I have purposed it: I will also do it.”-Isa. 14:24; 46:9-11
We conclude, therefore, that God has not been trying to convert the world!
This assertion may be new to some, but we must admit that if God has been
trying He has failed; whereas He says, “All My purposes shall be accom-
plished.” Thls proves that God has not been attempting to convert the world;
but, on the contrary, that if He has been accomplishing what He purposed, He
must have purposed something else.
This first Age (point) is called the “Patriarchal Age,” be-
cause in it God dealt with certain individuals or patriarchs,
ignoring entirely the rest of the world. First He dealt with
Abraham. “Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee
out of thy country, and from thy father’s house, unto a
land that I will show thee; and I will make of thee a great
nation; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” (Gen. 12:l-3;
22:18) He did not seiect Abraham’s father or his uncles or his cousins or his
aunts, but Abraham: and although Lot, his nephew, went along, he had no
share in the Covenant. Abraham waited until his father was dead (for that was
the arrangement) before he moved into the Land of Promise. “Well,” some
may say, “that is election. “
Well, if it is, we cannot help it. That is what the Bible says, and we want to
believe it just as the Bible says it. Then God called Isaac-not his brothers. ”In
Isaac shall thy seed be called.” (Gen. 21:12) Then lsaac had two sons, Jacob
and Esau, and God selected Jacob. “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I loved
less.” (Rom. 9:13) We will not here go into the reason for Crod’s preference for
Jacob. That may come in further along. With the death of Jacob that Age came
to an end, and single individuals no longer were chosen. How do we know?
The facts show it; for at the death of Jacob his iwelve sons and all their chil-
dren were chosen as those to whom the Lord’s favor would be shown. His sons
were prophetically blessed by him; and, being recognized as a NATION
elected of God, were called “the TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL.” While
Jacob lived God dealt only with him, and did not recognize his children and
their families as a nation; but won Jacob’s decease God’s favor passed to the
Twelve Tribes of Israel as a nation, and a new
Age began. You will remember that Jacob’s name was changed to Israel , the meaning of the word being a prince with God . And thus began what on this Chart we call the Jewish Age(Point)
It might have been called the Israelitish Age, but there was a reason for not
giving it that title, since the Gospel Church are “Israelites indeed”; and to have
called this the Israelitish Age (point to Jewish Age) would have led to some
confusion.