“But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” Galatians 3:11-14
“For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”
Galatians 3:26
Living by faith in Jesus above,
Trusting, confiding in His great love;
From all harm safe in His sheltering arm,
I’m living by faith and feel no alarm.
“For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
Galatians 3:27-29
Thank you, Rachel. What a beautiful devotion!
I had something devastating happen to my family back in 2016. The Lord gave me Ancestry.com to help me and my niece cope with the grief. We spent a couple of hours most nights tracing our linages and laughing together at some of the funny names, and marveling at others for their roles in history. One night, I continued after I got back to my house. I had been following a royal line back through history on my dad’s side. I actually got back to the 1st century, then the generation that was alive at the time of Christ!!! I was thrilled and amazed to have gotten back that far!
I thought the names would surely stop, but they kept going and going. No last names, just father to son, father to son, back and back and back. There were no years, just first names, and sometimes the place where they died, and an occasional last name if the person had been notable. The place names were ancient, and no longer used. Once in awhile there would be a wife. I kept tracing back all night. I was afraid to stop; afraid I would lose the thread. I moved with my ancestors across ancient Europe, and into Asia Minor, coming to Scythen, My ancestry was in Scythen for several generations, but before that, they lived in Acadia for 3 generations: Tros van Acadia, who was the son of Erichthonius van Acadia, who was the son of Dara van Acadia.
When I clicked on Dara, the next entry said: Dara van Zerah. When I clicked on Zerah, it said: Zerah ibn Judea, died in Egypt. I was stunned!! Egypt???!! I knew that ibn means “son of” in Hebrew!!! A Jew named Zerah that died in Egypt so far back in history??!! Who could it be but a Hebrew slave??? I was shaking and hyperventilating at that point. It didn’t help that it was almost dawn.
Then I clicked on the name Judea.
But I was wrong, so wrong…Judea hadn’t been a Hebrew slave because Dara migrated into Acadia before the Jews were enslaved!!!
What I saw completely blew me away!!! It said: Judah ibn Israel, died in Egypt!!! I broke down and cried. No way!!! I had been reading the Bible through once every 3 months for a couple of years, and felt so close to the people of Genesis and the historical books, not to mention the saints of the New Testament. I was was shaking so badly I could hardly click on Israel’s name. The next entry said: Jacob ibn Isaac, and then, Isaac ibn Abraham, and so forth: Terah, Nahor, and all the way back to Shem ibn Noah!!! From there, I followed the nine generations from father to son back to Adam. When I clicked on Adam, it said, Adam the son of Almighty God. Oooohhhh!!!
A couple of days later, I looked up Dara in the Bible. He is mentioned once, (I Chronicles 2:6) as the youngest of Zerah’s five sons. Zerah (or Zarah) was one of the twin sons born to Tamar and Judah, (Genesis 38:28-30). He stuck out his arm first, and they tied a scarlet thread to his wrist, but God chose Pharez, who actually came out first. Pharez was the ancestor of the line of kings and of the lineage of Jesus!
I was on cloud nine for days afterwards, but one Sunday morning as I was driving to church, the Lord suddenly spoke to my mind. He said very clearly: “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
Galatians 3:27-29
It was the wonderful, non-discriminating promise of God that you included under your photo of the Bible!
Ancestry doesn’t matter. Faith in Christ matters. It is the only thing that truly matters for eternity.
Thank you, Rachel. It was fun to remember what happened in 2016, and the wonderful lesson that God taught me, using the verses that you cited!
Sheri, I loved this testimony!! 😄❤️ I smiled so big too because as I read this portion of Galatians this morning I was thinking, “As Christians, here is our genealogy!!!!! Our “family tree!” Praise the Lord!! It reminds me of a few favorite verses from Romans 8:
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
It is also funny too as I often hear people talk about their family tree and tracing it back. I have never looked into mine before so my answer when asked my own genealogy is “I am not too sure about all the details but I’m pretty certain my family originated from the Garden of Eden!😉” So thankful that we are all “one in Christ Jesus”. Brothers and Sisters in Him… “children of promise”!
Thank you, Sheri. I was tremendously blessed by your comment! It added just a beautiful highlight to my Monday and the verses from Galatians 3! ❤️😊
Yes!!! I love what you wrote! ❤️ Our family tree is the same! We (and all of God’s redeemed) are the children of the promise! And we trace our mutual kinship back to Jesus, through His blood which was shed for us!! We really need no other lineage because that is the highest calling! God has been so merciful! His love is higher than the heavens!!
I need to clarify one statement that I made when I said, once in awhile there would be a wife mentioned. Women weren’t normally named in early history unless they played a significant role in effecting their family history. Only notable women were acknowledged, so there were only a handful of mothers that were named. And of those few women, they never went back in their own lineages more than 1 or 2 generations. Sometimes their fathers were notable men or royalty.
Amazingly, women began being named and acknowledged after the time of Christ! Jesus and Christendom raised the status of women to higher than just property. And the verses (Galatians 3:27-29) that you cited certainly helped!!!
YES!!! ❤️❤️❤️ I love the point you made.