Although perhaps most professing Christians are aware that the people of Israel are featured in the “Old Testament” of the Bible, many are not familiar enough with the Scriptures to understand that the terms “Israel” or “Israelite” are not necessarily synonymous with the “Jews.” The patriarch Jacob, whose name God changed to Israel (Genesis 32:28), had twelve sons. The progeny of each of his twelve sons eventually became one of the twelve tribes of Israel (Genesis 49:28; Exodus 24:4).
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Mankind’s Last Best Hope
In his “Second Annual Message” to Congress of December 1, 1862 President Abraham Lincoln proposed a plan for amendments to the Constitution to end slavery in the United States, with concessions he hoped would bring an end to the Civil War and reconcile the rebel states to the Union. In September of 1862 Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation, as an executive order which changed the legal status of enslaved persons in states in rebellion against the United States as of January 1, 1863, giving any enslaved persons in those states the status of free men or women under United States law. The Emancipation Proclamation applied only to slaves living in the rebel states, or serving in any segment of the executive branch of the U.S. government. However, it encouraged or required six states to abolish slavery during the war, including three Confederate states which had largely come under control of the Union army, and three Union border states. It also freed slaves living in other rebel areas which had been occupied by the Union. The plan for the Constitutional amendments proposed in 1862 was never acted on.
The plan was different from the thirteenth Constitutional amendment Lincoln championed in 1864-65 to permanently and immediately end slavery in the United States. By late 1864 the defeat of the Confederacy by Union forces was eminent, negating any rationale for concessions in the ending of slavery for political reasons. The thirteenth amendment was passed by Congress in January 1865, about two and a half months before General Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, which effectively ended the Civil War. The thirteenth amendment had been ratified by a sufficient number of states to become law by December 6, 1865.
In his “Second Annual Message,” early in the Civil War, when things weren’t going so well for the Union army (cf. Battle Cry of Freedom, James M. McPherson, pp. 560-561), Lincoln described the United States as “the last, best hope of earth.” William Lee Miller, a professor of ethics, who has taught at several universities, in his book “Lincoln’s Virtues,” states the following concerning the phrase “the last, best hope of earth”:
Covenant and Promise
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Rod Reynolds discusses promises God made to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. These promises included physical blessings to specific peoples, or nations. Understanding how these promises have been and are being fulfilled in these latter days is an important key to understanding Bible prophecy in our age. Learn what they are and how they may affect you!
“Rod Reynolds – Covenant and Promise” by COGMessenger is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. 
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