Because of Moses' error in striking the rock twice and the faithlessness of the Israelites, the four hundred years slavery in Egypt became annulled, and the Israelites who entered Canaan would have to make indemnity for that period. Thus another four hundred years of struggle was required in Canaan to start a new dispensation.

When Joshua led his people into Canaan with the ark of the covenant, the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark, just as the waters of the Red Sea were divided before Moses and the Israelites.

Now Jerico was fortified both from inside and outside. As the Lord had commanded them, the armed men, led by Joshua, marched around the city with seven priests bearing seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark of the covenant. The people followed this procession for six days, and on the seventh day, the walls of Jerico fell.

After having slain over thirty kings, Joshua divided the land into the twelve tribes of Israel. As they did not destroy or drive out all the inhabitants of the land; the Israelites allowed the people .of Jerico to remain with them -- against God's command. (Numbers 33:35) By living with them, the Israelites often worshipped the gods of Canaanites, Baal and Ashera, and also often intermarried with the people of Jerico. In this way the Israelites united with Satan and thus suffered by the attacks from gentiles. During this period, God raised judges to rule them.

Samuel was the last of the judges, and he ruled the people according to God's will. However the people wanted to have a king to rule them. Hence Samuel anointed Saul and made him the first king of Israel. Saul displeased God by disobeying Him several times, and his reign ended in forty years. (I Sam. 8)

The four hundred year period of the judges was the term which made indemnity for the four hundred years of slavery in Egypt. The forty year reign of King Saul was the term which should have made indemnity for the forty years in the wilderness. However, God's dispensation with Saul could not be accomplished, and it was extended to King David. After having conquered all the enemies, David wanted to build a house for God. (II Sam.) However since he had shed so much of man's blood, God would not allow David to build a house to Him although David completely followed the Lord. After the forty year reign of David, Solomon, his son, succeeded to the throne and he built a temple for God as well as a palace for himself. God gave him wisdom, wealth, and peace for his nation, and his reign was remembered as a golden age throughout the history of Israel. King Solomon also reigned for forty years.

In the four hundred and eightieth year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt; and in the fortieth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, he began to build the temple o f God. (I Kings 6:1) The four hundred and eighty years is the total of forty years in the wilderness, four hundred years of judges, and forty years in the wilderness, four hundred years of judges, and forty years of the United Kingdom. The hundred and twenty year reign of the three kings, Saul, David, and Solomon is regarded as the same as one forty year reign from the standpoint of God's dispensation, since it was the extension of the forty year dispensation, and the three kings accomplished but one thing, erecting the Temple. God had told Moses to build a tabernacle in Canaan. Unfulfilled in the period of judges, it passed to King Saul. Because of Saul's disobedience however, the ideal of a temple was extended to David and later to Solomon, just as the foundation of the providence of restoration was to have been laid by Noah, and because of his failure it was ex -tended to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob who fulfilled it.

To erect the Temple of God by a king of the chosen nation indicated that the Messiah would fulfill the ideal by coming as the reality of the Temple. He would establish the kingdom of God and reign over it as the King of kings. King Saul represents the first Adam, who was to be the first king, and Saul's failure may be compared to Adam's fall. King David may correspond to Jesus. Hence Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would come on the throne of David as the prince of peace. (Isaiah 9) The angel Gabriel also said to Mary, "the Lord God will give t o him the throne of his father David." (Luke 1:33) David began his rule at the age of thirty, and Jesus started his public ministry as the Messiah at the age of thirty. David was not allowed to erect the Temple though he had desired to do it, and Jesus could not establish the kingdom of God physically as well as spiritually though he too had desired to do it.

The Lord of Second Advert will come as the King of kings with the glory and power of King Solomon. Had the Jews received the Messiah with complete faith, Jesus could have accomplished the two roles of David and Solomon.

