The Spirit-Empowered Witness of the Church

Posted on June 22, 2024 by PastorDave

ACTS: Church on Mission | Lesson 4 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read Acts 4.1-37

INTRODUCTION / CONTEXT / CONNECTIONS

1/ Ch 4 is a continuation of ch 3. In fact, ch 4 is a rude and abrupt interruption to the sermon Peter was delivering in ch 3 to explain the meaning and significance of the healing of the lame man at the Beautiful Gate of the temple. Peter was boldly proclaiming that this lame man’s healing had come from Jesus Himself – the very same Jesus of Nazareth [ch 3.6] whom they had denied, rejected, delivered over to Pilate, and crucified just a couple of months before. (NOTE: Peter repeatedly refers to Jesus as ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ because that was the way He was known during the days of His flesh. And it was the name by which the religious establishment identified Him when they condemned Him to be worthy of death [John 19.19]. This identification was meant to be a term of denigration to Jesus, as in “Can anything good come out of Nazareth” [John 1.46]. And it does show Jesus’ willingness to humble Himself, identify with the lowliest of His people, bear the reproach of being despised, and do all He did in the power of God and the Holy Spirit [see ch 2.22-24]. However, in the plan of God, that same name was used to demonstrate how God takes the lowly and despised ones of the earth – who are rejected by the ‘wise and powerful of the world’ – to fulfill His sovereign Kingdom plans of salvation – like Peter and John.)

2/ That is also the message that Luke will point out and develop here in the boldness of Peter and John in ch 4 [follow this key word/theme: vv 13, 29, 31]. We also want to point out, keeping to the continuity of Luke’s inspired themes throughout Acts, that this boldness was the direct result of the empowerment they had received on the Day of Pentecost. I know I’m getting ahead of the story a bit, but remember that, just 90 days or so before this threatening encounter with the religious establishment of that day, this same bold apostle Peter had cowered, withered, and denied that he even knew who Jesus of Nazareth was when he was questioned by the servant girl in the courtyard while Jesus was being tried before His crucifixion [Matthew 26.69-75]. And now, he is boldly proclaiming the Gospel message of salvation through the death, resurrection, ascension, and enthronement of this same Jesus of Nazareth before the very same religious leaders who had condemned Jesus to death – and right here in the very same courtroom in which they had conspired, plotted, and passed that sentence against Him!

3/ We’ll divide this part of the narrative in vv 1-31 into these five movements I have outlined here [credit to Tony Merida in Christ-centered Exposition: Exalting Jesus in Acts] – and then end the lesson with another summary description of the church’s inner workings and conduct of the Spirit-filled church in vv 32-37.     

I / vv 1-4 | Peter and John: Interrupted by the Religious Establishment   

1/ And as they were speaking to the people… This is the sermon Peter was delivering following the healing of the lame man in ch 3.11-26. Peter was explaining that this miracle of healing had come from Jesus Himself – and he was boldly proclaiming how they had denied and rejected the very Christ / Messiah God had sent to them to inaugurate the Kingdom they had professed they were waiting for. The theme of Peter’s message was the resurrection of Jesus to fulfill the Old Testament prophets [ch 3.15, 26].

2/ This message of proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead is what so infuriated the religious establishment. And so, again – as they had tried to do before with Jesus [John 7.30, 32, 45-46] – they sent the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees to stop the sermon, arrest them, and bring them into custody. There is a frantic power struggle and damage control at play here. The priestly cabal were the ones who held control over the religious and social activities of the Jewish community. Jesus had threatened their control over the people during His ministry. They thought they had successfully ridded themselves of Him – but God had raised Him from the dead. Like, “He’s back!” now through His working through the apostles and their continued proclamation of His resurrection. And what makes their greatly annoyed chagrin and charges more pronounced is that the Sadducees don’t even believe in anything supernatural! [“For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit” (Acts 23.8).] And here are Peter and John, who have just performed this miracle of healing on this lame man who is standing among them, whom the populace is celebrating [vv 9-10, 16, 21] – and what can they say or do to squelch it? So they did the only thing they could do: they incarcerated them overnight while they spent the same overnight hours in a frantic emergency session of damage control deliberations.

3/ In the meantime, Luke gives us another one of his commentaries on the numerical growth of the church: But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand. Luke uses the gender-specific word for ‘men,’ not the generic word for ‘people/persons’ that includes both men and women. However, we have to believe that many of these same ‘men’ had believing wives and children also. The actual numbers of the disciples who had joined this first church was probably closer to 10,000+. And this was the result of the Spirit-empowered preaching of the Word of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ – and that under the oppressive opposition of the religious establishment!       

II / vv 5-12 | Peter and John: Bold before the Religious Establishment

1/When they brought them in for interrogation the next morning, they had assembled a veritable ‘Who’s Who’ of the ruling religious establishment. Look at their names! Annas and Caiaphas especially were key figures and players in the ‘trials’ and hearings that had led to Jesus’ condemnation to death and eventual crucifixion at the hands of Pilate and the Romans.

2/ And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” Listen into that question: what they are asking is: ‘Who gave you permission to do what you did yesterday? We didn’t give you leave or license to do this! We are the ruling authorities over this nation, community, and all its religious activities. What are your credentials? Who are you speaking and acting for?’ All of that is implied in their question. I’ll just reiterate here how Peter keeps invoking ‘the Name of Jesus’ signifying what all ‘name’ means: not just the authority that Jesus had conferred upon them to speak and act by His authority and in His stead, but ‘name’ means ‘Jesus Himself – all of who and what He is’ [chs 3.6, 16; 4.7, 10, 12, 17, 18, 30; 5.28, 40, 41].

3/ Once again, Peter is filled with the Holy Spirit – this was the Spirit-empowerment which Jesus ‘poured out on them’ on Pentecost. And again, Peter preaches Christ and His resurrection. We also need to remind ourselves – as we can be sure Peter is remembering – that Jesus had told them they would encounter this opposition when they proclaimed Him – Luke 21.12-15: But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. 13 This will be your opportunity to bear witness. 14 Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, 15 for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. And, that wisdom would come from the Holy Spirit – Luke 12.11-12: And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.

4/ Peter is well aware that he was slinking around outside this very venue, fearing for his own life and well-being, just a couple months or so ago while Jesus was being ‘tried’ before this very court of officials. They had condemned Jesus to death. They could do the same to him and John. BUT, there was no hesitation or reservation on his part today! He addresses them boldly: Rulers of the people and elders, if we are examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the Name of Jesus of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead – by Him this man is standing before you well! Then he goes on to declare that what they had done to Jesus – and what God had done for Jesus to counteract what they had done – was all in fulfillment of Psalm 118.22. Jesus of Nazareth didn’t fit into their kingdom they were ‘building’ for themselves – but He was God’s Cornerstone of His Kingdom. And He is the only Name by whom we may and must be saved.

III / vv 13-18 | The Religious Establishment: Paralyzed before Peter and John

1/ Luke sums up the utter frustration and consternation of the religious establishment: Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. Peter and John were Galileans and former fisherman. They had not been formally schooled and trained in their schools, nor had they been degreed, commissioned, or even recognized by the establishment. Yet here they are – boldly, courageously, and confidently – confessing and proclaiming the Name of Jesus of Nazareth and His resurrection. And as we say when we produce proofs and evidences to back up what we are saying, ‘they had the receipts’! Here is the living, healthy proof of the power of the Name of Jesus standing right before their eyes!

2/ So the council had to send them out of the room while they conferred more among themselves. They’re in hyperventilation mode right now. They have to stop this movement! But ‘the horse is already out of the barn … the train has already left the station.’ This miracle of healing has already been performed. The people have already seen it. Peter and John are not backing down. They are boldly preaching Christ and His resurrection again to their faces and presenting the testimony of their rejection of Christ yet again. The only recourse left to them is to intimidate and threaten Peter and John to cease and desist – and hope they can cower them into compliance: But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this Name. So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the Name of Jesus. Surely…this close call will put them on notice!

IV / vv 19-22 | Peter and John: Bold before Threats

1/ Peter and John will not be intimidated, and they will not be silenced! Peter and John turn the threats and arguments back on them: ‘You claim to speak and teach for God yourselves. You claim to be defending the honor of God – both by crucifying Jesus for ‘blasphemy against God’ and now for forbidding us to speak in His Name. So you claim to be doing, in your judgment at least, what is right in the sight of God. So let us ask you: Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge. But as for us, we have heard from God what we are committed to proclaim! We have been with Jesus, who is God! And everything we have heard and are obeying from Jesus came from God! So as for us, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard – and that goes for when we have been with Jesus and also what He is saying and doing through us now!

2/ The religious establishment was flummoxed – they had come this crossroads, and there was no way out. They could only threaten them more and let them go. Everybody out there knew they were in here and were waiting to see what they would do. For now, at least, they were ‘dead in the water,’ dead-ended. And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened. For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.  

V / vv 23-31 | The Church: Bold in Response

1/ Peter and John go back to their people, their friends, the church. The church assembly and community is Christ’s appointed and authorized ‘agent’ of His Kingdom work. The church receives them and listens to their report of the morning’s proceedings. They fully recognize that they are all in this Kingdom work together. They are in unity in their response:

[1] They prayed to God together. “And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, ‘Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them…’” They address God as the Sovereign Yahweh who created and controls all the physical creation, the people who inhabit it, and all the events that go on in it. They recognize that nothing that happens in the world is beyond or out of the control of God – who is our God! The Sovereign God is our Protector, Savior, and Redeemer! All the confidence and peace we will ever enjoy and experience must come from this same unshakable conviction and commitment in the invincible sovereignty of God in every present, human event that comes into our lives!

[2] They quote the Scripture together. Here again we see what we have been calling the confluence of Scripture. What they are witnessing before their very eyes in that very moment is what God had prophesied through the mouth of our father David, your servant, and what David had said was by the Holy Spirit – that very same Holy Spirit who was ‘poured out’ on them on Pentecost and who was working mightily and miraculously right there in that very moment and event. They quote from Psalm 2.1-2, and point by point, they recognize that every word of Psalm 2.1-2 was fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, their Messiah – and they had just appeared before and been threatened by the very enemies of Christ who had been prophesied in the Scriptures over a thousand years before!

[3] They entrust themselves into the Sovereign Providence of God in their present trials. “And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the Name of your Holy Servant Jesus.” What was being preached with their mouths and voices was being voiced with the Voice of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit sent from Him. What was being done through the hands of the apostles was being done by the ‘stretched-out’ hand of God, of Jesus, who was stretching out His hand from the right hand of God!

[4] They experienced – spiritually and even physically – the affirming Presence of the power of God and His confirming authority to preach His Word, witness to His Gospel, and effectively fulfill His Kingdom mission. “And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the Word of God with boldness.” While we may not experience the physical shaking of the building and room in which this church assembly was gathered, we do experience the same movement of Christ in the Person of the Holy Spirit every time the Word does its Spirit-empowered work in our hearts, lives, and ministries. Every time someone is saved through faith in Christ; is convicted of their sins, repents, and turns to Christ for forgiveness; a life is transformed; a heart is revived and encouraged – or like these Jerusalem church members, they commit themselves to continue to speak the Word of God with boldness … ALL of these spiritual Kingdom activities are the works of the Holy Spirit. He is ‘shaking’ us to sluff off everything that is earthly only so we can be ‘refreshed’ with the resurrected life and power of Jesus Christ. He is equipping with the promised power to carry out Christ’s commanded mission for the church.     

VI / vv 32-37 | The Inner Workings and Conduct of the Spirit-filled Church

1/ This closing paragraph of ch 4 begins a new strain of the Acts narrative with the word ‘Now.’ Luke will take a sort-of commentator’s role here to give us another summary description of some of the common, customary inner workings and conduct of the Spirit-filled church. This paragraph serves at least three purposes – and all have to do with unity: “…those who believed were of one heart and soul…”

[1] It is similar to ch 2.42-47 in that it gives us an ‘insider’s’ view into how the church was functioning in those days. These descriptions serve as a pattern, model, and example for us to conduct our own unified church activities – especially the unity they enjoyed in everything they did.

[2] Luke also takes this opportunity to introduce us to one of his favorite brothers, Joseph – except Luke will call him by his nickname, Barnabas [Son of Encouragement], throughout the rest of Acts. In fact, Luke will name Barnabas twenty-three times throughout Acts.

[3] This paragraph will serve as an example of the church’s extraordinary, selfless generosity toward each other – and also as a contrast to the opening scene of ch 5, the lying deceit of Ananias and Sapphira.

2/ But the prevailing theme that is marked here in this paragraph is the unity of the church in everything they did. And it was all an expression and outworking of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, in which they every one commonly believed, and out of which they every one lived their everyday lives in community with one another. God continued to express His pleasure in them by His sovereign, supernatural working through them: “And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all!” We pray it will be so also with us!   

“…and great Grace was upon them all…”

SS.ACTS.L4.Acts 4.1-37.The The Spirit-Empowered Boldness of the ChurchDownload
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Rose of Sharon

Posted on June 20, 2024 by PastorDave

We have these two Rose of Sharon(s) blooming in full view looking out our kitchen window. So we look at them often. They are beautiful in their own right, but I can’t help being reminded to live every moment of my life with the beauty of Christ’s love, grace, and mercy every time I look at them. That prompt comes from a song we sang years ago, “Daystar.” The first stanza is a prayer addressed to Jesus:

“Lily of the Valley, let your sweet aroma fill my life…

Rose of Sharon, show me how to grow in beauty in God’s sight…

Fairest of ten thousand, make me a reflection of your light…

Daystar, shine down on me let your love shine through me in the night.”

These floral references [Lily of the Valley, Rose of Sharon] come from the Shulamite’s humble description of herself in Song of Solomon 2.1: “I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.” Actually, I think they were probably a little self-deprecating. Although the Rose of Sharon [whatever it was specifically in their context] was a beautiful flower, it was, after all a common one. It grew plentifully ‘in the wild’ – where God Himself planted, watered, and cultivated it. Yes, naturally pretty to look at, but nothing really ‘special,’ extraordinary, or exotic about it at all. Just God’s beautiful ‘ground cover’ for their parts of the world.

But, though she describes herself in this common, ordinary way, her Beloved responds by elevating her worth – reminding her that ‘beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.’ “Like a lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.”

The beauty of every flower, every bloom, regardless of how common, ordinary, or plentiful (or even ‘wild’) it may be, is a reflection of God’s own beauty – and He created its beauty to show Himself through it. It is a gift of God’s ‘common grace’ and Providence. So am I. So are we as God’s image-bearers.

That’s why, when I rehearse those words, “Rose of Sharon, show me how to grow in beauty in God’s sight,” I am inspired again to “Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me” [a line from another old Gospel song]. I want my life to display the beauty of Jesus before everyone who sees and knows me as a reflection, not just of God’s ‘common’ grace, but more, as a living testimony to the beauty of Jesus’ redemptive ‘new creation’ grace.

And so, the chorus to the verse featuring the Lily of the Valley, Rose of Sharon, and the Daystar offers this testimony for God to display His new creation beauty of Jesus’ grace in my life:

“Lead me Lord, I’ll follow. Anywhere you open up the door…
Let your word speak to me, show me what I’ve never seen before.
Lord, I want to be your witness, you can take what’s wrong and make it right…
Daystar, shine down on me, let your love shine through me in the night.”

