The Seed of Abraham & the Devil
During the Winter Olympics, several athletes representing the USA criticized our country for various reasons. Our country is not above criticism, to be sure, but it seems as if they loathe being Americans. It is amazing to me that they receive all the resources of our country to represent us but then despise the country. Of course, we see this throughout our country. People immigrate here, never planning to assimilate into our culture. They may even become American citizens but still promote and work for their original country. Ilhan Omar, for example, a US Representative from Minnesota, says she does what she does in the interest of Somalia, the place of her birth.
While these people may be formally called “Americans,” we wouldn’t say they’re really Americans. Americans are those who adopt the culture and work for the interests of America. They may be citizens of our country, but they are far from being Americans.
In John 8, Jesus speaks to a group of Jews who are formally Abraham’s seed, but they are also the seed of the serpent. Jesus affirms their covenantal connection to Abraham, saying, “I know that you are Abraham’s seed” (Jn 8:37), but then tells them that their father is the devil (Jn 8:44). How can they be both?
Some will say that the Jews were the “physical descendants” of Abraham but not his “spiritual” children. The dichotomy between physical and spiritual is misplaced and, therefore, misleading. Not all who were heirs of the Abrahamic covenant were in the biological family of Abraham. While God did (and does) work along the biological lines of the family, the covenant runs deeper than blood. Children of Abraham were grafted in and adopted through receiving God’s covenant sign and participating in the life of Israel. Since the Spirit of God is the one who creates covenantal bonds, the covenant was “spiritual.” Besides that, not all of Abraham’s biological children were Abraham’s seed, something that Paul demonstrates in Romans 9. Physical vs. Spiritual misplaces the battle lines.
The Jews were heirs of the Abrahamic covenant. They were covenant members. Abraham was their father in one sense, but their desires and actions revealed that they had rejected the faith of their father, Abraham, and, therefore, had rejected the God of Abraham. They aligned themselves with another father: the devil. Because they sought to kill Jesus and would rather live in lies than the truth, they manifested the characteristics of the seed of the serpent. As the devil murdered the first man and woman and his “son,” Cain, murdered Abel, so they are trying to murder Jesus (Jn 8:37, 40).
As the eternal Son always loves, speaks, and does what he sees in his Father (Jn 8:38, 40), so the sons of God who love their Father will be like the Son and imitate the Father whom they see and hear in the Son. Earthly sons who love their fathers imitate them. Whatever they see their father doing, they want to do. If he is excited, they are excited. If he is working, they want to work like he is working. So it is in our relationship with the Heavenly Father or with the devil. We reveal which one we love by the one we imitate. We declare our family loyalties by what we desire and do. Though we may be formally or legally a part of God’s covenant family, it is possible to betray that family and align ourselves with the family of the devil.
Jesus’ words must be taken seriously. All of Jesus’ words must be taken seriously. People who are formal members of God’s covenant family may also be children of the devil. God’s covenant is more than a standing. It is a call, a call to assimilate into the Divine Family culture. It is a call to share the character of God, desiring what he desires, loving what he loves, hating what he hates, and doing what he does. Where a man or woman lives a life without repentance, that one is a child of the devil. So, wherever we see individuals, for example, celebrating and promoting sin as if it is righteousness, though they may be formally called “Christian” and their churches be called “Christian churches,” they are children of the devil and their churches are churches of Satan.
Those who hear and obey God’s words are of God. Those who do not hear and obey are not of God (Jn 8:47).
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