Davar Kingdom Of God - The Blessings Of Sonship

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left (Exod 14:21-22). This was what happened when the people of Israel were reborn by going through water. The "strong east wind" was the Holy Spirit—the power of new creation. It was the spirit of God who was hovering over the waters, the deep, and his power was released when God said, "Let there be light." The same Holy Spirit was with the people of Israel, and he guided them as they traveled in the wilderness, which was a proof that they were heirs of God. And it was this spirit who led those of the second generation into the Promised Land. Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water's edge, the water from upstream stopped flo

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory. (Eph 1:13-14). Since the beginning of creation, the Holy Spirit has been always a backstage being whose work was not recognized or praised at all. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light (Gen 1:2-3). The Holy Spirit himself was the power to produce light, but he was not the light itself. He was the living water that watered the Garden of Eden, and caused everything that had life to grow and produce fruit, and was the breath of life that made Adam a living being, but he himself was not the life. Adam, when he sinned, was driven out of the garden, and went to

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—... (John 14:6). This "another Counselor" is one of the three beings of the Trinity, and is usually called "the Holy Spirit" in the New Testament. According to Jesus' words above, this being was to be given to the disciples by the Father. Admittedly, at that point, this being was not yet given to them who had already believed that Jesus was the Messiah. This promise of giving the Holy Spirit to his disciples was a part of the "share" that Jesus mentioned when he washed the feet of his disciples: he said to Peter, "Unless I wash you, you have no part (share) with me." This share is what God's heirs are entitled to receive. Note that their whole body must be washed first, and their feet must be washed constantly in order for them to take part in this sharing according to Jesus. ... —the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will

When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased (Luke 3:21-22)." Here, we see all the three divine beings present in this short passage. As Jesus, in whom was living the Son God as his spirit, came out of the water, and was praying, the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove, and the voice of the Father God came from heaven speaking to Jesus: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." This occurred as the fulfillment of the following scripture in the Old Testament: I will proclaim the decree of the LORD: He said to me, "You are my Son; today I have become your Father. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession (Ps 2:7-8). At this point, Jesus (more particularly, his soul) was adopted into the family of the Trinity as

In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab (Ruth 1:1). The book of Ruth is one of the rare books in the Bible in which women are the main characters. The story itself is short, and is about two women, a widowed mother (Naomi) and her Moabite daughter-in-law (Ruth), who returned to Bethlehem after they had emigrated to the land of Moab because of famine. It tells how they survived and how their life was restored through their kinsman-redeemer, Boaz, who married Ruth, and in whose genealogy later came David. When they had not yet returned to Bethlehem, Naomi told her two daughters-in-law to return to their own mothers and remarry, but Ruth insisted on going with Naomi, and said: Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. When Naomi realized that Ruth wa

"Agreed," she replied. "Let it be as you say." So she sent them away and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window (Josh 2:21). Here, the expression, "the scarlet cord," occurs for the second time in this story. Earlier in v. 18, it was "tiqvath hut ha-sshani hazeh," and here, it is simply, "tiqvath ha-sshani"—somewhat shorten or abbreviated from the earlier one. Note, however, the word "tiqvath," which means both "cord" and "hope" is still used (this word for the meaning of "cord" occurs only twice in the Bible). The theological implication behind it is significant. This cord meant hope not only for the salvation of Rahab and her family from the destruction that was about to happen, but also for the salvation of the whole humanity. Rahab continued to live among the Israelites in the land, and later was married to Salmon from the tribe of Judah, and bore Boaz. Boaz became the father of Obed by Ruth, a Moabite woman, Obed the father of Jesse, Jesse the father of David, and Jesus Christ came a

When we enter the land, you will tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and you will bring your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house (Josh 2:18). These two things were what Rahab was to do before the Israelites would come to destroy Jericho: to tie "this scarlet cord" in the same window as she let these spies down, and to gather all those who belonged to her into her house. Here, the phrase, "this scarlet cord," draws our special interest. The phrase in Hebrew is, tiqvath hut ha-sshani hazeh, and it probably means, "the thread/cloth of this scarlet string/cord." Since we do not know exactly how tiqvah is different from hut in the meaning, these two words are together translated as "cord" in NIV. The word that gives the meaning of "scarlet" is shani, and it was the color of the matter produced by insects called coccus ilicis: the dried bodies of the females of this insect was widely used for coloring matter. The worm of this kind of insect is called