The Temple of Solomon was modeled after the tabernacle of Moses, who had received a vision of the tabernacle while he fasted and prayed in order to receive the Ten Commandments. Moses' tabernacle was a symbol, and Solomon's Temple was the image of Jesus who was the reality of the Temple. Therefore Jesus compared his body to the Temple. (John 2:18)

The Temple had two sections, the Most Holy Place and the Holy Place. God was present in the Most Holy Place, and this section symbolized the spiritual man of Jesus, while the Holy Place was equivalent to his physical body. At the same time, the Most Holy Place symbolized heaven and the Holy Place, earth.

Hence the Temple was the symbol of Jesus a perfect man in whom heaven and earth were harmoniously embodied. The ark of the covenant was in the Most Holy Place and the mercy seat was over it with, two cherubim of gold with extended wings above, over shadowing the mercy seat, facing one another toward the mercy seat. In the ark, there were the two tablets of stone. God was present in the Most Holy Place and spoke to the high priest for the people of Israel. (Exodus 2:20)

The ark of the covenant was the symbol of the dispensation that Jesus was going to accomplish. The two tablets of stone in the ark symbolized the restored Adam and Eve, namely Jesus and the Holy Spirit. As one receives Jesus, the Incarnation of the Word, as the Messiah, a mercy seat is formed in him and God is present on it. Therefore anyone who is united with Jesus, the reality of the Temple, becomes another temple. i.e., God's indwelling. Hence Jesus said that he was the head of the Temple and his disciples were the temples. Therefore to make the people the temples of God by drawing them to himself was the purpose of his coming, and the idea of erecting the Temple was to foreshadow the dispensation with Jesus.

The distinction between the Most Holy Place and the Holy Place was ultimately taken away, and finally the Temple itself was abolished. For Jesus, the reality of the Temple appeared, and the ideal of the Temple was fulfilled i n him; thus the Temple and the services in it ceased to have meaning and became unnecessary.

By erecting the Temple of Solomon, the Isrealites entered into a new dispensation; they were now required to become one with the Temple, so that they would later become one with Jesus. In spite of his great wisdom, Solomon's love of many foreign women caused him to turn his heart toward other gods; he burned incense and sacrificed to these gods, and so he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord -- he did not wholly follow the Lord. God was angry with Solomon and said "I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son." (I Kings 11:1-13) Thus the kingdom of Solomon was divided into Israel, the Northern Kingdom, and Judah, the Southern Kingdom. Jeroboam, a servant of Solomon , reigned over Israel, which was composed of ten tribes. Rehoboam, a son of Solomon reigned over Judah which was composed of two tribes.

The Northern Kingdom lasted for two hundred and sixty years, and during this period nineteen kings reigned and the royal family was changed nine times. None of the kings reigned as God commanded. The kings and the people of the Northern Kingdom worshipped idols and turned away from God.

The Southern Kingdom lasted three hundred and ninety four years, during this period twenty kings reigned, and most of them were good in the eyes of the Lord.

For the separation of good and evil within Adam, God had Cain and Abel divided; and again for the separation of Satan's attachment from Isaac, God had Esau and Jacob divided. Similarly, since King Solomon united with Satan, God had his kingdom divided into two also, the Northern kingdom was in Cain's position and the Southern Kingdom was in Abel's position. Therefore the Northern Kingdom eventually had to come under the Southern Kingdom, so that the relation of Esau and Jacob might be established between them.

God then sent a number of prophets from Judah, the Southern Kingdom, in order to urge the repentance of the people in Israel, the Northern Kingdom. One prophet showed King Jeroboam the altar torn down. (I Kings 13) Prophet Elijah had fire fall from heaven and consume the burnt offerings, the altar, and then kill eight hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and yet King Ahab and his wife Jezebel sought Elijah to kill him. (I Kings 18:20) In addition, Elijah, Jonah, Hosea, and Amos went to the Northern Kingdom and urged the people to repent, sometimes through the love of God and sometimes through the justice of God. But the entire nation, from the ruler to common people, forsook all the commandments of God. They made molten calves and Asherah, worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. They also burnt their sons and daughters as offerings, used divination and sorcery, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of God. (II Kings 17:17-23) God was very angry with Israel the Northern Kingdom and removed the people from His sight. The Northern Kingdom should have taken the same position toward the Southern Kingdom as Esau, who had united with Jacob in love.

