And God said to him, “I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will come from your body.
Genesis 35:11 (NIV1984)
God promised Jacob nations; a community of nations and kings. Although in our politically correct culture we have watered down the meaning of the word nation, the biblical definition is found in Genesis 10:5, peoples, territories, clans, language. A nation is comprised of clans of people, speaking a common language(s), within a defined geographical area.
In our age, where we have so much information about historic people groups, nations that have risen and fallen, kings that are no longer, plans of men and women scattered in the dust, this promise that God made to Jacob, stands out. The Bible is the story of this promise coming true. Exodus is the story of the fulfillment of the promise of many descendants and the creation of a nation. But this nation will still not possess the land at the end of the story of Exodus, nor will they have a human king, but they will possess the manifest presence of God, and He will be their King.
What was it about Jacob that would cause God to make a promise like this? Well, Jacob is just an ordinary man, grasping for whatever he could get. Nothing special about Jacob, but everything is special about God Almighty that He would make a promise like this to a man! “No matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ” (2 Cor 1:20).
Bless His Holy Name!
Click here to read:
No comments:
Post a Comment