Entitlements...the Wayfarer 8/25/15

Entitlements
8/25/15

These days we hear a great deal about rights and entitlements.

It would seem that these entitlements grow exponentially as the wealth of the world decreases in equal amounts in an effort to “spread the wealth” by taking from some to give to others to quash enmity of those wishing to attain those entitlements.

With each new addition of “rights and entitlements” the rights and entitlements of others diminish and are either overlooked or negated altogether.

Today I would look at what are some rights and entitlements that are in fact those of all mankind, along with the requirements of those rights and entitlements, as well as rights and entitlements that are proclaimed by God to be His own.

Let us begin at the beginning:

^{Genesis 2:7-17}

⁷ And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

⁸ And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

⁹ And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

¹⁰ And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.

¹¹ The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;

¹² And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.

¹³ And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.

¹⁴ And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.

¹⁵ And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

¹⁷ But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

God gave mankind, Adam the right to live in a paradise.

Adam was entitled to enjoy all the things placed in the garden by God with two provisos: he would dress and keep the garden, (tend to the growth and tend to keeping the garden in the shape that it had initially been formed; and he was forbidden only one tree whose fruit would bring physical death to a creature formed to be eternal.

Next God entitled Adam to companionship and assistance by giving him a woman, because it was not good for him to be alone in his efforts, nor in the joy to be found in that garden.

Thus were the first Husband and wife united, and given a united task to perform FOR GOD!

They failed to fulfil either of the requirements that He had set forth for them, choosing to listen instead to the one that intentionally denied them the entitlements given by their Creator.

This led to another entitlement, one not so pleasant, but an entitlement nonetheless, and a requirement for them and all their progeny.

Genesis 3 17-24

17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

¹⁸ Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

¹⁹ In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

²⁰ And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

²¹ Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

²² And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

²³ Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

²⁴ So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

This entitlement was that Adam would now have to earn the things he needed, instead of merely being given them freely, and was now entitled to physical death as a result of direct disobedience to the simple requirements that were given him.

His wants superseded his needs, as his wants led him to that disobedience, wants that there had never been an entitlement given to by the Creator, but that were in direct opposition to the needs to maintain the relationship with that Creator that was initially intended.

As time progressed, those very wants drove mankind deeper and deeper into the arms of the one who deceived Eve there in the garden.

That initial disobedience magnified itself, disrespecting even the breath of life given by the Creator as Cain slew Able, and much more so as man multiplied to the point reached during the time of Noah.

The very purpose of mankind had been forgotten, the concept of any regulation or any possibility that something could be forbidden by God was being negated and abomination of every kind was in abundance on the earth.

Genesis 6:1-7

6 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,

² That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

³ And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

⁴ There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

⁵ And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

⁶ And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

⁷ And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

Still God  gave us yet another chance to meet those original requirements, by showing grace to Noah and his family, allowing for the continuance of this creation of His, intended for perfection, created in perfection, but made less than perfect by the ones chosen to maintain that perfection.

Once more, time passed, and man became infatuated with the things he thought himself to be entitled to, having forgotten that it was GRACE that had been given through Noah’s faith that allowed them to exist at all.

Once more the majority chose to ignore any and all requirements that were given them and chose to rely only on themselves and their own strength to build what they themselves wanted for a world, one that left out the Creator, and magnified and glorified instead the creation.

A man named Abraham chose to follow God instead, and became the father of many nations, as he was promised by God.

He recognized the entitlements given him, by God to not only the land that he had been given to tend, but the requirements that existed to receive those entitlements as well.

Others chose to ignore the requirements, and continued the proliferation of following only their own wants, never considering the need to please the Creator, never considering the necessity to conform themselves to any requirements given, never considering the purpose given them initially, and Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of the proliferation of these wants, instilled by the same one that robbed mankind of the first entitlement ever given him.

Again, time progressed. The nation that was founded by Abraham that had received the entitlement to God’s blessing found itself following the wants of those never promised that entitlement, following the requirements of their wants instead of the requirements of their Creator, and became enslaved because of those wants.

The entitlement did not diminish, nor was it taken away, but requirements were given to restore those entitlements.

A man named Moses was chosen to lead that nation from its captivity, providing once again requirements for that special entitlement of the blessing of their Creator.

First among these requirements were 10 simple laws to be followed, though many others were added later, that clarified these 10 and their intent.

Exodus 20

20 And God spake all these words, saying,

² I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

³ Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

⁴ Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

⁵ Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

⁶ And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

⁷ Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

⁸ Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

⁹ Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

¹⁰ But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

¹¹ For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

¹² Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

¹³ Thou shalt not kill.

