Jeremiah refers to the lost House of Israel as "backsliding Israel" Ch. 3: 8 says: "(when) Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce." If you want to see the terms of this divorce and the promise of a reconciliation, read the first chapter of Hosea. Jeremiah also speaks of a reconciliation in Ch 3 verse 12: "Go and proclaim these words towards the north and say, Return, faithless Israel, says the Lord, and I will not cause My countenance to fall and look in anger upon you, for I am merciful, says The Lord; I will not keep My anger forever (13) Only know and acknowledge your iniquity and guilt - that you have transgressed against the Lord your God ... return, O faithless children, says the Lord for I am the Lord and Master and Husband to you, and I will take you one from a city and two from a tribal family - and I will bring you to Zion". This is not God speaking to the Jews (Judah); this is God speaking to the House of Israel (Ephraim and Manasseh), who have been scattered, who have lost their identity but not their calling as God's people.
Long before the events that led to Jeremiah referring to them as backsliding Israel, after Israel had been firmly established in the land of Canaan and the great king David had subdued her enemies round about, David purposed to build a magnificent temple of worship for the Lord. God was not displeased with this plan, but He sent Nathan the prophet to David with this strange but enlightening message: “ I will appoint a place for My people, Israel, and I will plant them, that they may dwell in place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more as beforetime.” (2 Samuel 7:10).
This planting in a place from which they would not move any more could not possibly have referred to Palestine for the simple reason that all the twelve tribes of Israel did actually move from Palestine when they were carried captive into Assyria and Babylon (See also 1 Chron. 17:9). The scripture is very clear that immediately following Solomon’s death, the nation was divided in two (1 Kings 12) and later, because of abounding iniquity, the house of Israel and part of Judah was carried away captive into Assyria (2 Kings 17 and 2 Kings 18:13), then later the remainder of the house of Judah were taken into captivity in Babylon. (2 Kings 25). Of this latter group, only a small percentage returned to Palestine.
So, many years later when God came looking for his lost people, He wouldn't be going to their old homeland of Palestine where they sinned aginst Him, but rather, to their new homeland, the place where He had promised to plant them all those years before, "so that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more."
God gave the Old Testament prophet Isaiah a similar vision to Jeremiah that God would recover, restore and use His "lost people of the House of Israel". The picture begins to come together in chapter 8:13-18 which tells us that the "rock of offense" (Jesus?) will be sent to look out the divorced and hidden Israel (see also Jeremiah 3:6-12). Jeremiah says that the House of Israel will be called back to God not as a nation, but as hand-picked individuals called out from among the nation, "one from a city and two from a tribal family".
The book of Isaiah from chapter 40 onwards tells of God's End Times reconciliation with the House of Israel. To examine every verse would be too time consuming, so we will just look at some of the highlights of these chapters. Isaiah 41:1-9 gives the first Biblical inference to where the divorced and hidden of Israel would be when God goes looking for them. The first verse verse tells us they are the peoples of islands and regions bordering on the sea. This is repeated in verse 5. The second half of the verse indicates that these islands and coastlines are in the vicinity of the ends of the Earth. To get the idea of where the ends of the earth might be to someone living in Palestine, which is where Isaiah lived, simply look at a map of the then-known world. You will see that there is only one "end of the earth" that has islands and regions bordering on the sea, and that is Western Europe.
Anyone with a knowledge of history will recall that it was this very same 'end of the earth' that Chrisopher Columbus was expected to sail off when he headed across the North Atlantic Ocean in 1492. It's interesting to note that the name of the biggest country in the islands in the vicinity of this "end of the earth" is called England. The name is derived from the French "angle-land" meaning "end land". Even its name identifies it as being the land at the end of the earth!
Isaiah 49:12 furtner clarifies the locality and identity of these islands and coasts from which God will call the lost House of Israel - "from the north and from the west and from the land of Sinim". Let's look at the the locality to "the north and the west" first. Today, to describe a place as being "to the north and to the west" at the same time, we say it is to the north-west. But in Bible times, it was not shortened in that way. By saying "to the north and to the west", Isaiah is saying that these islands at the end of the earth are to the north-west of Israel. Go back to your map of the then-known world and you'll see that the ends of the earth to the north-west of Israel are those we have already identified - western Europe - and the islands at the end of the earth can refer to none other than the British Isles.
