WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LOST TRIBES?
\nPart One<\/p>\n
by
\nBrian Williams
\n(1967)<\/p>\n
A Sermon preached by BRIAN WILLIAMS at the Civic Theatre,
\nChelmsford Saturday, 24th June, 1967<\/p>\n
“Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed
\nthem out of His sight there was none left but the tribe of Judah
\nonly … So was Israel carried away out of their own land into
\nAssyria unto this day.” – 2 Kings 17 :18, 23.
\n“Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the
\nsand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it
\nshall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto
\nslum, Ye are not my people, there it a hall be said unto them, Ye
\nare the sans of the living God:” – Hoses 1:10
\n“I say then, hath God cast away His people? God forbid …
\nGod hath not east away His people which He foreknew.” – Romans 11
\n:1,2.
\nTHE seventeenth chapter of the Second Book of Kings is one
\nof the saddest in the whole of God’s Word because it tells of the
\nway in which first Israel and then Judah departed from the Lord.
\nYou will recall that the plan of God as revealed to us
\nin the Bible was to bring a nation into existence to whom He
\ncould teach His laws and His commandments, so that by the keeping
\nof those commandments and the keeping of God’s laws that nation
\nwould be blessed above all the nations out the world. It would be
\na servant nation, it would be a model nation; and as a result of
\ntheir obedience and their blessedness, all the other nations of
\nthe world would glorify the Lord God of Israel. The Bible says,
\n“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom
\nHe lath chosen for His own inheritance.”
\nSo to understand the revelation of the Bible at all, we must
\nunderstand this fact of God’s purpose in bringing the Israel
\nnation into existence. We remember that God had made many
\nwonderful promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, concerning the
\nnation that was to spring from their loins, this nation whose
\ndestiny ultimately was to rule with God. The very name itself,
\nIs-ra-el, means ruling with God or prince with God. We know also
\nthat when the Lord Jesus Christ returns, He shall reign as King
\nof kings and Lord of lords, and this nation of Israel which He
\ncreated in the first place shall also reign with Him.
\nWhat I want us to see is that God has not changed boats
\nmidstream, that He has never gone back upon His Word, that He has
\nnot failed to keep His promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
\nRather, the Lord Jesus Christ came to confirm the promises
\nmade unto the fathers, and the only reason that there are so many
\ndifferent interpretations of the prophetic Word is that people
\nhave failed rightly to divide the Word of truth: they have failed
\nto make the necessary distinction between Israel and the Jews.<\/p>\n
(1) The JEWS ARE NOT ISRAEL.<\/p>\n
Anyone who is not certain as to this fundamental difference
\nbetween Israel and the Jews will find in one book “Britain in
\nProphecy” all the information he needs, and there are scriptures
\nwhich show that Israel and the Jews are still two entirely
\nseparate people when Christ returns. (This book in its entirety
\nis on this Website under this section devoted to the prophecies
\nof the Bible – Keith Hunt).
\nGod’s Word interprets itself, and all we have to do is to
\nlearn rightly to divide the Word of truth, and learn also to
\nhumble our-selves and be willing to be corrected by God’s Word,
\nand not just read it according to our own preconceived nations
\nand ideas.
\nIn the First and Second Book of Kings and the First and
\nSecond Book of Chronicles we have related for us the history of
\nthese two nations or kingdoms, the one kingdom of Israel, and the
\nother kingdom of Judah who ultimately became known as the Jews.
\nYou will recall that when the Israel people came out of
\nEgypt in the exodus led by Moses, there were twelve tribes of
\nIsrael. If you have maps in the back of your Bible you will
\nalmost certainly have a map showing the division of Cannon – the
\npromised land – amongst the twelve tribes. You will see the
\nportion of land that was allotted to each one.
\nThen you will find that in the first two verses of Psalm 114
\nGod says, “When Israel – that is to say, the twelve tribes – went
\nout of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange
\nlanguage; Judah was His sanctuary, and Israel His dominion.” so,
\nin the mind of God, long before there was any division of the
\ntwelve tribes into Israel and Judah, the division already
\nexisted; and it existed for a very good purpose inasmuch as it
\nwould ultimately affect the destiny, the salvation, of every
\nhuman being that has ever lived. That may sound an astonishing
\nstatement to make, but if you will bear that in mind and remember
\nthose important verses m Psalm 114, you will see that that is
\ntrue!
\nThe Bible speaks in Jeremiah 33, verse 24, of “The two
\nfamilies which the Lord bath chosen,” that is to say, Judah and
\nIsrael. Elsewhere we read of two houses, or two kingdoms, or two
\nnations, or – in Ezekiel – of two sisters that were married to
\nthe Lord, In the “Illustrated Bible Geography and Atlas,” it
\ncontains coloured maps clearly showing the division of Canaan,
\namong the Twelve Tribes, and the later Kingdoms of Judah and
\nIsrael, you may find most helpful.
\nNow, bear in mind that Kings and Chronicles, these four
\nbooks of the Bible, tell us the history of the two people which
\nthe Lord had chosen, and the way in which they cam, to be divided
\nup into two nations was simply this. For some five hundred years
\nthe twelve tribes were more or less united, but in the time of
\nRehoboam [938-921 B.C.], who was the son of Solomon, there was a
\nrevolt amongst the twelve tribes – civil war if you like – and
\nthe result was that ten tribes broke away and called themselves
\nIsrael, the leading tribe of which was Joseph; while the other
\ntwo tribes that remained were Judah and Benjamin and they called
\nthemselves Judah. In Kings and Chronicles we have the history of
\nthese two nations.
\nUnfortunately, a lot of people say that Israel is the Jews,
\nand that is one of the biggest lies that the devil has ever told.
\nIt is one of the biggest deceptions that has ever taken in
\nexpositors of God’s Word. In fact, the very first time that the
\nword ‘Jew’ is used in scripture is in 2 Kings, chapter 16 and
\nverse six, where you will find that Israel were fighting the
\nJews, so how can they be the same people? And the Bible says that
\nin the last days the house of Judah shall walk to the house of
\nIsrael and they shall come together into the land. So if you look
\nat that very carefully you will find that Israel and the Jews
\nwere entirely two separate people.<\/p>\n
(2) HOW THE TEN TRIBES OF ISRAEL CAME TO BE LOST.<\/p>\n
Now here in Second Kings, chapter seventeen, the Bible says,
\n“In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son
\nof Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years.” The Northern
\nkingdom of Israel had broken away from Judah and had established
\nas their capital the city of Samaria, while Judah who were
\nultimately known as the Jews had as their capital Jerusalem. The
\nKing of Israel reigned in Samaria, the King of Judah reigned in
\nJerusalem. So Ahaz king of Judah had been already reigning in
\nJudah for twelve years when Hoshea the son of Elah came to the
\nthrone and reigned over Israel from Samaria.<\/p>\n
“And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, but not
\nas the kings of Israel that were before him. Against him came up
\nShalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and
\ngave him presents.”<\/p>\n
How delightful are some of the verses in the Bible; what
\nvolumes we can read into them! Here we find that Hoshea king of
\nIsrael has become a vassal of Shalmaneser king of Assyria, and so
\nhe gives him a present from time to time just to keep on the
\nright side of him! “And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in
\nHoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and
\nbrought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by
\nyear: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in
\nprison.” Hoshea had sent messengers to King So who was the king
\nof Egypt, and had not sent a present that year to the king of
\nAssyria. This upset the king of Assyria very much and was just
\nthe provocation that he needed to go against Israel and
\ntake them all away captive. You see the wonderful human element
\nin what some people might think awfully dull history!<\/p>\n
“The king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and
\nwent up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. In the ninth
\nyear of Hashes [722 B.C.], the king of Assyria took Samaria, and
\ncarried Israel away into Assyria,” – all the Israelites, all the
\npeople of the ten tribes of Israel, were carried away by this
\ngreat Assyrian army – “and placed them in Halah and in Haber by
\nthe river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.”<\/p>\n
Now the Bible tells us quite clearly why God permitted this:<\/p>\n
“For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against
\nthe Lord their God, which had brought them up out of the land of
\nEgypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had
\nfeared other gods, and walked in the statutes of the heathen,
\nwhom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel, and of
\nthe kings of Israel, which they had made. And the children of
\nIsrael did secretly these things that were not right against the
\nLord their God, and they built them high places in all their
\ncities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. And
\nthey set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under
\nevery green tree: and there they burnt incense in all the high
\nplaces, as did the heathen whom the Lord carried away before
\nthem; and wrought wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger:
\nfor they served idols, whereof the Lord had said unto them, Ye
\nshall not do this thing.”<\/p>\n
Now in Deuteronomy, chapter 26, verse 16, we find what God
\nsaid to Israel, that is to say the twelve tribes, before they
\nwent into the promised land:<\/p>\n
“This day the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to do these
\nstatutes and judgments: thou shalt therefore keep and do them
\nwith all thine heart, and with all thy soul. Thou hast avouched
\nthe Lord this day to be thy God, and to walk in His ways, and to
\nkeep His statutes, and His commandments, and His judgments, and
\nto harken unto His voice: and the Lord bath avouched thee, this
\nday to be His peculiar people, as He bath promised thee, and that
\nthou shouldest keep all His commandments; and to make thee high
\nabove all nations which He bath made, in praise, and in name, and
\nin honour; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the Lord
\nthy God, as He bath spoken.”<\/p>\n
You understand the principle. God revealed Himself to
\nIsrael. He did not for the time being reveal Himself to any of
\nthe other nations of mankind, but He revealed Himself peculiarly
\nto Israel, and when He gave to them the ten commandments they
\nunderstood something of the character and righteousness of God.
