FIRESIDE #1b: Moses’ Covenant
Moses knew He wasn’t going to live forever. He had written the laws, ordinances and teachings for a whole new civilization, a whole new society. He put them in a box called the Ark of the Covenant. Then He built a temple called a tabernacle. It was in the desert. It was a tent divided in two by a curtain. The sanctuary was on one side of the curtain and the Holy of Holies on the other. In front of entrance to the sanctuary was an altar on which they slew the animals. The blood from the animals was taken and spread on the walls of the sanctuary to purify it, because without the shedding of blood there was no forgiveness of sins. So they purified the temple with the blood of animals. Then the priests would pray for the forgiveness of the sins that had brought about the need for sacrifice. The people would bring the best of their flock: the best sheep or roosters, to be sacrificed to the One True God.
When Moses took the Israelites out of Egypt, the Egyptians were worshiping animals as gods. This practice was carrying over into the Israeli civilization. In order to stamp this out, Moses had the Israelis bring their best animals, which were their gods, to be sacrificed to the One True God. Thus when they put these animals on the altar and burned them, the smoke went up to the nostrils of the One True God. This was symbolic. The purpose of this was to stamp out animal worship and the triune god, and to establish the worship of the One True God.
Moses had erected this tabernacle according to God’s instructions. In the Holy of Holies, he placed a box. In the box (or Ark of the Covenant) he placed the laws. On top of the box he placed the Covenant. The Covenant was the most important thing because it is an agreement between God and man.
With each of the manifestations, God makes a Covenant with man. The Covenant is a two-way pact. God will do such-and-such if you do such-and-such. This brings about a civilization as the people obey the laws.
We need to know what the Covenant of Moses was. The study Moses’ Covenant will be a prelude to the study of Baha’u’llah’s Covenant.
Turn to Deuteronomy 28 in your Bible. The Covenant is in three parts. The first part deals with the blessing or the promise. The second part deals with the curse, and the third part deals with the reestablishment or the establishment of the Kingdom.
Start with 28:1:
“If you obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments which I command you this day, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the Earth.”
Here’s what God is going to do for them. He’s going to set them above all the nations of the earth. He says I’ll make you the richest, the greatest, the happiest, the most intellectual people in the world.
“And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. Blessed shall you be in the city and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your beasts, the increase of your cattle, and the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading-trough. Blessed shall you be when you go in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.”
In other words everything they do will be blessed. Read on.
“The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you; they shall come out against you one way, and flee before you seven ways. The Lord will command the blessing upon you in your barns, and in all that you undertake; and he will bless you in the land which the Lord your God gives you. The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, and he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and walk in his ways. And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of you. And the Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your ground, within the land, which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. The Lord will open to you his good treasury the heavens, to give the rain of your Land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands; and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. And the Lord will make you the head, and not the tail; and you shall tend upward only and not downward; if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day, being careful to do them, and if you do not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.”
This is the blessing. The main thing is not to go after other gods and serve them. Among some of the laws of Moses it said that although a man could have as many wives as he wanted, he couldn’t take a foreign wife. The reason for that was that foreign wives might beguile the man and get him to bow down before their gods. The word Israel means “people special unto God.” All the rest of the people believed in the triune god, and God was trying to keep the Israelites separate from this triune god heresy. Therefore He says don’t take a foreign wife. Here He says don’t go after foreign gods. He wanted them to worship the One True God and the One True God only — not to become Trinitarian. So if you do this, He says, Be special unto me, obey my commandments and keep my law, and in return I will make you the best people in the world, the greatest, the richest.
Then He goes on, and this goes on for page after page, and He tells them of the curse that will fall upon them if they don’t keep His laws. You can start in reading there, at Deut. 28:15:
“The Lord will send upon you curses, confusion, and frustration, in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly, on account of the evil of your doings, because you have forsaken me. The Lord will make the pestilence cleave to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take possession of it. The Lord will smite you with consumption, and with fever, inflammation, and fiery heat, and with drought, and with blasting and with mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish. And the heavens over your head shall be brass, and the earth under you shall be iron. The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust; from heaven it shall come down upon you until you are destroyed.
