Day 317

Ezekiel 24:1-25:17, Hebrews 11:17-40, Psalm 124:1-8

Today is one of those occasions where quite a significant passage is split over two days. we continue with e theme of faith, and it was only really when we started with Abraham that this passage hit home in my mind.

“By faith Abraham …” The people at the time that Paul was writing were guilty of what we do know, splitting the narrative of the Old and the New Testaments as if they should  never come together – their is the Christian faith and their is the Jewish faith and the two should never meet. There are two was of reading what Paul is trying to do. On the one hand he is debunking that myth of the irreconcilable testaments, Christ is the fulfilment of the Old and the faith in Christ that is so central to Christianity is the same faith that was central to the life of the Old Testament fathers.

On the other hand he is preaching to the Jews. He is using the names that are central to all that they believe and he is bringing them together into one faith, a faith that ultimately leads to God incarnate, Christ himself.

Paul talks of a faith that has stretched over thousands of years through the stories that stretch all the way back to Abel. And the stories also stretch thousands of years in the other direction all the way to us, and our faith. We are part of a much bigger picture of faith that spans the Globe.

Where faith is visible, God is visible. He is everywhere in between but in our faith He is visible, so may we shine for Christ that others may see the light.