Category: Old Testament

The People Who Became Centrally Responsible Were not the Jews but Rather the Christians

1 John 4

7 My dear friends, we must love each other. Love comes from God, and when we love each other, it shows that we have been given new life. We are now God’s children, and we know him. 8 God is love, and anyone who doesn’t love others has never known him. 9 God showed his love for us when he sent his only Son into the world to give us life. 10 Real love isn’t our love for God, but his love for us. God sent his Son to be the sacrifice by which our sins are forgiven. 11 Dear friends, since God loved us this much, we must love each other.

Judges 16

16 One day while Samson was in Gaza, he saw a prostitute and went to her house to spend the night. 2 The people who lived in Gaza found out he was there, and they decided to kill him at sunrise. So they went to the city gate and waited all night in the guardrooms on each side of the gate.[a]

3 But Samson got up in the middle of the night and went to the town gate. He pulled the gate doors and doorposts out of the wall and put them on his shoulders. Then he carried them all the way to the top of the hill that overlooks Hebron,[b] where he set the doors down, still closed and locked.

Richard: Samson had a problem with unethical sexual relationships with women, which ended up being his downfall.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
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Chapter 4

The Parallels between the Two Ages in the Providence of Restoration

Since the ultimate purpose of the providence of restoration is to lay the foundation for the Messiah, if it is prolonged, the dispensations to restore this foundation must be repeated. In the course of the providence, the repetition of dispensations to restore the foundation for the Messiah has meant, in effect, the repetition of dispensations to restore through indemnity the symbolic offering and the substantial offering.

God’s first chosen people consisted of the descendants of Abraham,Isaac and Jacob, who had established the family foundation for the Messiah. Therefore, the nation centrally responsible for God’s providence in the Age of the Providence of Restoration was Israel. The Old Testament, which records the history of Israel, provides the source material with which to study the history of the providence in that age. Indeed, the people who became centrally responsible for the providence in the Age of the Prolongation of the Providence of Restoration were not the Jews, but rather the Christians. They assumed the mission to accomplish God’s unfulfilled providence of restoration. Accordingly, the history of Christianity provides the source material for understanding providential history in this age.

THE PERIOD OF SLAVERY IN EGYPT AND THE PERIOD OF PERSECUTION IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE

After Jacob entered Egypt with his twelve sons and seventy kinsmen,their descendants suffered terrible abuse at the hands of the Egyptians for four hundred years. This was for the restoration of the four-hundred-year period from Noah to Abraham—a period for the separation of Satan—which had been defiled due to Abraham’s mistake in his offering. The corresponding period of persecution in the Roman Empire was to restore this previous period through parallel indemnity conditions. Jesus’ twelve apostles and seventy disciples were the first of many generations of Christians who suffered severe persecution in the Roman Empire over a period of four hundred years. By enduring this suffering,they were restoring through indemnity the four-hundred-year period of preparation for the advent of the Messiah—a period for the separation of Satan—which had been defiled due to the Jewish people’s mistake in not honoring Jesus as a living sacrifice but leading him to the cross.

At the end of Israel’s slavery in Egypt, Moses brought the Pharaoh to his knees by the power of the three signs and ten plagues. He then led the Israelites out of Egypt and set out for the land of Canaan.Likewise, toward the end of the period of persecution in the Roman Empire, after Christians had drunk the cup of persecution to the fill,Jesus increased the numbers of believers by moving their hearts with his power and grace. By stirring the heart of Emperor Constantine,Jesus led him to recognize Christianity in 313 A.D. Jesus inspired Theodosius I in 392 A.D. to establish Christianity as the state religion. Christians thus restored Canaan spiritually inside the Roman Empire, the satanic world.

When the period of slavery in Egypt was over, Moses on Mt. Sinai received the Ten Commandments and God’s Word revealed in the Law,which formed the core of the Old Testament Scriptures. By setting up and honoring the tablets of stone, the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle, he paved the way for the Israelites to prepare for the coming of the Messiah. Likewise, at the conclusion of the period of persecution in the Roman Empire, Christians gathered the writings which had been left behind by the apostles and evangelists and established the canon of the New Testament. Based on these writings, they sought to realize God’s ideals spiritually, ideals which had been enshrined in the Ten Commandments and the Tabernacle in the Old Testament Age.They built up churches and expanded their foundation to prepare forthe Second Coming of Christ.

