The following is an edited version of the lecture given on September 4th, 2005 in the series entitled "In the Beginning." Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.  Genesis 1:16 The Jews: the Key to Reading the BibleSince the Jews rejected Jesus Christ, the gospel was passed over to the Gentiles, so now we are living in the age of the Church, the age in which the gospel movement has arisen. As we read the gospel in our day and age, we can see that we exist in this present world in an image of the moon whose mission it is to receive the strong light of the sun in order to have dominion over the darkness. The Bible says to “give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God” (1 Corinthians 10:32). In this world there are the Jews and the Greeks, but there is also a separate group of people who are referred to as the Church of God. When we read the Bible as members of this group, we can see clearly the course that we are to run in the future.When the apostle Paul was approaching the end of his life, he wrote, “I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:6-7). Such was the testimony of this great Christian as he looked back on his life in which, having received his mission from God - having received his mission from Jesus - he had run the course that was set before him without looking back. The moon reflects light into this world, this dark earth. As Jesus prayed for His disciples, He himself asked God that they may be one in order that the world might believe the Father and that the Father had sent Him (See John chapter 17). “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:11-13). As it says in this passage, first He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. After that, “as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” These words imply ‘whoever’; whoever receives Him and believes in His name. And so Jesus spoke these great words: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). When we read these words from the point of view of members of the Church, we can see that the role of the moon is just like the mission that we have received. We have been given the mission to live our lives spreading the gospel according to the will of the Lord of creation. We can know this for certain from the writings of the apostles. It is our duty, however, to examine this passage from the point of view of the Bible as a whole, and not just from our point of view as people living now in the age of the Church. This is because we may consider as precious the passages that apply to us personally and we may be well acquainted with the words that God has given to us personally, but we still need to find a certain key within the Bible. The key to the Bible lies with the Jews. Through the history of the nation of the Jews, through the course of events that the Jews have been through, we can see the way they have been living until now. Through the image that is thus presented to us, we come to understand many parts of the Bible, and we are able to distinguish clearly matters in the Bible that appear to be complicated. I would like to emphasize that the ability to do this comes when we understand precisely the nation of the Israelites. Even just about one hundred years ago, the existence of the Jews was a matter that did not concern the minds of most of the people in this world. Nevertheless, both the First and Second World Wars broke out as a result of matters related to the Jews. This is a fact that even historians cannot deny. Amongst the incidents that arose as a result of the Jews, there was the decision to completely wipe out the Jews, but at the same time, the work of spreading the gospel - centered on Europe and the United States - slacked off to a very great extent. But at the end of the Second World War, on 14th May, 1948, in the land that had once been Canaan, the Jews reestablished their nation that had disappeared for about 1880 years, calling it Israel. Ever since then, as the Jews have continued to settle there, they have gradually claimed back more and more of their land through incidents such as the Six Day War. Through our fellowship, we have been able to discover how the Jews came to return to their fatherland, how God has protected the Jews until now, how He established this nation, and the plan that God intends to carry out through the Jews at the end of the history of mankind - a plan that is hidden away in the pages of the Bible. Also, through the Bible we have examined not only the love of Jesus Christ which is spoken of in general Christian circles, but also the history of the Jews and the way they have lived within that history. Thus we are able to establish that the Bible is absolutely true, that the word of God is alive, and that His plan is alive, and it is on the basis of this that we have been proclaiming the gospel. Also this image of the nation of the Jews not only aids in spreading the gospel, but it has also been used as a tool to keep the gospel completely pure. The apostle Paul wrote in his letter to Timothy, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). However, many people in the spheres of those who claim to believe in Jesus - I don’t know whether they are born-again or not - have their thoughts centered on themselves, and they are members of some church, they attend their church, and they say that they are worshiping Jesus. As a result, they live their lives completely ignoring the significance of the Jews for us today. From time to time I watch the Christian channels that are broadcast on television. Many different pastors appear in these programs and they say many things, but if you listen carefully to what they say, you’ll find that not one of them brings up the subject of the Jews. Such people do not know precisely what it is that the Bible is saying to us. They do not know how God the Creator has been in control of the events of history so far, which point we have reached in the course of that history, or what situation we are living in. They behave in that way even though they do not