Among the number

DEVOTION

GENESIS

AMONG THE NUMBER

Gen 13:14-18

14 The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, "Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. 15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. 16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. 17 Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you." 18 So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD.

NIV

Here is the promise once more to Abram about the land being given to his offspring, his seed, or his descendants. This time God makes the promise it will be their land forever. It is interesting God makes note that his offspring will be so many they would be as difficult to count as the dust of the ground. There are several ideas that arise from this concept. First with our modern age we do in fact have the number of people in any one space, such as a city, state and country. Can we with any certainity know every person who have ever lived who is an offspring of Abraham? That is most likely doubtful. The children of Israel have been scattered all over the world. Many of them have been persecuted, even onto death. The number may in fact be as great as the dust on the ground. Many of us within this country, if we went far enough back in our ancestry might find that we are, in part, in the number. We might have someone back far enough who was in the line of one of the twelve tribes of Israel. Yet there is a greater truth within this promise. Who is the seed of Abraham? Who are his offspring? Was God strictly speaking of the Israelites? The key might well be in this Hebrew word translated “forever”. It is a compound word which directly means a degree of time, eternity. We cannot expect that land of Canaan, the now state of Israel to last for eternity as God has already declared he will destroy this earth once again, but this time with fire. He has declared he will establish a new heaven and new earth with the new city of Jerusalem coming down from heaven and we who accept his son as Lord and Savior will live with him for eternity. So how is this promise of God to Abram fulfilled? Another key for us in the word translated offspring. The original language means seed, not seeds. Paul explains this in his letter to the Galatians

Gal 3:16-18

16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ.   17 What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. 18 For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.

NIV

So then how do we see all this in the light of these truths? First, we need to know who the children of Israel are. We who are in Christ are those children, we are true Israel if we are in Christ. Because God made a promise to Abram that his seed would not be able to be counted, his seed is Christ and all those who are in Christ belong to that number. This number is in fact as many as the dust of the earth. We also know this to be true that we are true Israel because, not of human circumcision, but of the circumcision of our heart.

Rom 2:28-29

28 A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God.

NIV

Paul also reiterates this in his letter to the Galatians.

Phil 3:2-3

2 Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh

NIV

The point is that all of Israel, those are circumcised of the heart, those who worship by the Spirit of God, those who are born again, a new creature in Christ are the true seed of Abraham, the true descendants, who will be in the promised land, the new city of Jerusalem, forever. This number cannot be counted as we do not know another person’s heart, only God does. We can count any population, but we cannot count what we do not know. This is the phrase God is referring to here. How can we count the dust of the earth? We can’t. That is why we cannot count who is from the seed, Jesus Christ. What we do know is if we are or not among that number. Have we allowed Christ to circumcise our heart, to expose it? This means we then can see our sin for what it is. When we hide our heart from Christ, we hide sin within. But when he comes into our lives, we allow him full access to every portion of our being. In doing so we accept him as our Lord and Savior, being in him and therefore we are among the number.