Judah, the Southern Kingdom, also had not kept the commandments of God, but instead, had walked in the customs which the Northern Kingdom had introduced. The Southern Kingdom should have taken the position o f Jacob, who had restored the birthright; instead, they took the position of Abel who had been slain by Cain. Thus both kingdoms united with Satan, and therefore failed in the fulfillment of the ideal of the Temple. Thus the Northern Kingdom was invaded by the Assyrians and destroyed in 721 BC, and the Southern Kingdom was invaded by the Babylonians in 597 BC. King Jehoakim, all the nobles, all the renowned warriors, all the craftsmen, all the smiths, plus ten thousand citizens were captured and taken to Babylon, and the Temple was looted. I n 586 BC King Zedekiah was forced to witness the execution of his sons and then his own eyes were put out. The Babylonians systematically looted, burned, and destroyed all the buildings in the city including the Temple, whose Ark was never heard of again. All the inhabitants of Jerusalem, except Jeremiah and a handful of the most poor and lowly citizens were taken away.

Thus God's dispensation with Solomon's Temple was frustrated and the Temple was destroyed. Consequently the people of Judah and Israel had to suffer as captives in Babylon, even as the Hebrews suffered in Egypt because of Abraham's failure.

In 538 BC Cyrus the Great of Persia took Babylon, and made it the capital of his new Empire. Cyrus gave the Jews permission to return to Jerusalem and thus the prophesy of Habakkuk and Jererniah was fulfilled. (Hab. 1:6-11; 2:8; Jer. 50:1-20) Cyrus issued a decree giving them a privileged status; he not only restored to them the Temple vessels carried away by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC, but even made funds available for the expedition. The Jews had been deported three times and now they returned three times in one hundred and forty years.

Upon arrival at Jerusalem, the first act of the returning exiles was to erect an altar on the site of the ruined Temple and begin regular, morning and evening sacrifices. However for fifteen years the rebuilding of the Temple itself was not begun. Then, at the urging of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, the rebuilding was begun. For over a century the city of Jerusalem remained in ruin until finally Nehemiah and Ezra returned and forced the repair work to its completion.

With Nehemiah's help, Ezra, the scribe summoned the Jews before the Water Gate. Here the assembly heard read to them a book of the Law, and solemnly bound themselves by oath to observe its provisions. A new theocratic state was inaugurated, with power vested in the priests, primary stress was on the first fruits, tithing, sacrifices, and fixed festivals. In other words, the Jews of Ezra's time' established Judaism centered around the Temple. Thus they restored the same position as Solomon had when his people erected the Temple.

Four hundred years of Divided Kingdoms, seventy years of exile in Babylon, and one hundred and forty years of the returning period, make a total of six hundred and ten years which elapsed because of King Solomon's corruption, and accordingly the fulfillment of the, ideal of the Temple was delayed that long.

The Jews had come to the last stage of trial preceding the great day of hope and glory -- the coming of the Messiah. In order to have this great day, they had to make a total indemnity for the entire past history by separating themselves from Satan for the next four hundred years. At the same time, these four hundred years of trial were somewhat similar to the four hundred years period of slavery in Egypt preceding the arrival of Moses, the tribal deliverer. To send a universal savior, the Messiah, God wanted his people to prepare their hearts and so He sent the last prophet Malachi. He described the day of the Messiah and said,

For behold, the day comes, the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch ... Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse. (Malachi 4:1-6)

Malachi prophesied the returning of Elijah as the forerunner of the Messiah. With the hope of seeing the Day of the Messiah the people now had to overcome the struggle with Satan in this period of trial. During these years, the Jewish theocracy came under several controls: from 397 to 333 BC, it was under Persia, from 333 to 320 BC it was under Greece, from 320 to 200 BC it was under Egypt, and from 200 to 165 B C it was under Syria. From 165 to 163 BC the Jews had obtained independence under the leadership of the Maccabees, then finally they came under the control of the Roman Empire.

