Author: Charlie Garrett

Genesis 24:12-28
Rebekah

Introduction: The great theologian John Wesley and his noted brother Charles, who wrote countless Christian hymns, made such decisions as their journey to America by opening the Bible in a random manner and deciding what they should do from the verse that first came to view.

When this type of thing didn’t work, they would turn to drawing lots. In other words, the Bible didn’t give me what I want, so I’ll try dice. These types of superstitions were common with him and they deviate from sound biblical practices. In one instance Wesley decided to attack the Calvinist theory of grace.

In 1739 he preached on and published a passionately Arminian sermon entitled Free Grace. He did this only after seeking a sign from heaven and drawing lots twice.

Today we will learn more about how the Holy Spirit works in our lives and what His role and function is. We can get quite a bit out of today’s story and we’d be remiss if we didn’t attempt to learn from the pictures God has given us here.

Text Verse: And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰ Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them. Acts 16:9, 10

In the Old Testament, the Spirit of God directed Abraham’s servant to find a wife for his son. In the New Testament, we see the Holy Spirit directing God’s people in the spreading of the gospel in order to search out those who will be a part of the Bride of Christ.

We need to live in such a way that we are always ready to be filled with and respond to the Holy Spirit as He directs us to others in need of this good news. And so… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. The Spirit Directs God’s People

In our last sermon we saw Abraham call his chief servant and he asked him to swear to a vow to obtain a wife for his son Isaac. He directed him to go to Mesopotamia where his family was and get a wife from there. The servant was instructed to in no way take Isaac there, but the woman had to come, by faith, to meet her husband.

The last verses we saw said – “Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed, for all his master’s goods were in his hand. And he arose and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. ¹¹ And he made his camels kneel down outside the city by a well of water at evening time, the time when women go out to draw water.

This is where we start today then, with verse 12…

¹² Then he said, “O Lord God of my master Abraham, please give me success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham.

The servant has arrived and is waiting by the well. What he does here is absolutely vital to the mission and therefore it is the very first thing he does – he prays. He prays in the name of the Lord.

He acknowledges the Lord’s authority over Abraham and that he in turn is subservient to him. He then he asks for success in his mission which is on behalf of his master. In other words, he’s not praying for himself, but for the mission which he has been sent on.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with praying for yourself, and there are times in the Bible when this happens, but I find it extremely hard to do personally. The reason is that if I belong to the Lord, then whatever I do should be meant to honor Him.

And so when I pray about something that involves me, it is always under the premise that it should be to bring Him glory, not me. The Lord already knows everything I want and need and so I see asking for those things in prayer as repetitive and pointless.

However, I don’t want to frighten you off from praying. There are only three ways that we can commune with God. The first is through reading the Bible. The second is through being filled with the Holy Spirit. But that isn’t at all what most Christians think.

Being filled with the Spirit is a passive action, not active. In other words, if you are a believer in Jesus, you are sealed from the moment of belief by the Spirit. You have all of the Spirit that you can ever get at that moment. However, the Spirit can get more of you. Being filled is passive and it can only happen in a few ways.

By knowing your Bible, by living out what the Bible expects, and through the third way of communing with God – through prayer. And so, Abraham’s messenger does what each of us should do in all things – he prays.

To expect any good thing to be accomplished without using the means of getting that thing accomplished is both stupid and arrogant. How can we expect God to respond to our needs without stating them in a manner which honors Him?

So in the future I want all of you to do three things every day – 1) Read your Bible. 2) Live out what your Bible instructs for you, and 3) Pray to God that His will and plan be worked out through you and for you as well as for the others you pray for. By doing these three things, you will – like Eliezer, commit your whole life to the direction and blessing of God.

¹³ Behold, here I stand by the well of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water.

Notice that the servant acknowledges the Lord first and asks Him for his petition to be granted. Then in this verse he mentions the well where the women will come to. He doesn’t wish from the well and he doesn’t pray to the well. He prays to the Creator of the water and the land from which the well was dug.

Likewise, we aren’t to petition anything in creation in our prayers. Not horoscopes, not tarot cards, not the sun, moon, or stars. We don’t wish upon a rainbow or upon a figure of Jesus that shows up in a piece of Ravioli. There is no thing in creation that we pray to or bow to, not Mary or the saints. We only offer prayer to God.

¹⁴ Now let it be that the young woman to whom I say, ‘Please let down your pitcher that I may drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink’—let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. And by this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master.”

The verses in this story are what we call “descriptive.” In other words, they describe what happened. They are not “prescriptive,” meaning they don’t prescribe what we should do. He is at the well and He is praying to God on behalf of His mission, which is on behalf of Abraham who is living his life under the Lord.

And so he asks for a sign. When I said this verse isn’t prescriptive, it means that this simply records what happened, not what we should necessarily do. There are many times in the Bible when people ask for a sign. Can anyone here tell me what the difference between them and us is?

The difference is twofold. First, we have the Bible – they didn’t. And the second is that if you have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord, then you also have been sealed with the Holy Spirit. Except under different circumstances and for different reasons, they weren’t.

Because we have the Bible and because the filling of the Holy Spirit is available to us, then asking for a sign is presumptuous and it is therefore sinful. This doesn’t mean that God doesn’t give signs, but that we are to understand them for what they are when He gives them, not when we ask for them.

The Bible says we not live by faith and not by sight. If we go around asking for signs, then we are not living by faith, but are trusting in the sight of a sign. A sign that is given when not requested still requires faith to understand that God gave it.

The case here at the well requires special direction from God which he otherwise didn’t have. Unlike him, we have God’s special direction in the Bible and in the presence of the Spirit.

In 1 Corinthians 1 Paul explains the difference between those who look for signs, those who live by the intellect alone, and those who follow what the Bible proclaims –

Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? ²¹ For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. ²² For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; ²³ but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, ²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

¹⁵ And it happened, before he had finished speaking, that behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, came out with her pitcher on her shoulder.

Enter Rebekah… According to Abraim the meaning of her name denotes the tying up of cattle for their own protection, the establishment of their home, and to keep them from wandering off. Within this name lies the notion that individuals are placed together by some higher authority or someone smarter than they.

This account is the perfect fulfillment of her name. God in His wisdom sent her to Eliezer even before he finished his prayer in order to fulfill His plans for the world’s people. It’s something we need to think on with every single thing that happens in our lives.

Have you ever prayed for something and within no time at all it came about? Or have you ever prayed for something for an immensely long time and when it did occur you realized that it was at the perfect time instead of when you started praying – which would have actually been a terrible time for it to happen?

God is infinitely smarter than us and every single thing that happens is because He has planned for it. This is even true with a pretty young girl walking up to get water from a well at evening time. So intelligent is God that speaking through Isaiah He says –

It shall come to pass That before they call, I will answer; And while they are still speaking, I will hear. Isaiah 65:24

At the time that God determines to fulfill His word, it will happen as surely as the sun will rise. As the Geneva Bible says about this verse, “God gives success to all things that are done for the glory of his name and according to his word.”

Although we haven’t come to the end of the story, we can already guess that Rebekah is the girl God has chosen for Isaac. And because she is the grand-daughter of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, we will learn something here that most people never consider.

Abraham was called out of Ur of the Chaldees and he traveled with His father Terah, His brother Nahor, and His nephew Lot who was the son of Haran, Abraham’s older brother who died in Ur. If you think this verse through along with what we also learned from previous sermons, all of these people are ancestors of Jesus.

Terah is the father of Haran, Abraham, and Nahor and he also had a daughter named Sarai. Haran is the father of Lot who is Jesus’ ancestor through both of his own daughters. Haran is also the father of Milcah, Rebekah’s grandmother.

Nahor is the father of Bethuel, the father of Rebekah, and Abraham and Sarah are the parents of Isaac. So, all of these people are in Jesus’ genealogy and they all come from Terah, Abraham’s father.

Terah, all three of his sons and his daughter, and the others mentioned – all of them – lead to Jesus. This then is one of the most pivotal families in all of redemptive history.

¹⁶ Now the young woman was very beautiful to behold, a virgin; no man had known her.

Rebekah is noted as very beautiful and so I bring up the point now that there is absolutely nothing wrong with being beautiful, and there is nothing wrong with noticing that in others. In some denominations, it’s almost scandalous to even note it and women do their very best to look as plain and as dull as possible.

However, the Bible never recommends this. What it does ask for is whether a lady is beautiful, or not-so-much, that she carry herself with the dignity of a lady and not trust in outward adornments, but in the beauty of what God has given her.

The next thing this verse notes is that she is a virgin and it explains it by saying that no man had known her. To “know” in this sense specifically means sex. This verse is prefiguring Rebekah as a picture of the church. Paul speaks of us in this way –

For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 2 Corinthians 11:2

What the Bible is speaking of in Rebekah in a physical sense is what Paul desires of us in a spiritual sense. We are to be unknown in dealing with other gods. We are never to mix our devotion to Christ with anything else. Unfortunately, this message is all but lost in the Christian world today.

^16(con’t) And she went down to the well, filled her pitcher, and came up.

Rebekah is a picture of us. She knows where the water is and she goes down to it. This well is lower than ground level and she has to descend to it before drawing out the water. The symbolism here is seen in our descending to the Water of Life, Jesus, as we go to our knees in the prayer which will change our eternal destiny.

After we obtain the Water through our prayer, something wonderful happens…

¹⁷ And the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me drink a little water from your pitcher.”

If you were here during last week’s sermon, you’ll remember that the servant is a picture of the Holy Spirit. When Rebekah receives the water from the well, the servant runs to her. And in the same way, the moment we receive the Water of Life into our jar of clay, the Spirit rushes into us, sealing us for the day of redemption –

In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, ¹⁴ who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

After we are sealed and belong to Him, Paul explains the mystery of Christ in us in 2 Corinthians 4:7 – “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”

The NIV uses the term “jars of clay.” Just as Rebekah filled her jar of clay, we also are filled – both at the well of the water of life, one physical; one spiritual. Everything we are reading about is pointing to Jesus and our relationship with Him. It is the Spirit which leads us to Him and it is the Spirit who calls to the people of God…

II. The Spirit Calls God’s People

¹⁸ So she said, “Drink, my lord.” Then she quickly let her pitcher down to her hand, and gave him a drink. ¹⁹ And when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.”

The bride of Christ, the Church, isn’t just a beautiful virgin lazing around until the Lord returns. Just as Rebekah is the carrier of the water from the well, the church is the carrier of the Water of Life – the message of Jesus. The church is the one who carries the message to others either directly or by supporting those who do.

If you remember from last week, the camels and all that they carry are a picture of the gifts which God has given to His people. Her drawing water for these camels is a picture of our willingness to serve those who bear the gifts of God. She is the church and the church has people that can do anything the world does.

There are people who preach and there are missionaries. There are people who can build buildings and there are those who clean the buildings. There are camels and there are those who water camels. God has appointed all of us to do something.

It is unthinkable that people go to church on Sunday morning and do nothing more for the Christ during the week. At church on the beach, we may seem to have fewer opportunities to serve than at other churches, but this isn’t so. We have people to invite to come, and we have an offering bucket for those who can afford it.

We have people we can tell about Jesus during the week, and we have people who can carry stuff to the truck when we’re finished. We have people we can share the weekly video with on the internet with others too. We have people who occasionally bring something for others to eat. Whatever your gift is, use it like Rebekah used hers – with diligence and to the point of completion.

And one more thing about this verse – remember that the servant is a picture of the Holy Spirit. Rebekah said to him, as we should say to the Spirit, “Drink my lord.” As believers, we have all the Spirit that we can get. However, the Spirit can get more of us.

Despite what charismatic churches teach, the Bible doesn’t ask us to say “Come Holy Spirit” because He is already there. Instead it is the Spirit who says “Come.” The more we offer to Him, the more we will be filled. And so Rebekah offers to him.

²⁰ Then she quickly emptied her pitcher into the trough, ran back to the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels.

Camels drink a lot. This wasn’t one trip to the well, but many. One camel that’s been on a journey like this will drink about 25 gallons. This then would be 250 gallons. If her jar held 3 gallons, which would be about 25 pounds (8.34), then it would take her about 83 trips between the well and the trough.

In total that’s about 2080 pounds of water, plus the weight of the jar for each carry. This girl is no slacker. Even if they only drank half that much, it’s probably much more work than any of you will do after dinnertime tonight… well, except for maybe Kelly.

Rebekah serves until the job is complete and this is what we are asked to do as well. There is a world full of people who need the Water of Life and there are a million jobs within the church that need to be accomplished. Rebekah didn’t stop until the job was done and we are to continue on until our job is finished as well.

And as a piece of trivia for you, camels don’t store water in their humps. Rather it is stored in their bloodstream. The humps are storage for fat for when there’s no food. When needed, that is their food source and that is when the hump shrinks.

²¹ And the man, wondering at her, remained silent so as to know whether the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not.

The word translated here as “wondering at her” is only used this one time in the entire Bible and so it is translated differently by different people. Some say gazed, watched closely, looked steadfastly, was astonished at her, etc. It is the same as another root word which means to twirl to giddiness like a child might do.

Adam Clarke’s comment on this verse is so funny that I have to quote it for you, “And he was so lost in wonder and astonishment at her simplicity, innocence, and benevolence, that he permitted this delicate female to draw water for ten camels, without ever attempting to afford her any kind of assistance! I know not which to admire most, the benevolence and condescension of Rebekah, or the cold and apparently stupid indifference of the servant of Abraham. Surely they are both of an uncommon cast.”

