26:16
So how does all this come about? How on earth can Israel possibly be in receipt of blessing? We now get something of the process, though not the whole story. First, they sought the Lord. When we are in trouble, often as a result of our own sins and failings, we can seem to be at an utter loss. Seeking the Lord in our distress can seem a very weak thing to do. It can even seem hypocritical. “So now we are seeking the Lord after rebelling against Him!” And the prayer wasn’t even strong, it was a whispered prayer. and the prayer was uttered because the Lord was disciplining them. Despite all these things, we should seek the Lord in our distress. For a message of the Bible is that the Lord hears the cry of His people.
26:17,18
This is a fascinating pair of verses. Israel went through all the motions of giving birth, experiencing all the pain, they were even in the presence of the Lord. They with child, but gave birth only to wind. So what does all this mean? Israel had been created by God, they had been given many promises, they had been given the Law and the word of God. They experienced opposition from many nations,and saw many miracles. They were supposed to bring forth salvation for the whole world (see Gen 12:2,3), but the they failed, “the people of the world have not been reborn”. So did God try to bring salvation to the world through Israel and fail, and then have to send Jesus as an emergency back up plan? Absolutely not! God always knew that His plans would be fulfilled through Christ. Part of the purpose with Israel was to foreshadow how things would work out, and to demonstrate beyond all reasonable doubt that man cannot save himself. Even if he has all the blessings that Israel had, he cannot save himself. We are utterly and completely dependent upon the Lord.
No comments:
Post a Comment