And Choosing God – I'm Following Jesus

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: Tuesday, April 23, 2019
Chapters: I Chronicles 1-2
Message: Believing In, Accepting, And Choosing God

Hello My Friend,

As I was praying this morning it occurred to me that out of the gazillions of people that God created there really is only a remnant that acknowledge, know the truth, accept the truth, and choose Him. It is really kind of sad, people will believe religion over the truth, they will believe man over the truth, they will believe science over the truth, and they will even believe theories over truth. However, the truth is hard to swallow as the truth will bring one to acknowledge that they are a sinner and need Jesus. “Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” – Acts 17:29-31.

“by that man whom he hath ordained;” In order for one to judge they have to be ordained as a judge, someone like a king, president, prime minister. Of course, the one that God ordained to judge man is Jesus Himself, which is why David is a prominent character since Jesus descended from his lineage. 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. The Chronicles focuses on the kings of Judah, temple worship, and the prophetic promises of the Messiah, who we know is Jesus. I Chronicles Chapters 1 and 2 begins with an account of descendants of Adam to David, we first have descendants of Adam to Abraham. While the Chronicles main focus is the tribe of Judah since Jesus would descend through them, and will be separated from the rest of the tribes, it was important that it lists all the tribes as well as their cousins as they all played a part in either helping or hurting Israel.

“Adam, Sheth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalaleel, Jered, Henoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The sons of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram, and Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Meshech. And Arphaxad begat Shelah, and Shelah begat Eber. 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. And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah, Hadoram also, and Uzal, and Diklah, And Ebal, and Abimael, and Sheba, And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan. Shem, Arphaxad, Shelah, Eber, Peleg, Reu, Serug, Nahor, Terah, Abram; the same is Abraham.” – I Chronicles 1:1-4,17-27.

“Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” It is interesting to discover that there are not many descendants listed before the flood. Of course, they lived forever back then, and it was not the best of times either, it was rather a dark time filled with much evil, and very few followed God. In fact, only eight people were wise enough to get on the ark to save themselves from the flood, that is how many chose Him back then. We can learn a lot about these people, in fact, if we take the time to discover our own history we will find that we too are descendants of one of these men. Of Shem, came those of Middle Eastern and Asian descent, the Jews and Arabs. Of Ham, came those of African and Egyptian descent. And of Japheth, came those of European descent, also known as the Gentiles. It is important to understand that race never plays a part in who are of the children of God, only our faith does that. And if we believe on the Lord, Jesus Christ, and accept Him as our Saviour we become children of God regardless of who are descendants are. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 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.” – Romans 8:14-17.

Knowing that God exists, and following some sort of religion or ritual to reach Him does not make one a child of God. Chapter 1 also lists the descendants of Abraham to Jacob (Israel), all of these knew of God’s existence.

“The sons of Abraham; Isaac, and Ishmael. These are their generations: The firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth; then Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam, Mishma, and Dumah, Massa, Hadad, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. These are the sons of Ishmael. Now the sons of Keturah, Abraham’s concubine: she bare Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. And the sons of Jokshan; Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and Epher, and Henoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these are the sons of Keturah. And Abraham begat Isaac. The sons of Isaac; Esau and Israel. The sons of Esau; Eliphaz, Reuel, and Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah.” – I Chronicles 1:28-35.

“Now the sons of Keturah,” This is the woman that Abraham was with after Sarah died. Do you see how they were not recognized as children of Abraham? A concubine is a lawful wife, but not one of significance because they were not married under the proper ceremonies, it could have been a common law or a mixed marriage (Keturah was of an unknown tribe). Ishmael, who was also a son of Abraham, is recognized because they played a key part in Israel’s history, of whom the majority of them are Muslims. God never rejects a soul that comes from a mixed race (for we are all of mixed races), He will reject a soul that has not received His Son as their Saviour. What about those who were here before Christ? They were saved by their faith in Him as well, but their faith rested on the promise of the Messiah, and their obedience (righteousness) reflected that. “For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,” – Romans 4:2-3,16.

“to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed;” Again, our heritage has nothing to do with our being children of God, it is only in our faith in His promises, and naturally as we walk by faith we will be obedient to our Father. The second chapter gives an account to the descendants of Jacob (Israel), which is how Jacob’s descendants came to be known as the Israelite’s. And also of David, who is a descendant of Boaz, who married Ruth, a converted Moabite to prove that God will change any heart that believes in and choose Him.

“These are the sons of Israel; Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun, Dan, Joseph, and Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. 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. And Tamar his daughter in law bare him Pharez and Zerah. All the sons of Judah were five. The sons also of Hezron, that were born unto him; Jerahmeel, and Ram, and Chelubai. And Ram begat Amminadab; and Amminadab begat Nahshon, prince of the children of Judah; And Nahshon begat Salma, and Salma begat Boaz, And Boaz begat Obed, and Obed begat Jesse, And Jesse begat his firstborn Eliab, and Abinadab the second, and Shimma the third, Nethaneel the fourth, Raddai the fifth, Ozem the sixth, David the seventh: Whose sisters were Zeruiah, and Abigail. And the sons of Zeruiah; Abishai, and Joab, and Asahel, three.” – I Chronicles 2:1-4,9-16.

“Abishai, and Joab, and Asahel,” As you recall, we just read about these three men, all nephews of David, which I just discovered. Joab, whom 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 he was part of the conspirators to keep Solomon from being king. While we are not our fathers or mothers, this is proof that everything we do is recorded in a book. Yes, we each have our own book, and guess who gets to read it? Jesus Himself, and we will give an account for everything we did after we are saved. The world will never understand how important it is to not only believe in God, but accept for who He is, and choose Him for who He is. “Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you: Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.” – I Peter 4:4-7.

Jesus Christ Magnified: “Adam, Sheth, Enosh,” – I Chronicles 1:1. Jesus is the first and last Adam. “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.” – I Corinthians 15:45.

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 people, and most of all I am apart of Your people. I am one of Yours not because You created me, but because You knew my name before I was even born, You knew I would believe in Your Son and softened my heart when You knew I was ready to not only accept Him, live my life through Him. Thank You for accepting me, and making me part of Your family and for giving me a place to come home to when this part of my life is over. In Jesus’ name. Amen

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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