Book: Genesis

  • Joseph’s Early Life

    Joseph’s Early Life

    In this lesson, we examine how God sovereignly arranged circumstances in Joseph’s early life to bring Joseph to Potiphar’s household in Egypt. We also ask what we can learn from this account in Genesis for our own lives, that is, how we can trust in God’s good plans when it looks like God’s promises are being frustrated.

    Auto Transcript

    Note: This rough transcript was automatically generated by YouTube’s AI algorithm. We provide it here for your convenience, but know it will surely contain errors as it has not been proofread or edited by a human.

    was being accomplished that was partly being accomplished in Jacob’s life many of God’s plans were intersecting in what seemed like the ordinary circumstances of Jacob’s life God was accomplishing some very significant things and so it is with us God is Not only active in accomplishing things for us personally at the same time he’s accomplishing he is accomplishing an unfathomable number of purposes for all people both currently those alive and those who are not yet born he’s actually accomplishing things for them right now that should be a comfort that should be a comfort to us knowing that that God is doing all this not just for us but for the whole earth questions about last week’s lesson okay now we turn to Joseph God’s spirit through Moses is going to show us another lesson in trusting in The Sovereign care of God they’re probably familiar with the historical account of Joseph you’ve heard this before that’s good but as we look at the first part of Joseph’s history today pay special attention to how God was accomplishing his Sovereign purposes through many people and across many years of time we’re going to see that what looks like there’s nothing happening let’s say in a certain segment of Joseph’s life some great things are actually being put in motion we’re going to trace that together today let’s pray a great king Lord you are so great you are so you’re so awesome Lord we’ve encountered you because you opened our eyes and it is a wonderful and yet a fearful thing and I don’t mean to fear punishment because that has been that has been covered by Christ but God you were just so so big so So Glorious so powerful so authoritative and yet you’ve made a covenant of kindness with those you’ve chosen thank you for being so gracious God Lord as we study your scriptures today I want to be able to explain it well and help us be able to understand just how great you are how we can really leave our cares with you because you will bring your promises to pass in Jesus name amen we’re going to be looking mainly at one passage today that’s in Genesis 37. but before we get there let’s look at Genesis 35 please open your Bibles to Genesis 35.

    just want to review a little bit the family background that Joseph finds himself in with his siblings and this in Genesis 35 verses 22 B to 26 we get a summary of the sons of Jacob categorized by their mothers so look down to verse 22.

    Genesis 35 verse 22 B now there were 12 sons of Jacob the sons of Leah Reuben Jacob’s firstborn then Simeon and Levi and Judah and issachar and zebulun the sons of Rachel Joseph and Benjamin and the sons of bilha Rachel’s maid Dan and naphtali and the sons of Zuppa Lee is made Gad and Asher these are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in paddinaram okay so here we have six Sons from Leah Jacob’s first wife two sons from Rachel Jacob’s second wife two sons from bilha Jacob’s third wife and two sons from zilpa Jacob’s fourth wife let’s observe a few things who was Jacob’s first born Reuben from Leah if you look slightly above the section that we read we see that that Reuben has actually committed a great evil and would have greatly displeased his father what does Reuben do that’s right he slept with bilha Jacob’s concubine well remember the relationship of bilha and Reuben bilha is essentially his mother-in-law or one of his mothers-in-law so this would have been a great evil and very annoying to Jacob but Reuben’s not the only son who does things to displease his father we don’t see it here but Simeon and Levi they also commit evil in Genesis 34 they end up slaughtering a whole town the male’s there and in Genesis 38 we see Judah committing great evil a number of the older Sons of Jacob all getting into various kinds of trouble but Reuben is mentioned mentioned right before our passage and his evil stands out here that’s gonna be important I think perhaps a little bit later on today now it says that these 12 sons that were born here or that are listed here were born in pad in Iran and that is true in a sense but one of these sons was actually born in Canaan if we look again at the preceding context what comes before which son of these 12 listed here was actually born in Canaan Benjamin that’s right and what happened during Benjamin’s birth um I’m not sure if there was a famine I have to go back and look at that but the the most significant thing is that Rachel dies Rachel dies while giving birth to Benjamin Rachel’s also Joseph’s mother and was the one that Jacob loved the most the wife that he loved the most so with these things in mind let’s now move on to Genesis 37.

    we’re gonna be looking at the whole chapter but we’re going to break it into pieces Genesis 37 verse 1. so at this point Rachel has died we have the 12 sons Joseph and Benjamin would be the youngest Isaac has also died at this point and Jacob’s sons are growing up let’s examine the first section of this passage verses 1 to 11.

    now Jacob lived in the land where his father had sojourned in the land of Canaan these are the records of the generations of Jacob Joseph went 17 years of age was pastoring the flock with his brothers while he was still a youth along with the sons of bilha and the sons of zilpa his father’s wives and Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father now Israel loved Joseph more than all his all his sons because he was the son of his old age and he made him a very colored tunic his brother saw that their father father loved him more than all his brothers and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms then Joseph had a dream and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more he said to them please listen to The Stream which I have had for behold we were binding sheaves in the field and lo my chief rose up and also stood erect and behold your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my Sheaf and his brother said to him are you actually going to Reign Over Us are you really going to rule over us so they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words now we had still another dream and he related it to his brothers and said Lo I’ve had still another dream and behold the Sun and the Moon and 11 stars were bowing down to me he related to his father and to his brothers and his father rebuked him and said to him what is this dream that you have had shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to Bow ourselves down before you to the ground his brothers were jealous of him but his father kept a saying in mind okay let’s make some observations on this passage Joseph 17 years old here and his brothers hate him we’re given two were three reasons for why his brothers hate him what’s one of those reasons exactly the brothers know they can see that the that Jacob loves Joseph more than the other sons and that’s most emphasized by the coat the special coat that the father gave or made and gave to Jake to Joseph that’s one reason what’s another one foreign that’s intriguing to me that you say that I’ll just repeat your comment it seems that Joseph is responsible and you’re probably referring to the report that he brings back right so we read that Joseph brings a bad report about some of his brothers they had been pastoring the flocks and he brings back a bad report this may indicate a responsive a responsible nature to Joseph we certainly see that later on in his life and perhaps that’s one of the reasons why his father really had affection for him is not just the son of his old age but he’s also a very dutiful son a very obedient son that could be a reason but certainly or that could be part of why the why Jacob loves him but certainly that’s going to annoy his brothers the four brothers who who got the bad report likely they resented or Joseph for giving that report but there’s one other thing here that definitely makes the brothers upset with Joseph yes exactly he shares these dreams with his brothers now it says the brothers hate Joseph so much they can’t even do what to him can’t even speak to him in friendly terms every word out of their mouths of Joseph is filled with anger now Joseph has two dreams here the first heinous Brothers in the field Gathering grain Joseph Sheaf his little bundle of grain suddenly stands up tall while his brother’s sheaves gather around and bow down to Joseph chief and in the second dream the Sun the moon and 11 stars all bow down to Joseph what did these dreams indicate about the future or seem to indicate about the future that’s right that he would rule over him that they would bow down to him and this is obvious from the way the his family members respond to him they don’t even say like huh I wonder what that means they they just get mad and Joseph’s brothers find the idea of submitting to Joseph extremely offensive because not only do they hate him but he other than Benjamin is their youngest brother doesn’t make sense for them to submit to Joseph even Jacob rebukes his son over this dream with the idea that Jacob and Leah the first wife the chief wife and the rest of the family would all be submitting and bowing down to Joseph but you’ll notice while the brothers are jealous of Joseph they hate Joseph because of the dreams it says that Jacob kept the saying in mind he thought that this was significant these dreams something worth remembering something we’re thinking about let’s ask a few interpretive questions now What similarities do you notice between this situation and what we learned about Jacob’s early life yeah Roy that’s right we have seen God speaking to the earlier Patriarchs and even showing Visions or showing dreams and we saw that with Jacob what else hey Emma yeah we have a struggle struggle between Brothers we had Jacob and Esau before and now we have the 12 Brothers yes Judy that’s right we have a reversal of who’s going to be the Blessed son who’s going to be the um who’s going to be Supreme the younger ruling over the older what else yeah Shane yeah we see certain preferences or certain are we see Parental favoritism with um Isaac and Rebecca it was each had a preference for one particular son but here we see that Joseph is the one that has the preference from his father there’s also at the very beginning or early in these people’s lives we see prophecies about the future remember with Jacob before he was born it was said that the older would serve the younger there’s a prophecy before they even came out of the womb but here we have a prophecy about Joseph’s future in these dreams and these dreams are extremely significant because they are going to be fulfilled and this is something that we see throughout the Bible God tells or shows his people what’s going to happen before it does why to show them he’s completely in control even says as much in other scriptures he says when this comes to pass you’ll know that I am the Lord you know that I did it so we do see some similarities to Jacob’s early life some consistent themes between these two situations here’s another question though does Joseph sin against his brothers by bringing back a bad report and by sharing these dreams it could be no we might say well come on he’s being a little snot here don’t you think well this is a good time for us to remember one of the principles of interpretation and that is if there’s not enough evidence we should withhold judgment now it is true as Bill noted that we do see later on Joseph’s character is very upstanding but what is the what is motivating him here it could be that Joseph is acting like a little snot tattling on his brothers exulting in these dreams that he has oh listen of his dream you’re all going to be bound down to me but it also might be that his brothers really were warranting a bad report that they were not taking care of their father’s flocks like they should have and like a good son he’s letting his father know and it might be that these dreams were so astonishing to Joseph that even though he knows his brothers hate him he just has to share it this is so strange Brothers listen to me I don’t understand this so we can’t say for sure what motivates Joseph In this passage but that’s okay because the passage the main point of this passage is not about emulating or not emulating Joseph’s Behavior it’s about something else it’s about what God is accomplishing what God is sovereignly bringing to pass we can say though as a side note that the Folly of polygamy is on display here we can see the natural consequences of polygamy now you know polygamy is not directly condemned in the Old Testament though it is a clear violation of the Paradigm that God set in Genesis 1 and 2 with Adam and Eve the Two Become One flesh man shall leave his father’s wife his father and be joined to his wife father and mother and be joined to his wife polygamy here and in Jacob’s life led to Strife between his wives and now it’s led to Strife between his wife’s Sons but this is a natural consequence if you prefer one wife over the other there’s going to be jealousy there’s going to be strife and if you prefer that wife’s Sons over the others there’s going to be jealousy there’s going to be strife and it’s going to lead to almost murder here as we shall see questions on what we’ve looked at so far okay let’s look at the next section let’s see what unfolds oh same slide verses 12 to 28.

    then his brothers went his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock in shechem Israel said to Joseph I know your brother’s pastoring the flock and check him come and I will send you to them and he said to him I will go then he said to him go now and see about the welfare of your brothers and the welfare of the flock and bring word back to me so he sent him from the valley of Hebron and he came to shechem a man found him and behold he was wandering in the field and the man asked him what are you looking for he said I am looking for my brothers please tell me where they are pastoring the flock then the man said they have moved from here for I heard them say let us go to Dothan so Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan when they saw him from a distance and before he came close to them they plotted against him to put him to death they said to one another Here Comes This dreamer now then come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits we will say a wild beast devoured him then let us see what will become of his dreams but Reuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands and said let us not take his life Reuben further said to them shed no blood throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness but do not lay hands on him that he might rescue him out of their hands to restore him to his father so it came about when Joseph reached his brothers that they stripped Joseph of his tunic the very colored tunic that was on him and they took him and threw him into the pit and the pit was empty without any water in it and then this sat down to eat a meal and as they raised their eyes and looked Behold a caravan of ishmaelites was coming from Gilead with their camels bearing aromatic gum and balm and myrrh on their way to bring them down to Egypt Judah said to his brothers what profit is it for us to kill our brother and cover up his blood Come and Let Us sell him to the ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him for he is our brother our own flesh and his brothers listen to him then some midianite Traders passed by so they pulled him up and lifted Joseph out of the pit and sold him to the ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver thus they brought Joseph into Egypt oh let’s once again start analyzing this passage with some observations Jacob sends Joseph to check on his brothers see how they’re doing as they pasture the flocks Joseph doesn’t find them in shechem where they initially went to pasture he hears that they’re in Dothan so Joseph goes to Dothan when the brother see Joseph coming they decide that they want to kill him and make it look like an animal is what took care of Joseph but who intercedes which brother Reuben his brother Reuben the firstborn Reuben says no let’s just put him in a pit because Reuben planned to rescue Joseph later and restore him to Jacob now who is it that proposes to sell Joseph Judah they do sell Joseph the brothers think this is a good idea and they sell him to do they sell him to a passing band of ishmaelites for 20 shackles of silver which was a common price for a Slave at the time from where were these Traders coming Gilead the region of Gilead and to where where the Raiders going the traitor’s going to Egypt by the way the text calls these Traders both ishmaelites and midianites those are two different tribes that might be a little bit of a head scratcher why do they have the same name is this an error well of course not by now we know there’s always a reasonable explanation for things that may seem a little bit odd to us in the Bible it could be that these terms were synonymous at the time because the tribes had intermarried so ishmaelites and midianites they’re basically the same or it could be that this was a band of ishmaelites living in the region where most the midianites lived so that these were ishmaelites and bloodline but midianites in place of origin whatever the reason these terms are used anonymously and it’s not an error let’s pause and ask some more interpretive questions now after the brothers decide to kill Joseph they say let us see what will become of his dreams or in other words this will make sure that those dreams never come to pass why is this statement ironic yeah Rob exactly they’re actually helping along God’s plans for those dreams to come to pass by selling Joseph into slavery by trying to prevent Joseph rise they’re actually facilitating it now why does Reuben want to save Joseph or not told specifically here but what might be the reason he’s the oldest he’s the firstborn so maybe he feels some responsibility for his brother why else yeah Julie ah it could be to restore favor with Jacob because remember he had already done something that really annoyed Jacob by Sleeping with bilha so perhaps this is the way he could get back in his father’s good graces it could be that this is a righteous impulse that Reuben says no God this is evil it could be that he’s actually just being compassionate here or it might be something a little bit more self-seeking but for good or selfish reasons Reuben seeks to save Joseph and his effort is part of what God was going to use to bring about his plan and to get Joseph into Egypt another important part of God’s plan are the Traders and their route of travel we’re going to do a little activity now based on the Traders should have received a worksheet when you came into Sunday school if you don’t have the worksheet I think George and Roy have them in the back it’s like a map it’s got some questions there in the bottom right once you to now take a couple of minutes use the map and use the passage that we have here in Genesis 37 to answer answer the questions and to to do to follow the directions feel free to work with some people who are sitting next to you give you three minutes once you complete the worksheet just look up and then we’ll go over the answers any questions about what you’re going to do okay take about three minutes foreign take about one more minute thank you all right let’s go over the answers didn’t finish that’s okay will help you fill in the blanks so the first question you were asked to draw an arrow on the map to show Joseph’s path so you should have drawn an arrow from Hebron up to shechem and then up to Dothan so Joseph is going north question number two what similarity did you find in the listed verses yeah okay that he’s going to check him uh let’s see I think it’s kind of in the let’s see yeah verse 12 then his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock and check and then Israel said to Joseph are not your brother’s pastoring the flock and check him yeah so that would be where we know where we get that he’s going to check him good question now question number two though what was the similarity in those verses that’s right Gilead is often mentioned with bomb bombing this product associated with Gilead and that’s what these Traders are taking in Genesis 37 to Egypt with some other things number three which route from the map is mentioned in numbers 20.

    the King’s Highway that’s right so that would be the southern route on your map number four question number four another question asking you to to draw an arrow this time you’re going to be drawing an arrow West or Southwest from the region of Gilead to Dothan now question number five if the Traders continued in their general direction to which route would they eventually come the vmrs or which would be translated the way of the sea the one that goes along the Mediterranean Sea also called the Great Trunk Road or the way of the Philistines this was a major trade route back in this time Now understand that these two trade routes on your map the vmrs and the King’s Highway they weren’t the only routes used at the time they were very major routes but there are lots of other routes that crisscross these so it’s not like you get off this route and then you’re in the middle desert no there are some other trade routes too but it’s very likely that this band of Traders it’s coming from Gilead going west they are going to try to link up to the vmres and then head to Egypt and their route just happened to take them by Dothan question six was it a matter of coincidence or lucky timing that arranged the events that would take Joseph to Egypt no of course not what was it it’s God’s Providence God’s sovereignly bringing it together these Traders at just the right time to interact with Joseph and his brothers let’s look now at this last section in Genesis 37 and then we’ll tie all our observations together with some conclusions so Genesis 37 now in verse 29 verse 29 to the end of the chapter now Reuben returns to the pit and behold Joseph was not in the pit so he tore his garments he returned to his brothers and said the boy is not there as for me where am I to go so they took Joseph’s tunic and slaughtered a male goat and dipped the tunic in the blood and they sent the very colored tunic and brought it to their father and said we found this please examine it to see whether it is your son’s tunic or not and he examined it and said it is my son’s tunic a wild beast has devoured him Joseph has surely been torn to pieces so Jacob tore his clothes and puts sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days then all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him but he refused to be comforted and he said surely I will go down to sheol and mourning for my son so his father wept for him meanwhile the midianites sold him in Egypt to potiphar Pharaoh’s officer the captain of The Bodyguard a few more observations what do verses 29 and 30 reveal to us about Reuben’s whereabouts during Joseph’s sale he was not there he was surprised that Joseph was not in the pit anymore which means that he had not been there when they had sold him with Joseph gone the brothers intend to cover up their Deed by by putting blood on Joseph’s cloak from one of the animals and then present that cloaked present the quote to their father so at this point their brothers have kidnapped their brother sold them into slavery and now they’re going to deceive Jacob their father and their deception Works Jacob sees the blood and infers exactly what the brothers hoped he would which is that an animal has killed Jacob I mean not Jacob Joseph Jacob then goes into a deep depression refusing all comfort from his children but verse 36 tells us that meanwhile Joseph is sold to potipher who just so happens to be a high-ranking official in Egypt let’s pull together our different observations now we are shown in the beginning of chapter 37 a foreshadowing of something to come Joseph’s family will bow down to Joseph then we see a number of tragic circumstances that lead to a seeming contradiction of that future I mean this is the total opposite of the brothers bowing down to Joseph Joseph has is hated by his brothers and they’ve even sold him into slavery but you know because you’ve heard this history before you know what comes later it’s part of our memory verse what is God actually doing here he’s bringing it to pass not only the prophecy about Joseph but he’s accomplishing something even greater exactly there’s a huge Grand purpose here not only is God bringing Joseph into Egypt to put him into a position of power in which his brothers would bow down to him but that position of authority that God arranges for Joseph is going to allow Joseph to save many people from famine including his own family and that’s important because his family are the the family that have the Covenant Promises of God God’s going to keep those promises and God is eventually going to fulfill specific promises within that Covenant that is in you all the families of the earth will be blessed in other words the Messiah God is going to preserve and prepare the Messiah partly through what he’s doing with Joseph Jacob’s family has to survive this famine and God is going to use Joseph to do that because later on the Messiah would come through the line of Jacob so a grand grand purpose is that work here and really the chain of events that are bringing us to pass are quite remarkable just to review a few of them at the end of this chapter Joseph ends up in Egypt in Potiphar’s house but Joseph wouldn’t have gotten there unless he had been enslaved but it wouldn’t have been enslaved unless his brothers had unless his brothers had sold him but his brothers wouldn’t have sold him unless Reuben had tried to intercede and save Joseph’s life but another thing at work there though was that Judah had a greedy thought and a band of Traders just happened to be going by right when Joseph was in the pit when Reuben was absent but Reuben wouldn’t have interceded for Joseph’s life unless their brothers had sought to kill Joseph but the brothers wouldn’t have sought to kill Joseph unless they had become jealous of Joseph and they had gotten far enough away from their father to act more or less in secret but they wouldn’t have been jealous of Joseph it wasn’t if it weren’t for the great favoritism that Jacob was showing to Joseph but Jacob wouldn’t have shown favoritism to Joseph if it weren’t for his love for Rebecca above the other wives and God’s withholding or not Rebecca Rachel and for God’s withholding pregnancy from Rachel until all the other brothers were born but Jacob wouldn’t have married multiple wives if it weren’t for laban’s trickery but Laban wouldn’t have tricked Jacob if Jacob had never gone to haran but Jacob wouldn’t have fled to haran and left his unless his life was in danger and he would have known his life was in danger unless his mother happened over here that Esau wanted to kill Jacob and we could go on so many just almost seems like chance happenings coming together all bringing about this result of bringing Joseph to Egypt and putting him in pot for his house and what is this all about as we said saving a people from a massive famine and ultimately God revealing his glory in the gospel of salvation in the Messiah all of these things are coming together here really if we were to string all right if we were to string together how the different events of the Bible are connected to the past and to the Future we would never stop making the connections because God is in his sovereignty and his total power and his authority is accomplishing all these purposes personal and Global at the same time the things that happen to the first humans to Adam and Eve they were directly linked to God’s plans for the future and everything that happens to us today has been in part already prepared by what’s happened in the past we’re here today many who blame their upbringing on or blame their upbringing or their DNA for their mistakes and misfortunes God says we’re accountable for our actions we can’t just say well not my fault no God says you I’m going to judge you for what you decide to do nevertheless God has given and allowed the specific circumstances of Our Lives in order to bring about his good purposes in order to show forth his glory this is an amazing truth but what’s more amazing is that if you are a Believer if you’re in Christ This is not simply an abstract reality this is a promise that you can personally grab hold of God is working all things for his glory and you’re good your specific good your personal good if you’re in Christ you might not see how right now you might not see how for another 20 years you might not see how in your lifetime but based on what we’re reading here in Genesis 37 you can know that God is doing something good and perfect in your life so brothers and sisters let us not grow weary of doing good nor despair in horrifying circumstances like we see here for Joseph and like we saw with Jacob and the other Patriarchs God is accomplishing something great something perfect he’s doing that in and through our lives not just for us but for the generations after us we’ll see how this theme continues next week with God’s plans coming to fruition for Joseph but any comments or questions before we consider some final application questions yeah Rob OT yeah absolutely Rob just repeat your comment we see just how remarkable it is that God used all these things to bring Joseph to Egypt but that has Direct application for us when we see things that are difficult that are unexpected in our lives we shouldn’t complain we shouldn’t Grumble because we know something is true that is God is accomplishing a merciful and good purpose for us and for the world yeah really yeah yeah just repeat your comment Roy this is a direct preservation of the forefathers of Israel these 12 are these 11 Brothers of Joseph and Joseph himself are going to form the 12 tribes so it’s important that all of them survive the famine because they need to be the Patriarchs they need to be the ones that build the different houses of Israel yeah God is accomplishing that purpose other questions or comments hmm hmm what are the principles that are very abstract for me okay let me repeat a couple of your comments you’re making a note here that the evil that the brothers meant for Joseph or the evil that yeah in our memory verse the evil that you meant for me God meant for good that specifically refers to their selling him into slavery wanting to get rid of him and that is something condemned in the Old Testament law to to sell someone into slavery or to kidnap someone um and the yeah I’m right now I’m going to withhold judgment on slavery as a whole it certainly is true that the Bible does not promote slavery it is something that it just treats as a reality of the time I think that certainly in the Bible you see many abuses of slavery but you also have that that verse in them in the pentateuch that talks about how if there’s a slave that loves his master so much and he wants to stay with him forever he can have his ear pierced and he’ll be a permanent slave why would you ever want to do that well it must have been a good arrangement for a slave to want to do that so I’m not I’m not necessarily going to say that slavery is bad in all circumstances though the Bible doesn’t does not promote slavery and certainly kidnapping someone to enslave him which is usually how people ended up being enslaved or at least that’s many times how it’s happened throughout history that isn’t evil that has always been condemned by God the other thing that you mentioned bill um I forgot the second part of what you said what was the second part again right yeah right right yeah yeah yeah that’s a that’s another point that I wanted to repeat that is though God ordains and allows certain evils to take place even to allow slavery that doesn’t that doesn’t mean that he approves of it or to we know in this situation God is meaning evil for good but that doesn’t mean that God’s going to say well because I have a good purpose I’m not going to judge you for the evil that you did or because I have a good purpose it’s okay for you to do that and so it’s okay for others to do that no God says even though he allows evil he he uses evil to accomplish his purposes he says I’m still going to hold you accountable for what you did I’m going to judge you for the evil that you did that’s actually on display very very obviously towards the end of the Old Testament where God says I’m going to judge my nation with another Nation I’m going to cause that Nation to come and destroy Israel but then I’m going to judge that Nation for what they did to Israel it’s like what how what how can that be he says what they’re doing is evil I’m going to allow it because it accomplished my good purpose but I’m I’m a just God I’m not going to allow that evil to go um without its necessary Justice so those are valuable points Bill not not only to know that just because God allows it doesn’t mean he approves a bit but also specifically with slavery because God allowed that that doesn’t mean that he approves of it either other questions or comments okay let’s look now at a few other application questions if you have the workbooks you can turn to page 27 this is where we’re considered the four application questions that are listed there I’ll also post them on the slide question number one the account of the Patriarchs have a repeated theme of overturning this societal Norms with the birthright passing to the younger son and what ways is living as a Christian contrary to the Norms of society today what do you think yeah Craig um yes we are in the world not of the world overturning the Norms around us but can you give me an example of that simple things yeah yeah I mean that’s this is kind of a broad question and so we can have that kind of broad of an answer which is we don’t participate in the sins that are common in the world if you were in home groups this past week you know that in that section Philippians 2 it says do not Grumble or dispute with one another and by doing that you’re going to stand out as lights in the world because that’s what characterizes the world right that’s what characterizes most people complaining complaining about different things or grumbling against one another not maintaining Unity not giving interest to one another but chiefly giving interest to themselves and therefore they Grumble and dispute Christian is going to be different if they really belong to Jesus of course there are many other ways just believing in one true God believing that the bible really is the word of God believing that there is only one way to heaven and that is through Jesus Christ believing in Jesus Christ despite what the Pope says running from immorality removing entry every hindrance that causes you to stumble that is totally counter-cultural oh I’m gonna get rid of my computer totally because it’s that important to me that I don’t stumble reading and praying with your wife or husband oh who does that well Christians do dedicating time and money to serve others through the church that’s going to be different than the culture and many other things question number two in this series of events one Sid lent led to another to cover up what had become a cycle of sin how can we learn from this in order to avoid similar Cycles in our lives how can we learn from this yeah so one certain one one thing that we want to know is that because this is kind of how so it leads one sin leads to another we want to be careful to examine our own hearts that we’re not we’re not harboring any sin because it will lead to more what were you gonna what were you saying Shane and all the lies all of their sins culminating into God working out a great Act gotta see that as you you’re working through people’s lives in scripture I see that you work you work through you work through their sin I should better say you work in spite of their sin but I see that sin is is a significant event that yet when I pray to God I say don’t leave I don’t want to live like that that you’re going to use all of my sinful act into some creator that I don’t you know I know that you can work in spite of my sin but I would rather not that people what it seems like to be like a generational and um so I don’t know I just want to look at all this those things come to my mind and I know that they’re not okay yeah I appreciate those comments so just to try and briefly recap what you’re saying first of all we see God bringing about good purposes through people’s sins and yeah you said despite people’s sins but I I think it’s actually appropriate for us to say through that that it’s not like saying ah well this thing kind of gets in the way but I’m gonna just get my way through it it’s actually specifically accomplishes what God had intended how does that work with us personally we don’t we don’t want to say well God’s gonna bring about a good outcome from this sin so I’ll just keep on sinning and we know from Romans 6 that anyone who’s in Christ is not going to keep on sinning and he’s not going to say well if there if Grace May abound then I’ll sin on the war no that’s not consistent with what a Christian is his new nature he he doesn’t love sin anymore I think though that kind of that thought of despite despite what we do it does have something to do with our own experience because it is true that God’s Gonna accomplish his purposes allowing and using our sin or using our righteousness but we’re not going to be able to experience the blessing or the goodness when we continue in sin so I kind of think of that statement from Mordecai to Esther when he says if you don’t stand up and try and intercede for the Jewish people Deliverance will arise from another place but you’re just gonna go away you know I can’t remember if you said if you’re going to perish or something like that but basically you’re going to miss out on on what could have been for you so certainly we know that when we sin yes God has allowed it and God’s using it for a sovereign purposes but that’s not what we desire we want to enjoy God’s Sovereign purposes we can’t do that when we sin the second thing that you said I forget what it was can you repeat the second one ah okay yeah talking about the generational aspect of sin this is a good illustration I think of the concept of where God says those who hate me I’m going to punish to the second and third and fourth generation not completely that that illustration but we know from the other scriptures that God does not punish children for their father’s sins he says no each person is going to stand for his own sin he’s going to be accountable for his own sin and yet there is an effect of the sin of parents towards their children the children learn from their parents and this is true for all of you who are parents the way you speak to your children the way you act in front of your children they’re not just going to listen to what you tell them to do they’re going to look at what you do so if you say love the Lord with all your heart but you don’t love the Lord with all your heart and you show that in your life that’s what they’re going to learn they’re going to learn oh it’s not that important to love the Lord with all your heart all you have to do is say it it’s the same thing that we see on display here we see that I think we can say that that some of the things that Jacob’s sons are displaying are consistent with some of the the ways that Jacob himself was struggling though I think we should be a little bit careful to to not go so far as to say Jacob tricked his father and now Laban tricks Jacob and now his sons trick Jacob this is the this is um this is the this is karma or this is like the punishment that God had to give to Jacob I remember that for Christians are our sins have been paid for by Jesus I think we can apply that to to Jacob as well he’s part of God’s covenant of kindness It’s not necessarily true that God says well you sin in this way and even though even if you repent or even if you turn from that habit I still have to zap you I mean it’s just Justice no God doesn’t have to give Justice because it’s already been paid for in Jesus so it’s not necessarily true because Jacob tricked Esau and Jacob tricked Isaac that God says I’m going to ordain that you be tricked in the same way not necessarily it just happened that way is there a connection between the sons tricking him and his his deceit of his parents I’m not exactly sure we don’t know if Jacob Jacob certainly grew in faith I don’t know if that’s necessarily something that that his sons observed in him but we do know as a whole that the oftentimes the sin of the parents is emulated by the children and their children and sometimes in even greater ways as you were saying I think we have maybe time for one more question or comment anyone else okay well we’ll stop there or no I have some more application questions I forgot I’ll just go through these last two briefly what constellation do you find for your own life when you consider how God eventually used this horrible event in Joseph’s life to bring about a good end we’ve talked about this a little bit already but you should see direct application for you when you are experiencing somebody who harms you or somebody who means evil for you you can say well look at Joseph he didn’t see what God was doing at the time but he but God was doing it for a good end which is consistent with our with our last question too how could you use our memory verse to encourage yourself and others you should be able to say in your heart or even audibly the evil that you meant for me God means for good the circumstances hey these look like evil these look like they don’t help me at all but God is using it for my good and for the good of all people so we can we are meant we are meant to be instructed by this passage it was written for our benefit all right next week we’re going to look at the rest of Joseph’s life I’m actually not going to be with you I’m going to be away for a wedding but Khalif brother Khalif is going to be teaching the next Sunday school lesson so you can look forward to that let’s close in prayer father your purposes are magnificent and there are some we can go a little bit further in our understanding and and we can see that you do these things we can see that your ways are Majestic but we can’t we can’t ultimately comprehend this there’s just too many purposes intersecting but we can rest in what your word declares you are just you do not approve sin and yet you are sovereign nothing happens unless you allow it unless you ordain it you will hold every man accountable for his sin and yet you will use sin you will use difficult circumstances to accomplish your glorious purposes God we leave those things with you you are the king we we have no right to say God why did you do this how could you do this you don’t need to answer us you are God You Are Holy and as you say in your scripture shall not the judge of all the Earth do right you always do right oh Lord we thank you that you have opened our eyes to that thank you Lord that we can rest in your sovereignty that we can remember Joseph we can remember these Patriarchs just as Israel was meant to remember them and say God is accomplishing something great right now I don’t see it necessarily but I know it’s happening Lord we trust that for you we thank you for what you’re accomplishing in our church and in our service today pray that you would bring glory to yourself and that we could enjoy it not simply as we were talking about Lord not simply accomplish those purposes in spite of our sin not being able to take part and enjoying you Lord rather we can enjoy seeing your purposes come to pass and enjoy being part of how your purposes come to pass we thank you for that Lord in Jesus name amen

  • Jacob’s Ladder

    Jacob’s Ladder

    In this lesson, we examine how God sovereignly chose and sovereignly provided for Jacob. We also examine Jacob’s vision of a heavenly staircase and how that vision connects with Jesus Christ.

