The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1913-03-07
ANSWER TO elBLE QUESTION
70 the Editor Ocala Banner:

will be gathered to their own land,
and made a nation again?"
Although it is generally believed
by the majority of people that Israel
has inherited the land o. Palestine
that God promised to Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob, and that it is all a thing of
the past; that the promises of God
to the fathers that Paul spoke of in
Acts 2G:G, when he said to Agrippa:
And now | stand, and judged for the
hope OF the promise made of God I'M
to our fathers But how can it be
fulfilled? If it was Paul's hope, can it
be that the Old Testament was simply
q Jewish history, and that we have no
more use for it?
But consider Paul's words just
minute. He tesudes that he was
questioned or tried for something Goa
had promised, and if it was hope
that he cherished in his day, then it
would be absurd to say that premise
had been fulfilled at that time
Now, if we can find out just what
God promised to the fathers, we can
find out what Paul's hope was, and
at last he was put to death for preach
ing to and teaching the people what
Moses and the prophets did say
should came, as it is written in Acts
2G:22.
In the 18th chapter of Genesis, and
reading from the first verse, we find
where God called Abraham out of the
land of his fathers, into a land that
he would show him:
And that God would bless him, and
make of him a great nation, and all
families of the earth should be bless
ed in him"
Reading from the 18th chapter and
18th and 10Th verses, God made to
Abraham promises at that time to as
sure him where he and his seed
should dwell forever
Because God said to him: Look
north, south, east and west" not once
did he tell him to look up, away from
the earth, but to look to all points of
the compass, and all the land he saw
he would give to him and his seed
forever.
In reading these passages there
seems to be nothing on the surface
Of interest. There appears nothing
to arouse curiosity: but it is like
searching for hidden treasures that
Christ spoke of. Let us search lit
tie deeper, and see what we can bring
to light. We must not lose sight of
the word. forever" as it is written
in the 18th verse: For all the land
which thou seest, to thee will l give
it, and to thy seed forever"
Now, to be doubly sure where the
inheritance is to be that God promis-
ed to Abraham and his seed, if we
look at Gen. 1918. we will find that
it was the land from the river of
Egypt unto the great river Euphra-
ties; for an everlasting possession, as
it is recorded in Gen. 17:S.
Now, the point to be considered is
this: Abraham is dead, and in order
for God to fulfill his promise to him,
Abraham must be raised from the
dead Also to inherit that land for
ever he must be made immortal, and
he had not received those promises in
the days of Paul, because Paul said it
was on account of the promise that
God had made to the fathers that he
was called in question.
And Paul, in writing to the Romans,
as it is written in the 4th chapter and
18th verse said that Abraham and his
seed were constituted heirs of the
world. And it is also written in the
3rd of Galatians and 10th verse, that
the seed promised to Abraham is none
other than Christ, and having estab-
lished the scriptural evidence that at
some future time Abraham and Christ
Will surely inherit the earth Tor an
everlasting possession, let us consider
the gathering of Israel to their own
land.
The Bible is a wonderful book. 1t
is a political book. 1t is a book full
of prophecies, of which great many
have come to pass, but the most i'm
portant are yet to be revealed. 1t is
book teaching morality, and of what
a person must believe in order that
he may have part in that kingdom
which Christ will establish at his COM
ing-when the people of Israel are
gathered back to their own land
The two tribes consist of the Jews,
that are scattered among every ma
ton, and the ten tribes of Israel, who
separated from the Jews, and are lost