\nBy those ten commandments they knew that God was holy and
\nrighteous and just and perfect. And the commandments of God are
\nnot grievous; they were not intended to produce bondage, but they
\nare a mirror, if you like, so that when we look into the mirror
\nof God’s Law we see whether we are clean or ditty. And so it is
\nGod’s commandments which establish the fact of sin, because sin
\nis the transgression of the law. Every one of us have broken
\nGod’s Commandments and therefore the Bible says that we are
\nsinners.<\/p>\n
And just as for every law there must be a penalty for
\nbreaking that law, so the Bible says that “the wages of sin is
\ndeath; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ
\nour Lord.” So God said to Israel, “I will make you the greatest
\nnation if you will keep my commandments,” which we know that they
\nwere not able to do, as we shall see later on. God knew full well
\nthat no nation in the world could ever attain unto true
\nrighteousness and holiness by mere external formal obedience to
\nGod’s commandments.
\nMan can only keep God’s commandments as he has the grace of
\nGod in his heart, as he is redeemed by the precious blood of
\nJesus, and as he has a new nature and a new character; then the
\ncommandments are written on his heart, and he is able to walk
\nbefore God as God desire.
\nThe Lord said to Israel, “If you will keep my commandments,
\nI will be your God and you shall be my people, and I will make
\nyou the greatest people in the world, so that all other nations
\nshall see how blessed you are by keeping my commandments.” And
\nso, of course, all the other nations would have to acknowledge
\nthe God that made Israel great. I am sure you can see the
\nprinciple of that!
\nNow if you look in Deuteronomy, chapter 28, you will see
\nthat the Lord left Israel in no doubt as to where they stood:<\/p>\n
“And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt harken diligently unto
\nthe voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all His
\ncommandments which I command the, this day, that the Lord thy God
\nwill set thee on high above all nations of the earth: and all
\nthese blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee if thou
\nhalt harken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Blessed shalt
\nthou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.
\nBlessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy
\nground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kin,
\nand the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy
\nstore. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed
\nshalt thou be when thou goest out The Lord shall cause thine
\nenemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face:
\nthey shall come out against the, one way, and flee before thee
\nseven ways. The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy
\nstorehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and He
\nshall bless thee, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
\nThe Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto Himself, as
\nHe hath sworn unto thee, if thou shall keep the commandments of
\nthe Lord thy God, and walk in His ways. And all people of
\nthe earth” – please notice this, for this was the purpose of God
\nin bringing Israel into existence as a nation – “shall see that
\nthou art called by the name of the Lord; and they, shall be
\nafraid of thee. And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods,
\nin the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in
\nthe fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware unto
\nthy fathers to give thee. The Lord shall open unto thee His good
\ntreasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his
\nseason, and to bless all the Work of thine hand: and thou shalt
\nlend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. And the Lord
\nshall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be
\nabove only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou harken
\nunto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee
\nthis day, to observe and to do them: and thou shalt not go aside
\nfrom any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right
\nhand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.”<\/p>\n
What a marvellous destiny God promised to the children
\nof Israel if only they would walk in obedience to His
\ncommandments! God said, “I Will make you the greatest nation in
\nthe world; you will enjoy peace, health, prosperity, true
\nhappiness in every sense of the word,” and God’s ways are sell
\nthe same today, and the reason why this world is so full of
\nfrustration, misery, despair, sin, hatred and wickedness, is
\nbecause it has turned its back upon God’s laws; because man in
\nhis wisdom which he thinks is superior to God’s, has turned his
\nback upon everything that God has said and gone his own way. The
\nBible says, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but
\nthe end thereof are the ways of death.” “The way of peace they
\nknow not.”
\nGod promised marvellous blessings to Israel if only they
\nwould walk in obedience to His laws, keep His commandments and
\nobey His Word. God said, “I will bless you above all the nations
\nof the world.” “But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not
\nharken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all
\nHis commandments and His statutes which I command thee this day;
\nthat all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake the:
\ncursed shalt thou he in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the
\nfield. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. Cursed shall be
\nthe fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of
\nthy kin,, and the flocks of thy sheep. Cursed shalt thou be when
\nthou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when then go est out.
\nThe Lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke in
\nall that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be
\ndestroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the
\nwickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me. The Lord
\nshall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until He have
\nconsumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess
\nit. The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a
\nfever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and
\nwith the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they
\nshall pursue thee until thou perish. And thy heaven that is over
\nthy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall
\nbe iron. The Lord shall make the rain of thy land powder and
\ndust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be
\ndestroyed. The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine
\nenemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven
\nways before them : and shalt he removed into all the kingdoms of
\nthe earth.”<\/p>\n
(3) THE TEN TRIBES WENT INTO CAPTIVITY AND NEVER RETURNED.<\/p>\n
Everything that God said came to pass. Thus we read in the
\nSecond Book of Kings, chapter 17 and verse 13: “Yet the
\nLord testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the
\nprophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil
\nways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all
\nthe law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you
\nby my servants the prophets. Not-withstanding they would not
\nhear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their
\nfathers, that they did not believe in the Lord their God. And
\nthey rejected His statutes, and His covenant that He made with
\ntheir fathers, and His testimonies which He testified against
\nthem; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after
\nthe heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the Lord
\nhad charged them, that they should not do like them. And they
\nleft all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made them
\nmolten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped
\nall the host of heaven, and served Baal. And they caused their
\nsons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used
\ndivination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in
\nthe sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. Therefore the
\nLord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of His
\nsight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.”<\/p>\n
The Israelites never went back to the promised land! They
\nnever went back! The Lord removed them out of His sight: there
\nwas none left but the tribe of Judah only. And as if to emphasize
\nthe importance of what is being said, verse 23 says again, “The
\nLord removed Israel out of His sight, as He had said by all His
\nservants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their
\nown land to Assyria unto this day.”
\nThat is to say, when this particular book of the Bible was
\nwritten, the Israelites were still in captivity, they were still
\nthere in Assyria, and never at any time in Bible days or since
\nhave the Israelites ever returned to Palestine.
\nIf anyone is dis-inclined to believe the Word of God, let
\nhim go to any library and consult any standard work of reference,
\nany book on the history of the peoples of the east, and let him
\nread what happened in the eighth century B.C. Any and every
\nhistory book you care to examine will tell you that between 735
\nand 670 millions of Israelites were carried captive by the
\nAssyrians, and every one of those history books will tell you
\nthat nobody to this day knows what happened to all those
\nIsraelites. Except a few Holy Ghost Christians! Glory to God!<\/p>\n
I want to let you into a secret! Turn to Romans, chapter 11,
\nand the first two. There Paul asks the question, “I say then,
\nhath God cast away His people? God forbid. For I also am an
\nIsraelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God
\nhath not cast away His people which He foreknew.”
\nHow strange it is that most of our churches are preaching
\ndiametrically the opposite to what Christ taught! They say that
\nGod finished with Israel because they did not keep His
\ncommandments, that He cast them off, finished with them, and then
\nhad to start something else called the Church of God to make up
\nfor the awful mistake that He made when He chose Israel.
\nBut Jesus Christ came to confirm the promises made unto the
\nfathers! “God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the Son
\nof man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do
\nit? or has He spoken, and shall He not make it good?”
\nDid not Jesus say that He had chosen Israel, and that they
\nshould be a holy nation unto Himself? Well then, let us believe
\nthe Word of God, and not the tradition of some of the churches!
\nLet us believe what God says. “Let God be true, but every man a
\nliar.”<\/p>\n
Let us go back then to Second Kings, chapter 17, and we
\nshall see the continuation of the story. Remember, the ten tribes
\nof Israel have been carried captive into Assyria because of their
\ngreat wickedness: “The Lord was very angry with Israel, and
\nremoved them out of His sight: there was none left but the tribe
\nof Judah only. Also Judah kept not the commandments of the Lord
\ntheir God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.
