Genesis (Part 27)
Bible Study Time 12-28-08
(From James Roberts 2-23-97)
Bible Study Time 12-28-08
(From James Roberts 2-23-97)
Last week in our Journey Through the Scripture we looked at an incident of faith in the life of Abraham. This incident is found in Genesis, Chapter 22, where we read that God told Abraham to take his son, Isaac, and offer him up as a sacrifice to the Lord. Hebrews, Chapter 11, refers back to this incident and serves as a commentary on it.
In Genesis 22, we find that without hesitation Abraham obeyed God when God told him to take Isaac to Mt. Moriah and offer him as a sacrifice. The book of Hebrews tells us that Abraham believed God and by faith offered up Isaac. However, when we look back at the Genesis account, we find that Abraham actually offered up a ram in accordance with God's last minute instructions.
Obviously, when God saw the strength of Abraham's faith, He was willing to accept that ram as if it was actually Isaac. This is because Abraham's faith was based in the promise of God. God had previously given Abraham many promises, and He had said that all of His promises to Abraham would be fulfilled through Isaac and his descendants. In fact, when God promised Abraham the birth of Isaac, He said, You shall call his name Isaac and in Isaac shall your seed be called.
Well, Isaac had no children at the time that Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac. Therefore, Abraham knew that if God was going to be true to His word, God would have to prevent the death of Isaac or raise him up from the dead. So when God saw Abraham's faith in the promise of God, He counted the offering up of the ram as though Abraham had actually offered up Isaac and as if God had raised Isaac up from the dead.
Last week we saw that this event pictures the Biblical doctrine of identification. You and I, who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, have been counted as though we died with Christ and were buried with Him and were also raised with Him to walk in newness of life.
The book of Ephesians 2 tells us that in the mind of God we have also ascended with Christ to sit with Christ in the heavens, and this certainly does have tremendous implications for us. In Colossians, Chapter 3, Paul says:
Colossians 3:1-3 NKJV
1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Now, before we leave Genesis 22, I want us to think for just a moment of another great truth that we find in this passage, and that is the great doctrine of substitution. When Abraham was ready to offer up Isaac in obedience to the will of God, God stopped him and said, there is a ram that's caught in the thicket; you take that ram and offer him in the place of Isaac.
Oh, how beautiful this is. When we compare this with the New Testament and see the application of this wonderful doctrine we see that Christ is our substitute. That ram was offered up and bore the penalty of the judgment of God which was suppose to fall upon Isaac, and in the same way, Christ died on the cross, not for His own sins, not as some great tragedy, but He died the just one in the place of, or as a substitute for, those who are unjust. Romans 5 says:
Romans 5:6 NKJV
6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for (in the stead of, in the place of, as the substitute for) the ungodly.
Jesus Christ died for you. You deserved eternal punishment, eternal separation from God, but when the Lord Jesus went to the cross and cried out, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me, He was dying in your stead.
That's what it means to accept Christ as your Savior. It means to believe with your whole heart that Christ took your place, that He bore the judgment that you deserved. He died to pay the penalty for all of your sins, and when you believe that, God counts the work of Christ on your behalf so that the penalty for your sins has already been paid. On this basis, your sins are forgiven. What a wonderful truth, this doctrine of substitution.
I wonder today if there is one reading this lesson who has never truly received what Christ did on the cross, that He was really there in your stead, in your place, dying for your sins. I have believed that He died for my sins, that He took my place. I believe that Jesus Christ took James Roberts' place on the cross, and now that I have believed that, God considers all of my sins as having been placed upon Him.
Now, as we go on further in the book of Genesis, I want us to see another act of faith on the part of Abraham. In Genesis, Chapter 24, we see Abraham preparing to choose a bride for Isaac. Abraham had become old and he was living in the land of the Canaanites, but God had shown him that Isaac should not take a bride for Isaac from the daughters of the Canaanites. God had obviously revealed to Abraham what He would later reveal to the whole nation of Israel, that if they took wives for their sons from the children of Canaan, they would become entrapped in the religious practices of the Canaanites.