Now go on to verse 36:
“The Lord will bring you, and your king whom you set over you, to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known; and there you shall serve other gods, of wood and stone.”
He’s going to bring them into a nation that their fathers didn’t know. Their fathers came out of Egypt.
At the time of Solomon this promise of the blessing came to pass. They became the greatest people of the world. All the kings of the earth paid tribute unto Solomon. They were the richest people. They were the healthiest people. They were the most spiritual people. If someone wanted to give someone a compliment they’d say, “You must be an Israelite.” The Israelites were considered the highest of the people of the world. King Solomon had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. These wives came from the pagan nations around him. The kings paid tribute to Solomon, and the best way other kings could pay tribute was to send their daughters. Thus he had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. He had riches beyond compare. The streets were paved with gold. There was a fabulous civilization at the time of Solomon.
First Solomon built a temple on Mount Moriah for the Lord. The Lord was real happy with Solomon. He had taken the Ark of the Covenant out of Moses’ tabernacle, the tent, and had it put into this new temple of stone. A lot of workmen, labor and money were used in this. Since the purpose for man’s creation is to know God and worship Him, God was very happy with Solomon.
Solomon Breaks the Covenant and The Curse Begins
But then Solomon built five other temples around the Lord’ s temple, and these were temples to the pagan gods. In his old age, Solomon went into one of these temples that he had built for his wives from foreign countries and bowed down to one of the gods, to Ashtorath, who was Semiramis, the wife of Nimrod. God became very angry with Solomon. He said, “Solomon, you broke the Covenant. I told you not to bow down before, or to serve other gods. I told you not to do this because you were a special person unto me.” He says, Because of this, the curse is going to fall upon Israel. He says, I won’t do this ‘during your lifetime because you built me a temple and made me happy. But He says, When you die, ten of the nations will be taken from your son and successor, and given to someone else, and your son will only be left with two——Judah and Benjamin.
So when Solomon died, his son Rehoboam ruled over only two nations and Jeroboam rose and got the other ten. He separated them from temple worship and he separated the twelve tribes into ten tribes and two tribes.
Three hundred years later, in 721 B.C., King Shalmanezer the fifth conquered the ten tribes and took them into captivity in Assyria and Media. He removed them from their land. Then he replaced them with pagans. These tribes then became known as the ten lost tribes, as I explained to you. They later became converted to Zoroastrianism, then to Islam and so forth.
A hundred years after Shalmanezer the fifth had taken the ten tribes, Nebuchadnezzar, in 586 B. C, conquered the two tribes and took them into captivity in Babylon. Here they’re going into a “nation that their fathers didn’t know” (Deut. 28:36). Later they were taken into other countries, fulfilling prophecy. They were in Babylon for seven years and then they were allowed to go free because Babylon was conquered by Cyrus, a Zoroastrian Persian king. Cyrus allowed them to go back and rebuild their temple because he believed in the One True God. But they were still under the curse because they had violated the Covenant.
All the trouble in the world has come from the violation of the Covenant of God. Each manifestation makes a Covenant with the people, and when they violate it this brings about the trouble in the world.
Now read verse 45:
“All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you, till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded you.”
In other words there were all sorts of terrible things upon them because they broke the Covenant. Read Deut. 28:49:
“The Lord will, bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you do not understand.”
This is a prophecy that Israel is going to be taken over by the Romans. Pompeii, in 65 B. C., conquered Jerusalem for Rome. He had the flying eagle on the top of his flag. The Latin language was quite a bit different from their native language, so they had a hard time understanding that language’. Read Deut. 28:64:
“And the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other; arid there you shall, serve other go~, of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.”
This took place for the Jews in 70 A.D. when Titus conquered the Jews and Jerusalem. He cut them up into little pieces and. threw the remnant to the different nations as slaves. But the Israelites were still in captivity. Titus said no Jew was allowed to enter Jerusalem.
Then 150 years later, Adrian, another Roman Caesar made another ban so the Jews couldn’t enter Jerusalem. In 640 A.D. Omar conquered Jerusalem for Islam and made another ban. They had become a people without, their temple and city.
