1 00:00:12,550 --> 00:00:22,050 For today you considered now the rest of Genesis Genesis 12 through 50 where are 2 00:00:22,050 --> 00:00:23,100 some of your impressions? 3 00:00:30,650 --> 00:00:35,450 Just from reading it maybe you've read it many times before but anything just 4 00:00:35,450 --> 00:00:43,100 kind of stick out or make us new impression new discoveries or just 5 00:00:43,100 --> 00:00:50,250 surprises? This may be kind of a naive question but I never understood why 6 00:00:50,250 --> 00:00:56,050 Esau was so readily able to just give up his birthright. Because in the in the 7 00:00:56,250 --> 00:00:59,950 footnote it says you know nature times birthright included the inheritance 8 00:00:59,950 --> 00:01:04,300 right to the firstborn. And the text says you know famished he came in 9 00:01:04,300 --> 00:01:08,550 famished and the original text might say something a little different but the way 10 00:01:08,550 --> 00:01:13,000 to translated it's just with that background of the inheritance being 11 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:16,750 given to that first one why would you give it up for a little stew? That's an 12 00:01:16,750 --> 00:01:22,400 expensive bowl of soup. Yea. As I read through that again I was struck by that 13 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:29,050 you know I mean yeah I mean that's a rock-bottom price that he's sold it for 14 00:01:29,050 --> 00:01:38,400 stew. And you know some would say well it just makes for a good story but couldn't 15 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:47,050 we say that oftentimes we do the same, okay. Think of the husband who has a 16 00:01:47,050 --> 00:01:55,900 wonderful wife beautiful family and then just thinks well I can have this 17 00:01:55,900 --> 00:02:02,600 one little affair no one will ever know you know it's just gonna satisfy my my 18 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:09,750 needs my pleasures you know nothing really to it and he loses everything. 19 00:02:09,750 --> 00:02:18,600 He loses his family loses his wife in ministry lose your your ministry, 20 00:02:21,450 --> 00:02:30,650 opportunity to be a pastor or some kind of church worker. So we do the same right 21 00:02:30,650 --> 00:02:39,400 right. I suspect that he he may not have taken it too seriously that he thank 22 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:46,250 who's gonna know you know and and you know it's not gonna you know father 23 00:02:46,250 --> 00:02:53,450 Isaac's not gonna buy into this but it was serious stuff when you give your 24 00:02:53,450 --> 00:02:58,700 word in the Old Testament. Your word has performative power including the word of 25 00:02:58,700 --> 00:03:07,100 blessing so good good okay. Any others maybe one other before we move on. 26 00:03:17,150 --> 00:03:21,600 Well let me share with you one impression that I had once again going 27 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:30,300 through this and that is what a bunch of scoundrels these folks are. My goodness 28 00:03:30,300 --> 00:03:38,300 they are not kind of the lily-white plaster saints that you often oftentimes 29 00:03:38,300 --> 00:03:51,900 think of here. I mean these guys were a bunch of crooks and cronies you just 30 00:03:51,900 --> 00:04:00,700 look at some of the their behavior even Abraham passing his wife off twice as 31 00:04:00,700 --> 00:04:08,100 his sister to save his own skin right yeah. And then his son Isaac does the 32 00:04:08,100 --> 00:04:19,450 same okay. And then those sons of Jacob what a bunch of I mean would you want 33 00:04:19,450 --> 00:04:26,050 them living next door to you okay now they go and massacre a whole town full 34 00:04:26,050 --> 00:04:36,300 of people. And and Jacob himself what a conniver what a swindler. So you know you 35 00:04:36,300 --> 00:04:45,100 just read this and it impresses upon us once again God's grace is for sinners. 36 00:04:45,100 --> 00:04:55,100 God enters into relationship with sinners okay. And abides with sinners and 37 00:04:55,650 --> 00:05:02,750 thank God that he does but that was a significant impression that I had. Okay? 38 00:05:02,750 --> 00:05:09,250 Well now we continue here with these latter chapters of Genesis or I 39 00:05:09,250 --> 00:05:16,900 shouldn't say ladder chapters 12 through 50 the rest of Genesis. And we see that 40 00:05:16,900 --> 00:05:24,050 Genesis is not just a bunch of folksy stories here but it has a central theme 41 00:05:24,050 --> 00:05:32,850 and a central plo. And in many ways I think that that central theme can be 42 00:05:32,850 --> 00:05:39,500 summarized in this word you hear it over and over and over again blessing 43 00:05:41,550 --> 00:05:48,900 blessing. And at the beginning of chapter 12 we have the word in the Hebrew that 44 00:05:48,900 --> 00:05:56,000 appears five times in just a few short verses as God speaks to Abraham 45 00:05:56,700 --> 00:06:09,250 blessing. And this then many scholars say is a specific response to what had 46 00:06:09,250 --> 00:06:17,100 preceded in chapters 1 through 11 where you have five curses five times that 47 00:06:17,100 --> 00:06:23,800 curses are pronounced. And so now what we see God doing is seeking to reverse 48 00:06:23,800 --> 00:06:30,800 the curse to bring about blessing His blessing which is the opposite of the 49 00:06:30,800 --> 00:06:39,000 curse of sin but it is a blessing that is by his grace and by his mercy. And God 50 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:47,550 will do that now if I can use the imagery of He establishes a beachhead on 51 00:06:47,550 --> 00:06:53,050 the earth in order that eventually the blessing can spread throughout the earth. 52 00:06:53,050 --> 00:07:02,250 Because humanity is fallen the earth itself is cursed in a sense now God 53 00:07:02,250 --> 00:07:10,050 comes to reclaim what has been lost to the enemy. And if you have the imagery 54 00:07:10,050 --> 00:07:20,200 here of for example D-Day in World War two Normandy Beach where the Allies now 55 00:07:20,200 --> 00:07:27,850 take this very small piece of land on the mainland of Europe and claim it in 56 00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:34,350 order that they could eventually now reclaim the rest of Europe okay deliver 57 00:07:34,350 --> 00:07:40,500 the rest of Europe liberate the rest of Europe. So what God is doing here is he 58 00:07:40,500 --> 00:07:48,000 is now claiming a piece of land but even more importantly a people claiming a 59 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:55,450 people a nation a family a race if you will that will be his beachhead to 60 00:07:55,450 --> 00:08:02,200 eventually bring blessing to the nation's and that's what the the primary 61 00:08:02,200 --> 00:08:11,900 theme is that we have here okay. So we're gonna look at Abraham first of all turn 62 00:08:11,900 --> 00:08:14,000 to Genesis chapter 11. 