Some thoughts about lineage
Underlying topic(s):
- By John Eagles, August 29, 2009.
This page is part of an ERW course, Divine Principle.
Mankind began as an original lineage with the birth of Adam and Eve. Although their lineage was unstained from the start, their fall led to a problematic succession. In the lineage of Adam and Eve, all their descendants were born with the task to restore the problems left in the line of Adam and Eve.
I am sure that God must have worked hard to restore mankind through the generations.
A new start was made with the family of Noah. Again we see that God worked through the different lines of descendants coming from the children of Noah. After many generations, Abraham was singled out by God. Because he had more than one wife, several lines descended from him. Today's struggle between Arabs and Jews shows the importance of lineage, as this conflict can be seen as one originating in the sons of Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac.
Jacob became Israel and with that a new religion was born. It wasn't a religion of ideas first of all. It was a religion given to Jacob's family from which the tribes of Israel were formed.
Why did the people of the Old Israel eventually get dispersed over the earth in the diaspora? Was it because Jacob's foundation of having become Israel was not enough? Or was it also due to failures of later generations? I assume that the cause was in both of these.
The religion of Christianity was centered on Jesus as a model, as a sacrifice and as the spiritual center. The religion of Christianity is not based on physical lineage and yet Christianity has prospered as a religion. At the same time, Christianity has not been able to fulfill the promise of bringing Heaven on earth to all people.
There are so many considerations here. On the one hand there is the clear fact that God has worked through lineage in order to restore mankind back to God's heart. However, it is also true that lineage is no guarantee for success to overcome evil.
Would it not be true that where God is working most of all, in a lineage of pure blood and love for God, also the evil side is concentrating their efforts? That means that such a lineage becomes situated in the front line of the battle between good and evil. That is a most difficult task and our sympathy and protective efforts are needed for those standing in that front line.
Comments
- You need to be logged into your Facebook account to post comments