\nAnd the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel,” – that means He
\nrejected all twelve tribes. He had already rejected the ten
\ntribes that went into Assyria and now 130 years afterwards He
\nrejected the two tribes – “and afflicted them, and delivered them
\ninto the hand of spoilers, until He had cast them out of His
\nsight. For He rent Israel from the house of David;” – this is
\nrecapitulating on what has gone before “and they made Jeroboam
\nthe son of Nebat king and Jeroboam drave Israel from following
\nthe Lord, and made them sin a great sin. For the children of
\nIsrael walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they
\ndeparted not from them; until the Lord removed Israel out of His
\nsight, as He had said by all His servants the prophets. So was
\nIsrael carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this
\nday.”<\/p>\n
As we have already said, they never returned to Palestine.<\/p>\n
“And the king of Assyria brought men front Babylon, and from
\nCuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim and
\nplaced them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of
\nIsrael: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities
\nthereof. And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there,
\nthat they feared not the Lord: therefore the Lord sent lions
\namong them, which slew some of them. Wherefore they spake to the
\nking of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and
\nplaced in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God
\nof the land: therefore He hath sent lions among them, and,
\nbehold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the
\nGod of the land. Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying,
\nCarry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and
\nlet him teach them the manner of the God of the land.”<\/p>\n
Remember, these people that now came to live in Samaria were
\nnot Israelites, nor were they ever converted to the Lord God of
\nIsrael…”Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from
\nSamaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should
\nfear the Lord. Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and
\nput them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans
\nhad made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt … So
\nthey feared the Lord, and made unto themselves of the lowest of
\nthem priests of the high places, which sacrificed for then, in
\nthe houses of the high places. They feared the Lord, and served
\ntheir own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried
\naway from thence. Unto this day they do after the former manners:
\nthey fear not the Lord, neither do they after their statutes, or
\nafter their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which
\nthe Lord commanded the children of Jacob, Whom He named Israel;
\nwith whom the Lord had made covenant, and charged them, saying Ye
\nshall not fear other gods, or bow yourselves to them, nor serve
\nthem, nor sacrifice to them: but the Lord, who brought you up out
\nof the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm,
\nHim shall ye fear, and Him shall ye worship, and to Him shall ye
\ndo sacrifice. And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law,
\nand the commandment, which He wrote for you, ye shall observe to
\ndo for evermore; and ye shall not fear other gods. And the
\ncovenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither
\nshall ye fear other gods. But the Lord your God ye shall fear;
\nand He shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.
\nHowbeit they did not harken, but they did after their former
\nmanner. So these nations feared the Lord, and served their graven
\nimages, both their children, and their children’s children: as
\ndid their fathers, so do they unto this day.”<\/p>\n
What a tragic story, and what an apparently ignominious end
\nto God’s people! Ten tribes carried into captivity; millions of
\nIsraelites carried captive into Assyria never to return to their
\nown land, leaving behind two tribes of Judah that kept God’s
\ncommandments a little better than their Israelite fellows had
\ndone and enjoyed intermittent revival, until they too apostatised
\nso badly that God had to write them off, or so it seemed. By this
\ntime the Assyrian power had fallen and the great empire which
\ntook its place was Babylon. The king of Babylon came and took
\nJudah captive, and carried them all away into Babylon, leaving no
\none behind save a few stragglers, just a tiny remnant of the
\npeople …<\/p>\n
(4) THE JEWS RETURNED TO PALESTINE BUT ISRAEL DID NOT.<\/p>\n
You might have thought that that was the end of the story
\nand that God had slipped up somehow, because He had had such high
\nhopes and expectations of these twelve tribes of His Israel
\npeople, and now they had failed Him so miserably and God had
\napparently finished with them and sent them all away, just like
\nHe promised, just like He warned through His prophets.<\/p>\n
But now we are to look at another key chapter in the Bible,
\nHosea chapter one. Hosea prophesied before Israel was carried
\ninto Assyria and before Judah was carried into Babylon. He
\nprophesied about 785 B.C., that is to say, rather more than sixty
\nyears before the fall of Samaria [722 B.C.] and the final
\ncapitulation of Israel to the invading Assyrian armies.<\/p>\n
“The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in
\nthe days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Bud Hezekiah, kings of Judah,
\nand in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel. The
\nbeginning of the word of the Lord by HosEA. And the Lord said to
\nHosea, “Go, take unto the, a wife of whoredoms and children of
\nwhoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing
\nfrom the Lord.”
\nNow the Bible says that when God made His covenant, the old
\ncovenant, with His Israel people, He was married to them. But the
\nBible talks about Him divorcing Israel, putting away His wife,
\nbecause Israel had gone after other lovers. Israel had committed
\nwhoredom by going after false gods; she had committed adultery,
\nand so the Bible says that the Lord Jesus wrote them a bill of
\ndivorce, although He was married to Israel and had been good to
\nHis wife. So here, Hosea is commanded of God to take certain
\nsteps which would enact the fate of the people of God. He was to
\nmarry an unfaithful woman. “So he went and took Gomer the
\ndaughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son. And the
\nLord said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little
\nwhile, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of
\nJehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of
\nIsrael.”<\/p>\n
This was before it happened ! More than sixty years before
\nIsrael was taken captive to Assyria and lost, God said through
\nHis prophet that it was going to happen! “And it shall come to
\npass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the
\nvalley of Jezreel. And she conceived again, and bare a daughter.
\nAnd God said unto him, Call her name Lo-ruhamah: for I will no
\nmore have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take
\nthen, away.”<\/p>\n
The name ‘Ruhamah’ means mercy, and ‘Lo’ means ‘not;’ so God
\nsaid, “I want you to call your little girl Lo-ruhamah – no
\nmercy – because I will not have mercy upon the house of Israel;
\nbut I will utterly take them away. But I will have mercy upon the
\nhouse of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God, and
\nwill not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by
\nhorses, nor by horsemen.”<\/p>\n
We have seen already that the ten tribes of Israel were
\ncarried captive into Assyria, and 130 years later the two tribes
\nof Judah, having also forsaken, their God, were carried captive
\ninto Babylon.<\/p>\n
God would give them light
\nby Brian Williams
\n(a sermon given in 1967)<\/p>\n
We have seen already that the ten tribes of Israel were
\ncarried captive into Assyria, and 130 years later the two tribes
\nof Judah, having also forsaken their God, were carried captive
\ninto Babylon.
\nBut after seventy years, under Cyrus king of Persia, the
\nJews were permitted to leave Babylon and come all the way back to
\nPalestine, and their descendants were there in Jesus’ day.
\nHow did they come back? They did not have to fight their way
\nback! They were given permission to return to Jerusalem to
\nrebuild the city and to rebuild the temple, exactly fulfilling
\nwhat God had said through His prophet Hosea “Who is he that
\nsaith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?”
\nHow can you know a tree prophet?<\/p>\n
When he says a thing is going to happen and it comes to
\npass, just like he said! “But I will have mercy upon the house of
\nJudah, and will save them by the Lord their God, and will not
\nsave them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by
\nhorsemen.” How marvellously that was fulfilled! Read the books of
\nEzra and Nehemiah, and you will find that 42,360 Jews took the
\nopportunity to return, together with some seven thousand other
\npeople, making just about fifty thousand people that undertook
\nthe long trek from Babylon to Jerusalem, and to rebuild the city
\nand to rebuild the house of God. And the descendent, of this
\nmixed multitude were there in Jesus’ day, the only surviving
\nrecognisable remnant of God’s people, because the ten tribes had
\ngone into Assyria and were apparently lost. Nobody would now
\nrecognize them as being God’s people. And of all the Jews that
\nhad gone into Babylon, only fifty thousand returned and the
\nothers were dispersed. It was the descendants of that remnant of
\nthe Jews that returned to Palestine that was there in Jesus’ day.
\nNow the Bible says, “Now when she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she
\nconceived, and bare a son. Then said God, Call his name Loammi:
\nfor ye am not my people, and I will not be your God.” The
\nname ‘Ammi’ means ‘My people,’ the word ‘Lo’ means ‘Not,’ so
\nwhen He said, Call your little boy Lo-ammi, it means ‘Not my
\npeople’ or ‘No people’. So Hosea has three children by his
\nunfaithful wife. The first one is called ‘I will have my
\nrevenge,’ the second is called ‘No mercy,’ and the third is
\ncalled ‘No people,’ revealing picturesquely the forthcoming fate
\nof the ten tribes of Israel.<\/p>\n
(5) SURE PROOF OF ISRAEL’S IDENTITY.<\/p>\n
Now here is one of the key verses in all the Bible, Hosea
\nchapter one, verse ten. If you cannot understand this verse then
\nI guarantee that you cannot understand the Bible! “Yet the number
\nof the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which
\ncannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that
\nin the place where it was said unto them, Ye am not my people,
\nthere it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living
\nGod.”
\nRemember what we have seen in 2 Kings 17. Israel gone into
\ncaptivity in Assyria never to return, the Jews gone into
\ncaptivity in Babylon and permitted to return after seventy years.
\nGad says to Israel, I will have my revenge. You who are no longer
\nobtaining mercy, you who are no longer am people, I am no longer
\nyour God. Yet in spite of all that, “the number of the children
\nof Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be
\nmeasured nor numbered.” God says He will make this Israel people
\nso great in number, who shall be able to number the fourth part
\nof them? They are the thousands of Manasseh and the ten thousands
\nof Ephraim!
