GoD's WorK - God's Puzzle Solved

220 God’s Workor the church, as they were seeking - and were accepted by -God. God’s church (the called-out ones) continued after theflood, up through the time of Noah’s son, Shem. Finally, you havethe arrival of Abraham from the line of Shem. He became the fatherof The Abrahamic Covenant, because Abraham believed andtrusted in God - to the extent that he was willing to offer up hisson, Isaac. This became a major basis for the prophesied Promiseof Grace through The Messiah. Abraham was a type of God whooffered His own Son.Now, consider the contrast more carefully. Pagan religions arewithout the true knowledge of God. Also, they do not call uponGod, but rather continue to develop their own human-religioussystems. This process continued until the arrival of Christ.Through Isaac, his son Jacob was renamed Israel. This man, Israel,was the father of twelve sons, who later grew into The Nationof Israel. God brought them out of captivity in Egypt - and thenthe entire host became known as, “…the church in the wilderness…”(Acts 7:38). In other words, Israel was God’s Church inThe Wilderness, by being “the called-out ones” of God. Whenthey sinned a great sin, it was like a great rebellion. God had togive them The Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. They showedthat they didn’t want to obey - even though they had promised todo so (Deuteronomy 5).Instead, Israel constructed a golden calf and then worshipped it– breaking The First Commandment. God wanted to kill them butMoses intervened and God spared them. He gave them The Law(Torah), which was meant to eventually bring them to Christ.This is like “the schoolmaster.” After they sinned against TheCommandments, God added The Statutes and Judgments (Deuteronomy5 and Malachi 4:4). Now they could come to “the temple”