63 00:08:26,550 --> 00:08:31,600 Okay and at the beginning of chapter 11 we have the story of the Tower of Babel, 64 00:08:31,600 --> 00:08:38,799 okay. And after that now you've got the dispersion of the people multiple 65 00:08:38,799 --> 00:08:46,200 languages confusion but immediately after that then you have a genealogy the 66 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:56,300 genealogy of Shem, okay. Noah had three sons Japheth Ham and Shem. Shem is now 67 00:08:56,300 --> 00:09:02,000 the one who will carry on the line of promise for the seed of the woman 68 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:08,900 ultimately Jesus Christ the Messiah and that's why his genealogy is traced here. 69 00:09:08,900 --> 00:09:19,800 Incidentally the descendants of Shem are called the Shemites or more regularly 70 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:28,400 heard as Semites, okay. So the Semitic people okay are the descendants of 71 00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:36,100 of Shem. And you know we talk about anti-semitism and obviously the Jews are 72 00:09:36,100 --> 00:09:43,300 descendants of Shem but there's a larger family than just the Jews who are 73 00:09:43,300 --> 00:09:48,200 descendants of Shem but this is the the lineage now that is traced in chapter 11 74 00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:59,950 okay. And at verse 26 then you have the introduction of Terah who fathers Abram 75 00:09:59,950 --> 00:10:10,700 Nahor and Haran so he has three sons and then in verse 27 you have his 76 00:10:10,700 --> 00:10:20,250 descendants. And verse 31 it's important to look at verse 30 now Sarai Abram's 77 00:10:20,250 --> 00:10:28,750 wife was barren she had no child unable to give birth. And verse 31 Terah 78 00:10:28,750 --> 00:10:36,800 took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran which would be his nephew then and 79 00:10:37,500 --> 00:10:43,700 Sarah his daughter or I mean his grandson Abram's nephew and Sarah his 80 00:10:43,700 --> 00:10:49,450 daughter-in-law his son Abram's wife and they went forth together from Ur of the 81 00:10:49,450 --> 00:10:55,250 Chaldees to go into the land of Canaan. But when they came to Haran they settled 82 00:10:55,250 --> 00:11:05,500 there okay so this is now the setting that begins chapter 12. And just by way 83 00:11:05,500 --> 00:11:12,600 of review we saw in the earlier chapters this invasion of sin and the corruption 84 00:11:12,600 --> 00:11:20,400 of God's cosmos here the destruction of that by sin causing people to turn in on 85 00:11:20,400 --> 00:11:28,300 themselves and bringing an estrangement with God okay and with one another. So 86 00:11:28,300 --> 00:11:36,200 you begin then with the first parents Adam and Eve and you have from those 87 00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:43,700 first parents then and expansion of population the increase of population 88 00:11:43,700 --> 00:11:52,800 and now at the beginning of chapter 12 with the world populated and people 89 00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:59,200 spread throughout the world you have in a sense God's choosing out one man and 90 00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:07,250 his wife Sarah to begin anew okay. So it kind of now the the narrative will focus 91 00:12:07,250 --> 00:12:15,100 in on Abraham well Abram and Sarai later to be named Abraham and Sarah okay. 92 00:12:15,100 --> 00:12:22,900 And why is this what we've seen already is that God begins with a man and a 93 00:12:22,900 --> 00:12:31,550 woman and that goes awry with sin entering into the world. With the flood 94 00:12:31,550 --> 00:12:39,200 then you have God once again intervening and destroying all of 95 00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:44,700 humanity except a man and a woman and their three sons and daughters- 96 00:12:44,700 --> 00:12:51,150 -in-law so eight people. So he starts over in a sense through Noah 97 00:12:51,750 --> 00:13:00,400 starting a whole new race but humanity remains corrupted and and sin abounds. 98 00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:06,350 But now instead of destroying the whole race as he did private previously with 99 00:13:06,350 --> 00:13:13,900 Noah he will begin again with a new husband and wife and a new family and 100 00:13:14,550 --> 00:13:22,700 this family now will be cultivated to not only receive God's blessing but then 101 00:13:22,700 --> 00:13:29,300 be the agents of God's blessing in the world and ultimately through the line of 102 00:13:29,300 --> 00:13:35,750 this family Abraham will come the blessing Jesus Christ. Who will bring 103 00:13:35,750 --> 00:13:46,000 blessing to the whole world okay. So we now look at the narrative of Abraham and 104 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:52,650 we begin geographically we just read from chapter 11 that Abram and his 105 00:13:52,650 --> 00:13:59,550 family began here in Ur typically called Ur of the Chaldees the Chaldeans are 106 00:13:59,550 --> 00:14:04,450 it's another name for Babylonians so they're down here. A very very 107 00:14:04,450 --> 00:14:12,600 ancient civilization in the Mesopotamia. Just a few years ago there was an 108 00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:20,300 exhibit at our st. Louis Art Museum of artifacts from Ur going back to 3,000 BC 109 00:14:20,300 --> 00:14:29,800 so very very ancient. And so this is where Abram and Sarai are Tarah the 110 00:14:29,800 --> 00:14:37,900 father of Abram as well. Joshua chapter 24 tells us that Abram was a an idol 111 00:14:37,900 --> 00:14:44,750 worshiper. So he's no godly saint he's not one who is calling upon the name of 112 00:14:44,750 --> 00:14:53,950 the Lord as we read yesterday of the line of Seth okay. He's pagan he's an 113 00:14:53,950 --> 00:15:03,900 idolater and yet by God's grace he calls him. They relocate then in Haran and this 114 00:15:03,900 --> 00:15:14,650 is up in Aram A-R-A-M okay and this is why in some of the passages of scripture 115 00:15:14,650 --> 00:15:21,950 you will find these patriarchs as described as wandering Arameans. 116 00:15:31,450 --> 00:15:38,900 Okay, so the the country here is Aram and they are described as wandering 117 00:15:38,900 --> 00:15:48,450 Arameans okay. So this is where they locate. But now God will call Abram down 118 00:15:48,450 --> 00:15:59,000 here to Canaan to Palestine and He does that in chapter 12 verse 1. Now the Lord 119 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:04,100 said to Abram go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to 120 00:16:04,100 --> 00:16:09,050 the land that I will show you. And I will make you a great nation and I will 121 00:16:09,050 --> 00:16:14,700 bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless 122 00:16:14,700 --> 00:16:20,300 those who bless you and him who dishonors you I will curse and in you 123 00:16:20,300 --> 00:16:26,400 all the families of the earth shall be blessed. This is a very very important 124 00:16:27,350 --> 00:16:34,750 passage because this is not only the call of Abram but it's God's covenant 125 00:16:34,750 --> 00:16:46,100 with Abram. This is a central theme in the Old and New Testaments in fact the 126 00:16:46,100 --> 00:16:52,200 word Testament is actually a synonym for covenant. In some ways it's too bad that 127 00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:57,600 our Bible wasn't divided up into what would be called the old covenant and the 128 00:16:57,600 --> 00:17:04,150 new covenant okay. So we have covenant here and he makes a covenant with Abram. 129 00:17:04,150 --> 00:17:14,000 Now what is covenant? Anyone want to take a stab at giving a definition of covenant? 130 00:17:17,900 --> 00:17:27,099 Okay okay. So it's an agreement between two people or two parties okay. It's a 131 00:17:27,099 --> 00:17:31,250 promise. Can you expand on that promise? 