#60 -- Gospel and Spiritual Growth

Valley – September 15, 2002 a.m.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE WORLD SYSTEM TO THE DISPENSATION OF LAW

This material continues the study of the development of the world system before Exodus 19. After the flood the first monarchy mentioned is that created in the world system by Nimrod. He was of the line of Ham and organized a centralized government. He was able to do so because he had might and was a hunter of mighty ones before God (Gen. 10:10). A slave of slaves became a king of a nation. A great move to centralize government in the world system continued after the flood. The human government of the world system remained after the punishment that concluded the dispensation of human government. Human government had proven to be a failure yet it continued because its subjects had been trained to believe that it was really a success and the only way to control or channel the race.

God had told mankind to disperse and fill the earth full. Mankind resisted and gathered at Babel in the Plain of Shinar. The Godhead dealt with the issue of centralization of government by confusing the languages and vocabulary of the race, by the division of the races and by the division of the continents. This happened in the lifetime of Peleg (Gen. 10:25; 11:16, 18, 19; 1 Chron. 1:9). With the separation that resulted there could no longer be a centralized world government. Small family monarchies became the manner in which the world system controlled the sin nature (ex. Gen. 20:9, 10). I. D. shows the progression of the government of the world system after the flood.

II. traces the progress of the Satanic world system government as identified in Genesis 12-20. While these chapters are not designed to do more than tell the story of Abraham, there are hints that are noted in the outline of the evidence of how the governments of the world system were developing and functioning. It is evident that there was more and more government and a building of layers of government throughout this era.

The dispensation of promise changed the way that God dealt with mankind. Each dispensation prior to this one involved the whole race. Now God isolates one man and his family providing them promises that were not given to the race as a whole. Abraham's seed would receive the promises and none other. A very small portion of the race became the household of the dispensation and recipients of the provisions of the dispensation. There was a shift in expectation. Heb. 11:10, 16 indicates that there was a heavenward expectation as Abraham looked for a city whose builder and maker was God. Of course, this was directly linked to the promises made to Abraham beginning with the first Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 15. The promises of the covenant were unconditional. Only one of the four Abrahamic covenants (Gen. 15:1-21; Gen. 17:1-8; Gen. 17:9-27; Gen. 22:15-18) had any conditions. It was the third covenant that involved circumcision. The rest were promises that were a basis for hope and then an object of faith. The promises were in effect for more than 400 years to the seed of Abraham even as they were in Egypt. The events of the exodus were all based upon the fact that Jehovah had promised the sons of Israel certain things in the covenants with an emphasis upon the land promises of the first Abrahamic covenant. This is evident in Ex. 2:24 and 6:4, 5. Israel arrived at Sinai and was given opportunity to believe God and to obey and guard the first Abrahamic covenant. Rather than accept it by faith they made the fatal statement of presumption in 19:5: "All that Jehovah has spoken we will do." They chose to exchange faith for works. As a result, Jehovah gave them the law. They had worked in Egypt as idolaters attempting to please their idolatrous gods. They anticipated doing the same for Jehovah. By faith they would have had a type of theocracy that would have been land bound and filled with physical blessing without conditions.

Their presumption is very evident in Ex. 19:3-8, 8. They wanted a government in which they could please God by their works and which they could call their own because of their works. Jehovah had already demonstrated that He had the power to care for them in the ten plagues that were as much against the government of Egypt in the world system as it was against the gods of Egypt and her religion. He had further demonstrated His power in the events at the Red Sea with the destruction of the Egyptian army. Further indications of Jehovah's capability for keeping his promises and caring for his people were evident in their journey from Egypt. He provided food and water for about 3,000,000 people in the desert in spite of their murmuring. He reminds them that He had brought them from the land on eagle's wings (Ex. 19:4). He challenges them to guard and obey the covenant made with Abraham in Gen. 15. The promised result would be that they would become a nation of priests to Jehovah and a set apart nation. By faith they would receive the promises by which they would have access to Jehovah and be isolated from the nations of the worlds system. This wasn't what the sons of Israel wanted. They wanted to ado something. As a result, they became subjects in a theocracy that was completely different than the theocracy offered under promise. They never became a priesthood. Rather they had a priesthood of the tribe of Levi and the house of Aaron. They never became a holy nation in the same way that was possible under the promises. By the law, they were to be set apart from the nations and to God rather than by faith. Israel preferred a kind of government similar to government in the world system in which one could work and produce his or her own tranquility by his or her labor.

Israel wanted to incorporate the qualities of the Satanic world system that they had "enjoyed" in Egypt. As a result, they were placed in a yoke of bondage and imprisoned by the Mosaic Law (Gal. 5:1; 3:23). The new dispensation became the punishment for the presumption of the nation at Sinai. Works can never replace faith in any part of God's program.

Set apart in Christ at the Right Hand,

DKS

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE WORLD SYSTEM TO THE DISPENSATION OF LAW

1 John 2:15

Proposition: To trace the development of the world system's government as revealed in Scripture from the end of the dispensation of human government to Exodus 19 and the dispensation of law.

Introduction

A. The First Description of a Monarchy Under Nimrod – Gen. 10:10

1. Line of Ham

2. Centralized Government

B. The Perversion of Government with a Hamitic Kingdom

C. The Centralization of Government After the Flood

D. The Continuation of Human Government After the Punishment of the Dispensation of Human Government

TRANS: As human government in the world system became centralized in the Plain of Shinar at Babel, it became necessary for God to decentralize government so that the human race would be limited in its intentions and in the expansion of its evil.