\nGod says that in spite of the fact of His not having mercy
\non Israel, of finishing with them, and sending them into
\ncaptivity never to return, He will make them as the sand of the
\nsea for number, “and it shall come to pass, that in the place
\nwhere it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall
\nbe said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.”<\/p>\n
What does that mean, sons of the living God? The Bible says,
\n“He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many
\nas received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God,
\neven to them that believe on His name.” It means Christians. The
\nBible says, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed
\nupon us, that we should be called the sons of God therefore the
\nworld knoweth us not, because it knew Him not. Beloved, now are
\nwe the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be:
\nbut we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for
\nwe shall see Him as He is.”
\nHath God cast away His people which He foreknew? Paul says,
\nwith all the power at his command, “God forbid.” How could God
\ncast off the people to whom He had made such glorious and exceed-
\ning great and precious promises, that they should be a people
\nafter His own heart? How could God do away with this people and
\nso nullify the promise made to Abraham when He said, “In blessing
\nI will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as
\nthe stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea
\nshore, and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in
\nthy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because
\nthou hast obeyed my voice”, and, when He promised “In Isaac shall
\nthy seed be called”; when He said, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau
\nhave I hated”; and when He said, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful
\nand multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee,
\nand kings shall came out of thy loins,” all of which promises
\nwere to be fulfilled “in the last days”<\/p>\n
Praise the Lord! Everywhere in the Bible we find that the
\nlast days are shown to be this Christian dispensation. Look at
\nHebrews, chapter one, and the first two verses: “God, who at
\nsundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the
\nfathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us
\nby His Son.” So the last days are the days of the Christian
\ndispensation when the good news of the gospel is sounding forth
\nthroughout the ends of the earth, and God said that in the last
\ndays, Joseph’s descendants would be “a nation and a company of
\nnations”. From his elder son Manasseh would come a great people,
\nand from his younger son Ephraim would come a multitude, or
\nfullness, of nations that would be as the dust of the earth,
\nspreading abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north,
\nand to the south, inhabiting the waste places of the earth; a
\npeople blessed with blessings of heaven above and the earth
\nbeneath and the deep that lieth under; a people blessed above all
\nthe nations of the world; a people that would take the gospel
\nthroughout the ends of the earth, because they would be the sons
\nof the living God.<\/p>\n
What happened? O glory to God! God did not break one of His
\npromises. Oh how I wish could proclaim this to Billy Graham’s
\ncongregation at Earl’s Court Arena tonight! I wish I could shout
\nit from every rooftop and proclaim it from every pulpit: “Blessed
\nbe the Lord God of Israel; for He bath visited and redeemed His
\npeople.” How did He do it? We have read it so many times this
\nweek: let us look again at Isaiah, chapter 53. God sent His
\nprophet to speak to Israel, and he said, “Who hath believed our
\nreport?”; and who will believe the message that we bring? It is
\nalmost too fantastic for words! “Who bath believed our report,
\nand to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For He shall grow up
\nbefore Him as a tender plant, and as a mot out of a dry ground:
\nHe bath no form or comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there
\nis no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and
\nrejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and
\nwe hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we
\nesteemed Him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried
\nour Sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and
\nafflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was
\nbruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was
\nupon Him; and with His stripes we am healed. All we like sheep
\nhave gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and
\nthe Lord bath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was
\noppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His month: He
\nis brought as a Iamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her
\nshearers is dumb, so He openeth not His month. He was taken from
\nprison and from judgment: and who shall declare His generation?
\nfor He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the
\ntransgression of my people was He stricken. And He made His grave
\nwith the wicked, and with the rich in His death; because He had
\ndone no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it
\npleased the Lord to bruise Him; He bath put Him to grief: when
\nThou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His
\nseed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord
\nshall prosper in His hand. He shall see of the travail out His
\nsoul, he shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall my righteous
\nServant justify many; for He shall hear their iniquities
\nTherefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He
\nshall divide the spoil with the strong; because He bath poured
\nout His soul unto death: and He was numbered with the
\ntransgressors; and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession
\nfor the transgressors.”<\/p>\n
What happened? Israel was carried away captive. God said I
\nwill have my revenge, you will no longer be my people and I will
\nnot be your God, and I will utterly take you away. But in spite
\nof that, that the promises made to Abraham and the fathers might
\nstand, and that all the World might wonder at the grace, the
\nlove, the compassion, the mercy, the incomparable Wisdom of
\nAlmighty God, God says He will make His Israel people so great in
\nnumber that it is impossible to count them, and in the place
\nwhere it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, it will he
\nsaid of them, You are Christians, sons of the living God. In the
\nlast days of this Christian dispensation, the ten tribes of
\nIsrael are to have became a Christian nation.<\/p>\n
How could it come about? By redemption. To redeem means to
\nbuy back something that belonged to you in the first place. The
\nBible says, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for He hath
\nvisited and redeemed His people.” “Thou shalt call His name
\nJESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins.” O glory to
\nGod!<\/p>\n
“Paschal Lamb, by God appointed, All our sins on Thee were
\nlaid; By almighty love anointed, Thou hast full atonement
\nmade: All Thy people are forgiven Through the virtue of Thy
\nblood; Opened is the gate of heaven;
\nPeace is made ‘twixt men and God.”<\/p>\n
May we close with Jeremiah, chapter 31, verse 31, to round
\noff what we have said:<\/p>\n
“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new
\ncovenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
\nnot according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in
\nthe day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the
\nland of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an
\nhusband unto them, saith the Lard: But this shall be the covenant
\nthat I will make with the house of Israel; After those days,
\nsaith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and
\nwrite it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall
\nbe my people. And they shall teach no more every man his
\nneighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for
\nthey shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest
\nof them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I
\nwill remember their sin no more. Thus saith the Lord, which
\ngiveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon
\nand of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea
\nwhen the waves thereof roar; The Lord of hosts is His name: If
\nthose Ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the
\nseed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me far
\never. Thus saith the Lord, If heaven above can be measured, and
\nthe foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also
\ncast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done,
\nsaith the Lard.”<\/p>\n
O that we might understand the matchless grace of God! How
\nwould the new covenant be established with the house of Israel?
\nHow could God have mercy upon this people whom He had cast
\noff for breaking the very commandments, the keeping of which
\nwould make them to be the greatest people in the world? Read
\nMatthew 26, verse 26: “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread,
\nand blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and
\nsaid, Take, eat; this is my body. And He took the cup, and gave
\nthanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this
\nis my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the
\nremission of sins.”<\/p>\n
The Lord said, “I will make a new covenant with the house of
\nIsrael”, and Jesus, the night He was betrayed, said, “This cup is
\nthe new testament – the new covenant – in my blood.” Hallelujah!<\/p>\n
His Israel people, cast away, never returning to Palestine,
\nis in the last days, in the economy of God, to be frond a people
\nthat as a nation has begun to come under the new covenant, that
\nhas embraced – at least nominally – the glorious Gospel of the
\nLord Jesus Christ, and is known throughout all the ends of the
\nearth as a Christian nation and commonwealth of nations.<\/p>\n
The apostle Paul sums it all up in Romans, chapter 11,
\nreading from verse 29: “For the gifts and calling of God are
\nwithout repentance.” God called Israel in the first place, and
\n“God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew.” “For as ye
\nin times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained merry,
\nthrough their unbelief: even so have these also now not believed,
\nthat through your mercy they also may obtain merry. For God hath
\nconcluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon
\nall.”<\/p>\n
God purposed for His Israel people to be lost, to become an
\nobscure people, that in the fullness of time they might receive
\nthe Gospel of His dear Son the Lord Jesus Christ, in ignorance of
\ntheir true identity, that through them the nations of the world
\nmight also come under the blessings of this new covenant.<\/p>\n
And so Paul throws his arms up in the air, words almost
\nfailing him at this point to express the great and marvellous
\nthing that God has done, and he says: “O the depth of the riches
\nboth of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His
\njudgments, and His ways passed finding out! For who bath known
\nthe mind of the Lord? Or who hash been His counsellor? Or who
\nhath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him
\nagain? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things:
\nto whom be glory for ever. Amen.”<\/p>\n
You know what happened to the Lost Tribes, and you know who
\nthey are.<\/p>\n
“Ye seed of Israel’s chosen race, Ye ransomed from The fall,
\nHail Him who saves you by His grace, And crown Him Lord of
\nall”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LOST TRIBES?
\nPart One<\/p>\n
by
\nBrian Williams
\n(1967)<\/p>\n
A Sermon preached by BRIAN WILLIAMS at the Civic Theatre,
\nChelmsford Saturday, 24th June, 1967<\/p>\n
“Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed
\nthem out of His sight there was none left but the tribe of Judah
\nonly … So was Israel carried away out of their own land into
\nAssyria unto this day.” – 2 Kings 17 :18, 23.
