2014-04-04
Good Morning Dear Ones,
We’ve been looking at covenant friendship in the last few devotions and will continue doing so this morning. RO 5: 1-2, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” Our God has taken mankind from being totally free of any responsibility- with no idea of God’s will [GN 3: 1-6], to becoming more civilized [GN 3: 21; GN 9: 8-17; GN 12: 1-3; GN 15: 9-21], to being given the Covenant of the Law [GN 17; EX 19-24], to being exposed to the example of a Redeemer [PS 2, IS 9: 6; IS 11: 1; IS 53: 1-12; JER 31: 31-34; MT 1; LK 3; JN 1: 1-5] , to the commitment of those who believe in this Redeemer to the Covenant of Grace, and to the hope of eternal life [2 SAM 7: 12-13; RO 8: 29; 2 COR 4: 13-14; 1 PET 1: 3-4]. Dear Ones, this is huge! No other Deity has ever blessed His people to this extent. We are reminded in JN 15: 13-17 of the extent to which our Lord Jesus has gone and will go on our behalf. If any of these important citations are unfamiliar to you, please take the time for read them carefully.
We need to make important covenant agreements in our lives, just as the ancient Jews did. Just as God promised His covenant people, the Jews, people, a land, and a King in the Scriptures above, we have modern commitments before our God that really matter in our lives. One of those commitments is marriage that conforms to the directive found in EPH 5: 21-33. Another has to do with our being a part of the Covenant of Grace. We are indeed “our brother’s keepers” [LK 10: 25-37]. God intentions for us to be good covenant partners with others is expressed in ECCL 4; 9-10, “Two are better than one. When one falls down, his friend can help him up.” I’ve often written my own realization of priority—that there is nothing more important in our lives than our covenant relationships with God and with other humans. You’ll notice that God hasn’t told us which humans we encounter are potential believers in Jesus Christ and which are not. That is sufficient motivation for us to obey the Great Command, from MT 28: 19-20, about witnessing to others regarding the Gospel message and our faith in Him.
As I’ve said so often, our God loves it when we rehearse our history with Him. To give you a compelling example, let’s look at EZK 17: 1-24, an allegory which is presented in the story of Ezkiel’s parable of “Two Eagles and A Vine.” This will give us a peek into the heart of our loving God. Verses 3-8, “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘A great eagle with powerful wings, long feathers and full plumage of varied colors came to Lebanon. Taking hold of the top of a cedar, he broke off it’s topmost shoot and carried it away to a land of merchants, where he planted it in a city of traders. He took some of the seed of your land and put it in fertile soil. He planted it like a willow by abundant water, and it sprouted and became a low, spreading vine. It’s branches turned toward him, but its roots remained under it. So it became a vine and produced branches and put out leafy boughs. But there was another great eagle with powerful wings and full plumage. The vine now sent out its roots toward him from the plot where it was planted and stretched out its branches to him for water. It had been planted in good soil by abundant water so that it would produce branches, bear fruit, and become a splendid vine.” This passage is followed by a number of God-generated questions concerning the fate of these vines (9-10).
Now, let’s get a view of what the parts of this allegory represent. Ezkiel, whose ministry was carried out in exile in the Chabar river canal in Babylon (620 BC-570 BC), was used as the voice of God in his time. It must be understood that Israel had been a divided kingdom with Judah ruled in succession by Jehoiakim (ruled 11 years from 609-598 -2 K 23: 36), Jehoiachin (ruled 3 mos. from 598-597 BC-2 K 24:8), and Zedekiah (ruled 11 years BC-2 K 24: 18) before it ended with its king carried off in 602 to exile in Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. Babylon is the “city of traders.” We learn in EZK 17: 5 that Zedekiah (who ruled from 597-586 BC) was the son of Josiah, brother of Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim, and the uncle of Jehoiachin. The first eagle in this allegory was Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and the second eagle was the Egyptian pharaoh [thought to be either Psammeticus II (595-589 BC) or Hophra (59-570 BC)]. The “topmost shoot” is considered to be Jehoiachin, who was carried off to Bablylon. Significantly, “the cedar” is meant to represent the royal line (dynasty) of David. God allowed this dyaspora to happen to fulfill His will—that the practice of idolatry, disobedience to Him, and the division of His beloved Israel into two kingdoms (Israel with its capital at Samaria in the north and Judah with its capital at Jerusalem) should come to an end. God wanted the making of poorly conceived covenant oaths between His children and others to end. He despised the making and breaking of these covenant oaths. The last section of this meaningful chapter (EZK 17: 22-24) is something comforting to read—a beautiful Messianic promise that a Descendant of David will rule in peace over the entire Kingdom forever. You and I know that this Descendant is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Praise and thanks to Him forever!
PRAYER: O Lord, as we contemplate this amazing allegory written by Ezkiel so long ago, we begin to realize how many times and beautiful ways that You keep repeating the message that we may have the hope of the resurrection. It is not lost on us that You have spoken so many times in the OT about Your Son, Who is our Messiah and our Lord. We come before You in awe of Your wisdom, Your compassion, and Your love for us. You are our beloved Covenant Partner. You have told us that You mean for Your will to be carried out, and that You have the means to carry it out. IS 46: 9-10, “I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times to what is to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’” Dearest Abba, we acknowledge You as our God, as You have claimed that we are Your people. PS 86: 9-10, “All nations You have made will come and worship before You, Lord; they will bring glory to Your name. For You are great and do marvelous deeds; You alone are God.” If we ever are foolish enough to ask if we should trust in You, You have shown us our need to do that. IS 26: 3, “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because He trust in You.” We strive to learn to trust You in all matters and to seek You for Your advice. We review our history with You and see that You are a Promise-keeper for all time and eternity. We acknowledge You with our sincerest thanks and praise for dwelling with us, being present in our lives, and for Your great intervention in them. In Christ’s mighty/holy name, we pray. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: At the behest of the Holy Spirit, we’ll take a good look at more ways covenants are made between humans with God looking on in next week’s devotion. These are practices which led up to the modern handshake, some with even deeper meanings spiritually. Friendship is a very precious state of mind and heart. My own friends have had a huge impact on my life. Since coming to faith in our Redeemer, these friendships have made me more teachable than I ever was beforehand. These covenant relationships with other humans have been packed with moments of showing me how to be more godly as a person, even though I’m still a sinner, still with enough imperfections that God hasn’t deemed me ready for glorification yet. PR 18: 24, “Some friends play at friendship, but a true friend sticks closer than one’s nearest kin.” This remarkable proverb is so very true. I can tell stories from my own experience that bear it up. Friends are an important part of our lives. My husband, Peter, and I live in a state where we have no genetic relatives near by. Every relative we have lives hundreds to thousands of miles away. And yet, we have a wonderful network of friends right here in the town in which we dwell. Most are from our congregation, but some are related in some way to members, and others are part of the Via de Cristo community who live locally or in other parts of the state. (Via de Cristo is a four-day retreat program). So, we can utter with love PS 91: 4, “He will cover you with His wings; You will be safe in His care; His faithfulness will protect and defend you.” That’s our fabulous Covenant Partner, who provides us with human covenant partners to care about us! Let’s join together in offering Him our heartfelt love, thanks, and praise forever!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2014. All Rights Reserved.
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