Destiny

Jacob wasn’t satisfied with his circumstance of being the youngest of Isaac’s twin sons. Therefore, when his brother was in a vulnerable position, Jacob took advantage of the situation and forced Esau to give him his birthright (Genesis 25:31). Afterward, Jacob tricked his father into blessing him instead Esau so that he could obtain the benefit of being his father’s favored son (Genesis 27:19). Even though Jacob used deceptive tactics, he did exactly what God expected him to and as a result became the next in line to inherit his grandfather Abraham’s eternal estate.

Isaac spoke these words to Jacob before he sent him to Padan-aram to get a wife. “God almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. May he give the blessing of Abraham to you and to your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham!” (Genesis 28:3-4). The Hebrew word that is translated take possession, yaresh (yaw-raysh’) means “to occupy (by driving out previous tenants, and possessing in their place); by implication to seize, to rob, to inherit; also to expel, to impoverish, to ruin” (H3423).

One of the things that differentiated Jacob from his brother Esau was that he was willing to do anything that was necessary to advance his position. Jacob’s dissatisfaction with his circumstances is what caused him to act in a way that changed his destiny. Isaac instructed his son Jacob to “Arise, go” (Genesis 28:2). The Hebrew words he used, quwm (koom) yalak (yaw-lak’) suggest that Isaac was kicking his son out of his house, but it is likely that there was a mutual understanding and agreement that Jacob needed to establish his own household in order to be independent of his parents’ influence.

The Hebrew word quwm can be used “in an intensive mood to signify empowering or strengthening…It is also used to denote the inevitable occurrence of something predicted or prearranged” (H6965). Yalak is derived from the Hebrew word halak (haw-lak’) which can be used to describe one’s behavior or the way one “walks in life” (H1980). Isaac’s use of these two words together in his command to Jacob could mean that he was sending his son on a spiritual journey in order to establish a relationship with God. Genesis 28:5 indicates Isaac “sent away Jacob.” The most frequent use of the Hebrew word shalach “suggests the sending of someone or something as a messenger to a particular place…Other special meanings of this verb include letting something go freely or without control” (H7971).

Genesis 28:10-17 states:

Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, “I am the LORD the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth,, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you.” Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God and this is the gate of heaven.”

The Hebrew word that is translated “a certain place” in Genesis 28:11 is maqowm (maw-kome’) which is properly translated as “a standing.” Maqowm is also used figuratively “of a condition (of body or mind)” (H4725). Maqowm may signify “a sanctuary – i.e. a ‘place’ of worship” and in this instance suggests that Jacob had discovered a portal to a spiritual realm that he identified as heaven.

In Jacob’s dream, there was a ladder “and the top of it reached to heaven” (Genesis 28:12). The ladder or stair case probably represented the pathway that Jacob had to travel in order to connect with God. It seems likely that Jacob viewed God as being distant, perhaps unreachable from his standpoint. Jacob saw the LORD standing above the stair case (Genesis 28:13) suggesting that he was in a position of authority and could grant or deny access into his kingdom. The fact that the LORD spoke to Jacob and confirmed his covenant with him suggests that the LORD was the one initiating a relationship and was trying to bridge the gap between himself and Jacob.

The LORD told Jacob that he would bring him back to the land and would not leave him until he had done all that he had promised (Genesis 28:15). The Hebrew word that is translated leave, ‘azab (aw-zab’) has to do with the severance of a relationship. “This word carries a technical sense of ‘completely and permanently abandoned’ or ‘divorced'” (H5800). Jacob had just abandoned his family and was determined to make his way in the world without the help of anyone else and yet, the LORD appeared to him in a dream and told Jacob that God was in control of his destiny and was determined to bring him back to the place that Jacob thought he was leaving behind.

Jacob’s reaction to his dream was that he was afraid (Genesis 28:17). The Hebrew word that is translated afraid in Genesis 28:17 is yare’ (yaw-ray’). “This is not simple fear, but reverence, whereby an individual recognizes the power and position of the individual revered and renders him proper respect” (H3372). In spite of the huge impact his dream had on him, Jacob did not commit himself to the LORD immediately. It says in Genesis 28:20-21, “Then Jacob made a vow, saying, ‘If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God.'”