\n“Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the
\nsand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it
\nshall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto
\nslum, Ye are not my people, there it a hall be said unto them, Ye
\nare the sans of the living God:” – Hoses 1:10
\n“I say then, hath God cast away His people? God forbid …
\nGod hath not east away His people which He foreknew.” – Romans 11
\n:1,2.
\nTHE seventeenth chapter of the Second Book of Kings is one
\nof the saddest in the whole of God’s Word because it tells of the
\nway in which first Israel and then Judah departed from the Lord.
\nYou will recall that the plan of God as revealed to us
\nin the Bible was to bring a nation into existence to whom He
\ncould teach His laws and His commandments, so that by the keeping
\nof those commandments and the keeping of God’s laws that nation
\nwould be blessed above all the nations out the world. It would be
\na servant nation, it would be a model nation; and as a result of
\ntheir obedience and their blessedness, all the other nations of
\nthe world would glorify the Lord God of Israel. The Bible says,
\n“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom
\nHe lath chosen for His own inheritance.”
\nSo to understand the revelation of the Bible at all, we must
\nunderstand this fact of God’s purpose in bringing the Israel
\nnation into existence. We remember that God had made many
\nwonderful promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, concerning the
\nnation that was to spring from their loins, this nation whose
\ndestiny ultimately was to rule with God. The very name itself,
\nIs-ra-el, means ruling with God or prince with God. We know also
\nthat when the Lord Jesus Christ returns, He shall reign as King
\nof kings and Lord of lords, and this nation of Israel which He
\ncreated in the first place shall also reign with Him.
\nWhat I want us to see is that God has not changed boats
\nmidstream, that He has never gone back upon His Word, that He has
\nnot failed to keep His promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
\nRather, the Lord Jesus Christ came to confirm the promises
\nmade unto the fathers, and the only reason that there are so many
\ndifferent interpretations of the prophetic Word is that people
\nhave failed rightly to divide the Word of truth: they have failed
\nto make the necessary distinction between Israel and the Jews.<\/p>\n
(1) The JEWS ARE NOT ISRAEL.<\/p>\n
Anyone who is not certain as to this fundamental difference
\nbetween Israel and the Jews will find in one book “Britain in
\nProphecy” all the information he needs, and there are scriptures
\nwhich show that Israel and the Jews are still two entirely
\nseparate people when Christ returns. (This book in its entirety
\nis on this Website under this section devoted to the prophecies
\nof the Bible – Keith Hunt).
\nGod’s Word interprets itself, and all we have to do is to
\nlearn rightly to divide the Word of truth, and learn also to
\nhumble our-selves and be willing to be corrected by God’s Word,
\nand not just read it according to our own preconceived nations
\nand ideas.
\nIn the First and Second Book of Kings and the First and
\nSecond Book of Chronicles we have related for us the history of
\nthese two nations or kingdoms, the one kingdom of Israel, and the
\nother kingdom of Judah who ultimately became known as the Jews.
\nYou will recall that when the Israel people came out of
\nEgypt in the exodus led by Moses, there were twelve tribes of
\nIsrael. If you have maps in the back of your Bible you will
\nalmost certainly have a map showing the division of Cannon – the
\npromised land – amongst the twelve tribes. You will see the
\nportion of land that was allotted to each one.
\nThen you will find that in the first two verses of Psalm 114
\nGod says, “When Israel – that is to say, the twelve tribes – went
\nout of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange
\nlanguage; Judah was His sanctuary, and Israel His dominion.” so,
\nin the mind of God, long before there was any division of the
\ntwelve tribes into Israel and Judah, the division already
\nexisted; and it existed for a very good purpose inasmuch as it
\nwould ultimately affect the destiny, the salvation, of every
\nhuman being that has ever lived. That may sound an astonishing
\nstatement to make, but if you will bear that in mind and remember
\nthose important verses m Psalm 114, you will see that that is
\ntrue!
\nThe Bible speaks in Jeremiah 33, verse 24, of “The two
\nfamilies which the Lord bath chosen,” that is to say, Judah and
\nIsrael. Elsewhere we read of two houses, or two kingdoms, or two
\nnations, or – in Ezekiel – of two sisters that were married to
\nthe Lord, In the “Illustrated Bible Geography and Atlas,” it
\ncontains coloured maps clearly showing the division of Canaan,
\namong the Twelve Tribes, and the later Kingdoms of Judah and
\nIsrael, you may find most helpful.
\nNow, bear in mind that Kings and Chronicles, these four
\nbooks of the Bible, tell us the history of the two people which
\nthe Lord had chosen, and the way in which they cam, to be divided
\nup into two nations was simply this. For some five hundred years
\nthe twelve tribes were more or less united, but in the time of
\nRehoboam [938-921 B.C.], who was the son of Solomon, there was a
\nrevolt amongst the twelve tribes – civil war if you like – and
\nthe result was that ten tribes broke away and called themselves
\nIsrael, the leading tribe of which was Joseph; while the other
\ntwo tribes that remained were Judah and Benjamin and they called
\nthemselves Judah. In Kings and Chronicles we have the history of
\nthese two nations.
\nUnfortunately, a lot of people say that Israel is the Jews,
\nand that is one of the biggest lies that the devil has ever told.
\nIt is one of the biggest deceptions that has ever taken in
\nexpositors of God’s Word. In fact, the very first time that the
\nword ‘Jew’ is used in scripture is in 2 Kings, chapter 16 and
\nverse six, where you will find that Israel were fighting the
\nJews, so how can they be the same people? And the Bible says that
\nin the last days the house of Judah shall walk to the house of
\nIsrael and they shall come together into the land. So if you look
\nat that very carefully you will find that Israel and the Jews
\nwere entirely two separate people.<\/p>\n
(2) HOW THE TEN TRIBES OF ISRAEL CAME TO BE LOST.<\/p>\n
Now here in Second Kings, chapter seventeen, the Bible says,
\n“In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son
\nof Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years.” The Northern
\nkingdom of Israel had broken away from Judah and had established
\nas their capital the city of Samaria, while Judah who were
\nultimately known as the Jews had as their capital Jerusalem. The
\nKing of Israel reigned in Samaria, the King of Judah reigned in
\nJerusalem. So Ahaz king of Judah had been already reigning in
\nJudah for twelve years when Hoshea the son of Elah came to the
\nthrone and reigned over Israel from Samaria.<\/p>\n
“And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, but not
\nas the kings of Israel that were before him. Against him came up
\nShalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and
\ngave him presents.”<\/p>\n
How delightful are some of the verses in the Bible; what
\nvolumes we can read into them! Here we find that Hoshea king of
\nIsrael has become a vassal of Shalmaneser king of Assyria, and so
\nhe gives him a present from time to time just to keep on the
\nright side of him! “And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in
\nHoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and
\nbrought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by
\nyear: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in
\nprison.” Hoshea had sent messengers to King So who was the king
\nof Egypt, and had not sent a present that year to the king of
\nAssyria. This upset the king of Assyria very much and was just
\nthe provocation that he needed to go against Israel and
\ntake them all away captive. You see the wonderful human element
\nin what some people might think awfully dull history!<\/p>\n
“The king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and
\nwent up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. In the ninth
\nyear of Hashes [722 B.C.], the king of Assyria took Samaria, and
\ncarried Israel away into Assyria,” – all the Israelites, all the
\npeople of the ten tribes of Israel, were carried away by this
\ngreat Assyrian army – “and placed them in Halah and in Haber by
\nthe river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.”<\/p>\n
Now the Bible tells us quite clearly why God permitted this:<\/p>\n
“For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against
\nthe Lord their God, which had brought them up out of the land of
\nEgypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had
\nfeared other gods, and walked in the statutes of the heathen,
\nwhom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel, and of
\nthe kings of Israel, which they had made. And the children of
\nIsrael did secretly these things that were not right against the
\nLord their God, and they built them high places in all their
\ncities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. And
\nthey set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under
\nevery green tree: and there they burnt incense in all the high
\nplaces, as did the heathen whom the Lord carried away before
\nthem; and wrought wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger:
\nfor they served idols, whereof the Lord had said unto them, Ye
\nshall not do this thing.”<\/p>\n
Now in Deuteronomy, chapter 26, verse 16, we find what God
\nsaid to Israel, that is to say the twelve tribes, before they
\nwent into the promised land:<\/p>\n
“This day the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to do these
\nstatutes and judgments: thou shalt therefore keep and do them
\nwith all thine heart, and with all thy soul. Thou hast avouched
\nthe Lord this day to be thy God, and to walk in His ways, and to
\nkeep His statutes, and His commandments, and His judgments, and
\nto harken unto His voice: and the Lord bath avouched thee, this
\nday to be His peculiar people, as He bath promised thee, and that
\nthou shouldest keep all His commandments; and to make thee high
\nabove all nations which He bath made, in praise, and in name, and
\nin honour; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the Lord
\nthy God, as He bath spoken.”<\/p>\n
You understand the principle. God revealed Himself to
\nIsrael. He did not for the time being reveal Himself to any of
\nthe other nations of mankind, but He revealed Himself peculiarly
\nto Israel, and when He gave to them the ten commandments they
\nunderstood something of the character and righteousness of God.