¹⁴ Thou shalt not commit adultery.

¹⁵ Thou shalt not steal.

¹⁶ Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

¹⁷ Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

These simple requirements were given  to remind us that we are not entitled to disregard  the intentions of our Creator for us, but have constraints on what we are entitled to.

We are entitled to the love and protection of the Creator, not entitled to place any other false god or thing in our life above Him.

We are entitled to the wealth that God has given us, but not to worship that wealth in His place.

We are entitled to call upon God for our needs, but not to vainly expect our wants that are outside his intent will be met, or to defile the very nature of our Creator by using His name simply for our own vain wishes.

We are entitled to a day of rest, but not to vainly waste that day for our own wants, as it is intended to honor the One giving it to us.

We are entitled to the love and care of parents and all that they provide for us as is given them by God. We are not entitled to take for granted what they provide, nor are we to take for granted the needs that they themselves have as they grow old, nor are we entitled to take from them the fruits of the labor they expended disregarding the admonition to honor them.

We are entitled to life, our own, not that of others. We did not create that life and it is not ours to take.

We are not entitled to violate the sanctity of the marriage of our fellow men.

We are still entitled to the fruits of our own labors, not to take the fruits of the labor that has been given by others to attain anything obtained in their lives.

We are entitled to the respect of truth from each other about each other. We are not entitled to falsely accuse and label other for our own profit, or purpose.

We are entitled to what we are given, and only to what we are given. We are not entitled to the blessings of others simply because they exist, no matter what that blessing may be, nor how desirable it may seem.

These 10 simple requirements provided for the entitlement of blessings of one’s own to be received, and for the Creator’s intent to be followed.

As stated, other requirements or guidelines were added to assure the obedience of these, and were codified into a law, that provided both entitlement, and punishment for infringement upon them.

Mankind once more found that the wants exceeded the needs that were provided for and began to embellish and pervert the original intent of what was given to the point that it was no longer possible to meet all the requirements as given by men, thus skirting, circumventing, and ignoring the very reason they had been given, in order to make acceptable the things that were not acceptable, negating that intent.

The thief in the garden was hard at work once more to steal what God had given his chosen as an entitlement!

God was and is still compassionate, sending a means to regain that entitlement.

That means was and is Jesus!

John 3King James Version (KJV)

3 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:

² The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.

³ Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

⁴ Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?

⁵ Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

⁷ Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

⁸ The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

⁹ Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?

¹⁰ Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?

¹¹ Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.

¹² If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?

¹³ And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

¹⁵ That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

¹⁶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

¹⁷ For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

¹⁸ He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Yet and still the wants of the majority refused to allow the requirement to be met, and as a result mankind continues to follow the leadings of the thief, still attempting to deny them the entitlement of eternal life that is guaranteed by Christ Jesus’ sacrifice for them if they will simply meet the simple requirement of repentance needed for redemption.

“Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”

Entitlements and rights do belong to each and every human being that exists on this puny planet!

We either choose what we are entitled to by acceptance or rejection of what was given us by God’s GRACE, through faith and belief in that very entitlement and what has already been paid for it.

We are entitled to eternity, and where that eternity is spent, and how that eternity is spent.

That entitlement cannot be avoided, will not be denied.

The question that I would ask of each is just what you will find yourself entitled to as the entitlements are passed out.

Revelation 20:11-15

11And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

12And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their

works.

13And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

14And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

15And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

The choice of what you are entitled to is yours alone.

YOU ARE ENTITLED!

Revelation 22King James Version (KJV)

22 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.

² In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

³ And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:

⁴ And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.

⁵ And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.

⁶ And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.

⁷ Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

⁸ And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.

⁹ Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.

¹⁰ And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.

¹¹ He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

¹² And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

¹³ I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

¹⁴ Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

¹⁵ For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

¹⁶ I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.

¹⁷ And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

¹⁸ For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:

¹⁹ And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

²⁰ He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

²¹ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

What do you choose for entitlement, the transitory pleasures of the here and now and denial of the original entitlement given by God, or do you choose that entitlement that may be attained through the requirement given by Christ Jesus?

This wayfarer and soldier made his choice long ago, and I KNOW my entitlement!

I pray that each consider long, evaluate carefully and choose wisely that original entitlement that may only be attained through faith in Christ Jesus and the resulting Grace given by the father.

2 Timothy 1:12 King James Version (KJV)

¹² For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Amen and Amen

the Wayfarer