So Abraham believed what God said, and he sent his servant back to the city of Nahor in the land of Mesopotamia to get a wife for Isaac. This servant was to get a wife from Abraham's kinsmen who were still living back in the region around Ur of the Chaldeans. Before the servant left, he asked Abraham what he should do if the woman of God's choosing should refuse to return with him to marry Isaac. In response, Abraham was very clear. He said, do not take Isaac back to Ur of the Chaldeans; if the woman refuses to return with you, you will be released from any obligation in this matter.
Abraham had been taken out of Ur of the Chaldeans, and God didn't want Abraham's seed to go back to Ur of the Chaldeans. After all, all of the promises related to the land of Canaan, and they were to be fulfilled through the descendants of Isaac. Isaac needed to remain in the Promised Land, but he was not to marry the daughters of those who lived in Canaan at that time.
So the servant went to Mesopotamia to the city of Nahor, and he waited there outside the city by the well. As he waited, he asked God to give him a sign. He said, I don’t know which woman should be Isaac's bride, but let it be that when the woman You have chosen comes to draw water, she will offer to give me a drink and to draw water for my camels. Well, the servant waited and along came Rebecca, who did exactly as the servant had asked.
It's very interesting that Abraham's servant asked for a sign from the Lord because we read in the book of I Corinthians that the Jews require a sign, but the Greeks seek after wisdom. As God was helping Abraham's servant select a bride for Isaac, He was dealing with the nation of Israel in seed form because the whole nation of Israel was to come from Isaac. Therefore, God gave this servant a sign to help him understand the specific will of God.
Now, when the Lord Jesus Christ came, He performed many miracles as a sign to the nation of Israel. In the Old Testament there were certain works which the Messiah was to do, and these works were to be a sign to the Jews that he was truly the Messiah. Just think of all of the miracles that Jesus did. He broke the bread and the fish and fed 5000 men plus the women and children. Then afterwards He had 12 baskets of food left over. Then He said, I am the bread of life. These things were done to show that Jesus was the promised Messiah.
However, in spite of the miracles of Jesus, the leaders of Israel refused to accept Him as their Messiah. They refused to acknowledge His miracles, but still they came to ask Him for a sign. In response, the Lord said, only one sign will be given to you, and that is the sign of the prophet Jonah; for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, even so must the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Jesus mentioned this sign as a means of pointing to His death, burial and resurrection. When Jesus arose from the dead, all of the Jews should have immediately known that Jesus was the true Messiah because He had indeed been three days and three nights in the grave even as Jonah had been three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish. However, after three days in the grave Jesus Christ arose from the dead, triumphant over death, hell and the grave, and this should have served as a sufficient sign for the nation of Israel that Jesus was the promised Messiah.
In the book of Acts, we find the Holy Spirit using this great miracle of Christ's resurrection to prove to the nation of Israel that beyond any shadow of a doubt Jesus was the Christ. Time and time again the apostles showed that according to the Old Testament prophecies, the Christ would have to die and be buried and then raised again the third day. They declared that the sign of the prophet Jonah was the sign of the resurrected Christ. They said that Jesus was alive, and He was waiting in heaven, standing at the right hand of the Father, ready to come back, if only the nation of Israel would repent and receive Him as their Messiah.
But throughout the book of Acts, the nation of Israel rejected this message. Finally, God stopped Messianic message. Jesus Christ was no longer offered to Israel as the one who would come to the earth to establish the kingdom of God. Instead, God used the Apostle Paul to reveal the Lord Jesus as the savior of the world who serves as the Head of the Church which is the Body of Christ. The truth of this new program had been hidden from all of the prophets of previous ages.
One day, after the church is taken up to be with the Lord in heaven, God will once again preach to the nation of Israel the message of the crucified Christ who was raised from the dead and who waits in heaven to be accepted by the nation of Israel. When this message is once again the focus of God's program to the Jews, the nation of Israel will accept Jesus as their Messiah, and He will return to the earth to fulfill all of the great promises that were given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Next week, we're going to continue to look at the wooing of Rebecca for Isaac. Until that time we bid you goodbye.
