2021-07-09
Good Morning Dear Ones,
God’s love manifests itself in many ways. One such way is His promise to King David, found 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.” This Davidic Covenant made so long ago is for our past, present, and future. As one reads through 1st and 2nd Kings and 1st and 2nd Chronicles, it is fascinating how God keeps His promise, despite the ever-changing politics of Judah’s rule and that of later-reunited Israel. In case any question comes up about the capital “H” In 2 SAM 7: 13, this can be clarified by AC 13: 23, “From this man’s descendants God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus as He promised.” And to think, God’s promise-keeping is only one way He demonstrates His love to us!
Another example of God’s agape love is seen in GA 3: 13-14, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’ He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.” The tree here is the cross fashioned of wood. While the Bible (God’s love letter to His people) gives the blessing to the Jews first through the Abrahamic Covenant in the OT, it later opens redemption through faith in the work of Christ’s Atonement to believing Gentiles. One might ask: What is the curse of the law? It is that the law only tells people what pleases God and what doesn’t. However, Christ’s Atonement opens justification (being deemed acceptable to God), salvation (being glorified to heaven for eternity with God), and eternal forgiveness for sin to all who believe in Christ [RO 4: 3; JN 3: 16; 1 JN 1: 9].
God’s agape love reaches us so many wonderful ways. Other believers who have been my friends in their own way offer gifts that are their specialties. This is where Philadelphia (His love transmitted through friendship) meets with agape (the love God has for His human creation). Let me share some examples from my own life. The marriage I had with my sweet husband for 44 years until his recent death was a combination of eros (marital love) and lasting friendship (Philadelphia). Peter and I shared all the facets of a happy marriage-physical attraction, exchange of ideas, shared interest, care and kindness, growing together in maturity, and shared faith in Jesus Christ. All these things came together despite the fact that I am a Messianic Jew, and he was reared as a Christian. Stated simply: We were mature when we married; we married for the right reasons, and we were true and loyal to one another. Peter’s death was devastating to me, because I feel as if I lost “my other half.” Another example of Philadelphia coming together with agape is in the friendship I have with Sarah C. She is another Messianic Jew, who fulfills my need for the blessings that solid friendship can give. Sarah was raised, as I was, in traditional Judaism, and it was my great pleasure to give the sermon, pray in both Hebrew and English, and sing at her baptism in the early 2000’s. Her description of “just a few of my friends” was a completely filled church sanctuary! She and I have been inseparable, despite that fact that we no longer live in the same state. Yet another friend, who has since passed away, was Pastor Deane S. His example of a missionary’s heart, self-discipline in memorizing Scripture, kindness, and a smiling demeanor have uplifted me and helped me to see how God’s love can shine where there is faith and service to Him.
God’s love is transformative, He waited until I was ready to receive it, about 25 years. I write this comment, because I had an unhappy childhood and felt worthless. Despite getting good grades in school, I was traveling with the wrong crowd, did vandalism, was angry, and was headed for trouble. Then, He awakened me to the opportunity to see what others believed who were not carbon copies of the traditionally Jewish people around me. I had too much responsibility around the house from the time I was aged ten to avoid being resentful. But God had not abandoned me. He never abandons anyone! [PS 9: 9-10]. But, I was unaware He was watching over me until I was a young adult. I had married the wrong person for the wrong reasons, and this 15- year marriage ended in divorce. God led me to move away from where I had been living and to settle with my son (who was 5 at the time) next door to where another young man named Peter was living. My son had left my condo without permission and turned up next door. I was looking for him when I heard Peter (whom I hadn’t yet met) laughingly reading the funny papers to him. By this time, I was getting acquainted with a loving God, Who wanted to establish faith in me, as He does with everyone.
PRAYER: O Lord, it was Your wisdom that established both the Abrahamic [GN 12: 1-3] and Davidic Covenants [2 SAM 7: 12-13]. You want to “gather us to Your breast as a mother eagle gathers her chicks” [DT 32: 11]. We don’t have to ever feel that we are alone and abandoned. You created something special in King David, giving him “a heart after Your own” [1 SAM 13: 14]. He was a complex man, but You commanded the prophet, Nathan, to reveal the wrongs David committed with Bathsheba and made David realize his need to confess them [PS 51: 1-25]. If each of us looks into our own hearts, we will see there is sin; however, that we can confess that sin and normally be forgotten, as long as we don’t keep committing it. You are to be praised and thanked for Your willingness to show us the way to salvation through Christ. We are blessed by Your love, from which we will never be separated through Christ, our Savior [RO 8: 38-39]. In His name we pray, amen.
NEXT WEEK: The Song of Solomon or Song of Songs, is a book of the OT unique in its qualities. It can be read on two levels ---that of a sexually explicit narrative, or that of an allegory of God’s agape relationship with Israel. I’m commanded by the Holy Spirit to write beginning with some excerpts from it in the second level. Then, we can examine the different gifts from God His people receive. My own experience with our Trinitarian God is like that of IS 40: 29-31, “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary and young men stumble and fail; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2021. All Rights Reserved.
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