Celebrating 250 Years: ‘Blessed’ From the Beginning-4

    Psalms 33:12 declares: “Blessed* is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.” First, this verse means every nation has a “god”; and second, only those nations whose God is the Lord are blessed!!*
  America is not only the most blessed nation in the world today, but it is the most blessed** nation in the history of the world!!!! Although there are other reasons for this phenomenon, at the top of the list are two natural pieces of evidence:
 1.America’s economic power. The U.S. is the richest nation (the most blessed** nation) not only in the world today, but in the  history of the world!! It has led the world in GDP for decades! Do you think this is an accident? NO! It is God’s hand of blessing**  upon the nation!
2.Immigration. Why do people from all over the world want to come to America? Many people even risk their lives to get here. But Why? To partake of God’s hand of blessing upon this GREAT nation! Even those who say they hate America seldom leave!!
 
  But…why is God’s hand of blessing upon America? The first and primary reason is that God created America to be a missionary nation!!*** Author Ernest Lee Tuveson called America the: “Redeemer Nation”****. In other words, God has blessed this nation because--greater than any other nation in history---America has taken the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world(Mat28:18-20)!
  For example, ‘FROM THE BEGINNING’, the first landing of the Pilgrims at Jamestown in 1606, in what is now Virginia, they were given a total of three charters.  Each of the charters mentions “GOD” multiple times—identifying their highest objective for coming to America.
 
1.The First Virginia Charter (April 10, 1606)
“JAMES, by the Grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith…”
“We, greatly commending, and graciously accepting of, their Desires for the Furtherance of so noble a Work, which may, by the Providence of Almighty God, hereafter tend to the Glory of his Divine Majesty, in propagating of Christian Religion to such People, as yet live in Darkness and miserable Ignorance of the true Knowledge and Worship of God…”*****
  This first charter not only mentions God, but clearly spells out their purpose: “…propagating of Christian Religion to such People…” 

   What people? The Indians!!!
 
2. The Second Virginia Charter (May 23, 1609)
“And forasmuch as it shalbe necessarie for all such our lovinge subjects as shall inhabitt within the said precincts of Virginia aforesaid to determine to live togither in the feare and true woorshipp of Almightie God, Christian peace and civill quietnes, each with other, whereby everie one maie with more safety, pleasure and profitt enjoye that where unto they shall attaine with great paine and perill, wee, for us…”*****
 
3. The Third Virginia Charter (March 12, 1612)
“James, by the grace of God [King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith;] to all to whom [these presents shall come,] greeting. Whereas at the humble suite of divers and sundry our lovinge subjects, aswell adventurers as planters of the First Colonie in Virginia, and for the propagacion of Christian religion and reclayminge of people barbarous to civilitie and humanitie, we have by our lettres patent bearing date at Westminster the three and twentieth daie of May in the seaventh yeare of our raigne of England, Frannce…”*****

  How about one more piece of evidence for America’s Christian roots---FROM THE BEGINNING? Before the Pilgrims stepped off the boat at Plymouth in 1620, in what today is Massachusetts, they wrote out the Mayflower Compact. As you read it, notice the missionary tone is clearly obvious:
“In, the Name of God, Amen, We, whose names are Underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honor of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first colony In the northern Parts of Virginia; Do by these Presents, solemnly And mutually in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick.”   
                                 -November 11, 1620*****
 
  Clearly and irrefutably---America began as a missionary nation, i.e.to take the GOSPEL of Jesus Christ to the world, AND---by God’s grace---we must fight to keep it a missionary nation as we celebrate 250 years!!!
 
*The Hebrew word for “blessed” is ʾesher, eh´-sher; from 833; happiness; only in masc. plur. constr. as interjec., how happy!:—blessed, happy. -Strong’s
** The Hebrew word for “blessed” in Psalms 33:12 is different from the Hebrew word for “blessed” in Genesis 12:3. The word for “blessed” in Genesis 12:3 is Barak and is a prime root meaning: to kneel; by impl. to bless God (as an act of adoration), and (vice-versa) man (as a benefit); also (by euphemism) to curse (God or the king, as treason):—× abundantly, × altogether, × at all, blaspheme, bless, congratulate, curse, × greatly, × indeed, kneel (down), praise, salute, × still, thank.  -Strong’s
  If you look at many of the places ‘barak’ is used in the OT, beginning with the first time in Genesis 1:26, 28, it possesses the nuance of abundance or multiplication. In other words, the ‘barak’ blessing multiplies what is blessed. Another example is Genesis 26:12: “Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed (Barak) him.”
***A second reason, which is just as important as the first, is America’s commitment to support Israel(Gen 12:3).
****Redeemer Nation, Ernest Lee Tuveson, The Idea of America’s Millennial Rode.
*****https://www.let.rug.nl/usa/documents/1600-1650/the-first-virginia-charter-1606.php
 
 Quotebit
"The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities."
​              -- President Theodore Roosevelt