Self-test questions:
Israel—the only theocracy ordained by God
Part I, Section I, Chapter 7 of God Betrayed

Give as many Bible verses (where appropriate), comments, and explanations as you can to support your answers. Click here to review “Israel—The Only Theocracy Ordained by God.”

1. What nation was called out by God for Himself?
2. What are nations other than Israel called in the Bible?
3. Under what covenant did God lay out the original plan for nations?
4. What was the only nation which was not to proceed under that plan?
5. Who was called out by God and obtained a promise of God?
6. Where did Abraham sojourn?
7. Why did God institute what is called by some the Dispensation of Promise?
8. To whom were the promises of God made?
9. Can the law, given 430 years after the promises, disannul the promises given in the covenant of God with Abraham?
10. How did God give Abraham the inheritance, by law or by promise?
11. Why was the law added?
12. Until when was the law to be in effect?
13. Who ordained the law?
14. Is the law against the promises of God?
15. Could a law have been given which could have given life?
16. Who are under sin?
17. Why has the Scripture concluded all under sin?
18. When God made promise to Abraham, by whom did He swear and why?
19. To whom did God say, “Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee?”
20. Who obtained the promise after he had patiently endured?
21. What did God promise Abraham?
22. What followed after the Jewish patriarchs failed in the responsibilities God gave them?
23. What had been their responsibilities?
24. Who provided all material and spiritual resources requisite to inspire the Jewish patriarchs to do their responsibilities?
25. Who led the children of Israel to Egypt? Who delivered them?
26. When did God gave Israel the Mosaic law?
27. After God gave Israel the Mosaic law, upon what 5 things did God deal with Israel?
28. What was this new way of dealing with man (by the law) called by some?
29. Did the law disannul the promise?
30. Galatians 3 distinguishes between what 2 things?

“For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise” (Ga. 3.10-18).

31 What period did the Mosaic Law cover?

32. Were the Jews responsible for keeping the whole law under the Mosaic Covenant?

“For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (Ja. 2.10).

33. Did they succeed in their responsibility?

“Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God” (Ro. 10.1-3).

34. What was the result of the failure of Judah and Israel to keep the law?
35. When were the Jews scattered over the entire world?

Jesus lamented, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Mt. 23.37-39).

36. How has God dealt with Israel during their many periods of declension and backsliding?
37. Did the law abrogate the promises of a glorious future for Israel? By what is the future of Israel guaranteed?
38. Was the law a means of justification or condemnation?
39. What was the external moral restrainer for Israel?
40. The law was a schoolmaster whose ultimate purpose was what?
41. How is a person justified?
42. After faith is come, is one still under a schoolmaster (the law)?
43. When Israel went into the Promised Land, under what covenant did she operate? Under what covenant did all other nations (the Gentile nations) continue?
44. What are the seven parts to the Palestinian Covenant?
45. Has Israel ever taken or possessed the whole land given her by God under the unconditional Abrahamic Covenant?
46. How was Israel originally set up? Under whom was she set up and for what purposes?
47. How many theocracies have ever existed?
48. To whom did God speak directly in the theocracy?
49. Does God speak directly to Gentile nations?
50. How does God speak to Gentile nations?
51. Does God force Gentile nations to operate under His principles as laid down in the Bible or does He give them a choice?
52. What institutions did God establish to be directly under God and His principles only
53. Is the church a state? Therefore, is the church a theocracy?

The word “theocracy” comes from two Greek words, theos meaning God and kratos meaning ruler. “Theocracy” means:

“Government of a state by the immediate direction of God; or the state thus governed. Of this species the Israelites furnish an illustrious example. The theocracy lasted till the time of Saul” (AMERICAN DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, NOAH WEBSTER (1828), definition of “THEOCRACY.”).

54. What did God promise Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their seed?
55. To what nation do The Gentile nations look as God’s chosen nation?
56. Although Gentile nations were not directly under the leadership of God, what was their responsibility under God? Were there to be consequences for Gentile nations which do not uphold their God-given responsibilities?
57. What was the responsibility of Israel’s government, working in conjunction with the Jewish religious leaders, as to enforcement of the Ten Commandments, as well as all of God’s moral law?
58. Under what plan do Gentile nations proceed?

59.What is the highest function of Gentile nations, from which all other governmental powers may be implied?

60. For what specific purposes was Israel called by God?
61. What nation is the key to everything regarding the nations of this world.
62. True of false [only one false statement renders the entire statement false. If your answer is false, please indicate which statement(s) are false and explain]:

“Over and over, Israel was ordained to be a theocracy under the direct rule of God, through His judges. God was directly over the state. This type civil government was unique to Israel. We see how this type of civil government was applied by Israel in the book of Judges. Over and over again, especially in Deuteronomy, the Jews were told to follow God’s law, to keep his commandments and statutes. ‘These are the statutes and judgments, which ye shall observe to do in the land, which the LORD God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it, all the days that ye live upon the earth’ (De. 12.1)…. God’s laws covered everything, including idolatry. As mentioned above, the Ten Commandments exemplified the law, and the whole of the Ten Commandments, including the first four, were to be enforced in the nation Israel.”

63. Did God give Israel free will?
64. Ultimately Israel rejected God’s plan under which God himself ruled over the nation of Israel and demanded a king like the Gentile nations. What is the first Scripture that records this rejection (Book and Chapter)?
65. Did God inform the people of the ill consequences of being ruled by a king?
66. In spite of God’s warning, did Israel still demand a king?
67. What were the reasons they gave for demanding a king?
68. Before the Israelites rejected God, how did Israel behave under God as explained in the book of Judges?
69. When kings started to rule, who dominated [kings, prophets, or priests]?
70. After the division of the nation into 2 nations, Judah and Israel, and before the captivities, how many good kings did Judah have? How many good kings did Israel have?
71. Why were Judah and Israel eventually taken into captivity?
72. Whom did God send to warn the kings of both Israel and Judah to cast down their idols and return to the ways of the Lord and to proclaim the consequences that would surely come if they did not do so?
73. Generally speaking, did the kings heed the warnings of those prophets?
74. What ultimately happened to Israel and Judah because of their rebellion against God?
75. What was the result of the Jewish rejection of Christ?
76. Why did God institute the Dispensation of Grace?
77. Under the Dispensation of Grace, what are the things God uses to govern people?
78. Is the law a ruling factor for the believer during the dispensation of grace?

“Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator…. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster” (Ga. 3.19, 23-25).

“For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace” (Ro. 6.14).

“And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law” (1 Co. 9.20).

79. Grace as a ruling factor for the believer consists of what two things?

First:

“For I delight in the law of God after the inward man” (Ro. 7.22).

“Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.  But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious” (2 Co. 3.3-11).

“For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:  And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more” (He. 8.8-12).

Second:

“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Co. 6.19-20).

80. Do the majority of Jews and Gentiles accept the gift of righteousness offered by God in the Dispensation of Grace?
81. Does organized Christendom fulfill its mission given it by God in the New Testament—does it “fulfill the Great Commission, maintain a pure membership, discipline unruly members, prevent false teaching from existing within it, and contend earnestly for the true faith”

82, As a result, what will follow (i.e., will  man fail again and will judgment follow?)?

END