Friday, August 03,
2012, 5:40 a.m. – The Lord woke me with the song “Not By Might” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant is
listening. I read Romans 9 (quoting
selected verses NIV 1984):
I speak the truth in
Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit— I have
great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself
were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my
own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the
divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and
the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human
ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.
It is not as though
God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.
Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the
contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” In other
words, it is not the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the
children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. For this was
how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah
will have a son.”
Not only that, but
Rebekah’s children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. Yet, before
the twins were born or had done anything good or bad —in order that God’s
purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls—she was
told, “The older will serve the younger.” Just as it is written: “Jacob I
loved, but Esau I hated.”
What then shall we
say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses,
“I will have mercy on
whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have
compassion.”
It does not,
therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.
…What then shall we
say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a
righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness,
has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it
were by works. They stumbled over the “stumbling stone.” As it is written:
“See, I lay in Zion a
stone that causes men to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall,
and the one who trusts
in him will never be put to shame.”
Fear and Trembling
I go into this subject with fear and trembling. I am no
Bible scholar in the sense of having studied theology to great lengths. My
dependency is on God and his Holy Spirit speaking to my heart the words he
wants me to share. I admit that I don’t have all the answers. I struggle to
understand these things just as much as anyone else does. I just know my God, I
know his heart, and I trust him and his judgment in these matters, because he
is God! It is not my place to question him, only in the sense of asking for
understanding, but never in the sense of challenging his judgment, justice or
his sovereignty. So, with that said, I pray the Lord will grant his servant the
understanding of this passage he wants me to have today, and to know, in all
practicality, how these truths are to be applied to our lives. In Jesus’ name I
pray these things. Amen!
Israel and Israel
There is the physical nation of Israel, the people who were
once God’s chosen people, under the Old Covenant relationship between God and
man. They were a blessed people of God, called of God to be his elect and
chosen people, to whom he gave his great and precious promises, his words, the
prophets, the law, the temple worship, the ark of the covenant, and the
promised seed, etc. To Abraham he promised a seed from which many descendants
would come. That promise of a seed was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, our Lord and
Savior, the promised Messiah of the people of God. The descendants of the
promise are thus spiritual descendants, not physical ones. Therefore, not all
who are physically descended from Israel (Jacob) are Israel (spiritual – God’s
chosen people under the New Covenant relationship between God and man). The Jews
and Arabs both claim Abraham as their father, yet not all who are Abraham’s
physical descendants are the children of Abraham, either.
We learn in the fourth chapter of Galatians that Sarah and
Hagar represent two covenants. Hagar represents the law and slavery and the
physical city of Jerusalem. Sarah represents the new covenant under Christ
Jesus and the Jerusalem that is from above, which is free, i.e. heavenly
Jerusalem or spiritual Jerusalem. The holy city is now a spiritual place, not a
physical one. True Israel is now a spiritual entity, not a physical one. The
promise was not of physical descendants, either, but of spiritual ones from the
promised seed, Jesus Christ. So, Jews and Gentiles alike, who do not believe in
Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are not true Israel, and they are not Abraham’s
children. Only the children of promise, i.e. those who have accepted Jesus
Christ by faith are Abraham’s children and are God’s chosen people.
Paul was an Israelite by physical birth, a Jew and a Pharisee
– a strict adherer to the law. Yet, that did not make him a child of God. When
he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, he had the light revealed to him, he put
his faith and trust in Jesus Christ, and he accepted God’s call upon his life.
Then he became a child of God and of Abraham, and part of true Israel by
spiritual birth into God’s eternal kingdom.
So, once he was shown the light of the truth of the gospel
of Jesus Christ, he became burdened for his own people, the Jews, that they,
too, might know Jesus Christ, their promised Messiah, as Lord and Savior, and thus
would become among Abraham’s and the promise seed’s spiritual descendants. Paul
expressed his agony over their lack of faith in Christ in terms I have
difficulty comprehending. He wished he would be cut off from Christ if it meant
the salvation of his brothers (by race and by national heritage). I just cannot
imagine being willing to give up my Lord, yet I willingly lay down my
reputation, time, energies, mind and heart to obey my Lord Jesus in sharing
with my countrymen the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The USA
I live in the United States of America. I am a natural-born
citizen of this country. I live in a country that has had, so far, enormous
religious freedom, Bibles coming out our ears, oodles and oodles of Christian
literature, books, music, DVDs, sermons, Bible colleges and universities,
internet-based religious programming, discussion boards, Christian-based TV,
radio and internet programs, and institutional churches. We have been blessed
beyond belief with so, so much, that we often take it for granted that it will
always be there, though it may not be for long.