The Jews: Still Apostate
When they came out of Babylon in 457 B.C., they rebuilt the temple, but they had no ark of the Covenant and no high priest. Therefore they were still apostate. Without the Ark of the Covenant they knew they couldn’t reestablish the Covenant. They said, When the Messiah comes we will reestablish the Covenant. They crucified Jesus. They said He was of tribe of Judah, and only someone from the tribe of Levi could go in the temple. Jesus said His Covenant was for a temple not made by hands. He placed His Covenant there, and purified it with His own blood (Hebrews 9). Jews are still without a Covenant, and apostate.
The Mosque of Omar was built at the site of the Jewish’ temple, over its remains. Two hundred years after the Jews crucified their Messiah, their high priesthood came to an end. There was no pure’ blood from the line of Aaron, due to intermarrying. Jews by the name of “Cohen” are of the line of Aaron, but it’ S not pure.
They asked Master Dianne, What if the Jews should rebuild their temple? He said the Jews would never again be a captive people. He said the Jews would cause a holy war if they tore down the Mosque of Omar. They were digging under the mosque but had to stop because they were weakening its foundation. Also, if anyone found the Covenant, their presence would desecrate the Holy of Holies. He said maybe there would be an earthquake. Some Jews say the new Messiah will bring the Covenant, and some say they need the old Covenant. Even if they did get the Covenant, they have no high priest.
The Messiah would have to come first before they have the temple, high priest, and Covenant. The Jews know they are apostate. Now they have a democracy, armed to the teeth to fight off being a taken captive again, not knowing the reason they were chosen was because their Messiah did come and He has His democracy on Mount Cannel. There are two governments in Israel.
One is the government of the Jewish state, and other one is on Mount Cannel. The one on Mount Cannel is apostate. The Baha’is don’t have their Covenant and they don’t have their high priest.
Ezekiel saw the Bab as the sanctuary of the temple. Then he saw the Holy of Holies: Baha’u’llah. These are represented in the King’s and Queen’s chambers in the Great Pyramid.
Because the Jews murdered their Messiah they were scattered in 70 A.D. among the nations, until 1948 when they established the Jewish state. They were scattered all over the world. But the ten tribes of Israel were taken into Assyria and Iran by Shalmanezer, and became lost. The way they got lost was because they became Zoroastrian.
The Heirs to King David’s Throne Survive
Thus the kingship of David finally became the kingship of ‘the second Zoroastrian dynasty, the Sassanid dynasty. The last king of the Sassanid dynasty was Yazdigird. In 640 A.D. Oman -invaded Iran and destroyed everything Zoroastrian. He knocked -down temples, put out the eternal flame, killed off the priests, and Yazdigird was killed. When the Moslems went in there they thought the Zoroastrians were pagan because ‘Muhammad had given sanctuary to the Jews and Christians, but he said nothing about Zoroastrians.
Zoroatrian priests fled to the mountains and rocks. Sortie went up into the center of Iran to the city of Yaz, which is about 10,000 feet ‘above sea level, and reassembled the Avesta —— called the Zend-Avesta. So much was lost that they were unable to reestablish their sovereignty again. Some of them escaped across to Bombay in India. About 150,000 Zoroastrians now live in Bombay. They are very clean, spiritual people. This is the head of the beast that was wounded unto death (Rev. 13:14).
So the ten lost tribes became converted to Zoroastrianism, and the second dynasty of the Persian Zoroastrians, the Sassanid dynasty, was taken over by the Davidic kings, and that dynasty was conquered by the Moslems.
Thus in 300 B.C., Alexander and the Greeks conquered the Persians, and that Zoroastrian dynasty came to an end. Then in 200 B.C. the Parthians conquered the Greeks and they ruled for 400 years until 200 A.D. Then the Zoroastrians, headed by Sassanid, a Davidic king, conquered the Parthians, and they ruled for 400 years, until the invasion of Islam.
