Introduction to Prophecy - Church of God - NEO

Mystery of the Lost Tribes of IsraelIn 721 B.C. the peopleof the northern kingdomof Israel weretaken into captivity bySargon's soldiers. Welast hear of them whenthey are resettled inthe Assyrian Empire"in Halah and by theHabor .. . in the citiesof the Medes" (IIKings 17:6). The terri·tory of Israel was settledby gentile peoplewho became known asSamaritans.When the Assyrian Empire collapsedabout 100 years later, theIsraelite tribes migrated to the northeast,into the region of the CaucasusMountains.Eventually they forgot their languageand even their name. Thismay sound unlikely, but it need nottake long for an exiled or immigrantpeople to forget the past, as historyshows.The prophet Amos said Godwould " sift the house of Israelamong all nations, as grain issifted in a sieve" (Amos 9:9). Andthey soon lost their identity. Thatmight have been the end of the mat-ter, except for the rest of this verse,"yet not the smallest grain shallfall to the ground."Amos, and many of the otherprophets, tell of Israel playing a keyrole in the "latter days"-the time atthe end of the ages when most ofprophecy's " unfinished business"would be settled. These propheciesrequire that the people of Israelwould exist as a nation or nations inthe "end time."We know the subsequent historyof the tribe of Judah-right down totoday and the modern state of Israel.The story of Judah is important, butit does not answer all the questionsof Bible prophecy. If prophecy is toMIGRATIONSof theISRAELITEShave any validity 10-day, the ten " losttribes " of Israel needto be identified.There have beenmany attempts. Somehave tried to tracethem to the Pathantribes of Afghanistan,to Central America,even the borders ofChina. The fact remainsthe historicalrecord is at bestsketchy and inconclu­sive. But the tribes can be locatedifwe use the clues and signposts ofthe Bible itself. The identity of themodern descendants of the ancientHouse of Israel is one of the significant,and little understood aspectsof history. It is vital to know who theyare, if you want to make sense of theprophecies of the " latter days."There is some fragmentary evidencein history, but the proof is inprophecy. We have available for theasking a free booklet that explainswho the modern descendants of Israelare. Its title is (and a clue towhet your appetite is right there) TheUnited States and Britain inProphecy. It is fascinating reading.12become a vassal state of his empire. Whathappened to these people and their descendantshas been well-documented. Weknow the often-tragic history of the Jewishpeople-their struggle to reestablishthemselves, under the Persians, in theirhomeland, their ill-fated rebellion againstthe Romans that ended in A.D. 70, thediaspora and pogroms of later times,Hitler's holocaust, and the problems facingthe state of Israel today. But the modernJewish state represents only one partof the descendants of Judah, and doesn'teven include the House of Israel.What about the others-the northerntribes of the House of Israel that hadearlier been taken into exile by the Assyrians?History has no record of their everbeing restored. They have become thelegendary "lost tribes." Yet, manyprophecies make it clear that the Houseof Israel would exist in the "latter days,"and there are still many prophecies concerningthem that have not as yet beenfulfilled.So what we have learned is this: Theprophecies of the Bible pertain to thedescendants of ancient Israel and Judahwho are living in the "latter days," whowill be making the same kinds of mistakestheir forefathers did.God does not change his mind easilyand he is not a respecter of persons. Hedoesn't forget his promises, and hedoesn't alter his standards or values. He ismerciful and long suffering, but he willnot tolerate any people ignoring his lawsforever-especially a chosen people. Hehas never forgotten they are his "chosenpeople"-and he has not yet finished