When God called Abraham to the land of Canaan, the seed of a Jewish nation was already planted. HE wanted to create a special group of people, separated by its belief in Him and from the paganism that the rest of the world then was involved.
The nation of Israel, a chosen people, was not to be till the great deliverance and exodus that bought them back to the Promised Land in Canaan. Even before then, God love for His special people never ceased. HE promised Abraham to make him a father of many nations. God wanted Israel also to be a model of His way of life for all nations. In Deuteronomy 7:6-8, the context was clearly obvious that Israel is chosen to be a holy nation, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. Despite of all the good intentions of God, Israel as a nation failed miserably.
Following events saw God’s relentless effort to shepherd in His “promiscuous flock of sheep” into His warm embrace. The nation of Israel repeatedly rejected it. The special people abandoned the way of life that Jehovah God wanted it to be as a holy nation. We read many times in the books of the Old Testament, namely of the major and minor prophets, to see God’s poetic writing of HIS love and compassion for Israel. HE remained stubbornly in love with HIS special people despite their failings. As a nation, Israel failed to be the special people chosen to be the beacon of light and hope for humanity in all of the nations. Israel did not fulfill its role to be a witness to the gentile. Inevitably, God has to complete the task Himself. The parable of the vineyard tenants illustrated by our Lord Jesus, affirmed God’s steadfast love for His unrepentant people, including us today. He never gives up on Israel. He will also never give up on us.
The other parable of the prodigal son illustrated God’s stubborn love for his wayward son, Israel, by showering him with love despites his waywardness. Such waywardness can be associated with the parable of the lost sheep, where the shepherd’s recklessly left the remaining ninety-nine sheep in search of the missing one. But both words, stubborn and reckless, are negative connotation. Yet by incorporating diction that carries a negative connotation in both stubborn and reckless, impacts the meaning of a sentence that described God’s love. It emphasizes the intense and fervent level of HIS love for Israel, and for all humanity too. That level of intense and ferventness is equivalent to the spirit of “Never Give Up”
Likewise, our pilgrimage on earth is no different from the story of ancient Israel. The journey of Israel is typical to our spiritual journey towards heavenly Canaan. As Christians, our destination and prize is eternity spent with our beloved Savior; our life on this world is transient and a pilgrimage. A pilgrimage that is often fraught with many trials, challenges and difficulties. No one know better than the apostle Paul himself when he wrote his Pauline epistles to the churches. The contents of the Pauline epistles are applicable to us today. He analogised our pilgrimage on earth as an athlete in a race, a marathon or a combatant in a boxing match. Apostle Paul knew too well the many challenges or temptations in this life that will derail our quest towards eternity. He experienced the dual natures of Christianity; the old man and the new man in Ephesians 4: 22-24. He urged us to put off the old man or self, nailed it to the cross and put on the new identity in which Christ had victoriously won on our behalf. He knew too well that there are many things on our sojourn on earth that will beset us to fail. He, like our gracious heavenly Father constantly encouraged us to cast off anything that will hinder our spiritual progress. Read (Romans 12:2; Titus 3:3; 1 Peter 1:14).
“Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” stated by the apostle in Hebrews 12:1 . We, as an athlete in this race should not abandon our course just like Esau did, for a morsel of food sold his God given birthright. Esau lived to his eternal regret. We must persevere, to stay the course in spite of trials, temptations and even, persecutions. The great cloud of witnesses mentioned in Hebrews 12 rallied us on to the end, never to give up the prize which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus. Therefore, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Jesus never gives up or abandons His course.
Finally, God stubborn, reckless but everlasting love for us and the encouragements from the apostle Paul must compel us to persevere on. In the end of our pilgrimage, we can be like Paul as he wrote in his epistle; “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have kept my faith.” (2 Timothy 4:7).
In short, Jesus our Saviour and many legends of the bible, both in the old and New Testament, Never Give Up! So, should we?