I'm Following Jesus – Page 1108 – Mark 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

King James Bible Study – “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34

Date: Friday, April 23, 2021
Chapters: I Chronicles 1-2
Message: The Human Race

Hello My Friend,

With all this talk about race and how it is, once again, dividing this nation, all these fools who are causing the chaos forget one important factor, there is only one race, the human race. We cannot blame the color of our skin for our misfortunes nor can we credit it for our successes. Would we be having this same controversy had the slaves that came from Africa been white? By the way, there were slaves of all skin colors, but for some reason the focus became about color in the late nineteenth until the mid twentieth century when southern lawmakers decided to segregate people by their skin color, who by the way, were democrats. If we were to trace our ancestry we would discover not only some incredible insight into our own character. This all reminds me of something that Jesus said.

[John 8:41-44,47 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. 42 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. 43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. 44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will 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. 47 He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.]

There is a difference from being a creation of God and a child of God, we are all created of God, He is our Creator, but not everyone is a child of God. We need to be of the right bloodline for that and the only way that can happen is when we apply His blood upon our soul, [I John 5:6,9,19-20 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. 9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. 19 And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. 20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.]

The Book of I Chronicles contains twenty-nine chapters, the author is Ezra and the purpose of the book was to record the religious history of Judah. Except for the genealogies, the timeline for these events took place approximately 1056 BC to 1015 BC. What we are to learn from the book is that God blesses all who exalt Him. The Chronicles focuses on the kings of Judah, temple worship, and the prophetic promises of the Messiah, who was to descend through the seed of David, [I Chronicles 17:11 And it shall come to pass, when thy days be expired that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom.]

Chapter 1 just starts with names, listing the descendants from Adam to Jacob, we can learn a lot from names. While the Chronicles main focus is of the tribe of Judah, it was important that it lists all the tribes as well as their cousins because they all played a key part in their heritage. Heritage is very important, in fact, we can even trace back our own heritage just by reading the names in this chapter.

[I Chronicles 1:1-5,8,13-16 Adam, Sheth, Enosh, 2 Kenan, Mahalaleel, Jered, 3 Henoch, Methuselah, Lamech, 4 Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 5 The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. 8 The sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. 13 And Canaan begat Zidon his firstborn, and Heth, 14 The Jebusite also, and the Amorite, and the Girgashite, 15 And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, 16 And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite.]

[Adam, Sheth, Enosh,] Sheth or Seth, took Abel’s place in the bloodline that would lead to Jesus descending through the flesh of Judah. We, as a human race, are all actually of the bloodline of Noah, it was Noah who foretold what would come of the descendants of his sons, [Genesis 9:25-27 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. 26 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. 27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.]

[The sons of Japheth;] Japheth’s descendants are of European heritage, such as the Greeks, Italians, and would become known as the Gentiles, they would be blessed through their faith in Christ. Regardless of our heritage, God is no respecter of persons, [Romans 2:9-11 Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; 10 But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: 11 For there is no respect of persons with God.]

[The sons of Ham;] Ham, who disgraced his father when he exposed his nakedness after an incident where he got drunk, was foretold that his son Canaan’s, descendants would become servants of servants, these are those of African and Egyptian descent. Still today, South Africa has some of the most impoverished people on the earth, which is why so many became slaves in the first place. They sought a better life, and sadly, some of them were mistreated, which is what happened to the Israelites and why God commanded that any slave or servant that is bought become as one of their own, [Leviticus 25:44-46 Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids. 45 Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land: and they shall be your possession. 46 And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your bondmen for ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over another with rigour.]

This is a great reminder that Jesus is the one who bought and paid for His believers with His blood, and that is why when we accept Him as our Saviour we become His inheritance, [I Corinthians 7:22-23 For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant. 23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.]

Think about it, out of the gazillions of people that God created since He created the earth, there really is only a remnant that acknowledge, know, and accept Him not only as their Creator, but God. Now, we come to the descendants of Shem, Noah’s eldest son, and of whom the Jews would descend. [I Chronicles 1:17-19,25-28 The sons of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram, and Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Meshech. 18 And Arphaxad begat Shelah, and Shelah begat Eber. 19 And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg; because in his days the earth was divided: and his brother’s name was Joktan. 25 Eber, Peleg, Reu, 26 Serug, Nahor, Terah, 27 Abram; the same is Abraham. 28 The sons of Abraham; Isaac, and Ishmael.]

