“Come to me, all children and nations, says the Lord. All tongues, children, races and creeds are MINE.!”
Isaiah 56:1,6,7, “Thus says the LORD: Observe what is right, do what is just; for my salvation is about to come, my justice, about to be revealed.
The foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, ministering to him, loving the name of the LORD, and becoming his servants.”
Approximately 700 years before Jesus was born, and another 33 more years until Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus oversees the stoning of Stephen… Isaiah is prophesying about the inclusion of ‘Gentiles’ into the family of God. **In time, Saul changes his name to Paul and is considered the apostle to the gentiles.
For me the names and personalities don’t matter as much as the mission. Yet, again, we see with our 20/20 hindsight that God is in control… not humans. God’s Plan always comes to fruition in God’s Time.
I used to be far more impatient when I was younger than I am today. But I still am. It would take TEN lifetimes to reach 700 years, would I still be impatient? Would I be ‘AS impatient’ with the poor treatment of today’s outcasts? The homeless, jobless, foodless and Godless, Today’s ‘foreigners’. **These are our brothers and sisters, who lack even a glimmer of hope in their eyes. GENTILES, Outsiders, preferably ignored, and yet God’s children one and all. This is the condition of our own backyard, let alone the real migrants, who aggravate us daily.
Psalm 67:2-8 (revised) “O God, let all the nations praise you! May God bless us; may he let his face shine upon us.”
Romans 11:13-15, 29-32, “ Brothers and sisters: I am speaking to you Gentiles. In so much as I am the Apostle to the Gentiles, I glory in my ministry, in order to make my race jealous, and thus hopefully save some of them. **For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.”
Our Beloved Paul, ‘sees the light’ of ministry & mission with God, and the venom of the elites, the ‘blind of God’. The Psalm states simply: “O God, let all the nations praise you!” Which part of ‘ALL’ has lost it’s meaning when it comes to simple human dignity, simple human compassion??
Beware, our God is a jealous God. HE WILL protect His own.
Matthew 15:21-28, “At that time, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” **He said in reply, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But the woman came and did Jesus homage, saying, “Lord, help me.” **He said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” **Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.”
WOW. That’s a harsh reply for God’s Son to a woman obviously in terrible distress (gentile). Why the ignorant treatment? One word, GOD! Canaanites believed in many gods and goddesses, they were the worst of the gentiles. Jesus being God and the Son of the ‘One True God’, even Jesus wasn’t ready to go there.
You’ll remember that when Jesus sent out the twelve, He sent them to the synagogues, to the children of the covenant. Jesus knew the plan for redeeming the gentiles, but He couldn’t ‘put the cart before the horse’. The Israelites were Jesus’ primary concern. So, this lady was well under Jesus’ radar. She just wasn’t part of His mission. Eventually, even Jesus couldn’t deny this woman of great faith… JOY- JOY- JOY. Thanx for reading my thoughts. May GOD flood your life with blessings. Mark “G”. aka: BRO. BLU–😊
