Pilgrims – Theosis Christian

The fall of man was a separation of himself from God. Sin and death entered the world. So men began to struggle between their spirit and their flesh. However, there were people God spoke to in the Old Testament that would shape the new covenant to come through God’s Son Jesus Christ. Abraham is the father of the Christian, Jewish, and Islamic faiths because he sired Isaac, through whom the Hebrews claim descent, and Ishmael, through whom the Arabs claimed descent. Therefore, Abraham is the progenitor of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim peoples. According to Berkovic (2013), “The issue of Abraham is a theme which played an exceptional, even a key role in many aspects of Jesus' teachings and those of his contemporaries for the enforcement of his teaching. This is not uncommon if we take into consideration that Jesus, a Jew from Nazareth, referred to the character and work of the patriarch Abraham not only as the father of the faith but based his teaching on Abraham as a paradigm of faith.” (113-114) The Family Lineage The descendants of Noah’s were three sons named Shem, Ham, and Japheth. In the family of Shem, a son, Terah had three sons named Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Abram like Noah found favor with God when God began to speak to him. In Chapter 12 of Genesis, God told Abram to leave his home. Abram trusted God immediately and did what God commanded him to do. Although he did not know where he was going, or what he was doing, Abram knew God would provide for him and his family. Abram knew God would not leave him. An Objective View of Faith The Bible teaches the basic lesson that faith is believing in everything you cannot see, but you believe in it. Faith enables believers to not fear, but be confident in God, themselves, and each other. Faith gives man hope that he can do his best. Faith is being positive and content even when making mistakes being humble about it and go to God in prayer to ask for forgiveness. God gives us two choices to believe in Him or to reject Him. There are consequences for disobedience and Abram knew God so his faith was about being true to God and trying not to let God down. God made a covenant with Abram that he would be the father of many nations. This a big responsibility but Abram did not say no to God but embraced his purpose even to his death. Abraham’s Lineage was the beginning of people not forgetting about God, not disobeying God, and not questioning God’s commandments. Abraham waited for the promise. He waited on God for his son Isaac, and to begin his new life as a journey in a new country without his family or his comfort zone. He relied and depended on God for everything. According to Berkovic (2013), “In the Jewish (pre) history, individuals such as Moses, David and Elijah were highly positioned. However, only one, Abraham, is identified as a father of the nation. Here it must be said, that which will be revealed by the context of the narration of the primary events around Abraham that he was paradigmatically destined, even at the beginning, to be a father of the faith. In Faith is not allowing unknown or new situations to change your mind in fear. Abraham could have disobeyed God, but he didn’t because he trusted Him. Even when Abraham conceived and had Ishmael with Hagar God made a way for that child to be blessed as well. Ishmael was not an heir or anything but God allowed he and his mother to go to another place so Abraham could receive his blessing. An Objective View of Doubt Abraham’s wife Sarai was skeptical about how she could possibly have a baby in her old age. Doubt is the opposite of faith. Doubt causes a believer to question all possibilities of an the abundant life Jesus promises us. Abraham’s relationship with God allowed doubt to always leave him. He did not let doubt come in his mind, if Abraham did he focused on the goodness of God. The Sacrifice of Isaac God tested Abraham when the promise of his son. However, the ultimate test of loyalty was when God told Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac on the altar. Abraham was going to sacrifice his son for the Lord, but God told him to stop right before he was going to do it. According to Green (1982), “The understanding that God can have good reasons for calling Abraham forth to display his excellence or to free him from excessive attachment to family loyalties does not, of course, provide a full justification for God’s actions. There still remains the difficult problem posed by the context of the command itself. What conceivable justification can God have for ordering the murder of an innocent child? Why should Isaac be involved against his will in a test of his father?” (7) These verses in Genesis parallel to the fact God would sacrifice His Son, Jesus to save man from their sins. So Jesus came to end the burnt offerings like what was done in the Old Testament. The sacrifice of Isaac is significant because Jesus said in Matthew 10:37 “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” … Matthew 10:37 Abraham’s undying faith proved to God, he was loyal and would serve God until the end. Abraham’s obedience is more than likely how Jesus’s genealogy goes back to him. What Is Modern Faith? The lesson that Abraham’s life story teaches modern-day Jewish and Christian believers is to obey God based on the Scriptures. Abraham trusted God, he talked to God, obeyed Him, and was not doubtful. Modern-day Jewish and Christians should do the same. Most of all, Abraham never rejected God. The Lord spoke to Abraham directly enabling him to be strong. According to Bennett (2021), “By pondering Abraham’s journey of faith in Genesis, I argue for four points about faith that need to be attributed in our contemporary world. First, faith must be seen as a journey, a pilgrimage, that one undertakes as a response to God, rather than a set of simplistic propositions. Secondly, faith, perhaps especially in the initial journey stages, encounters God who is largely hidden, especially in modern contexts, yet as faith grows, we find ourselves gradually seeing God face-to-face. Third, faith requires a community that shows up that God is a God of life, but that also nurtures our faithful pilgrimage toward God. Thus, finally, faith shall lead us inexorably toward God’s own life.” (24) Conclusion The entire Holy Bible teaches everyone who believes how to live. The faith in believing in God and Scripture is relevant in any situation at any time because the Bible is God’s message. The Scriptures are God-inspired through the Holy Spirit. Faith is a part of our inner man because we cannot see it. God does not let us know the reason about everything in the Bible because it would be too overwhelming. In the life of Abraham, the fact he was going to be a father in his old age overwhelmed him. But he waited. Abraham let the human impossible happen because the possible happened with God. Abraham and his family lineage, were the first example for Jewish and Christian believers to look to in the Old Testament. Abraham was the person generations and tribes taught from in their message before the prophets began to teach about the birth of Jesus. The goal of illustrating the meaning of true faith is all throughout the Bible. In unbearable, indescribable, wars, famine, disease, and death; the resilience of Abraham’s family line with the 12 tribes showed the message of hope. The teaching was that God will draw to you and you can please God by having faith and believing in His Son Jesus Christ. Abraham was the start of this faith and Jesus was the end, and all those believers in the Bible never gave up. Faith is having the boldness and courage to never give in. According to Berkovic (2013), “In the overall biblical text, Abraham is certainly strongly anchored as a reference point for the faith and the believer. In the New Testament texts, especially in Jesus' teaching. Abraham is regularly presented as paradigm of the faith and the believer, obedience and trust par excellence…. In Jesus’ teaching, Abraham is not only a father of the nation and of faith. In many instances, when Jesus speaks about eternal life, hell and paradise he again refers to Abraham.” (119-120) Abraham indeed was the first example of how to have a true relationship with God. It matters how believers respond to God’s commandments. Abraham obeyed God and reaped the benefits of being deemed in history as the father of the Jewish and Christian faith shaping the principles, laws, statutes, and judgments that believers to come would live by. Abraham in the natural had much to be thankful for. He had the Father in Heaven who blessed him with his son Isaac and many more children after the death of Sarah. Abraham was obedient to God and in the end lived a full and prosperous life