Can you understand God, the God of the Bible?
There was one man, long ago, who could hear God’s voice and who dared to trust Him and feared God, and therefore wanted to be obedient to Him. His name was Abram.
God and you
In the book of Genesis 12:1-3 (the first book of the Torah or the Old Testament), we read that Yehovah wants to make Abram into a great nation and that through the descendants of Abram, all the families of the earth ( including you ) will be blessed.
This is repeated again in Genesis 18:18, Genesis 22:18 and Genesis 26:4.
Descendants of Abram, who were born through the line of his son Isaac, are the current Jewish people. It says that all nations , including non-Jews , will be blessed through the descendants of Abram.
Which decendants will be blessed?
Is the Bible clear about which descendants these are? Is there one specific offspring through which all nations will be blessed?
The book of the prophet Isaiah (7:14) states that the Lord Himself will give us a sign: Behold, the virgin will conceive. She will give birth to a Son and name Him ‘Immanuel’.
Just remember this prophecy, we’ll continue in a moment.
Is the promise also for you?
The promise that God made to Abram states that everyone who blesses Abram and his descendants will be blessed and whoever curses Abram will also be cursed. That sounds serious.
Since the mission here revolves around Good News, focus your attention on the blessing.
What is the blessing?
What does such a ‘blessing’ look like? God said to Abram (Genesis 15), I am your shield, and your reward is very great. In Psalm 91 we see that God will stand up for you if, like Abram, you trust in Him. He keeps plagues and evil away from you. He sends His angels with you to keep you safe. He will save you from bad situations and show you His goodness. And He will give you long life and show you His ‘salvation’ (Ps 91:16). The interesting thing about the word ‘salvation’ is that in the original text the word for salvation is: ‘Yeshua’. It also says that God says, “because you love Me and know My Name, I show you ‘My Yeshua’.
So beautiful that God shows ‘His Yeshua’ to people who really want to get to know Him. For His Yeshua is not just one of the actions mentioned above. His Yeshua is a Person.
So the ‘salvation from the Jews’ is a Person?
In the Gospel (the good news) of Matthew we see that many things discussed above come together.
1. we see the genealogy. From Abram (who has now been called Abraham through a covenant with God), through Isaac, the son from his marriage to Sarah and all generations up to Jesus who is called “Christ”.
2. we see that Jesus’ mother, Mary, became pregnant as a virgin through a miracle of the Holy Spirit (more about this is in the Gospel of Luke). She was betrothed to her fiancé Joseph, who actually wanted to leave her because of this. But Joseph received dreams from God. In one of the dreams, Joseph was reassured that Mary would give birth to a son and he should name the boy ‘Jesus’, which in Hebrew is ‘Yeshua’. This fulfilled the prophecy from Isaiah, which stated that the virgin would conceive. Immanuel means ‘God is with us’, and the birth brought the presence of God very close.
3. in Luke 2 you read that God is indeed coming closer, because an angel also comes to earth from heaven. The angel comes to tell people ‘Good news’. He speaks of great joy, for all people . Today, he says, the ‘Savior’ is born, He is ‘Christ’, the anointed One, the Lord, and refers to a ‘little child’ wrapped in swaddling clothes. Then a crowd of Angels appears, the Heavenly army (Daniel 7), they are euphoric and give God the glory that He wants peace and well-being for people on earth through this child. – This really is ‘Good news’.
4. the name Jesus. The Hebrew word for salvation is Yeshua and the name “Jesus” in Hebrew is Yeshua.
Psalm 91 also came to fulfillment, just read Luke 2:21-32. According to the custom from the Law of Moses, in which all firstborn must be sanctified and given to God (Book of Exodus 13:2), Joseph and Mary came with Jesus to Jerusalem to present Him to God. Jesus thus became ‘God’s Yeshua’.
A man named Simeon came into the Temple. He was righteous, he also expected the comfort of Israel and the Holy Spirit was upon him. The Holy Spirit had given him a revelation that he would not see death until he saw the Lord’s Anointed. (ps 91:16, with long life I satisfy you and show you My Yeshua). Simeon took the Child in his arms and praised God and said, ‘Lord, let Your servant depart in peace according to Your word, for my eyes have seen Your Salvation, Your Yeshua .
5. The Lord Jesus Himself also confirms this when He is talking to a Samaritan woman (Gospel according to John 4:22). He says: “you worship what you do not know, he indicates that the Samaritans did not serve the same God (book 2 Kings 17:29), we (the Jews) worship what we know (according to tradition from the Torah / the old testament ), for salvation is of the Jews .”
6. like Abram, the people could now hear God for themselves.
That Samaritan woman also turned out fine. She was literally told by Jesus that He was the Messiah. (John 4:25-26). During the conversation with Jesus, she believed that He spoke the Truth. And she went to tell her fellow countrymen, the Samaritans. And things turned out well for them too, for they said to the woman, “We have heard Him and know that He is truly the Savior of the world, the Christ” (John 4:42) .
Jesus and you
Do you also want to know what Jesus wants to say to you?
How can you also trust in God’s protection?
You probably have a lot of questions.
Why is Jesus also called the ‘Savior’? What do we need to be saved from?
And who or what is the Holy Spirit, which both Mary and Simeon encountered?
It’s all ‘Good News’ so read more on this site.