Even though I [and we all] display the evidences of my own common personal weaknesses, flaws, brokennesses, deficiencies, et. al., Jesus Christ can also shine through all those with His own redemptive grace. That’s how my Rose of Sharon(s) remind and inspire me to pray: “Rose of Sharon, show me how to grow in beauty in God’s sight.”

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The Wonder and The Word

Posted on June 15, 2024 by PastorDave

ACTS: Church on Mission | Lesson 3 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read Acts 3.1-26

INTRODUCTION / CONTEXT / CONNECTIONS

1/ Our lesson passage will cover ch 3 of Acts. The narrative of this story is continued on into ch 4, but we will take that up in our next lesson. I’m calling this lesson ‘The Wonder and The Word’ because those two subjects and themes will summarize and encapsulate the contents of this part of the narrative of chs 3-4. Ch 3 neatly divides into two sections: vv 1-10 ‘The Wonder’ and vv 11-26 ‘The Word.’ The ‘wonder’ is the healing of this 40-year-old lame man at the gate of the temple. The ‘word’ is the Gospel message Peter preached to explain the meaning of the miracle he had just performed: Who it came from, how it came, and, most importantly, what the significance of the wonder was to their ministry of the Gospel of the resurrected, ascended, and enthroned Jesus Christ.

2/ Ch 3 is a follow-up to ch 2.43: “And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.” Ch 3 will tell the narrative of one of those many wonders and signs that were being done through the apostles. There will be more to come [chs 2.22, 43; 4.30; 5.12; 6.8; 14.3; 15.12]. These references to ‘wonders’ are intentional to bear evidence and demonstrate the validity of the apostles to be speaking and acting by the immediate power of the Holy Spirit and in the Name of Jesus Christ. In fact, these ‘wonders’ that the apostles perform in the Book of Acts are actually being performed by Jesus Himself from Heaven through them. That is what a ‘wonder’ is – it is a supernatural act or phenomena from God Himself in Heaven. And it is a ‘sign’ [that is why ‘signs’ and ‘wonders’ are often coupled together] that God Himself is present doing the miracle to point attention to Himself. These ‘signs and wonders’ were begun by Jesus Himself during the days of His flesh as Peter proclaimed in his Pentecost message in ch 2.22: “Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves know…” Now, Jesus is continuing to perform more ‘signs and wonders’ through His apostles to evidence and demonstrate that it is, indeed, He Himself who is giving and performing these miraculous works through them. And for the purpose of, not only validating them as His apostles, but also to give them opportunities to proclaim His Name and preach His Gospel with His authority.

I / vv 1-10 | The Wonder [Miracle of the healing of the lame man]

1/ Peter and John were faithfully serving the Lord in partnership with one another on this occasion. They were going to the temple at the set time of the evening prayers – 3:00 in the afternoon. The devout Jews faithfully kept and observed at least three of these set times during the day: early morning, around noon, and ‘evening’ at 3:00. When the text says they were going up to the temple, we need to understand that they were no longer observing their traditional Old Covenant Jewish sacrifices and services. All of those had ceased just a few weeks ago with the death of Christ as the fulfillment of the Passover Lamb. Remember also that the observance of the temple services had been terminated and discontinued when the veil [curtain] to the Holy of Holies was torn apart as Christ died – at least as far as these New Covenant believers were concerned. They were now worshiping the risen and reigning Christ as the New Covenant church. But there were so many of them, especially after Pentecost, that their customary ‘upper room’ could not contain them. ALSO, we have to know that during those forty days of intense instruction from Christ between His resurrection and ascension, He reminded them that now He is the true Temple of God [see again John 2.18-22 & 4.19-26]. When it says they were going up to the temple, what they were actually going to was the open courtyards and gathering places in the temple compound [see ch 2.46].

2/ It was here at one of the prominent entry gates into the temple compound that they met this poor, crippled, lame man who was begging for alms. The giving of alms, gifts, and good deeds to the poor and needy was another one of the faithful practices of devout Jews. They devoted themselves to three indispensable practices: Torah [the Law or Scriptures], worship, and showing kindness [alms, giving to the needy [see Matthew 6.1-4]. There were many of these helpless, needy, indigent people among them. Their only source of income and sustenance was the mercy, hospitality, and gifts they received from their fellow neighbors. And what more promising place to expect to receive alms than of those entering the temple? Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. He made eye contact with them and begged them to give him some money.

3/ We have no idea whether he and Peter and John had ever seen each other before this day – most probably they had. He had laid daily at the gate of the temple – for how long or at this particular gate we don’t know. BUT, on this particular day, the Holy Spirit of Christ moved Peter to engage him: And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us!” He did so, expecting them to give them some coins. But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” And with that command, the Holy Spirit from the risen, ascended, and enthroned Jesus of Nazareth restored and energized his withered and atrophied legs – and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God! This man was more than forty years old [ch 4.22], and he had been lame from birth [ch 3.2]. He had never taken a step in his life. He not only instantly ‘learned’ to walk, but here he was – leaping and dancing around, and praising God! We have every reason to believe that, not only did he recognize that this was a ‘God-thing,’ but he also recognized that this ‘wonder’ of his instantaneous healing was from Jesus of Nazareth! He immediately believed the Gospel of Christ!

4/ As you would expect, this ‘wonder’ got everyone’s attention. And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and recognized him as the one who sat the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. He was doing his own ‘preaching and witnessing.’ The ‘wonder and sign’ had had its God-purposed effect. Everyone began to question like they did at Pentecost: “What does this mean?” For what purpose had God chosen this man on this occasion for this amazing and ‘wonder’ful act of grace and power? That was Peter’s cue…and he began to explain the meaning and significance of this ‘wonder’ with the ‘word’…   

II / vv 11-26 | The Word [Peter’s Message re: the meaning of the miracle]

1/ v 11a / The healed man is ‘clinging’ to Peter and John – won’t let them go in his joy and gratitude – and serves as a living illustration of Peter’s word. Peter’s Gospel message here re: Christ is not just hearsay or 2nd-handed ‘word on the street.’ [Even the next day, when the chief priests, elders, and scribes called them in for interrogation, they couldn’t deny this living evidence (see ch 4.14-16).] Kinda makes you have to wonder if this newly-healed brother was interrupting or interjecting with excited “Amen, brother!” or “That’s right!” or “Right on!” as Peter preached this explanatory word.

2/ v 11b / Everyone is excitedly pressing and pushing to get closer to get a better view, chattering and buzzing with questions [“What’s going on here? What just happened? Yeah, that’s him!”] Luke emphasizes their utter astonishment in three consecutive sentences, vv 10-12.

3/ v 12 / Peter makes it plain that this ‘wonder’ didn’t come from him or John – “…why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety [personal holiness or godliness] we have made him walk?” They were not working through any kind of mystic or occultic power of their own.

4/ v 13a / This ‘wonder’ had come from “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers” – meaning that this was the very same covenant God of their very faith. Peter draws their attention to the “I AM WHO I AM” self-announcement that Yahweh made to Moses at the burning bush when He was sending him to Egypt to redeem and release His people from Egyptian bondage [see Exodus 3.6, 13-17]. Don’t miss this! When Yahweh sent Moses back to Egypt, the Israelites would demand to know that Moses was acting, in truth, with the authority of their covenant God. This ‘word’ is from their historical covenant God, and Peter is standing in a role like Moses did – to announce the New Exodus into the New Promised Land of the New Covenant to be fully enjoyed in the New Creation that Christ has promised and will bring with Him when He comes again!

5/ v 13b / Their covenant God has ‘glorified His servant Jesus.’ God ‘glorified’ Jesus when He resurrected Him from the dead and received Him back to ‘Glory’ and seated Christ as His right hand – where Christ was at that moment, sending this ‘wonder’ and working it among them! This is the same message he delivered on Pentecost [see ch 2.22-36].

6/ vv 13b-15 / This is the same Jesus of Nazareth whom they had rejected, delivered over to Pilate, and refused to obey and serve – even when Pilate was willing to release Him back to them [Luke 23.13-17]. Refusing to receive and believe in God’s Christ, their own Promised Redeemer and Messiah, they chose instead to have a ‘murderer’ released back to them [Luke 23.18-25], and adamantly insisted that Pilate crucify Jesus – “But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of Life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.” The accusations, indictments of guilt, and egregious sins of the Jewish leadership and people are woven, heaped, compounded, and layered against them! They are undeniably and inescapably guilty! But, as if to say: “He’s back!”

7/ v 16 / BUT, this same Jesus, whom you killed, whom God raised from the dead, is now here working this ‘wonder’ among you through us! He has come back to you – but He is here giving this life and perfect health to this poor lame man! After acknowledging at the beginning of his ‘word’ to the people that this ‘wonder’ had not been worked through their own power or godliness, Peter then proclaims whose power of Life IS at work: “And His Name – by faith in His Name – has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all!” NOTE two ways Peter explicitly credits Jesus with this ‘wonder’:

  • [1] ‘His Name.’ The Name of Jesus is not just His moniker – what He is called – but His Name is WHO HE IS. His Name is HIM. His Name encompasses His identity, character, authority, and power. It is not just calling or repeating ‘in the Name of Jesus’ as a magical mantra or incantation [as so many do], just it is acting by His immediate authority to do here in the moment what He Himself is doing from Heaven.
  • [2] ‘by faith in His Name … the faith that is through Jesus.’ This was the faith of Peter and John to believe and act upon the faith and trust in the purpose and power of Jesus to work His sovereign purpose and power through them in that moment. Their faith was not only squarely and solely in His Name, but their faith had even come through Jesus – as in ‘from’ Jesus. Even their faith to believe and trust Him to do this work through them had come from Jesus, ‘through Jesus.’ This was truly a sovereign work of Jesus Christ Himself in that very moment and act being performed through them as His apostles.

8/ v 17 / Peter acknowledges “I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.” How can he say they acted ‘in ignorance’? Didn’t they deliberately and intentionally do everything they did? Didn’t their rulers turn on Jesus from the beginning of His ministry among them? Didn’t they attempt in every way they could think of to discredit Him, undermine Him, contradict and refute Him, conspire and plot against Him to kill Him – until they ‘succeeded’? Yes, they did all that. But their ‘ignorance’ was one of unbelief and the blindness of their own hearts of sin. Yet, even Jesus Himself prayed from the Cross: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” How deep is the Father’s love for us! And now, Christ is back among them, working from the right hand of God in Heaven, giving life and perfect health to this lame man, to demonstrate His forbearance and longsuffering toward sinners.

9/ v 18 / But even their rejection of Christ – and even in all His sufferings and death for sinner – God fulfilled what He had been promising from the beginning. Peter will often refer to the sovereign purposes of God in predestination and the foreknowledge of His redemptive purposes in Christ. See ch 2.23; 4.27-28. This is a truth we cannot deny, nor should we want to. God has been revealing His sovereign purposes to save His people from their sins in all of the Scriptures – His purposes He has planned in Himself from before the creation of the world. He has been revealing His historical-redemptive progression purposes in all of the Scriptures as Peter will repeat throughout this ‘word.’

10/ v 19 / God calls them – and us – to repent of our sins. He extends mercy to the guilty in spite of our unbelief and rejection of Christ. In truth, God calls us to repentance because of our unbelief and rejection of Christ! Remember how Jesus told us “I didn’t come to call the righteous, but the unrighteous to repentance.” This call to repentance is for everyone – all of us, both religious and pagan [see chs 2.38 & 17.30].  

11/ vv 19-21 / When we repent of our sins and turn back to God with faith in Christ, He promises His Grace both for here and now … and also for the Kingdom to come in its eternal fullness. Your sins will be ‘blotted out’ in full forgiveness. AND “that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom Heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets long ago.” These are references to the New Creation Kingdom that will be brought to us in its fullness at Christ’s Second Coming. Jesus came the first time to announce and inaugurate His eternal Kingdom. He is now mediating, interceding, and executing the growth and progress of His Kingdom through the New Covenant ministry of His Spirit-empowered churches as we proclaim His Gospel, and He will bring it in its eternal fullness when He comes back – and all of this is in fulfillment of every word He’s been foretelling all along in the Scriptures. See again Ephesians 1.3-10; Colossians 1.15-20.

12/ vv 22-24 / Jesus Christ is the long-ago promised and long-awaited-for Prophet whom Yahweh said He would send to us. Peter quotes from Deuteronomy 18.15-19. The Old Covenant Israelites had anchored their hopes for their Messiah who would come to teach, lead, and redeem them into their Rest on this promise [see John 4.19-26]. The promised Prophet would be sent from Yahweh; He would be like Moses and from among them [the human race]; He would speak to them for God and from God, and they must receive Him and respond to Him in obedience; everyone who rejected and disobeyed Him would be guilty of rejecting and disobeying God … and God would destroy them. Christ was this Prophet. And what had they done? They had rejected and disobeyed this Prophet as Peter had just indicted and condemned [vv 13-15]. THIS is what they must ‘Repent, therefore, and turn back’ from ‘that your sins may be blotted out [v 19].’

13/ vv 25-26 / And then … Peter concludes this ‘word’ to explain the ‘wonder’ with the keynote / keystone promise upon which all the Old Testament covenants are grounded – and which the New Covenant now enacts and fulfills. [NOTE: as I told you in our last lesson, we’re witnessing three grand moments in historical-redemptive history here in Christ and in the Book of Acts: Conversion (transition, changing over) of the Covenants; Convergence of the Ages; and Confluence of Scripture.]And, since we have just completed our last study course, CHRIST IN GENESIS, this is still fresh in our minds. Peter quotes from Genesis 12.3 & 22.18: “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.’” The singular and summary purpose for which ALL the Old Covenant covenants were made was to create and preserve a nation from the descendants of Abraham from whom the Messiah would come to fulfill the initial promise of a Redeemer from sin in Genesis 3.15. This Redeemer would save His people from their sins and redeem and return them to the Father. These redeemed people would be saved from all the families, peoples, and nations of the world. What Peter is declaring here is:

  • [1] ALL those promises were made, not only about Christ, but to Christ;
  • [2] Christ has come and fulfilled them all;
  • [3] And that, what has happened here is not only the fulfillment of all the Old Covenant promises in Christ, but also an initial demonstration of what they have been called, sent, and empowered to do by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. “And you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, to the end of the earth” [ch 1.8]. They were beginning their world-wide mission where Jesus had told them to begin – here in Jerusalem: “Men of Israel [v 12]…God, having raised up His servant, sent Him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness [v 26].” Then, as Paul will later write, “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek [Romans 1.16] – ‘ALL the families of the earth.’   

“…Repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His Name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem” [Luke 24.47]

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The Spirit-Empowered Witness of the Church

Posted on June 8, 2024 by PastorDave

ACTS: CHURCH ON MISSION | Lesson 2 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read Acts 2.1-47

INTRODUCTION / CONTEXT / CONNECTIONS

1/ There can be no doubt that this Day of Pentecost is one of the most momentous events in the entire history of the redemptive Kingdom of God. We’re all used to hearing that the Book of Acts is a ‘transition’ book. And it is. A lot of things are changing over from the old to the new. So let me introduce you to at least three key changes to look for as we make our way through this chapter and the rest of the book.

