The Bible is 66 books, some 40 authors, but it reveals one over-arching story – God’s story! We are characters in His story. Like many great stories, the Bible has numerous themes. I read A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles a few months ago. Towles’s story had multiple themes … imprisonment, change, and adaptation, and the purpose of life. What kinds of themes are in scripture? Love, justice, wisdom, faith, forgiveness … But there is one theme that I love to review repeatedly! Chiefly, God chooses us to be HIS people, dwell among us, and be our GOD!
Especially notice what God says as we fly
through scripture …
Torah — Genesis 17:4, 7-8
And God said to him, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. … And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
Torah — Exodus 6:7
God spoke to Moses and said … Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God …’
Torah — Leviticus 26:11-12
I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.
Torah — Numbers 15:40-41
So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the Lord your God.
Torah – Deuteronomy 7:6
For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
Wisdom — Psalm 95:6-7
Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture
and the sheep of his hand.
Prophets — Isaiah 41:10
Fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Prophets — Jeremiah 31:33
But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
Prophets — Ezekiel 36:27-28
And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.”
Prophets — Hosea 13:4
But I am the Lord your God
from the land of Egypt;
you know no God but me,
and besides me there is no savior.
Prophets — Joel 2:27
You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel,
and that I am the Lord your God and there is none else.
And my people shall never again be put to shame.
Prophets — Zechariah 13:9
“And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people‘; and they will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’”
Gospels — John 1:12 – 14
But to all who have received him—those who believe in his name—he has given the right to become God’s children–children not born by human parents or by human desire or a husband’s decision, but by God. Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory—the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father.
Paul’s Writings —
Romans 8:14
For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.
Galatians 6:15-16
It doesn’t matter whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation. May God’s peace and mercy be upon all who live by this principle; they are the new people of God.
2 Corinthians 6:16
What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, ‘I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Peter’s Writings — 1 Peter 2:9-10
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
The Final Book — Revelation 21:3
“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”
Do you notice how this message is woven throughout the scriptures? Our great God, our Creator, didn’t just set this vast earth into motion, set it spinning, and then expect us to fend for ourselves. Just as He walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the garden, He proclaims that He is our God, we are His people, and He has chosen us! More specifically, He chooses to reside with us in mercy and love. Because of Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection, God doesn’t merely walk beside us, but lives within us! Let’s praise Him!
God has written us into HIS story!
I love this!