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After Adam and Eve became sinners by eating of the Tree of the
Knowledge of Good and Evil, which was contrary to the will of God. The
Lord drove them out of the perfect environment of the Garden of Eden
and from the Tree of Life, and He guarded the entrance to the garden
from every approach. (Genesis 3:24)
Why weren't they permitted to go back into the garden? Genesis 3:22
has the answer to that question ... if they continued to eat of the
Tree of Life, they would have lived forever in their sinful condition.
In grace, God was going to offer an opportunity for them, and for all
who would
come after them, to have eternal life by faith in His provision of a
Savior. (compare Genesis 3:21 with John 1 :29)
In Revelation 2:7 and 2:14 we find that in eternity future, believers
who became winners in the sight of God during their lifetime on earth
would be allowed to eat from the Tree of Life in the Paradise of God.
THE BRASS SERPENT incident should be familiar to the average
Bible
student, but it is exciting to learn what happened to it hundreds of
years later .....
It made it's first appearance when the Children of Israel despised the
bread provided for them in the wilderness every day, and they accused
Moses of taking them out of Egyptian slavery to kill them in the
wilderness.
The Lord became very angry with the people and sent poisonous serpents
among them. After many of the people died, some came to Moses and
said, 'We have sinned against the Lord by our complaining. Pray for us
now and ask the Lord to take away the serpents."
(Numbers 21 :7)
The Lord told Moses to make a serpent of brass, set it on a pole and
hold it high above the people. If those who had been bitten would look
at the serpent of brass, they would live. (Numbers 21 :9) We know the
Israelites understood the significance of "look and live', because
over 4,000 years later when Jesus used the brass serpent incident to
illustrate the way of salvation to a very religious Pharisee by the
name of Nicodemus, he understood and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ
and was born again. (John 3:1-18)
Many years after the Children of Israel entered the Promised Land, the
Lord provided kings to rule them. One of those kings was a godly man
by the name of Hezekiah. In the first year of his reign, Hezekiah
removed the idols throughout the land of Israel. One of those idols
was the very brass serpent used by Moses 800 years before. Throughout
their generations, the people
had been worshipping it as an idol and had named it Nehushtan (the
brass thing).
(2 Kings 18:4)
THE BONES OF THE PROPHET WHO PRONOUNCED
JUDGMENT UPON KING JEROBOAM . . . After King Solomon died, his son made some very
foolish
decisions, and the nation was divided. The Lord gave Rehoboam two
tribes to rule, and that nation was called Judah, and He gave the
other ten tribes, known as Israel, to a man by the name of Jeroboam
who started out well, but after a short time he became afraid that his
people would leave Israel and go back to Jerusalem to worship the
Lord, so he decided to give them something to worship. He made two
golden calves and placed them at opposite ends of the nation and told
the people, "Here are the gods which delivered you from Egypt. There's
no reason for you to go to Jerusalem to worship the Lord." (1 Kings
12:28)
Then Jeroboam took some of the lowest kind of men and ordained them as
priests. He also declared a special feast day, similar to a legitimate
one held in Judah, and decided he would personally offer a sacrifice
on one of the heathen altars. (1 Kings 12:26-33)
The Lord sent a. prophet to pronounce judgment upon Jeroboam, and he
arrived just as Jeroboam was about to make his sacrifice. The prophet
did not speak directly to Jeroboam, but he directed his words to the
altar with this message from the Lord: "A child by the name of Josiah
shall be born in the line of David, and upon you will he offer the
false priests and bum their bones upon you. After that, you will be
broken up and the ashes will be poured out. When these things happen,
everyone will know that this judgment was from the Lord.
(1 Kings 13:1-3)
When Jeroboam heard those words, he stretched out his
hand and ordered, "Arrest that man!"
His hand shriveled up, and he begged the man of God to pray that his
hand be restored, and the Lord healed his hand. Then Jeroboam invited
the prophet to go home with him, and he would give him a reward.
