YAHWEH'S BATTLE AXE As all of our regular...

YAHWEH'S BATTLE AXE

As all of our regular students know, I lay great emphasis on Bible prophecies and their fulfillment. Both Old and New Testaments repeatedly say this is proof of the genuineness and inspiration of the scriptures, as well as vital for our guidance. Many of these prophecies deal with war. Not only of the wars of the wicked against us, but also with our duty to have our part in Yahweh's wars against the wicked. There is no pacifism in the Bible. Only under Yahshua's personal government of the world, can there ever be peace. I want to delve into the matter of our duties in the meantime, in this imperfect world.

Yahweh knew that we must defend ourselves against the wicked. He promised His help at these times of conflict. Deuteronomy 20:3-4 tells us, "Hear, O Israel: ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies. Let not you hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them: for Yahweh your God is He that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies to save you." In Deuteronomy 2:25 Yahweh said, "This day will I begin to put dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and shall tremble because of thee." Repeatedly Yahweh tells us, "Ye shall not fear them: for Yahweh your God, He shall fight for you."

To get the greatest protection, we must obey Yahweh. In Leviticus 26:3,6-8 He says, "If ye walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments and do them; I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land; neither shall the sword go through your land. And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword."

Let there be no doubt about this, Yahweh is a God of peace to those who love and obey Him. However, to the wicked who try to overthrow all His rule in this world, He is a man of war, as Exodus 15:3 states. Psalm 24:8 reminds us, "Who is this King of glory? Yahweh strong and mighty, Yahweh mighty in battle." In Psalm 18:32,34,& 39 David says, "It is Yahweh that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect. He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by my arms. For Thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: Thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me." II Samuel 1:18 records David required that the men of Judah be taught to use the bow.

There was more to this than just the mere defense of ourselves against direct attack. It is our job to be Yahweh's policemen in this world, and we must be ready, willing and able to do this. In Jeremiah 51:20 Yahweh gives us our orders saying, "Thou art My battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I destroy kingdoms."

Yahweh will use His great power to see that we are victorious. However, we can't hide under the bed at home, while His work is done. We must do our part of it, with absolute confidence in His protection. In Isaiah 54:15,17 Yahweh says, "Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by Me: whosoever shall gather against thee shall fall for thy sake. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of Yahweh, and their righteousness is of Me, saith Yahweh."

Remember, keeping the world in order is doing Yahweh's work so we must do it, for He has said we shall. If we decide that we are so much more righteous than Yahweh, that we can make our own rules and say surrender to evil is better than enforcing the right, then we should remember the terrible warning in Jeremiah 48:10. "Cursed be he that doeth the work of Yahweh negligently, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood."

To be the instrument in Yahweh's hand, by which He brings righteousness and justice into an unwilling world is an honor, and that is what Yahweh calls it. Psalm 149:5-9 states it clearly. "Let the saints by joyful in glory: let them sing aloud on their beds. Let the high praises of Yahweh be in their mouth, and a two edged sword in their hand: to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people: to bind the kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron: to execute upon them the judgment written: this honor have all his saints. Praise ye Yahweh!"

At this point, I can see some of you protesting that this is from the Old Testament. You think Yahweh was all wrong, and all of this was done away with by the New Testament. I have a surprise for you, Yahweh was right, He didn't have to change His mind or be taught higher ethics by men.

Let's see what the New Testament has to say. In Matthew 10:34 Yahshua says, "Think not that I come to send peace on earth: I come not to send peace, but a sword." In Luke 22:36 Yahshua told His disciples, "He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one." Yahshua didn't have to change His mind either. In Revelation 19:11 we read this about Him. "And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war."

Peace never comes by cooperation with Satan, or with Satan's children and followers. You can't coexist with a cancer, either you must cut it out completely, or it will kill you, both cannot survive. Therefore the Prince of peace must be in complete control over a world from which evil has been driven out. Only then can the words of Micah 4:1-3 be fulfilled. "But in the last days it shall come to pass that the mountain of the house of Yahweh shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come and let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."

