~Dave Parks

CHRIST: The LORD Will Provide [Romans 8.32]

Posted on April 27, 2024 by PastorDave

CHRIST IN GENESIS | Lesson 11 | Lesson Notes / talking Points

Read Genesis, chapters 20-23 & Romans 8.32

‘CHRIST IN GENESIS’: MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

1/ With these four chapters, we will close out the Abraham-exclusive portion of the ‘Abraham narratives’ in the Book of Genesis that began in ch 12. Reason being, Isaac will be born in ch 21, and from there, Isaac will become the focus of much of the narrative going forward. Isaac now inherits the covenant promises Yahweh has made and delivered to Abraham. Isaac will carry them forward until his son, Jacob, becomes the ‘carrier’ of the covenant in the historical-redemptive progression of The Story of CHRIST.

2/ This is another lengthy [and rich and full] section of Scripture we’re going to deal with in this lesson. But as I have told you before, we have a certain number of weeks allotted for this survey/summary/scan course through Genesis. And rather than play ‘hop-scotch’ through the Book and deal with the many highlights, we have chosen to at least summarize the whole book in ‘chunks’ to keep it connected in the text and in our ways of thinking – maintain a continuum of theme developments and our train of thought. We want to see how the whole panoramic narrative flows as it tells the Story of CHRIST IN GENESIS. So we’ll do the same with this lesson. We’ll connect all the contiguous ‘shorter stories’ as they all fit together in the larger story of the Book – and especially as they sow the seeds and start the threads that will lead to the coming of CHRIST into our world … and then on to the ultimate fulfillment of the Covenant purposes of God for the world in the New Creation – and all IN CHRIST!

3/ Our lesson title “The LORD will provide” is found in ch 22.8-14 and the CHRIST-markers are revealed in Romans 8.32. We’ll get to that here shortly. The LORD not only provided the substitute sacrifice for Isaac on Mount Moriah, but we can also see in all the contextual stories around that pivotal story how Yahweh provided what was needed to keep His covenant with Abraham in every event before it and after it as well. Indeed, the whole Old Testament narrative is the sweeping panoramic Providential narrative of how The LORD provided the ‘seed of the woman’ Redeemer first promised in the Genesis 3.15 ‘First Gospel/Protoevangelium’: “God will provide for Himself the Lamb for a burnt offering.”

I / Genesis 20.1-14 | Abraham & Abimelech, Act I: The ‘son of promise’ is threatened

1/ This is another recurring theme throughout Genesis: Yahweh has given His promise of the covenant son to be born to Abraham and Sarah … who will serve to fulfill the ‘seed of the woman’ promise of the Redeemer that God will provide [see Genesis 3.15]. We have just seen in ch 17.21 & 18.10 that Yahweh had promised “about this time next year,…Sarah your wife shall have a son.” It had to be just a short time after that announcement of Isaac’s impending birth that Abraham once again sojourned in the portion of the Promised Land occupied by the Philistines [see ch 21.34]. Their king’s name was Abimelech.

2/ We have to make these longer stories short: but Abraham once again lied about Sarah being his wife, saying instead she was his ‘sister’ [see his equivocation in vv 10-13]. He did this out of fear for his life v 11] – that they would see Sarah’s beauty and want her to be their wife and maybe kill Abraham to ‘get him out of the way.’ Here again [as in ch 12.10-20], Abraham knew ‘he couldn’t die’ if the promise was going to be fulfilled – but he was not fully trusting God to keep him alive. So, he thought he must ‘save his own life’ for the sake of the fulfillment of the covenant promise. He should have trusted God, but he didn’t. Of course, the ‘threat’ to the covenant ‘son of promise’ was that he put Sarah into the jeopardous position of becoming the wife of a foreigner and the father of her baby! God wouldn’t allow Abraham’s caving in of faith in Yahweh to threaten His covenant promise and purposes. So, God appeared in a dream to Abimelech, threatened his own life if he touched Sarah, and instructed Abimelech to give her back to Abraham. He did and scolded Abraham for lying to him and putting him and his people in such jeopardy.

3/ “The LORD will provide” here also. God provided for Abraham’s deliverance from this grievous threat to His covenant ‘son of promise.’ God said to Abimelech: “…and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her” [ch 20.6]. Then,Abraham prayed to Yahweh for Abimelech’s healing – and also to open the wombs of Abimelech’s wives so they could bear children again. God is the Giver of all birth and life, even to Philistines.

II / Genesis 21.1-7 | The birth of Isaac: The promise is ‘delivered’!

1/ So now, finally, in God’s time, and in God’s way – the ‘son of promise’ is born! After all the years of waiting … after all the repeated affirmations and confirmations of the covenant promise that Abraham and Sarah would give birth to Yahweh’s covenant ‘son of promise,’ Isaac is born! “The LORD visited Sarah as He had said, and The LORD did to Sarah as He had promised. And Sarah conceived and born Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac.” “Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born to him.” [See again the testimonies to God’s power and faithfulness to His promises … and also Abraham’s and Sarah’s faith … in Romans 4.16-25 and Hebrews 11.8-12.]

2/ The often-repeated theme of ‘laughter’ comes up again. Isaac’s very name is a form of the same word. This time, however, the laughter is not in doubt, unbelief, or incredulity [as both Abraham and Sarah both had laughed previously], but rather the laughter of ecstatic joy and praise to God for His mercies and faithfulness. And, just like Isaac is a historical ‘forerunner’ of his much-later ‘son of promise,’ CHRIST, so also there was much laughter and joy of rejoicing when CHRIST’s immediate forerunner was born [Luke 1.57-58]. The covenant of promised redemption in CHRIST is a covenant of joy! [Psalm 126.1-3].

III / Genesis 21.8-20 | Hagar & Ishmael: The ‘son of promise’ is threatened again

1/ The gist of this passage is that when Isaac grew and was weaned, Abraham’s son by Hagar, Ishmael, became a threat again to Isaac’s being recognized as the sole heir of the covenant promise. Except this time, it’s inside the family. We have already learned that Abraham was 86 years old when Ishmael was born [ch 16.16]. So, Ishmael is now 14+ years old [+ whatever age Isaac was ‘weaned’] – a teenager. He’s old enough to be ‘feeling his own oats’ as the already-born son of Abraham by Hagar. In some way, he was acting inappropriately toward Isaac by ‘laughing’ at him [v 9]. We’re not told whether it was mocking the younger Isaac, taunting, trying to ‘pull rank on him,’ or bullying him in some way. But whatever he was doing, Sarah perceived that he was trying in some way to set himself up as a rival and competitor to Isaac as the son of promise. So, Hagar and Ishmael had to go. Abraham was grieved. Ishmael was his son, too. But God agreed with Sarah and told Abraham the separation had to be made: “Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named” [v 12].

2/ Paul picks up this story in Galatians 4.21-31 and says there that Ishmael was ‘persecuting’ ‘him who was born according to the Spirit’ – and that the same ‘persecution’ is still going on now against the people of faith by those who are religious ‘in their own right.’

3/ However, Yahweh promised also to protect the hapless Hagar and the defenseless Ishmael. He will protect and provide for them and make a nation of him as well. Yahweh appeared to Hagan and Ishmael as they ‘wandered in the wilderness’ and would have died if Yahweh had not intervened and provided water, sustenance, and protection for them. In fact, three different times, the narrator references ‘in the wilderness’ to show how Yahweh can provide and take care of those whom He will under the direst of circumstances and stresses. Israel surely would have taken comfort, solace, and encouragement from this Divine protection and provision during their own ‘wilderness’ journeys and experiences in later years.

IV / Genesis 21.22-34 | Abraham & Abimelech, Act II: peace treaty with their neighbors

1/ Once again, we come back to the Philistine king, Abimelech. This, too, is part of the covenant ‘blessing’ narrative. Abimelech had an encounter with Abraham’s God back in ch 20. Abimelech had witnessed how Abraham’s God was with him and how Abraham had access to his God. God had blessed Abraham: “At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, ‘God is with you in all that you do. Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity [as Abraham had done during their previous encounter], but as I have dealt kindly with you, so you will deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned’. And Abraham said, ‘I will swear.’”

2/ However, there was a matter of encroachment by Abimelech’s servants against Abraham that Abraham wanted to settle before making a neighborly covenant of peace: some of Abimelech’s servants had seized and stolen a well from Abraham [vv 25-26]. As in their previous encounter, Abimelech was ignorant of any such egregious transgression against his God-blessed neighbor. So, Abimelech promised to make that matter right. Abraham then agreed to establish a covenant of peace with Abimelech that neither of them would transgress the other. So, Abraham gave lavish gifts to Abimelech just as Abimelech had given to Abraham previously. [And, we, too are reminded to “strive for peace with everyone” (Hebrews 12.14)].

3/ Further, Abraham set ‘seven’ ewe lambs apart and gave them to Abimelech. We need to note here that the Hebrew word for ‘seven’ [sheba] sounds like the word for ‘swear or oath’ [shaba]. So the significance of the ‘seven’ lambs would coincide with the ‘swear/oath’ they were exchanging. Both words are repeated and woven throughout the narrative, three times each. The word ‘seven’ is used four times if you count its use in the name of the place where the covenant was made, ‘Beersheba,’ meaning ‘well of the oath’ or ‘well of the seven.’ Both words would remind these two covenanters of the same mutual covenant.

4/ Beersheba them became Abraham’s address and place of residence [ch 22.19]. This same Beersheba will come up again later on in the Isaac part of the narrative. And, once again, we are reminded in the last verse that Abraham “sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines,” reminding us again that Abraham still has no ‘homeplace’ to call his own in this Promised Land inheritance that God had covenanted to give him. [See Hebrews 11.13.]

V / Genesis 22.1-23 | Abraham offers up Isaac: The LORD provided the sacrificial Lamb

1/ This is, of course, one of the most defining stories of the entire Abraham narratives, and one also that is most commented on by the inspired New Testament interpreters. Just to give you a heads-up, you will find this ‘test’ interpreted in Hebrews 11.17-19 and James 2.18-24. It is also alluded to in Romans 8.31-32, and we are using that Pauline phrase “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?” God has covenanted to be ‘for us’ IN CHRIST from eternity!

2/ So, even before we get into a brief summary of Genesis 22, let’s look at these specific New Testament words so we can refer back to them:

Hebrews 11.17-19: By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, ¹⁸of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” ¹⁹He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.
James 2.18-24: But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. ¹⁹You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! ²⁰Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? ²¹Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? ²²You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; ²³and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. ²⁴You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. [see below…]

3/ So here in ch 22, we are told that “After these things God tested Abraham…” What God was ‘testing’ was not first and primarily Abraham’s ‘love,’ whether Abraham was willing to love God more than Isaac, whom he truly and deeply loved [v 2] – but what Yahweh was ‘testing’ was Abraham’s faith and obedience: whether Abraham believed and trusted Him enough to obey and do what He commanded him to do. What Yahweh was commanding Abraham to do was to offer Isaac as a sacrifice to God – even after God had finally given Isaac to him in fulfillment of the long-awaited for promise. Isaac was the necessary ‘link’ in all the promises – both then and future – that God had promised and fulfilled … and Abraham had believed. If God commands that he kill Isaac, then the covenant is dead and all the promises to be fulfilled through Isaac come to an end! But Abraham passed the test of obedience. He proceeded immediately to carry it out, as painful as it was. He prepared all the necessary instruments and supplies and took all the necessary steps to obey God’s instructions. And he did all this as an expression of ‘worship’ [v 5].

4/ However, Abraham’s total, committed, and unreserved faith in Yahweh made him believe and trust that, even if God required him to carry out the sacrificial deed to its fatal end, God was able and would have to even raise him from the dead [Hebrews 11.19] because God would be faithful to His promise!

5/ This is how “Abraham our father [was] justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar … and faith was completed by his works [James 2.21-22]. Abraham was not ‘justified’ by this act of his works in the sense of being ‘saved / justified’ from the guilt of his sins; but his ‘works’ of obedient faith ‘justified’ his confession of faith in God – that is, evidenced, vindicated, proved, demonstrated, showed it to be true faith – by his obedience to what God had commanded him to do.

6/ But the true CHRIST-marker is seen in the substitute sacrifice God provided. When God saw that Abraham believed and trusted Him to the point he would obey God even to the point of offering back to Him the ‘son of promise’ [v 12], God provided the ‘lamb for a burnt offering’ in the ‘ram, caught in the thicket by his horns,’ God was pointing to CHRIST whom ‘He would not spare, but deliver Him up for us all’ [Romans 8.32]. The promise that ‘and in you all the nations of the earth will be blessed’ would be carried on into the future history by Isaac, whom God spared; but it would ultimately be fulfilled in CHRIST, whom God did not spare. And, in CHRIST, God has provided and will give ‘all things’!

7/ Just to add one additional CHRIST-marker to this episode: when Yahweh told Abraham to go specifically “to the land of Moriah” [v 2], He knew that, in time, THAT would be the very location where His Temple would be built and where He would direct the OT sacrifices and offerings to be made to Him: “Then Solomon began to build the house of The LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where The LORD had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite” [2 Chronicles 3.1]. [See the background story in 1 Chronicles 21].

8/ So, the offering of Isaac [in the substitute ram] would ‘pre-enact’ CHRIST as “God will provide for Himself the Lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” And later, in time, on that very site, God will Providentially provide the Temple where ALL the sacrificial offerings would ‘pre-enact’ CHRIST … until CHRIST Himself comes as “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world [John 1.29].”

9/ On a literary note here: with this concluding episode of the Abrahamic narratives, the author [Moses] provides ‘bookends’ [or what we call an ‘inclusio’] by writing ch 22.1-3 in much the same way as he began the Abraham story in ch 12.1-4a. Chapter 24 will pick up with Isaac becoming the main character in the following narratives until the Genesis narrative is finally handed over to Jacob, then to Joseph.

VI / Genesis 23.1-20 | Sarah is buried in Canaan: The LORD provided their only ‘possession’

1/ I just want to point out a couple significant CHRIST-markers here as they relate to the fulfillment of God’s promises and the continuation of the Covenant. The subject of this chapter is that Sarah died [‘dead/died’ is used ten times]. And she is buried [‘bury’ is used eleven times]. But God had kept every word of every promise He had made to Abraham and Sarah while she lived. We have chronicled those.

2/ But, with Sarah’s burial in this plot of land in Machpelah purchased from the Hittites, we need to note that this was the ONLY real estate portion of the Promised Land that Abraham ever owned. The promise would be fully fulfilled in Abraham’s coming descendants … Abraham had to believe that, too!

3/ ALSO, Sarah “died in the faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth” [read the more complete New Testament interpretation and commentary on Abraham’s and Sarah’s faith in Hebrews 11.8-16]. She died believing that EVERYTHING God had promised, He would give them in His due time … as He did for them, as He has done IN CHRIST, and as He will continue to do for us.

“They desire a better country, that is, a Heavenly one” [Hebrews 11.16]

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Posted in Bible Studies, CHRIST IN GENESIS, GENESIS, Lesson Notes, Sunday School lessons | Tagged 2 Chronicles 3.1, Bible Studies, CHRIST IN GENESIS, CHRIST The LORD will provide, Galatians 4.21-31, GENESIS, Genesis 20-23, Hebrews 11.8-16, Ishmael, Lesson Notes/Talking Points, Machpelah, Moriah, Romans 8.32, Sunday School lessons | Leave a comment

“…we drew a circle that took him in…”

Posted on April 24, 2024 by PastorDave

I have remembered my long-time dear friend and former Pastor [now Pastor Emeritus], Hershael W. York, quoting this little poem before in his sermons, relating it to his father, Wallace York.

And then, in a recent conversation, he referenced it again. I asked Hershael, when he had the time, to please jot down the lines of the poem and send it to me — I wanted to remember it.

So, he sent me this snapshot of the poem Wallace had hand-written in one of the Bibles he used. I also enjoyed a decades-long close friendship and ministry partnership with Wallace – and we shared between us a sweet symbiotic bonding and fellowship of our spirits.

Wallace embodied the sweetness of this brotherly love, kindness, and gentleness expressed in the poem. He was a true ‘Barnabas,’ peacemaker, ‘man of peace’ – while, at the same time, tenaciously holding onto his own doctrinal convictions.

I, too, embrace the sentiment of the poem, and treasure this hand-written reminder of my friend’s exemplary testimony.

