"God's choice, God's promise ... and YOU!"

Day #7


Scripture Reading:  Genesis 24 - 27 ...

Every time I read of God's promises to Abraham, then to his son, Isaac, and to his son, Jacob, I think of the first two verses of the New Testament:  "A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:  Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah ..."  And I think of the Apostle Paul's explanation of God's promises to Abraham in Romans 4 and Romans 9, and in Galatians 3, where the Bible teaches us that God never forgets a promise He has made or fails to keep it.  Understanding God's promises to Abraham and the fulfillment of those promises ultimately in Jesus is the path to understanding, accepting and rejoicing in God's gift of salvation, eternal life, to those who place their faith in Jesus Christ.

Though it is not "politically correct" today in some circles to speak of Israel and their right to the land in which they are living, the truth is, God gave that land to Abraham and his descendants more than four thousand years ago.  Some theologians today declare that God never promised the land to Israel specifically, but the Bible clearly teaches that God did!  The battle over this land in our day is more than a battle over land; it is a battle between God and Satan, a battle that God will ultimately win!!  And the land is only part of it.

As He had said to Abraham, God said to Isaac, "To you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham.  I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed" (26:3-4).  That included the land of the Philistines (Palestine - Gaza).  God chose Abraham, then He chose Isaac (not Ishmael) and then He chose Jacob (not Esau).  Even though Jacob and his mother, Rebekah, went about getting Isaac's blessing in the wrong way, God had predestined the destiny of Jacob and Esau when He said to Rebekah BEFORE the twins were born:  "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger" (Genesis 25:23).

Paul explains God's sovereign choice in Romans 9 this way:  "Before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad - in order that God's purpose in election might stand:  not by works but by Him who calls - she was told, 'The older will serve the younger'" (9:11-12).  God's PURPOSE in election ... God's purpose in choosing Abraham, then Isaac, then Jacob ... AND, God's purpose in choosing some from all nations to believe in Him, was that the very source of salvation for those who believe is GOD, not ourselves.  People without the Spirit of God do not even WANT to save themselves from God's wrath and judgment, because they don't believe in God's wrath or judgment.

God’s sovereignty over the events of this world and His election of some to be His people is a truth repeated throughout God’s Word.  Either God is in control of all things or He is in control of nothing, because one thing affects another affects another.  That does not mean that God CAUSES all things to take place, but simply that He knows the end from the beginning and that He determines where He will allow sinful mankind to go their own way and when He will intervene by His sovereign wisdom and power to overrule the power of evil, of Satan himself, in order to accomplish His eternal purposes ... in order to save those whom He has chosen and to bring glory to Himself.  A God who is NOT in control, who is not sovereign, who is not ruling over the affairs of mankind and the nations of the world is not only unworthy of worship, but is totally incapable of keeping His promises!

From the account of God choosing a wife for Isaac, to the deceitfulness of Rebekah and Jacob in “stealing” Esau’s birthright, God was looking ahead toward the coming of the One who would be the “Seed of Abraham,” who would be a blessing to some from every nation.  Unless you understand the Bible as the progressive unfolding of God’s plan to redeem for Himself a people throughout all history through His Son Jesus Christ, the promised “Seed,” you will never realize the privilege of being “Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29).

While those in other religions, and many in the visible church, reject this teaching, the Apostle Paul explains it in one sentence in the verses quoted earlier from Romans 9, verses 11-12.  God’s “purpose in election” was to show that salvation is by GRACE, not by works.  No other religion teaches this!  NONE!!!  So many make the mistake of thinking that people can actually be good enough to deserve a place in God’s eternal kingdom, but God says otherwise.  Either you are saved from His coming judgment by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, or you are not saved at all.  There is no middle ground!

The beauty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that God sent His own Son to be the payment for sin for all who believe.  Those who reject that message are not children of Abraham ... not because they didn't have a chance, but because they have chosen to reject whatever revelation God has given them, so that they are "without excuse" before a holy God (Romans 1:20).  In the Gospel God offers life and by His Spirit moves His chosen ones to receive His offer of grace by placing their faith in Jesus.