In the New Testament, Paul tells us to be filled with the Spirit. In the Greek the verb is a present imperative. This means to keep being filled, just as Rebekah is continuously filling her pitcher. The stream of water into and out of it is continuous, just as the stream of the Spirit should be in each of us.

Through understanding the Bible, allowing Him to fill us, and through prayer, He will be there with every task. We may be doing the physical part, but He is there and He is supervising. The job will get done and it will be, in the end, a great work of God.

III. The Spirit Gives Gifts to God’s People

The Spirit Directs God’s People; The Spirit Calls God’s People

²² So it was, when the camels had finished drinking, that the man took a golden nose ring weighing half a shekel, and two bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels of gold,

Once the task was done, the man pulls out a gold ring. Some translators call it a nose ring, some an earring, but it is singular and so this isn’t likely, and some say an ornament for her head. Any of these could be right and we can only speculate which it is. He also brought out two bracelets of ten weight.

You can still see Middle Eastern women wearing these things. The ones the servant gave to her would have been very valuable and it was a great amount of money for her work. Likewise, we will receive a great reward for the work we do for Christ.

The Spirit is the one to give us our spiritual gifts and they come as we grow in our walk with the Lord. If you read your Bible, you’ll eventually receive the gift of discernment. As you witness to others, you’ll eventually have developed the gift of teaching, etc.

Other than what we have naturally from birth, these things need to be developed and the Spirit will give them graciously as we grow in our Christian life. Likewise, the rewards for the work we do for the Lord will be great. Nothing that we sacrifice now will be forgotten or left unrewarded by Him.

²³ and said, “Whose daughter are you? Tell me, please, is there room in your father’s house for us to lodge?”

What seems obvious is that the Lord provided exactly what the servant wanted, a beautiful bride for his master’s son. But he needs to make sure that this isn’t a false sign and so he asks who she is and he immediately follows up with a second question, “Do you have room for us?”

There were no inns at this time and so, like you’ll find in the country of Japan, there are people who will take travelers into their own home as a type of substitute inn. In Japan, they’re called ryokan and staying at them is a fun way of traveling the country and meeting nice people… plus they have really great food.

The servant is hoping for a place to stay and for good news about her family line. If she is the right girl, staying in her home will only make his journey and his task easier.

²⁴ So she said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, Milcah’s son, whom she bore to Nahor.” ²⁵ Moreover she said to him, “We have both straw and feed enough, and room to lodge.”

In response to his question of “Whose daughter are you?” she responds with her father’s name. Bethuel means “Daughter of God” and so she says, I am the daughter of the daughter of God.” It’s an interesting play on words, but it points again to the church.

Bethuel is an unusual name for a man, but because he is Rebekah’s father, and they are key to bringing in the nation of Israel, we have a picture of the church as the daughter of the daughter of God.

This family, which is so heavily entrenched in the genealogy of Jesus, openly welcomes the servant in for the evening – they have plenty of straw and feed and room to lodge.

²⁶ Then the man bowed down his head and worshiped the Lord.

Her sudden appearance as he finished his prayer was certainly directed by God. Her willingness to do exactly what he had prayed for was also directed by God. And her words to him now assure him that even this is directed by God.

Exactly the spot, exactly the fulfillment of the request, and exactly the right family line… all of it has the sure sign of God’s divine hand upon his journey and so the man, overwhelmed by God’s gracious hand, bows his head and worships.

²⁷ And he said, “Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, being on the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master’s brethren.”

Today’s first verse said, “O Lord God of my master Abraham, please give me success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham.” Now at the end of this journey, the servant uses the same words in praise of the Lord for fulfilling his prayer.

What we can learn from this, even if the verse is simply describing what happened, is that for each blessing we receive, and especially those we asked for in advance, we should stop and praise the Lord.

Unfortunately, we too often forget to show gratitude at the end of the same journey that we asked help for when we started. Whether it’s a journey of an illness, a college education, or a family vacation, we usually remember to ask God to bless it.

But when the trip is over, the thanks and praise is often forgotten. The servant was faithful to stop and praise the Lord here and it would be right for each of us to do the same after any successful journey.

²⁸ So the young woman ran and told her mother’s household these things.

If Rebekah is a picture of the church and she has run home to tell her mother’s household, then shouldn’t this picture us telling those around us about the wonderful dealings of God as well? Not only should we tell those in our family, but what about the people we work with and the people we socialize with.

And ultimately, as Christians, don’t we have a debt to the Jewish people, to take this message back to the well from which we sprang? In all, the story of Rebekah is the story of the church. We have a story to tell and it’s about the greatest wedding which will ever occur. And it is a marriage to the King of kings.

Let me tell you how you can be a participant in this glorious ceremony which God has prepared for His own beloved Son…

Closing Verse: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. ³⁸ He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” John 7:37, 38

Next week – Genesis 24:29-52 (A Work of the Spirit)

The Virgin at the Well

The servant said, “O Lord God of my master Abraham
Please give me success this day
And show kindness to the master of who I am
Please grant me my petition I pray

Behold, here I stand by the well of water
And the daughters of the men of the city
Are coming out to draw, please send a family daughter
I beg for You in this matter to extend pity

Now let it be that the young woman to whom I say,
“Please let down your pitcher that I may drink,”
That she in turn will respond as how I pray
“Drink and I will also give your camels some I think”

Let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac
And by this I will know You have kindness to my master shown
And it happened, before he had finished speaking, he turned back
A girl coming with a pitcher on her shoulder, walking alone

Now the young woman was very beautiful to see
A virgin; no man had known her
And she filled her pitcher, this young beauty
As the servant watched in order to be sure

After coming up from the well, the servant ran to meet her
And said, “Please let me have a little drink of water”

“Drink, my lord,” Letting her pitcher down to her hand
She gave him a drink which was refreshingly grand

And when she had finished giving him a drink
She said, “I will draw water for your camels also
When they have had enough, only then I think
That back to my home is where I will go

So she quickly emptied her pitcher into the trough
And ran back to the well to draw more water
She drew for all his camels before she took off
The servant sat watching this exceptional daughter

And the man wondering at her remained silent as water she drew
Had the Lord brought him to where his journey was now through?

So it was, as the camels had finished drinking that then
The man took a golden nose ring, half a shekel its weight
And two bracelets for her wrists weighing of gold ten
And he spoke to her making his words straight

“I would like to know whose daughter are you?
Tell me, is there lodging in your father’s house for us too?

“I am the daughter of Bethuel, Milcah’s son,
It was he whom she bore to Nahor”
Moreover she said to him, Aren’t you the blessed one
We have both straw and feed enough, and room to lodge for sure

Then the man bowed down his head and worshiped the Lord
And he said, “Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham
He has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward
My master… In this, humbly gracious to Him I am

As for me, being on the way, the Lord led me
To the house of my master’s kith and kin
So the young woman scurried home, ever so quickly
And told about the things at the well where she had been

God directs our steps as He did in this story
He does it for our good and also for His glory

Just as Rebekah had this most timely meeting
We too have a most important date
It’s coming when Jesus will call out His greeting
And when that day comes, won’t it be great?

To meet our beloved Lord
As we’re promised in His precious word

Hallelujah and Amen…

Genesis 24:1-11
To Find a Wife

Introduction: We’re going to start chapter 24 today and this chapter gives us the story about how Isaac got his wife. The account is really lovely, and goes into great detail so that you will hopefully come to see in it patterns and pictures that focus on our relationship with Jesus.

Because the chapter is so long, it will take four full weeks to get through it and it won’t make complete sense unless you listen to the entire series, but when you see the overall pictures of the Godhead, it is a beautiful testament to the way God works through His word.

He takes real people, who really lived, and He uses them and their circumstances to point to Jesus and our relationship with Him.

One of the things that we need to understand in order to really grasp this chapter are the roles of the members of the Godhead – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The pictures in today’s sermon are dealing mostly with the Father and the Holy Spirit in the preparation of a bride for the Son.

Text Verse: He who finds a wife finds what is good
and receives favor from the Lord. Proverbs 18:22

God performed the first wedding ceremony when He presented Eve to Adam. He is preparing another wedding and it will be with His Son’s bride – a spotless and chaste virgin who has been selected especially for Him and so… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. To Find a Bride

Now Abraham was old, well advanced in age; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things.

As we go along, we’ll see the people in this account representing others. Abraham is a picture of God the Father. Keep that in mind as we go. There is both the literal story and there is the intended picture of what God is showing us as He works out His plan of redemption.

At this time, Abraham is 140 years old. We’ll find this out from details in the next chapter which tells us that Isaac was married at 40 years of age. Abraham had Isaac when he was one hundred and Sarah died when she was 127.  So, this is 3 years after Sarah’s death and it is the year 2149AM.

An amazing fact which I would hate to skip is that Shem, the son of Noah, who is Isaac’s great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather will still be alive for 10 more years. That is 12 generations – 9 greats, a grandfather, and a father.

Anyway, in his old age, it says that Jehovah had blessed Abraham in all things. We already know from Abraham’s life that he is a very wealthy man and in a few verses, we’ll see that he will use this immense wealth in the process of obtaining a bride for Isaac.

² So Abraham said to the oldest servant of his house, who ruled over all that he had, “Please, put your hand under my thigh,

As I said, Abraham is a picture of God the Father. As we go on, we’ll see that this servant is a picture of the Holy Spirit. Abraham here calls the oldest servant of his house who is also the one who rules over all he has. This person is like the CEO of a company.

He makes all the decisions and directs all the people. He is the most trusted person in Abraham’s life. Almost all commentators agree that this is Eliezer of Damascus who was the chief steward of the house all the way back in Genesis 15.

That was about 55 years earlier and he was the head of the household at that time which means that he has worked for Abraham for a very, very long time. From this chapter we will see that he is completely and wholeheartedly dedicated to Abraham.

This chief servant of the household speaks not on his own authority, but on the authority of the one who sends him. This is exactly how Jesus describes the Holy Spirit in John 16 –

However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.

We will see how accurately he fulfills this position described of the Holy Spirit in the verses ahead. Even his name implies this. It is Eliezer which means “God is Help.” Jesus not only calls the Holy Spirit the “Spirit of Truth” but also the Helper in John 14 –

²⁵ “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. ²⁶ But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

He is the one to help Abraham in the task ahead, just as the Holy Spirit is the Helper of God in the parallel tasks that are going on, even now in the Church Age. Anyway, Abraham calls him and says to him, “Please, put your hand under my thigh…”

This is the most intimate part of the man and it is therefore the most solemn vow that can be made. Under the thigh is where Abraham’s life was continued on through his seed, resulting in Isaac. It is also where the rite of circumcision was conducted.

Both of these actions point to the coming Messiah. Abraham’s seed would lead to the Messiah through Isaac, the son of promise and circumcision as a rite pictures the cutting away of the sin nature. The oath that is being made concerns the highest decision in the life of Abraham and it is the highest priority of the servant who will carry it out.

³ and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell;

Abraham uses an elongated form of what is stated in Genesis 1:1. There it says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Here he says, “the Lord, the God of the heavens and the God of the earth.”

b’Yehovah elohe ha’shemayim v’elohe ha’arets

There is no doubt in the Old Testament that Jehovah is both the Creator and the Sustainer. And yet Genesis 1:1 doesn’t say that. Instead it only says “God.” We’re learning as we progress through the Bible about both the nature of the Godhead and how God reveals Himself through verses like this one.

We’ve already seen that Jehovah walked in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve were present, and He walked up to Abraham as he sat in a tent. In both cases He talked to these people face to face. And yet we know that God is Spirit, that God dwells in an unapproachable light, and that no man has seen God.

We will also learn, from both Old and New Testaments, that Jehovah is Jesus. If you’re having a hard time grasping these things, don’t feel ashamed or overwhelmed. The mystery of the Godhead and the mystery of the incarnation are so complicated that men have been studying them for thousands of years and we are still struggling to fully comprehend them.

We’ll have to trust for now that what God has revealed in the Bible is true and then align our theology with that, rather than trying to align our theology with what we want to believe about God.

It is by Jehovah, who is the God of the heavens and the God of the earth, that Abraham makes Eliezer swear that he won’t take a wife for Isaac from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom he dwells. And here we have an interesting hidden concept. The word that Abraham uses for “dwell” is the Hebrew word yoshev.

This word, yoshev, has the same numerical value as the name of the chief servant, Eliezer. Both of them numerically equal 318. If you were here during the sermon of Genesis 14, you might remember that this number is the same as the number of fighting men that were in Abraham’s camp.

I think what is being told to us here is that Abraham, who is a picture of God the Father, is sending his helper Eliezer, who is a picture of the Holy Spirit, to conduct a particular task which is his responsibility.

The things of God the Father and where He dwells are different than the things of the Helper, the Holy Spirit. I don’t think this is a crazy analysis either, but rather these things are hidden here for us to dig out and to learn in order to see how each member of the Godhead functions and what their responsibility is.

As far as the reason for a wife not to be taken from the Canaanites, it certainly stems from the curse of Canaan which goes all the way back to Genesis 9. When Ham, the youngest son of Noah committed an offense against his father, Noah turned and cursed his youngest son Canaan –

“Cursed be Canaan;
A servant of servants
He shall be to his brethren.”
²⁶ And he said:
“Blessed be the Lord,
The God of Shem,
And may Canaan be his servant.
²⁷ May God enlarge Japheth,
And may he dwell in the tents of Shem;
And may Canaan be his servant.”