132 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:44,850 Okay okay. So it's it's something that you promise to carry out. And typically 133 00:17:44,850 --> 00:17:53,200 when we speak of a covenant it is a solemn promise this is really serious. We 134 00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:58,800 don't use the term covenant very much anymore but where we do use it fairly 135 00:17:58,800 --> 00:18:05,750 frequently is in referring to marriage the marriage covenant okay. That's a 136 00:18:05,750 --> 00:18:12,600 solemn promise you take vows to one another okay. So it's an entering into 137 00:18:12,600 --> 00:18:20,750 this agreement that involves solemn promises but it is more than simply kind 138 00:18:20,750 --> 00:18:25,700 of a business agreement although there were business covenants in the ancient 139 00:18:25,700 --> 00:18:31,050 Near East. And there are certainly even political treaties that are kind of 140 00:18:31,050 --> 00:18:37,900 covenants in the ancient near East Near East. But it is really a relationship 141 00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:45,600 just like marriage and when the Bible speaks of a covenant relationship with 142 00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:54,700 people between God and people I should say it is a binding relationship of 143 00:18:54,700 --> 00:19:01,850 commitment and love binding relationship of commitment and love. So 144 00:19:01,850 --> 00:19:06,800 God is coming here now and binding himself committing himself making 145 00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:13,900 promises to Abram in this covenant and there are various aspects of the 146 00:19:13,900 --> 00:19:21,700 covenant that we'll be touching upon as we go through Genesis here okay. So He 147 00:19:21,700 --> 00:19:36,150 establishes this covenant in chapter 12 begins okay. This is the covenant here is 148 00:19:36,150 --> 00:19:43,750 depicted as the scroll and the covenant with Abram contains three primary 149 00:19:43,750 --> 00:19:52,050 elements okay. And these are depicted by these symbols. The first element of the 150 00:19:52,050 --> 00:19:57,050 Covenant what God promises is land okay. 151 00:20:03,750 --> 00:20:12,800 Land land and it is the land of Canaan that is promised and so we talk about 152 00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:25,500 the promised land to Abram okay. And we see that here in chapter 12 go from your 153 00:20:25,500 --> 00:20:31,650 country and your kindred to the land that I will show you. The land will be 154 00:20:31,650 --> 00:20:37,100 very very important here this is part of that beachhead now that God can bring 155 00:20:37,100 --> 00:20:45,450 blessing to all the other nations . The second aspect of the Covenant is that of 156 00:20:45,450 --> 00:21:00,800 offspring okay. Descendants children grandchildren great-grandchildren okay 157 00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:11,500 progeny offspring and this is what he says verse 2. I will make of you a great 158 00:21:11,500 --> 00:21:18,450 nation so from you will come a great nation. I will bless bless you and make 159 00:21:18,450 --> 00:21:24,150 your name great so that you are a blessing okay. So offspring a great 160 00:21:24,150 --> 00:21:30,050 nation will come from him. And again I should say that this is the beachhead of 161 00:21:30,050 --> 00:21:35,050 the people okay. God's gonna begin now with this people to bring blessing. And 162 00:21:35,550 --> 00:21:47,300 then the third is blessing to the nations. Blessing itself but the 163 00:21:47,300 --> 00:21:57,300 blessing will go to Abram and his family but through Abram all peoples of the 164 00:21:57,300 --> 00:22:05,600 world are to be blessed. So all nations so the blessing to Abraham and through 165 00:22:05,600 --> 00:22:11,200 Abraham and as his offspring okay. So He says I will bless you and make your name 166 00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:17,550 great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and him 167 00:22:17,550 --> 00:22:22,500 who dishonors you I will curse and in you all the families of the earth shall 168 00:22:22,500 --> 00:22:27,650 be blessed all the families. This is God's intention so again he's not just 169 00:22:27,650 --> 00:22:34,600 narrowing it down to have his favorite family here and just focus on them. He's 170 00:22:34,600 --> 00:22:39,900 focusing on them in order to bring blessing to everyone else. To reverse the 171 00:22:39,900 --> 00:22:44,100 curse to everyone else and the symbol here then is of the cup of blessing 172 00:22:44,100 --> 00:22:54,050 overflowing to all the nations okay. So this is what we have then okay. So Abram 173 00:22:54,050 --> 00:23:02,900 then travels in obedience to the Lord and he does this when he's 75 years old 174 00:23:02,900 --> 00:23:09,550 as you can see in chapter 12 verse 4 his wife is 10 years younger Sarai is 10 175 00:23:09,550 --> 00:23:18,250 years younger. By the way the name Abram means exalted father and Sarai means 176 00:23:18,250 --> 00:23:23,000 something like princess okay. You know the name will be names will be changed 177 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:29,050 here later but that's what the names mean originally okay. And so it says that 178 00:23:29,050 --> 00:23:38,550 they travel then down along the coastal highway here to Shechem and eventually 179 00:23:38,550 --> 00:23:53,100 Bethel is where they will settle okay. And later in chapter 12 after settling 180 00:23:53,100 --> 00:24:00,150 in Bethel there is a famine and Abram and Sarah have to go to Egypt for food. 181 00:24:00,150 --> 00:24:06,450 This is something we hear frequently in the Old Testament in times of famine 182 00:24:06,450 --> 00:24:13,450 people go to Egypt this is the case with the latter part of Genesis with Joseph 183 00:24:13,450 --> 00:24:26,000 okay. And why do people go to Egypt in times of famine? Okay okay. Because that's 184 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:31,500 where the food is and the droughts were not typically affecting Egypt as much. 185 00:24:31,500 --> 00:24:38,050 Because Egypt itself is essentially arid desert it can only produce because of 186 00:24:38,050 --> 00:24:45,100 the irrigation from the Nile. Life from Nile which is provided up in the the 187 00:24:45,100 --> 00:24:52,900 source of the Nile is in the highlands of Africa okay. So a drought in Palestine 188 00:24:52,900 --> 00:24:59,900 and Syria and so forth may not affect the conditions may not occur in those 189 00:24:59,900 --> 00:25:05,100 highlands of Africa the source of the water for for the Nile which would 190 00:25:05,100 --> 00:25:10,650 provide irrigation to Egypt. Now when we get to Joseph and the famine that takes 191 00:25:10,650 --> 00:25:14,900 place that's much more widespread and affected even the source of water for 192 00:25:14,900 --> 00:25:26,450 the Nile okay. So so they go to Egypt okay and here this godly man this man of 193 00:25:26,450 --> 00:25:32,850 faith Abram he's demonstrated a lot of faith thus far just by leaving his 194 00:25:32,850 --> 00:25:38,450 household leaving his family he kind of deserted his inheritance in terms of the 195 00:25:38,450 --> 00:25:46,550 the monetary and physical inheritance. And so they go to Egypt and he passes 196 00:25:46,550 --> 00:25:54,250 his wife off as his sister which is a half-truth because she's a half sister 197 00:25:54,250 --> 00:26:01,850 actually. However he doesn't tell anyone that she's more than his sister she's 198 00:26:01,850 --> 00:26:09,150 also his wife. And the Pharaoh takes her in to be a part of his harem and because 199 00:26:09,150 --> 00:26:15,900 God is in covenant with Abraham all kinds of problems arise in Pharaoh's 200 00:26:15,900 --> 00:26:21,400 house. And Pharaoh himself sickness and so forth so it's found out and Pharaoh 201 00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:31,650 expels Abram and Sarah but Abram leaves all the better because Pharaoh had given 202 00:26:31,650 --> 00:26:38,400 Abraham Abram for his wife all kinds of flocks of sheep and cattle and so forth 203 00:26:38,400 --> 00:26:43,150 when when he took Sarai into his harem. And now they're expelled but Abram gets 204 00:26:43,150 --> 00:26:50,650 to take all that good stuff along with so in spite of his sin God still blesses 205 00:26:50,650 --> 00:26:57,400 him. In spite of his faithlessness and they come back then to Canaan to settle. 