It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it. (Luke 13:19 KJV)
The visible history of the God of Abraham begins with Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3) when God called Abram out of Haran to go to "a land that I will show thee". By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going (Hebrews 11:8 NIV). Although Abraham was rich, he was nothing compare with the great kingdoms of his day, like Egypt. If you were an observer at that time, you would never guessed that Egypt would be gone, and the descendents of Abraham would occupy the country.
Out of Abraham came the chosen people of Israel. For a time, the Israelites were slaves in Egypt and the God of Abraham seem very weak indeed. Then came Moses, Joshua and later David and Solomon. A temple was built to the God of Abraham. God's chosen people reached their zenith. But sin and disobedience cause the decline of Israel.
On 14th August (9th Av) 586 BC Jerusalem was destroyed and the Temple of God was burnt to ground. The God of Abraham had lost. Marduk (i.e. Baal), the chief god of Babylon had won. If you were an observer at that time, you will never guessed that the God of Abraham would be destroying every tribal god in the Middle East and eventually most of the gods in the world. Marduk himself would be destroyed within 70 years.
It was during this dark age that the God of Abraham announced through Daniel the prophet the blue print for the times of the Gentiles. Four gentile kingdoms will come before the God of Abraham establish His own Kingdom (Daniel 2:31-44). Pictured in Daniel as parts of a huge statue, these kingdoms would eventually be destroyed by the God of Abraham (Daniel 2:45).
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