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

Posted on May 18, 2024 by PastorDave

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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CHRIST: The Israel of God

Posted on May 11, 2024 by PastorDave

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Pastoral Prayer: Intercession for faithful sister churches

Posted on May 6, 2024 by PastorDave

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

Buck Run Baptist Church | 5 May 2024

Scripture reading from Matthew 28

Pastoral Prayer: Intercession for our faithful sister churches

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Amen.

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CHRIST: The Covenant Son Must Have a Bride

Posted on May 4, 2024 by PastorDave

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 19 He 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. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and 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. 24 You 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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“…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.

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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. 15 No 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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CHRIST: To Whom the Promises Were Made [Galatians 3.16]

Posted on April 13, 2024 by PastorDave

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

Read Genesis 15.1 – 17.27 & Galatians 3.16

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on April 6, 2024 by PastorDave

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

4/ Greidanus again:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

V / Genesis 14.1-24 | Meet Melchizedek

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

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

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

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Blessed are the Caregivers

Posted on March 26, 2024 by PastorDave

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

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

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

Every day I pray:

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