It would be out of the question for the son of promise to have a wife from a people who were under a curse. This brings in the next concept. Isaac is a picture of Jesus, the Son of the Father. The Canaanites then picture the people of the world – all who are under the curse of the law, which is God’s standard.

Paul explains this in the Galatians 3 –

“For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” ¹¹ But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” ¹² Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.” ¹³ Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), ¹⁴ that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

One more thing about the Canaanites, in addition to being under a curse, they would eventually be dispossessed by Abraham’s descendants. He knew that this would happen in little over 350 years. And so He makes his wish known to his chief servant…

⁴ but you shall go to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”

At this time, it would be good to introduce Jesus’ words from Matthew 22 –

And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: ² “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son

Jesus equates the kingdom of heaven to being like a king – and Abraham is certainly a kingly figure in the Bible – who arranged a marriage for his son. And he is arranging someone to marry Isaac who is of his same people and family.

They would have the same customs and understanding of God and they would have his same nature. Are you seeing Jesus and the church in any of this? I hope so.

II. She Must Come by Faith

⁵ And the servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I take your son back to the land from which you came?”

Before swearing the oath, the servant asks an obvious question because it’s something that if he didn’t get an answer for in advance, it could get him into trouble later. “What if I can’t find someone willing to follow me back here? Shall I take Isaac there?”

The way he speaks shows that he assumes he will find someone but that she may want to see Isaac first, before actually agreeing to marry him. If this happens, then would it be right to take Isaac back to Mesopotamia to meet her? This verse now points to us.

Regardless of what thousands upon thousands of people have claimed since Jesus left, no believer has seen Him since the time of the apostles. I don’t care how honest they sound, how adamant they are, or how convincing their story is, it hasn’t happened.

There are several ways that we can know this directly from the Bible and they are prefigured in this verse right here. We are betrothed to a husband we have not seen. One of countless sets of verses which tell us this is so is from 1 Peter 1 –

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, ⁷ that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, ⁸ whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, ⁹ receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.

Faith is, as Hebrews explains it, “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith that is seen is no longer faith and we, as the Bride of Christ, live by faith and not by sight. I wish anyone who claims they have seen Jesus well, but I simply do not believe them.

⁶ But Abraham said to him, “Beware that you do not take my son back there.

As this account pictures the taking of a bride for God’s Son, this verse confirms what I just said. Isaac was not to be taken back to the land where his bride was residing and Jesus will not return to the land where we are now.

Instead, we will meet him in the clouds for the first time when we meet Him at the rapture. This verse is an imperative from the father. Either the bride agrees to the terms or the bride won’t meet the one she was to be chosen for. And this reflects our state.

We must agree, without seeing Jesus, that He is the one in whom we will place our trust and our hope. If we aren’t willing to, by faith, receive what He offers, then we will have no part at all with Him. Just as the choice is given to the bride of Isaac, the choice is also given to the people of the world.

As has been the pattern since the very first verses after the fall, everything about our relationship with God comes down to faith. This is what God expects and this is what pleases Him. He is asking each one of us to pick up His love letter to us, read it, and accept it by faith. Are you willing to do this? Romans 10 says so –

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? ¹⁵ And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” ¹⁶ But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” ¹⁷ So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Will we stay in our own land, not believing God’s word, or will we be ready to meet the Lord when He comes in the clouds? The word which was sent from father Abraham through Eliezer is given and the word which has been sent from the Father through the Holy Spirit, which is the Holy Bible, has also been given.

This is another in a long line of reasons why you should read your Bible, know your Bible, and believe your Bible. The Son is there, in its pages, waiting for His bride.

⁷ The Lord God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my family, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, ‘To your descendants I give this land,’ He will send His angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there.

Here in verse 7, Abraham shortens what he said earlier and simply states “the Lord God of the heavens” or Yehovah elohe ha’shemayim. This time he leaves off the second half of the title which said, “the Lord God of the earth.” Why? Why did he do this?

The only real difference between the verses is that the Canaanites aren’t mentioned and so it must be that he is connecting Jehovah of the earth to the land of Canaan, the Promised Land. The One who brought him into Canaan is more fully revealed to him now.

Abraham says it was the Lord God of the heavens that took him from his father’s house and from the land of his family, and it was He who swore to him that he would be given the land. The same Lord, he is certain, will now find a wife for Isaac.

So you can comprehend what I really want you to understand, think of it like this. You work for a person who owns two big companies – Charlie’s Cookies and Charlie’s Cakes. You work at Charlie’s Cakes.

You tell your best employee that you want him to do something for you and you let him know that the owner of Charlie’s Cookies and Charlie’s Cakes will be keeping an eye on how this goes. Your employee agrees and so you tell him you need him to find out how they get their cookies to be both tasty and delicious.

He says, “What if I find out how but I need to bring someone from Charlie’s Cakes to the Cookie Company?” That is a “no, no” because company rule’s won’t allow that. Instead you tell him that the owner of Charlie’s Cookies will ensure that everything goes smoothly.

Even though the same person owns both companies, you now only mention the cookie company. This is what’s going on here with Abraham. Through the Bible, we’re seeing an explanation of how we can and should perceive God.

He is sovereign over all of creation, but He is working things out in different ways at different times and fulfilling different roles in the process. This is the same as when we call Jesus Savior, but we also call Him Redeemer. We call Him King, but we also call Him Lord. We call him our Brother, and yet we call Him our Friend.

God is putting these details in here and is asking us to pay attention to them, not skip over them with a ho and a hum, or a fee, a fie, a foe, and a diddly dum.

If it is important enough for God to place in His word, then we owe Him the honor and the respect of paying attention to it as we read and study. Great God, beautiful word, glorious Lord!

III. The Son Remains in the Promised Land

⁸ And if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be released from this oath; only do not take my son back there.

Abraham already knows the outcome of what he’s requested. God has promised him that he and his descendants will possess the land. He also knows that one of the Canaanites will not be a suitable wife for Isaac. He is going on the certainty that what he is doing is the right thing. And yet, he has misunderstood things in the past.

Because he has, he tells Eliezer that he will be released from the oath if the woman he is certain is there simply won’t come back with Him. The imperative is repeated though – “Only do not take my son back there.” There must be willingness on the part of the bride and she must accept this deal by faith and not by sight.

Isaac was to remain in the Promised Land while the servant sought out a bride for him. In the same way, Jesus will remain in heaven, exactly as the Bible says, until the Holy Spirit has His bride ready. This is both a challenge and a test for us. Are we willing to live by faith, and by faith alone, in what God has promised?

Some of the gifts that the Bible speaks of for believers are wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, teaching, exhortation, giving, leading, mercy, discernment, tongues, administration, and helping.

Let me ask you, are any of these unique to Christianity? No. Not one of these gifts is exclusive to Christianity. There are false prophets. There are people who speak in tongues in many religions. All over the world there are healers, and performers of miracles, and givers, and those who lead, and those who exhort.

If we are relying on outward signs of gifts in order to be taken to the Promised Land, then we are making a fundamental error in our religion and we are violating the very premise of the Bible – that we are to live by faith. Of all of these gifts, the gift of discernment is wonderful, because we can tell when other gifts aren’t real.

But even this gift can be misused by wrong discernment. In the end, what we must have in order to be among the marriage ceremony is faith that our promised Bridegroom is who He claims to be. Keep that in mind as you’re in church that requires speaking in tongues.

⁹ So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter.

As I said earlier, within the Godhead there are individual roles. This isn’t speculation, but rather it is what the Bible teaches in both testaments. The Spirit issues from the Father through the Son. The Gospel of John makes that perfectly clear. Because this is so, we have a picture of the Spirit’s work beginning here.

The servant was asked to perform his duties on an oath which required him to place his hand under Abraham’s thigh. Here in this picture is the Spirit receiving His direction from the Father through the Son, just as the servant is symbolically receiving his instruction from Abraham through the Issac who issued from Abraham.

What the servant is doing is directed by the father for the benefit of the son. Even though the son, Isaac, isn’t explicitly seen in this picture, he is seen implicitly, because of the placement of the hand during the oath. Abraham’s seed issues from this place.

Likewise, even though the Son isn’t seen in the world today, He is implicitly here – both in word (the Holy Bible) and in Spirit through the gifts we are given. This will become evident in the next verse…

¹⁰ Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed, for all his master’s goods were in his hand.

Ten is the biblical number for fullness. I could give you many examples of this, but we’ll pick two just to give you an awareness of the concept. There are Ten Commandments, right. But in the law there are actually 613 lesser laws. However, these are summed up in the ten. They are the fullness of the law.

As a second example, we can go to Revelation and see Jesus’ words there – “Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”

The term “ten days” indicates a fullness of testing. It is an indeterminate amount of time which is used by Job, Daniel, and elsewhere. As I said, there are numerous uses of the number 10 in the Bible and they will invariably indicate fullness.

And this is what we see here. The servant takes ten camels with “all his master’s goods...” This doesn’t mean that he left Abraham and all of the people in the camp sitting on the ground out in the open. It means that he took a fullness or a full representation of everything Abraham possessed.

And once again, this is exactly what the Spirit does. The New Testament is filled with descriptions of the gifts of the Spirit, the workings of the Spirit, and the comfort of the Spirit. This servant, picturing the Holy Spirit, sets off with his goods at the direction of the father and on behalf of the son, echoing Jesus’ words about the Holy Spirit as he goes –

¹⁴ He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. ¹⁵ All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you. John 16:14, 15

Isaac is the inheritor of Abraham’s estate and all things which belong to Abraham likewise belong to him. And so it is with Jesus. He is the inheritor of all things. Isaac is to receive a bride and Jesus is also going to receive one. Will you be ready when He comes?

^{10 (Con’t)} And he arose and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor.

Off goes the servant with his ten camels to Mesopotamia. In Hebrew, the land is known as Naharaim or “the two rivers.” In this land he went to the city of Nahor, Abraham’s younger brother.

In the coming verses, Nahor will be mentioned several times, but only in reference to someone else. In other words, he is probably already dead. However, Nahor is an important figure in the Bible even though it doesn’t record him really doing anything. In a coming sermon, I’ll explain why he’s important.

¹¹ And he made his camels kneel down outside the city by a well of water at evening time, the time when women go out to draw water.

This is our last verse today and we end with the servant’s arrival at a well outside the city. The importance of wells is found throughout the Bible and this one will be no different. The day I was typing this sermon, I was thinking about water.

If we are deprived of water, then nothing in the world is more important to us. Food is similar, but if we are deprived of both food and water, the first thing we will go for is the water. We are so tied to it that even a short period without it and our life will end.

The water is the first spot that the servant goes to after his long journey. Not only does he need it, but his camels will too. And when he arrives, it is evening time – the end of a long day and the time when the women go out to draw water for the evening.

They do this because it’s hot during the day. Going in the early morning and the evening allows them to keep out of the heat during the task of carrying the jar, working at the well to bring up the water, and then carrying the full jar back.

In John 4, there is a story about a woman at a well that we’ll take a short look at –

⁵ So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. ⁶ Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

⁷ A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” ⁸ For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

⁹ Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

¹⁰ Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

¹¹ The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? ¹² Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”

¹³ Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

¹⁵ The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”

What I want you to get from this story about the life of Jesus today is that this woman was going out to get her water at the sixth hour. By the time standard that John uses, this is noon – the middle of the hot day in Israel.

Unlike the other ladies, she went at noon because she was an outcast. She’d been married 5 times and was at that time living with a man she wasn’t married to. But Jesus still sat and talked with her, leading her to a much deeper well with much purer water than she would find elsewhere.

The point I’d like to make is that your life may be completely messed up and you may be hiding it from others, but Jesus is there and He knows full well everything you have done. You very well may need the water of life that He offers. If so, stop going to the well in the heat of the day looking for water that will never satisfy.

Instead, reach out to Him and He promises you water which will spring up to everlasting life. And He offers it freely. On the very last page of the Bible, we read this in Revelation 22:17 – “And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.”

