Studied at Universidad de Panamá; Studied Juris Doctor (J.D.) /Law Degree at De La Salle;

10/27/2019

281 Obedience Genesis 22: 1 - 19 Oct 27 2019



“Obedience;
Ultimate Obedience; God Will Provide”
Genesis
22: 7-19
Oct. 27,
2019
Introduction
            Abraham’s life of faith was launched in Ur
- God promised to make Abram into a great nation; to bless him & that all
the nations would be blessed by him.  
That promise was repeated over the years -
on his arrival and travel through central Canaan -
After his nephew Lot separated from him
& took the best portion of land, God had Abram surveyed the land from atop
Ramath-Nahor, the highest spot in central Israel, in 360-degree radius and see
all that was for his descendants. 
Some time later after Abram rescued Lot
from the kings of the north & he’s sitting wondering over his childless
state, God dramatically promises him an heir. Shows him the stars & dares
him to count them. Then tells him that his descendants are going to be as
numerous. 
And Scripture tells us that he believed
the Lord.
He then is commanded to prepare some
animals for a covenant sacrifice. That night God appears as a flaming
furnace & passes through the cut carcasses. God alone passed between the
pieces. God makes an unconditional, unilateral covenant announcing that if
Abram’s descendants did not get the land, God Himself would be sundered.
Years later at the age of 99 Abram was
being prepared for the covenant of circumcision. God changed his name
from Abram to Abraham, “father of multitude”; nations & kings would come
from him. 
Sarai is renamed Sarai - She would have
Abraham’s son from whom would come, kings, & ultimately the Lion of the Tribe
of Judah.
God names their son-to-be ‘laughter’,
promising he would be born within a year-
Bestowing these new names, the sign of the
promise, covenant, was instituted - circumcision - Abraham & all his
household were circumcised.
During the long years that the promise of
the land & blessings were being reiterated, Abraham’s growth in faith was
somewhat uneven; ups and downs into deep valleys.
His lies about Sarah to Pharaoh &
Abimelech & the Hagar affair that brought sixteen years of domestic
turmoil.
Now with the birth of Isaac - the necessary departure of Ishmael - The treaty of Beersheba with Abimelech,
Abraham is reassured again of people & land and at Beersheba, Abraham called
the Lord the “Everlasting God”
Now Abraham is lives in peace in the land
of the Philistines for some time. 
Now, comes a test that is really hard to
conceive how “we” would react, how we would handle it.
In chapter 22 we have an occurrence which
isn’t mentioned in the New Testament as a foreshadow or type - But it can be
looked at as such because of its close resemblance to the cross. We have three
points - Obedience; Ultimate
Obedience; & The Lord, or God, Provides. -
 
Here, Abraham’s faith is going to be
tested to beyond its maximum limits. My faith has never been tested to this
limit, I can only compare it to having faith in an auto-pilot when flying close
to what is called the “Coffin-Corner”. That’s when you are at the altitude
where the difference between a high-speed stall and a low-speed stall is a
matter of about 10 knots in a Lear 35. The only way to keep the aircraft within
that speed frame is not manually, but with the auto-pilot doing the flying. All
your faith is in that little box.
Anyway, for Abraham, because he held firm,
his faith became the grand example in history.
We, 3000 years later, after the fact, have
the advantage of knowing that this was a test for Abraham, but he didn’t know
that. --
"Take now your son,
your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer
him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell
you."
 