THE PERIOD OF THE JUDGES AND THE PERIOD OF REGIONAL CHURCH LEADERSHIP

Upon inheriting the mission of Moses, Joshua led the Israelites into the land of Canaan. For the next four hundred years, fifteen judges governed the Israelite tribes: thirteen judges from Othniel to Samson record-ed in the Book of Judges, as well as Eli and Samuel. The judges filled the various responsibilities of prophet, priest and king, which became separate offices in the later periods. Israel in this period was a feudalistic society with no central political authority. In the New Testament Age, the period of regional church leadership was set up to restore the period of the judges through parallel indemnity conditions. In this period, regional church leaders—patriarchs, bishops and abbots—led Christian society. Like the judges of the Old Testament Age, they had duties similar to those of prophet, priest and king. As in the time of the judges, Christian society in this period was a feudalistic society under these local authorities.

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Parallel Providential Time Periods Repeat

Ezekiel 19

19 Ezekiel, sing a funeral song for two of Israel’s leaders:[a]

2 Your mother was a brave lioness
who raised her cubs
    among lions.
3 She taught one of them to hunt,
    and he learned to eat people.
4 When the nations heard of him,
    they trapped him in a pit,
then they used hooks
    to drag him to Egypt.

Esther 3

 Later, King Xerxes promoted Haman the son of Hammedatha to the highest position in his kingdom. Haman was a descendant of Agag,[a] 2 and the king had given orders for his officials at the royal gate to honor Haman by kneeling down to him. All of them obeyed except Mordecai. 3 When the other officials asked Mordecai why he disobeyed the king’s command, 4 he said, “Because I am a Jew.” They spoke to him for several days about kneeling down, but he still refused to obey. Finally, they reported this to Haman, to find out if he would let Mordecai get away with it.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
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THE PERIODS IN THE AGE OF THE PROVIDENCE OF RESTORATION AND THEIR LENGTHS

The Age of the Providence of Restoration, which was the age of image parallels, was to restore through indemnity the Age of the Providence to Lay the Foundation for Restoration, the age of symbolic parallels.

3.1 THE FOUR-HUNDRED-YEAR PERIOD OF SLAVERY IN EGYPT

God tried to raise up Abraham by commanding him to make a symbolic offering while standing upon the foundation which had been laid through the intervening period of four hundred years. However,due to Abraham’s mistake, this foundation was defiled by Satan. To recover this foundation of four hundred years, God had the Israelites undergo four hundred years of slavery in Egypt and separate Satan once more.

3.2 THE FOUR-HUNDRED-YEAR PERIOD OF THE JUDGES

There was a period of approximately four hundred years from the time the Israelites entered Canaan until the enthronement of King Saul. This was the period of the judges.

3.3 THE ONE-HUNDRED-AND-TWENTY-YEAR PERIOD OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

Saul was enthroned as the king of Israel after the Israelites had restored the four hundred yearsof slavery in Egypt through the four-hundred-year period of the judges. During the forty years of his reign, King Saul was to lay the foundation of faith by restoring through indemnity Moses’ forty years of life in the Pharaoh’s palace. He was then to build the Temple. Yet when King Saul became faithless, God’s Will to build the Temple was prolonged through the two forty-year reigns of King David and King Solomon, thus constituting a total of 120 years for the period of the united kingdom.

3.4 THE FOUR-HUNDRED-YEAR PERIOD OF THE DIVIDED KINGDOMS OF NORTH AND SOUTH

The period of the divided kingdoms of north and south lasted nearly four hundred years. It began when the united kingdom was divided into Israel in the north and Judah in the south, and it lasted until the people of Judah were taken into exile in Babylon.

3.5 THE TWO-HUNDRED-AND-TEN-YEAR PERIOD OF ISRAEL’S EXILE AND RETURN

The people of the northern kingdom of Israel broke their covenant with God, and as a result, they were taken into captivity by the Assyrians. The people of the southern kingdom of Judah also sinned against God. As a result, they were taken into exile by the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar. After they spent nearly seventy years as captives,Babylon fell to King Cyrus of Persia, who issued a royal decree liberating them. From that time, the Jewish people began a gradual return to Jerusalem and rebuilt the Temple. Inspired by the prophecy of Malachi,16the people began preparations to receive the Messiah. This period came to an end approximately 210 years after the Jews were first taken into exile in Babylon and about 140 years after their liberation by the Persians. This was the period of Israel’s exile and return.