Isaiah gives us more information than Jeremiah about these people who would make up this revived House of Israel. This will clarify without a shadow of doubt whether or not the British Isles and the countries of north-western Europea are where God will find the lost of the House of Israel. That God had to come looking for them, and they had to be hand-picked, with one from one family group and one from another, indicates that those selected are perhaps representative of the ancient House of Israel, who have demonstrated a will and heart to serve and obey God. It must be remembered that the Israelites who were scattered aboard over the centuries had assimilated into the communities wihout retaining their religious, cultural or ethnic identity, nevertheless their offspring would still be descendents of Israelites and therefore beneficiaries of the promise.
Referring to the people of the isles who God will call, Verse 4 of chapter 42 says that they will wait upon His law. It is interesting to note that, during the revivals of 19th century Britain and the formative years of the Charismatic movement there, the most important meetings on a church's weekly calendar were what were referred to as tarrying (waiting) meetings. These meetings, where Christians came and waited in silence in prayer before God, were instigated for the purpose of waiting on the Lord in accordance with the scripture, for the purpose of receiving divine direction in their day-to-day living and walk with The Lord. Truly could it be said of them that they literally "waited upon His law".
Looking back in time from here and now, we can see that the prophecy of Isaiah seems to be an accurate description of the individuals who God called. "A light to the Gentiles" is exactly what the British and north-west European descended peoples have been comparatively speaking to the rest of the world, despite frequent moral mistakes. On the whole these nations have been the best civilizing influence the world has ever known, their principles of law, justice and overnment systems have been adopted and copied the world over and are accepted universally as the fairest systems available. Their classical arts (music, painting, sculpture, literature) are accepted the world over as the standard by which all others are judged; it is from among them that the greatest scientific discoveries and inventions throughout the ages have come. Truly, by these have all the nations of the world been blassed, as God promised Abraham they would be all those millenia ago. Their languages have become the second languages of most non-English speaking peoples of the world, in particular English, the universal language though which all nationalities communicate one with another today.
And to what land is the reference to the land of Sinim? In Old Testament times, Sinum referred to a people living at the eastern extremity of the known world, and has often been identified with the inhabitants of southern China. The word in fact means "South" and was used by the ancients to describe a large relatively unknown land to the south of China. During the era of European discovery, it was called Terra Australis Inconita, the Great Southland. After its discovery and the exploration of its coasts by Britsh navigator Matthew Flinders, he suggested its name by changed from Terra Australis to Australia. So, not only will the Messiah raise up the lost House of Israel from the peoples of the British Isles, they will be raised up out of Sinim - Terra Australis - Australia also!
These people are then exorted to sing a new song, and His Praise from the end of the earth (v10), giving glory and praise to God with a song that the heathen world has never heard before. Is it coincidence that singing - hymns (Amazing Grace etc), Negro spirituals, gospel music - has been the most effective mediums whereby the English speaking nations has spread the gospel message? Isaiah prophesied it; we are witnesses to it.
V 10 - "Sing unto the LORD a new song, [and] his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof". Again there is a reference to the isles, and to singing, but now we learm they "go down to the sea" - they are a seafaring nation. Modern day Isreal has never been considered a seafaring nation, however Britain has always been, having the world's biggest and most powerful merchant and military navies throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, with the distinction of being the only navy in the history of the world never to have lost a war.
God himself will cry out like a woman in travail - something new and exciting is being birthed here, but the next few verses show that the people aren't aware of what is going on. They are blind to their calling (v19), they do not observe or comprehend the true meaning of what is happening - that they are the fulfillment of the covenant of God with Abraham. They are blind to their true identity - the lost sheep of the House of Israel. Isaiah then describes them as a people robbed and plundered who, the children of Jacob and Israel with an inheritance in God as covenant servants (v. 24) who were robbed by who else but The Lord Himself, because of their sin - for not walking with Him and not being obedient to His law and teaching as they had covenanted to be. And what was their sin? The worship of idols, in particular, Baal.
