How long shall men and women now living in the Global Village remain encumbered by the religious customs, ceremonies, rituals, myths, superstitions, and (too often) misguided teachings of their past and present religious childhood? The biblical literary journey now offered the reader with the publication of The Destiny of Israel and the Twilight of Christianity: In Quest of the Meaning and Significance of the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures guides the sons and daughters of the Global Village on a safari through the perplexing (but very relevant) territories of the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures. These holy scriptures of the ancient nation of Israel claim to encounter the One, True, Living God of humanity. Yahweh Elohim the Creator of man and his habitat has not left mankind in the dark. He has revealed Himself by providing an historical account of His relationship with the ancient nation of Israel which He created and generated out of ancient Egypt for this very purpose.

In these scriptures, mankind encounters the One, True, Living God responsible for his creation and destiny. Ancient Israel, no better or worse than any other ancient nation, was chosen to be Yahweh’s instrument by which He would instruct all men and women of all nations in His ways, His laws, and His character. Man has been created for freedom, the freedom of his Creator. Freedom, however, demands responsibility. Freedom demands the use and application of knowledge and wisdom. Freedom demands intelligent creativity. Freedom demands decisions and activities based upon truth, both relative and absolute truth. Freedom demands responsible pursuit and application of truth in man’s God-given endeavor to actualize his God-given potential.

According to the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures, man has been created in the image and likeness of God. This means each man and woman has been created to be a creator, to be intelligent, to be wise, to be just, to be an explorer and orderer of both his or her terrestrial habitat and his or her celestial habitat. The God revealed in the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures is the God guiding humanity as a corporate man in his journey to obtain his responsible, intelligent, and just adult potential. History does not end. Time does not end. Each man and woman does not end. Each man and woman is a continual journeyman continually exploring, creating, ordering the terrestrial as well as the celestial world in which each man and woman lives, continually developing his and her God-given potential either during this life or the life following. Through Jesus the Anointed One of Yahweh, the biological Only-Generated Son of God, man has been set free from his past mistakes (sins); his rebellious journey into the darkness of myth, superstition, and idolatry; his journey through childhood and adolescence. Mankind, as a result of the kingship of Jesus the Christ, is on the verge of entering into his adulthood. He has much to learn and much to discard if he is to free himself from injustice, dishonor, greed, hubris, pseudo-selfishness, and false pride.

Man must, in the Global Village of the 21st century, turn back to the truth; turn back to the belief in and commitment to the transcendent world of absolute truth; turn back to the One, True, Living God; turn back to His ways, His laws, His love in order to escape his foolish attempts to become his own god instead of becoming God-like, instead of attaining to the image and likeness of the One, True, Living God and Father of humanity. In the long run, each man and woman will achieve this goal. For God is the God of the living, not the dead; for God is the God of time, and there will be time enough for each man and woman to attain to the image and likeness of God. The One, True, Living God is the God of success. Mankind (both corporate and individual) will succeed in spite of his/their numerous failures and setbacks.

The Hebrew and Greek Scriptures tell the story of antediluvian man’s beginning; his exposure to the principle of death, his departure from truth into destructive evil policies and behavior; his watery judgment; and his survival through this judgment in the person of Noah (and his family). These scriptures continue the story of the generations of humanity by recording in an abbreviated form (micro-cryptically) the initial development of the nations and their devolution from (not evolution to) truth into the disqualified mind of mythopoeic myth, superstition, and idolatry. This period represented the initiation of man into the ancient world of the gods, worship of the transcendent through a distorted understanding of the elements of the world order: the sun, the moon, the stars, mountains, vegetation, animals, and hand-made idols representing the gods associated with these elements.

In spite of this failure of man to pursue truth through God’s revelation and man’s God-given intelligence, God did not abandon man. The biblical story continues to reveal the supervision of God in man’s journey toward his welfare achieved through the development of his God-given potential. This is the significance of the call of Abraham; the promises given him; and the creation/generation of the ancient nation of Israel, the only nation given a covenant relationship with God and given His statutes, judgments, instructions, and testimonies.

God’s accomplishments through Israel and Israel’s Messiah (Jesus the Christ, the Only-Generated Son of God) on behalf of humanity have been recorded in the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures. Consequently, an accurate and practical understanding of the knowledge conveyed in these writings is vital to the welfare and development of the God-given potential possessed by the present sons and daughters of the Global Village. With this in mind, the reader can now understand why the meaning and significance of the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures are the subject of the safaric quest of the literary journey encountered between the covers of this volume.