3.6 THE FOUR-HUNDRED-YEAR PERIOD OF PREPARATION FOR THE ADVENT OF THE MESSIAH

After the Jewish people returned from exile to their homeland of Israel, they re-established their faith, rebuilt the city wall and, based on Malachi’s prophecy, began as a nation to prepare for the Messiah. From that time until the birth of Jesus was a period of four hundred years,the period of preparation for the advent of the Messiah.

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Whether God’s Will is Fulfilled through any Particular Individual Is Conditional Upon the Fulfillment of His Portion of Responsibility

Acts 17

5 The Jewish leaders were jealous and got some worthless bums who hung around the marketplace to start a riot in the city. They wanted to drag Paul and Silas out to the mob, and so they went straight to Jason’s home. 6 But when they did not find them there, they dragged out Jason and some of the Lord’s followers. They took them to the city authorities and shouted, “Paul and Silas have been upsetting things everywhere. Now they have come here, 7 and Jason has welcomed them into his home. All of them break the laws of the Roman Emperor by claiming that someone named Jesus is king.”

8 The officials and the people were upset when they heard this. 9 So they made Jason and the other followers pay bail before letting them go.

Isaiah 1

1 I am Isaiah, the son of Amoz.

And this is the message[a] that I was given about Judah and Jerusalem when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were the kings of Judah:[b]

2 The Lord has said,
    “Listen, heaven and earth!
The children I raised
    have turned against me.
3 Oxen and donkeys know
    who owns and feeds them,
but my people won’t ever learn.”

Exposition of the Divine Principle
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Part 2
Chapter 3
The Periods in Providential History and the Determination of Their Lengths

PARALLEL PROVIDENTIAL PERIODS

When a period of history repeats the events of a previous period, albeit with differences in scope and degree, the two periods are called parallel providential periods. The principal cause behind these parallels lies in God’s providence of restoration. Parallel providential periods recur because of repeated dispensations to restore the foundation for the Messiah. Accordingly, the factors which determine the formation of parallel providential periods are: first, the three conditions necessary for the foundation of faith (the central figure, the object for the condition and the numerical period of indemnity) and second, the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature, which is necessary to restore the foundation of substance. Based on these factors, two characteristics of parallel providential periods stand out. First, the lengths of the parallel providential periods are determined based on a fixed number of generations or years of the indemnity period necessary for restoring the foundation of faith.

 Second, the parallels in history are shaped by the other three providential factors: the central figure and the object for the condition offered for the foundation of faith, and the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature for the foundation of substance.

THE NUMBER OF GENERATIONS OR YEARS IN THE PERIODS OF THE AGE OF THE PROVIDENCE TO LAY THE FOUNDATION FOR RESTORATION

2.1 WHY AND HOW THE PROVIDENCE OF RESTORATION IS PROLONGED

Why has the providence of restoration been prolonged? This question can only be answered with an understanding of the principle of predestination. According to this principle, since God absolutely predestines His Will, He surely will realize it one day. However, whether God’s Will is fulfilled through any particular individual is conditional upon the fulfillment of his portion of responsibility, which is in addition to God’s portion of responsibility. Accordingly, when the Will is not fulfilled because the responsible person fails, God will choose another person in a different era to take his place. God will continue His work until its complete fulfillment, prolonging the providence in the process.

 Let us next examine how the providence of restoration has been prolonged. According to the Principle of Creation, God is a being of the number three. All things created in His likeness manifest themselves through a three-stage process with respect to their mode of existence, movement and growth. whenever the providence of restoration is prolonged, it may extend to as many as three stages. On the basis of the Principle of Creation, up to three attempts are allowed.

2.2 VERTICAL INDEMNITY CONDITIONS AND HORIZONTAL RESTORATION THROUGH INDEMNITY

 To inherit and complete the missions of his predecessors in providential history, a central figure responsible for the providence of restoration must fulfill, in a short time, all the indemnity conditions which his predecessors tried to fulfill. The conditions which accumulate in the course of providential history due to central figures’ failures to complete their responsibility are called vertical indemnity conditions. The task of the central figure to fulfill all these conditions in a short time is called horizontal restoration through indemnity.

