~Dave Parks

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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Posted in ACTS, Bible Studies, CHURCH ON MISSION, Lesson Notes, Sunday School lessons | Tagged ACTS, Acts 2.1-47, Bible Studies, CHURCH ON MISSION, Confluence of Scripture, Convergence of the Ages, Conversion of Covenants, Day of Pentecost, Feast of Weeks, Joel 2.28-32, Lesson Notes/Talking Points, Pentecost, Pentecost phenomena, Pouring out of the Holy Spirit, Psalm 110, Psalm 16, Sunday School lessons, The mighty works of God, The Spirit-Empowered Witness of the Church | Leave a comment

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, ¹¹and 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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Posted in ACTS, Bible Studies, CHURCH ON MISSION, Lesson Notes, Sunday School lessons | Tagged ACTS, Acts 1.1-26, Acts 1.8, Apostles, Bible Studies, Book of Acts, Church in Jerusalem, CHURCH ON MISSION, Holy Spirit, Jesus' ascension, Judas Iscariot, Kingdom of God, Lesson Notes/Talking Points, Luke, Matthias, Promise of the Holy Spirit, Sunday School lessons | Leave a comment

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. ²⁶And 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. ²⁷But 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. ²⁸And 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.’ ³Then 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. ⁴I 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.⁹Judah 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? ¹⁰The 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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Posted in Bible Studies, CHRIST IN GENESIS, GENESIS, I've been thinking, Lesson Notes, Sunday School lessons | Tagged Acts 2.23, Acts 2.36, Acts 4.10-11, All these things are against me, Bible Studies, CHRIST IN GENESIS, CHRIST-The Rejected One Becomes The Savior, Egypt, Ephraim and Manasseh, GENESIS, Genesis 42-50, God sent me here, God sent me here before you to preserve life, Israel in Egypt, Joseph, Joseph and his brothers, Joseph type of Christ, Joseph's bones, Lesson Notes/Talking Points, Sunday School lessons, Yahweh's 400 year plan | Leave a comment

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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Posted in Bible Studies, CHRIST IN GENESIS, GENESIS, Lesson Notes, Sunday School lessons | Tagged 400 years in Egypt, Acts 13.17, Acts 7.9-18, Bible Studies, CHRIST IN GENESIS, CHRIST-Rejected By His Brothers, Dreamer, Egypt, GENESIS, Genesis 37-41, Joseph, Joseph type of Christ, Juday, Lesson Notes/Talking Points, Pharaoh, Pharaoh's baker, Pharaoh's cupbearer, Potiphar, Potiphar's wife, Reuben, Revelation 12, Revelation 12.1-6, Sunday School lessons, Tamar, toledot | Leave a comment

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 12^th 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 12^th, 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 12^th 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 12^th] 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 10^th 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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Posted in Bible Studies, CHRIST IN GENESIS, GENESIS, Lesson Notes, Sunday School lessons | Tagged Bible Studies, CHRIST IN GENESIS, CHRIST-The Israel of God, Colossians 1.13-14, Dinah, Ephesians 1.7-10, Exodus 4.22-23, Galatians 5.15-16, GENESIS, Genesis 27-36, Hosea 11.1-2, Israel, Jacob, Jacob and Esau, Jacob wrestles with God, Lesson Notes/Talking Points, Matthew 2.14-15, Patriarchal covenant triumvirate, Romans 15.8-13, Shechemites, Sunday School lessons, toledot | Leave a comment

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.

Posted in Pastoral Prayer, Prayer | Tagged Buck Run Baptist Church, Faithful sister churches, Intercession, Kingdom Partners, Matthew 28, Pastoral Prayer, Prayer, sister churches | Leave a comment

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 7^th 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 8^th 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. ³Sojourn 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. ⁴I 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] ⁵because 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, ¹⁰and 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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Posted in Bible Studies, CHRIST IN GENESIS, GENESIS, Lesson Notes, Sunday School lessons | Tagged Allen P Ross, Bible Studies, chesed, CHRIST IN GENESIS, CHRIST-The covenant son must have a bride, Eliezer, Esau, GENESIS, Genesis 24-26, Isaac, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Esau, Laban, Lesson Notes/Talking Points, New Covenant, New creation, Revelation 7.9-10, Sunday School lessons, toledot | Leave a comment

CHRIST: The LORD Will Provide [Romans 8.32]

Posted on April 27, 2024 by PastorDave

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

Read Genesis, chapters 20-23 & Romans 8.32

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“…we drew a circle that took him in…”

Posted on April 24, 2024 by PastorDave

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on April 20, 2024 by PastorDave

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

Read Genesis 18.1 – 19.38 & Luke 1.26-38

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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INTRODUCTION / CONTEXT / CONNECTIONS

I / vv 1-13 | The Pentecost Phenomenon

II / vv 14-21 | The Joel Prophecy

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

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

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

“These are the mighty works of God!”

INTRODUCTION / CONTEXT / CONNECTIONS

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

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

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

“You shall be My witnesses!”

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

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

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

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

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

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’

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

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

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

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

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

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].

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“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]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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