By virtue of Ishmael’s
departure some sixteen years earlier, Isaac was his only son - Add that he was
the son of promise, everything was focused on him. Isaac was his laughter for a
decade and a half.
We want to keep in mind
here, that human sacrifice took place in Ur & it was part of the Canaanite
culture. This was all a familiar concept to him however repulsive it may have
been to him. Also, Abraham didn’t have the to-be-written Torah to inform
his worldview or his doctrine of God. Still, Abraham didn’t doubt God’s
command.
The question can be
asked, why did Abraham protest on behalf of the lowlife Sodomites & yet
submitted silently when commanded to sacrifice his son? Good question. God was
asking him to act against common sense; against his natural affection, his
life-long hope.
Unfortunately, Moses
doesn’t say a word about how Abraham felt - We can look in vain for an explicit
indication of his inner thoughts and will come up with nothing. Moses leaves it
up to us to fill in the lines.
Obedience
It is really something
astounding Abraham’s immediate obedience: Abraham rose early in the
morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and
Isaac his son;
Off he goes with his son and the servants.
The wonder increases in
that after the three-day walk, Abraham said to his young men, "Stay
here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there, and we will worship
and return to you."
  This means that Abraham was sincere
& convinced that after sacrificing Isaac as a burnt offering they would
return together. The only way we know this is from our reading this morning
from Hebrews 11:17-19 -- By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up
Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten
[son;] 18 to whom it was said, "IN ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS SHALL BE
CALLED." 19 He considered that God is able to raise [people] even from the
dead, from which he also received him back as a type.
So Abraham believed to
the utmost that Isaac would on his bloodline as promised by God, he reasoned
that God would have to raise Isaac from the dead, from the ashes.
The walk up the mountain
must have been to steep for the donkey, because we read that Abraham took
the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son
; A
pre-Christian Jewish Midrash, a Hebrew commentary on Genesis, states that Isaac
carrying the wood on his back was like a condemned man carrying his own cross.
In this Pre-Christian Jewish commentary, this image was prophetic of Jesus who
is described in John 19:17 as bearing His own cross, to the place called
the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha.
 This
Midrash dates around 300 -250 BC. 
Anyway, they proceed in
silence for awhile then Isaac breaks the silence between them and he
said, "Here I am, my son." And he said, "Behold, the fire, and
the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"
Isaac’s question of where
the lamb is indicates not just his innocence but his complete total trust in
his father. There was nothing in his short joyous life to suggest anything to
the contrary.
Ultimate Obedience
This trust of Isaac also
foreshadowed the greater partnership of the cross expressed in Isaiah 53: 7,
& 10 --  He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not
open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is
silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. . . the LORD was
pleased To crush Him, putting [Him] to grief; If He would render Himself [as] a
guilt offering, He will see [His] offspring, He will prolong [His] days, And
the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand
.
Abraham’s answer is the
turning point of the story - God will provide for Himself the lamb for
the burnt offering, my son." So the two of them walked on together.
Abraham can’t go into
detail because he has no idea what God will do or provide. His God will
provide
is a declaration of trust, an expression of hope, and a prophecy of
the future. Possibly Abraham had repeated the story of his son “supernatural”
birth & gone over the promises of God and the reasoning that God could
restore Isaac to life, even from the ashes - The father’s faith was alive in
the son --
Now the rest of the story
- Abraham builds the altar, binds Isaac on top and proceeds to sacrifice his
son, his only son whom he loved -
Was he trembling? Were
tears in his eyes? We don’t know. We can only imagine. We can try to change
places. 
One thing is certain;
real faith is a faith that works. Referring to Abraham’s sacrifice, James
writes - Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up
Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith was working with his works,
and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; 23 and the Scripture was
fulfilled which says, "AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO
HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS," and he was called the friend of God. 24 You see
that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.
(2:21-24).
Abraham demonstrated his faith by his works.
The Intervention
Just like the U.S.
Calvary, but much, much better, God intervenes in the ‘nick-of-time’ and it is
always the right time.
But the angel of the LORD
called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said,
"Here I am." 12 He said, "Do not stretch out your hand against
the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you
have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me."
(11-12).
There was, I’m sure,
never a more welcome voice - 
God Provides Then Abraham
raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind [him] a ram caught in the
thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for
a burnt offering in the place of his son.
 