206 00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:05,700 Okay in chapter 13 then you have the story of of Abram and Lot. Lot was 207 00:27:05,700 --> 00:27:12,850 Abrams nephew who travels along with him and there's conflict over the territory 208 00:27:12,850 --> 00:27:19,250 between Lots shepherds Abram shepherds and so they agree to go their separate 209 00:27:19,250 --> 00:27:28,750 ways. In chapter 14 however Lot who Abram gives the choice he says you take the 210 00:27:28,750 --> 00:27:36,100 part you want I'll take what's left. Lot chooses the more favorable terrain and 211 00:27:36,100 --> 00:27:44,150 goes and settles in the city of Sodom. And in chapter 14 then you have some 212 00:27:44,150 --> 00:27:50,750 five kings who who invade this valley there's a war that takes place with the 213 00:27:50,750 --> 00:27:58,750 kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and other cities. And the invaders prevail and Lot 214 00:27:58,750 --> 00:28:08,300 is taken captive. So Abram then goes to rescue Lot and he's only got 318 men 215 00:28:08,300 --> 00:28:14,600 with him. So already he's developed this this quite a community surrounded around 216 00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:26,600 him his his servants and so forth and but these 318 go and ambush the 217 00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:34,550 captors and deliver the captives including Lot. Now when Abram is 218 00:28:34,550 --> 00:28:40,900 returning from that victory and that victory is a great sign of God's 219 00:28:40,900 --> 00:28:47,100 presence and God's blessing upon Abram. And we'll see this now as we go through 220 00:28:47,100 --> 00:28:51,200 particularly the exodus and the wilderness wanderings and the conquest 221 00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:58,800 and judges when God is with you doesn't matter how few people you have God will 222 00:28:58,800 --> 00:29:06,800 prevail. When his blessing is upon you., in in those endeavors. So Abram returns 223 00:29:06,800 --> 00:29:19,100 and as he's returning back to Canaan he and he is met by an enigmatic figure 224 00:29:21,050 --> 00:29:29,050 named Melchizedek okay. And the question was asked was it you Seth about 225 00:29:29,050 --> 00:29:35,300 Melchizedek? What you want to reach well if we're supposed to at all if Christ is 226 00:29:35,300 --> 00:29:39,000 to come from the line of Abraham we've talked in the New Testament course last 227 00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:42,600 week about like Melchizedek and how Christ comes from a higher higher 228 00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:47,000 lineage of Melchizedek? And how does that whole thing work out because Melchizedek 229 00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:51,700 is obviously not one of Abrams descendants. So how does that play out 230 00:29:51,700 --> 00:29:59,100 at the whole high priest concept. Okay now the key here is that Hebrews does 231 00:29:59,100 --> 00:30:06,850 not say that Christ descended from Melchizedek. It says that He is a priest 232 00:30:06,850 --> 00:30:13,200 in the order of Melchizedek okay. So he's in a different order than the Levitical 233 00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:19,600 priesthood okay let's I'll come back to that okay. But before we do that let's 234 00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:24,950 just talk about who is Melchizedek okay. What are some characteristics of 235 00:30:26,550 --> 00:30:33,900 Melchizedek from your reading there? Okay it's in chapter 14 beginning with verse 236 00:30:33,900 --> 00:30:45,800 17. Okay he's a king and a priest of God most high. Pardon me. It says a priest of 237 00:30:45,800 --> 00:30:53,050 God most high. He is the priest of God most high. So he is a legitimate priest 238 00:30:53,050 --> 00:31:00,550 okay. He is worshipping the true God God most high El Shaddai Hebrew there for 239 00:31:00,550 --> 00:31:16,000 that okay. So he's this this priest of God most high and he's a king. King of 240 00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:22,300 where? Salem, Salem. Where's Salem? 241 00:31:24,900 --> 00:31:32,650 Jerusalem. Jerusalem. Jerusalem okay. Jerusalem so he's the king of Jerusalem. 242 00:31:32,650 --> 00:31:41,000 This is centuries before Jerusalem becomes the capital of the United 243 00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:48,300 Kingdom under King David okay. So he comes he's a he's both king and priest 244 00:31:48,300 --> 00:31:54,700 at the same time he's a priest of the true God he's king of Jerusalem okay. And 245 00:31:55,300 --> 00:32:02,000 he comes out to do what he meets Abraham and what's he what's his what are his 246 00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:11,450 intentions? Pardon me. To give a blessing. To give a blessing okay. To bless Abraham 247 00:32:11,450 --> 00:32:23,850 okay. And what is Abrams response? He gives him a tenth of all of the plunder from that 248 00:32:23,850 --> 00:32:30,950 conquest that he's just had okay. Now why is this so significant? In the the book 249 00:32:30,950 --> 00:32:38,100 of Psalms already just later in the Old Testament then it is a messianic Psalm 250 00:32:38,200 --> 00:32:47,500 and it says that God has made me a priest after the order of Melchizedek. 251 00:32:48,100 --> 00:32:59,400 Now in the Mosaic law there was the priesthood and that priesthood was of 252 00:32:59,400 --> 00:33:06,800 the order of Levi the Levites the line of Levi. And more specifically the order 253 00:33:06,800 --> 00:33:12,600 of Aaron okay the descendants of Aaron were the priests so not all the Levites 254 00:33:12,600 --> 00:33:18,600 the the people of the tribe of Levi were priests but of the line of Aaron okay. 255 00:33:18,600 --> 00:33:29,500 When you get to the New Testament you have Christ here who is the Christ 256 00:33:29,500 --> 00:33:36,800 Messiah and the claim is that He is the Messiah and He is Messiah anointed one. 257 00:33:36,800 --> 00:33:44,150 In that He is prophet priest and king you've got all three tied together. Those 258 00:33:44,150 --> 00:33:49,100 were offices that were anointed initiated by anointing. For example when 259 00:33:49,100 --> 00:33:55,700 David is made King he's anointed Saul made King. The priests were also anointed 260 00:33:55,700 --> 00:34:00,800 that was their kind of ordination ceremony anointing and in some cases the 261 00:34:00,800 --> 00:34:05,200 prophets not all the prophets were but in some cases prophets as well. So the 262 00:34:05,200 --> 00:34:11,000 Messiah the anointed one would be prophet priest and king all together and 263 00:34:11,699 --> 00:34:16,949 here you have this enigmatic figure in the Old Testament. Who is at least a 