(Bible study)
The English word gentile comes from the Latin word for “people”. In the Bible, Gentiles are all the peoples who are not Jews. The desecndants of Noah and his family spread out over the world and became divided into many different nations or peoples (Gen. 10). God divided these nations by giving them different languages, because they had acted in evil ways (Gen 11). But then God chose Abraham and Sarah and told them that he would use them and their desendants to bring God’s blessing to “all the familes of the earth” (Gen 12:1-3).
Later, israel’s king Solomon urged the people to be kind and open toward those of other nations, so that they would come to honor the LORD God (1 Kings 8:41-43).
The prophets of israel kept telling the people that God was eager to have other nations honor him (Jer 4:2) and that they wanted to know the God of israel (Isa 42:1-4; 51:4-5). If the people of God were obedient, they would be a model and witness to all the nations of the world (Isa 61). The story of Jonah shows how God reached out with mercy to a nation that was israel’s enemy. God will one day be the single ruler over all nations, and they will join to honor God (Ps 47:8-9, 86:8-9). In the kingdom that God will establish, “people of every nation and race would serve him” (Dan 7:14).
Contd.,
Jeremiah 7:5-7
“If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever.”
What is the true measure of our character? Certainly it is not merely how we act "at church." The real test of our character, our godliness, is our partnership with him in his work of redeeming the lost, forgotten, downtrodden, and broken.
When we live only for ourselves, when the "have-nots" are left so far behind, a culture collapses upon itself because it lacks the heart of God, and people become jealous and resentful of one another.
Thoughts
. Many a humble soul will be amazed to find that the seed it sowed in weakness, in the dust of daily life, has blossomed into immortal flowers under the eye of the Lord. - Harriet Beecher Stowe
The English word gentile comes from the Latin word for “people”. In the Bible, Gentiles are all the peoples who are not Jews. The desecndants of Noah and his family spread out over the world and became divided into many different nations or peoples (Gen. 10). God divided these nations by giving them different languages, because they had acted in evil ways (Gen 11). But then God chose Abraham and Sarah and told them that he would use them and their desendants to bring God’s blessing to “all the familes of the earth” (Gen 12:1-3).
Later, israel’s king Solomon urged the people to be kind and open toward those of other nations, so that they would come to honor the LORD God (1 Kings 8:41-43).
The prophets of israel kept telling the people that God was eager to have other nations honor him (Jer 4:2) and that they wanted to know the God of israel (Isa 42:1-4; 51:4-5). If the people of God were obedient, they would be a model and witness to all the nations of the world (Isa 61). The story of Jonah shows how God reached out with mercy to a nation that was israel’s enemy. God will one day be the single ruler over all nations, and they will join to honor God (Ps 47:8-9, 86:8-9). In the kingdom that God will establish, “people of every nation and race would serve him” (Dan 7:14).
Contd.,
Jeremiah 7:5-7
“If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever.”
What is the true measure of our character? Certainly it is not merely how we act "at church." The real test of our character, our godliness, is our partnership with him in his work of redeeming the lost, forgotten, downtrodden, and broken.
When we live only for ourselves, when the "have-nots" are left so far behind, a culture collapses upon itself because it lacks the heart of God, and people become jealous and resentful of one another.
Thoughts
. Many a humble soul will be amazed to find that the seed it sowed in weakness, in the dust of daily life, has blossomed into immortal flowers under the eye of the Lord. - Harriet Beecher Stowe
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