God’s sovereign election forms the very basis for faith, for the assurance of the fulfillment of all of God's promises for those who believe in Jesus Christ.  Reading through the Bible in a year must be more than an intellectual exercise.  It must be part of your desire to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, part of your goal to know God, to love Him and to serve Him, and part of your calling to make Him known to those around you, praying that others, too, might put their faith in Jesus and find life!

These things, and so much more, are revealed in God's unchanging Word for all who will take the time to seek and to discover all that God has promised to His children.

"Almighty, everlasting God, to know You and to believe Your promises is the greatest gift known to mankind.  We who believe in Your Son, Jesus, rest in Your grace, knowing that it is not by our own works that we are saved, but by Your grace and Your call to us by Your Word and Spirit.  May our lives be an offering of thanksgiving to You, now and forever.  In Jesus' name, Amen"

"Pictures of Redemption ..."

Day #6


Scripture Reading:  Genesis 20 - 23 ...

Those who believe in Jesus Christ should read Genesis regularly as a reminder of how we got from Abraham to Jesus to the Church to today.  God had chosen and called Abraham and promised that he and his wife, Sarah, would have a son in their old age.  God made His Covenant of Grace with Abraham and His descendants, choosing the son born to Abraham and Sarah, who was named Isaac, as He had promised.  It would be through Isaac that the promised “Seed” of Abraham would come, and the promises of the covenant would be passed through Isaac and his descendants.

Moses, the author of Genesis, now recounts stories of Abraham and Sarah, even pointing out Sarah's death and WHERE she was buried ... in the land that would belong to the descendants of Abraham ... more than 4,000 years later - TODAY!!!  The people around Abraham recognized that God was with him and sought his favor.  Even in a foreign land the presence and power of “Abraham’s God” was displayed in Abraham's life ... but not only for the people in Abraham's day.  The presence and power of God were displayed in Abraham’s life for those who believe today, so that WE would know the God of Abraham, the one true God, who is sovereign over all things.

God leaves nothing to chance ... in Abraham's life ... in your life.  Step-by-step God unfolds His plan - a plan that includes you and me as believers today.  One of the most beautiful pictures of redemption, of God's plan to redeem lost sinners, is found in Genesis 22.  You probably know the story ... the true story of God instructing Abraham to offer his son, Isaac, to God as a sacrifice.  This was the son God had promised to Abraham and Sarah, the one through whom Abraham's descendants would be counted, numbered by God.  How could Abraham imagine that this would turn out well?

The answer is a simple one:  Abraham believed God at His Word.  Such faith is the sign of one who knows the one true God, the God of Abraham, the Creator, the God of salvation.  Can you imagine what Abraham was thinking as he got up early in the morning and took Isaac and two of his servants with him, intending to offer his son, the son of God’s promise, to God??  He had three days to think about it as they journeyed to the mountain where God had told Abraham to go.  Perhaps a hint of Abraham’s faith is seen in his words to his servants when they arrived at the mountain: 

“Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there.  We will worship and then WE will come back to you” (Genesis 22:5).  And when Isaac asked, “Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”, Abraham didn’t say, “You’re it, Isaac!!” ... He answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son” (22:8).

What did Abraham think was going to happen?  God had told him to offer Isaac as a sacrifice to Him!  I love how the writer of Hebrews reveals what only God could know ... what Abraham was thinking!  We read about it in Hebrews 11:17-19:  

"By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice.  He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, 'It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.' Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death."

Abraham was thinking:  "If God has called me to do this and if He has promised that my descendants will be numbered through Isaac, then if God allows me to offer him as a sacrifice, God will HAVE to raise Isaac from the dead because God WILL keep His Word!"  THAT’s faith!!!!  And God did even more than that!  Through this event, recorded for us for all time, God revealed His plan to save those who would believe in the coming “Seed” of Abraham.  God stopped Abraham, saying, “Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son” (22:12).  Then God provided a ram for the sacrifice and Abraham called that place, “The LORD will provide.”

