Lesson 1 |
Lesson 2 | Lesson 3 |
LESSON 4 | Lesson 5 |
Lesson 6 | Lesson 7
THE BIBLE IS THE HISTORY of Israel. Everything that is written after the
flood relates to her. The nations mentioned in the Bible are mentioned because
of their relationship, positive or negative, with Israel. Israel is God�s
timepiece for history. This is made clear in Revelation chapter twenty-one verse
one. Here we have a woman (Israel) clothed with the sun (God�s favor); she has
the moon under her feet (showing that time/history is submissive to her) and a
crown of twelve stars upon her head (representing the twelve sons of Israel). We
can know where we are on God�s prophetic timeline by watching this favored one
of God.
The first age of the Jews is the age of beginnings. During this time the
Jews were non-existent. This is the period that began with creation and ended
with the birth of Abram. The world was much different during most of this
period. The continents were one; the oceans were not deep; the most vicious of
animals lived with man as dogs and cats do today. Animals did not eat animals
nor did man eat meat. It never rained and men lived to be close to one thousand
years old. Faith was quite different at that time too: most people knew Adam and
Eve personally and those who didn�t, knew their sons. That meant that they did
not rely upon faith to know God as we do today. They were witnesses to God�s
creation of man through Adam and Eve. They heard the stories directly from the
mouth of the one who had no ancestors before him. This is where the great
mystery comes in: Adam�s descendants sin so greatly that God sees no other
alternative than to destroy mankind and start over again.
Three hundred and fifty-two years after the flood (2348 BC), Abram is born (1996
BC). God calls him at the age of seventy-five to leave his land and go into a
land He would show him; at the age of one hundred and twenty-five his faith in
God is tested again through the offering of his only son as a sacrifice. Abraham
is the father of the Israelites and the first to live in trusting God by faith.
To live by faith for Abraham meant to not have heard the stories of creation and
the fall and the flood from someone who was there. He had to fully trust in a
God whom he had only heard about from his father and grandfather. There were no
longer any eyewitnesses alive. Those who would now trust in God must trust Him
not with sight and sound, as before the flood, but now believing though they
have not seen.
Abraham began the period of the Patriarchs, which would end with the period of
the Judges. The Judges would end with the period of the kings in 1095 BC when
Saul becomes Israel�s first king. This age of beginnings, from creation to
Israel�s last king before being taken into captivity by the Babylonians, lasted
3397 years.
The second age of the Jews is the age of the times of the Gentiles. This
is that period of time when the Jews lose control over Jerusalem to the Gentile
nations. It began with their being taken into captivity by King Nebuchadnezzar
in 606 BC and would not end until they gained control over Jerusalem 2554 years
later in 1948 AD.
The third age of the Jews is the age of the end times. This is that
period of time when the Jews would be banned by the Romans from their homeland.
Not only did they not have control over Jerusalem, they were no longer permitted
to live in Jerusalem. They lived in gentile lands among gentile people, keeping
their identity alive. They were people without a home, but never did they quit
being a people unique from the culture in which they lived. They lived this way
for almost 1900 years. In 1948 they became a people with a home when Israel was
reborn as a nation and the Jews gained control over Jerusalem again. This leads
us to the fourth age of the Jews.
The fourth age of the Jews is the age of great tribulation. When the Jews
give control of their most holy place to the Antichrist, he breaks their trust,
defiles their sacred place, and turns on them with a vengeance that has never
been seen in all of history. Out of this fire, the Jews will recognize Jesus as
their long awaited Messiah and receive him as their own. The stage has been set
for this prophecy to be fulfilled. This is the last age of the Jews and the
Antichrist�s appearance is imminent. I do not look for the immanency of a
rapture, it will not happen before the Antichrist is revealed, but after, right
before God begins to pour out His great and dreadful wrath.
The witness of Scripture and our present age is clear that the Jews will soon
enter the age of great tribulation at the end of history.
Scripture also gives witness to a political leader who will be identified as the
Antichrist.
We will look at the Antichrist in lesson five.
Hold fast till Christ returns!