JOSEPH'S BIRTHRIGHT AND JUDAH'S SCEPTRE #13

Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright #13

Jeremiah's Call and Commission

JUDAH'S SCEPTRE AND JOSEPH'S BIRTHRIGHT #13

by Allen (1917)

     Having settled the question concerning the perpetuity of the

covenant which God made with "David and his sons," together 

with the fact that he has given, as a pledge of their everlastingness,

not only the astronomic order of producing day and night, months,

years and seasons, but the very holiness of his character as well, 

we must now proceed to take up the thread of history which

pertains to that sceptre, throne, kingdom and royal seed whose

continued existence is balanced over against such weighty

considerations as the power, integrity and immutability of the

character and Word of God.

     While dealing with the history of the Birthright and its

inheritors, the house of Joseph, we had, of necessity, much to

say concerning the history of the Sceptre and the royal family,

its inheritors. Especially was this true when we contrasted that

system of feudalism and continual overthrowing of dynasties 

which prevailed in the kingdom of Israel as compared with the 

one continuous dynasty and succession of the royal princes of the

Judo-Davidic family, as they mounted the throne of their fathers

and held the sceptre over the kingdom of Judah.

     In order to have our historic thread complete we must resume

our history of the Sceptre at the call of Jeremiah the prophet,

which occurred at a period prior to the time when the Jews were

taken into the Babylonish captivity, but subsequent to the time

when Israel, the Birthright kingdom, was taken into captivity by

Shalmanesar, king of Assyria, and deported into the country of

the head-waters of the Euphrates-the country more generally 

known as Medo-Persia.

     It is certain that we can never understand the history of

this covenanted throne, kingdom and family, and the fact that

they have been thus far built up "unto all generations," unless

we understand the history and accept with unfaltering faith the

call and commission of Jeremiah the prophet, in relation to those

things which God has given his pledge shall endure forever. For

if to be taught the distinction between the two houses, and to

understand the difference between the kingdoms of Israel and

Judah, may be likened unto the key which unlocks the outer

sanctuary of our understanding of sacred history, then surely a

knowledge of the life and work of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah,

is the key which the Holy Spirit can use to open that inner

sanctuary, or Holy of Holies, of our understanding in these

matters upon which rest the vindication of God.

     According to the Divine record, there have lived in this

world only three men who were sanctified before they were born.

The first was this same Jeremiah, who, in one of the darkest

hours in all the history of the Abrahamic nations which pertains

to them as a whole, was made the custodian of the sceptre, throne

and royal seed of David. The next was John the Baptist, the

forerunner and herald of the coming Prince of the House of David.

Then came the last and greatest of all - our Lord and Saviour

Jesus Christ, the Son of David, that Prince of whom the angel

declared unto Mary at the time of the annunciation: "The Lord 

God shall give unto him the throne of his father David." (Luke,

1:32.) When this blessed Prince takes his seat he will be the

last King to sit on that throne, or any other on this earth.

     In the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah, in

the thirteenth year of his reign, while Jeremiah was still a

minor, a mere youth, only seventeen years of age, he received 

his call as the "Prophet unto the nations," and was given his

commission, the details of which he himself has given in the

first chapter of his own prophecies, as follows:

"Then the word of God came unto me, saying:  Before I formed 

thee in the belly I knew thee - before thou camest forth out of the

womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the

nations. Then said I: Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak, for I

am a child. But the Lord said unto me: Say not, I am a child, for

thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I shall 

command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces; 

for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord.

Then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth. And the

Lord said unto me:  Behold, I have put my words into thy mouth.  

See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the

kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to

build and to plant." (Jer. 1:4-10.)

     Called as the prophet of God; the words of the Lord put into

his mouth with a touch from the Divine hand; and set by the

Divine One "over the nations, and over the kingdoms." What!

Surely he was not set over all the nations, neither all the

kingdoms of the earth? No, there is nothing said about all

nations; just simply and definitely - "the nations" and "the

kingdoms." So far as the word which is translated "nations" in

the text is concerned, it is the same word that is used when the

Lord said to Abraham, "I have made the father of many nations";

and when he said to Rebekah, "Two nations are in thy womb." 

He now calls Jeremiah a "Prophet unto the nations," i. e., the "two

nations," the "two kingdoms," the two houses - Israel and Judah;

the "two families," the inheritors of the Birthright and of the

Sceptre. It is to these nations, not to all the nations of the earth, 

that the Lord sends Jeremiah, his prophet, with a commission t

o root out, tear down, and destroy, on the one hand; but - hear it!---

he was also Divinely commissioned to "BUILD AND PLANT"!

     The fact that Jeremiah was commissioned to overthrow the

commonwealth of Judah, destroy the Davidic kingdom, as it then

existed among the Jewish people, throw down the throne of David

which was in their midst, and root out that branch of the royal

family which occupied the throne at that time - all this is so clear, 

so well known, that most, if not all, of the accepted authorities 

of Christendom proclaim it. But those same authorities do not 

seem to know, neither do they proclaim that which follows as 

a natural sequence, i. e.. that if it was the kingdom, sceptre, 

throne and seed of David which were to be overthrown, then 

it  follows that it is those very same things which must again be 

planted and builded.

     Hence we affirm that, as God is still holy, and did not lie

to David, and if he did not sanctify, call, and commission

Jeremiah in vain, then that throne of David was again set up, the

seed planted, and the kingdom builded before Jeremiah died.

     Mind you, we do not say that these were planted and builded

among the Jews. That was not at all necessary in order to

fulfillment. Indeed, we will show that it was not planted nor

builded in Judah. For God "gave the kingdom over Israel to David

forever, even to him and his sons by a covenant of salt." Nine-

twelfths of the seed of Israel never were members of the Jewish

kingdom.

     The great wrong of which the standard authorities of

Christendom have been guilty is that, with a wideopen Bible

before them, they should be in such ignorance of the declared

purpose of God, and have such a hesitating, apologetic

faithlessness in his covenant promises, wherein he has sworn by

himself, that they are blinded even to the necessity of accounting 

for the building and planting which God gave Jeremiah to do.

     The great fault with their whole teaching, so far as the

outcome of Jeremiah's work is concerned, is that they have either

suffered, implied, or actually taught that the promises of God to

David were allowed to go by default. And when an honest

questioner would arise, as of necessity there must, he at once

becomes an irresponsible, irregular, unarmored stripling, upon

whom these regulars in the army of Israel insist on putting the

armor of Saul. But the "heavy" armor of the should-be leader will

not fit the bright young head and freer limbs of the little irregular; 

so he must go forth alone to slay the giant of infidelity, whose 

champions have been defying the armies of the living God. 

Meanwhile, these "regulars" stand on the hill of their self-

importance  and ask, "Who is this youthful stripling whom we 

ee down in the valley picking up pebbles with which to meet 

the foe whose challenge has sent dismay among us for lo!

these many days?"

..........

To be continued