    Auto Transcript

    Note: This rough transcript was automatically generated by YouTube’s AI algorithm. We provide it here for your convenience, but know it will surely contain errors as it has not been proofread or edited by a human.

    right yeah actually um to repeat what you said bill he demonstrated faith in God and how he sought his master’s will over his own will which I think um in itself demonstrates Faith but also specifically he was looking for a bride for Isaac and he asked God to reveal that bride in an extravagant way he said do something unexpected so that I may know that you love my master but it wasn’t just a servant who demonstrated faith before that someone else says something that demonstrates faith remember at the beginning of the account we hear Abraham speaking to his servant the servant says well what if she doesn’t want to come back with me but Abraham says he’s confident the Lord will do something the Lord will send his Angel before you and this is a statement of faith he says I know that it’s going to work out you don’t have to worry about her not coming back if she won’t come back they’re free from my oath but she will because the Lord’s gonna accomplish it so Abraham demonstrates Faith Abraham servant demonstrates Faith you can even argue that Rebecca demonstrates Faith because she immediately chooses to travel to Canaan now how did God vindicate their faith and demonstrate a sovereign control a couple different ways but how does God demonstrate his obvious Sovereign control in Genesis 24 that we looked at last week oh it’s one way yeah that’s the that’s the biggest one right that when Abraham’s servant prayed that the Lord answered his prayer and did exactly as he had prayed and these tests are the the things that he had prayed were also things that would show the character of the woman that he was interacting with so we see God’s sovereignty interact in a couple different ways there God caused the servant to be a god-fearer and someone who was faithful to Abraham and so that was part of God’s Sovereign kindness to Abraham but then God also moved things in Rebecca’s life and and formed Rebecca in such a way that she would be a great Bride for Isaac that involved God’s sovereignty over many many years and then God revealed Rebecca to the servant after after the servant prayed so those are all examples of God’s sovereignty there and we can also add to that that God moved the hearts of Rebecca and her family to allow her to come back to Canaan they immediately said yeah we want this marriage to take place and then when it happened a little bit more quickly than they anticipated God moved Rebecca’s hard to say I will go I will go now so God’s sovereignty very much on display in this account and when the servant saw God’s Sovereign work he concluded remember that God was displaying his loving kindness to Abraham God was displaying his faithfulness he sees how God has arranged everything he says wow the Lord is showing loving kindness to my master and what did he do in response does it twice he bowed and worshiped like he was having a conversation with people conversation with Rebecca conversation with her family they say something that’s like wow that is so obviously the Lord’s kindness to my master and he just worships he bows and he worships now how was this account meant to instruct us and the Israelites before us well it as I said last week it was to remind them to trust in God’s Sovereign control because God is working things for their good he is being kind to them he is honoring his Covenant and they can depend on him they must depend on him they were going into an unknown land they were going to have to deal with problems that they never had to deal with before but God says look how I provided for Abraham and for his son I will do similar things for you not the exact same but I will still have that same Covenant kindness towards you that’s true for us any questions about last week’s lesson Okay so we’ve seen what God accomplished on on Abraham’s behalf and Isaac’s behalf but he’s going to show us more of his Sovereign Covenant kindness as we move on in the historical record and we look at Isaac’s son Jacob that’s the subject of today’s lesson entitled Jacob’s Ladder we’re going to be overviewing Jacob’s life today covering a lot of textual ground and therefore not going too in depth into any particular Passage we’re all going to look more closely though at the situation of Jacob’s birth and also a special Vision that God grants Jacob known as Jacob’s Ladder let’s pray before we go on father you are great and exalted you are so holy and high and Lord we can’t comprehend you except that you revealed a a little bit about yourself and what you have done Lord we could not know you unless you revealed yourself so we’re thankful for that Lord help us to understand your Revelation now help me be able to explain it well and I pray God that those who hear and myself Lord as I continue to talk about it will you be moved to worship Lord because we see more of who you are and how great you are and that would be moved to trust and depend on you in Jesus name amen let’s start our study of Jacob by going to the chapter right after the one we looked at last week open your Bibles please to Genesis 25.

    we’ll be looking at verses 19 to 28 as we examine the birth of Jacob and of his brother so Genesis 25 verses 19 to 28.

    now these are the records of the generations of Isaac Abraham’s son Abraham became the father of Isaac and Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebecca the daughter of bathuel the aramian of paddinaram the sister of Laban the arameon to be his wife Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was Barren and the Lord answered him and Rebecca his wife conceived but the children struggled together within her and she says and she said if it is so why then am I in this way am I this way so she went to inquire of the Lord the Lord said to her two nations are in your womb and two peoples will be separated from your body and one people shall be stronger than the other and the older Shall Serve the younger when her days to be delivered were fulfilled behold there were twins in her womb now the first came forth red all over like a hairy garment and they named him Esau afterwards his brother came forth with his hand holding onto Esau’s heel so his name was called Jacob and Isaac was 60 years old when she gave birth to them when the boys grew up Esau became a skillful Hunter a man of the field but Jacob was a peaceful man living in tents now Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for game but Rebecca loved Jacob will stop there let’s make some observations on this passage how long had Isaac and Rebecca been waiting for children after they were married 20 years we mentioned this last week but Isaac was 40 when they got married and his children were born so 20 years and some things had to happen for these children to come what did Isaac pray to God he prayed that they would be able to have children that the Lord would open his wife’s womb that he would grant them a child because she was barren the Lord answers that prayer he responds by granting that request and Rebecca conceives they do they are able to conceive but the babies struggle together in her womb and what does Rebecca do in response she inquires the Lord she prays she says I don’t understand what’s happening to me I want to speak to God about it God again responds by telling her the reason for the tumult in her womb and what was the reason there were twins in there that’s part of it so they might naturally just struggle against each other right there’s a prophecy that’s actually based on what’s happening in her womb before they’re born he the Lord tells her the struggle is emblematic of the children’s Futures and the futures of their Descendants the children will struggle against one another in life their descendants will form two Nations that will also struggle against one another and then something unexpected the older will serve the younger he also says that one nation will be stronger than the other now why would it be strange for the older to serve the younger that’s right the Customs at the time and we see throughout the scriptures that the firstborn is the one who receives the inheritance he gets the he gets the most of the inheritance and he gets the special blessings and the birthright Etc but God foretells that it’s actually going to be the younger who’s going to be preeminent over the older this is counter-cultural and this goes against the normal pattern Not only was the older child going to be in subjection to the younger but also his descendants were going to be in subjection to the younger child’s descendants so this was a unexpected prophecy now which child turned out to be older Esau I mean they were twins but the one who came out first was Esau so he was considered older and why was he called Esau because he was hairy says he was red and he was hairy but the name Esau has to do with being hairy it comes from the word um it has to do with being rough so it’s kind of like feeling him and it’s like a little bit rough because of all the hair why was Jacob given his name because he was clutching onto his brother’s heel Jacob means heel catcher so it’s a very literal name applied to that situation figuratively though heel catcher means supplanter like you take the place of somebody else so there’s also going to be something prophetic about that name as these two children grow up Esau is the favorite of the father and Isaac is the favorite of the mother but why does Isaac prefer Esau yeah yeah yeah that’s right Esau is a hunter and it says his father had a taste for game so he liked the food that Esau was able to bring back and he probably in general preferred the outdoors just as Esau did because we see later in the Bible when um when Jacob was actually deceiving his father and pretends to be Esau Isaac smells Jacob and he says Ah the smell of the field you know that’s the smell of Esau he likes that smell so I think Jacob had a preference for the outdoors and so he has a preference for Esau all right so we’ve made some observations let’s ask a few interpretive questions what aspects of God are on display In this passage one of them has to be his sovereignty right his control before the children are born he says what they will do and he says what their descendants will do that’s the god who’s in control what else anything else okay you say he provides why yeah yeah he provides he he compassionately provides for his people he answers the prayer of Isaac and Rebecca to have a child and then when she’s going through the struggle he tells her what’s going on that’s the compassion of the Lord and we also see his provision he says I am going to provide for you I’m going to provide for both of you I’m going to honor my Covenant see the faithfulness of the Lord there we see the provision we see the compassion we see his power also he’s able to make close the womb or open the womb and he also has power over destinies okay can you explain that a little bit further God’s law does not invalidate his promise hmm mm-hmm okay I see what you’re saying there so later on in the law we have it that the older is the inheritor but here God is reversing that and the special promises that he’s making and just like he had given to Abraham those promises are are not going to be overturned by the coming of the law when Mosaic not Moses when Israel proves unfaithful to the Covenant that God had provided that didn’t nullify the earlier abrahamic Covenant that didn’t nullify the earlier promises that God had made and we see a similar thing happening here with Jacob and Esau in terms of inheritance that the law coming later that doesn’t nullify what God was doing here so yeah that’s something else we can look at so we see different aspects have gone on display different aspects of things related to God but certainly what’s very obvious is his sovereignty his control now God ordained that the younger child Jacob would be Isaac’s Heir and not Esau the firstborn well why I mean wouldn’t it be a lot easier God if he just let the firstborn be the air why did God do that well we’re not given an answer in the text But ultimately the answer must be what why does God do anything it suited his pleasure it it’s what he wanted to do It ultimately suited God’s pleasure and purposes and therefore he did it Jacob did nothing to earn God’s choice nor could he have he wasn’t even born yet God simply chose Jacob to be the inheritor of Abraham’s Covenant of blessing and this is very similar or this is just like what we hear later on in the scriptures in Romans 9. actually turn to Romans 9 for a moment keep your finger in Genesis 25 but turn to Romans 9.

    because this episode right here Jacob Nissan’s birth becomes important for a point that Paul makes later on in Romans Romans 9 verses 10 to 16.

    Romans 9 verses 10 to 16 verse 10.

    and not only this but there’s Rebecca also when she had conceived twins by one man Our Father Isaac for though the Twins were not yet born and had done and not done anything good or bad so that God’s purpose according to his choice would stand not because of works but because of him who calls it was said to her the older will serve the younger just as it is written Jacob I have loved but Esau I hated what shall we say then there’s no Injustice with God is there may it never be for he says to Moses I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion so then it does not depend on the man who Wills or the man who runs but on God who has Mercy notice the purpose clause and verse 11 of Romans 9. why did God Proclaim that Jake would be the inheritor and not Esau according to Romans it’s not just because he wanted to but he wanted to show something that’s right is to show that it is not about what you do that that gives you blessing it’s all about my choice you can’t earn the Covenant you can’t simply inherit the Covenant I have to choose you and he was going to make that clear with what he was doing with Jacob and Esau and he’s going to make it clear on in Genesis 2.

    we’re going to see this theme with Jacob’s sons and Joseph’s Sons because the firstborn does not end up being the air or the one who receives the greatest honor or blessing Judah is going to be the one who receives them the kingship and then Joseph’s Sons it’s the the younger who receives the greater blessing so all of this re-emphasizing to us that God will have mercy on whom you’ll have mercy his choice will stand it does not depend on man’s world will or works God acts according to his own pleasure so he wanted to show that even by doing this with Jacob and Esau now this should have caused Israel to give glory to God because he chose them and God reminds Israel it’s not because you were a better Nation than other people that I chose you but I just chose to do it and I honor the Covenant that I made with Abraham and so in the same way we must give glory to God we must love God give praise to God for his choice of us because we didn’t inherit that choice we didn’t earn it he simply was gracious and giving it to us causing us to repent and to believe and to obey him because God is Sovereign over all things when it comes to birth rights when it comes to blessings and when it comes to Salvation he’s not obligated to do any good for any person so any good he does for any person is a great great Mercy now this promise about these two children sets up the following several chapters of historical narrative because we’re going to see how God’s purposes were brought to pass it says certain things are going to happen now we’re going to see how it happens and we’re also going to see how certain people doubt God’s promises and God’s control and therefore enter into trouble unnecessary trouble and we also see how one certain person grows in faith as he learns to trust in and to be thankful for God’s kind control we’re going to overview chapters 25-33 in Genesis I’m not going to read most of these passages but we are going to summarize what happens to Jacob so we can look back at it all and analyze it briefly if you have your student guides you can follow along we’re going to be writing one sentence summaries and those are on pages 19 to 21 of your student guides be noting little summaries of important events in Jacob’s life we’re going to split up the events by the passages in which they appear you can come back and read these passages more specifically more in detail on your own on the first section in the guidebooks in the first section that we’re going to highlight is the one we just read Genesis 25 19-28 this section talks about the birth of you son Jacob and as we saw Jacob is promised to Birthright by God we could summarize that we could put a one sentence summary Jacob his promise of Birthright by God next we have Genesis 25 29-34 right after the passage we read Jacob takes advantage of his brother’s hunger and he buys the birthright from Esau so we could summarize it by saying Esau and you probably remember some of these events from Sunday schools that you’ve attended but Esau sells his Birthright for a bowl of soup then in chapter 26 verses 1 to 5 God Appears to Isaac and he reaffirms his Covenant with Isaac and he uses the same language that he had previously used with Abraham so we can summarize that by saying God reaffirms the Covenant with Isaac and then later on in chapter 26 we see that Isaac experiences that blessing he acquires great wealth meanwhile Esau Mary’s two Canaanite wives to the displeasure of his parents but we’ll summarize that section by saying God blesses Isaac and Canaan so things moving along here then chapter 27.

    verses 1 to 45 the now old and blind Isaac or nearly blind Isaac he feels the time is right to formally bless Esau as the firstborn and asks for a prepared meal of game Rebecca and Jacob a scheme to deceive Isaac you know what happened here Jacob places goat skins on his hands and goat skin on his neck and then he lies to his father about his identity and deceived Isaac pronounces Divine blessings on Jacob he calls for divine blessings on Jacob including that Jacob’s brother would bow down to Jacob Esau returns from hunting to find and his Blessing is stolen Isaac tells Esau that Esau will indeed serve his brother and with both his Birthright and blessing now taken from him by Jacob esos filled with hatred vowing to kill Jacob as soon as his father dies Rebecca hears of this and tells Jacob to flee to haran for a time remember haran that’s where Rebecca came from that’s Northern Mesopotamia so to summarize this important episode Rebecca and Jacob steal the blessing from Esau but Rebecca needs to find an excuse to send Jacob away other than your other son wants to kill him so she tells Isaac that she wants Jacob to obtain a proper wife this is what we see in the later part of chapter 27 and into chapter 28.

    he wants to find a proper wife and Isaac sees fit to send Jacob to haran to Laban and his family to find a wife and as he sends him off Jacob blesses I mean Isaac blesses Jacob again and passes the promises of Abraham to Jacob Jacob leaves Beersheba for the Aryan of padnaram that is haran Northern Mesopotamia and he has a special Vision on the way which we’ll talk about later iswa meanwhile to win the favor of his parents he takes a third wife for himself from ishmael’s descendants thought that would make them happy so we can summarize this section by saying Isaac sends Jacob to Laban to take a wife now jumping to chapter 29.

    looking at several chapters here chapter 29 verse 1 to chapter 31 verses 50 to 55 we could write in summary Jacob marries his cousins Leah and Rachel yes they they were his cousins they are they were his first cousins actually so this not be something we would do today but the Lord permitted at this time though Jacob at first receives hospitable treatment from his uncle Laban and he falls in love with Rachel Laban tricks Jacob into marrying both of his daughters and then some weird things happen and he ends up marrying both of their Maids too so he ends up with four wives moreover while Jacob works for Laban Laban attempts to cheat Jacob out of his wages but God blesses Jacob making Jacob wealthy successful prosperous after 20 years in Iran God commands Jacob to return to Canaan Jacob also realizes by this time that laban’s family greatly resents him and so Jacob leaves secretly for haran Laban hears about it though runs after him with with some men rides after him rather after a minor conflict and some accusations about stolen Idols the two actually depart from one another in peace so that that’s uh those chapters there two more sections in chapter 32 verses 1 to 31 as we as he approaches Kanan Jacob hears that Esau is coming with 400 men it becomes fearful of Esau because he senses that Esau may be coming to attack him and to attack his family so Jacob prays Jacob prays to God and send some gifts ahead to hopefully assuage his brother’s anger but he’s very fearful and I do want to read part of this section look at Genesis 32 let’s read Jacob’s prayer this is in verses 9 to 12.

    Jacob prays to God verse 9.

    oh god of My Father Abraham and God of my father Isaac O Lord who said to me return to your country and to your relatives and I will prosper you I am Unworthy of all the loving kindness and of all the faithfulness with which you have shown to your servant for with my staff only I cross this Jordan and now I’ve become two companies deliver me I pray from the hand of my brother from the hand of Esau but where I fear Him and he will come and attack me and the mothers with the children for you said I will surely Prosper you and make your descendants as the as the sand of the sea which is too great to be numbered and that’s where his prayer ends so we praise that to God just desperate but also acknowledging that God had accomplished everything for him up to that point later that night before the two brothers meet he Jacob wrestles with a man it just seems to appear but it turns out to be he later on understands that this is the Angel of the Lord it says God this is the pre-incarnate Christ he doesn’t know all of that but he knows it’s God as a result of the match which God grants victory for Jacob allows Jacob to be the Victor in this wrestling match Jacob receives a new name Israel so we can summarize this section Jacob wrestles with God and God changes Jacob’s name to Israel the name Israel by the way can be translated two ways either he who strives with God or God strives finally Genesis 33 1-20 there’s a great moment of tension the two brothers finally meet but Esau receives Jacob in peace and in affection the two are reunited and Jacob settles in Bethel with his four wives and eleven sons and I think actually this is just amazing how it all unfolds so I do want to read that section too let’s see would be a good place to pick it up let’s look at chapter 33 verse 1.

    and we’ll read down to verse 9.

    then Jacob lifted his eyes and looked and behold Esau was coming and 400 men with him so he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two Maids they put the maids and their children in front and Leah and her children next and Rachel and Joseph last but he himself passed on ahead of them and bow down to the ground seven times until they came near to his brother and Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell in his neck and kissed him and they wept it lifted his eyes and saw the woman and the children and said who are these with you so he said the children whom God has graciously given your servant then the maids came near with their children and they bowed down Leah likewise came near with her children and they bowed down and afterward Joseph came near with Rachel and nabow down and he said what do you mean by all the company which I have met and that those are some gifts that that Jacob has sent on ahead and he said to find favor in the sight of my Lord but Esau said I have plenty my brother love what you have be your own I’ll read the next verse too Jacob said no please if now I found favor in your sight then take my present from my hand for I see your face as one sees the face of God and you have received me favorably yeah one more verse please take my gift which has been brought to you because God has dealt graciously with me because I have plenty then urged him it took it it’s the one that read that because it’s like he was anticipating just this terrible reunion this tense reunion and then God just he just overflows him with a kind reception moving Esau’s heart not just to be like okay I won’t kill you like love amazing amazing so we can summarize this section by saying Esau receives Jacob there’s more to come for Jacob and his sons but let’s look back at this and note a few things when did God promise to Jacob that he would be the heir of Covenant and blessings as we saw before he was born before he came out of the womb and we saw through this historical record how God brought that to pass Jacob did indeed receive the birthright he received a blessing he received the Covenant from God but some of how it happened May give us pause did Jacob and Rebecca sin by deceiving Isaac to receive the blessing yes they did that was sin they lied they deceived they stole and the sin had consequences what were some of the consequences Jacob had to leave for 20 years the family was no longer together the mother and father couldn’t be with Jacob that was a pretty big consequence what else well Jacob and Jacob is going to receive some some unfair some difficulties when he’s in haran that’s related to being split from his family so yeah that’s a consequence well and most obvious Jacob almost got killed the sin almost provoked murder and it obviously led to Discord in the family we had a lot of family members who suddenly had a reason to be annoyed with other family members Jacob I’m not Jacob Isaac and his wife the relationship of the sons to the parents and we’re going to see some other consequences later so this this sin led to consequences yet God ordained at the sin would occur in order to accomplish his purposes now could God have given the blessing to Jacob without Jacob and Rebecca’s deceitful interference yes of course and this is something we’ve already seen in our curriculum right God is going to bring his promises to pass no matter what Sarah and Abraham they were promised a child but Sarah didn’t see how that was going to happen without giving Hagar to Abraham by violating God’s standard for marriage but she didn’t need to do that Abraham was promised many descendants and God’s blessing yet when he went into certain places his wife was so beautiful he felt compelled to lie about his wife in order that he might not die but he didn’t need to do that in both instances we see God provides miraculously and it just shows you Abraham you didn’t need to do that and they both LED to trouble both of those sins led to trouble but God still honored his Covenant with Abraham because God had chosen Abraham for a unilateral Covenant God stayed faithful but there was no need to try and accomplish what God promised by sinfully going outside God’s will in contrast when Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac to God Abraham did the opposite of what he did earlier he looked at what appeared to be a hopeless situation an impossibility for God to keep his promises and he chose to trust God’s character rather than what his eyes saw and he reasoned because God is faithful God will even do what if he has to you know bring Isaac back from the dead now remember what we said there when we studied that God will do the miraculous before he breaks any of his Covenant promises what do you call Abraham to do and later Isaac and Jacob to do was to believe to obey and to wait so this is what Jacob and Rebecca should have done now we do not hear in the text why Isaac was not on board with that why he sought to pass the Covenant blessing to Esau even though God had prophesied it would be Jacob who would be the preeminent one maybe it was lack of faith maybe a lack of understanding maybe it’s because Rebecca and Jacob never confronted him over it I don’t know the reason but God would have done something he would have caused something miraculous to happen before the blessing and Birthright passed from Isaac to Esau sin was not necessary and yet God permitted it why well to show us that he’s totally in control he’s always faithful to his promises even when at times his people do not believe those promises and bring trouble on themselves but God still is going to do what he said he’s going to do we don’t need to sin to bring about God’s promises but even when we sin God is going to stay faithful to whatever he’s promised to further illustrate this point let’s look back at one special instance in the history of Jacob that we that we overviewed look back to Genesis 28.

    Genesis 28 we’re going to look at verses 10 and 22.

    now this is when Jacob leaves Kanan to go to haran it’s under the threat of murder from his brother his parents have sent him away and he’s on his he’s traveling to Mesopotamia and he stops and spends the night in the field and as he sleeps he has a vision let’s investigate that verse 10.

    then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Iran it came to a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set oh because the sun had set and he took one of the stones into place and put it under his head and lay down in that place you had a dream and behold a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven and behold the angels of God were ascending and descending on it and behold the Lord stood above it and said I am the Lord the god of your father Abraham and the god of Isaac the land on which you lie I will give it to you and to your descendants your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth and you will spread out to the west and to the East and to the north and to the South and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed 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 then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it he was afraid and said how awesome is this place there’s this is none other than the house of God and this is the Gate of Heaven so Jacob Rose early in the morning and took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on his top he called the name of that place Bethel however previously the name of the city had been Luz then Jacob made a vow saying if God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take and will give me food to eat and garments to wear and I return to my father’s house in safety and the Lord will be my God the stone which I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house and all that you give me I will surely give a tenth to you okay we won’t fully analyze this passage I think you can say that Jacob does not fully understand what’s happening here and some of what he promises and says is not necessarily true but a couple things we want to notice what does Jacob see in a dream he sees a ladder and what’s happening with this ladder that’s right angels are ascending going up and descending going down now the word for latter can also be translated staircase and that’s what the more likely meaning here hence my picture probably a staircase not a ladder but why would Angels be going up and down on this staircase this is not like it’s an amusement park ride which as soon as they got off they just want to get back and go the other way no that wouldn’t make sense so what must the Angels be doing what I think that’s certainly we can say that they’re ministering to Jacob but they’re ministering in general they must be going up and down because they’re doing God’s work they’re traveling to and from whatever places God sent them to accomplish whatever God said to do and obviously some of that is going to have to do with Jacob who stands at the top of this staircase God himself and can someone summarize what the Lord declares to Jacob we’ve heard that language before what is God declaring Covenant the Covenant blessings the abrahamic Covenant he’s saying that applies to you Jacob you inherit that and notice the last statement from the Lord in verse 15. he says 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 for you now let’s connect these two parts of the vision we have the stairway with angels moving busily on it and then we have this promise to Jacob what’s the connection or to ask the question another way why does God show this Stairway to Jacob what do you think okay uh we’re going to talk about that in just a moment but there is a foreshadowing there is a statement about the coming Messiah here with and you all the families of the earth will be blessed and there’s a statement in the New Testament that connects with this episode but we’ll talk about that in just a second but why Show Jacob this ladder the staircase I mean he could have just told him the Covenant without showing him this picture yeah Danny yeah this is like a a peak behind the spectral curtain and he says look I’m gonna bring to pass what I promised to you I’m going to bring to pass this Covenant and look my angels are already working they’re busy going up and down this staircase they’re traveling from Heaven to Earth and all around and they’re working on my behalf I’m not sitting here idle I’m keeping you actively God is encouraging Jacob that God is active that God is going to bring about his purposes and he’s going to bring about what he promised to Jacob it’s like God is saying you see certain things happening and looks like I don’t know and I’m not doing anything but look at how active I am I see you I’m totally on top of accomplishing all my purposes on your behalf I’ll bring about what I promised and this isn’t the only time that God does this for Jacob look at Genesis 32 for a moment back to Genesis 32 and look at verses 1 to 2.

    when I first noticed this I was like whoa this was in here Genesis 32 verses 1 to 2. now this is when Jacob is on his way back to Canaan now as Jacob went on his way the angels of God met him Jacob said when he saw them this is God’s Camp so we named that place Maha name so once again God says look Divine things are happening here I’m letting you see my angels you can trust me I’m working and then later on in the chapter Jacob wrestles with God himself he sees the very face of the pre-incarnate Lord what’s the point of all this to show Jacob show Israel show us that God is in control and he is active in bringing about his purposes he’s with his people he keeps them he’s acting on their behalf he’s still moving and ordaining every part of the universe to accomplish his plans his Perfect Plans like God did for Elisha’s servant you remember that when the city that Elisha and the servant were in was was surrounded by enemy soldiers and the servant was fearful and then God and Elisha prayed God Open the servant’s Eyes let him see what’s really happening here you know all these Angels were were there present ready to destroy the enemy in the same way God is showing us what is really happening in these instances just look at what my angels are doing God is very much in control he’s not slow he’s not lazy he’s not unable to accomplish all things for our good and His glory God sees God hears God knows and God Acts and what is God chiefly concerned with bringing about well Bill already mentioned it that statement in verse 14 in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed of course God is going to be active on Jacob’s behalf because God is active God is working towards an even greater purpose the coming of the Messiah the Redemption of man it’s no accident that in John 1 we hear something related to this turn over there John 1 verses 47 to 51 yeah Danny um back in chapter 28 let’s see yeah if God will be with me I don’t know I haven’t fully thought that through but I don’t think we should say oh this is exactly the way that I should pray to God because it does it does sound a little bit um yeah faithless mercenary it’s like well uh if you do this from being on and I’ll do this for you so I don’t know if that’s something that we want to imitate but Jacob Jacob is being refined in his faith what we hear here sounds a lot different from that other prayer that we heard from Jacob where he says God look at everything you’ve accomplished for me like this seems like a kind of immature Jacob that’s my current thoughts on that but yeah thanks for asking about that over to John John chapter one oh just a side note because of some of the other things he said there like oh this is God’s house this is the Gate of Heaven like this place is really special it’s actually not like it’s just part of Canaan and Bethel turns out not to be any particular particularly important site it’s just one of the cities of Canaan so yeah I think Jacob didn’t completely understand all right John 1 verses 47 to 51.

    this is Jesus he’s just called some of his early disciples in verse 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and said of him behold an Israelite indeed in whom there is no deceit Nathanael said to him how do you know me Jesus answered and said to him before Philip called you when you were under the Fig Tree I saw you Nathaniel answered him Rabbi you are the Son of God you were the king of Israel Jesus answered and said to him because I said to you that I saw you under the Fig Tree do you believe you will see greater things than these and he said to him truly truly I say to you you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man well Jesus statement in verse 51 is kind of strange unless we read it in light of Genesis 28. what does Jesus make himself out to be he is the stairway he is the latter that Jacob saw what does that mean what is Jesus expressing I think we can say this Jesus was telling his early disciples that they will see in his own life and Ministry and work on the cross the same thing that Jacob saw that night in Canaan God is actively involved in our world and bringing about his purposes and these purposes Center on his son and what that son was going to accomplish on behalf of humanity moreover it’s only on the basis of Jesus that any of God’s good promises can be applied to us so for that reason oh no I’ll explain that a little bit further Jesus is the reason that God makes a unilateral Covenant with Abraham Isaac and Jacob without the stairway of Christ’s work there is no way that God could accomplish any good on behalf of any humans any people so when Jesus connects himself with Jacob’s staircase he’s not only saying you’re going to see how involved God is by what happens in my life and in my work on the cross but also it’s that because of Jesus’s work God is able to be active and to accomplish all the merciful purposes he has for his elect God so God is continuing with Jacob something that he had already shown at the beginning of the Bible the basis of um yeah that God has ultimately bringing about salvation and rescue for mankind and he’s going to accomplish that through the Messiah so he’s accomplishing something for Jacob but it was part of a grander purpose and Jesus identifies their grander purpose later on in the Book of John it’s in connection with this we can add to one of the verses that we brought up last week you know the verses in Romans 8 that says God is going to always accomplish good for those who love him it’s going to make all things happen for their good but a couple of verses later it also says this is Romans 8 31-32 what shall we say to these things if God is for us who is against us he who did not spare his own son but delivered him over for us all how will he all how will he not also with him freely give us all things so we can make that connection with Jesus and the staircase because of what Jesus has accomplished because he has accomplished salvation for us how is it possible that God would not accomplish everything else for us Jesus is the staircase that allows God to do that we can trust that God is going to be for us we can trust that he will provide for us because he’s already provided our greatest need and he’s provided a way for himself to justly provide for us now we will sometimes suffer but we’ll sometimes have to work hard we’ll sometimes have to ask our brethren for help and we will certainly have to pray but God will provide to quote one more New Testament verse related to all this the staircase the idea that God is working and that it’s connected with the Salvation purposes John 5 17 Jesus tells the Pharisees my father is working until now and I myself am working he was saying that connection with the Sabbath but the idea that God is constantly active I want to bring that out so God was encouraging Jacob by letting him look behind the curtain so to speak see that God is actually very active and bring about his purposes for Jacob and also his purposes ultimately for man questions or comments before we look at some further application yeah Shane Jesus then when Philip had gone to tell Nathaniel we found him a puma of whom of Moses in the law and the prophet’s wrote about him see that and then Jesus when he sent it to him you know I saw you when you run to the Patriots yeah it’s a good point that you’re making sure that that reference would not have been lost on his audience not just Nathaniel who probably had a good or a decent understanding of the law somebody who actually cared about the law and cared about God but the other disciples too and the the Jewish New Testament believers they understood when you’re talking about ascending and descending the Angels ascending and descending they’re thinking of that Old Testament instance where God gave that Vision to Jacob so Jesus was making not not an obscure claim here he’s saying you’re going to see um you’re going to see some very special obvious acts of God’s mercy when you are around me not just in my in my life in Ministry Jesus is saying but also ultimately what he accomplishes in his death yeah other questions or comments okay let’s consider some more application by looking at the questions from the workbook if you have the workbook these start on page 21 we’ll look at four different applications of what we looked at today first in this section of scripture we see a lot of sin and a lack of trust demonstrated by the main characters how does this actually support the truthfulness of what God has given us in Scripture how does the fact that we see sin and lack of trust and important people Patriarchs their spouses Houston actually show us that the Bible is truthful yeah Roy yeah well there’s that’s one aspect of it that is that God remains faithful despite the unbelief of people now that doesn’t mean that you’re not going to miss out on blessing or that you’re not going to experience trouble but God is going to be faithful to himself he’s going to be holy he’s going to give himself the glory that he deserves but God is still going to act yes Danny yeah yeah that’s I think the the point of this question that is these characters are not being whitewashed they make some pretty bad mistakes and they do some things that later on they’re very obviously forbidden they’re God this is history this is not um a mythology this is not something to this is not simply an ideal this is actually what happened and this is different from what we see in mythical accounts of leaders or other religious writings the Bible doesn’t shy away from showing us the shortcomings of people and also how God still was faithful to those people and grew those people in their faith and in obedience they are people just like us but that should never make us say oh well they’re messed up just like I am so I guess I don’t really need to change no God never intended you or me to stay in patterns of sin God tests and refines his elect they grow in faith this was true in the Bible and it’s true of us today we put off habits of doubt and sin and we become more and more obedient to God if we are in Jesus we mortify the Flesh in its sinful habits learning by the Holy Spirit from both the negative and positive examples in the scriptures to trust and obey the Lord make no mistake no Christian will continue in long-term patterns of sin I can’t help it they’re New Creations they have to seek righteousness at all costs it’s just their new nature more on that see Greg sermon from a month or two ago question number two and what ways do we act like Jacob and Rebecca to bring about what God has already promised what do you think do we think we do what’s an example well probably one of the biggest ways that we act like them is that we try to manipulate God’s timing of things and we do so by sinning maybe there’s something that you’ve been really wanting to spend your money on but just haven’t been able to save enough or business has been a little slower than normal rather than waiting on the Lord and being content you decide to go into debt something that the Bible actually warns against in order to purchase that thing that you want now it’s not wrong to buy something not even wrong to desire to buy something but if you have to have it at all cost to the point that you’re violating God’s word well then you made it into an idol wait on the Lord he knows your needs he’s active on your behalf trust and obey be content with what he’s provided in the meantime or maybe we really wish we really wish to be married but God just hasn’t provided a spouse or even a girlfriend or boyfriend so we start getting obsessed with finding a spouse uh endlessly looking online or via apps we scroll through profile after profile or maybe we start rationalizing sexual sin blaming God for not providing us a timely outlet for our sexual desires or maybe we found a potential spouse but the person is not a Believer but and no other eligible spouses around who are Christians so we just go with it it’s not wrong to seek a spouse but it is wrong to make an idol out of obtaining a spouse to sin sexually because you’re dissatisfied with God not giving you a spouse or to violate what God says about pursuing marriage with an unbeliever because you really want a spouse if you’re able to develop friendships with someone who could be your spouse that’s fine do it but if there are no prospects pray about it and wait on the Lord he will provide he knows your situation and he is active he’s active in providing for you we could think of many other examples related to timing but God will bring about what he’s promised he’s called us to be faithful in the meantime another way I think that we can be like Jacob and Rebecca when we resort to sinful methods to accomplish God’s purposes some examples God promises to provide for our needs but let’s say we become worried that we won’t have enough money to take care of ourselves so we don’t report everything accurately on our taxes say this is just the way that this is the situation God’s put me in and this is what I have to do no that’s not true or God promises to bring us through every trial but then we make a particular mistake at work and it looks like we’re going to lose our job unless we lie about what we did well this is the way God’s provided for me to keep my job oh no that’s not true in these situations and others like it we don’t need to sin in order for God’s promises to come to pass when we sin we only bring trouble on ourselves not to mention we lose Joy so these examples of Jacob and Rebecca and others in the Old Testament they should remind us that God will do the miraculous before he stops keeping his promises to us quickly these other two questions what is the line between the responsibility of man to act and trusting in God to fulfill his promises well on the one hand we’re not going to say I’m not going to do anything I’ll just let God do it well God has actually called you to be obedient he’s called you to work he’s called you to pray he’s called you to act wisely so no we don’t say let go and let God the other hand we don’t sin to bring about what God promised nor did we become idolatrous if we’re able to change our situation great but if not just leave it with the Lord and we wait for his timing he’ll bring it to pass finally what are the results of sin in this section of scripture I think we’ve already talked about a little bit but lots of broken relationships not just between not just related around the deception of Rebecca and Jacob but due to laban’s deception and the competition between Leah and Rachel you just have a lot of broken and strained relationships because people are not trusting in the Lord not trusting in the Lord provide this is the great Folly of Sin Sin promises us good but only delivers us delivers us to hurt and Evil but God’s ways are always good we are out of time for today next week we’re going to be looking at Joseph’s Life we’ll be looking at Jacob’s son Joseph we’ll start doing that don’t forget our memory verse Genesis 15 19 to 20. if you have other questions or comments come see me afterwards let’s pray father you all your ways are good and Lord how how foolish it is when we won’t wait on your timing when we when we go outside of your will to to make your promises come to pass but we can believe you we don’t have to worry or would you have called us to be faithful Lord enable us to do that by your spirit remind us of these good truths of the scriptures help us to follow the positive examples like Abraham trusting in you with his son Isaac and to learn from the negative examples of the Lord to not do as Jacob and Rebecca did but Lord we thank you that you are faithful to yourself you will sanctify us do that Lord let the service continue to be a part of that and let us give the glory that you were due Lord let that be a great joy to us today in in this church service in Jesus name amen

  • Isaac and Rebekah

    Isaac and Rebekah

    In this Sunday school lesson, we investigate the account of Abraham’s servant acquiring Rebekah as a wife for Isaac in Genesis 24. As we observe, interpret, and apply this passage, we specifically consider how God demonstrated covenant kindness to Abraham and what that covenant kindness means for believers today.