[1] Conversion of Covenants. We use the word ‘convert’ or ‘conversion’ quite commonly to signify changing over from one thing to another. So here in the Book of Acts, we will witness a number of conversions from the Old Covenant fulfilled in the New Covenant that is in Christ’s blood and Gospel. For example, see chs 10 & 15. See also Ezekiel 37 and Jeremiah 31, in particular.

[2] Convergence of the Ages. There have been several distinctive ‘ages’ from the creation until we get to the last and final New Age … the New Heaven and New Earth – the New Creation. They can also be summed up in four ages: Creation, Fall, Redemption, New Creation. When Christ came, He inaugurated the ‘last days,’ that is, the ‘last days’ of the age of Redemption before the New Creation is fully ushered in. See Hebrews 1.1-2. What we will begin to witness here at this Pentecost is the announcement and enactment of the witness of the churches leading up to the ‘end of the ages’ at Christ’s Second Coming. All the previous ages are converging on this occasion. See also 1 Peter 1.20; 1 John 2.18.

[3] Confluence of Scripture. Confluence is when several streams all flow into one larger stream. What we will begin to witness here in the Book of Acts is the confluence of all the Old Testament Scriptures flowing and meeting together from this time on until they are fulfilled and completed in the end. Watch for them. All the Scriptures find their point of confluence in Christ – and the apostles are witnesses!

I / vv 1-13 | The Pentecost Phenomenon

1/ Jesus Christ had promised this first church that they would receive the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon them to be His witnesses to the ends of the earth. He had also commanded them to wait in Jerusalem until that ‘clothing with power’ came upon them before they commenced their world-wide ministry of His Gospel. They [and we] are dependent upon His empowerment for our Gospel witness. Now, on this Day of Pentecost, that day had arrived. They were obediently and faithfully serving.

2/ What is the Day of Pentecost anyway? There are several descriptive passages in the Old Testament, but one of the fuller ones is found in Deuteronomy 16.9-12. [1] It immediately followed fifty days after Passover and was inseparably connected with Passover – both on the calendar and in its significance; [2] It was a celebration of harvest of the winter grain crop; [3] It is also called The Feast of Weeks because it was the fiftieth day after seven weeks of harvest had been fulfilled; [4] It was one of the three ‘mandated’ feasts to be observed by the Jewish community; [5] Just as they were saved and redeemed from bondage by the blood of the Passover sacrifice, so they would be sustained by the continuing provision of God. So, in these ways, Pentecost was a continual reminder of the Exodus motif that would be written into God’s redemptive history from the time of the first Passover on until the final redemption in the end of the ages. And all of it is centered and focused in Christ who is our Passover and Redeemer! All of the Old Testament feasts and celebrations were descriptive ‘pre-enactments’ of the Gospel of Christ!

3/ On this promised Pentecost, there were several observable phenomena that could be explained only by the Presence of God and the activity of the risen, ascended, and reigning Christ who had been crucified and raised from the dead only fifty or so days before! We have here a descriptive account of the meeting of God and man in the assembly of this infant church. Sounds: everyone heard the sound like a mighty rushing wind. NOTE: that this sound came from heaven. That is where Jesus had ascended only ten or so days before! Sights: what was seen was like tongues of fire that rested on them. Both wind and fire have been signs of the manifested Presence of God in the OT. It may also be a fulfillment of Matthew 3.11 to give undeniable witness to the present and personal work of Christ and the Presence of the Holy Spirit. Speech: what occurred here is that the apostles began to speak the mighty works of God [v 11] in the native tongues and languages of the many various nationalities who were present [see vv 8-11]! All of this was performed, not in their own skill or previous learning – it was the result of their being ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’! This was the doing of the Holy Spirit who was being poured out on them!

4/ Of course, since this had never happened before – no one had ever witnessed such a phenomenon – everyone was bewildered / amazed and astonished / amazed and perplexed. What were they witnessing, and ‘What does this mean?’ Still others were unbelieving and even mocked, accusing the apostles of being drunk, “They are filled with new wine.”

II / vv 14-21 | The Joel Prophecy

1/ Peter begins to explain: “No, these people are not drunk,” but that what they were witnessing was the fulfillment of what Yahweh had prophesied centuries before in Joel 2.28-32. We begin to see even the amazement and wonder of the apostles as they themselves also begin to witness the confluence of Scripture in their own experiences. And they are participating in it! Joel had prophesied that in the last days of the coming of Christ, that His Holy Spirit would be poured out on all flesh, meaning Jews and Gentiles alike [see v 21 & ch 10.47], and that they would prophesy, or bear witness to the salvation of God in Christ. We see the final Kingdom fulfillment of this beginning in Revelation 7.9-10.

2/ So, what does this Pentecost phenomenon mean? It means [1] prophecy has been fulfilled, v 16; [2] the Last Days have dawned, v 17a; [3] everyone can know God intimately and should make Him known faithfully, vv 17b-21; [4] that the fulfillment of these events are foretelling the last and final climactic Day of the Lord … the great and magnificent Day, vv 19-20; [5] and that God is calling everyone to believe the Gospel of the Christ He has sent – ‘and it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the Name of the LORD shall be saved … everyone whom the Lord our God shall call to Himself’ [vv 21 & 39]! NOTE: this apostolic interpretation of the Joel prophecy is equating the LORD [Yahweh] of the prophecy with Christ who is fulfilling it – as the remaining part of the sermon will further explain.    

III / vv 22-36 | The Gospel of the Risen, Ascended, and Reigning Christ  

1/ So now, we come to the texts and content of what will be the first Christian, Gospel sermon of the ‘new age’ of Christ and the Spirit. This is the first sermon delivered by Peter and the other apostles to proclaim the death, burial, resurrection, ascension, enthronement, and reign of Christ from Heaven! NOTE: it is all about Christ!

2/ Men of Israel, hear these words… Peter addresses the ‘men of Israel’ because the Gospel is ‘for the Jew first.’ Also, Christ was sent first to the tribes of Israel in fulfillment of the Covenants. And, ‘Israel’ is where they are on this occasion. And, it was in Israel that Christ was crucified and the Gospel events Peter will describe occurred.

3/ Who is The Christ?

[1] He was Jesus of Nazareth who had ministered among them.

[2] God had given and borne witness that He was with Jesus through the well-known and undeniable mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves know.

[3] Jesus was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God… This had been the covenant plan from the beginning of the world, and even from before the creation of the world. See Genesis 3.14-15; Isaiah 53; Revelation 13.8; et. al.

[4] They had crucified and killed God’s Christ by their wicked and lawless hands. Both the Jewish leadership and Roman executioners were indicted in this lawless deed. But, of course, in the end, it was God’s justice and mercy in His covenant redemption of His people from our sins that necessitated the death of Christ.

[5] Then God raised Him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for Him to be held by it. The Covenant plan of God for our redemption was fulfilled and effected by His resurrection and subsequent ascension and enthronement. Peter quotes from Psalm 16.8-11 to show the confluence of Scripture in the resurrection of Christ. David had prophesied the resurrection and enthronement of Christ 1000 years before in this Psalm. Although David wrote the Psalm also to describe how God would give him [David] ultimate victory over all his enemies, the words could be fulfilled only in Christ, as Peter illustrates. David’s flesh did see corruption, as they all knew. They knew where David’s burial site was. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that He would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Only Jesus Christ has and exercises the authority to conquer death and the sin that has caused death. The apostles are ‘witnesses’ by seeing it for themselves … and also by proclaiming that Gospel message here and going forward at Jesus’ command. Also, those who were hearing Peter deliver this message had been witness to Jesus’ resurrection.

[6] Not only did God raise Christ from the death in His resurrection, but He also exalted and enthroned Jesus at the right hand of God as was evidenced by His ascension.

[7] And, get this! what was happening at that very moment – what everyone was witnessing to their bewilderment, amazement, and perplexity … this otherwise inexplicable phenomena that was transpiring – was nothing other than that very same Jesus Christ fulfilling His New Covenant promise to pour out His Spirit on all flesh as Joel and numerous other prophets had foretold! Jesus was doing this from Heaven! Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing! Yes, they had crucified and murdered the Son of God. Yes, they had served their roles as the descendants of the ‘seed of the serpent’; they had done all they could to rid themselves of the pesky ‘renegade rabbi from Nazareth’ who was jeopardizing their agenda and threatening their power and control over their self-made religion. But God had overruled them all and He was now advancing His eternal Covenant purpose and plan to save His people from their sins! The promised Holy Spirit was now being poured out upon His apostles and the churches who would succeed them down through all the ages until the very end when the New Creation will be ushered in at Christ’s Second Coming!

[8] More confluence of Scripture! Peter quotes yet another Psalm that foretold and promised this day and event: Psalm 110. This is one of the most-often-quoted Psalms in all the New Testament. And this is also more conversion of covenants! Psalm 110 was a promise that Yahweh had made to David in the covenant with David [2 Samuel 7]. One of David’s descendants would sit on his royal throne to rule the whole world. The LORD says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’ This coming Royal Successor, this ‘Son of David,’ would reign as sovereign and supreme victor and ruler over all His enemies! This ‘Son of David’ is Jesus Christ! Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified!

4/ This is not only the message of that first Christian sermon on that Day of Pentecost, but it is also the only message that the Spirit-empowered churches have for all the succeeding ages. As Peter will declare in a message on another occasion, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other Name under Heaven given among men by which we must be saved” [ch 4.12].           

IV / vv 37-41 | The Abundant Gospel Harvest of Souls

1/ Do you remember how we said earlier that Pentecost [Feast of Weeks] was a celebration of harvest? Pentecost was to be celebrated seven weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain. Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the LORD your God blesses you [Deuteronomy 16.9-12]. Pentecost was a remembrance of their bondage and enslavement in Egypt and how Yahweh had delivered them from bondage and brought them into the Promised Land. He had not only redeemed them [given them life] from slavery, but He had also promised to sustain that life He had given them by providing abundant harvests. Well, Christ had offered the Passover sacrifice to God for our salvation and redemption from our sins on His Cross fifty days before. He had been raised to life by His resurrection. He had ascended back to Heaven and enthroned at the Right Hand of God to give salvation to His people. He had poured out His Spirit on His church to proclaim that message of salvation to the ends of the earth beginning at Jerusalem. They had faithfully proclaimed His Gospel message of salvation. So now, God will give them the promised harvest – just as He promises to give us the harvest of souls as we continue to proclaim, preach, and witness that same Gospel.

2/ As Peter and the other apostles were proclaiming the Gospel, the Holy Spirit convicted these hearers of their sins [John 16.7-11]. “Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’” Peter’s response to them was to repent of their sins, believe on the Christ they had just proclaimed to them, receive the promised forgiveness of their sins through the redemption that is in Christ and His blood, and then publicly confess that faith in Christ by being baptized. Their baptism was not to effect the forgiveness of their sins, but rather to acknowledge and confess that Christ had forgiven their sins. Their baptism was not the ‘cause’ of their forgiveness, but rather the ‘effect’ of their having been forgiven of their sins. By so doing, “you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit [the promised New Covenant gift]. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Himself.”

3/ God did, indeed, give them an abundant harvest on that day! “So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.”    

V / vv 42-47 | The Conduct of the Church Community

1/ The specific Christ-given, Spirit-empowered phenomena of this first Day of Pentecost do not need to be repeated and duplicated – although similar phenomena will occur on following occasions as more and more people groups are included to fulfill the ch 1.8 mission mandate. But, once given, they remain with us. The promise of the Holy Spirit’s empowerment of our faithful witness to Christ continues to reside in and upon Christ’s faithful churches as we carry out His Great Commission to the end of this age.

2/ But this first church and the early churches do give us models and examples for how we should continue to conduct the ministry and witness of Christ in the world:

[1] They were devoted to the Word of God, vv 42a-43: And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching… This was the authoritative expositions, preaching, and instructions of the apostles as they continued “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” [Matthew 28.20].

[2] They were devoted to one another, vv 42b, 44: …and the fellowship … and all who believed were together and had all things in common…

[3] They observed and celebrated the Lord’s Supper in the church, v 42c: …to the breaking of bread…

[4] They were devoted to prayer, v 42d: …and the prayers…

[5] They gave and shared with radical generosity, especially within the church, v 45: And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.

[6] They constantly and continuously interacted with one another, v 46a: And day by day, attending the temple together…

[7] They continuously assembled and gathered with one another – both corporately [with the whole body] and in smaller groups, v 46b: …and breaking bread in their homes…

[8] They expressed in their worship and daily lives a spirit of awe, gladness [joy], and praise to God, vv 43a, 46-47a: And awe came upon every soul … And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God…

[9] They displayed the grace, beauty, and attractiveness of Christ in their demeanor and conduct, v 47b: …and having favor with all the people.

[10] They practiced daily evangelism – witnessing to others of their faith in Christ, v 47c: And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.  

“These are the mighty works of God!”

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The Promise and the Mission

Posted on June 1, 2024 by PastorDave

ACTS: The Church on Mission | Lesson 1 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read Acts 1.1-26

INTRODUCTION / CONTEXT / CONNECTIONS

1/ We are beginning a new course with this lesson. We’ll be doing another survey / summary study of the Book of Acts. We’ll call it simply ‘CHURCH ON MISSION.’ As with our other courses, we can’t and won’t attempt to do anything even resembling a detailed study of the contents of the book. Rather, we’ll seek to cover, at least in a survey/summary way, the entirety of the text of Acts and show how the first church obeyed Jesus’ initial command in ch 1.8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” That is, after all, Luke’s thematic purpose that he intends to relate to us under the inspiration of that same Holy Spirit – and it is the strategic, literary outline he will follow in this narrative.

2/ We will be introducing many more details in our class sessions than we can include here in these Lesson Notes / Talking Points. But that’s also why we call these notes by that name. We have allotted ourselves twenty-six lessons over the next six months – two quarters. And since Acts has twenty-eight chapters, that means we will be combining some chapters together when the events of those chapters are a continued event or story, so as not interrupt the context and flow of thought from one week to the next.

3/ In all of these efforts, let me remind you of one of my primary purposes as your teacher: that is, so we can all learn together how to read God’s Word. We all read the same Bible, and we all must read and conduct our lives in unity together – especially in our church – by the principles taught to us by the Spirit of God in the Word of God. As I repeatedly tell you, I don’t want to just teach you lessons from the Bible; I want to teach you the Bible! And so, we’ll conduct this portion of that aim from this very significant and deeply essential Book of Acts – Church On Mission!

4/ We will begin here in ch 1. And rather than spend a whole lesson ‘setting up’ the Book of Acts with introductory material [such as author, date, intended audience, outline, purpose, etc.], I will introduce those significant contextual subjects as they come up in the text….