However, the Lord had previously instructed the prophet not to eat
bread nor drink water in that place. Also, he was not to go back to
the place from which he came, so he refused to accept the king's offer
and went to Bethel. (1 Kings 13:4-10)
After successfully passing the first test, the prophet was about to
fail the second one. There was an old prophet living in Bethel, and
when he heard about the man of God, he W8f1ted to speak with him. He
found him and then persuaded him to eat with him. While the} were
eating, word came from the Lord telling the prophet that because he
was disobedient, he would die. He was killed by a lion just outside of
Bethel and was buried there. Also, when the old prophet died, his sons
buried him beside the man of God. (1 Kings 13:11-30)
Several generations later, just as the Lord had prophesied, Josiah
became king over Judah. He destroyed the places where idol worship was
being practiced, and in his travels he noticed several graves in the
side of a mountain. They took some of the bones out of one and burned
them, but when the king was told about God's prophet who was sent to
Jeroboam, they left his bones undisturbed. (2 Kings 23:16-18)
GERSHOM AND ELIEZER, SONS OF MOSES ...
After Moses fled into the desert to escape the wrath of Pharaoh he
married and became the father of two sons. The first one he named
Gershom, which means expulsion. The second he named Eliezer, which
means God is my helper. (Exodus 18:3-4)
We learn nothing more about these two young men until they are listed
as two of the 38,000 Levites in the kingdoms of David and Solomon. (1
Chronicles 23:15)
MANASSEH ... This man was one of the most evil kings who
ruled Judah. His
father Hezekiah had ruled for twenty-nine years, and during those
years he had destroyed all the idols in the land, but Manasseh again
introduced idolatry into Judah. The Lord was angry, and He used the
Assyrians to discipline the people and their king. Manasseh was bound
and taken to Babylon. (2 Chronicles 33:1-11)
When he was suffering, Manasseh pleaded with the Lord his God to
deliver him. The Lord heard his prayers, and in grace He restored
Manasseh to Jerusalem and to his kingdom.
(2 Chronicles 33:12-20)
After he was established once more as king in Judah, Manasseh rebuilt
the walls of Jerusalem and took the idols that were in the house of
the Lord and cast them out of the city. He also rebuilt the altar of
the Lord and commanded all Judah to worship and serve the Lord God of
Israel. (2 Chronicles 33:14-16)
GEHAZI, SERVANT OF THE PROPHET ELISHA
God took His prophet Elijah into heaven in a chariot of fire and
replaced him with Elisha.
(2 Kings 2:1-15)
Elisha was given great power to heal, and his
reputation became well known in Israel. Among some of the captives the
Syrians had taken out of Israel was a young girl who became a servant
to the wife of Naaman, the captain of the armies in Syria.
Naaman was a leper, and when the maid told her mistress about Elisha,
Naaman's wife informed her husband, and he reported it to the king.
The king was very fond of Naaman and decided to sent him to the king
of Israel,. He wrote a letter and sent it by the hand of Naaman along
with 20,000 pieces of silver, 6,000 pieces of gold and 10 changes of
clothing.
(2 Kings 5:1-6)
When the king of Israel read the letter, he became
angry, tore his robe and said, "Am I God who can kill and make alive?
Your king didn't send you here to cure your leprosy but to start
trouble between our two nations!"
Elisha was told that Naaman had come to Israel to see him, so he sent
for him and healed him of his leprosy. Naaman wanted to reward the
prophet, but Elisha refused the reward.
