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Institutional First Baptist Church Weekly Sermon Delivered By
Dr. E. G. Sherman, Jr
Dr. E. G. Sherman, Jr
Delivered On
August 31, 2014 at 10:45 AM
August 31, 2014 at 10:45 AM
Central Passage
Gen. 17: 6-8, and joshua 1: 1-6
Gen. 17: 6-8, and joshua 1: 1-6
Subject
The Abrahamic Covenant: It's Lingering Impact
The Abrahamic Covenant: It's Lingering Impact
Description
| Dr. E. G. Sherman, Jr. | Sunday August 31, 2014 |
| The Abrahamic Covenant: Its’ Lingering Impact | |
| Gen. 17:6-8, and Joshua 1:1-6 | |
| Beloved Readers: This lesson was presented at the 5th Sunday Biblical Seminar at our church. The topic and its treatment will probably engender great difference of opinions. Kindly forward responses to the link contact us on this website EGSJ I. INTRODUCTION A. The Middle East is an area of increasing political and religious turmoil; there seems to be no prospect for a peaceful resolution to this historic struggle. B. The origin of this ongoing conflict can be traced back the Israelites crossing over Jordan into the land of Canaan; that entrance was the culmination of God’s promise to Abraham (Gen 17:6-8 ) and fulfilled under the leadership of Joshua ( Joshua 1:1-6 ) C. For the Israelites, the conquest of Canaan was their’s by God’s promise to Abraham; however, the people of Canaan viewed the action as an invasion, accordingly, they engaged in wars to protect their land from the encroachers. D. That struggle has extended across the eons of time, with an occasional cessation of armed aggression, but the overall conflict is yet inevitable. E. Students of Mid Eastern history and Bible History know and concur that this struggle is perpetual and will last until the end of human existence on this planet. This certainty is based on the fact that God’s promises are irrefutable and, yet, its’ messages in the Bible faces an adversiable group that neither accepts biblical teaching nor has respect for the sanctity of life. Hence, the Israeli/ Palestine confrontation is destine to endure. II. SELECTIVE HIGHLIGHTS ON THIS ENVIABLE CONFLICT A. This study and presentation will be presented in three different time periods, namely: Biblical incidents, the late 19th and 20th Centuries, and Post World War II to 2014. B. Owing to the vastness of Israeli/Palestine (Arabs ) encounters during Old Testament history, reference will be made to just a few of them; the selected ones are: (1) David and Goliath ( 1st Sam. 17:40-54 ) This success of David caused the Philistines to flee but Israel’s troubles would surface many times in the future, (2) the twelve tribes were united under King David and became known as the United Kingdom. Later, the Assyrians would invade the Kingdom and carry ten of the tribes away into captivity. Since those tribes never returned to the United Kingdom, they became known as the Lost Tribes. The remaining tribes of Judah and Benjamin were captured by the Babylonians and carried to Babylon where they remained for seventy years. The Temple was rebuilt after the return from Babylonian captivity but years later it was destroyed by the Roman in 70AD. Centuries later there occurred two major events: the Jewish Diaspora, the Holocaust during World War II and the open hostility between the Jews and Arabs that surfaced in1920 and erupted into open hostility in the 1947-48, (3) the Post World War II events: the United Nation’s designed and approved partitioning of land establishing the Nation of Israel and the Land of Palestine that included Jerusalem, a decision that offended the Jews, the six days war out of which Israel took possession of Jerusalem and subsequent recurring conflicts have occurred, and (4) the highly publicized Carter’s meeting with Begin and Sadat at Camp David in 1978 to broker a permanent peace accord between Israel and Palestine that was highly publicized but of short duration. Even today, 2014, these groups are in a ‘war’ stance. This reality leads to the final section of this biblical seminar which is - what, if any, is the prospect for the Israelis and Palestinians ever reaching a workable peace treaty? Based on the lingering recurrences of open hostility between these two nations along with the ideological differences the separate them with respect to God’s Covenant with Abraham, it seems logical to conclude that these two nations will forever be adversaries rather than reconciled neighbors. This conclusion is undergirded by three facts, namely: their Deities are different, their Sacred Book is different, and their views of Abraham’s covenant is different - to the Israelites, it is occupying the land of promise; to the people of Palestine, it is a land invasion under the egest of a religion that they disregard. Hopefully, this study on the Abrahamic Covenant has stimulated a desire to gain more knowledge of the struggle between the Nation of Israel and its Palestinian neighbors. Our commitment, I submit, is to have compassion for those injured, killed, or covered over by formally standing structures - irrespective of nationality. Let us embrace the poetic utterance of John Donne “Any man’s death diminishes me. For I am involved in mankind”. Lastly, an invitation to ( Christian ) discipleship will now be extended as we stand and sing together. Amen! |
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