Tag Archives: promise

Descendants of Abraham

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DESCENDANTS OF ABRAHAM

“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 Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of 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.” Romans 9:6-9.

Who, then, are the true children of Abraham? Although Ishmael was Abraham’s first child, he was the son of Sarah’s slave and not entitled to be Abraham’s heir. It was Isaac, Abraham’s son by his wife, Sarah, who was reckoned as Abraham’s firstborn and therefore entitled to inherit Abraham’s property but, even more important than that, the promises of God to Abraham and his offspring.

According to the Scriptures, there are three streams of people who claim descent from Abraham. The ancient Israelites and now the Jews, are his physical descendants and are the rightful heirs of the land of Israel. God promised it to Abraham and gave it to the nation born through him by divine intervention. Although it is the source of bitter conflict and bloodshed, and although the rest of the world refuses to recognise their rightful ownership, God’s mandate to the Jews has never been withdrawn.

The second group of people who claim legitimate descent from Abraham are the offspring of Ishmael. God promised that He would also make him a great nation (Genesis 21:13, 18) but he and his descendants were not included in His covenant with Abraham (Genesis 21:12). They have no legal right to the land of Israel.

But there is a third group whom God recognises as the true sons of Abraham. During a heated debate with Jesus, the religious leaders vehemently defended their legitimate descent from Abraham. Jesus promised freedom to those who followed Him. The Jews responded:

“We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” John 8:33.

Had they conveniently forgotten that they were descendants of those who had been enslaved by the Egyptians and by the Babylonians and, even as they spoke, they were under Roman oppression? Did not God identify Himself to them as the God who delivered them out of Egyptian bondage?

Jesus’ reply was scrutinising:

“I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word. I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father… As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who told you the truth that I heard from God.   Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the works of your own father… You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires.” John 8:37-38; 40-41; 44a.

A true son is one who resembles his father. Since the Jewish religious leaders were bent on killing Jesus, they were reflecting the nature of their spiritual father, the devil. The true sons of Abraham, then, are those who reflect him in their faith in God’s promises. Without denying natural descent, spiritual descent, from God’s point of view, is far more important than natural birth.

“So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. And he is then also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.” Romans 4:11b, 12.

But what about the Jews who are natural descendants of Abraham but who reject Jesus as their Messiah? Is God finished with them? Do they no longer have a place in His plans? Although there are those who firmly believe and adamantly teach that the Christian church has replaced the Jews, we need to find out what the Scripture teaches about the future of God’s chosen people.

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

The Picture On The Box

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THE PICTURE ON THE BOX

“Against hope, Abraham in hope believed, and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead – since he was about a hundred years old – and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.

“Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had the power to do what He had promised. That is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” Romans 4:18-22.

Faith, hope, love – three words that are often linked together in the Bible. Paul has already defined faith – “calling into being things that are not.” Love is not clearly defined in Scripture, but could be something like this – “meeting the needs of others at our own expense.” But hope?

According to Paul, faith and hope are closely linked together. It is because of our hope that we believe what God has promised. Biblical “hope” is very different from worldly hope which expresses both desire and uncertainty; desire because it is what we want to happen, but uncertainty because we have no solid ground for hoping that it will happen.

Biblical hope, on the other hand is based on what God has promised – sort of like the picture on the box. If you enjoy doing jigsaw puzzles, you’ll understand what I mean. You buy the puzzle because you like the picture. Then you find a suitable place to build it, spread out the pieces and begin to put them together. From time to time you study the picture to make sure that you are following it correctly because you want the end result will look exactly like the picture on the box.

That is the idea of hope. God has made a promise; you keep that promise in mind as you begin to pray, trust God and thank Him for the fulfilment of His Word. Hope is the picture in your imagination of what God has said He will do. Then you watch as God begins to put the pieces together to build the “puzzle”. At first it doesn’t look anything like the completed picture, but faith keeps seeing the picture and trusting God for the outcome.

Hope does not focus on the impossibility of present circumstances. Abraham was fully aware of his and Sarah’s age and the unassailable reality that it was impossible, humanly speaking, for them to have a child. Fact is fact! Sarah was long past menopause, No amount of wishing or willing could change that! Even though people lived much longer in their day, they were both past the age of childbearing. That was it!

Abraham could have given up hope on that fact alone. Instead he set his mind on what God had said rather than what was. That is hope.

From a hymn of Charles Wesley (1707-1789) came these words:

“Faith, mighty faith the promise sees,                                                                                                And looks to that alone;                                                                                                                      Laughs at impossibilities,                                                                                                                    And cries, “It shall be done.”

Hope sees, not circumstances but the ability and reliability of the one who has promised. If a human being had made the same promise to Abraham as God had made, he would have laughed at him. Of course that person had no power to follow through on his promise. But God? The crux of the matter?

“…being fully persuaded that God had the power to do what He had promised.”

Why was Abraham “fully persuaded”? Because his faith had grown through believing and obeying God in the process of time. How does faith grow? By following the Lord one step at a time and watching Him work in response to our obedience. Faith grows when it is anchored to our hope as we keep the picture of the puzzle firmly in our imagination.

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

It’s All Grace!

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IT’S ALL GRACE!

“It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless, because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression.” Romans 4:13-15.

