Find Me Hittite in New York City

The story is told that on one occasion, Karl Barth was asked why he believed in God, and he responded, "Because of Jews."  When his questioner, surprised, asked, "Why because of Jews?" Barth is said to have responded, "Find me a Hittite in New York City."

David Kidner writes about Psalm 129: "Whereas most nations tend to look back on what they have achieved, Israel reflects here on what she has survived."

No matter who has pursued them, killed them, exiled them, hated them or hunted them, the Jewish people are still around today... And they have their land back. What can account for this? What except the Sovereign hand of God who promised to make them a long-lasting nation of blessing.

Psalm 129:1-2 (ESV) “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth”— let Israel now say— “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me."

What other people from the ancient world... Perrizites or Philistines, Canaanites or Babylonians have been able to survive and thrive for so long? 

This is the promise to God's people - to have His protection in spite of their enemies.

This is the promise extended to us in the New Covenant of Christ's blood. Don't believe me? Check out the guy who walked closest to Jesus:

1 Peter 1:3–5 (NLT) All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, 4 and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. 5 And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.

Did you see it? "through your faith, God is protecting you by HIS power until you receive this salvation." And if we understand Paul right, we know that faith is a gift of God, not of ourselves! We have this sure confidence that Christ will build His Church, cleanse it and purify it, and come back to receive it unto Himself! This is settled in the will and purpose of God.

In Christ, we are a part of an unstoppable movement. The chosen family of God will endure for eternity. On Him alone do we place our trust.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

God’s View of You

Sometimes I think we imagine that God is mostly disappointed with us. That He puts up with us and bears with us because He has to (after all He is love), but most of the time our glaring weaknesses weary Him and make His day miserable. Of course, this is the devil’s doing in our minds. The truth of scripture bears out that the world has to get staunch-raving evil before God is totally weary of us. And the stories in the Old Testament remind us with each passing character that God is patient, loving and kind to His very flawed inconsistent servants. Saul is a case study of this. His lineage will not hold the kingdom, that has already been stated from the mishap of offering the sacrifice instead of waiting for Samuel to arrive in 1 Samuel 13. His next great gaff will happen in the chapter to come in 1 Samuel 15 where his own kingship will be taken from him and the anointing placed on one soon to come. Yes, God will regret making Saul king and we’ll talk about that next. But for now...
Read more

The Stain of Slavery

One of the greatest pains in my heart over the history of the church is the fact that many "Bible-believing" Christians used the Bible to promote, continue, and enable slavery in America's past. It may have happened elsewhere, but I'm an American, and I know it happened here. Then, some repeatedly make the claim because of a tiny amount of verses where God informs Israel on how to take slaves, it means the Bible is a pro-slavery document. How absurd. The overarching narrative of the Bible is that God sets the slaves free. The second book testifies to this part of God's character.  Getting to Jeremiah's day, one of the reasons Israel's nation was handed over to exile was because they enslaved each other. This attitude was so engrained into the culture of Israel that they had a hard time giving up slavery even in the face of national catastrophe.  In Jeremiah 34, the king is promised that he will die in Babylon, but he will die in peace. Jeremiah 34:3–5 (ESV...
Read more

Leaders Who Later Fail

Remember Johanan from Jeremiah 41? The man who saved many others from the threats of the murderous coup? He seemed like a noble leader. But time reveals a lot.  Jeremiah 42:5–6 (ESV)  Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to all the word with which the LORD your God sends you to us. 6 Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.” These are the words of the presumptive leaders of Israel in the land while the nation is in exile. The previous chapter saw a hero arise to protect a few remaining survivors. His name was Johanan. On the surface, he seems like a good man, seeking the will of the Lord in his leadership position. Jeremiah returns with directives from the Lord: Jeremiah 42:10 (ESV) If you will remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant y...
Read more