own righteousness, and did not submit unto the righteousness of God because

they were ignorant of God’s righteousness.

What is God’s righteousness? Jesus Christ, the Gospel message. He ended the law and when you

believe in Him you receive righteousness if you trust and faithe in Him. And how do you do

that? The starting point is verse 9, “that if thou shall confess,” acknowledge, confess, celebrate,

all of it, “with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe”—there it is not just hearing and

being persuaded because the word there is pisteuo, but also acting upon what you heard to be

true because you have confidence and trust in it—“in thy heart that God hath raised him from

the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” You just

can’t think it. The Lord wants to hear it from your own lips. “For the scripture saith, Whosoever

believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”

There is so much to teach on the lost tribes of Israel that I am condensing it to what I think is

important for you to know so we can move forward in Psalm 83, and then maybe at a later time I

can come back to these lost tribes and fill in some of the gaps. But we will never get through

with this in the immediate future if I don’t move this along a little bit. Again, what I want you to

understand in this message is who Paul is referring to. This is another lost message. The Church

world in the last almost 2000 years has combined the house of Israel and the house of Judah into

one conglomerate of people. No they are not, at this point that Paul wrote this letter. They were

still separate.

Next we will be moving into the tenth chapter of Romans and taking a look at Paul’s prayer for

Israel.

To be continued...

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The Last Days Study Guide

Romans 10

1. What qualifies one as a vessel of honor?

2. How long was it after the destruction of Jerusalem that the letter of Romans was written?

3. What four groups of people does Paul highlight in Romans?

4. Approximately how many years had passed between the house of Israel leaving their

homeland and Jesus’ arrival on the scene of history?

5. Some have taken Romans 9:6 to be an issue of genetics, but what is the actual context

and focus of Paul’s comment when he says, “for they are not all Israel”?

6. What is the prerequisite for carrying out the Covenant activities?

7. Who are the Remnant?

8. What are those in Christ called?

9. Give two arguments for why an amalgamation of the ten-tribe Israel and the house of

Judah has not occurred.

10. What false security did British-Israelism breed?

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Romans 10 (cont)

Open your bible to Romans 10.

We are now looking at St. Paul’s prayer for Israel, not the house of Judah, but for Israel. It starts

out by saying in verse one, “Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that

they might be saved.”

We have seen that chapter nine deals with Israel from the standpoint of the

election of race for the purposes of the kingdom, comparing and contrasting it

with the Esau and the Ishmael nations. The Apostle shows that for the purposes of

the further carrying forward of the Covenant activities, Israel must be Christian.

That doesn’t mean all of Israel must be Christian, but the ones that would participate in those

Covenant activities would be Christian.

All others of the Isaac descent will be set aside as was Ishmael and Esau. These of

Israel so set aside from the covenant are called "The Remnant." Those included in "the seed which is Christ" are called "The Seed." [Galatians 3]

We now rise to a higher plane in the tenth chapter of Romans. The Apostle says of

Israel, in other words, what Jesus said to Nicodemus. Nicodemus was an Israelite;

indeed, he was a ruler of the Jews; and he was a master of Israel. He also “came

to Jesus.” There seemed to be in him every qualification for his position in Israel.

For it must be remembered that the resurrection had not as yet taken place, and

the test of faith in the resurrection had not as yet been applied. But

notwithstanding his qualifications for citizenship in, and mastership of, Israel,

Jesus said to him "Ye must be born again." So concerning Israel the nation, the

Apostle goes on to say: "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel

is that they might be saved.” Having laid down the doctrine of the gospel of the

Kingdom, the Apostle now proceeds to lay down very simply and clearly the

doctrine of Grace. Thus he speaks in Romans 10: 2-5 : "For I bear them record that they [Israel] have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they

being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own

righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. For

Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. For

Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth

those things shall live by them.”

We have already seen that striving after righteousness by deeds of the Law, Israel

failed to attain righteousness, either imputed or actual.

Romans 9:31-33 reads, “But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not

attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it

were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; As it is written,

Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him

shall not be ashamed.”

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But now he prays that Israel may be introduced to and into the righteousness of

faith. To this end he sets forth in simple and majestic language what that faith

really is.

Romans 10: 6-12, "But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in

thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Or,

Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what

saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith,

which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe

in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart

man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For

the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no

difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call

upon him.”

The imperative need of missioning the Israel nations, Romans 10:14-15 reads,

“How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall

they believe in him of whom they have not heard?...”

Well, they sure heard about Jesus in that little strip in Israel two thousand years ago, so Paul

cannot be talking about the Jews. He was talking about the lost tribes of Israel here: How are

they going to believe if they’ve never heard about Jesus, and “how shall they hear without a

preacher?” This is the “imperative need” he is referring to that Israel needs to be missioned.

They need to hear the message. It needs to be preached to them.

“And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of

them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”

Romans 10:16, “But they have not all obeyed the Gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath

believed our report?” This is referring to Isaiah 53:1: “Who hath believed our report? and to

whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?”

Now many of you have probably heard this preached or read it somewhere in a book many

different times, but with a different application, and never with its original application to the

house of Israel. Never. I am not saying it can’t have a general application. But in the context of

Isaiah’s day, whom was this verse referring to in the future? Stop and think about it. Of all the

different ways you may have heard it, and maybe some of you have heard this verse preached

several different ways, but be honest, have you ever heard preached that this verse is directly

pointing to the house of Israel in the future (keeping it in context)? We know the context because

Paul is using it now in Romans 10:16, “But they have not all obeyed the Gospel.” They have not

all had the Gospel under their possession. “For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our

report?”—literally, the hearing of us, or preaching. Isaiah 53:1 , “Who hath believed our

report? [or ‘hearing’ there in the Hebrew] and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?”The

question is asked right at the beginning in verse one in Isaiah 53.

And understand, I have heard this preached in many different ways too, and I have read a lot

about it. Not once was it ever preached in context. Now I am not saying there is anything wrong

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with the other ways preached, but let’s first put it in context and then move on from that point.

Who is Isaiah referring to there?

It is necessary that one rightly understand Romans 10 and the connection Paul is making to the

house of Israel. You can have all those other general applications, but what I am telling you now

is the original application was to the house of Israel. I don’t care if you disagree. Prove me

wrong. I believe it is going to be hard to do that, but you can try if you want.

To be continued...

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The Last Days Study Guide

Romans 10 (cont.)

1. How does Paul’s message about the lost tribes parallel Jesus’ discussion with

Nicodemus?

2. What is Paul’s prayer for Israel?

3. Why did Israel fail to obtain righteousness?

4. What is the context of Isaiah 53:1?

5. What is the “imperative need”?

6. In simple language, proclaim the Faith.

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