Hearing God’s voice &
see the ram, the substitute offering took place in an instant. Never was there
a more eager sacrifice - the burnt offering declared to God, ‘all we have &
are is upon the altar, Oh God. Consume our lives to your glory.’
Abraham called the name
of the place, ‘The Lord Will Provide’. Jehovah Jireh. Abraham’s ambiguous “God
will provide” from v.8 has now been fulfilled.
We see here that God who
tests is also the God who provides. - The Tester is the provider.
He provides for every
true believer.
Abraham’s extraordinary
act of faith caused God to swear an oath by His own name. - Then the
angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, 16 and said,
"By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this
thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 indeed I will greatly
bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens
and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate
of their enemies. 18 "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be
blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."
What is encouraging is
that God will always keep His word, every single word, every promise of God is
kept. He made a unilateral, unconditional covenant, He would be flayed before
His word isn’t carried out - And the Lord God cannot, it is impossible for Him
to be flayed.
In Closing
This account, this story
of what transpired of extraordinary faith & obedience foreshadows the faith
& obedience of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, his only Son.
Abraham called Mt.
Moriah, Jehovah Jireh, God Will Provide. - Solomon built the Temple in the
exact spot where Abraham stratched Isaac on the altar - then sacrificed the
substitute - Calvary, Golgatha, also on Mt. Moriah, God will Provide, is about
700 meters - 2200 feet from the Temple. Mt. Moriah, where God bound Himself to
fulfill His promises.
On Mt. Moriah Jesus,
God’s only Son, in whom He is well pleased, carried His cross of wood on His
shoulders - He was the Lamb, the substitutionary sacrifice.
Jesus was provided by God
for us - He made Him who knew no sin [to be] sin on our behalf, so that
we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 cor. 5:21); For Christ also
died for sins once for all, [the] just for [the] unjust, so that He might bring
us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;
(2 Peter 3:18).
No one is perfect, in any
way shape or form; no one can pay for themselves and obtain salvation - There
is no way whatsoever for mankind, all are born in sin, separated, alienated
from God.
But God provides - He
Himself became man, born of a woman, He, the perfect God-man, Jesus.
He laid down His life for
us, our substitute - He was pierced through for our transgressions, He
was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being [fell] upon
Him, And by His scourging, we are healed.
(Isaiah 53:5)
But you know that there
are many that make the mistake of thinking
since Jesus died for the sins of the world,
everyone will go to heaven one day. This is incorrect. The substitutionary
death of Christ must be personally applied to each heart, in much the same way
that the blood of the Passover had to be personally applied to the door (
John 1:12)- as many as received Him, to them He gave the
right to become children of God, [even] to those who believe in His nam
; (John 3:16-18)- For God so loved the world, that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal
life. 17 "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world,
but that the world might be saved through Him. 18 "He who believes in Him
is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has
not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
; (Acts 2:38)- Peter [said] to them,
"Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the
forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit
. Before we can become
“the righteousness of God in Him,” we must exchange our old sin nature for His
holy one. God offers the Substitute, but we must receive that Substitute personally
by accepting Christ in faith (
Ephesians 2:8-9)- For by grace you have been saved through
faith; and that not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God; 9 not as a result
of works, so that no one may boast
Let close with these
words; those of you who have heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Good News of
Salvation, who have not accepted Jesus’ call to receive the free gift of
eternal life, I urge you to call on Him, the Lord, He will place it in your
heart the truth. Then knowing the truth, don’t reject it; don’t put it off. The
choice is eternal life or eternal damnation:
The Lord is not slow
about His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not
wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
(2 Peter 3:9) - But if
you put it off and say tomorrow, the bible says that it is appointmented for man
once to die then the judgment - Do you want to stand in front of Jesus and hear
Him say to you, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire
which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. . .
Listen, today is the
day of salvation - no one is guaranteed tomorrow. You may die in a traffic
accident - 
Pro 27:1- 1 Do not
boast about tomorrow, For you do not know what a day may bring forth. 
Jas 4:13-14- 13 Come
now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city,
and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." 14 Yet
you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are [just] a vapor
that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
            What do you have to do
you ask? Just call on the Lord God and say, God please save me, help me, guide
me. Show me the way to You. I guarantee, He will and you will know it.

10/20/2019

280 Short Cutting Faith, The Covenant is Confirmed Genesis 17



In Beginning with Moses & the Prophets
Confirming
the Covenant
Genesis
17: 1 - 27
Introduction  .
In chapter 17 is the account of God confirming His covenant with
Abram. To have in context, let’s briefly summarize what occurred in the
previous chapter, 16. It is the account of the attempt to shortcut to obtain an
heir through hagar, Sarai’s maid.
After ten years in Canaan, and at the young age of 75, Srai was
still barren; she takes it upon herself to suggest what was accepted and
logical in her culture for over a thousand years.
Thinking that God had left her barren, and knowing of God’s
promise to Abram of an heir, we have here the creation of human chaos that has
caused conflict up to this day.
You may be shocked or scandalized as you read the account at Sarai
volunteering Hagar as her surrogate, but; abram’s passive compliant conduct is
more offensive - 
Have you seen this before? Hint; It was Abram who heard the voice
of God not Sarai. God led them from Ur. Abram had no divine directive to employ
Hagar. Abram was fresh from a theophany in chapter 15.
Here’s the thing. Abram did question anything - 16:2 says, “and
Abram listened to the voice of his wife”.
Seems that Moses wrote the
account as a parallel to Genesis 3:17 just as Adam listened to his wife.
Neither one of them said anything, not even a “look shug, the Lord said . .
.”
. Both willingly & knowingly partook. And things went from bad to
worse. 
Proverbs 30:21-23 tells use, Under three things the earth
trembles; under four it cannot bear up: 22 a slave when he becomes king, and a
fool when he is filled with food; 23 an unloved woman when she gets a husband,
and a maidservant when she displaces her mistress.
Abram was 86 when Hagar bore Ishmael - Let’s fast forward 13
years; He’s one year shy of a century, 99. Moses has shown us that a cloud of
domestic gloom & darkness over shadow the tents of Abram concerning the
promise.
While I was in Panama and working as a DOD security employee at
the Rodman Naval base, one of the Navy section chief’s wife, also stationed
with him there, was barren. They had gone through the process of having a woman
to be a surrogate mother - needless to say that turned out for them to be a
gruesome legal battle - the surrogate mother had decided she wanted to keep the
child. 
Thousands of years apart, different cultures, different methods -
same, same problems & familial frictions.
For Abram, if Ishmael wasn’t the answer, how in the dickens was he
to become the father of a vast people & his heirs inherit the land?
It has been 23 years since the first promise.  And now for
the last 13 years the promise seemed to be more & more distant than ever.
The Lord had given him a lot of time to think about his sin of disobedience,
and lapse of trust - and to live in the consequences of it.
Abram had no idea, but God was growing the patriarch’s
faith. 
Again, it would be GRACE!
God
the All Powerful - Confirms the Covenant
 