(2 Kings 5:7-16)
However, Gehazi, Elisha's servant, went after Naaman and lied to him,
because he wanted the reward for himself. When he returned to Elisha,
the prophet accused Gehazi of being deceitful in order to receive the
handsome reward Naaman had brought with him from Syria, and he said to
Gehazi, "Because of what you have done, the leprosy that was Naaman's
affliction will be upon you and your descendants." (2 Kings 5:20-27)
JONATHAN, SON OF SAUL ... Jonathan was David's closest
friend
during the years when David was hiding from Saul, who wanted to kill
him. However, Jonathan deserted David and joined his father in a
battle that ended in the defeat of Israel's army. Jonathan and Saul
both died in that battle. (1 Samuel 31 :2)
ANAK - A RACE OF GIANTS ... In Numbers 13:33; Deuteronomy
1:28 and Deuteronomy 9:2, we learn that the descendants of Anak were
giants. Joshua fought against them and was victorious over them.
Interestingly, Goliath was one of those giants, and he was slain by a
young shepherd by the name of David. (1 Samuel 17:4)
EBED-MELECH ... Ebed-Melech was a eunuch in the house of
king Zedekiah.
The king had sent God's prophet Jeremiah to prison. Then the princes
in the kingdom persuaded Zedekiah to let them put Jeremiah into the
prison dungeon, where he was left for many days with no food or water.
Ebed-Melech told Zedekiah what the princes did to Jeremiah, and
Zedekiah sent the eunuch and some soldiers to free Jeremiah from the
pit. (Jeremiah 38:7-13)
The Lord blessed Ebed-Melech because of his faith in freeing Jeremiah.
(Jeremiah 39:15-18)
CONIAH, WHO IS ALSO CALLED JOHOIACHIN AND
JECONIAH ... Coniah was a very evil
man. He was born in the family of David and is listed in the line of
Christ. (Matthew 1 :11)
Jeremiah prophesied to the nation of Judah
during the reign of Coniah, and the Lord used his prophet to place a
curse upon Coniah and his descendants as well ... no one of his sons
would sit on the throne of Judah. He was the last king to rule Judah
before they went into captivity.
It is interesting to find that Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom
was born Jesus, the Christ, was in the line of Coniah.
Even though the scripture portrays Coniah in an evil way. when he was
in captivity, he was befriended by the Chaldean ruler, Evil-Merodach,
and Coniah spent the rest of his life in Babylon under his care.
(Jeremiah 52:31-34)
GREAT NATIONS OF THE PAST either no longer exist or have
become 3rd world nations because of their treatment of Israel. In
Genesis 12:2,3, the Lord promised Abraham He would bless the nations
that treat the Jews well and curse those that mistreat them.
EGYPT ... had a long and splendid history that included 30 royal
dynasties beginning
about 2900 BC. It was approximately 1871, during the 12th dynasty,
that Abraham went to Egypt because of a famine in his land (Genesis
12:10-20. Also, during that dynasty, Jacob and his sons went there to
escape the famine. (Genesis 46:6)
Genesis chapters 39 through 50 record the well-known story of Joseph,
who was sold into Egyptian slavery and later became the Prime Minister
of Egypt when it was still a great and powerful nation.
Moses grew up in Egypt and was educated in all the wisdom it had to
offer. (Acts 7:22) However, when he learned that he was Hebrew and not
Egyptian, he chose to reject the treasures of Egypt to serve the Lord
God (Acts 7:20-42 and Hebrews 11 :23-29)
Yes, Egypt was once the greatest of nations, but when they became
proud and negative toward the Lord by persecuting the Jews they became
a 3rd world power, and another nation took its place as world leader.
(details of God's displeasure of Egypt are found in Ezekiel chapters
29,30, 31 and 32)
THE PHILISTINES ... were a people who for centuries were one of
Israel's greatest enemies. Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria,
and it was founded by a man called Nimrod. (Genesis 10:8-10) Nineveh
played a prominent role in the life of God's prophet Jonah. It was
destroyed and became a legendary myth until it's ruins were discovered
in the nineteenth century.
During the reign of king David over the nation of Israel, the
Philistines were completely defeated, and they were one of the
tributary nations during Solomon's reign.