The Hebrew word that is translated “come again” in Genesis 28:21 is the same word that is translated “bring you back” in Genesis 28:15. Basically, what Jacob was saying was that if God proved to him that he could do what he said he was going to, then Jacob would accept God’s divine authority over his life. In other words, Jacob would only submit himself to God’s will if he was forced to do so. Jacob’s promise to God was somewhat of a dare in that he didn’t believe the LORD could bring him back to a place that he didn’t want to go to. Jacob thought his free will trumped God’s sovereignty over him.

The Hebrew word translated “bring you back” in Genesis 28:15, shuwb (shoob) generally means to retreat. “The basic meaning of the verb is movement back to the point of departure (unless there is evidence to the contrary)” (H7725). “The process called conversion or turning to God is in reality a re-turning or a turning back again to Him from whom sin has separated us, but whose we are by virtue of creation, preservation and redemption.” The LORD’s message to Jacob indicated that he was taking responsibility for his conversion and would not give up until he had accomplished what he had promised Jacob he would do (Genesis 28:15).

Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount focused on what happens after a person is converted. In other words, what a Christian’s life should look like. Jesus himself was the ultimate example of the life of a believer. When Jesus came down from the mountain, Matthew 8:1 tells us, “great crowds followed him.” The Greek word that is translated followed, akoloutheo (ak-ol-oo-theh’-o) is properly translated as “to be in the same way with” (G190). Essentially, the idea of becoming a follower of Jesus was to become like him, to be converted to his way of thinking and behaving. Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).

One of the first people that approached Jesus after he finished his teaching about the life of a Christian was a leper who was forbidden to make contact with anyone to prevent the possibility of transmitting his disease. Matthew 8:2 states, “And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.'” The leper’s act of kneeling was a form of worship that indicated his submission to Jesus’ authority. “And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying I will; be clean” (Matthew 8:3). Jesus’ response showed not only his compassion for the man’s vulnerable state, but also his ability to change the leper’s circumstances.

Jesus told the leper to “go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded as a proof to them” (Matthew 8:4). The Greek word that is translated proof is also translated as testimony and refers to the evidence necessary to regain entrance into the temple that the leper had previously been banished from (G3142). The issue of course was whether or not Jesus had the power to overturn the decisions of the high priest. What Jesus did was demonstrate God’s ability to alter the destiny of a human being. Rather than being subject to the ravages of his disease and continuing to suffer, the leper was restored to health and was able to live a normal life.

One of the things that was revealed in Jesus’ interaction with the leper was that his will and the leper’s will were in agreement. The leper didn’t ask to be healed, he said, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean” (Matthew 8:2). The Greek word the leper used that is translated clean, katharizo (kath-ar-id’-zo) refers to the effects of sin and in particular the guilt that one feels as a result of having offended God. It’s possible that the leper had been listening to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and realized that he was far from the standard of living that Jesus expected from his disciples. This man wanted to make things right and knew the only way he could do that was to ask for Jesus’ help.

Genesis 29:1 tells us that “Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the people of the east.” The Hebrew words that are translated journey in this verse indicated that Jacob was not being guided by God as he traveled. You might say that Jacob was walking blindly into the future. Jacob’s experience started out in a similar way to Abraham’s servant when he went to Padam-aram to get a wife for Isaac (Genesis 24), but very quickly the situation turned into a fiasco that left Jacob at the mercy of his uncle Laban. Jacob wanted to marry Laban’s youngest daughter Rachel, so he agreed to work for Laban for seven years in order to obtain his wife, but on the night of his wedding, Jacob was tricked and given Rachel’s sister Leah instead.

Jacob was determined to have Rachel for his wife, so he agreed to work for Laban for another seven years (Genesis 29:26-28) and “when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren” (Genesis 29:31). God’s control over Jacob’s destiny was demonstrated by his ability to keep Jacob’s wife Rachel from producing his first born son and by determining which of Jacob’s sons would carry on his eternal legacy. Leah called her fourth son Judah because she said, “This time I will praise” (Genesis 29:36), meaning that she had made a profession of faith and was thanking God for her salvation (H3034).

The Hebrew word that is translated praise, yadah (yaw-daw’) is derived from the word yad (yawd) which signifies “a hand (the open one [indicating power, means, direction, etc.])” (3027). When a Roman soldier, who was the captain of one hundred men, approached Jesus, he admitted, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it” (Matthew 8:8-9). The Greek word that is translated authority, exousia (ex-oo-see’-ah) implies the liberty of doing as one pleases and the right to exercise power (G1849). The centurion was acknowledging Jesus’ freedom to handle the situation as he saw fit.

