33 Divided Kingdom

Deut. 28: 49-50; Rom 11:20-22;

In our last session, we considered how the first three kings of Israel teach us among other things the power of the flesh. We saw that leadership in Israel as it is in the church and in our homes when it is carried out in the power of the flesh will result in legalism as it did in Saul’s case, License as it did in David’s life and a corrupted lifestyle as it did in Solomon’s reign.
Furthermore, we considered three takeaways…

1. Reliance on the flesh always leads to a failure realize God’s purpose for our lives
2. Walking in the flesh will lead us to forget God’s anointed King, resulting in leanness of soul.
3. Failures of the flesh cannot thwart the declared purpose of God.

Summary of the Mosaic covenant: stated purpose of becoming a kingdom of priests
An unconditional covenant of ownership, alongside of conditional covenant for possession
Exodus 19:5-6 is that statement of purpose to be the mediator between God and the nations. That purpose is established in the royal line of David from whom Messiah must come.
God’s purpose carried through the failures of the flesh from Moses leading a stubborn and rebellious people into the promised land to 586 B.C. when the last king, Zedekiah, led an idolatrous people back into captivity in Babylon.

As a result of Solomon’s corruption, the kingdom was divided between his son Jeroboam in Jerusalem and the breakaway kingdom of Israel under Rehoboam, but even then, the office of theocratic administrators is carried through until the Shekinah glory leaves the temple.

The kings of Israel (20 bad) compared to the Kings of Judah (only 8 were good)
This resulted in Assyria bringing Israel into captivity 209 years after division.(a.d.)
Then Judah was carried away into Babylon 136 years after that.

In a Map of the divided kingdom, we see Samaria in the north and Jerusalem in the south. Note Philistia is Gaza; Galilee in the north and why it was a despised no man’s land by the kingdom of Judah. The source of hostility between the Jews and the Samaritans.

Ezekiel’s prophecy describes God’s contention with Judah. It makes the case for the glory of God departing the temple. The last 15 chapters describe the Shekinah glory returning to the temple in the Millennial reign of Christ.

In God’s complaint against the nation, He called the northern kingdom Aholah (Samaria, an idolatrous sanctuary) and the southern kingdom Aholibah (Jerusalem; the woman of an idolatrous sanctuary) were names given to indicate their utter abandonment to satanic rule and worship.

Isaiah 49:7: The Jews despised Messiah, their Redeemer because of His physical heritage. They said that no prophet came come from Galilee; nothing good can come from Galilee, etc. 
Yet, the geneaology from Judah reveals that there is no bloodline purity to Messiah:The seed of the woman will come from both idolatrous gentiles as well as monotheistic jews. 
Abram and Sarai were idolators from Ur of the Chaldees.

Four women in the genealogy of the Messianic line of Judah
Tamar, the Canaanite who played the prostitute to Judah
Rahab the Canaanite, a professional prostitute of Jericho
Ruth, the Moabitess (Moabites were the descendants of incest with Lot)
Bathsheba, from an adulterous relationship with King David.
This is why Christ is called the Redeemer of Israel.

Mary, the mother of Christ was considered to be an adulteress due to her unnatural conception

A Samaritan woman was the first to see and report on Messiah coming to Israel.

Mary of Magdalene, a former demoniac, was the first to meet and speak with the Risen Christ

Ezekiel 33:29. The purpose of discipline is that we know that God is in charge, not us. The period of time that we are now in as it relates to the children of Jacob is a period of intense sharpness and rigor. The Jewish nation in the times of the Gentiles, which began in 586 b.c. is not experiencing the favor of God, but instead, judicial blindness.
Romans 11:20. If we in the church don’t take personal responsibility to walk in the Spirit and allow Him to give us the power to cut off the flesh, God will use His discipline to cut if off from us… even as He has judged His earthly people. 

What does it mean to continue in the goodness of God? 

The implication here is that it is possible for the believer to stop experiencing the goodness of God. Does this teach that a believer can lose his/her salvation?  (e.g. riding in the back seat with my brother on long vacation trips. Although the thought may have crossed his mind, I was not abandoned at the side of the road, but I did experience the sharpness of my father’s arm and I did have to ride under my dad’s displeasure)

The contrast of goodness and severity here is between gentleness and sharpness; a contrast between the favor of God and the discipline of God.

The church at Laodicea was likewise under discipline. They are rebuked and chastened by the Lord. The idea that this is the Lord knocking at the heart’s door is an application, not an interpretation. This describes the Lord deliberately kept on the outside of His church. 

Luke 21:24; The good news is that God’s discipline has limits. The Lord comments on the future of Israel continuing on as subject to Gentile rulers. However, there is a time limit, there is an ‘until’, there is a fulfillment of this sentence. The Lord Jesus referred to this period as the time of the Gentiles. 

• They were more concerned about comfort in the church than they were concerned about truth in the church. 
• This is a church that was more concerned about the preservation of their wealth in the world than they were concerned about the preservation of fellowship with the Lord in His church. 

The Kingdom program during the Times of the Gentiles. The Shekinah glory is departed. The Temple is destroyed, the people are killed or carried back into slavery. 

Even though there is a Jewish presence now in the land of Israel, there is no temple, no glory, no peace. 

When the antichrist appears, he will offer them peace and a temple, but the glory that they hope for will be denied them when the antichrist offers the abomination of desolation in the temple.


The prophet Daniel is raised up to reveal the course of this time. God did this by means of placing Daniel in a position of influence with the king of Babylon. Nebuchadnezer had a troubling dream that God allowed only Daniel to interpret. 

Hosea 3:3,4 Hosea’s marriage to a harlot is intended to be an illustration of God’s relation to the children of Jacob. As a result of their harlotry, the office of theocratic administrator is suspended. It will not be restored until the nation recognizes their Messiah.

The King’s Dream The dream describes the times of the Gentiles from Babylon until the appearance of Messiah. He comes as the smiting stone that will lay waste the Gentile Kingdoms that God has used to judge and discipline Israel with sharpness.

Isaiah 9:6,7 It is amazing how the Holy Spirit can succinctly describe the purpose of God that takes centuries to develop and reveal. Hebrew poetry is written in parallels. Sometimes they are completive parallels, (i.e. He is led as a lamb to the slaughter….) sometimes they are contrastive parallels as we find here. 
The Holy Spirit through Isaiah summarizes Israel’s ordained purpose in a very carefully chosen pattern of words that describe the fulfillment of Gen. 3:15.
How is it that the mighty God could be born as a child?
How is it that the Everlasting Father could be found in a Son that is given flesh?
How is it that the rejected Prince of Peace, could become the King of kings?