5/ Ch 1 breaks itself up into three sections: vv 1-5; 6-11; and 12-26. So that’s how we will develop it…

I / vv 1-6 | The promise of the Holy Spirit

1/ Luke doesn’t name himself as the author, but all the earliest contemporary pastors, leaders, and writers of that era recognize and name him as such. Luke reminds the first and primary recipient of this book, a brother by the name of Theophilus [which means ‘Lover of God’] that he had written a ‘first book,’ which is the Gospel of Luke. Luke reminds Theophilus that, in his first book, he “dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when He was taken up, after He had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom He had chosen.” Of special note are the words “Jesus began to do and teach…” So we are to understand that this book will take up where the Gospel of Luke left off. And so he does. In fact, this first section is not just a continuation of the ending of Luke; it is also an overlap. Compare Acts 1.4 with Luke 24.49. Jesus repeats this same promise both there and here in the opening of Acts.

2/ Also, we could insert here that neither did Luke name this book ‘Acts’ or ‘The Acts of the Apostles.’ It was the ‘acts’ of the apostles from the most obvious horizontal, human perspective – but it is also the ‘continuing acts of Jesus Christ through the Person and power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of His apostles.’ That is a more specific and comprehensive way to view this book. But we’ll stick with ‘Acts.’

3/ Jesus also presented Himself alive to them after His suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days… This was so they would know that He was, in truth, the very same Jesus they had accompanied, lived with, and learned from during the days of His pre-crucifixion death. He had been resurrected! He was alive! And when He does ascend into Heaven, He will be the very same Jesus – as He is today [see v 11 and 1 Timothy 2.5]!

4/ As Jesus accompanied His apostles for forty days following His resurrection until the day when He was taken up, He taught them intently to prepare them for the days and age of their ministry between His ascension back to Heaven and His coming again – this very age in which we live and serve! That’s why this Book is so essential and important to us! Jesus’ primary subject was speaking about the Kingdom of God. This is the same Kingdom Jesus introduced during His earthly ministry: “…Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the Gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel’” [Mark 1.14]. The Kingdom of God is the rule and reign of God – God’s sovereign authority and Providence in all the events of the world and its history … and especially pertaining to His invincible fulfilling His redemptive purposes in the New Covenant in Christ’s blood – saving His people from their sins through the preaching and witnessing of Christ’s Gospel. See some examples of what He must have expounded upon, reiterated, gone over again, and impressed upon them in Luke 24.26-27, 44-48 – and also what He had ‘begun to teach and do’ in the many parables and sermons He gave them concerning ‘the Kingdom’ [like Matthew 5-7, 13, 20-25, and many others]. And to emphasize how central the proclamation of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God is here in the Book of Acts, this same Kingdom of God message ‘bookends’ this book. It is here at the beginning, and when the book ends, we’ll find Paul in Rome [‘the end of the earth’ at that time]. And what is his message? “…proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance” [ch 28.31].  We call this the ‘already’ / ‘not yet’ Kingdom.

5/ What we do have to especially note also is that Jesus continually reminded them that, at that time, they were not properly equipped and sufficiently empowered to do what He will command them to do after His ascension back to Heaven. They [and we] would not be able to function in obedience to the mission He would give them [and us] without the power of the Holy Spirit. And so since Jesus emphasized this, and Luke reiterates it from his Gospel [Luke 24.49], we must give this special attention. This will become one the primary themes of Acts … and the key to all the effectiveness of all the acts that are recorded in this book: it will all be done by Jesus Himself in the Person of the Holy Spirit given by the Promise of the Father! They [nor we] will do anything in the power and energy of ourselves apart from the Holy Spirit. The Father knows this – that’s why He promised the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus knows this – that’s why He ‘ordered’ them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father. John the Baptist had prophesied this promise when he baptized Jesus in Matthew 3.11. This ‘baptized with the Holy Spirit’ will be fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost in ch 2. In ch 1, it hasn’t happened yet; but they must wait for the ascended Jesus to ‘pour out’ the power of the Holy Spirit upon them. I know we haven’t come there yet, but I must fast-forward to ch 2.33: Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the Promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. Then, they will be properly equipped and sufficiently empowered to begin their world-wide commission to ‘preach the Gospel’ and ‘make disciples of all the nations.’

II / vv 6-11 | The Ascension of Jesus to Heaven – with the promise to return again

1/ This occasion “So when had come together” seems to refer to this very last encounter they had with Jesus before His ascension back to Heaven. Remember: Jesus had appeared to them, presented Himself alive to them, met with them, ‘ate’ [see v 4] and fellowshipped with them, and taught them intensely over the past forty days since His resurrection. But on this occasion, as Jesus is again ordering them to wait for the baptism or ‘pouring out’ of the Holy Spirit to empower them to be His witnesses … they now ask Jesus about the Kingdom He’s been emphasizing: “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” We don’t know what they were thinking when they ask Jesus about ‘restoring the Kingdom to Israel.’ And since Luke doesn’t tell us any more, then we don’t need to know any more about what aspect of the kingdom they may have been entertaining in their minds. But what we can be sure of is that Jesus had given them a much fuller and clearer understanding of His Kingdom during those same forty days of speaking about the Kingdom of God [v 3]. This Kingdom of God will be the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecies of the New Covenant Kingdom which Jesus came to fulfill in Himself. Just a few of these Kingdom prophecies will be found in Isaiah 2.1-5; Ezekiel 37; and especially Isaiah 49. There are many, many others; but these Kingdom prophecies all foretell that, indeed, Israel will be restored [including the reunification of the estranged northern and southern kingdoms of Samaria and Judah] and the promised Kingdom of God will be restored to Israel … and more, the nations of the Gentiles will be saved, ‘restored,’ and included in the New Covenant ‘Israel.’ This new ‘Israel’ is Jesus Himself … and all those who will be saved through the New Covenant Gospel that the church will proclaim in His Name as His witnesses.

2/ I say again, Jesus doesn’t reiterate all that commentary here in vv 6-8, but He surely expounded upon all these New Covenant Kingdom truths during the previous forty days as He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. But in order for all those Scriptures to be fulfilled, first the Gospel of His death and resurrection must be proclaimed to all the nations – to call them to repentance from their sins and faith in Christ [Matthew 24.24]. So Jesus’ reply was to call them to leave all the matters of the timing of the full and final revelation of the Kingdom with the Father and attend to the mission He will assign them to carry out: He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.’

3/ v 8 / What we will find in this charge from Jesus to His church is yet another reiteration of ‘The Great Commission.’ We also need to understand that ‘the Great Commission’ was not given by Jesus to the church just one time. We’re all familiar with the Matthew 28.18-20 account: “Go and make disciples of all the nations.” But even that account is not this account. That ‘Great Commission’ charge was delivered in Galilee; this Acts 1.4-8 account was in Jerusalem. We have no doubt that, during those forty days of ‘boot camp’ mission preparation, Jesus impressed upon His apostles many times that before the Kingdom of God comes in its final and eternal fulfillment, “And this Gospel of the Kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” [Matthew 24.14].

4/ v 9 / “And when He had said these things, as they were looking on, He was lifted up, and a cloud took Him out of their sight.” This has to be one of the most awesome displays of Jesus’ Deity and Glory in all the Scriptures. This was an actual, physical occurrence. Jesus, in His resurrected and glorified human body, supernaturally levitated from the physical earth and ascended back to the Father and eternal Glory from whence He came when He was incarnated in the womb of the virgin Mary. Clouds have always been a symbol of the Presence of God in His creation. See Exodus 14.19; 19.9; 24.15; 40.34, 36-38; Luke 9.35 & Matthew 17.5 & Mark 9.7 for just a few… Jesus also promised that when He comes again, it will be ‘in a cloud with power and great glory’ [Luke 21.27; Matthew 24.30 & 26.64; Mark 13.26].

5/ vv 10-11 / This is what the angels promised the apostles as they witnessed Jesus’ ascension:  And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” Pay special note to the four-fold repetition of the word ‘heaven.’ This is not just a reference to the atmospheric upper levels of the stratospheric space into which Jesus ascended until He disappeared from their sight; it is a reference to the Presence of the Father in Glory where Jesus is now – seated at the right hand of the Father, enthroned in sovereign power and authority. See Ephesians 1.20; Colossians 3.1; Hebrews 1.3; 8.1; 10.12; 12.2; 1 Peter 3.22. And what is Jesus doing there? He is ruling over everything that transpires here on earth from that moment until He comes again. And He is especially interceding with the Father on our behalf [Hebrews 4.14-5.10; 7.1-10.39]. We do not need to fear anything that will befall or happen to us … or how fiercely the powers of Hell will assail and oppose us! Jesus is interceding on our behalf! He is praying to the Father for the effectiveness and success of everything He has commanded and sent us to do!

6/ I just want to point out also that, when Jesus connects earth and Heaven here in His ascension and His promise to come again in the same way you saw Him go into Heaven, what He is demonstrating is that His Second coming will be the final and eternal fulfillment of the designs and purposes of the Kingdom of God in the original creation. This will be the reunification of Heaven and earth in the New Creation. Allow me to include this quote from Brian J. Vickers in the ESV Expository Commentary:

“Jesus went up and ascended to the presence of the Father, in heaven. We are faced with a description of a supernatural event, namely, the meeting of heaven – the place where God Himself dwells – and earth. Whereas the cloud denotes God’s presence in the Exodus, here we not only see a cloud depicting God’s presence; the incarnate Lord is Himself present. At the ascension, a way is made from the earthly realm to the heavenly realm. How Jesus moves from one to the other is beyond our perception and experience, but it is clear that Scripture speaks of heaven as a place, God’s place, that will one day be joined with a new heaven and a new earth. Here the focus is on heaven as the destination to which Jesus ascends as the divine King. It is a place of finality and authority from which King Jesus directs His kingdom work on earth.”

And, if I may add, according to Jesus’ own promise here, when He returns, He will bring that perfected and reunified New Creation – the eternal meeting place of Heaven and earth, God and His redeemed people – back with Him [see Revelation 21.1-7].   

III / vv 12-26 / Matthias is chosen to replace Judas Iscariot – the church’s first order of business

1/ vv 12-14 / As we make our way through Acts, we will note many instances where the first church presents us with models and examples for us to emulate and follow. Here is a primary one [maybe with the exception of the ‘casting of lots’: when the disciples returned to Jerusalem after just witnessing Jesus’ ascension to Heaven, they went straight to the upper room where they had already begun to gather with one another. There were not only the apostles whom He had chosen, but there were other committed believers and followers of Jesus, including His mother, Mary, and NOW also Jesus’ brothers who have now believed in Him following His resurrection. Note their commitment to unity and prayer: All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer… These two themes of unity and prayer will continue to be the pattern of their activities all throughout the Acts narratives. This is also what we must commit ourselves to and continually practice: unity, worship, mutual fellowship, and prayer.

2/ But the order of business that needs to be conducted is the apostolic replacement of Judas Iscariot. Jesus chose twelve; now there are only eleven. Judas, of course, had betrayed Jesus to the Jewish chief priests and the Romans. He had bargained Jesus away for thirty pieces of silver. After being overcome with guilt over what he had done, he brought the silver back to the chief priests, threw it down in the temple, and then committed suicide by hanging himself. [They bought the burial field.] See Matthew 27.3-10.

3/ Everything the church does must be governed by the Scriptures. We have here another one of the themes of Acts: the authority and sufficiency of the Scriptures. Judas had fulfilled the Holy Spirit-inspired words of David concerning Judas in Psalm 41.9 – besides numerous other related Old Testament Scriptures: Psalm 69.25; 109.8; Zechariah 11.13; 19.1-13.

4/ We also have here the Scriptural qualifications for a true apostle – one who was chosen by Christ to speak with His authority to the churches: So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when He was taken up from us – one of these men must become with us a witness to His resurrection. When we summarize ch 1 with these words which give us an over-all summary of Jesus’ preparation of His apostles for the mission He was sending them to accomplish, we can see at least three of Luke’s primary emphases that he will highlight throughout this narrative – and they all center, focus, and concentrate on Jesus Christ: resurrection, Holy Spirit, witness. That is still our mission today, here and now: Jesus Christ has called and commissioned us to be His Gospel witnesses of His redemptive death and resurrection in [and only in] the life-giving power of His Holy Spirit! These apostles and this first church obeyed Christ and began to carry His Gospel of saving grace into all the world.

“You shall be My witnesses!”

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CHRIST: The Rejected One Becomes The Savior [Acts 2.23, 36; 4.10-11]

Posted on May 25, 2024 by PastorDave

CHRIST IN GENESIS | Lesson 15 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read Genesis 42-50 & Acts 2.23, 36; 4.10-11

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

1/ We now come to the end of this brief summary/survey course of Genesis – which we have called CHRIST IN GENESIS. We have said from the beginning that it was not our purpose or intention to do any sort of detailed commentary on Genesis. Volumes and way too numerous lessons than we have available to us would have been required to do that, and others far more qualified than I have already done that. But what we have attempted to do is take the allotted number of weeks available to us in these Sunday School lessons and point out some of the most prominent ‘CHRIST-markers’ that are written into this first book of the Bible. These CHRIST-markers have pointed us to CHRIST who was to come in the fullness of time to fulfill all of God’s purposes for the Kingdom of God in the original creation and the promises of a Redeemer to reconcile and restore that Kingdom back to God in the New Creation [see Ephesians 1.7-10; Colossians 1.15-20; Revelation 21-22 and CHRIST: Creation to New Creation ].

2/ We have done this by referring to the New Testament interpretations of these Old Testament Scriptures that are realized and fulfilled in CHRIST and His Gospel. And we haven’t even begun to include all of those, but we have attempted to highlight some of the most obvious and prominent of those. We have repeatedly pointed to 1 Peter 3.11 in doing so because that Scripture explicitly tells us that it was “the Spirit of Christ in them (the Old Testament prophets and writers)” who was inspiring them to write of the CHRIST who was to come to fulfill them all [see Luke 24.25-27, 32, 44-45; 2 Corinthians 1.20].

3/ We have also attempted to include ALL the narrative of Genesis – even though that intention has required us to do some serious summarizing of rather large sections of the book; but we did want to preserve the contexts and make all the connections of the successive narratives to show how they all fit together in the historical-redemptive progression of the history and revelation of Scripture to promise and then deliver the Promised Redeemer first made especially in Genesis 3.14-15. As Yahweh says elsewhere about other events, He says in these events: “The LORD of hosts has sworn: ‘As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand’” [Isaiah 14.24; 23.9; 37.26].   

4/ So, with that, we will come now to the final section of Genesis in this lesson. We will give this brief summary of Genesis 42-50 which is the continuation of our last lesson from chs 37-41. In this lesson, we will see the fulfillment of how Joseph at least graphically illustrates, if not typifies, the sovereign purposes of God to save His people from death and preserve the Messianic nation and lineage by the very one whom they had rejected and [if they had their way] ‘put to death.’ But God ‘raised him up’ and made him a ‘savior’ to ‘keep them alive’ and make them a nation to perpetuate the historical lineage until CHRIST would come to enact what was ‘pre-enacted’ in Joseph [see Acts 2.23-24, 36; 3.25-26; 4.11; et. al.]. In this way, Joseph is very much, and graphically, ‘pre-enacting’ the Gospel of CHRIST.  

