Saturday, May 28, 2016

Israel and idolatry, repentance, idolatry….. 513 - 3 - 8

To put it simply and to quote CM, Idolatry equals spiritual fornication. Idolatry is anything that takes the place of the true worship of God.
Satan reminds me of someone who just doesn’t have a life and has nothing better to do than to go around disrupting any and everything good as he is very jealous of God’s authority. I like what Chuck Missler said, “The Jews are God chosen people because he chose them!” God is sovereign!
God’s chosen people have long been God’s canary in the mine so what better target for Satan to attempt to lead into idolatry and/or destroy? CM provided several examples including: Corruption of Adam’s line by the fallen angels (Genesis 6), had it not been for Joseph the Israeli might have died during the famine (Genesis 50), Jewish male babies were to be cast into the river (Exodus 1), Moses resisted the enticement of Pharaoh’s court, Pharaoh’s pursuit of the Israeli, God parted the sea for His people and then closed it upon the Egyptians (Exodus 14) and finally attaching King David’s line.
King David’s line was to produce the Messiah, nevertheless, a blood curse was later pronounced by God against all male descendants. However, back in the garden we are told of the seed of the woman. Rather than coming through the line of King David’s son Solomon, Mary was of the line of King David’s son Nathan. (2 Sam 7). So Satan was defeated in this attempt to extinguish the Messianic line.
Throughout her history, Israel (Judah) has fallen into idolatry and then repented and then fallen… “Repentance is the activity of reviewing one's actions and feeling contrition or regret for past wrongs. It generally involves a commitment to personal change and resolving to live a more responsible and humane life. The practice of repentance plays an important role in the soteriological doctrines of the world's major religions where it is considered necessary for the attainment of salvation.” [Wikipedia]
The true prophets of God provided many warnings to Israel that were not heeded. Hosea 4:6, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children."
At times Israel passed the tipping point as noted in Jeremiah 7:16, "Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee."
Israel was very fortunate in that God never rejected his unconditional covenants. God's Word is of the utmost importance to Him as spelled out in Ezekiel 36:22-23. “…It is not for your sake, people of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone….. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I am proved holy through you before their eyes.”
With all her many failing, Israel became a country in one day, May 14, 1948. Isaiah 66:8, "Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children."

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