Ensign: Generations

All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3

AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS                                                  17 April 2015

I doubt any of us can trace our family lines to that long time ago in a galaxy far, far away I allude to with today's photo (from the movie preview trailer, fanboy SQUEEE!) ... or maybe we do.

They [the Pharisees] answered and said unto [Jesus], Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.
Every month or so our local newspaper prints a photo of four or five generations of a family line in one place -- usually four or five females because they tend to live longer; no offense to my gentlemen readers, it's a genetic thing. I'm a little jealous of people who can do that, or even trace their ancestry back (with or without Ancestry.com, which I've used and found spotty because you have to have the right information to put in to get tantalizing links or "leaves" out) the last century or two.

But now [Jesus is still speaking] ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth., which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.

I believe the record outside the Bible is currently set by the family of the Chinese philosopher Confucius, with its most famous progenitor nearly six centuries before Christ and its latest member, according to the family tree I read, my daughter Sarah's age. The record inside the Bible -- generally known from Matthew 1 as the begats ("Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob" etc.), in Luke 3 as the genealogy of Jesus ("being ... the son of Joseph, which was of Heli," etc.) goes further.

Ye do the deeds of your father [the devil, though He doesn't say so by name for a few verses hoping the Pharisees might get it?]. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication [which, Jesus having been born before Joseph and Mary were themselves intimate, was a charge that got slung at Him]; we have one Father, God.

In John 8 (I excerpt verses 39 through 45 here), the Pharisees ... aren't exactly trying to trip Jesus up so much as claiming the same birthright He, and ostensibly all Jews (and Arabs, a sticky point with some people), have by claiming a common descent from Abraham. "So if we're listening to him and doing what he set down for us, through God in His covenant with Abraham, what have YOU, Jesus, got to say we're doing wrong?" What the Pharisees of our day would likely say.

Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.  

Last month my daughter Sarah had a class assignment regarding her heritage. To me heritage sounds as though everything great happened in my life happened before I was even around! She had to come up with a family recipe one of her ancestors had used and tell the story of how and why they made and still make it. Or they could have told a family story ... I must admit I didn't have one. And Martha, much of one as it was her family's dish. It was Martha's mom's hamburger hot dish.

Why do ye not understand my speech? because ye cannot here my word.

Certainly knowing where you came from and where your parents came from (my dad was born in Illinois and my mom in Kentucky, incidentally) and where their parents came from (my dad's dad from Sweden, my mom's mom also from Kentucky and one-quarter Cherokee) and where their parents came from (don't know about dad's grandparents, but my mom's grandmother from the same area and she's half-Cherokee) is not a sin, unless we're prouder of that that we are of being God's.

Ye are of father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Ouch. The Pharisees having already had their hard hearts thrown back at them in this chapter by Jesus forgiving the adulteress (verse 7: "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.") and then being unable to rebut His claim He is the Light of the World, NOW they and all the Jews in the audience are hearing that they're the devil's children? This is not exactly how to win friends and influence people, is it.

And because I tell the truth, ye believe me not.

Confucius, Jesus, you reading this, that is nothing new. But since I am a Christian and not a Confucian, let me interpose: yes, we are the children of God, we are the created of God. But until we take the step of accepting Him as Lord and Jesus has become our Savior we are the devil's children too. Perhaps as we approach the world's end more and more of us will believe Him, believe the truth, and get it. And we can go back to the very beginning!

We need to in every generation,

David

P. S. I write this weekly devotional to keep in touch with you, and I hope it encourages you too. If I'm not or you want me to get lost, please let me know -- thank you!

Thank You, Lord, that we can come to You in praise and prayer and that You provide for all our needs, even the ones we don't know we have! Let us pray for the peace of Jerusalem on both sides of the fence there and around the world.

Thank You, Lord, for all of us in leadership and service here and abroad, as well as for opportunities we have and the promise of new life! I pray we all seek and have a blessed week. Amen.