That You May Know
That You May Know is a study of the Old Testament, Signs – Wonders – and Fulfilled prophecies that God used to reveal Himself to mankind. The book is primarily a compilation of the writings of C.F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, two German theologians who published a 10-volume series between 1866 and 1882, “ Keil was a conservative critic who reacted strongly against the scientific biblical criticism of his day. He strongly supported Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch. He maintained the validity of the historico-critical investigation of the Bible only if it proved the existence of New Testament revelation in the Scriptures.” (Carl Friedrich Keil – Wikipedia) God uses the specific phrase, “that you may know,” or a form thereof over 120 times in the Old Testament. The phrase raises two questions, “who?” did He want to know “what?” This book examines those two questions beginning with Noah and ending with Malachi. Join me in the fascinating study as God reveals Himself and His coming Kingdom.
Magi Journey - Persia News/Excerpts
Magi Journey – Persia is complete and is available on Amazon. Persia completes the Magi Journey trilogy and brings redemption through the return to Jerusalem of the Jews in Babylonian captivity, and it brings the Magi Family face to face with the Messiah. The redemption story is complete
Below are excerpts from That You May Know:
Introduction
That You May Know is a love story. A story of how I fell in love with God and Scripture through the Old Testament patriarchs and prophets, and it is a story of God’s great love for mankind. Scripture says that while we were sinners and enemies of God, God loved us enough to send His only Son to die on the cross for us, that we might have everlasting life, “8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” (ESV Rom. 5:8-10) This book is not abstract academia, I have experienced His love and forgiveness personally, and I have seen Him change many lives over the past 25 years. Primarily I know the story of His love is true because Scripture tells me it is true. In the next chapter, I will talk about the truthfulness of Scripture.
God saved me and millions of other men and women who accepted His gift of salvation. There was a day in which we said “yes” to God, and that decision set us on a journey. I didn’t instantly become holy in practice in that brief moment, but I did become positionally holy. In other words, Christ’s blood covered my sins, and God placed me in Christ. God now saw me as holy, but my wife and family certainly didn’t. I was holy before God, but I needed to learn how to become obedient and follow Christ. God began the process of sanctifying me. My responsibility was reading Scripture, praying, learning to be a useful member of Christ’s bride, the Church, and learning to die to self. I was on a journey, one which began the moment I decided to make Jesus Christ the Lord of my life. I knew the starting point, but I certainly didn’t understand how God was going to change me, or where I was going. Every journey has a beginning and a destination, whether it’s a trip to the grocery store, a week-long vacation, or a move across the country to work in a new city. I was now on a journey, and in Revelation 21, I found the answer to where I was going – “New Jerusalem”. I also discovered that millions of others, who had rejected God and His Son, would suffer a “second death,” and would spend eternity “in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur,” or hell. Further, Hebrews told me “27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” (ESV Heb. 9:27-28) The moment I realized that people I meet every day could experience something so horrible, I began to tell everyone I could about Jesus. There is no reincarnation, there is no second chance, and there is no purgatory. In this life, each person either chooses to follow Christ, and is saved from the second death, or they face a hellish eternity. This book is a continuation of those efforts to reach as many as I can with this life-saving message.
The Abrahamic Covenant
“1Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (ESV Gen.12:1-30
This is the first of four unconditional promises that God makes to Israel, commonly known as the Abrahamic Covenant. The Abrahamic Covenant consists of a command and a promise. The command – “1Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.’” Abram is commanded by God to leave Haran in western Assyria and travel to a land that God is going to show him. That land is actually revealed in the preceding chapter when Terah, Abram’s father, moves his family from Ur in Chaldea to Haran, but his actual destination was Canaan, “31 Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. 32 The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.” (ESV Gen. 11:31-32) Why Terah stayed in Haran is not known, nor is it explained in Scripture, but it is clear that Canaan was his destination. After Terah dies, God comes to Abram in Haran and commands him to leave and complete the journey his father began. Abram obeys God and journeys to “Schechem, to the oak of Moreh.” (ESV Gen. 12:6), where God will speak to him again.