Jesus responded to the centurion’s request by stating, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith…And to the centurion Jesus said, ‘Go; let it be done for you as you have believed'” (Matthew 8:10-13). Jesus indicated that faith was the motivating factor behind the centurion’s request. He believed that Jesus was in control of the situation and was able to change the centurion’s circumstances if he wanted to. Matthew 8:13 states, “And the servant was healed at that very moment,” which indicated there was an immediate result from the centurion putting his faith in Christ.

One of the ways of looking at our destiny is to see it as a place that both we and God wants us to get to. It’s a destination that we haven’t reached yet that has obstacles along the way and only God can remove them effectively. When Jesus saw that his disciples were being overtaken by a mob, “he gave orders to go over to the other side” (Matthew 8:18). The disciples may have seen the storm that was approaching them and knew it would overtake them before they reached the other side of the Sea of Galilee, but Matthew 8:23 tells us, “And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him.”

The Greek term that is translated “the other side” in Matthew 8:18, peran (per’-an) is sometimes translated beyond (G4008) and could mean a place that is beyond our reach or a place that we don’t think we can get to. When Jesus’ disciples were overtaken by a hurricane as they crossed the sea, they panicked and thought they were going to die. Matthew 8:24-27 states:

And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

Jesus’ question, “Why are you afraid?” (Matthew 8:26) revealed that his disciples didn’t handle the situation the way they should have because they were afraid. What the disciples needed to do in order to get to their destination safely was to exercise their faith.

Jesus’ remark, “O you of little faith” (Matthew 8:26) most likely meant that his disciples didn’t believe in or trust him at this point in his ministry. In other words, they didn’t recognize that Jesus was God and could do the impossible. The disciples question, “What sort of man is this, that even the wind and sea obey him?” (Matthew 8:27) indicated that they only saw Jesus as a man, not the creator of the universe. The Greek word that is translated sort of, pas (pas) means all or the whole (H3956) with regard to the human race. The disciples knew that Jesus was no ordinary man, but still couldn’t figure out why he was able to accomplish everything that he set out to do.

Matthew 8:26 tells us that Jesus rebuked the winds and the sea. The Greek word that is translated rebuked, epitamao (ep-ee-tee-mah’-o) indicates that Jesus had the authority to stop the storm because it was interfering with his desire to cross the sea (G2008). What this suggests is that it was God’s will for Jesus to go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee and therefore, nothing, not even a hurricane, could stop him from getting there.

God’s will

Abraham had the benefit of knowing exactly what God wanted him to do. It says in Genesis 12:1, “Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” Abraham went where the LORD told him to and afterward the LORD said, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever” (Genesis 13:14-15). Later, the LORD tested Abraham by asking him to do something that he could only do if he believed that God would keep his promise to him. It says in Genesis 22:1-3:

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” and he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

Just as Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son, the angel of the LORD stopped him and Abraham sacrificed a ram instead of his son Isaac (Genesis 22:10-13).

And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” (Genesis 22-15-18)

The Hebrew word that is translated obeyed, shama (shaw-mah’) means to hear intelligently (H8085). Abraham’s ability to comprehend what the LORD wanted him to do was based on his experience with hearing the voice of God. It was not only that Abraham could hear what the LORD was saying, but also that he was familiar with God’s plan of salvation and could fit his own circumstances into its framework.

Hebrews 11:17-19 tells us, “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’ He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.” The Greek word that is translated considered, logizomai (log-id’-zom-ahee) means “to reason out, to think out, to find out by thinking” (G3049). Paul used the word logizomai when he said, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness” (Romans 4:3, emphasis mine). The words counted and consider both have to do with thinking about what someone has asked us to do and deciding whether or not we will do it.

After Abraham died, it says in Genesis 26:1-5:

Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines. And the LORD appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring, I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

God’s conversation with Isaac was similar to his conversation with Abraham with the exception that his promise to bless all the nations of the earth through Isaac’s offspring was not based on Isaac’s obedience, but that of his father Abraham’s. God said, “And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws” (Genesis 26:4-5).