The Spirit is out, right now, bearing gifts and calling the bride to meet the Bridegroom. And some day, He will depart with that bride to meet the Lord. Though we haven’t seen Him, we love Him, and though You may not know Him, He knows you. Let me take just a moment to explain how you can become a part of what God is doing through and for His Son, Jesus…

Closing Verse: For we will surely die and become like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away a life; but He devises means, so that His banished ones are not expelled from Him. 2 Samuel 14:14

Next Week – Genesis 24:12-28 (Rebekah)

Sending Out For a Bride

Now Abraham was old, well advanced in life
And the Lord had blessed Abraham in all ways
It was his intent to obtain for his son a wife
One that would bring him joy, all of his days

So He said to his oldest servant, a very good guy
The one who ruled over all his house
“Please, put your hand here under my thigh
And I will make you swear an oath concerning my son’s spouse

By the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth
You will not take a wife for my son from Canaan’s daughters
Those among whom I dwell, and the land of his birth
You shall go to my country, to the Two Rivers’ waters

From my family, you shall take for my son Isaac a wife
This is the oath to which you shall bind your life

And the servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman will not
Be willing to follow me to this land whence Isaac was begot

“Must I take your son back to the land from which you came?
“Beware you don’t take him back there, Abraham did exclaim

The Lord God of heaven, who led me from my father’s band
And from the land of my family, and who spoke to me
Swore to me, saying, “To your descendants I give this land,
He will send His angel before you to find a wife, you see

And you shall take a wife for my son from there
But if the woman is not willing to follow you
Then you will be released from this oath, do not despair
Only do not take my son back, this you shall not do

So the servant put his hand under the thigh
Of Abraham his master, and to the oath he swore
Then he took ten of Abraham’s camels and waved goodbye
And departed, with his master’s goods which the camels bore

He arose and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor
And he made his camels kneel down outside the city
From the journey he was probably tired, thirsty, and sore
But he was on a mission, not one looking for pity

By a well of water at evening time he waited
The time when women go out to draw from the well
And certainly as he sat, he antici………pated
The completion of his task and hearing the wedding bell

Likewise the Father is looking for a bride for His Son
And the Spirit is searching hearts, searching every one

And the heart which is tender and responds to the call
Will be led to the waters which spring to eternal life
And someday the bride will wear her wedding shawl
When Jesus comes for His long anticipated wife

Oh! A beautiful bride for the Lord wearing radiant white
The marriage of the Lamb will be a resplendent sight

Until that day we wait in faith for our precious Lord
And seek His face through His wonderful word

Hallelujah and Amen…

 

Genesis 23:1-20
The Death of the Princess

Text Verse: The voice said, “Cry out!” And he said, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is grass, And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. ⁷ The grass withers, the flower fades, Because the breath of the Lord blows upon it; Surely the people are grass. ⁸ The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.” Isaiah 40:6-8

God is the Creator and we are His creatures. Some of us are faithful and some lack faith, but no matter what, we are still just flesh and we will all wither like the grass and fade like the flower. We have one chance to get things right in this life and so we should be attentive to the word of our God now while we have the chance. And so… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. The Death of the Princess

Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-seven years; these were the years of the life of Sarah.

Sarah is the only woman in the Bible whose age at death and specific place of burial is recorded. She lived to the age of 127 and died 37 years after Isaac was born. This then would be 2146 AM.

She is the first woman who is actually noted since Eve who was in the line of the Messiah. From the Bible, we can infer other women who are in His line, but Sarah is explicitly mentioned as bearing the son of promise, through whom God’s plans would be realized.

And so from Sarah, there is a connection directly linking her to Mary, the mother of Jesus – both physically and spiritually. Through her came the otherwise impossible birth of Isaac, who is a picture of Christ, and through both her and Mary came the Messiah Himself. The patterns of the life of Sarah are deep and rich.

In Hebrews 11, she is noted for her life of faith –

“By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. ¹² Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.” Hebrews 11:11,12

In Galatians 4, Paul shows her to be a type of the Church which exists by the grace of Christ rather than the bondage of the law, and in 1 Peter 3, she is noted as the mother of all believers. This great woman of God is so noted throughout the pages of the Bible.

² So Sarah died in Kirjath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan,

This place, Kirjath Arba, now known as Hebron, is still a city in Israel. It’s in a valley which is surrounded by seven mountains. The Arabs call it el Khalil which means “the friend,” a title which refers all the way back to Abraham and his friendship with God.

It says that Hebron is “in the land of Canaan.” This is in contrast to Beersheba where they lived before which was “the land of the Philistines.” In other words, Sarah died in the land of promise.

^{2 (con’t)} and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.

There are some Jewish traditions that you will hear, even in synagogues today, which say that Abraham and Sarah never spoke again after Abraham went to offer up Isaac at Mount Moriah. They say that what Abraham did was disobedient and sinful and that is why Sarah is never mentioned from that time until now – she disagreed with Abraham.

There are numerous things wrong with that and there is actually evil intent behind it too. I’m being as honest as I can because this is such a serious matter. First, Abraham did what God asked and the Bible, from then on, speaks of him as the epitome of faith and obedience.

Secondly, Sarah isn’t mentioned again because she is no longer relevant to the story. The son of promise is born and the narrative moves on. This is exactly the same as Mary. She is mentioned only once after the resurrection of Jesus and it isn’t any more than a fleeting cameo.

Mary is not the source of our faith and she has nothing further to do with the unfolding story. Sarah was noted when she played her role and then she was given the quiet respect of a woman who had done her service. Only at her death is she mentioned.

And finally, the reason “why” there is an attempt to malign Abraham in this way is because the story so clearly and concisely points to the life of Jesus. The only way to get around this is to diminish the magnitude of Abraham and his life.

Having said that, Abraham had his tent and Sarah had her tent. This is the way families worked and we know this from Genesis 24:67 where Isaac takes his new wife to Sarah’s tent after they were married; it is now her tent. They each had their own space.

When Sarah died, Abraham “came to mourn for Sarah and weep for her.” The two words in Hebrew for “mourn” and “weep” indicate true sadness and great sorrow. They’re combined to show the magnitude of the loss to Abraham after 127 years of life together and most of that time as husband and wife.

Abraham was truly mournful. However, a secret is found in the original text of the Hebrew Scriptures. It is something extremely rare in the Bible and it shows us of the Abraham’s continued faith. The word for “weep” is libkhotah and the middle letter of libkhotah is the letter kaph.

It is the 11^th letter of the Hebrew aleph-bet and it is symbolized by an open palm. It has four possible meanings “bend, open, allow, or tame” – all things which occur with an open hand. In the Hebrew of this word in this verse, this letter kaph is smaller than the other letters, a writing tool known as miniscule.

The question is, “Why did God choose this one letter to be made smaller than the rest?” I believe the answer is that as Abraham wept, he opened his hand as a gesture of offering. When he did, he was saying what Job said at his own loss,

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Abraham is demonstrating faith that what the Lord had taken would be returned through the Seed of promise whom he had seen on Mount Moriah when he was given a ram in place of Isaac. Abraham, in other words, is demonstrating faith in the resurrection of the dead.

This is only the third time so far in the Bible that a letter is made larger or smaller than the text around it. The first was in Genesis 1:1 and the second was in Genesis 2:4, both of which are speaking of the creation of the heavens and earth.

In all, there will be very few times in the entire Bible that such rare letters will be used – only 17 in the five books of Moses and a few others after them. God is giving us clues about Himself and His plan of redemption in these unusual sized letters.

³ Then Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying, ⁴ “I am a foreigner and a visitor among you. Give me property for a burial place among you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”

When it says he “stood up from before his dead” it notes the type of mourning seen elsewhere in the Bible. In the book of Job, it says when his friends came to mourn with him they “sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights.” 2:13

It’s a common description in the Bible and is simply the way they did things and probably still do in many Mid-East nations. When he had poured out his heart and his tears, he stood and spoke to the sons of Heth. These people, the sons of Heth, were first mentioned in the Table of Nations in Genesis 10:15.

Eventually, king David’s wife Bathsheba will come from them and she will be an ancestor of Jesus. When Abraham spoke, he noted his lack of property, stating he was a foreigner and a visitor in the land. This is true, because the land belonged to the Canaanites until God determined they were to be removed, 400 years later.

It’s also something Abraham and others were noted as being faithful for in Hebrews 11. They acknowledged that they were pilgrims in the land and that God had something better prepared for them. Peter writes in the New Testament that this is still true among believers – this is not our home and we should recognize that. God has something better for us.

God is preparing a city for His people where there will be only joy, contentment, and an eternal filling of life. We will live in the presence of God and He will be pleased to dwell with His people.

⁵ And the sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him, ⁶ “Hear us, my lord: You are a mighty prince among us; bury your dead in the choicest of our burial places. None of us will withhold from you his burial place, that you may bury your dead.”

The terms “sons of Heth” and “hear us” doesn’t mean everyone said this, but just a leader speaking for the people. It would be like someone interrupting us out here on the beach and me saying, “Leave us alone;” one speaking for the whole.

When he addresses Abraham it’s in a very respectful way. “Hear us my lord: You are a mighty prince among us.” The term he uses is nesi elohim or a prince of God. They understand Abraham’s favor with the Lord and mention it now.

Although the word is different than the name of Sarah, it could be that they are using this term to tie him directly to Sarah. Her name means “princess” and by calling him nesi elohim or prince of God, the Bible is directly connecting the two as noble people.

In his address to Abraham, and speaking on behalf of the people, he offers a resting place for Sarah freely and without condition.

II. The Cave of Machpelah

⁷ Then Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the people of the land, the sons of Heth.

Starting with this verse, and going through verse 18, there is a treasure which was hidden until I found it preparing for this sermon. It’s a literary form of writing known as a chiasm. I’ve found about twenty of them, some spanning many chapters and even entire books of the Bible.

There are hundreds, if not thousands of them in the Bible and people, as they find them, publish them for others to see. I did a search on line and there is no record of this one, so you are probably the very first people since Genesis was written to see this.

I’ll pass it around for you and I’ll try to remember to post it on the video as well. A chiasm says something in order and then turns around and says it in the opposite order, making an X. The Greek letter for X is called chi and so these are called “chiasms.” I hope you enjoy this one.

Genesis 23:10-18 – Abraham Buries His Dead
A Purchase of Land (10/15/2012)

a (7) sons of Heth
b (9) the cave of Machpelah which he has, which is at the end of his
field
c (10) – in the presence of the sons of Heth, all who entered at the
gate of his city
d (11) – the field and the cave that is in it
e (11) – in the presence of the sons of my people
f (11) – Bury your dead!”
g (12, 13) – Abraham spoke to Ephron
x (13) “If you will give it, please hear me. I
will give you money for the field;
take it from me and I will bury my
dead there.”
g (14) Ephron answered Abraham
f (15) – So bury your dead.”
e (16) – in the hearing of the sons of Heth
d (17) – the field and the cave which was in it
c (18) – in the presence of the sons of Heth, before all who entered
at the gate of his city
b (19) the cave of the field of Machpelah
a (20) sons of Heth

There is a second chiasm that I found in this chapter as well which we’ll get to later. Wonderful treasures hidden in God’s word! Anyway, Abraham gets up and bows to the people as a sign of respect and thanks and then he makes his desire known…

⁸ And he spoke with them, saying, “If it is your wish that I bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and meet with Ephron the son of Zohar for me, ⁹ that he may give me the cave of Machpelah which he has, which is at the end of his field.

Abraham repeats what he said earlier and adds to it. His statement, “If it is your wish” acknowledges their agreement. He will be allowed to bury his beautiful wife who is now returning to the dust. This verse is basically saying, “Because you agree, please meet with Ephron on my behalf as I’d like to buy the cave of Machpelah.”

This name of this cave means “double” and its probably a cave within a cave or a cave linked to another cave and is something that he’s both aware of and wants. The Bible doesn’t tell why he wanted it, but being “double” means it would have enough room for others. Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and Leah will all be buried there, along with Abraham.

^{9 (con’t)} Let him give it to me at the full price, as property for a burial place among you.”

Abraham has already been offered any place among the people, and without cost, but that isn’t how the world works and Abraham knows it. To accept a gift like this would be rude and the offer was one of respect, but shouldn’t really be considered as a freebie.

Understanding this, he asks for it using the term mah-lay kesef or at full money or full weight. Silver was the mode of money and it would have been weighed out to the required weight. “I want this and I will pay what it is worth.”

This is similar to what he did when he defeated the four kings and returned all the booty to the king of Sodom in Genesis 14 –

²¹ Now the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons, and take the goods for yourself.” ²² But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth, ²³ that I will take nothing, from a thread to a sandal strap, and that I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’

Abraham didn’t want anything later to interfere with what he was buying now. Instead of being a leech on those around him, he wanted to be a man who paid his bills and owed no one. What he wanted would be paid for free and clear. Paul tells us in the New Testament to live our lives in the same way –

Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. Romans 13:8

We’re asked to not get ourselves into debt because when we do, we’re in bondage to the lender. Unfortunately, both as individuals and especially as a society, we’ve rejected this principle. The Bible asks us to correct it because when we don’t, we only become enslaved to someone other than our rightful Master.

¹⁰ Now Ephron dwelt among the sons of Heth; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the presence of the sons of Heth, all who entered at the gate of his city, saying, ¹¹ “No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field and the cave that is in it; I give it to you in the presence of the sons of my people. I give it to you. Bury your dead!”

In what may seem to us as a complicated ritual, this is simply the way these things were done and still are done in many areas of the world. Abraham asks for a place to bury his dead and the leader offers a place freely. Then Abraham offers to pay for a specific location which he has actually been freely offered.

Then Ephron the owner speaks up, in the presence of “all who entered at the gate of his city.” “No my lord, I have given you (past tense) the field and the cave… It’s yours and that’s it.” Ephron notes that his gracious offer is in the people’s presence. But it’s also done in the gate of the city.

This is the place where legal transactions occur and everyone there is either a judge or a witness. Abraham could, right at this point, say “Ok, thank you” and it would be his, but the customs and propriety would never allow that. An offer of free land isn’t free.

¹² Then Abraham bowed himself down before the people of the land; ¹³ and he spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying, “If you will give it, please hear me. I will give you money for the field; take it from me and I will bury my dead there.”

Abraham, following what to us is a confusing ritual, bows in gratitude that the offer has been made and now he leaves himself just as open to being cheated as Ephron just did for him. In the “hearing of the people” meaning in full view of judges and witnesses, He basically says, “Seeing as you will give it to me, then you will also let me pay for it.”

But here is the part that we shouldn’t miss. Abraham asked for the cave. Ephron offered the field and the cave, even though the field was never mentioned by Abraham. This means if Abraham wants the cave, the field has to go with it.

