Va’eira/and I appeared
Exodus 6:2-9:34
Ezekiel 28:25-29:21
This may not be too ‘touchy feely’; but if you spend some time with the implications of this, it could change the way or your motivation for praying for Israel and the Jewish people. It may also change the way you view history and the news. The ‘underlying’ scripture I want to use is:
Exodus 6 2 And God spoke to Moses and said to him: “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty,… 4 I have also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, in which they were strangers. 6 Therefore say to the children of Israel: ‘I am the Lord;…7 I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God…
So, to begin with I did a little strategic editing to make emphasis easier to see. Even in dealing with Egypt; the word of the Lord shows the foundation of His actions is based in covenant with His people, Israel. This is more than theology or truth; this is the impetus for the Lord of All Glory interacting with heaven and earth! If you can ‘get this’; it can give you peace and confidence about your future and God’s faithfulness in all things. If He is faithful to His covenant to the Jewish people, by extension through Jesus; He is faithful to His beautiful bride (Jew and Gentile), the Body of Christ! Besides this affecting us personally; it affects all of creation, past, present and future. (I want to include a ‘free, bonus thought’ here: He wants to bring “shalom” to us and His creation. I want to add the “pictogram” for this word instead of the normal definition: “destroy the authority attached to chaos”. Spend some time with that and it should give you revelation of God’s version of peace.)
Now let’s jump ahead to part of the haftorah in Ezekiel:
29:9 And the land of Egypt shall become desolate and waste; then they will know that I am the Lord, because he said, ‘The River is mine, and I have made it.’ 10 I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, 11 Neither foot of man shall pass through it nor foot of beast pass through it, and it shall be uninhabited forty years. 13 ‘Yet, thus says the Lord God: “At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians…
So here is the Mighty One of Israel ‘messing’ with Egypt’s ‘history’ because of their dealings with His firstborn; Israel! Now let’s peek at another nation, Babylon:
29:17 And it came to pass in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 18 “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon… 19 Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Surely I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; he shall take away her wealth, carry off her spoil, and remove her pillage; and that will be the wages for his army. 20 I have given him the land of Egypt for his labor, because they worked for Me,’ says the Lord God.
So, in dealing with Egypt, He rewards the nation He uses to ‘punish’ them, even though they aren’t a ‘Godly’ nation; but He does it in the name of His covenant with the Jewish people…! My dear fellow believer, do you think God’s ways have changed? Look around you and consider that the rise and fall of nations may be in a context that the news isn’t reporting… What if the Lord God Almighty has plans for all the nations based on a ‘mysterious’, holy combination of how they respond to Israel, and how the Jewish people walk before Him? I know this should take books to explore, but for now let’s just ask the Lord to begin to give us insight and understanding, as we ‘stand’ before Him and cry out for His chosen people. (Forgive me for not even beginning to do justice to the implications for us of all this) Remember, Israel was meant to be a “light to the nations (Gentiles)”; so that should also motivate us to pray for her, when we consider the chaos that is all around us!
by john e
If you’re looking for a great resource to help you fellowship with Jesus in the context of His relationship in the context of Jew and Gentile…I would invite you to consider reading my book found on Amazon: the Book of Ephesians…a love story to the Gentiles by john eisner
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