Posted in Gentleness, I've been thinking | Tagged Edwin Markham, Gentleness, He drew a circle that shut me out, Hershael York, Love, Peace, Wallace York, We drew a circle that took him in | Leave a comment

CHRIST: Is Anything Too Hard for The LORD? [Luke 1.37]

Posted on April 20, 2024 by PastorDave

CHRIST IN GENESIS | Lesson 10 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read Genesis 18.1 – 19.38 & Luke 1.26-38

‘CHRIST IN GENESIS’: MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

1/ Once again, this lesson will build on the previous two lessons as we continue to follow the ‘Abraham narrative’ portion of Genesis.

In Lesson 8 [CHRIST: God’s Blessing to the Nations], we learned how Yahweh elected and called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldeans to be the recipient of His Messianic covenant promises. Among these promises was: “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, …and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” [ch 12.1-3]. These promises, of course, would be fulfilled in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who would come from Abraham ‘in the fullness of time’; and more immediately, would require the aged, barren couple to give birth to a child.
In Lesson 9 [CHRIST: To Whom the Promises Were Made], Yahweh renews, affirms, and confirms that covenant promise by rejecting Ishmael, their self-made ‘son of the flesh’ via Hagar and repeating His promise that the promised heir and carrier of His covenant would come, not only from Abraham’s own loins, but also from Sarah’s own womb. That ‘son of promise’ would be called Isaac.

/ That brings us to the end of chapter 17, where this lesson passage picks up and continues…

I / Genesis 18.1-15 | The Divine covenant-child ‘reveal’

1/ So, in keeping with our course theme of CHRIST IN GENESIS, we will have time only to follow the theme and thread of how the CHRIST-promise and CHRIST-markers are revealed and developed in this lesson passage. And it will follow with this imminent birth announcement of their covenant son, Isaac.

2/ There is really no break in the narrative between [what we know as] the end of ch 17 and the first verse of ch 18. Yahweh had already announced in ch 17.21: “But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.” So they had already received Yahweh’s Divine birth announcement.

3/ The significance of what took place here in ch 18.1-15 is that Yahweh makes a Personal appearance to Abraham and Sarah to confirm this imminent birth announcement via His Personal visitation. Abraham was ‘minding his own business’ – resting and taking a break from the hottest part of the day – on this day when three men suddenly appeared and approached him. He looked up and saw them, ran from his tent door to meet them, and ‘bowed himself to the earth’ to welcome them. It is unclear whether he recognized anything other than they looked like dignified ‘strangers’ who had come to visit him; and he addressed the one who appeared to be their leader with a hospitable and deferential greeting: “O Lord [‘Sir / Master’], if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant.” In other words, Abraham extended to them the customary greeting, courtesy, and hospitality of a grateful host [vv 3-8].

4/ There is also a covenant context in this sharing of the meal. Sharing a meal together was a customary practice among the peoples of that day when a covenant was made and confirmed. The sharing of the meal showed, not only a commonality of interest and transaction between them, but it also signified the tightness of their relationship of peace. This is illustrated all throughout the Old and New Testaments, culminating in the Last Passover meal and the institution of the Lord’s Supper with all its covenant significances.

5/ However, as they conversed, it would become evident to Abraham that these ‘stranger’ visitors were ‘from another world.’ They were Divine ‘strangers,’ especially the One who led the conversation. [This is why we are commanded by the Hebrews writer: “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares” (Hebrews 13.2 & also 3 John, vv 5-6)]. “They said to him, ‘Where is Sarah your wife?’” The One who is then identified as ‘The LORD’ [for the first time in v 13 – previous references are the pronoun ‘he’] surely asked this question, revealing that He knew Sarah’s name. He also knew where she was … He was asking Abraham rhetorically to let him know he was talking with the same One who had given the Isaac birth promise before [ch 17.15-21].

6/ The LORD repeats the promise of the immediate and impending birth of their covenant son: “The LORD said to Abraham, ‘I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.’” This is when Sarah laughed to herself [as Abraham himself had in ch 17.17]. She was well aware of both of their ages, their ‘worn-out’ bodies, and also the history of her own barrenness. Like the virgin Mary asked, when Gabriel announced the birth of the covenant-Fulfiller, CHRIST: “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” [Luke 1.34]. These two related birth announcements and stories parallel in so many ways.

7/ Though Sarah laughed to herself, privately and in secret, The LORD heard her and knew. He knows all things. And He further reveals His Divine identity with this knowledge. So The LORD calls her on it. She lied and denied she had laughed. The LORD rebuked her for laughing with incredulity and then confirms that she will indeed have this baby – but only because it will be a ‘God thing’: “Is anything too hard for The LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” This same language of Divine ‘only by an act of God’ conception was used again by the angel Gabriel to Mary concerning her own virgin-born son, Jesus CHRIST, and also the birth of John the Baptist to her aged, barren relative Elizabeth: “For nothing will be impossible with God” [Luke 1.37].

8/ BTW, as yet another CHRIST-marker, this same word for ‘too hard [or ‘wonderful’] for The LORD’ is used as one of CHRIST’s Messianic names ‘Wonderful’ in Isaiah 9.6.

9/ However, we do need to give Sarah the same testimonies of faith that the Scriptures give her in Romans 4.16-22 & Hebrews 11.11-12. Her faith grew out of her initial unbelief through trusting Yahweh’s word.

II / Genesis 18.16-33 | Yahweh shares His plan with His covenant ‘friend’

1/ After the meal, The LORD reveals yet another evidence and expression of his covenant relationship with Abraham: He chooses to share with Abraham and ‘let him in’ on the other errand He was fulfilling as Yahweh-God – He had come also to pour out His wrath and judgment on the wickedness, abominations, and perversions of His Holiness and righteousness that were being practiced in Sodom and Gomorrah.

2/ Psalm 25.14: “The friendship [‘secret’ KJV] of The LORD is for those who fear Him, and He makes known to them His covenant.” And John 15.14-15: You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. And Abraham is ‘the friend of God’ [1 Chronicles 20.7; Isaiah 41.8; James 2.23]. So Yahweh says to the two angels [ch 19.1] in Abraham’s presence: “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of The LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that The LORD may bring to Abraham what He has promised him” [vv 17-19]. In other words, “Since Abraham is my covenant friend, and I have chosen him to carry My Seed and My Name throughout the coming generations until CHRIST comes into the world, He needs to know My righteous character – both to save those who believe in Me and to destroy those who reject Me and My salvation.”

3/ It is then that the The LORD reveals to Abraham His righteousness and justice that requires Him to judge the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah with a fair, full, and just knowledge of their deserts of His wrathful and judgments. This is a parallel to Yahweh’s just evaluations of the wickedness and corruption that brought the Flood upon the world in Noah’s day [ch 6.5-13] and upon the nations at the Tower of Babel [ch 11.5-7]. AND, the same righteous judgments upon the whole world in the Last Day.

4/ vv 22-33 / This exchange between Abraham and Yahweh is so revealing of the covenant relationship between them.

[1] Even though Abraham repeatedly confesses his unworthiness to question Yahweh [vv 27, 30-32], he also knows Yahweh is willing to speak to him as a friend.
[2] In these six requests or ‘negotiations’ Abraham has with Yahweh, he is pleading and interceding for Lot whom Abraham knows is in Sodom with his family. THIS is the crux and core of Abraham’s intercessions. After all, Lot is a believer – though a seriously compromised one [see 2 Peter 2.7-9: ‘righteous Lot,’ ‘that righteous man,’ ‘the godly.’]
[3] Abraham is well aware of the wickedness of Sodom [ch 13.13]; but he also knows that Yahweh has promised to ‘bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you’ [ch 12.3], meaning that Yahweh has promised to save from His wrath all those who put their trust in Him … as well as destroy all those who do not. So, Abraham has no question that Sodom deserves to be destroyed, and Yahweh must do that to be fair, just, and righteous Himself – but is He also not covenant-bound to deliver the righteous from that same wrathful destruction? “Then Abraham drew near and said, ‘Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?’” Yahweh replies: “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

5/ This same covenant promise Yahweh made to save ALL the righteous from ‘the wrath to come’ [Romans 5.9; 1 Thessalonians 1.10] was then re-negotiated down to 45, 40, 30, 20, and finally 10. “[Yahweh] answered, ‘For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.”

III / Genesis 19.1-29 | Sodom and Gomorrah: a ‘pre-enactment’ of God’s judgment on the world

1/ Before we get into this next section that describes the actual Divine destruction of the wrath of God against the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah, we would do well to see Yahweh’s purpose in saving Lot from that destruction from the perspective of the New Testament commentary. We’ll find it in 2 Peter 2.4-9. In that commentary, the distinction is sharply drawn between God’s Holy, righteous, and just judgments against all sin and wickedness – and His covenant promise and commitment to save out of that same destruction all those who believe in Him through the Gospel of CHRIST. The distinction is drawn by the use of the contrasting words and phrases ‘spared not’ and ‘but preserved Noah,’ ‘if He rescued righteous Lot,’ and ‘then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials’ – both now in this world, and especially from ‘the wrath to come’ at the Last Day and the end of this age. [This will be the final ushering in of the New Creation to which everything is going, 2 Peter 3.8-13.]

2/ So, this whole narrative of the fiery destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is a ‘pre-enactment’ of the coming conflagration by which the whole creation will be once again and finally purged from the curse of sin and the corruption of wickedness to reveal the perfect New Creation Kingdom of CHRIST.

3/ We should also include Jude, v 7 here as a New Testament and eschatological commentary of Yahweh’s purpose for Sodom and Gomorrah to serve as a ‘pre-enactment’ of His ‘wrath to come’: “…just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example [of ‘the judgment of the great day’] by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.”

4/ So while The LORD remains behind with Abraham, He dispatches ‘the two angels’ to carry out His dual mission:

[1] destroy the wicked Sodom, Gomorrah, and surrounding cities, and
[2] rescue Lot by delivering him and bringing him out. The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. This means that Lot had risen to a place of prominence and leadership. The gate of the city was not a place for merely lounging, playing checkers, and ‘shooting the breeze’ among the guys. It was the place where the ‘councilmen’ met to conduct the city’s business and legal transactions. This was the environment, culture, and associations Lot had chosen when he separated from Abraham [ch 14.8-13].

5/ Again, 2 Peter 2.7-8 reveals the inner personal tensions of character and conflicts of faith and values that Lot was willing to entertain to enjoy what he thought would be the advantages of compromising his faith with the ‘love of this present world.’ We are told there that Lot was “greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard)…” Yet, sadly, Lot thought he could live in, enjoy, and benefit from both worlds. As we shall see, he ended up losing everything except his own soul. He was saved, ‘but only as through fire’ [1 Corinthians 3.15].

6/ Lot extended to these two angels the same kind of hospitality that Abraham had shown them immediately previous to this. He offered to take them home with him, feed them, and give them lodging. They offered to spend the night in the town square. Lot knew that would not be safe [the angels knew also], so ‘he pressed them strongly [insisted]; so they turned aside to him and entered his house.’

7/ The wicked homosexual men of the city were watching also, and they were burning in their lusts and perverted passions to have these ‘stranger’ visitors for themselves. So, no sooner had Lot fed them, and before they could retire for the night, “the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.’” Lot did the unthinkable: he wanted to protect his ‘stranger’ guests, so he offered to bring out his two virgin daughters, hand them over to the men, and allow them to satisfy their sexual lusts with them. But the men of Sodom violently refused his offer and attempted to break down his door to get in to seize the men guests. The angels delivered Lot first by overpowering the men of Sodom, reaching out to Lot, pulling him back into the house, and then ‘blind-siding’ all the Sodomite men – striking them with blindness so that they could not see to complete their perverted desires and intentions.

8/ The angels urgently called Lot to gather his family together – they would lead them out of the city to safety. There were only six of them: Lot, his wife, his two virgin daughters, and the two fiancés who were to marry them. Sadly again, Lot had so compromised any witness to righteousness he might have desired to establish, that when he warned his future sons-in-law of the coming judgments of God on their city – which he himself had loved and associated with – “…he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.” This is the same verb for ‘laugh’ as was used repeatedly for both Abraham and Sarah in chs 17 & 18. “You’re kidding, aren’t you? You can’t be serious! You’ve got to be joking!” Obviously, Lot had never witnessed to Yahweh’s righteousness before, and the need to repent of their sins and put their faith and trust in Yahweh for salvation. And, as we shall see, Lot’s wife enjoyed being in ‘The Real Housewives of Sodom.’

8/ “As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, ‘Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.’ But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, The LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. And as they brought him out, one said, ‘Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.’” Two things here: [1] Lot was lingering, reluctant to leave it all behind; and [2] in their flight out of Sodom, “Lot’s wife…looked back” in longing for the ‘good life’ they had enjoyed there. God turned her into a pillar of salt [the same destructive element God sowed into the barren land] as a testimony to “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world” [1 John 2.15-17]. Jesus would reprise this narrative in Luke 17.28-37 to warn us all to “set our affections on things above, where CHRIST is” [Colossians 3.1-4] in view of His Second Coming to both destroy this present world and save those who believe in Him! “So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived” – as He had promised Abraham in the covenant … and as He will do in the Last Day!

IV / Genesis 19.30-38 | The incestuous birth of the Moabites and Ammonites

1/ Lot had pleaded for this ‘little’ city of Zoar as a ‘city of refuge’ [vv 20-22]. Lot was a city-dweller; he didn’t think he would survive ‘off the grid.’ But he soon became fearful of living there in Zoar even. So he fled again with his two daughters into the nearby hills and became a cave-dweller.

2/ His two daughters [who are nameless], fearful that their little family would become extinct, and still carrying with them the same compromised morals they had witnessed in Sodom, conspired among themselves that each in turn would impregnate themselves by their father, Lot. They did. The purpose of this sordid narrative is to explain the origins of two of covenant Israel’s perennial enemies – Moabites and Ammonites – who would carry on the warfare of ‘the seed of the serpent’ against the ‘seed of the woman.’

“Flee from the wrath to come! Lay hold onto eternal life!”

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Posted in Bible Studies, CHRIST IN GENESIS, GENESIS, Lesson Notes, Sunday School lessons | Tagged 1 Thessalonians 1.10, 2 Peter 2.7-9, 2 Peter 3.8-13, Abraham friend of God, Ammonites, Bible Studies, CHRIST IN GENESIS, Friend of God, GENESIS, Genesis 18.1-19.38, HEBREWS 13.2, Is anything too hard for The LORD, Jude 7, Jude verse 7, Lesson Notes/Talking Points, Lot, Lot's wife, Luke 1.37, Moabites, Romans 5.9, Saved from the wrath to come, Sodom and Gomorrah, Sunday School lessons | Leave a comment

CHRIST: To Whom the Promises Were Made [Galatians 3.16]

Posted on April 13, 2024 by PastorDave

CHRIST IN GENESIS | Lesson 9 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read Genesis 15.1 – 17.27 & Galatians 3.16

‘CHRIST IN GENESIS’: MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

“The text of Genesis 15, taken as a unit, asks whether Abraham can, in fact, trust. And it asks if Yahweh can, in fact, be trusted. It is faith which permits Abraham to trust and God to be trusted. It is unsure faith that wonders about the delay. The issues are set here. The remainder of the Abrahamic narrative explores the answers.” ~Walter Brueggemann | Genesis

1/ This lesson will be a continuation of our last lesson [Lesson 8: CHRIST: God’s Blessing to the Nartions] and will affirm the promises that Yahweh made to Abram in ch 12.1-3. So we will repeatedly refer back to those promises and draw from them.

2/ The reason I am titling this lesson with the CHRIST-marker of ‘To Whom the Promises Were Made’ is because Paul makes the bold proclamation in Galatians 3.16 that every time Yahweh makes a covenant promise to be fulfilled in Abram’s ‘offspring’ [or ‘seed’ KJV], it is always in singular form, and not plural ‘offsprings’ or ‘seeds’: “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ who is CHRIST.”

3/ So we need to ‘nail this down’ in our understanding of all the covenant promises Yahweh will make to Abram – YAHWEH MADE THOSE PROMISES TO HIS SON, JESUS CHRIST! And they would all ultimately and prophetically be fulfilled in CHRIST and His Gospel of Grace! See Romans 15.8-9.

