The Basics of Bible - Herald of Hope

The Basics of Bible Prophecy
Under the Mosaic Covenant, about 1,500BC, the children of Israel
became a nation, and God established the Levitical priesthood to "be
an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations"(Exod.40:15).
At the conclusion of the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, as
they prepared to possess the land which God had given to them, God
clarified the terms under which the land could be occupied in what is
known as the Palestinian Covenant (Deut.28-30). God said three things
to Israel:
1) If you obey Me, you will be blessed in the land (Deut.28:1-14).
2) If you disobey Me, you will be besieged, driven out of the land,
and become "a proverb and a byword, among all nations whither the
Lord shall lead thee"(Deut.28:37).
3) If, after all these things have come upon Israel, they return to the
Lord, then God will have compassion and gather them back to the
land "from all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath scattered"
them (Deut.30:1-3), in order to fulfil His promises made to Abraham
(Deut.30:20).
About 1,000 BC, God made a covenant with David that his seed would
always have someone to reign over Israel (2 Sam.7:11-29). God said,
"Thy throne shall be established for ever!"(2 Sam.7:16), and history records
how the descendants of David continued to the time that Israel was
judged by God for its sin and taken to Babylon. The last king of Judah
was Zedekiah, but he was rejected as the "profane wicked prince of
Israel"(Ezek.21:25-27), and all of his sons were slain by
Nebuchadnezzar (Jer.52:10-11). Zedekiah was the brother of the
former king, Jehoiakim, not his son. Jehoiakim's son, Jehoiachin, had
already been carried away captive to Babylon in Nebuchadnezzar's
second invasion, and it was his descendants who maintained the line,
providing heirs to the everlasting
throne promised to David.
The line of David is traced to Jesus
Christ, the son of David, through
Joseph His foster father (Matt.1:1-
17), and to Mary His mother(Luke
3:23-38).
Jesus Christ is heir to David's
throne, as the angel declared:
"Thou...shalt call his name JESUS.
He shall be great, and shall be
called the Son of the Highest: and
Matt.1:1-16
Luke 3:23-38
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