5/ Let’s remind ourselves: [1] they are in Egypt because Yahweh foretold Abraham they would be [ch 15.13-14]; [2] and as Joseph will tell his brothers, “God sent me before you to preserve life … to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God” [ch 45.4-8]; [3] and as Paul will interpret all these events in Acts 13.16-23: “Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen. The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt … Of this man’s offspring [from Abraham to David … via Joseph] God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as He promised.”

I / ch 42 | The brothers visit Egypt the first time to buy grain

1/ We already know that Yahweh has what we have been calling His ‘400-year plan’ for Israel: that they “will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years … and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.” And we have seen the first ‘act’ of that 400-year plan and drama enacted when “God sent” Joseph into Egypt to be afflicted and then elevated to his position of authority and power “to save” the nation alive and give them time and space to multiply and grow into a great nation. We could also call this ‘sending Joseph’ phase Yahweh’s ‘20-year plan’ by comparing chs 37.2; 41.46; 41.53-54.

2/ Now, what Yahweh must do is to providentially arrange the historical-redemptive progression circumstances to get all the nation down to Egypt. He will accomplish this at the beginning of the seven years of famine [ch 41.53-57]. The famine was in the land of Canaan also; so Jacob tells his ten sons [excluding Joseph and Benjamin] to go to Egypt to buy grain so they can eat, live, and survive. They go.

3/ During the course of this first visit, they do, indeed, bow themselves before Joseph in subservience in fulfillment of the prescient, prophetic dream Yahweh had given him in ch 37.1-11 [v 6]. Joseph recognizes his brothers, but they do not recognize him [vv 8-9]. Joseph also remembers the dreams Yahweh gave him over twenty years before. Joseph devises a plan – not to bully them, but – by which he will test his brothers’ honesty and integrity, whether they have sufficient conscience to be convicted of their wrong-doing against him [vv 18-24], and also to gain intelligence from them about whether his father, Jacob/Israel, is still alive. And also he wants to discern whether they harbor the same kind of resentment toward his younger brother, Benjamin, that they had toward him. He pretends to accuse them of being foreign spies coming down to Egypt to survey what weaknesses they might discover that they can take advantage of – perhaps even with an invasion [?]. Joseph learns that both Jacob and Benjamin are alive and well, so he ‘sells’ them the grain they had come for … with one caveat: Simeon must remain in Egypt as a ‘hostage’ until they return with Benjamin, proving they are, in fact, telling the truth. He also returns all their purchase money to them by hiding it in their sacks of grain they take back to Canaan.

4/ By the way, there is another not-so-subtle CHRIST-marker in vv 35-36. When they discovered their purchase money in their grain sacks, Jacob/Israel cries out in desperate hopelessness: “You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin. All this has come against me! (‘All these things are against me!’ / KJV) To which we would reply from a CHRIST-fulfilled Gospel promise: “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 for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us!” [Romans 8.31-39].

II / chs 43-44 | The brothers visit Egypt the second time – this time with Benjamin

1/ The famine persisted and grew worse in Canaan. They had run out of the food they brought back from the first purchasing visit. Jacob tells them they must return for more grain. The brothers remind Jacob that they cannot return – not only to get more grain, but also to reclaim Simeon – unless they take Benjamin with them. When Jacob/Israel digs in his heels and refuses to allow them to take Benjamin, Judah then offers to become ‘surety’ for the safety of Benjamin and the success of the food-fetching mission [vv 1-10] – much in the same way the later Lion of the Tribe of Judah, CHRIST, would become our ‘surety’ of the New Covenant to bring us all safely Home to the Father [Hebrews 2.10; 7.22].

2/ When Joseph sees Benjamin, he orders his servant to prepare a feast before them all. The brothers bow before Joseph again [vv 26-28]. Joseph is so overcome with emotions of compassion for Benjamin, he excuses himself from the room to go off by himself to weep in secrecy [v 30]. Joseph sat the brothers all in birth order [which amazed them and stirred their guilty consciences more], and as they were served, Benjamin received five times more in portions than the others.

3/ Then Joseph ‘sent them back home’ again, with yet another contrived ruse to bring them back before him one last time: he ordered his servant to place his special ‘silver cup’ in Benjamin’s sack. After they had gone a short distance on their way home, Joseph sent his servant to confront them yet again to accuse them of ‘stealing’ his silver cup. They were all brought back to face the Prime Minister of Egypt under this charge. The brothers had already offered that whoever was found in possession of the silver cup would die and the others would enter slavery to Joseph. Joseph agreed to those terms – except he counter-offered that the ‘innocent’ brothers could return home. The cup, of course, was found in Benjamin’s sack. Then Judah showed his true integrity, character, and contrition. Upon this discovery, Judah pleaded with Joseph to allow him to fulfill the promise of ‘surety’ he had given to their father, Jacob/Israel [vv 14-34, especially 32-34]. Again, this is the same ‘pledge of surety’ CHRIST made to The Father when He was sent into our world to redeem us and bring us all safely Home to the Father [see John 17].  

III / ch 45 | Joseph reveals himself to his brothers and promises to provide for their family

1/ Joseph makes the great ‘reveal’ to his brothers who had rejected him, planned to murder him, sold him into slavery in Egypt, and had been content to presume him to be dead. He ordered all the Egyptians out of the room. “So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. And Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?’ But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.” Much like Israel of the CHRIST generation would do on the Day of Pentecost when they were convicted of their sin of crucifying their Messiah, “cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’” [Acts 2.37]. But Joseph assured them that “God sent me before you to preserve life … to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God.” And this was “by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God…” [Acts 2.23 KJV] – both with CHRIST and with Joseph. God has exalted Joseph to this office and position of sovereignty in Egypt for this very purpose – to keep the nation alive and preserve them for Messianic posterity. “Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, “God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not tarry!”’”

2/ So that’s what they did. What a happy trip back home to Jacob/Israel! What hopes and prospects now for the ‘salvation’ of their family – and from Yahweh’s perspective, for the perpetuity of the nation of Israel and the coming of the Messiah! “So they went up out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob. 26 And they told him, ‘Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.’ And his heart became numb, for he did not believe them. 27 But when they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. 28 And Israel said, ‘It is enough; Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die’” [vv 25-28].

IV / chs 46-47 | Jacob and their family go to Egypt and are settled in Goshen

1/ Yahweh appears to Jacob/Israel again to sanction his leaving the Promised Land to go to Egypt. He reiterated the same promises He had made to Jacob many years ago when He appeared to him as he was fleeing Esau on his way to Paddan-aram: “And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, ‘Jacob, Jacob.’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ 3 Then he said, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation. 4 I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again, and Joseph’s hand shall close your eyes.’” [ch 46.2-4 / with ch 28.10-22]. The covenant promises given first to Abraham, then to Isaac, and then to Jacob … and now being fulfilled through Joseph … are being kept. Jacob is not giving up on the promise of the land inheritance because Yahweh is promising yet again that he will bring Jacob back to it. Although when Jacob/Israel is brought back to the Land, it will be for burial there [see chs 47.29-31; 49.28 – 50.14].

2/ Jacob/Israel set out from Beersheba with all the Israelite family. “All his offspring he brought him into Egypt” [ch 46.7]. Judah once again plays the part of the ‘firstborn’ representative of the family. Jacob sent Judah ahead of them to the place Joseph had appointed where they should settle – Goshen. Joseph rides his royal chariot to Goshen to meet them and be re-united with his father – who had lived all these 20+ years with the supposed bereavement of presuming his beloved, favorite son was dead. We can’t even begin to imagine what a joyful reunion this was! “[Joseph] presented himself to [Jacob] and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while. Israel said to Joseph, ‘Now let me die, since I have seen your face and know that you are still alive!’” [ch 46.28-30].

3/ Joseph had made all the suitable arrangements for them to settle and live in the fertile plains of Goshen which were most accommodating for their lifestyle of shepherding. It would also give them ample space and room to multiply and grow as a people and nation. Don’t overlook the ‘blessing’ of the Abrahamic covenant promise in ch 47.27: Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. And they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly. This was not only the fulfillment of all the covenant promises Yahweh had made to Abraham that he would have ‘offspring like the sands of the sea and stars of heaven,’ but it is also the very first Creation Mandate for the Kingdom of God. And by their settling and multiplying in Egypt, Yahweh is perpetuating the promise made to CHRIST through Abraham that “in you all the nations of the earth will be blessed” – though that promise would be fulfilled most fully and finally in the CHRIST who would come later ‘in the fullness of time.’

V / chs 48-50 | Jacob dies after blessing the ‘fathers of the tribes of Israel’ … and so does Jospeh after giving final instructions for the return of his bones to the Covenant-promised ‘land’

1/ ch 48 / Jacob/Israel is on his death-bed. Before he dies, he gives the covenant blessing to Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. They will also become ‘tribes’ of Israel. Sometimes in tribal genealogies to come, these two sons will replace Joseph and another of the original twelve tribes to preserve the number twelve. Israel passes on to these two sons of Joseph the same covenant blessing and promises that Yahweh had given to him in ch 28.10-22.

2/ ch 49.1-27 / Jacob/Israel then calls his own sons to come before him. He blesses each one in order with a predictive future that is fitting for each [ch 49.28]. Each one is significant in its own right – but for the purposes of CHRIST IN GENESIS, we must pay special note to the blessing Israel gave to Judah in ch 49.8-12 – Israel reveals the Divine plan that CHRIST, the King, would come from Judah: “Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down before you.9 Judah is a lion’s cub; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down; he crouched as a lion and as a lioness; who dares rouse him? 10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” This is a prophecy of Judah’s royalty, sovereignty, preeminence, and Lordship over all his brothers – all of which would be fulfilled in CHRIST who would come from the tribe of Judah as the son of David, the King of all kings and Lord of all lords.

3/ ch 49.28-33 / Jacob/Israel then gives final instructions for his burial back in the Promised Land, the covenant inheritance Yahweh had given them to possess. And, “When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last and gathered to his people.”

4/ ch 50.1-14 / Joseph carries out the wishes of Jacob/Israel. He petitions Pharaoh for permission to go in family caravan back to Canaan to bury his father. They do with great solemnity and fanfare.

5/ ch 50.15-21 / Now that their father Jacob/Israel is dead, the brothers again fear for their lives. Will Joseph now take out his revenge on them? Once again, they come and bow before him with a message from their father – that Joseph will forgive them. But Joseph had already done so: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Then he re-affirmed yet again God’s sovereign purposes for all they had done and all that had happened: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” You might even call this statement ‘the Romans 8.28 of the Old Testament.’

6/ ch 50.22-26 / Joseph also dies at 110 years old. But before he dies, he, too, gives instructions that they preserve his bones and carry him back to the covenant Promised Land Yahweh had given them for their inheritance. And so, when Yahweh’s ‘400-year plan’ had been fulfilled, He did, indeed, bring them back to Canaan – and they made sure to carry Joseph’s bones with them [see Exodus 12.40-41 & 13.19].

This is the end of Genesis, but the Covenant plan of God goes onward to the New Creation IN CHRIST, our Promised Redeemer!

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CHRIST: Rejected By His Brothers [Revelation 12.1-6]

Posted on May 18, 2024 by PastorDave

CHRIST IN GENESIS | Lesson 14 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read Genesis 37-41 & Acts 7.9-18; 13.17; Revelation 12.1-6

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

1/ We will conclude this current course of survey/summary of CHRIST IN GENESIS with these next two lessons. Both of them will feature Joseph as the main character. Joseph was the favorite son of Jacob/Israel as the text explicitly states [ch 37.4]. Joseph is also the Divinely-appointed and chosen ‘preserver’ and ‘savior’ of the covenant family and nation while they were in the land of Egypt [chs 45.5, 7, 8 & 50.20]. So before we get into the contents of the text chapters we will study in this lesson, we would do well to rehearse the significance of this Egypt-sojourn that will begin with Joseph’s being sold and taken there…

  • The sojourn in Egypt was foretold to Abraham three generations before [ch 15.12-14].
  • Yahweh knew Israel did not have the moral convictions and covenant commitment to remain a distinct and separate nation to Him had they remained in Canaan [as they would prove centuries later when they were delivered from Egyptian bondage and brought back to inhabit the Promised Land] [see chs 34 & 38]. Yahweh knew they would have to be separated and isolated from voluntary coexistence with the Canaanites if they were to grow as a nation, remaining distinct from them and consecrated to Him. So He sent them to Egypt and placed them under bondage to give them time and opportunity to grow and multiply as a separate and distinct covenant nation. In fact, when the story of Joseph is re-told in the New Testament book of Acts, two separate times we are told: “…the people increased and multiplied in Egypt…” [Acts 7.17], and “The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt…” [Acts 13.17]. As Joseph explains in the chs 45 & 50 references above: “God sent me here…” to set that covenant plan in motion.

2 / There is one more observation we need to make here before we get into Joseph’s story about the CHRIST-markers we have been highlighting and emphasizing during this entire course: How does Joseph point to CHRIST? We have repeatedly emphasized that the Book of Genesis is establishing the CHRIST-markers and pinning all the CHRIST-threads that will be woven all throughout the Scriptures and the history of the historical-redemptive progression of the CHRIST-covenant. How does Joseph portray CHRIST? Ever since there have been Scripture interpreters and commentators, they have debated whether Joseph is a type of CHRIST, or are there just intentional similarities in their experiences and parallels between their roles in God’s Eternal Covenant fulfillment? In the technical sense, in order for an Old Testament character or event to be a true type, it must have an explicit New Testament reference relating the two: for example, 1 Peter 3.21; 1 Corinthians 5.7; Romans 5.14; Galatians 4.21-31 – just a few that spring to mind. We have already noted many such types here in Genesis. But what about Joseph? I would argue that Joseph is, in truth, a true type of CHRIST – that is, an intentional pre-figure and pre-enactment of CHRIST. And if there is only one evidence of this typing of CHRIST in Joseph, I would refer you to Revelation 12.1-6. John receives the vision of the CHRIST being born into the world. “And a great sign appeared in Heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth.” As I say, this vision is that of the nation-‘mother’ of the CHRIST who was ‘carrying’ Him all throughout the Old Testament, and now, in the ‘fullness of time,’ was preparing to give birth to Him. Notice the imagery by which she is identified … and if you will refer now back to our lesson text in Genesis 37.9-10, you’ll see this is the very dream that Yahweh gave to Joseph to describe his role of ‘keeping alive’ the twelve tribes of Israel in Egypt under his protective administration. So with that, there is an explicit link and connection between Joseph and his role as the immediate, historical ‘executor’ of the covenant plan and the CHRIST who would be born from Joseph’s brothers, the nation of Israel. This is a clear and explicit CHRIST-marker that was given and assigned to Joseph to ‘pre-enact’ and fulfill in his role as the ‘ruler’ and ‘savior,’ not only of Israel, but of the other nations in the then-world.

3/ So, with that, let’s continue with the story of Jacob as it is told in the person of Joseph…

I / ch 37 | Joseph and his God-given dreams of lordship and salvation

1/ Ch 37.1 could also be attached to the end of ch 36 to describe the different locations where these two brothers’ families continued their residence and habitation. Connect and contrast with ch 36.6-8.

