RAISING OUR LAND (EPISODE 6: THE REAL AND PERFECT PLAN)
RAISING OUR LAND
“Thus says the LORD, In an acceptable time have I
answered you, and in a day of salvation have I helped you; and I will preserve
you, and give you for a covenant of the people, to raise up the land, to make them inherit the desolate
heritage…”(emphasis mine)
Isiah
49 vs 8 (Hebrew Names Version of The Holy Bible)
Welcome
to today’s episode!
We
will be starting a little bit differently today. I prayed a prayer that I would
like at least one or two persons to join me in the name of Jesus. For the
scripture says “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there
am I in the midst of them.” The prayer goes thus:
We
pray that God should by His Holy Spirit prepare our hearts by making it a good
soil for the word of God which when planted in our hearts will grow and prosper and yield
forth good fruits just as a seed would in good soil. And that by the Blood of Jesus, we clean every heart from
whatever may be present within which would negatively affect the growth and prosperity of
the Word of God in our lives in Jesus Name, Amen
EPISODE
6: THE REAL AND PERFECT PLAN
During
my career as an urban planner in Lagos, Nigeria, I was opportune to prepare
different types of development plans – from Estate designs to Master Plans for
Institutions. Something very interesting about those plans was that no matter
how much data you analyze and how much information learn, extrapolate and apply
into the preparation of a Plan, the final result of your Plan, that is, what is
implemented is usually a bit different from what you put down on paper. This is
why during the Planning process, there are usually two processes to deal with
the unexpected turns that come up while implementing a Plan. These processes
are: Monitoring; and Control/re-evaluation. The Monitoring process involves this: while the Plan is being executed, the planner ensures that any unforeseen circumstance
that appears is immediately dealt with and the plan is updated. The
Control/Re-evaluation process occurs when the plan has been completed. At a
pre-set time frame; the planned area as existing will be compared with what is on
the blue print, and the changes that are discovered will be evaluated for
further action. In most cases, there are always changes discovered.
These
two processes help to meet a certain ability that an urban planner, being
human, does not have, and that is the ability to see into the future and
prepare a plan that will meet the reality of the future.
Now,
we have as our God, the One who I personally describe as the Greatest Planner
ever, because He planned the whole earth. Not only that, it is written in the
scripture that “He is the beginning and the end” which means He sees the
timeline from where it begins to where it ends. This means He has that ability
to make a plan that we human planners cannot make: A perfect Plan.
He
used this ability when He saved us from the curse, death and sin. Remember that
we had already established in previous episodes that the great discomfort that
most of us face is as a result of the devil deceiving man unto disobeying the
law, which is sin: Sin produces death and death opens the door for the curse.
So let us continue our study of how God saved us from where we stopped yesterday.
After
the flood, it is safe to assume that death still reigned. However, before the
earth could become totally corrupted again, God performed a master stroke of
genius that will ensure the opportunity exists for those who will believe and choose:
that Sin is defeated and removed from them. God started small, He didn’t call a
tribe, or a nation; rather, He called a Man – Abram (I believe that is an
important lesson for all of us).
Gen
12: 1 “Now the Lord had said (had, meaning it wasn’t the first time God spoke
that Abram obeyed – for those who God has called to a certain purpose, it is
never too late to obey Him) unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country (one of the
words country could mean, based on the Hebrew root word eh’-rets, is wilderness
– Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary) and from thy kindred, and from thy Father’s
house, unto the land that I will show you: And I will make of thee a great
nation. At this point was the establishment of a Nation – of great mass, which
will be based upon obedience to the Word of God - like Abram – and will be a
people of un-circumcision, where righteousness is not of physical acts by the
flesh, but of faith in God’s Word.
Now
Abram’s obedience only became complete when he dwelt in the Land which God had
shown him and when he separated himself from his nephew Lot, for part of the
command God gave to him was to separate himself from his Kindred, of which Lot
was a part of. Immediately His obedience was complete, God further revealed the
blessings, which was to him and his seed. God said in Gen 13vs 14-16:
“Lift
up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward,
and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I
give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the
earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed
also be numbered.”