    Auto Transcript

    Note: This rough transcript was automatically generated by YouTube’s AI algorithm. We provide it here for your convenience, but know it will surely contain errors as it has not been proofread or edited by a human.

    today but if you’re new this is our three-year Chronological Study Through the Bible from Answers in Genesis the goal of this study is to learn or multiple goals goals are to learn what the Bible says to become confident in defending what the Bible says and believing what the Bible says and then applying what the Bible says into our lives so that we are changed remember the Bible is designed to change us we’re called to become Sanctified become holy to become set apart and how does God do that he uses the scriptures and he uses his holy spirit giving us understanding of the scriptures to make us set apart to change us to remind you of where we’ve been so far in our study in the first quarter our theme was we can trust the Bible the Bible is God breathed it’s true it’s sufficient it’s always relevant we can and we must use it as our set of glasses for assessing all data and Truth claims that we encounter in the world furthermore the Bible gives us a clear outline of History which we divided into our seven C’s of History let’s see if we can remember those C’s what was the first creation and when did that take place yeah in the beginning but what BC do we estimate of four thousand four or four thousand BC and then what came next and what date corruption also around 4000 BC then the third C catastrophe that’s right the flood and what date was that no not four thousand no a little bit after three thousand yeah very good 2350 BC so about 1650 years after creation God judges the will with a flood soon after catastrophe we have our fourth C which was confusion confusion and that takes place around close not 21.50 21.75 closer 22 40 22 40. so about 110 years after the flood and then these are the C’s that we have talked about but there are three C’s we haven’t gotten to yet what’s the fifth C Christ right so we we move very move a long way forward and that would be around 3 BC and then Christ’s work on the cross is our sixth C and then what’s our last C the consummation which refers to a number of future events Christ um returned he’s setting up to the millennial Kingdom the final Rebellion final judgment all of those things those are our Seven Seas of History we saw that in the first quarter we also saw in the first quarter proper way to study the Bible which we broke down into three steps what are those steps yeah Craig yeah very good what does it say what does it mean and how do we do it or to say it another way observe interpret apply and just to fill that out one little bit step more observe means to notice the various details of the passage and then of the context to interpret means to collect those observations into conclusions and then apply translate your conclusions into changes in your own life you’re asking how does it work because it does work by the Bible’s showing you how it works you just have to see how it works in your life how it’s supposed to be applied in your life and we’re going to be practicing that of course moving forward that was all first quarter in the second quarter we saw that God is Creator and Redeemer we can trust the creation account given to us in Genesis as true as straightforward and as historical narrative even at the beginning of time also we saw after the fall God’s gospel was on display the sinning pair were promised that one would come from the woman’s seed who would crush their enemy The Serpent and that seed would only receive a temporary wound from The Serpent and this is of course the first foreshadowing of whom this is Christ this is the Messiah the promised one so we focused on Creation in the second quarter and in the third quarter our theme was God is faithful God was faithful to his good character to judge sin by sending a worldwide devastating flood God was faithful to honor his Covenant After the flood when he promised never to send a similar flood to judge the Earth and to preserve the Earth’s Cycles despite man’s continual wickedness God also chose to make a unilateral Covenant with Abraham it was undeserving just just a man a wicked man like all the rest but God called him out God made a covenant with him this Covenant also is a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ because through Abraham Abraham has promised that through his seed all the families of the Earth would be blessed through Abraham all their families of the earth will be blessed and that again is a reference to Christ’s work we’ve seen where we’ve been what will we be looking at in this quarter well here’s a preview focusing a lot on what happens in Egypt first six lessons or yeah first six lessons more related to the other Patriarchs besides Abraham lesson six we’re going to talk a little bit about chronology once again so a little bit of referencing back to some of the things we talked about during the summer with Egyptian chronology and Mesopotamian chronology and how it Compares with the Bible and since Genesis takes a slightly different take than some of the scholars and archaeologists and the in the film that you watched that we watched but we’ll talk about some of those differences when we get there so the first six lessons about the Patriarchs and going down in Egypt and the final seven lessons are about coming out of Egypt focusing on The Exodus and coming into the promised land or at least arriving at the promised land we end with the spies and you remember how that turns out they don’t actually go in right away but that’s where we’re going to end our quarter and with some review questions about where we are going or where we have been okay well today we are examining Genesis 24 the historical account of Rebecca becoming Isaac’s wife so we’re continuing on with the Patriarchs after Abraham now what does this have to do with our fourth quarter theme I don’t know if I mentioned the fourth quarter theme but our fourth quarter theme is God is in control God is in control that’s our theme what does this lesson have to do with that God is in control well we’re going to start our class by doing an activity related to the timing of the events in chapter 24.

    then we’re actually going to read observe interpret the sections of Genesis 24 and then we’ll conclude by asking ourselves how this account was written for our instruction that is how do we apply it how do we apply its principles into our lives let’s pray now great God great king great father we thank you for your word we thank you that we can trust it we thank you that you are faithful and thank you that you are the Creator and that you do sustain the Earth Lord instruct Us Now by giving understanding through your Holy Spirit on how you are so great and in control and so kind in your control and what how you are so faithful to your Covenant with your people Lord this is a delight this is a delightful passage I pray that the people would be encouraged that you’d help me to be able to explain it in Jesus name amen all right open your Bibles please to Genesis 24.

    this is our section for today we will take quick glances to some of the passages around Genesis 24.

    let’s acquaint ourselves a little bit with the literary context the last chapter that we studied together in Genesis was chapter 22.

    where we saw Abraham was tested by God when God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac Abraham obeyed God how because he believed God he trusted that God could bring Isaac who was the son of Promise who was the only way that Abraham was going to receive his promises Abraham believed that God would bring Isaac back from the dead if he had to because God was going to be faithful to his promises then God Vindicated Abraham’s faith and he provided a substitute for Isaac and Isaac was received back from the dead in a way notice though what appears at the end of Genesis chapter 22. just move back a page or two in your Bibles look down to verse 9 or verses 20 to 24.

    scan that for a moment soon after this ordeal this test for Abraham what news does he receive and get some news what news does Abraham receive at the end of chapter 22.

    yeah soon that’s right he heard that his relative had children and this is going to be important for some of the events in chapter 24 and a number of children there in chapter 23 Sarah dies that’s the main subject of that chapter or she dies and Abraham looks for a place to bury her in Canaan and he acquires some acquire some land from the Canaanites there that’s chapter 23. skip over chapter 24 for a second and Luke chapter 25.

    scan verses 1 to 11. beginning of the chapter what two events are we told about in those verses what two important events two events involving Abraham Sarah has died and what does Abraham do yeah Julie that’s right you’re remarried he married another wife you know all the children that he had through this this wife he sent away there’s not going to be any confusion with who’s going to inherit Abraham’s inheritance all his possessions that’s all going Isaac well what’s the other thing that happens to Abraham it lives out the rest of his days and he dies let me see he’s buried by his sons Isaac and Ishmael so that’s the the literary context that’s happening that’s what’s happening around Genesis 24 we’re going to be investigating the chapter of Genesis 24.

    can we be specific though about the timing of Genesis 24. we’ve got it’s literary context what about its chronological context can we be specific well actually yes like a true historian Moses has again left a specific time details in a Genesis narrative so we can be pretty specific about when these when chapter 24 takes place we’re actually going to investigate this a little bit ourselves with an activity take a look at these three questions if you have the workbooks you can and look on page 11 the three questions are also there and you can answer the questions in your book but either by yourself or with a partner sitting next to you see if you can find the answers to these three questions by looking at your Bibles the first how old was Isaac at the time of his mother’s death the second how old was Isaac at his wedding to Rebecca and then the Third how long was it before Rebecca bore children according to Genesis 25 26 so we’re going to see that the details for answering these questions are actually in the Bible so please investigate this answer these questions give you about two or three minutes and then we’ll come back together and talk about it look up when you’re finished yes Carol it was not a sin that’s a great question Carol was it a sin for Abraham to take another wife it was not because his first wife had died and the Bible permits remarriage whenever whenever your spouse is no longer living so Abraham was okay to do that foreign take another minute okay if you didn’t find all the answers that’s okay we’ll talk about it together had to do a little bit of math here hopefully that wasn’t too strenuous how old was Isaac when Sarah died oh got something different I hear some people saying 37 everybody get something different 27.

    36. okay well let’s walk through the calculation and maybe see if we’ve gotten off because I have 31. all right so Genesis 17 17.

    um it tells us that when Isaac was born Sarah was how old 90 she was 90 years old and when Sarah dies it says that she lived 127 years okay I read 21 years so yeah I I was the one off but that’s good so she lives 127 years which means how many years had gone by since Isaac was born 37. so she would have been so Isaac must have been 37 when she died she was 90 127 minus 90 gives you 37.

    very good 37 years old so how old was Isaac at his wedding to Rebecca what was it okay why do I have 40 here okay yeah Isaac was okay the text tells us that he was 40 okay yeah so that’s not based on the first calculation I was wondering if I had to change my answer so yes 40.

    Isaac was 40.

    so he was 37 when his mother died and he was 40 when he married Rebecca last question how long was it before Rebecca bore children Isaac 20 years yeah Isaac was 60 when he bore Jacob and Esau as the as the latter part of Genesis 25 tells us but he was only 40 when they first got married so 20 years must have gone by that’s kind of a long time if you scan the passage a little bit in Genesis Genesis 25 you’ll notice that baroness or infertility was a problem for Isaac and Rebecca just as it was for Abraham and Sarah must not be very good genes or something but God was going to providentially use that in their lives just as he did for their parents or for Isaac’s parents Isaac and Rebecca prayed to the Lord regarding children and then God answered their prayer and Rebecca bore children by the way how old was Abraham when Jacob and Esau were born bonus question hopefully my math is not wrong here we know that he dies at 175.

    in Genesis 25 tells us that and he was 100 when Isaac was born yeah so Abraham would have been 160 when his grandchildren were born which means he saw Jacob and Esau in fact he even got to see them become teenagers or I guess you could say adults they became young men Abraham got to see that God allowed him to see that so just kind of interesting so combining this information with the Chrono genealogies in Genesis 5 and Genesis 11. we can estimate Isaac’s marriage and the events of Genesis Genesis 24 to have taken place approximately at 1915 BC 1915 BC all right so again seeing how the Bible gives us these these details especially these first books that they are historical may have these time details just like a history just as you would expect from history but let’s start actually investigating the passage oh any questions about that activity because I know I kind of may have confused you a little bit with the the math confused myself on the math okay let’s actually investigate the passage it’s a big chapter so we don’t have time to notice every detail but we do need to make some observations of the passage I also won’t read through the whole thing but we’ll read through most of the beginning let’s start with verses one to eight so Genesis 24 verses 1 to 8 follow along with me as I read now Abraham was old advanced in age and the Lord had blessed Abraham in every way Abraham said to his servant the oldest of his household who had charge of all that he owned please place your hand under my thigh and I will make you swear by the Lord the god of Heaven and the god of Earth that you shall not take away from my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live but you will go to my country and to my relatives and take away from my son Isaac the servant said to him suppose the woman is not willing to follow me to this land should I take your son back to the land from where you came then Abraham said to him be aware that you do not take my son back there the Lord the god of Heaven who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my birth and who spoke to me and who swore to me saying to your descendants I will give this land he will send his Angel before you and you will take away from my son from there but if the woman is not willing to follow you then you’ll be free from this my oath only do not take my son back there I’ll actually read the next verse too so the servant placed his hand under the five Abraham is master and swore to him concerning this matter okay let’s make some observations two people in this passage Abraham and an unnamed servant even though the servant is unnamed we do get some details about him two of them what do we know about the servant yeah Julie that’s right he’s the oldest servant in the household and that’s right he had charge of all Abraham’s possessions he’s the top servant he’s the most experienced the oldest the most responsible servant Abraham calls him in this isn’t the first time though that Abraham’s top servant is mentioned in the bible back in Genesis 15 before Isaac was born Abraham confessed to God that his Heir was someone not of his bloodline he told god well maybe you remember whom did Abraham say was his heir what was it Eliezer Eleazar of Damascus Genesis 15 2 Oh Lord God what will you give me since I am childless in the air of my house is eliaser of Damascus at that time if you had no children you didn’t have any relatives nearby it was common for your heir to be the top servant of your household therefore Eliezer would have been his top servant provided the Eleazar had not died between Genesis 15 and Genesis 24 Eliezer would be the servant mentioned here in this passage he would be the old experienced servant that Abraham calls in for a mission but even if Eliezer had died the new top servant would be the new next in line for the inheritance after Isaac yeah Abraham commissions this next in line this top servant to act on behalf of Isaac in fact if the servant is successful in this Mission what will that do to the servants chances of receiving Abraham’s wealth it gets erases it if he’s successful for Isaac then there’s no way he’s going to receive Abraham’s inheritance Abraham tells his servant to place his servant’s hand under Abraham’s thigh what is going on there well the context should help us this act must be a sign of what trust pledge what’s happening here is really serious and even aside from this this gesture we know that things are serious because what does Abraham ask a servant to do exactly he asks them to take an oath and not just an oath but an oath in in light of God of Yahweh the Lord of Heaven and Earth and yahweh’s name is not to be trifled with and so we connect that with this gesture and we can also think about a little bit the area under one’s thigh is a very private area that’s a very intimate area and he says put your hand there and swear by the Lord to do what I command you and we don’t quite have a custom like this today thankfully but a somewhat similar costume probably the closest thing we have to it is swearing on the Bible it’s supposed to show that you’re super serious about what you’re about to do or what you’re about to say you’re going to fulfill your word same thing is happening here Abraham is sending his servant on a very serious mission and he wants his servant to swear before the god of Heaven and Earth to obey and to be careful to do everything Abraham commands now what charge charge is does Abraham give to a servant well first not to do something what must the servant not do well later he’s going to say do not take Isaac back to the land that I came from but before that he says You must not do this that’s right do not take a wife or my son from the Canaanites the people among whom I dwell you are not to do that what must the servant do instead he’s got to take away for Isaac but not from the Canaanites but from where yeah soon that’s right go to my relatives go to where they live to my old country go to my relatives and take a wife from my relatives for Isaac now look down at verse 10 for a moment where did Abraham’s relatives live they lived in Mesopotamia so you remember Kanan this is a right on the western side of Palestine Mesopotamia would be to the Northeast you have to kind of go up and then over and then you have that area of Mesopotamia and specifically they lived in the city of nehor nehor is probably close to where Abraham’s family initially traveled whenever Tara moved from herb which would be the southeast portion I guess the southeast portion of Mesopotamia and traveled Northwest up to haran they’re not living in Iran anymore but they’re living in a city called nehor which is named after one of Abraham’s relatives so it’s probably close by to haran in Northwest Mesopotamia now how just exactly how far of a trip is it from Canaan well probably about 400 to 500 miles one way so that’s going to be in a thousand mile trip or 800 to A Thousand Mile trip altogether that’s a big trip even by today’s standards to give you a little bit of an idea this about be the distance of or from New York City to Columbus Ohio we might be able to do it in one day but we have carbs back then they were using camels or other animals so it was going to be a decently long journey there and back it’s not going to take years or months but it’s going to take a while that’s a long way and at this charge at this charge to go get a wife from his relatives in Mesopotamia the servant anticipates a problem potential problem what might happen yeah Eric that’s right there you might find a proper wife from his relatives but she says I’m not leaving I don’t want to go back with you and what might this interested woman however suggest instead bring him here I mean he can either live here or at least I can see him and then I’ll decide whether to go with you or not so the servant asks should I take your son with me to this land but Abraham’s reaction is very poignant how would you characterize his reaction it doesn’t just say no it’s emphatic right beware that you do not take my son back there under no circumstances will that be a good idea he’s very emphatic don’t take my son back to that land Abraham then says two things to reassure his servant don’t worry about this problem that you’re thinking of what two things does Abraham tell him to reassure the servant what’s one of them you don’t have to worry because yeah Julie that’s right the Lord is going to send his Angel before you the Lord’s going to make this happen and also what does he also say okay Eric exactly just to make you feel better if she refuses to come you’re free from your oath but she’s going to come because the Lord’s going to send his Angel before you now the servant places his hand under Abraham’s thigh and he swears to do as Abraham commanded let’s pause here we’ve made some observations let’s ask some interpretive questions now two main ones first why doesn’t Abraham want Isaac to marry one of the Canaanite women I mean it’s pretty obvious to him that he does not want that to happen why is he so against that that’s right bill I think you said it well they will most likely lead him away from God this is all about protecting Isaac from Marrying an idolater and we’re not told this specifically but I think this is this is an inference that we can make based on other scriptures in the later books of the pentateuch Moses says speaking for God or I’m not going to quit it specifically but Moses warns Israel not to intermarry with the people of the land don’t do this well why is it because the people of the land were inferior or impure in race no not at all listen to what Deuteronomy says Deuteronomy 7 1-4 when the Lord your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it and clears away many nations before you the Hittites and the gurga sites and the amorites and the Canaanites and the parasites and hivites and jebusites Seven Nations greater and stronger than you and when the Lord your God delivers them before you and you defeat them then you shall utterly destroy them you shall make no Covenant with them and show no favor to them furthermore you shall not enter marry with them you should not give your daughters to their sons nor shall you take their daughters for your sons four they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and he will quickly destroy you so it has not has nothing to do about with ethnicity it’s about idolatry marrying a pagan will cause a snare to a person yeah that’s a great Point Bill thanks for mentioning that some may say that this is something about protecting the purity of the messiah’s bloodline just repeating your comment bill but we know that not everyone in the bloodline in the Messiah was Jewish in fact the principle is if one of these peoples either from around Israel or even within the land that Israel was conquering if they became a true follower of Yahweh then a Jew could marry them because we actually see that we see that was the situation for Rahab Rahab and Jericho she’s a Canaanite but she becomes a follower of God she fears the Lord and she becomes part of the line of the Messiah and then as Bill alluded to Ruth the moabite this would be one of the Pagan peoples outside of Canaan she marries Boaz that was a permitted marriage that was a celebrated marriage why because she was a follower of Yahweh the Bible consistently prohibits intermarrying or inter-worshiping with those who deny to the true God and savior and this is said in the New Testament as well you know the verses do not be bound together with unbelievers what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness what Fellowship has light with Darkness or what Harmony has Christ with Belial or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever or what agreement has the temple of God with idols yes Roy yeah that’s another great Point Roy I’ll mention that I repeat your comment great example of this scenario in action is Solomon because they’re specifically told it’s because he married many wives but particularly wives that were not followers of God that his heart was turned away from following God he did not follow the lord wholeheartedly and God of course had to chasten Solomon because of that yeah really the Abraham and The Prompt actually inherit the land yeah that’s another great Point Steve to repeat your comment a little bit I think that’s another consideration in all this is that marrying and Kane and I would have confused God’s promise God’s covenant with Abraham because it’s like well are they the indigenous peoples who God said he was going to take the land away from them and give it to Abraham now they’re kind of there too they’re kind of inheritors too or at least they have a claim on it because they’d be intermarrying into into um the line of Abraham so I think that’s there too but certainly one of the main considerations is he’s he doesn’t want he knows it’s very important to not let his son marry someone who’s going to drag him down in idolatry now another question and perhaps related why is him so much against his servant taking Isaac to Mesopotamia why at all costs as you say don’t let that happen yes Steve reiterates that promise that This Land is What God gave us yeah I think you’re right Steve again we’re not told this specifically but I think we can make a good influence here there’s the potential if Isaac leaves Canaan and goes to Mesopotamia that he’s going to be distracted from the Covenant Promises of God he will be distracted from following God or may miss out on the blessings of the Covenant that God has made with Abraham because consider and Abraham even repeats this when God called Abraham Abraham in haran what did he specifically tell Abraham to do leave your family leave the land that you’re living in now and go to Canaan so having Isaac go to Mesopotamia would have been a step backwards going back to the family that God called him out from going back to the land that God called him out from and Isaac might even be persuaded to stay in that land it’s worth noting that Abraham himself is not willing to make the journey now he’s old but I don’t think we should say he’s infirmed because he lives for another 35 years it’s unlikely the reason he didn’t go was infirmity it was more I think a commitment to God’s covenant it doesn’t want to be distracted from that I think there’s also parallel to the Israelites here because they were attempted to often go back to where they came from right or at least on their way to the promised land we should go back to Egypt Roy yeah hmm that’s a that’s another good point Roy some of these warnings that were that we’re seeing from Abraham we’ve actually seen them play out the Next Generation Esau Mary’s Canaanites and it says that his parents are really grieved at that but another thing is we see Jacob actually goes to live in Mesopotamia he goes to live with Layman and it leads to a bunch of problems like some of the Rivalry that you were just discussing Roy maybe Abraham was aware of that and and wisdom he says I don’t want him to be put in that situation where the family might there might be some rivalry over over wealth over inheritance yeah that’s a good point so we have some some good reasons to infer as to why Abraham did not want these things to happen why it was important not to take away from the land and not to travel to Mesopotamia or not to have Isaac travel in Mesopotamian let’s read on though let’s see what happens chapter 24 let’s look at verses 10 to 14. the servant makes the journey then the servant took ten camels from the camels of his master and set out with a variety of good things of his Masters in his hand and he arose and went to Mesopotamia to the city of nehor it made the candles kneel down outside the city by The Well of water at evening time the time when women go out to draw water he said oh Lord the god of my master Abraham please grant me success today and show loving kindness to my master Abraham behold I am standing by the spring and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water and it may be that the girl to whom I say please let down your jar so that I may drink and who answers drink and I will water your camels Also may she be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac and by this I will know that you have shown loving kindness to my master stop there for a second let’s make some more observations the servant and his Entourage he’s got other men with him we see that later in the passage they arrive outside the city of nehor it’s been a long journey it’s toward evening time and he prays to God now for what does the servant ask God generally what does he ask at first he’s going to ask for something more specific but first he just asked for success grant me success and he also comes up with a plan it’s incorporates this plan into his prayer he asked God to point out the right woman by when he asked the question the woman responding by offering him a drink and by offering to water all his camels now normally How likely was it to occur that a woman would respond in this way hi Carol um no this is not Miriam here this is Rebecca Miriam is that’s what Moses and exodus but How likely was a woman to do what what he has in mind very unlikely why it’s not an easy task that’s a lot of work now perhaps if you said could you grant me a drink of water she might permit him a drink I mean it’s not too much water and the Springs right there if he drinks a lot she could just fill it up again relatively easily that politeness wouldn’t cost too much but watering 10 camels camels can drink a lot that means a lot of drawing water from the spring taking it out pouring it into the trough and then going back to the spring this is not something that could be done quickly it’s going to take a lot of time it’s going to take a lot of work it’s going to take a lot of sweat and she doesn’t even know this guy therefore there’s little chance that the average woman would do this much less offered to do this without being asked but what kind of woman might actually do it regular women wouldn’t do this yeah yeah a woman who has a servant’s heart a very hospitable woman a generous woman a compassionate woman would do this you could say or maybe just God would simply move her maybe she’s not like that normally but if we’re just if we go past the miraculous if she was a compassionate generous woman she would do this and that kind of woman would make a good wife so the servant asked God to point out the woman by having her display this extravagant and rare generosity to him a stranger now was this the only way that the servant could have identified a wife for Isaac well if we think about it no in fact remember Abraham’s directions were merely to go to his relatives the servant could have asked around the city for the relatives of nehor or Beth you well and then found their dwelling place and then checked to see if any of their daughters were unmarried this has been a much more normal and perhaps more practical way to fulfill the command the oath from Abraham so why does the servant ask God for something more extraordinary well notice how the servant ends his prayer he says by this I will know what will he know yeah Magna that’s right I will know that you have shown loving kindness to my master I will know that this is your special loving kindness to him remember Abraham had said to his servant the Lord will send his Angel before you So based off of that promise the servant asked God for something special if you will it God do something unexpected to confirm your loving kindness to Abraham do something extraordinary may it even be that the woman I speak to at this spring who shows great Hospitality be the relative that I was sent to get I think that’s what’s going on here as we see later in the passage the servant is ready for God not to do this when he ends up meeting with the family he says can I take her back as wife for Isaac if not let me know so I know which way to turn so he’s ready he’s ready to for God not to do this but through this prayer the servant gives God opportunity to demonstrate special Covenant kindness let’s read what happens verses 15 to 27.

    before he had finished speaking behold Rebecca who was born to bethewell the son of milka the wife of Abraham’s brother nehor came out with her jar on her shoulder that girl or the girl was very beautiful a virgin and no man had had relations with her and she went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up and the servant ran to meet her and said please let me drink a little water from your jar she said drink my Lord she quickly lowered her jaw to her hand and gave him a drink now when she had finished giving him a drink she said I will draw also for your camels until they have finished drinking so she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran back to the well to draw and she Drew for all his camels meanwhile the man was gazing at her and silence snow whether the Lord had made his journey successful or not when the camels had finished drinking the man took a gold ring weighing a half shackle and two bracelets for her wrists weighing 10 shekels in gold and said whose daughter are you please tell me is there room for us to Lodge in your father’s house she said to him I am the daughter of bathwell the son of milka whom she bought a nehor again she said to him we have plenty of both straw and feed and room to Lodge in then the man bowed low and worshiped the Lord he said blessed be the Lord the god of my master Abraham who was not forsaken his loving kindness and his truth toward my master as for me the Lord has guided me in the way to the house of my Master’s Brothers this is amazing let’s make some observations how quickly did God answer the servant’s prayer immediately before he had finished speaking the woman is coming towards the spring Rebecca does exactly as the servant prayed she gives him a drink and then offers to water to give water for all his camels and did you notice how she did it what stands out to be about the weight or what stands out about how she did it yeah Dwayne yeah twice it uses the word quickly and it also mentions that she ran she quickly lowered her jar quickly entered into the trough and ran back to get more water that is not half hearted generosity this is sincere and notice verse 16 it says that she went down to the spring and then came up down two and came up imply what about the location of the spring it’s at a lower elevation which means that she would have to get to it by going down a hill or by taking some stairs whatever was nearby and then she would have to ascend back that direction so not only is she running and moving quickly but she’s doing incline and decline work while carrying a jar sometimes full of water not only is this woman generous and she is hard working but she is probably physically fit as well because she’s demonstrating some athleticism here and what is the servant doing while all this is happening yeah I’m pretty sure he’s amazed I like MacArthur when he talks about this passage he’s like it says he was sitting there in silence but he probably had his jaw dropped open too because this was pretty amazing but yeah he’s just watching just watching his silence now we might expect that he would have immediately been like ah the Lord answer my prayer but there’s something he doesn’t know yet what doesn’t he know yet doesn’t know if she’s from the right family so he sees what looks like an answer to his prayer but he wants to see it confirmed he needs to find out a little bit more information but right now or while she’s doing it he’s just watching amazed when she finishes he gives her a nose ring and two gold bracelets the servant asks two questions to which family do you belong and can you give us lodging well she then reveals that she is Abraham’s relative and not only do they have lodging for him and his men but they also have food and places for all of his animals so even more generosity being outpoured here even more Hospitality being shown here and she still doesn’t know precisely who this man is she may have maybe a little bit idea that he’s he’s an okay guy because of the the gifts that he gave her showing his intentions were good but this is a lot of generosity for a guy you don’t know and how does he react to the to those statements from her yeah he just stops everything bows down and worships the Lord and praises the Lord he pronounces a blessing on the Lord and conform confirms out loud that the Lord has answered his prayer shown loving kindness to his master because he brought him to exactly the right woman to the the relatives that he was sent to fine and what a woman consider what we’ve learned about her so far that makes her just an amazing Bride for Isaac she’s hard-working she’s generous she’s strong she’s of the right household and we also learn she’s very beautiful she’s unmarried and she’s a virgin this is this is better than he could have asked for this is like a Proverbs 31 Woman he couldn’t have asked for a better bride from God for Isaac and so what he acknowledged is that this is God’s covenant kindness on display toward Abraham and to his descendants we won’t read the next section of this chapter but I’ll summarize it for you Rebecca now that she knows that this servant serves her Kinsmen she runs back to tell her family Laban who hears it labens her brother he runs out continues the outstanding Hospitality urging the servant and his men to come in and Lodge they go to the house the ten animals are all provided for a meal is set before the servant and his accompanying men but he refuses to eat he has to explain his mission he relates to the family Abraham’s situation and all that had transpired and he asks if they will allow him to take Rebecca back to be the wife of Isaac family confesses that what has happened is clearly of the Lord and they consent the servant again bows and worships the Lord it says wow God’s loving kindness is so much on display servant then unloads the Caravan of camels and gives many Treasures to the family or in other words he pays the bride price well why a bride price well remember in those days losing a family member due to marriage was losing part of the family’s Workforce so it was customary for the husband’s family to pay money or give gifts to offset that Financial loss so Abraham’s servant is doing just that giving various gifts to Rebecca’s family articles of silver articles of gold garments other precious objects now this is a very happy time now for the the family there Rebecca has just secured a great marriage with a wealthy man and a Kinsman and the family has been handsomely compensated but the next morning the servant asks if he may leave with Rebecca the family had not expected this they not expected such a quick departure they’re like we’re never going to see Rebecca again then perhaps they have some some celebration plans so they asked for 10 more days with Rebecca but the servant ever committed to his master’s will and not his own request that this God blessed Mission not be slowed down the family decides to ask Rebecca what Rebecca would like to do and Rebecca says that she’s ready to leave now so the family blesses her sends her on her way with her nurse and a number of other maids and the Caravan then sets out on the 500 or so mile trip back to Canaan let’s read the last verses of the chapter verses 62 to 67.

    now Isaac had come from going to Bear Lehi Roy for he was living in the Negev Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening and he lifted up his eyes and looked and behold camels were coming Rebecca lifted up her eyes and when she saw Isaac she dismounted from the camel she said to the servant who is that man walking in the field to meet us and the servant said he is my master then she took her veil and covered herself the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent and he took Rebecca and she became his wife and he loved her this Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death this is just really amazing what amazing history here it’s like a it’s like a Disney princess story this hard-working beautiful girl living with her family doing normal everyday tasks and suddenly a servant arrives and tells her that a rich prince wants her to be his bride let’s ask just a few more interpretive questions or let’s ask a few more interpretive questions the first being the most important what’s the point of all this what is the point of this passage I mean it is interesting and all but why did Moses write this why did God have him write it and include it in the Book of Genesis yeah Magda yeah it’s definitely emphasizing that God is in control what else it’s not simply that God is in control but Pepe because he’s in control you can trust him to be good to you right because I think the servant is the one who really Clues us into what Abraham’s servant really Clues us into I think the takeaway from this passage he says that this is how God determined to show loving-kindness to Abraham all this was written down for us I believe for us under to understand more about our covenant God look at the way he keeps his promises just look at how he shows care for those in Covenant with him he provided Abraham with a servant who was delighted to do his master’s will and sought his master’s benefit even if it meant personal loss for the servant or the foregoing of various comforts that’s what God provided God also provided an exceptional wife for Abraham’s son and arranged circumstances in such a way that Not only was the wife available but she was ready and willing to come to Canaan this is the kind of God Moses would have been telling the Israelites this is the kind of God that you are covenanted with you’re going into Israel you’re going into this unknown situation but you can trust God to be in control and to always be doing good for you you can trust that he’s going to honor his Covenant and he’s going to continue to show you Covenant kindness look what he did for Abraham he will also do likewise for you this would have been encouraging to them to believe the Lord’s promises to obey him to trust him well what about us let’s talk now about our own application isn’t this message also important for us to hear perhaps you’re wondering if God will keep his promises to you whether he will honor his Covenant to take care of you in every way giving you your daily bread giving you people to help you through hard times helping you to endure through suffering and persecution or yes even providing you with a spouse will God take care of me will God keep his promises well what is God’s message to you through Moses here in this passage you can trust God he is in total control of everything he knows your needs and he Delights to do you good because of the Covenant that he made with you a unilateral Covenant look at how he provided for Abraham and Isaac extravagant loving kindness the same God if you truly know him if you’re part of his Covenant we’ll show you such kindness therefore don’t doubt his wisdom don’t doubt his ability don’t doubt his love believe and watch how the Lord provides now I’m not saying that the Lord won’t allow difficulties as we already saw later on baroness is going to be a big problem for this couple that was good though God was going to use that to refine them just as he allows difficulties to refine us he’s still doing us good and neither am I saying that God will provide for you the exact same way he provides for someone else you might not have the exact same provision as Abraham and Isaac In this passage but it will be of the same kind it will still be with that powerful Covenant kindness of God does something unique with each person but we see his faithfulness and therefore we can believe promises like Psalm 84 11. for the Lord God as a son and shield the Lord gives Grace and Glory no good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly you say well I don’t have this the other person has that but it’s not good for you because he doesn’t withhold anything good from those who walk uprightly and Romans 8 28 and we know that God causes all things to work together for good for those who love God to those who are called according to his purpose God is a god of Covenant love and kindness if you’ve been brought into the Covenant through Christ’s Saving Grace then you are an object of God’s constant love this constant Covenant kindness and let these truths be a fortress to you when your flesh tries to tell you otherwise because it will it will say hey look at your circumstances God obviously doesn’t care about you anymore his loving-kindness has stopped well we look at this passage and we say no I know the kind of God that I’m in Covenant with don’t miss out on another important aspect of this text what was it that caused Abraham’s servant to see God’s Great Covenant kindness in an astounding way what was it that the servant did Edwin he prayed he prayed there’s a lot of application to hear about prayer do you want to see God displaying his kindness and glory in your life then pray and as God answers your prayers respond just as Abraham’s servant did respond and worship one final question kind of like on the side should we pray for specific signs of God’s choice like the servant did here well in some ways the answer is yes if you are for example trying to discern whether a certain person is good for you to pursue in marriage it is good for you to pray to the Lord for observable evidence of that person’s character to see if she he or she really lines up with what the Bible says you ought to look for in a spouse asking for the ability to see clearly in a situation is good that’s a good thing to pray for but on the other hand we should not ask for miraculous or seemingly miraculous signs to know God’s will remember the difference between prescriptive and descriptive writing in the Bible it’s because someone does it does not necessarily mean that you should too because God sometimes is doing something special with a particular person and he certainly was doing something special with Abraham Abraham’s servant and Rebecca God’s angel had specifically gone ahead of Abraham’s servant there was a special promise here this was a special Act of God we should not expect God to be working in the exact same way for us today as I’ve said before God has not promised to speak to us through circumstances vague feelings dreams or visions all of these are highly interpretive and ultimately unverifiable but God has promised to speak to us through his word through his scriptures so if you want to know God’s will about whom you should marry what profession you should pursue what church you should attend where you should live or whatever it is into God’s word pray for understanding and then apply its principles it’s God’s will for you to learn and then practice wisdom questions or comments about what you’ve heard today hmm yeah thank you thank you for sharing that bill I’m trying to distill the the main points what you just said can you just repeat the main ideas yeah yeah yeah that’s good let me repeat your comment so even when we are looking forward to apply wisdom in certain situations and we’re looking for the the guidance the Holy Spirit we’re looking for the the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to be applied it’s never going to contradict what’s what’s declared in the Bible holy spirit’s not going to contradict himself so whatever we do it should not contradict or whatever we believe or whatever would however we act it’s always got to be in line with what has already been revealed in the scriptures other questions or comments well we’ve covered the workbook applications questions in the lesson today so we’re not going to revisit those let me end today by showing you our new memory verse I recall that our answer’s Bible curriculum has two memory verses a quarter and therefore the same for all age groups to learn so if you want to encourage your kids to learn their memory verse and you want to be a good example to them well then please memorize this with me in the previous quarters I had a day at the end of the quarter or in the middle of the quarter for reciting memory verses I’m not going to do that going forward this is simply for you this is for your own edification this is for your children’s edification if you want to do it great please do our first memory verses quarter fits with the theme of today’s lesson God continually shows Covenant kindness to his people even through what seems like evil circumstances and difficulties we’ll talk more about the specific circumstances surrounding these verses in our coming lessons but you probably already know this is Joseph speaking after he’s been exalted to the highest position in Egypt so our verses Genesis 50 verses 19 to 20 . we’re going to try and memorize in the new King James Version keep it consistent with the classes and the handouts that we have for this curriculum I’m just going to read it and then we’ll close in prayer Joseph said to them do not be afraid for am I in the place of God but as for you you meant evil against me but God meant it for good in order to bring it about as it is this day to save many people alive let’s pray God you are great your constant Covenant kindness is just so mind-blowing God this what you accomplished for Abraham and Isaac is just astounding yeah God I think we can testify in our own lives just other examples of your astounding kindness but I think many many of us Mary can can say the same things about our spouses just wow God I can’t believe you provided such an amazing spouse for me and Lord just other things with our with our situations or with this church or with the the people around us Lord you have provided so greatly your kindness has been so on display and even with the hard things that we go through God later when we when we are thinking clearly and we’re reflecting on the principles of your scripture we say wow God is being so kind to me and God I can think about that for my own life and I know many people here can as well just the way that you train us and the way that you discipline us God you were being so kind thank you for being such a kind God whose loving kindness is Everlasting Lord show allow us to Revel more in that today in this worship service and allow us to encourage one another in this in Jesus name amen

  • Abraham and Isaac

    Abraham and Isaac

    In this lesson, we examine the Genesis record of Abraham offering Isaac as a sacrifice to God. Why did God ask Abraham to do it? Why did Abraham obey? How should Abraham’s example encourage us to trust God and wait for His provision? We look to answer those questions and also identify what this episode has to do with Christ and the gospel.

