Greater Blessings

There were amazing promises made to Abraham, the patriarchs, and the people of Israel, but the fulfillment of them was much greater than they could imagine, and there is more to come. In Jesus Christ we see a multiplication of blessings to a hundredfold and more.

Abraham was promised the full extent of the holy land for his descendants, and that his descendants would be as the sand of the seashore in number (Genesis 17:8 and 22:17). Israel took the area promised to them when Joshua ruled the nation, but the descendants of the Canaanites were always present and are still there. The nation of Israel became as the sand of the seashore in number under the rule of King Solomon (1 Kings 4:20), but there is more. As the lost tribes of Israel (the Anglo-Saxons and kindred people) accepted Christianity and worshiped Jesus Christ, they expanded into Western Europe, the British Isles, North America, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, and increased in number to at least a hundred times the population under Solomon. This is beyond what Abraham imagined. But there is more. In the kingdom age a descendant of Abraham will rule the entire planet. The kingdoms of the world will become the kingdoms of God and of his Son Jesus (Revelation 11:15). Also, the kingdom age will see the full possession of the holy land by Israelites and there will be no more Canaanite influence, (Zechariah 14:21), that is, no more non-Christian religions. Also, I believe Israel will expand even more in the kingdom age. “He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.” Isaiah 27:6. In Jesus Christ the blessings to Abraham are fulfilled and multiplied hundreds of times in magnitude.

The covenant given to Israel when Moses led them in the wilderness contained wonderful blessings if they would obey God’s commandments. “The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. The Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways. And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee. And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee.” Deuteronomy 28:8-11. Israel had many of those blessings in the kingdoms of David and Solomon, but the blessings were short lived because the people’s hearts were not given to the Lord. However, many centuries later the lost tribes of Israel embraced Christianity and worshiped Jesus. They received those blessings and more in their nations throughout the world and became the leading nations of the world. Those of us who are Christians have the commandments written on our hearts (provided we know the commandments). But there is more. I believe that in the kingdom age all Israelites will know the Lord and worship him. “But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Jeremiah 31:33-34. There are no conditions to this covenant. God will do it without the world’s consent.

There were promises made to the house of David and the Levites recorded in the book of Jeremiah. “For thus saith the Lord; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel; Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.” Jeremiah 33:17-18. Most of the people of the kingdom of Judah were taken away from the holy land by the Assyrians and became part of the lost tribes of Israel. In the Israel truth movement, we believe Queen Elizabeth II sat on the throne of Israel and that she was a descendant of King David. As I write, the coronation of Charles is approaching, so I assume he will continue to sit on that throne as a descendant of David. God has preserved that throne through the ages, but there is more. Jesus Christ, as a descendant of David (Luke 3:23-38), shall take the throne and rule over the house of Israel forever (Luke 1:32-33). With the descendants of David were the Levites who supported the throne and ministered in the temple. The temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D. There is a better temple to replace it, the Church of Christ (2 Corinthians 6:16). The Levites who believed in Jesus Christ became part of a higher priesthood, the eternal priesthood under Jesus Christ, who is a high priest after the order of Melchisedec. The animal sacrifice has been replaced by the higher sacrifice of the Son of God on the cross, made once for the sins of not only Israel, but the whole world. But there is more. Not only the Church of Christ became a higher priesthood, but when the Lord makes the new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah, and writes his laws on the hearts of all of our people, they will become a nation of priests, and a holy nation. “Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.” Exodus 19:5-6. It was always God’s intention to turn Israel into a royal priesthood, but it could only be accomplished by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and his reign as King and High Priest. The promises to the house of David and the Levites are magnified hundreds of times, even to eternity, and this is because of the glory of the Son of God.