Though certainly the U.S.A. is not the chosen people of God,
so there is no comparison there to OT Israel, still we have been saturated with
the gospel of Jesus Christ and Christian influence and freedoms galore. The
Bible teaches that to whom much is given, much will be required. I believe
Americans are responsible for all we have been given. Yet, just because we live
in the U.S.A., that does not make us in good standing with God, or ensure that our
nation is really one nation under the true God indivisible. National heritage
does not bring us closer to God, though all we have been given may make us more
accountable before God. We must all choose to individually receive Jesus Christ
as Lord and Savior.
Jacob and Esau
Ok, so Paul said “Not only that,” referring back to the
subject of the natural children not being God’s children (those with national
heritage), but only the children of promise (of the promised seed, Jesus Christ)
being God’s children and Abraham’s offspring. So, not even the children of
Isaac could claim their physical descent from Isaac as a guarantee of God’s
providential blessing and approval, for God clearly made a distinction between
Isaac’s twin sons, Jacob and Esau. Jacob/Israel (his family line) was the one
chosen by God in his election through whom Jesus Christ would come, not Esau,
who was not the object of God’s elective purposes, though he bestowed many
blessings on him and his descendants. God decided to choose Jacob over Esau
before they were even born or had done anything good or bad, so God’s election
(choosing of people) is not based upon the people themselves or anything they
do, i.e. there is nothing we can do to earn salvation, but it is through the
free sovereign will of God that people are chosen by God for his purposes and
plans.
The Justice of God
The question is thus posed, “Is God unjust?” – Absolutely not!
When the children of Israel sinned against God by making a golden calf to
worship while Moses was on Mt Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments from God, if
God had acted justly, he could have just wiped them all off the face of the
planet. Yet, he sent Moses back up the mountain and he gave him the Ten
Commandments again. It was then that he said: “I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” God decided
to be compassionate and to show mercy to Israel even though they sinned greatly
against God in rejecting him and his servant Moses by building for themselves
an idol to worship.
We may think that is really crazy, right? I mean, think
about it. If you have a living and loving God who watches over you, takes care of
you, provides for you, guides and directs you, nurtures, encourages and
rebukes, too, why in the world would you worship something you made with your
own hands? Why indeed? And yet people do it all the time when they choose to
worship (give heart and devotion to) men, man-made objects, entertainment,
careers, et al, over and above their worship of (loyalty and allegiance to) God
Almighty.
The nation of Israel was so busy trying to gain
righteousness through works that they totally missed what the promised seed was
really all about. They stumbled right over the truth in their pursuit of
acceptance from God through their own merit or national heritage. Yet, there is
nothing we can do to deserve God’s mercy and compassion, nor can we earn it
with good works or by obeying a set of rules, or by being born into a “Christian”
household or by being a member of a local church. God is not merciful to us
because we are such great people, but because he chooses to be merciful for his
own purposes and for his own glory and praise. So, our election (our salvation)
does not depend on our desire or our human effort, but only on God’s mercy.
And, I am so thankful for his mercy! Aren’t you?
Not By Might / An
Original Work / March 29, 2012
Based off Zechariah 4
“Not by might, and not
by power,
But by My Spirit,”
says our Lord, God.
“Mighty mountain, O
what are you?
Before Christ you will
become level ground.”
The hands of our Lord,
Savior God,
Formed the foundation
of His church.
He alone will complete
the work
He began in His
servants’ hearts and minds.
Who despises small
beginnings?
Much can be done in
Christ’s strength within.
Be of courage, and
trust your Lord.
All sufficient He is
for all your needs.
Opposition and apathy:
Holy Spirit will set
us free!
We can be overcomers
in our faith
In our Lord, and our
Savior, King.
Don’t be troubled by
God’s timing.
He has ev’rything in
His command.
Hasten to obey His
commands fully,
Trusting Him to work
all for good.
Not by might nor by
human strength,
But by God’s power;
strength within;
My dependency now on
His working
His will in me in
righteousness.
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