It is interesting to note that during the early days of the Roman Catholic Church (the church of these people in the days after the New Testament), as a means of integrating Europe's vast number of Baal worshippers into the church after Christianity became the state religion and other faiths were banned, the Roman Catholic Church integrated many aspects of Baal worship into the Catholisism - the feast days of Baal, including Easter, Christmas, and replacing the Jewish Sabbath with Sunday (another Baal religious day); the worship of a mother-God figure; Baal worship symbols (the Sun God symbol) and efigies (gargoyles etc); the burning of insense; absolution through local priests. By doing this, the sins of the House of Israel were brought into the Christian church, and as prophesied in the book Daniel and revealed in the book of Revelation, would remain in the Church for 1,260 years until 1798, the year in which Israel's 2,530 years of punishment expired and God came looking for His lost people.
Isaiah 43 says that, in spite of God's past judgement which has left them robbed of their inheritance, their identity and covenant promises, God is now doing a new thing (v. 19) with and in them. In the first 6 verses of the next chapter, God tells how He will pour out His Spirit on Israel.
In the first six verses of Isaiah 49, reference again is made to the islands and coastlands that are afar during this continued address to the House of Israel, indicating that this is where His people now are (v3). Then He reveals his plan for Israel - these peoples of the islands and coastlands (v6) - and that His Servant (CJesus) will bring these things to pass:
He will raise up the tribes (of the Earth)
He will restore the preserved of the House of Israel
He will be a light (that they will take) to the Gentiles
He will be God's salvation to the ends of the earth.
Isaiah 49:19-20 reiterates how Israel's former enemies will now be far away, and then gives another interesting clue as to their identity. The place that is now Israel's abode is too narrow to accommodate the population, so those who once 'swallowed her up' will be far away. In the 1700s, A look at a map of Britain reveals it is long and narrow. But more to the point being made here, Britain's overcrowded cities lost large sections of its populations to her American colonies which swallowed them up. The term "we can swallow them up" was actually used by the pre-War of Independance states of America on a number of occasions when pleading with the Britsih Government for more migrants to fill their empty land. In the 18th century, Britain actually referred to her American colonies as being 'far and away' (Hollywood has made a film about this, using this common phrase of the day as the film's title).
V 21 then gives reference to Zion having 'lost her offspring' - which, in the context of what we are saying, would be a reference to the American War of Independence when Britain lost the first of her many 'children. We know that Britain gained its children (the nations of the British Empire) only after if had lost its 'other' child (the US), and that one by one all the members of the Empire have also pushed Britain for their independence. Could this be what Isaiah was talking about in verse 20? - "the children you will have after you have lost the other, shall say again, 'The place is too small for me; give me a place where I can live". Britain ran out of room to store the delinquents of her population in the 1770s after America closed its doors to convicts immigrants, so Britain had to establish a new colony 'far away' on the shores of Australia, the land of Sinim, to give them a place to live.
To see if we are really on the right track, let us look back to the promise given by Jacob to Ephraim and Manasseh, the last individual persons to be given the covenant promise that had been passed down from Abraham through Isaac and Jacob. According to Genesis 48:19, in the Latter Days, Joseph's first-born, Manasseh, "shall become a people and shall be great", but Ephraim, who was the heir to the birthright, "shall be greater than He (Manasseh), and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations".
In the world today there is only one country that can legitimately call itself a multitude of nations, and it is not modern day Israel, but Britain and its Commonwealth. It is 'one people', as Ephraim's descendants would be, yet it is a multiplicity of many nations; what better way to describe this compilation of many individual, otherwise unconnected nations that are bound together as one by having a single common monarch, than as 'a great nation' (singular) that is in reality 'a multitude of nations' (plural). If Britain is Ephraim, who might the brother who shall be great be? Who else but Britain's next of kin - the United States of America!
Isaiah then says that the justice this Law will bring will be a "light to the peoples." It was in the British Isles and its colonies that these revivals and the accompanying divine visitations from God were mainly experienced, and it has been mainly missionaries from the British Isles and Commonwealth that have taken the light of the Law of Christ to every continent on the globe. God then implores them to discover and examine from whence they came - learn about Abraham their father and Sarah who bore them, learn about the covenant blessing that belongs to them, look to the Heavens and wait on God because He has put His Law in their hearts, He will protect them from the reproach that men will have towards them for preaching the message of His Kingdom for He is the Lord their God. What God told Abraham in Genesis 15:1 - "Fear not, Abram, I am your shield and your exceeding great reward" - is also God's promise to them.
