Meditation Acts 11:16

Meditation

 

Scripture.  Then remembered I the Word of the Lord, how that He said, John (the Baptist) indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.  Acts 11:16  KJV

 

When Abram (later Abraham) was ninety-nine years old ( Gen. 17:1) God appeared to him and made a covenant with him. 

 

He was to circumcise all the males in his "house" which was very large at that time even though he was not a biological father to any.

 

Each new male born or entering as a servant, employee or adopted, was to be circumcised. 

 

God said the covenant would fall upon all those circumcised males, and their families and those not circumcised would be outside the covenant. 

 

Blood had to be shed for this covenant to be binding, and so God called for a circumcision. 

 

The Father always knew His Son would be the Holy Sacrifice and this passage shows a foreknowledge and is a type of prophecy that we can use to look back to see how God's Law works.

 

To be included in any Promise God made, would be a great thing, right?.

 

It's a Contract made by a Pure God Who none can attain to be.

 

One could highly trust this Contract. One would not have to worry anymore because God would honor the Holy Contract. Blessings would abound when that person stayed within the Will of God (The Contract/Promise).

 

They were set aside for God's good pleasure of communion, because of Abraham who was a man who knew and understood there was a Great Holy Designer Creator of all things and worshipped Him, not knowing Who He was, but seeing His Handiwork realized the Perfection, Truth, Wisdom and Magnificence of the whole of it and the intricate details of it. 

 

God wanted a peculiar people to carry on from what He had originally intended for Adam and Eve - who used their free will foolishly and were disloyal to Him, missing their blessings. Adam should have been loyal to God who accompanied him in the evenings for discussions and communion, provided for all his needs, and made him to be above the animals but instead he listened to the devil and allowed himself to be swayed by Eve who had been beguiled by the devil.

 

Later there was a need because evil had so proliferated, for God to set in stone the Law -  Ten Commandments. 

 

Moses gave the Law to the Israelites after God had heard their cries from captivity in Egypt and freed them from Pharoah.

 

The Israelites proved that the Law could not fully be obeyed. Their holy men tried everything.  They became legalistic about the Law, attaching many other rules and regulations to it in hopes of making the people obey the Law.

 

God let them wallow for a time and then sent His Son as a Blood Sacrifice. It signified the last chance. There will be no other Sacrifice.

 

Really, what more can God do, after sending his Only Son to suffer in the flesh and in His Spirit.

 

We deny Him and get more chances?

 

God's not a fool.

 

Now, He moves on to the next requirement in His Law.

 

These are the days we live in, waiting for the last prophecy to be fulfilled.

 

The second coming of our Lord Who comes as King Jesus.

 

We need to be like the maidens waiting for their bridegroom to come at night.

 

We need to have oil for our lamps and be at the ready spiritually.

 

He says he will come like a thief in the night. We will not know, and there He will be and it will be too late to have a change of heart.

 

A few months before Mary the Virgin Mother became with child, her cousin Elizabeth was with child. 

 

That child was John the Baptist. 

 

He was only a few months older than Jesus. 

 

His ministry started earlier than Jesus's and he was the one who called for people to repent and be baptized with water for remission of sins.

 

But now, in today's scripture we find that Peter witnesses the Holy Ghost come upon six men he has just met as he tells them how Jesus came to save them. 

 

He realizes it is the Holy Spirit because he had previously had the same Spirit fall on him. 

 

Now he is sure that the Gentiles and not just the Jews are included in God's Plan of Redemption through the receiving of Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. 

 

With his own eyes he sees what God is revealing to him and the purity of their responses convicts Peter

 

Peter couldn't argue with God.  Who can and win?

 

So through Peter the Disciple of Jesus, we learn that all peoples are invited to the wedding supper. The requirement is that we know and love with all our hearts, the Bridegrooom, Jesus. He will release the Holy Spirit into our lives when we accept the Lord as our Saviour.

 

We must be under the New Covenant to be saved and have the Holy Spirit guiding and directing us on the Righteous Path. 

 

Prayer
Lord, thank You for Your Holy Plan of Redemption that allows me to be a partaker in Your Kingdom. I ask You for the Holy Spirit to descend on me and fill me with all the fruits of the Spirit.  I want to be baptized with the Holy Ghost and learn of You and Your Kingdom. I claim Your Promise for all my family and ask that they too are led into a relationship with You at an early age so that their Salvation is secure. Amen.