God Himself now speaks to again Abram and the first name He calls
out is His own name:
Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared
to Abram and said to him, "I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless.
2 "I will establish My covenant between Me and you, And I will multiply
you exceedingly."
17:1-2). El Shaddai, God Almighty; I like the Spanish
translation, Dios Todopoderoso … tanslates the same but literally it is The
All Powerful God
. It just has more of a sting to it than mighty. It may
depend on the infliction of the voice. Commentators say “almighty” is the best
english translation, so take your pick.
What God is invoking by calling Himself “El
Shaddai” is, “I am able to fulfill the awesome hopes I set before you of a
people & a land; there isn’t any need to resort to trying to fulfill the
promise in any second rate way - He’s telling him that all your life, your
future, lies in the fact that “I Am God Almighty, the All Powerful One -
Listen, what you and I, we all, believe about
God is the most important thing in our lives, your lives. Any thoughts of a God
less potent than the God of Abram is going to cause your soul to shrink &
it will neutralize your faith! --
Notice again that there is no harsh or strong
rebuke said to Abram - unless you want to count the 13 years of silence as a
rebuke. I don’t see it that way. We are the ones that give people the silent
treatment.
Instead God proceeds to explain the covenant to
Abram - And Abram falls on his face which in this culture & throughout
history this has been the ultimate expression of humility & submission
With this one gesture Abram communicated to god
that he was going to receive all that God was saying with humility & great
reverence.
Now God doesn’t require this of us, but there
are many who do approach God on their knees while praying, some with their
faces on the ground. the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who
sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will
cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11 "Worthy are You, our Lord
and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things,
and because of Your will they existed, and were created."
(Rev.
4:10-11).

A Name Change  
Abram is renamed Abraham by God: No
longer shall your name be called Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I
have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 6 "I will make you
exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth
from you.
(Vv5,6,).
In the near East a name wasn’t just a means of
identification but was intimately connected with the essence of being &
intertwined with personality.
John & his brother James were ready to call
fire down from heaven and so Jesus called them “sons of thunder”. Much as we
give nickname to our kids and friends.
Now, Abram, “exalted father” was now going to
be called Abraham, “father of multitude”. In addition, his name was matched by
another revelation, kings will come forth from you. This was
something beyond his dreams, a tent dweller, kings will come from him. 
This brought a thought to me. If this life on
earth is all there is, what good would it be to rejoice that kings would come
from him if he would never see it? Is this what Jesus meant when He said in
John 8:56?
Your
father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."
 
One thousand years later the founding line of
kings would begin through David & then another thousand years further up in
the Advent of Jesus Christ, King of the Jews.
Matthew celebrates this the opening of the
gospel he penned with the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, Son of
Abraham.
This is the first prediction of the ultimate
King of kings & Lord of lords:
And on His robe and on His
thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS."
(Rev. 19:16). This phrase and
kings shall come from you
is the genesis of Palm Sunday.
The Sign of the Covenant  
Just like the rainbow was the sign of the
Noahic Covenant (9:3) & later the Sabbath is the sign of the Sinaitic
Covenant (Ex. 31) - Circumcision will be the sign of the Abrahamic Covenant.
The rainbow & Sabbath already existed
before the institution of the covenants they came to signify - Circumcision ahd
already originated centuries before. It was practiced in Egypt & elsewhere
but in Gen. 17 it received a new meaning - People were crucified centuries
before the time of Jesus, but the cross took on a very different meaning when
our Lord was crucified.
Early on, circumcision came to symbolize the
spiritual commitment of one’s life to God - Moses wrote: Moreover the
LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to
love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you
may live.
(Deut. 30:6).
Jeremiah also would challenge the people: Circumcise
yourselves to the LORD And remove the foreskins of your heart, Men of Judah,
and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Or else My wrath will go forth like fire And burn
with none to quench it, Because of the evil of your deeds.
(Jer. 4:4).
Unlike other signs we make that can be put
aside, circumcision was a permanent sign that could not be eradicated - It
would be a constant witness against an unconsecrated heart - 
The rite of circumcision itself is a reminder
that covenants are solemnized through blood. It inflicts blood & pain -
Every hebrew male from Abraham to Jesus underwent the operation.
The Almighty’s word concluded with But an
uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that
person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant."

