Friday, September 25, 2015

God's Gracious Covenat of Peace/ A Blessings To All

God renewed a covenant with his people Israel through Moses before entering
the promised land that God had promised to their ancestors.

"You are standing here in order to enter into a covenant with the Lord your God,
 a covenant the Lord is making with you this day and sealing with an oath,
 to confirm you this day as his people, that he may be your God as he promised you
 and as he swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
 I am making this covenant, with its oath, not only with you who are standing here
 with us today in the presence of the Lord our God but also with those
WHO ARE NOT HERE TODAY.

Not only God had spoken to his people Israel about the promised that they will be
God's people, but also to us all, who will also inherit this blessings given to Abraham.
"I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky
 and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities
 of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed,
 because you have obeyed me. (Gen.22:17,Gal.3:7-9,26-29,4:28-31)

Paul clearly stated that covenant promised for us all.
(Rom.4:10-12)
Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised,
or before? It was not after, but before! And he received circumcision as a sign,
a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.
So then, he is the father of all who believe but not have 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 also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before
he was circumcised.

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. 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 a father of many
nations." He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed.
(v.13,16-17)

This is why "it was credited to him as righteousness." The words "it was
credited to him" were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom
God will credit righteousness--for us who believe in him who raised Jesus
our Lord from the dead.
He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
(v.22-25 read also Rom.9:22-26)

You see, we  are in God's mind; God continued to provide a way for bringing us
to himself not only for his people Israel but also for us...who are the outsiders.
(uncircumcised, Gentiles)
And to restore what Satan had stolen in the beginning when God created Adam
and Eve and disobeyed God in the garden; our relationship with God.

This could only be received if we believe in God and believe in his Son Jesus Christ
whom God sent for us, John 3:16
    "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever
     believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life."
    
     Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God
     does not have life. (1John5:12)