Here,
God practically handed over the earth to Abram and his Seed, for when you stand
at a point and look at all directions of the compass, what you are looking at
is the whole earth. Also, seeing that this seed will be as the dust of the
earth, then it will not be possible to contain them in a particular
geographical space.
Much
more, it is obvious that whatever Abram could see with his own physical eyes,
was his portion of the earth which God had given him (Arise, walk through the
land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto
thee. Gen 13 vs 17).
In
the promise, Abram was to receive for himself, an heir (Isaac) and he was to
become the father of many nations (the 12 tribes of Israel) and the promise of
the land of Canaan for their possession was to these nations. But most
importantly, in that promise, he was to receive another heir (Jesus) and he was
to become the father of many nations (the church) and the promise of the earth was
to the church – those of the faith.
Romans 4: 13: “For the promise,
that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed,
through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.”: “Know ye therefore
that they which are of faith, the same are children of Abraham. And the
scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith,
preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, in thee shall all nations be
blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham”:
“That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ;
that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith”: “For ye are all
children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”Galatians 3: 7-9, 14 and 26”
The
promise as it pertains to Abram that is, as the tribe of Israel, was 3 things.
1) A representation or typology of things to come (that has come) through
Christ Jesus; 2) revelation of the new way of life that was to (that has) come
and; 3) the lineage through which the promise of life was to (that has) come.
It
is in the same way that even though death reigned from Adam to Moses, Abram (in
that period of death) was called and he believed unto his salvation, so also
the unbeliever is called even though death is in the world, and believes in
Jesus Christ unto salvation.
So
what happened after Moses that made death stop reigning? It is my opinion that
death did not stop reigning in all peoples in the world at that time, it only
stopped reigning in the people of Israel, descendants of Abraham (God had
changed Abram’s name to Abraham meaning, Father of many Nations). God
introduced The Law and The Levitical Priesthood to the Israelites to stem the
rampaging curse.
The
introduction of the Law (the 10 commandments), written by God on a tablet of
stone to Moses for the people of Israel was to show them the uncleannesses in
them. The law was meant to be fully obeyed to the last letter. The Apostle Paul
said:
“Wherefore the law was our school
master to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith, but after
that faith is come, we are no longer under a school master.”: “For as many as
are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written: cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the
law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it
is evident: for the just shall live by faith. Galatians 3: 24-25,10-11.
The
law produced death in them, for they couldn’t keep all the commandments, as breaking
the law is sin and the wages of sin is death. However, to remove the burden of
their uncleanness upon them, God introduced the Levitical Priesthood.
The people would bring animals
for burnt offerings, sin offerings and trespass offerings and the Priest will
offer the offerings to God. Each offering had its own task. The burnt offering
was to seek the Lord for forgiveness and the offering will be accepted on
behalf of, and to make atonement for the offerer. There are also the Peace and
Meal offerings. (Read Leviticus for more on the offerings).
Now, to understand the
priesthood and God’s perfect plan for our salvation, it is important that we
understand the role of the blood.
This is what we will be examining tomorrow, Monday, 14th November, 2016.
OR
You can Download this FREE e-book - RAISING OUR LAND by 'Ladi Obidairo, which is a compilation of all the episodes. Click on link below.
Raising Our Land. by 'Ladi Obidairo
Thank you for downloading.
I
pray with anyone who may have been called by God unto a purpose like Abram was,
that God reveals Himself to you as your strength, and that Grace is multiplied
to you, and that you are filled, not with the spirit of fear but of wisdom and
of a sound mind as you take that bold step of obedience and begin to walk in
the purpose for which you have been called, to the glory of God, in Jesus name,
Amen.
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while also sharing with those
around you.
Thank
you.
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