After entering the Promised Land, the Hebrew people had entered the Gate by
crossing the Jordan River. 319 Giants there guarded the Gate –
Nephilim by name. (Maybe the sacred texts are right about the sons of God
marrying the daughters of men were right in creating giants. Perhaps their
genes survived the flood through the bloodline of Noah or his daughters-in-law).
Those giants guarding “Paradise” brings to mind the cherubim who guard the Gate
to the original Paradise. However, after they entered the church entered a new
phase. Again, as the traveling church of America, these few remaining righteous
people found a home – like Kentucky in the late eighteenth century. The Hebrew
people came home; back from whence Adam was cast out!
Within a few hundred years Satan attempted to kill the Jews and with it
the Church. In Judaism the two are one and cannot be separated! They are the people
of the Holy Land and God is their government. That is the Abrahamic Covenant! Satan
beaconed the Philistines, those who are called Palestinians in modern times. They
were persistent against the Hebrews. David became king because of a giant called
Goliath. God ordained David with His Almighty Spirit, David picked up five
smooth stones, and killed him with the first. God kept the nation, and the
Church, alive by sacrificing Goliath to Satan, so to speak. 320
Why five smooth stones, and not
one? David, refusing King Saul’s
armor, put on the whole armor of God! His sword was the Word of God, and his armor
were God’s other four provisions. 321 God’s shield and sword kept the Church alive
against the adversary. God was in charge, and Satan frowned! He would have to
kill the Church one person at a time. Satan chose the kings of Israel and Judah
to kill the Church. The “Kingdom of David” was torn asunder. Satan used
division as a tactic in spiritual warfare. (We shall soon see how the devil
always divides to conquer to this day.)
Brothers, Israel and Judah were on the path to destruction. By killing
off those two nations, Satan could kill the Church. There were righteous kings
and evil ones, reigning alternately in cycles. They reigned over the withering nations,
and thus, the withering Church. When they could not kill off each other from
within, Satan summoned his demons. First came Assyria who soon killed off Israel.
Half the Church died as King Sargon II, after a three-year siege by his
predecessors, took Israel. The inhabitants were carried off and assimilated
into the world, and were lost, perhaps forever. They are the Ten Lost Tribes of
Israel, and then there were two. Tiglath-Pileser III and Shalmaneser V were
Satan’s emissaries and Sargon their helper! 322
To administer the coup de gras,
albeit without grace, Satan created a new power – Babylonia. Soon after they defeated
Assyria, they came for Judah. The remaining two tribes were in jeopardy. God never
forsook either Israel nor Judah. The deal was for them to be God’s people. The
Jews, ironically, killed themselves due to their unrighteousness. Trust in the
Lord is a condition for safety. The people lost their trust by having other
gods in God’s face. Because they offended God, Satan saw his chance. King Nebuchadnezzar
was his instrument about one-hundred years after the first half of the Church
was put asunder. That king defeated the remaining Hebrews, tool the very “foundation
of peace” – Jerusalem – and tore down Solomon’s Temple. They threshed the
threshing floor, and polluted the beautiful Garden in the land of milk and
honey. They carried off most of the remaining Jews to Babylon where the Church
seemed to breath its last breath. 323
Seventy years later God sent King Cyrus the Great and Darius who followed
of the Persian-Median Empire, to defeat the Babylonians. They were more
tolerant. God uses crooked sticks for his purposes. A few Jews came home and
re-established the Church. Solomon’s Temple was rebuilt. 324 By
grace, God saved the Jews and rebuilt the Church, even using a foreign nation
to supply the materials! The Church restarted anew with the second temple. The
Church lived on for 400 more years, but during much of that time, the Holy
Spirit was silent! The Church, even the building, was there, but God seemed to
have abandoned His people. Not to leave or forsake them, God just remained
silent. The time had not yet come!
319 Holy Bible; Josh 3
320 ibid; 1 Sam 17
322 Wikipedia; “Assyrian captivity”.
323 Wikipedia; “Babylonian captivity”.
324 Holy Bible; Ezra 1-4
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