By Kellen Davison for IsraeliNewsLive.org
The last time you walked on a warm sandy beach and cooled off in the ocean did you remember to command the ocean to maintain tide and not overtake you with its power? Or did you merely jump right into the water carefree not giving a second thought as to the true unchanging power that permits you to have such a wonderful experience?
Some people, if not most, do not think about such things when taking their family to the beach. However, there is someone that never changes who controls these things for our pleasure.
“Do you not fear me? declares the LORD. Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail; though they roar, they cannot pass over it.” Jeremiah 5:22.
Imagine if this law that God put in place for the ocean was as fickle as every human being at believing and keeping to the things God says to do or that God has set in place which He said will never change.
What would it be like if man made the instructions for the things in nature? Like every human, who does not change their mind about a rule for their children, family or themselves? Sometimes for the positive and sometimes for the negative, people can be influenced by themselves or by others with wrong motives to change how they live their lives. What if you were given the opportunity to set the boundaries for the natural world?
There probably would not be too many people going to the beach for fear of the uncertain and possibly life-threatening situation they could be entertaining if it happened to be a day you were unsure if that boundary was going to be the same as yesterday and the same tomorrow.
Fortunately human beings are not given such power. One thing we have been given power over is how we live our lives in response to the ultimate power of God and how He determined life on earth to operate.
Now someone might say, “Well God changed His mind about Hezekiah or He relented from destroying Israel after Moses pleaded”. You’re right, but that is part of his ultra-consistent character. Everyone human has the nature and desire to forgive and when we need it, to be forgiven. Since mankind is formed in His image we are going to have some characteristics similar to our Maker’s unchanging characteristics. The reason God changed His mind regarding judgement is because of a core unwavering aspect of His character – mercy and forgiveness.
“But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him; for the righteousness that he has done he shall live. Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? But when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice and does the same abominations that the wicked person does, shall he live? None of the righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered; for the treachery of which he is guilty and the sin he has committed, for them he shall die.” Ezekiel 18:21-24
Outside of the boundaries of nature and characteristics we inherit from God there are other laws or principals that God said would never change. One of hot contention today is the ability for Israel to live in the land it was promised as an inheritance by God. You can look throughout history books, the Bible and the news today and see that Israel has been fighting some of the same countries for ages.
So in a way, with the exception of a few outliers in the family tree, perhaps it is expected that Israel continues to battle the same people for thousands of years. However, there is a new group strengthening that thousands of years ago would have been viewed as an extension of the people of Israel who also served the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. While the growing anti-Israel sentiment does not speak for the whole group, the leaven is starting to spread amongst them; the group is Christians.
In the Bible, those that chose to obey and worship the God of Israel even though they may not have been physical descendants were considered an extension of the nation that followed the same way of life.
“As for the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the alien who sojourns with you, a perpetual statute throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the alien be before the LORD.’There is to be one law and one ordinance for you and for the alien who sojourns with you.'” Numbers 15:15-16
Now as previously mentioned not all Christians are expressing anti-Israel sentiment, but for a group that claims to follow the same God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, do they not realize why He is called that? For those that do not know why or may have forgotten here is a quick reminder:
“On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.” Genesis 15:17-21
“And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.” Genesis 17:7-8
In terms of modern day countries, Israel would be much larger than its current land and the land certain parties say belongs to the Palestinians. The land of Israel would encompass much of the Middle East.
Surprisingly there are groups like Christians for Palestine and Christians against Zionism that continue to call for land to be given to the Palestinians that is not promised to them by God. One cannot glance over the annual eventChrist at the Checkpoint. Also there is the movement saying that Jesus was a Palestinian.
These and other anti-Israel movements are what we’ll aim to shine the light on to hopefully educate those on the truth of these efforts and how best to combat them. In this column we will address the anti-Israel sentiments rising around the world by those who say they believe in the same God of Israel.
Please note, this regular column is not a bashing of Christians. However, at a time where Israel’s enemies are increasing, it is time for those who claim to believe in the same God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to stand up for the nation of Israel. Also, note that this column does not mean that the current State of Israel can do no wrong. However, independent of what a government, police or military might do that may even be counter to the ways of the God of Israel, are God’s everlasting promises, like those ocean waves you cherish.
“When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God. ‘You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measurement of weight, or capacity.” Leviticus 19:33-35
“For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.” Romans 11:24
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