4/ Yes, the ‘offspring’ would number many as we shall see in ch 15.5, but even then, those numerous ‘offsprings’ must still all be born from one common father, the promised son Isaac. And Yahweh specifically promises in ch 17.21: “But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.”

5/ And, in that promise also, Isaac is a type and pre-enactment of CHRIST! Again, Paul gives us the inspired New Testament interpretation and commentary on Yahweh’s purpose in CHRIST in Romans 9.6-9. Yahweh chose Isaac as His elect son of Abraham to bear the covenant promise forward to CHRIST. “But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, ⁷and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” ⁸This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. ⁹For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son” [quoting from Genesis 17.21 & 18.10-11]. So, Isaac was the elect ‘offspring’ of Abraham’s through whom the covenant promises would be fulfilled. Isaac would carry the lineage forward to bring CHRIST into the world. And Isaac was also a believer in the same covenant promises – and he would pre-enact all of us who would believe in CHRIST who came from him.

6/ Paul returns to these events we will outline in our present lesson to illustrate how Isaac, as the elect and believing ‘offspring’ of Abraham is the carrier of the covenant promises made to Abraham and then confirmed to him also. You will read this New Testament interpretation in Galatians 3.29: “And if you are CHRIST’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” – and continued on through Isaac in Galatians 4.21-31. Paul contrasts Ishmael, the ‘son of the slave woman,’ Hagar [who was not the heir of the Abrahamic covenant] with Isaac, who was ‘born through promise’ [v 23] and even ‘born according to the Spirit’ [v 29]. And so, Paul’s concluding verdict is, that when we believe in Jesus CHRIST, we are born again into God’s covenant family IN CHRIST: “Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise” [v 28] … and “So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman” [v 31]. And since CHRIST is the Redeemer who was born from Abraham through Isaac, “For freedom CHRIST has set us free” [ch 5.1] after the likeness of Isaac’s inheritance of the covenant promises. Isaac was the son of the free woman [not of the slave woman] and was born into the freedom of the blessing of the Covenant. We are born the children of CHRIST, our Redeemer/Liberator, into the freedom of the same Covenant.

7/ And so, it is with these CHRIST-markers clearly set in our minds, we will outline the broad movements of the covenant promises Yahweh made to Abram … to be immediately fulfilled in Isaac … and then to be ultimately fulfilled in Abraham’s and Isaac’s Messianic Son, Jesus CHRIST! And then to be graciously granted to us who believe in CHRIST!

I / Genesis 15.1-21 | Yahweh affirms His promise with a covenant

1/ vv 1-6 / Sometimes, even after we have received what we know to be a specific promise from God through His Word, it seems to take ‘forever’ for it to come to pass. Several years have come and gone since the promises Yahweh had made to Abram back in ch 12.1-3. And a lot of ‘interruptive’ events have taken place, all of which have the appearances of not just delaying the fulfillment of the promises, but even circumventing and breaking the promises to make them ‘null and void’: like a famine in Canaan, their temporary traumatic sojourn in Egypt, the family conflict and separation between Abram and Lot, and finally the invasion of Canaan by the foreign kings and the hostage-taking of Lot and the citizens of Sodom. Not only is life ‘going on,’ but it’s leaving Abram singing, ‘Where have all the promises gone…long time passing’ and ‘The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind,’ as in ‘blowing away.’

2/ So Yahweh appears to Abram again [as in ch 12.1, 7 & 13.14] to re-assure him that He is still committed to fulfilling every word of everything He has promised. But it will be in His time and in His way. Abram appears to have been questioning himself: did he ‘cheat’ himself by not taking the rewards of the spoils the king of Sodom had offered him [ch 14.21-24]? After all, the king of Sodom was offering to give him a significant portion of ‘the land’ in these assets. But Abram had once again cast himself upon without reservation on Yahweh’s promise. Yahweh re-assures Abram: “Fear not, Abram, I AM your shield; your reward shall be very great.” “But, Yahweh, you have also promised me an offspring, a child, and through that child to multiply me into a great nation and bless all the families of the earth shall be blessed as they come to know you. “BUT, ‘O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless … Behold, you have given me no offspring…’” Yahweh’s answer is clear, simple, direct, emphatic, and unequivocal: “This man [Abram’s servant, Eliezer of Damascus] shall not be your heir; your very own son [literally, ‘what shall come out of your own loins] shall be your heir!” And then Yahweh goes further to give Abram a visual object lesson that will be there to remind him – think about how often Abram will recall this specific promise, every night of his life, wherever he may be – “And He brought him outside and said, ‘Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.’ Then He said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’” This same visual and verbal promise will be recalled again in ch 22.17. Yahweh will do what He has promised to do…in His own time, and in this, His own way! He knows where He is going and what He is going to do! Hebrews 11.12 reports that it was done exactly that way. And remember also, that this very promise was fulfilled in the innumerable children of faith who would ‘born’ to God through faith in Jesus CHRIST!

3/ v 6 / “And he [Abram] believed The LORD, and He counted it to him as righteousness.” This declaration of Abram’s [and our] salvation from our sins and being justified [made right with God] BY GOD’S SOVERIGN, UNMERITED, GRACE THROUGH OUR PERSONAL FAITH IN HIM is the rule which will follow God’s salvation plan all throughout the ages and generations of believers from beginning to end! Paul again gives us an extensive commentary on this statement and the historical-redemptive progression of God’s covenant promises in Romans 4.13-25 – fulfilled in CHRIST! “That is why his faith was ‘counted to him as righteousness.’ But the words ‘it was counted to him’ were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in Him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” [vv 22-25]. We don’t need to believe that Abram had not trusted and believed in Yahweh’s promise before, or that he had not been justified by his faith in Yahweh until this encounter and revelation. It is just a re-affirmation that Abram had believed in Yahweh and had been justified by his faith apart from any works of his own from the very first call Yahweh had given him in ch 12.1-4: “So Abram went, as The LORD had told him…”

4/ vv 7-21 / But then, to add yet further affirmation to this promise Yahweh had made to Abram, Yahweh makes this solemn, irrevocable covenant to Abram [and CHRIST] by the covenant ceremony described here: Yahweh commands Abram to bring these sacrificial animals, slaughter them, divide them in half, and lay them off ‘each half over against the other’ with a walking path between them. This was the common custom of their day when a covenant was made between two parties. If a covenant was serious enough to require the sacrifice of an innocent life, it was serious enough to bind and require the covenant makers to keep it! And Yahweh will keep it!

5/ The covenant Yahweh makes and commits to keep will not be un-opposed by the ‘seed of the serpent’ – not then, and not over the coming years in their own experience, and not when it is finally, forever, and fully fulfilled by CHRIST. “And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him.” And more, Yahweh prophesies that even in their own family/national experience, “Then The LORD said to Abram, ‘Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.’” This was fulfilled to the detail and the numbers of years in the Egyptian captivity and the Exodus redemption [see Exodus 12.33-41].

6/ Yahweh Himself passed through the covenant sacrifices in ‘a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch’ to show His Presence in all His covenant promises and His commitment to keep it as He had said!

II / Genesis 16.1-16 | Abram attempts to substitute his own ‘offspring’

1/ vv 1-6 / This chapter will describe Abram’s fleshly attempt to fulfill Yahweh’s promise through his own means and by his own efforts. “Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children” [see also ch 11.30]. If the Promised Seed/Offspring was to come from his own loins as Yahweh had promised, then if Yahweh is not giving Sarai conception, they must make it work through a ‘surrogate,’ Sarai’s Egyptian female servant, Hagar [was she included in Pharaoh’s dowry gifts in ch 12.16?]. At Sarai’s insistence, Abram impregnated Hagar, and she conceived. At least Hagar’s son would be ‘from his own loins.’ Hagar then contemptuously taunted Sarai and ‘owned’ her over this preeminence she now enjoyed – carrying her husband’s child. Sarai resented Hagar’s very presence in the family, and Abram gave Sarai permission to deal harshly with Hagar and require her to leave ‘to parts unknown’ – she would have to fend for herself.

2/ vv 7-15 / But they would have to live with the consequences of their failure of faith and trusting Yahweh, and He had plans to show His gracious covenant faithfulness by contrasting the birth of this ‘offspring of the flesh’ with His own ‘son of the promise’ which He would give. So Yahweh appears even to this poor helpless mother-to-be and tells her to “Return to your mistress and submit to her.” Hagar does, “And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six year old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.” This is now thirteen years after Abram’s first obedience to Yahweh’s promise to go to Canaan and receive the covenant inheritance there [ch 12.4].

3/ This account in the historical-redemptive progression purposes of God is also the basis of Paul’s extensive allegory found in Galatians 3.21-31.

III / Genesis 17.1-14 | Yahweh confirms His covenant with a sign [circumcision]

1/ vv 1-8 / “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, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.’” The eleven years between the birth of Ishmael and now are passed over in silence. Abram was 86 years old when Ishmael was born [Ishmael is now 11 years old], and Abram is now 99 years old. Abram has had to learn to wait on the faithfulness of Yahweh to fulfill His covenant promises – in His own way, by His own means, and in His own time. Abraham was learning he must trust – and Yahweh was promising and demonstrating He can be trusted!

2/ So Yahweh once again re-affirms and confirms His commitment to what He has promised He will do:

“Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. ⁵No longer shall your name be called Abram [exalted father], but your name shall be Abraham [father of a multitude], for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. ⁶I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. ⁷And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. ⁸And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”

3/ vv 9-14 / It is at this time that Yahweh gives Abram the outward, physical sign of the circumcision of their males’ foreskins. This circumcision will mark and identify His covenant promises to His people of faith, and their commitment to obey Him by their faith in Him. Once again, as we are told in the concluding verses of this chapter [vv 22-27], Abraham obeyed Yahweh’s covenant promise command. From this time forth, the descendants of Abraham will be called ‘the circumcision.’ When CHRIST comes as the Redeemer of His covenant people of faith, our distinguishing mark of faith will not be the circumcision of our flesh, but of our hearts [Romans 4.9-11; Philippians 4.3; Colossians 2.11-15; et. al].

IV / Genesis 17.15-27 | Yahweh promises to provide His covenant ‘offspring’ – Isaac

1/ So now, it is Yahweh’s time to reveal more specificity to the covenant promise He has been making to Abraham from the beginning. THIS is how God will fulfill the promise to Abraham that “I will make of you a great nation … from the offspring who shall come from your own loins … whom Sarah your wife will bear to you [even though she is barren, old, and well past the age of conceiving and bearing a son (see Romans 4.16-21 & Hebrews 4.11-12)] … through whom ‘all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’”

2/ Here are the specific details of this anchor covenant promise:

And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. ¹⁶I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” ¹⁷Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” ¹⁸And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” ¹⁹God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac [meaning, ‘laughter’ or ‘he laughs]. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. ²⁰As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. ²¹But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.”

3/ Going back to our primary CHRIST-marker in Galatians 3.16, note how Yahweh re-affirms in v 19: “I will establish my covenant with HIM as an everlasting covenant for HIS offspring after HIM.” In this immediate historical context, the heir of these covenant promises is Isaac: “But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year” [v 20].

4/ BUT in the historical-redemptive progression of the fulfillment of the covenant promises…

GOD IS MAKING THESE COVENANT PROMISES TO CHRIST – AND THEY WILL ALL BE FULFILLED IN HIM!

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Posted in Bible Studies, CHRIST IN GENESIS, GENESIS, Lesson Notes, Sunday School lessons | Tagged Abrahamic covenant, Bible Studies, CHRIST IN GENESIS, CHRIST To Whom the Promises Were Made, Galatians 3.16, Galatians 4.21-31, GENESIS, Genesis 15.1-17.27, Isaac, Lesson Notes/Talking Points, Romans 4.13-25, Romans 9.6-9, Son of the promise, Sunday School lessons | Leave a comment

CHRIST: God’s Blessing to the Nations [Acts 3.25; Galatians 3.7-9]

Posted on April 6, 2024 by PastorDave

CHRIST IN GENESIS | Lesson 8 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read Genesis 11.26 – 14.24 & Acts 3.25-26; Galatians 3.7-9

‘CHRIST IN GENESIS’: MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

1/ This is obviously a significantly large section of Scripture to be covering in one lesson, but some of the following lesson sections will be even larger. So, we’ll reiterate again what our purpose is in this course CHRIST IN GENESIS – to point out and highlight how these Scriptures will be fulfilled IN CHRIST according to the eternal covenant purposes of God.

2/ As we break down this larger lesson passage into smaller sub-sections, we’ll point out the most significant CHRIST-markers in each section…and elaborate a little more on the details during our class time that we won’t have space enough for here in these lesson notes.

3/ But let’s begin here with a summary connection with our last lesson – and even a catch-up summary from the beginning of Genesis. With that end in view, I can do no better than quote Sidney Greidanus in Preaching Christ from Genesis:

“One can preach Christ from this narrative by using the way of redemptive-historical progression. In the beginning God created the earth as His Kingdom where He would be worshiped and served as the great King. God placed the first human pair in a beautiful garden, Paradise, ‘the garden of God,’ where they could live in the presence of God. But the human Fall into sin led to disastrous consequences: God drove them out of the garden; the close communion with God was broken. Human sin resulted in such violence that proper development of human life and culture became impossible. God sent a great flood to cleanse the earth and to make a new start with Noah, who built ‘an altar to the LORD’ (8.20) to rededicate the cleansed earth to God. But humankind again defied God at Babel, resulting in God confusing their language and scattering them across the earth. Then God called Abram to leave his father’s house and its gods. God would make a new start with him in the land of Canaan, which was watered ‘like the garden of the LORD’ (13.10). Canaan was to become another Paradise – a beachhead on earth for the Kingdom of God. As with Adam and Noah, the LORD promises to bless Abram. In fact, the LORD promises, ‘In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed’ (Gen. 12.3). In calling Abram/Israel to reclaim Canaan for His Kingdom, God has the whole earth in view … In the fullness of time God made a new start by sending His Son, Jesus. Jesus came preaching, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God has come near’ (Mark 1.15) … After His death and resurrection, Jesus mandated His disciples, ‘Go…and make disciples of all nations…’ (Matt 28.19), and the Kingdom of
God started to spread throughout the world. When Jesus comes again, He will establish His Kingdom on earth in perfection. The ascended Lord promises: ‘To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God’ (Rev 2.7). God ‘will dwell [tabernacle] with them; they will be His peoples, and God Himself will be with them’ (Rev 21.3). Paradise will be restored on earth (Rev 22.1-5).”

This will be The New Creation! God has been going there from the very beginning of the First Creation! And it will ALL be accomplished IN CHRIST and BY CHRIST! [See my chart / graphic I have prepared for you – CHRIST: in Creation to New Creation.]

4/ Greidanus again:

“With God’s judgment of the rebellion at Babel, the question is if God is giving up on His plan of establishing His Kingdom on earth. The answer is a firm, No. After reporting on Babel, the narrator gives the family history of Shem, the son Noah blessed (9.26), the seed of the woman. And in ten generations he arrives at Abram (11.26). Abram is another Noah (who was the tenth generation from Adam) with whom God will make a new beginning.”

5/ So, just like Adam and Noah, Abram is presented here as the ‘new beginning’ of the Kingdom of God. His election by God to be ‘the father of the people of faith’ will continue the human lineage of the promised Savior and Redeemer, the ‘seed of the woman’ (ch 3.15) who will be CHRIST HIMSELF!

I / Genesis 11.26-32 | From Noah to Shem to Terah, Father of Abram

1/ Now these are the generations [toledot/tohl-dah] of Terah. This is now the 6^th toledot/tohl-dah of the ten ‘short stories / biographies’ that are connected one after the other to make up the story of Genesis. The meaning of toledot is ‘who came from…what became of.’ We have listed them in Lesson 2 and discussed each one in the historical-redemptive progression of CHRIST through this narrative.

2/ The purpose of this toledot is to connect Abram [Yahweh will rename him ‘Abraham’ in ch 17.5] with Adam. So if you connect Shem’s toledot in ch 11.10-26 with Adam’s in ch 5, you’ll see the direct line from Adam to Noah to Terah, who was the father of Abram. Adam’s son was Seth [to take the place of murdered Abel]; Seth’s line will bring us to Noah and his son, Shem; Shem’s line will bring us to Terah, who was the father of Abram. And, of course, Abraham will take us to CHRIST!