2/ Also, ch 37.2 is the tenth and last toledot [Hb.] in the book of Genesis. See Lesson 2 for the definition of what a toledot is and a listing of them. But basically, a toledot is a short story of the descendants of the subject of the toledot. Just as in ch 36.9 the descendants [‘generations of’] of Esau are recorded, so now the descendants of Jacob and ‘what became of’ them are chronicled in the story of Joseph … because what happened to Joseph is ‘what became of’ the descendants of Jacob/Israel as Jacob’s representative.

3/ So the history of Israel for the next 400 years will be told here, beginning with the story of Joseph and how they came to be in Egypt to begin with. It all starts with the introduction to Joseph, a testimony to his character [which will be continued all throughout his story], and emphasizing the dreams Yahweh gave him to prepare him for his roles he would play and assignments he would fulfill in the succeeding chapters. Joseph was the next to youngest of his brothers who had been born in Paddan-aram [ch 29.31-30.24]. Benjamin would be born later. Joseph was always Jacob’s favorite and most-beloved son for at least two reasons: [1] he was the first and only son of Jacob’s beloved wife, Rachel, and [2] Joseph also portrayed a more righteous and faithful character than his older brothers. For that reason, Jacob had “made him a robe of may colors [or ‘long sleeves’ or ‘embroidered’].” The exact meaning of that word is uncertain, but whatever it was, it set him apart, distinguished him, and ‘made him special’ among his brothers. And it was obvious also by the favoritism with which Jacob treated Joseph. And his other brothers hated him for it. There was always a deep-seated bitterness and simmering resentment toward Joseph from them.

4/ To top even that, Yahweh gave Joseph two different dreams – make note of these dreams, because Yahweh is going to give several more dreams in the coming narratives. And his brothers will ‘hate him even more’ and give him the disparaging nickname ‘the dreamer’ v 19 because of them. Here are the two dreams – and they will be fulfilled to the least detail in the coming chapters, experiences, and events:

  • vv 5-8: In this dream, Joseph and his brothers are all out harvesting grain in the field, binding their stalks into sheaves. Joseph’s sheaf stands upright, tall and straight over the sheaves of his brothers, and their sheaves come and bow down to his to serve him, recognizing his lordship, sovereignty, and authority over them. See how this came to pass in ch 42.6 and following…
  • vv 9-11: In this second dream, “Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” The sun and moon represented even his father and mother, and the eleven stars represented the other brothers. This, too, would come to pass when the whole family migrates to Egypt to be saved from the famine in Canaan by Joseph, who had been elevated to be the master supplier of food.

5/ Of course, as we have said, the brothers hated Joseph all the more for what they perceived to be his ‘self-assumed’ presumption and arrogance. They did not know [yet] that Yahweh was giving Joseph dreams of His future assignment for him … and them. So in the course of time, Jacob asked Joseph if he would check on his brothers who were pasturing Jacob’s flocks in distant fields and replenish their supplies of foods. Joseph willingly obeyed his father and set off to find them. That’s when they saw their opportunity to kill their pesky little brother and be rid of him and his precocious dreams. They plotted to kill him, bury him out in the distant landscape, tell Jacob that they had ‘discovered’ him devoured by a wild predator, “and we will see what will become of his dreams [v 20]”. The oldest son, Reuben [note his name also for future references], intercedes and tries to save Joseph’s life. He tells them just to throw Joseph into a nearby dry well – thinking he would come later and send him high-tailing it back home. So, they did just that – and then sat down to eat some of the foods Joseph had just ‘door-dashed’ for them.

6/ In the meantime, while Reuben was off and away in another field, they saw an approaching caravan of Ishmaelite merchants [also called Midianites] on their way to Egypt. So brother Judah has a bright idea: ‘Hey, let’s not kill him when we can get rid of him and make some pocket money to boot! Let’s sell him to the Midianites – we can make some money and be ‘innocent’ of killing him. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh!’ How big-hearted! Also make a note of Judah’s name for several more future references.

7/ Reuben returns to find Joseph sold off and on his way to Egypt. Since he is the firstborn and oldest son, he is responsible to give account to father Jacob for Joseph. “The boy is gone, and I, where shall I go?” [v 30]. That’s when they came up with the ‘cover-up’ ruse of slaughtering the goat, soaking Joseph’s special tunic in its blood, and then taking it to Jacob with the concocted lie of the story that they had ‘discovered’ it out in a field, and “This we have found; please identify whether it is your son’s robe or not” [v 32]. Of course, Jacob is devastated with bereavement – but the brothers had no conscience either for Joseph or Jacob. Ch 37 ends by saying: “Thus his father wept for him. Meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard.” Jacob is grieving; and Joseph arrives in Egypt where he will carry out Yahweh’s predestined roles for him, both in Egypt and in Yahweh’s developing purposes in the CHRIST Covenant for the following 400+ years…      

II / ch 38 | Judah’s immoral conduct back in Canaan  

1/ Ch 38 might seem like a screeching halt and disorienting interruption in the narrative. But it isn’t really. What this chapter serves to illustrate is the wisdom, foresight, and foreknowledge of Yahweh in sending Joseph ahead of them into Egypt. What Judah [yes, this is the patriarch and ‘father’ of the royal tribe from which King David and CHRIST will come] illustrates is that, if Yahweh had not sent Joseph into Egypt with the intention of the rest of the family following him there – as He had foretold to Abraham – then the nation would have degenerated into the same kind of immoral practices and assimilated themselves into the contra-Covenant lifestyles of the Canaanites around them in Canaan. [See also ch 34.1 ff.].

2/ The short of the story is: Judah makes a business alliance with another Canaanite, sees a woman there, marries her, and has a family of three sons with her. In the course of time, he married the oldest of the three sons, Er, to another Canaanite woman, Tamar. The two older sons, Er and Onan, were slain by Yahweh for their wickedness. Judah was unwilling to give the third and youngest son, Shelah, to this Tamar to carry on his oldest brother’s family and legacy. Tamar sought revenge [and got it] when she disguised herself as a prostitute and solicited her father-in-law, Judah, to have sex with her – which he was looking for, and did [v 15]. She became pregnant from this incestuous tryst, and Judah was shamed when he was identified as the father. There are a whole lot more details to this sordid story – but they serve the purpose of adding this explanation of Yahweh’s having sent Joseph to Egypt…getting Israel out of Canaan.

III / ch 39 | Joseph rises to favor in Egypt…then plummets again into prison

God can, will, and does assign to you the service He wants you to fulfill for His purposes, and the measure of success He wants you to have in it – and He will also sovereignly work out the circumstances His way and in His time for you to achieve it … just serve Him faithfully in it!

1/ Now…back to Joseph. Connect v 1 with ch 37.36. This is the well-known story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife. Joseph is now a slave to Potiphar, but “The LORD was with Joseph” just as He had promised Joseph’s father, Jacob: “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you” [ch 28.15 & 50.24-25]. This is the language of Yahweh’s covenant promise and faithfulness. We have to believe that Jacob had often told his sons, and especially Joseph, about this promise from Yahweh in his own God-given dream. And Potiphar saw the blessing of Yahweh upon Joseph and entrusted everything he had to this Hebrew slave’s care. He knew Joseph was a man of character and faithfulness [vv 2-6].

2/ Potiphar’s wife had more sinister and seductive designs for this attractive Hebrew slave. She wanted to have sex with him. Joseph resisted her solicitations on two grounds: [1] he would prove to be unfaithful to his master’s trust and confidence in him, and [2] he would sin against his God [vv 7-9]. She persisted in her abuse of her position and authority over Joseph; and on this day when they were alone in the house, she tried to coerce him by physically pulling him by his garment. Rather than consent to her insistence to sin with her, he escaped by shedding out his garment, leaving it empty in her hand, and running from her out of the house. Notice how the narrator repeats the use of ‘fled’ four times to emphasize the truth of this story. Also, this Joseph story is a stark contrast of righteous character with the immoral Judah story in ch 38. Make note of that purpose also in the narrator’s juxtaposition of these two stories.

3/ Potiphar’s wife not only committed the sin of attempted sexual relations with Joseph, but she also concocted this lie of a charge against him: “See, he [Potiphar] has brought among us a Hebrew to laugh at us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. And as soon as he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me and fled and got out of the house” [v 14]. She would repeat this lie both to the household servants when they came back into the house and to Potiphar when he returned home. This false, unjust lie and slanderous narrative would be the grounds for Joseph’s loss of favor with Potiphar and being sent to the political prison over which Potiphar had charge. But regardless of the unfaithfulness of others, God will be faithful to you! “But The LORD was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison,” as He had done before with Potiphar [compare vv 21-23 with vv 2-6].

IV / ch 40 | Yahweh continues to give dreams … and ‘the dreamer’ continues interpreting them

1/ This narrative of Yahweh giving predictive and prophetic dreams will be carried out through these next two chapters. We must keep in mind throughout all these narratives that Joseph still remembers the dreams Yahweh had given him when he was only seventeen years old back in ch 37. We know he had not forgotten them. Did he ever wonder whatever had become of them? Did he ever question the faithfulness of Yahweh to fulfill them? Joseph was only human – and young, at that – but there is no evidence at least in the text of any distrust he entertained toward the faithfulness of Yahweh … he just continued to serve faithfully in the assignments he was given in the moment and entrust the outcomes to God.

2/ Yahweh gave these dreams respectively to two of Pharaoh’s trusted officers: his chief cupbearer and chief baker. Both had fallen into disfavor with the Pharaoh and were sent to the same political prison where Joseph was incarcerated. Joseph faithfully served them under the charge of the captain of the guard [v 4]. When they had their dreams, Joseph was sensitive to their change of mood and demeanor. They confided in Joseph what they had dreamed. Joseph offered to interpret their dreams, giving all the credit to the same God who had sovereignly given him his own dreams: “Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me” [v 8] – much as Daniel would do also in a later captivity in Babylon. He interpreted their dreams and they came to pass as he said [vv 9-23]: the chief cupbearer was restored to his former position and the chief baker was executed. Joseph did respectfully request that the chief cupbearer would tell Pharaoh about his own unjust imprisonment – but he forgot…for two whole years!     

V / ch 41 | Yahweh elevates Joseph again to position and authority for His covenant purposes

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you” [1 Peter 5.6-7].

1/ Now it is time for Yahweh to fulfill His sovereign covenant promises for Israel’s preservation and perpetuity in Egypt as He had foretold Abraham! But His servant Joseph would need to be in a position to carry it out. Yahweh purposed the events and circumstances, gave Pharaoh the prophetic dreams, and elevated Joseph again to the position of prominence and authority to execute and make it work!

2/ Yahweh gives these two dreams to Pharaoh, and both of them have two contrasting scenes: [1] seven plump and well-fed cows being eaten by seven ugly, famine-starved cows and [2] seven plump and plentiful ears of grain being swallowed up by seven thin and blighted ears of grain. Both dreams foretell Yahweh’s future plans for Egypt and the surrounding environs. Seven years of plentiful harvests will be followed by seven years of severe drought. Pharaoh is disturbed by his dreams, but no one can interpret them [compare Daniel 2-3]. His personal attendant, the cupbearer, remembers Joseph interpreting his dream from two years before. He confesses his negligent forgetfulness and tells Pharaoh about Joseph; Pharaoh calls for Joseph; Joseph is brought before Pharaoh and interprets his dreams [vv 9-57].

3/ Pharaoh believes Joseph and is impressed with his wisdom and character. Joseph tells the Pharaoh what he must do to prepare for the coming famine by storing up provisions during the plentiful years. Pharaoh puts Joseph in charge of this management and administration. This is now thirteen years after Joseph’s rejection and betrayal by his brothers and being brought to Egypt [compare chs 37.2 and 41.46].

Yahweh’s 400-year covenant plan for Israel is set in motion…

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CHRIST: The Israel of God

Posted on May 11, 2024 by PastorDave

CHRIST IN GENESIS | Lesson 13 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read Genesis 27-36 & Matthew 2.14-15 (w/Exodus 4.22-23); Romans 2.28-29; 9.6-8; Galatians 6.14-16

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

1/ I have told you from the beginning of this survey/summary study in Genesis that it has never been our intention to give any sort of detailed commentary on any lesson or section of Genesis we have studied. We have allotted ourselves fifteen weeks/lessons to give this survey of fifty chapters. So we have narrowed our focus down to CHRIST IN GENESIS – that is, pointing out and highlighting the most prominent [what we have called] CHRIST-markers as we have gone through the Book. AND, there have far more numerous and detailed CHRIST-markers than we have given attention to in those we have highlighted.

2/ CHRIST has been marked from the beginning to the end of Genesis by either: [1] PRESENCE of CHRIST; [2] PURPOSE OF GOD in CHRIST; [3] PICTURES/Types of CHRIST (or as we have called them: ‘Pre-enactments’); [4] PROMISES/PROPHECIES of CHRIST; [5] ‘PININGS’ for CHRIST (wistful and wishful ‘longing’ for a Redeemer to come [Genesis 3.16; Luke 2.25, 38]…chiefly from the failures of man to fulfill their hopes) .

3/ In order to catch us up from the beginning to where we are in this lesson, let’s just reiterate God’s original purpose and design for His creation: when God created the heavens and the earth, He purposed that the whole creation would be His Kingdom under His rule. He created Adam [and Eve] to populate [‘be plentiful, multiply, fill’] the earth with their offspring – all who would be taught to live according to God’s will, in obedience to His covenant with them, and to serve Him in all they did for His Glory. Of course, Adam was to reign as ‘king’ over God’s Kingdom under his sovereign rule, but, of course, he sinned and failed in that first and comprehensive commandment, and from that sin, all the corruption, misery, brokenness, sorrow, sickness, and eventual death have come upon us. Immediately after their sin, God promised a Redeemer would come from ‘the seed of the woman’ [Genesis 3.16], and that ‘seed of the woman’ is CHRIST. Thus began the scheme and history of redemption that is traced through the Scriptures, and especially the Old Testament, in what we call the historical-redemptive progression of CHRIST’s coming into the world. CHRIST would fulfill it all [Matthew 5.17; Romans 15.8-13] and redeem, not only God’s elect people, but indeed the whole creation [Ephesians 1.7-10; Colossians 1.13-14] – bringing in the New Creation. Now, in order for God to bring the incarnate CHRIST into the world, He must have a human lineage, ancestry, or family, to perpetuate that birth-lineage. So, from Adam, to Seth, to Noah, and then to Abraham, God committed and preserved His covenant promises to CHRIST in this covenant human ancestry – which would come to be called ‘Israel.’

4/ Which brings us now to the ‘Jacob story’ in the Book of Genesis – because Jacob is the third member of the patriarchal covenant family triumvirate ‘Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ AND, God will rename Jacob as ‘Israel’ [Genesis 32.27-28 & 35.9-12] when He re-affirmed His covenant nation Israel as the keepers of His covenant promises to be fulfilled in CHRIST.

5/ So, as I have already said, we have three lessons now to complete the rest of the CHRIST IN GENESIS story. So, we’re going to have to some even more serious summing up of the rest of the Book than we have in the lessons leading up to this one. THIS lesson alone is going to cover ten chapters [chs 27-36]. The next two lessons will cover the remainder of Genesis with the ‘Joseph-story’ narratives, since Joseph was the appointed ‘savior’ of the nation of Israel after they went to Egypt to escape the famine in Canaan [ch 50.20] – which Yahweh had also foretold [ch 15.13-14].