[Eber were born two sons:] Eber was the lineage from which Abraham came, and where Jesus would descend two thousand years later in the flesh. Between Adam and Abraham there was a time span of two thousand years, Adam being the father of our flesh, Abraham being the father of faith. We are all, by nature, the seed of Adam, it is only by faith that we become engrafted into the seed of Abraham, [Galatians 3:6-9 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. 7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. 8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. 9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.]

The second chapter is devoted to the descendants of Judah, this is because the promised Messiah would descend from them. First, we learn of all twelve tribes that would descend from Jacob also known as Israel, which is how God’s people came to be known as the Israelite’s. [I Chronicles 2:1-5 These are the sons of Israel; Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun, 2 Dan, Joseph, and Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. 3 The sons of Judah; Er, and Onan, and Shelah: which three were born unto him of the daughter of Shua the Canaanitess. And Er, the firstborn of Judah, was evil in the sight of the LORD; and he slew him. 4 And Tamar his daughter in law bare him Pharez and Zerah. All the sons of Judah were five. 5 The sons of Pharez; Hezron, and Hamul.]

[And Er, the firstborn of Judah,] Because Er was the first born, Pharez, under this strange circumstance, became heir to Er under the Law that states that if the first born dies, the wife would be passed down to the next eldest son, by whom the firstborn would become heir to the heir of their father. Now, God actually placed judgment on Er, and he died, but this is proof that one, God does not condemn us because of our father’s sins, and two, God will forever preserve His inheritance, [Romans 8:16-17 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.]

An account is also given of David, who was a descendant of Boaz, who was married to Ruth, a converted Moabite to prove that God will change any heart that believes in and worships only Him. [II Chronicles 2:9-16 The sons also of Hezron, that were born unto him; Jerahmeel, and Ram, and Chelubai. 10 And Ram begat Amminadab; and Amminadab begat Nahshon, prince of the children of Judah; 11 And Nahshon begat Salma, and Salma begat Boaz, 12 And Boaz begat Obed, and Obed begat Jesse, 13 And Jesse begat his firstborn Eliab, and Abinadab the second, and Shimma the third, 14 Nethaneel the fourth, Raddai the fifth, 15 Ozem the sixth, David the seventh: 16 Whose sisters were Zeruiah, and Abigail. And the sons of Zeruiah; Abishai, and Joab, and Asahel, three.]

[Abishai, and Joab, and Asahel, three.] Remember, we just learned about these three men? They are David’s cousins. Joab, you will see as we continue reading through II Samuel and I Chronicles, caused a lot of problems for David, much of what he was not aware of until Joab was part of the conspirators to keep Solomon from being king. While we cannot pick and choose who our biological parents are, we can choose to use our heritage to make a new name for ourselves. Did you know that in many countries still today children are not named until the mother sees their character? Some children are even named according to their circumstance when being born, then changed later on. That is why you often see the name changes in the Scripture. No, it was not the writer’s error, it was literally a name change. All saved, born again Christians will have His name written upon them, [Revelation 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.]

Jesus Christ Magnified: [1 Chronicles 1:1 Adam, Sheth, Enosh,]

Today’s Prayer: God, While I do not completely understand and probably mispronounce the names of the people You have mentioned in Your Word, I do understand that I am apart of these families, and most of all I am apart of Your family. I am one of Yours not because You created me, but because You knew my name before I was even born, You saw something in me, You knew I would believe in Your Son and softened my heart, and when You knew I was ready to not only receive Him, but live my life through Him, You accepted me took me in as one of Your very one children. Thank You for accepting me and making me part of Your heritage, for placing Your Son’s name upon my soul, and giving me eternal life and a new hope through my faith. I pray this in Your name, Jesus. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

Are You 100% Sure You Are Going To Heaven?: http://readytofollow.com/
Receive The KJB Daily Devotions In Your Email: http://eepurl.com/2WMzT
Missed A Message: http://imfollowingjesus.com/Biblestudy/
Visit I’m Following Jesus Missions: https://imfollowingjesus.com/Biblestudy/welcome/
I’m Following Jesus On Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/readytofollowJesus/
I’m Following Jesus On Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/imfollowingjesus