3/ The narrator of this story which was inspired by the Spirit of CHRIST Himself [1 Peter 1.11] is showing us how God is continuing His covenant purpose to bring CHRIST, His Son, into the world to be our promised Savior/Redeemer [ch 3.15]. God knows what He is doing and where He is going!

4/ When the nations were dispersed in ch 11, the family of Terah had migrated to the east, even as far as Ur of the Chaldeans. They would have been included among the families of Asshur [ch 10.21], which would later come to be called Assyria. It is now in what we know as Iraq.

5/ But God’s purpose was to give Abram and his descendants the land of Canaan which was then already inhabited [and contaminated] by the cursed descendants of Canaan and the Canaanites [see ch 12.6-7].

6/ We are also introduced to Sarai [Sarah, ch 17.15], Abram’s wife … and also to Lot, the son of Abram’s brother, Haran. Of course, both of these will feature prominently in the narratives to follow. It is also interesting to note here how the inspired narrator is introducing ‘tension’ into the story – obstacles that will make it more humanly difficult – even impossible – for the promises God will make to Abram to be fulfilled: Now Sarai was barren; she had no child [v 30]. But God will make it happen!

7/ vv 31-32 / These verses probably describe the travelogue of their clan after God had called Abram as described in ch 12. God called Abram to go to Canaan while he was still in Ur of the Chaldeans. They began their journey to Canaan, but stopped off in Haran in the region known then and still now as Syria. Terah died in Haran at 205 years old – and so the story and saga of Abram takes over the narrative in this historical-redemptive progression of the CHRIST/Gospel story.

II / Genesis 12.1-9 | ‘The Promises given to the Patriarchs’ (Romans 15.8-9)

1/ So now, we meet Abram in person. In the previous verses, he is named six times in relation to his father, Terah. Now his personal story begins. Yahweh has chosen Abram to be the ‘father’ or progenitor of the family of peoples through whom He will send His Messiah into the world. In keeping with our CHRIST IN GENESIS purpose and aim, we will note specifically how this part of the narrative points to CHRIST.

2 / vv 1-3 / Yahweh calls Abram to believe in Him, obey Him, and makes covenant promises to him. This call to ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you’ had come to Abram while he was still in his father’s homeland, Ur of the Chaldeans. Yahweh’s purpose in calling Abram was to make a covenant with Abram, and through him, to ‘lay claim’ to the land He had chosen to give His people for their homeland … so they could establish themselves under His sovereign oversight, rule, and protection. As these chosen peoples flourished under His ‘blessing’ He would preserve them over the coming centuries as a distinct people of Yahweh-worshipers – and from them the promised Messiah / Savior / Redeemer would be born into the world. [see Romans 9.5]

3/ Yahweh makes Abram these promises: “[1] I will make of you a great nation, and [2] I will bless you and [3] I will make your name great, [4] So that you will be a blessing. [5] I will bless those who bless you, and [6] I will curse those who dishonor you, [7] and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed!” These seven amazing promises will form the basis of the Gospel promises that God will bring to all the nations – ALL fulfilled in the Person of Jesus Christ. All the succeeding generations of believing God-worshipers would look back at these promises, and yearn for them to be realized as they waited for their promised Redeemer to come. Listen to Mary as she exulted in the announcement that she would be the mother of the CHRIST [emphases mine]: “He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy, as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever” [Luke 1.54-55]. And to Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist who would announcement CHRIST’s arrival: “Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us … as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant, the oath that He swore to our father Abraham…” [Luke 1.58-75].

4/ The Gospel promises that God makes to save His people from all the nations and peoples of the earth are ALL included and summed up in that one promise: “and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” The New Testament apostles knew that CHRIST had fulfilled that promise.

The apostle Peter: “And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ God, having raised up His Servant, sent Him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness” [Acts 3.24-26]. [‘To the Jew first…’ Romans 1.16]
And Paul declared in Galatians 3.7-9, that CHRIST and His Gospel – which we have believed to be saved from our sins – is God’s keeping His promise He makes here to Abram: “Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles [nations, ‘families of the earth’] by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed.’ So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” [The Gospel of CHRIST was promised to Abraham!]
Paul again made this summary declaration of CHRIST’s fulfillment of ALL the promises God made to the Old Testament fathers in Romans 15.8-9: “For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcision [Abrahamic covenant] to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles [all the nations and ‘families of the earth’] might glorify God for His mercy. As it is written, ‘Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing to your Name.’” [This is CHRIST proclaiming and singing HIS Gospel to the ‘nations!]

5/ While we will develop more fully this CHRIST fulfillment of all these promises in our next lesson, let’s establish this truth immediately and keep it in mind going forward: when Yahweh was making these promises to Abram in his immediate historical context, He was prophetically making these same promises to CHRIST Himself! Yahweh was promising CHRIST “…and in YOU all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” They [we] would be blessed by His coming into the world to redeem us from our sins, proclaiming His Gospel, and calling on us to repent of our sins and believe ON HIM! These Gospel covenant blessings IN CHRIST are announced here; affirmed in ch 15; and confirmed in ch 17 with the birth of Isaac. And again, in Galatians 3.15-16, Paul specifically emphasizes “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring [singular]. It does not say ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ who is CHRIST!” As I say, this will be explained more fully in our next lesson, but we need to see, learn, and remember this CHRIST-marker here in the beginning of Abram’s story to appreciate where God is going with these promises. He is pointing, ‘pre-enacting,’ and going to CHRIST who will fulfill ALL these promises and make them good! CHRIST is the only ‘Seed of Abraham’ of whom it shall be said: “And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed!”

6/ vv 4-9 / Abram departed from Haran, where they had stopped off after leaving Ur of the Chaldeans, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan … At that time the Canaanites were in the land. He journeyed from north to south: first at Shechem and built an altar to the worship of Yahweh – in the proximity and sight of one of their ungodly, idolatrous shrines called the oak of Moreh [also in ch 13.18]. This was his way of ‘laying / staking claim’ to Yahweh’s ‘land.’ “This is Yahweh’s land and country. I have arrived to claim it and declare it to be HIS! He will establish His Kingdom here in this land!”

7/ “From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to The LORD and called on the Name of The LORD. And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb [southern regions of Canaan] – still claiming all the ‘land’ for The LORD – preaching the Name of Yahweh and faith in Him as he went.

III / Genesis 12.10-20 | Yahweh overrules Abram’s deceit and duplicity

1/ This historical narrative is inserted here [1] first of all, because it happened, and also [2] to show that Yahweh will keep His covenant promises and maintain the purity of His CHRIST descendant even though Abram, His human covenant-carrier shows his flaws by lying about Sarai his wife.

2/ Even though Abram was rebuked by the ruling Pharaoh of Egypt for lying to him, Yahweh still ‘blesses’ Abram with the rich dowry the Pharaoh had given him in exchange for his temporary ‘taking’ of Sarai into his harem. God afflicted the Pharaoh with ‘great plagues’ before the union could be consummated; then Abram was evicted from Egypt and escorted back to the Negeb from whence he came – his ‘land.’

IV / Genesis 13.1-18 | Yahweh delivers Abram from another potentially ‘derailing’ conflict

1/ vv 1-4 / Abram continues retracing his same steps going north that he had when he first came south – returning to his altars and calling upon the Name of The LORD [publicly worshiping and preaching].

2/ vv 5-13 / Abram’s ‘riches,’ much of which had been given to him by the Egyptian Pharaoh, proved to be a double-edged sword. Both he and his nephew, Lot, were rich in wealth and goods. Their respective herdsmen began to fight and quarrel among themselves over the pasturelands. Though he was the ‘senior/elder’ of the family clan, Abram takes the ‘high road’ and graciously allows Lot to pick and choose which portions of the land he wanted to settle in. Lot visually surveyed all the surrounding countryside and chose the regions that most appealed to his own personal interests and advantages: he chose to settle in close proximity to Sodom. Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against The LORD. Of course, they will come up again in ch 19 when The LORD destroys them and Lot barely escapes alive.

3/ This is more than just a lesson about maintaining spiritual values and making moral choices – this is a continuing re-enactment and prophetic pre-enactment of the war of the ‘seed of the serpent’ against the ‘seed of the woman.’ Remember that these Sodomites are the direct descendants of the cursed Canaan, son of Ham, grandson of Noah [see chs 9.24-27 & 10.15-20]. The ‘great red dragon’ of Revelation 12 has been from the beginning seeking to devour the seed of the woman and make war against them.

4/ vv 14-18 / The LORD uses this experience to once again assure Abram that He will keep His promises to him. Abram has lost nothing. Yahweh is still promising to give Abram ALL of it for the purpose of establishing HIS KINGDOM AND BRINGING IN HIS PROMISED REDEEMER!

V / Genesis 14.1-24 | Meet Melchizedek

1/ vv 1-16 / Ch 14 is yet another assault on the Kingdom of God Yahweh was establishing in the land of
Canaan. These four foreign kings invaded Canaan and attempted to dispossess the Canaanites and conquer it for themselves. When the five kings of Canaan [including Sodom and Gomorrah] fought back, many of their inhabitants [including Lot] were taken hostage as well as their goods were plundered. Abram had to go on a ‘rescue and retrieve’ campaign – and he did, successfully.

2/ vv 17-24 / As they were returning with the hostages and their goods, Abram is met by two kings: the king of Sodom and this Melchizedek, king of nearby Salem [shalom / peace Hebrews 7.1-3]. God thus introduces Melchizedek into the narrative – he just ‘shows up’ out of nowhere – with no introductory record of who he is, what his genealogy is, or what background he’s coming from. He just shows up to ‘bless’ Abram in the Name of Yahweh. He is immediately enshrined in Scripture as the high-priestly ‘order of Melchizedek’ [Psalm 110.4; Hebrews 5.6, 10; 6.20; 7.11, 17]. In the Hebrews commentary, Melchizedek’s priestly order is characterized by ‘appointed / designated by God,’ ‘a high priest forever,’ ‘having neither beginning of days nor end of life,’ ‘superior to Abraham,’ ‘perfect,’ and ‘the power of an indestructible life.’ Thus, Abram is ‘blessed’ by the CHRIST-marker Melchizedek!

3/ Yahweh brings Melchizedek into Abram’s life and the forever history of Scripture as a clear testimony and CHRIST-marker that CHRIST is orchestrating the course of on-going history and the fulfillment of the covenant promises – and that He will come in the fullness of time to complete it … and He did!

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Posted in Bible Studies, CHRIST IN GENESIS, GENESIS, Lesson Notes, Sunday School lessons | Tagged Abraham, Abrahamic covenant, Acts 3.25-26, All the families of the earth shall be blessed, Bible Studies, CHRIST God's Blessing to the Nations, CHRIST IN GENESIS, Galatians 3.7-9, GENESIS, Genesis 11.26-14.24, Lesson Notes/Talking Points, Luke 1.54-55, Luke 1.58-75, Melchizedek, Romans 5.8-9, Sunday School lessons, The order of Melchizedek | Leave a comment

Blessed are the Caregivers

Posted on March 26, 2024 by PastorDave

“And they came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house, He asked them, ‘What were you discussing on the way?’ But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. And He sat down and called the twelve. And He said to them, ‘If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all’” [Mark 9.33-35].

Caring for others is, by its very nature, performed in obscurity, unseen and unrecognized by anyone else but those giving and receiving the needed care. However, it is seen by Him who matters most and whom we most want to please – our Lord Jesus Christ. And He promises that He will recognize it in the Last Day as having been done personally to Him and His own body. Think of it as … those we are personally serving are also serving as the ‘proxies’ – in the Person – of Jesus Himself. “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers (and sisters), you did it to Me’” [Matthew 25.34-40].

And though, again by its very nature, it may be ‘humble’ service, it is by no means ‘menial’ as in ‘low-class, less noble, or below a more worthy pay grade.’ Jesus would call it among the ‘greatest’ of all callings and ministries.

Every day I pray:

that “whatever my hand finds to do, that I may do it with my might” [Ecclesiastes 9.10];
that I may “serve The LORD with gladness” [Psalm 100.2];
that I may do everything “not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord … work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ” [Colossians 3.22-24];
to receive it not as a stricture on my liberty, but as an exercise of my liberty in Christ to “through love serve one another” [Galatians 5.13-14];
and especially, that I may represent Christ and His Gospel well [1 Timothy 5.8] and be a living testimony of His love, grace, gentleness, and mercy – He who “came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many [Matthew 20.25-28].”

Posted in Caregivers, I've been thinking | Tagged Blessed are the caregivers, Caregivers, Colossians 3.22-24, Ecclesiastes 9.10, Galatians 5.13-14, I've been thinking, Mark 9.33-35, Matthew 20.25-28, Matthew 25.34-40, Psalm 100.2, Servant of all | Leave a comment

CHRIST: The Nations are Dispersed…to be Re-gathered [Revelation 7.9-17]

Posted on March 23, 2024 by PastorDave

CHRIST IN GENESIS | Lesson 7 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read Genesis 10.1-11.26 & Revelation 7.9-17

‘CHRIST IN GENESIS’: MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

1/ Since our purpose in this whole course of study is narrowed down to discovering how CHRIST IN GENESIS is pictured and pointed to in these various study sections. we will want to ask ourselves: “Where and how do we see CHRIST here in this lesson?”

2/ So, what is the narrator’s purpose for including chapters 10-11? The Flood is over, and the only survivors of the Flood are Noah and his three sons. Go back to ch 9.18: “The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth (Ham was the father of Canaan.) These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the people of the whole earth were dispersed.” And so, we, the present humanity of the earth are ALL of us descended from these three sons of Noah. Yes, we are the descendants of Adam, but now the earth’s population is re-starting again with these three sons. And, from one of these three sons, Shem, CHRIST will be brought into the world to be our Redeemer. All the other nations of the earth and human history – from that time to this – are descended from the other two sons: Japheth and Ham.

3/ So…

[1] ch 10.1-32 will chronicle the names and nations that descended from each of the three sons. Ch 10.32: “These are the clans of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, in their nations, and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.”

[2] ch 11.1-9 will record how those nations that began to multiply decided among themselves that they would not, in fact, disperse as Yahweh had commanded them. Instead, they would remain congregated and concentrated together and establish their own self-governed counter-civilization among themselves. God confused their languages so that they had to disperse to their God-directed distinctive areas of the then-world.

[3] ch 11.10-26 records God’s purpose to focus His Kingdom and Messianic plans in the family of Shem whose genealogy leads us to Terah, who was the father of Abram [Abraham]. And, of course, Abraham becomes the Scriptural and historical ‘father of the faithful,’ and ‘from whom CHRIST came.’

4/ Just one more textual and literary note about how the text of Genesis is composed and written: ch 10.1 begins with “These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood.” That phrase: “These are the generations of…” begins another toledot [tohl-dah] I’ve been telling you about from the beginning. That phrase could also be interpreted “this is what became of…” A toledot is a ‘short story’ or ‘genealogy/biography’ of a specific ancestral forefather of CHRIST. There are ten of them in Genesis that begin with the same key phrase (see Lesson 2).

This one is #4.
It will take us to #5 in ch 11.10 which will narrow down God’s Historical-Redemptive Progression of the Bible story to Shem;
then to #6 which is in ch 11.27, which will record the genealogy of Terah, who is the father of Abram – and that will open up the history of Abraham.

I / Genesis 10.1-32 | Noah’s three sons and the nations that came from each

1/ These are the names of the sons, the clans, the nations, and the areas of the then-world to which they were dispersed after the dispersion recorded in ch 11. So just keep in mind that ch 10 records both how they multiplied both BEFORE and AFTER the Tower of Babel dispersion. A key phrase is in ch 10.32: “These are the clans of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, in their nations, and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.” This is an obvious reference to the AFTER-BABEL dispersion. So ch 10 will record who they were and who they came from…and ch 11 will describe how they ended up where God dispersed them.

2/ Ch 10 is divided up into the descendants of each of Noah’s three sons, beginning with Japheth, then Ham [including also the descendants of Ham’s son, Canaan (see ch 9.18-27)], then concluding with Shem since he will be the most prominent of the three as the father of Terah who will be the father of Abram, who will in turn become the ancestral father of the CHRIST. These ancestral fathers are named in both of CHRIST’s genealogies [see Matthew 1.1-2 & Luke 3.34-38]. So all we will want to do here is distinguish the three sons with their descendants – AND point out just a few of the most prominent nations of descendants whose names will come up again later on in the history of Israel.

