Every year on Good Friday, or Passover, Christians take time to meditate on Jesus’ sacrifice for us in a humiliating and torturous death by crucifixion. It’s a time to dwell on what our Lord suffered for us, in all its pain and intensity, without rushing straight ahead to the good news of resurrection and new life.
The seven last statements of Jesus Christ from the cross reveal much about our Savior’s personality. The first two words reveal his deity; the remaining five reveal his humanity. One of the ways Christians have traditionally meditated on the events of this day is by reading and reflecting on the seven last words of Jesus from the cross.
A person who anticipates being crucified does not prepare a speech for the occasion. Even less so Jesus, who had advised His disciples: ”But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour what you shall speak. For it is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.” (Matt. 10:19-20)
So let us spend some time at the foot of the cross and listen to the precious words and try to understand their meaning. Perhaps they will reveal God to us more than the longer speeches of Jesus, which involved some preparation, whereas the words on the cross were spontaneous expressions of himself.
If anyone believes that a nation is not held accountable for its corporate sin, let this passage of Scripture set him straight. A nation does sin, and that nation pays for the sin it commits. We really have not seen, as yet, the retribution God will place upon America for its disobedience. But there are many signs: extreme weather, cyber threats and hints of nuclear war.
The background to Ezekiel’s prophetic ministry is Judah’s apostasy following the death of the last good king, Josiah, in 609 B.C. From that time on Judah’s kings seemed to go out of their way to avoid righteousness, and the kingdom rapidly declined. Sounds like the present national administration in America, 2023, does it not?
Will America be replaced by non-Adamic peoples? It’s happening! We in America have rejected God’s commands just as Jerusalem did in Jeremiah’s day. America is fast becoming no longer the land of the covenant people, but rather the land of the heathen people.
The book of Jeremiah (as well as Lamentations) comes from one of the great prophets of the Old Testament. Sometimes known as the “weeping prophet,” he lived to witness the fall of Jerusalem and the Babylonian captivity. The book has outpourings of rage against sin and deep agony of soul; descriptions of personal and national crises, and beautiful affirmations of hope and deliverance. He was faithful to God, but the revival of his people’s faith did not come in his day. Instead, after forty years of ministry, he saw the people slaughtered and the Holy City destroyed. Much of his sorrow is expressed in the book of Lamentations.
In this sermon we will be covering the writings of Solomon as they have to do with racial intimations. Solomon was known for his wisdom, but it appears he did not always follow his own advice, but rather succumbed to temptation. Perhaps some of his failures led to his great wisdom, while at the same time and in due time, God inspired him in answer to his own prayer.
A bit of historical background: Solomon’s reign was the “golden age” of Israel. The magnificence and splendor of Solomon's court were unrivaled. He had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines, an evidence at once of his pride, his wealth, and his sensuality. The maintenance of his household involved immense expenditure.
Solomon's reign was not only a period of great material prosperity, but was equally remarkable for its intellectual activity. He was the leader of his people also in this uprising amongst them of new intellectual life. He spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five.
In the First of the book of Psalms, the tone is set for the comparison and contrast of those men who are righteous and those who are wicked. “Happy is the man who does not go in the company of sinners… 2 But whose delight is in the law of the Lord.” (Ps. 1:1-2a, BBE)
There are many such references to the upright and the evil in the book of Psalms. At first, we may assume that David is simply speaking about good people and bad people. This is true, as David certainly had his share of trouble from his adversaries. However, as we read large amounts of the Psalms, there is a growing sense that David had more in mind than just the morally good and the morally bad. We find there is a racial context revealed.
My comment: have you noticed that everything in America that is righteous is being abolished? America has forgotten her father, Abraham. This is a key Scripture regarding race.
It is generally understood that the ten tribes of Israel entered Assyrian captivity in various stages, culminating in a three-year siege (began 723 BC) with the capital city of Samaria and its fall in 720 BC. Likewise, that Judah’s Babylonian captivity was completed by 585 BC. The prophecies of the prophets came in Israel’s history. The prophets did not always predict the future; in fact they seldom did. But the prophet was a spokesperson for God (a preacher). The writings of the prophets were directed to God’s people during one of the lowest spiritual and moral times of their history.
The book of Esther is the last of the twelve historical books. The author’s name is not mentioned, and neither is the name of God, which has led many to believe it is a spurious book, not belonging within the canon of Scripture. The so-called feast of Purim (named after the city of Pur) has its origin in this book, not the Pentateuch. The hero and heroine of the book bear the names of the chief Babylonian god and goddess: Marduk (Mordecai) and Ishtar (Esther… or Easter). Another point that seems inconsistent, if the book of Esther is genuine, is that Esther, the niece of Mordecai, became the queen of King Ahasuerus because of her great beauty. Though we are not told, it may be assumed that Esther fulfilled the duties of a wife with the Persian King. If this is true, then the mating with a foreign king was gross sin (unless, of course, he was Adamic). No part of Esther was found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Many scholars simply consider the book a novel.
Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, 2 Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel (he is God), which is in Jerusalem.
INTRODUCTION
At this time in history, two events have occurred that have been obscured or deliberately hidden. These events are crucial to two purposes of the book of Ezra: 1) to identify the Israelites throughout their history, and 2) to negate the claim that the jews, as we know them today, have any relationship with Israelites.
The ten northern tribes of Israel had been captured by the Assyrians, never to return to their land. Judah as well was captured and spent 70 years in Babylon, at the end of which time, they were permitted to return to rebuild the temple.
There seems to be silence and mystery surrounding the fate of the “lost ten tribes” of Israel. According to the teaching of most churches, this horde seems to have just vanished into the landscape, never to be heard of again.
The Chronicles are a continuation of the books of the Kings. Israel had asked Samuel for a king rather than have God as their King (q.v., I Sam. 8:1-9). This would prove to be a disaster, for nearly all the kings of Israel and Judah turned out to be very wicked. Of course, if they had a good and honorable king, one that feared God and ruled by His Law, then things went well for Israel. This same principle follows through today. No matter what form of government of men we have, it can always be perverted and corrupted by a deep state that is almost impossible to defuse. So why need we be sentimental about a particular form of government we have had for a length of time? Our particular constitution even says “the people have the right to alter or abolish it and institute new government” as they see fit “for their future security.”
This scripture is the first account that contains a racially significant event within the books we are covering today (I & II Samuel through I & II Kings). It is not known who wrote the books of Samuel. The books bear his name because they record the life and work of Samuel, the last of Israel’s judges and the first of a long line of prophets. The events of these books are a continuation of the book of Judges.
Our Scripture reading sets the stage for the story of Ruth. “…Ephrathites of Bethlehem, Judah.” (v. 2). Ephrath was an earlier name for Bethlehem, where Christ our Lord was born. Thus already, the type, or symbol, for a kinsman redeemer is already being formed.
Was Ruth a Moabitess racially, or was she called such because she lived in Moab?
When Moses died, Joshua was commissioned to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. The book of Joshua is the account of the family of God crossing over the Jordan River on dry ground and possessing all the land that God had given to them. Jehovah had fought for Israel; and the people who had lived in the land were either driven out or killed. The land was divided up among the tribes of Israel, just as God had promised.
The theme of the book of Deuteronomy, racial identity, begins in chapter two:
Ye are to pass through the coast of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you. (Deut. 2:4)
Esau was the twin brother of Jacob who became Israel. This account is found in Genesis 25:21-34. Esau married an Ishmaelite woman whose descendants had come from Abraham and Hagar. Hagar was the Egyptian handmaiden of Sarah, wife of Abraham, who was given to Abraham to conceive a child because of Sarah’s old age (q.v., Gen. 16). When Sarah finally had a son, Isaac, Hagar and her son, Ishmael, were forced to leave. It was from the Ishmaelites that Esau first took a wife. It is clear then, why the Lord referred to “your brothers, the children of Esau,” for all had come from Abraham, though some were tarnished by the Egyptian blood of Hagar.
The book of Numbers is not concerned so much with narrating the history of the Hebrew people, but rather to emphasize the faithfulness of the God of their fathers. Despite the failures of everyone, from the least of the people to Moses himself, God was faithful to His original promise to Abraham and his descendants. This does not mean that individuals do not experience the consequences of their sin. But it does mean that God’s redemptive purposes cannot be thwarted.
Therefore, the events of the forty years of Israel’s wandering were not important to the book’s purpose. All that the people needed to know in order to obey God and enter the land had already been given to them. The only issue was whether the new generation would believe, after their fathers had not. Israel was going to war.
Of all the books in the Bible, the book of Exodus ought to be the simplest book to recognize the racial implications contained therein. The message of identity is obvious in the language of Scripture, even though the judeo-Christian world refuses to acknowledge it. All we can say is “come now, let us reason together.”
In the “burning bush” experience, Moses meets the God of his fathers; and God says to him; “Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.” (Ex. 3:10)
The Israelites had been in Egypt 215 years (most say over 400 years); the twelve sons of Jacob/Israel had long passed on. Now the Israelites were a multitudinous number, feared by the Egyptians, and made slaves to Pharaoh. God spoke to Moses with the promise of deliverance for His people, the progeny of Israel. The deliverance (the salvation), was not for the Egyptians, but for the covenant people of God. “My people” denotes possession.