264 00:34:16,949 --> 00:34:23,850 priest and a king together as well okay. Now the objection that the Jews had to 265 00:34:23,850 --> 00:34:28,449 the claim that Jesus could be the Messiah who is prophet priest and king 266 00:34:28,449 --> 00:34:38,300 is that he's not of the line of Aaron. He's not a Levite okay. What tribe was 267 00:34:38,300 --> 00:34:47,850 Jesus from? Judah okay. And so the point that the book of Hebrews here is making 268 00:34:47,850 --> 00:34:56,199 is that not all priests legit priests in the Old Testament were of the line of 269 00:34:56,199 --> 00:35:06,300 Aaron. And we have even before Aaron a priest of God Most High Melchizedek. And 270 00:35:06,300 --> 00:35:11,500 he was more than just a priest he was a king and thus you go back to the 271 00:35:11,500 --> 00:35:18,000 Psalm and the the prophecy there of the Messiah being a priest of the order of 272 00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:22,900 Melchizedek. So that's that's really kind of the argument that's being made there 273 00:35:22,900 --> 00:35:28,950 in in Hebrews about Melchizedek. Did that answer answer or address your 274 00:35:28,950 --> 00:35:38,100 question okay. So but but notice what Melchizedek does here. I think I've got a. 275 00:35:38,100 --> 00:35:48,800 We'll come back to this scene of Melchizedek he blesses Abram. So you have 276 00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:53,900 him then as a representative of the true God who is bringing blessing 277 00:35:54,750 --> 00:36:03,850 reinforcing blessing of the Covenant. And Abram now responds he recognizes this is 278 00:36:03,850 --> 00:36:09,700 an agent of the true God the God I am in covenant with and so he responds by 279 00:36:09,700 --> 00:36:17,600 offering up a tithe a 10%. Indicating here that he is responding to God's 280 00:36:17,600 --> 00:36:23,900 blessing by the giving of first fruits. Remember yesterday when we were talking 281 00:36:23,900 --> 00:36:31,300 about pain the importance of first fruits there okay. So this is what we 282 00:36:31,300 --> 00:36:40,250 have here in in in chapter 14. Now in chapter 15 another very important 283 00:36:41,250 --> 00:36:49,100 chapter. We have the focus again on the Covenant that binding relationship of 284 00:36:49,100 --> 00:36:58,400 promise and love that God makes with Abraham Abram. And take a look at verse 285 00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:04,550 1. After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision fear not 286 00:37:04,550 --> 00:37:11,200 Abram I am your shield your reward shall be very great. But Abram said Oh 287 00:37:11,200 --> 00:37:16,450 Lord God what will you give me for I continue childless and the heir of my 288 00:37:16,450 --> 00:37:24,100 house is Eliezer of Damascus. This was just a distant relative who was named if 289 00:37:24,100 --> 00:37:30,350 you will in Abrams will now as his heir but not of his own flesh and offspring. 290 00:37:31,300 --> 00:37:37,400 And Abram said behold you have given me no offspring and a member of my household 291 00:37:37,400 --> 00:37:43,400 will be my heir. And behold the word of the Lord came to him this man shall not 292 00:37:43,400 --> 00:37:50,000 be your heir your very own son shall be your heir. And he brought him outside and 293 00:37:50,000 --> 00:37:54,450 said look toward the heaven and number the stars if you are able to number them. 294 00:37:54,450 --> 00:38:00,250 Then he said to him so shall your offspring be. So again the second 295 00:38:00,250 --> 00:38:04,250 component of the Covenant here God is promising it. 296 00:38:04,250 --> 00:38:08,950 Abraham's Abrams becoming a bit impatient here okay. When's this gonna 297 00:38:08,950 --> 00:38:15,050 happen? And so he offers well I guess I'll just have to bequeath this 298 00:38:15,050 --> 00:38:24,450 inheritance adopt Eliezer and he'll be my offspring God says no you will have a 299 00:38:24,450 --> 00:38:34,050 son from your own flesh. And a very very important verse then here okay so draw 300 00:38:34,050 --> 00:38:43,300 stars here around this verse 6. And he that is Abram believed the Lord and he 301 00:38:43,300 --> 00:38:51,050 counted it to him as righteousness. Abram believed the Lord and he counted it to 302 00:38:51,050 --> 00:39:00,100 him as righteousness. Where in the New Testament have you heard that verse? 303 00:39:02,450 --> 00:39:12,750 Pardon yes, yes. Especially in Romans okay and Galatians okay. And what's the point 304 00:39:12,750 --> 00:39:20,800 Paul makes by citing that verse? That it was always justification it was 305 00:39:20,800 --> 00:39:28,200 counted to him as righteousness. That's justification language credited to one 306 00:39:28,200 --> 00:39:34,600 as righteous declared as righteous. On the basis of that declaration of 307 00:39:34,600 --> 00:39:42,150 righteousness justification is Abram believed God. So it's justification by 308 00:39:42,150 --> 00:39:49,550 faith alone this is the point that that Paul makes frequently. And Paul is also 309 00:39:49,550 --> 00:39:59,250 very very intent to remind us that this is long before the Sinai law. So 310 00:39:59,250 --> 00:40:04,900 righteousness does not come through the Sinai law. From the very beginning 311 00:40:04,900 --> 00:40:09,950 God's covenant with his people righteousness the declaration that one 312 00:40:09,950 --> 00:40:22,800 is right with God is made on the basis of faith okay. So significant one. But 313 00:40:22,800 --> 00:40:33,650 then what follows is a very very interesting gory messy rite okay. And it 314 00:40:33,650 --> 00:40:42,600 says that the Lord has Abram take a number of animals heifers I think goats 315 00:40:42,600 --> 00:40:48,750 some birds and so forth I don't know remember what they all were. But he said 316 00:40:48,750 --> 00:40:54,950 that there he is to sacrifice them and cut them in half and spread the halves 317 00:40:54,950 --> 00:41:01,900 with the blood in between. So you've got half of an animal here half here half 318 00:41:01,900 --> 00:41:06,500 there of the another animal on this side the other half on this side so you've 319 00:41:06,500 --> 00:41:15,200 got the halves on the sides and all this blood in between okay. What is going on 320 00:41:15,200 --> 00:41:26,100 here? This is a part of a covenant right and in the Hebrew and actually in the 321 00:41:26,100 --> 00:41:32,750 ancient Near East when you would make a covenant the word used was cut a 322 00:41:32,750 --> 00:41:38,200 covenant. Maybe you even saw that already in some of your reading. They don't talk 323 00:41:38,200 --> 00:41:43,350 about making a covenant it's cutting a covenant. So there's always this sense of 324 00:41:43,350 --> 00:41:52,000 sacrifice associated with covenant. And in the ancient Middle East there when 325 00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:57,900 two people came for a solemn covenant like two kings or whatever very very 326 00:41:57,900 --> 00:42:03,750 important covenant they would go through this right with sacrificed animals 327 00:42:03,750 --> 00:42:09,750 spread apart blood in between and then the two would walk through the blood 328 00:42:09,750 --> 00:42:16,450 between the animals through the blood. Their feet would get all bloody the 329 00:42:16,450 --> 00:42:20,200 bottoms of their robes would get all bloody they would walk through the blood. 