    Auto Transcript

    Note: This rough transcript was automatically generated by YouTube’s AI algorithm. We provide it here for your convenience, but know it will surely contain errors as it has not been proofread or edited by a human.

    foreign it is death and ultimately Eternal death what distinction though does God always make when it comes to his judgment what distinction does God always make we saw this with Sodom as well can you say that again all right he certainly the judgment is on wickedness and evil but when he pours out a judgment say on the on the city of Sodom or any time on Earth he makes a difference in how he pours out that judgment on the people of a certain area what distinction does God make that’s right God makes a distinction between the righteous and the wicked he will never judge the righteous along with the wicked just say well sorry you were just kind of in the area no we saw with Abraham’s intercession that God acknowledges I will not sweep the righteous away with the wicked in fact I’ll be patient and merciful to the whole city if there’s a small group of righteous people there and if there isn’t a small group I will rescue the righteous out from the city which is precisely what God does God rescues Lots out of the city of Sodom just like he rescued Noah out of the world of the wicked Before the Flood now we asked at the end of last week’s lesson is our sin today just as bad as sodoms was the answer it’s yes and no and probably just as Bill said and in one sense we’re worse and one sense Alston is the same before God even little sins are infinite crimes against God’s worth and this makes us just like Sodom we are just the same and apart from God’s mercy we are doomed like Sodom like that verse in Isaiah unless the Lord had left us a Remnant we would have become like Sodom and Gomorrah we would have perished in the Judgment but in another sense not all sin is the same before God God considers some sins to be more wicked than others especially the sins committed by those who have been exposed to the truth of God therefore it’s possible and I think likely that we are worse than Sodom today in our country not only do we have great perversions celebrated across our nation but we have been given so many blessings from God and great access to his truth if Jesus could say that Capernaum his hometown a place where he did much Ministry and miracles was worse than Sodom for rejecting the clear witness of himself the witness of the Messiah then the situation does not look good for our own Nation we have been given the witness of Christ in a very full way and yet the majority of the people in our land our countrymen reject the Lord so may all people turn to God in holy fear for how shall we escape if we neglect a so great a Salvation but having been rescued by God if that is indeed the case for you how great is his Mercy in delivering you from your sodom-like destiny he has chosen to make you an heir in the unilateral Covenant of Abraham he has chosen to make himself your God and rescue you any comments or questions about last week’s lesson yes Joe okay okay that’s a good question talking about Lot’s wife and how she turns into a pillars of Saul how do you explain that now do you mean physically scientifically or why God did that well I don’t know that’s a good question both theologically and scientifically why is that happening we do know that Jesus makes reference to it in the New Testament when he’s talking about the the judgment to come um on Israel and I think also the last days he says whoever’s in his house don’t go in to get your stuff or if you’re on the roof of your house or if you’re in the field don’t go back to your house remember Lot’s wife and so she becomes a symbol of uh reluctance and looking back and not fleeing to escape the Judgment now lot was like that to a certain extent too but the Angels specifically one law after they brought him and his family outside the city don’t even look back and she does now I think it’s not simply like um she was a righteous person and she just lived up in this one way and she was made into a pillar of soul I think the Judgment of God on her is kind of like um what we see Jesus doing in the New Testament he’s really seeing what’s in her heart and so her her looking back is uh is symbolic of what’s really going on in total in her heart and I think that’s why the Judgment of God comes upon her so instantly and completely now how physically she turned into a pillar of salt and it’s obviously miraculous I don’t know if she like instantly started falling apart or if she actually stood there as a as a pillar for a long time but whatever way God did it he did it I don’t know if we can get much more detailed physical explanation than that any other questions or comments on Sodom all right now we come to Abraham and Isaac though this is a famous narrative it’s possible that despite the frequency that we’ve heard this despite the frequency of our hearing this account we’ve nevertheless not come to grips with its Central message we are not given this record so that we might Marvel merely at the strangeness of God’s request the righteousness of Abraham or the happy outcome no this account was given for our instruction just like all things in the Old Testament we are to learn to trust in the faithfulness of God the same way that Abraham did and was Vindicated that’s what this lesson is going to be all about so let’s look for that as we investigate today here’s our outline we’re going to read make observations on the passage where we hear about this episode that’s Genesis 22. then we’re going to ask some interpretive questions focusing mainly on why and how Abraham obeyed God how was he able to do that why did he do that what was going through his mind because he is celebrated for being obedient like that we want to do the same then finally we’ll consider how this narrative ties into Jesus work on the cross how is the gospel in view or is the gospel in view whenever we look at this passage let’s pray before we continue hello God I thank you for being our father I thank you for being so faithful so good that you always do keep your promises Lord you will be faithful to yourself even when we are not faithful and we think of that scripture in the New Testament that says that if we deny you you will deny us because you cannot deny yourself Lord we thank you for keeping us in you but Lord we never want to to try and abuse your faithfulness because you will be faithful to your own character You Are Holy you are just you are good we thank you for your mercy we pray that we might see more of your great goodness today give me the ability to explain it in Jesus name amen let’s open our Bibles to Genesis 22.

    let me remind you of the context what’s happened between last time we looked at Abraham and what’s happening now last time we saw Abraham was in Genesis 19 where God had confirmed to Abraham that a son through Sarah would be born to Abraham within a year God then told Abraham what he was about to do with Sodom God visited Sodom judge Sodom and rescued lot out for Abraham’s sake afterwards in Genesis 20 Abraham sojourned for a little while in southern Palestine in gorar where he once again lied about his relationship with his wife in order to protect himself from the locals once again his wife was taken to be the wife of the local King but once again God prevented that King from doing anything to Sarah and the Lord brought Abraham and Sarah out of Quran with even more possessions they than when they came in so God was very merciful to Abraham there a little later in Genesis 21 the Lord’s promise comes to pass Isaac is born and while there’s much celebration to Isaac’s birth there soon arises conflict between Sarah and Hagar and Sarah demands that Hagar be made to leave along with her son God told Abraham to permit this request promising to make a great nation from Ishmael for Abraham’s sake and Ishmael became the father of many Arab tribes but God said the promises are all going to Isaac the other son will not be an inheritor with him so it is fine for you to send him away this brings us to chapter 22. Isaac has grown into a young man sometime has gone by since the episode with Hagar Isaac is perhaps as old as 25.

    but God comes to visit Abraham the beginning of Genesis 22. so let’s read the narrative starting in verse 1.

    now it came about after these things that God tested Abraham and said to him Abraham and he said here I am he said take now your son your only son whom you love Isaac and go to the land of Moria and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you so Abraham Rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son and he split wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him on the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance Abraham said to his young man stay here with the donkey and I in the lad will go over there and we will worship and return to you Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son and he took in his hand the fire and the knife so the two of them walked on together Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said my father and he said here I am my son and he said behold the fire and the wood but where is the Lamb for the burnt offering Abraham said God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering my son so the two of them walked on together then they came to the place of which God had told him and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son but the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said Abraham Abraham and he said here I am he said do not stretch out your hand against the lad and do nothing to him for now I know that you fear God since you have not withheld your son your only son from me then Abraham raised his eyes and looked and behold behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns and Abraham went and took the RAM and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son Abraham called the name of that place the Lord will provide as it is said to this day in the mounts of the Lord it will be provided then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said by myself I have sworn declares the Lord because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son your only son indeed I will greatly bless you and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore and your seed shall possess the Gate of their enemies in your seed all the nations of the Earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice so Abraham returned to his young men and they Rose and went together to Bear Sheba and Abraham lived at Beersheba all right that’s our text let’s make some observations God tells Abraham to do something very unexpected sacrifice your son as a burnt offering on a particular mountain in the land of Moria though the command is brief God takes time to describe Isaac in various ways your son your only son whom you love Isaac we’ve noted before that repetition like this is often used in the Old Testament for emphasis so what is God emphasizing yes Eric okay so there’s there’s emphasis on which particular Sun I think there’s also emphasis on something else yes Judy exactly there’s an emphasis on how precious the sun is to Abraham it says he’s not only a particular son he’s not only your only son he’s the one you love he’s your beloved Son Isaac now remember that Abraham had waited for this son for 25 years Isaac was the son of promise who was born miraculously to Abraham and Sarah in a in their old age he was extremely precious to Abraham he was going to be the means that God was going to accomplish various promises to Abraham and to Abraham’s descendants but God strangely tells Abraham to sacrifice Isaac to God in an act of worship by the way God tells us the purpose of this Command right in verse 1. what is the purpose it was a test it said God tested Abraham this is a test now the text also mentions the land of Moria where is Moria and where is the mountain of Moria now the name Warrior is only mentioned one other place in the Bible but the other the other reference is very helpful for helping us understand moya’s location listen to what second chronicles 3 1 says and see if you can identify where morya is then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moria where the Lord had appeared to his father David at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of orn in the jebusite so where’s morya it’s Jerusalem it’s the land of Jerusalem and the mountain that Abraham Journeys to is likely the same Mountain on which God’s Temple is later built if not these same Mountain it’s very close by so Abraham’s told to go to morya and to sacrifice on a mountain there now when did Abraham act on God’s command yes Mike yes immediately specifically when not the same day early the next morning not even just the next day the next morning early the next morning he Saddles his donkey and sets out Abraham takes Isaac two young men some wood that he had cut and a donkey and heads to Moria and the journey takes three days now verse 4 says Abraham raised his eyes you see that also that phrase appears later on in the narrative don’t get confused by that phrase this does not mean that Abraham had been looking down or that he started to look up this is a Hebrew idiom actually to lift up one’s eyes or to raise up one’s eyes or Expressions used all over the Bible especially in the Old Testament and often the phrases he lifted up his eyes and saw or he lifted up his eyes and looked just as we see it used here I couldn’t find specific commentary on this phrase but for from comparing the 50 plus uses of this phrase in the Bible it appears to be simply a more emphatic way of saying to look he looked he lifted up his eyes and looked usually when when this phrase is used when people lift up their eyes and see something they usually notice something important so it’s like just saying look but with very special emphasis don’t get confused by that phrase now when Abraham sees the place at a distance when he looks up look raised his eyes and saw what does he tell his servants yeah Julie so he does say those things stay here the lad and I will go and worship and then he also promises something yeah Mike we will return to you the lad and I will go worship and then we will return so the two of them set out up the mountain carrying the necessary materials Isaac carried the wood while Abraham carried the fire in the knife what did Isaac notice was missing the lamb where’s the sacrifice where’s the land for the burnt offering how does Abraham respond God will provide the lamb God will provide the lamb for the burnt offering they arrive at the proper place in the mountain Abraham puts together the altar presumably from some nearby Stones he arranges the wood then binds his son Isaac and lays him on top of the wood at what point does God intervene in the sacrifice when he took hold of the knife and he stretched out his hand and took the knife to kill his son that’s when God intervenes and God commands Abraham not to harm Isaac at all and then he gives a reason what is the reason it says four I know that you fear God I now know that you fear God because you’ve not withheld your only son from me what does Abraham notice after God speaks to him behind him a ram was caught by its horns in the bushes in the thicket Abraham takes that Ram kills it and offers it in place of his son this final provision from God of Iran becomes the basis for a name and a Hebrew phrase Abraham names the place Yahweh Jireh Jehovah Jireh I am will provide he names that the mountain he gives it that name and this becomes a phrase that’s later passed down to the Hebrews the Israelites the phrases in the Mount of I am it will be provided and the mounts of the Lord it will be provided what does God reiterate to Abraham in verses 15 to 18.

    the promise or the number of promises there but we’ve heard these promises before because these are the promises of what abrahamic Covenant these are the things that God promised Abraham initially when he first called Abraham he said I’m going to make of you a great nation and you all the families of the earth will be blessed so God repeats those promises to Abraham after this whole event but notice why does God say that these promises will come to Abraham look particularly at verse 18.

    why will they come to Abraham say that again that’s right he says because you have obeyed my voice you will be blessed with these promises because you obeyed you will be blessed okay some important observations that we’ve made let’s ask some interpretive questions is the Bible an error When God says to Abraham your son your only son Abraham clearly had another son how do we explain God’s statement here right it’s it’s not wrong for God to say only son because there was only one son of promise and what happened to the other son well he’s going to be blessed that’s sure that’s true what that’s right he was sent away he was disinherited Abraham had only one son of promise and the other son was sent away no longer an inheritor so therefore in a sense it’s very accurate to say that Abraham had only one son Isaac was his only son don’t know the Bible’s not an error here now God commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac as a test God even says later now I know that you fear God because you’ve not withheld your son for me but God is omniscient as we’ve talked about before he didn’t need to test Abraham to know what was in Abraham’s heart so in what sense can God say now I know there is a mysterious oh we’re gonna say Joe yeah I think it’s there’s going to be a different kind of knowledge at play here it’s going to be physically demonstrated just as you were saying Joe there’s a mysterious element to this because we’re talking about God and God’s nature he is eternal yet he acts in time in history he’s omniscient and yet he can speak of finding things out perhaps one could say it this way when God says now I know God knew in a different sense than he knew previously no longer did God simply know in heart knowledge or foreknowledge but in historical knowledge something actually happened you can write it down in the books there is hard evidence for it everyone can see it including God there’s incontrovertible proof because something happened in this sense God can say now I know I think that’s one way that we can explain it certainly we can also say that God is accomplishing something in this test of Abraham that he always accomplishes when he tests someone what is God revealing when he tests someone whom yes he reveals the heart but to whom is he revealing it he reveals it to the person he’s testing right and also to everyone around him this is exactly what we said about Sodom right when he says now I’m gonna go find out whether it’s outcry is as bad as I’ve heard well God knew but he was going to show everyone else and he was going to show us as readers of Genesis in the same way that we’re gonna we are learning about what’s in Abraham’s heart when we read this account this is what God does with us all the time when he tests us he shows us what’s really in our hearts and he shows everyone else so see in this sense God was testing Abraham and would find out something about Abraham now another question and this is our main question what is going through Abraham’s mind throughout this ordeal because this is so heavy how how could God tell him to do this what is he thinking what’s passing through Abraham’s mind and why does he obey the text doesn’t tell us directly what Abraham’s thinking but discovering what he’s thinking is key to our imitating Abraham we want to he’s an example of obedience so to get that benefit we need to see if we can figure out what’s going on in Abraham’s mind what details from the text can inform us a bit about Abraham’s thinking yeah I think he follows through in obedience knowing that God will provide but knowing that he has to obey right so you’re pointing to one of the details Magda where speaking to Isaac Isaac says where’s the lamb he says the Lord will provide the land so that tells you something about Abraham’s thinking and I’ll say a little bit more about what else you said Magda that he’s confident that the Lord will provide but he knows that he needs to obey to the uttermost what are the details in the text show us something by Abraham’s thinking yeah Danny yeah he says I and the lad will go worship and return to you that says something else about Abraham’s thinking what else from the text remember he didn’t wait around to obey this command we might expect that if he was distraught or if he distrusted God he may have put it off he certainly wouldn’t have left early in the next morning that tells us something about us thinking he immediately obeys after he obeys God says I know that you fear me you’ve demonstrated that so that tells us something about Abraham’s thinking and then of course when Abraham names the place that tells us something also about Abraham’s thinking Jehovah Jireh the Lord will provide now we might wonder if Abraham was merely obeying the Lord out of fear if he really didn’t expect the Lord to do anything to forestall the tragedy that was about to occur and that he expected that the promises that God had given to Abraham were coming to an end that when he told his servants that he and Isaac would return that Abraham was either unsure or he was lying but he was too afraid to disobey God Abraham in fact knew that Isaac would die but he was just assuring his servants otherwise so that they would not interfere was Abraham just obeying out of fear here well lest we get off course then characterizing Abraham let’s listen to what the New Testament says about this instance Hebrews 11 verses 17 to 19 says this listen carefully by faith Abraham when he was tested offered up Isaac he who had received the promises was offering up or and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son it was he to whom it was said in Isaac your descendant shall be called he Abraham considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead from which he also received him back as a type so this the statement from Hebrews is profound according to Hebrews what confidence did Abraham have either at the beginning when God first told him to obey or some time on his way to morya what was Abraham’s confidence yeah Mike okay so he’s probably thinking through that question if Isaac dies and God promised that my descendants will come through Isaac and he will be the one who helps to fill the promises then that means that God is going to have to do something what were you gonna say Steve God made him this promise before and he was in fear of his own life to the point where he lied to preserve his life I would think just my guess that well how is God going to fulfill this promise if I’m dead and so and since but now he there’s a change in his life where he has this confidence in God where that even the actual promise itself could be taken away from him but God would be faithful enough to bring it back so that the promise could live off right and so if God has commanding me to kill my son and my son actually dies but God promised that the promises that His blessings would come through my son then God must do something what’s God going to do rich he’s going to bring him back from the dead now remember at this point in history this has never happened before no one has ever been brought back from the dead but he’s thinking to himself God made these promises God has to be faithful to these promises so the only way I can think of what’s going to happen here is either the Lord is going to provide something else or he’s going to bring Isaac back from the dead that’s got to be what happens this is a confidence that Abraham has and so when we align this with the details that we already saw in the text we’re seeing something truly remarkable here whatever sadness or perplexity Abraham may have felt initially Abraham did not offer his son up out of fear or doubt but out of faith Abraham did not see the end of all the promises of God in this sacrifice he trusted God so much that he inferred that God would do something that no one had ever seen before or witnessed Resurrection from the dead so no Abraham was not being deceptive when he told his servants that Isaac would come back with him or when he told his son that the Lord would provide the land Abraham righteously believed that God would do the impossible to keep his Covenant with Abraham even if it meant Abraham was to kill Isaac and burn his son’s body totally God was somehow going to bring Isaac back to life because God had promised that it was through Isaac that God would fulfill his Covenant to Abraham and God Vindicated Abraham’s Trust in a sense Abraham’s son did die that’s what Hebrew says and in a sense God brought Isaac back from the dead God had provided an unforeseen means for Abraham’s son to be spared therefore Abraham commemorated the place in such a way as to give glory to God’s faithfulness he said I’ve trusted in God and the Lord did provide Jehovah Jireh the Lord will provide so let’s talk application for a second here because as we’ve said this is written for our instruction as Heirs of Abraham we too are given promises and sometimes we arrive in the situations where it seems that God fulfilling those promises is impossible there’s no way that God’s being faithful to his promises here or that he can be when really we ought to use the same phrase that the Israelites used at one time in the Mount of the Lord it will be provided don’t forget God keeps his promises God kept his promise to Abraham when Abraham journeyed to the mountain of Moria he provided even if it meant doing the impossible so for you and for me whether it’s providing needs of food and clothing providing for your salvation through repentance providing for you to stand up under Temptation or if some difficult trial God will keep his promises to you God will bring someone back from the dead before he breaks any of his promises to you now we must be careful here to understand what God has actually promised us he has not promised us good health a spouse save children the latest smartphone he’s he’s not promised us Financial Security he’s not promised you a cushy retirement he has not promised you that you will not have to ask your brothers and sisters for help he’s not promised that what he has promised though is to meet every need of yours both physical and spiritual in whatever way until your time on Earth is done God has promised he will meet every physical and spiritual need you have Jesus reiterates this in Matthew 6 Matthew 6 32b to 33 for your heavenly father knows that you need all these things referring specifically there to food clothing and drink but representative of all our needs God knows you need these things but seek versus Kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you focus on your greatest need God and he will add all your other needs Philippians 4 19.

    after commending the Philippian church for their gift and providing for him the Apostle Paul writes and my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus God will provide everything that we truly need he knows them better than we do all our physical and spiritual needs because most importantly God has already promised to be our God if you’re an heir of Abraham he has promised to be your God to bring you to heaven with him and to give himself the glory he is worthy of and therefore to always do you good when God gives himself Glory he does you good this is our greatest need and God has provided it Revelation 21 7 Jesus says he who overcomes will inherit these things referring to a place in the New Jerusalem and I will be his God and he will be my son God has supplied your greatest need how will he not also Supply your lesser needs so are you believing in the promises of God like Abraham or have you concluded that God is not able to keep his promises to you he does for other people but for you he’s just not going to do it do you believe that God will do the miraculous before he breaks a promise to you or is the pain of being tested as to whether you believe in God too much too much for you to wait around and see whether God is faithful don’t let testing Sunder your faith see how Abraham was tested how he believed and was Vindicated and blessed see how job was tested was Vindicated and was blessed see how Noah was brought through testing was Vindicated and blessed see how Abel was Vindicated and blessed he would say wait Abel died but he’s commended in the New Testament as an heir of righteousness and he’s with God see how Paul even through all his trials all his testing was Vindicated by God and blessed we can believe in the Lord we can’t obey him and we will receive the promised reward let’s not miss that today one other question how do we explain verse 18.

    in Genesis 22. God says he’s blessing Abraham because Abraham is righteous because Abraham obeyed yeah in Genesis 15 God throws God’s show through a covenant ceremony that God was taking unilateral responsibility for blessing Abraham for keeping his promises to Abraham that is God promised to bless Abraham regardless of Abraham’s performance doesn’t matter if Abraham was righteous or not God was going to be unilaterally responsible at least that was the implication of that ceremony so which is it God are you blessing Abraham because he’s righteous or because you promised to bless him how do we reconcile these two aspects okay so are you going to say more hmm emergency question right so just to repeat what bill was saying the principle is that faith is a result of election God chooses and he makes that person a man of Faith or I’m going to use the phrase a man of righteousness what we see Happening Here is that both these things are true because when God takes unilateral responsibility to bless Abraham he also had taken the responsibility to give Abraham faith and make him righteous and therefore God was justified in blessing him you see God said something very similar in just a few chapters earlier back when he was speaking to Abraham about Sodom the Lord says this this is Genesis 18 verses 17 and 19. the Lord said actually why don’t you turn there since it’s close Genesis 18 verses 17 and 19.

    here’s verse 17 in chapter 18.

    the Lord said shall I hide from Abraham when I’m about to do since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed abrahamic Covenant four I have chosen him so 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 upon Abraham what he has spoken about him you seeing the logic of these verses the reasoning is presented with the words for and so that and verse 19 the word for God says the reason I will make Abraham into a great nation and a blessing on the earth is because I have chosen him for what have I chosen him the boy says in the very next sentence I have chosen him to obey me and to teach his descendants after me to keep my way and do righteousness and Justice what is the point of causing him his descendants to love and obey me so that I may bring upon him and them the promises of my blessing you see God is a rewarder of the righteous so for God to promise a reward to someone unilaterally God then must make that person righteous or he must do it for the sake of a person that God has made the person that God has made righteous it was right for Bill to reference election because that is a place that we see this same principle I’m referring specifically to the doctrine of the perseverance of the Saints when we think about that Doctrine it isn’t that eternal security is given to those who confess Jesus whether they continue to live their lives for God or not once saved always saved doesn’t matter what they do afterwards that’s not what perseverance that’s not what the Bible actually tells us about the perseverance of the Saints rather whomever God elects and saves God keeps them from turning away from him he makes them righteous he makes them people of Faith he causes them to continue to follow after him he causes them to persevere therefore their salvation is eternally secure when God chooses or when God blesses he accomplishes the work of righteousness that keeps you in him and that keeps you blessed so truly as the psalmist says salvation Belongs to the Lord in love he is responsible for every part of salvation and therefore he must receive all the glory so your righteousness is gaining you a reward from God but the reason you are righteous is because God has made you righteous and is making you righteous just like Abraham so it’s right for God to say I unilaterally choose to bless Abraham and it’s because of Abraham’s righteousness because God is making Abraham righteous one final question for our lesson today how do we see a foreshadowing of the Gospel in this episode with Abraham Abraham and Isaac or do we see a foreshadowing of the Gospel now some say Answers in Genesis included that Isaac is a type of Christ he is a a representative before Christ came of what Christ would do and they say the Isaac sacrifice parallels Jesus’s own experience and you may have noticed in parallels as we read through read through the account there are some both Jesus and Isaac are the only sons of their fathers and they are beloved both were put to death by their fathers Jesus in a sense both death deaths were to be accomplished as sacrifices like that of a lamb both persons were responsible for carrying the wood to their places of sacrifice Isaac carries the wood and is laid upon it on top of the Altar and Jesus carries the wood of his cross and then is laid upon it and nailed to it both deaths were apparently voluntary as a strong young man Isaac could have resisted his father and prevented his own death but he apparently submitted to it Jesus 2 submitted voluntarily to death on the cross and both are offered as sacrifices in the land of Jerusalem so there are some parallels we could note but something else we have to observe is that no New Testament author ever makes the connection between Isaac and Christ even when they had ample opportunity to do so they will talk about Jesus as a Passover Lamb or they’ll talk about Abraham as a model of Faith but they never discuss Isaac’s sacrifice as a type of Christ’s work on the cross this should give us pause we do not want to say God was saying something in a particular sector of scripture when he wasn’t actually saying that thing there’s reason for us to pause and saying that Isaac is the type of Christ moreover there is one very important difference between the two situations Isaacs and Christ’s Isaac isn’t actually sacrificed what’s provided in Isaac’s Stead a ram right a male lamb this sounds like substitutionary atonement right the one designated to die is replaced by another sacrifice Jesus did that for us he is our substitute so in this sense if we’re looking for a parallel to Jesus work in Genesis 22 it’s the ram not Isaac rather than seeing the offering of Isaac as a direct foreshadowing of Jesus work on the cross it’s better for us to see the offering of Isaac as an example of a basic but fundamental gospel principle the Lord will provide the Lord will provide Abraham needed a provision for the Lord to spare his son but all people since Adam have needed a provision that they might be spared from sin and death we need God to provide for us and God has promised to do just that and he promised to do that even at the fall you remember the promise there Genesis 3 verses 14 to 15 God’s curse to the serpent the Lord God said to the serpent because you have done this cursed are you more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field on your belly you will go and dust you will eat all the days of your life remember we talked about that that’s a posture of defeat and I’ll put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed I will make her and her descendants not love you or serve you some of her descendants and one of her seeds he goes on to say in the last part of that section he shall bruise you on the head and you shall bruise him on the heel one of the seeds will accomplish a total victory over you this was the promise that the Lord made in the garden after the fall and then to Abraham God promised that he would provide blessing for All Families of the earth through Abraham’s seed through his descendants and we’re going to keep seeing these promises of provision from God to man as we move through the Old Testament they get repeated they get expanded we hear about the promise to David we hear about various promises to Israel then all these promises about the Messiah until we get to the arrival of Jesus in the New Testament and Zacharias very appropriately says at the birth of John the Baptist something about the Lord’s provision being accomplished this is what Zechariah says in Luke 1 68-75.

    blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he has visited us and accomplished Redemption for his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us and the House of David his servant as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us to show Mercy toward our fathers and to remember His Holy Covenant the oath which he swore to Abraham Our Father to grant us that we being rescued please might serve him without fear and Holiness and righteousness before him all our days Zachariah says God is accomplishing what he had promised even back as far as Abraham he is fulfilling his oath and John the Baptist says as you know very famously Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the Sinners of the world the promise provision has arrived with Christ came the literal fulfillment of the phrase from Abraham in the Mount of the Lord it will be provided at Mount Zion on golgotha’s Hill the Lord provided fundamentally for us the payment of our sin and the opening of a way into God’s holy of holies and fulfillment of This Promise required not just one Miracle but many God’s son became a man born of a virgin he lived a perfectly righteous life died for every sin of the elect and then was buried for three days and rose again on the third forever securing for his own freedom from God’s Wrath and entrance into God’s intimate and enjoyable presence this is ours if we believe in Jesus by faith if we entrust all our lives all our desires to him and we take Jesus as our treasure so yes Abraham’s offering of Isaac is a foreshadowing of the cross in this way the Lord will provide it showed that in a small way with Abraham and the RAM and Isaac but he’s shown that in the fullest way to us with Christ saw some hands as I was speaking Yeah Rob OT well you’re asking can the RAM and Isaac both be types that Isaac is a type in a certain sense and a ram is a type in another sense I want us to be very cautious when it comes to looking for types in the Old Testament because like I said unless the New Testament authors identify it we want to be really really careful because we don’t want to say thus say at the Lord when that’s not what God Said there there are some ways that Isaac aligns with Christ but if you if you really start digging then you could say there’s some ways that Isaac doesn’t align with Christ certainly we see gospel principles in Abraham’s ordeal in sacrificing Isaac most specifically that the Lord will provide I think that we can cling to with Surety is other things we want to be really careful about I’m not going to say I’m not going to go so far as to say absolutely that’s wrong if you say it’s heresy but I’m saying we should be really careful before we say that’s what the Lord is saying yeah Steve um he actually did the resurrection part you know symbol of Resurrection there so so in reference to a people so again there are some parallels we can draw those things you know you see you see also the the you know so again there’s a lot of things there I think our hearts should be more confirmed with uh with the substitutionary sacrifice and that God will provide you know these other things are nice and and at least steadfast and the substitution yeah yeah just to repeat just a few that those ideas yeah we can notice the different parallels um even things like Isaac coming back from the dead in a sense or even three days though I think that might be a little bit of a stretch because it’s not exactly dying for three days it’s a journey for three days but three days is mentioned but you’re right Steve that we’re really should be focusing on the idea of God’s provision and the idea of God’s substituting a sacrifice for a provision because that we can say with confidence is what’s going on later in the New Testament and I’ve said also when it comes to looking for types in the Old Testament that one of the reasons why we see things line up with Christ is because if people are being righteous they’re going to do what Christ does right we’re going to see people be betrayed by the people who are most close to them we’re going to see them forgive those people and so that like when we get to Joseph we’re gonna be like wow Joseph he’s like totally like Christ well yeah it’s because he’s a believer in God and anyone who follows after God is going to imitate Christ in many ways so we see gospel principles that’s what I would like to emphasize we should be careful when we talk about types yes that is waiting for strong and his father or God or not that’s a really good question is Isaac’s faith strong and is it strong in Abraham or is it strong in God it’s really hard to say what I what Isaac is really thinking he certainly is not aware of what’s going on at least until the last moment because he asked his father where’s the lamp it’s like I don’t get what’s going on I we’re missing something here you could say well there’s no sign of his resisting his father and he was probably a strong young man so he must have submitted in a certain sense is it because he believed in his father is because he believed in God I don’t know it’s a little hard to say probably that he was trusting his father in a certain sense because he was also trusting in God that when he sees that Abraham saying or showing that I’m doing this out of obedience to God for Isaac to submit if he did indeed submit it was because well if God told you to do it then I trust that God is is working something out here so to to say my answer again it’s really hard to stay what Isaac’s thinking but probably it’s a little bit of both yes Carol INE so I turned around and said yes that’s good that’s great Carol that’s great yeah it’s good it’s good to um to be bold for the Lord and that’s because of your faith in the Lord It’s because you believe that God’s going to keep his promises to you and so yeah show that to the bus driver and show that to anyone that’s great yeah Shane so like I said I’m not going to say no I’m not gonna say no that’s heresy when I’m gonna say that I don’t want to go that far because no New Testament author says it I want to be careful to not say something that God didn’t say I know that Jesus says the Old Testament is all about me but as I stressed in other classes that doesn’t mean that everything directly is about Jesus or directly about his his work on the cross I’m emphasizing that there are gospel principles here that have to do with Jesus and the cross but I don’t want to go so far as to claim that this or that is a type a specific type of Jesus that’s my position yeah Danny right right yeah that’s a really good point Jenny that’s why I say again it’s significant the the New Testament says nothing about this again that’s an argument from Silence so it’s not it’s not always the strongest argument to make but they do talk about Abraham and they do talk about Isaac but never in the sense of a type they always talk about well look at Abraham’s Faith this is an example of what salvation is never say look at Isaac because here’s the gospel beforehand now they don’t talk about it that way any other questions or comments I appreciate your questions and I think that it’s good to work through some of these things that’s it for today’s lesson next week we’re going to pause in the Genesis narrative and we’re going to talk about the Ice Age was there indeed a nice age well there’s good reason to believe there was well how long was this ice age when did it happen what was it like and how did it affect our world that’s what we’re going to be talking about next week we have one more week to memorize our memory verse it would really encourage me and the other Sunday school teachers if you and your kids memorized it with us we’re going to be reciting this verse in class next week so let’s read it together as we end today so acts 17 26-27 and he has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the Earth and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings so that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they might grope for him and find him though he is not far from each one of us let’s pray great great god Jehovah Jireh we are so glad that you have provided for us you have kept your promises you’ve shown God that you kept your specific promises to people like Noah like job like Abraham but God you’ve kept your promises to the entire human race you did send one from the seed of Eve who crushed the Serpent’s head you did send from Abraham’s seed one who blessed all the families of the Earth Lord you did send one to save us from our sins you rescued us for your own name’s sake because you were so glorious and great you rescued us you took interest in us and you loved us by sending your son Jesus we thank you for Jesus O Lord God if you took care of that the greatest need we have you will surely take care of our lesser needs but would you know our needs best so we submit to you we do not want to claim for ourselves anything that you have not promised for God what you have promised we will believe help us to believe in God we we see that you you are totally responsible for our faith and for our righteousness there’s an element of our responsibility too and yet God we know that without you Without You sanctifying us without you revealing yourself to us we cannot be saved we cannot be Sanctified we cannot grow so we pray that you’d make us grow help this church to grow help us to encourage one another helps to sanctify one another help us to love one another and serve one another God as we believe your promises help us to do that oh Lord by your spirit in Jesus name amen

  • Sodom and Gomorrah

    Sodom and Gomorrah

    In this lesson, we examine Sodom and Gomorrah’s destruction. Why did God judge these cities? Why did God spare Lot? How do we today compare to these ancient cities? This account in Genesis has much to tell us of God’s holiness, justice, and mercy.