2.3 HORIZONTAL RESTORATION THROUGH INDEMNITY CARRIED OUT VERTICALLY

 By making an acceptable symbolic offering, Abraham was supposed to restore horizontally through indemnity all the vertical indemnity conditions which had accumulated due to the mistakes of Adam’s family and Noah’s family. Since this was the third attempt in the providence to restore the family foundation for the Messiah, the Principle required that his family accomplish God’s Will without fail.

 God could credit Abraham with having fulfilled, in his own generation, the horizontal indemnity conditions which he had failed to complete, by completing them vertically through the generations of Isaac and Jacob. This type of restoration is called horizontal restoration through indemnity carried out vertically.

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If the Jewish People Had Believed in Jesus, the Foundation for the Messiah Would have Been Laid

2 Thessolonians 1

1 From Paul, Silas, and Timothy.

To the church in Thessalonica, the people of God our Father and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

2 I pray that God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ will be kind to you and will bless you with peace!

3 My dear friends, we always have good reason to thank God for you, because your faith in God and your love for each other keep growing all the time. 4 That’s why we brag about you to all of God’s churches. We tell them how patient you are and how you keep on having faith, even though you are going through a lot of trouble and suffering.

Hosea 2

I, the Lord, will build
a fence of thorns
    to block her path.
7 She will run after her lovers,
    but not catch them;
she will search,
    but not find them.
Then she will say, “I’ll return
to my first husband.
    Life was better then.”
8 She didn’t know that her grain,
wine, and olive oil
    were gifts from me,
as were the gold and silver
    she used in worshiping Baal.

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3.2 THE SECOND WORLDWIDE COURSE TO RESTORE CANAAN

3.2.1 THE FOUNDATION OF FAITH

3.2.1.1 JESUS TAKES ON THE MISSION OF JOHN THE BAPTIST

 The foundation of faith which John had laid for the first worldwide course to restore Canaan was invaded by Satan. Jesus himself now had to take on John’s mission and restore through indemnity the foundation of faith in order to set out on the second worldwide course to restore Canaan. When Jesus fasted for forty days in the wilderness, it was to separate Satan for the very purpose of restoring the foundation of faith; however, for this he lowered himself to assume the position of John the Baptist.

 Jesus enjoined Peter not to reveal to the Jewish people that he was the Messiah192 because, although he was the Messiah, he had assumed John’s role for the purpose of beginning this phase of the providence.

3.2.1.3 THE RESULT OF THE FORTY-DAY FAST AND THE THREE TEMPTATIONS

 First, in the position of John the Baptist, Jesus restored through indemnity the foundation of faith for the second worldwide course to restore Canaan. In so doing, Jesus restored all that had been offered to God over the course of the providence for the purpose of laying the foundation of faith. Furthermore, Jesus restored through indemnity, all at once, all the dispensations of forty for the separation of Satan conducted during the four thousand years since Adam, lost despite the best efforts of central figures to lay the foundation of faith.

 Second, by rising from John the Baptist’s position to the position of the Messiah, Jesus paved the way for the fulfillment of God’s three great blessings and the restoration of the four position foundation.

3.2.2 THE FOUNDATION OF SUBSTANCE

 Jesus came as the True Parent of humanity, yet he restored through indemnity the dispensation of forty for the separation of Satan while standing in the position of John the Baptist. Therefore, after he restored the foundation of faith (and rose to the position of Messiah and True Parent) he stood in the position of a parent. At the same time, when he secured the position of Abel for fulfilling the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature, he stood in the position of a child (still in the role of John the Baptist with respect to that condition).

 Jesus was the fulfillment of the three manifestations of grace and the Ten Commandments. Therefore, God conducted the dispensation to start the second worldwide course to restore Canaan based on Jesus’ own words and miraculous deeds. If the Jewish people (Cain) had been moved to believe in and follow Jesus, who was in the position of John the Baptist (Abel), they would have fulfilled the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature and restored the foundation of substance. The foundation for the Messiah would thus have been laid. Standing upon this foundation, Jesus would have risen from the position of John the Baptist to the position of the Messiah. Then, by engrafting all people with himself, humankind would have been reborn, cleansed of the original sin, and would have become one with God in heart. They would have restored their original, God-given nature and built the Kingdom of Heaven on earth in Jesus’ day.

