ISRAEL'S GLORY - By Edward Overbey
Introduction
The history of
Israel
from its beginning to its end is revealed in the Bible. The beginning was very
small: God promised Abraham (about 2,000 B.C.)1 that He would make a
great nation of him. He repeated these promises to Isaac and Jacob. By the time
of Moses, Abraham's descendents through Isaac and Jacob had multiplied greatly
but they were slaves in
Egypt.
God led them out of Egypt through Moses' leadership (about 1,500 B.C.). In the
wilderness God organized them into a government by giving them the law. Joshua
was used by God to lead them into Canaan and to possess the land. In the days
of Samuel God began their kingdom. After a united kingdom in the days of Saul,
David and Solomon (about 1,000 B.C.) the kingdom was divided into the Northern
Kingdom of ten tribes and the Southern Kingdom of Judah. God sent the Northern
Kingdom into captivity (about 722 B.C.) and then the Southern Kingdom (about 586
B.C.)
God
in mercy brought the Southern Kingdom back from captivity (about 536 B.C.) but
they no longer had a king. They were not a kingdom. They were re-established as
a nation and looked for Christ to come. God sent His Son, Christ (about 6 B.C.)
to save us from our sins, but the people of Israel as a whole rejected Christ,
and God sent them into Roman Captivity (about 70 A.D.). They have been scattered
and oppressed ever since. Through all of this history from Abraham until now,
God has revealed their sins, failures and imperfections. This nation in this
history has not been revealed as glorious in the fullest meaning of the word.
Their forefathers, leaders, kings and the people themselves have been very
inglorious.
But God has revealed the end of their history in the Bible also. This revelation
of Israel is truly glorious. They are revealed as a great and perfect people
with a perfect king ruling over all upon a perfect earth. This is Israel's
Glory. This is the subject of this book. We will study this subject according to
this outline.
I. The Promises of Glory.
II. The People of Glory.
III. The Possession of Glory.
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1The dates used here are the accepted secular
dates. They are not perfectly accurate, but secular chronology is not
perfectly accurate.