330 00:42:21,700 --> 00:42:27,750 And that and as they're walking through the blood they would recite the promises 331 00:42:27,750 --> 00:42:36,400 okay to one another and the stipulations of the Covenant. Now in that kind of 332 00:42:36,900 --> 00:42:42,400 Covenant it was considered to be a bilateral covenant in that the two who 333 00:42:42,400 --> 00:42:48,100 were making covenant would walk through together. And as they did so they were in 334 00:42:48,100 --> 00:42:55,500 a sense saying if I break this covenant may what has happened to these animals 335 00:42:55,500 --> 00:43:03,300 happen to me okay. Or another way of putting it if I break this covenant let 336 00:43:03,300 --> 00:43:10,500 me die. Or another way of putting it is I'll keep this covenant if it kills me 337 00:43:10,500 --> 00:43:16,700 I'll keep this covenant. The most significant thing about what we see here 338 00:43:16,700 --> 00:43:22,200 in the Covenant with Abram is that there's only one party who passes 339 00:43:22,200 --> 00:43:32,950 through the bloody aisle and that's God. God manifests himself as a ball of fire 340 00:43:32,950 --> 00:43:42,200 if you will. I think it's described as a fire pot okay and it comes kind of like 341 00:43:42,200 --> 00:43:49,950 you know just zooming down from the sky and this fireball passes through between 342 00:43:49,950 --> 00:43:59,750 the two halves of the the victims. Abram doesn't pass through it and what is the 343 00:44:00,050 --> 00:44:07,750 point here this is a unilateral covenant. God is taking the initiative. God is 344 00:44:07,750 --> 00:44:17,950 making the promise. God will do it. He will see it done. And in the Scriptures 345 00:44:17,950 --> 00:44:25,000 those covenants are called covenants of divine commitment. Where God makes the 346 00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:31,800 commitment. It's a covenant of grace. Where He pledges Himself. There are also 347 00:44:31,800 --> 00:44:36,650 covenants of human obligation where the humans are obligated you know it's kind 348 00:44:36,650 --> 00:44:41,550 of I'll do my part you do your part but here God is saying I'll do my part 349 00:44:41,550 --> 00:44:51,150 period. I pledge myself to this okay. So a very very significant thing. And in in 350 00:44:51,150 --> 00:44:59,600 terms of the whole of biblical history we see that God did keep his covenant 351 00:45:00,550 --> 00:45:08,550 people broke the Covenant but the broken Covenant eventually killed God. Christ 352 00:45:08,550 --> 00:45:13,100 became the sacrificial victim whose blood was shed in order that the 353 00:45:13,350 --> 00:45:20,850 covenant might be fulfilled okay. So what you have here then this image is a 354 00:45:20,850 --> 00:45:28,700 symbol for God here again in the crossways visuals Abram okay. And you 355 00:45:28,700 --> 00:45:36,750 have then the flaming torch the the fire pot and by the way in the Old Testament 356 00:45:36,750 --> 00:45:42,750 we'll see this a lot that fire is a means of God's visible presentation of 357 00:45:42,750 --> 00:45:49,550 his presence to his people. And in this now God makes covenant with Abram He 358 00:45:49,550 --> 00:45:54,100 takes the initiative Abram doesn't take the initiative and make covenant with 359 00:45:54,100 --> 00:46:02,550 God. It's a unilateral covenant. And now God is in covenant Abram's past life of 360 00:46:02,550 --> 00:46:10,050 idols and false gods are gone. This is the one covenant and... Then I'll come 361 00:46:10,050 --> 00:46:17,150 right but to you here. And he reaffirms then the stipulations of the Covenant 362 00:46:17,650 --> 00:46:23,500 benefits the promises of the Covenant here of land offspring and blessing to 363 00:46:23,500 --> 00:46:28,750 all nations here in chapter 15. This is the same as the suzerain vassal covenant? 364 00:46:28,750 --> 00:46:31,800 Where the king will say this is how it's going to be because you're talking about 365 00:46:31,800 --> 00:46:34,800 how the only God walked through it so this is how it's going to be if you like 366 00:46:34,800 --> 00:46:40,050 it or not. We'll get to that that will be the Sinai covenant. And the suzerain 367 00:46:40,950 --> 00:46:47,050 vassal covenant is always of a greater and a lesser now that is certainly true 368 00:46:47,050 --> 00:46:52,350 here. But the difference is that is a reciprocal covenant where it says well 369 00:46:52,350 --> 00:46:58,350 I'll do this if you do that there are no ifs here this is not conditional God is 370 00:46:58,350 --> 00:47:02,350 saying I will do it period so it's different in that respect. 371 00:47:05,750 --> 00:47:14,350 Okay so we have that ratification of the covenant there. In chapter 16 then 372 00:47:14,350 --> 00:47:20,700 you have this incident of Sarai and Hagar where once again they become 373 00:47:20,700 --> 00:47:26,350 impatient. Abrams now it's about ten years later after when he had originally 374 00:47:26,350 --> 00:47:37,150 left Haran and he's like 85, 86 and Sarai says yeah well I guess it's not gonna be 375 00:47:37,150 --> 00:47:45,600 Eliezer. And I'm getting pretty old here she's now 76 years old besides that I'm 376 00:47:45,600 --> 00:47:53,700 barren I mean talk about double jeopardy here. I it's just not gonna happen I know 377 00:47:53,700 --> 00:48:01,300 will help God along you take my maidservant her name is Hagar lie with 378 00:48:01,300 --> 00:48:08,750 her she will give birth and that child will adopt this was a fairly common 379 00:48:08,750 --> 00:48:13,750 practice in the ancient Near East so it's not all that extraordinary for 380 00:48:13,750 --> 00:48:24,500 something like this to happen. And so Abram obliges okay and sure enough a 381 00:48:24,500 --> 00:48:36,150 child is conceived and born. When the child is born Sarai becomes very jealous 382 00:48:36,150 --> 00:48:45,750 and the child's name is Ishmael okay. Ishmael and so Hagar the maid woman and 383 00:48:45,750 --> 00:48:54,700 Ishmael the young boy are expelled okay because of Sarah she doesn't want now 384 00:48:54,700 --> 00:49:02,650 that child around. But in the wilderness the Lord appears to Hagar and says I've 385 00:49:02,650 --> 00:49:07,500 got great plans for your son but you need to go back go back to Abram and 386 00:49:07,500 --> 00:49:16,400 Sarai and live amongst them and so they do that. But the promise is made here. 387 00:49:21,700 --> 00:49:29,100 What's that again? Oh yeah yeah I'm sorry sorry the the child is not born yet 388 00:49:29,100 --> 00:49:38,500 thank you for clarifying that but she's expelled she returns and Ishmael is 389 00:49:38,500 --> 00:49:46,650 then born. Thank you for that clarification. Then in chapter 17 we have the sign of 390 00:49:46,650 --> 00:49:58,200 the Covenant of circumcision which God directs Abram to practice him and all 391 00:49:58,200 --> 00:50:05,700 the the men in his company including his son Ishmael are circumcised. This is 392 00:50:05,700 --> 00:50:12,950 the the fleshly sign of the Covenant. And again in the ancient Near East when the 393 00:50:12,950 --> 00:50:19,650 Covenant would be made there would all typically be some kind of fleshly action 394 00:50:19,650 --> 00:50:28,350 that would take place to to kind of mark you as being in covenant with someone 395 00:50:28,350 --> 00:50:35,050 else. More typically it was that there would be a cut made in the palm and 396 00:50:35,050 --> 00:50:41,100 blood would then be be spilled in the palm or somewhere on the hand and then 397 00:50:41,100 --> 00:50:47,350 you clasp hands and kind of the binding together of the blood but then there 398 00:50:47,350 --> 00:50:53,150 would be a scar the scar in the flesh that would always remind you that I am 399 00:50:53,150 --> 