Strangers in This World

Genesis‬ ‭17:8‬ - Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.

God made a covenant with Abraham in the Old Testament. That covenant was to to make him a great nation, he and all his descendants. If we are in Christ we are one of those descendants and we are part of this covenant. The land we will inherit someday will be heaven. We are strangers to this world, but not to heaven.

God calls all believers peculiar people. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light...‭‭(1Peter‬ ‭2:9‬) Have you been called out of darkness into His marvelous light? As believers and followers of Christ we will be "hated" by the world. We will be criticized, looked down upon, ignored, scoffed and even persecuted for our beliefs...even the truthful, uncomfortable words of the Lord. Words which some people find impossible God would say.

If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. (‭‭John‬ ‭15:18-19‬)

This covenant still is for all who call on the name of the Lord. It is available to anyone, no matter how sinful...rebellious, stubborn...against God one might be. Being against God includes those who know of Him, but do not know Him intimately, spiritually.

For we are aliens and pilgrims before You, as were all our fathers; our days on earth are as a shadow, and without hope. ‭(1Chronicles‬ ‭29:15‬)  Like Israel in the land God gave them, they were only passing through in their life. That land was not really theirs, but God's. Kind of like heaven! Our lives on earth are fleeting; yet beyond life lives an eternity. That eternity is either heaven or hell. And...they are an eternity. Forever. 

God tells us to seek first the Kingdom of God and all other things will be added to that. We are not supposed to worry about tomorrow because today has enough trouble of its own. And God knows all our needs before we have need of them. The whole point is to trust in God for our lives. But how can we trust Him if we don't know Him? How can we be part of the marvelous covenant He has between Himself and His peculiar people? If we are in Christ we are those peculiar people that others look at and wonder how in the world we can take Him so seriously. Ummm...how in the world! 

If we are in Christ we share the future kingdom: Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here. (John‬ ‭18:36‬)
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ... (‭‭Philippians‬ ‭3:20‬)

Again, we can all be part of the kingdom of heaven...if we seek Him first, trust Him, and then wait eagerly for the Savior. God's everlasting covenant has been carried through the whole Bible. It is for anyone. It is for those who today scoff and believe that others are acting as if they are superior. The fact is, we are not. By God's own words He has said otherwise. We are peculiar people! Some might think they are superior...that's a given. I am no better than the greatest sinner because everyone sins. I have this going for me, though: I have recognized my sins, recognized my need for a Savior and have received Christ as that one and only Savior. I have learned what the truth is. And, again, anyone who wishes to know the truth can. It's that simple.

‭‭John‬ ‭17:14-17‬ - I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.

The Proper Channel

Ephesians 2:12 - ...that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

I had a blog several days ago explaining our spiritual blessings once we have received Christ. Today I want to share a little more.

As the scripture above states, we are without God and without hope without Christ. We are considered aliens/foreigners in this life. Think of what illegal aliens in this country should not have. They live among us but do not legally have jobs, insurance, homes, education. “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber."(John 10:1)

But if they come to this country legally, go through the proper channel, they can have these things. This is the way it is in God's kingdom. You cannot have all the benefits unless you do it the right way. You cannot hope to have eternal life without Jesus. You cannot enter the Kingdom of God without Jesus. He prepared the way for us. He is the only Way, truth and life...no one goes to the Father except through Him.

There are rules in life...eternal and physical. Too many don't like following the rules. They want...and in their own way. Stubborn arrogance and rebellion will not get eternal life. Those things are not "legal." They are not the way. You will not get to heaven apart from Christ.

But listen to this: But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off [aliens/foreigners] have been brought near by the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:13). Only through His blood. Only through Christ do we have real hope.

Just like there are (should be) "walls" to keep out illegal aliens in our country, there is a wall that separates us from God...that wall is sin. It is illegal, as it were, in God's eyes. It must be taken down and it can be by our reconciliation (voluntary) with Christ. Then we have access to all God wants us to have. When illegal aliens enter into our country the proper way, they should have access...as much as they choose to have.

Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God...(Ephesians 2:19). That's all it takes. Entering in through Jesus, our Door, our Gate. We must be obedient to that call, that entering in, for it all to happen. It comes with a childlike faith in Jesus Christ and receiving Him as Savior and living a different life in Him, no longer strangers and having full access to Him.

John 10:9 - I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.