The Palace Of Blessing                 Psalm 1:1 part 1

Saturate in Your Blessings v.1 Blessed is the man

The blessed man is a portrait proposed for exhibition in the art gallery of our soul.  How could we not want this masterpiece of the blessing of our Creator hanging in our heart?

Is there a middle ground between the blessed individual and the cursed individual? I Corinthians mentions three categories of people; the spiritual, the carnal and the natural man.

The natural man are all those who reject Christ.

There is a sense, really, where the carnal or fleshly distinction exhibits a rejection of the Lord Jesus.  He is received and adhered to in faith for eternal salvation from the consequences of sin but refused in the day-to-day struggles with our natural inclination to sin.  Carnality is the grey zone of Christianity.

I thought it would be interesting to look at blessings, or the blessed person, from a variety of angles. We will first look at one angle where our blessings are related to those God has chosen to bless.

This is, a shared blessing, which falls under the category of common grace that all of creation experiences.  Now in some spheres of the world, common grace is more common then in other spheres and by that I mean more then just the common grace of sun and rain and oxygen.

The more common grace I’m referring to be the grace and blessing of God’s blessing because of those we have around us. This is the favor we inherit by our relationships with and treatment of others.

Abraham for example was told that God would bless anyone who blessed him.  Now the word him includes his children, the nation of Israel. On the other side of this equation is that God would curse those who curse Abraham.

Ultimately this blessing and the cursing is seen in our response to the Lord Jesus Christ who is the culminating, promised blessing of Abraham and promised blessing through Abraham.

But this blessing is initially seen in our response to the Israeli peoples who God has chosen through Abraham.

This is an amazing promise given in Genesis 12.  God is the one who reaches out to bless and through His blessing of the blessed man Abraham, He reaching to bless the world.

These are the seven blessings in Gen. 12:2-3

1. Performance   I will make of thee a great nation

Great, is not especially numerically, in contrast to other nations but great in achieving the blessing of other nations.

2. Prosperity        I will bless thee

Abraham and his children prospered materially & spiritually

3. Popularity       Make your name great

Abraham’s prominence is uncontestable, by the Israeli nation, the followers of Jesus Christ and even by the followers of Mohammed.

4. Productivity      you shalt be a blessing

Jinfo.org and Wikipedia record that:

At least 181 Jews and people of half or three quarters Jewish ancestry have been awarded the Nobel Prize, accounting for 22% of all individual recipients worldwide between 1901 and 2010, and constituting 36% of all US recipients during the same period. 

In the research fields of Chemistry, Economics, Physics, and Physiology/Medicine, the corresponding world and US percentages are 26% and 39%, respectively. 

Among women laureates in the four research fields, the Jewish percentages (world and US) are 38% and 50%, respectively.  Of organizations awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, 25% were founded principally by Jews or by people of half-Jewish descent. 

Jews currently make up approximately 0.2% of the world’s population and 2% of the US population. 

There are 6 million + Jews in America.

There are almost 6 million Jews in Israel.

The next country with a sizeable population is France with

489 thousand Jews, then scattered among 47 other countries are less and less individuals of Jewish descent. The worlds total Jewish population is 13 million plus. 90 percent of all Jews reside in either the USA or Israel.

Who do we owe our blessings too?  Has God rescinded His promises of blessing these people?  No!  They make up two hundredths of the world’s population but they have been blessed in recognition for their productivity.

• • Chemistry (31 prize winners, 20% of world total, 27% of US total)
• • Economics (28 prize winners, 42% of world total, 55% of US total)
• • Literature (13 prize winners, 12% of world total, 27% of US total)
• • Peace 9 prize winners, 9% of world total, 10% of US total
• • Physics (47 prize winners, 25% of world total, 36% of US total)
• • Physiology or Medicine 53 prize winners, 27% of world total, 40% of US total

• • Jewish Recipients of the Kyoto Prize (25% of recipients)

• • Jewish Recipients of the Wolf Foundation Prize (33% of recipients)

• • Jewish Recipients of the US National Medal of Science (38% of recipients)

The Muslim world, the major resistor of the Jews, totals 1.5 billion, which makes up 20 percent of the world’s population. This is quite a contrast to the Jews, at 13.3 million, who make up 2 hundredths of a percent of the world’s population.

The Muslim world has 9 Noble Prize winners.  One of these noble winners had two daughters who married Jewish men.

Abraham and his seed have given many services to the world. In every area of life, the Jews have made many wonderful contributions. Science, aviation, photography, medicine, petroleum, and electronics to name a few areas, have all had important contributions made by Jews. And, of course, the Jews have made the most significant contributions to Christianity; the Bible is a Jewish book. What we are taught from this is when God blesses us, it is so we can bless others.

5. Permeation        I will bless them that bless thee

Any Nation, who is compassionate to the Jew is specially blessed by God. The generosity of the USA towards Israel is crucial to our blessing as a nation.

The increase in anti-Semitism in our nation could put us under the sixth promise.

6. Problems           I will curse him that curses you

Nations that have oppressed the Jews have met Divine judgment.

Babylon, Rome, Egypt, and Germany all went from major powers to oblivion or second-rate or obscure countries in contrast to their potential, because of bullying and mistreating the Jews.

He that touches you [the Jews] touches the apple of His [God’s] eye Zechariah 2:8

7. Pardon   In you shall all families of the earth be blessed

In this blessing we’re seeing Galatians 3:6-8 (Phillips)

Blessing is a relationship with God where we’re made righteous in Christ

You can go right back to Abraham to see the principle of faith in God. He, we are told, ‘believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

Blessing is receiving our Redeemer, He physically came through Abraham

Can you not see, then, that all those who believe God are the real sons of Abraham? The scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith in Christ, really proclaimed the Gospel centuries ago in the words spoken to Abraham, In you all the nations shall be blessed.

Blessing is the recompense of Righteousness on all who exercise faith

All men of faith share the blessing of Abraham who believed God, and it is counted to him and us for righteousness.

The blessed person is the one who finds his/her blessings in Christ. He or she lives to bless persons who God has chosen as His.  The blessed person is the one who seeks out others so that they too, can find their calling from Christ.