Ephron wants to retire from this deal. Even though he offered them for free, he knows Abraham will counteroffer with payment. But Abraham only mentions the field in the counter offer, not the cave. There is much more going on here than you may imagine.

He is buying both, but he is allowing Ephron to appear noble by selling the field and giving the cave as a bonus. What is happening here is wheeling and dealing at its best and yet it’s done in a way that no one will really be a loser – even if Ephron is dishonest in the field’s price.

Ephron gets rich off a field that’s not worth whatever he asks and Abraham gets a cave as a gift when he pays too much for a field that he doesn’t need…. All very simple, right? Wait till you see what all of this symbolically represents.

¹⁴ And Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, ¹⁵ “My lord, listen to me; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver. What is that between you and me? So bury your dead.”

The Hebrew doesn’t say “the land is worth four hundred shekels.” Ephron uses an idiom that needs to be translated this way for us to understand. And we should understand… “Listen Abe, a land of four hundred shekels, pshaw, what is that between good friends like you and me. Just bury your dead and forget about the money.”

Abraham was offered the land for free, knowing it wasn’t really free. Then he offers to pay full value – whatever it is, knowing that payment is necessary, but setting himself up for any amount by not giving an advanced amount… which he could have done.

Now Ephron pulls a figure out of the sky… somewhere way up by the North Star, but he says, “Gee, that field is worth sooo much, but that enormous price doesn’t matter to me – just bury your dead.”

Abraham now has one more chance to take the field for free. If he does, he’d look like a scab for not paying. If he turns it down, then he’d look like a poor wheeler-dealer. And so there is but one option…pay the high cost and receive the cave that went along with the expensive field.

What is even more important in this confusing story is what this purchase points to. Ask yourself, “Why is this story here at all? Why did God include all of these complicated details about a land purchase?” People die all the time and land is bought all the time, but they’re not in the Bible. Why is this one?

I had to ask myself this too and it wasn’t until a day later as I was completing the sermon that I realized it. Before we finish today, you will know too.

¹⁶ And Abraham listened to Ephron; and Abraham weighed out the silver for Ephron which he had named in the hearing of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, currency of the merchants.

Four hundred shekels of silver go to Ephron at the gate of the city where the judges preside. Ephron has a lot of money, and Abraham has a field and a cave. But before we get to our last thought of the day, I’d like to remind you about what happened in chapter 20.

Abraham received Sarah back from Abimelech the King of Gerar, and when he did the king gave him 1000 weight of silver to cover the matter of what happened. God not only watched over Sarah then, He also ensured the right place would be there in her death.

And Abraham had 600 of silver left over as a blessing from the Lord. This is what God does. When Sarah was taken by the king, it was probably a very stressful time for them. But God turned it around for good. And not only that, He gave them a blessing for later.

And this is exactly what He will do for each of us. When something bad happens in our lives, we have to trust that not only will it turn out for good, but God will actually bless us abundantly in the process.

Of all the people you will ever meet, I am the most opposed of all to the “prosperity gospel” which says we will get rich and have a lot of stuff if we give to the church. And yet I am completely convinced that in the end, a faithful life will receive more blessings than any of us could possibly imagine… and I can imagine a lot.

III. Permanent Ownership of the Land

¹⁷ So the field of Ephron which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field and the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, which were within all the surrounding borders, were deeded ¹⁸ to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the sons of Heth, before all who went in at the gate of his city.

The purchase is complete and everything is restated to ensure it is completely understood by us. Who the owner was, who the buyer and new owner is, what the price was, and that everything – every single thing – including the field, cave, borders, and even the trees are included. Nothing has been left unattended to.

This was in the presence of the sons of Heth and in the place of legal transactions – the city gates. All of this detail. Are you wondering why?

¹⁹ And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah, before Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.

Abraham asked for this spot to bury his dead. Now he buries his princess. Undisputed right and title to the land and cave is acknowledged by this verse. Her burial is noted to confirm this. Her presence is the formal title deed of the transaction.

Just so you know, this chapter contains the first biblical record of mourning for the dead, of burial, of owned land property, of purchased land property, and that silver is used for a land purchase.

It’s also laid out in a special structure, given to us by God to show us what He is doing and why. Chiasms aren’t just a mere curiosity of literature to God. They are placed in the Bible to reveal His mind.

In addition to the chiasm is the introduction of the small letter kaph in the middle of a particular word for a particular reason. And all of it … all of it, points to Christ. Stand by for the explanation of why this chapter records such minute detail and what it means to you.

²⁰ So the field and the cave that is in it were deeded to Abraham by the sons of Heth as property for a burial place.

This final verse of the chapter is a shortened repetition of verses 17 and 18. One must ask, why? Why is this repeated? The answer is that this forms another mini chiasm. And we have to note that this chiasm centers on the burial of Sarah, just as the previous one did.

a. so the field of Machpelah… before Mamre…the field and the cave in
it… were deeded to Abraham by the sons of Heth
x. And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of
Machpelah
a. so the field of Machpelah… before Mamre…the field and the cave in
it… were deeded to Abraham by the sons of Heth

This is no mistake, it isn’t arbitrary, and God is trying to tell us something if we will just open our thick skulls. What we need to do is to determine what it is. So let’s take a few minutes and look at details that we could actually talk about for several more hours.

I can only give you an overview of how important this story is and how it points to God’s love for you. And as far as I know, you are the first people in history to hear this…

——————————

Abraham’s bride is dead, but she is the mother of the promised son. In last week’s sermon, he was given a preview of substitution for atonement and the resurrection when he was on Mount Moriah.

In today’s chapter, he becomes a picture of Christ. He has no title deed to the land and so he must make a purchase. In this story Abraham was called nesi elohim or a prince of God. Jesus is noted as God’s Prince in both Isaiah and Acts.

He wants a place to bury his dead in anticipation of the resurrection, and in order to get it, he must take the land with the cave. And in actuality, it is the land which is being purchased; the cave is given as a part of the deal. Are you seeing it yet?

You see, back in Genesis 3, the devil obtained the title deed to the earth. This is proven in Matthew 4 where the Bible says – “Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹ And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”

More to the point though, the earth is the repository for the human soul. This is noted time and time again in the Bible. Let’s go through and see how the land deal went –

Abraham wants the cave, the repository for his dead, and asks the sons of Heth to go to Ephron and sell it.

Ephron means “of the dust” and he is a picture of Adam, who was created from the dust (see 1 Corinthians 15:48) and thus he represents all of us.  Adam, the man of the dust, was deceived and now belongs to the devil (see 1 John 3). The name of Ephron’s father is Zohar which means “brightness” or “shining.”

Zohar then is a picture of Satan, the ruler and title owner of the world. Paul writes this about Satan, “And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.” 2 Corinthians 11:14

This story is a picture of our redemption. Adam gave up the title to the earth when he sinned. Jesus came to buy it back.

Heth means “terror” and is a picture of all the people of the world who live in fear of death because they cannot meet God’s law. When it was given at Mount Sinai, the people trembled and asked not to hear God speak to them directly again.

Since the law was given, men have lived in terror because there is no way we can meet it as Paul clearly explains in Galatians 3. It condemns all to death. These sons of Heth, or “sons of terror” are witnesses of what will transpire.

Hebrews 2 explains this – “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵ and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

“Through death He might destroy him who had the power of death…” Sarah’s death and burial is a picture of this!

The sons of Heth first offer any place Abraham chooses. But not any place will do. Abraham specifically asks for the cave of Ephron, the son of Zohar, and offers the full price for it.

Jesus asks specifically for the cave of Adam and his seed. The people of the world have many choices of religion, but only one will do. Jesus has come to buy the place where his bride will lie in repose awaiting what He knows will be the resurrection. But Satan doesn’t know this.

Ephron the son of Zohar, picturing Adam son of the devil, willingly offers the field and the cave for free in the presence of witnesses and Abraham declines stating that payment will be made for the field. Jesus determines, like Abraham, that the full price for the title deed to the earth will be paid. There will be no later claims against his ownership.

The devil offers the title deed to Jesus for a mere act of worship as we saw in Matthew 4, but Jesus denied the devil. The devil next tries to stop Jesus when he indicates that what He is proposing will involve His death. When did this occur? It was when Peter tried to stop Jesus in Matthew 16 –

“From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. ²² Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” ²³ But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”

The devil has lost out a second time to Jesus, just as Abraham declines free land for the second time.

Ephron then says the land is very expensive – 400 shekels – a high price indeed. He notes that Abraham doesn’t need to pay such a high price – “You don’t need the land, just bury your dead.” Abraham declines again and offers the full price.

The devil freely offers Jesus to bury his wife, His redeemed, because the title deed to the world is an exceedingly high price. “You don’t need the title deed to the land. It is too high a price. Just bury your dead.”

This is the third time Ephron freely offers the land. And when was the third time the devil tried to stop Jesus? It’s recorded in Matthew 27 –

While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, “Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him.”

The devil finding no other way to stop what is happening goes back to his very first trick in the Bible, deceiving man by going through his wife. Eve was deceived and then got Adam to sin and now he is trying it again through the wife of Pilate. But it doesn’t work.

Abraham weighs out the money in silver. The four hundred shekels of silver represent a period of divine completion. God noted in Genesis 15 that the affliction of Abraham’s descendants would be 400 years until their freedom from bondage.

This amount of four hundred shekels for payment is symbolic of the full price being paid for our bondage and also that there is both a guarantee of an end to it, and a set time of redemption.

Jesus accepts the offer of the payment price for the land and understands that the cave – the tomb, is a part of the deal. Jesus pays the price at the cross of Calvary. The title deed is transferred, the right to the world is His, and the tomb is His reward.

These dealings between Ephron and Abraham were in the presence of witnesses at the city gate where legal transactions occurred. Jesus completed His work in the presence of witnesses in fulfillment the Law of Moses, which is the legal transaction necessary to fulfill the contract.

As He Himself said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.”

This still leaves one detail missing, why this particular cave –Machpelah? The name of the cave means “double” and it therefore signifies the double delivery from death. Jesus didn’t come to just purchase the title deed to the world for Jews, but He did it for gentiles as well. His death filled this double role.

Ephesians 2 – Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— ¹² that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.¹⁴ For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, ¹⁵ having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶ and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. ¹⁷ And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

All of this took place in a town called Kirjath Arba. This name means “City of the Four” and is a picture of the world which Jesus is reclaiming. The number four consistently designates the earth in the Bible – four corners or directions of the earth – “north, south, east, west;” the four elements – “earth, air, fire, water;” the four seasons – “spring, summer, autumn, winter;” etc.

Kirjath Arba however is also called Hebron in this chapter. This means “conjunction” or “joining” and takes us right back to Ephesians 2 where Christ made one bride out of two – Jew and Gentile.

Do you remember what I said a while ago about the money Abraham received from Abimelech? He gave Abraham 1000 weight of silver for a covering of what had happened to Sarah. Now Sarah is being buried in land that was paid for with that money.

Abimelech means “Father of the King.” The Father of King Jesus orchestrated all of this in the pages of His word to show us the marvel of what He would do through His own Son 1800 years later. Remember, Sarah means “princess.” She is a picture of us.

Jesus secured the right to the earth where His princess, His bride lies – waiting for the day when He will come again for her. Every story in Genesis is given in order and with specific details to show us this marvelous unfolding story of God’s love.

And as a last note, in verse 17, the word for “deeded” as in the title deed, is the word v’yakham. This word means “rose” or “stood up.” The selection of this word has mystified scholars throughout the ages. One Jewish scholar named Jarchi came rather close to why it was used.

He said that the reason for this particular phrase is that this field, with all belonging to it, came into the hands of a greater person; out of the hands of a private man into the hands of a king. And so, without even realizing what he had written, he clearly identified what had happened.

The King of the Universe bought back the title deed to the earth from the common man, Adam – symbolized by Ephron – “of the dust.” The transfer was from the lesser to the greater; from Adam to Jesus; from death to life. Jesus now has both the title deed and, because of the resurrection, the power over the tomb as well.

I should note to you that the term “sons of Heth” – symbolizing those who are in terror because of the demands of the law which condemns all to death, is used 8 times in this story. Eight is the number of “new beginnings” in the Bible. We, the sons of terror, are now free from the terror of death because of the high price Jesus paid on our behalf.

One more thing – silver was used for this land purchase. In reality, Jesus death was a result of a transaction in silver and that money was used to buy a field as well… a field known as Akel Dama, the Field of Blood.

So why is this story given? It is because this woman of God, Sarah, was the mother of the promised Seed who would destroy the works of the devil by paying a debt He didn’t owe to save the likes of you and me. And His reward was a tomb, a double tomb. The first half of the tomb was where He lay; the other half is where we will lay.