Isaiah 50:1 links the people he is talking about with the self-same Israel that was divorced by God in Jeremiah 3:6-12. Thoughout Isaiah 52, God announces more good things he has in store for Zion and Jerusalem (the place where God meets with His people) before speaking in greater detail about His "servant" who will accomplish this (v13). The rest of the chapter and all of the next one is a very detailed account of what will happen to the Messiah. It is so detailed, there is little doubt as to who Isaiah is talking about. Chapter 53 is the famous Suffering Servant chapter, the one on which Handel based his "Messiah" oratorio. God's own law states that a divorced person cannot remarry until the death of the other spouse. Now, with the death of Christ, the bill of divorce that He gave the House of Israel has expired. When Jesus, as God, died, the door was re-opened for Him to re-marry Israel, which is why His stated mission for coming to earth wasn't to save it, but to seek out for the lost of the House of Israel. With Chapter 53 having documented His mission's completion, that's why the next chapter starts out, "Sing oh ye barren."
Isaiah 54:1-3 says that, when God goes out and finds her, the divorced wife Israel is barren, but she will eventually have a multitude of children; many more than when she was married to God. Israel's Maker is now again her Husband (v.5-6) and she, His wife who again, having lost that position in her youth because of her unfaithfulness. Isaiah 54:13-17 contains another list whereby we can identify the 'Israel' his is talking about.
Israel's children will be taught of God.
They will be at peace.
Shall be righteous.
Shall be far from oppression.
Shall not fear.
Their enemies shall fall.
Never be totally conquered "no weapon formed…shall prevail." (Cf Jer 51:20)
Shall condemn those who judge her.
The modern day state of Israel fulfills few if any of the above.
The rest of Isaiah 54 gives more detail of God's return to the forsaken Israel. In verse 3 we see their offspring proceeding from their homeland, going to the left and right to possess the nations and desolate areas and make them inhabited. This is an acurate description of the growth and development of the British Empire, which went every from the east (Australia) to the west (Canada), taking possession of nations and establishing cities (habitations) where previously there were none, in places such as Canada, South Africa and Australia. All the while, they will have no remembrance or recollection of their shameful times before their widowhood when God had to divorce them all those years ago, allowing them to take taken first into captivity, and then scattered.
Verse four of Isaiah 62 re-iterates that Israel shall no longer be lost, 'forsaken' or 'desolate'. (V2) Israel shall be called by a new name (not Israel any more, so it can't possibly be referring to modern day Israel, which has revived the old name of Israel). One name will be Hephzibah, which means "My delight is in her." Another name will be Beulah, meaning 'Married'. In v5, we have the term often associated with Christ, "the bridegroom." All nations will see the House of Israel's Godliness and vindication (righteousness and justice) - V.2. Of relevance here is the motto of Britain: 'For God and Justice" which is word for word how God said the world would view the new House of Israel - Righteous and just. Around the world, Britiain's justice system is seen as the fairest and best in the world, and the one against which all others are measured.
There are many more verses in Isaiah that tell of the relationship God has with the House of Israel in the Latter Days. They all make it very clear who the recipients of the promise are, and it is not the present day state of Israel. Isaiah and the other prophets clarify how God would accomplish His plan to set up His Kingdom of Heaven here on earth. He needed to get that information out to the rest of the world; the Jews were clearly not taking that message. They were having trouble accepting it themselves, and were too overcome with self righteousness at being God's chosen people to take on the mantle of servant and bring the message of God's Kingdom to the world. So it was up to the forgotten or lost remnant of his people, the House of Israel, to be brought out from their wicked ways and accept his invitation to become his bride once more. From this union He could then establish His Kingdom among the peoples of the earth by their proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. As Isaiah had predicted, the 'isles at the ends of the earth to the north-west of where Isaiah lived when he wrote his book of prophecy - Britain - have been at the forefront of this activity.