    Auto Transcript

    Note: This rough transcript was automatically generated by YouTube’s AI algorithm. We provide it here for your convenience, but know it will surely contain errors as it has not been proofread or edited by a human.

    to Abram God took part in a treaty ceremony with Abram but what was so striking about this ceremony what was different about this ceremony as might happen normally yes Dwayne very good thank you Dwayne passing through the animals which was a way to say if I break the Covenant let me be destroyed just like these animals where only God walked through so by doing that he was affirming a unilateral Covenant an unconditional Covenant one that he was taking full responsibility to keep it was not based on Abram’s performance if it didn’t matter then what Abram did for God to stay true to his promises to Abram then what was the point of circumcision my circumcision yes or what it was just a a sign a reminder of that that Covenant and there we’re going to see later on in the Old Testament more about how it’s going to a mark of the set of Partners of Abraham’s descendants and of the Hebrew people but primarily it is a sign of the Covenant that Abram was to pass down to his descendants and one should be reminded of this Covenant reminded of my faithfulness of the Covenant and you’re going to have a physical sign on yourself and on your descendants circumcision was not we emphasized this last week it was not a prerequisite for the Covenant nor is it necessary for Abram to be made righteous what was it that made Abram righteous is Faith right he believed the Lord and God accredited it to him as righteousness and this way Abram became the father of all who believe by faith and are made righteous all who are saved including us today we are saved just like Abraham was now does this mean and I didn’t explode this specifically last week but perhaps it was implied does this mean that we are inheritors of the abrahamic Covenant are we inheritors are we heirs the abrahamic Covenant it may seem a little bit difficult to answer right away there are aspects of God’s covenant with Abram that cannot apply to us that do not apply to us since we are not Abraham’s physical descendants we are not Israel nor are we guaranteed the physical land of Israel like his physical descendants were though we will be rulers of God’s Millennial Kingdom based in Jerusalem when that comes however we must understand the ultimate promise of the abrahamic Covenant all these blessings that were given to Abraham they Climax and one specific statement from God or promise from God which is said explicitly in Genesis 17 7 where God says to Abraham I will establish my Covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an Everlasting Covenant to be God to you and to your descendants after you so while there are physical aspects the abrahamic Covenant that we cannot inherit the spiritual aspects we obviously do inherit God says I my Covenant is to be your God the Covenant I’m making the Everlasting Covenant is ultimately to be your God and to be gone to your descendants God says I choose to be your God I choose to reveal myself to you and give you the faith to believe in me and this has nothing to do with your own Merit it’s unilateral Covenant and if we believe in and love Jesus Christ this is what we have inherited Galatians 3 29 makes the connection between us and Abraham very very strong because it says this if you belong to Christ then you are Abraham’s descendants heirs according to promise so Abraham’s descendants do include his spiritual descendants he was a father of many nations not physically but spiritually we are Abraham’s offspring and therefore inheritors of the Covenant of blessing Abraham’s God is our God has unilaterally chosen that for us some other quick clarifications of last week’s lesson we spoke briefly at the end of class about the connection between Abram’s Covenant ceremony and circumcision or Abraham’s Covenant ceremony circumcision and the work of Christ it is right for us to see Christ in circumcision circumcision was not only a sign of God’s unilateral promises to Abram it’s also a picture of the Gospel said a little bit about this last week parts of us according to the gospel must be cut away the cutting way of the outer flesh is really to show our need for our inner selves to be circumcised our hearts must be circumcised the sin there must be cut away but how how can we be circumcised in heart what can accomplish this for us and what does God do with our sin he can’t simply hide it it must be paid for so God’s son himself had to be cut off to make for us new hearts in order to accomplish The Cutting away in our hearts to put to death sin in us and to give us eternal life this is also why we don’t need to circumcise anymore the sign has already found its ultimate fulfillment in Christ and therefore it’s unnecessary like the other pictures of the Old Testament that find their fulfillment in Jesus that being said it’s not accurate to say I think that Abram’s treaty ceremony is a picture of the work of the cross I had said something to the effect last week but on further reflection I want to say something different since the whole point of the ceremony that is walking through the split animals in Genesis 15 is that it’s unilateral not based on Abram’s performance it doesn’t make sense for us to say that God had to suffer the penalty for Abram’s breaking of the Covenant on the cross because the whole point of the ceremony is that this Covenant is unbreakable Abraham can’t do anything to break the Covenant that’s why only God walks through but as we said there is another aspect to it that is Gospel related that is that God takes full responsibility for the Covenant God’s the one who’s totally going to keep it and that’s what he’s done with us as heirs according to the promise through Christ also I wanted to say just to re-emphasize something that we touched on a little bit at the end of last week’s lesson well it is true that some of God’s covenants or agreements with man involve blood and sacrifices not all of them do the davidic Covenant for example where God promises that David’s descendants will sit on the throne of Israel it’s not sealed in blood however anytime there’s a promise related to Cleansing or covering for sin you can be sure that death and blood are involved as Hebrew 9 22 says and according to the law one may almost say all things are cleansed with blood and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness so I wanted to mention those things any comments or questions related to last week’s lesson all right well we turn our attention now to Sodom and Gomorrah Infamous cities described in Genesis understand that this section of Genesis does not merely give us arbitrary details about God judging certain ancient cities they just happened to mention Sodom and Gomorrah and they were destroyed no the example of Sodom and Gomorrah is one to which the Bible is continually going to make reference is going to keep going back to these cities and talking about them or comparing other cities to them Sodom and Gomorrah become bywords names that instantly bring to mind extreme sin and perversion and God’s necessary and holy judgment we must realize however the accounts of these cities and their Doom was given specifically for our instruction so let’s not miss out on what God has for us in this section of Genesis this morning as we learn about the original Sodom and Gomorrah I pray that you will be moved to Godly fear of the one of the Holy Holy One with whom we have to do I also pray that you’ll be moved to Glad thankfulness when you see the loving heart of God that saves his righteous ones from judgment that was my goals for today a lot to share with you so please hold your questions and comments till the end I want to make sure we have enough time let’s pray before we go on Lord God I pray that you would give me the ability to explain clearly and explain well this great section of your scripture Lord I pray that we would see you as more beautiful more lovely more worthy of worship because you are and we just want to behold you rightly in Jesus name amen we’ll be looking at two main sections of scripture today but before we get there I want you to turn your Bibles to Genesis 13.

    it says where Sodom is mentioned I don’t know if it’s the first mentioning but it might be the first mentioning one of the first son has mentioned when Abram and lot are about to split so I want us to read about that if you recall Abram’s servants and lot servants were quarreling because they had gotten so big both of their attachments of servants and livestock have gotten so big that they were beginning to cool with one another about the land so let’s pick up the account in verse 8 of Genesis 13.

    we’ll be down to 13. 13 verses 8 to 13.

    so Abram said to lot please let there be no Strife between you and me nor between my herdsmen and your herdsmen for we are brothers it’s not the whole land before you please separate from me if to the left then I will go to the right or if to the right then I will go to the left lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the Valley of the Jordan that it was well watered everywhere this is before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah like the garden of the Lord like the land of Egypt as you go to Zoar so a lot chose for himself all the Valley of the Jordan and lot journeyed Eastward thus they separated from each other Abram settled in the land of Canaan while lot settled in the cities of the valley and moved his tents as far as Sodom now the Minnesota were Wicked exceedingly and sinners against the Lord all right we’ll stop there some quick observations of this text what land did lot shoot for uh did lot choose for himself that’s right all the Valley of the Jordan all the value of the Jordan what did law notice about this land that made him choose it it was well watered and there’s a number of descriptions about how well water it was like the garden of the Lord like this very well watered section of Egypt but then notice this information set off by dashes right after it says the land was all watered it says this was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah by grammatically inserting this information right after saying the land was well watered what is the author implying yes Julie that’s right something must have changed because that’s a qualifying statement this land was well watered oh by the way this is before the Lord destroyed sodoming implies that something had changed in the area it might not be the same or it’s not the same by the time the Israelites are moving in into that land now what is the Valley of the Jordan well let’s learn a little bit of topography here’s a topographical map of Palestine and hopefully you can see it just a little bit even with the glares the green does not represent vegetation it represents low elevation and the Browns and the yellows that’s higher elevation with white being the highest can you guess where the Jordan Valley is well maybe maybe you’re able to see it but we would want something that looks low elevation where’s the Jordan Valley in relation to the geography of Israel not the left side actually that would be that would be where Abram ends up settling because lot is going to Journey East Jordan Valley is this whole section on the eastern part of Israel this whole section of green I don’t know if you can see it there but it encompasses the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea it’s the whole Eastern section of Israel along the border of Jordan the Jordan Valley today called the Jordan Rift Valley it runs along Israel’s entire eastern border the river the Jordan River begins at the top of the valley above the Sea of Galilee flows into the Sea of Galilee then flows out of the Bottom of the Sea of Galilee towards the Dead Sea where it ends now is the Jordan Valley well watered today like the garden of the lord well let’s take a look at another image hopefully you’re able to see it so there’s the Dead Sea there at the bottom and it’s kind of dark there at the top but would you say that the Jordan Valley is well watered today certainly not all of it right you can’t really see the Sea of Galilee because of the the way the image appears with the projector but it’s nice and green around that’s that section so where’s the Dead Sea though it’s all brown so certainly it’s not well watered and except for maybe one part not well watered today now where exactly are Sodom and Gomorrah then or where were they we don’t know for sure but we do know that it was in this Valley the Jordan Valley and probably somewhere around the Dead Sea archaeologists have suggested a number of different sites for Solomon Gomorrah two in particular one on the Northeast section of the Sea of or the Dead Sea and one in the Southeast section digs in these areas have yielded surprising amounts of Ash layered in the soil huge amounts and bits of pottery that were obviously affected by sudden and intense Heat and morph the pottery in such a way that it wasn’t just like a slow burning heat Source but a sudden flash of heat we’ll talk more about the archeology of these cities and trying to identify where Sodom is in the upcoming Sunday school class this summer but for now just know that Sodom and Gomorrah were probably around the Dead Sea now even before lot sets out for Sodom Moses tells us about the city’s character Sodom was already known as the city of what kind of people extremely sinful it says exceedingly Wicked and sinners against the Lord wait don’t those mean the same thing why the repetition that’s right it’s to show the extreme nature of their sin it’s for emphasis remember repetition in the Old Testament and even the New Testament a lot of times it’s just for emphasis extremely Wicked now let’s jump to Genesis 18. that’s what we’re going to spend the majority of our time the Lord has confirmed his promises to Abram Abraham now in various ways and tells Abraham that the patriarch will have a son through Sarah in one year in the beginning of chapter 18 the Lord himself visits Abraham with two angels this is the Angel of the Lord God himself appears to Abraham God appears as a man we won’t read the beginning section so I’m summarizing it for you God appears as a man and eats a meal that the hospitable Abraham has prepared how can God who is Spirit who later says no one can see my face and live how can he appear to Abram how can he appear as a man how can he even eat something because if you eat real food that means you must have a real body God here has flesh and Bone how’s that possible well many biblical interpreters see this encounter as an example of a theophany or christophany that is this is an appearance of the pre-incarnate Christ this is God’s son meeting with Abraham only the sun is the mediator between God and man therefore it makes sense to see this appearance as the Son of God in a temporary but real human body conversing with Abraham this is Christ now God the son tells Abraham that Abraham will have a son at about this same time next year and then God tells Abraham what God is about to do concerning Sodom and Gomorrah and that’s where I want us to read together look down to verse 16 we’re going to read to verse 33.

    chapter 18 verse 16.

    then the men rose up from there and looked down towards Sodom and Abraham was walking with them to send them off the Lord said shall I hide from Abraham what I’m about to do since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed for I have chosen him that he may command his children in his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and Justice so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what he has spoken about him and the Lord said the outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great and their sin is exceedingly grave I will go down now and see if they have done entirely according to a doubtcry which has come to me and if not I will know then the men turned away from there and went towards Sonam while Abraham was still standing before the Lord Abraham came near and said will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked Suppose there are 50 righteous within the city will you indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the 50 righteous who are in it far be it from you to do such a thing to slay the righteous with the wicked so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike far be it from you shall not the judge of all the Earth deal justly so the Lord said if I find in Sodom 50 righteous person or 50 righteous within the city then I will spare the whole place on their account and Abraham replied Now Behold I have entered to speak to the Lord although I am but dust and Ashes suppose the 50 righteous are lacking five will you destroy the whole city because of five and he said I will not destroy it if I find 45 there I spoke to him yet again and said suppose 40 are found there and he said I will not do it on account the 40. and he said oh may the Lord not be angry and I shall speak suppose 30 are found there and he said I will not do it if I find 30 there and he said now behold I have ventured to speak to the Lord suppose 20 are found there and he said I will not destroy it on account of the 20.

    then he said oh may the Lord not be angry and I shall speak only this once suppose 10 are found there and he said I will not destroy it on account of the ten as soon as he had finished speaking Abraham the Lord departed and Abraham returned to his place let’s start our analysis this passage with some observational questions as he is about to leave Abraham our Lord says something curious shall I hide from Abraham what I’m about to do it’s a rhetorical question no he’s not going to hide from Abraham what he’s about to do what is the reasoning that God mentions for not hiding his plans from Abraham that’s right we see the word since there and we also see the word four so we’re getting some purposes for it I think we can summarize in this way God’s going to reveal his plan to Abraham because God has chosen to bless Abraham says I’ve chosen to make his name great chosen to make him a great nation I’ve chosen to cause him to be righteous I’ve chosen him therefore I’m going to tell him what I’m doing I’ve chosen to bless Abraham therefore I’m going to tell him what I’m doing now what does God say he is about to do what does he specifically say he’s going to do well he’s not speaking so much about the New Covenant right now but that is true Carol that is something that’s going to be expanded on more as we go through the scriptures God’s saying something about Sodom right Sodom and Gomorrah what does God say he’s going to do that’s right it says I’m just going to go and observe it I’ve heard this outcry about their sin I want to go see for it myself see it for myself now when God says this notice the question that Abraham asks will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked God didn’t say he was going to destroy Sodom what has Abraham assumed if he’s asking that question wasn’t he’s assuming that God’s going to find it to be just as bad as he’s hurt just as bad as the outcry is and that judgment will come and therefore he’s going to appeal to God about that judgment when Abraham asked God this question he gives God a theoretical situation Suppose there are 50 righteous people in Sodom will you destroy those 50 righteous along with the wicked by asking this second question Abraham is making an appeal to an aspect of God’s character which aspect I hear Whispering it what is it his his Mercy may be a little bit related but specifically his Justice right because he says at the end of that that appeal shall not the judge of the all the Earth deal justly it’s not right for you to treat the righteous and the wicked are right the same that would be unjust but you are just God God says back when he says will you destroy 50 righteous along with all the wicked he says I won’t if there are 50 righteous in the city I will not destroy anyone in the city I’m not sure where the city at all but Abraham doesn’t stop there he asks about the same situation with slightly less people starting at 45 and 40 and 30 eventually getting down to what number 10.

    asked to fill withhold judgment on the whole city for the sake of just 10 God says he will withhold judgment you will not destroy anyone if there are 10 righteous people there at this Abram says no more and the Lord departs let’s ask some more interpretive questions Why does Abraham make these requests on behalf of Sodom if Sodom is such a wicked City certainly that has to be part of it that has to be part of it or perhaps the main part of it that he knows his nephew lie it lives in Sada he’s concerned about his nephew I think you can also make the argument that he has compassion on the people of Sodom he’s interacted with some of them before remember when he went to rescue lot he also rescued some of the I think the people in property of Sodom and there’s just a sympathy for those people you can make that argument but certainly Abraham is concerned about lot after all he did rescue a lot before so this is not something he’s like oh it’s my relative whatever no he cares about a lot and at the end of this account at the end of chapter 19 and at this account of uh Sodom that’s not the end of the chapter of 19. but the end of this account about Sodom it says this it came about when God destroyed the cities of the valley that God remembered Abraham and sent lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which lot lived so that verse tells you why God Saves lot it’s because of Abraham it’s because God has a covenant with Abraham because God listens to Abraham’s intercession and therefore he saves lot so Abraham cares about lot and therefore he makes intercession for the city of Sodom now God says the reason he will visit Sodom is to see if the outcry he has heard about the city is accurate but we know that God is omniscient he does not need to personally visit anything to know about the place so why does God then want to personally visit Sodom what’s the point what will God accomplish with a personal visit certainly on the one hand it’s about lot because we’re going to see as we read the next section it’s a very personal rescue it’s a very compassionate and tender Rescue of lot in his family but also what we see God doing here is very consistent with the way that God tests the way that God tests people even when we talked about job remember we said I’m gonna or it looked like from the outside perhaps that God is testing job to see what job would do but God already knows what job would do but what does he accomplished by testing people he shows that person and he shows anyone around that person what’s really in their hearts so God is going to do something similar with Sodom by personally visiting the City by personally showing everyone what’s really going on in Sodom people will know just how Wicked the city is well they’ll know whether it’s wicked and just how bad now Abraham asserts that God does not treat the righteous and the wicked alike that’s the whole basis of his appeal but isn’t that true does God treat the righteous and the wicked alike or is that untrue what do you think yeah really right there are certain Graces that he does give to everyone right but there are also certain things that he only does for the righteous so in answering this question though there is an aspect yes where God is going to do the same for everyone it is true that God does not treat the righteous and the wicked alike in fact that was one of the central questions of the Book of Job that’s why job was up in arms he’s like I don’t understand God is punishing the righteous but he’s letting the wicked go unpunished that doesn’t make sense to me it’s true that God does provide good things for both the righteous and the wicked it’s also true that both the righteous and the wicked will experience hardships in this world it’s true that God gives everyone or god holds everyone in the earth accountable for turning to him believing in him repenting obeying God but God does not treat the righteous and the Wicked the same as Proverbs says God is opposed to the proud yet gives grace to the humble that’s a big distinction right the proud I’m going to oppose them I’m treating them differently than I treat the humble now we may not always see how God is opposing the proud or how God is giving grace to the humble but we know that he is this was the lesson of job or one of the lessons this principle is even clearer when it comes to the Judgment of God Abraham asserts it would be contrary to God’s character to sweep away the righteous along with the wicked in judgment and that is completely true in fact we see that principle on display many times in the scriptures where’s another place where God brings judgment but he makes a distinction between the righteous and the wicked where else do we see that in the Bible the flood right very clear example God doesn’t say well the whole world’s Wicked and sorry no I just have to get rid of you too no he says I’m going to protect Noah I’m going to take the righteous man I’m going to take his family I’m going to preserve them from this judgment and I’m gonna destroy everyone else what’s another example can you give you a more specific explanation ah great that’s a great example so we talked about Caleb and Joshua and the Israelites in the wilderness remember the spies go into the land they bring back a bad report but Caleb and Joshua say no come on we got the Lord on our slide we can go take this land but the Israelites don’t listen to them and they refuse to go into the promised land so God judges Israel he says I will not let any of you go into the promised land except Caleb and Joshua didn’t say sorry guys the rest of your group they messed up so you can’t go in either he says no you were righteous I will not curse you with this judgment you will go into the land but not the rest of the Israelites we see other examples Rahab and Jericho right we hear about rahab’s faith later in the New Testament she’s not destroyed along with the rest of people she and her family are specifically preserved because she believed in the Lord or the plagues of Egypt right God judges the Egyptians but he withholds those judgments from the Israelites makes a distinction doesn’t send those plagues on the Israelites even when the Israel or Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians and the Babylonians and you have these righteous prophets who are appealing to God to bring Israel to repentance God says no I have to judge Israel but I will preserve you even in the New Testament we have the parable of the wheat and the tares right the explanation of that Parable the Believers the tares there the sons of the devil and you have these Farmers or these these sermons Servants of the farmer who say oh do you want us to go gather the tears somebody put them in your in your farm he wants to gather them up get rid of them he says no why not don’t gather the tears yeah Rob why not why can’t they do that exactly exactly says you might accidentally rip up some of the wheat I will not let that happen let them both grow together and then I will take the wheat first gather that preserve that and then I will destroy the tears and then we also see this in the end times even in the last days in the days of tribulation we see this principle listen to Listen to Revelation 3 verse 10 this is spoken to the faithful Church of Philadelphia God says Christ says because you have kept the word of my perseverance I also will keep you from the hour of testing the hour which is about to come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the Earth furthermore Revelation 18 Verses 4 and 5 this is God speaking about his judgment on Babylon the wicked City and its Wicked system God says this in Verses 4 and 5 of chapter 18. I heard another voice from Heaven saying come out of her my people so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues for her sins are piled up as high as heaven and God has remembered her iniquities so this is the just character of God indeed far be it from God to sweep away the righteous with the wicked in judgment he is too good for that he is too just for that again and again in the scriptures we see God makes a distinction between the righteous and the wicked especially in judgment he will not destroy the righteous along with the wicked and then if as if it weren’t clear enough there’s that section of scripture from second Peter which we’ve looked at before remember that section of false teachers it mentions the angels in the days of Noah who sinned and then also mentioned Sodom and Gomorrah second Peter 2 4-10 at the very end of that section after talking about how God judges those Wicked Angels Wicked people but preserve Noah and preserve lot it says this this is verse 9.

    then the Lord knows how to rescue The Godly from Temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment and especially those who indulge the Flesh and its corrupt desires and despise Authority that’s amazing I think that just shows the great heart of God he is faithful to make a distinction between the righteous and the wicked especially in judgment now someone might say well what about the Christians who get killed along with unbelievers in natural disasters didn’t God treat them the same way there didn’t he allow both the perish and a judgment well I understand as I’ve already said I’m not saying that God never allows harm or hardship to come to come to Believers he does but we know it’s for good and glorious purposes Romans 8.

    but we we cannot say what is and what is not a judgment of God unless God specifically tells us you can’t look at a natural disaster or somebody losing in a war and say God is judging that Nation you don’t have the ability to say that I’ve said before and I want to say again we must understand God does not communicate his approval or disapproval of us at all through circumstances he only communicates it he communicates to us through scriptures otherwise we would never know what God was really saying because sometimes the righteous are being tested with trials sometimes the wicked are being granted merciful provisions if they simply look at circumstances they wouldn’t know what God really thought if the scripture identifies something as a specific Act of judgment you can be sure in that judgment God will be careful not to sweep the righteous away along with the wicked anyways that’s important principle I wanted us not to miss that but back to Genesis 18.

    one other question what is with this drawn out request from Abraham to God I mean as you listen to it maybe some of you started to laugh because it seems a little bit silly verse 15 then 45 and then 40 Abraham is so so hesitant to speak and perhaps it even sounds a bit tedious couldn’t Moses would just skip to the end go to the end of the interception where Abraham intercession where Abraham asked God what would he do if there were 10 righteous in the city but that’s not the way that God wanted to record what happened God wanted God wanted us to see each step of the intercession 50 then 45 then 40 then 30 then 20 then 10.

    why well think about cities putting the estimates from secular historians and archaeologists of City sizes around 2000 BC but to be around where this episode is taking place between 2000 and 1900 BC cities are thought to have ranged in population from about 10 000 to about 65 000 people now that could be wrong but that’s what modern estimates are ten thousand to sixty five thousand people depending on the location what does it say about such a city ten thousand sixty five thousand people if that City only contains 50 righteous persons not 50 people who say they believe in God but 50 actually righteous people who love God and Obey him what does that say about the city it’s pretty wicked that’s pretty wicked I mean even if there are only ten thousand people and there were 50 righteous that is less than one percent but if it’s more than that thirty thousand forty five thousand people then that looks even more wicked that city is Thoroughly apostate and corrupt what does it say about God however if he chooses to spare such a city for the sake of 50 righteous people what’s that Roy extremely merciful wow he’s going to spare the whole city he’s not gonna put any judgment he’s going to stay patient exceedingly with the whole city just because there are 50 righteous people there that is so merciful so merciful of God but then you drop that number by five if you drop that number by five how does the city seem now there are only 45 righteous people in the city it’s extremely Wicked but even more wicked than before say there’s not even 50 there’s only 45.

    it’s even more wicked than it was but on the flip side how does God appear if he spares the city for the sake of 45 then it’s even more merciful and so on same with 40 same with 30 and each number down it’s like with each new threshold the character of Sodom appears darker and darker while the righteousness of God Appears brighter and brighter it’s almost like the audience can’t believe what they’re hearing they’re like wow I couldn’t believe that he would do it for 50. but for 45 for 30 that doesn’t even make sense to me I have to hold your comment to the end sorry by the time we get to 10 we should be beside ourselves at the climactic mercy of God in the face of utter wickedness 10 righteous people in the midst of a whole city of tens ten thousand or sixty five thousand God will spare all of them just for the sake of that ten that’s ridiculous or it may seem that the way but it’s actually just amazing it’s the amazing mercy of God I think that’s what’s going on here well let’s see what happens God has made this promise to Abraham if I find 10 righteous I won’t destroy the city but let’s see what God actually finds let’s look at chapter 19.

    I will read verses 1 to 29.

    starting in verse one now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom one lot saw them he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground and he said now behold my Lord’s please turn aside from into your servant’s house and spend the night and wash your feet then you may rise early and go on your way they said however no but we shall spend the night in the Square yet he urged them strongly so they turned aside to him and entered his house and he prepared A Feast for them and baked unleavened bread and they ate before they lay down the men of the city the Minnesota surrounded the house both young and old all the people from every quarter and they called to lot and said to him where are the men who came to you tonight bring them out to us that we may have relations with them but lot went out to them at the doorway and shut the door behind him and said please my brothers do not act wickedly Now Behold I have two daughters that have not had relations with man please let me bring them out to you and do to them whenever you like only do nothing to these men and as much they has they have come under the shelter of my roof they said stand aside furthermore they said this one came in as an alien and already he is acting like a judge now we will treat you worse than them they pressed hard against lot and came near to break the door but the men reached out their hands hands and brought lot into the house with them and shut the door they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness both small and great so that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway then the two men said to lot whom else have you here a son-in-law and an and your sons and your daughters and whomever you have in the city bring them out of the place for we are about to destroy this place because their outcry has become so great before the Lord that the Lord has sent us to destroy it lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who were to marry his daughters and said up get out of this place for the Lord will destroy the city but he appeared to his sons-in-law to be jesting on morning dawn the Angels urged lot saying up take your wife and your two daughters who are here or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city but he hesitated so the men seized his hand and the Hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters for the compassion of the Lord was upon him and they brought him out and put him outside the city when they had brought him outside one said Escape for your life do not look behind you and do not stay anywhere in the valley except to the escape to the mountains or you will be swept away but lot said to them oh no my lords Now Behold your servant has found favor in your sight and you have magnified your loving kindness which you have shown me by saving my life but I cannot escape to the mountains for the disaster will overtake me and I will die now behold this town is near enough to flee to and it is small please let me escape there is it not small and my life may be saved he said to them or he said to him behold I grant you this request also not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken hurry Escape there for I cannot do anything until you arrive there therefore the name of that town was called Zoar the sun had risen over the earth when lot came to Zoar then the Lord reigned on Sodom and Gomorrah Brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven and he overthrew those cities and all the valley and all the inhabitants of the cities and what grew on the ground but his wife from behind him looked back she became a pillar of salt now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord and he looked down towards Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley and he saw and behold the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace thus it came about when God destroyed the cities of the valley that God remembered Abraham and sent lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which lot lived okay a long section we don’t have time to look at it in all its detail but let’s note a few aspects what details in this account show the pervasive wickedness what’s one detail yeah Julie yeah questions right that’s a that’s a good observation Julie I think indirectly it shows that they’ve had a bad influence on lot because that’s certainly a wrong thing to do a lot you should not be trying to appease them with your daughters but it also shows just how insistent they are because he said there’s no way I can satisfy them maybe I can halt them a little bit by giving my daughters to them what else what else shows their great wickedness yeah Danny yeah you think like you’ve just been struck blind doesn’t that mean something to you but no they’re they’re too too into their lust what else there are a number of other details as well I mean their sin is so manifold they are adulterous lusters they are going after someone who is not their spouse and looking for sexual fulfillment they desire to commit homosexual acts they desire to rape they resent being rebuked by lot they threaten a lot with even worse treatment than what they have planned for the Angels and the whole city is represented in this mob and we can’t say it’s literally every person in the city because job sons-in-law are not there and that’s not the sense that’s that’s meant here but people from every section of the city every quarter every age group every social station have surrounded the house and made these perverse demands and as Danny said even when struck blind they still try to try so hard to get in and then speaking out of the mob but just the job Sons not Job Lots sons-in-law they won’t believe lot when he says the Lord is going to destroy the city no I don’t think so you gotta be joking thoroughly thoroughly Wicked God wants us to see that but what other details in this account show God’s overwhelming Mercy to lot yeah Roy yeah yeah that is such a beautiful picture of God’s intimate care they take a lot and his wife and his daughters by the hand and lead them out of the city when lot hesitates what else yeah they say go get your relatives go get all the people that you love and that you care about and tell them to get out of the city in many ways that they’re they and God through them are being merciful and kind they one lot they want a lot of the Judgment they rescue a lot from the mob by pulling him inside the house and striking the people with blindness and they urge a lot three times to leave the city and when he won’t they take him with their own hands and then when lot requests to flee to a small town instead of the mountains they Grant him that request how many righteous people turn out to be in the whole city of Sodom I wouldn’t say zero because we have in the New Testament that that lot is confirmed as a righteous man but probably just one you might be able to argue four because they say well what about his wife and his daughters but they don’t actually show very righteous Behavior Lot’s wife turns into a pillar of assault the daughters don’t do anything here but in the next section they’re essentially going to rape their father we do see a lot acting righteously yes he stumbles too but he is showing Hospitality to the angels He wants to protect them from the men of the city he rebukes the men in the city for their wickedness he seeks to save his sons-in-law’s lives so in the New Testament lot is commended as righteous but we don’t see that for anyone else the city of sun was more wicked than could possibly Be Imagined not even 10 righteous there was one and yet even though God said I Must Destroy the city says I will preserve my righteous I will get him out of the city I will rescue him God showed himself faithful to his promise into his own character not to treat the righteous and the wicked alike now some may object that it was cruel for God to judge Sodom and Gomorrah this way not just then the surrounding cities of the valley he obliterated them with fire killed them all some claim this is inconsistent with a god of love a god of goodness he would never punish anyone with death or hell my God would never do that well how do we respond to such a claim foreign yes God is a God of Justice and he shows his Justice and his great anger over sin his wrath and it would be unjust it would show God to be deficient in character if he did not act in judgment God is too good and we said this about the flood but just to remind you God is too good to let rampant wickedness go it injures his great heart to see men and women harming one another continually and all the way that sin harms people for God to sit down Alibi and to do nothing would be so unloving however God is the judge of the universe what judge will retain any sense of Honor if when confronted with the great crimes of evil he gives a light punishment an inadequate punishment or even no punishment at all if human judges were to do that what would we do with that if they gave an inadequate punishment or no punishment what would we do with those human those human judges what that’s right we get rid of them we say you’re no longer going to be a judge or maybe they go to jail you have transgressed how much more God the perfect judge shall not the judge of all the Earth deal justly just as Abraham says two final points we all have heard about Sodom and we’ve just read the account again but how do we compare to Sodom are we better are we just as bad we might say well I never tried to rape anybody I never tried to commit homosexual acts I must be better right well before we can answer accurately that question of how we compare to Sanam we need to ask are all the sins the same before God for our sun sins some sins worse than others well the answer to that question is yes don’t be confused they’re both true all the sins in one sense are the same before God and yet in another sense they are not the same I’ll start with the latter one first on the one hand not all sins are the same before God in the Old Testament law makes us abundantly clear some transgressions required sacrifices and reparations to the harmed individual other offenses require death you did certain sins you would be put to death doesn’t matter if you want to offer sacrifice it doesn’t matter if you want to pay money no it must be put to death different sins require different punishments this can only be that because some sins are worse than others or listen to this specifically from numbers 15. numbers 15 verses 27 to 31.

    we see another distinction it says also if one person sins unintentionally then he shall offer a one-year-old female goat for a sin offering priest shall make atonement before the Lord for the person who goes astray when he sins unintentionally making atonement for him that he may be forgiven you shall have one law for him who does anything unintentionally for him who is native among the sons of Israel and for the alien who sojourns among them but the person who does anything defiantly whether he’s a native or an alien that one is blaspheming the Lord and that person shall be cut off from among his people because he has despised the word of the Lord and has broken his Commandment that person shall be completely cut off his guilt will be on him so the distinction there unintentional versus defiant sins both sins and then Jesus says this in the New Testament Luke chapter 12 verses 47 to 48.

    and that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will will receive many lashes but the one who did not know it and committed Deeds worthy of a flogging will receive but few from everyone who has been given much much will be required and to whom to whom they entrusted much of him they will ask all them all so sins do indeed differ in sinfulness rape is worse than lust sex with an animal is worse than heterosexual sex before marriage sacrificing your children to molec is worse than disciplining them in anger hearing God’s word and then disobeying God is worse than disobeying without hearing God’s word I don’t think we can come up with a precise hierarchy of the severity of sins but no that some sins are indeed worse than others so that’s on the one hand on the other hand lest we think that those lesser sins even what we might think of as respectable sins that they’re not a big deal to God and therefore not important for us to repent of or put to death it’s also true that all sins are the same and go outside all sins are a statement that God is not the treasure worthy of your entire devotion all sin no matter how small they are idolatry they all cause us to fall short of God’s standard of perfection they all make us law Breakers they all carry the same penalty Eternal death in hell gossiping about your boss will send you to hell just as much as murder will complaining about your children merits Hellfire just as much as incest living materialistically without thought of God will condemn you just as much as dedicating your life to blaspheming God and destroying his church James 2 10 for whoever keeps the whole law against stumbles in one point he has to become guilty of all sin is serious before God all sin must be repented of whether that sin is overlooked by Society or condemned by Society any sin will kill you unless that sin was already paid for when Christ was killed on the cross so these two principles operate together some sins are worse than others though all sins are an infinite affront to God therefore while the sentence for any whose sin is Hell forever the severity of that suffering in hell will depend on what kind and quantity of sins they committed both principles are together it’s also true of the flip side as a side note when it comes to the believer’s reward and one sense we all get the same thing another sense we get according to our works we all have eternity with Christ but we will receive greater or less rewards depending on how we labored for the Lord on Earth but let’s get back to our original question how do we compare to Sodom personally communally as a country and one sense we know that we are the same we are the same as Sodom you are just as much law Breakers as they were and we deserve the same punishment it’s only by God’s mercy and saving us and calling us out from the city of Destruction as John Bunyan puts it in Pilgrim’s Progress that we can have any hope when speaking of God’s grace and salvation Paul quotes in Romans he quotes Isaiah 1 verses 9 to 10 which reads unless the Lord of hosts had left us a few survivors we would be like Sodom we would be like Gamora unless we become Heirs of Abraham unless God unilaterally chooses to be our God to reveal himself to us to bless us to choose to love us and to care for us we perish like Harlem be glad that you have such a kind God that you are an heir of the Covenant of Abraham if indeed you are on the other hand our sin is different from Sodom perhaps we are not as sinful but I think it’s more likely that we’re worse can you say what how’s that possible we read it all those details it’s so explicitly Wicked how could we be worse it may seem hard to imagine a more wicked place than Sodom but listen to what God says to Israel and Lamentations 4 6.

