“How does a nation that once knew God become a stranger to Him and even find itself at war against Him? How does it forget the godly foundations on which it was conceived? How does an individual who once knew God fall away from Him?

This week we will open up the pattern, the progression, the dynamics, and the transformation that changed ancient Israel from a nation that served God to one that warred against Him.”

- Jonathan Cahn, The Harbinger Companion

The Mystery Begins: ______ _____

Genesis 12:3 – (Abraham’s Call)

Exodus 19:6 – (The call to the people)

Luke 12:48b (referring to Exod. 20:1-17; Lev. 19:18; Lev. 26; Deut. 28
– the blessings and the curse)

The Ancient ________ (falling away)

(Israel’s kings either led the people to God or away from Him compromise!)

The _______ Kingdom
(Israel – the northern kingdom of 10 tribes;
Judah – the southern kingdom)

Excavations of Israel have uncovered objects connected to sorcery, fertility cults, demon exorcism, remains of infant skeletons in cemeteries around heathen altars, pointing to widespread infanticide (to the god Molech). Worship was “pornographic”, suggesting anything was permissible; promiscuity, murder, anything that guaranteed a good harvest. This worship ignored the highest values: love, loyalty, purity, peace and security.

The Calls, the ________, and the End -

God in His mercy sent the prophets Elijah, Elisha, Hosea, and Amos with messages calling for a “turning”. Rejecting calls for repentance, the Israelites persecuted them, branding them as enemies and apostates.

“For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of … Egypt … and they had feared other gods, and had walked in the statues of the nations whom the Lord had cast out from before the children of Israel … Yet the Lord (said) … by all of His prophets … ’Turn from your evil ways, and keep my commandments … which I commanded your fathers …’ Nevertheless they would not hear … they … became idolaters … And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil ... Therefore the Lord ... removed them (Israel) from His sight ... So Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria.” 2 Kings 17:7-23 [condensed]

The _____ of Israel’s Apostasy –
(similar to that of an individual)

1) Love and passion for God grew cold,
2) Other substitutes were brought in to fill the void,
3) Spiritual confusion transforms into outright enmity and war against God and His ways
4) That nation is no longer distinguishable from the surrounding nations.
5) God was driven out of its government, culture and national life. Good is called Bad and Bad is called Good.

The _____ of the Matter