Church links:
In Genesis 22, we find that without hesitation Abraham obeyed God when God told him to take Isaac to Mt. Moriah and offer him as a sacrifice. The book of Hebrews tells us that Abraham believed God and by faith offered up Isaac. However, when we look back at the Genesis account, we find that Abraham actually offered up a ram in accordance with God's last minute instructions.
Obviously, when God saw the strength of Abraham's faith, He was willing to accept that ram as if it was actually Isaac. This is because Abraham's faith was based in the promise of God. God had previously given Abraham many promises, and He had said that all of His promises to Abraham would be fulfilled through Isaac and his descendants. In fact, when God promised Abraham the birth of Isaac, He said, You shall call his name Isaac and in Isaac shall your seed be called.
Well, Isaac had no children at the time that Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac. Therefore, Abraham knew that if God was going to be true to His word, God would have to prevent the death of Isaac or raise him up from the dead. So when God saw Abraham's faith in the promise of God, He counted the offering up of the ram as though Abraham had actually offered up Isaac and as if God had raised Isaac up from the dead.
Last week we saw that this event pictures the Biblical doctrine of identification. You and I, who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, have been counted as though we died with Christ and were buried with Him and were also raised with Him to walk in newness of life.
The book of Ephesians 2 tells us that in the mind of God we have also ascended with Christ to sit with Christ in the heavens, and this certainly does have tremendous implications for us. In Colossians, Chapter 3, Paul says:
Colossians 3:1-3 NKJV
1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Now, before we leave Genesis 22, I want us to think for just a moment of another great truth that we find in this passage, and that is the great doctrine of substitution. When Abraham was ready to offer up Isaac in obedience to the will of God, God stopped him and said, there is a ram that's caught in the thicket; you take that ram and offer him in the place of Isaac.
Oh, how beautiful this is. When we compare this with the New Testament and see the application of this wonderful doctrine we see that Christ is our substitute. That ram was offered up and bore the penalty of the judgment of God which was suppose to fall upon Isaac, and in the same way, Christ died on the cross, not for His own sins, not as some great tragedy, but He died the just one in the place of, or as a substitute for, those who are unjust. Romans 5 says:
Romans 5:6 NKJV
6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for (in the stead of, in the place of, as the substitute for) the ungodly.
Jesus Christ died for you. You deserved eternal punishment, eternal separation from God, but when the Lord Jesus went to the cross and cried out, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me, He was dying in your stead.
That's what it means to accept Christ as your Savior. It means to believe with your whole heart that Christ took your place, that He bore the judgment that you deserved. He died to pay the penalty for all of your sins, and when you believe that, God counts the work of Christ on your behalf so that the penalty for your sins has already been paid. On this basis, your sins are forgiven. What a wonderful truth, this doctrine of substitution.
I wonder today if there is one reading this lesson who has never truly received what Christ did on the cross, that He was really there in your stead, in your place, dying for your sins. I have believed that He died for my sins, that He took my place. I believe that Jesus Christ took James Roberts' place on the cross, and now that I have believed that, God considers all of my sins as having been placed upon Him.
Now, as we go on further in the book of Genesis, I want us to see another act of faith on the part of Abraham. In Genesis, Chapter 24, we see Abraham preparing to choose a bride for Isaac. Abraham had become old and he was living in the land of the Canaanites, but God had shown him that Isaac should not take a bride for Isaac from the daughters of the Canaanites. God had obviously revealed to Abraham what He would later reveal to the whole nation of Israel, that if they took wives for their sons from the children of Canaan, they would become entrapped in the religious practices of the Canaanites.
