One of my favorite Praise & Worship songs is "I Am a Friend of God". The chorus goes, "I am a friend of God, He calls me friend!" Some people think that this is true simply because God is Love which is indeed His main attribute. However there is a reason why we can now be called friends of God as this was not the case for most people in times past. In fact the first person to be called "God's friend" was the patriarch Abraham from the land of Ur which is present day Iraq. Abraham is called a "friend of God" three times (2 Chronicles 20: 7, says, "O our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?" & Isa. 41: 8).
Abraham's friendship with God came as a result of his faith in God's promises to bless all nations through his seed. This intimate friendship did not come through Abraham's obedience to the law or even the covenant of circumcision as his righteousness before God was reckoned long before this.
"How was it reckoned? When he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision but in uncircumcision." Romans 4:10
It was Abraham's faith in the coming Messiah, who would be one of his descendants, that justified him before his Maker. In fact Romans 4:17 says that Yahweh appointed Abraham the father of many nations because he believed in a God "Who causeth the dead to live and calleth the things that are not as things that are." The things that were not included the promised seed of Abraham. Yeshua was not yet born nor was he in "Heaven with God" as part of some unbiblical "trinity". Abraham's faith in God's promise to rule the world by one of his seed or fleshly descendants was the cornerstone of that belief. God's creation of the Messiah in Mary's womb means that like Adam, Yeshua is the Son of God. Read Yeshua's geneology in Luke chapter 3 verse 38. It clearly says, son of Enos, son of Seth, son of Adam, son of God. The Messiah has always been anticipated to be 100% human. If he were not, then he could not fulfill what God promised to Abraham about one of his descendants ruling and blessing all the nations. If Yeshua were some immortal being, he also could not die because that is the definition of immortality... one who is not subject to death.
So if we believe that the Messiah's death, finished work, faithfulness and obedience were enough, we will have faith like Abraham that Yeshua will rule God's Kingdom. By this same declaration of faith, we too are friends of Yah!
"Having therefore been declared righteous by faith, let us have peace towards Yahweh through our Master Yeshua the Messiah." Romans 5:1
You might appreciate the following:
ReplyDeleteWhat of The NEW Covenant, and The New Covenant "Jew"(Brethren of The Messiah)?
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Jer 31:31-37 "Behold, the days come, says YHWH, that I will make a NEW COVENANT with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: NOT ACCORDING TO THE COVENANT THAT I MADE WITH THEIR FATHERS IN THE TIME THAT I TOOK THEM BY THE HAND TO BRING THEM OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT FOR THEY BROKE THAT COVENANT, although I was an husband unto them, says YHWH: (Thankfully no longer natural "fathers" but YHWH, "Our Father" in "the NEWness of The Spirit not the letter")
But this shall be the NEW covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, says YHWH, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts(not in stone, but in their heart consciousness); and I will be their Elohim, and they shall be MY people. ("Come Out of her, MY people"! Come out of this world and it's systems of religion)
And every man shall no longer teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, "Know YHWH", for they shall all know ME, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, says YHWH: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
Thus says YHWH, which gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divides the sea when the waves thereof roar; YHWH of hosts is HIS name:
If those ordinances depart from before ME, says YHWH, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before ME for ever.
Thus says YHWH; If Heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says YHWH."
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The NEW Covenant established The Truth that, "he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, whose circumcision is that of the flesh, he is a Jew who is one inwardly, whose circumcision is of the heart" as he was immersed in, of, by and through The Holy, Set Apart Spirit that is of The ONE and Only True G-D, Father(Creator) of ALL. And all gentile NEW Covenant Believers are "grafted into The Good olive tree", they are of The NEW Covenant Jews.......
And The NEW Covenant Israel?
"A Holy nation".......
Heavenly and Spiritual, not earthly or of the wicked worldly nations!
"A nation of kings and priests" indeed and Truth, and all New Covenant Believers are "strangers and pilgrims on the earth" whose "citizenship (Life) is in Heaven".......
They are not of this wicked, evil world and it's systems of religion because they have taken heed unto The Call of The Only True G-D, Father (Creator) of ALL to "Come out of her, MY people"....... (continued)
The NEW Covenant Believers are those who follow The Messiah for they have taken heed unto The Call to "Come Out" of this wicked world, and they have have "set their affections on things above, Heavenly things"....... No longer are they of those "whose god is their bellies, and whose glory is in their shame, because they mind earthly things". They are no longer of those who "love this world and their own life in, and of it".......
ReplyDeleteSadly, there are multitudes who profess a belief in The Messiah with their mouth only for they are "friends of this world" because they "love this world and it's things" ;-( And so it is that they "love their own life in and of the world" ;-( Such is not The Will of "Our Father" .......
And those who do not seek and desire to do The Will of "Our Father" and "Come Out" of this world(babylon) will hear those woe filled words, "Depart from Me all you workers of iniquity" because "the WHOLE world is under the control of the evil one" indeed and Truth.......
Thankfully The NEW Covenant Believers, The Brethren of The Messiah, have their "citizenship(Life) in Heaven" for they are "A Holy nation" of "kings and priests", all of whom are thankful that, that which was "decaying and waxing old" DID "vanish away" with the destruction of the natural, earthly kingdom centered in jerusalem. The old covenant did indeed vanish away, The NEW Covenant WAS, IS and always WILL BE!
At the time the old covenant vanished away "THY Kingdom" DID "Come" and IS, for The Messiah delivered up The Kingdom unto His G-D and Father(Creator), and The Kingdom of The Only True G-D in Heaven WAS, IS, and ALWAYS WILL BE.......
No longer old, natural, earthly and temporal, The Kingdom of The Only True G-D WAS, IS, and ALWAYS WILL BE NEW, Spiritual, Heavenly and Eternal.......
And so it is that yesterday, today, and if there be a tomorrow, that "the chosen ones", "the elect", The NEW Covenant Believer, the Spiritual Jew, "The Brethren of The Messiah", continue to "fight the good fight of Faith" as they but seek and desire that which is NEW, Spiritual, Heavenly and Eternal.......
So it is they "forsake all" and "suffer the loss of all things".......
Father Help! and HE does.......
So The Brethren of The Messiah rejoice!
Giving All Thanks, Praise and Glory Unto The ONE and Only True Living G-D, Father (Creator) of ALL.......
Peace, in spite of the dis-ease(lies) that is of this wicked world and it's systems of religion, for "the WHOLE(not just a portion) world is under the control of the evil one" indeed and Truth....... francis