Israel-The Promise Fulfilled

In Genesis 12, God promised Abraham several things: He would make of them a great nation (the Jews); He would give them a land (Canaan, or Israel); He would bless all of the earth through his, Abraham's, seed (Jesus). The land promise was fulfilled when the Jews left Egyptian captivity, traveled in the wilderness for 40 years, then conquered and occupied the land of Israel.

Many people today believe that the land promise is yet to be fulfilled; i.e., that Jesus will return to the earth to establish a kingdom headquartered in Jerusalem, a kingdom to last for 1000 years. They believe that it will be at this time that the land promise will be fulfilled, that Israel will finally have its land as promised by God.

The fact is, Israel got the land of promise as recorded in Joshua 21:43-45, "So the Lord gave to Israel all the land of which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it and dwelt in it.....Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass. And later we read in 1Kings 4:21 that king Solomon reigned over all the land.

That Israel has lost some of its land, that Israel is chopped up and incomplete, is unfortunate for the Jewish nation. But there is no promise from God, nor does it seem to fit into His plan, for Israel to be guaranteed a restoration in today's world or in the future. Back in the time of Joshua God fought their battles for them insuring that they got their land in entirety. But to keep it, they had to serve God completely. That wasn't done. And there is no promise that Jesus will ever come to earth again to establish an earthly kingdom. Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this earth."

Thanks for reading. Have a great week!

1st Day of The Week

If there is one thing that most Christian groups/denominations agree on, it is that Sunday is the correct day of worship. The reason that this is so widely agreed upon is that the New Testament gives examples of this occurring in the early days of the church. Here are a few verses that show this example:

Acts 20:7 "Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread..." Notice that the main purpose of the worship was to "break bread," i.e., take of the Lord's Supper.

1Corinthians16:1-2 "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also: on the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come."

Jesus was raised on Sunday, the day after the Jewish Sabbath.

The church was started on Sunday, on the day of Pentecost; see Acts 2.
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There have always been people who were confused about whether we should hold onto the Jewish traditions and teachings; people who thought, for example, that we should worship on Saturday. But this is simply not the case according to the New Testament. Acts 15 is a conference with the apostles to discuss this issue. It is made clear in a number of places that the Jewish Law and practices are done and over with the coming of Faith in Jesus. Note:

All of the book of Hebrews covers this subject, but notice Heb. 8:13, "In that He says, 'A new covenant,' He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away." And Heb. 9:15, "...for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant..." Also, Heb. 10:24-25, "And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching."

There is much more said, like Galatians 3:24-27. But perhaps that is enough for now. Just know that we must follow the example of the early church and the teaching of the apostles in not only worshiping on the first day of the week, Sunday, but in all of our practices.

Have a great week!

Abraham-Great Example to Us

Abraham is referenced, more than any other, in the Bible as a great man of faith. Instead of "faith" we might use the word "trust." When we look at how much he trusted in God to take care of him, it just has to amaze. We'll look at a few passages and examples of the depth of Abraham's trust.

Hebrews 11:8-10 says "By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God." God had told him to leave home and go where he was directed; Abraham did exactly as God instructed him.

Then we read in Hebrews 11:17-19, "By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, 'In Isaac your seed shall be called,' concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense." We read in Genesis 22 about how God had instructed Abraham to take his son, Isaac, up on the mountain and sacrifice him. Then, just as Abraham was about to kill Isaac for the sacrifice, God stayed his hand, spared Isaac, and provided a ram instead. But the fact that Abraham had enough faith to carry out this command of God shows how much trust he had in God.

And of course, the point to us is that we need to trust God to take care of us. We often have the attitude that we must take care of ourselves. But we must know that if we follow God, follow His Word, do what is right, what we know that He would want, things will go well for us...Because; He is worthy of our trust and will not let us down. God is alive, and He will take care of us. This is what Jesus was saying in Matthew 6, toward the end. He said, "..do not worry....seek you first the kingdom of God.." There is a challenge for us this week.

Thanks for reading. Have a good week! Feel the love.

Ishmael--Not the Child of Promise

All through the Old Testament we see the development of the family of Jesus Christ. Beginning from Adam, we follow the lineage through Noah, then Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, later to King David and right on down to Jesus himself. But one interesting side branch of the family is Ishmael. Let's look at the story a little closer.

Abraham and wife Sarah couldn't have a child, so Sarah offered her handmaiden to Abraham to bear him a son. The son, Ishmael, was born. Note what Genesis 16:10-12 says: "Then the Angel of the Lord said to her (Hagar), 'I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.' And the Angel of the Lord said to her: 'Behold, you are with child, and you shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has heard your affliction. He shall be a wild man (some translations say "a wild donkey of a man"); his hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand against him. and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.' " Later, God caused Sarah to have a son, Isaac, to be born in her old age. But the summary point of all this is that Isaac, the son of Abraham's true wife, is the son of Promise, and Ishmael is not. This was God's choice.

So following Ishmael, which is our emphasis for this blog, we find in Genesis 17:20-21, where God is speaking to Abraham, "And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year."

Back to the son of Promise thought, we see that God promised, starting in Genesis 12 to Abraham, that through the seed of Abraham all the nations of the earth would be blessed. This promise was fulfilled in the person of Jesus who was a descendant of Abraham, through his seed, Isaac, and beyond. But Ishmael, the poor rejected son, was promised a great nation, too, with 12 princes. They became the Arab nations (first named so in 2 Chronicles:17:11). For more information on these two branches of Abraham, look in the summary given in Galatians 4:21-31.

So we learn from the Bible and from history that Ishmael and his 12 sons formed the Arab nations, located primarily to the East of Israel, which is still true today. And they still don't get along; and they still act like "wild men" sometimes. And Muslim peoples today claim Abraham as their father through the lineage of Ishmael. Wow! That was involved...yet fun. See you next week.

The First Church

The first church ever established was in Jerusalem , as we read in Acts chapter 2. It reads: "Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. ..... Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. "

There are several observations that could be made here. One is that there was a large gathering of people in Jerusalem at this time, there for the Pentecost feast. When several thousand of these people decided to follow Jesus, they stayed around for awhile creating an immediate need for assistance. We note that these early Christians met the needs by sharing together. They made sure that every Christian had their needs met, whatever it took to accomplish that. And in all things they praised God.

We can learn from this as well. As Christians, as a part of the Lord's church, we must make sure that needs of other Christians are met, whatever that takes. Jesus taught us that we are to be concerned for all people, that all people are our "neighbor." But that applies even more to those who are our brothers and sisters in Christ. When a person becomes a Christian, they can know that they will always be OK; that they will never go hungry...or unclothed....or homeless. What a comfort that is to us all. But with this comfort comes responsibility. We must all do our part when we have the ability.

So with that thought, let's start a great new year with concern for those in need. And Happy New Year to you! See you next week.