ASSYRIA ... was a mighty nation that dominated the ancient Biblical
world from the 9th
to the 7th century BC They achieved worldwide power through their
alliance with Babylonia. The Assyrians were a very cruel and powerful
people. Nowhere on the pages of history are found any other people as
cruel and bloody as the Assyrians. Their civilization was suddenly
snuff out when Nineveh fell in 612 BC
BABYLONIA ...was a powerful empire over which 12 kings ruled
during a period of
more than 2,000 years. Nebuchadnezzar ruled from 605 B.C. until 539
B.C. when Babylon was destroyed.
7 NATIONS THAT THE LORD DESTROYED BEFORE
THE ISRAELITES OCCUPIED THE PROMISED LAND (Deuteronomy
7:1)
HITTIES ... these people lived in the land of Canaan. They were never
completely driven out but remained in the land. Some inter-married
with the Israelites. (Unger's dictionary pages 492,493)
GIRGASHITES ... were one of the devoted Canaanite nations, and are
mentioned only four times in the Bible. (Genesis 15:2; Deuteronomy
7:1; Joshua 3:10; and Nehemiah 9:8)
AMORITES ... were another Canaanite people who were so prominent in
the scriptures that at times their name was used for Canaanites in
general. (Joshua 24:8) In the last days of the prophet Samuel, they
were at peace with Israel. (1 Samuel 7:14)
CANAANITES ... during their early existence they excelled in the arts
of the ancient world, but by the time of the Israelite conquest, they
had deteriorated into a very decedent civilization that was ripe for
destruction. (Unger's Bible Dictionary pages 170-173)
PERIZZITES ... the origin of these people is unknown, but they first
appear in Genesis 13:7 as a group who lived with the Canaanites during
Abram's life. (Genesis 34:30)
HIVITES ... were also one of the seven nations destroyed by Israel.
(Deuteronomy 7:1-8) In Genesis 34:2-31, they are shown to be
warmhearted, impulsive, overly confident and too trusting.
JEBUSITES ... were always mention last in the list of doomed nations
except in Ezra 9:1 and in Nehemiah 9:8, but it was not because they
were unimportant. Joshua 15:63 tells us their city was Jerusalem,
which they held until the time of king David. (2 Samuel 5:6-8 and 1 Chronicles 11 :4-6)
FINALLY... WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE FOUR GENTILE WORLD EMPIRES ABOUT
WHICH THE PROPHET DANIEL WROTE?
We first learn of those four Gentile world powers from the prophet
Daniel. More information about them is found in the book of
Revelation.
As a teen-age boy, Daniel was taken to Babylon by king Nebuchadnezzar
when Jerusalem was destroyed. There, Daniel eventually became ruler of
the province of Babylon and also was appointed chief of the governors
who had charge over all the wise men of Babylon.
(Daniel 2:48)
The Lord gave Daniel the ability to understand and interpret dreams,
so when king Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that troubled him, and none of
his wise men were able to tell him what he dreamed or given the
interpretation of it to him, he was furious. Last of all, Daniel was
called in before the king, and he told the king what the dream was and
the meaning of it.
(Daniel 2:19-45)
In his dream, the king saw a gigantic image that had
a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass,
and legs of iron with feet that were a mixture of iron and clay
(Daniel 2:31-33). The head of gold was the kingdom Nebuchadnezzar ruled
for about 40 years. Next, the kingdom under the Medes and Persians
would dominate the known world. Greece would be the third world
empire, with Alexander the Great as its emperor, and the final Gentile
world power would be the Roman Empire.
One by one through the years, each of those great Gentile world powers
was destroyed ... never to rise again with one exception ... the Roman
Empire. The ten nations of which it consisted will once again join
hands and be restored to power during the
7-year Tribulation period that will follow the resurrection (rapture)
of Church-age believers. At the end of the Tribulation, the Lord
Himself will return to the earth to destroy that empire, and He will
set up His own kingdom on this earth for 1 ,000 years. (Daniel 2:44
and Revelation 20:6)
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