From the coming of the Romans to the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the Messianic expectation increased its hold on thousands of suffering Jews. Deep in their hearts was the feeling that, if God cared at all for His chosen people, He would act soon. The ardent hope of a supernatural deliverance from their unmerited suffering grew by an increasing flood of apocalyptic literature. Most of it followed the pattern of Daniel.

The central belief was that the Divine intervention would bring about a radical change in the world order. Through His Messiah, God was going to gather together "His own," both living and dead, and live with them in blessedness forever. That necessitated first the "end of the age," as some held, or the end of the world, as others believed. The "end" would be foretokened by certain last evils -- wars and rumors of wars, distress, fear, famine, plagues, and the rise to power of even more wicked rulers on the earth. The discerning would recognize in them the "signs of the end." At the last moment, with the sounding of "the last trumpet", the Messiah would appear in the clouds, with all the heavenly angels around him; he would be a supernatural personage, someone "like a man," and to be called the Son of Man, but bearing as well other titles, such as the Christ, the Elect One, the Son of David, the Lord's Anointed, the Righteous Judge, the Prince of Peace., and the like. At his appearing the righteous on earth would be caught up to him in the air and the dead would rise from their graves.

The older views held that only the justified Jews would join the Messiah, but later expectations offered hope to the righteous Gentiles that they also would be among the redeemed; all human souls, good and bad, would be summoned to a Last Judgment. Before the Messiah's seat, they would be separated into the redeemed and the lost. The bad would be sent away into everlasting hell fire, and the good would enter a state of blessedness with their Lord and King.

This state of blessedness was variously conceived. Some writers thought it would be enjoyed on earth in a restored Garden of Eden, an earthly paradise; others placed it in one of the lower heavens. Some combined the divergent conceptions, picturing an earthly paradise centered in a New Jerusalem to be inhabited by the Messiah and his chosen ones for a millennial period before the Last Judgment, and a heavenly paradise to be occupied by the redeemed after the last judgment.

So great was the distress of devout Jews in the period we are describing, and yet so high their faith, that the near fulfillment of these dreams seemed completely reasonable; in fact, the world would not have seemed rational otherwise.

But not all the Jews believed alike about these matters.

The Temptation in the Wilderness:

According to the prophet Malachi, Elijah would come first before the Messiah appeared Why was Elijah's return necessary? He had defeated Satan by killing eight hundred and fifty prophets of Baal in order to prepare the way of the Messiah. After he died, however, the Israelites fell into faithlessness and again united with Satan in spite of the nearness of the coming of the Messiah. Hence God foretold that He would send Elijah again to separate the people from Satan and make straight the way of the Messiah.

According to the testimony of Jesus the expected Elijah was John the Baptist. (Matt. 11:14; 17:13) Therefore the mission of John was the same as that of Elijah, that is, to drive Satan out of Israel and make straight the way of the Messiah. Thus John should have laid the direct foundation for the Messiah by turning the people to the Messiah as he appeared to the public. In other words, the forty days foundation of the separation of Satan should have been laid by John. God had explicitly shown him the evidence that Jesus was the One. John, however, denied that he was Elijah, and did not testify of Jesus ardently enough so that the whole nation might turn to Jesus.

Hence Jesus had to battle with Satan and lay the foundation himself. Because of the faithlessness of both John and the people, Jesus, the Son of God, had to suffer forty days conflict in the wilderness -- fasting and praying.

Satan tempted Jesus with the most significant matters which were essential to his purpose of coming. If Jesus could not have prevailed over Satan in this temptation, his entire mission would have been frustrated. Satan could stand as a tempter against Jesus, because Satan had found a condition of faithlessness and disobedience in John the Baptist and the people.