6/ So now you will understand why we’re going to cover the expansive amounts of text in these three remaining lessons. Here’s how I’m going to do it: I will break up these ten chapters into their narrative divisions, give a few sentences of the events that transpire in each of the divisions, and then point out the CHRIST-markers and connections as they relate to CHRIST and His eventual identity and fulfillment of each of these divisions. Let’s get started now with ‘the story of Jacob’…     

I / ch 27 | Jacob receives the patriarchal covenant blessing from Isaac

1/ The record of Jacob’s birth is in ch 25.19-26. Jacob has been a trickster from his birth. Although he and Esau are twins, and Esau was the first-born to come from the womb, Jacob followed Esau ‘with his hand holding Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob’ [i.e. ‘heel-grabber’]. To take someone ‘by the heel’ has the significance of ‘tripping from behind,’ to be deceitful, to cheat, to take advantage of. Jacob lived up to his name throughout his life. However, Jacob is also an example of God’s sovereign election – Yahweh chose Jacob to be the heir of the covenant and His historical human Messianic patriarch to carry the lineage from which CHRIST will come in the fullness of time [see ch 25.23 & Romans 9.10-13].

2/ Jacob had already manipulated Esau out of his ‘birthright’ by taking advantage of Esau’s physical appetite [ch 25.29-34 & Hebrews 12.15-17], though Esau is also revealing his disdain for any spiritual values. Now Jacob and his mother, Rebekah, connive together against Isaac to secure the covenant blessing for Jacob. Esau receives his own lesser blessing, though it is not the covenant heir and promise blessing. Esau hates Jacob for his deceitful plotting against him and resolves to kill him at an opportune time. Rebekah counsels Jacob to flee for his life and go to her home town and family – Laban, her brother, in Haran [we met Laban in ch 24].  

II / ch 28 | Jacob is sent [and goes] to Laban in Haran

1/ Isaac recognizes Yahweh’s covenant purpose and choice of Jacob, so he sends him to Haran [Paddan-aram]. Jacob leaves Canaan. [Esau again disregards Yahweh’s covenant values and intermarries among the daughters of Ishmael – see also chs 26.34-35 & 27.46].

2/ vv 10-18 / We do need to give at least a more prominent mention to Jacob’s dream he had on his way to Haran – because in this dream Yahweh appears to Jacob for the purpose of re-affirming His covenant Presence and covenant promises that He is now conferring on Jacob to keep. In this ‘Covenant encounter,’ Yahweh reiterates all the promises He has been giving first to Abraham and then to Isaac [chs 12, 15, 17, 26]. Jacob commits to keeping his covenant responsibilities. He has a lot more yet to learn, but the covenant connection between Yahweh and Jacob has now been confirmed.  

III / ch 29.1-30 | Jacob marries Leah – then Rachel

Jacob arrives at Laban’s in Haran, and after he had been there a month, Laban offered him offered him wages to stay on as a hired hand. Jacob asked Laban for Rachel in marriage as his wages and agreed to serve Laban for seven years to have her. Laban agreed, but at the end of the seven years, he secretly sneaked Leah, Rachel’s older sister, into the ‘honeymoon suite tent’ under the cover of the darkness. Jacob discovered the ‘bait and switch’ in the morning and protested, infuriated. Laban then offered Rachel, his first choice [and Yahweh’s covenant choice], for another seven years of service. Jacob gladly fulfilled those seven years also.

IV / chs 29.31 – 30.24 | Jacob fathers eleven sons [the tribes of Israel] – the 12th will come later

We now come to the births of what will become ‘the twelve tribes of Israel.’ Eleven sons [and other daughters] were born to Jacob over the course of the next few years. Those sons are named after the significances and circumstances of their births. Both Leah and Rachel had ‘handmaids/personal servants,’ and among the four of these wives/concubines, the sons are born: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, and Joseph. Only Joseph was born to Jacob’s beloved Rachel, although there were sons born ‘in Rachel’s name’ to her handmaid, Bilhah. Joseph will become Jacob’s favorite son … and will become the subject of the concluding narratives of Genesis [chs 37-50]. There were only eleven sons of the twelve born in this account because the 12th, Benjamin, will be born to Rebekah later on [ ch 35.16-20]. See also ch 35.22b-26 for a recounting of Jacob’s twelve sons.

V / ch 30.25 – 31.55 | Jacob becomes prosperous – then leaves to return to Canaan

1/ After Joseph’s birth, Jacob believes it is time for him to return to Canaan and begin fulfilling Yahweh’s covenant purposes in the land He had promised them. He asks Laban if he can go back home. Laban asks Jacob what he wants for his ‘severance’ wages. Jacob asks Laban if he can have all the flocks of sheep and goats that are imperfectly marked in some way: ‘speckled, spotted, black.’ Laban is glad to oblige this request. Laban separates all the imperfect stock and tells his sons to take them far away from Jacob. But then, by the sovereign hand of Yahweh, and through another deceitful manipulation of their breeding, lo and behold, all the offspring of the best and strongest of ‘Laban’s’ flocks – which would be given to Jacob – turned out to be ‘speckled, spotted, and black’! ‘So the feebler would be Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s. Thus the man increased greatly and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys’ under Yahweh’s covenant blessing.

2/ There was such resentment from Laban and his sons, Jacob had to secretly ‘get out of Haran.’ “And Jacob tricked Laban the Aramean, by not telling him that he intended to flee’ [ch 31.20]. Laban didn’t discover him missing for three days. He and his sons chased after Jacob and his clan. But Yahweh appeared to Laban in a dream [ch 31.24] and forbade him to harm Jacob in any way. They made a covenant between themselves in Mizpah that neither of them would make any kind of encroachment or aggression against the other. Yahweh was keeping His covenant word of promise: “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you” [ch 28.15].    

VI / chs 32-33 | Jacob prepares – and then meets – Esau…wrestles with God in the meantime

1/ Jacob and Esau haven’t seen or encountered each other for the past twenty years [ch 31.38, 41]. At that time, Esau had vowed he would kill Jacob, his brother [ch 27.41-45]. But now, Jacob sends messengers to Esau in Edom appealing for reconciliation and favor. The messengers return to report to Jacob that they have delivered his message to Esau, “…and he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.” Of course, Jacob is terrified and panicked. This is when he realizes he has come to the end of himself, his own devious wit and resources. He needs Yahweh’s help! He is cast upon Yahweh’s covenant protection. He divides up his family and clan into camps so that if Esau attacks one, the other can escape.

2/ He then prays this memorable prayer in ch 32.9-12. We would do well to learn this prayer well and pray it often. That same night is when he wrestles with Yahweh [ch 32.24-29] and said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me!” Yahweh consents and blesses him: “…for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Not that Jacob ‘beat’ Yahweh or ‘got the best of Him’ – Yahweh wasn’t crying ‘Uncle!’ – but Jacob prevailed in the sense that he finally surrendered, broken from trusting in himself…now he was confessing that all his blessing must come from the source of all blessing – from Yahweh’s covenant faithfulness. This ‘wrestling match with Yahweh’ is repeated in Hosea 12.2-6 to call the then-faithless Judah [and us!] to return to this same covenant faithfulness and devotion to Yahweh.

3/ It is here also that Yahweh re-names Jacob as ‘Israel’: “And He said to him, ‘What is your name?’ And he said, ‘Jacob.’ Then He said, ‘Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel…’” This momentous historical event will be repeated again in ch 35.9-15.

4/ It is at this point that we have a most prominent and distinguished CHRIST-marker: because in the New Testament, CHRIST not only fulfilled all the promises made to Israel [Romans 15.8], but CHRIST Himself is now the New Israel in Himself. Think about this historical-redemptive progression: [1]Israel was Yahweh’s re-name of the patriarchal father of the twelve tribes of Israel; [2] Israel became the name of the covenant nation, although Paul makes it clear in Romans 2.28-29 and 9.6-8 that only those Israelites whose personal faith was in Yahweh were the true ‘Israel.’ So ‘Israel’ is made up of believing Israelites; [3] and in Exodus 4.22-23, Yahweh declared that Israel was His firstborn son … in Hosea 11.1, Yahweh declares His love for Israel as his son and reminds them of His covenant relationship with Him: “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my Son.” And when CHRIST was born, Joseph and Mary had to flee to Egypt to escape Herod’s murderous search for the Child. After Herod died, and they returned to Nazareth, Matthew specifically says: “This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, ‘Our of Egypt I called my Son’” [Matthew 2.13-15]. [4] So CHRIST and His believers who are IN CHRIST are now called “the Israel of God” [Galatians 6.16]. CHRIST and His covenant believing people are now the “chosen race…holy nation” of Israel!

5/ That’s why we have chosen to title this lesson ‘CHRIST: The Israel of God.’   

6/ ch 33 / Jacob and Esau actually had a most reconciliatory re-meeting: they actually ‘kissed and made up’ with one another. Esau ended up returning back home to Edom while Jacob journeyed on Shechem in Canaan, where he bought a parcel of land to set up his housekeeping and residence.  

VII / ch 34 | Jacob’s daughter, Dinah, is defiled by Shechem, a Hivite – her brothers retaliate

1/ This taking up residence ‘next door’ to Shechem did not turn out well. The Shechemites were, after all, Hivites and Canaanites. Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite prince of the land, took a liking to Jacob’s daughter, Dinah. However, Dinah herself also seems to have had a misplaced curiosity for the Canaanite women when she “…went out to see the women of the land.” Shechem ended up raping Dinah, though he professed having love for her. Shechem asked his father, Hamor, to “Get me this girl for my wife.” Of course, Jacob was devastated – his sons, Dinah’s brothers, were enraged. When Hamor came to them to try to negotiate an intermarriage, the sons of Jacob proposed an agreement: if the men of Shechem would agree to their covenant sign of circumcision, they would agree to the intermarriage. This was a ploy because when the men of Shechem agreed to the circumcision, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, then attacked them on the third day after their circumcision “when they were sore” and couldn’t fight back. They massacred all the males and plundered their city as vengeance for what they had done to Dinah.

2/ Now Jacob begins to fear that his residency in Canaan is severely jeopardized and compromised. If everyone allies with one another and attack him, he is sorely out-numbered. And, if he is destroyed, so is the covenant promise and the surety of its being fulfilled. Of course, Yahweh will not permit it to fail…  

VIII / ch 35 | Jacob is re-named ‘Israel’ – Rachel gives birth to the 12th son – Isaac dies

1/ God appeared to Jacob again to once again re-affirm and confirm His covenant purposes for Jacob / Israel. God tells Jacob to leave Shechem and return to Bethel where He had first appeared to him when he was fleeing Esau to go to Laban in Haran [see ch 28]. “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” What Yahweh wants to do is take Jacob/Israel back to Bethel as a reminder of His own faithfulness to His covenant promises … and also to remind Jacob/Israel that he must trust Yahweh to fulfill His promises like his fathers Abraham and Isaac before him.

2/ vv 9-12 / This is a repetition and reiteration of what Yahweh had promised Jacob back in ch 28.13-15. This may be a flashback to that first event, or it may also be another ‘Covenant encounter’ to make it doubly-sure to Jacob/Israel. Either way, that was the effect. Jacob received and recognized his covenant re-naming and re-committed himself to fulfill his covenant responsibilities.

3/ vv 16-20 / It is here that Rachel’s second son [Jacob’s 12th] was born. Rachel died during the delivery, but as she was dying, she named him Ben-oni [son of my sorrow]; but Jacob re-named him Benjamin [son of my right hand]. Thus completes the roster of what would become the twelve tribes of Israel.

4/ vv 27-29 / What will be added as a kind of footnote is that Isaac dies at the age of 180 years, and Jacob and Esau cooperated to bury him along with Abraham and Sarah in Machpelah [see ch 49.30-32].

IX / ch 36 | A brief history [‘toledot’] of Esau and the Edomites – just for the record

“These are the generations of Esau (that is, Edom).” As we have explained before, this phrase ‘these are the generations of’ is a toledot [pronounced ‘tohl-dah’].  There are ten of these in Genesis – this is the ninth. They are ‘short stories’ that are collected together to explain ‘what came from’ or ‘what became of’ whoever the subject of the toledot is. And since Esau has been introduced into the narrative stream, the narrator is giving the account of what became of his descendants. The 10th toledot is coming up in our next lesson [ch 37.2].  

“For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule [faith IN CHRIST], peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God” [Galatians 6.15-16]

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Pastoral Prayer: Intercession for faithful sister churches

Posted on May 6, 2024 by PastorDave

During our Lord’s Day worship services, our Pastors rotate delivering the Scripture reading and Pastoral Prayer. The Pastoral Prayers focus on a particular subject of intercession. This one was for our faithful sister churches. I post this only because I regularly and faithfully personally intercede for a number of what I call “Kingdom Partners” – approximately 150 names of partnering pastors, preachers, missionaries, and churches. I at least name them before the Throne of Grace, asking God for His pleasures upon each one, and intercede especially for needs that I know of. This public Pastoral Prayer is specific to our own church and this occasion, but in its larger, personal context, it includes many of you also.

Buck Run Baptist Church | 5 May 2024

Scripture reading from Matthew 28

Pastoral Prayer: Intercession for our faithful sister churches

O Sovereign God, and Jesus Christ our Lord, and the Savior of the Body…

All Kingdom authority is yours: “Yours is the Kingdom, and the power, and the Glory forever.”

You have sent us into the world as your lamps and lights to display your glory…and you have shown yourself in the visions of the Revelation to be with us always – you are walking among your golden lampstand churches. And as you know all the billions of stellar stars and call each one by name, so you also know, care about, and closely hold each of their angels/pastors as stars in your right hand … and call each one of them by their names.

And so, we recognize we are not alone. Not only have you promised us here “And, behold, I am with you always” … but there are all those other faithful sister churches who are serving you also. And as our Pastor Chris taught us last week, we are in a world-wide Kingdom partnership with them to fulfill your mission. While we are blessing you for your bountiful blessings on us, we want to pray for all of them also. There are numerous faithful sister churches with us here in our own city and county … and in the surrounding counties … in our state … in our nation … and all around the world. Some of them we know … many of them we don’t know. But you know each one. And you care for each one. And we should, too, and we do. And we bring them all before you this morning, asking you to establish your sovereign purposes and fulfill your faithful pleasures for each one.

We pray especially for our close partner sister churches and their pastors who are dearest to us: in Panama; Romania and the European Union; The United Kingdom and those surrounding regions; and here in Colorado, Fort Collins and Durango. Protect these precious churches and their pastors from the Evil One. Supply all their many needs according to your riches in Glory by Christ Jesus.

Many of our faithful sister churches are in trouble and distress: some of them are in conflict, even from within – heal them, and save them from themselves; many of them face seemingly insurmountable assaults from outside – strengthen and encourage them. May they know and trust that you are with them always. Many of them are without faithful pastors – give them godly shepherds according to your own heart; faithful pastors need your direction and provision for where you want them to serve. Many of them are discouraged. Some are contemplating giving up.

Our hearts stay heavy as we hear and know of their needs and share their burdens with them. We plead with you with Jehosphaphat of old, “O our God, …we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you” – and we know your eyes are upon all of us.