    This is Jeremiah speaking for the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom which was overthrown as in a moment and no hands were turned toward her how could Israel be worse than Sodom how could they have committed even greater perversions well they did commit a lot of perversions but I think the real reason is this they were God’s special people a people likened to God as his bride and they turn against God and adulterated themselves with other guys they took God’s blessings and they used them as a way to serve the other gods that’s such a great affront they’ve been given so much goodness from God the rejection of God was all the more heinous Israel was worse than Sodom and this is like Jesus what he says to Capernaum and Matthew 11 23 and you capronium you will not be exalted to heaven will you you will descend to Hades for if the Miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you it would have remained to this day nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you Jesus’s own Hometown a place which he ministered and did many miracles it’s worse than Sodom they probably didn’t have the rampant perversity that we saw in Genesis 19 and yet it was worse than Sana why it can only be because the kingdom of God had so obviously appeared among them the light of God has so directly shown upon them through God’s son and they despised him so let us consider our own State then how many blessings do we enjoy from God in this country how prevalent and available is the Gospel of Jesus in our country and yet how great is our communal rebellion and perversion in this country how greatly is sin celebrated in our society despite all the blessings we have we should also examine ourselves personally how much generosity has gone shown you in your life allowing you to enjoy life have friends receive Cove receive Comfort have some measure of good health how often has he made his word available to you by giving you the Bible by being as part of this church and in spite of all that do you still refuse to repent of certain sin habits do you still think of them as too insignificant in God’s sight to Warrant serious mortification or repentance do you still refuse to take God himself as your great treasure preferring the other things of the world as Hebrew 23 says and we would be do well to take this to Heart how will we escape if we neglect so great a Salvation God is too good and too just to not justly judge sin especially the vast wickedness of continuing to Rebel when God has given you and made available to you the sweet Treasure of his son so we should examine ourselves but if you adore Christ this morning Rejoice God himself has rescued you from Sodom just like he rescued lot God has led you by the hand and caused you to do that which you were unable to do he is your compassionate Savior and he has made himself your God that’s all the time we have for today bye let’s look at our memory verse again if you have other comments or questions please see me afterwards next week we talk about Abraham and Isaac here’s our memory verse please read it with me I have two or three weeks more to memorize this verse well start reading together and he has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the Earth and as determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings so that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they might grope for him and find him if he is not far from each one of us let’s pray God you are so great all of you are so merciful we see it displayed to a lot into Abraham and yet God we know it is also being displayed to us you have brought us out of Sodom you have unilaterally chosen to reveal and bless yourself to us we did nothing to deserve it and God you just have lavished your care on us lavish your compassion on us Lord thank you thank you for being so lovely thank you for loving us Lord it cause us to love you more help us understand these truths so that we are provoked to just great love of you oh Lord I pray God I know I don’t want people to feel bad when they don’t need to I don’t want them to think they haven’t repented when they have yeah God I pray that we would that each person here anyone who listens to this message will seriously consider their own Hearts before you whether they have slipped into thinking that some sins don’t matter that’s not a big deal oh Lord I pray that we would put all those things off so that we can just enjoy you totally bless the rest of the service today amen

  • God’s Covenant with Abram

    God’s Covenant with Abram

    In this lesson, we look at God’s reiterations of His covenant with Abram. Specifically, we examine the covenant ceremony of Genesis 15, the covenant sign in Genesis 17, and then the covenant commentary in the New Testament. Abram emerges as an example of and the father of those who believe God and are counted righteous.

    Auto Transcript

    Note: This rough transcript was automatically generated by YouTube’s AI algorithm. We provide it here for your convenience, but know it will surely contain errors as it has not been proofread or edited by a human.

    talk about God’s calling of Abram why did God call Abram we took some time to examine that question last week why did god called abram did abram deserve it Roy right so you’re right there are a lot of things involved God’s glorious purposes and bringing about Redemption and a messiah those are connected with God’s calling out Abraham but why Abram specifically well just please God to do so there was nothing in Abraham there’s he had no merit that cause gone to call him it was just God’s grace you said that Roy God showed his grace to Abram that’s why he calling him nepalese gone to do so you’re just going to be generous to Abram now God first called Abram in the chaldean city of Ur and then later in Iran where did God say Abram would go would you say Craig he would go away he didn’t actually say specifically where he was going at first the memory Hebrews tells us that Abram did not know where he was going when he first went out but eventually he would arrive in Canaan God would have to bring him there though show him that land a why did Abram obey God he believes God right he believed God’s promises he had faith in God and that faith was given to him by God in which city does Abram eventually settle trick question it wasn’t settle anywhere right he does survive in Canaan but he keeps moving around he never settles in any City remember he actually recognized himself to be according to Hebrews what kind of person on the earth a sojourner or an exile or a stranger so he dwelled in tents as if in a foreign land and though abran was going to struggle and grow in faith what did he fundamentally believe in and look forward to above all else he did believe the promises of God regarding and making him a great nation and make him give him a great name but what did he look forward to above everything else yes Danielle that’s right the city that has foundations his own country a heavenly country the city where God dwells that’s what Abram was looking towards and that’s what he waited for like Abram we too must recognize that we simply dwell in tents in a foreign land if we want to be happy if you want to be wise we must look to the city that has foundations we must set our minds on things above we must seek God as our reward and if we do just like Hebrew says God will not be ashamed to be called our God and indeed he will prepare a place for us just as he did for Abram questions or comments on what we talked about last week what we saw last week that Abram was given many promises related to the earth to those promises included I will make of you a great nation and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed but there’s a big problem with these promises and it had to do with Sarah what did we learn about Sarah I in Genesis 11 and 12 yeah Eric that’s right she was barren she had no children how could such promises about being a great nation in all families of the earth being blessed through Abram how could that be fulfilled when Abram and his wife had no child time keeps on passing and there’s still no child coming Abram and Sarai get older and older where is god and his promises is God really being faithful well God is going to speak to Abram once again and encourage Abram about God’s faithfulness in Genesis 15 and 17 God formalizes his promise to Abram as a covenant or treating but as we shall see this unique covenant not only shows the compassionate and faithful character of God it also points to the life-giving work of Christ on the cross for sinners so that’s what we’re going to investigate more specifically today here’s our outline well look at Genesis 15 and the covenant ceremony then we’ll look at Genesis 17 and the Covenant sign and then we’ll finish by investigating the new testament commentary on Abraham his covenant and saving faith let’s pray before we go on O God Creator God our Father I pray let you to give me the ability to explain your word now God helped me to communicate it accurately with their proper weight and in the proper way and help us to understand it and apply it open their ears and their eyes Lord speak to us through your word in jesus name amen let’s start by turning to Genesis 15 if you could open your Bibles there we’re going to read the whole chapter Genesis 15 to give you some context I want me to summarize what’s taking place between where we last were and where we’re going right now after Abraham through Canaan a famine forced Abram to seek sustenance in Egypt there because his wife was so beautiful he pretended that Sarah was his sister and not his wife so Pharaoh took the beautiful sir I as his wife God however graciously protected sarah and Abram from tragedy and when the matter became known the couple were sent away from Egypt in peace and with more wealth when Abram returned to Canaan he and his nephew lot parted ways since the land could not sustain both of their great possessions lot moved near Sodom and was later captured during a war between some of the local kings Abram gathered his warriors and his allies and fought to rescue lot Abram was victorious and lot lots family and all of lots possessions were restored this brings us to chapter 15 now let’s follow along starting at verse 1 after these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in division saying do not fear Abram I am a shield to you your reward shall be very great Abram said o Lord God what will you give me since I am childless then the air of my house is Eliezer of Damascus and Abram said since you have given no offspring to me one born in my house is my heir then behold the word of the Lord came to him saying this man will not be your heir but one who will come forth from your own body he shall be your heir and he took him outside and said now look toward the heavens and count the stars if you’re able to count them and he said him so shall your descendants be then he believed in the Lord and he reckoned it to him as righteousness and he said to him i am the lord who brought you out of ear of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess it he said o Lord God how may I know that I will possess it so he said to him bring me a three year old heifer and a three year old female goat and a three year old ram and a Turtledove and a young pigeon then he brought all these to him and cut them into and laid each half opposite the other but he did not cut the birds the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses and Abram drove them away now when the Sun was going down a deep sleep fell upon Abram and behold terror and great darkness fell upon him God said to Abram know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in the land that is not theirs or they will be enslaved and oppressed 400 years but i will also judge the nation whom they will serve and afterward they will come out with many possessions as for you you shall go to your father’s in peace you will be buried at a good old age and in the fourth generation they will return here for the iniquity of the amorite is not yet complete I came about when the Sun had set that it was very dark and behold there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces on that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram saying to your descendants I have given this land from the river of Egypt as far as the great river the river Euphrates the key night and the kenda site and the Kadim and I and the hittite and the parasite and the ref aim and the amorite and the Canaanite and the Gurgeh shite and the jebusite all right that ends the chapter and that’s what we’re stopped that’s what we’ll stop our reading it’s a long section and we have another long section to read a little bit later so we won’t have time to observe everything that there is to observe in this passage however we do want to observe some things before we interpret or ask interpreter questions we’re focusing specifically on details related to God’s covenant with Abram how does God speak to Abram here yes that’s right in a vision how does God identify himself he says I am what he calls himself the Lord he does do that in the passage but the first thing he says is I am your shield I am a shield to you now some translations also attribute the second phrase to God as well where it reads your reward is very great the NIV the king james version and the new king james version up version all say I am your very great reward how does Abram respond to the repetition of God’s promise of blessing as God says to Abram some of the things he’s already said how does Abram respond as you say thanks God I’m glad you told me again he’s going to ask specifically for assurance but he brings up an issue yes that’s right he says I I don’t understand if you don’t remember God I don’t have a kid I don’t have a child Abram My Mind’s God that Abram has no child and he says Eliezer of Damascus is my heir and Eleazar would be an adopted air not somebody that actually was from Abraham’s family or his own child in response God says Abraham’s air will not be this Eleazar but will come from Abraham’s own body furthermore God gives Abram a picture of Abraham’s descendants what is the picture yeah danielle that’s right let’s go outside and look the stars you want a picture of the descendants that i’m going to give you go up and look at the stars and see if you can number them speaking of numbering the stars at one time man thought he could number the stars early astronomers attempted to do just that but technology has opened our eyes to our absolute inability to do this according to astronomers say today they’re about 10,000 stars visible to the naked eye but according to but when will you space tells Cope’s and other resources we can observe about 100 billion stars in just our galaxy do you know how many galaxies we estimate there are according to Hubble and other estimates based on our observation about 100 billion galaxies but that number is expected to increase as our technology advances and we’re able to observe more galaxies in the universe so that’s a lot of stars and I don’t think we’ll ever finish counting them in response to this direction to number the stars to try and see if you can count the stars the text says Abram believed the Lord Abram believed in Yahweh and he that’s God reckoned it to him as righteousness now what does the term reckoned mean imputed would be another good word counted assigned to God counted it to Abram as righteousness he imputed it to Abram as righteousness gun also reminds Abram of God’s promise to give Abram and his descendants the land of Canaan but what does a broom asked for in response Craig you mentioned this before he wants assurance he wants proof he wants a sign how will I know that you will give me this in reply God commands Abram to bring five specific animals and cut three of them in half Abram does this and he lays the pieces apart from each other then Abram weights and darkness soon falls and what happens as night comes to things happen yeah Danielle if also sleep and what does he have he has a the Lord is going to speak more to him but it says terror and great darkness fell upon him so a nightmare or some sort of terror in his sleep and in that God reveals to him the timing of Abraham’s descendants inheriting the land or something regarding the timing God promises that Abrams descendants will be oppressed as slaves in a foreign land for about 400 years before that land is plundered and judged in the Hebrews returned to possess the land but why such a long wait according to the text that’s right it says for the iniquity of the amorite is not yet complete so there are some their God is being patient with the people group that lives in Canaan one of the people groups are perhaps that’s representative of all of them being patient with them but that patience is going to run out at a certain time this is all part of god’s glorious purposes to judge the people who are in the land and then give it to Abraham’s descendants but it’s not yet the time Abraham’s told that he will die in peace his descendants will come and take the land so there’s that there’s the revealing of that through the terror and darkness this dream is vision this nightmare to Abram but then something else happens in the darkness what else happens yes this may seem very strange to us at first a smoking oven and a flaming torch appear and pass through the cut pieces of animals okay in the final section of this chapter a God tells Abram about the borders of the land his descendants will be given it says from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates de león currently occupied by a number of people groups we know what the Euphrates River is that Tigris and Euphrates are the two rivers that go through the eastern section in the Middle East but what is meant by the river of Egypt we might think that that refers to the Nile since the Nile is the principal river of Egypt however the Hebrew word used for Niall is different than the word used here hear the word for river is nahar well every of every other time in the Pentateuch when the text is obviously referring to the Nile it’s a different word it’s the word yeah or the river of Egypt then referred to here probably refers to something different than the Nile or the main body of the Nile and may refer to a now non-existent branch of the Nile which actually float a little bit further east in Egypt to the city of Pelusium on the border of the Sinai Peninsula so if you can imagine where Africa meets the Middle East this branch of the Nile would go right to almost where they split before the Sinai Peninsula so could be furring to that as the river or the brook of Egypt another possibility is that the river of Egypt is the wadi I’ll lrish now Wadi case you are not familiar that term it refers to a ravine or a riverbed that’s normally dry but flows with water during an area’s rainy season so it’s like a river that’s not there all the time and the wadi al Irish would have flowed in the northeast section of the Sinai Peninsula emptying into the Mediterranean at the modern city of a reach so if you think about Middle East in Africa again the Sinai Peninsula the very northeast section of it would be the end of the wadi el arish so how does this compare to Israel’s modern borders it would be slightly beyond the southern border of where Israel is today that Wadi that that temporary river would have flown a little bit further from where moderns Yisrael southern border actually is now Israel never actually fully occupy the territory from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates but listen to this description from 2nd chronicles 926 we actually read this recently Solomon was the ruler of all the kinks from the Euphrates River even to the land of the Philistines as far as the border of Egypt actually this designation of the border or the brook or the river of Egypt to the Euphrates appears a number of times in the Old Testament here’s another place in Isaiah 27 context here is the future promise to Israel as a 27 verses 12 to 15 it says in that day the Lord will start his threshing from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt and you will be gathered up one by one o sons of Israel it would come about also in that day that a great trumpet will be blown and those who are perishing in the land of Assyria and who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord and the holy mountain at Jerusalem so this term is actually going to be very important for the rest the Old Testament this description of the river of Egypt to the Euphrates all right let’s put these observations together and answer some interpretive questions related to the Covenant what was the point of God telling Abram to try to number the stars you didn’t actually mean for able to go count them right see if you can count them yeah eric right yeah even if even though there are only stars visible to the naked eye that the idea is it’s uncountable Abram you won’t be able to count them God’s when he says see if you can count them he knows that Abram can’t so he’s just saying that’s the number of the Senate’s you’re going to have its uncountable another question does Abram sin against God when he asks God for a sign when he asked God for assurance is the expressing doubt in God by doing so this is a difficult question to answer you know that in one place when someone has asked for a sign he has definitely rebuked Zacharias in the Gospel of Luke right Gabriel says you’re gonna have a kid he says how will I know this for certain and then he’s rebuked he says you’ll be mute because you did not believe what I was going what I was telling you so and also Jesus when he was ministering to the people of his day he rebuked the unbelieving Jews for continually asking him for signs on the other hand many people in the Bible including Abram here are not rebuked for asking for a sign in fact in one place Isaiah 7 God actually commands a wicked king of Judah King Ahaz to ask God for a sign says ask ask him for a sign even the most outrageous sign asked God for it and the guy says oh no I won’t test the Lord like that he was feigning piety certainly God is never obligated to give signs or proofs that what he says will come to pass but he does often grant a request for a sign out of compassion and out of a desire to show himself more glorious as an e2 but he often does grant that request I’m reminded of what the writer of Hebrews says about Psalm 110 4 in this Psalm we hear this the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek now did God need to swear when pronouncing Jesus to be a priest of a different lineage couldn’t God just declare it when that have been enough it would have but as the writer of Hebrews puts it and this is now Hebrew 6 17 18 in the same way God desiring even more to show to the heirs of promise the unchangeable pneus of his purpose interposed with an oath so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us so we see something similar happening happening for Abram here it’s difficult to say whether he is asking out of doubt or whether he’s just making a request but God is being compassionate in responding and in granting Abraham’s request our Abraham’s request now what is the point of cutting up these animals separating them and the torch and oven passing through what is that all about yes Craig right it says that this is a ceremony that confirms and shows the ratification of a covenant Abram was not confused as to what was going on he was preparing for this treaty ceremony that was customary in his time just as we have some of those today two people might shake hands to indicate their commitment to a promise or the bride and groom when they get married they exchanged vows and rings in front of witnesses to show their commitment to their marriage to their covenant there was a custom at abrahams time also when it came to agreements the two participants would cut animals apart and walk between them this was to say something about their agreement what did it say it showed their commitment but let’s be more specific what were you saying by walking through these cut animals that’s exactly right rich you’re saying if i dishonor this agreement I deserve to be treated like these animals I deserve to be cutting p if I break the promise if I break this treaty so here in verse 17 we have the god of the universe entering into such a treaty ceremony with Abram God then being represented by the oven and the torch passes through the animals saying if high dishonor this agreement i would deserve to be cut into i will take on that burden what’s different in this ceremony as opposed to the normal treaty ceremony custom besides the fact that God is involved that’s right only God passes through we’re only those things that represent God passes through Abram does not what then does this say about the Covenant because the ceremony proceeds this way hey Danielle exactly it’s a unilateral covenant God is taking the entire responsibility for the Covenant on himself this is abram you don’t need to do anything I will do all of it myself the great promises of God to Abram do not depend at all in Abraham’s performance Anna lateral covenant this then is an example of God’s abundant power because he says I will take all of this on you don’t need to do anything but also his great compassion pour out my love to you I’m going to swear to by being in this treaty I’m going to bow out my love to you and be faithful to the promises I’ve given to you no matter what you do but what about circumcision wasn’t circumcision something that Abraham had to do the Abram had to do wasn’t that required isn’t that his contractual obligation to God does Abram really have to do nothing what about circumcision well let’s actually look at that the circumcision is going to come in Genesis chapter 17 turn over there this is where God ignore inaugurates circumcision for a bruh a broom and his descendants we’re going to read part of this chapter but let me fill in some context again between chapters 15 and 17 here’s what happens Abram has been Abram is in the land of Canaan 10 years and even after Genesis 15 still has no child so the aging yet beautiful sir I suggested that Abram take Hagar as a concubine so that Sarah might have children through Hagar this was also consistent with customs at the time that was not approved by God and at age 86 Abram took Hagar as his concubine and Hagar conceived this result in a great amount of tension in Abraham’s household especially between Sarah and Hagar Hagar eventually gives birth to a son that Abram names Ishmael the name means God will hear 13 years later at age 99 God speaks again to Abram that’s the beginning of chapter 17 God reiterates his promise to Abram but he also changes Abraham’s name the word Abram or the named Abram means exalted father or honored father but Abraham means what father of a multitude her father of Nations exalted father to father of a multitude why would God change Abraham’s name like this certainly he the timing of the promise being fulfilled or at least part of the promise being fulfilled is drawing near this again is another sign right he says when he asked before or when Abram expressed that there was no child before God says good look at the Stars and here again God is emphasizing you’re going to have a huge amount of descendants look I’m even changing your name to show you that to be another sign of that God will keep his promises you can trust the Lord let’s pick up what God says to Abraham in verse 9 he change his Abraham’s name and then he says this verse 9 of chapter 17 God said further Abraham know as for you you shall keep my covenant you and your descendants after you throughout their generations this is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your descendants after you every male among you shall be circumcised and it shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin and it shall be the sign of the Covenant between me and you and every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout generations a servant who’s born in the house of a servant was born in the house or was bought with money from any foreigner who was not of your descendants I servant who was born in your house where was bought with your money shall surely be circumcised thus shall my covenant be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant but an uncircumcised male who was not circumcised than flesh his foreskin that person shall be cut off from his people he has broken my covenant okay let’s pause here for a minute before we read more the passage God calls on Abraham to adopt circumcision but God also identifies the purpose of circumcision what is the purpose is a sign that’s the key word right verse 11 it shall be the sign of the Covenant between me and you it was to be an encouraging and sobering reminder to Abraham and to all of his descendants God has poured out his unmerited favor on you and he’s always faithful to you the penalty of neglecting this sign is severe what is the penalty he’ll be cut off what is I mean you will be killed we see that term actually appear a lot of times than Pentateuch and from the various places it does appear the context makes it clear it means you will die you’ll be put to death we might think as some later Jews did that circumcision was the prerequisite for Abraham or his descendants to receive God’s covenant or even to be righteous but how does the chronology of Genesis refute this okay say that again Francisco very good right we just saw that the whole ceremony ratifying and giving proof to God’s covenant with Abraham it happened before this direction to give circumcision and when God first called Abram and pronounced blessings on image Genesis 11 12 that’s way before this direction towards circumcision Abraham receives God’s promises without being circumcised in Genesis 15 6 says God counted Abraham as righteous for his belief in God and that too was before circumcision well say more about this a little bit later but it’s important that we observed that now let’s pick up the text again in verse 15 we’ll be down in verse 22 then God said to Abraham asked for Sarah your wife you shall not call her name Sarah but Sarah shall be her name I will bless her and indeed I will give you a son by her then I will bless her and she shall be a mother of Nations kings of people’s will come from her then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart will a child be born to a man 100 years old and will Sarah who is 90 years old bear a child and Abraham said to God oh that Ishmael might live before you but God said no but Sarah your wife will bear you a son and you shall call his name Isaac and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descent has asked for after him as for Ishmael I’ve heard you behold I will bless him and will make him fruitful and will multiply him seemingly you shall become the father of twelve princes and I will make him a great nation but my covenant i will establish with Isaac whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year when he finish talking with him God went up from Abram Abraham all right let’s of you observe a few parts of this ladder text God changes Sarai’s name just like he changes Abraham’s name and her new name is Sarah the difference between these two names is actually very subtle and there’s some debate about what the difference actually is both are apparently variations of the term for princess the one source i read describes the difference between the two names is going from my princess sarah to princess or the princess that is to say this is not just Abraham’s princess or Tara’s princess but princess of the world because God’s explanation of her name emphasizes her regal position what promise is given to Sarah along with her change name she’ll been a mother of Nations right kings of people will come through her again I think that’s why we have the princess or princess that’s why we have that regality emphasized but also specifically before any of that comes what is she promised a son she’s promised a son how did Abraham respond to this promise is promise to Sarah and Abraham he I heard you say Danny he laughed he laughed and he asked himself whether this was really to be then Abraham makes the suggestion to God what is Abraham suggestion right now this it might not be abundantly clear what he says right away says oh that Ishmael might live before you but he’s really asking something by saying that because God actually responds no so what Abram was really asking is could heat why can’t he be the inheritor of the Covenant I’d like him to be the child of promise I certainly Abraham had reason to love Ishmael as his own son and he makes this request to God and God says no God dismisses that request dismisses that suggestion though he does promise the Blessed Ishmael and make a great nation of him Abram asked that Ishmael might be the air because says no will be a different child in one year you will have a child through Sarah and that child’s name is to be Isaac and what does Isaac mean laughter or he laughs you’d suck he laughs or laughter furthermore or not furthermore but to say again Isaac and not Ishmael would be the inheritor of God’s are of Abraham’s covenant with God let’s interpret this a little bit more now we already saw before about circumcision but why does Abram laughs why does Abraham laugh similar to our earlier question is this from trusting joy in god or is this from mocking disbelief again this is really hard to answer because on the one hand Abraham is not rebuked for laughing or for saying this saying what he does in his heart what you might have expected furthermore Abraham falls on his face as he laughs and falling on your face as an expression of humble worship why would he do this if you did not believe that be really hypocritical why would God not not say anything about that on the other hand Abraham’s thoughts some very similar to Sarah’s in the next chapter then angel of the Lord visits Abraham and repeats the one-year promise of a child and then Genesis 18 12 says this Sarah laughed to herself saying after I have become old shall I have pleasure my lord being old also it’s almost the exact same thing that Abraham said he says should a man of 100 give a child and a woman at almost 90 years have a child it’s almost the same thing but listen to how the angel of the Lord responds to Sarah in Genesis 8 13 or 14 our Genesis 18 13 to 14 and the Lord said to Abraham why did Sarah laughs saying shall I indeed bear a child when I am so old there’s anything too difficult for the Lord at the appointed time I will return to you at this time next year and Sarah will have a son so was Abraham really believing well if abraham believed God’s promise why does he immediately suggest Ishmael be the air instead of this promise child commentators go in both directions in traction it is a difficult one but certainly either way God is being very compassionate and patient with both Abraham and Sarah they are going to grow in faith so even if they disbelieve in the beginning they will come to believe firmly because Hebrew 11 11 says of Sarah this would be true of Abraham as well by faith even sarah herself received ability to conceive even beyond the proper time of life since she considered him faithful who had promised she came to have a firm faith in God’s promises as it Abraham another question what do Genesis 12 15 and 17 we’ve examined those through passages what do they show us about a character of God what’s one thing he’s very patient right that is love that is a compassion demonstrated continually to Abraham Abraham and Sarah God delights to make a unilateral and generous covenant with Abraham God is happy to bless him and his wife wherever they go despite their failures despite their lack of trust and he is patient with them and he continues to sanctify them and build their faith in him as a patient and compassionate God what else does it show what else do these records show us about God’s character he’s faithful right and that’s our theme for the quarter Abram was 75 when he left her and when he was first given the promise of descendants great number of descendants but he did not receive the childhood promise until 25 years later god never forgot about Abraham and Sarah nor did he delight and simply withholding from them what they wanted it’s not cruel like that God was determined to bring glory to himself by teaching them and all of us that his timing is perfect God waited until a child was impossible from hume perspective before he showed that nothing is impossible with God God will remain faithful even if God’s being faithful seems impossible nothing is too difficult for the Lord God is faithful and this should encourage us we to wait on the promises of God promises a provision vindication justice future glorification can we believe in the promises of God so that we can live as exiles and strangers on the earth so we’re getting a number of testimonies in the affirmative as we go through Genesis Noah says yes God is faithful believe in his promises job says yes God is faithful believe and now Abraham and Sarah also say yes believe in God’s promises because he is faithful so are we doing that do you believe God to be faithful in your life does your lifestyle show it or do you believe secretly that some things really are just too difficult for God and for some reason he’s not going to be faithful to you or that he wants to be faithful but he’s just not able he’s not well acquainted with your needs enough he’s not loving enough he’s not strong enough but is anything too difficult for the Lord one last aspect to talk about in relation to this account are at gospel implications we mentioned last week that the gospel is evident the gospel salvation in Christ is evident in God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12 that all families of the earth shall be blessed through Abraham how is that actually talking about the gospel you yes that’s um that’s a good point Francisco just repeat what you said it says that he’s gonna be father of many nations not just of one nation and so the question would ask it does is he going to physically give birth to many nations or is there something else we’ll talk about it more in just a second but there is a physical dimension to all the nations of the earth being blessed and how does that come about what physical descendant would come yeah I Messiah right in you alda in your seed and in you all the nations of the earth will be blessed all the families of the earth will be blessed it’s because Christ is going to come from a ran the Messiah will come the savior of the world this was always God’s plan from eternity past and though the gospel is veiled in some ways to Abraham into the believers in the Old Testament it is progressively revealed until it is fully revealed in a new covenant in Jesus Christ when Jesus comes the gospel is fully revealed and taken to all the nations displayed to all the nations and in this way Abraham physically is a blessing to all nations of the earth because the Messiah would come to come through him but there’s something else I think this is what Francisco is getting at before a little bit we need to pay attention there something else we need to pay attention to in these passages because while it’s true that Abraham was a physical for father many people on the earth he is also the father and another sense what sense father faith right in other words even if you and I are not physical descendants of Abraham we become spiritual descendants of Abraham because of this concept of salvation by faith why is Abraham the father or considered the father of faith because he most evidently believed God and it was accounted to Abraham as righteousness as we saw in Genesis 15 6 salvation by faith was very evident in Abraham’s own life experiences and he an ancient patriarch this is a greater fulfillment of the promise to Abraham regarding his descendants while Abraham’s physical descendants would be so many as to being accountable so would his spiritual descendants those who embrace salvation by faith just as Abraham did because salvation as you know as we’ve said has always been by faith don’t be confused for a moment and thinking if there was a time when salvation was different well as by works or by some other means salvation has always been and will be by belief in God’s substitution airy provision of Jesus Christ for our sins this gospel is not fully revealed to Adam Abel Noah job or Abraham but it was revealed in part they knew that they could not be righteous in their own and their own Accords of their own Accords they needed God to make them righteous they didn’t know how the specifics of how they didn’t know the specifics of how God would do that but they knew that he would so much so that they could look forward to eternal fellowship with God in the city that has foundations while there were men and women before Abraham who acted by faith in God it is Abraham that the New Testament writers referred to again and again to show that salvation has always been by faith see a very good example of this let’s turn in Romans 4 Romans chapter 4 will be two sections of this chapter you know that the book of Romans is the great explanation of the glory of God displayed in the gospel of salvation after the writer and the first few chapters after Paul shows that there’s need for both Jews and Gentiles to receive salvation all people are understand all need salvation he asserts that salvation is only by faith now which person does Paul go to to demonstrate that this is the way the gospel has always been the salvation has always been he goes to Abraham look at Romans 4 125 EPS I need to turn there myself Romans 4 verse 1 what shall we what then shall we say that Abraham our forefather according to the flesh has found her favorite ham was justified by works he is something to boast about but not before God for what does the scripture say abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness now to the one who works his wage is not credited as a favor but as what is due but to the one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly his faith is credited as righteousness skip down to verse 9 well read verses 9 to 12 is this blessing then on the circumcised or on the uncircumcised also for we say faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness how then was accredited while he was circumcised or uncircumcised not well circumcised but while uncircumcised and he received the sign of circumcision a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised that righteousness might be credited to them and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision but who also follow in the steps of the faith of their father of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised so we see those conclusions that we were just talking about their explicitly described by the Spirit of God through Paul Abraham is the father of all who believe without being circumcised salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone to the glory of God alone let us beware of any way of thinking that begins to put us back into a works wages mindset as somehow we have to work enough suffer enough wait long enough before we can embrace God compassionate generosity on our behalf and this is an important warning for us and for people before salvation and after salvation we must be aware of this works wages mindset before salvation we need to understand there’s no waiting period before you embrace Christ you don’t have to reform before you can believe the banquet of repentance is always open to the broken and contrite now is the day of salvation according to the scriptures do holiness and good works result from faith yes but they always come after not before they cannot come before God has to regenerate but even after salvation when you and I sin we must not put ourselves in spiritual timeout continually berating ourselves saying we’re not worthy to go to God or think to ourselves that we need to read the Bible enough pray enough witness enough before we can come back into fellowship with God we have to make up for what we did before we can embrace God’s generosity this is wrong this is very wrong yes we will naturally grieve over sin but such grief should not prevent us like the prodigal son that Jesus describes in the parable it should not prevent us from immediately returning to our father’s house and enjoying him once again there’s no waiting period there’s no timeout period God says come back immediately glorify me by enjoying me as Roman says where sin increased grace increased all the more God delights as a loving compassionate guy to readily pour out his blessings on you is care on you in spite of your sin your occasions to sin are actually just occasions for God to show himself even greater to you should his teach us this in all the time then no Roman 6 is clear about that actually one understood rightly this should teach us to sin less and less because we understand what a great God we have we don’t want to deny ourselves the pleasures of being in such a God’s presence all the time he delights in steadfast love and he proves that to you and me again and again when he deals with our sin I want to and you should want to continually feast at the table of such a god he’s that great he’s so great it will teach you to deny sin and to prepare yourself to go to his City God’s grace for your sin when understood correctly causes you not to sin not send more when we understand God’s love like this God’s grace God’s glorious purposes for us we become like Abraham we do become his descendant not only because we are believers in God’s promises but we but because we become treasurer’s of God Himself treasurer’s of Christ Himself who was the full revelation of God this is what it means to be a Christian not to just believe in the promises of God but to treasure god there’s the main body of what I want to share with you today final comments or questions about that yeah Francisco you that’s a really good comment thanks for sharing that Francisco just repeat what you’re saying the penalty for not honoring the sign and burn up the penalty for disregarding the sign of circumcision and also the Covenant where God goes to the ceremony emphasizing that if that covenant is failed then the person ought to be cut off cut apart we do see that type of thing happening to God himself through God’s Son Jesus Christ he is cut off for us where we were failed we failed to be circumcised in heart he does take on that penalty on himself and of course he bears it completely and perfectly are we going to say bill right that’s also true Yeah right right right right yeah and only God could do both right to repeat your comment bill in a sense God has not cut in pieces because he’s he’s God he’s indestructible he can bear the curse and you can in bear the eternal wrath of God and finish it because he is God but we couldn’t we would be cut we would be cut off and we’d be eternally lost only God can pay the be cut off on our behalf and yet not be cut off yes that is um something that we also affirmed that the land covenant to Abraham also still stands and God is going to give that he’s going to fulfill that to Israel and the Millennial Kingdom other comments or questions yes Roy yeah we do see that principal thanks for sharing that Roy God is a covenant God and he often involved in these covenants is his blood is stealing the covenants of blood I’m reminder that scripture specifically when it comes to sin and righteousness it says without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins and we see that that principle throughout the scriptures other comments or questions alright I’ve touched on the workbooks application questions today in my lesson so I won’t be taking extra time to go over those next week we talked more about Abram Abraham but in relation to something that happens nearby to him that is Sodom and Gomorrah another example of God’s compassion to lot God’s faithfulness and also his justice holiness let’s close by reading our memory verse and what we’re focusing on this verse from acts acts 17 26 to 27 talking about how from Adam and then Noah all people on the earth are descendant let’s read this together and he has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth and has determined their pre appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings so that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they might grope for him and find him though he is not far from each one of us that’s praying Lord God there is none like you you’re so generous and we see being generous to Abraham and to Sarah but God we know that you’ve been so generous to us in our own lives not just because we are inheritors the blessings that you were giving to Abraham that we become heirs of the righteousness that is by faith we have in so many different ways these little graces that you showed to us each day and your constant patients with us when it comes to our sin when it comes to our distrusting you but God that is not so that we can continue to distrust you so we would not learn rather got it as is your scriptures say through your kindness the intention of your kindness is to bring us to repentance to change our minds God change our thinking so we believe that you’re so lovely and we don’t want to be away from you God keep us with you keep us in you cause us to abide in your love cause us to understand your loveliness so that we do that thank you for being cut off on our behalf thank you for sending your son Jesus to do that the Lord we thank you that he has paid the full penalty and there remains nothing else that we do not need to fear your judgment anymore we don’t not have to make up for our sins we don’t have to work to get back into your favor it’s already there and Lord you’re so ready to pour your abundant kindness on us thank you God for being such a god and jesus name amen

  • God Calls Abram

    God Calls Abram

    In this lesson, we examine the call of Abram to leave his country and follow God. Specifically, we look to answer the following questions: Why did God call Abram? How did Abram respond? Why did Abram respond the way that he did? What ultimately motivated Abram? How ought we to be instructed by Abram’s example?