3/ vv 1-5 / “The sons of Japheth…” On the simplified map I have provided for you, you will note that the Japhethites were dispersed to what became predominantly European, Caucasian, and Asian peoples. They are represented by the rectangular-shaped boxes. Names of note among the Japhethites are: Madai (Medes), Javan (Greeks), and Magog (which will feature prominently among Israel’s enemies on to the end of Scriptural, world, and prophetic history.

4/ vv 6-14 / “The sons of Ham…” These descendants were dispersed primarily [though not exclusively] to the adjoining continent of what would become Africa [Egypt]. The most prominent Hamite was Nimrod. Nimrod remains in our vernacular as the consummate rebel, rogue, renegade – as in ‘He’s such a Nimrod!’ Nimrod was the founder of the Babel kingdom, which was also the foundation of the Babylonian empire. They were among the first to migrate and settle “in the land of Shinar” which will become another name for Babylon [see Daniel 1.2]. Other prominent names of note are: Assyria, Nineveh, and the Philistines.

5/ vv 15-20 / “Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn and Heth [Hittites]…” Canaan is the son of Ham [v 6], and he will become the ‘father’ of the nations who came to be called ‘Canaanites,’ who were, of course, the inhabitants of the Promised Land that Yahweh will give His people to possess.

NOTE: that by the time Moses wrote this book of Genesis – probably in the plains of Moab as Israel was finally set to move into the Promised Land to possess it – the Canaanite nations were already long-time established inhabitants of Canaan.
Heth [Hittites] had become a very powerful nation and had migrated by that time down into Canaan. We will run across them many times, even here in Genesis.
This section/genealogy is a sub-set of Ham’s descendants – and will give a commentary on the origins of the Canaanite nations. It also explains the basis of the curse on Canaan [see ch 9.24-27], and why the curse of Ham was pronounced against Canaan. NOT because the father’s [Ham] sins were punished upon the son [Canaan], BUT because the son had already shown the proclivities to continue practicing the sins of the father – which he did. Canaan fully cultivated and developed his father Ham’s sins of disregard for righteousness and morality. The Canaanites went ‘full-bore’ into the immoral and sexual perversions that Ham had begun to evidence in his disregard for Noah’s modesty and decency. And, when Yahweh [through Noah’s oracle] cursed Canaan by saying “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers,” He was prophesying that they would be conquered, driven out, and dispossessed by his brothers. And those who were kept alive would become servants.

6/ vv 21-31 / “To Shem also…” NOW, the narrative not only of Genesis but also of the rest of Scripture is going to zoom in, narrow down, and focus on the descendants of Shem. Shem will become the father of the Semites, and more particularly of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – or Israel [see ch 11.10-26 and on]. Here is an intentional, foundational, and prominent CHRIST-marker! CHRIST is going to come into the world to fulfill the ‘seed of the woman’ promise [ch 3.15] DIRECTLY FROM THIS LINE OF SHEM! As Paul will trace it in Romans 9.4-5: “They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the CHRIST, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.” The Spirit of CHRIST [1 Peter 1.10-11] is laying down this CHRIST-marker centuries and generations before CHRIST came so we can now look back through the pages of Scripture and annals of history to see God’s fore-ordained purpose and plan He is working out!

II / Genesis 11.1-9 | The Tower of Babel and dispersion of the nations

1/ NOW, after enumerating the descendants of Noah’s three sons and the nations that came from them, the narrator will tell us how they came to be dispersed to the areas and regions of the then-world where they eventually migrated to begin this renewed course of world history that continues to this day – and will continue until the Return of CHRIST and the Last Day.

2/ vv 1-2 / NOTE: the nations did not disperse themselves. Verse 8 will tell us plainly: “So The LORD dispersed them from there over all the face of the earth…” But, as v 1 tells us, “Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.” They continued to multiply and began migrating from ‘the mountains of Ararat’ [ch 8.4] where the ark had come to rest. This was located in the northern regions of Mesopotamia [where the kingdoms of Babylon and Assyria would later be established].

3/ vv 3-4 / They had one intention: God had commanded that they fulfill His now-renewed original Creation Mandate to “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth…” [ch 9.1]. In other words, “Go forth now over all the earth and people My Kingdom under My rule – recognize Me as your Creator-God and steward the earth under My dominion. Fulfill My will and My purpose for My creation!” But they said, “NO! We will hijack Your creation and take it over for ourselves! We will congregate and concentrate ourselves together – the earth will become OUR kingdom, and we will govern ourselves as we please!”

This was a declaration of PRIDE & ARROGANCE… “And they said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.’ And they had bricks for stone, and bitumen for mortar.”
This was a declaration of USURPATION, REBELLION & WAR AGAINST GOD… “Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens [to displace God], and let us make a name for ourselves…’”
This was a declaration of DEFIANCE AGAINST GOD’S CREATION/KINGDOM MANDATE… “…lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”

4/ vv 5-9 / But God’s purposes and plans for His creation will not be frustrated! Once again, by the inspiration of the Spirit of Christ, we are allowed into the mind of God – what He thought and said:

“And The LORD came down to see…” This is almost humorous…they thought they would build UP to God as if to bring Him down. But He is so far exalted above all their imaginations and efforts, He had to come DOWN even to observe what they were doing!
“And The LORD said…” as He exposes their foolish and fruitless enterprises of rebellion. He will so confuse and confound them that they can’t even talk and communicate with one another. NOTE: the Trinitarian ‘us’ in Yahweh’s language. CHRIST is there in all these deliberations and sovereign judgments!
“So The LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.” The name ‘Babel’ and the verb ‘confused’ are from the same root and sound alike. NOTE: we can see also a very clear CHRIST-marker here as an example of Psalm 2 – God has given the earth to The CHRIST to be His Kingdom, for Him to rule over, to be the universe for His worship and glory! It will be perfectly and fully fulfilled in the New Creation. It is NOW IN OUR DAY being redeemed and fulfilled in the Great Commission of the Gospel. But I want to elaborate on that just a bit here after we make a note about the next section…

III / Genesis 11.10-26 | Shem to Terah to Abram…

1/ This is now the 5^th toledot [‘short story / genealogy’] which comprise the Book of Genesis. And I have pretty much shown the relationship of this section with the developing Story-line of the Scriptures and the lineage of Christ back in I-6/. So please go back and review that paragraph.

2/ But to sum it up here in a sentence: this section will make the connections and trace the lineage of Shem to Terah, who is the father of Abram, who will become Abraham “the father of all who believe” [Romans 4.11] and “from whom came The Christ” [Romans 9.5]. We will develop Abraham’s story in following lessons.

IV / CHRIST-markers in this lesson…

1/ I have called this lesson CHRIST: The Nations are Dispersed…to be Re-Gathered in CHRIST.

And, I have denoted Revelation 7.9-17 as the primary New Testament end-time fulfillment of this initial re-gathering of these dispersed nations … and it will be fulfilled IN CHRIST through the preaching of His Gospel in the present age. God knows where He is going in the end of all time and things from this event – and it’s going to be fulfilled IN CHRIST.

2/ So what we will do here is go from this point all the way to the New Creation…

Genesis 10.2, 20, 32; 11.8: Note that these nations were dispersed “in their lands, each with his own language, by their clans, in their nations” etc. The nations were divided, defined, distinguished from one another, and dispersed throughout the world. All of the nations of their day, throughout Scripture and world history, down to our own day, and to the end of time … came from these nations. BUT God is not going to abandon them. It is His purpose to call them back, redeem and reconcile them back to Himself IN CHRIST, and save them by His grace through their faith in His Redeemer.
Deuteronomy 32.8-9: “When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when He divided mankind, He fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. But The LORD’s portion is His people, Jacob His allotted heritage.” Meaning that God so situated all the nations around Jacob/Israel, His chosen nation, to make Israel’s witness to Him accessible to all the nations that they might know Him, return to Him, believe in Him, and be saved – re-gathered to Him as His people. [See also Acts 17.24-31 below…]
Psalm 2: Again we reference Psalm 2 as we did above in II-4/. Not only because it describes their rebellion “against The LORD and against His Anointed [CHRIST],” BUT “The LORD said to Me, ‘You are My Son; today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth Your possession.” Yes, CHRIST will exercise His sovereign Lordship over all the nations by destroying in the end all those who persist in their rebellion against Him – but He will also save all those whom the Father has given Him to redeem.
Isaiah 49.5-6: The LORD covenants with CHRIST to redeem back to Himself, NOT ONLY ‘the tribes of Jacob … the preserved of Israel,” but also “I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
John 11.49-52: In this inadvertent prophecy, Caiaphas reiterated God’s purpose to re-gather the dispersed unbelieving nations and make them the people of God.
Matthew 28.18-20: Jesus CHRIST commanded His apostles, the succeeding churches – US – to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…”
Acts 2.4-11: On that memorable Day of Pentecost, the apostles began to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus CHRIST to the feast audience, and “…each one was hearing them speak in his own language … we hear them telling in our own tongues the might works of God.”
Acts 17.24-31: connect this Scripture with Deuteronomy 32.8-9 above. God dispersed them with the intention “that they should seek God…and find Him…” IN CHRIST [as here].
Revelation 7.9-10: And this purpose of God will continue until, in the end, it will be fulfilled perfectly and completely as John sees in this vision Jesus gives him: “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and people and languages, standing before the Throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the Throne, and to the Lamb!’”

3/ CHRIST has re-gathered them from every nation and corner of the earth to where they had been dispersed … and redeemed them back to God as God has purposed from the time He first divided and dispersed them!

4/ And, in the New Creation…in the Light of the Lamb and His Gospel [Revelation 21.24-25]…

By its [CHRIST’s] light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it … They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations – IN CHRIST!

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Posted in Bible Studies, CHRIST IN GENESIS, GENESIS, Lesson Notes, Sunday School lessons | Tagged Acts 2.4-11, Bible Studies, CHRIST IN GENESIS, CHRIST-the nations are dispersed to be re-gathered, Deuteronomy 32.8-9, GENESIS, Genesis 10.1-11.26, Isaiah 49.5-6, John 11.49-52, Lesson Notes/Talking Points, Matthew 28.18-20, nations, Nations are dispersed, Nations of the earth, New creation, Psalm 2, Revelation 7.9-10, Revelation 7.9-17, Shem Ham and Japheth, Sunday School lessons, toledot, Tower of Babel | Leave a comment

CHRIST: Reclaiming the Creation [2 Peter 3.5-13]

Posted on March 16, 2024 by PastorDave

CHRIST IN GENESIS | Lesson 6 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read Genesis 8.20 – 9.29 & 2 Peter 3.5-13

‘CHRIST IN GENESIS’: MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

1/ Since what we are looking for here in our survey/summary study of CHRIST IN GENESIS are the ‘CHRIST-markers’ that point us to CHRIST who is to come, they will be easy to find in this study passage:

[1] Jesus provides His own personal commentary on the significance of the Flood in Matthew 24.37-38 and Luke 17.26-27 when He declared that the Flood judgments on the ungodly were a pre-enactment of His own Second Coming: Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man … until the flood came and destroyed them all.
[2] So also, the aftermath of the Flood – after the earth had been ‘cleansed’ of the ungodly corruption, there emerged a ‘new creation.’ That is the subject of Peter’s New Testament interpretation and commentary in 2 Peter 3.5-13.
[3] There will be another cataclysmic judgment on the whole earth to destroy all the ungodly inhabitants of the earth and the ‘corruption’ that has spoiled God’s ‘good’ First Creation. That will usher in The Day when Jesus will declare: Behold, I am making all things new! [Revelation 21.5]. Jesus gave John visions of the Day of New Creation in Revelation 21.1: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth [First Creation] had passed away, and the sea was no more.”
[4] So, when Peter says “But according to His promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells,” he is quoting the promise God made to Noah in our study passage, as we shall see. “But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly” and “But the Day of the LORD will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed” [2 Peter 3.7, 10] … and then the New Creation will be revealed in The Day of Christ.

2/ So, our last lesson [the Flood judgments of God] was a pre-enactment of the destruction of the world that now is when Christ returns; and the present lesson is a pre-enactment of the New Creation that will follow and be ushered in by Christ when “[He] makes all things new.”

3/ THAT, in a nutshell, is what we want to look for and point out as we pursue this current lesson…

I / Genesis 8.20-22 | The Promise of Salvation [2 Peter 3.8-9]

1/ v 20 / Immediately upon disembarking from the ark that had saved them from the Flood-waters, “Then Noah built an altar to The LORD and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. BTW, this is the first mention of ‘altar’ in the Scriptures – not that they had not offered previous sacrifices on altars before, but the altar had not been specifically mentioned. The offering of burnt offerings on the altar was Noah’s confession that they had been saved by Yahweh’s grace and mercy by the merits of a substitute sacrifice – a clear pointer to CHRIST! This is also God’s reason for instructing Noah to take seven specimens of ‘clean’ animals and birds on the ark – so some of them could serve as sacrifices and the others would serve to re-populate the ‘new’ creation.

2/ vv 21-22 / “And when The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma [‘sweet savour’ / KJV], The LORD said…” This is language expressing that Yahweh accepted the sacrifices both as an atonement for their sins and also as a thank-offering for His Grace that He had extended in saving them from His wrath. This same language is used repeatedly in Leviticus to express God’s pleasure in receiving His appointed sacrifices – again ALL of which are types and pre-enactments of CHRIST’s all-sufficient sacrifice for our salvation!

3/ Yahweh also recognizes that the same corruptions that necessitated the first ‘cleansing’ of the earth will again be perpetuated by succeeding generations of humanity: “…for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” Yahweh knows that in the succeeding generations to follow from that time until the end, it will be ‘deja vu all over again.’ [Remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 24.37-38 and Luke 17.26-27.] But He will restrain Himself from destroying all earth and humanity ‘as I have done’ by flood-waters … until the final judgments of the Last Day. Not that He won’t finally destroy everything again, but He won’t destroy by waters. He will restrain Himself for two reasons: [1] to extend ‘common grace’ to all of humanity and give them space for repentance; and [2] to save His elect through the Gospel of CHRIST before that end comes [2 Peter 3.9]. Thus, day and night and the revolving seasons continue shall not cease and have not ceased … until The Day of CHRIST.

II / Genesis 9.1-7 | A ‘New Adam’ and ‘New Creation’ Mandate

1/ v 1 / As you read these words, you need to hear all the echoes of the First Creation mandates that God had given Adam in the beginning. Not only here, but even also all throughout the Flood narrative, we hear those echoes in the Spirit [breath] of God, the waters, the gathering of the created animals, etc. It was as if God was ‘beginning’ again – which He was. But especially here: “And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth’” [see ch 1.22, 28]. Here, as the ‘new Adam,’ God is blessing Noah as He commissions to ‘re-begin’ this ‘new’ creation. This primary Creation Mandate is repeated three times: 8.17; 9.1, 7. Again, you have to see here that Noah is serving as a pre-enactment of CHRIST who will come as God’s anointed ‘last Adam…second Man’ [1 Corinthians 15.45-47] to redeem God’s people – to save and re-create a new ‘humanity’ made in His own image [Ephesians 2.15; Colossians 3.10].

2/ vv 2-7 / There are some expanded differences in this ‘new’ creation mandate and the first:

[1] With the new ‘fear’ being introduced into the creation by the traumas of the Flood, “the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast…bird…creeping thing…fish…”
[2] Also, all the creatures of the earth may now be eaten as prey: “Into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. As I have gave you the green plants, I give you everything.” [see Genesis 1.29-30; 1 Timothy 4.3]. [Later on, when the Law is given, there will be some distinctions among these as ‘clean’ and ‘unclean’ – that is, permitted or not permitted for them to eat.
[3] They were forbidden to eat flesh “with its life, that is, its blood.” God intended for them to respect and value life – to preserve it – because He is the only One who can give life. If an animal is slaughtered, it must be drained of its blood before they ate it. The God-created life is in the blood – respect that!
[4] MOST IMPORTANTLY: God declares His vengeance will upon anyone who willfully sheds the blood of another human being. God delegated human governments and authorities to administer capital punishment with His authority [see Romans 13.1-5; 1 Peter 2.13-14]. “And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in His own image.” Since God is the only Creator of life and lifeblood, then we are accountable to Him for how we treat it.

