4th July 2015 Radio Message by Pastor Isaac Peter Oyako

TEXT: Ezra 4:1-3 Now when the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the people of the exile were building a temple to the LORD God of Israel, they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ households, and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we, like you, seek your God; and we have been sacrificing to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here.“

But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers’ households of Israel said to them, “You have nothing in common with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves will together build to the LORD God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us.“

INTRODUCTION: To be able to understand and interpret the text above, there is a need to understand the summary of the history of Israel from Abraham, the founder-father of the nation of Israel, to the time of Zerubbabel.

Israel was and is still a special people through whom God passed the blessing of redemption of man kind. They are specially chosen, and their choice by God is irrevocable: The church cannot completely replace Israel. The time is coming when Israel will be grafted back.

The descendants from Abraham became a nation in Egypt were they were oppressed but God delivered them and led them out to the Promised Land. God’s promises to Israel included:

   (i) Giving them Land Genesis 18:21 ; 17:8
   (ii) Make them a nation Genesis 12:2 ; 17:4
   (iii) Divine protection and blessings Genesis 12:3 and
   (iv) A seed referring to Christ Genesis 17:2-7 ; Galatians 3: 8,16

God deposed seven great nations and gave their land to Israel Deuteronomy 7; 1-5, but warned them that He will not spare them either if they went after the abominable practices of those nations Deuteronomy 4; 23-29

Israel entered the Land under God’s miraculous support; the Red sea splitting open, provision of manna, drying of river Jordan, collapse of Jericho walls etc. It is believed that Joshua marched into the Promised Land in year 1445.

Unfortunately Israel forgot the instruction from their God, and went after massive idolatry. God raised several prophets to warm His people but all in vain. In year 722 BC God removed the ten tribes of Israel and scattered them throughout the Assyrian Empire 2Kings 17:7-18; Jeremiah 2:7-25. The ten tribes were in the Promised Land for only 723 years.

The two tribes (Benjamin and Judah) constitute what is known as today’s Israel. 136 years after the deportation of the 10 tribes, God used Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem, destroyed the city and the temple in 587. Many people were taken into exile.

[To read the complete message, please click on this PDF file: 7-4-15-Our-Identity-and-Security-is-in-Christ]