HOW HER CHILDREN ARE COUNTED . Her children must be born in her or within her borders because she is a nation – the mother of all the children of God. We saw that for her children to be counted, those children must be born within her borders; and God is the one who counts her children born within her (Psalms 87:5-6). . I also submitted that not all who were born within the house of Abraham were born free, which means not all within her borders are free born. Some are born slaves or bond men even within her borders, and I related that to the son of the bond woman. Finally, I submitted that whoever sins is a servant of sin within the House of God; and a servant does not abide in the house forever, but the Son abides forever – if therefore the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed and become the son or daughter of the free woman. Thus, sin turns men into sons and daughters of the bond woman, who is not free and who was cast away from the house. . Today in this update, I show you in another view, how her children are counted. Do not forget the previous view of how her children are counted which include: They must be born within her borders to be counted as her children and they must be born free (free from sin by Jesus Christ). So what is this new view or approach to how her children are counted? It is by promise. . 1. All her children are born within her borders, but not all born within her borders are her children, only those born free. Another way to say this, include: 2. All her children are born by promise, not by natural birth or by flesh. . These two points are the saying the same thing – How Her children are counted: One of the point is just another explanation of the other. The reason is because Her borders and birthing simply means Her Promises of God. Those who are born within Her borders are those who are born by Promise, not by natural birth. These are those who are born Free and born by Adoption through faith in the promises of God in His Son Jesus Christ. She, who is our mother, is the Holy Nation of God also known as Heavenly Jerusalem, Zion or the Church of Jesus Christ or the City of God or the Body of Christ or the Bride of Christ or the Armies of the LORD of Hosts. . Yes, not all who were born within her borders were born by Her, for she does not give birth to children naturally for she is barren naturally. For Her to give birth, She gives birth by promises or by adoption, which is spiritual way of giving birth to Her children. To understand Her better, Sarah was her character or feature in history. Naturally, Sarah could not have given birth to any child because she was barren and had past the age; but by promises of faith, Sarah gave birth to Isaac. So, because Isaac was born by promise, Isaac was the only child among all the children in the house of Abraham that was born as a child of God right from the day he was born. . Thus, none of the children born within Abraham’s house was counted as a child of God except Isaac; and the reason is because Isaac was born by promise, not by natural or human effort. Therefore it is written, “Not as though the word of God has taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, who were born of Israel: Neither, because they were the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, “In Isaac shall your seed be called.” That is, “Those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” For this is the word of promise, “At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son.” And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calls;) It was said to her, “The elder shall serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.” (Romans 9:6-13) . Two cases were cited in that reference: one is the case study of Isaac compared with all the other seed of Abraham and the other case is Jacob compared with Esau within the borders of the same mother’s womb at the same time. • We saw how promise distinguished Isaac from the rest of the children of Abraham, making Isaac the only child of Abraham counted for the seed by God in connection to Sarah. • We also saw how (apart from promise,) election distinguished Jacob from the rest of Rebeccah’s children. Thus, ‘Election’ favoured Jacob and disfavoured Esau – making Esau to become as a son of the bondwoman, while Jacob as the son of the free woman, even though both had one mother (Rebecca). How did Esau become like the son of the bondwoman or slave within the borders? Election made him to serve Jacob. As it is written, “Two nations are in your womb and two manner of people shall be separated from you; but the elder (Esau) as slave shall serve the younger (Jacob) as free born (Genesis 25:23) . Rebecca had two nations in her womb, but we are interested in only one of the nations, which is the free nation, from which the Heavenly Jerusalem came out. She is the nation of God’s Children, who are born by promise, born free and favour by the election of God just as Isaac. As it is written, “Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what said the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.” (Galatians 4:28-31) . This is what it means to be born again – first you were born by flesh naturally and you were naturally the son of the bond woman, but you have the privilege of being born by promise so that you will become the son of the free woman. He who is born again moves from been born naturally by flesh to being born by God through His word and through His Holy Spirit of promise. These are those who are counted as children – those born of God, not of flesh and blood. As it is written, “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13) . It is the promises of God that makes you born of God. We are born of His promises when we believe and have faith in Him who promised. 1. The foundation of the New Testament is established on better promises: For without promise, there will be no covenant or no testament (Hebrews 8:6). 2. The gospel of Jesus Christ is established on better promises: For without promise, there will be no gospel (Romans 1-2). All the promises of God are in Jesus – Yes and Amen (2 Corinthians 1:20) 3. The foundation of faith is established on promises. Without promise, there will be no faith. When you read Hebrews 11 talking about heroes of faith, relate what you read with the promises they had first before they exercised faith based on the promises they received. 4. Jesus was born by promise (Acts 13:23), He is the Son of God and the Promised Messiah. His return is also promised. 5. Holy Spirit was sent down to us by promise. Holy Spirit is the promise of the Father, sent to us. He is also known as the Spirit of promise, used to seal those who believe in the promises of God contained in the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:13). . Promises mean that faith and patience are required first before you can benefit or have those things that were promised (Hebrews 6:12). In the book of Romans, Abraham was presented as the father of faith; in the book of Hebrews, Abraham was presented as one who received the promises; in the book of Acts, Abraham was presented as even coming in contact with the promise Land which he was promised, but could not have that promise which he could touch just because the time has not come for the promise to be fulfilled to him. So Abraham could touch, hold and walk on one of those promises he had from God, but he was not given what he was promised because it was not the time for him to inherit the promised land (Acts 7:5, 17). . You may have asked, why keep promising it to me when you have with you and I can see it and touch it? Why not just give it to me now, instead of keeping me waiting in promises? . The gospel and Christianity is not just about free gifts, but about reward of promises. The actual free gifts are the promises, but inheriting the promises are the rewards for faith and patience. It is through His promises that we can become partakers of His divine nature if we work on the promises. As it is written, “Whereby are given to us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” (2 Peter 1:4)
Posted on: Tue, 18 Nov 2014 22:19:35 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015