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GOD’S FAMILY – WHO AND WHERE? (NUMBER 1:1-16)

Moses undertakes a census and selects men to form the Israelite army 

REFLECTION 

The theme for our reflection today is, God’s family – who and where? A family may refer to a group of one or more parents and their children living together as a unit. For the purpose of our reflection today we shall define a family as all the descendants of a common ancestor. We shall recall that when God called Abraham He promised him He will make him a great nation. “Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.  And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing.” (Genesis 12:1-2)

In today’s Scripture reading, we see a fulfilment of God’s promise of raising a family from a common ancestor Abraham through Isaac all the way through Jacob and his children. “The LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying,  “Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, by clans, by fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male, head by head.” (Numbers 1:1-2) Indeed, the population of Israel as God’s chosen nation and family is a testimony of God’s faithfulness and promise to Abraham. The Psalmist express His appreciation to God when he wrote that “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalms 8:3-4)

It is important to note that God chose the family of Abraham, Israel so that through Israel He will save the world. “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6). Jesus being a Jew fulfils God promise of bringing salvation to the ends of the earth. Through salvation in Jesus, we become God’s family and descendants of Abraham. “Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.”  So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. (Galatians 3:7-9)  Jesus gives a new definition and identity to the understanding of God’s family. You do not have to be a Jew before you become part of God’s family. By believing in Jesus Christ you are saved by grace and now a member of God’s family. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. (Galatians 3:25-29). 

We now know who is a member of God’s family and it does not matter where you come from, what matters is what Jesus told Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. John 3:3-6. My dear friend kindly spend a few moment to thank God for making you a member of His family and take another moment to share this reflection with someone who needs to know that Jesus loves him or her and is ever willing to save him or her to make him or her part of God’s everlasting family. Shalom. 

PRAYER 

GRACIOUS GOD, THANK YOU FOR MAKING ME A MEMBER OF YOUR FAMILY. MAY YOUR GRACE AND SALVATION BE RECEIVED BY OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS WHO ARE STILL BEHIND THE WALLS OF SALVATION. AMEN

Jean-Paul Agidi (Rev)