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About Jesus Steve Sweetman The Politics Of God And The Bible Part 2
Babel
In
Genesis 10 we see Nimrod, a political/military leader.
Politics and military go hand in hand in a fallen world.
In Genesis 11 we see man relocating across the middle east and
growing in number. Genesis 11
is important when it comes to nation building and how God views our
nations. Man decided to build
a city with a tower. The
buildings were not made of stone which God created, but bricks that man
created. I think that's
significant in itself. Why man
built this city is stated in Genesis 11:4.
It reads, "let us build ourselves a city with a tower that
reaches to the heavens so we may make a name for ourselves …" God
wasn't happy with man's building project, and it wasn't because He feared
him climbing a tower and jumping a fence into heaven. God
didn't like man's aspirations to make a name for himself in His world.
It was the tragedy of Lucifer all over again. In
Genesis 11:5 God said, "if as one people speaking
one language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to
do will be impossible for them".
Note that by God's own admission, pretty well anything is possible
for man. We certainly see
proof of that today. In
order to inhibit man from making a name for himself in God's world, God
disrupted our communication by creating many languages.
This communication problem now separated us into distinct cultures
that slowed down our expressions of pride.
To further complicate things, in Genesis 11:9 God scattered man
over the face of the earth. How
He did this, we don't know. He
just did it. This little
talked about event should have a place in the evolution debate, but it
seldom does. It's
my thinking that these new languages and the dispersion of man throughout
the world created distinct cultural identities that led to distinct
civilizations and nations within these civilizations.
Thus we have the beginning of national and cultural identities
which would require political systems.
We also see God's unfavorable response to our nation building. I
view God's response as part of His personal political views. One
thing we should learn from Genesis 11 is that these cultural distinctions
came about as a result of humanism, pride, and sin.
If man had not been so prideful,
God would not have confused our language and separated us into distinct
cultures. Therefore, as I see
it, the Biblical perspective concerning nations is based on sin.
From this point on, the nations of the world are portrayed in the
Bible to be in direct opposition to God.
This is very important to understand.
How you understand this will determine how you think and live in
your nation as a Christian.
The
Calling Of Abraham It's
no fluke that the contents of Genesis 12 comes right after Genesis 11.
In Genesis 11 God separated man into distinct communities based on
language. This began the
process of nation building. In
Genesis 12 God told Abraham that his family would become "a great
nation". The words
"great nation" implies that Abraham's family, which would become
God
agreed with Himself to make Abraham into a special nation.
In Genesis 12:2 and 3 God said, "I will make you into a great
nation and bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a
blessing. I will bless those
who bless you, and whoever curses you, I will curse; and all people on
earth will be blessed through you."
Notice the words "I will".
God will do what He promised. If
that doesn't mean God viewed, and I say, still views, This
promise, along with added promises, has been called the "Abrahamic
Covenant". This covenant
was "agreed upon by God and Himself", and was directed to
Abraham, to his descendents, and to his seed.
It is important to understand that God covenanted with Himself, and
not with Abraham. It is also
important to understand that this covenant was directed to, and intended
for, three recipients, not one or two recipients as many think.
Many people miss the significance of this, and thus misunderstand
prophetic history as seen in the Bible.
I will not explain that here because I've done that elsewhere.
You can read my explanation at http://stevesweetman.com/Abrahamcov/abcov1.htm I
will touch a bit more on this when I comment on certain New Testament
passages. I will only say this
now. There is no Biblical
evidence that God has ever changed His mind about what He promised
Abraham, his descendents, and his seed, and this includes what Paul said
in Galatians 3:15 to 18. God
confirmed these promises to Abraham, to his son Isaac, to his grandson
Jacob, and they are reconfirmed throughout both the Old and New Testament.
God has a political agenda for national Israel
first, and then for all nations of the world.
Thus the reason for the apostle Paul's words, "to the Jew
first, and then to the Gentile". Among
God's plans for Abraham's descendents, was to make them into a special
nation that would represent Him to the nations of the world.
They were to be a kingdom of priests. Israel
has long since forgotten her responsibility, but Jesus will change that,
and maybe very soon. Remember,
God told Abraham, "I will make you a great nation".
God won't forget this. Step
by step Abraham's family became a nation.
The first five books of the Bible shows this transformation from
family to nation. Along with
this transformation came a political system established by God Himself,
which included what has been called "the Law of Moses".
These laws consisted of moral, religious, and civil regulations
that shows us more of God's political strategy for Israel. The
Law of Moses was in fact a covenant, and is sometimes called the
"Mosaic Covenant". Another
important thing to understand is that the "Mosaic Covenant" is
not an extension of the "Abrahamic Covenant".
It is a separate covenant made "with" Israel, meaning, "if Much
of the Law of Moses had already been in existence in various forms before
it was codified into writing. As
a matter of fact, all civilizations had similar religious practices that
are seen in the Law of Moses. For
example, animal sacrifices were common among polytheistic pagan
civilizations. It's my
thinking that pagan civilizations had adulterated these practices that
were established by God in earlier centuries. The Law of Moses was meant
to show There are a few things to understand concerning the establishment of the nation of Israel. It took place right after God dispersed man throughout the world. Once God paved the way for man to build nations, He then provided these nations with an example of what a godly nation should look like. Along with Israel being an example, she was meant to be a kingdom of priests that would represent God to the nations.
Another
thing we should note concerning the establishment of
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