Then in Genesis 17 again the ‘promise’ also included Sarai with a Heavenly name change to Sarah. verse 16 And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of *NATIONS* (that means more than one as it is plural) kings of people shall be of her.”
Isaac was born unto Sarah and married Rebekah, and Rebekah was told in Genesis 25:23 And the LORD said unto her, “Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger,” Esau traded is birthright for a bowl of ‘red’ pottage, and Rebekah saw fit that Jacob received the blessing. Genesis 27
Jacob's name was changed to Israel and he had twelve sons, each are named and even given an inheritance noted Ruben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Gad, Asher, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, and Naphtali.
NOTE Genesis 49:1 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the LAST days.
Each son (tribe) is listed and so Ezra is not the source where one discovers what to look for when tracing the footsteps of the generations of Israel/Jacob.
Now after leaving ‘bondage’ of Pharaoh, the children were brought to the promise land, and God set up His government with judges but the children saw the neighborhood having ‘kings’ and so they demanded themselves a king and so God gave them Saul of Benjamin to rule over them... until David from the tribe of Judah was anointed to take over as king.
Then after David's son Solomon ruled as king over the children of Israel they had a ‘civil war’ and the kingdom was broken in two parts. A northern kingdom called house of Israel and the southern kingdom called house of Judah.
When Ezra came back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple the house of Israel also sometime referred to as Ephraim has long since been sent into captivity to the Assyrian king, so Ezra was NOT referring to the house of Israel but the children of Israel. It would be expected that any one who read what had been recorded before would know just who it was Ezra was talking about.
Point of this post.... the promise made to Abraham and Sarah still holds and is still being fulfilled even to these days. The punishment to the house of Israel was that they would not know who they were, but the Heavenly Father sure knows as did Christ when His first instructions to His newly elected disciples was to Matthew 10:5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and COMMANDED them, saying, “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6 BUT go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Now since Christ where has Christianity been planted nourished and spread?
AND no I am not ignoring the many many gentiles that have accepted Christ and continue to do so. But just as the children of Israel (that means all the 12, as opposed to house of Israel) are described in Jeremiah 4:22 For My people is foolish, they have not known ME; they are sottish (word means stupid) children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.... God still blesses them and protects them because of that promise made to Abraham and it is now in Christ's Holy Name that forgives a multitude of sins.
The mind of man still thinks he has TO DO SOMETHING to earn his salvation.
If you could EARN it there would be no need for Christ to have died on cthe Cross.
When the rich man went to CHRIST he asked..”What GOOD THING MUST I DO to inherit eternal life?
Jesus gave him an IMPOSSIBLE LIST of things to do..”Keep the Commandments”.
The rich man says “This I have done, even from my youth”.
(It is impossible to keep the law as you should know)
Jesus then added this..”You lack ONE THING. SELL all you have, give it to the poor, and follow me”.
The rich man balked and went away.
Look around you! Do you still posess lots of money and things?
Those of you who think you can DO SOMETHING to earn your salvation, here are Christ’s words about earning it.
Keep the Law
Sell EVERYTHING YOU HAVE and follow Christ.
Can you do it?
Why did Christ say this? To show that salvation CAN NOT BE EARNED by your own efforts! You will always LACK ONE THING.
Your righteousness is as filthy rags before the Lord.
A few more words of Christ! CAN YOU DO THEM?
Mat 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed [the righteousness] of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 23:1 ¶ Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,
Mat 23:2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:
Mat 23:3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, [that] observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
Thank GOD that the Blood of Christ has clesnsed us and we no longer have to live in fear that we don’t “measure up”.
Note to those who think being a Christian means you can now go and sin-sin-sin!....You had better examine yourselves to see if you be “of the faith”.