All of this points to the need for a sacrifice for sin ... a sacrifice no man can give.  Later, God would give Moses the regulations for daily sin offerings and other offerings that pointed to the need for a Savior.  And among all the sacrifices was the Day of Atonement ... the offering of the sacrifice that symbolically removed the sins of the worshipers at the Tabernacle and then the Temple.  Once a year the High Priest would go into the Most Holy Place, behind the curtain, and take the blood of the lamb that had been slain for his own sins and for the sins of the people, and sprinkle it on the Ark of the Covenant.  And the next year it would be offered again.

Once again it is the writer of Hebrews who explains, “those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:3-4).  Then he goes on to say, “We (all who have believed in Jesus) have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. ... When this high priest (Jesus) had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God ... because by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Hebrews 10:10,12,13).  What an amazing truth!!

He concludes, “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is His body ...” (Hebrews 10:19-20) ... we can draw near to God in full assurance of faith, the same faith Abraham had as God worked in his heart, the faith that God “credited to him as righteousness.”

God DID provide the sacrifice!  And as God gave HIS only Son, no one stopped Him as He laid your sins and mine on Jesus as He hung on the cross.  Jesus paid it all!  We know now that all of this pointed ahead to Jesus, the perfect Lamb, being sacrificed on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins.  God's promises; God's picture of redemption ... Abraham's God ... OUR God!  More than a story.  Abraham was at the beginning, but the story isn't over!!  Pictures become realities ... and WE are saved!!

"OUR Father in heaven, I thank You for Your wisdom and grace in planning to save us from our sins and in making us part of Your family for eternity by faith in Jesus!  As You worked in the past, so continue Your work in us, Your people today, for Your glory!  In Jesus' name, Amen"

"Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?"

Day #5


Scripture Reading:  Genesis 16 - 19 ...


A little more than 4,000 years ago, some two thousand years after God created mankind on the earth, the stage was set for the Middle East conflict that continues to this day:  the descendants of Ishmael against the descendants of Isaac.  It is true that Islam, Judaism and Christianity, the world's three monotheistic religions, all trace their origin to Abraham's offspring, but Islam did NOT originate from Abraham's GOD!  And Judaism and Christianity are NOT two distinct and separate religions ... Christianity is the fulfillment of true, biblical Judaism ... which pointed ahead to the coming Savior, the Messiah, the Christ.

This means that the Bible is the only insight we have into the plan of God for the human race!  God chose Abraham and He then chose Isaac and He then chose Jacob and from him came the nation of Israel, God's chosen people.  In Genesis 15 we saw God establish His Covenant of Grace with Abraham and his descendants, promising to be their God, to give them the land of Canaan, to multiply Abraham's descendants and to bless all nations on the earth through the Seed of Abraham, the coming Savior.  God’s Covenant of Grace with Abraham and his descendants pointed to Jesus Christ, for it would be through His sacrifice on the cross that God’s justice would be satisfied and forgiveness would be offered to all who believe in Him.

As years passed without a child coming to Abraham and Sarah they decided that they needed to help God keep His promise, so Sarai offered Abraham her Egyptian maidservant, Hagar.  Hagar had a child and he was named, Ishmael, which means, “God hears.”  God said of this child, “He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers” (Genesis 16:11-12).  Abraham was 86 years old when Ishmael was born.

But this was not God’s plan!!  When Abram was 99 years old the LORD appeared to him again and confirmed His covenant with Abraham and his descendants, but he also told him that Ishmael was NOT the promised child.  God gave to Abraham the sign of circumcision and then promised to give Sarai a son, and because Sarai had laughed when she heard God’s promise, the boy would be named, “Isaac,” which means, “laughter.”  He would be the heir of God’s Covenant of Grace and it would be through his descendants that the Savior would come.

The Apostle Paul speaks about God’s sovereign choice of Isaac in Romans 9, as he explains that God’s true children are not simply the “natural-born children,” but rather, “the children of promise” (Romans 9:7-9).  In his writings in the Quran, Mohammed claimed that Ishmael was the chosen descendant of Abraham and he tried to convince the Jews and Christians that the Bible was wrong, claiming to be the prophet descended from Ishmael.  The Arab people today are the descendants of Ishmael and the prophecy concerning him is being fulfilled even in our day, as it has been throughout history. 