There is one part of the fourth covenant with Abraham that we have yet to look at which appears at first to have been said almost in passing and thus have little or no consequence, yey it is perhaps the most convincing evidence of all that our conclusion as to the identity of the lost House of Israel in the Latter Days is correct. It is found in Genesis 22:17: "your seed (offspring) shall possess the gate of his enemies". The first thing to note about this seemingly insignificant promise is that the same words would also be prophesied a few years later over Rebekah by Rebekah's brother and her mother. Just before Rebekah left her home with her nurse, Abraham's servant and his men, Rebekah's brother and her mother blessed her and said to her (Gen 24:60-61) "You are our sister, may you be the mother of thousands of millions, and let your seed (offspring) possess the gate of those which hate them". So what was that all about? My suspicon is that it was just another brick in our wall, another clue for us in the Latter Days to correctly identity the people about whom the End Time prophesies about Israel were spoken.
Never in the history of the kingdoms of this world has a nation or pair of nations ever possessed and controlled the gates of its enemies like Britain and the United States have in the last two centuries. In a most remarkable way, they have managed to occupy and control just about every transport gateway between one continent and another in the world, right under the noses of their enemies and surrounding non-allied nations. Britain's list includes Aiden, Port Said and the Suez Canal, which are the gateways not only from the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean, but also to the Arab nations; Singapore, the gateway to south-East Asia; Hong Kong, the gateway to China and the far east; the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, the gateway between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and to the southern section of the African continent; Gibraltar, the gateway from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and the gateway between Europe and Africa; West Berlin (throughout the Cold War of the 1960-80), which was stuck right in the middle of Communist East Germany; The Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic; scientific bases on the Continent of Antarctica.
The US has Military Bases in The Phillippines, Bahrain, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Yemen, Kuwait, Hungary, Albania, Bosnia, Turkey, Liberia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Guam, Japan (Okinawa), Korea; Australia, Peru, Equador, Bolivia, Panama, Honduras, Kenya, Ethiopia; Djibouti. Guantanamo Bay Base is actually located on enemy soil in Cuba itself. The US also controls Ramstein Air Base, Germany; The Panama Canal, the man-made gateway between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the gateway between North and South America. All have been and in many instances are still occupied by Britain and the United States, all are important transport gateways to non-Allied nations and in many cases nations who see them as enemies. The modern-day nation of Israel controls no gateways of any of its neighbours.
According to Genesis 48:16, the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh would have Jacob's name perpetuated in them, that is, they would be known by his name, and the names of Abraham and Issac. If the descendents of Ephraim and Manasseh are in fact Britain and her 'daughters' - this includes the United States of America, which has its origins as a British colony - then Britain and the United States should be known by the names, Jacob, Issac and Abraham.
Abraham:Biblical (Genesis 14:13) and historic records show that Abraham was alternatively known as the Hebrew, that name meaning 'foreigner'. The early inhabitants of Britain called themselves and were termed by others 'Iberi', meaning Hebrew, because they believed themselves to be of the lineage of Abraham. The Spanish peninsula still bears the original name of its first migrants of the Lost Tribes - Iberia - and Ireland's original name is Ibernia, also a reference to the early Hebrew settlers who adopted it as their new homeland.
Isaac:Names given to the Lost Tribes known as the Scythians included Isaac-Gulu, Ishkuza, Zohak, Saca, Sak, Saksin and Saxon - all of which are derivatives of Isaac. The Saxons in fact settled England and became the base stock for the nation of Britain.
Jacob:The name Jacob is recalled in the flag of Britain - The Union Jack. The literal meaning of the name is the "Union of Jacob". In 1603 James IV of Scotland became James I of the United Kingdom of England and Scotland. The crosses of St. George (England) and St. Andrew (Scotland) were combined to produce the first Union Jack of Great Britain. When comparing the symbols of the Children of Israel and Britain, the flag’s cross could be said to represent the crossing of Jacob's hands when he gave the birthright blessing to Ephraim, his younger son, rather than Manasseh (Gen.48:14).
Coins were struck at the time, which symbolically reflected the sentiments of Ezekiel 37:15-22. This was also when the lion (of Judah) and unicorn (ox of Ephraim) were combined to both support the crown. The two sticks that became one is reflected in the two scepters in James I's hand that became one scepter.