Abraham obeyed God’s voice, but it says that he “kept” God’s charge, commandments, statutes, and laws (Genesis 26:5). The Hebrew word that is translated kept, shamar (shaw-mar’) means to watch or to be on one’s guard. “The word naturally means to watch over some physical object, to keep an eye on it. In its participial form, the word means human guards, those who watch for people or over designated objects (Jgs 1:24; Ne 12:25). The Lord, as the moral Governor of the world, watches over the moral and spiritual behavior of people (Job 10:14)” (H8104). It could be that Abraham’s presence in the land of Canaan was meant to be a mechanism by which God was able to keep tabs on or be aware of what was going on in an area of the world where his sovereignty was not acknowledged or respected.

When Abraham was confronted by Abimelech king of Gerar regarding his lie about Sarah being his wife, he told Abimelech, “I did it because I thought, ‘There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife'” (Genesis 20:11). The Hebrew word translated fear, yir’ah (yir-aw’) refers to moral reverence. “This fear is produced by God’s Word (Ps119:38; Pr 2:5) and makes a person receptive to wisdom and knowledge” (H3374). In spite of the fact that Abimelech never harmed Abraham and they later formed a treaty in which they swore to not deal falsely with each other (Genesis 21:22-24), when God instructed him to go back to Gerar and settle down there because of a famine in Beer-lahai-roi (Genesis 26:6-7), Isaac lied about Rebekah being his wife.

In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus warned his disciples, “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged and with the measure you use it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:1-2). The Greek word that is translated judge, krino (kree’-no) means “to judge in one’s own mind as to what is right, proper, expedient; to deem, decide, determine” (G2919). Isaac’s reason for lying about Rebekah being his wife didn’t have anything to do with Abimelech’s track record of behavior, but his own determination that it wasn’t safe for him to reveal his marital status. When Isaac’s lie was discovered, it says in Genesis 26:9-11:

So Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, she is your wife. How then could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘Lest I die because of her.'” Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

Abimelech’s assessment of the situation was accurate and his determination that Isaac would have brought guilt upon his people was based on his previous experience with Abraham (Genesis 20:18). Therefore, it seems that Abimelech was actually receptive to the wisdom and knowledge of God (Genesis 20:3-7).

One of the ways that Isaac could have handled the situation in Gerar would have been to ask God to protect him and to prevent the Philistines from taking Rebekah away from him by force. Jesus told his disciples to, “Ask, and it will be given to you, seek, and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:7-11). Another way of expressing what Jesus meant by his instruction for believers to ask, seek, and knock when they need God’s assistance might be that they should pursue God’s will and then, they will be assured of getting his help.

The Greek word that is translated good things in Matthew 7:11, agathos (ag-ath-os’) refers to that which is good for you or you could say the things that God wants you to have because they are beneficial to you (G18). One of the meanings of the word agathos is suitable or adapted to. Paul used the word agathos when he instructed believers to follow the example of Christ. He said, “We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, ‘The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me'” (Romans 15:1-3, emphasis mine).

Jesus said, “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12). This simple statement is often referred to as The Golden Rule and Jesus indicated that it encapsulates the essence of the entire Old Testament of the Bible. Following this statement, Jesus instructed believers to “enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matthew 7:13-14). Jesus’ reference to gates and the way to destruction and the way to life indicated that he was talking about God’s will for mankind to be saved from their sins. The Apostle Peter said that God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9, KJV). This is evident in the LORD’s promise to bless all the nations of the earth through Abraham’s offspring because he obeyed God’s instruction to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering (Genesis 22:15-18).

Jesus said that “the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matthew 7:14). We know from Abraham’s example that the way to life is found through believing. It says in Genesis 15:6 that Abraham “believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” The reason why it was hard for Abraham to believe in the LORD was because God told him he was going to do something for him that was impossible. God said, “‘Your very own son shall be your heir.’ And he brought him outside and said, ‘Look toward heaven and number the stars, if you are able to number them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be'” (Genesis 15:4-5).

Immediately after he was instructed to go to Gerar, God told Isaac he would be with him and would bless him (Genesis 26:3), and yet, Isaac felt the need to lie about Rebekah being his wife in order to protect himself from being killed (Genesis 26:7). This decision not only resulted in Abimelech asking Isaac to leave his territory (Genesis 26:16), but also to a persistent problem with obtaining water while Isaac was dwelling in the land of the Philistines (Genesis 26:15). Ultimately, Isaac was deceived by his own son Jacob and in spite of God’s blessing, there was conflict in his family for the rest of his life.

