Sometimes, it is necessary to distinguish the true God from the false gods. One distinguishing feature of the true God is the fact that He is the Creator. All other gods have had to be created by the mind of man. The other distinguishing feature of the real God is his association with three people: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Exodus 4:5). Abraham was the father of Isaac. Isaac was the father of Jacob.
“He is the Rock, his work [is] perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of accuracy and without iniquity, just and right [is] he” (Deuteronomy 32:4).
“For the Eternal’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye” (Deuteronomy 32:9-10).
The King James “apple” is the Hebrew “iyshown”, which is the pupil of the eye. It is, in other words, the focus of his attention. The focus of God’s attention was Jacob. There had to be a tribe of people on this planet that was an example of contact with God. Jacob’s children were destined to become that tribe. And by becoming the example tribe, they experienced the most wonderful blessings when they were obedient to God. They became the collective example to be a guide for those generations later who would become Christians.
“And if you [be] Christ’s, then are you Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29).
“Keep my commandments, and live, and my law as the apple of your eye” (Proverbs 7:2). A son should keep the commandments of his father as the apple of his eye, the focus of his attention, the pupil of his eye. We should honor our parents. We should give special honor to the ultimate Parent, our Creator. If we focus our attention on His law then He will focus his attention on us. If we refuse to hear His law, even our prayer becomes an abomination (Proverbs 28:9).
The fact that we, as humans, are unable to keep the commandments of God perfectly by our own effort is the reason salvation had to be provided as a gift (Ephesians 2:8). Through the grace of God, the sacrifice of Christ, the death of the Messiah, we may transcend the human condition of sin. Salvation is a gift. We can throw the gift away or we can keep it. This is the important question for all of us. Christ will not accept anyone into his kingdom that he does not know. The heart (or center) of the mind is the controller for the decision-making and the judgment. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). We must change our focus in order to transform our evil heart. This process of salvation involves being drawn to Christ by the Father (John 6:44), acceptance of the sacrifice of Christ (Ephesians 5:2), and trusting the Father to direct our paths (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Christians who overcome will be granted power over the nations (Revelation 2:26). They will be inhabitants in the New Jerusalem (Revelation 3:12) that will come to this planet. Addressing the future inhabitants of Jerusalem, it has been written: “For thus says the Lord of hosts; After the glory has he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that touches you touches the apple of his eye” (Zechariah 2:8). The King James “apple” is from the Hebrew “babah”, which also means pupil of the eye. The King James “his” is one of the emendations of the sopherim. The sopherim were copyists who thought it was sacrilegious to assign anthropomorphic designations to the Lord of hosts. They did not want to admit God had body parts. They wanted to think of God as being a blob. The text without the emendation should read: “…he that touches you touches the apple of My eye.”
Wily Elder
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