Daily Bread - JAN/10/08

Romans 9:8 - That is the children of God are not the children of the flesh but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.

A distinction must be made between the natural descendents of Abraham and the descendents that come as a result of the same faith that Abraham possessed. Those who come into the kingdom of God through the faith of Jesus Christ having been made the sons of God through the new birth are also descendants of Abraham. Yet they are more than just descendants of Abraham because, through the same promise that God gave to Abraham, they have been made the children of God. The natural descendants are not children of God until they are born of the Spirit through the same faith that is in Christ Jesus.

There are two very important messages that help us to simplify the message that is being presented here:

First, everything that God did in the first covenant was to point those who would hear to the coming redeemer, Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:16; Hebrews 10:1; 9:9, 11).
Secondly, in order for man to have a relationship with God he must be transformed by the power of God and made a new creation by the miracle birth of the Spirit (Philippians 3:3; Galatians 6:15). God called Abraham in order to separate a people unto Himself so that He might bring forth the redeemer, Christ Jesus. God also revealed to Abraham that He would ransom the world and bless all of the nations of the world through the redeemer that would come through his descendants. When God made Abraham this promise, He revealed Christ Jesus to him, and through Abraham's faith in the seed, Christ Jesus, he became the father of faith (John 8:56; Galatians 3:8,16; Romans 4:11,16; Genesis 22:17; Hosea 1:10; Romans 9:26).

It is through the act of redemption provided to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus that we are able to be born of the Spirit. Abraham had the natural ability to have Ishmael, but it took the intervention of God to work a miracle so that Isaac could be born (Galatians 4:22-31). So it is today; the natural descendants of Abraham are not God's choice but those who have been born of the Spirit (Galatians 3:14, 16, 29; 4:28). This does not in any way undermine the natural descendants of Abraham because it does not matter whether one is Jew or Gentile; all are given the opportunity to become a new creature in Christ Jesus (Galatians 6:16; 3:28; Colossians 3:11; Romans 3:29).

Be blessed,

Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
abidingplace.org