Our Place in His Story

 

 

READ: Genesis 9-14

A wild rabbit often huddles near our back step. Last winter he, assuming the same rabbit and gender, slept on the shelf under our patio coffee table. I’m careful not to frighten him but without thinking I opened the patio door yesterday and he took off like a bullet.

This bunny verifies God’s Word: “The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered.” (Genesis 9:2) While some wild animals do attack people, their fear is likely the reason behind it.

The second thing I noticed in this reading is the list of generations that show Abraham is not very far from Adam. From Adam to Noah is ten generations, and Noah to Abraham is ten more. Twenty generations and several hundred years seems smaller when compared to my family tree. I can trace my great grandson back ten generations on my father’s side, and one grandson on my husband’s side back twelve generations into the 1700’s. While not particularly interested in genealogy, my family tree makes the lists in the Bible easier to read. Like my ancestors, these were real people with a life-span, jobs, families and a history.

Those who trace the names in Scripture from Adam to Jesus Christ are to be commended for that ability. Persistence and careful observation are required. Thinking about my ancestors gives me a greater sense of who I am. Everyone also has a lineage that God knows, giving us a place in His story. I have no idea where my branch connects to the same tree as the branch that ended in that babe born in Bethlehem, but somewhere along the line, each one of us connects to the One who came to save us from our sin. In that sense, He truly is our Brother.

In the NT, the term ‘brothers’ can refer to both brothers and sisters. Rather than mere physical family relationships, this term is often used to define those who are part of the family of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

While (Jesus) was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Matthew 12:46–50)

You are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers (and sisters). (Matthew 23:8)

In this context of a Christian family, believers are also brothers and sisters of Jesus:

Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” (John 20:17)

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (Romans 8:29)

For (Jesus) who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, (Hebrews 2:11)

Therefore (Jesus) had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. (Hebrews 2:17)

This idea of brotherhood includes women who believe in Jesus. However, this term it is not the same as the ‘brotherhood of man’ often used in our world. In the NT, care is taken to warn the family of God about false teachers who are called false ‘brothers’ meaning they do not belong to the family of God despite what they call themselves:

Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery— to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. (Galatians 2:4–5)

OBEDIENCE regarding these thoughts involves consideration for the fear God puts in wildlife, and more importantly, consideration for those who are members with me in the family of God. Not all of them feel like ‘family’ making it easy to be partial. That is not what God wants. We are in the same family tree, all from Adam and all brothers and sister of Jesus. I must always seek the biblical attitude and treat those less-popular folks with the same love and respect as I have for my own family, and for my favorite Christian friends, and even for my big Brother, the Lord Jesus Christ.