He was victorious over His half of the tomb and He is also victorious over our half if we simply accept the payment. Let me tell you how to…

Closing Verse: Indeed it was for my own peace That I had great bitterness; But You have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back. Isaiah 38:17

Next week – Genesis 24:1-11 (To Find a Wife)

Buried but not Forgotten

Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-seven years
These were the years of Sarah’s life
So Sarah died and Abraham came to shed tears
It was in Hebron of Canaan that he mourned for his wife

Then Abraham stood up from before his dead
And spoke to the sons of Heth saying
I am a foreigner here, wherever I lay, that is my bed
And now for a burial place from you I am praying

Give me property for a burial place among you
That I may bury my dead out of the place of my view

And the sons of Heth answered Abraham from their faces
“Here us my lord, you are a mighty prince among us
Bury your dead in the choicest of places
None of us will withhold from you a place, it is decreed thus

Then Abraham stood and bowed himself low
To the people of the land, the sons of Heth
And he spoke with them saying that if this is so
He desired a special cave for Sarah to rest in her death

“If you wish that I bury my dead out of my sight
Hear me and meet with Ephron the son of Zohar for me
That he may give me the cave of Machpelah, it is just right
It is at the end of his field, go look and see

Let him give it to me at the full price
As a property for a burial place among you
The one I want is suitable and nice
The one belonging to Ephron, it’s true

Of the sons of Heth, Ephron was one
And Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham
In the presence of all of them, not just one
Who entered at the gate of the city with an ox or a lamb

“No my lord, instead please hear me
I give you the field and the cave that is in it
I give it to you in the presence of my people, it’s free
I give it to you, bury your dead, this I permit

Then Abraham bowed himself down before the people of the land
And he spoke to Ephron as a wish, not a command

If you will give it, please hear me
I will give you money for the field
Take it from me, I will pay what you ask, you see
And I will bury my dead there, for this I have appealed

And Ephron answered Abraham, to him saying
“My lord listen, the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver
What is that between you and me, I am praying
So bury your dead, this message I deliver

And Abraham listened to Ephron and weighed the silver
Which Ephron had named in the hearing of the sons of Heth
Four hundred shekels of silver he did deliver
Currency of the merchants, to purchase a place for resting in death

So the field of Ephron which was in Machpelah
Which was before Mamre, the field and the cave
And the all the trees that in the field he saw
Which were within the borders for silver he gave

These were deeded to Abraham as a possession
In the presence of the sons of Heth
Before the gate of the city, its thronging procession
Abraham purchased the place for resting in death

And after this Abraham buried Sarah his wife in…
The cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre
Which is in Hebron in the land of Canaan
Because the field and the cave now were his, you see

They were deeded to Abraham by the sons of Heth
For property as a burial place for resting in death

But death isn’t the end for Sarah that faithful soul
Because the story continues on and it is glorious indeed
There is One who came from her who would open the scroll
And restore eternal life to Adam’s fallen seed

Jesus is the Promised One
Born of a woman and yet God’s own Son

And through His obedient life
He has purchased for Himself a spotless wife

These things are pictured in the Bible’s holy pages
And they have been loved and cherished for ages and ages

Take time each day to read this beautiful word
And take it to heart each and every day
It tells us of this wonderful Lord
Who prevailed over the devil and so let us say

Great and awesome God, in your light we shall trod
And so for all of our days, let us give You all of our praise

Hallelujah and Amen…

Genesis 22:9-24
The Lord will Provide

 Introduction: Today we’re going to look at the completion of the greatest test of faith imaginable. Abraham’s test is answered in a glorious and wonderful way and each detail of the story looks forward to something even greater – the coming Messiah. The riches of this passage can only make us stand in awe of what God has done for each of us through the Person of Jesus.

Text Verse: ³⁹ And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, ⁴⁰ God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. Hebrews 11:39, 40

Abraham, along with a host of other faithful souls recorded in the Bible, or who lived in faith without any record of their life, have waited to see the fulfillment of God’s promises, but they are still waiting because God will bring us all near to Him together, in one joyous gathering and so… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. By Faith Abraham…

A few weeks ago at the beginning of the sermon about Isaac’s birth, I said this – “Everything about our relationship with God ultimately comes down to faith; it is based on faith – proper faith. Misdirected faith is, after all, wasted faith.”

I bring that up again now because what we looked at last week and what we will finish looking at today is not nearly so much a test of obedience, which is what most people think of when they read the story, as it is a test of faith.

I say this because on several occasions, God stated that Isaac is the son of promise. In chapter 21, as Hagar and Ishmael were being dismissed from his home, we read this –

“But God said to Abraham, “Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called.”

What Abraham has been asked to do and what he is going up the hill to actually do is much more a test of faith than it is obedience. Obedience would be the case if Isaac was born without a promise of being the one to carry on Abraham’s name.

In other words, if God came to me today and asked me to sacrifice my son, that would be a test of obedience. I have no promises from God about my son. If He said to do it, it would be straight up obedience or disobedience.

However, if God promised to me that in 20 years, my son would be president of the United States and then later asked me to sacrifice him, that would be a test of faith, not obedience. The reason is that God cannot lie – and we know this from both the Bible and by simple logic.

It is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, if He asked me to sacrifice my son, having already told me that he would be the President, then I would have to have faith that my son would be resurrected. This is exactly what is happening here and it is proven true by Hebrews 11:17-19 –

“¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, ¹⁸ of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” ¹⁹ concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.”

I hope you’re seeing the difference between the two and also are thinking of how you can apply this to your own life. There are things that we need to be obedient about and there are things that simply require our faith. And then there are things that require our faith in order to be obedient.

The differences are important, and how we act, particularly in our faith in God and His promises is the most important aspect of our lives. If you demonstrate the faith of Abraham, I assure you, your rewards will be great when you stand before the Lord.

⁹ Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.

The last verse of chapter 21 said this, “And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines many days.” This was at the time of Isaac’s weaning, meaning he was three years old. From that time, we’re told he lived “many days” in the land of the Philistines. However, the Bible doesn’t give us a specific amount of time. It could have been 10 years or 30 years.

The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus says Isaac is 25 years old now, other Jewish scholars say 36 years old. But the Bible doesn’t say. Christian scholars like to say he was 33 years old in order to fit the picture of Jesus. There is no need to do this though because, regardless of the age, the entire account already prefigures Jesus.

What God has hidden, we can speculate on, but it would be wrong to be dogmatic. One thing is for sure, he was old enough to carry the wood up the hill, and it would take a considerable amount of wood. No matter what, he would’ve been in his teens if not older.

The word used to designate him as a lad in English is the Hebrew word na’ar and is normally used about a younger man or someone in tenderness of age. Again, regardless of the age, he was at least old enough to put up a fight or run. This is the important thought we should keep in our mind.

Abraham is now 100 plus whatever age Isaac is. If Isaac is 15, Abraham is 115. He’s an old man and yet, the record stands that he built an altar, placed the wood in order, and he bound Isaac and then laid him on the altar. The entire act is based on two concepts, Abraham’s faith and Isaac’s obedience.

What we see in Isaac is what will later be seen in God’s own Son as recorded by Paul –

⁵ Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, ⁷ but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Philippians 2:5-8

¹⁰ And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

 

The call was given, Abraham got up early – without delay and headed to Moriah. The hill was climbed on the third day, the altar was made ready, the wood was laid out, and the boy was bound and placed in the spot of execution. Every detail prefigures exactly what God was going to do 1800 years later through Jesus.

Abraham then is a type of God the Father and Isaac of God the Son. The minuteness of the details is given for you and me to see, contemplate, and believe. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son…

By doing so, it was taken by God has a deed fulfilled. To Abraham, Isaac died three days earlier. He now is merely completing what has already been accomplished in his mind. Paul writes to us about the Jesus’ fulfillment of this Old Testament shadow accomplished by Abraham –

³¹ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Romans 8:31, 32

Abraham didn’t spare his own son and neither did God. Abraham delivered his son up to God and God delivered His Son up for us, including Abraham. Because He did, how shall He not through Jesus freely give us all things, just as He now gives to Abraham…

¹¹ But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” So he said, “Here I am.”

At the moment of finality, comes the sound of relief. In what is almost an ironic occurrence, the Angel of the Lord, the divine Son of God who is being prefigured here, is the One who calls out for the sacrifice to be halted. The very same Lord, however, would receive in full what Isaac is spared from.

The great Mediator between God and man now steps in to fulfill that task of mediation for His beloved servant Abraham. And when He does so, He does it in a display of emotion found throughout the Bible. He calls His name twice – “Abraham, Abraham.”

This is the very first of several hundred such times where this is done. It’s a method of emphasis similar to us using an exclamation point or italicizing words in a sentence. In an amazing twist of things, Jesus, the Angel of the Lord here calls out “Abraham, Abraham” to save the son of promise who would lead to Him.

And yet from this son of promise would also come the Nation of Israel who would call out exactly the opposite in exactly the same spot 1800 years later. Luke 23 records their emphatic statement “Crucify, crucify!”

And as He hung alone on the cross, bearing the weight of the sins of the world, He called out to His own Father in fulfillment of the 22^nd Psalm “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

The Bible is so full of the amazing love of God and what He has done even for those who would raise their hands against His own Son. How can we not stand amazed and in awe of what He has done for each one of us!

¹² And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

Ki attah adati – Now I know. Ki y’ray elohim – You fear God. God already knew as He knows everything, but in an act of judicial necessity because God governs the world, and for the sake of man’s conscience which needs to be instructed by both practice as well as principle, God tested Abraham.

What God knew, Abraham now knows by that principle as well as the practice. His faith has been tested and it has been found true. And therefore God tells him to not lay a hand on Isaac, or do anything to him.

There will be no sacrifice, no lighting of the wood, no prayers over the offering. Abraham is told to cease everything associated with this deed. The fear of God – a fear that can only come through faith is explained – “since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

What has happened here, as I alluded to already, is that Isaac is prefiguring Jesus’ real sacrifice. Abraham yielded to God by yielding his son. Isaac yielded to God by yielding himself, and the picture of what God did in Jesus and what Jesus did for His Father is complete.

This act by the man of faith and by the son of promise is one of the Old Testament’s most important accounts in understanding what God has done for us through Jesus. In the future, when you read this passage, I hope you will reflect not only on what Abraham did, but what God did in fulfillment of this picture.

Before we go on, I want you to again note the concept of Obedience vs. Faith. For Abraham, this has not been a test of obedience, but a test of faith which necessitated obedience. In the case of Isaac, it was a test of obedience which necessitated faith.

II. The Lord Will Provide

¹³ Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.

In an amazingly beautiful picture of substitution, God provides a ram in place of Isaac. To understand this picture, you must now look in the mirror. You see, it is you that deserves both the death and burning which Isaac was facing.

It is you who have sinned in thought, word, and deed before your Creator. And in fact, you have done it with laughing and without care. And as Isaac means “laughter,” this is a picture of you lying on the altar ready to receive your just fate from the God who is as angry at your sin as He is in love with who you could be.

And so in place of you… the one deserving death, God sent a substitute to take your place. Again, the picture only comes into focus when we understand other symbolism given in the Old Testament. In Leviticus 16, on the Day of Atonement where God covered the people’s sins, a ram was selected as a burnt offering.

This ram, along with other animals, was used as a picture of the work of Jesus. The ram was completely burned up as Isaac was supposed to be. This pictures the complete destruction of the one tainted with sin. In Isaac’s case, a ram is also given as a substitute.

This becomes even more beautiful to picture when we note that the very spot where Abraham is to offer his son is the same spot where the temple would be built by Solomon a thousand years later. And this is where those sacrifices of the law were made. But those sacrifices couldn’t truly save anything as Hebrews later explains.

And so to fulfill God’s plans and to complete the picture they made, God sent His Son, who did die, probably in the exact spot where the ram was that Abraham saw – and guess what! He was “caught in a thicket by his horns.”

This picture is complete when we remember that Jesus is the ram and that He wore a crown of thorns, probably made from a bush from the very same spot. It is probable that this bush is the Ziziphus spina-christi, The Christ’s Thorn, or the jujube tree.

It reaches twenty feet in height and is found growing all around the waysides of Jerusalem. The crooked branches of this shrub are armed with thorns growing in pairs, a straight spine and a curved one commonly occurring together at each point.

This ram, caught in the Christ’s Thorn, became Isaac’s substitute. And the true Lamb, caught in the same thorns – woven as a crown on His head – in the very same location 1800 years later became our Substitute. A whole burnt offering to God, as Paul explains –

And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. Ephesians 5:2

And before we move on, we should note how the author of Hebrews explains the sacrifice of Christ –

Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me. ⁶ In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. ⁷ Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—In the volume of the book it is written of Me—To do Your will, O God.’” ⁸ Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), ⁹ then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second. ¹⁰ By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

¹⁴ And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

After I met the Lord, I made a cross and signs to put on the cross for each day leading up to Easter. I put it out front of my house for the entire Passion Week. The first sign of the week has this verse on it. “On the Mountain of the Lord is will be provided.” I’ve put that cross and sign out each year since then.

I chose this verse because, from the first times that I read Genesis, I understood what this verse was saying and Abraham did too. He looked behind him and saw a ram caught in a thicket. But what he saw with his physical eyes was less wonderful than what he saw with his spiritual eyes.

Abraham looked into the future and saw the mystery he had wondered about from his first call into the Promised Land and through every promise of God since then. He saw Christ, our Substitute and he noted where Christ’s work would be accomplished. He saw the cross and He saw the resurrection.

The mystery revealed before His eyes was more wonderful than the thought of not losing Isaac. Having Isaac for a few more years of his life was inconsequential to having Isaac for all eternity. And that could only happen one way. Abraham saw the Lord on His cross and called the place Y’hovah Yireh – The Lord Sees.

And because of this, from that time on the saying became known – “On the Mountain of the Lord He will appear.” Because of the type of verb used, known as a Niphal, it doesn’t mean “provide” but rather “appear.” This verse is speaking specifically about the manifestation of Jehovah in the flesh – Jesus Christ.

