Once upon a time, there was God. The semites called him Yahweh or Jehovah. The semites were descendants of Shem, the son of Noah. (You can begin reading that story here). From the lineage of Shem came forth the Father of Nations: Abram, whose name - as it pleased God - was changed to Abraham.
Abram had a wife named Sarai whose name - as it pleased God - was later changed to Sarah. From Abraham and Hagar, the servant of Sarah, came forth Ishmael who was not the promised seed that God spoke about to him when He referred to Abraham's 'seed' in Genesis 13:15 (chapter 13 verse 15), "For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever."
Nope - Ishmael was a product of man's doing. The wife, Sarah, couldn't see how both of them in their old age could have a son (they were past 80 years old) so she encouraged her husband, Abraham, to sleep with Hagar to have this "promised son/seed".
Well, God had a plan already, but they went and tried to do what only God can do so then this here boy, Ishmael, was brought into the picture. When Sarah got jealous of Hagar (because Hagar was prancing around like she was the wife, all because she bore a son to Abraham), Hagar ran away and was by a fountain out in the desert. The angel of the Lord said this to her:
"I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude."
And the angel of the LORD said unto her, "Behold, thou art with child and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction. And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren."
So Hagar goes back to the camp and submits herself. Later, God does what he promised and gives Abraham and his wife, Sarah, their child: Isaac.
Hagar couldn't resist mocking Sarah & Sarah caught her doing it. So she had the slave woman cast out of the camp with her son to let her know that Ishmael was not the true heir of Abraham. The father's heart was grieved because of it - I mean Ishmael was the little son he played with for the 13 years. A father doesn't teach a son, play with a son, love a son for 13 years and then easily discard him like that. But God promised Abraham that he would make a nation from Ishmael because Ishmael was of Abraham's seed (sperm). After Abraham set Hagar out with Ishmael, she tried to turn away and let her son die under a bush because the water bottle that Abraham gave them was empty. God heard the voice of Ishmael. Whether Ishmael was crying or praying or what, the Bible does not say. Simply that God heard the voice of the lad. So the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, asking her what was making her sad...and then re-assured her that God heard the boy and would make a great nation out of him. Then God opened her eyes to see the water that she used to fill the water bottle up with. God was with Ishmael. He grew and lived in the desert & became an archer. And Hagar got him a wife from Egypt.
From the seed of Abraham came two nations: Ishmael and Isaac.
Isaac was the promised seed. But since Ishmael was also of his seed, the Lord followed through with His promise of blessing his seed and giving his seed the land that Abraham had seen. The Lord said all the families in the earth would be blessed because of Abraham and whomever blessed him would be blessed, but whomever cursed him would be cursed. The end. for now.
That's a bit of history to be reminded of there.
Now let's talk about God and love.
John chapter 1 verse 1:In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
verse 14: and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us...
The Word was Christ. Notice the capitalization showing personification of the Word. The Word was the person of Jesus, the fullness of Christ. The Son of God.
1 John 1: 7Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
8He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
9In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
10Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
11Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
The minute a group of people who profess to "know God" or "worship God" begin to riot, get upset, get angry, demonstrate, act in rebellion, act in hatred, damage, destroy, kill, maim.... in the name of God... I have to question what sort of "god" do they serve?
For the God of Heaven and Earth - the Alpha & Omega - the King of Kings & Lord of Lords ... He does not need man to tell Him what is in man's heart. For He knows all that is in the heart of men/women. His arm is not too short that He cannot spare, heal, bless... nor is it too short that He cannot strike, pluck up, wipe out. He is God and that's just the way it is. He does not need mere mortal men of flesh and blood to "act on His behalf" EXCEPT IN ONE FASHION: To demonstrate His love.
TO DEMONSTRATE HIS LOVE - one to another.
Men, children, women killing others because they don't believe like they do... they don't have the same skin color they do... they aren't of the same bloodline as them... they don't come from the same race... This is murder and it's an abomination to God.
Believing that God would bless us with fleshly lusts, desires, and other things of the flesh when we "go to be with Him" or when "that day comes" is a false teaching.
God does not tolerate sin. He would not have a harem waiting in heaven for any man for any reason.
God does not tolerate murder. He demonstrated the greatest love of all: Even though we did not know Him, He sent His son to demonstrate His love to us...and in our arrogant ignorance we killed His son. By "we" I mean "the world". But more importantly, His son Jesus the Christ, knew that this was going to happen and HE OBEYED THE FATHER ALL THE WAY UNTO DEATH.
Because He loved you.
Before you were ever fashioned in your mother's womb, before you were even a thought, even while there were plans set out to destroy your life prior to your being birthed...and even thereafter, GOD knew your name.
God knew your name.
God does not forget us. We forget Him.
He gave us Jesus to demonstrate who He is, what He is about, how deep He loves us, and to show us how we can become sons of God.
1 John 3:1Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
Jesus Christ is the Resurrection and the Life. By his own power - which God gave him - he raised himself from the grave. He was clothed in a new body. His blood was presented to the Father for the purification of our sins. Thomas the doubter could stick his finger in the holes in his hands, but he could not see nor touch blood because there was no blood. The blood washed away our sins. One final scapegoat to take away the sins of the men.
All we have to do is believe. All we have to do is confess that Christ Jesus is the son of God and believe on His name. Couple that with faith and obey the Word. The Word was made flesh. The Word was uttered, "Let there be light" and it was good. God's word remains forever. The Word was written in the pages we call the Bible because the Spirit of God was obeyed by men who loved God. The Word gives us life, instructs us, gives us wisdom, dispels myths and fabels, teaches us truth, and shows us the Father.
Any who do not profess that Christ came in the flesh from the Father have the spirit of anti-Christ.
1 John 4:2Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
3And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
I think as we watch the news concerning certain peoples, we can see there is much hatred toward their neighbors near and far. I think many of us find such behavior pretty wild. But God did say that he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. And I did just remind you that every jot and tittle shall come to pass that the Word of God has said. We're watching prophecy come true before our very eyes. I don't know how many of you are awake and aware of the changes in the spirit realm... nor of the prophetic fulfillments that are coming to pass in these days. It's amazing to behold.
Do you have His love in you?
Do you love others? Even when they hate you? Or when they spitefully use you?
Do you bless those who curse you?
Ultimately - in posing those questions, the main question is:
Do you have the heart of the Father?
1 Corinthians 13:13And now abideth faith, hope, [love], these three; but the greatest of these is [love].
Read the Bible - choose your language
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