Long ago, God, who has existed forever, formed the angelic beings, in order to serve Him in the Heavenly realms. There are a great number of angels and they have varying degrees of powers. The most powerful of these is Lucifer [the light bearer].
It was a sad day for God when Lucifer began to aspire to take over God’s kingship. Lucifer said; “I will be like the Most High.” Isaiah 14:12-14. Then he convinced a third of the other angels to go with him in rebellion against God.
God had a dilemma. He couldn’t simply wipe out those beings that He had created, because as a perfect and righteous God, to arbitrarily destroy them would not prove His just sentence against them.
What was required were witnesses – intelligent, unbiased and independent jurors to sit at this trial of Lucifer and his followers, so that the defendants could not say to God- you are unjust. Job 34:10-12
So God thought about that universe that He had created in another dimension and organized a suitable planet in it. He prepared a beautiful garden, and then formed a man and a woman in His likeness. They were given free will over their actions.
I am sure that God would have been quite happy had Adam and Eve continued in obedience to Him. However, I guess God knew that they wouldn’t and sin came into this world. And so, the first civilization gradually fell into worse and worse sin, until God wiped them out with a great flood, saving only one family.
Once again, the population increased and God decided that one righteous man would father a nation that would become “a light to all nations” in order to show the world His ways and to become a people who would be His jurors and His friends. Isaiah 43:10-11
God showed His love for these people by rescuing them from bondage in Egypt, giving them His laws and settling them into the Promised Land. According to His plan, they divided into two Kingdoms – the House of Judah and the House of Israel. 1 Kings 12:24
Sadly, even these peoples backslid into apostasy and idolatry. So, ‘God flung them out of His presence.’ Jeremiah 23:39 They both went into exile among the nations of the world. The House of Judah remains a visible entity, but the House of Israel is lost to our knowledge – only to be identified when all twelve tribes are gathered into the Land.
Into Judah, God sent His Son, Jesus, to clearly tell all who would listen how to live righteously in God’s sight. In order to atone for men’s sins, there has to be a sacrifice. Jesus made that sacrifice for all those who accept Him as Savior, by His death on the Cross. He also demonstrated God’s power over death and Lucifer by rising to life again.
Now, nearly two thousand years later, most of Judah still refuse to recognize the Messiah, but Righteous Israel – those who love God and follow in His ways – await their redemption. Soon the Promised Land will be cleared of all wicked peoples, Jer. 12:14, and His Christian people will gather in it with great joy and gladness. Isaiah 35:10.Bruce McKerras September 2010
The Prophetic Word 