And this is what Paul speaks of in his first letter to Timothy –

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels,
Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory. (3:16)

III. Only After the Substitute…

¹⁵ Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven,

I didn’t find any commentary that noted why the Lord waited until after the ram was offered to call a second time out of heaven, but it seems pretty clear. It is a picture of our salvation. God calls all men to Himself through Jesus Christ. It is His way of speaking to us – by the offering of His Son.

The Ram is there, but we must accept His work as our Substitute.  God only calls the second time after we accept Him as Lord and Savior. Only after receiving this Substitute can we expect what comes after the Substitute.

God doesn’t demand any of us to make a human sacrifice, but rather the acceptance of His offering – a spiritual sacrifice which really occurred in His own Son. This equates to an unconditional denial of our ability to save ourselves. We must die to sin through Jesus – the Substitute God offers.

We are saved and then we receive the promised blessings – not before. The Lord calls a second time out of heaven “the substitute is satisfactory and thus I will bless you.”

¹⁶ and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—

Earlier I said that it was Jehovah who called out to Abraham. This verse confirms that. The Angel of the Lord is the Lord and He has sworn by Himself. His oath is explained in detail in Hebrews 10 and cannot be passed over –

¹³ For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, ¹⁴ saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” ¹⁵ And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. ¹⁶ For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. ¹⁷ Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, ¹⁸ that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. Heb 6:13-18

It must be noted also that the Lord swearing by Himself never occurs again in this manner and so, time and again, we will see repeated references to this very oath by Abraham, by Isaac, by Joseph, by Moses, by David and others in the Psalms, by Zechariah the father of John the Baptist, and even by the Lord Himself.

This verse then is a defining moment in the history of humanity, in the history of the Bible, and in our understanding of the nature of God. (Ge 24:7; 26:3; 50:24; Ex 13:5, 13:11; 33:1, Ps 89:36; 132:11; 110:4, Luke 1:73)

¹⁷ blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore;

The Lord, in swearing this oath upon Himself, uses repetition in a way which shows us that the nations of the earth will willingly come to be blessed through Abraham. It is as if they will rush forward en masse to join to the blessings he has promised; blessings which come through faith in his Seed – the Messiah.

And the number of them will be astonishing. So much so that the Lord uses two terms to describe it, as the stars of the heaven and as the sand at the lip of the sea, where the waves rush in – bringing even more sand to fill its shores. This is a combination of the promises of Genesis 13:16 – dust of earth and 15:5 – stars.

^{17 (cont)} and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.

The gate of the enemies includes all of their strength – troops, advisors, weapons, and fortifications. This is ultimately fulfilled not just physically by the conquest of Canaan, but spiritually by Christ and His church as He states in Matthew 16 –

And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. ¹⁹ And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Gates are defensive, not offensive. What the Lord promises to Abraham and what Jesus promises to us is complete victory over the enemies of God and God’s people.

¹⁸ In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

In a previous sermon, we saw that the Seed He is referring to here is Himself – His incarnation in the Person of Jesus. Paul explains it in Galatians 3 in relation to the Law of Moses –

Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. ¹⁷ And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. ¹⁸ For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

The promise came before the law. God has promised through the Seed to bless all the nations of the earth apart from the Law. The only way this is possible is for the Law to be fulfilled on our behalf and thus it required the work of a Man born free of sin and who would also fulfill the Law without sinning; the Seed is Jesus.

¹⁹ So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.

The greatest test of faith recorded in the entire Old Testament is over. Abraham has been given the crown of righteousness and the garments of white. He has proven faithful and God has favored him in a way not seen again in the pages of the Bible.

From this foundational account God’s plan of redemption continues, and yet the story for today ends quietly. He returned to the servants at the foot of Mount Moriah and together they return to Beersheba, the Well of the Seven. But even this pictures the work of the Lord.

Jesus also prevailed over His own trial of Moriah and after doing so, He returned to the Well of the Seven. In His eternal state, there are seven aspects of the Lord. Isaiah notes them and they are referred to again in the book of Revelation –

There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse,
And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
² The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
³ His delight is in the fear of the Lord,
And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes,
Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;
⁴ But with righteousness He shall judge the poor,
And decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
⁵ Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins,
And faithfulness the belt of His waist. (11:1-5)

Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, ⁵ and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. (1:4, 5)

Even in his return to Beersheba, the Well of the Seven, this man of faith continues to prefigure the Lord of all creation.

IV. The Funnel Continues

I’ve talked about God’s Funnel in the past. It is the chosen line of God’s work in and through humanity – from Adam through Seth to Noah, to Shem, to Abraham, and now to Isaac. But Isaac will someday need a wife. And so at the end of this most important of chapters there is post-fixed a curious set of verses that makes many wonder why are they there…

²⁰ Now it came to pass after these things that it was told Abraham, saying, “Indeed Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor: ²¹ Huz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram, ²² Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” ²³ And Bethuel begot Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. ²⁴ His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Thahash, and Maachah.

These 4 verses are given for two reasons. The first is to introduce Rebekah who will become Isaac’s wife. The mantle is being passed from Abraham to Isaac here. Abraham has accomplished his work before the Lord and the main focus of God’s funnel will now be directed toward Isaac.

The second reason is to give the historical names of some of these people who will come into contact with God’s people later in the Bible. Not all of them will be seen again, but those that will, can be traced back to these verses. In essence, it’s reminding us that we are all eventually related to each other if we go back far enough.

When we read the book of Job, we can come back here to see his family line; when we read about the Chaldeans in Isaiah or Daniel, we can find them here too. These and others who later become enemies or allies with the Israelites are all humans needing the same Savior that Abraham needed.

Let me tell you about this Savior before we finish up today – the Substitute.

Next Week – Genesis 23:1-20 (The Death of the Princess)

The Lord Will Provide

Then they came to the place of which God had told Him
And Abraham built an altar there where they stood
He placed the wood in order, and bound Isaac limb by limb
And laid him on the altar, there upon the wood

And Abraham stretched out his hand and also took the knife
To slay his son, his precious son born of Sarah his wife

But the Angel of the Lord called from heaven to Abraham
And said “Abraham, Abraham” in a resounding voice
Abraham replied, “Yes Lord, here I am”
“Do not lay your hand upon the lad, instead you can rejoice

“Do not do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God
Since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me
Abraham lifted his eyes and looked and maybe he did applaud
There was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns, you see

So Abraham went and took the ram and led it by his side
And offered it, a burnt offering instead of his son
And Abraham called the name of the place “The Lord Will Provide
The test of Abraham’s faith surely had been won

And as it is said, even to this very day
In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided
Then the Angel of the Lord a second time out of heaven did say
I have a decree, there is something firmly decided

By Myself I have sworn says the Lord
Because you have done this thing
And have not withheld your son, your only son by my word
Blessing I will bless you – let the nations sing

And multiplying I will multiply your descendants
Even as the stars are numbered high in the heaven
And as the sand which is on the seashore, ever so resplendent
The world through your seed I will enliven

And your descendants shall possess their enemies’ gate
And throughout all ages, your name it shall be great

So Abraham returned to his young men
And they rose and together to Beersheba they went
And Abraham dwelt at Beersheba from then
And this is where, for a while, his time was spent

Now it came to pass after these things, not before
That it was told Abraham, saying
Indeed Milcah has born children to your brother Nahor
For this you know they have been praying

Huz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram
 Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel, if girls they would make a harem

And Bethuel begot Rebekah
These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother
 His concubine, whose name was Reumah
Also bore Tebah, Gaham, Thahash, and Maachah – what a mother!

 

And so behind us is the story of Abraham and Isaac
Given to us to show the marvelous workings of the Lord
All contained in the Holy Bible – a beautiful almanac
Yes, for us to learn and love, His precious word

And what a word it is indeed!
May we learn it and also to it give our heed

For in this book is the story of God’s Son
Who through His blood the victory is won

Hallelujah and Amen…

 

 

 

Genesis 22:1-8
By Faith Abraham…

Introduction: Abraham, as we have seen, has been a man of faith and is recognized as such throughout the Bible. Today we’ll see Abraham’s faith put to the test and from this account the book of James cites Abraham’s deeds, what he did, as a point of justification in connection with his faith.

On the surface, this seems to contradict Paul’s idea of justification by faith alone, but only until we come to the realization that Abraham’s deeds are, in fact, deeds of faith. The deeds Abraham accomplishes, and the deeds that we accomplish, cannot be counted for justification apart from the faith behind the deeds.

Understanding that it is faith and faith alone that justifies us, frees us from attempting to accomplish deeds for the sake of deeds. In other words, doing good things only for the sake of the doing merely produces a never-ending cycle of frustration, because the “doing” can never please God – only the faith behind it can.

This might sound like double-speak, but what Abraham does in the coming two sermons is an act of faith – not in the act itself, but in the outcome of the action…. Life from death.

Text Verse: Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. Luke 3:8

Jesus speaks of “fruits worthy of repentance” as does the entire Bible. If you have faith in God and accomplish a task because of faith in Him, and someone else doesn’t believe in God and accomplishes the exact same task, you will receive your reward and they will receive none. You see, it is faith and faith alone which pleases God and so… May God speak to us through His word today and may His glorious name ever be praised.

I. Go to the Land of Moriah

Everything that has happened to Abraham since his call in chapter 12 has led to the passage we’re going to look at today and next week. It is the culmination of everything God has prepared him for, and it is the crowning event in his life

Four times in his life, Abraham has had to set aside something to gain something greater. The first was when he was called out of the land of idolatry into the land of promise. At that time he was given great and glorious promises about his name and about the multitude of descendants that he would be the father of.

Seven times these promises have been made and built upon and each step has been responded to in faith by this man of faith. The next time he set something aside was when he separated from his nephew Lot, whom he had grown up with and was very close to.

During and after this, the long delays between the promises made to him have molded him into a man of patience and reliance on God’s timing. He has conquered armies and refused rewards, trusting instead that what the Lord provides is even greater.

He was told to walk before God and be blameless – meaning not only in his actions, but in the intent behind his actions as well. As an intercessor and a prophet, he’s spoken with God as a friend, and petitioned the Lord for the sake of his family and others.

In God’s good timing he received the son of promise, Isaac. In validation that he accepts Isaac as the son of promise, he faced his third great trial… setting aside something close to him. This came about when he sent his firstborn son, Ishmael, away.

Isaac then, along with those who would descend from him, is the highest prize of Abraham’s life. And so, through this son of highest value he will have his character tested in the highest measure. This is Abraham’s fourth and greatest test and the one which will establish him, for all times, as the Bible’s premier example of a man of faith.

Every aspect of his life has been brought into focus to this point as a preparation for this moment. His resolve, his holy walk, his benevolent nature, and his fatherly affections are all ready for this final and immense test.

What God is like is what Abraham has been molded into, and what Abraham faces is what God Himself will demonstrate. The man and his life, particularly this point in his life, will be used to show us the very heart of God and the wonder of His love… for us.

¹ Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”

“After these things” is talking about the events of the preceding chapter. In the first 8 verses is the record of Isaac’s birth until his weaning at 3 years old. In the next 13 verses, the account of the expulsion of Ishmael and Hagar from Abraham’s camp is noted.

And finally, in verses 22-34, came the detailed story concerning Abraham’s treaty with Abimelech, which included Abraham’s right to Beersheba. The very last verse of chapter 21 said, “And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines many days.”

And so it is “after these things” that God tested Abraham and this is where we begin today. This coming account is one so rich and so theologically significant that no matter how closely we look at it, we will unfortunately only scratch its surface.

After the previous events it says “that God tested Abraham.” The term used in this verse is one used before on specific occasions – “ha-elohim” or “the God,” and it is emphatic. When we see the term “the God” instead of just “God” it’s important to ask, “Why?”

And, the reason goes all the way back to the fall of man where Adam and Eve were tempted by the serpent. What happens here with Abraham is by the hand of the one true God, not a satanic subterfuge. The Bible is making sure we note this.

It is not a test, therefore, which would result in disobedience if accomplished, but obedience. And likewise, if he failed to do it, he would be disobedient. In order to avoid any confusion in this verse, the NKJV says here that God “tested” Abraham.

Some other versions, like the King James say that God “tempted” Abraham. However, the book of James tells us that “God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.” This is a test, not a temptation.

To avoid confusion and the need to make excuses as to why “tempt” here doesn’t mean the same as “tempt” elsewhere, the term “test” is used. Unless you’re Bill Clinton, there’s no point in trying to explain why a word doesn’t mean what a word means. The Hebrew word means to “prove” or “try” and so “test” is far better in modern language than “tempt.”

The root of this word possibly signifies glistening or light. And so what is occurring is a highlight of Abraham’s character by giving him the opportunity to show to all successive ages the nature and worth of an unshaken faith in the power, glory, and truth of God.

² Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac,…

v’yomer, kakh na eth binkha eth ye-hideka asher ahabta eth yitsak

The order in which these words are placed in the Hebrew gradually increases the anticipation and raises the emotions higher and higher. The detail and minuteness of what is being said is meant to elicit the highest sense of the importance of what’s coming.

It is intended to preclude any doubt in Abraham. Every word is detailed, emphatic, and striking, leading to the name…Isaac. In other words, to show Abraham what he most wanted to know he was going to use what Abraham most wanted to keep.

He wanted to know God’s plan of redemption for mankind – the mystery behind it – and so in order for him to see it, God directs him in the very way in which He would someday show the world the extent of His own Divine love and goodness to fallen man.

