Biblically, the world is divided into two categories of people: Israelites (God’s people–saints) and Gentiles (Satan’s people–heathen). In Isaiah 42:6 and 49:6 God commissioned the nation of Israel (Heb.–“power with God”) to be His light to the Gentile world. But before their call to serve the Lord, Israel, in accordance fulfillment of ancient prophecy, would be many generations in a foreign land, much of that time as slaves. That prophecy concerning Israel took place and continued until it was time for the nation to be delivered after living over 400 years in a foreign land where they were subjected to slavery and servitude.

Using Moses as His on-sight leader, God delivered the ancient Israelites out of the hand of their Egyptian masters. The story of the prophet’s efforts and God’s miraculous works among the Egyptians are well known so we do not need to delve into that historical era at this point. After several miracles and much damage to their masters, the children of Israel were allowed to leave what was at that time the most powerful nation on earth. At last, after many generations, the descendants of Abraham were free. They departed with much more than they had arrived with because the Egyptians, now fearful of Israel’s God, had willingly given them much gold and other types of valuable items before they departed the nation.

Approximately two weeks later, after watching the Lord perform several miracles on their behalf, the Israelites, along with “a mixed multitude” of Gentile ex-slaves (Exo. 12:38), arrived at Mt. Sinai where the Lord offered to make a covenant with them. If they would obey His Ten Commandment Law they would be His people and would reap numerous rewards for having obeyed Him. Having heard the voice of God as He delivered His rules of life to them the people declared in unison: “All that the Lord hath spoken we will do.” After writing His Ten Commandment Law on two stone tablets, He had Moses construct an ark in which to keep them. In order to fulfill their part of the covenant the Israelites needed only to obey God’s strict covenant rules, which they had pledged to do.

However, they failed to do what they had verbally promised to do. Before they arrived at the border of the land God had promised to Abraham’s descendants, the people had already begun to look inward and not upward for spiritual leadership. When they refused to enter the Promised Land, God made them wander throughout the Sinai Desert for the next 40 years while He killed off the older generation.

Following the death of the guilty generation their children came in line to be Israel’s leaders. Led by Joshua, Moses’ successor, Israel crossed the Jordan River on dry land, defeated the city of Jericho and settled into the Promised Land where, under Joshua’s strict leadership, they began living the lives God had promised their ancestors. As long as Joshua lived the people prospered and grew as a nation.

However, with the death of Joshua the Israelites lost their passion for serving God and obeying His high moral standards. As a result they began to associate on a social level with their heathen neighbors and eventually began to not only intermarry with them, but to worship and serve their gods. Their spiritual downfall soon followed as the nation divided, deteriorated and suffered the results of her apostasy (all away from the Lord).

Over the following generations the nation would suffer through alternate highs and lows as the people would obey the Lord for a while, then move away from Him. This became a predictable routine as the people would fall to a point so low that they would cry out to God Who would raise up a leader who would lead them back to obeying His Ten Commandment Law. They would obey the Lord until the people would tire of doing so, fall away from Him, be defeated and enslaved, etc. Then they would cry out to God and the cycle would repeat itself. This practice went on for many generations until God’s patience came to an end, causing Him to send the Assyrians and Babylonians against them. Over time they were defeated, enslaved and scattered throughout the world.

The Almighty had raised up Israel to be His “light to the Gentiles” who, seeing their light, would come to it, embrace Him and become spiritual Israelites by obeying His Law. That never happened. As a result God’s light eventually went out and spiritual darkness enveloped the entire world. But He has always had a remnant–a tiny group of true believers who continued to obey Him in spite of the darkness that surrounded them. That remnant continues to bear His light today in a world as dark as it had ever been.

Eventually the Lord sent part of His remnant to a recently discovered “New World” where they would become the United States of America. This nation, like her spiritual and biological ancestors, was designed to be the Lord’s “light to the Gentile world.” Following a promising beginning, “New Israel” gradually began to take on the spiritual characteristics of her Israelite ancestors. Both individually and nationally she began to move away from her God and founder. As a result, the “One Nation Under God” began to abandon the ideals of her human founders who had answered God’s call to be His light to which the world’s Gentiles would be drawn.

America’s founding fathers understood that America was created to be the source of spiritual light to the rest of the world. Two hundred and fifty years ago they set out to create a nation that, as Abraham Lincoln said, was “… conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men were created equal.” America’s creation was an experiment that had never been tried before. The founders’ goal was to create a nation of the people, for the people and ruled by the people–UNDER GOD’S TEN COMMANDMENT LAW. She was not created to be ruled by the rich and powerful who, throughout the world at that time, ruled all other nations of the world. The European hierarchy did not believe that a nation ruled by the common man could exist. They were certain that America would eventually turn to anarchy and die. Were they right? Has the grand experiment in human self-rule under God’s direction worked? L.J.