(17:14).
This very clearly tells everyone that it is
God’s way, or the highway.
This is an early warning that there is no way
but God’s way - This right here flies in the face of conventional religious
& secular cultures that it is God’s duty to accept us apart from His
directives as long as we do our best.
Let me say as strongly as possible to the appearance
only Christian
, beware. -- As there was only one way under the Old
covenant, so too there is only one way under the New Covenant.
Jesus who made the New Covenant with His own
blood said: I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to
the Father but through Me.
C. S. Lewis, explained in his
well-known book, Mere Christianity, "A man who was merely a man and said
the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher; he'd either
be a lunatic -- on a level with a man who says he's a poached egg -- or else
he'd be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and
is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse." You can shut Him
up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at
His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing
nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to
us. He did not intend to." So Jesus was either a madman, a liar, a myth,
or He really was -- and is -- the Son of God.
 But there are those who twist everything
to their preverte thinking -- Joel Olsteen
pushes is a shell of legitimate biblical
Christianity, at best, and a dangerous counterfeit at worst. When all you have
to offer is materialism and emotion, you’re not an evangelist. You’re a
motivational speaker who borrows religious terminology. Nothing Osteen says is
going to help a person with legitimate questions about faith and salvation.
Oprah Winfrey, she speaks less about salvation
through Christ than she does Christ-consciousness. She describes heaven not as
an eternal destination but an inner realm of consciousness. And she dismisses
the idea that there is “one way” to God, when she says, “There couldn’t
possibly be just one way.”
Sarai?
She also is in this covenant & is
designated the matriarch of the covenant:
God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your
wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah [shall be] her name. 16
"I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will
bless her, and she shall be [a mother of] nations; kings of people will come
from her.
Not only would Sarah bear a child in as an old
woman, but the sacred, royal dynasty would have her blood in its veins -
u;timately the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.
God Almighty, the All Powerful One revealed
Himself with this awesome name, Abraham had a new name, the sign of the
covenant was commanded, & Sarah had a new name.