    Auto Transcript

    Note: This rough transcript was automatically generated by YouTube’s AI algorithm. We provide it here for your convenience, but know it will surely contain errors as it has not been proofread or edited by a human.

    and ready to go but I appreciate your being here today we begin talking about Abraham first called Abram and the title of our lesson is God calls Abram or moving along through the third quarter of this curriculum God is faithful seeing it emphasized in multiple ways before we get to today’s material though let’s review a little bit of last week’s material last week we talked about Joe when approximately two job live let’s give me the year but you can tell me you can describe job must have lived a long time ago to be sure between what and what it has to be after you asked me after the flood it has to be after Babel because of certain aspects of the of the texts like the tribal distinctions but it has to be before or at least around the same time as as you said Rob Abraham so job appears between Moses and babble probably right before or at the same time as the patriarchs now we’ve talked about job and his suffering in circumstances how did God arrange job circumstances to give testimony to God’s worth is something we talked about last week how was God going to give testimony to his own worth through job and why is that testimony to God’s worth that job doesn’t curse God well you remember that we talked about the idea that we talked to it we talked a little bit about this and I’ll say more about it now but we can give the short answer by saying this God was going to show that even if a righteous man loses all his temporal blessings even his own health the Lord will be enough for him a righteous man someone that God Himself is upholding the Lord will be enough for him that was the testimony that job’s suffering and job’s life was going to give about God now to clarify the side a little bit further it’s not as if job was going to prove or disprove God’s worth because God’s worth is objective right it doesn’t need man to prove it people when they sin or when they live without God they are denying God’s worth all the time but God is nonetheless completely worthy man’s rebellion does not prove God’s worth to be lacking and even if Jobe had abandoned God it would not have proven God to be less than he is it would have only proven job to be a desperately wicked sinner in need of rescue because that’s the way it is for all of us right As Romans 34 says let God be found true and every man although every man be found a liar so Joe was not going to prove or disprove God’s worth however God arranged special testimony of his own worth to come through job and that’s why God mentions job to Satan have you considered my servant job and that’s why he commended job as the most righteous man on earth Satan hoped for an opportunity opportunity to give negative testimony about God’s worth to defame God by causing even the most righteous person to abandon god but God instead designed for job to be a clear testimony of God’s worth of God’s sufficiency for the righteous God is enough when job’s friends arrived to comfort him the group soon got into a debate what was the debate about exactly why is this happening to you Joe but this debate was misguided from the start why okay well there’s certainly that job’s friends all come up with the same answer and that is this is happening to you because you’re in sin you’re an unrepentant sin you’ve been living in habits of sin patterns of sin and therefore God is judging you that is of course wrong but even if but even if we consider what job was saying no I haven’t been in patterns of sin I haven’t been unrepented of any sin I’m innocent therefore I want to know why this is happening even job’s response is misguided the whole idea of trying to understand why this was happening to Joe was misguided because there’s no way for them to know right unless God specifically revealed it to them there would be no way for them to figure it out they couldn’t figure it out just from job circumstances as we said last week god only communicates to us through his word we we are not supposed to nor can we look at our circumstances and say that must be what God is telling me God’s never promised to do that job did maintain his innocence and he was right in doing so he didn’t claim sinlessness but he confessed that his life was a pattern of righteousness and not a pattern of sin there was no unrepentant sins in his life that would warrant chase inning or judgment that he could see perhaps provoked into it by his friends job therefore became suspicious of the Justice the wisdom and the goodness of God and he expressed even a desire to meet with God and get an explanation well God does meet with Joe but what’s the explanation God gives he doesn’t give an explanation right what does he stay instead where were you when I made the earth or to paraphrase God’s barrage of questions job I’m god you’re not you have no right to question me God does not need to show us how he is being good just or wise in any of our life situations for us to know that he is being good just and wise as we explored the let the latter part of last week’s lesson God is always doing good to his people Romans 8 reinforces this for us specifically and God is always making us more like Christ and causing us to appreciate more of Christ and that is our greatest good and it is the source of our happiness and God knows how to reward the righteous we’re going to see more about that today but with job he showed us that or he magnificently blessed job at the end of jobs trial for jobs perseverance and in the same way he will magnificently reward us so we looked at Joe we look at his trial we look at his trust in God even though he slipped in certain ways his fundamental trust in God and we are encouraged persevere through our own trials that’s all I wanted to say about last week’s lesson any questions or comments on that okay now we switch back switch back to Genesis switch over to a man who lived at the same time or may come right after job and that’s Abram we’re going to spend the next four lessons on Abram later called Abraham this first lesson is simply on God’s calling Abraham to give you a little outline of a little indicator of what were going to be exploiting today how did Abram respond to God’s call what was God’s call how did they burn respond to it why did God call Abram to what did Abram ultimately look forward if he if Abram is responding to God what was it foremost in his mind that was motivating him and then how can a brooms response and thinking and struck us and how we ought to live I think you’re going to see today that they’re going to be some parallels between this lesson and last week’s lesson will mainly be exploring Genesis 11 27 to 12 9 in today’s lesson let’s pray before I go on god I pray that you would reveal yourself to us now through your word help me to be able to explain it would help us to be able to understand the same thing that job and Abram understood about you well that is your preciousness oh god I pray that that you would speak help us understand his name human let’s go ahead and read this historical account of God calling Abraham so turn in your Bibles to Genesis 11 you remember that we’ve been in this passage already the early part of this passage is the account of the Tower of Babel and the city of Babel the building event and then after that we get the genealogy that links shem to abram and the passage that we’re going to read picks up right after that kind of a long section because we’re reading from one chapter into the next so follow along with me starting in verse 27 in chapter 11 verse 27 now these are the records of the generations of Tara Tara became the father of Abram Nahor and Iran and Iran became the father of lot Iran died is the presence of his father Terah in the land of his birth in ur of the Chaldeans Abram and nee hoor took wives from themselves the name of Abraham’s wife was Samurai and the name of nee wife was Milkha the daughter of her on the father of Milkha and iska sir I was barren she had no child Terah took Abram his son and lot the son of her on his grandson and Sarai his daughter-in-law his son Abrams wife and they went out together from irv the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan and they went as far as Iran and settled there the days of terror were two hundred and five years and Terah died in Iran now the Lord said Abram go forth from your country and from your relatives and from your father’s house to the land which I will show you and I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great and so you shall be a blessing and I will bless those who bless you and the one who curses you I will curse and in you all of the families of the earth will be blessed so Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him and lot went with him now Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Iran Abram took Sarah his wife and lot his nephew and all their possessions which they had accumulated and the persons which they had acquired in Haram and they sent out for the land of Canaan thus they came to the land of Canaan aben passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem to the oak of Mora now the Canaanite was then in the land the Lord appeared to Abram and said to your descendants I will give this land so he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and I on the east and there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord Abram journeyed on continuing toward the negative ok we’ll stop there let’s make some observations on this long section of Scripture first who are the relatives of Abram mentioned in this passage there are a number of them so you can just give me one the guy’s father who’s his father Terah cherez father who else yeah danielle lot his nephew very good and la is his nephew through her on who’s his brother Ron however as you see there dies in earth so we’ve got terrorists father her on his brother lies nephew who else nee hoor also a brother who else Abraham’s wife we also learned later is his half-sister when he gets into one of those difficult situations I think it’s with a Abimelech king Abimelech and he says just stay here my sister and later he’s interrogated why did you tell me this he’s likable is she really is my sister we have the same father but a different mother so that’s his wife and his half-sister and one other person we have Milkha also Abraham’s relative she’s the wife of mejor so she’s the wife of his brother but she’s also the daughter of her on sochi Milkha is both his sister-in-law and his niece his a little family tree help make this a little more clear so you see some of those names Milkha over there on the right when they and run it may be noticing that these immediate relatives of Abram include married close relations this shouldn’t be too surprising to us because in the years following Babel as we said families and tribes separated from one another and often only married within themselves and we see that happening right here Tara’s descendants are marrying within their within their try anyways what little aside or be told about Sarah in this passage she was barren she had no child and that’s a big deal as we’ll see in later lessons it was a big deal at this time should be barren now Tara and his family going a little migration they intended to go from where to where according to the text from irv the chaldeans to Canaan I’ll show this to you with a map talk about these different locations that’s earlier in the bottom right Canaan would be there on the left now we’ve mentioned the city of Ur in this class before there was apparently a decently large city in Chaldea or southern Mesopotamia people have done archaeological investigations of this ancient city unearthing the base of a huge ziggurat there I’d actually shown you a picture of that in another class and archaeologists have discovered that religious worship in this city this earth there may have been another but this is probably the ER that we’re talking about the worship in this city centered on a moon god named an honest in not a sin so a little bit of information about Earth so they’re traveling from Eau de Canaan but they don’t make it all the way to Canaan they instead stop where Hara or her man now this would’ve been a journey of about 600 miles from Earth to her on to give you a rough estimate of about how far that is that’s about as far as New Jersey is from South Carolina so they’re walking they’re traveling there with their beasts and whatever they had now her on likely refers to what is later called her on with two R’s in Assyria a city whose ruins are now in southern Turkey archaeological excavations have not uncovered much about ancient life in Iran I’m do have some evil things that we’ve discovered but before that hard to tell it appears to have been a commercial hub on a trade route however don’t be confused though don’t try to link Abrams brother with this city because they’re actually spelled differently in Hebrew even though they are spelled the same in our english translation so they’re not related he also might be wondering why did they go up and not simply West anybody tell me why okay so they are following the river the Euphrates River likely as they’re traveling north but this seem like they’re traveling a lot more miles than they need to why not just go west desert right it it may also be that they’re following a trade route that goes along the river but there’s also a big desert right in between Mesopotamia and Canaan and so not only is that difficult to travel through and perhaps dangerous from oneself he has all his possessions with him too they have all their possessions with them so livestock might not make the might not survive the journey to go north and then go down now Terra dies in her on in Assyria at the age of 205 pretty good age and chapter 12 opens with a sudden command from God to Abram to travel again several aspects of the command as as God speaks to Abram several aspects of the command that might be difficult what are some of the things that God brings up right before or right when he’s calling Abram he says you’re going to have to do these things he doesn’t identify them as difficult but we think about them I think they can say that they could be difficult it’s one of the things that he tells Abram he’s going to have to do leave your relatives leave the people you know and the people that you’ve lived with for years the people who have been your support your friends and even your allies leave all of it what else leave your country leave the land you know that you settled in and that you’ve gotten used to what else yeah Danielle right go to the place that I will show you I won’t tell you now where you’re going just move in this certain direction in case you’re wondering wait is that exactly what God is saying well Hebrews 11 8 which will see a little bit later says explicitly that when Abram set out he did not know where he was going so this is another difficulty with the journey go to the linen that I will show you I can tell you what it is right now you don’t know exactly where it is right now but I will show it to you and then we also see there that he’s told to leave his father’s house that’s similar to saying to leave your relatives but it’s we see by comparing from the details about Abraham’s age and Tara’s age that Abram was not the oldest child so when Tara died one of his brothers then would be kind of would have become head of the tribe it would have been the leader but God is telling him leave your father’s house you’re no longer going to be following your father’s or your older brothers leadership you’re not going to be under their direction or protection you’re going to leave that and go to the place that i will show you those can be some difficulties but God attaches some promises also to his command to leave what are some of the promises I’ll make you a great nation what else I will bless you what else I’ll make your name great what else yes I am so right I’ll bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you in other words people will be blessed or cursed depending on how they treat you and then finally what’s the other promise that’s right you are going to be the cause for all families on the earth to be blessed in you will be a blessing that passes to everyone on earth those are some pretty big promises Abram obeys God and he leaves her on and how old is Abram when he does this I say 75 whom or what does Abram tape with him going to the text he takes his wife Sarai takes a lot his nephew and what else that’s right it took all the stuff that he had accumulated and the people that he had accumulated they had acquired a number of servants in her on this indicates they probably spent a good amount of time there because he had acquired possessions and servants in that city Abram travels to Canaan specifically to Shechem a Canaanite town about 30 miles north of Jerusalem you can see that there at the top of all those names on the map this would have been a track about 400 miles so 600 plus 400 almost about a thousand miles now 400 miles think between South Carolina and Florida be about the distance Abram arrives at Shechem and then the Lord appears to Abram what additional promise does God give Abram when he arrives in Shechem that’s right to your descendants I will give this land and we also got that little detail now the Canaanites was then in the land so we know that there are people already living there specifically the Canaanites who are going to be the enemies of Israel and says the Canaanites were already there and then God makes his promise to your descendants not the Canaanites I will give this land what does Abram do in response he builds an altar he built an altar there verse 8 says the Abram built another altar when he arrived near what would later be Beth a city seven miles north of Jerusalem so getting closer to where Jerusalem would be and there Abram also called upon the name of the Lord called upon the name of the Lord now we’ve encountered that phrase before what does that exactly mean well to give you a little bit of an idea it is used other places in the Old Testament even in the Psalms here are two places where we see that phrase Psalm 105 wun psalmist writes oh give thanks to the Lord call upon his name make known his deeds among the peoples psalm 116 324 says the cords of death encompassed me and the terrors of Sheol came upon me I found a stress and sorrow then I called upon the the Lord oh Lord I beseech you save my life so we see that that phrase is actually often connected with people literally calling upon the name of the Lord praying to God either in thanks or in supplication so Abram pitches his tent near Bethel but it doesn’t stay there where does he go where does it go next the very end of our passage not Nineveh the negative right so this would be the southern area of Palestine so you see it moving to where a little word- is there we also see he’s going to make it into Egypt but that’s not in our passage ok let’s ask some interpretive questions of this passage now why did Tara leave her with Abram to go to Canaan says terror left ear he was going to go to Canaan he took Abram and his family with him why did Tara leave tough question because the text doesn’t tell us right we don’t know why why Tara left however we do hear this in acts the book of Acts chapter 7 verses 22 for this is what Stephen is making his defense before the Sanhedrin and he’s reminding the religious leaders there of a little history and part of hit the reminder comes in these verses or Stephen says hear me brethren and fathers the god of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he lived in her on and said to him leave your country in your relatives and come to the land that I will show you then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in her on from there after his father died god had to move to this country in which you are now living so according to Stephen when did God first call Abram or where rather for years in Iran that would be in ered when he was in Mesopotamia or the land of the Chaldeans whatever reason Tara might have had to move he probably was aware that his son wanted to go to Canaan needed to go to Canaan because God first called Abram actually inner now why do Tara and Abraham or Abram settled in her on then if God called him to to go and eventually we’re supposed to get to Canaan why do they stop in Iran again text doesn’t tell us it might be that Abraham was hesitant to depart from his family he was content to live with his family in Iran they didn’t want to go any farther so he didn’t want to go any farther and the call of Abraham does emphasize Abraham’s need to separate from his kin leave your relatives leave this country leave your father’s house but it might not be for a cowardly non faith believing reason that they stop in Iran maybe Tara fell ill and he wasn’t able to go any further and Abraham wanted to stay with him Tara does die in Iran or maybe God had not yet instructed Abram to go any further because after all the words of the command to leave say go to the land which I will show you perhaps God hadn’t given him any further direction at that point so we can’t say for sure why they stopped it and run that may not necessarily have been for a bad reason but they stay there for a little while then Abram woodlot does go to Canaan but even after arriving in Canaan Abram keeps moving around he goes to Shechem and bath all done to the Negev why why is he always moving we get some idea in answering this question why my abram be always moving was that our mana that’s right we’re aware especially because of what we see later in Genesis that Abraham’s particular wealth is his livestock use someone who’s taking care of lots of animals and animals if you’re if you’re taking care of a lots of livestock you have to keep finding pasture for them so people who have a lot of animals they often live in tents and they keep moving from place to place which is what we see Abram doing now there could be other reasons too maybe God was telling him to keep on moving that we don’t see that specifically in the text maybe it’s because of the famine that’s coming we’ll see then the end of chapter 12 maybe it’s because Abram wanted to see more of this land that God had promised to his descendants but certainly as a livestock owner he’s going to be paying attention to finding good pastures here’s another question was Abram a pagan idolaters called him or did he already believe in God yes these are you gonna answer that question yeah go ahead yes that’s a good observation Steve we can’t say for sure what Abram believed but likely he was a pagan when God first called him and that’s partly for the reason that Steve just mentioned certainly in this text we don’t hear from being a righteous man it’s not like and there was a righteous man named abram and God called him oh no we don’t have that we noted that uh where he first started out with Tara was a pagan City we know from archaeological X we’re serving a false god and just as Steve mentioned in Joshua Joshua says this the people thus says the Lord the God of Israel this is Joshua 22 23 by the way thus says the Lord of God of Israel from ancient times your father’s live beyond the river namely Tara the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor and they served other gods I took your father Abraham from beyond the river and led him through all the land of Canaan and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac so God through Joshua remind the people of Israel that their forefathers Terra included served foreign gods and God makes a distinction he says I called Abram out of that I called Abram and his descendants out from that way of living so Abram was likely an ID Oliver just like the rest before God called him so then why did God call him why did God choose Abram why should Abram receive such blessings from God and why should his descendants receive them what do you think Yeah right it’s got to be simply God’s grace it pleased God to do so God was not obligated God to not need to but it pleased God to show grace to Abraham it please God’s ultimate Abram did nothing to merit God’s call or God’s blessings Abram was a wicked idolaters like the rest of his family and just like all his neighbors probably but God decided to show undeserved favor to Abram and through him to all the world including us from Abram God was going to bring forth a special people a people for God’s own personal possession holy people a kingdom of priests witnessing to and interceding for all the peoples of the earth God was by no means obligated to do this but it pleased him to pour out undeserved love on some on some people and in this way to show forth his glory and you know this is just like us why does God love you why has gone seen fit why has God seen fit to bless you by revealing salvation to you was it because was because you had Meredith’s merited it somehow no of course not you and I were hopelessly in sin and darkness just like the rest whether we were obviously sinners or whether we were self-righteous but it pleased God to show grace to you to show love to you to show care for you to mark you out as his possession to show his glory we see that Abram Abram responds to God’s call in her on and even in her with obedience but why why did Abraham obey was I Steve faith right he believed God we haven’t heard the critical verse yet it’s coming in Genesis 15 Genesis 15 6 says then he abraham believed the Lord and He God reckoned it to him Abram as righteousness abraham believed the Lord and God reckoned it to Abram as righteousness by faith abraham believed God’s promises and therefore obeyed God’s commands this faith too was a gift from God to Abraham because abraham believed you obeyed but was it that Abram was simply excited about the these specific blessings that God had promised wow I’m gonna get many descendants a great name blessed life a land to call my own was that Abraham’s ultimate motivation was that was he ultimately looking toward unless we get confused the New Testament as something to say about this it’s actually turned over to the book of Hebrews Hebrews chapter 11 we’ll be looking at verses 8 to 16 we’re going to hear a decisive account of what really motivated Abram Hebrews 11 8 to 16 just some background here you may remember the book of Hebrews is written to Jewish Christians undergoing persecution many of them have or are thinking about renouncing faith in Jesus and simply returning to the old Jewish ways chapter 11 the Hall of faith is a call to persevere by looking to the examples of many Old Testament Saints who persevered by faith Abram called Abraham here is one of those Saints so let’s read what Hebrews says about him in these verses starting in verse 8 by faith Abraham when he was called obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for inheritance and he went out not knowing where he was going by faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise as in a foreign land dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob fellow heirs of the same promise for he was looking for the city which has foundations whose architect and builder is God by faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive even beyond the proper time of life since she considered him faithful who had promised therefore there was born even of one man in him as good as dead at at that as many descendants as the stars of heaven in number and innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore all these died in faith without receiving the promises but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth but those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own and indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they had went out they would have had opportunity to return but as it is they desire a better country that is heavenly one therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared a city for them notice with me a few things about this new testament text which promise of God to Abraham is highlighted by the author and verses eight to nine it’s one of the props promises that we had seen in Genesis that’s right he was going to receive some physical land a promised land and inheritance but for what does verse 10 say Abraham was waiting yeah Danielle yeah so this is a unique city a city which has foundations he was promised land but what he was really waiting for was a city which has foundations whose architect and builder is God now this city is contrasted with some living conditions specifically mentioned in verse 9 what were Abraham’s living conditions in verse 9 out of City tense tense in a foreign land did Abraham received the promised land while he was alive no text says explicitly that he didn’t you see in verses 11 to 12 a reference to God’s promise to multiply Abraham’s descendants to make a great nation of him today brahim received this promise while he was alive no you only saw the very beginning of it with one child the child of promise instead look at verse 13 while Abram and his next descendants did not receive the specific promises those specific promises what did they do they did two things they welcomed them from a distance they say I know this is coming I don’t see it I might not even see it in my lifetime but I welcome it from a distance and what else they do died in faith what did they confess themselves to be strangers right exiles they welcomed the promises from a distance but they confess their themselves to be strangers they admit what they really are I’m a stranger in an exile on the earth and then verse 14 to 16 explains this further though Abraham was grateful for the earthly promises what was that that Abraham was really looking toward heavenly city– a heavenly country it’s called a couple different things in these last few verses but a country of his own he’s promised land but he wants a country of his own a better country a heavenly country that is the country where God dwells so this is an important point from the writer of Hebrews when we talk about why did Abraham obey God yes it’s because he had faith but what motivated his faith what was the chief object or what was the the great valuable treasure that he was looking towards was it just the promises of earthly blessing no it cannot merely be that since Abraham didn’t even receive many of those earthly blessings while he was alive but motivated Abram was the sweet prospect of going to God’s country God’s city or to say it another way the most exciting part of the promise that Abram gets in Genesis 12 is the one making the promise god has revealed himself to me he has set his undeserved favor on me there is a way that I can know God and one day be with him that’s what excited Abram most of all god did did give Abram great earthly blessings but Abram saw that there was much greater treasure ahead and as for that reason that he was obedient this two ought to be very instructive for us we need to take seriously the excitation of Hebrews 11 Abraham’s example and to borrow some questions from the activity section of the student guide book for our class you can look on page at 65 266 if you have those books once that consider some questions now I’m going to pause between these questions to give you some time to think but are you like Abraham are you like Abraham would you like to be are you afraid to leave the familiar country and family of the world do you see a better country before you the place of that where where God dwells Colossians 3 125 says this therefore if you have been raised up with Christ keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God set your mind on the things above not on the things that are on earth for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God when Christ who is our life is revealed then you also will be revealed with him in glory therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality impurity passion evil desire and greed which amounts to idolatry do you seek the things above as Abram did is your mind set on things above is it set on Christ or on what things of this world have you set your mind on what things of this would have you set your hope your happiness if you two if you were to embrace the lifestyle of one of these God inheriting heroes of faith becoming like an exile and a stranger on the earth what would change in your life if your lifestyle was to be an exile and a stranger how would it look different from the way it does now do you believe what God says about himself do you believe that God’s promises are true and that he is faithful do you believe that God has the best for you in mind when he forbids you from certain sins do you believe that all of God’s ways are sweet truly heaven mindedness eternity mindedness it ought to set us apart from the people of the world God has shown us by a spirit that there is another country a better one where he is our attitude while we’re on the earth must not be as everyone else have as much fun as you can before it’s all over no I attitude ought to be let’s prepare and look forward to the happiness that awaits us the much greater happiness Bibles over and over again telling us about this lay up treasure in heaven not treasure on earth pursue deeds that will result in your joy and your reward when Jesus judges all of your works not those things which will simply burn up and prove no profit to you when you see him believe God that the happiest life lived is the one given up for Christ’s sake and the Gospels the worst life lived is the one that sought to squeeze every ounce of happiness from the world and its passing pleasures if you really love your life if you really love and want to have the best life then you will give it up for Christ’s sake that’s the enjoyable life Abraham understood this though he slept at times he grew in his understanding just as we do but he understood fundamentally and we need to understand fundamentally that the heavenly country is the country that’s really the one we should get excited about so we should look forward to now we’ve got a lot more to say about a room but that’s the main message for today questions or comments yes Steve yeah that’s a really good observations to you just repeated a little bit shem was alive when Abram was alive Shem was still alive and yet you have so much the earth that had already moved away from God into idolatry introvert forgetting God into worshipping false gods and just as Steve said this is just another testimony demands great need for rescue man’s heart that is so rebellious against God and it’s got the pattern of Genesis right Cain Adams own descendant the abandons God and murders and so to his descendants so again more the sweetness of God’s grace and calling out Abram and calling out any of us any other questions or comments you let’s take a look at a few more application questions related to today’s lesson you can find these in your workbooks on pages 67 268 if you have those have five questions I want to look through with you first we know that God has promised to reward those who place their faith in him when can we expect to receive those rewards yes Carol that’s right that’s right will we be rewarded on earth maybe but not in full to be sure we saw that job was greatly rewarded for his perseverance right and that was while he was still alive and we do receive various rewards in small ways while we’re on the earth but as Carol said our great reward our ultimate reward our complete reward will not be received here it’s to come it will be realized when we go to be with God our inheritance is in heaven we are strangers and exiles on the earth therefore let’s prepare for that reward let’s look forward to it let’s increase it suffering and striving for Christ in this world will increase our heavenly reward what do that’s why we get those motivations from our Lord who says lay it for yourselves treasure in heaven we may receive some in this earth but our ultimate reward reward is to come number two have you heard the expression you are so heavenly minded that you’re no earthly good it’s just a biblically grounded idea in light of what we’ve been studying today what do you think is it possible to be so heavenly minded that you become unprofitable while you’re living on the earth yeah exactly yeah that’s a great answer Paul this is a misguided statement those who claim to be heavenly minded but actually don’t do any good on earth or do a little good on earth they’re not actually heavenly minded apologists saying because heavenly minded meanest means that you love the Lord with all your heart and you love your neighbors yourself it’s essential that we all be heavenly minded super heavenly minded that’s what it is to be a believer we cannot be two heavenly minded we are rather our problem is that we’re not enough heavenly minded and we excuse not being heavenly minded by calling it spiritual by calling it heavenly minded and this is the problem that we see with some of the monastics right there in their pursuit of spirituality they they move themselves away from people in the world are ministering in the world that’s a false spirituality that’s not real spirituality it’s misguided as we understand more about the things of God we will be moved to respond to God’s call to serve him and those around us while we’re here on earth so no heavenly minds and this is earthly good number three why is it so important to understand God’s attribute of faithfulness as we seek to follow him in faith why is it so important that we understand God’s attribute of faithfulness if we’re going to obey Him yes Donna right we’re certainly are reliant on God for many things he’s the one who has to sustain us he has to empower us but why can we trust God to do those things and what if God says sorry I’m not going to help you today I’m not going to give you the things that you need are we going to be able to be beating if God is like that no of course not our obedience must believe in the faithful character of God if we can’t believe God’s character and then we can’t believe his promises and if we can’t believe his promises and how are we going to be motivated to obey it’s God who makes the reality of those promises so clear and also who shows us his own character scripture has been written to warn us and encourage us that we can and must believe God is faithful God is trustworthy God does keep his promises we’ve already seen two huge examples of that and Abram and Noah but also to some extent with Adam and Eve are we going to say Steve yeah that’s the ultimate thing right thanks for mentioning that Steve will talk about our needs even spiritual needs it’s God who is only God who can supply those things but God knows our needs better than we do I just had a thought and now it’s escaping me oh it’s simply there as Steve was saying our ultimate need is for gone right Jesus says I am the bread of life and he quotes scriptures to the devil man who does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God that’s your old mini and you can trust that that’s going to be sufficient for you because God is faithful to more questions how does the world react the idea of storing up treasures in heaven or rather than seeking to build fortunes and seek pleasures here on earth the world does think completely the opposite doesn’t it how else do they react yeah Danielle yeah they might see Christians is boring or no fun anything else yeah CheY yeah and it’s such a contrast to the way that the world thinks on the way that the world acts just to summarize your coffee or comment a little bit that we do see a theme throughout the Old Testament and I think throughout the Scriptures especially its explicit the New Testament just that you have many people who are waiting for promises or who are just living temporary temporary lives they haven’t received their ultimate inheritance they’re living in tents they’re moving around their wandering in the wilderness and that those are all proper metaphors to describe life as a believer I was going to say something else we think about the world’s okay your comment just a second Greg or think about the world’s response to this attitude of living they probably think it’s silly wishful thinking why not pay attention to your feelings and acknowledge reality for what it is this is all there is you believe in a fantasy and they may even be confused or offended by our attitudes first Peter 4125 says therefore since Christ suffered in the flesh arm yourself arm yourselves also with the same purpose because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin so was to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men but for the will of God for the time already passed is sufficient for you to have carried out the desires of the Gentiles having pursued a course of sensuality lusts drunkenness carousing drinking parties and abominable idolatries basically you were living it up in all these ways with the Gentiles but not anymore verse 4 and all this they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation and they malign you but they will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living in the dead so we are going to stick out if you live as the way the Scriptures tells you to live has an exiled a stranger you’re going to stick out from the world let me get to Greg first then I picture right yeah that’s a yeah it’s a good point quick just repeat your comment the idea your coworker we’re saying that oh it’s because of this otherworldly mindedness looking forward to the Eternity is that people commit terrorism is Lama fighters are blowing themselves up and you’re just like that that’s wrong multiple ways but yeah that’s the sentiment increasingly common oh yeah yeah it’s a really good point that the worldly sentiment comes into the church and it becomes a best-selling idea your best life now it’s all about the blessings that God can give you now and of course that’s just a false gospel it’s the health and wealth gospel yeah you’re totally right one more question as we finish today in what ways are you and I failing to set our minds on things above and how can we seek to change this attitude this is something for you to contemplate on your own but realize that the world is constantly trying to press you into its mold don’t think you’re not being influenced or you’re not prone to the influences of the world if you think you’re not influenced that’s just proof that you’ve been influenced that’s why we have to wash our minds with the word so in what ways are we not setting our minds on things above what ways are we setting our minds on things above and how can we do that more last thing I want to do in today’s class is closed with a few observations on our memory verse you know our memory verse acts 17 26 to 27 try and come up with different ways to help us remember this and one of the things I like to do is just make observations notice things about the verse because helps you remember it a little bit more and also helps you understand the verse a little bit more I’ve noticed and perhaps you had to that you can break this verse down into two different parts grammatically about five parts you have one subject who’s doing the actions in this verse that subject is God he he has made and God has done two actions and there are the first two parts of this verse God has made and he has determined he is made from one blood every nation of men to dwell in the old face the earth and he has determined their pre appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings so God has done two things was the first two parts of this first but then we get the purpose of him doing those things that’s part 3 why have you done these things God well so so that they should seek the lord that was the purpose in God doing doing those actions making one blood determining their pre appointed times and boundaries it’s so that they should seek the Lord and the last two parts of this verse they are modifying phrases describing more about God’s purpose God set the boundaries in the hope that they might grope the people who have been setting these different places they might grow up for god and find him and this is not a useless hope because God truly is not far from each one of us so we’ve got one subject doing two actions have far-reaching implications for all of us and what was the purpose so that we should seek the Lord and the hope that we’ll find him because he’s not far from each one of us anyways just some things to help you think about that verse a little bit more memorize it with me please we’ll have a chance to memorize it until June twenty eighth that’s our last lesson of their quarter the third quarter let’s close in prayer Lord God we really do need you we need you in so many ways we need you to show yourself to us we need your spirit to work on us we need you to sanctify us grant us repentance because we see where your word calls us to go but unless you actually enable us to get there we are hopeless god I think it is the sentiment of everyone here we want to be heavenly minded we want God to set our minds and the things above but God unless you enable us to do that we cannot and Lord we know that you are sanctifying us you are empowering us to do this because you’ve already brought us to salvation if you’ve given us your spirit then you will sanctify us but God sanctify us completely remove those idols and those deceptions from our minds that cause us to only intellectually say that you are a treasure only intellectually say I hope in the next life but then in our actions God clearly show that we only hope in this life God please be gracious to me and to us so that we do truly live like exiles and strangers on the earth the most joyful life well this time is passing quickly but Lord we know that because you are so sweet and compassionate we are going to you thank you for pouring out your personal compassion on each one of us and you caring for us and you dying for us and thank you God that you’re bringing us to yourself let that be our heart drive in Jesus name Amen you

  • Confusion: Dispersion at Babel

    Confusion: Dispersion at Babel

    In this lesson, we examine why God judged mankind for its sin at Babel, how that judgment resulted in different languages and people groups, and how the memory of Babel is evident today in cultures around the world.

  • Reshaping the Earth

    Reshaping the Earth

    In this lesson, we discuss the theory of Catastrophic Plate Tectonics as we explore how the Flood event reshaped the earth’s geology, geography, and topography.

