The word “nation” cannot really be applied to Jersey, can it? Whilst the United Kingdom, in its laws, can refer to the “national interest”, Jersey, in its Laws has to use the formula “......the interests of Jersey......” or something similar. But that formula leads the reader to think about the interests of Jersey as a geographical place instead of the interests of its peoples.
What then about the nomenclature aspect of Jersey having a “National Gallery”? Could we use the word “national”? It wouldn’t be terribly good to call it our “Insular Gallery” - folk might believe it. Even “Gallery of Jersey” lacks appeal.
But there is one sense—a very, very important sense—in which Jersey can well be regarded as a nation—the nation of the people of Jersey. The Bible is clear that Jersey is a nation eligible for the blessing of the LORD—see above—the blessing that comes through the “offspring” of a man named Abraham.
That doesn’t sound terribly useful at first blush. But wait a minute....
Abraham was alive around 2000 BC. Almighty God (‘the LORD’, the Creator, the God of the Bible) gave Abraham the above promise three times. He had a son—Isaac. And Isaac had a son—Jacob. Jacob’s name was altered to Israel. Israel had 12 sons, one of whom was named Judah. (It’s from Judah that the word “Jew” is derived.) And one of Judah’s many descendants was the man Jesus Christ (AD 0—33). Yes, he was the Jew who was executed as a convicted criminal in the province of Judah (territory that is today part of the nation of Israel) - and rose from the dead.
And, sure enough, Jersey (the people) has been blessed by this offspring of Abraham. And is still being blessed......
How? Just one example. The Bible records this of Almighty God the LORD: “...... you delight in truth in the inward being ......” When a people are blessed through the offspring of Abraham, Jesus Christ, truth becomes the norm. Jersey has known truthful people in the past—truthful for this very reason and teach truthfulness to their children for the same reason.
Not like the young lady in a King Street store this week who said “your pen has not yet returned from repair in the UK—everything is delayed by GST”.
Still the deep longing of a good number of folk in Jersey is that all the nations that now (rightly) constitute “Jersey” - being originally Breton, Irish, English, Italian, Portuguese, Madeiran, Polish and so on—would also have the promised blessing of the LORD to the nations here in Jersey AD 2008.
Without that it’s not only truth that will continue to disappear but blessings without number, all available in Jesus Christ but all being rejected. |
