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:heartbeat:Hello folks! Today's Scripture to think on is
Genesis 13:16 ---

Genesis 13 (Amplified Bbile)
14 The Lord said to Abram after Lot had left him, Lift up now your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward;
15 For all the land which you see I will give to you and to your posterity forever.

16 And I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth, so that if a man could count the dust of the earth, then could your descendants also be counted.

17 Arise, walk through the land, the length of it and the breadth of it, for I will give it to you.
18 Then Abram moved his tent and came and dwelt among the oaks or terebinths of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and built there an altar to the Lord.

Notice how God carefully chose His words so that no man would be able to number Abraham's descendants. God surely knew that someone, sometime, would actually try to enumerate the innumerable! So He made sure to choose specific words to say exactly what He meant and left no room for doubt. Isn't it a wonderful promise to be assured the entire world would be blessed by God because of one man's faith? Yes!

Genesis 12:2-3
And I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And so you shall be a blessing;
And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed."

Genesis 26:4
"I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed;

Not even by today's marvelous technologies are men able to number "the stars of heaven", nor are they able to number all who are counted by God as Abraham's blessed descendants.

Genesis 28:14 (Amplified Bible)
14And your offspring shall be as [countless as] the dust or sand of the ground, and you shall spread abroad to the west and the east and the north and the south; and by you and your Offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed and bless themselves.

There's a word to remember - "countless"!

Acts 3:25-26
"It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, 'AND IN YOUR SEED ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED.'
"For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways."

Galatians 3:8
The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU."

By our like faith we really are Abraham's descendents to whom God's blessing comes through the 'seed', Christ Jesus!

Genesis 22:18
"In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."

Galatians 3:14,16
Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed He does not say, "And to seeds," as referring to many, but rather to one, "And to your seed," that is, Christ.

Galatians 3:7-9
Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU." So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.

Galatians 3
22 But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
23 But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed.
24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.
25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise.

Much love to you ALL from
Your sister in Christ,
Willa
Some pertinent comments on this text from our brother James on e-watchman's board ---

Quote:
(from wikipedia)

Hebrew Definition of Righteousness
Righteousness:

The Hebrew word for righteousness is tseh'-dek, tzedek, Gesenius's Strong's Concordance:6664—righteous, integrity, equity, justice, straightness. The root of tseh'-dek is tsaw-dak', Gesenius's Strong:6663—upright, just, straight, innocent, true, sincere. It is best understood as the product of upright, moral action in accordance with some form of divine plan. In the Book of Job the title character is introduced to us as a person who is "perfect" in righteousness. This does not mean that he is sinless."Perfect" in this sense means that his righteousness permeates every relationship of his life as his working principle. After all, righteousness is a matter of relationships - with God, with things, and with other people. The biblical definition of righteousness involves the inherent quality of God. God is right because He is righteous, therefore God can only act righteously. In one instance the word means being right; in another it is used to mean doing right; in still another case it means putting right. Job qualifies as a righteous person on each of these counts, so much so that he is commended by God as "wholly righteous" or, translated into our terms, "perfect."

Righteousness as it is understood in the Old Testament is a thoroughly Hebraic concept at variance with the common understanding of the term. The failure to comprehend its meaning is perhaps the most responsible for the view of the Old Testament religion as legalistic and as far removed from the graciousness of the New Testament. See also supersessionism, Biblical law in Christianity, and Christian-Jewish reconciliation.' end of article.


So,'Those who make up the spiritual seed of Abraham along with Jesus have also been declared righteous', because they received that calling from God but, that does not equate to a free pass to heaven. They still have to fight the fine fight to the end and remain righteous to receive the crown of glory.

James


More good comments on that thread here >
http://www.e-jehovahs-witnesses.com/foru...etlastpost

:heartbeat:

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