3/ Mankind must not think that since God had destroyed the whole human race, therefore He has a low view or disregard for human [or animal] life. God’s justice is pure and fair. His judgments are all deserved. He made that clear in ch 6.5-17. God places a high value and regard for all life. But He authorized this directive for governments and authorities to execute because we must highly value, respect, and protect life in all our relationships and institutions.

III / Genesis 9.8-17 | The Covenant of Peace [see Isaiah 54.9-10]

1/ v 8 / Yahweh declares His Covenant of Peace in this promise He makes to Noah, to every living creature on the earth, and to the earth itself. He calls it His ‘Covenant of Peace’ in Isaiah 54.9-10, but we’ll get to that in a minute. Yahweh reiterates here what He had announced and promised in ch 6.17-19.There, He had decreed He would send the Flood “to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die.” But the ark of salvation would “keep them alive.”

2/ THAT is what the ‘Covenant of Peace’ is – Yahweh’s promise and commitment to save, redeem, and ‘keep alive’ those who are His people. Yes, He will give common grace to the whole creation, but it is for the purpose of fulfilling His ultimate and sovereign purpose of bringing in the New Creation in the end [2 Peter 3.18]. And He will keep it – Yahweh refers to His ‘covenant’ a perfect seven times in this passage.

3/ So, what is a ‘covenant’? Set your mind on this principle: God relates to us and works with us by covenants. It has been so since the beginning in the First Creation. Although the word ‘covenant’ doesn’t appear in the Bible until ch 6.18, God had also established a covenant with Adam – which Adam miserably failed to keep. And, ALL the covenants in the Old Testament are but the opening of the bud of the full flower of the New Covenant which CHRIST will establish by His own Blood [see Hebrews 13.20-21]. BTW, the basis of this covenant promise which Yahweh establishes here was the blood of the sacrifices that Noah offered to Him when he disembarked from the ark. God always saves by the blood of the sacrifice – and CHRIST is the all-sufficient atoning, redeeming Sacrifice for sins for our salvation.

4/ But a ‘covenant’ is a ‘promise’ – in truth, all throughout the New Testament, ‘covenant’ and ‘promise’ are used interchangeably to describe the same transaction. So, when it comes to God’s covenants, we must remember they are not bargains or negotiations, or what we would call a ‘bi-lateral’ covenant. God’s covenants do not depend partially on our keeping them in order for His covenant to be fulfilled. Because we have demonstrated from Adam on throughout until the end of human history that we will fail. God’s covenants are ‘unilateral’ – in other words, God must be faithful to keep His covenant/promise to us by His Grace. And CHRIST is the One who will fulfill all the conditions of obedience and give the promised ‘blessing” to us by His Grace [2 Corinthians 1.20; Ephesians 1.3-10]. So it is here.

5/ Now, to be clear, God’s covenants do require our obedience. A covenant always includes both God’s conditions to us [see vv 1-7] and His commitment to us [see vv 8-17] or, to put it another way, a covenant always includes both stipulations and commandments for us to obey and God’s gracious promises that He will keep and fulfill. But, in the end, only CHRIST will perfectly obey and keep all the conditions of the covenant in our place – as our Substitute. And God will ‘credit’ us with CHRIST’s perfect obedience and ‘bless’ us in Him. [See Romans 5 for a fuller commentary on this covenant of ‘peace’ (Romans 5.1).]

6/ vv 9-11 / So what does God promise in this ‘covenant of peace’? His promise is: “I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” NOT that the earth will never again be destroyed, because it will in the Last Day before the New Creation – but not by a flood of waters [2 Peter 3.5-12].

7/ vv 12-17 / Then God gives the rainbow as a visible sign of His ‘covenant of peace’ so we can be both warned of His holy wrath against sin and His promise of Grace and mercy to save those who believe in Him. Three times over, God says that the rainbow is His ‘sign’ of His covenant of peace, and that He also promises that He Himself will both ‘see’ the bow and ‘remember’ His ‘covenant of peace’ He has committed Himself to keep.BTW: God uses the same word ‘bow’ that referred to the common bow of warfare and death. He has just flexed and shot His ‘arrows’ of death from His ‘bow’ of wrath and judgment in the Flood. But this rain-’bow’ will be one of ‘peace.’

8/ And we can be sure God will be faithful to ‘remember’ His promised ‘covenant of peace.’ He repeatedly says that He will ‘establish [and ‘set’] my covenant,’ meaning it is set in place, sure, and secure. And that He will ‘remember’ His promised mercies. THIS is the significance of the Isaiah 54.7-10 promise! Israel will yet in those ‘future generations’ [Genesis 9.12] go through seasons of time when they must be chastised and disciplined for their unfaithfulness. Think especially of their 400 years in Egypt and the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. There will be seasons when they will fear that God is deserting, forsaking, and abandoning them – hiding His Face from them. And so will you and I! But God reminds them of His ‘covenant of peace’ that He established with them in Genesis 9.8-17: “‘This is like the days of Noah to me: as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, and will not rebuke [reject, utterly destroy] you. For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,’ says The LORD, who has compassion on you.”

9/ This has been for me a most comforting promise in many ‘dark seasons of the soul’ of my own life experiences. Over the years, I have come to call it ‘My One Absolute’ – one true and faithful promise of God I know I can trust in. I have written a simple song of experience to express that encouragement.

IV / Genesis 9.18-28 | Blessing and Cursing in the ‘New’ World

1/ vv 18-19 / Keep in mind at least these two things as you read this section:

[1] Moses wrote this Book of Genesis hundreds of years after they transpired in real time. So he is seeing from the vantage point and writing from the perspective of after these prophecies of Noah had come to pass in history. It was all future when Noah uttered them, but by the time Moses wrote about them, they had become past and current history.
[2] That’s why Moses writes two times, “Ham was the father of Canaan…Ham, the father of Canaan” [vv 18, 22]. At the time these events happened, Canaan was already a young adult, but he hadn’t yet produced a sizable family – the nations that came from Canaan will be detailed in chapter 10. By the time Moses wrote Genesis before Israel entered the Promised Land which was inhabited by the Canaanites, the nations that descended from Canaan, and these blessings and curses had come to full fruition. So when Moses writes in retrospect that “Ham was the father of Canaan,” he is pointing out to the Israelites, the direct descendants of Shem [ch 11.10 and following], who and where the Canaanites had come from.

2/ vv 20-23 / So, what happened in Noah’s tent? Noah proceeded to pursue the ‘new creation’ mandate God gave Adam in the First Creation [see ch 2.15]. But as he farmed and cultivated, he imbibed too much of the wine he had produced: “He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent.” In all of Scripture and human history, drunkenness and nakedness has been a moral corruption.

3/ It is important to note here that Noah had ‘uncovered himself’ in his drunken stupor. Many other translations read it that way. It is important because there have been many speculations about what Ham may have done to or with Noah in his naked state – even to the point that he may have emasculated Noah or engaged in some kind of homosexual act, or even an incestuous act with his mother, Noah’s wife. But it doesn’t say that Ham uncovered Noah or his nakedness. While it is true that similar language is used for such forbidden acts, especially in Leviticus 18 and 20, there is no evidence of that here.

4/ What we are told is: “And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside.” Ham is evidencing the tendencies and proclivities of a degenerated morality. He had no sense of moral decency or modesty. It appears that he was guilty of voyeurism of Noah’s nakedness – and not only that, but he went outside to Shem and Japheth and mocked his father’s indecency instead of seeking to cover his nakedness.

“There is thus no clear evidence that Ham actually did anything other than see the nakedness of his father. To Noah, however, such an act was serious enough to prompt the oracle on Ham’s descendants (who would be openly guilty in their customs of what many suspect Ham of doing). It is difficult for people living in the modern world to understand and appreciate the modesty and discretion of privacy called for in ancient morality. Nakedness in the Old Testament was from the beginning a thing of shame for fallen humankind … Their covering of their nakedness was a sound instinct, for it provided a boundary for fallen human relations.” (Allen P. Ross).

5/ vv 24-27 / Noah saw then and foresaw the outcomes of the same influences in Ham’s son, Canaan. And, as we all know, that’s the ways the descendants of Canaan turned out. So, when he woke up and found out what Ham had done, he pronounced this curse on Canaan – that he would become subject to and the slaves of his brothers, Shem and Japheth, who had acted righteously toward their father’s indiscretion. Wickedness delights to indulge in its own sin and seeks to proliferate its practices. Whereas, “…love covers a multitude of sins” [1 Peter 4.8] – as Shem and Japheth discreetly did. “Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.” But, for now, so far…

This is another ‘pre-enactment’ of the New Creation yet to come … in CHRIST!

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Posted in Bible Studies, CHRIST IN GENESIS, GENESIS, Lesson Notes, Sunday School lessons | Tagged 2 Peter 3.5-13, Bible Studies, CHRIST IN GENESIS, CHRIST reclaiming the creation, Curse on Ham and Canaan, GENESIS, Genesis 8.20-9.29, Isaiah 54.9-10, Lesson Notes/Talking Points, Luke 17.26-27, Matthew 24.37-38, New creation, New earth, Rainbow, Sunday School lessons, The covenant of peace | Leave a comment

CHRIST: The Ark that Saves Us [1 Peter 3.18-22]

Posted on March 9, 2024 by PastorDave

CHRIST IN GENESIS | Lesson 5 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read Genesis 5.1 – 8.19

‘CHRIST IN GENESIS’: MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

1/ This next study section in CHRIST IN GENESIS is a rather lengthy one, so, as we have been saying all along, we won’t treat it in any detail. Rather, we’ll stick with our purpose and theme in this survey / summary study in Genesis: point out some of the most prominent ‘CHRIST-markers’ that are written into the Genesis narrative. We’ll have to summarize a lot of the details in our commentary of the chapters’ sections.

2/ But this study section does contain a specifically-referenced ‘CHRIST-marker’ that is pointed out for us in the New Testament. We’ll get to that here shortly… This study passage begins in chapter 5.1 and reads through chapter 8.19. As you survey the section, you’ll note that it relates the story of the world-wide flood that destroyed the world and its inhabitants as it was then – with the exception of Noah and his family. Thus, it is illustrative both of the judgment of God against sin and the salvation of His elect.

I / 1 Peter 3.18-22 | The Flood and the Ark: a Type of CHRIST

1/ But the New Testament passage that most specifically and fully ties this epochal event with Christ will be found in 1 Peter 3.18-22. In that NT Scripture, we’ll see in pointed and stark relief an example of the Scripture interpretation principle I told you about in our last lesson: Historical-Redemptive Progression. In other words, the real historical events actually happened as they are recorded; but in those same real historical events, we’ll see how God is progressively revealing His redemption of His people that He will bring to pass in the fullness of His time in Christ. THAT is what 1 Peter 3.18-22 is telling us.

2/ You will find this ‘CHRIST-marker’ in the chart/graphic I have given you CHRIST: in Creation to New Creation. When you look in the left-hand block ‘CHRIST-markers in the Old Testament,’ you will note that one of the CHRIST-markers is called PICTURES/Types of Christ [‘Pre-enactments’]. That simply means that what God did in the OT in their history is a PICTURE/type or ‘pre-enactment’ of what He will in His redemptive work in CHRIST when He comes … or, in other words, ‘type (pre-enactment) / antitype (fulfillment enactment).’

3/ So let’s take just a brief survey of 1 Peter 3.18-22 even here before we come back to Genesis. And we’ll need to follow Peter’s subject, theme, and logic to see his message concerning CHRIST … and the connections he’s making back with the Noahic flood.

[1] The THEME of Peter’s message is how the suffering and death of CHRIST saves us from our sins.
[2] The suffering and death of CHRIST saves us from our sins just like the flood waters saved Noah and his family, v 21.
[3] ‘But wait,’ you say, ‘the flood didn’t save Noah and his family – the ark did!’
[4] And that is precisely Peter’s message, v 20: ‘…while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.’ THAT is how they were saved: the ark brought them safely through the flood waters. [see Genesis 7.7]
[5] And then Peter draws his analogy: Baptism, which corresponds to this [the specific word Peter uses is ‘antitype’ — or the fulfillment of the OT type], now saves us. And lest anyone should think that it is the baptism in water itself that saves us, Peter quickly adds this explanatory commentary: …not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
[6] And so, our baptism in water is a type of CHRIST and His death and resurrection from death. The act of baptism itself is not what saves us, but rather what the baptism typifies: that is, our confession of faith in Who and what does save us – the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
[7] And so, just as the flood waters were the judgment act of God against the sins of that world, so the death of Jesus Christ was God’s holy and just judgment of wrath against our sins IN CHRIST. And just as the flood waters safely floated the ark through the deadly waters of God’s judgment against their sins [see Genesis 7.18], so the resurrection of CHRIST safely delivers us from our sins – because the resurrection of CHRIST evidences and demonstrates that God’s wrath against our sins was fully and satisfactorily expended and exhausted … our sins were washed and put away! [see Acts 22.16]
[8] And THAT is how our baptism ‘saves us’ … NOT by ‘washing away our sins,’ BUT as our ‘good-conscience appeal’ and confession of our faith in CHRIST’s death and resurrection which DOES save us from our sins! Our faith is NOT in the act or the element of baptism in water, but rather in WHO and what the baptism typifies: the death of Jesus Christ to suffer God’s wrath and judgment against our sins and then His resurrection – being saved from His death and being raised to new life!

4/ And THAT is what the events of the Genesis flood waters and the saving ark are ‘pre-enacting’ for us!

II / ch 5.1-32 | ‘…the book of the generations of Adam’

1/ Let’s take just a quick summary/survey of chapter 5 before we get to the flood story. I have introduced the significance of this phrase ‘the generations of…’ in a previous lesson. Bible teachers commonly use the Hebrew word for this phrase ‘toledot / tohl-dah.’ This word and phrase simply means ‘the story of’ or ‘what became of’ or ‘who came from.’ There are ten of these ‘toledot’ stories in Genesis, all connected to each other in succession. That is how the Genesis narrative is constructed.

2/ Two of these ‘toledot’ are contained in our present study passage: ch 5.1, ‘This is the book of the generations of Adam’ and ch 6.9, ‘These are the generations of Noah.’ But this first one in ch 5.1 will give us the genealogies and chronicles from Adam to Noah – and thus bring us to the Noah narrative. There are ten patriarchs who are named here. You can mark and count their names as you read the text.

3/ But all we want to do here is to connect it with the Noah story.

[1] If you count the numbers of years when they had their successive sons, you will read that from the creation of Adam to the time of the flood, there were 1556 years.
[2] Not only that, but the lifetimes of Adam and Methuselah overlapped by 56 years before Adam died – these two men alone span the entire time between Creation and the Flood!
[3] Which also means: if you ever wondered what kind of Gospel witness was present in that age before the flood, then consider that Adam, Methuselah, and Enoch all were ‘preachers of righteousness’ even before Noah was during his own generation [Jude, 14-15; Hebrews 11.5-7; 2 Peter 2.5]. There was no lack of Gospel witness and warnings of judgment to come during all these 1556 years and among the inhabitants of the pre-flood world.
[4] More particularly, there was some revelation of the coming judgment against their sins that convicted Enoch to ‘walk with God.’ The record states in ch 5.21-23 that “When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters … Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.” Enoch’s ‘walking with God’ was a public witness to his faith in God [Hebrews 11.5]. God revealed to Enoch when Methuselah was born that this son was an announcement of the coming ‘end’ of judgment. Methuselah’s name means ‘a man of the dart,’ or that his very life was ‘thrown toward the target of the end,’ and ‘with his departure, the end will come.’ Enoch believed that revelation and preached it until his own living translation to Heaven [Jude, vv 14-15]. Methuselah also lived until the coming of the flood before he died.
[5] I have said all this to demonstrate that in all the years of human history, from creation to the destructive flood, not only was the earth increasingly filled with rebellion against God and violence and corruption of His ‘good’ creation … but the earth was also filled with Gospel preaching and witness to ‘repent and believe in God … flee from the wrath to come and be saved.’ But Noah and his family were the only ones who believed and trusted in that Gospel that was preached through Noah by the Spirit of Christ Himself [1 Peter 3.18-22].

III / Genesis 6.1-8 | ‘…the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly…’ [2 Peter 3.4-7]

1/ We are coming now to our study passage for this lesson. So all we can do with the time we have left is summarize the purposes and content for each passage as it relates to our current lesson theme and ‘CHRIST-marker’: CHRIST: the Ark that saves us.

