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The Empty Place Setting, Part 2: Birth Of A Nation - A People Of God


Authors Note: It occurred to me after I put up the previous post, that my goal may be more correctly stated: There are numerous parts of Christ's Church that are called on a regular basis to pray for the people of my focus in this writing, but not everyone understands why. I'm hoping to bring some clarity to them...


Being human with all of the physical and intellectual limitations of beings having a typical life span of less than 100 years, I think it's hard for us sometimes to keep in mind the realities of an infinite God. If our entire lives were to be examined by someone else, and we were asked to describe exactly what we were doing at an arbitrarily chosen minute, say 10 years ago, we couldn't recall. But our God, being omniscient and infinite can instantly recall every moment not only of my life and yours, but of every human being He ever created from the moment He created Adam. He suffers no limitation of His ability to recall. His memory is without fail. The only thing He's forgotten are the sins that He promised to forget when we've asked His forgiveness having accepted Christ as our Savior.

My point here is this: our God doesn't forget. He doesn't suffer limitations due to the passing of time like we do. Nor does He err in keeping promises He's made. When He makes a promise - He keeps it, and when He says "forever" - He knows how long that is and He means it. What He's chosen to claim as His own, whether it was 10 minutes ago or ten thousand years ago is still His - He doesn't forget about it. He's not fickle or forgetful. He remembers and keeps every declaration and every promise that He's ever made - like He just made it.

There are many reasons these things are important to us, but to suit the purpose of this writing, His faithfulness to a particular people is necessary to remember.


All of what we see in the world even now, is the continuing culmination of what began in the book of Genesis. Some unfamiliar with it's continuing wealth may regard this book as being only of historic value beyond the basic necessities of the knowledge of creation. But, the origins of so many current world situations, nations and enmities are found here. In our Fathers' mind, our current today is only a continuing story of what began then. His memory is without falter or gap and spans from before the world was created - unlike ours. So it seems fit that our search for the people in question, our current quest, begins in Genesis ...

Genesis 17:1 -8 (NLT) *** "When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty; serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. 2 I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to make you into a mighty nation." 3 At this, Abram fell face down in the dust. Then God said to him, 4 "This is my covenant with you: I will make you the father of not just one nation, but a multitude of nations! 5 What's more, I am changing your name. It will no longer be Abram; now you will be known as Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations. 6 I will give you millions of descendants who will represent many nations. Kings will be among them! 7 "I will continue this everlasting covenant between us, generation after generation. It will continue between me and your offspring forever. And I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 Yes, I will give all this land of Canaan to you and to your offspring forever. And I will be their God." ***

A couple of important things here: First, God made promises to Abraham - He made a covenant with Abraham - and he marked the term of those promises with the word "forever". That means that those promises that were made thousands of years ago are just as good now as though they were made just two seconds ago in our time. As an example of God's faithfulness to His promises: even when our father God was so very angry with His people later because of their blatant wickedness that He was tempted to destroy them, Moses was able to remind Him of these very promises and God spared them. Second, God promised to make Abraham the "father of many nations". A root of the people we're looking for is found here, but we're looking for just one nation. One that He - God, claimed as His very own. So we have to continue our search ...


I'll tell you outright that those missing from the table of redemption in large number are the "first born" of our Father God as He referred to them Himself ...



***Exodus 4:22 (NLT) "Then you will tell him, 'This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son." ***

ISRAEL ... the name was given to Jacob by God in Genesis 32:28 (NLT)*** "Your name will no longer be Jacob," the man told him. "It is now Israel, because you have struggled with both God and men and have won." *** It was then confirmed in Genesis 35: 9 -10 (NLT) *** 9 God appeared to Jacob once again when he arrived at Bethel after traveling from Paddan-aram. God blessed him 10 and said, "Your name is no longer Jacob; you will now be called Israel."*** But He didn't stop there!

*** Genesis 11- 12 (NLT) Then God said, "I am God Almighty. Multiply and fill the earth! Become a great nation, even many nations. Kings will be among your descendants! 12 And I will pass on to you the land I gave to Abraham and Isaac. Yes, I will give it to you and your descendants." *** God later refers to Jacobs' descendants as Israel and Jacob's 12 sons are declared to be the 12 tribes of Israel by the author (Moses) in *** Genesis 49:28 (NLT) These are the twelve tribes of Israel, and these are the blessings with which Jacob blessed his twelve sons. Each received a blessing that was appropriate to him.***



Now for those who tend to be critical and judgmental in nature, it's interesting to note that Jacob, the very one that God chose to become the namesake for His people - wasn't perfect. In fact, if you read Jacob's story as recorded in scripture, you'll see that Jacob made mistakes and he did some things that might even be deemed unfair. So it wasn't because of Jacob's outward perfection that God chose to honor him - it was because of his heart. Those that know the story of King David and many others throughout the history of scripture will recognize that it was this same attribute that endeared David and these others to God. It certainly wasn't because they were so strong as to be perfect. David is a glaring example of that. So keep this in mind when you're tempted to measure others. Remember that it's from our heart that come our attitudes, motivations, beliefs and consequently some of the things we say and do ... even the temptation to measure others. Remember what God's measuring - even in you.

Moving on ...

Demonstrating His commitment to His people and His faithfulness to His promises, God reconfirms them to later generations:


*** Exodus 6:2-9, 2 And God continued, "I am the LORD. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, though I did not reveal my name, the LORD, to them. 4 And I entered into a solemn covenant with them. Under its terms, I swore to give them the land of Canaan, where they were living. 5 You can be sure that I have heard the groans of the people of Israel, who are now slaves to the Egyptians. I have remembered my covenant with them. 6 "Therefore, say to the Israelites: 'I am the LORD, and I will free you from your slavery in Egypt. I will redeem you with mighty power and great acts of judgment. 7 I will make you my own special people, and I will be your God. And you will know that I am the LORD your God who has rescued you from your slavery in Egypt. 8 I will bring you into the land I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It will be your very own property. I am the LORD!'" ***


So in answer to the question: Who are the ones that He called His firstborn and first chose to call His own people? Who are these people that our Father holds so close as to call them His own? ISRAEL! But we're far from finished ...

***********


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