Yankee:The nickname of the American peeoples is 'Yankee', which is a derived form of the name Jacob in Yiddish. The origin of the name is subject to much conjecture: The New England Dictionary, published in 1790, says the name has its origins in a British officer, Thomas Tanbury, serving under Burgoyne, who in his journal derived the name from the Cherokee Indians meaning slave or coward which was the name applied by the Indians to the New Englanders by Virginians because the former refused to aid the Viginians in their war against the Cherokee.
The most widely accepted explanation was advanced by H.L. Mencken, a well-known newsman-scholar, who argued that Yankee derives from the expression Jan Kaas, literally "John Cheese." This supposedly was a derogatory nickname bestowed on the Dutch by the Germans and the Flemish in the 1600s. The English later applied the term to Dutch pirates, and later still Dutch settlers in New York applied it to English settlers in Connecticut, who were known for their piratical trading practices.
During the French and Indian War the British General James Wolfe took to referring derisively to the native New Englanders in his army as Yankees, and the term was widely popularized during the Revolutionary War by the song "Yankee Doodle." By the war's end, of course, the colonists had perversely adopted the term as their own. Southerners used Yankee pejoratively to describe Northerners during the Civil War, but found themselves, along with all other Americans, called thus by the English during world wars I and II. If that is the true origin, then Isaiah's prophecy is proved accurate as 'John' ('Jack as the British have shorten it or 'Jan' as the Dutch pronounce it), is derived from the name 'Jacob'. That Yankee is derivable from a possible pronunciation of the Hebrew name Yaacov or Jacob rendered as "Yankel" in Yiddish holds true regardless how it came to be used as a reference to the citizens of the United States of America.
Israel:Isru is considered one of the great ancestors of the Irish and Scottish. The name Isru is derived from Israel. The monarchs and leaders (such as Cromwell) of England throughout history have referred to their people as Israel. It matters not whether they considered this term to be applicable for spiritual reasons rather than physical ones they nevertheless did apply the term to their people. The same may be said concerning the early Puritan settlers of America.
Britain:Though Britain is not a name given to the forefathers of the Children of Israel, without a shadow of a doubt it is an accurate description of them and their descendants. The Hebrew word "berith" or "birth" means "covenant"; it occurs over one hundred times in the Old Testament and is always translated "covenant." What covenant? The covenant promising national greatness unconditionally (Gen. 15:18; 17:4-8). "ish" is the Hebrew word for "man;" Hence, "British" means "covenant man."
Also the Hebrew word "ain" means "land" and the Hebrew sound "annia" means "ships" so "Britain" is the "Land of the covenant" and "Britannia" is "ships of the covenant." The name "Britain" in the Middle Ages was sometimes written in England as "Britammia." Isaiah 42:6 says, "I, the Eternal ... will keep thee, and give thee for Britam (a covenant of the people), for a light of the nations." Isaiah 49:8 says, "I will preserve thee, and give thee for Britam (a covenant of the people), to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages." According to Jakob Grimm, "M" and "N" are interchangeable nasal sounds. In ancient Hebrew the two letters look almost identical and could be mistaken for one another.
Ptolemy mentions Birtha and Barathena as being towns in Arabia (5:18). Parthia could be derived from Barthia. But wherever the Israelites were taken, we find this name. From the Bretti near Lake Baikal (Procopius 4:24) they escaped to Berytus Lebanon -- situated on St. George Bay, an old Phoenician city once home to Britain's patron saint, St. George -- then to southern Italy, known as Bruttium, and then to EburoBrittium in Spain and a town called Britonia (the present Mondonedo) in the north-west of Spain (Dr. Karl von Spruner's maps of France and Spain for the sixth century) to Brittany and Bretange Also Pliny 4:106 mentions the "Continental Britanni" living on the banks of the Somme. In about 540 A.D.,France and the continental Brittones and Denmark, anciently called Brittia. Pliny says the Britanni composed the inhabitants of the Low Countries (Nat. Hist. 4:31:106).