2/ This section will state God’s holy observations, evaluations, and judgments against all the ways that mankind has corrupted, violated, perverted, and abused His original good purposes for His creation [see ch 6.5, 11-13]. As a result of their willful rebellion against His Holiness and their insistence on choosing their own ways and lifestyles, flaunting themselves against God to His Face, “Then The LORD said, ‘My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.’” We must remember also that when The LORD speaks of ‘My Spirit,’ He is referring to the Spirit of Christ Himself who was preaching to that generation through Noah [1 Peter 3.18-20]. God needs no justification of anything He does, but He does lay out a clear, detailed, and irrefutable case of evidence that will lay the grounds for His coming judgments. [see Romans 3.19]

3/ This is such an awesome passage because Moses reveals what The LORD ‘saw,’ ‘thought and felt,’ and ‘said’ to Himself … even before He revealed it to that world. Only God’s own revelation of Himself to His prophets could have revealed such Personal and private details [1 Corinthians 2.9-16].

4/ Noah’s faith in Yahweh is highlighted in the segue verses 7-8. After Yahweh declares He “will blot out mankind whom I have created from the face of the land…,” then He also declares “But Noah found favor [grace] in the eyes of The LORD.” This was God’s election of grace – His sovereign choice to save Noah by His Grace through Noah’s faith in Him [see ch 6.22-7.1 & Hebrews 11.6-7].

IV / Genesis 6.9 – 7.24 | ‘…while the ark was being prepared…’ [1 Peter 3.20]

1/ NOTE: ch 6.9-10 begins the third toledothere in Genesis with “These are the generations of Noah.” We will now learn who came from Noah and what became of him and his family. Of course, Noah was God’s sovereign and gracious choice to be saved from the deluge … and re-populate the earth to preserve the promised line of ‘the seed of the woman’ who would be our Savior and Redeemer [ch 3.15].

2/ 6.11-13: After Yahweh once again reiterates His Holy evaluations of that ungodly generation, He then begins to give Noah His instructions for building the ark, which is God’s picture/type/pre-enactment of Christ [see ch 6.17-18: “But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark”!]

3/ We can trace the historical-redemptive progression of God’s salvation plan through the instructions He gave Noah – ALL of which Noah fully obeyed [see 6.22; 7.5, 9, 16].

[1] 6.14-18: “Make yourself an ark of gopher wood…” and then gave detailed construction blueprint plans for its dimensions and layout. And included these instructions is the covenant promise of salvation in vv 17-18. This is the Covenant of Grace that God promises to Noah – the basis and conditions upon which God will extend His gracious salvation as we shall see in ch 8.1. God always keeps His Word and all His gracious promises. AND all these promises will lead us to CHRIST and will be fully and finally fulfilled by Him in ‘the fullness of time.’
[2] 6.19-22: “And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring…into the ark to keep them alive with you…” – along with all the food Noah’s family and the animals would need for the duration of the flood. There will also be a further distinction and instructions for ‘clean and unclean’ animals in ch 7.2-3.
[3] 7.1-16a: “Then The LORD said to Noah, ‘Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.’” And with that, the final deadline for the destructive Flood-waters is sealed, v 4. After the predicted seven days of waiting after they entered the ark, the Flood-waters inundated the earth from above and below: “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights,” 7.11-12. NOTE a couple detailed repetitions here: (a) the repeated references to ‘entered/went into the ark’ to chronicle the obedience of faith Noah and his family had in the promises of Yahweh; and (b) the specific dates and timelines that will be reported throughout this account.
[4] 7.16b-24: “And The LORD shut him in.” This is an expression of Yahweh’s salvation and security He performed toward Noah and his family. Remember our key New Testament connection passage to this event in 1 Peter 3.18-22 where we are told that “the ark” was the means by which Noah and his family “were brought safely through water” and “Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you … through the resurrection of Jesus Christ…” – our baptism in water being our confession of faith in the Gospel of the death and resurrection of CHRIST. When you compare that commentary on the type that is presented in the Flood-waters, you’ll see the dual purpose of the Flood: First, the waters drowned and destroyed that ungodly generation of humanity in the judgments of the Holy God against their sins; and second, the same waters ‘saved’ Noah and his family by ‘floating the ark’ safely through those same waters of death. See Genesis 6.17-18; 7.3, 7, 18, 23. Especially 7.7: “And Noah [and his family] with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood” and 7.18: “…and the ark floated on the face of the waters.” THAT is how the Flood-waters ‘saved’ them! And THAT is the true picture/type/pre-enactment of how CHRIST suffered the judgment wrath of God against our sins upon Himself … and how, by our faith and trust in Him and His Gospel of salvation, we are saved in Him, our Ark. We are saved from ‘the wrath of God to come’ [Romans 5.9; 1 Thessalonians 1.10]. Again, I repeat, baptism is our confession of faith in CHRIST’s salvation wrought for us by His own death and resurrection.

V / Genesis 8.1-19 | ‘…brought safely through water…’ [1 Peter 3.20]

1/ Here is the turning point of the whole Flood narrative: “But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God…” and then story proceeds to describe all the God-ordained acts He performed to make the flood waters recede. BUT all along, it has been a ‘God-thing’ [as we sometimes say], a true ‘act of God’! Going all the way back to the beginning of the story in ch 6.3, it has been God’s sovereign purpose, will, and initiative that has made everything happen.

2/ But, more specifically, here with this statement “And God remembered Noah…,” we see His redemptive covenant mercy, grace, and promises coming to pass. What God remembered was the covenant promise He had made to Noah in ch 6.17-18. “Noah found favor [grace] in the eyes of the LORD” [ch 6.8], and now The LORD will perform the salvation He has promised. Truly, Noah was saved ‘by grace through faith’ in the ark of safety God had provided – and that Ark was CHRIST!

3/ NOTE: again the precise, exact timelines:

[1] Noah entered the ark at the command of Yahweh 7 days before the deluge of waters began, ch 7.4, 10.
[2] Using the dates provided by the Scriptures according to Noah’s lifespan, the Flood waters came upon the earth 2/17/600, ch 7.11.
[3] The waters from the fountains of the deep beneath the earth and the windows of heaven came upon the earth for 40 days, ch 7.12, 17.
[4] After those 40 days, and after the Flood waters had reached their maximum depths [vv 17-20], they prevailed at those levels for another 150 days, ch 7.24; 8.3.
[5] But they [and we] are still counting the days! It takes a long time for that much water to recede. And so, even after the deluge of waters had stopped, and the flood levels began to recede, only then did the ark come ‘to rest on the mountains of Ararat.’ This was 7/17/600 [8.3-4] – a full five months from ch 7.11.
[6] But even though the ark is resting on the mountain peak, there is still all that water down in the lower levels. So after 40 more days, on 10/1/600 [ch 8.5], Noah was able to open the window of the ark to see where and how much land was flood-free. He sent out a raven [a scavenger], and it did not return. But a dove would provide a better test for habitation. The dove returned, ch 8.6-9.
[7] Another 7 days, Noah sent out the dove again. This time, it came back with a freshly-plucked olive leaf in her mouth, ch 8.10-11. [8] Finally, after another 7 days, Noah dispatched the dove again – this time not to return. The dove had found a nesting place, ch 8.12.

4/ Finally, it was time to disembark and start with a new beginning [remember how our baptism typifies the resurrection of CHRIST after His death? 1 Peter 3.18-22] The earth – and Noah and his family – were now experiencing a resurrection after the deadly deluge of the Flood-waters of God’s judgment against humanity’s sins. Even the date is a resurrection, new beginning date (1/1/601)! Look at the dateline in ch 8.13: “In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth!”

5/ The earth had been cleansed! Noah and his family had escaped death from the Flood-waters by the Ark God had provided! They were saved by God’s Grace! As they disembarked the ark, God re-commissioned them as He had Adam in the beginning, “…be fruitful and multiply on the earth…!” [Genesis 1.28]

This is another ‘pre-enactment’ of the New Creation yet to come … in CHRIST!

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Posted in Bible Studies, CHRIST IN GENESIS, GENESIS, Lesson Notes, Sunday School lessons | Tagged 1 Peter 3.18-22, Bible Studies, CHRIST The Ark that Saves Us, GENESIS, Genesis 5.1-8.19, Lesson Notes/Talking Points, Methuselah, Noah, Sunday School lessons, The Ark a type of Christ, The Flood, toledot, Types of Christ | Leave a comment

A GENTLE HEART | Pastor J. R. Miller (1840-1912)

Posted on March 2, 2024 by PastorDave

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart.” Matthew 11:29

“By the meekness and gentleness of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:1

“The fruit of the Spirit is . . . gentleness.” Galatians 5:22

“Let your gentleness be evident to all.” Philippians 4:5

“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” Ephesians 4:2

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” Colossians 3:12

“We were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children.” 1 Thessalonians 2:7

“But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.” 1 Timothy 6:11

“The Lord’s servant must be gentle towards all.” 2 Timothy 2:24

“The unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” 1 Peter 3:4

Gentleness is a beautiful quality. It is essential to all true character. Nobody admires ungentleness in either man or woman. When a man is harsh, cold, unfeeling, unkind, and crude and rough in his manner—no one speaks of his fine disposition. When a woman is loud-voiced, dictatorial, petulant, given to speaking bitter words and doing unkindly things—no person is ever heard saying of her, “What a lovely disposition she has!” She may have many excellent qualities, and may do much good—but her ungentleness mars the beauty of her character.

No man is truly great, who is not gentle. “Your gentleness has made me great.” Psalm 18:35. Courage and strength and truth and justness and righteousness are essential elements in a manly character; but if all these be in a man and gentleness be lacking—the life is sadly flawed. We might put the word gentleness into Paul’s wonderful sentences and read them thus: “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not gentleness, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not gentleness, I am nothing. And if I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not gentleness, it profits me nothing.”

If any Christian, even the Christliest, would pray for a new adornment, an added grace of character—it may well be for gentleness. This is the crown of all loveliness, the Christliest of all Christly qualities.

The Bible gives us many a glimpse of gentleness as an attribute of God. We think of the Law of Moses as a great collection of dry statutes, referring to ceremonial observances, to forms of worship, and to matters of duty. This is one of the last places where we would look for anything tender. Yet he who goes carefully over the chapters which contain these laws, comes upon many a bit of gentleness—like a sweet flower on a cold mountain crag.

We think of Sinai as the seat of law’s sternness. We hear the voice of thundering, and we see the flashing of lightning. Clouds and darkness and all dreadfulness surround the mountain. The people are kept far away because of the fearful holiness of the place. No one thinks of hearing anything gentle at Sinai. Yet scarcely even in the New Testament is there a more wonderful unveiling of the love of the divine heart than we find among the words spoken on that smoking mountain. “I am the Lord, I am the Lord, the merciful and gracious God. I am slow to anger and rich in unfailing love and faithfulness. I show this unfailing love to many thousands by forgiving every kind of sin and rebellion.” Exodus 34:6-7

There is another revealing of divine gentleness in the story of Elijah at Horeb. A great and strong wind rent the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks—but the Lord was not in the wind. After the storm there was an earthquake, with its frightful accompaniments—but the Lord was not in the earthquake. Then a fire swept by—but the Lord was not in the fire. After the fire there was heard a soft whisper breathing in the air—a still, small voice, a sound of gentle stillness. And that was God. God is gentle. With all His power, power that has made all the universe and holds all things in being, there is no mother in all the world so gentle as God is.

Gentleness being a divine quality is one which belongs to the true human character. We are taught to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect; if we would be like God—we must be gentle!

This world needs nothing more than it needs gentleness. All human hearts hunger for tenderness. We are made for love—not only to love, but to be loved. Harshness pains us. Ungentleness touches our sensitive spirits as frost touches the flowers. It stunts the growth of all lovely things.

We naturally crave gentleness. It is like a genial summer to our life. Beneath its warm, nourishing influence beautiful things in us grow.

Then there always are many people who have special need of tenderness. We cannot know what secret burdens many of those about us are carrying, what hidden griefs burn like fires in the hearts of those with whom we mingle in our common life. Not all grief wears the outward garb of mourning; sunny faces often times veil heavy hearts. Many people who make no audible appeal for sympathy yet crave tenderness—they certainly need it, though they ask it not—as they bow beneath their burden. There is no weakness in such a yearning. We remember how our Master himself longed for expressions of love when he was passing through his deepest experiences of suffering, and how bitterly he was disappointed when his friends failed him.

Many a life goes down in the fierce, hard struggle—for lack of the blessing of strength which human tenderness would have brought. Many a man owes his victoriousness in sorrow or in temptation—to the gentleness which came to him in some helpful form from a thoughtful friend. We know not who of those we meet any day, need the help which our gentleness could give. Life is not easy to most people. It duties are hard. Its burdens are heavy. Life’s strain never relaxes. There is no truce in life’s battle. This world is not friendly to noble living. There are countless antagonisms. Heaven can be reached by any of us, only by passing through serried lines of strong enmity. Human help is not always ready, when it would be welcomed. Too often men find indifference or opposition—where they ought to find love. Life’s rivalries and competitions are sharp, and often times deadly.

We can never do amiss in showering gentleness. There is no day when it will be untimely; there is no place where it will not find welcome. It will harm no one—and it may save someone from despair. The touch of a child on a woman’s hand, may save a life from self destruction.

It is interesting to think of the new era of love which Jesus opened. Of course there was gentleness in the world before he came. There was mother love. There was friendship, deep, true, and tender. There were marital lovers who were bound together with most sacred ties. There were hearts even among heathen people in which there was gentleness almost beautiful enough for heaven. There were holy places where affection ministered with angel tenderness.

Yet the world at large was full of cruelty. The rich oppressed the poor. The strong crushed the weak. Women were slaves and men were tyrants. There was no hand of love reached out to help the sick, the lame, the blind, the old, the deformed, the insane, nor any to care for the widow, the orphan, and the homeless.

Then Jesus came! And for thirty-three years he went about among men—doing kindly things. He had a gentle heart, and gentleness flowed out in his speech. He spoke words which throbbed with tenderness. There was never any uncertainty about the heart-beat in the words which fell from the lips of Jesus. They throbbed with sympathy and tenderness.

The people knew always, that Jesus was their friend. His life was full of rich helpfulness. No wrong or cruelty ever made him ungentle. He scattered kindness wherever he moved.

One day they nailed those gentle hands to a cross! After that the people missed him, for he came no more to their homes. It was a sore loss to the poor and the sad, and there must have been grief in many a household. But while the personal ministry of Jesus was ended by his death, the influence of his life went on. He had set the world a new example of love. He had taught lessons of patience and meekness which no other teacher had ever given. He had imparted new meaning to human affection. He had made love the law of his kingdom.

As one might drop a handful of spices into a pot of brackish water, and therewith sweeten the waters—so these teachings of Jesus fell into the world’s unloving, unkindly life, and at once began to change it into gentleness. Wherever the gospel has gone these saying of the great Teacher have been carried, and have fallen into people’s hearts, leaving there their blessings of gentleness.

The influence of the death of Jesus also has wonderfully helped in teaching the great lesson of gentleness. It was love that died upon the cross! A heart broke that day on Calvary. A great sorrow always, for the time at least, softens hearts. A funeral touches with at least a momentary tenderness, all who pass by—loud laughter is subdued even in the most careless. A noble sacrifice, as when a life is given in the effort to help or to save others, always makes other hearts a little truer, a little braver, and a little nobler in their impulses.

The influence of the death of Jesus on this world’s life is immeasurable. The cross is like a great heart of love beating at the center of the world, sending its pulsings of tenderness into all lands. The life of Christ beats in the hearts of his followers, and all who love him have something of his gentleness. The love of Jesus, kindles love in every believing heart. That is the lesson set for all of us in the New Testament. We are taught that we should love as Jesus loved, that we should be kind as he was kind, that his meekness, patience, thoughtfulness, selflessness, should be reproduced in us.

There is need for the lesson of gentleness in homes. There love’s sweetest flowers should bloom. There we should always carry our purest and best affections. No matter how heavy the burdens of the day have been, when we gather home at nightfall we should bring only cheer and gentleness. No one has any right to be ungentle in his own home. If he finds himself in such a mood he should go to his room—until it has vanished.

