{"id":6612,"date":"2015-06-14T00:05:28","date_gmt":"2015-06-14T07:05:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/?p=6612"},"modified":"2015-06-13T18:26:52","modified_gmt":"2015-06-14T01:26:52","slug":"god-loves-your-enemies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/2015\/06\/14\/god-loves-your-enemies\/","title":{"rendered":"God Loves Your Enemies"},"content":{"rendered":"

In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD at its border. And it will be for a sign and for a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the LORD because of the oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Mighty One, and He will deliver them. Then the LORD will be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day, and will make sacrifice and offering; yes, they will make a vow to the LORD and perform it. And the LORD will strike Egypt, He will strike and heal it; they will return to the LORD, and He will be entreated by them and heal them. <\/p>\n

In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian will come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians will serve with the Assyrians. <\/p>\n

In that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria\u2014a blessing in the midst of the land, whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, \u201cBlessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.\u201d (Isaiah 19:19-25)
\n<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

God doesn\u2019t just love us. He loves those who hate us, too. Egypt had enslaved the Israelites for more than four hundred years. Assyria was a brutal dictatorship, noted for its cruelty in war. Egypt became a picture of sin. The Exodus from Egyptian slavery became a picture of God\u2019s salvation from sin. Assyria was a place of bondage and exile, too: a place destined to be judged by God for their mistreatment of his people.<\/p>\n

But despite all that, God loved the Egyptians and the Assyrians no less than he loved anyone else. He offered forgiveness and salvation to them, just as he had offered it to his own people, the Israelites. Surprisingly, just like the Israelites, God announced that the Assyrians and the Egyptians would repent and become as much God\u2019s people as the Israelites. The fulfillment of God\u2019s words began with the spreading of the Gospel message beyond the borders of Palestine to the Gentiles. Those of us who are not Jewish by birth, have become one with all of God\u2019s people thanks to Jesus. Even the enemies of God, the enemies of his people, were offered\u2014and then granted\u2014God\u2019s love. We might as well love our enemies, since God already does\u2014and who really wants to disagree with God?<\/p>\n

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In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD at its border. And it will be for a sign and for a witness to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[18,17,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6612"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6612"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6613,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6612\/revisions\/6613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}