Jesus used the example of trees bearing fruit to explain how a person’s behavior reveals the condition of his heart. He said, “Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased trees bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:15-20).

Isaac’s twin sons were at odds with each other even before they were born (Genesis 25:22), so it’s no wonder they competed with each other for their father’s attention, but the marked difference between these two men was that Jacob wanted to please his father, whereas Esau took for granted his favored position. It says in Genesis 26:34-35, “When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.” Even so, Esau remained his father’s favorite and “when Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his older son and said to him, ‘My son’; and he answered, ‘Here I am.’ He said, ‘Behold, I am old’ I do not know the day of my death. Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me, and prepare for me delicious food, such as I love, and bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die'” (Genesis 27:1-4).

Isaac’s wife Rebekah knew that it wasn’t God’s will for Esau to receive his father’s blessing because the LORD had told her, “the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall server the younger,” (Genesis 25:23), so she intervened and helped Jacob trick his father into blessing him instead (Genesis 27:8-13). Although this was the wrong way for Jacob to obtain his father’s blessing, Jacob was doing God’s will when he followed his mother’s instructions (Genesis 27:8). It also says in Hebrews 11:20 that it was, “By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau.” This seems to suggest that Isaac knew he was being tricked and went along with his son’s charade because he believed God wanted him to bless Jacob rather than Esau.

Jesus told his followers, “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness'” (Matthew 7:21-23). Jesus made it clear that God’s will is not evidenced by miraculous power, but by its consistency with his commandments. The Greek word that is translated does in the phrase “does the will of my father” is poieo (poy-eh’-o). This is the same word Jesus used when he said every healthy tree “bears” or produces good fruit (G4160). A word that is derived from poieo is poiema (poy’-ay’mah) which means a product, a thing that is made (G4161). The Apostle Paul used the word poiema when he said we are God’s “workmanship,” created in Christ Jesus for good works (Ephesians 2:10, KJV).

One of the ways we can look at God’s will is to see that it’s not about what we do, but about who we are. Of course, it matters what we do because sin can keep us from hearing God’s voice and understanding how our circumstances fit in with his plan of salvation. The ultimate goal is for believers to be in constant communication with the Lord and to follow his instructions daily. Jesus said, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell and great was the fall of it” (Matthew 7:24-27).

Jesus’ reference to a house that was founded on the rock was meant to convey the idea of sound doctrine, in other words, the Bible itself, not what you might hear from an unreliable second hand source of information. The best way to learn about God’s will and how it applies to you specifically is to read the Bible for yourself. Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, which is recorded in Matthew chapters 5-7, is a comprehensive explanation of how God’s kingdom works in the world that we currently live in. If you are a Christian, your spiritual health and success can be greatly improved by reading it and applying its principles to your life.

If you would like to have a relationship with God, you can do so by simply praying this prayer and meaning it in your heart:

Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for your forgiveness. I believe you died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite you to come into my heart and life. I want to trust you and follow you as my Lord and Savior.

If you prayed this prayer, please take a moment to write me at calleen0381@gmail.com and let me know about your decision.

God bless you!

Spiritual treasure

God’s promise to make Abraham into a great nation meant that his household would grow to such a significant size that it would be recognized as a distinct “group of individuals who are considered as a unit with respect to origin, language, land, jurisprudence, and government” (H1471). Abraham believed God would bless him, but didn’t understand how he could become a great nation if he didn’t have any children to inherit his possessions. He asked, “‘O Lord, GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?’ And Abram said, ‘Behold you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.’ And behold the word of the LORD came to him: ‘This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.’ And he brought him outside and said, ‘Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:2-6).

The phrase “he counted it to him” (Genesis 15:6) “signifies a mental process whereby some course is planned or conceived. It means ‘to think, account, reckon, devise, plan” (H2803). The plan of salvation that God devised for Abraham and his descendants had to do with a spiritual accounting system that made it possible for someone else’s righteousness to be substituted for theirs. We know today the Savior God provided is Jesus, but Abraham wasn’t given the details of how his offspring was going to save the world. All Abraham knew was that he was going to have a son who would inherit everything he possessed, including the blessing that would ensure Christ’s birth.

