KOINONIA by Terri White

Essay by koinoniaUniversity, Bachelor's June 2004

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"Get out of your country, from your kindred and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (Genesis 12:1-3)

God called Abram out of the land of Ur because He wanted a people for His name -- a people who express His character on this earth, a people who expose His glory on the earth, a people who are different from the rest of the human beings in the world. God wanted the nations to look at this people and see what people are like when they know the Lord God.

Under the Law of Moses, the people of God were distinctive in two ways: (1) The Law included civil, legal, health, religious, and domestic regulations.

God knew how to live, and when Israel walked in the Law, they were superior to all other nations. (2) God was present with them. The tabernacle was built to God's exact specifications. All other "gods" came as they pleased and/or were territorial. After the people fashioned a golden calf (Ex. 32), God told Moses that He would give him the land, but that He was not going. God would send His angel before the Israelites. Moses refused to go without God's presence because he knew that it was God's presence that made them different from the rest of the nations (Exodus 33:15, 16).

Why does God want a people for His name?

God designed man to only be complete, satisfied, and happy when living for another. Because only a loving...