A Purchased Possession
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Whenever I intend to purchase something, especially something costly, I search for that which fits exactly the description I have in mind. Otherwise, I will not apply my resources to own it. Similarly, it is the intent of God that He should own us as His people. However, we may not claim Him as our God unless we have complied with the standards He has prescribed.
At Jeremiah chapter thirty-two, the Almighty announced beginning at verse thirty-eight that He intended for Israel to be His people, and for Him to be their God. In order for that to be possible, God declared that He would give them one heart, and one way, that they might fear Him forever, and that it might be good for them and their children after them. Otherwise, they could never be His people.
Let’s examine one by one the things God said were necessary for Him to become the God of these people. First of all, we understand the one heart He would give Israel as being a singleness of mind and purpose among all the people of God. If all believe the same word of the same God, then all will be of the same heart, believing, living, and committed to the same doctrinal truths.
To be sure, God is not the author of confusion and division. When the people of God are of one heart as He intended, then they will all walk in the one and same way.
Noted for his wisdom, Solomon twice observed in his Proverbs that ways that seem right to men are ultimately the ways of death. For this reason, it is not in men that walk to direct their own spiritual steps. Therefore, they must trust in God, leaning not upon their own understanding.
Since God is the author of spiritual truth and eternal redemption, those that gain such redemption must do so through the avenue of God’s truth. This is how men demonstrate that they fear God, and is the only way forever that men may demonstrate such fear of God.
Again, as Solomon observed, the conclusion of the whole matter is to fear God and keep His commandments. Man has no higher duty.
Under these circumstances, and no other, God decreed that it would be good not only for man, but for his children as well. In order to rear up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, we ourselves must fully understand what that way is. Else, we can pass no spiritual faith and blessing on to our offspring that we have not found ourselves.
That faith and blessing will be found in the one way, of the people of one heart, that God declared was characteristic of every child of His that feared Him forever.