Note this doesn't come through the might of Russia and the wisdom of Tito, or in that parliament of evil the United Nations. It is done only by the might of Yahweh. Therefore we read how this will be done in Isaiah 66:15-16. "For behold, Yahweh will come with fire, and with His chariots like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by His sword will Yahweh plead with all flesh: and the slain of Yahweh shall be many."

Whether we like it or not, Yahweh has said to us, "Thou art My battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms." Those who serve Yahweh willingly receive the reward. But willing or not, we must obey Him. If we obey the laws of Yahweh, and follow confidently where He leads, we may be sure of His blessings. One of these is, "Five of you will chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight." I would rather face Russia and China on this basis, than to have to face them anyway as a punishment because we have defied Yahweh and sought coexistence with Satan.

I started this lesson with the statement that I place great emphasis on Bible prophecy and fulfillment. What about these prophecies I have quoted to you? Have they been fulfilled? Have the tribes of Israel and their later descendants the Scythians, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Angli and the Saxons fulfilled these prophecies? In modern days, these people are known as the Anglo Saxons, Scandinavian and Germanic nations. Yes indeed, these nations have fulfilled these prophecies in every detail. It is strange that the clergy, who claim to teach the word of Yahweh, have not honored Him with proof that He always keeps His word.

Remember, we have traced the people of Israel, after their deportation by the Assyrians, into the lands around the Caspian Sea. There they became known to the Greeks as Skuths, to the Romans as Scythians, and to the Persians as Sakka. In the course of time the name Sakka became Sacasones, then Saxons. Other tribes became known as the Angli, yet others as the Goths, who divided into the Ostrogoths, or the East Goths, and the Visigoths, or West Goths. Now let us see what these Israelite tribes did.

A generation sufficed for them to fully throw off the Assyrian yoke and they became a numerous and powerful people. Their constant warfare of the Scythians against the Assyrians was not enough to fully conquer Assyria, but it did bleed the Assyrians white, as the saying is. Finally the Scythians became allies of the Medes, their neighbors to the east. The allied Median and Scythian armies captured Ninevah in 606 B.C., and the Assyrian empire disappeared from ancient history.

About 550 B.C., Cyrus the Great of Persia, conquered Media and absorbed Media into the greater Persian Empire. By this time the Babylonian captivity of Judah had been in effect for a whole century. Remember Nebuchadnezzar=s dream of the great image, which the prophet Daniel interpreted for him? The image's head of gold was Nebuchadnezzar=s own Babylonian empire, the first of the four great heathen empires, which dominated world history. The image's breast and arms of silver represented the Medo-Persian Empire. The belly and thighs of brass were the Greco-Macedonian empire of Alexander the Great. This empire extended from Greece through all western Asia, even into northern India. The legs of iron were the Roman Empire.

Scythians were allies of the great Medo-Persian army of Cyrus, which conquered the Babylonian empire and released a few thousand of the captives of Judah and Benjamin, so they could return to Palestine. What happened to the many other people of Judah and Benjamin, who did not return to Palestine?

History records that the Scythians swooped down on the region around Babylon and took most of the people of Judah and Benjamin back with them, leaving the few who went back to Palestine. The fall of Babylon was not solely the work of the Israelite Scythians. The prophesied rise of the Medo-Persian Empire at this time required that the glory should go to it. Yet, Scythian Israel did play some part in it, though not a large one.

However, Cyrus was ambitious, greedy and ungrateful for the help his Scythian allies had given him. Nine years after the fall of Babylon, Cyrus led a great army to attack the Scythians, and was killed in battle. Without Cyrus to lead them, the army was defeated and so retreated.