Abraham’s Response?
He falls on his face & laughs: Abraham
fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, "Will a child be born
to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear
[a child?]" 18 And Abraham said to God, "Oh that Ishmael might live
before You!
He starts out okay, in reverence, but the old
guy laughs out loud - was he disbelieving? Doesn’t look like it, God does not
voice disapproval - Maybe inwardly God may have smiled at Abraham - Wait
& see there young man … 
Yet in contrast, later God rebukes Sarah in
18:13, LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I
indeed bear [a child,] when I am [so] old?
For nw, the absence of correction for Abraham
implied that his faith was limited. He believed, but his faith was pushed to
the limits.
Paul explains this in Romans 4:18-21 -- In
hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations
according to that which had been spoken, "SO SHALL YOUR DESCENDANTS
BE." 19 Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now
as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of
Sarah's womb; 20 yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in
unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully
assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.
This is the Divine Commentary on Genesis 17 -
Abraham, the aged patriarch, did believe.
I think that for the majority of us it’s easy
to say believe in something far off, like heaven - But if we’re asked to
believe that God will do something in a specific time frame, I think we find believing
more difficult.
The Circumcision of Christ
Kings did come from Abraham & Sarah, The
scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler's staff from between his
feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him [shall be] the obedience of the peoples.
(Gen.49:10);
Balaam will cry later, I see him, but not now; I
behold him, but not near; A star shall come forth from Jacob, A scepter shall
rise from Israel, And shall crush through the forehead of Moab, And tear down
all the sons of Sheth. (Num. 24:17);
when King David came God promised
him, Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your
throne shall be established forever. (2 Sam.7:16)
After David, God’s people began to look for the
ultimate messianic David - Ezekiel will record God’s word some 400 year later- Then
I will set over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feed them; he
will feed them himself and be their shepherd. (34:23);
Isaiah wrote of
the coming prince -  For a child will be born to us, a son will be
given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will
be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. 7
There will be no end to the increase of [His] government or of peace, On the
throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with
justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of
hosts will accomplish this.(9:6-7);
Then Zacheria writes, Rejoice
greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout [in triumph,] O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold,
your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and
mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (9:9);
On
Palm Sunday Jesus rode into Jerusalem in 32AD as the crowds going ahead
of Him, and those who followed, were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of
David; BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Hosanna in the
highest!" (Matt. 21:9).
That particular week culminated Jesus’ perfect
life of faith - What Abraham began was now completed by his ultimate seed,
Jesus Christ the King, - Gal 3:16 NASB 16 Now the promises were spoken to
Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, "And to seeds," as
[referring] to many, but [rather] to one, "And to your seed," that
is, Christ. 
Jesus will say - in John 8:28-29, "When
you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am [He,] and I do nothing
on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me. 29
"And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do
the things that are pleasing to Him." 
In Perfect Obedience
On the eve of His crucifixion - [He took]
the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for
you is the new covenant in My blood.
(Luke 22:20).
The pain & blood that Good Friday, the New
Covenant was launched. As he was nailed to the cross Jesus underwent the
ultimate circumcision so that we might receive the ultimate circumcision of the
heart - Rom. 2:29 tells us, But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision
is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise
is not from men, but from God. 
Listen to what Paul writes to the Colosians,
2:11-14 - in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made
without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of
Christ; 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also
raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the
dead. 13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of
your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our
transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of
decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the
way, having nailed it to the cross. 
Jesus’s body was cut away for our sin - He was
cut off from God, My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my
deliverance are the words of my groaning
Ps. 22:1
This was done for us, for you, by putting off
the body of flesh, by the circumcision of Christ - 
The question is, have you been made a new
creation? For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a
new creation. (
Gal. 6:15) --- Have you believed, do you have faith
in Him?  in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision
means anything, but faith working through love.
Tell out my soul, the greatness of His name.
Make known his might, the deeds his arm has
done;
His mercy sure, from age to age the same;
His Holy Name, the Lord, the Mighty One.

10/16/2019

Beginning with Moses & the Prophets
Confirming the Covenant
Genesis 17: 1 - 27
Introduction.
In chapter 17 is the account of God confirming His covenant with Abram. To have in context, let’s briefly summarize what occurred in the previous chapter, 16. It is the account of the attempt to shortcut to obtain an heir through Hagar, Sarai’s maid.
After ten years in Canaan, and at the young age of 75, Srai was still barren; she takes it upon herself to suggest what was accepted and logical in her culture for over a thousand years.
Thinking that God had left her barren, and knowing of God’s promise to Abram of an heir, we have here the creation of human chaos that has caused conflict up to this day.
You may be shocked or scandalized as you read the account at Sarai volunteering Hagar as her surrogate, but; Abram's passive compliant conduct is more offensive - 
Have you seen this before? Hint; It was Abram who heard the voice of God, not Sarai. God led them from Ur. Abram had no divine directive to employ Hagar. Abram was fresh from a theophany in chapter 15.
Here’s the thing. Abram did question anything - 16:2 says, “and Abram listened to the voice of his wife”. Seems that Moses wrote the account as a parallel to Genesis 3:17 just as Adam listened to his wife. Neither one of them said anything, not even a “look Shug, the Lord said . . .”. Both willingly & knowingly partook. And things went from bad to worse. 
Proverbs 30:21-23 tells use, Under three things the earth trembles; under four it cannot bear up: 22 a slave when he becomes king, and a fool when he is filled with food; 23 an unloved woman when she gets a husband, and a maidservant when she displaces her mistress.
Abram was 86 when Hagar bore Ishmael - Let’s fast forward 13 years; He’s one year shy of a century, 99. Moses has shown us that a cloud of domestic gloom & darkness overshadows the tents of Abram concerning the promise.
While I was in Panama and working as a DOD security employee at the Rodman Naval base, one of the Navy section chief’s wife, also stationed with him there, was barren. They had gone through the process of having a woman to be a surrogate mother - needless to say, that turned out for them to be a gruesome legal battle - the surrogate mother had decided she wanted to keep the child. 
Thousands of years apart, different cultures, different methods - same, same problems & familial frictions.
For Abram, if Ishmael wasn’t the answer, how in the dickens was he to become the father of a vast people & his heirs inherit the land?
It has been 23 years since the first promise.  And now for the last 13 years, the promise seemed to be more & more distant than ever. The Lord had given him a lot of time to think about his sin of disobedience, and lapse of trust - and to live in the consequences of it.
Abram had no idea, but God was growing the patriarch’s faith. 
Again, it would be GRACE!