The second part of the Covenant is an unconditional promise, which contains four parts; “The four members of this promise are not to be divided into two parallel members, in which case the athnach (Athnach: Marking the principal division of the verse—the logical mid-point.) would stand in the wrong place; but are to be regarded as an ascending climax, expressing four elements of the salvation promise to Abram, the last of which is still further expanded in ver. 3. By placing the athnach under the fourth member is marked as a new and independent feature added to the other three. The four distinct elements are – 1. Increase into a numerous people 2. A blessing, that is to say, material and spiritual prosperity; 3. The exaltation of his name, i.e. the elevation of Abram to honour and glory; 4. His appointment to be the possessor and dispenser of the blessing. Abram was not only to receive blessing, but to be a blessing; not only to be blessed by God, but to become a blessing, or the medium of blessing, to others….The blessing of Abraham was once more to unite the divided families, and change the curse, pronounced up the ground on account of sin, into a blessing for the whole human race. This concluding word comprehends all nations and times, and condenses, as Baumgarten has said, the whole fulness of the divine counsel for the salvation of men into the call of Abram. All further promises, therefore, not only to the patriarchs, but also to Israel, were merely expansions and closer definitions of the salvation held out to the whole human race in the first promises.” (KDL 1, 1, 193-194)
According to Dr. Pentecoast in Things to Come there are five major covenants, four of them are unconditional and one is conditional, “The four unconditional covenants, with the formula “I WILL” are found in (1) Genesis 12:1-3, where the formula is found, either expressed or understood, seven times; (2) Deuteronomy 30:1-10, where it is found, either expressed or understood, twelve times; (3) II Samuel 7:10-16, where it is found seven times; and (4) Jeremiah 31:31-40, where it is found seven times. The conditional covenant, with the formula “If Ye Will” is found (5) besides in Exodus 19:5 ff., also in Deuteronomy 28:1-68; verses 1-14, “if then shalt hearken diligently…blessing”; verses 15-68, “If thou wilt not hearken…cursing.” (JDP 67) The Covenants have been historically titled (1) The Abrahamic Covenant (2) The Palestinian Covenant (3) The Davidic Covenant, and (4) The New Covenant. The fifth covenant is conditional, and as such is “temporary and non-determinative in respect to future things (Eschatological things)” (JDP 67).
Esau I Hated
There are two passages that many have difficulty with concerning Esau, “ 10 And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— 12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” (ESV Rom. 9:10-13).
The reference in Romans is to Malachi, “2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob 3 but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.” 4 If Edom says, “We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins,” the Lord of hosts says, “They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called ‘the wicked country,’ and ‘the people with whom the Lord is angry forever.’” 5 Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, “Great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel!” (ESV Malachi 1:2-5)
The first issue above concerns God’s sovereignty. He sovereignly chose Jacob as the inheritor of the Promise, and God declared Esau would serve Jacob. This choosing was independent of the actions of either Jacob or Esau, God declared it while they were still in the womb. Whereas this statement of God’s hatred is subsequent and based on merit. When we examine the life of Esau we see one of self-absorption, and indifference if not complete disdain of God. “And this meaning must be retained here; only we must bear in mind, that with God anything arbitrary is inconceivable, and that no explanation is given here of the reasons which determined the actions of God. Malachi does not expressly state in what the love of God to Jacob (i.e. Israel) showed itself, but this is indirectly indicated in what is stated concerning the hatred towards Edom. The complete desolation of the Edomitish territory is quoted as a proof of this hatred…Ver. 4, however, simply implies that the Edomites would not succeed in the attempt to repair the injury. On the other hand, vers. 2 and 3 evidently contain the thought, that whereas Jacob had recovered, in consequence of the love of Jehovah, from the blow which had fallen upon it (through the Chaldaeans), Esaus’s territory was still lying in ruins from the same blow, in consequence of Jehovah’s hatred.” (KDL 10, Malachi, 430-431)
This section is a great example of progressive revelation. Not all of God’s Signs and Wonders are immediately clear, God explained many of them when Jesus came. Jesus himself looks back and explains creation, Noah, Jonah, Adam, and Isaiah. There are 158 references in the Gospels to these four persons alone. The story of Esau revealed itself over time, in fact not until we reach the end of the OT is the contrast of Jacob and Esau fully revealed. Signs and Wonders. Of note is the difference in God’s treatment of Jacob and Esau. Jacob is chosen by God as the child of the Promise and is disciplined repeatedly by God. Esau on the other hand is set loose. God keeps His promise to Esau, but there is no intimacy, no relationship. Esau is driven by lust and has no interest in God, and God allows him to follow his every passion. If you are being disciplined by God, be thankful. He loves you and is doing everything in His power to make you into the image of His Son, Whom you follow.
