Thought for the Week - 26th July
Pastor Gareth WatkinsEzekiel 36: 28
Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.
Deuteronomy 32: 9
For the Lord’s portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance.’
‘’…assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul. For thus says the Lord: ‘Just as I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them’’ (Jeremiah 32:41-42)
God promised to pour out His blessing upon them, again we are seeing this fulfilled today. The desolate and dry fields of Middle Eastern Israel is ripe with harvest. The blessings of God are spilling out on them as He intervenes in the atrocities this world has brought against them. Despite all, they are one of the most advanced nations in medicine, water purification technology, and education. They were the first nation to be fully vaccinated, and as a people they are prospering. None of this is of their own hand, they are helpless without God, but in Him they are restored beyond worldly reasoning in the wake of all they have suffered.“I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went.And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord’’ (Ezekiel 36: 22-23)
Just as Israel, we too are part of God’s inheritance. Through Christ we are part of the lineage of Jacob, and partakers of the blessings and promises of God to His people. He made each of us to be with Him, to be grafted into the vine, into the line of inheritance, saved, cleaned, made pure and holy, restored as blessing to Him and all for His name’s sake. All is done for His glory, His name, and in love for His people. Christ, the fulfilment of God’s promises, and the establishment of Israel, point to the coming of the end of days. Are you glorifying God’s name today? Are you acceptable in His sight and assured in the line of inheritance running through generations past and future? There is a wonderful inheritance for you now and in eternity, ensure you are part of it today by earnestly following Christ and bringing glory to the name of Almighty God who loves you.