Psalm 127:1 states, “Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” In this instance, building a house refers to a household, the members of one’s family. The Psalmist went on to say, “Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward, like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth” (Psalm 127:3-4). The Hebrew word that is translated heritage, nachalah (nakh-al-aw’) is properly translated as “something inherited” (H5159) and reward or sakar (saw-kawr’) in Hebrew means payment or more concretely salary (H7939). Therefore it might be said that children have a value associated with them and could be viewed as compensation for serving God.

In addition to Ishmael, who was born to him by means of intercourse with his wife’s servant Hagar, Abraham had six sons besides Isaac (Genesis 25:2). And yet, it says in Genesis 25:5, “Abraham gave all he had to Isaac.” This implies that Isaac inherited all his father’s earthly possessions when Abraham died, but what is not stated is that Isaac also inherited Abraham’s blessing from the LORD. It says in Genesis 25:11, “After the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac his son.” The reason why he was treated as Abraham’s only son was because Isaac was the only son God had promised to give Abraham. Isaac was the result of the LORD building Abraham’s house and was a reward for his belief in God.

Jesus talked about spiritual rewards in his Sermon on the Mount. He said, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 6:1). Jesus made it clear that believers will be rewarded in heaven and warned his followers not to pretend to be saved in order to get some benefit from God while they were still living. Practicing righteousness can be as simple as making a donation to a needy cause, which is a great thing to do, but Jesus said that won’t get you into heaven or make any difference in your spiritual bank account.

The primary issue Jesus had with people practicing their righteousness before other people in order to receive a reward from God was that they didn’t understand God’s method of giving. Jesus said, “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be done in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:2-4). The Greek word that is translated secret, kruptos (kroop-tos’) means concealed (G2927) and suggests that Jesus was referring to an eternal or spiritual reward.

God told Abraham that he would give his offspring a physical inheritance, but said the land would be possessed by them eternally. He said to him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever” (Genesis 13:14-15). The Hebrew word translated forever, olam (o-lawm’) is properly translated as “concealed, i.e. the vanishing point” (H5769). Olam is derived from the word alam (aw-lam’) which means “to veil from sight” (H5956). It could be that God was telling Abraham his descendants would possess the land he was looking at in some sort of future spiritual state, perhaps in heaven, but more than likely, what God meant by possessing the land forever was that in eternity the physical and spiritual worlds will be reversed. In other words, what we can see now, the physical world we live in, will eventually disappear and be replaced by a spiritual version that looks the same, but will last forever.

Jesus pointed out that the rewards we receive now are not duplicated in heaven. Jesus said when we are praised by others for doing good deeds, that’s the only reward we will get (Matthew 6:2). Jesus also made a distinction between rewards that can be seen and what is concealed or done in secret. He said, “When you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:5-6).

The Greek word that is translated hypocrites, hupokrites (hoop-ok-ree-tace’) means “an actor under an assumed character (stage player)” (G5273). Essentially, what Jesus was saying was that you shouldn’t pretend to be a Christian if you’re not, but underlying his instruction to pray to God in secret was the idea that God doesn’t reward or answer meaningless prayers. If you want to get something from God, you have to ask him for it specifically and be clear about what you want him to do. Jesus gave this example of a satisfactory prayer:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. (Matthew 6:9-13)

Jesus indicated that this simple prayer was sufficient because “your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:8). In other words, the purpose of prayer is not to get our physical needs met, but to receive spiritual benefits from God.

The three things Jesus identified in his template for prayer were: daily bread, forgiveness of debts, and deliverance from evil. Each of these things can be viewed from both a physical and spiritual standpoint. Daily bread is obviously connected with food, but it can also refer to God’s word which is considered to be the believer’s spiritual nourishment (Matthew 4:4). Debts have a physical significance in that they are usually linked to property, but Jesus was most likely referring to debts as sins because he went on to say, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses (Matthew 6:14-15). Jesus’ final point about deliverance from evil probably had to do with sexual sins like adultery and fornication which involve the body, but can also do damage to one’s spiritual health.