God didn’t spare his own Son, but instead delivered Him up even though He had done no wrong. He was innocent and loved. And so to allow Abraham the experience of what it was like for God to accomplish this act, He directs him to do the same. For all intents and purposes, Isaac is dead to Abraham from this moment.

God says, “Take your son, your only son…” when in fact Abraham had another son. This then indicates the nature of the sacrifice – it is the son of promise, it is Isaac. And so the pattern of God’s sacrifice is laid out – there is a firstborn son and there is a Son of promise. One will live and One will die.

And thus we read in Exodus 4:22 – “Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Israel is My son, My firstborn.”

And thus we read in John 3:16 – “For God so love the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” EXPLAIN

^{2(con’t) …}whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah,…

“Whom you love” is meant to indicate the Abraham’s highest love. In other words, Abraham surely loved Sarah and he loved Ishmael too. But the love of Abraham for Isaac is the highest love of his soul. Abraham is asked to take this love to “the land of Moriah.”

Moriah means “Chosen by Jehovah.” And so, “Go to the land I have chosen. It is a particular place which out of all of my creation is designated for a particular purpose.” Moriah is mentioned only one other time in the Bible, 2 Chronicles 3:1 –

Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.

^2(con’t) …and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

The son of promise, the only begotten son of Abraham is to be made a burnt offering. The exact method of such an offering was to first cut the throat, then cut it open, wash the entrails, and then cut up its quarters. After that, the pieces were to be placed in order on the wood and finally it was to be burnt to ashes. Imagine the emotion…

Were we to trace every avenue of this verse through the Bible, this sermon would go until late in the night, but this is the spot where the temple stood and it is the mountain where God’s only Son died. At that moment, the veil was torn as is recorded in Matthew.

As He passed through the veil, He presented His blood as the fulfillment of all of the offerings which only prefigured His work in the Old Testament. When this blood was presented, it restored access to God for fallen man.

Paul records the type of offering Jesus made in Ephesians –

Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. ² And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. (5:1, 2)

The term “sweet-smelling aroma” is directly linked to the burnt offering Abraham is asked to make. The death of Isaac upon the altar is given as a foreshadowing of the death of Jesus on the cross.

This son of promise who was miraculously born of a womb that was past the time of child-bearing, prefigures the Lord who was miraculously born of a virgin womb. The sacrifice of Isaac on Mount Moriah then is a similar picture of the Lord’s cross. From birth to his coming sacrifice, Isaac pictures the Lord.

II. The Third Day

³ So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son;…

As I said earlier, in point of fact Isaac is to already dead to Abraham. Though the action hasn’t come yet, the state of mind has. He was probably numb from the contemplation of what was directed, but in complete obedience to God, the account says he “rose early in the morning.”

He probably was told to do this in a night vision and as soon as the morning dawns, he sets out to complete what was directed. Time and again we’ve seen Abraham’s immediate response to every task he’s been given. He is a man of promptness and obedience.

A particular point about this verse which we can only speculate on, and yet which we shouldn’t miss, is that Abraham’s donkey is saddled. When we think this passage through, and although unstated, Isaac will ride a donkey next to his father.

And so once again we have a pattern of the coming Christ revealed in the book of Zechariah chapter 9 –

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.

Just as Isaac’s birth prefigures Jesus’ birth, just as Isaac’s weaning prefigured the birth of the church, just as Isaac’s sacrifice is to prefigure Jesus’ death, so is Isaac’s ride to that death here to prefigure Jesus’ triumphal ride into Jerusalem.

3 (con’t)…and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

Here we have another picture of the coming Messiah. The verse says Abraham split the wood for the burnt offering. Though he has a thousand or more people in his camp, he split the wood. It is an act of intimacy and of personal responsibility. In the same way, God is the Creator, in Genesis 1:11 we read this –

Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so.

God used a portion of His own creation, a tree, in the sacrifice of His Son. The work of Abraham prefigures that great act and the personal responsibility it foreshadows. And so off they head from Beersheba to the spot where history itself began, climaxed, and will continue into eternity – the mountain of Moriah, Jerusalem.

⁴ Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off.

It’s about 45 miles from Beersheba to Jerusalem and the mournful trip for Abraham took two days. Although we won’t come to the end of the story today, the two days of the journey once again prefigure the time from Jesus’ crucifixion to His resurrection.

As I said earlier, Isaac’s death occurred, to Abraham, the moment he was told to sacrifice him. They arrived at the mountain to accomplish their mission on the third day. The same is true with Jesus, who ascended the hill on Friday and was resurrected on the third day. God has left out no detail, everything foreshadows Jesus.

What is coming in the next sermon then prefigures that great day when life was restored and hope was returned to the hearts filled with grief – both in Abraham and in the apostles and friends of Jesus. Sadness comes for a moment, but the joy is everlasting.

There are many other “third days” mentioned in the Bible, but one in particular needs to be addressed in conjunction with both the binding of Isaac and the resurrection of Christ – because it points to the return of Christ.

In Hosea 6:1-3 we read this –

“Come, and let us return to the Lord; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. ² After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight. ³ Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter and former rain to the earth.”

Although this won’t make sense apart from a much deeper review of the Bible, Psalm 90:4 and 2 Peter 3:8 both say that a day to the Lord is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day. This prophecy of Hosea then tells us that the Jewish nation will, after a period of two thousand years, be revived.

This has happened, exactly as prophesied. It also says that they will return to the Lord at this time and be raised up on the third day. In other words, it will be the fulfillment of Jesus’ own words when He said that He will return to Israel when they call on Him as Lord, at the dawning of the third millennium from their exile.

We are right at that point in history now. As a confirmation of that, verse 3 says He will come to them like the latter and the former rain. The rain cycle in the land of Israel was disrupted for the past 2000 years and only now that Israel is back in the land and has repopulated the forests have the two rains returned.

James 5 speaks about this time in history – “Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. 8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”

In other words, Israel the people are back in the land. Israel the land is again receiving its long missing rain cycle. Now that it has returned, the Bible assures us that the Lord’s return is imminent.

⁵ And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”

Abraham confirms that he and Isaac will both return to the servants, even though Isaac is to be offered as a burnt offering. Either Abraham is crazy, he is accommodating his words to soften the truth, he is lying, or he truly believes that they will both return.

He wants to know the mystery of God’s plan of redemption and God is going to reveal it to him. He knows this and his faith in their return is founded upon it. Even if his son dies, he will live again. And so he tells them that they will both return.

There’s no need to speculate on this and the commentaries that say otherwise are wrong. You may place a big X over them. The reason is twofold. First, God made a promise to Abraham in Genesis 17:19 and repeated it in Genesis 21:12 –

“… Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.”

God has promised that Isaac will live and have descendants, but at this point in Isaac’s life he isn’t even married, much less a father. And so, Abraham’s test of faith is exactly that, a test of faith. No matter what Abraham does to Isaac, he is to have faith in the previous promise, that Isaac will live and have children.

When later in the Bible James says that Abraham was justified by works which accompany his faith, he is speaking of this very act. And the work is a work of faith in and of itself. This isn’t meant to be confusing, but what God is asking of Abraham is faith in the previous promises, not in some unknown quantity.

This is borne out in what he says to the servants now, what he says to Isaac later, and in what the book of Hebrews says about this very account. There it tells of what would otherwise be hidden –

¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, ¹⁸ of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” ¹⁹ concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.

God is using Abraham as an example of two things – First as a picture of what He will do with His own Son. And second, as a lesson for us. God already promised Abraham that Isaac would have children and through him would come the Messiah.

Now he is being tested to see if he will follow through with something which seems contradictory to that – taking Isaac’s life. “If God has spoken, then what I have been asked to do cannot stop what has already been promised.” This is the lesson for us.

God has recorded this, and many other things in His word. Now what He asks us to do is to stand on the promises recorded there – even when things seem contradictory to those promises. Romans 8:28 is a prime example –

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

If this is true, and it must be because it’s recorded in God’s word, then when something happens in our life which is bad or which seems to contradict God’s love for us, we are to trust that God already has it figured out. In other words, and in plain English, he wants us to not be unstable or wavering in our faith.

This is what God is telling us through Abraham. Don’t waiver, don’t be unstable, don’t call into question God’s goodness or integrity. Instead stand firm on what He has said and continue on with what He is now directing in your life.

A good way to look at it is – “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world and nothing can separate us or take My love from you.”

What shall we say then? Paul tells us – “…we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8

III. God Will Provide

⁶ So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together.

Once again, as we have seen already many times, this is a foreshadowing of what Jesus will do. Abraham placed the wood on his son and took the fire in his hand along with the knife. The wood represents both Jesus’ cross and our sins.

In John 19 we read this about the wood – “And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, ¹⁸ where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center.”

In both Isaiah 53 and in 1 Peter 2, the Bible records that the Lord placed our sins on Jesus – a heavy burden He carried up that hill. And the wood was the fuel for the fire of God’s wrath upon the sins of man. As I’ve said many times, God’s is angry at sin and his wrath will burn against it.

And this wrath will either be poured out in the crucifixion of His Son and our acceptance of that offering, or it will be in ourselves as we receive the full measure of deserved destruction. Personally, I choose Jesus.

The fire and the knife being carried by Abraham is also represented in Isaiah 53. There we read this about the One who determined and set forth the Sacrifice –

“Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.”

This plan, the sacrifice of Jesus, was set in motion at the foundation of the world according to the book of Revelation and it was the Father who determined it would be accomplished, just as Abraham determined in his own mind to go through with what was asked, carrying the fire and the knife himself.

What Abraham is prefiguring here is the greatest act in all of history. God the Father pouring out all of His wrath at the sins of man on His own Son. This passage in Genesis is given to show us two demonstrable truths. 1) That God is holy and will judge all sin, and 2) That God loves us and is willing to step out of eternity, unite with humanity, and bear that judgment upon Himself

⁷ But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!”
And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”

Isaac is asking an obvious question here. “Dad, I’ve got the wood and you have the knife and fire, but where is the lamb?” A lamb is an animal of the flock. It’s not something someone would normally find walking around in the open country.

This makes the question all the more direct. “Dad, there are no herds around and you didn’t bring a lamb, so where will the lamb come from?” The answer is coming, and no, it’s not a lie…

⁸ And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.

Abraham has already been called a prophet of God by God. His words when recorded in the pages of the Bible do two things. First they tell us what he said, and secondly when spoken in a future sense they are prophecies. Abraham isn’t lying to his son. Instead he’s revealing distinct truths.

One is that God provided Isaac. He is the son of promise and the miraculous birth to a woman beyond the age of bearing. Isaac therefore is the burnt offering. In essence, “Son, it is you.” But Abraham probably told him more because it says, “So the two of them went together.”

He probably reminded Isaac that God had already promised a line through him and that his death wouldn’t be final or God would be a liar – an impossibility. But in what is also a prophecy, Abraham spoke of the coming Messiah.

This is absolutely certain because sacrifices were already being conducted, even from the time of Cain and Abel. If those sacrifices were satisfactory to appease God, then they would have stopped being offered, but they didn’t.

Therefore, like everything else Abraham already knew, there had to be a fulfillment of them in another way. None of this is speculation. It is reasonable and understandable when taken in the context of the entire Bible. Abraham was merely demonstrating faith in this. God would provide the final Lamb.

Abraham, in his walk up the hill with his son, was learning that Isaac was an expressive type of the coming Messiah. Every other sacrifice that had been offered from the foundation of the world had been those chosen and offered by men. But Isaac was asked for by God and so this looked forward to the true Lamb provided by Him; Jesus.

Next week, we’ll see the completion of this amazing passage, but until then, let me take just a couple minutes and explain the significance of this Lamb of God and what He did for you…

Next Week – Genesis 22:9-24 (The Lord will Provide)

A Difficult Journey, a Hard Climb, Strong Faith

Now it came to pass after these things
That God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham”
And he said, “Here I am” O King of kings
I am at Your service no matter what the exam

Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac
Whom you love and go to Moriah, that land
Offer him there as a burnt offering, don’t be slack
Go to one of the mountains of which I shall command

So Abraham rose early in the morning
And saddled his donkey for the ride
He took two of his young men, giving no forewarning
And Isaac his son went by his side

And he split the wood for the burnt offering
And arose and went to the place of the proffering

He went to the place which God had told to him
And it’s certain the pain in his heart was quite grim

Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes
And saw the place afar off in the distance
And he told his men to stay with the donkey and supplies
“I will go yonder and worship, this is my insistence

And we will come back to you
My son Isaac and I, this is what we will do

So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering
And laid it on Isaac his son
And he took the fire in his hand, and a knife for the proffering
And the two of them went together for the deed to be done

Then Isaac spoke to Abraham his father
“But dad…” “Here I am my son, what is your bother?

And he said, Look the fire and the wood
But where is the lamb for the burnt offering?
And Abraham spoke and Isaac understood
My son, God will provide for Himself the Lamb of the proffering

So the two of them went together, Abraham and his son
To do the deed which God asked to be done

What we learn is that God demands our allegiance
In every matter, yes every part of our life
Our attitude is to be faithful without belligerence
Even if it means carrying a sacrificial knife

God looks for faith in his faithless people
And is pleased when He finds it dwelling in us
It is a lesson to be taught beneath the church steeple
And when we possess it, He counts it a plus

And so let us demonstrate faith in Him and in his word
And remember that we are man, and He is the Lord

Yes, He is the only one worthy of our praise
And so shall we offer it all of our days

Great, awesome, and splendid God
Help us in our faith to grow and in Thy light to trod

Hallelujah and Amen…