God the All-Powerful - Confirms the Covenant 
God Himself now speaks to again Abram and the first name He calls out is His own name: Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless. 2 "I will establish My covenant between Me and you, And I will multiply you exceedingly." 17:1-2). El Shaddai, God Almighty; I like the Spanish translation, Dios Todopoderoso … translates the same but literally, it is The All-Powerful God. It just has more of a sting to it than mighty. It may depend on the infliction of the voice. Commentators say “almighty” is the best English translation, so take your pick.
What God is invoking by calling Himself “El Shaddai” is, “I am able to fulfill the awesome hopes I set before you of a people & a land; there isn’t any need to resort to trying to fulfill the promise in any second rate way - He’s telling him that all your life, your future, lies in the fact that “I Am God Almighty, the All-Powerful One -
Listen, what you and I, we all, believe about God is the most important thing in our lives, your lives. Any thoughts of a God less potent than the God of Abram is going to cause your soul to shrink & it will neutralize your faith! --
Notice again that there is no harsh or strong rebuke said to Abram - unless you want to count the 13 years of silence as a rebuke. I don’t see it that way. We are the ones that give people the silent treatment.
Instead, God proceeds to explain the covenant to Abram - And Abram falls on his face which in this culture & throughout history, this has been the ultimate expression of humility & submission - 
With this one gesture, Abram communicated to god that he was going to receive all that God was saying with humility & great reverence.
Now God doesn’t require this of us, but there are many who do approach God on their knees while praying, some with their faces on the ground. the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11 "Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed and were created." (Rev. 4:10-11).




A Name Change  
Abram is renamed Abraham by God: No longer shall your name be called Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 6 "I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you. (Vv5,6,).
In the near East a name wasn’t just a means of identification but was intimately connected with the essence of being & intertwined with personality.
John & his brother James were ready to call fire down from heaven and so Jesus called them “sons of thunder”. Much as we give nickname to our kids and friends.
Now, Abram, “exalted father” was now going to be called Abraham, “father of multitude”. In addition, his name was matched by another revelation, kings will come forth from you. This was something beyond his dreams, a tent dweller, kings will come from him. 
This brought a thought to me. If this life on earth is all there is, what good would it be to rejoice that kings would come from him if he would never see it? Is this what Jesus meant when He said in John 8:56? Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." 
One thousand years later the founding line of kings would begin through David & then another thousand years further up in the Advent of Jesus Christ, King of the Jews.
Matthew celebrates this the opening of the gospel he penned with the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, Son of Abraham.
This is the first prediction of the ultimate King of kings & Lord of lords: And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." (Rev. 19:16). This phrase and kings shall come from you is the genesis of Palm Sunday.
The Sign of the Covenant  
Just like the rainbow was the sign of the Noahic Covenant (9:3) & later the Sabbath is the sign of the Sinaitic Covenant (Ex. 31) - Circumcision will be the sign of the Abrahamic Covenant.
The rainbow & Sabbath already existed before the institution of the covenants they came to signify - Circumcision ahd already originated centuries before. It was practiced in Egypt & elsewhere but in Gen. 17 it received a new meaning - People were crucified centuries before the time of Jesus, but the cross took on a very different meaning when our Lord was crucified.
Early on, circumcision came to symbolize the spiritual commitment of one’s life to God - Moses wrote: Moreover the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live. (Deut. 30:6).
Jeremiah also would challenge the people: Circumcise yourselves to the LORD And remove the foreskins of your heart, Men of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Or else My wrath will go forth like fire And burn with none to quench it, Because of the evil of your deeds. (Jer. 4:4).
Unlike other signs we make that can be put aside, circumcision was a permanent sign that could not be eradicated - It would be a constant witness against an unconsecrated heart - 
The rite of circumcision itself is a reminder that covenants are solemnized through blood. It inflicts blood & pain - Every Hebrew male from Abraham to Jesus underwent the operation.
The Almighty’s word concluded with But an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant." (17:14).
This very clearly tells everyone that it is God’s way, or the highway.
This is an early warning that there is no way but God’s way - This right here flies in the face of conventional religious & secular cultures that it is God’s duty to accept us apart from His directives as long as we do our best.
Let me say as strongly as possible to the appearance only Christian, BEWARE. -- As there was only one way under the Old covenant, so too there is only one way under the New Covenant.
Jesus who made the New Covenant with His own blood said: I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
C. S. Lewis, explained in his well-known book, Mere Christianity, "A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher; he'd either be a lunatic -- on a level with a man who says he's a poached egg -- or else he'd be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse." You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." So Jesus was either a madman, a liar, a myth, or He really was -- and is -- the Son of God.
 But there are those who twist everything to their perverted thinking -- Joel Olsteen pushes is a shell of legitimate biblical Christianity, at best, and a dangerous counterfeit at worst. When all you have to offer is materialism and emotion, you’re not an evangelist. You’re a motivational speaker who borrows religious terminology. Nothing Osteen says is going to help a person with legitimate questions about faith and salvation.
Oprah Winfrey, she speaks less about salvation through Christ than she does Christ-consciousness. She describes heaven not as an eternal destination but an inner realm of consciousness. And she dismisses the idea that there is “one way” to God, when she says, “There couldn’t possibly be just one way.”
Sarai?
She also is in this covenant & is designated the matriarch of the covenant: God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah [shall be] her name. 16 "I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be [a mother of] nations; kings of people will come from her.
Not only would Sarah bear a child in as an old woman, but the sacred, royal dynasty would have her blood in its veins - ultimately the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.
God Almighty, the All-Powerful One revealed Himself with this awesome name, Abraham had a new name, the sign of the covenant was commanded, & Sarah had a new name.



