It is so very important that we know what is right and what is wrong. But it is also important that we know what is a blessing and what is a curse.
Our God, the only true God, either loves or hates, blesses or curses. This is taught us in Psalm 7:11 where we read that He is angry with the wicked every day, and in Romans 6:23 where He tells us that the wages of sin is death. There is no grace of God to all men. He Himself tells us through David and Paul that His grace is only on those whose sins have been blotted out by His Son, and thus made righteous.
This we must bear in mind when in Hebrews 12:17 we read concerning Esau, the unbeliever, "For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears."
We do well to bear in mind, then, that the idea here is not that he did seek repentance and found it not. He sought with tears and did not get what he called a blessing, and was rejected by our holy God. That blessing he sought, but in the wrong way. He was interested in material things and did not get it, for he refused to repent of having committed sin.
The truth we must hold on to tightly is that God is holy, and therefore has not only blessing, one real blessing, for any sinners except those for whom Christ died and blotted out their guilt. Consider that Christ did not die for angels; and therefore not one fallen angel is saved, or "invited and offered" salvation. There is no grace of God for fallen angels, nor for human beings not eternally chosen in Christ.
Blessedness is being chosen in Christ and given a new life, and faith that can and does bring forth repentance. Sorrow for sin reveals that one has been eternally chosen in Christ and promised salvation.
Read: Romans 9:1-18
Meditations on the Heidelberg Catechism
Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
Nehemiah 12:27-47 ; Nehemiah 13
1 Corinthians 11:1-16
Psalm 35:1-16
Proverbs 21:17-18
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Quote for Reflection:
Additional Info
- Date: 17-August