The mother’s life is not easy, however happy she may be. Her hours are long, and her load of care is never laid down. When one day’s tasks are finished, and she seeks her pillow for rest, she knows that her eyes will open in the morning on another day full as the one that is gone. With children about her continually, tugging at her dress, climbing up on her knee, bringing their little hurts, their quarrels, their broken toys, their complaints, their thousand questions to her—and then with all the cares and toils that are hers, and with all the interruptions and annoyances of the busy days—it is no wonder if sometimes the strain is almost more than she can endure in quiet patience.

Nevertheless, we should all try to learn the lesson of gentleness in our homes. It is the lesson that is needed to make the home-happiness a little like heaven! Home is meant to be a place to grow in. It is a school in which we should learn love in all its branches. It is not a place for selfishness or for self indulgence. It should never be a place where a man can work off his annoyances, after trying to keep polite and courteous to others, all the day. It is not a place for the opening of doors of heart and lips to let ugly tempers fly out at will. It is not a place where people can act as they feel, however unchristian their feelings may be, withdrawing the guards of self control, relaxing all restraints, and letting their worse tempers have sway.

Home is a school in which there are great life-lessons to be learned. It is a place of self-discipline. All friendship is disciple. We learn to give up our own way—or if we do not we never can become a true friend.

It is well that we get this truth clearly before us, that life with all its experiences is our opportunity for learning love. The lesson is set for us is, “Love one another. As I have loved you—so you must love one another.” Our one thing to master this lesson, is love. We are not in this world to get rich, to gain power, to become learned in the arts and sciences, to build up a great business, or to do great things in any other way. We are not here to get along in our daily work, in our shops, or schools, or homes, or on our farms. We are not here to preach the gospel, to comfort sorrow, to visit the sick, and perform deeds of charity. All of these, or any of these, may be among our duties, and they may fill our hands; but in all our occupations the real business of life, that which we are always to strive to do, the work which must go on in all our experiences, if we grasp life’s true meaning at all—is to learn to love, and to grow loving in disposition and character.

We may learn the finest arts—music, painting, sculpture, poetry; or may master the noblest sciences; or by means of reading, study, travel, and converse with refined people, may attain the best culture. But if in all this, we do not learn love, and become more gentle in spirit and act—we have missed the prize of living. If in the midst of all our duties, cares, trials, joys, sorrows—we are not day by day growing in sweetness, in gentleness, in patience, in meekness, in unselfishness, in thoughtfulness, and in all the branches of love, we are not learning the great lesson set for us by our Master, in this school of life.

We should be gentle above all—to those we love the best. There is an inner circle of affection to which each heart has a right, without robbing others. While we are to be gentle unto all men—never ungentle to any—there are those to whom we owe special tenderness. Those within our own home belong to this sacred inner circle.

We must make sure that our home piety is true and real, that it is of the spirit and life, and not merely in form. It must be love—love wrought out in thought, in word, in disposition, in act. It must show itself not only in patience, forbearance, and self control, and in sweetness under provocation; but also in all gentle thoughtfulness, and in little tender ways in all the family interactions.

No amount of good religious teaching will ever make up for the lack of affectionateness in parents toward children. A gentleman said the other day, “My mother was a good woman. She insisted on her boys going to church and Sunday-school, and taught us to pray. But I do not remember that she ever kissed me. She was a woman of lofty principles—but cold and reserved—lacking in tenderness.”

It does not matter how much Bible reading, and prayer, and catechism-saying, and godly teaching, there may be in a home. If gentleness is lacking, that is lacking which most of all, the children need in the life of their home. A child must have love. Love is to its life, what sunshine is to plants and flowers. No young life can ever grow to its best—in a home without gentleness.

Yet there are parents who forget this, or fail to realize its importance. There are homes where the scepter is iron—where affection is repressed—where a child is never kissed after baby days have passed.

A woman of genius said that until she was eighteen she could not tell time by the clock. When she was twelve her father had tried to teach her how to tell time; but she had failed to understand him, and feared to let him know that she had not understood. Yet she said, that he had never in his life spoken to her a harsh word. On the other hand, however, he had never spoken an endearing word to her; and his marble-like coldness had frozen her heart! After his death she wrote of him, “His heart was pure—but cold. I think there was no other like it on the earth.”

I have a letter from a young girl of eighteen in another city—a stranger, of whose family I have no personal knowledge. The girl writes to me, not to complain, but to ask counsel as to her own duty. Hers is a home where love finds no adequate expression in affectionateness. Both her parents are professing Christians, but evidently they have trained themselves to repress whatever tenderness there may be in their nature. This young girl is hungry for home-love, and writes to ask if there is any way in which she can reach her parent’s hearts to find the treasures of love which she believes are locked away there. “I know they love me,” she writes. “They would give their lives for me. But my heart is breaking for expressions of that love.” She is starving for loves’ daily food!

It is to be feared that there are too many such homes—Christian homes, with prayer and godly teaching; and with pure, consistent living—but with no daily bread of lovingness for hungry hearts.

I plead for love’s gentleness in homes. Nothing else will take its place. There may be fine furniture, rich carpets, costly pictures, a large library of excellent volumes, fine music, and all luxuries and adornments; and there may be religious forms—a family altar, good instruction, and consistent Christian living; but if gentleness is lacking in the family communion—the lack is one which leaves an irreparable hurt in the lives of the children.

There are many people who, when their loved ones die, wish they could send some words of love and tenderness to them, which they have never spoken while their loved ones were close beside them. In too many homes gentleness is not manifested while the family circle is unbroken; and the hearts ache for the privilege of showing kindness, perhaps for the opportunity of unsaying words and undoing acts which caused pain. We would better learn the lesson of gentleness in time, and then fill our home with love while we may. It will not be very long until our chance of showing love shall have been used up!

But home is not the only place where we should be gentle. If the inner circle of life’s holy place have claim on us, for the best that our love can yield—the common walks and the wider circle also have claim for our love and gentleness. Our Master manifested himself to his own—as he did not to the world; but the world, even his cruelest enemies, never received anything of ungentleness from him. The heart’s most sacred revealings are for the heart’s chosen and trusted ones, as the secret of the Lord is with those who fear him; but we are to be gentle unto all men, as our Father sends his rain upon the just and upon the unjust. What we learn under home’s roof, in the close fellowship of household life—we are to live out in our associations with others.

As Moses’ face shone when he came down among the people, after being with God in the mount—so our faces should carry the warmth and glow of tenderness from love’s inner shrine—out into all other places of ordinary social interaction. What we learn of love’s lesson in our home—we should put into practice in our life in the world, in the midst of its strifes, rivalries, competitions, frictions, and manifold trials and testings.

We must never forget that true religion—in its practical outworking—is love. Some people think religion is mere orthodoxy of belief—that he who has a good creed is truly religious. We must remember that the Pharisees had a good creed, and were orthodox; yet we have our Lord’s testimony that their religion did not please God. It lacked love. It was self-righteous, and unmerciful.

Others think that true religion consists in the punctilious observance of forms of worship. If they are always at church on Sundays and other church meetings, and if only they attend to all the ordinances, and follow all the rules—they are religious. Yet sometimes they are not easy people to live with. They are censorious, dictatorial, judges of others, exacting, severe in manner, harsh in speech. Let no one imagine that any degree of devotion to the church, and diligence in observing ordinances, will ever pass with God for true religion—if one has not love, is not loving and gentle.

The practical outworking of true religion—is love. A good creed is well; but doctrines which do not become a life of gentleness in character and disposition, in speech and in conduct, are not fruitful doctrines. Church attendance religious duties are right and good; but they are only means to an end—and the end is lovingness. The religious observances which do not work for us kinder thoughts, diviner affections, and a sweeter life—are not profiting us. The final object of all Christian life and worship—is to make us more like Christ—and Christ is love. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, “You shall love.” “The one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments are all summed up by this: Love your neighbor as yourself.” Romans 13:8-9

Those who live the gentle life of patient, thoughtful, selfless love—make a melody whose strains are enrapturing.

Someone asks almost in disheartenment. “How can we learn this lesson of gentleness?” Many of us seem never to master it. We go on through life, enjoying the means of grace, and striving more or less earnestly to grow better. Yet our progress appears to be very slow. We desire to learn love’s lesson—but it comes out very slowly in our life.

We must note, first of all, that the lesson has to be learned. It does not come naturally, at least to most people. We find it hard to be gentle always, and to all kinds of people. Perhaps we can be gentle on sunny days; but when the harsh north wind blows—we grow fretful, and lose our sweetness. Or we can be gentle without much effort to some gentle-spirited people, while perhaps we are almost unbearably ungentle to others. We are gracious and sweet to those who are gracious to us; but when people are rude to us, when they treat us unkindly, when they seem unworthy of our love—it is not so easy to be gentle to them. Yet that is the lesson which is everywhere taught in the Scriptures, and which the Master has set for us.

It is a comfort to us to know that the lesson has to be learned—and does not come as a gift from God, without any effort. We must learn to be gentle, just as artists learn to paint lovely pictures. They spend years and years under masters, and in patient, toilsome effort—before they can paint pictures which at all realize the lovely visions of their soul. It is a still more difficult are to learn to reproduce visions of love in human life—to be always patient, gentle, kind. It gives us encouragement, as we are striving to get our lesson, to read the words in which Paul says that he had learned to be content whatever his condition was. It adds, too, to the measure of our encouragement to see from the chronology of the letter in which we find this bit of autobiography, that the apostle was well on toward the close of his life—when he wrote so triumphantly of this attainment. We may infer that it was not easy for him to learn the lesson of contentment, and that he was quite an old man before he had mastered it!

It is probably as hard to learn to be always gentle—as it is to learn to be always contented. It will take time, and careful, unwearying application. We must set ourselves resolutely to the task; for the lesson is one that we must not fail to learn, unless we would fail in growing into Christliness. It is not a matter of small importance. It is not something merely that is desirable, but not essential. Gentleness is not a mere ornament of life, which one may have, or may not have—as one may, or may not, wear jewelry. It is not a mere frill of character, which adds to its beauty, but is not part of it. Gentleness is essential in every true Christian life! It is part of its very warp and woof. Not to be gentle—is not to be like Jesus.

Therefore the lesson must be learned. The golden threads must be woven into the texture. Nothing less than the gentleness of Christ himself, must be accepted as the pattern after which we are to fashion our life and character. Then, every day some progress must be made toward the attainment of this lovely ideal. “See that no day passes, in which you do not make yourself a somewhat better Christian.” The motto of an old artist was, “No day without a line.” If we set before us the perfect standard—the gentleness of our Master—and then every day make some slight advance, though it be but a line, toward the reproducing of this gentleness in our own life, we shall at last wear theornament of a gentle spirit, which is so precious in God’s sight.

We must never rest satisfied with any partial attainment. Just so far as we are still ungentle, rude to anyone, even to a beggar, sharp in speech, haughty in bearing, unkind in any way to a human being—the lesson of gentleness is yet imperfectly learned, and we must continue our diligence. We must get control of our temper, and must master all our moods and feelings. We must train ourselves to check any faintest risings of irritation, turning it instantly into an impulse of tenderness. We must school ourselves to be thoughtful, patient, charitable, and to desire always to do good. The way to acquire any grace of character—is to compel thought, word, and act in the one channel—until the lovely quality has become a permanent part of our life.

There is something else. We never can learn the lesson ourselves alone. To have gentleness in one’s life—one must have a gentle heart. Mere human gentleness is not enough. We need more than training and self-discipline. Our heart must be made new—before it will yield the life of perfect lovingness. It is full of self and pride and hatred and envy and all undivine qualities. The gentleness which the New Testament holds up to us as the standard of Christian living—is too high for any mere attainment. We need that God shall work in us, to help us to produce the loveliness which is in the pattern—Christ. And this divine co-working is promised. “The fruit of the Spirit is gentleness.” The Holy Spirit will help us to learn the lesson, working in our heart and life the sweetness of love, the gentleness of disposition, and the graciousness of manner, which will please God.

There is a legend of a great artist. One day he had labored long on his picture, but was discouraged, for he could not produce on his canvas the beauty of his soul’s vision. He was weary too; and sinking down on a stool by his easel, he fell asleep. While he slept an angel came; and, taking the brushes which had dropped from the tired hands, he finished the picture in marvelous way.

Just so, when we toil and strive in the name of Christ to learn our lesson of gentleness, and yet grow disheartened and wary because we learn it so slowly—Christ himself comes, and puts on our canvas the touches of beauty which our own unskilled hands cannot produce! “Your gentlenesshas made me great.” Psalm 18:35

Posted in Gentleness, I've been thinking | Tagged A Gentle Heart, Gerntleness, J.R. Miller, Your gentleness has made me great | Leave a comment

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‘CHRIST IN GENESIS’: MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

I / Genesis 20.1-14 | Abraham & Abimelech, Act I: The ‘son of promise’ is threatened

II / Genesis 21.1-7 | The birth of Isaac: The promise is ‘delivered’!

III / Genesis 21.8-20 | Hagar & Ishmael: The ‘son of promise’ is threatened again

IV / Genesis 21.22-34 | Abraham & Abimelech, Act II: peace treaty with their neighbors

V / Genesis 22.1-23 | Abraham offers up Isaac: The LORD provided the sacrificial Lamb

VI / Genesis 23.1-20 | Sarah is buried in Canaan: The LORD provided their only ‘possession’

“They desire a better country, that is, a Heavenly one” [Hebrews 11.16]

‘CHRIST IN GENESIS’: MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

I / Genesis 18.1-15 | The Divine covenant-child ‘reveal’

II / Genesis 18.16-33 | Yahweh shares His plan with His covenant ‘friend’

III / Genesis 19.1-29 | Sodom and Gomorrah: a ‘pre-enactment’ of God’s judgment on the world

IV / Genesis 19.30-38 | The incestuous birth of the Moabites and Ammonites

“Flee from the wrath to come! Lay hold onto eternal life!”

‘CHRIST IN GENESIS’: MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

I / Genesis 15.1-21 | Yahweh affirms His promise with a covenant

II / Genesis 16.1-16 | Abram attempts to substitute his own ‘offspring’

III / Genesis 17.1-14 | Yahweh confirms His covenant with a sign [circumcision]

IV / Genesis 17.15-27 | Yahweh promises to provide His covenant ‘offspring’ – Isaac

GOD IS MAKING THESE COVENANT PROMISES TO CHRIST – AND THEY WILL ALL BE FULFILLED IN HIM!

‘CHRIST IN GENESIS’: MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

I / Genesis 11.26-32 | From Noah to Shem to Terah, Father of Abram

II / Genesis 12.1-9 | ‘The Promises given to the Patriarchs’ (Romans 15.8-9)

III / Genesis 12.10-20 | Yahweh overrules Abram’s deceit and duplicity

IV / Genesis 13.1-18 | Yahweh delivers Abram from another potentially ‘derailing’ conflict

V / Genesis 14.1-24 | Meet Melchizedek

‘CHRIST IN GENESIS’: MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

I / Genesis 10.1-32 | Noah’s three sons and the nations that came from each

II / Genesis 11.1-9 | The Tower of Babel and dispersion of the nations

III / Genesis 11.10-26 | Shem to Terah to Abram…

IV / CHRIST-markers in this lesson…

By its [CHRIST’s] light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it … They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations – IN CHRIST!

‘CHRIST IN GENESIS’: MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

I / Genesis 8.20-22 | The Promise of Salvation [2 Peter 3.8-9]

II / Genesis 9.1-7 | A ‘New Adam’ and ‘New Creation’ Mandate

III / Genesis 9.8-17 | The Covenant of Peace [see Isaiah 54.9-10]

IV / Genesis 9.18-28 | Blessing and Cursing in the ‘New’ World

This is another ‘pre-enactment’ of the New Creation yet to come … in CHRIST!

‘CHRIST IN GENESIS’: MAKING THE CONNECTIONS & SETTING THE CONTEXT

I / 1 Peter 3.18-22 | The Flood and the Ark: a Type of CHRIST

II / ch 5.1-32 | ‘…the book of the generations of Adam’

III / Genesis 6.1-8 | ‘…the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly…’ [2 Peter 3.4-7]

IV / Genesis 6.9 – 7.24 | ‘…while the ark was being prepared…’ [1 Peter 3.20]

V / Genesis 8.1-19 | ‘…brought safely through water…’ [1 Peter 3.20]

This is another ‘pre-enactment’ of the New Creation yet to come … in CHRIST!

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