00:51:00,050 in covenant and I carry this this mark of the Covenant with me. In terms of the 400 00:51:00,050 --> 00:51:06,100 Old Testament Abrahamic Covenant then that sign in the flesh is circumcision 401 00:51:07,050 --> 00:51:12,950 and the Bible never explains why circumcision I mean we can speculate 402 00:51:12,950 --> 00:51:18,800 probably had something to do with being associated with the reproductive organ 403 00:51:18,800 --> 00:51:29,950 life and again the covenant of offspring associated with that. It also says here 404 00:51:29,950 --> 00:51:35,650 that anyone who is not circumcised will will in fact be cut off if you're not 405 00:51:35,650 --> 00:51:41,450 cut off you will be cut off cut off from the the covenant okay. So there's 406 00:51:41,450 --> 00:51:51,200 probably some association there as well. But the circumcision now becomes the 407 00:51:51,200 --> 00:51:57,450 sign of the Covenant for us in the New Covenant the New Testament says that we 408 00:51:57,450 --> 00:52:08,150 also have a mark of being in covenant with God. And what is that mark that seal? 409 00:52:08,800 --> 00:52:15,150 Baptism right. Baptism. And just as circumcision was the mark of the covenant 410 00:52:15,150 --> 00:52:23,700 that was placed upon a young child so we also baptize young children there's 411 00:52:23,700 --> 00:52:30,350 that continuity. And Paul makes the direct association of circumcision and 412 00:52:30,350 --> 00:52:35,700 baptism I believe in the book of Colossians. Where he says that baptism 413 00:52:35,700 --> 00:52:43,600 now supersedes fulfilled what circumstance circumcision signified in 414 00:52:43,600 --> 00:52:49,400 the Old Testament. That you are sealed with the Spirit of God you are marked as 415 00:52:49,950 --> 00:53:05,350 a being of the people of God. Okay any questions thus far? Okay well things 416 00:53:05,350 --> 00:53:14,100 continue here then and we have some visitors that arrive at Abram's tent 417 00:53:14,100 --> 00:53:20,700 three visitors who are heavenly visitors there's a visitation that takes place. 418 00:53:20,700 --> 00:53:28,250 And one of them is recognized to be none other than the Lord himself okay. The 419 00:53:28,250 --> 00:53:32,450 angel of the Lord but frequently in the Old Testament the angel of Lord when he 420 00:53:32,450 --> 00:53:41,000 speaks as the Lord this is a manifestation of theophany if you will 421 00:53:41,000 --> 00:53:47,850 manifestation of God. So God at that sometimes in the Old Testament does take 422 00:53:47,850 --> 00:53:57,100 physical form personal form it's kind of a the pre-incarnate Christ oftentimes we 423 00:53:57,100 --> 00:54:04,800 would think of pre-incarnate Christ there as well okay. So he appears because 424 00:54:04,800 --> 00:54:10,350 He's in covenant with Abram and they eat together and this is another important 425 00:54:10,350 --> 00:54:16,800 aspect of covenant relationships is that you share meal together. When God makes 426 00:54:16,800 --> 00:54:20,400 covenant with the people of Israel on Sinai the seventy elders the 427 00:54:20,400 --> 00:54:27,400 representatives of the people go up and eat a banquet before God. This confirms 428 00:54:27,400 --> 00:54:33,350 the Covenant when you sit down at table with one another in a meal. And even 429 00:54:33,350 --> 00:54:39,450 today in the Middle East among many of the Bedouins if your enemy comes and and 430 00:54:39,450 --> 00:54:45,400 sits at your table and eats with you the relationship has completely changed. They 431 00:54:45,400 --> 00:54:51,950 don't have any concept of fast food just casual eating. When you eat together 432 00:54:51,950 --> 00:54:59,950 that is saying something. Our word companion pannion has the sense where's 433 00:54:59,950 --> 00:55:07,700 our Latin scholar here okay okay sharing bread together okay and it's it's part 434 00:55:07,700 --> 00:55:13,900 of the Covenant relationship that one has. And so and by the way for us what is 435 00:55:13,900 --> 00:55:21,650 the Covenant meal in the New Covenant? Okay, right bread and the wine bread and 436 00:55:21,650 --> 00:55:29,550 the wine okay Lord's Supper okay. This is my body this is my blood of the New 437 00:55:29,550 --> 00:55:36,150 Covenant which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins okay. So they have 438 00:55:36,150 --> 00:55:43,850 meal together okay and in this Covenant meal together then the Lord says to 439 00:55:43,850 --> 00:55:51,050 Abram you're still not getting it your offspring isn't going to be through that 440 00:55:51,050 --> 00:56:03,000 handmaiden Hagar it's not Ishmael but your wife Sarah will have a child. And 441 00:56:03,950 --> 00:56:14,950 Sarai is listening in and she hears this and she laughs because at this time 442 00:56:14,950 --> 00:56:21,700 Abram is now 99 years old she's 89 years old she's always been barren and this 443 00:56:21,700 --> 00:56:28,950 seems ludicrous to her so she laughs. And the Lord says why did it why did Sarah 444 00:56:28,950 --> 00:56:37,750 I laugh and she denies it. But then He says mark my words within a year from 445 00:56:37,750 --> 00:56:47,850 this date you will have a son. And you are to name him what Isaac. And what does 446 00:56:47,850 --> 00:56:49,350 the name Isaac mean? 447 00:56:57,050 --> 00:57:06,750 Yeah Yitzchaq. Yitzchaq in the Hebrew he laughs he laughs okay. And it has kind of 448 00:57:06,750 --> 00:57:12,850 a double meaning here it's always to remind you doubted when you see this 449 00:57:12,850 --> 00:57:20,450 baby he laughs you know you doubted you laughed about this but God kept His 450 00:57:20,450 --> 00:57:26,900 promise He kept His covenant. But also the result of the Covenant is one of joy. 451 00:57:26,900 --> 00:57:34,350 And so when Isaac is born Sarah laughs again and all the women with her laugh 452 00:57:34,350 --> 00:57:39,950 who would have thought that this old woman 90 years old would give birth 453 00:57:39,950 --> 00:57:51,700 formerly barren and so it's a laughter of joy as well. Okay so you have here 454 00:57:51,700 --> 00:57:56,450 faith and we're gonna take a break shortly the faith of Abram. But before we 455 00:57:56,450 --> 00:58:02,850 do so I'd like for you to look at some New Testament passages. Think of this God 456 00:58:02,850 --> 00:58:09,850 had made the Covenant and promised offspring when Abram was 75 and Sarah 457 00:58:09,850 --> 00:58:20,400 Sarai was 65. And that's not until 25 years later when Abram is 100 and Sarai 458 00:58:20,400 --> 00:58:30,450 is 90 that the child is born Isaac is born. So there are fits and failures with 459 00:58:30,450 --> 00:58:37,050 their faith and yet they continue to return the faith. By the way their names 460 00:58:37,050 --> 00:58:44,800 are changed by God to Abraham from Abram to Abraham. Abram had been exalted 461 00:58:44,800 --> 00:58:53,550 by the father. Abraham. Anyone know what the name is his name means? Father of 462 00:58:53,550 --> 00:59:02,600 many nations okay. So the name reflects the promise of the Covenant okay. And 463 00:59:02,600 --> 00:59:14,450 Sarah from Sarai to Sarah means anyone remember? See it was in your.. What's that? 464 00:59:14,450 --> 00:59:23,500 Princess is what Sarai means? Okay it was in in your handout. 