A Kingdom of Priests
In Chapter 19 of Exodus God gives clarity and depth to the Abrahamic covenant. “1On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. 2 They set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. There Israel encamped before the mountain, 3 while Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” (ESV EX. 19:1-6) To this point, we have an unconditional covenant in Genesis 12 telling Abraham that he will be the father of a great nation and that God will give him the land of Canaan. Later God states He will be their God and they will be His people. But for what purpose, what is different about Israel? The earth and the heavens are God’s, all the people of the earth are God’s, and all the kingdoms and kings of the earth belong to God. How is Israel different? “He chose Israel as His possession to make of it a holy nation, if it hearkened to His voice and kept His covenant. It was not made this, however, by being separated from the other nations, for that was merely the means of attaining the divine end, but by the fact, that God placed the chosen people in the relation of covenant fellowship with Himself, founded His kingdom in Israel, established in the covenant relationship an institution of salvation , which furnished the covenant people the means of obtaining the expiation of their sins, and securing righteousness before God and holiness of life with God, in order that by the discipline of His holy commandments, under the guidance of His holy arm, He might train and guide them to holiness and glory of the divine life.” (KDL 1, 2, 100) Just as the Levites were separated by God to be the priests of Israel, so too, God is now putting forth a conditional covenant (Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant) by which Israel will be a “kingdom of priests” within the kingdoms of the world. The choice is Israel’s, the covenant is conditional and God puts the choice to the nation, “7 So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. 8 All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” (ESV Ex, 19:7-8) It is important to remember that this covenant between God and Israel in no way affects the Abrahamic covenant of Exodus 12. The Exodus 12 covenant is God unconditionally gifting to Abraham, this covenant of a royal priesthood is conditional upon Israel keeping God’s commands.
Obey or Disobey – Israel Must Choose
Israel’s options are clearly outlined, if the obey they will be greatly blessed, Lev. 26:3-13, but if they will not obey, God prophesies a series of progressive judgments beginning with discipline and ending in wrath. Each event begins with “If you”, followed by “I Will”. There is no equivocation on God’s part, he clearly states what He will do if Israel hardens their hearts and will not respond to His discipline. There are four progressive disciplines, followed by a final act of Wrath. God’s wrath is visited first on Samaria, and 138 years later on Jerusalem. “14 ‘But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments, 15 if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant, 16 then I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. 17 I will set my face against you, and you shall be struck down before your enemies. Those who hate you shall rule over you, and you shall flee when none pursues you. 18 And if in spite of this you will not listen to me, then I will discipline you again sevenfold for your sins, 19 and I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. 20 And your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its increase, and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit.
21 “Then if you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me, I will continue striking you, sevenfold for your sins. 22 And I will let loose the wild beasts against you, which shall bereave you of your children and destroy your livestock and make you few in number, so that your roads shall be deserted.
23 “And if by this discipline you are not turned to me but walk contrary to me, 24 then I also will walk contrary to you, and I myself will strike you sevenfold for your sins. 25 And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall execute vengeance for the covenant. And if you gather within your cities, I will send pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. 26 When I break your supply[b] of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in a single oven and shall dole out your bread again by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied.
27 “But if in spite of this you will not listen to me, but walk contrary to me, 28 then I will walk contrary to you in fury, and I myself will discipline you sevenfold for your sins. 29 You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters. 30 And I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars and cast your dead bodies upon the dead bodies of your idols, and my soul will abhor you. 31 And I will lay your cities waste and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your pleasing aromas. 32 And I myself will devastate the land, so that your enemies who settle in it shall be appalled at it. 33 And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword after you, and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.