Isaac and Rebekah demonstrated appropriate prayer when they sought God’s help to become pregnant. It says in Genesis 25:21, “And Isaac prayed to the LORD for his wife, because she was barren. And the LORD granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived.” Similar to Abraham and Sarah’s situation, Rebekah was sterile and was not physically capable of conceiving a child (H6135). This might seem unusual since Rebekah was appointed by God to be Isaac’s wife (Genesis 24:14). Even though Isaac was blessed by God (Genesis 25:11), God didn’t make it possible for Isaac to have children by natural means. The fact that God granted Isaac’s prayer and Rebekah conceived suggests that they were being rewarded by God for their faith in the same way that Abraham and Sarah were.

Jesus instructed his disciples, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21). Jesus’ statement implies that there is such a thing as spiritual treasure, but he didn’t give us any details about what it looks like or what it consists of. The Greek word translated treasure, thesauros (thay-sow-ros’) means “a deposit, i.e. wealth” (G2344). Thesauros is derived from the word tithemi (tith-ay-mee) which means to place or to put and “is used of ‘appointment’ to any form of service” (G5087). It could be that there is a connection between the type of service we are involved in during our lives on Earth and the reward or treasure that we will receive when we get to heaven.

One of the things that seems to be evident from Jesus’ instruction to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven is that we can accumulate spiritual wealth in the same way that we can accumulate material wealth. From that standpoint, land, houses, furniture, and clothing might all be a part of our future spiritual life. On the other hand, Jesus warned his disciples that, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Matthew 6:24). Jesus went on to say, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25).

Jesus’ proclamation that life is more than food, and the body more than clothing (Matthew 6:25) was probably intended to point out that we need to prioritize how we spend our time while we are living on Earth. He went on to say, “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘what shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:31-33). The Greek word translated seek first, proton (pro’-ton) is derived from the word protos (pro’tos) which means “foremost (in time, place, order or importance)” (G4413). Jesus seemed to be saying that the only thing believers need to be concerned with is their relationship with Christ. If so, then salvation is only the first step in a believer’s lifelong quest to know God more intimately.

After Rebekah became pregnant, it says in Genesis 25:22, “The children struggled together within her, and she said, ‘If it is thus, why is this happening to me?’ So she went to inquire of the LORD.” Rebekah didn’t understand what was going on, but since God had made her pregnant, she believed that he knew what was happening inside her, so she asked him to explain the situation. The Hebrew word that is translated inquire, darash (daw-rash’) is properly translated as “to tread or frequent; usually to follow (for pursuit or search)” (H1875). Darash “indicates a private seeking of God in prayer for direction.” Rebekah was doing what Jesus instructed his disciples to, “go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret” (Matthew 6:6).

And the LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall sever the younger.” (Genesis 25:23)

Rebekah didn’t know that she was having twins and that they would play a role in the establishment of contradictory cultures within Abraham’s household. Another way of explaining what was going to happen was that Rebekah’s twin sons would develop two different lifestyles that would result in a split or dividing up of the family’s spiritual and material wealth. The oldest, Esau pursued physical wealth, but his brother Jacob pursued spiritual treasure.

The New Life Version of Psalm 127:2 states, “You rise up early, and go to bed late, and work hard for your food, all for nothing. For the Lord gives to His loved ones even while they sleep.” The picture the Psalmist was portraying was that of a godless person’s useless effort to get rich. The phrase, “You rise up early” has to do with one’s effort to gain wealth apart from or in opposition to God’s sovereign will. The idea that the Lord gives to His loved ones even while they sleep suggests that there is no physical effort expended by them. All believers have to do is go about their normal daily activities and God will take care of their needs on a continual basis.

One part of the spiritual inheritance that was transferred from Abraham to Isaac was a birthright that entitled his first male child to a double portion of his estate. Since Esau and Jacob were male twins, they were both technically Isaac’s first born son, but because Esau came out of the womb first, he was given that privilege. Jacob wasn’t satisfied with that arrangement, so he used extortion to obtain the birthright for himself. Genesis 25:29-34 indicates that Isaac despised his birthright and sold it to his brother for a bowl of stew. It states:

Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.) Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

It might seem that Esau had little regard for material possessions given that he was willing to give up his birthright to Jacob so easily, but what was behind Esau’s action was his belief that he didn’t need God’s help to become wealthy. Esau was a skilled hunter who was quite capable of providing for himself. Esau’s statement, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” (Genesis 25:32) suggests that his appetites ruled his behavior and he was unwilling to wait even a short while to fulfill his need for food when he was hungry.