Abraham’s Response?
He falls on his face & laughs: Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, "Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear [a child?]" 18 And Abraham said to God, "Oh that Ishmael might live before You!
He starts out okay, in reverence, but the old guy laughs out loud - was he disbelieving? Doesn’t look like it, God does not voice disapproval - Maybe inwardly God may have smiled at Abraham - Wait & see there young man … 
Yet in contrast, later God rebukes Sarah in 18:13, LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I indeed bear [a child,] when I am [so] old?
For nw, the absence of correction for Abraham implied that his faith was limited. He believed, but his faith was pushed to the limits.
Paul explains this in Romans 4:18-21 -- In hope against hope he believed so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, "SO SHALL YOUR DESCENDANTS BE." 19 Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb; 20 yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.
This is the Divine Commentary on Genesis 17 - Abraham, the aged patriarch, did believe.
I think that for the majority of us it’s easy to say we believe in something far off, like heaven - But if we’re asked to believe that God will do something in a specific time frame, I think we find believing more difficult.
The Circumcision of Christ
Kings did come from Abraham & Sarah, The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him [shall be] the obedience of the peoples. (Gen.49:10); Balaam will cry later, I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; A star shall come forth from Jacob, A scepter shall rise from Israel, And shall crush through the forehead of Moab, And tear down all the sons of Sheth. (Num. 24:17); when King David came God promised him, Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever. (2 Sam.7:16)
After David, God’s people began to look for the ultimate messianic David - Ezekiel will record God’s word some 400 year later- Then I will set over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feed them; he will feed them himself and be their shepherd. (34:23); Isaiah wrote of the coming prince -  For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. 7 There will be no end to the increase of [His] government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.(9:6-7); Then Zacheria writes, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout [in triumph,] O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (9:9); On Palm Sunday Jesus rode into Jerusalem in 32AD as the crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David; BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Hosanna in the highest!" (Matt. 21:9).
That particular week culminated Jesus’ perfect life of faith - What Abraham began was now completed by his ultimate seed, Jesus Christ the King, - Gal 3:16 NASB 16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, "And to seeds," as [referring] to many, but [rather] to one, "And to your seed," that is, Christ. 
Jesus will say - in John 8:28-29, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am [He,] and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me. 29 "And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him." 
In Perfect Obedience
On the eve of His crucifixion - [He took] the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood. (Luke 22:20).
The pain & blood that Good Friday, the New Covenant was launched. As he was nailed to the cross Jesus underwent the ultimate circumcision so that we might receive the ultimate circumcision of the heart - Rom. 2:29 tells us, But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God. 
Listen to what Paul writes to the Colosians, 2:11-14 - in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 
Jesus’s body was cut away for our sin - He was cut off from God, My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning Ps. 22:1
This was done for us, for you, by putting off the body of flesh, by the circumcision of Christ - 
The question is, have you been made a new creation? For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. (Gal. 6:15) --- Have you believed, do you have faith in Him?  in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.
age to age the same;
Tell out my soul, the greatness of His name.
His Holy Name, the Lord, the Mighty
Make known his might, the deeds his arm has done;
His mercy sure, from One.