2014-10-03
Good Morning Dear Ones,
We have finally arrived at the place where it is important to talk about the “big elephant on the table,” land given to the Jews by divine right. Of all times to be writing about this, it is at a time when Hamas (which controls the PLO territory’s government) is sending longer range rockets, previously stored in underground tunnel arsenals under mosques) from the Gaza Strip into Israel. More people have been killed on both sides than in other recent bombings. DT 30: 15-16, 19 (cited in last week’s devotion) speak of life, prosperity, death, and destruction. The principle message is that from the time of Shavuot (the giving of the Law –EX 24: 7-11), God intended that His chosen people would keep His laws and hold them dear, as they were to occupy the Land He was giving them, the Promised Land, Israel. There was no time limit for obedience to this command to end, even though there have been misunderstandings between the Jews and God and traditional Jewish disobedience.
Land by divine right is just what this term says, land that God gives to the Jewish people. As this author has previously written, the actual geographical limits of this land by divine right are shocking to today’s generation. They are described in GN 15: 18-21 (which I hope you will re-read with a Biblical map handy). This is land from the Nile River in Egypt east to the Euphrates River in today’s Iraq. From north to south, it includes today’s southern Syria, Lebanon, Israel, the Goshen portion of Egypt and the PLO territory. So one asks: Why does Israel control just enough land to be the size of the state of NJ? The answers are complex and filled with politics, failed diplomacy, wars, traditionally Jewish disobedience, and the result of Islamic Jihad (the hateful policy of killing all who are not believers in Islam, particularly Jews in the Koran). Jewish disobedience was seen in JS 7 when Achan took some of the spoils of war, disobeying God’s instructions and those of Joshua. This delayed the taking of Canaan. The policy of trading land for so-called peace is a more modern example of internal Jewish disobedience. Today’s Israel seeks to retain its own territory and not to wipe out all the people living in God’s idea of what Israel should be, but instead, to live side by side with their Arab neighbors in peace. What makes this Middle East crisis intractable is the Arab assertion that Israel should totally disappear from the face of the earth. Violence that is in progress moves forward this evil plan from the lesser step of denying Jewish access to the Western wall for thirty years that led to the 1967 Six Days War, once again opening Jewish access to this most sacred remnant of the temple of Herod’s day.
We must consider the will of our Covenant Partner in the face of this unanswerable question, which hasn’t changed. The Abrahamic covenant from GN 12: 2-3 [God speaking to the Hebrews], “I will make your name great and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you will I curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” God had already promised Abraham that he would have as many descendants “as the grains of sand” or “as the stars in the sky,” keeping that promise as the Jewish population under Egyptian slavery increased sufficiently to cause the Pharaoh to eventually let them leave that land. God’s hand was in the Ten Plagues and the Passover exodus. There is no question about it. In David’s time, God made His covenant with this king of Israel in 2 SAM 7: 12-13. “When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of His Kingdom forever.” And while we don’t know how this will lay out, we do know that God continues to keep His end of His covenants, and eventually His will shall be done [IS 46: 9-10].
We also know that God’s covenants are for eternity. His intentions are righteous, and His keeping of His end of the covenants is perfect. Human sinfulness is the cause of suffering, and no one group of humans is without it. DT 32: 1- 4 , “Listen, O heavens, and I will speak: hear, O earth the words of My mouth. Let My teaching fall like rain and My words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants…I [Moses] will proclaim the name of the Lord. Oh, praise the greatness of our God! He is the Rock, His works are perfect, and all His ways are just. A faithful God Who does no wrong, upright and just is He.” God has promised the Jewish people [and all believers in-grafted to the cultured olive tree –RO 11: 17], i.e. believing mankind], protection and respite from evil. He will one day end evil in our future [DN 9: 24]. He keeps His covenants and urges us to do the same. Through the faith of Christians and Messianic Jews, there will be salvation from spiritual death and eternal/heavenly bliss with our Covenant Partner as per the Covenant of Grace. Our God, through His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit deserves nothing less than our eternal praise and thanks! [JN 3: 16: RO 3: 24-25].
PRAYER: O Lord, we find it hard to always be obedient, but You supply sufficient motivation for us, if we seek Your will. As witnesses to the truth of Your perfection in keeping the promises You make, You are our Paradigm –the Model we should follow. You make this amazing statement in JER 29:11-13, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you not to bring disaster, plans to give you the future for which you hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seem Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” We know that disobedience and other kinds of sinfulness put distance between You and Us. We don’t want that! Instead, we seek You out for Your direction and guidance. PS 25: 4-5, “Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth, and teach me: for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day.” Through frequent prayer, in which we listen for Your words first, and through the habit of daily study of Your word, we get to know You and Your will better. When You call us to obey, You also call us to reach out to others to strengthen their faith or even to bring them to the Holy Spirit, Who, in turn, gives them faith. We know the contrast that exists between being obediently faithful and being sinful. Our sins have brought us to pain and distance between You and us. We ask that You help us to live with love and faithfulness, righteousness and ability to consider things from the eternal point of view. Banish worry and fear from our lives. PS 33: 22, “Yes, Lord, let Your constant love surround us, for our hopes are in You alone.” Give us wisdom and discernment, so that we can live and act in a way pleasing to You. We offer You our heartfelt and eternal praise and thanks, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: A short recall of DT 30: 15-16, 19, will be followed by a discussion of integrity as God sees it and further comments about the promise of people, a land, and a King inherent in the Abrahamic Covenant. Believe it or not, this covenant is as applicable today as it was in Abraham’s time and will be in the future. That’s why I can say with confidence, that by writing about these things, I am obeying the prompting of the Holy Spirit. We need to be praying for the citizens of Israel and for that country to live in peace soon. Being political in the worldly sense here is not my intention, but praying for the present Middle East conflict not to be the beginning of WW III is. We need to pray that God will help sinning people to overcome the temptation of the adversary, to remember that power given to believers to do battle with others controlled by him, to victory in the name of Jesus Christ [EPH 1: 18-20], and use it rightly. We are blessed that God is with us –actually the meaning of the name Immanuel given to the Son [MT 1: 23]. He never abandons us [PS 9: 9-10]. Furthermore, it is not enough to have faith, but we must live it and share it! When we use the armor of God, given to us in EPH 6: 10-18, God has promised us we will be victors in Christ. By sharing the Gospel message of salvation and peace with those who haven’t yet come to faith, we are sharing God’s blessings with them too. And yes, each of us has this power to be decisive, righteous in God’s sight, persuasive, and on God’s winning team. Ask for wisdom and the right words to say to the lost, and God will give them to us [JN 15: 7]. In these ways, we can carry what God has taught us and give the lost to the Holy Spirit. He will help them gain faith and the hope of the resurrection. 1 PET 1: 3, “Praise be to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” Praise be to Him forever!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2014. All Rights Reserved.
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