Hyginus, who wrote De Castrorum Munitione during the reign of Trajan, mentions (ch. 29 & 30) the Brittones as furnishing allies to the Romans, together with the Cantabri, Getoe and Dacians -- all Goths. The Brittones in Juvenal, 15:124 and "Britannia" in Martial 11:3 relate to Brittia, not Albion. The "Britannia" conquered by Augustus (Georgics, 3:25) were Netherlanders, not Islanders, for Augustus never was in Britain. On a bronze diploma of Domitian. A.D. 85, both Britannica and Brittonum occur -- proof they are two different peoples. Procopius in Gothic Wars 4:20 mentions the isle (the peninsula of Jutland was then deemed an island) of "Brittia," which is situate between Britain (Albion) and Thule (Scandinavia), about 200 stadia from the Rhine. It is inhabited by Angles and Frisians called "Brittones. The ancient Welsh upon arriving in Wales called themselves "Bryth y Brythan" or Brits of Britain."The first inhabitants (of England) were Britons, who came from Armenia" (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle -- c.891 A.D.) where Cappadocian and Galatian Israelites dwelt (Her. 1:72; 2:104) Gildas the historian referred to the British as "these his Israelites" (De Excedio Britania, 2:26). .
Isaac:Speaking of Israel, Paul made this very revealing remark:”In Isaac shall thy seed be called” (Heb. 11:18, Rom. 9:7. and Gen. 21:12). As there are no vowels in Hebrew, the proper name Isaac is pronounced SAK or Saac. Thus Isaac’s sons would be called Saksons or Saxons. The custom of creating surnames by adding the word son to a given name is commonly practiced to this day in the Scandinavian countries. By way of example we might cite such names as Jacobson, Abrahamson, Israelson, Johnson, Isaacson, and of course, Saxons, or Isaac’s sons. A quick look in a Scandinavian telephone directory is enough to assure one that they are Israelites!
Great Britain:We have already looked at the name Britain, let us now look at its more correct full name - Great Britain. There are numerous prophecies that Israel was to be a great nation - “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you ... ” (Gen. 12:2). There are many nations of the world to whom greatness can be attributed, just as there are many that have yet to earn such an honour, but then God seems to qualify what he means by adding, "I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the families of the earth will find blessing in you."
Adding “I will make your name great”, in order to say they would be well respected and recognised among the nations of the world as great, would seem unnecessary, as his initial statement already said that, as greatness as a nation is qualified by other nations, not by one's self. So was God saying that He would choose their name and it would include the word 'great'? That's what He seems to be saying, and Isaiah 62:2 seems to support that notion; “And the Gentiles shall see your righteousness and all kings your glory: and you shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name.” Did God do just that when he declared, “I will make your name great”? Irrespective of whether or not we choose to take Gen. 12:2 literally, we are faced with the indisputable truth that in all the world today there is but one nation that is called great and that one nation is Great Britain. Furthermore, it is certain that among the great nations of the earth, Great Britain is the only one which has the word great included in its name. Either way, in the name "Great Britain" we have the fulfillment of Gen. 12:1.
John Bull:John Bull is a national personification of the United Kingdom, especially in political cartoons and similar graphic works. It originated in satirical works of the early 18th century. John is the anglicised version of Jacob. The bull is the symbol of Jacob and his son, Ephraim, upon whom Jacob bestowed his birthright blessing.
When Moses blessed the Twelve Tribes (Deuteronomy 33:17), he referred to Ephraim as being “like a firstborn bull; his horns are the horns of a wild ox. With them he will gore the nations, even those at the ends of the earth. Such are the ten thousands of Ephraim; such are the thousands of Manasseh.”
Other scriptures which concur with Isaiah's prophecy regarding the identity of the House of Israel in the Latter Days, and that it is not present day Israel, which is of the House of Judah, and give vital clues as to their identity:
1. Israel was to spread abroad to the West, East, North and South. (Gen. 28:14; Isaiah 42:5,6) - This is the only one of the ten clues that fits modern day Israel. Britain has.
2. Israel was to have a new home (other than Palestine where they were already living when these prophecies were given). (II Samuel 7:10; I Chronicles 17:9)
- modern day Israel has never had a new home as a nation. In the latter days they have returned to their old home. The lost tribes have - in Britain and the coastal lands of western Europe.