    Auto Transcript

    Note: This rough transcript was automatically generated by YouTube’s AI algorithm. We provide it here for your convenience, but know it will surely contain errors as it has not been proofread or edited by a human.

    good morning to you all today is our last lesson on the flood and in today’s lesson we’re talking about how the flood reshaped the Earth reshaping the earth now last week we talked about where we focused on the arc itself why the ark was an amazingly perfect vessel for handling the flood using the long qubit what were the dimensions of the arc and feet if you remember that’s right 510 feet long how wide not 51 feet wide that’s the other dimension it is 85 feet wide and 51 feet high so 510 feet long 85 feet wide 51 feet high now to put that in perspective using American football the length of the arc was about one and a half football fields if you include the end zones the width of the arc was about half the width of a football field so think about the width of a football field The Arc would have been half of that and then the height was about the same height of three goal posts stacked on top of each other if you think about those field goal posts at the end of a football field imagine three of those stacked on top of each other and you have about the height of the arc here’s another image comparing the arc’s length and height to other ships see the Santa Maria from Christopher Columbus the largest wooden ship ever built the Wyoming or rather the longest wooden ship ever built the Titanic and the Queen Mary second which is a modern cruise liner I see the length of the arc compared to those ships a very big vessel Arc would have actually been the longest wooden vessel ever built now some today object to the accuracy of the flood account because they say the ark has a giant wooden box could not have weathered such a catastrophe but as we discussed last week there’s good reason first of all to believe the ark was not a box why yeah Ron well boxes do float but boxes there’s something about the flood that wouldn’t have been that a box would not handle very well yes Roy that’s right a box would not Orient itself very well to wind and waves and so keep getting slapped on the side and rocked violently which would be dangerous for the inhabitants inside so there’s that reason for believing that it wasn’t a box are there other reasons one criticism say that again bill that’s right the Bible doesn’t actually say that it’s a box the word for Ark used for the ark there in Genesis we don’t know the meaning of that word but the closest meaning that we can probably come up with is Lifeboat rather than box also we certainly realize that not all the details of the Ark are recorded in Genesis 6 where we get the arc description many details are recorded very um accurate and fascinating details are recorded like the dimensions of the arc but nonetheless not all the details are recorded of the dimensions that are recorded however those are the dimensions of a ship a ship that was designed to move through the water if you simply were designing something to float you wouldn’t have used the dimensions or at least from our thinking you wouldn’t have used the dimensions that the arc actually consisted of so a number of reasons why we we can say the Arc was probably not a box now God could have miraculously preserved a box-shaped Arc but we have a good reason to believe that it was shaped like a ship as an ancient ship what were some likely features of the ark that made it perfect for enduring flood waters what were some of the features yeah Craig that’s right it didn’t leak because it used a special kind of planking system do you recall the planking system we think they used Julie or no that’s not does anybody remember mortise and tendon planking very labor intensive um you have to if you want the particular details about how that works I’m afraid to um I can only point you to some articles because it does get pretty technical but a very effective way of keeping the arc strong but also dry because large wooden vessels in modern times they were notoriously leaky but they used a very different method of planking so we have mortise and tendon planking whatever some other features of the arc that made it strong against the flood say that again well there was no sale but there was something like a sale that would have been helpful why was it important to have something that would um stick up yeah Joe that’s right so internet wasn’t necessarily on the bow in in Answers in Genesis version of the Arc it is on the bow the front of the vessel but somewhere on the ship you probably have a obstruction some kind of fin it could have been a sail but sail would have been a little bit hard to maintain something that would catch the wind and that’s important because if you can catch the wind the wind will push the ark and until the arc is moving in the direction of the wind which means that the wind will no longer be battering the arc on the sides it will be pushing the arc along through the waters which is going to make the ride a lot more comfortable same thing for the water we need something to catch the water and so that’s why there is a probably a fixed Rudder on the back of the arc also called a skeg same concept as the waves push against the arc they’re going to change the direction of the arc until the arc is moving in the direction of the Waves so it’s a much safer much more comfortable ride as it’s being pushed by the winds and waves in this in the same direction that the waves and wind are going these features are on Ancient ships and so it’s not very much of a logical leap for us to um to suggest that they were also on Noah’s Ark now such an arc would definitely have been seaworthy and a testament to the great wisdom of God others object however to the Ark on different grounds they say even if seaworthy the ark could not have contained all of the animal species of the world especially the dinosaurs well how can we respond to that objection yes Joe that’s right so for especially the big animals there would have been some wisdom about how old and how big of a size the animal you would bring on the ark it would probably had younger smaller versions of dinosaurs and some of the bigger animals on the Earth though not all animals are that big the average size of an animal in the Earth today is less than a sheep but what else what’s another reason that we can say well your objection actually is groundless yes George exactly if we’re not supposed to bring no was not instructed to bring of every species but of every kind so it wouldn’t have taken tigers and lions and leopards it would have just taken two cats they were probably the cat kind look different than it does today you probably didn’t even have those variations so the amount of animals he had to bring the bring on the ark was much more manageable because he was only bringing of the kinds and it was not difficult for Noah to or or let me ask it this way was it difficult for Noah to find and gather all these animals that’s right the text is actually explicit it says God will bring the animals God brought the animals to Noah so actually God was the one who was applying the wisdom selecting which animals for Noah to bring on the ark which age and which size Etc so there was actually plenty of room on the ark for Noah his family and the animals and of course more people those who would repent and be saved from the flood so that’s what we talked about last week any questions about the ark yes Carol that’s right there was Pitch not only on the bottom but inside and out of the Ark and that was part of what would keep the wood dry and keep it from flexing and keep it from or keep water from coming inside so yes pitch was another important feature of the Ark other questions okay well a global violent flood would have needed a well-designed Arc to endure it however a global violent flood would also have greatly impacted the geology and topography of our world over the centuries scientists have observed many mysterious details in our planet’s geology for instance you have sediment layers that are consistent across entire continents or large parts of consonants the same layers laid down in the same way you also in certain places have folds and rock layers that surprisingly did not cause the rock layers to break there’s a smooth bend a smooth fold which is which is strange because you would expect that there was something that forced The Rock layers up violently they would fracture also consonants appear to have fit together at one time and then you also have Marine fossils on high mountain peaks so these are puzzles for geologists how did these things come to be well most secular scientists are going to give an answer based on what fundamental assumption that’s right uniformitarianism they will say something along the lines of everything we see is the result of very slow processes over millions of years they are the same processes that we observe today but we know we know that something happened in the past that makes uniformitarianism a false assumption what happened the flood and creation two very um non are not non-natural I guess you could say Supernatural events certainly not like what we see today for answering any geological question one must take into account the word of God if you don’t factor in creation and the flood when you’re studying rocks your interpretation is likely going to be faulty because you’re starting with assumptions that are false once we factor in Creation in the flood however we still are left with the question how do we explain these puzzles yes we know creation happened we know the flood happened but how did it produce how did those things produce the geology that we see in our world now even though sometimes we cannot say more than God did it I don’t know how God did it creationists creation geologists and creation scientists have come up with very plausible models various models to explain in a way consistent with the Bible’s details why the world and its geology is the way that we see it today so actually in today’s class I want to present to you such a model I want to present you a geological model for explaining how the flood is responsible for The Rock layers and the Continental forms and positions that we see today and this model is called continents or catastrophic plate tectonics catastrophic plate tectonics it’s a geological model a theory this isn’t fact but it’s a model for explaining what we see now this model was first proposed by Antonio Snyder a creation geologist in 1859 based on the scriptures and his observation that the consonants looked like they once had fit together they had once been connected Snyder really should be the one credited with the concept with the first idea of continental drift the idea that the consonants move but for whatever reason history gives that honor to a different geologist Alfred Wegener a secular geologist who proposed that idea again in 1912.

    even then the theory was not very very much accepted it was only until scientific advances in the 1960s that the idea of consonants moving plate tectonics really caught on and the theory of continental drift has been refined very much since then but we’re talking about catastrophic plate tectonics not slight movements but huge violent movements and these were what caused the flood and they explained how the world came about from the flood well certainly not authoritative like scripture this model gives a reasonable explanation for where the Waters of the flood came from where they went after the flood and why the world’s rocks and consonants look the way they do the science of this topic can get a little dense but let’s do our best to see if we can get a basic grasp of this model and of its relevant Concepts Concepts understanding this Theory will be helpful for responding to certain skeptical questions but also hopefully will fill us with awe fill us with awe at our powerful Creator who did Judge the world and will judge the world let’s pray ask God’s blessing on this time God lord it is amazing as we discover more of your word I mean more of your world through scientific observation we see more of your great wisdom we see more of your great power in creation we recognize that our science and our scientific models are fallible God but we thank you that your word is infallible and we want to base any of our ideas any of our scientific interpretations from your word and in a way consistent with your word so God I pray that you give me the ability to explain well this model and I pray God that we would indeed be provoked to awe over you in Jesus name amen let’s start by reminding ourselves of just a couple of the details from from the flood account so open your Bibles to Genesis chapter 7.

    these details are going to be relevant for any geological model or any explaining model that has to do with the flood Genesis 7 verses 10 to 12.

    now we’ve read through this passage before I’m not going to take time to read it again this morning but feel free to scan the text for a moment what two sources of water are mentioned in the text for bringing the flood on the Earth that’s right we have The Fountains of the great deep and we have the floodgates of the sky and we noted that these are figurative Expressions but what do they refer to yes Danielle down and then also maybe that’s right so water sources from under the Earth probably in the oceans because it says great deep and that’s a that’s a phrase in Hebrew that’s always connected with oceans so we have a a water source from under the oceans and we have a water source from the sky probably rain yeah that seems plain enough but what exactly is this Oceanic water source and where exactly did this rain come from well let’s see if we can get a little bit closer to answering that now there’s a fair amount of debate let’s talk about the rain first there’s a fair amount of debate on the nature of the flood’s rain now some believe that there had been no rain on the earth up to this point that with the flood God caused rain to appear for the first time on the earth now there is some biblical support for this where can we go to in the Bible to support the idea there was no rain Before the Flood yes Dania very good excellent observation Danielle you may remember from our earlier lessons before the fall we are told that there was no rain on the Earth but that God sent a mist or a Subterranean water source to water the Earth or at least the Garden of Eden so there was certainly no rain then but what else can we say that another reason to suggest there was no rain Before the Flood at Julie writes the rainbow would be very relevant because God says I set my bow in the clouds it’s a reminder I’ll never send a flood again now Rainbows are produced by rain it’s produced by water vapor in the air that refracts the light presumably if there were rain before the flood then there also would have been rainbows Before the Flood because rain produces rainbows but it’d be strange for God to say I’m making a new promise about the rainbow even though the rainbow was there before the flood but now don’t worry I won’t send another flood that would be odd the rainbows seem to be only something that we’re after the flood now could God have produced rain without rainbows yes but in terms of suggesting whether there is rain before the flood or not that is another reason to to think that there was not rain Before the Flood however there is one problem with this if there was no rain before the flood then why does God promise Adam in Genesis 3 that weeds were now going to flourish because as Danielle mentioned Moses tells us in Genesis chapter 2 there was no rain on the earth and therefore no plants that thrive with rain you remember we talked some at some length about those two terms planted the field and shrub of the field shrub of the field meaning a weed weeds flourish and Rain irregular water source now why would God say to Adam in chapter 3 thorns and thistles are now going to come from the ground you’re now going to have to be dealing with weeds does it produce weeds rain we’re not actually part of his experience so and there is some difficulty saying for sure whether there was rain Before the Flood another thing that we should keep in mind when thinking about the flood’s rain some also said that the rain was actually a special rain that came from a canopy a canopy of water that once surrounded the Earth so imagine Earth encased in this barrier of water and the flood then God would have released this canopy of water and it would have fallen as a massive torrent to the Earth very much like releasing floodgates in the sky so there’s this canopy of water that was above the Earth and God suddenly lets it Go and it All Falls Down now this is also has some support from the scriptures it’s partly based off of a statement that you may remember from Genesis 1. when God’s describing the creation of the earth what does he say that may suggest a canopy of water around the Earth very good bill so Genesis 1 6-8 I’ll reread that section for you it says then God said let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters and let it separate the waters from the waters God made the expanse separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse and it was so God called the expanse heaven and there is evening and there is morning a second day now this is this statement is mystified biblical interpreters a bit over over time because where are the waters above the Earth we know the expanse is called heaven or it’s called sky but what are the waters above the Earth and for this reason some have suggested well there was actually a barrier of water a canopy of water that surrounded the Earth and it was established at creation and this canopy is thought to have created unique conditions on the pre-flood Earth that promoted long life spans you may notice or you may know that after the flood man’s life spans rapidly decline and in this model the idea is well with the canopy gone you no longer have those life-sustaining conditions those wonderful life-sustaining conditions however you may remember from previous classes I’ve mentioned you there are many scientific problems with a water canopy it’s hard to make any sort of model work that that contains or uses a canopy of water around the earth the most notable problem is that the greenhouse effect in such a world with a canopy would have been out of control today actually when we think about the greenhouse effect we hear about greenhouse gases and things that heat the Earth but the thing the gas that causes the most greenhouse effect today is water vapor and it’s it makes up the majority of our greenhouse gases if we had a water canopy the Earth would have been way too hot way too hot for anyone to survive now it’s possible that God had mechanisms in place with this water canopy that we simply don’t know about and he could have made it work but we cannot say confidently that there was a water canopy despite those verses in Genesis 1 to talk about the waters being separated so I bring those up to you just so that we can keep them in mind what I’m going to propose you today about where the rains came from is based off of the model I mentioned the catastrophic plate tectonics there’s a different idea about where the wind the rains came from and I want to introduce it to you by actually showing you a little video clip this is from Answers in Genesis a little reimagining of what the beginning of the flood was like so it’s a two-minute video flood initiation and as you watch the video pay attention to how the clouds form you may be thinking that you’re looking at tidal waves at first but you’re not you’re actually looking at massive rapid cloud formation so let’s watch and then I’ll explain a little bit what we’re seeing foreign okay so the video is a little intense but the flood must have truly been a terrifying event now as I said you may have been thinking you’re looking at a tidal wave the whole time the whole time but no those were clouds in the video what causes the clouds to form yeah Julie exactly so water vapor is caused by some sort of eruption in the ocean it shoots into the air and immediately starts forming clouds and those clouds quickly spread across the Earth what else do these eruptions cause you may have noted destroying the sailors at sea that’s right so Global magnitude tsunamis you see a tidal wave that sweeps that boat away with the the splitting of the the Ocean Air we’re looking at an earthquake or a title or that causes a tidal wave I may have also noticed that the earth looks a little bit different you can switch back to the presentation the earth looks a little bit different in the video how does it look different that’s right in the video the Earth is just one consonant one solid land mass so we’re beginning to see some of the some features of the model for catastrophic plate tectonics now let me explain this a little bit more detail what exactly is this model and how does it suppose the flood took place but before that we need to review a little bit about tectonic plates I don’t know if you remember this from elementary school or whenever you study a little bit about geology but you may remember the outside of the Earth is made of what we call a crust various moving plates of rock it’s what we live on these plates don’t move to much today but they do move which is why we call them tectonic plates tectonic has to do with movement plate it’s the section of rock they do move does anybody know how today how about how far plates move per year about one to two inches there are different plates move at slightly different speeds they only move about one to two inches per year now their movement is responsible for what natural disasters earthquakes and they’re also part of volcanic activity their movement in causes volcanic activity now there are seven or eight major plates today you can see that in the bottom right picture there and depending on how you define the term there are 70 major plates and a number of minor plates and these are all plates they are the crust or they are they contain the Earth’s crust all of this crust all these plates they float on an extremely hot semi-fluid section of rock called the mantle you see that in the top left picture you have the inner core the outer core of the earth and then the mantle and these plates the crust of the earth floats on top of this mantle now the mantle is Rock but it’s really hot and it has some fluid-like properties the tectonic plates they have two kinds of crust on them there’s continental and oceanic crust and you can guess the difference if it’s in the ocean it’s oceanic crust if it’s Continental it’s continental crust now they’re made up slightly differently slightly different kinds of rocks and those types of crust oceanic crust is thinner and denser than continental crust so thinner but more compact has a higher density of rock so whenever a plate with an oceanic crust runs into a plate with continental crust because the plates move right sometimes they move towards each other whenever those two types of crust encounter one another the plate with the oceanic crust goes under the plate with the continental crust the plate with the oceanic crust actually starts sinking down back into the mantle and it’s going to melt there it’s going to disappear this process is called subduction subduction and you see a picture of that in the bottom left the Lost section of plates the one that the oceanic crust is it’s going back into the mantle it is immediately replaced on the other side of the plate from my new material from the mantle that comes up and forms the new crust have you ever heard of a mid-ocean ridge mid-ocean ridges are mountain chains that formed on the ocean floor where two plates connect or where two plates collide with each other and it’s at these sea ridges that new sea floor is generated new material from the mantle comes up at these Rifts at these ridges and it spreads ever so slowly to um to make up for the oceanic crust that disappeared in back into the mantle so you always have a notion floor part of it if it encounters continental crust it disappears back into the mantle while on the other side new mantle material comes up and forms new seafloor they call this C4 seafloor spreading and it’s observable today but again it’s very slow with me so far okay now this is really relevant for the model I’m just about to explain to you Before the Flood according to this Theory there was only one consonant which both secular and Creations geologists have a name for and the name is rodinia which comes from the Russian rodina meaning motherland many creationists see biblical support actually for one land mass originally in Genesis 1 9. that’s where God gathers the waters I’ll quote the verse for you Genesis 1 9 says let the waters or then God said let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place and let the dry land appear and it was so how does that show one land mass well the thinking is this the waters gathered into one place and implies that the land was also gathered into one place because otherwise the water would have to be gathered into several places that’s the thinking so anyways in this model there was one original land mass which we call rodinia and the flood began when the Earth’s plates the various plates on the earth violently split apart from one another in the ocean opening massive ocean Rifts now flood begins when the plates the Earth’s plates the Earth tectonic plates split in the ocean and as the sections of oceanic crust moved away from one another they moved towards the continental crust right and hot material from the mantle where the plates moved apart pours through the breach we’re going to get new sea floor so hot mantle material but a lot of hot mantle material pours through the breeches and it pours through all over the Earth because all of the continents were splitting from one another and so you have these opening of ocean risks all over the Earth and this hot mantle material extremely hot mantle material immediately vaporizes deep ocean water and sends it Skyward this is what you saw in the video the water shoots into the sky and quickly creates huge amounts of rain clouds these rain clouds start to pour their contents onto the Earth and more and more steam is ejected into the air as more and more mantle materials being pushed up where these Rifts occurred and therefore the rain keeps being reinforced it therefore rains steadily and heavily over 40 days and 40 nights on the earth as the Bible says so that’s the idea of where the rain came from but meanwhile something is happening in the ocean something more is happening in the oceans the splitting oceanic crusts while being reinforced by the mantle they are encountering the Continental cross Center therefore being subducted ocean crust is more dense than continental crust so it always goes underneath it as a subductive plates dive into the mantle however they destabilize the upper mantle and they cause this whole process of subduction to accelerate and creationists call this runaway subduction the subduction process begins to move faster and faster and faster and faster because the mantle becomes more and more destabilized and as the crust moves faster the mantle gets more destabilized and cause the crust move faster and faster and faster until accelerates to high speeds and the whole process is moving like a conveyor belt more and more oceanic crust is getting subducted underneath the continental crust at top speed well just for comparison the plates today move about one to two inches per year but according to this runaway subduction model which has been tested with sophisticated computer programs the plates during the flood moved at about one to two meters per second so today they move one to two inches per year but then they’re moving one to two meters per second because of this process of one-way subduction and it wasn’t just the oceanic crust that was moving the continents themselves began to move because they too float on top of this mantle the mantle is being destabilized you have these currents of heat moving in the mantle and they cause the crust on top of the mantle the plates on top of the mantle wherever they are to move as well so the Earth’s consonants also began to move at top speeds of about one to two meters per second and so we get the breakup of this continent of rodinia and um we’re going to get these consonants moving all over the place as Creations like to say this was no continental drift it was Continental Sprint these consonants were moving very rapidly the original consonant as I said broke apart and as the flood went on these fragmented pieces would eventually collide together again but at this point the world was flooded so you may see in the picture there rodinia you can see the land mass the original land mass but in Pangea the whole earth looks blue that’s because these consonants were colliding together but underwater these and when sections of continental crust Collide they don’t subduct one doesn’t go underneath the other usually or rather their crust is compressed and forced upward forming what kind of land mass mountains mountains this is where we get many of our mountains but by this time while this Continental Collision is happening underneath the water already the consonants have new deposits on them new sediment deposits on them and Within These deposits are creatures buried in the sediment so therefore as these new mountains were formed what was already on top of the mountains fossils especially Marine fossils because they were there those fossils were stuck in the sediment and they were put all over these consonants when the consonants formed new mountains the fossils that were already in the sediment they just went to the top of those mountains which explains why we find them there today so those pieces collided with one another but then they split apart again they continue to move until they reached about today’s present positions and they took their new mountains with them and we can actually see today some of the results of these Continental collisions you can see Mountain chains that actually continue from one continent to the next even though they’re separated by an ocean this is you see in this picture the Appalachian Mountains in North America actually continue right in a mountain chain with the British Isles and Scandinavia the Caledonian mountains this is where those continents had collided during the flood when the the tectonic plates were moving around when they temporarily reformed a new consonant Pangea the consonants as I said with some of the original land mass were also given new layers of rock and sediment by the flood as the waters pass over them so that’s why the land masses if you if we go back to the previous picture and the land masses look or they contain different or they contain more sediment more soil than they did or that they did originally or they contain different soil some of the original continents would have sunk into the mantle but anyways so those consonants move to where they where they are today or close to where they are today but it wasn’t just the rain falling all over the Earth that was causing flooding we do have the consonants moving and we do have the steam going into the air and causing massive rainfall but the sea levels themselves were also Rising well why are the sea levels Rising it’s not at least in this model it’s not that water was being pumped through the Earth’s crust rather is that the sea floor itself was Rising the sea floor itself was Rising well how could that be well as I mentioned oceanic crust were quickly diving beneath sections of continental crust and entering the hot mantle but you can’t simply have no ocean floor hot rock from the mantle came through the Gap left behind by these Rifts and they they took over the ground of the retreating ocean crust so just like today when we talk about subduction whenever you have oceanic crust going beneath the consonant on the other side you have new crust being formed with hot material from the mantle however this was happening rapidly and hot mantle rock is less dense than cold ocean crust Rock which means that the new hot ocean floor was going to float higher on the mantle than the previous cold ocean floor okay that may sound a little bit confusing I’ll say it again and then I’ll explain it with an analogy because hot mantle Rock was rapidly replacing the ocean crust floor and this hot mantle rock is less dense than the previous floor of cold crust rock that means the new ocean floor was going to float higher on the mantle than the previous cold ocean floor now how could that be well let me explain using aluminum foil think about aluminum foil if you take a sheet of aluminum foil crumble it into a ball and drop it in the water what happens to it wait what it stinks no it doesn’t float aluminum it is a pretty light metal but if you’re crumpled into a ball it sinks if you don’t believe me you can try it at home now why does an aluminum ball sink it does have to do with gravity but it’s more than that exactly this is this is what we talk about with buoyancy right the density of aluminum the compactness of aluminum is higher than the density of water therefore it sinks in water and if you couple aluminum into a ball you have that high density however if you take the same size sheet of aluminum and form it into a raft shape with upturned sides and then put it in water what happens to it it floats like that little picture down there but it’s aluminum right it weighs the same amount it has the same mass as your crumple ball why does the aluminum raft float well the upturn signs yeah they prevent water from getting into the boat but it’s not really just about the shape or not simply about the sides exactly it’s that’s right it’s still about density it’s about density the density is much lower in your aluminum raft because what is filling the space of your object besides aluminum air and air is much less dense than water and this is why heavy steel ships can nonetheless float on water it’s because they contain a lot in their space that is not heavier than water they contain air they contain other things that are less dense than water now I’m going to relate this back to what we’re just talking about in just a moment but two more points as long as an object’s density is less than water’s density what would that object do when it encounters water it will always flip as long as the density is less than water it will continue to float unless something changes its density and makes it heavier or makes it more dense than water but let’s say we have two objects one that is half the density of water and one that is a quarter of the density of water both of the objects will float but what will be the difference in how they float one of them is going to float higher on the water which one the less dense material right they’ll both float but one will float higher on the water and it’s the one with the less density now let’s take that back to what I was just saying about the mantle I said earlier that all the tectonic plates float on top of the Earth’s mantle but when a Plate’s crust becomes replaced by another set of crust that is less dense is the plate going to float higher on the mantle or lower on the mantle it’s going to float higher it’s the same concept we now have a less dense ocean floor and it’s already floating on the mantle but because it’s now its density is less compared to the previous set of crust that crust is now going to float higher on the mantle so the new oceanic floor is higher on the mantle meaning that the water above this ocean floor has to go where it has to go up and has to go towards the continents because if the sea floor is moving up well then the sea level has to move up now imagine today if all the oceans floor everywhere suddenly went up by about I don’t know 20 meters what would happen massive floods tsunamis too but massive floods that is a lot of water being pushed up and it has to go somewhere and one of the web articles from Answers in Genesis the author mentions a poignant fact if you were to level out the Earth’s terrain if you raise the ocean basins and lower the mountains on the continents do you know what you get you get the world entirely covered by water we already know that our world is mostly water 75 of our world is water God didn’t actually need to pump new water on the earth to flood everything all he had to do was raise the sea floor and that’s exactly what massive plate movement would do because the hot mantle material would replace the surface of the ocean floor and if it was done rapidly and hot material is going to be less dense and therefore the sea floor is going to rise so that’s the idea where the water came from in this catastrophic plate tectonic model you have steam going into the air and causing rain but you also have the sea floor Rising which is going to cause flooding all over the Earth but as we were just saying tectonic plate activity would have also produced tsunamis because what always happens whenever you have the plates moving from each other or encountering one another earthquakes and you have earthquakes in water or volcanic activity in water you get tsunamis you get tidal waves and these plates were moving continually or at least for a good portion of the flood so that would have produced tsunami after tsunami wave after wave being or surging towards the consonants there’s no way a person or a creature could have just floated through the rising Waters if they were already on a boat say you may say well couldn’t they have just survived the flood no not with the tidal waves that were continually coming at the consonants any craft not specifically prepared for the flood would have been destroyed and move over the ark was prepared for the flood and it was probably built away from the coast so the tsunami waves would not have devastated it like it would other crafts that were already at sea so no other boats would have survived the flood so during the flood according to this model massive plate movement caused rising sea levels tidal waves and torrential rain and the surging of these Waters over the land picked up a lot of rock and sediments and they deposited it on the land and of course they buried many creatures when they did so even creatures that were mid-bite or mid-birth we actually see both of those in the fossil record that must have been a very rapid burial eventually all this chaos comes to an end because what must have eventually happened to the hot seafloor that would have caused the waters to recede oh cool right that’s what he does he possibly constantly dissipates it constantly transfers itself and so this hot sea floor would eventually cool because the heat was being transferred into the water in other places and so it cools and forms new ocean crust and its density increases therefore if the oceanic crust density increases it’s going to sink back down a little bit more on the mantle meaning the seafloor levels sink and consequently the sea levels sink so as the ocean floor cooled the sea level would go back down eventually the oceanic plates I’m not the oceanic plates the oceanic crust would finish subducting the plates would stop moving towards the continents they had totally the oceanic crust had totally disappeared into the mantle and so that runaway subduction came to an end and therefore the Continental movement is greatly slowed or stopped and with no more hot mantle material pouring into the ocean because that process of runaway subduction was greatly slowed and came to a stop the steam fountains that were constantly pouring water into the air they too ceased the waters all over the Earth then we’re flowing back into the ocean so sea level was going down the basins the ocean basins had become deeper once again and the rain had stopped so all that water is going to try and find its way back to the ocean it’s going to keep on going down the topography to get back into the ocean and as they did so what are the waters going to do they’re going to erode the surface of the land they’re going to carry a lot of that sediment they’re going to carry part of the earth back into the water and that some of the water though is going to get trapped because we have new topography on the earth there are already some hills and mountains Before the Flood but they’re also new mountains and New pieces of topography After the flood so some water becomes trapped trapped into higher elevations forming large lakes but water continues to exert pressure especially on this new soft material and some of it is going to burst the boundaries of those Lakes and it’s going to rapidly Rush towards the ocean and when you have water and that bursts its boundaries and and starts moving through soft sediment and rock what’s that water going to create it’s going to carve that that soft rock it’s going to start creating canyons and valleys secular geologists they also suppose that water carves cannons and valleys but they say it’s just a little bit of water over a long period of time but we’re saying the opposite of that there’s a lot of water over a little bit of time now some Oceanic creatures would have gotten caught in The Lakes either the lakes that made their way back into the ocean of the lakes that didn’t and they just made a new life of it it’s where we got the the creatures that lived in our Lakes they just made it their new home so I think that pretty much covers the basics of catastrophic plate tectonics but let me summarize what happened during the flood equine to this model well it’s all about the tectonic plates shifting they split apart in the oceans they cause massive amounts of steam to pour into the air the steam condensed to create 40 days and nights of rain the new hot sea floor it caused the ocean levels to rise and lots of seismic activity the seismic activity caused continual tsunamis all over the Earth and all of this Continental on all this plate movement caused the consonants to move to Sprint to and away from one another and collide with one another and to create new Mountain chains surging Waters across the land deposited many layers of rock and sediment burying plants and animals and the receding Waters cause large amounts of erosion and carved out many canyons and valleys so if this is the way the Lord did it no matter the way he did it it was a Titanic Calamity the whole earth was put into an upheaval and it is a reminder of what the scriptures say it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God it’s Hebrews 10 31.

    the psalmist too was in awe of God’s power in the flood turn over to Psalm 104 for a second Psalm 104 verses 5 to 9 . this Psalm is a meditation of what or it’s a meditation on God’s power and God’s goodness part of the meditation is on what God did in the past in creation and in the flood and part of the meditation is about what God does in the present to sustain life and the section that we’re going to be looking at is about what God did in the past look starting at verse 5 will read we’ll read down to verse 9.

    psalm 104.

    verse 5 he established the Earth upon its foundations so that it will not totter forever and ever you covered it with the deep as with the Garment the waters were standing above the mountains at your rebuke they fled at the sound of your thunder they hurried away the mountains Rose the valley sank down to the place which you established for them you set a boundary that they may not pass over so that they will not return to cover the Earth I think the psalmist was thinking about the same things that we’re talking about today the flood reshaped the Earth now can we say that this is for sure the way that God did it can we say we know that it was catastrophic plate tectonics well no we can’t we certainly can’t say it like we can in the Bible we can’t hold to it like we do the things in the Bible but the reason I present this to you is because it’s an example of what we should be doing when it comes to science we start with the Bible and then look at what we observe today and propose a model that makes sense and that’s what catastrophic plate tectonics does now I’m sure that there there are imperfections in the model but it makes a lot of sense and if you want to hear more of the details definitely go to answers in genesis.org there’s plenty of articles some of them really technical but some of them not so technical plenty of articles that can talk about those different aspects now you may have questions now and I’d like to hear them and answer them hold on one second though I want to show you one other short video and then I’ll get to your questions this is a video that talks a little bit how the rock layers and fossils are best explained when you start from a global perspective of the flood and it ties into some of what we what I already shared with you so if we could load up the video on Rock layers it’s about four minutes foreign Rock layers are visible in mountains plateaus and canyons all over the world where did these Rock layers come from present processes aren’t the answer today sand and mud are usually deposited in thin layers along the outer edge of continents and the formation of fossils today is rare but somehow in the past thick layers of sand and mud were spread across entire continents and filled with well-preserved fossils Noah’s flood suggests a way to explain these puzzling features flooding the continents for example could carry sea creatures many hundreds of feet above present sea level Andrew Snelling is a PhD geologist from Australia who has spent over 30 years studying rocks working in the field and in the lab we find marine creatures buried at the top of the Grand Canyon which is over I’m all above sea level a global flood could carry sand and mud enormous distances some of the sand grinds that are in the Navajo Sandstone had to have come from the Appalachians but what river or what process today is carrying material from the Appalachians the the Southwest a global flood could quickly lay down thick layers of mud and sand burying even giant animals and tall trees we’ve got coal beds with trees sitting on them and these trees tree stumps go through many strata which means that before they could rot you have to have lots of sand and mud coming in quickly several places in the Grand Canyon four thousand feet of different types of of sand and mud and lime have been bent and they’ve been been bent while they’re still soft both the bottom layer and the top layer are all bent the same way which means that the whole sequence of four thousand feet of the of sand and mud and lime had to have been laid down very quickly By the Waters and then bent very soon afterwards a global flood could form thick layers across entire continents in the Grand Canyon area we’ve got Limestone there the red wall Limestone the same line stain can be found over here in the United Eastern United States a global flood could cut deeply and widely we’ve got this huge flat surface at the rim of the Grand Canyon which goes for thousands of square miles where waters on a great scale over vast area just swept over it and swept Everything clean none of these processes deep white erosion or thick rapid layering our continent-wide distribution or lifting of marine organisms above sea level or sand carried across continents occur in the present a radically different processes are required such as occurred during noaa’s flood okay so that’s just a sampling of some of the geology that begins to make a little bit more sense once you factor the flood in now does the flood explain every single thing that we see in the geology no of course not but it is something that plays a huge role in what we see in the geological record record all right let me hear some questions yeah Danielle yes they um there’s actually I think one or two articles that address that specifically I’m trying to recall what the argument is um I can’t remember exactly but I know one of the things that they say is that there there are a lot of assumptions that we may make about humans and human fossils that aren’t necessarily true like we might think well why aren’t why aren’t humans buried with animals well it’s humans today don’t usually live right with animals we live separately and um you know humans may have been trying to do different things during the flood than um than animals would have so that they didn’t they didn’t become subject to the same rapid burial processes that the animals did it’s also possible that we do there are sections of or there are more larger sections of human fossils that we simply haven’t discovered yet basically there are a lot of unanswered questions when it comes to why are there there are a lot of things that we don’t know about that would factor into the question of why we don’t find that many human fossils and why we don’t find them buried with other usually buried with other animals we do find some human fossils and of course they are the subject of intense scrutiny today and that’s where we get a lot of a lot of the inferences about the transition States between apes and man and things like that but I would point you to a better answer would be from Answers in Genesis other questions yeah boy how long duration how many how long that would take to uh yes I didn’t in my preparation for today’s class I don’t look for that number specifically but one of the reasons why this model is held to by Answers in Genesis is because of the complex computer modeling by a guy named Dr Baumgardner and I think some of the other creation geologists where they basically simulated the conditions of the earth and we’re looking to see would you get the Continental Sprint that we think might have happened and you do you do get it and I’m sure that from that model they can say well this is where this is how long that process would have taken place and this is when that process would have stopped now I couldn’t get access to that video model I couldn’t I saw some presentations that were based on that model but I didn’t actually have access to the model itself that’s a good question then other questions yeah Steve yeah that’s a great question Steve what outside of God’s promise is there anything that that we can point to scientifically that’s preventing this from happening again and I don’t think we can I don’t think they’re conceivably if there were rapid plate tectonics again catastrophic plate tectonics then it would flood the Earth again but that’s right yeah so it would really only simply be God’s God’s mercy in that he keeps the the plates from moving more rapidly than they do I I do remember that one of the Articles or a number of the articles that I read I talked about today’s tectonic activity and volcanic activity it really just leftovers from the flood that it’s kind of like these are dim reminders of what happened then and if you ask well what was the mechanism that triggered the flood was it a buildup of certain gases in the Earth was it was did something hit the Earth from outer space it could have been those things but it could simply have been the Finger of God where he says you’re going to crack now and then that initiated the the seismic Calamity other questions yeah Andrew okay amount of conversion in terms of a long surveyor to circular okay so just repeat your comment Andrew that from what we can tell today the reason that the plates move has to do with the movement of the outer core inside the Earth as it interacts with the mantle and causes the the mantle to move to change a little bit and that causes the plates to move slightly now certainly you might be realizing or maybe you’re asking like well how do they know this how do they know the mantle is moving the outer core is moving because we’re not anywhere near those sections of the earth certainly that is something we have to factor in we are kind of looking from a distance about what’s going on inside the Earth but through various kinds of measurements and studies they can make some some interpretation of what’s going on inside the Earth if you have some more questions feel free to bring them up afterwards we’re out of time today this is our last lesson on the flood once again there’s many more questions related to the flood that I’m sure you have or that you’ve heard or maybe you will hear don’t feel bad if you don’t know the answer it’s totally fine for you to say someone I’m not sure but here’s a great place you can go or I’m not sure I’d like to do a little bit more research and get back to you that’s actually a gesture of sincerity I think that that would be really helpful but we hopefully today and from the other flood lessons gotten to basic knowledge so we can answer some some of the common skeptical questions when it comes to the flood you can find more on answers in genesis.org you can come talk with me afterwards we have one more week with our memory verse uh we’ll have to skip the application to questions but I’ll show you the memory I’ll show you the memory verse once again and then we’ll get a new memory verse next week somehow disconnected let me try that again there it is maybe you’ve memorized it already I was going to recite it today but we’re out of time we’ll do that and next class and we get our new memory verse next week though we move on to our next C in the seven C’s confusion fusionab battle because that only takes place about 100 Years After the flood let’s close in prayer oh God we we are in awe that your power God you are in total control of the earth and Lord it is only by your mercy that these plates don’t go out of control today and Lord that the Earth is not flooded once again but Lord you keep your promises and the rainbow is a reminder of that God we thank you for your gospel we thank you that there is good news that you are not simply the powerful judge but that you made a way and made a way for us to know you and be reconciled to you thank you Lord God bless the rest of service today amen