Baha’u’llah Reigns on the Throne of David and Regathers Israel
This is where Baha’u’llah’s ancestors came in. The ten lost tribes were in and around Iran. Baha’u~11ah’s ancestors had been taken into captivity in what is now Baghdad, which was ancient Babylon, and they migrated to Tehran. The Sassanid dynasty and throne ended up in Manzindaran, which is outside of Tehran.
Baha’u’llah’s father Mirza Buzburg was the king ‘of the province of Manzindaran, and the heir to the throne of the ancient Sassanid dynasty. Baha’u’llah was an earthly prince, and the richest man in Iran. He married a woman who was equally as wealthy, and that made Him by far the richest man in Iran. He gave it all up and went to prison.
Who were the ten lost tribes? After the Islamic invasion, the Zoroastrians became Islamic. They remained pure. They believed in the One God Jehovah, then in the One God Ormazd (also Ormuzd), and the One God Allah, which is ‘all the same God. Just like today when some Jews get converted to Christianity, they are still Jews by blood. Baha’u’llah’s family was still Jewish by blood. Baha’u’llah made His proclamation in Baghdad. The Babis in and around Tehran all became Baha’is. These were the ten lost tribes, and Baha’u’llah and his family were of the two tribes:
Judah and Benjamin. Therefore, 10 + 2 = 12.
Judah and Benjamin. Therefore, 10 + 2 = 12.
When Baha’u’llah went into captivity, seventy people were in His train with Him. These were his family. The Sultan sent Him elephants (Ho’dahs) and money and transportation to come to his court. He went a prisoner in royal honor, because they recognized that He was a king–the King of the Manzindaran dynasty. He was a king of kings, as talked about in Revelation (Rev. 17:14 & 19:16~. When He got to Constantinople, He wouldn’t go and see the Sultan–wouldn’t kiss his boot.
While He was in Constantinople He was at the crossroads of the empire. The’ throne of the Ottoman empire was in Constantinople, which ruled over Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, Lybia, Sudan, and Algeria. People were coming from all over the empire to the capital in Constantinople, and Baha’u’llah was teaching them and they were coming in by the multitudes. The clergy complained. They pressured the Sultan, so he exiled Him to Adrianople. While there, Baha’u’llah wrote to the kings of the world. He wrote to Napoleon, President Grant, Queen Victoria and the Kaiser, and He proclaimed that He was the One. A lot of them responded. The Czar of Russia recognized Him and got Him out of the dungeon in Tehran later.
In His teachings, Baha’u’llah talked about an International Tribunal, which is an intermediary government between the present government and the kingdom of God on earth. Baha’u’llah said to all these kings, “Proclaim me!” So the Czar wrote to all the kings of the world, and invited them to come to The Hague in Brussels, Holland. The Czar got them together and said let’s do this plan where we have a world court and when conflicts arise we will try the parties at the court, and if they persist in creating problems, wipe them out. They were so overjoyed that the Czar could think of such a great idea, that they eulogized him and he never proclaimed Baha’u’llah.
Baha’u’llah wrote to Napoleon at the height of his glory and told him He was of God, and he said, “If you’re God then I’m two Gods!”
Baha’u’llah wrote back and said, “For this you will die a prisoner in exile.” Nobody thought when Germany declared war on France, that Germany would win. Napoleon was taken a prisoner, defeated, his son was killed in the war in Africa, he caught syphilis and other diseases, and he died in misery.
Baha’u’llah wrote to queen Victoria and she wrote back and said, if you are of God you will prosper, and if not you will fail. Baha’u'llah wrote back and said, Because of these words you will become the greatest monarch in the world and the sun will never set on British soil. This was fulfilled shortly after that Britain had colonies in every part of the world: India, Africa and America. Victoria was the longest-reigning queen in history, and the most beloved.’
So the remnant of the ten lost tribes, who were pure-hearted Moslems and then Babis; and Baha’u’llah’s family, who were of the tribes of Benjamin and Judah, all went along with Baha’u’llah to exile in Constantinople and Adrianiople. When. Baha’u’llah was sent to Akka (also spelled Acca and Achor) as a prisoner, thousands of people from these ten and two tribes came to live in Israel. Thus Baha’u’llah regathered Israel.