3. Israel was to live in islands and coasts of the earth to the north and west of their location in Old Testament times. (Isaiah 41:1; 49:1-3; 51:5; Jeremiah 31:7-10)
- before returning to Palestine, modern day Isael lived in southern Russia and the German states, not the islands and coasts of the earth to the north and west of their location in Old Testament times. Britain fits the description.
4. Israel was to become a company of nations. (Gen. 17:4-6; 15, 16; 35:11; 48:19; Ephesians 2:12) - modern day Israel has not become a company of nations, nor is their any indication of that ever happening. Their intent is in fact exactly the opposite, to re-unite the Jews from all over the globe back to Palestine as one people again. Britain has become a company of nations.
5. Israel was to colonize and spread abroad. (Gen. 28:14; 49:22; Deut. 32:8; 33:17; Psalm 2:8; Isaiah 26:15; 27:6; 54:2; Zechariah 10:8-9)
- modern day Israel has not done this, in fact they have done exactly the opposite. Their focus is to return to Palestine, not colonize and spread abroard from it. Britain has.
6. Israel was to have a new name and identity. (Isaiah 62:2; 65:15; Hosea 2:17)
- modern day Israel has selected its old name and identity. Britain has (it is called a Christian nation).
7. Israel was to have a new language. (Isaiah 28:11; Zeph. 3:9)
- the language of modern day Israel is Hebrew, which is their old language. Britain has - English.
8. Israel was to have a new religion (New Covenant). (Hebrews 8:10-13; 9:17; Matthew 10:5-7; Luke 1:77; 2:32; 22:20; John 11:49-52; Galatians 3:13)
- modern day Israel still has its old religion - Judaiism. Britain has - Christianity.
9. Israel was to be no longer called God's people, but called the sons of the living God. (i.e. Christians) (Hosea 1:10-1
- modern day Israel's identity claim is that they are God's people. They reject the notion of being fellow sons with Christ. Britain is not called God's people but a Christian nation (Christ's ones).
10. Israel was to possess God's Holy Spirit as well as have His Word written on their hearts. (Isaiah 44:3; 59:21; Haggai 2:5)
- modern day Israel rejects the Baptism of the Holy Spirit as being of God, and believes the word of God exists in written form as the Talmud. Britain and its colonies were the first to witness the modern day Charismatic renewal, and have taken it to other nations.
As well as helping us identify the House of Israel today, these ten pointers make it quite clear who it is not, and that is modern day Israel. None of the ten attributes above describe modern day Israel, which is hardly surprising since the spiritual destiny of the House of Isreal to which they refer was never prophesied over the House of Judah. Jeremiah does speak of a new covenant God makes with both houses, however, which is not according to the Mosaic covenant.
Behold, the days come, saith God, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the [Mosaic] covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith God. (Jeremiah 31:31-32)
This is His covenant of Salvation through Christ, which much of the House of Israel today recognises, but as yet the house of Judah rejects, resulting in it being cut off (Romans 11, in which the fallen branches are identified as The Jews v14. V3 speaks of them killing the prophets. Jesus accused the House of Judah of killing the prophets).
In closing, let us now return to the prophecy that Jacob spoke over Joseph pertaining to his offspring (the lines of Ephraim and Manasseh) in the Latter Days. In summary, Jacob prophesied that
they will be a fruitful bow (this is in line with the apostle Paul's description of Israel in Romans 11)
they will have stong bows, hands and arms (in warfare) made mighty by God
they will be endowed with blessings from heaven above (spiritual)
they will be endowed with blessings lying in the deep beneath (mineral wealth)
they will be endowed with blessings of the breasts and the womb (offspring)
they will be the consecrated ones, like Joseph, set apart from his brethren to become the prince (royal heirs, but not the king) among them these blessings will be greater than those bestowed on his forefathers (Issac, Abraham and Joseph himself)
If we examine the combined British Commonwealth and United States's spread into all continents of the world, military strength, spritual blessings; their incredible mineral wealth (calculated by economists as being around 70% of the world's total mineral wealth); its many people (25% of the world's population, with more member nations than any other empire or commonwealth of nations in the history of the world); we see that Britain, and its offspring, the United States of America, fulfills in every way the prophecy of Jacob, Isaiah and the other Old Testament prophets like no other nation in the Latter Days.
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