This blog will be covered over the next three days. When thinking about taking the land, we want to be part of the right family. We have two choices; God’s family or satan’s family. The difference in the two families are seen in these verses. John 8:41 “We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.” 42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. 43 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! 46 Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47 Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” Being part of the right family isn’t about being raised in a family of wealth and status, whereby just the mention of your last name brings elevation, prominence, recognition and adoration. Status symbols don’t matter when talking about the family of God. This is about something far greater than being part of man’s name. Being part of God’s family is for eternity but also note that satan’s family is also for eternity. Matthew 25:41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
When you open to 1 Chronicles 1 you will see a list of names from Adam to Abraham and the sons of each. As you move into chapter two you see the sons of Israel who became the tribes of Israel, God chosen people. God had given a promise to Abram saying, Genesis 12:1 “The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. 2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” 4 So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there. 6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” When freeing the Israelites from Egypt Exodus 3:14 “God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation. 16 “Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. 17 And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.” Not only do you see a family blessed but you will also see a family cursed. In that list in 1 Chronicles 1 you will see the name Canaan and his sons. The sons of Noah where Shem, Ham and Japheth. Ham was Canaan’s father. At this point you will begin to see a distinction in families. Genesis 9:22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked.” Now there is lot said about this act done by Ham. Obviously there was more to the looking. Whatever it was, it was enough to be cursed and have their land taken. Throughout scripture we see strong condemnation on sexual offenses. Leviticus gives us a list of these of which you can read. Leviticus 18:1 “The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘I am the Lord your God. 3 You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. 4 You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the Lord your God. 5 Keep my decrees and laws, for the person who obeys them will live by them. I am the Lord.” Then these offenses are listed. Leviticus 18:29 “Everyone who does any of these detestable things (abominations) —such persons must be cut off from their people. 30 Keep my requirements and do not follow any of the detestable (abominable) customs that were practiced before you came and do not defile yourselves with them. I am the Lord your God.’”
You also saw what it was like in Sodom and Gomorrah and the story of Lot and his daughters. Genesis 18:20 “Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous 21 that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.” The we see the incest with the daughters and their father Lot. Genesis 19:32 “Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.” 36 So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. 37 The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites of today. 38 The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Amm; he is the father of the Ammonites of today.” Israel was at war with them also. We see the outcome of this in Numbers with Balaam and the seduction of Israel at Baal of Peor. Numbers 25:1 “While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, 2 who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods. 3 So Israel yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor. And the Lord’s anger burned against them.” Judges 19 also gives us a story of how bad things actually were, as Gibeah was were the Benjamites lived. Judges 19:30 “Everyone who saw it was saying to one another, “Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt. Just imagine! We must do something! So speak up!” The men of Israel came together to fight against them because of the horrible thing that was done. We then see the horrible offenses committed in Judah. 2 Chronicles 33:9 “But Manasseh led Judah and the people of Jerusalem astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.” A lot of the worship had to do with sexuality and fertility. Notice that the first thing Gideon had to do was to Judges 6:25 “tear down your father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.” Solomon failed because 1 Kings 11:4 “As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 5 He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done.” As you have read this I trust you are seeing the distinction of being blessed and being cursed.