34 “Then the land shall enjoy[c] its Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate, while you are in your enemies’ land; then the land shall rest, and enjoy its Sabbaths.” (ESV Lev. 26:14-34)
I believe the passage clearly shows 4 stages of discipline and one of God’s wrath. The four stages of discipline, are verses, 14-17, 18-20, 21-22, and 23-26, with a final act in which God visits His wrath on Israel and Judah, verses 27-33. KDL states it slightly differntly, but I believe the results are the same, “The following judgments are threatened, not for single breaches of the law, but for contempt of all the laws, amounting to inward contempt of the divine commandments and a breach of the covenant (vers. 14-15) – for presumptuous and obstinate revellion, therefore, against God and His commandments. For this, severe judgments are announced, which were to be carried to their uttermost in a fourfold series, if the hardening were obstinately continued…This graduated advancement of the jedgments of God is so depicted in the following passage, that four times in succession new and miltiplied punishments are announced: (1)…vers. 18-20; (2)…(vers. 21,22; (3)…(vers. 23-26); (4)…vers. 27-33)…These divine threats embrace the whole of Israel’s future.” (KDL 1, 3, 471-473)
That You May Know
This is a good time to stop and reflect, and also to look forward. Beginning with Abraham God began to prepare a people, a stiff-necked people, to be a specific people group through whom He would reveal Himself to mankind, and through whom He would bring salvation to all mankind. Israel, regardless of their level of willingness, would be the people through whom God would accomplish both purposes. To this point in our study, God has used the phrase that you/they might know over 22 times, following in the books of the Prophets, God will use this phrase an additional 92 times. The question is, who was/is God speaking to and what did He want them/us to know?
Verses | Speaking To? | Know What? |
Ex. 6:7; 1 Sam. 17:46-47; 1 Kings 20:13,28; 2 Kings 19:19; Is. 37:20; Is. 49:23-26 | Israel/All People | “that I am the Lord your God who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians” – Deliverer |
Ex. 7:5, 8:10, 8:22, 9:14, 9:29, 14:4; Psalms 59:13 | Egyptians/Nations | “that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt” Judge |
Ex. 7:17 | Israel | “By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall turn into blood.” Miracles |
Ex. 10:2 | Israel | “2 and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.” Posterity |
Ex. 11:7, 18:10-12 | Israel vs Egypt | “7 But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’” Separation |
Ex. 16:6,12 | Israel | “12 “I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’” Blessings/Sustaining |
Ex:29:42-46 | Israel | “42 It shall be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet with you, to speak to you there…45 I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. 46 And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.” Day of Atonement-Presence |
EX 31:13 | Israel | “13 “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you.” -Sanctification |
Leviticus 23:39-43, Deut. 8:16, Deut. 29:6 | Israel | “39 “On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord seven days…43 that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” Provision |
Deut. 4:32-35; Psalm 83:18 | Israel | “32 “For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of…35 To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him.” Only True |
1 Kings 8:41-43,60; Jer. 16:21 | All People | “41 “Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for your name’s sake 42 (for they shall hear of your great name and your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this house, 43 hear in heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name.” Know and Fear the Lord |
1 Kings 18:36 | Israel – Northern Kingdom | “36 And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. 37 Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.”” Confirming a Prophet – Repentance |
Psalm 67:1-3; Psalm 106:8; Is. 52:6, 60:16 | All People | “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. |
Isaiah 19:12; Is. 41:20-26 | Israel/All People | “12 Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you that they might know what the Lord of hosts has purposed against Egypt.” Prophecy |
Is. 45 | All People | Righteous – Savior – Prophet (Comprehensive) |
Ezekiel | All People | 60 times Ezekiel uses the phrase, “know that I am the Lord”. “According to their way I will do to them, and according to their judgments I will judge them, and they shall know that I am the Lord.” (ESV Ez. 7:27) Judgement – Remnant (12:14-16) – Atonement (16:62-63) – Sabaths (20:12,20,26) Redemption (28:22-26) |