Words of Wisdom #294: More than Israelites are God’s Chosen
Ah! The land of buzzing insect wings beyond the rivers of Cush sends envoys by sea, in reed vessels on the waters. Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth–skinned, to a people feared near and far, a powerful nation with a strange language, whose land is divided by rivers. All you inhabitants of the world and you who live on the earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains, look! When a trumpet sounds, listen! For, the Lord said to me: I will quietly look out from My place, like shimmering heat in sunshine, like a rain cloud in harvest heat. For before the harvest, when the blossoming is over and the blossom becomes a ripening grape, He will cut off the shoots with a pruning knife, and tear away and remove the branches. They will all be left for the birds of prey on the hills and for the wild animals of the land. The birds will spend the summer on them, and all the animals, the winter on them. At that time a gift will be brought to the Lord of Hosts from a people tall and smooth-skinned, a people feared near and far, a powerful nation with a strange language, whose land is divided by rivers—to Mount Zion, the place of the name of the Lord of Hosts. Isaiah 18:1-7 (HCSB)
The one thing that sticks out beginning in the Old Testament and certainly illustrated in the New Testament period is that God was not just focused upon one family lineage as His chosen people. From the early days, God’s chosen people were not determined by blood-line but by devotion and faith in God’s covenant plan for man. From the earliest days of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the family that became known as Israel were the focal point but not the only those of the linage of Abraham. Even Abraham in the New Testament was chosen because of his faithful response to God’s calling upon him – not his Sumerian background. Anyone who desired to become a part of the family was adopted by faith. Provisions for foreigners were a part of the Torah’s instructions for even the Passover and the various consecration laws of the early Israelites as they left Egypt.
As is clearly evident in the Bible, but misunderstood in our modern understanding – there is no unique Jewish race of people. The family chosen by God was an eclectic group of people that were centered upon one family line, but servants and foreigners were adopted and accepted along the history of Israel. Israel was truly a nation of many blood-lines who committed themselves by faith to the covenant relationship offered by the one, true living God – Yahweh! To that note, the passage this morning points to the special relationship of the Cushites (Kushites, or people from Nubia in the regions just south of Egypt in Africa). They traded with and adopted much of the culture of Egypt into their unique culture, and certainly were exposed to the Israelites while they were there as well. The Cushites were known for their trade as their main city in the biblical times was the center of the iron trade in Africa. And in those days there was no issue of black versus white skinned peoples, each admired the other and traded and shared with each other.
Just prior to the Assyrian period, the Cushites, under an ambitious king (Piankhi), conquered Egypt when it had been ruled by the Libyians. The Cushites restored the Egyptian culture until the Assyrians conquered Egypt and the Cushites retreated back to their Nubian lands. With them traveled a love for the living God, and ultimately as history would reveal, Ethiopia, as Cush would become known as in history became the seat of Jewish and Christian communities while the rest of Africa in the period of 700-1500 AD became growingly Muslim. God used the ancient Cushites and later the Ethiopian people to preserve and prosper His church in Africa. Today, many ancient Christian and Jewish writings have been discovered among the ancient sites in this region of modern Africa, giving us a better understanding of the biblical and post-biblical period.
How does this apply to us? Consider this: God has a much broader plan for us than we can comprehend and we should not be quick to exclude anyone from the opportunity to become a part of the Church family. God has an inclusion plan, not an exclusion plan. You never know who God is intentionally introducing to you who may have a unique place in God’s history with man. Think on it. Never bypass God’s will, God’s ways, and God’s wisdom according to God’s Word and you will realize a blessing.
Coach
www.coachbrown.org
Then they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different languages, as the Spirit gave them ability for speech. There were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. When this sound occurred, the multitude came together and was confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. And they were astounded and amazed, saying, “Look, aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? How is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites; those who live in Mesopotamia, in Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own languages the magnificent acts of God.” And they were all astounded and perplexed, saying to one another, “What could this be?” But some sneered and said, “They’re full of new wine!” Acts 2:4-13 (HCSB)