Identity in Christ Alone!
It is easy to let subtle expectations of Abraham and other Biblical figures obscure God’s message. You are so used to hearing about these great men and women of God they are just people. They make mistakes just like us. The world Jesus came into is also very much like ours. People and societies faced many of the same challenges and had similar strengths and weaknesses.
The Israel Jesus born into was greatly fractured, for example. You had parties of religious and political groups vying for control. They were sharing space with the Romans they hated. You also had great racial, ethnic, and class strife. Gentiles did not like the Jews. Jews hated the Gentiles. Jewish man often prayed. “Thank you God I am not a Gentile, a woman, or a dog”.
This was not GOD”S PLAN for the Jewish people, though. They were chosen by God to be set apart, yes. But it was not to disdain everyone else. It was for a purpose:
Isaiah 49: 6
He says, “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me. I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”
Abraham heard God’s Promises – Genesis 22:
17blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
The Jews took it as through US, as in it was all about them. God called them to a light to this disgusting world. This was not God’s heart for the world. He so loved the world, He sent His only Son to die for it.
This is the point Paul makes in today’s passage. The natural man in our sin tear each other apart. We naturally separate and hate each other. Jesus makes us one – united in His Blood for eternity.
Therefore, live like it!
