God Of A Small Nation!!!

GOD OF A SMALL NATION

Now I do not know if the famous Indian novelist Arundhati Roy had Israel in mind when she wrote her Booker Prize winning novel “God of small things” but for a good 2000 years of its Scriptural history tracing back to the call of that Father of Faith Abraham…the Almighty Creator God had indeed been God of this small Nation in West Asia. Did you know, Israel’s land area of 27,869 Sq kms, is only 0.85% of our great country of India?

OK folks, Israel celebrated its 66th year of its “re-birth” on May 14th (though as per the moon-based Jewish calendar, the equivalent of the civil date of May 14th is May 5th in 2014) having got its independence on the same day in 1948. Now what is that about Israel that interests all keen Bible students? The reason is as simple as it is profound. The World’s future events are not so much linked as inter-twined with Israel’s II birth, as it were. In this message, Yours Truly has attempted to bring to the fore the significance of Israel to all followers’ of the Lord God of Abraham.

Selection…

Israel’s selection in God’s grand scheme of things to bring the Saviour and the Salvation to this World can be put down to His grace alone, which he showed in firstly calling Abraham out from his idol-worshipping relatives and entering into a covenant with him (Genesis 12:1-4, Genesis 15/Joshua 24:2-3). Let the Scripture take over at this stage…a part of Moses’ farewell message to the Jews of that era…

“The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”-Deu 7:7-8

Israeli liberation from the Egyptian captivity foreshadowed the Redemption plan which Christ by His atoning death on the cross completed. Anyone who puts his trust on Christ to take away his sins, immediately experiences liberation from a slavery far more dangerous than the Egyptian bondage-SIN. God did not liberate the Jews from their slavery because they were good and holy but rather to make them good and holy. The Ten Commandments and the Book of Leviticus (all about Holy Living) were given to them after their liberation and NOT prior to it. Similarly Jesus liberates a Christian from sin to make for Himself a "Holy Bride". He use His Word and the Spirit to mould us into a spotless, beautiful bride ready for the ethereal marriage (Rev 19:6-9).

Sign…

About 300 years ago, the King of Sweden was having personal doubts about God’s existence and the Bible's divine nature. He called for Count Von Zinzendorf, who was the bishop of the Moravian Church, to provide evidence about God’s existence and Divine authorship of the Bible. When the Count arrived, the King told him he had set aside 10 hours to be enlightened on these matters. Zinzendorf said that much time would not be necessary because all he needed to do was to say two words. The King, skeptical, asked, “What words might those be?” Count Von Zinzendorf replied, "The Jews."

How true! One look at the history of the nation of Israel would convince even a hard core atheist/agnostic about the existence of the Almighty and authenticity of the Bible. Is not the entire history of this Chosen Nation an outworking of the Deuteronomic covement enshrined in the 28th Chapter of the fifth book of the Bible (Deu 28)? Have not all the blessings so graphically described “chased” the people of Israel whenever, they have sincerely obeyed their Master? By the same token have not the curses too sent by the chastening God “chased” them whenever, they have gone astray?

Not only the Book of Judges where the cyclical “boom” and “doom” periods of Israel’s faith is sincerely portrayed but in fact the entire Old Testament history stands witness to the solemn fact that the Jews’ success or failure in any sphere has been directly proportional to their obedience or lack of it to their Good Shepherd. Unlike say life of a lowly layman, living in one corner of the world, dear friends, history of one nation is not a private occurrence, far removed from public spotlight!!! It is in public domain and can be checked and cross-checked umpteen times and the unanimous verdict of the umpire (conscience) in all of us would be “God of Abraham exists and his words enshrined in scripture are true!” I repeat, if I as one average nine to five guy living in an inconspicuous place in this world, shout from rooftops nay even mountaintops that the hand of God can be seen prominently in my life by way of blessings or curses whenever I have obeyed or disobeyed Him, people may or may not believe but if a definite trend of good times/bad times is seen emerging in the public history of one nation itself all on one account of an unseen divine interference, can anyone still turn a blind eye to it, without inferring the truth thereof?