A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, … Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, … Jesse the father of King David (Mat 1:1-5). Genealogies in the Bible are not given simply to show who the ancestors of the Jews were, but to show how the inheritance originated from God had been given to certain individuals, and then, handed down to a certain group of their descendants, and so on. In other words, the significance of genealogies lies in the passing of God's inheritance in the history of humankind. The reason that the above genealogy in Matthew begins with Abraham is that the original inheritance given to Adam at the creation was lost as a result of sin, but came to be renewed at the time of Abraham with the covenant God made with him promising that a nation of God's heirs would be built, and eventually the other peoples on earth woul

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses (1 Tim 6:12). If the promise that we will be heirs of God is fulfilled by faith, then, the promise that we will be blessed with various blessing we are entitled to as heirs of God is also fulfilled by faith. Therefore, the fight we fight in order to receive God's blessings takes place in the area of our faith. The reason that this is a fight is because everywhere in this world, we see the work of destruction, but instead, we want to see the work of creation in our life. This friction between the work of destruction and that of creation results in ongoing fights we fight as long as we live on earth. The above scripture encourages us to "fight the good fight of the faith" we have in Christ. It is good to fight, and every fight we fight is a good fight because we are more than conquerors as long as we fight correctly according to God's word. Let us see

From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it (Mat 11:12). We learned last time that we as heirs of God must go and forcefully lay hold of the kingdom of God together with all kinds of blessings associated with this inheritance. Although the kingdom of God exists in our world, it does not exist physically. Where the will of God is carried out through the name of Jesus, there is the kingdom of God. So, then, the questions we ask are: what kind of battle are we to fight, and what kind of force do we need to have in order to lay hold of our inheritance? Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses (1 Tim 6:12). Since the kingdom of God is a spiritual kind of kingdom, the battle we fight takes place in the spiritual realm. This scripture encourages us to "fight a good fight of faith." Faith substantializes what is h

From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it (Mat 11:12). We, as heirs of God, have come to inherit the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is where God's will and his good work of salvation, such as health and prosperity, love and peace, and the restoration of what was lost or destroyed, are being done. John the Baptist in his ministry taught the Jews that having Abraham as their (external) father would not automatically make them God's heirs, and preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. As a result, many had come to inherit the kingdom of God by seeking God's righteousness. Jesus saw it, and described it as in the above scripture. Obviously, the same result and phenomenon were seen in the ministry of Jesus who took over that of John. Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. … people brou

It was not through 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 (Rom 4:13). In order for a man to be an heir of God, he must be righteous before God. With sin, no one can be an heir before God, and the promises of blessings given in the Bible are totally irrelevant to the unrighteous according to the Bible. Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor 6:9-10). This principle can be observed in the stories of Genesis that we looked at earlier: for instance, we saw how Adam and Eve were driven out the Garden of Eden when they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, how Cain became a wanderer when he killed Abel, how all the wicked people died at th

Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there (Gen 11:1-2). This is how the story of the Tower of Babel begins. The significance of this story becomes highlighted when it is compared with the story of Abram in chapter 12. While people moved eastward from Mt. Ararat to the region of Shinar (northwest of the Persian Gulf) to settle there, Abram moved westward from Ur in Shinar to the land of Canaan (11:31), and it was by the Lord's command that he did so. The Lord had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you (12:1)." On the other hand, in the case of the Tower of Babel, it was by their own choice that they tried to build a town and a tower that would reach to the heaven, which is well expressed in the following words: They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks (for ourselves) and bake them thoroughly." … Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a

I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth (Gen 9:13). Note the pronoun "my" in "my rainbow," which indicates that this rainbow is something God possesses. The Hebrew word qesheth means both 'rainbow' and 'bow' because the two have the same shape. A bow in the Bible is a symbol of victory over battles. The greatest battle that humans came to face was the battle against death, yet it was impossible for them to have victory over it. So God sent his Only Son to this world, let him die and go to hell, laying all the sins of the world upon him, and from there, he raised him, and exalted him to the highest place in heaven. It is as though God, using his own bow, pulled an arrow down as low as hell, and released it to shoot up into heaven. The arrow broke through the wall of hell, and blew away the clouds of death (according the Babylonian astrology, the Arrow-star, Sirius, measures the depths of the sea, and lowers the level of water in the floods as it ri

On this mountain, he will destroy the shroud that enfolds (lit. face of covering upon) all peoples, the sheet that covers (lit. mask casted upon) all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The Lord has spoken (Isa 25:7-8). These are the words that lie behind what John witnessed inside the empty tomb: two kinds of cloth were used for the burial of Jesus, but the one that had been around his head was placed separately from the other. Note, however, the coverings mentioned in this scripture of Isaiah are much larger covering the whole earth. They symbolize death that came upon humanity: death is depicted as if it is covering the whole earth as dark clouds. This description reminds us of the story of the flood in the book of Genesis. It says, "all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened (Gen 7:11)." The subterranean water burst into sky, pr

This is the written account of Adam's line. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. … When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth (5:1-3). The second point in the meaning of "in the likeness (Demuth)" and "in his image (tselem)" is that man was created as God's son resembling him in his divine nature. In a sense, Adam was given spiritual DNA from God, which was also handed down to the generations after him. It should be noted, however, that as for the heirs of the world after the Fall of Man, only one child—usually the firstborn son—in each generation was chosen as an heir. After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Adam lived 930 years, and then he died (vv. 4-5). Note the expression, "… had sons and daughters." While many other sons and daughters were born of Adam, Seth is recorded as an heir in the genealogy. However, from chapter 4, we know that Adam had two more sons, Cain and Ab

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground (Gen 1:26)." It is a great truth that God created everything for humans, and he intended to give the world to humans from the very beginning of the creation of the heavens and the earth. Humans are, and have been always heirs of the world. Among the phrases in the above scripture, this time we will explore the meanings of "in our image (tselem), in our likeness (demuth)." Since our topic is about the inheritance we receive as sons of God, we will focus upon the following points that will help us understand what these phrases mean. 1) As statues that represent God 2) As children of God 3) As ones who walk on two feet First, concerning point 1), it can be explained from the custom that existed in the ancient world—the placing of a king's statue in the land that he conquered for the purpo

Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Mat 16:16)." The most significant part of this confession by Peter in the mind of Jesus was "the Son": God is not only the Father of Jesus, but also of his disciples—one of the predominant themes in the gospel of Matthew. It frequently records the words of Jesus who taught his disciples calling God as "your heavenly Father" (5:16, 45, 6:1, 8, 15, 7:11, etc.). You see the same theme flowing in this passage of Mat 16. Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven (v. 17). According to Jesus, it was the Father himself who taught Peter that Christ is his Son. Here, the apparent implication, on the basis of the theme of Matthew, is that this God became also Peter's Father through his confession. And it should be remembered that in the Bible, the concept of sonship is always associated with the idea that children are heirs. And I tell you that you are Peter (rock), and

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground (Gen 1:26)." When you read the whole chapter of Genesis 1 from the beginning, you get a sense that the world was created for humans who were created at the last. In fact, God said, "… and let them ruler over the fish of the seas, … over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground," and it indicates that he had planed and prepared everything so that humans could rule over what he had created. And this leads us to the idea that we humans are the heirs of the world. This does not mean, however, that we can rule over the world selfishly, not according to God's will. Needless to say, such a self-seeking and dictatorial manner of ruling is a sin, and this ownership by humans assumes that the world is without sin. More importantly, the Bible also says that the world

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gen 1:1). The very first verse of the Bible indicates that everything that exists today was created by God, and is, therefore, owned by him. For everything in this world, there is someone who owns it, and nobody is allowed to use anything that is not his/hers without the owner's consent. The above scripture implies that God is the owner of everything, and we are only allowed to use what he has with his permission. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all (1 Chr 29:11). These were the words spoken by David, the anointed king of Israel, to whom God promised that he would establish his kingdom forever. For many years, he ran away from king Saul who tried to kill him because of his jealousy. He went out for battle countless times, and always came back with victory expanding the territory of his n