The Mosaical Dispensation: Preparing for the King and the Kingdom

by Joel Hendon⁽¹⁷⁹⁾ Red Star

http://hebronics.org/index.html

In a previous study of “Man’s life under the Patriarchal Dispensation” and a subsequent one “The preparations for and the birth of, the Lord’s church” we skipped over most of the Mosaical Dispensation. We will give an abbreviated account here of that period.

Under the patriarchal age, we learned that God rather subtly made mention of the coming messiah on several occasions, one of which was the promise He made to Abraham, that through his seed, all nations of the earth would be blessed. He continued to pass this promise on through Abraham’s son, Isaac and Isaac’s son Jacob whose name was later changed to Israel.

Israel and his 12 sons wound up in Egypt and the 12 tribes became subservient to the Egyptians. But the tribes grew in numbers and were strong, when God, through miraculous means, led them from Egypt’s bondage and gave them His written law through Moses. He had promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that Jacob’s offspring would be his chosen people to furnish the lineage to the messiah.

Some have mistakenly taken the promise to include any and all Jews, and them forever. Those Israelites who chose to worship idols and partake of the pagan celebrations of their gods and goddesses, were condemned by God. And not only that, His covenant with them was conditional, he would only allow them to claim Canaan land so long as they faithfully followed Him.

They continually left the fold of God and went after other gods, the entire period under the law of Moses was a roller coaster time for the Israelites. They would leave God until their enemies overran them, then they would plead for forgiveness and God would send them a champion to overthrow their captors.

They lived for a period when God furnished them judges to lead them, then they wanted to be like others and have a king. God granted them that wish also but warned them of the consequences. They were led fairly well by their first king, Saul. Then they had two very good kings in David and then his son, Solomon. But after that, things turned sour for them. The kingdom split.

The northern portion of the kingdom, called Israel, never had a God fearing king, all were evil and God allowed them much difficulties until finally they were completely overrun and taken into captivity, from which they would never return.

The southern kingdom, called Judah, had a few good kings but mostly theirs were also evil. And although they remained free longer than did the northern portion of the kingdom, they too, were also overrun and became captives.

When the kings of both parts of the kingdom became so wicked, as did also the people, God sent prophets among them to warn them of their doom if they did not repent and again follow Him.

Their temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. Their law was that they worship and offer sacrifices through the priests at the temple. Synagogue worship was instituted. Herod the great, rebuilt the temple for the Jews in 20 B.C. But by then, the Jews were so widely scattered that many continued to worship in the synagogues and some didn’t even make the annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

But the Jews had managed to continue to consider themselves as a nation, albeit widely scattered and some had mixed with other peoples.

The Old Testament prophets writings are rife with vaticinations of the coming of the messiah, and also of the church, or kingdom which would come into being at that time.

The siege and destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, slaughtered many thousands of Jews and scattered the others throughout the earth. The temple was literally destroyed until there was “no stone upon another”. Their records were destroyed and the last vestige of the “Nation of Israel” was gone. Yes, some Jews survived but no records were left, they now have no idea which tribe they are from, which was extremely important to them under their law. The current group which now lives in what is referred to as Israel is no longer a part of Abraham’s promise.

They struggle to continue to worship God and wait for the messiah to come. He has already come and their only hope remains in their willingness to accept Him and leave the law of Moses for the Perfect Law of Liberty in Jesus Christ.

It may be profitable to have a series of articles on individual prophecies as they are given in the Prophets writings.

Article submitted Thursday, July 22, 2010 & read 21 times.

Please log in to leave your comments.
No comments yet.

1-2-0-0-1-ADWR

Most Recent

Sponsors: