The first 13 verses of Joshua 24 are a nice concise rendering of Israel’s salvation history.
“Salvation history”.
That’s actually a thing.
Because let’s never forget that salvation is the main theme of the Scriptures.
I think we have a tendency to forget that when we get bogged down in all of the stories and many books that make up our Bibles.
And it doesn’t help that the church focuses on only half the picture.
For them, salvation history is what Yeshua accomplished on the cross.
But if you think about it.
That’s only a teeny itsy bitsy part of salvation history.
Because salvation history began with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
And then it progressed from there when the Lord chose Abraham as the vehicle to bring about a special people who would carry out His plan of salvation.
Of course, this special people group I’m talking about is Israel.
But we should never forget that salvation history is far from over.
Because the following 3 main things still have yet to take place.
-All of the numerous end-times prophecies.
-Tthe 2nd coming of you know who.
-And the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom under Torah Law
And that’s why God picked this very moment to review Israel’s salvation history through Joshua.
Because here’s something we can never forget.
Israel’s identity is linked to their history with God.
Or it might be more accurate to say, Israel’s history IS God’s history.
And it doesn’t matter how many secular or atheist Jews are out there who detest this notion (and there are many).
Another thing we should pay close attention as we study the history of God’s covenant people (a covenant you too are now a part of if you’ve been grafted in to the Commonwealth of Israel).
Israel has indeed benefited greatly from their relationship to the One who has called them and saved them.
But and this is a huge but, this relationship is two-fold.
There is a huge give and take element to Israel’s relationship with the Lord.
What I’m getting at is Israel has obligations towards the God who has called them and saved them.
And if those obligations aren’t met…
If Israel doesn’t keep their part of the bargain so to speak, the consequences will be devastating.
We’ll continue this discussion the next time we meet.
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