  

What does all of this mean for you and me today?  It means that you must believe what God says in His Word and understand how to be saved from His just judgment against sin.  In order to be safe from God's judgment you must believe in God's promises through faith in Abraham's "Seed," Jesus Christ.  In Genesis 18-19 we read the account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.  This really happened.  Jesus refers to it in Matthew 10 and again in Matthew 11.  Jesus says it will be more tolerable on the day of God's judgment for Sodom and Gomorrah than for those who reject the Gospel and who reject HIM!  Some think of Sodom and Gomorrah and think only of the sin of homosexual immorality, but there were many more sins represented in these cities, as there are in every city and nation in the world today.

People continue to believe that God's mercy extends to all people, that hell is not real, that God is love and He won’t really punish anybody.  But Abraham's conversation with God makes it clear that what the Bible teaches from beginning to end is true:  there are NONE that are righteous ... not even ONE!  (Romans 3:10).  Abraham struggled with the thought that God would carry out His judgment on Lot and his family, so he asked God if He would spare the city for 50, then 45, then 40, then 30, then 20, then 10!!  God agreed, for He knew that there were exactly ZERO righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah.  Lot and his daughters (his sons-in-law-to-be refused to leave and his wife was turned into a pillar of salt), were not saved because they were righteous, but because of Abraham's plea for them.

"Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (18:25). Yes!  If there were even ONE righteous person, they would be spared from God's judgment, but there is not.  We need a Savior, and biblical Judaism pointed to His coming ... and in God’s amazing grace He poured out His Spirit and the followers of the Jewish Messiah, Jesus, became the first Christians.  We live in the age of fulfillment spoken of in the Gospels.  We live in the "day of salvation" (II Corinthians 6:2) ... the day when God's grace is being offered to the nations.  God’s sovereign choice of Abraham and of Isaac makes it clear that unless God Himself changes the hearts and minds of those whom He chooses, giving them new life through faith in Jesus Christ, no one would be saved from His coming judgment ... no one!!

And so the Gospel of Jesus Christ goes out today, as it did nearly two thousand years ago:  “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).  There is no other escape, no other hope, no other way to be saved.  Since you have had the privilege of hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, do not receive God's grace in vain.  Believe in Jesus.  Trust in Him ... live for Him ... and you can know that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is with you now, and that when your life in this world is over, you will be with Him - in the promised land of the new heaven and the new earth - forever!!  And it all began here in Genesis.  The conflict in the Middle East will only be resolved when Jesus returns to bring judgment on those who do not know Him.  Do YOU know Him today?

"Heavenly Father, Your wisdom surpasses the wisdom of man at every turn.  While people question the truth of Your Word, Your Spirit opens the minds and hearts of those whom You have chosen to believe all You have said and moves us by Your grace to come to You through the promised Seed of Abraham, Jesus, the Christ, the eternal Son of the One, True and Living God!  We praise You today, in Jesus' name, Amen"

"THE Covenant ... "

Day #4


Scripture Reading:  Genesis 12 - 15 ...


From the flood to the Tower of Babel the judgment of God upon mankind’s sin and rebellion is well-deserved.  Sin deserves judgment, indeed, EARNS judgment.  God is holy and just and cannot allow sin to go unpunished, either in this world or in the next.  Yet as God chose one man, Noah, and his family to continue the human race after the flood, God now chooses one man with whom to make a covenant that continues until this very day … Abraham. 

Genesis 12 - 15 forms the foundation for God's plan of salvation throughout the rest of the Bible ... throughout the rest of history, until the return of Jesus Christ.  Without these chapters the rest of the book of Genesis, the remainder of the Old Testament and the entire New Testament would be impossible to understand and to tie together.  Without these chapters and God's promises to Abraham, the wisdom and glory of a sovereign God who orders all things according to His plan cannot be seen in all their beauty.