And as we labor and partner together in all the places where we serve: “May your Kingdom come … and may your gracious will be done in all these places on the earth – as it is done in Heaven.”

To the Glory…and by the merits of your Son, Jesus Christ we all pray.

Amen.

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CHRIST: The Covenant Son Must Have a Bride

Posted on May 4, 2024 by PastorDave

CHRIST IN GENESIS | Lesson 12 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read Genesis, chapters 24-26 & Ephesians 5.22-33; Revelation 19.6-10; 21.1-7

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

1/ With the birth of Isaac [ch 21.1-7], the ‘Abraham narratives’ in Genesis will be concluding. Isaac will now become the primary character in the narratives that will follow. Isaac is the Divinely-chosen and provided heir and carrier of the covenant promises Yahweh has first given to Abraham. Yahweh will preserve these same covenant promises throughout the history of His chosen covenant nation, Israel, for the purpose of bringing CHRIST into the world.

2/ As we have seen before, these promises were made historically to the patriarchs, but prophetically, they were made to CHRIST [see Galatians 3.15-29]. Only CHRIST can fulfill these covenant promises that will find their ultimate fulfillment in the New Covenant and the New Creation. AND, CHRIST testifies that He did just that! [see Matthew 5.17-18; Romans 9.4-5; 15.8-13; et. al.]

3/ But, getting back now to Isaac, we don’t how many years have passed since the ‘sacrifice of Isaac’ narrative in ch 22 and his marriage narrative in ch 24. We just know Isaac was a young man in ch 22, and we that Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah…to be his wife [ch 25.20].

4/ But in this lengthy lesson passage, which we can only read, survey, and summarize, what we will attempt to do is point out the CHRIST-markers that are laid out in these chapters. They will become ‘sign-posts’ along the way to trace the historical-redemptive progression of the covenant promises that will lead us to CHRIST! So, this first chapter 24 will form the foundation of our lesson: if the covenant son, Isaac, is going to carry on the promises of the innumerable offspring, he, too, must have a wife. This will all pre-figure, typify, and ‘pre-enact’ the innumerable spiritual offspring to be born to CHRIST through the ministry of the Gospel as it is proclaimed by His churches [Ephesians 5.22-33]. And, it will culminate in the much-celebrated Marriage Supper of the Lamb [Revelation 19.6-10 & 21.1-7].

I / Genesis 24.1-67 | The LORD provides His elect bride for His elect covenant ‘son’ – Isaac    

1/ Throughout these 67 verses, the same testimony to the sovereign mercy [or steadfast covenant love] of Yahweh is repeated over and over. The overall theme and focus of the story is Yahweh’s faithfulness to His covenant promises – and His people’s faithfulness to trust and obey Him when they are acting in concert with His promises. Or, we may put it this way: Believers may trust The LORD to give them guidance and success through His covenant faithfulness as they act responsibly in obedience to the covenant. Abraham was faithful to the covenant promises of Yahweh when he instructed his faithful servant, Eliezer [ch 15.2], to go to the land of his family and kindred to find a wife for Isaac, and “that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell [ch 24.3]. And Yahweh was certainly faithful to His covenant promises in all the ways He sovereignly made it happen as He had commanded – and as it must happen. Allow me to sum up the gist of the various movements of this chapter which we will outline here by this summary quote from Allen P. Ross:

“Central to the development of the story is the idea of covenantal loyalty [Hebrew word, chesed; often translated ‘mercy’ in KJV and ‘steadfast love’ in ESV], both from the divine perspective and the human. Abraham acted with chesed in preparing for the future of the covenant through the marriage, Eliezer acted with chesed in faithfully carrying out his responsibilities, and God demonstrated His sovereign chesed by guiding the servant to the proper place and ensuring that the mission did not fail … With this concept at the heart of the story, the direction of the message is clear: it is about the providence of God in the lives of faithful people, ensuring the perpetuity of the covenant. Two considerations are important here. First, God is declared to be the sole cause of the events in the narrative. The characters in the story voice the narrator’s convictions on this point. Verse 27 records the theme clearly: ‘He has led me.’ Even Laban recognized this guidance and would not dare contest providence [vv 50-51]. Second, God is deliberately behind the scenes, yet directing the acts. In this respect the account is very similar to the Book of Ruth. The story records no word from God, no miracle, no cultic contact [i.e., religious exercises or Divine encounters], and no prophetic oracle; it does not even restate the Abrahamic covenant. It reports the hidden causality of God, sovereignly working through the circumstances of those who are acting in faith. The role of faith, expressed in personal prayer, trusting for divine guidance through the circumstances, and acting responsibly in anticipation of God’s faithfulness, is predominant because God is not visibly active [that is, in Person].”

2/ So with that theme and focus in mind, here are the broad movements and divisions in this lengthy narrative about Abraham’s sending his servant to find Yahweh’s elect/sovereignly-chosen and provided bride for the covenant son, Isaac [ch 24.14]:

  • The Commission, vv 1-9. Abraham is confident in the promise of The LORD that if he faithfully obeys Yahweh, Yahweh will providentially provide the bride for Isaac that He has chosen to become the ‘matriarch’ of the covenant offspring. He makes his servant, Eliezer, solemnly swear that he will faithfully carry out his Divinely-appointed mission and trust Yahweh to direct his ways and give him success. Eliezer makes that solemn promise and oath. [We will call Eliezer by name, but he is called ‘servant’ 14 times in this one narrative – stressing his personal covenant faithfulness [chesed] to the mission he had been sent to fulfill.]
  • The Trust in Yahweh’s direction and provision, vv 10-27. The servant set out, trusting in the sovereign Providence and covenant, faithful chesed of Yahweh. He arrives at the appointed city, not knowing anyone, and he prays to Yahweh for His Divine intervention and guidance – asks for a sign of ‘success.’ Yahweh’s chosen and appointed bride for Isaac would not only give him a drink of water when he asked her, but she would also offer to water his camels. “Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, came out with her water jar on her shoulder [v 15]. She responds in all the ways Eliezer had asked Yahweh to show His will. Eliezer gives her the gifts he had brought from Abraham and tells her of his mission. She then reveals her relationship to Abraham’s brother’s family. Eliezer “bowed his head and worshiped The LORD and said, ‘Blessed be The LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His steadfast love [chesed] and His faithfulness toward my master. As for me, The LORD has led me in the way to house of my master’s kinsmen’” [vv 26-27]. Rebekah runs to tell her household family about this encounter.
  • The Success of the bride-finding mission, vv 28-60. Rebekah has a brother, Laban, who appears to be the family clan leader and chief spokesman. He runs out to meet Rebekah and sees the gifts
    Eliezer has given her. He then runs to Eliezer and offers hospitality and lodging for him and the camels. He offers a meal – but Eliezer will not even eat until he tells of his mission and errand. Once again, Eliezer recounts The LORD’s providential hand upon the events of his encounter with Rebekah. He asks Laban: “Now then, if you are going to show steadfast love [chesed] and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand or the left.” Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, ‘The thing has come from The LORD; we cannot speak to you bad or good. Behold, Rebekah is before you; take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master’s son, as The LORD has spoken’” [vv 49-51]. You will note as you read through all these narratives, that there are ‘conflicts’ that arise in the events that transpire and the telling of them – some ‘hitch’ or reservation or ‘contingency’ that may arise to keep the planned mission from being prosperous or successful. It is often found in the words “but if not” or some similar language … indicating ‘but it may not work,’ or ‘it may not happen as we want it to happen.’ But Yahweh is overruling any distraction or disruption to His covenant plan. As here, Eliezer got up the next morning to complete his mission and deliver ‘the bride for his master’s covenant son back to him. The family wanted him to stay for an additional ten days to give Rebekah time to think about it. But Eliezer had not come to stay or delay – he had come to be faithful to his mission. So they call for Rebekah to ask her: “Will you go with this man? She said, ‘I will go’” [vv 55-58]. NOTE now especially the blessing they pronounced upon Rebekah: “And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, ‘Our sister, may you become thousands of ten thousands, and may your offspring possess the gate of those who hate him!’” What we need to note here is the fulfillment of the covenant promises Yahweh has been making to Abraham from the beginning: becoming a covenant nation, numerous offspring, blessing those who bless him and cursing those who curse him [referring to the covenant’s witness to faith in Yahweh. Yahweh had also given this same promise in these same words to Abraham after the ‘offering’ of Isaac in ch 22.17. Yahweh is keeping His covenant promises and re-affirming them to be fulfilled now through Isaac and Rebekah! Rebekah’s covenant offspring will be blessed by Yahweh, innumerable, successful in their mission, and unconquerable and invincible. It also sounds like the promise CHRIST has given to His churches as we bear witness to His New Covenant Gospel: “…and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” [see Matthew 16.13-19].
  • The Completion of the mission, vv 61-67. Eliezer sets out to return to Abraham and Isaac with Rebekah, the bride for the covenant son he had been sent to bring back. Isaac had taken up residence in Beer-lahai-roi [‘The well of the God who sees and looks after me’] where Yahweh had first appeared to Hagar and Ishmael [see ch 16.13-14]. He had gone out into the field to meditate and pray as he anxiously awaited word about the mission: will it succeed? Will Yahweh provide the covenant wife he needed and wanted? Will Yahweh be faithful to His covenant loyalty [chesed]? As he looks to the horizon, he sees camels approaching! Rebekah asks Eliezer who the man is. Eliezer responds: “It is my master,” meaning that Isaac is now the recognized carrier of the Abrahamic covenant and heir of all the covenant promises Yahweh had given them. “Then Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death” [v 67]. What we must note here is that, by bringing Rebekah into Sarah’s former tent-house, Rebekah now becomes the ‘matriarch’ of the covenant offspring just as Isaac is now the ‘patriarch’ of the covenant offspring and heir of the covenant promises [see Romans 9.6-9; Galatians 4.28-31; Hebrews 11.9, 17-18]. AND, what we most need to see is that Yahweh is sovereignly superintending the historical perpetuity of His covenant promises and bringing us yet another step further along to bring CHRIST into the world to fulfill all the covenant promises IN CHRIST!  

II / Genesis 25.1-34 | Abraham dies and Isaac carries on the covenant lineage  

1/ vv 1-6 / Now that the transition of the covenant patriarchy has been passed from Abraham to Isaac, this chapter will relate the historical record of Abraham’s later descendants by his wife after Sarah’s death, Keturah. There is no question, however, that as it relates to the covenant Yahweh had made with him, “Abraham gave all he had to Isaac. But to the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, and while he was still living he sent them away from his son Isaac,” as he had done with Ishmael before [ch 21].

2/ vv 7-11 / Abraham dies. We all serve God in our own days and generations, and then we die. No one of us indispensable. We only want to be useful and effective in the ways God has appointed us to serve and be faithful in the exercises of our assigned responsibilities and roles. AND, we must always be proactive in securing the passing on of God’s witness and legacy to the generations coming after us. Abraham is buried in the cave of Machpelah which he had bought from the Hittites [see ch 23]. In the coming years, Isaac and Jacob also will be buried in this same family tomb [see chs 35.29; 49.30; 50.13]. “After the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac his son.” Thus, the promised ‘blessing’ of the Abrahamic covenant are now conferred on Isaac. These will ALL be fulfilled in CHRIST, and given to ALL of us who believe in CHRIST! [see Galatians 3.7-14]    

3/ vv 12-18 / Here is the 7th toledot / ‘tohl-dah’ found in the Book of Genesis. As we have noted before, there are ten of these toledot that are collected together to make up the larger narrative. A toledot begins with ‘These are the generations of…’ and they describe the descendants of someone, or ‘these came from, what became of.’ You can think of them as ‘short stories’ that are collected together to make the ‘longer story.’ Or, they are brief biographies of the one who is named. In this particular toledot, we are given a brief account of Ishmael because he, too, is one of Abraham’s sons – though not the covenant son of promise. But the narrator wants to give a complete record – Ishmael is a significant part of the history.

4/ vv 19-34 / This is the 8th toledot. We now begin the ‘story’ of Isaac. Not that we haven’t seen or heard of him before, but now he is the carrier of the covenant and becomes the primary character. We are also introduced to the birth of Jacob, who will become the third patriarch of the ‘Covenant Triumvirate: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Jacob is also announced as the elect brother of the two – Jacob and Esau – to be the heir of the covenant [see Romans 9.6-13]. Esau also shows his disregard for the spiritual inheritance of the covenant by ‘selling’ his firstborn birthright privileges to satisfy his immediate fleshly, physical appetite: “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me? … Thus Esau despised his birthright” [see also Hebrews 12.15-17].

III / Genesis 26.1-35 | The LORD reiterates and re-affirms His covenant blessing with Isaac

1/ vv 1-5 / Yahweh appears to Isaac to confirm their covenant relationship and to personally re-affirm to Isaac the same covenant promises He had given to Abraham. The occasion of this appearance was another famine in the land. So, Isaac does what Abraham before him had done: he migrates toward the more fertile regions now inhabited by the Philistines [see ch 20]. Yahweh warns him not to go to Egypt, as also Abraham had done [ch 12.10-20], but to remain in the land Yahweh had promised to give to their descendants. “And the LORD appeared to him and said, ‘Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. 3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. 4 I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven [see also ch 15.5] and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, [see also ch 12.1-3] 5 because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws [see also chs 19.17-19; 22.15-18].’”

2/ vv 6-11 / Isaac also repeats the same failures of faith in Yahweh’s power and faithfulness to preserve his life to fulfill His covenant promises – Isaac needs only to trust Yahweh and obey Him in every way. Isaac instead lies about Rebekah being his wife…says ‘She is my sister’ for fear of being killed.

3/ vv 12-33 / This whole section is about a common strife that arose among the peoples of that day – conflict over wells of water and the ownership of them. There was an obvious ‘turf war’ waging between the Philistine herdsmen and Isaac’s. Isaac was being blessed by Yahweh, and there was a ferocious jealousy among the Philistine herdsmen. So much so, that even if the Philistine herdsmen couldn’t successfully take ownership of the precious wells, they would stop them up–refill them with dirt–just out of spite so Isaac couldn’t have them either [v 15]. Isaac proceeded to ‘re-claim’ the inheritance by re-digging the wells that Abraham had used before him. When there was conflict, the peace-loving Isaac just moved on and dug another well rather than get into a running conflict with the Philistines. The wells were named according to the conflict associated with them: ‘Esek’/contended; ‘Sitnah’/enmity; ‘Rehoboth’ /room [because there was no quarrel over this one. By the way, when our church re-located from our former site to where we are now, this un-developed site was named ‘Rehoboth’ – God had provided us ‘room’ for future growth and ministry]. In the coming days, Isaac and the Philistine king, Abimelech, made a covenant like Abraham had done previously. That same day, Isaac’s servants came to him to tell him about another plentiful well they had dug, “and said to him, ‘We have found water.’ He called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day” [vv 32-33]. [see also 21.21-33]

4/ And now, today, we, too, are waiting for the final and eternal fulfillment of all these covenant promises IN CHRIST … in the New Covenant … in the New Creation!

“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” [Revelation 7.9-10]!

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