The first temptation was to have Jesus make bread with stones. "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." During his fast, Jesus was very hungry. When the people of Israel were hungry in the wilderness, they fell into faithlessness, caused Moses to destroy the tablets of stone and to strike the rock twice. Thus, symbolically, the rock was taken by Satan. The rock was a symbol of Christ, and therefore symbolically Jesus was in Satan's hand. If Jesus had followed the faithlessness of the forefathers of Israel because of his great hunger, Satan could have taken Jesus substantially too.

Jesus defeated Satan by saying "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." The most important matter for Jesus was the Word of God and not the bread; Jesus had to restore himself, the reality of the Divine Word. By his dynamic statement, Jesus overcame Satan, and restored to himself that which had been lost symbolically by Moses.

The second temptation was to tell Jesus to throw himself from the pinnacle of the Temple. Jesus was the reality and substance of the Temple, and the purpose of his coming was to make all people God's temples, i.e., God's indwellings. Having known this, Satan set Jesus on the pinnacle of the Temple and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down." To throw himself would have meant to throw away his position as the head of the Temple, and become one of the fallen men so that Satan could occupy the position of the Lord of the Temple. Jesus again defeated Satan by saying, "You shall not tempt the Lord your God." Having overcome the first temptation, Jesus was the sole Lord in the world of the Divine Principles whom Satan could not tempt any longer. By his victory over Satan in the second temptation. Jesus made it possible for all men to become God's temples and thus to take the position of the brides of Jesus. Through this victory, Jesus laid a foundation for all men to restore brides, accordingly the children of God.

The third temptation was to fall down and worship Satan. Because of the Fall, Adam had lost lordship over all creation and Satan became the Lord over all creation. Jesus came in order to take back the Lordship from Satan. (I Cor. 15:27) Since Satan knew the purpose of Jesus' coming, Satan took him to a very high mount, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, and said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." Satan wished Jesus to surrender to him as Adam did. Jesus defeated Satan a third time by saying; "You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve." This shows that there is only one Creator and Jesus was the only visible body, the manifestation of the Creator. Therefore Satan ought to have worshipped God, accordingly Jesus. In prevailing over Satan in the third temptation, Jesus laid a foundation for the restoration of the dominion over the whole creation.

Thus having prevailed over Satan, Jesus now laid the foundation of the forty days. Consequently he restored symbolically the foundation of the Four Positions; himself, the incarnation of the Divine Word, bride-hood or childhood of the people, and the dominion over all creation. The victory over these temptations were exceedingly significant for Jesus, since his purpose was to fulfill these three conditions. God's blessing for Adam and Eve and the Divine ideal of creation were: first, Adam and Eve were to become perfect, second, after their perfection they were to produce sinless children, and third, the perfect man and woman were to dominate the whole creation. Due to the Fall, these blessings could not be fulfilled with Adam and Eve. Hence Jesus, the second Adam had to make the condition of indemnity in order to restore in reality what had been lost by Adam.

Having stood on the forty day foundation of separating Satan, Jesus was fully prepared to start his ministry as the Messiah. Moreover he had chosen twelve disciples and seventy men with whom he was going to accomplish the dispensation of the universal restoration, just as Moses had had twelve tribes and seventy elders to work with him.

The rest of the work depended entirely upon the people; if they had received Jesus as the Messiah wholeheartedly, believed in all that he said and followed whatever he did, then Satan could not have had power over them, and Jesus could have fully exercised his power as the Messiah and fulfilled his mission.

