21.0 See the Glory of God

All Jesus Christ’s disciples are His brothers . . .

. . . yet also in the world are His biological brothers, the Sons of Jacob (Hebrew Israel). God has promised to save a remnant of them to represent all the Sons of Jacob. The way in which it will pan out is multifaceted. But, it began with the promises God Almighty gave to Abraham because of his outstanding faith:

The Doctrine of the Remnant and the Salvation of Israel in Romans 9–11

https://www.spiritandtruth.org/teaching/documents/articles/24/24.htm?x=x

. . . First an overview:

All 12 Apostles are Sons of Jacob – they share DNA and historical heritage

11 are Jesus Christ’s True Brothers

Judas, not a brother .

21.1 Glory God Beyond

Only those Sons of Jacob who actually believe in Jesus as their Messiah (Christ) will be counted as Jesus’ brothers in the very end. But, there’s no way for us to know which of the Sons of Jacob those will be. Most of them don’t themselves know who they are yet! It’s somewhat comparable to the church, where were there are members who are tares among wheat; We shouldn’t presume to know who’ll be truly saved, so we treat all members the same.

Most biological brothers of Jesus Christ the Messiah, those among the Sons of Jacob, won’t emerge as saints until sometime between the middle and the end of the Time of Jacobs Trouble/The Day of the Lord.

It all started, with Abraham:

Hosea 9:10, “When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the desert; when I saw your ancestors (Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob) it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree.”

It’s explained in Hebrews 11:8-19, that it was because of their FAITH!

21.2 Glory God Beyond

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For they were looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on Earth. People who say such things show that they’re looking for a country of their own. If they’d been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.

21.3 Glory God Beyond

Because of Abraham’s outstanding faith, God gave Abraham a promise through his wife Sarah, that through their son Isaac and his offspring, all the peoples of Earth would be blessed. This is the underlying theme of the Old Testament. Jesus Christ is the offspring of Isaac through whom, by faith, people from all nations will be saved. Isaac’s son Jacob, just prior to his death, prophesied that the one to whom the allegiance of all nations will be, would come from the Tribe of Judah.

A side note: When Abraham and Sarah lost faith for a short while, when they were about 100 yrs. old with no child, they agreed with each other to bring a child through Sara’s handmaid Hagar. But, then God Almighty made it clear that His promise will only be through Isaac, not through Ismael who was Hagar the handmaid’s son.

Genesis 17:21, “But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.”

21.4 Glory God Beyond

Sarah was Barren but God Almighty Made a Miracle:

Isaiah 54:1 “Shout for joy, O barren woman, who bears no children; break forth in song and cry aloud, you who have never travailed; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,” says the LORD.

What was Isaiah talking about? How is it that a woman who doesn’t bear in childbirth can have more children? There are layers of meaning to this and two of them involve the question – Who are Christ’s Brothers? But, first I need to mention the symbolic meaning of Sarah vs Hagar given in Galatians 4 because it exactly matches the Isaiah verse above:

Sarah is the Model for the New Jerusalem, our Spiritual Mother!

Galatians 4:24-26, “These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia (under the law) and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. Be glad, barren woman, you who never bore a child; shout for joy and cry aloud, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband.”

21.5 Glory God Beyond

Other specifics regarding: Who are Christ’s Brothers?

If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:29

Christ is ‘the seed’ in the singular grammatical form but the body-of-Christ is ‘the seed’ in its collective grammatical form.

I (Jesus) will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. John 17:11

21.6 Glory God Beyond

The Galatians 3:29 verse above shows that Abraham’s seed includes the ‘spiritual’ seed by which multitudes upon Earth will be reborn to become eternal ‘Children of God.’ It’s the ‘seed-of-faith,’ those who are in THE SEED Jesus Christ!

It’s never the ‘biological only’ children who inherit God’s Kingdom!

The saints will receive immortal bodies; They’re not biological bodies as we know them. Only God’s spiritual children, who’re called out from among the biological creatures, will be adopted. Those who’ll be reborn are a minority, to say the least. The rest of humanity is already dead in their sin. (Ephesians 2:1)

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, (satan and his dark angels) the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But, because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:1-10

21.7 Glory God Beyond

21 Bible Verses about Spiritually Dead:

https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Spiritually-Dead

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit in-corruption. (1 Corinthians 15:50)

We’ve Come Full Circle

He (Jesus) will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left; How does He decide which side to put the sheep on? . . . Matt. 25: 33, 40

 The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward. Matt. 10:42

 

21.8 Glory God Beyond

Since Israel’s currently at war, now’s a very good time for believers to apply the compassionate treatment to Jesus’ brothers, just mentioned above. This is despite their present state of national rebellion against God. We can’t judge them, as we were once dead in our sins, and Christ was tortured and died for us while we were still sinners.

An in depth look at the words ‘seed’ and ‘called.’

Who are we?

So the brothers of Jesus include children of Abraham through Isaac, some by faith and some, in a sense, by biology; at least until the Time of Jacobs Trouble/Day of the Lord finally separates out the final true brothers from among his merely biological brothers.

Although the lineage is also through Jacob, I’m focusing on ‘Isaac’ because there’s a double entendre regarding the word ‘called’.

But, God said to Abraham, “for in Isaac your seed shall be called.” Genesis 21:12^_KJV

21.9 Glory God Beyond

The other Crucial Word with more than one Meaning is ‘SEED.’

Only in the King James Version is the Hebrew word for ‘seed’ translated as seed, which can be both singular and collective. Holy Spirit led Bible commentators have discerned about five shades of meanings of the word ‘seed.’

There’s some contention about how Paul emphasized the singular, ‘non-collective’ aspect of the word ‘seed’ in Galatians, but since we’re trying to answer the question Who are Jesus’ brothers – it’s the collective use of the word that matters here.

In the collective, ‘seed’ refers to the vast group of individual saints within the one Body of Christ, they’re Isaac’s spiritual descendants, those individuals who are Called by Jesus! But, it may also include Isaac’s biological offspring, some of whom are merely called Jesus’ brothers, in name only.

21.10 Glory God Beyond

And He brought him (Abraham) out and said to him, Look up now to heaven, and count the stars, if thou shalt be able to number them fully, and He said, Thus shall thy seed be. Genesis 15:5

And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Genesis 13:16

The full understanding of God Almighty’s promises to Abraham isn’t simple to tease out.

Topping off this post with something I just discovered:

It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. But there is a place where someone has testified: “What is mankind that you are mindful of them, a son of man that you care for him? You made them a little lower than the angels; you crowned them with glory and honor and put everything under their feet.” In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them. But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. (Hebrews 2:5-11)

21.^₁₁ See the Glory of God

Next

22. Mystery Babylon

https://alephtav.blog/22-babylon/

Blessings and Keep Watching!

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To reach me by Email: Taylor.blaise777@goldfishgateway.com