Prof Zebulon No E19

E) Israel (God's Covenants with Israel)

The Jews are God's chosen people, but do you know what? They sometimes don't like to be called that; some Jews would rather say that they are God's choosing people. No matter; the Bible says that God chose Israel and He made a covenant with them to prove it; actually there was more than one, but we will look at one in particular. The dictionary defines a covenant as a solemn agreement between two or more persons. Here is the covenant that God made with Israel.

The Bible says in Genesis 15 that Abraham's descendants will be as the stars in the sky (v 4); that they shall be strangers in a land and that they shall be afflicted for four hundred years (v 13). They shall come out of this land with great riches (v 14) and the Lord will give them a piece of land that stretches from the river of Egypt (not the Nile but the Wadi El Arish) to the great river, the River Euphrates (Verse 18). It is not the Nile river because the Lord mentions the inhabitants of this land ( the Kenites, the Hitites, the Perizzites, etc - vs 19-21) and they lived in this general area, not in Egypt. The River Euphrates passes through present day Iraq; needless to say that a lot must happen before the Nation of Israel comes to possess this land in its entirety.

There were other covenants that God made with Israel: Abraham - Gen 17:10 (circumcision); Isaac - Gen 17:19 (and his descendants); Jacob - Gen 28:13-15 (all nations shall be blessed); Moses - Exod 6:4 (His children in Egypt); David - 2 Sam 23:5 (an everlasting covenant). The New Testament covenant with Israel is that one day the blindness shall be removed from them and the whole Nation shall be saved (Romans 11:25, 26). Some say lets evangelize the Jews as much as we can; maybe the Lord will come quicker; regardless, God has a plan for Israel and He will fulfill it to the letter.

L) Religions (Buddhism)

This religion was founded in India around the year 500 BC by an Indian prince whose original name was Siddhartha and was later changed to Buddha (enlightened one). He founded Buddhism and promoted beliefs such as Karma (one's fate or destiny) ; Samsara (reincarnation); nirvana (perfect happiness and heavenly peace). These humanistic beliefs of course eliminate God completely from the picture and concentrate on attaining one's self-enlightenment. Many many bible verses can be brought to bear against these false beliefs and here are some examples:

KARMA - The Bible says in Revelation that our destiny is with either Jesus Christ or with Satan and his angels for eternity. All of humanity will, one day be drawn to Jesus Christ (John 12:32); the big question is, will it be at the Lamb's marriage supper (Rev 19:7) or the Great White throne judgement (Rev 20:11)?

SAMSARA - The writer of Hebrews pretty well settled the matter of multiple births (or deaths) when he wrote: "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Heb 9:27). There is a play on words that goes like this: If you're born twice, you die once, but if you're born once, you die twice. You figure it out.

NIRVANA - Is there a better place that heaven? As true believers, we are assured of one thing for the Bible says in John 14:2 "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you". So I ask, what else does one need but perfect peace where there is no time and no sin?