know who they are right now.The Bible is not like that. We love the Old Testament. Through the words of the Old Testament, which the Jews also acknowledge as the word of God, we discover God, the Lord of Creation who came in the flesh. We can also see clearly how this God has been controlling the course of the history of the Jews, and how, in the course of that history of the Jews which God himself has been controlling, these words of life that we have come to read were given to this world.The religions of this world, however, completely ignore these words of God. An image of these religions is presented in the Bible in the form of a harlot seated above many waters some time in the future. Some kind of monstrous structure by the name of Babylon will appear on the scene. Let’s turn now to Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 35. Thus says the Lord, Who gives the sun for a light by day, The ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, Who disturbs the sea, And its waves roar (The Lord of hosts is His name): “If those ordinances depart From before Me, says the Lord, Then the seed of Israel shall also cease From being a nation before Me forever.” Thus says the Lord: “If heaven above can be measured, And the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel For all that they have done, says the Lord."  (Verse 35-37) If you look here in verse 36, it says, “If those ordinances depart from before Me", if these laws disappear "then the seed of Israel shall also depart from before Me forever.” In other words, the laws that govern the movements of all the stars and planets, these laws established by the God who created the heavens and the earth, the laws of God established by God who upholds all the powers that maintain the life that exists on this earth, as long as those laws remain, the nation of Israel, too, will by no wise disappear. God made this tremendous promise to the Israelites. We can know for certain that the interrelationships of the powers that God designed as He created the heavens and the earth are very closely related to the events in the history of Israel.As we examine the history of Israel through the Bible, we can see that the fate of Israel controls the fate of the world. We can also see clearly that the historical processes and events that take place within the nation by the name of Israel are in the hands of the God who created the heavens and the earth and follow the process of this creation right through to the day of rest. That is not to say that the history of Israel was predestined.  The history of Israel came about following Adam’s sin. At that time, reference was made to the Seed of the woman: “The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of your seed” (See Genesis 3:15). This woman is Israel; the nation that appears in the Old Testament in the image of a woman. Mary is also related to this matter, but the central figure to which the Bible is referring here is not Mary. Mary was simply a person who was used in order that this might be fulfilled. The Beginning of the History of IsraelLet’s think about how the history of Israel began. After Adam sinned, he was driven out to the land east of Eden. So the history of mankind began in that land east of Eden, and little by little the population increased. But by the time there was a huge number of people living on the earth, in God’s eyes the earth was full of sin. This is what it talks about in Genesis chapters 5 and 6. Following God’s command, Noah built an ark, and then all the waters above the firmament fell to the ground. After that, gradually the waters gathered together into one place once more, the dry land appeared, and Noah’s ark came to rest on Mount Ararat. As a result of this incident, God told Noah that from then on winter and summer and day and night would not cease. He also told him that from that time on, all the creatures of the earth were to be his for food. He said that the animals would be afraid of man. God granted to man the source of energy to be able to endure the cold and the heat. Before that time, man had lived in an environment similar to that of a greenhouse in that it was surrounded by the waters above the firmament and so man did not need so many calories. The Bible tells us that until that time man lived on the vegetation-fruit and vegetables. At the time of the flood, however, all the waters that had been above the firmament poured down to the ground within forty days. Also, the water that had been under the ground, the underground streams had also burst up to the surface like fountains. As the waters from above the firmament and below the ground covered the earth, all the creatures in which was the breath of life-except for the fish-were wiped out. Like those who will be protected during the tribulation, only Noah’s family and the creatures that were on board the ark survived.A huge volume of water suddenly fell to the earth at that time, and as it gradually receded, a change began to come over this earth. First of all, the center of mass shifted and the earth’s axis gradually began to tilt. In the process, the seasons of summer and winter began. If we read the Bible carefully, we find that after Noah’s flood, the lifespan of man began to grow shorter. This did not happen all of a sudden; it happened very gradually. The Bible tells us that, at the time of Peleg, the land was divided (See Genesis 10:25). As that huge volume of water had poured down on the earth, the dry land that had originally appeared disappeared from sight, but as the earth continued to turn on its axis, and that axis tilted, it was inevitable that the earth should loose its strength and break up. So as time passed, the land became divided into the continents that we have today, such as America and Australia. This is a fact that we cannot deny. If we take the east coast of the continent of America from New York down to Brazil and on, we find that it fits almost exactly along side the west coasts of Europe and A

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