I. THE DIVINE PROGRAM FOR DECENTRALIZATION OF HUMAN GOVERNMENT – GOD'S RESPONSE TO CENTRALIZATION OF GOVERNMENT AFTER THE FLOOD – A FRAGMENTATION OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE WORLD SYSTEM BY DIVINE ALTERATION – Genesis 10 & 11

A. The Confusion of Languages at Babel – Genesis 11:9

B. The Division of Human Races at Babel – Genesis 11:8, 9

1. By Scattering

2. From Babel Upon the Face of All the Earth

C. The Division of the Continents in the Lifetime of Peleg – Genesis 10:25; 1 Chronicles 1:9

1. Peleg Born 101 Years After the Flood – Gen. 11:16 (cf. 10:10-15)

2. Peleg Lived 239 Years – Gen. 11:18, 19

D. The Progression of the Development of Human Government

1. Defined à Expanded à Adapted to Societal Development

2. Families à Languages à Lands à Nations (10:10-15)

3. Isles of Nations Divided or Separated (dr;P' -- pahrad) [10:5]

TRANS: There are hints in Scripture of the continuing development of the government of the world system after the division of the continents, languages and races. It was necessary to adapt to the conditions and so government was administered on a smaller scale with an emphasis upon the differences between peoples and nations.

II. THE REVEALED PROGRESS OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE WORLD SYSTEM FROM THE END OF THE DISPENSATION OF HUMAN GOVERNMENT INTO EXODUS – GOD'S REVELATION FROM NATIONS SUSTAINED BY HUMAN GOVERNMENT AFTER THE DISPENSATION – THE PERPETUATION OF HUMAN GOVERNMENT AFTER THE DISPENSATION – Genesis 12-20

A. The Structures of Government in Ur of the Chaldees – Gen. 12:1-3

1. Verse 1 – Land (#r,a,), Place of Birth (from dl;y"), House of Father

2. Verse 2 – Great Nation

3. Verse 3 – Families of the Ground

B. The Development of Government in Egypt – Gen. 12:15-20

1. Princes – 12:15 (rf;)

2. Pharaoh

C. The Organization of Human Government in Sodom and Gomorrah – Gen. 13:14

1. Cities – 11:4; 18:24; 19:15, 16, 25, 29

2. Kings – 14:2, 8, 21, 22

D. The Organization of Governments Around Families – Gen. 15:18-21

E. The Existence of Nations as a Basis for the Second Abrahamic Covenant – Gen. 17:4, 5, 6 [cf. 16] (cf. 18:18)

F. The Extension of the Seed of Ishmael and the World System – 17:20

G. The Proliferation of Small Family Monarchies with Kings

1. King of Gerar – 20:2

2. Kingdom – 20:9

TRANS: After the punishment in the dispensation of human government the world system continued to perpetuate the same quality of government though on a small scale than was evident in the dispensation. The rest of the dispensations revealed in Scripture involve a portion of the inhabitants of the earth until the fullness of times.

III. THE PLACE OF THE WORLD SYSTEM'S GOVERNMENT IN THE DISPENSATION OF PROMISE – THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE SEED OF ABRAHAM SIMPLY SEPARATED FROM THE GOVERNMENT OF THE WORLD SYSTEM – THE LIMITED ISOLATION OF THE SEED OF ABRAHAM FROM THE WORLD SYSTEM

A. The Dispensation of Promise and Abrahamic Covenants Isolated the Seed of Abraham from the Government of the World System

B. The Direction of Expectation Was Shifted from the World System Government – Hebrews 11:10, 16

C. The Desire to Receive the Promises of the 1^st Abrahamic Covenant – Gen. 15:1-21

D. The Distinctions of the 1^st Abrahamic Covenant Remembered – Ex. 2:24; 6:4, 5; 19:5

E. The Dependence on a Form of Theocracy by Faith in the Promises of the Covenants

TRANS: When Israel arrived at Mount Sinai, they had the opportunity to live by faith in the promises made to Abraham. In a sense, this involved unrestrained faith before Jehovah. Instead Israel asked Jehovah for something to do aside from faith. As a result a new form of theocracy was established different than human government to show the world system that Jehovah was the God of the universe.

IV. THE PRESUMPTION THAT FORCED A DIVINE ALTERNATIVE TO THE GOVERNMENT OF THE WORLD SYSTEM – THE RESPONSE FROM THE WORLD SYSTEM VIEWPOINT RATHER THAN FAITH AT SINAI – THE REJECTION OF A SIMPLE THEOCRATIC KINGDOM FOR A COMPLEX THEOCRATIC KINGDOM – Exodus 19:3-6, 8

A. Jehovah's Carrying of Israel from Egypt by His Power – 19:4

B. The Covenant Made with Abraham and Elevation of the People – 19:5

C. A Condition Offered to the Nation as an Alternative – 19:7

1. Kingdom of Priests

2. A Holy Nation

D. The Call for Works Over Faith – 19:8

TRANS: The choice of Israel was for something they could do for Jehovah rather than accept His provision by faith. Essentially they assumed that they could accomplish as much on their own as the nations had in organizing a government and accomplishing the goals that were so much a part of the world system.

--DKS—

Valley Baptist Church

P. O. Box 99, Gaston, OR 97119