The successor to Cyrus was Darius I. He raised a far greater army and led them north against the Scythians. These armies were too great for the Scythians to fight. So, being a nomadic people, the Scythian army retreated northward before Cyrus. They constantly kept tantalizingly just out of reach, while the weary Persians got farther and farther away from their base of supply at home.

The pursuit continued deep into the Caucasus Mountains. The army of Scythian Israel crossed through the great pass, now occupied by the Georgian Military Road. This pass, from that time down to our own times, has borne the name, The Pass of Israel. At the tremendous chasm of the Dariel Gorge, which even a handful of Scythians could have defended, Darius and his army turned back. He left his name to this place, even to this day.

Alexander the Great set up his huge empire in the 11 years between 334 B.C. and 323 B.C.; He conquered and absorbed the Persian Empire in the process. Thus the belly and thighs of brass succeeded the breast and arms of silver. No enemy overthrew Alexander's empire; it just fell apart into four quarters at his death, as Daniel had prophesied.

However, Bactria, largely modern Afghanistan and eastern Persia, remained part of the Seleucid quarter of the old Alexandrian empire. Alexander had penetrated India as far as the Punjab. Again we find Scythian Israel performing its job as Yahweh's battle-axe. In 128 B.C., the Scythians overran northern Persia, defeated several Persian armies, and collected tribute from several successive Persian kings.

Next, beginning about 126 B.C., the Scythians invaded Bactria, overthrew the Seleucid rulers and went on through Afghanistan and the Khyber Pass into India. They set up a strong kingdom in the Punjab and part of Rajputana, which remained powerful until the 5th century A.D. However, the fate of all invaders of India met them, they finally mongrelized their blood with that of the dark local races and their greatness ended. However the Jats, who are about half the population of the Punjab, and some of the Rajput tribes, still show traces of the Scythian blood. The rest of Alexander's empire still had its part to play in history. However, this eastern quarter of it was destroyed by Scythian Israel.

Finally Rome, the legs of iron, came on the scene and absorbed the other three quarters of Alexander's empire. It ran its allotted course, but its overthrow finally came at the hands of Yahweh's battle-axe and weapons of war.

Nearly all the people of migrating Israel were by now deep into Europe. Many of them were already in Germany and around the shores of the Baltic Sea. In the year 410 A.D., the Visigoths completed their conquest of Italy by the capture of the city of Rome. However, they held Italy only a few years, and then they moved out into France and northern Spain, where some of them settled permanently.

However, the other half of the powerful nation of the Goths, and the Ostrogoths, were yet to play their part against Rome. In 493 A.D., the Ostrogoths conquered all of Italy, including Rome itself, and set up an Ostrogothic kingdom there. While this lasted as an independent kingdom only until 552 A.D., it still marked the end of the glory that was Rome. Yahweh's battle-axe and weapons of war had destroyed the last of the Babylonian succession of empires.

From that time on, we are in the period of European history. We know how these people developed into the greatest nations, which made modern history they are indeed modern history. The Bible gives scant attention to the old lands in western Asia, other than the prophecies concerning Yahshua, and their fulfillment. The reason for this lack of attention to the old lands is that Yahweh's people Israel, no longer lived there. The Arabian empire receives doubtful mention in an obscure passage in the book of Revelation. There is clear mention in only one other verse. The Turkish Empire is ignored, for it had no effect upon Israel.

The Israel nations in Europe were Yahweh's battle-axe and weapons of war they expanded in all directions. They conquered and ruled India; they shattered and destroyed the Turkish Empire when the times of the nations expired in 1917. Russia was forced back into Asia in the Crimea war. China was conquered and compelled to open its ports to trade freely with the world. An Israel nation smashed the great Japanese empire.

True, Christian Israel's wars have been costly. Because we have not obeyed Yahweh, we have won our victories at a fearful price. By allowing the Jews to live among us to become wealthy and powerful, we have allowed them to set the nations of Christian Israel fighting among themselves. Nevertheless, Yahweh's prophecies are unconditional; history has proven this to be true.