\nBy those ten commandments they knew that God was holy and
\nrighteous and just and perfect. And the commandments of God are
\nnot grievous; they were not intended to produce bondage, but they
\nare a mirror, if you like, so that when we look into the mirror
\nof God’s Law we see whether we are clean or ditty. And so it is
\nGod’s commandments which establish the fact of sin, because sin
\nis the transgression of the law. Every one of us have broken
\nGod’s Commandments and therefore the Bible says that we are
\nsinners.<\/p>\n
And just as for every law there must be a penalty for
\nbreaking that law, so the Bible says that “the wages of sin is
\ndeath; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ
\nour Lord.” So God said to Israel, “I will make you the greatest
\nnation if you will keep my commandments,” which we know that they
\nwere not able to do, as we shall see later on. God knew full well
\nthat no nation in the world could ever attain unto true
\nrighteousness and holiness by mere external formal obedience to
\nGod’s commandments.
\nMan can only keep God’s commandments as he has the grace of
\nGod in his heart, as he is redeemed by the precious blood of
\nJesus, and as he has a new nature and a new character; then the
\ncommandments are written on his heart, and he is able to walk
\nbefore God as God desire.
\nThe Lord said to Israel, “If you will keep my commandments,
\nI will be your God and you shall be my people, and I will make
\nyou the greatest people in the world, so that all other nations
\nshall see how blessed you are by keeping my commandments.” And
\nso, of course, all the other nations would have to acknowledge
\nthe God that made Israel great. I am sure you can see the
\nprinciple of that!
\nNow if you look in Deuteronomy, chapter 28, you will see
\nthat the Lord left Israel in no doubt as to where they stood:<\/p>\n
“And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt harken diligently unto
\nthe voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all His
\ncommandments which I command the, this day, that the Lord thy God
\nwill set thee on high above all nations of the earth: and all
\nthese blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee if thou
\nhalt harken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Blessed shalt
\nthou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.
\nBlessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy
\nground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kin,
\nand the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy
\nstore. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed
\nshalt thou be when thou goest out The Lord shall cause thine
\nenemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face:
\nthey shall come out against the, one way, and flee before thee
\nseven ways. The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy
\nstorehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and He
\nshall bless thee, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
\nThe Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto Himself, as
\nHe hath sworn unto thee, if thou shall keep the commandments of
\nthe Lord thy God, and walk in His ways. And all people of
\nthe earth” – please notice this, for this was the purpose of God
\nin bringing Israel into existence as a nation – “shall see that
\nthou art called by the name of the Lord; and they, shall be
\nafraid of thee. And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods,
\nin the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in
\nthe fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware unto
\nthy fathers to give thee. The Lord shall open unto thee His good
\ntreasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his
\nseason, and to bless all the Work of thine hand: and thou shalt
\nlend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. And the Lord
\nshall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be
\nabove only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou harken
\nunto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee
\nthis day, to observe and to do them: and thou shalt not go aside
\nfrom any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right
\nhand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.”<\/p>\n
What a marvellous destiny God promised to the children
\nof Israel if only they would walk in obedience to His
\ncommandments! God said, “I Will make you the greatest nation in
\nthe world; you will enjoy peace, health, prosperity, true
\nhappiness in every sense of the word,” and God’s ways are sell
\nthe same today, and the reason why this world is so full of
\nfrustration, misery, despair, sin, hatred and wickedness, is
\nbecause it has turned its back upon God’s laws; because man in
\nhis wisdom which he thinks is superior to God’s, has turned his
\nback upon everything that God has said and gone his own way. The
\nBible says, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but
\nthe end thereof are the ways of death.” “The way of peace they
\nknow not.”
\nGod promised marvellous blessings to Israel if only they
\nwould walk in obedience to His laws, keep His commandments and
\nobey His Word. God said, “I will bless you above all the nations
\nof the world.” “But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not
\nharken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all
\nHis commandments and His statutes which I command thee this day;
\nthat all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake the:
\ncursed shalt thou he in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the
\nfield. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. Cursed shall be
\nthe fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of
\nthy kin,, and the flocks of thy sheep. Cursed shalt thou be when
\nthou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when then go est out.
\nThe Lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke in
\nall that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be
\ndestroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the
\nwickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me. The Lord
\nshall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until He have
\nconsumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess
\nit. The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a
\nfever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and
\nwith the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they
\nshall pursue thee until thou perish. And thy heaven that is over
\nthy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall
\nbe iron. The Lord shall make the rain of thy land powder and
\ndust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be
\ndestroyed. The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine
\nenemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven
\nways before them : and shalt he removed into all the kingdoms of
\nthe earth.”<\/p>\n
(3) THE TEN TRIBES WENT INTO CAPTIVITY AND NEVER RETURNED.<\/p>\n
Everything that God said came to pass. Thus we read in the
\nSecond Book of Kings, chapter 17 and verse 13: “Yet the
\nLord testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the
\nprophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil
\nways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all
\nthe law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you
\nby my servants the prophets. Not-withstanding they would not
\nhear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their
\nfathers, that they did not believe in the Lord their God. And
\nthey rejected His statutes, and His covenant that He made with
\ntheir fathers, and His testimonies which He testified against
\nthem; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after
\nthe heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the Lord
\nhad charged them, that they should not do like them. And they
\nleft all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made them
\nmolten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped
\nall the host of heaven, and served Baal. And they caused their
\nsons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used
\ndivination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in
\nthe sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. Therefore the
\nLord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of His
\nsight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.”<\/p>\n
The Israelites never went back to the promised land! They
\nnever went back! The Lord removed them out of His sight: there
\nwas none left but the tribe of Judah only. And as if to emphasize
\nthe importance of what is being said, verse 23 says again, “The
\nLord removed Israel out of His sight, as He had said by all His
\nservants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their
\nown land to Assyria unto this day.”
\nThat is to say, when this particular book of the Bible was
\nwritten, the Israelites were still in captivity, they were still
\nthere in Assyria, and never at any time in Bible days or since
\nhave the Israelites ever returned to Palestine.
\nIf anyone is dis-inclined to believe the Word of God, let
\nhim go to any library and consult any standard work of reference,
\nany book on the history of the peoples of the east, and let him
\nread what happened in the eighth century B.C. Any and every
\nhistory book you care to examine will tell you that between 735
\nand 670 millions of Israelites were carried captive by the
\nAssyrians, and every one of those history books will tell you
\nthat nobody to this day knows what happened to all those
\nIsraelites. Except a few Holy Ghost Christians! Glory to God!<\/p>\n
I want to let you into a secret! Turn to Romans, chapter 11,
\nand the first two. There Paul asks the question, “I say then,
\nhath God cast away His people? God forbid. For I also am an
\nIsraelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God
\nhath not cast away His people which He foreknew.”
\nHow strange it is that most of our churches are preaching
\ndiametrically the opposite to what Christ taught! They say that
\nGod finished with Israel because they did not keep His
\ncommandments, that He cast them off, finished with them, and then
\nhad to start something else called the Church of God to make up
\nfor the awful mistake that He made when He chose Israel.
\nBut Jesus Christ came to confirm the promises made unto the
\nfathers! “God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the Son
\nof man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do
\nit? or has He spoken, and shall He not make it good?”
\nDid not Jesus say that He had chosen Israel, and that they
\nshould be a holy nation unto Himself? Well then, let us believe
\nthe Word of God, and not the tradition of some of the churches!
\nLet us believe what God says. “Let God be true, but every man a
\nliar.”<\/p>\n
Let us go back then to Second Kings, chapter 17, and we
\nshall see the continuation of the story. Remember, the ten tribes
\nof Israel have been carried captive into Assyria because of their
\ngreat wickedness: “The Lord was very angry with Israel, and
\nremoved them out of His sight: there was none left but the tribe
\nof Judah only. Also Judah kept not the commandments of the Lord
\ntheir God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.