The New Testament begins this way:  "A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the Son of David, the son of Abraham ..." (Matthew 1:1).  If you don’t know who Abraham was or about God’s covenant with him or the promises God made to him and to his descendants you will find it impossible to understand the heart of the Gospel:  GRACE!!  The Apostle Paul explains the relationship of believers to God in his letter to the Galatians by saying, "If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" (Galatians 3:29).  What promise?  To understand the importance of God’s Covenant of Grace (as we have called it) with Abraham, we need to look at God’s call to Abraham and the promises He makes.

We call this covenant the "Covenant of GRACE" because it is God who initiates the covenant, it is God who makes the promises, and the promises are received by faith not by works.  It begins in Chapter 12 when God calls a man named, Abram and tells him to leave his country, his people and his father’s household and go to the land God will show him.  God then makes several promises to Abram:   "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (12:1-3).

God also promised to give the land of Canaan to Abram and his descendants:  “To your offspring I will give this land” (12:7).  Abram was 75 years old when he received God’s promises, but he and his wife Sarai (Sarah) had no children.  But God came to Abram again and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars – if indeed you can count them.”  Then He said, “So shall your offspring be” (15:5).  Then verse six:  “Abram believed the LORD, and He credited it to him as righteousness.”  Do not miss the significance of these words!  Abram believed God and God CREDITED Abram’s faith to him as righteousness … a righteousness that is received by faith!!

The entire New Testament and the gospel of God’s grace in Jesus Christ, the “seed of Abraham,” are based on this verse.  While all the other religions of the world teach that we must do enough good works to be good enough, to be righteous in God’s sight, the Bible teaches that there is another way, a new way, the only way to be righteous before the holy God who cannot look upon sin.  The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 3:21, “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.”  He then goes on to say, “We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness” (Romans 4:9), and “It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith” (Romans 4:13).

Going to Paul’s letter to the Galatians we read, “So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith” (Galatians 3:10).  In verse 16 of Galatians 3, Paul explains that the promises were spoken to Abraham and the inheritance of the land, the promise that God would be a God to him and to his descendants, the promise that his descendants would be as the stars of the sky and the sand of the seashore, and the promise that all nations would be blessed through him ... ALL of the promises would come through the "SEED" of Abraham – JESUS CHRIST, and would be received by faith!!

God chose Abram (father of a nation) ... Abram did not choose God.  God would later change his name to Abraham, (father of nations).  God was with Abraham and his descendants.  God promised to make Abraham’s descendants into a great nation.  He promised to give them the land of Canaan.  He promised to bless all nations through the “Seed” of Abraham and He promised that He would be “their God” and they would be “His people.”  And once again, the key to the covenant God made with Abram, the key that opens the door into the very presence of God for all who believe, is the words found in Genesis 15, verse 6.   "Abram believed the LORD, and He (the LORD) credited it to him (Abram) as righteousness" (Verse 6).

"Credited it to him as righteousness!"  Abram wasn't righteous.  YOU aren't righteous.  I'm not righteous, but God's promise to Abram ... to Abraham and all who believe in the promised SEED of Abraham - JESUS - is that God "credits" righteousness to us (to all who believe His promise) by faith in Jesus.  Paul explains in Romans 4:16: "the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring - not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham.  As it is written: 'I have made you a father of many nations'" (Romans 4:16-17).

By faith in Jesus believers are righteous before God and heirs of eternal life!  Understanding the Bible begins here.  Understanding God's plan in our world today revolves around God's fulfillment to the promises He made to Abraham, then to Isaac and to Jacob ... and in Jesus, to us!  Rejoice in the LORD and live daily to serve Him, knowing that by faith YOU are a member of THE Covenant!!

"Heavenly Father, Your wisdom and power are seen throughout all creation.  In Your covenant with Abraham You have revealed Your plan to gather a people to belong to You and to proclaim Your name to all the earth.  May we be found carrying out Your purpose as we proclaim the name of Jesus to all, rejoicing in being children of Abraham!  In Jesus' name, Amen