3.2.3 THE FAILURE OF THE SECOND WORLDWIDE COURSE TO RESTORE CANAAN

 Satan confronted Jesus through Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed him. Due to the faithlessness of such people, Jesus could lay neither the foundation of substance nor the foundation for the Messiah for the second worldwide course to restore Canaan. The second worldwide course thus ended in tragic failure.

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The People Raised a Great Shout and the City Walls Tumbled Down

Book Review: As A Peace Loving Global Citizen
By Rev. Sun Myung Moon
Read the review

Mark 12

24 Jesus answered:

You are completely wrong! You don’t know what the Scriptures teach. And you don’t know anything about the power of God. 25 When God raises people to life, they won’t marry. They will be like the angels in heaven. 26 You surely know about people being raised to life. You know that in the story about Moses and the burning bush, God said, “I am the God worshiped by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”[b] 27 He isn’t the God of the dead, but of the living. You Sadducees are all wrong.

Richard: This passage explains, apparently, that there is no marriage in heaven, per Jesus’ teaching. True Father, Rev. Moon explains that when you have a Blessed family with the children united with the parents through three generations, you can enter heaven with you family.
” Second, Heaven has permitted the grace of the authority of Sunghwa for rebirth and resurrection to be bestowed on the family unit. Here, a requisite condition is the complete unity between parents and children. In other words, you must establish the standard for absolute parents and absolute children, and establish an absolute family in the normal course of events. “
http://visionroot.org/resources/rev-sun-myung-moon/world-assembly-to-proclaim-the-embodiment-of-gods-word-and-the-era-of-the-parents-of-heaven-earth-and-humankindnew-page/ Use Ctrl+F to search the text.

Proverbs 30

5 Everything God says is true—
    and it’s a shield for all
    who come to him for safety.
6 Don’t change what God has said!
    He will correct you and show
    that you are a liar.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
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2.2.3 THE THIRD NATIONAL COURSE TO RESTORE CANAAN

2.2.3.1 THE FOUNDATION OF FAITH

 Because the Israelites turned faint-hearted upon hearing the report of the faithless spies, the second national course to restore Canaan ended in failure. The forty years Moses had spent in the wilderness of Midian to restore the foundation of faith were invaded by Satan. As a result of the failure of the mission to spy out the land, the people had to wander in the wilderness for forty years, one year for each day of the forty-day spy mission, until they returned to Kadesh-barnea. For Moses, this forty-year period was to separate Satan, who had invaded the previous foundation of faith, and to restore through indemnity the foundation of faith for the third course. Moses honored the Tabernacle with faith and loyalty throughout the entire forty years of wandering in the wilderness. By the time he returned to Kadesh-barnea, he had completed the foundation of faith for the third national course to restore Canaan. Accordingly, he also secured the position of Abel for the foundation of substance.

2.2.3.2 THE FOUNDATION OF SUBSTANCE

For Moses, the forty years of wandering in the wilderness was the period required to establish the foundation of faith for the third national course. For the Israelites, the goal for this period was to accomplish the dispensation to start the third course. They were to do this by establishing the foundation for the Tabernacle, thereby returning to the state of grace which they had enjoyed in the second course when they first constructed the Tabernacle under Moses’ direction.

2.2.3.2.1 THE FOUNDATION OF SUBSTANCE CENTERED ON MOSES

The third national course to restore Canaan was to begin at Kadesh-barnea upon completing a dispensation to start based on the rock. Henceforth, had the Israelites honored the Tabernacle with faith and devotion and followed Moses into Canaan, they would have fulfilled the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature required for the foundation of substance in the third national course. How did God intend to conduct the dispensation to start based on the rock? During the forty years of wandering in the wilderness, the Israelites again fell into complaint and faithlessness. To save them, God instructed Moses to strike the rock with his staff that it might yield water and give drink to the people.

However, when Moses heard the people murmuring against him and complaining that they had no water to drink, he raged in uncontrolled anger and struck the rock twice. By striking the rock twice when he should have struck it only once, Moses undermined the dispensation to start based on the rock. As a consequence, he was not permitted to enter the promised land. He could only gaze upon it from a distance at the end of his life.