\nAnd the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel,” – that means He
\nrejected all twelve tribes. He had already rejected the ten
\ntribes that went into Assyria and now 130 years afterwards He
\nrejected the two tribes – “and afflicted them, and delivered them
\ninto the hand of spoilers, until He had cast them out of His
\nsight. For He rent Israel from the house of David;” – this is
\nrecapitulating on what has gone before “and they made Jeroboam
\nthe son of Nebat king and Jeroboam drave Israel from following
\nthe Lord, and made them sin a great sin. For the children of
\nIsrael walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they
\ndeparted not from them; until the Lord removed Israel out of His
\nsight, as He had said by all His servants the prophets. So was
\nIsrael carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this
\nday.”<\/p>\n
As we have already said, they never returned to Palestine.<\/p>\n
“And the king of Assyria brought men front Babylon, and from
\nCuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim and
\nplaced them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of
\nIsrael: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities
\nthereof. And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there,
\nthat they feared not the Lord: therefore the Lord sent lions
\namong them, which slew some of them. Wherefore they spake to the
\nking of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and
\nplaced in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God
\nof the land: therefore He hath sent lions among them, and,
\nbehold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the
\nGod of the land. Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying,
\nCarry thither one of the priests whom ye brought from thence; and
\nlet him teach them the manner of the God of the land.”<\/p>\n
Remember, these people that now came to live in Samaria were
\nnot Israelites, nor were they ever converted to the Lord God of
\nIsrael…”Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from
\nSamaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should
\nfear the Lord. Howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and
\nput them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans
\nhad made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt … So
\nthey feared the Lord, and made unto themselves of the lowest of
\nthem priests of the high places, which sacrificed for then, in
\nthe houses of the high places. They feared the Lord, and served
\ntheir own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried
\naway from thence. Unto this day they do after the former manners:
\nthey fear not the Lord, neither do they after their statutes, or
\nafter their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which
\nthe Lord commanded the children of Jacob, Whom He named Israel;
\nwith whom the Lord had made covenant, and charged them, saying Ye
\nshall not fear other gods, or bow yourselves to them, nor serve
\nthem, nor sacrifice to them: but the Lord, who brought you up out
\nof the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm,
\nHim shall ye fear, and Him shall ye worship, and to Him shall ye
\ndo sacrifice. And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law,
\nand the commandment, which He wrote for you, ye shall observe to
\ndo for evermore; and ye shall not fear other gods. And the
\ncovenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget; neither
\nshall ye fear other gods. But the Lord your God ye shall fear;
\nand He shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.
\nHowbeit they did not harken, but they did after their former
\nmanner. So these nations feared the Lord, and served their graven
\nimages, both their children, and their children’s children: as
\ndid their fathers, so do they unto this day.”<\/p>\n
What a tragic story, and what an apparently ignominious end
\nto God’s people! Ten tribes carried into captivity; millions of
\nIsraelites carried captive into Assyria never to return to their
\nown land, leaving behind two tribes of Judah that kept God’s
\ncommandments a little better than their Israelite fellows had
\ndone and enjoyed intermittent revival, until they too apostatised
\nso badly that God had to write them off, or so it seemed. By this
\ntime the Assyrian power had fallen and the great empire which
\ntook its place was Babylon. The king of Babylon came and took
\nJudah captive, and carried them all away into Babylon, leaving no
\none behind save a few stragglers, just a tiny remnant of the
\npeople …<\/p>\n
(4) THE JEWS RETURNED TO PALESTINE BUT ISRAEL DID NOT.<\/p>\n
You might have thought that that was the end of the story
\nand that God had slipped up somehow, because He had had such high
\nhopes and expectations of these twelve tribes of His Israel
\npeople, and now they had failed Him so miserably and God had
\napparently finished with them and sent them all away, just like
\nHe promised, just like He warned through His prophets.<\/p>\n
But now we are to look at another key chapter in the Bible,
\nHosea chapter one. Hosea prophesied before Israel was carried
\ninto Assyria and before Judah was carried into Babylon. He
\nprophesied about 785 B.C., that is to say, rather more than sixty
\nyears before the fall of Samaria [722 B.C.] and the final
\ncapitulation of Israel to the invading Assyrian armies.<\/p>\n
“The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in
\nthe days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Bud Hezekiah, kings of Judah,
\nand in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel. The
\nbeginning of the word of the Lord by HosEA. And the Lord said to
\nHosea, “Go, take unto the, a wife of whoredoms and children of
\nwhoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing
\nfrom the Lord.”
\nNow the Bible says that when God made His covenant, the old
\ncovenant, with His Israel people, He was married to them. But the
\nBible talks about Him divorcing Israel, putting away His wife,
\nbecause Israel had gone after other lovers. Israel had committed
\nwhoredom by going after false gods; she had committed adultery,
\nand so the Bible says that the Lord Jesus wrote them a bill of
\ndivorce, although He was married to Israel and had been good to
\nHis wife. So here, Hosea is commanded of God to take certain
\nsteps which would enact the fate of the people of God. He was to
\nmarry an unfaithful woman. “So he went and took Gomer the
\ndaughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son. And the
\nLord said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little
\nwhile, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of
\nJehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of
\nIsrael.”<\/p>\n
This was before it happened ! More than sixty years before
\nIsrael was taken captive to Assyria and lost, God said through
\nHis prophet that it was going to happen! “And it shall come to
\npass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the
\nvalley of Jezreel. And she conceived again, and bare a daughter.
\nAnd God said unto him, Call her name Lo-ruhamah: for I will no
\nmore have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take
\nthen, away.”<\/p>\n
The name ‘Ruhamah’ means mercy, and ‘Lo’ means ‘not;’ so God
\nsaid, “I want you to call your little girl Lo-ruhamah – no
\nmercy – because I will not have mercy upon the house of Israel;
\nbut I will utterly take them away. But I will have mercy upon the
\nhouse of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God, and
\nwill not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by
\nhorses, nor by horsemen.”<\/p>\n
We have seen already that the ten tribes of Israel were
\ncarried captive into Assyria, and 130 years later the two tribes
\nof Judah, having also forsaken, their God, were carried captive
\ninto Babylon.<\/p>\n
God would give them light
\nby Brian Williams
\n(a sermon given in 1967)<\/p>\n
We have seen already that the ten tribes of Israel were
\ncarried captive into Assyria, and 130 years later the two tribes
\nof Judah, having also forsaken their God, were carried captive
\ninto Babylon.
\nBut after seventy years, under Cyrus king of Persia, the
\nJews were permitted to leave Babylon and come all the way back to
\nPalestine, and their descendants were there in Jesus’ day.
\nHow did they come back? They did not have to fight their way
\nback! They were given permission to return to Jerusalem to
\nrebuild the city and to rebuild the temple, exactly fulfilling
\nwhat God had said through His prophet Hosea “Who is he that
\nsaith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?”
\nHow can you know a tree prophet?<\/p>\n
When he says a thing is going to happen and it comes to
\npass, just like he said! “But I will have mercy upon the house of
\nJudah, and will save them by the Lord their God, and will not
\nsave them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by
\nhorsemen.” How marvellously that was fulfilled! Read the books of
\nEzra and Nehemiah, and you will find that 42,360 Jews took the
\nopportunity to return, together with some seven thousand other
\npeople, making just about fifty thousand people that undertook
\nthe long trek from Babylon to Jerusalem, and to rebuild the city
\nand to rebuild the house of God. And the descendent, of this
\nmixed multitude were there in Jesus’ day, the only surviving
\nrecognisable remnant of God’s people, because the ten tribes had
\ngone into Assyria and were apparently lost. Nobody would now
\nrecognize them as being God’s people. And of all the Jews that
\nhad gone into Babylon, only fifty thousand returned and the
\nothers were dispersed. It was the descendants of that remnant of
\nthe Jews that returned to Palestine that was there in Jesus’ day.
\nNow the Bible says, “Now when she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she
\nconceived, and bare a son. Then said God, Call his name Loammi:
\nfor ye am not my people, and I will not be your God.” The
\nname ‘Ammi’ means ‘My people,’ the word ‘Lo’ means ‘Not,’ so
\nwhen He said, Call your little boy Lo-ammi, it means ‘Not my
\npeople’ or ‘No people’. So Hosea has three children by his
\nunfaithful wife. The first one is called ‘I will have my
\nrevenge,’ the second is called ‘No mercy,’ and the third is
\ncalled ‘No people,’ revealing picturesquely the forthcoming fate
\nof the ten tribes of Israel.<\/p>\n
(5) SURE PROOF OF ISRAEL’S IDENTITY.<\/p>\n
Now here is one of the key verses in all the Bible, Hosea
\nchapter one, verse ten. If you cannot understand this verse then
\nI guarantee that you cannot understand the Bible! “Yet the number
\nof the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which
\ncannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that
\nin the place where it was said unto them, Ye am not my people,
\nthere it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living
\nGod.”
\nRemember what we have seen in 2 Kings 17. Israel gone into
\ncaptivity in Assyria never to return, the Jews gone into
\ncaptivity in Babylon and permitted to return after seventy years.
\nGad says to Israel, I will have my revenge. You who are no longer
\nobtaining mercy, you who are no longer am people, I am no longer
\nyour God. Yet in spite of all that, “the number of the children
\nof Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be
\nmeasured nor numbered.” God says He will make this Israel people
\nso great in number, who shall be able to number the fourth part
\nof them? They are the thousands of Manasseh and the ten thousands
\nof Ephraim!