So Abraham believed what God said, and he sent his servant back to the city of Nahor in the land of Mesopotamia to get a wife for Isaac. This servant was to get a wife from Abraham's kinsmen who were still living back in the region around Ur of the Chaldeans. Before the servant left, he asked Abraham what he should do if the woman of God's choosing should refuse to return with him to marry Isaac. In response, Abraham was very clear. He said, do not take Isaac back to Ur of the Chaldeans; if the woman refuses to return with you, you will be released from any obligation in this matter.
Abraham had been taken out of Ur of the Chaldeans, and God didn't want Abraham's seed to go back to Ur of the Chaldeans. After all, all of the promises related to the land of Canaan, and they were to be fulfilled through the descendants of Isaac. Isaac needed to remain in the Promised Land, but he was not to marry the daughters of those who lived in Canaan at that time.
So the servant went to Mesopotamia to the city of Nahor, and he waited there outside the city by the well. As he waited, he asked God to give him a sign. He said, I don’t know which woman should be Isaac's bride, but let it be that when the woman You have chosen comes to draw water, she will offer to give me a drink and to draw water for my camels. Well, the servant waited and along came Rebecca, who did exactly as the servant had asked.
It's very interesting that Abraham's servant asked for a sign from the Lord because we read in the book of I Corinthians that the Jews require a sign, but the Greeks seek after wisdom. As God was helping Abraham's servant select a bride for Isaac, He was dealing with the nation of Israel in seed form because the whole nation of Israel was to come from Isaac. Therefore, God gave this servant a sign to help him understand the specific will of God.
Now, when the Lord Jesus Christ came, He performed many miracles as a sign to the nation of Israel. In the Old Testament there were certain works which the Messiah was to do, and these works were to be a sign to the Jews that he was truly the Messiah. Just think of all of the miracles that Jesus did. He broke the bread and the fish and fed 5000 men plus the women and children. Then afterwards He had 12 baskets of food left over. Then He said, I am the bread of life. These things were done to show that Jesus was the promised Messiah.
However, in spite of the miracles of Jesus, the leaders of Israel refused to accept Him as their Messiah. They refused to acknowledge His miracles, but still they came to ask Him for a sign. In response, the Lord said, only one sign will be given to you, and that is the sign of the prophet Jonah; for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, even so must the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Jesus mentioned this sign as a means of pointing to His death, burial and resurrection. When Jesus arose from the dead, all of the Jews should have immediately known that Jesus was the true Messiah because He had indeed been three days and three nights in the grave even as Jonah had been three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish. However, after three days in the grave Jesus Christ arose from the dead, triumphant over death, hell and the grave, and this should have served as a sufficient sign for the nation of Israel that Jesus was the promised Messiah.
In the book of Acts, we find the Holy Spirit using this great miracle of Christ's resurrection to prove to the nation of Israel that beyond any shadow of a doubt Jesus was the Christ. Time and time again the apostles showed that according to the Old Testament prophecies, the Christ would have to die and be buried and then raised again the third day. They declared that the sign of the prophet Jonah was the sign of the resurrected Christ. They said that Jesus was alive, and He was waiting in heaven, standing at the right hand of the Father, ready to come back, if only the nation of Israel would repent and receive Him as their Messiah.
But throughout the book of Acts, the nation of Israel rejected this message. Finally, God stopped Messianic message. Jesus Christ was no longer offered to Israel as the one who would come to the earth to establish the kingdom of God. Instead, God used the Apostle Paul to reveal the Lord Jesus as the savior of the world who serves as the Head of the Church which is the Body of Christ. The truth of this new program had been hidden from all of the prophets of previous ages.
One day, after the church is taken up to be with the Lord in heaven, God will once again preach to the nation of Israel the message of the crucified Christ who was raised from the dead and who waits in heaven to be accepted by the nation of Israel. When this message is once again the focus of God's program to the Jews, the nation of Israel will accept Jesus as their Messiah, and He will return to the earth to fulfill all of the great promises that were given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Next week, we're going to continue to look at the wooing of Rebecca for Isaac. Until that time we bid you goodbye.
Church links:
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