The common people had listened to him and marveled at his work and followed after him in his early stage of public life. But the stubborn and arrogant priests, scribes, and Pharisees united with Satan and undermined the sayings and works of Jesus. Thus they alienated the people from Jesus. Satan expanded his foundation, and finally took Judas Iscariot, and thus invaded his disciples, his last moat. Satan had departed from Jesus after the temptation and now found an opportunity to stand against him through the leaders of Judaism, the faithless people, and Judas. "When the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time." (Luke 4:13)

Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen; but you do not receive out testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so must the Son of man be lifted up. (John 3:11)

Jesus could not speak to them about heavenly things, because they did not believe him. When the Israelites fell into faithlessness Moses had lifted up a bronze serpent in the wilderness. Comparably, since the Jews did not believe in Jesus no matter what he said or did, Jesus was doomed to be lifted up on the cross. Thus Satan already encroached upon the forty day foundation of Jesus, and his death by the hands of his enemy became inevitable. Jesus rebuked the people and their leaders and said, "You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires." (John 8:44) "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees", "blind guides!", "Hypocrites!" (Matt. 23:13). Jesus could not but rebuke them, since they were overthrowing by rejecting him the fulfillment of the providence of restoration for which God had been working with his loyal servants for ages.

However the ultimate purpose of sending Jesus was to take back all mankind and God wanted mankind to be His, even though it meant giving His only Son to Satan, because of the established conditions for Satan.

On the other hand, having known the significance of the coming of the Messiah, Satan wished more than anything else to dispose of the one man, Jesus, for by disposing of him, Satan could destroy God's entire dispensation of four thousand years. Though He was reluctant to do so, God allowed Satan to exercise all his power and Satan led the people to crucify Jesus. Thus Satan fulfilled all his demands and claims with Jesus.

Since Satan had exercised all his power by crucifying Jesus, a condition was now made for God to exercise His power over Jesus according to the law of indemnity. By exercising his power, Satan killed Jesus, but by exercising His power, God raised Jesus from death.

Hence the resurrection of Jesus was beyond Satan's interference and a realm completely separated from Satanic attachment. The cross of Jesus was the victory for Satan, but the resurrection was the victory for God by frustrating Satanic victory. In the resurrection, fulfilled on the victorious foundation of the cross; Satan could no longer find a condition to accuse or invade Jesus.

Because of the faithlessness of the Jews Jesus could not accomplish the providence of the universal restoration both spiritually and physically. But he now laid a foundation for spiritual restoration. Hereby whoever believes in him, will be able to achieve a spiritual salvation -- to be exalted as high as the Paradise; but first he has to suffer the conflicts with Satan in the physical world, since the body of Jesus was given to Satan. Therefore Jesus said to his disciples, "If any man would come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. "(Matt. 10:24)

The forty days foundation which Jesus had laid in the wilderness had been intruded by Satan and destroyed. In order to start a new dispensation of spiritual salvation, he had to lay another foundation on the number forty. Hence the risen Jesus did not ascend into heaven immediately but remained on earth with his disciples for forty days, exhorting them and making their faith firm. Because of this foundation of forty days, the descent of the Holy Spirit was possible. Since then, whoever unites with the risen Christ escapes the accusation of Satan spiritually, for he can stand on the same basis as Jesus.

Thus God could begin anew dispensation with the risen Christ and the Holy Spirit. The death of Jesus on the cross became the means of spiritual redemption for fallen mankind, in other words, believing in the risen Christ made the condition of indemnity for a believer to belong to Christ. Therefore the belief in the crucified and resurrected Jesus makes a diverging point between good and evil in God's sight -- or between the two sides, God and Satan. Furthermore Satan, who had been aggressive toward Jesus, could now only be on the defensive since the triumph of the cross, and Jesus became aggressive toward Satan.

As Jacob and Moses began their courses of returning to Canaan, through a three day term, Jesus also had to wait three days before he left the tomb to triumph over Satan. This was the reason that he was resurrected on the third day.

Thus Jesus has achieved the spiritual restoration of universal Canaan; Moses had only looked upon Canaan from a distance; and his successors, Joshua and Caleb actually entered and restored it. Jesus promised to come again in order to accomplish the unfinished mission, that is the physical restoration of Canaan.

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