 The rock not only symbolized Christ; as the root of the tablets of stone, it also symbolized God, the origin of Christ.

2.2.3.2.2 THE FOUNDATION OF SUBSTANCE CENTERED ON JOSHUA

 Therefore, God worked the dispensation to start the course anew, this time based on the water from the rock, by elevating Joshua to Moses’ place and having the internal Israelites obey him and stand with him upon the foundation for the Tabernacle. On this basis, they were to enter the land of Canaan, where they were to fulfill the national indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature. In this way, God intended to establish the foundation of substance centered on Joshua in the third national course.

 In the second national course, Moses sent twelve spies to Canaan.142 Upon the foundation of heart laid by the two spies who had faithfully completed their mission, Joshua sent two men to spy out the fortified city of Jericho.143 When they returned from Jericho, the two spies made a faithful report: “Truly the Lord has given all the land into our hands; and moreover all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of us.”144 The younger generation of Israelites raised in the wilderness all believed the spies’ words, and this faith indemnified the sins of their parents, who had not properly completed the previous forty-day mission to spy out the land.

By restoring the dispensation to start based on the water from the rock, they assumed the same position as their parents had when, under Moses’ leadership, they had participated in the dispensation to start at the Exodus from Egypt when God provided the three signs and ten plagues. The Israelites under Joshua’s leadership passed through a three-day course before they crossed the Jordan River. After the Israelites under Joshua’s leadership completed the three-day course, the Ark of the Covenant led them to the Jordan River. The tablets lying at the center of the Ark, and the pillars of cloud and fire both symbolized Jesus and his would-be Bride. Joshua placed the Ark of the Covenant in front of the troops to guide their way. When the priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant entered the Jordan River, its waters parted, opening the way for the people following the Ark to walk on the riverbed.

Joshua placed the Ark of the Covenant in front of the troops to guide their way. When the priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant entered the Jordan River, its waters parted, opening the way for the people following the Ark to walk on the riverbed.

Upon reaching the Jordan River, God commanded Joshua, saying:

Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man, and command them, “Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests’ feet stood, and carry them over with you, and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight.” —Josh. 4:2-3

 And thus the people did:

The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they encamped in Gilgal, on the east border of Jericho. And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal. —Josh. 4:19-20

The Israelites under Joshua’s leadership, who encamped at Gilgal, observed the feast of Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month of that year. Afterward, they set out for the city of Jericho.

 As they approached Jericho, in accordance with God’s command, the Israelites put forty thousand soldiers at the forefront while seven priests blew seven trumpets as they marched behind the soldiers. Following behind them was the Ark of the Covenant carried by the Levitical priests, and the rest of the Israelite army marched at the rear. The Israelites marched around the fortified city in this formation once a day for six days, but this caused no change in the city. With patience and obedience, the people were restoring through indemnity the sixday period of creation which had been invaded by Satan. After they faithfully endured through six days, on the seventh day the seven priests circled the city walls seven times, blowing the seven trumpets, and Joshua said to the people: “Shout; for the Lord has given you the city.” The people raised a great shout and the city walls tumbled down.

Joshua then launched attacks on the enemy with insurmountable force. He defeated thirty-one kings altogether.

2.2.3.3 THE FOUNDATION FOR THE MESSIAH

 Based on this victory, they laid the foundation of substance in the third national course and established the foundation for the Messiah for this course—albeit as a people without sovereignty. The family foundation for the Messiah had been fulfilled in the days of Abraham. His descendants passed through a four-hundred-year course of indemnity as slaves in Egypt before they could enter Canaan and there complete the national foundation for the Messiah. This required more than merely entering and conquering Canaan. As was discussed earlier in detail, fallen people had already founded powerful nations such as Egypt, led by satanic rulers who opposed God’s providence of restoration. Therefore, even though the national foundation for the Messiah was established under Joshua’s leadership, it would be necessary to build a sovereign kingdom from which the Messiah could confront the satanic nations of the world. However, once the younger generation of Israelites entered Canaan, they also became faithless. Hence, God’s providence was prolonged again, and would suffer repeated setbacks until the time of Jesus.

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