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Babylon's Failure and Responsibility--Part 6

In the course of showing the divine plan regarding the captivities of Babylon, Esau, and the various nations in the book of Judges, I have tried to show the failure of all flesh to fulfill the responsibility of the Birthright.

It seems that every nation wants authority, but all have failed to fulfill the responsibility that goes with it. The carnally-minded nations love to rule over others, but their purpose is to gather more slaves, rather than to set men free in the glorious liberty of the children of God.

The Bible uses the terms "chosen" and "elect" to describe the ones to whom the Birthright is given. Most people who have argued over the question of WHO possesses the Birthright are really arguing over their claims to rulership over the earth by divine authority. But the fact is, if ANY nation is given authority by divine decree, that nation takes upon itself the responsibility to rule in the way that Jesus taught in Matthew 20:25-28,

(25) You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. (26) It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, (27) and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; (28) just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.

Jesus' definition of ruling is service. Authority is the court-mandated right to serve and bless others. When authority is extended over more nations and more people, it merely increases one's ability to serve, rather than to be served. It is NOT to "lord it over them."

When a nation is "chosen" and given authority to rule, they become responsible and answerable to God to serve. And ultimately, they are responsible to manifest the sons of God--not merely children born after the image of the first Adam, but those in the image of the Last Adam, Jesus Christ. If Adam and Eve had borne children prior to their "fall" into sin, they would have borne children in the very image of God by which they were created. Instead, they bore children afterward, and so their children were NOT the sons of God in the sense that God intended.

In other words, when Adam and Eve bore children, it did not fulfill the Fruitfulness Mandate in Gen. 1:28. The entire scope of biblical history is the story of the failure of mankind to bring forth this "fruit." God chose Israel under Moses to receive the Birthright authority, and if they had succeeded, the first of the Sons of God would have been born in the tribe of Ephraim. He was the prime Birthright holder (Gen. 48:16, 17). This would have been followed by all the other tribes who were in unity with Ephraim.

But Ephraim failed in the land of Canaan, though the Ark of the Covenant was in Shiloh, a town in Ephraim. When the priesthood in Ephraim became corrupt in the days of Eli, God removed His Ark from Ephraim and "chose" Judah for a season. In relating this history, Psalm 78:67, 68 says,

(67) He also rejected the tent of Joseph, and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, (68) But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which He loved.

But Judah also failed, when the priests in Jerusalem turned the temple into a "den of robbers." So Jeremiah prophesied that God's presence would be removed from Jerusalem even as He removed it from Shiloh earlier (Jer. 7:11-15).

Thus, both Joseph and Judah, as physical tribes, failed to fulfill the responsibility of the Birthright. Meanwhile, as I showed earlier, God also gave opportunity to six other nations to exercise the authority of the Dominion Mandate, and each of them failed miserably. God then brought each of those nations into judgment because of this failure.

Finally, in the New Testament time, God gave men a new level of the Holy Spirit under the anointing of Pentecost. He "chose" these Pentecostal believers, gave them spiritual authority, and made them responsible to bring forth the Sons of God. But the Church failed as well, though God began to handpick "overcomers" among them for a time ahead, after the time of the Church had run its course.

I showed in my book, Who is a Jew? that Jeremiah prophesied of two types of Judahites, one good and one bad. These were pictured as the fruit from two different fig trees (Jer. 24). The evil figs represented those who refused to submit to the divine judgment; the good figs represented those who DID submit to divine judgment. During the ministry of Jesus, there were still those two kinds of "figs" in the land of Judea. Most of them chafed under Rome and looked for opportunities to rebel against the kingdoms prophesied by Daniel. These were the evil figs of Jesus' day.

The good figs were those who followed Jesus' example of a non-rebellious outlook. His disciples had to be TRAINED to become good figs, because they started out as typical rebellious Judeans. But by the time Jesus finished His ministry, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon good figs. The evil figs were cut off for treason (rebellion) against the King of Judah.

The good figs thus were the CONTINUATION of the tribe of Judah. This is not "Replacement Theology." The Church did not replace anyone. They simply continued being citizens of the tribe of Judah, while God cut off the treasonous unbelieving "evil figs." This Tribe later became known as the Church, and to it were engrafted people from all nations.

But in the end, the prophecies show that Judah was not to be the tribe that would lead us into the Kingdom, even though Judah had been given the Dominion Mandate (which was given to Jesus Christ). The Birthright was to be given to Joseph-Ephraim. So in the end, the Church failed, and it was left to the overcomers to manifest the Sons of God.

While all believers have equal citizenship in the tribe of Judah, whether natural-born or not, this is no guarantee that they will birth the Manchild in the time of the first resurrection. Only the overcomers are the true Israelites that are associated with Joseph-Ephraim. I am not speaking of natural birth or genealogy here. The natural tribe of Ephraim already proved itself unworthy in the days of Eli, just as the natural tribe of Judah did afterward in Jerusalem.

The significance of Acts 2 is that God raised the stakes by giving men the earnest of the Spirit by which to fulfill the responsibility of the Birthright. But the earnest was insufficient as well, as Church history shows. Only by receiving "all the fullness of God" (Eph. 3:19) can any man hope to become a son of God. This comes through the Feast of Tabernacles and is destined to succeed where Pentecost failed.

So in our time, we have long awaited the end of days when Babylon's authority ends in the long succession of empires prophesied in Daniel 7. We have also awaited the end of the time of the Saul-Church which has given those of Pentecost the opportunity to bring forth the fruits of the Kingdom. And since 1948 we have awaited the end of Esau's time to prove himself.

All of the above have been carnal, fleshly, and have sought to rule selfishly to oppress others by slavery, rather than by dispensing the blessings to all families of the earth. But I believe that the final moments of their time are now ending, and that we are near to the rise of the overcomers.

The signs of the times point to the discovery of Joseph, as one who has risen from the dead. I believe that the Birthright was transferred to this Joseph company by divine decree on Feb. 14, 2010. It is only a matter of time before they begin their final work of righteousness, culminating with the manifestation of the sons of God.