465 00:59:32,650 --> 00:59:52,450 It's in the where is that oh what's in a name to six okay oh I guess they don't 466 00:59:52,450 --> 01:00:01,300 have Sarah's okay. But it's it becomes more from princess to it's a more 467 01:00:01,300 --> 01:00:11,550 maternal name having to do with being a mother so. Okay but let's go now to the 468 01:00:11,550 --> 01:00:19,250 New Testament first of all to Galatians 3. We're gonna see the Holy Spirit's 469 01:00:19,250 --> 01:00:33,250 commentary on this. Galatians 3 verses 6 through 9 and verse 14 and then also 470 01:00:34,600 --> 01:00:47,350 Hebrews 11 verses 8 through 12 okay. So inspired by the Holy Spirit we now have 471 01:00:47,350 --> 01:01:02,500 context. Yep. Okay okay. Yeah yeah the the change there becomes more of a maternal 472 01:01:02,500 --> 01:01:07,400 though it's kind of like the difference between in German when you're talking 473 01:01:07,400 --> 01:01:14,450 about Frau and Fräulein okay. So it has more now of a sense of the status of 474 01:01:14,450 --> 01:01:27,850 being mother eternal okay okay. So Galatians can I have someone please read 475 01:01:27,850 --> 01:01:28,750 that. 476 01:01:32,850 --> 01:01:38,500 Just as a brand-new God and it was counted to him as righteousness 477 01:01:38,500 --> 01:01:45,000 you know that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the 478 01:01:45,000 --> 01:01:51,150 scripture for seeing that God would just justify the Gentiles but they preach the 479 01:01:51,150 --> 01:01:56,800 gospel beforehand to Abraham. Saying in you shall all the nations be blessed. So 480 01:01:56,800 --> 01:02:02,750 then those who are at faith are blessed along with Abraham the man of faith. okay okay. 481 01:02:02,750 --> 01:02:10,650 This is great gospel stuff for us okay. I think if you're like me you're a 482 01:02:10,650 --> 01:02:19,600 Gentile extract here. And what it's saying here is the righteousness comes 483 01:02:19,600 --> 01:02:27,800 by faith but that also those who are truly the sons of Abraham the recipients 484 01:02:27,800 --> 01:02:33,950 of the Covenant and the Covenant blessings of God are those now who have 485 01:02:33,950 --> 01:02:43,350 the faith that Abraham demonstrated, faith in the true God. And this includes 486 01:02:43,350 --> 01:02:49,350 the Gentiles where it says the scripture for seeing that God would justify the 487 01:02:49,350 --> 01:02:54,550 Gentiles by faith preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham saying in you shall 488 01:02:54,550 --> 01:03:00,800 all the nations be blessed. So then those who are of faith are blessed 489 01:03:00,800 --> 01:03:07,850 along with Abraham the man of faith. So now the blessing comes to all nations 490 01:03:07,850 --> 01:03:15,850 through faith in the descendant of Abraham. But the offspring the Holy 491 01:03:15,850 --> 01:03:24,000 Spirit here says but through inspiration to Paul. The offspring are not those of 492 01:03:24,000 --> 01:03:31,250 the flesh of Abraham that is the ones who carry the DNA of Abraham but the 493 01:03:31,250 --> 01:03:38,350 ones who have the faith of Abraham. You are the true sons and daughters of 494 01:03:38,350 --> 01:03:46,300 Abraham to whom this covenant applies. Those who have faith in the fulfillment 495 01:03:46,300 --> 01:03:53,350 of the Covenant in Jesus Christ. And this is very significant now because you 496 01:03:53,350 --> 01:03:59,450 oftentimes hear television evangelists and read books and so forth that talk 497 01:03:59,450 --> 01:04:08,750 about we have to support the nation of Israel and the Jews because God promised 498 01:04:08,750 --> 01:04:14,950 in his covenant to Abraham that whoever would bless Abraham and his descendants 499 01:04:14,950 --> 01:04:18,800 would be blessed whoever would curse them would be cursed. They're talking 500 01:04:18,800 --> 01:04:23,650 about the bloodline of Abraham the Holy Spirit says in the New Testament it's 501 01:04:23,650 --> 01:04:30,450 not by bloodline but it's through faith just as it started with Abraham through 502 01:04:30,450 --> 01:04:39,950 faith. And and so we don't we don't see the bloodline of Abraham in terms of the 503 01:04:39,950 --> 01:04:47,150 Jews now in the New Covenant as having any special status because it's all by 504 01:04:47,150 --> 01:04:53,950 faith okay. Hebrews 11 then another passage and then we'll break Hebrews 505 01:04:53,950 --> 01:04:59,050 chapter 11 verses 8 to 12. 506 01:05:01,350 --> 01:05:06,350 Okay yes. By faith Abraham when called to go to a place who later 507 01:05:06,350 --> 01:05:11,100 received as his inheritance obeyed and went even though he did not know where 508 01:05:11,100 --> 01:05:15,350 he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in 509 01:05:15,350 --> 01:05:20,450 a foreign country he lived in tents as did Isaac and Jacob who were heirs with 510 01:05:20,450 --> 01:05:24,500 him of the same promise for he was looking forward to the city with 511 01:05:24,500 --> 01:05:30,400 foundations whose architect a builder and builders God. By faith Abraham even 512 01:05:30,400 --> 01:05:35,350 though he was past age and Sarah herself was barren was unable to become a father 513 01:05:35,350 --> 01:05:42,400 because he had considered him faithful who he had made the promise. And so from 514 01:05:42,400 --> 01:05:48,750 this one man as and he as good as dead came descendants as numerous as the 515 01:05:48,750 --> 01:05:53,800 stars in the skies and as countless as the sands on the sea shore. Okay. A couple 516 01:05:53,800 --> 01:05:59,600 of things now we saw from the Galatians passage that the fulfillment of 517 01:06:00,250 --> 01:06:08,100 offspring here is not just to those of the physical line of Abraham fulfillment 518 01:06:08,100 --> 01:06:14,850 of this covenant. Now in Hebrews we understand that the fulfillment of the 519 01:06:14,850 --> 01:06:27,350 land is not just that postage stamp perimeter of sand and Canaan literal 520 01:06:27,350 --> 01:06:32,900 land. That's where God will start to play a very important role in Old Testament. 521 01:06:32,900 --> 01:06:39,950 But the ultimate fulfillment goes beyond that that Abraham and the other 522 01:06:39,950 --> 01:06:46,650 patriarchs it says verse 10 we're looking forward to the city that has 523 01:06:46,650 --> 01:06:52,550 foundations whose designer and builder is God. So what's the ultimate 524 01:06:52,550 --> 01:06:58,250 fulfillment of this covenant when it comes to land what is this city that 525 01:06:58,250 --> 01:06:59,950 they were looking forward to/ 526 01:07:02,950 --> 01:07:12,950 This land grant. City with foundations whose designer and builder is done. New 527 01:07:12,950 --> 01:07:20,100 Jerusalem. Okay. The New Jerusalem the New Jerusalem right. The new heaven and the 528 01:07:20,100 --> 01:07:26,650 new earth that's God's ultimate intention and design. And that's what 529 01:07:26,650 --> 01:07:32,500 this covenant maybe in very embryonic form at this point was ultimately 530 01:07:32,500 --> 01:07:40,900 looking forward to. It's not just the land in Palestine but it's far greater 531 01:07:40,900 --> 01:07:46,400 than that it's too small a thing just to think in terms of that land. And again 532 01:07:46,400 --> 01:07:53,100 many TV evangelists the millennialists make a lot of hay out of of the land and 533 01:07:53,100 --> 01:07:58,650 the Jews being back in the land. No Holy Spirit here says the ultimate 534 01:07:58,650 --> 01:08:07,050 fulfillment of this it is a city the New Jerusalem with foundations you've 535 01:08:07,050 --> 01:08:11,700 read the book of Revelation you know the foundation foundation of Jesus Christ 536 01:08:12,600 --> 01:08:20,149 built upon the apostles of that city designer and architect is God. That's our 537 01:08:20,149 --> 01:08:24,899 ultimate hope and that's the ultimate promise that we have here for this.