\nGod says that in spite of the fact of His not having mercy
\non Israel, of finishing with them, and sending them into
\ncaptivity never to return, He will make them as the sand of the
\nsea for number, “and it shall come to pass, that in the place
\nwhere it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall
\nbe said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.”<\/p>\n
What does that mean, sons of the living God? The Bible says,
\n“He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many
\nas received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God,
\neven to them that believe on His name.” It means Christians. The
\nBible says, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed
\nupon us, that we should be called the sons of God therefore the
\nworld knoweth us not, because it knew Him not. Beloved, now are
\nwe the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be:
\nbut we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for
\nwe shall see Him as He is.”
\nHath God cast away His people which He foreknew? Paul says,
\nwith all the power at his command, “God forbid.” How could God
\ncast off the people to whom He had made such glorious and exceed-
\ning great and precious promises, that they should be a people
\nafter His own heart? How could God do away with this people and
\nso nullify the promise made to Abraham when He said, “In blessing
\nI will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as
\nthe stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea
\nshore, and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in
\nthy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because
\nthou hast obeyed my voice”, and, when He promised “In Isaac shall
\nthy seed be called”; when He said, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau
\nhave I hated”; and when He said, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful
\nand multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee,
\nand kings shall came out of thy loins,” all of which promises
\nwere to be fulfilled “in the last days”<\/p>\n
Praise the Lord! Everywhere in the Bible we find that the
\nlast days are shown to be this Christian dispensation. Look at
\nHebrews, chapter one, and the first two verses: “God, who at
\nsundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the
\nfathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us
\nby His Son.” So the last days are the days of the Christian
\ndispensation when the good news of the gospel is sounding forth
\nthroughout the ends of the earth, and God said that in the last
\ndays, Joseph’s descendants would be “a nation and a company of
\nnations”. From his elder son Manasseh would come a great people,
\nand from his younger son Ephraim would come a multitude, or
\nfullness, of nations that would be as the dust of the earth,
\nspreading abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north,
\nand to the south, inhabiting the waste places of the earth; a
\npeople blessed with blessings of heaven above and the earth
\nbeneath and the deep that lieth under; a people blessed above all
\nthe nations of the world; a people that would take the gospel
\nthroughout the ends of the earth, because they would be the sons
\nof the living God.<\/p>\n
What happened? O glory to God! God did not break one of His
\npromises. Oh how I wish could proclaim this to Billy Graham’s
\ncongregation at Earl’s Court Arena tonight! I wish I could shout
\nit from every rooftop and proclaim it from every pulpit: “Blessed
\nbe the Lord God of Israel; for He bath visited and redeemed His
\npeople.” How did He do it? We have read it so many times this
\nweek: let us look again at Isaiah, chapter 53. God sent His
\nprophet to speak to Israel, and he said, “Who hath believed our
\nreport?”; and who will believe the message that we bring? It is
\nalmost too fantastic for words! “Who bath believed our report,
\nand to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For He shall grow up
\nbefore Him as a tender plant, and as a mot out of a dry ground:
\nHe bath no form or comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there
\nis no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and
\nrejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and
\nwe hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we
\nesteemed Him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried
\nour Sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and
\nafflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was
\nbruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was
\nupon Him; and with His stripes we am healed. All we like sheep
\nhave gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and
\nthe Lord bath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was
\noppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His month: He
\nis brought as a Iamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her
\nshearers is dumb, so He openeth not His month. He was taken from
\nprison and from judgment: and who shall declare His generation?
\nfor He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the
\ntransgression of my people was He stricken. And He made His grave
\nwith the wicked, and with the rich in His death; because He had
\ndone no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it
\npleased the Lord to bruise Him; He bath put Him to grief: when
\nThou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His
\nseed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord
\nshall prosper in His hand. He shall see of the travail out His
\nsoul, he shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall my righteous
\nServant justify many; for He shall hear their iniquities
\nTherefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He
\nshall divide the spoil with the strong; because He bath poured
\nout His soul unto death: and He was numbered with the
\ntransgressors; and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession
\nfor the transgressors.”<\/p>\n
What happened? Israel was carried away captive. God said I
\nwill have my revenge, you will no longer be my people and I will
\nnot be your God, and I will utterly take you away. But in spite
\nof that, that the promises made to Abraham and the fathers might
\nstand, and that all the World might wonder at the grace, the
\nlove, the compassion, the mercy, the incomparable Wisdom of
\nAlmighty God, God says He will make His Israel people so great in
\nnumber that it is impossible to count them, and in the place
\nwhere it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, it will he
\nsaid of them, You are Christians, sons of the living God. In the
\nlast days of this Christian dispensation, the ten tribes of
\nIsrael are to have became a Christian nation.<\/p>\n
How could it come about? By redemption. To redeem means to
\nbuy back something that belonged to you in the first place. The
\nBible says, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for He hath
\nvisited and redeemed His people.” “Thou shalt call His name
\nJESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins.” O glory to
\nGod!<\/p>\n
“Paschal Lamb, by God appointed, All our sins on Thee were
\nlaid; By almighty love anointed, Thou hast full atonement
\nmade: All Thy people are forgiven Through the virtue of Thy
\nblood; Opened is the gate of heaven;
\nPeace is made ‘twixt men and God.”<\/p>\n
May we close with Jeremiah, chapter 31, verse 31, to round
\noff what we have said:<\/p>\n
“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new
\ncovenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
\nnot according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in
\nthe day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the
\nland of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an
\nhusband unto them, saith the Lard: But this shall be the covenant
\nthat I will make with the house of Israel; After those days,
\nsaith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and
\nwrite it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall
\nbe my people. And they shall teach no more every man his
\nneighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for
\nthey shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest
\nof them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I
\nwill remember their sin no more. Thus saith the Lord, which
\ngiveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon
\nand of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea
\nwhen the waves thereof roar; The Lord of hosts is His name: If
\nthose Ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the
\nseed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me far
\never. Thus saith the Lord, If heaven above can be measured, and
\nthe foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also
\ncast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done,
\nsaith the Lard.”<\/p>\n
O that we might understand the matchless grace of God! How
\nwould the new covenant be established with the house of Israel?
\nHow could God have mercy upon this people whom He had cast
\noff for breaking the very commandments, the keeping of which
\nwould make them to be the greatest people in the world? Read
\nMatthew 26, verse 26: “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread,
\nand blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and
\nsaid, Take, eat; this is my body. And He took the cup, and gave
\nthanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this
\nis my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the
\nremission of sins.”<\/p>\n
The Lord said, “I will make a new covenant with the house of
\nIsrael”, and Jesus, the night He was betrayed, said, “This cup is
\nthe new testament – the new covenant – in my blood.” Hallelujah!<\/p>\n
His Israel people, cast away, never returning to Palestine,
\nis in the last days, in the economy of God, to be frond a people
\nthat as a nation has begun to come under the new covenant, that
\nhas embraced – at least nominally – the glorious Gospel of the
\nLord Jesus Christ, and is known throughout all the ends of the
\nearth as a Christian nation and commonwealth of nations.<\/p>\n
The apostle Paul sums it all up in Romans, chapter 11,
\nreading from verse 29: “For the gifts and calling of God are
\nwithout repentance.” God called Israel in the first place, and
\n“God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew.” “For as ye
\nin times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained merry,
\nthrough their unbelief: even so have these also now not believed,
\nthat through your mercy they also may obtain merry. For God hath
\nconcluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon
\nall.”<\/p>\n
God purposed for His Israel people to be lost, to become an
\nobscure people, that in the fullness of time they might receive
\nthe Gospel of His dear Son the Lord Jesus Christ, in ignorance of
\ntheir true identity, that through them the nations of the world
\nmight also come under the blessings of this new covenant.<\/p>\n
And so Paul throws his arms up in the air, words almost
\nfailing him at this point to express the great and marvellous
\nthing that God has done, and he says: “O the depth of the riches
\nboth of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His
\njudgments, and His ways passed finding out! For who bath known
\nthe mind of the Lord? Or who hash been His counsellor? Or who
\nhath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him
\nagain? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things:
\nto whom be glory for ever. Amen.”<\/p>\n
You know what happened to the Lost Tribes, and you know who
\nthey are.<\/p>\n
“Ye seed of Israel’s chosen race, Ye ransomed from The fall,
\nHail Him who saves you by His grace, And crown Him Lord of
\nall”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LOST TRIBES? Part One by Brian Williams (1967) A Sermon preached by BRIAN WILLIAMS at the Civic Theatre, Chelmsford Saturday, 24th June, 1967 “Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of His sight there was none left but the tribe of Judah only … So was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"seo_booster_metabox":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2979,64,974,1537,2960,3268,3269,2977,3262,3263,2978,1904],"class_list":["post-10400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-anglican-hymns-israel","tag-anglo-israel","tag-british-israel","tag-british-israelism","tag-celto-saxon-israel","tag-correct-replacement-theology","tag-israel-is-the-church","tag-lost-tribes-of-israel","tag-replacement-theology","tag-scriptures-replacement-theology","tag-study-on-the-tribes-of-israel","tag-true-christian-defense-league"],"yoast_head":"\n