Paul was dealing with two mutually exclusive principles: law and works versus faith and righteousness. Works brings wrath because it is impossible for fallen humans to obey the law perfectly; faith brings righteousness because it comes through God’s promise and is a gift of God apart from the law. The one cancels out the other. Since Abraham received God’s gift of righteousness before the law was given, he could not have been declared righteousness through his obedience to the law.

And he concludes with a declaration of victory – if faith that brings righteousness cancels out the law, then there is no longer any wrath because it is the law that brings wrath. No one can break a law that isn’t there! It’s all God!

“Therefore the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring – not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. As it is written: “I have made you the father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God in whom he believed – the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.” Romans 4:16, 17.

It is faith that levels the ground for both Jew and Gentile. Since possession of the law, though it is holy in itself, becomes the reason for condemnation, Jews have no advantage over Gentiles. What should have been a blessing for them only brought them under God’s judgment because it brought their sinfulness into sharp focus.

Since the forefather they so revered was accepted by God because he trusted in His promise, and not on an effort on his part to satisfy God’s holy demands, all those who follow his example are his spiritual offspring – and equally acceptable to God, be they Jew of Gentile.

What was the promise that Abraham believed?

“And Abram said, ‘You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.’ Then the word of the Lord came to him: ‘This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.’ He took him outside and said, ‘Look up at the sky and count the stars – if indeed you can count them.’ Then He said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’

“Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.” Genesis 15:3-6.

It was Abraham’s confidence in the trustworthiness of God’s promise that activated God’s power to make it happen. That’s how God works. Apart from natural circumstances, possible or impossible, He had a plan in place, but it could only become effective in the earthly realm when Abraham spoke the amen to God’s promise.

“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through Him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.” 2 Corinthians 1:20.

What is God’s promise to us that we must activate by faith, upon which all His other promises are based? “For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile – the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on Him, for, ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'” Romans 10:13.

It’s as simple as that. Paul has stripped away all the small print inserted by uncomprehending humans. It’s all God and all grace, and we can add nothing to what He has done. It’s up to us to accept it and become heirs of all the blessings He has promised.

Hallelujah!

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

Betrayed — Killed — Raised Up

Christian Life, , ,

BETRAYED – KILLED – RAISED UP

“‘Fellow Israelites, listen carefully to these words. Jesus the Nazarene, a man thoroughly accredited by God to you — the miracles and wonders and signs that God did through Him are common knowledge — this Jesus, following the deliberate and well-thought-out plan of God, was betrayed by men who took the law into their own hands, and was handed over to you. And you pinned Him to a cross and killed Him. But God untied the death ropes and raised Him up. Death was no match for Him…'” Acts 2:22-28 (The Message).

What was Peter to say on an occasion like this? The events of the past six weeks were fresh in the minds of his audience. Many of them had been in the city when Jesus was crucified. Passover was the main feast of the Jewish calendar. As pious Jews they would have come then and stayed for Pentecost.

They knew the events. Now it was time to understand their meaning. It was Peter’s role to interpret the prophetic Scriptures which would clarify everything for them. True to the promise of Jesus, the Holy Spirit in them brought everything into sharp focus. Peter saw it all and was more than eager to explain what he himself had finally understood.

His famous first sermon was the outpouring of the revelation which had produced worship from the mouths of the disciples when the Spirit came. His mind was alight with the truth of the Old Testament which had lain dormant in him from his early childhood. It was all so clear and all so real!

What did Peter say? He began by quoting from the prophet Joel. ‘You think we are drunk or crazy. This isn’t something that just happened. God spoke about it centuries before through the prophet Joel. Like everything else God has done, He told us it would happen and now it has – just so that we will know it’s God.’

‘Jesus didn’t just happen either. God set it all up and then got it going. You and your unscrupulous leaders put God’s plan into action. They betrayed Him, handed Him over to you and you killed Him. But that didn’t work because God raised Him up again. Death had no permanent grip on Him and now He’s alive!’

What a bold and courageous thing to do! How could Peter have spoken like that when, just a few weeks before, he cowered before a serving maid in the courtyard of the high priest? Now he lays the blame for Jesus’ murder squarely at the door of his hearers. They could have easily mobbed and lynched him and all the others right there!

Instead of being apologetic, he declared the truth, loud and clear. But his intention was not to accuse or blame. He put their culpability in the context of God’s sovereignty and plan. Yes, they did it but God set it up because He had a higher purpose for His Son and for all who believe in Him. This was not about them. It was about Jesus.

When we compare the weak, tame preaching of the gospel in many streams of the church today – “Come to Jesus. He’ll forgive your sins so that you can go to heaven when you die” – with Peter’s startling declaration on the day of Pentecost, we miss the robust content of his message. ‘God planned it; you did it – killed Him by nailing Him to a cross. God had the last word; He raised Him up and He’s alive. Your little scheme didn’t work. And now? You are guilty. You will have to answer for what you did.’

What did Peter mean? Take ownership for your guilt. Only then does God’s mercy come into play. We were all guilty of murdering Jesus even if we weren’t there. Out sin was responsible for nailing Him to the cross. We can never receive mercy until we have received the verdict – guilty as charged.

“God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in His blood. He did this to demonstrate His justice because, in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished – He did it to demonstrate His justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who believe in Jesus.” Romans 3:25-26 (NIV).