The sinful way that Jacob went about obtaining his brother’s birthright showed that it was very important to him. Jacob may have felt that he deserved to inherit more of his father’s possessions than his brother did, but what may have been his real motivation was Jacob’s desire to be his father’s favorite son. It says in Genesis 25:28, “Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.” Isaac had a strong emotional attachment to Esau (H157), which means he probably ignored Jacob completely or gave him very little attention compared to his brother. Isaac was used to having all of his father Abraham’s love and adoration and may have replicated that kind relationship with his son Esau. As a result, Jacob was left to his own devices and was willing to take advantage of Esau’s situation in order to gain his father’s love.

Jacob might not have known that he had already been chosen by the LORD to be Isaac’s heir and it was God’s will for him to eventually triumph over his brother Esau. The prophecy that Rebekah received about her two sons indicated that Esau would serve Jacob (Genesis 25:23). The Hebrew word that is translated serve, `abad (aw-bad’) refers to work, but its underlying meaning has to do with having a relationship with God (H5647). What God might have meant when he said “the older shall serve the younger” (Genesis 25:23) was that Esau and his descendants would be dependent on Jacob’s family for their salvation because Jesus, their Messiah would be born through him.

If you would like to have a relationship with God, you can do so by simply praying this prayer and meaning it in your heart.

Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for your forgiveness. I believe you died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite you to come into my heart and life. I want to trust you and follow you as my Lord and Savior.

If you prayed this prayer, please take a moment to write me at calleen0381@gmail.com and let me know about your decision.

God bless you!

Blessed

When God commanded Abraham to leave his country and family behind to go to a land that he had never seen before, God promised him “I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3). The Hebrew word translated blessed, barak (baw-rak’) has to do with the world’s dependence on God for its continued existence and function (H1288). God’s blessing meant that he would provide for Abraham’s needs and protect him from harm. Because of his relationship with God, “Abraham’s family became a divinely appointed channel through which blessing would come to all men” (Note on Genesis 12:1-3).

Paul referred to the message Abraham received from God as the gospel. He stated, “And the Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed.’ So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham the man of faith” (Galatians 3:8-9). Paul connected God’s blessing to faith and indicated that believers are blessed in the same way that Abraham was. Paul explained the gospel in more detail in Galatians 3:15-16 where he stated, “To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ who is Christ.”

The Greek word that is translated Christ in Galatians 3:16, Christos {khris-tos’) means “anointed, i.e. the Messiah, an epithet of Jesus” (G5547). Paul explained that, “in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Galatians 3:26-29).

Jesus talked about the believer’s inheritance in his Sermon on the Mount. He began by stating, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). The Greek word translated blessed in Matthew 5:3 is makarioi (mak-ar’-ee-os), which means to be “fully satisfied” (G3107). “In classical Greek, the word referred to a state of blessedness in the hereafter. In the New Testament, however, the term is used of the joy that comes from salvation. This satisfying joy is not the result of favorable circumstances in life but comes only from being indwelt by Christ. Therefore makarioi denotes far more than ‘happy,’ which is derived from the English word ‘hap’ and connected with luck or favorable circumstances” (Note on Matthew 5:1-12). Jesus pointed out that the poor in spirit will receive the benefits of the kingdom of heaven before they die (Matthew 5:3). In other words, if a believer realizes that he is spiritually destitute and he is willing to beg for God’s help, he will get his prayers answered.

An example of this kind of faith in action can be seen in the situation of Abraham sending his servant to the land of his relatives to get a wife for his son Isaac. Abraham instructed his servant to go to Mesopotamia to the city of Nahor and said, “The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my kindred, and who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there” (Genesis 24:7).

When Abraham’s servant arrived at his destination, the first thing he did was pray this prayer:

“O LORD, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham. Behold, I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. Let the woman to whom I shall say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who shall say, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels’ — let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master.” (Genesis 24:12-14)

Abraham’s servant asked God to do something that only he could do, identify the woman that Isaac was supposed to marry.

The Hebrew word that is translated appointed in Genesis 24:14, yakach (haw-kahh’) means to be right (H3198) and implies that Abraham’s servant was allowing God to decide who the right woman was. One of the reasons the servant wanted God to decide was so that he could be assured of success. He said, “By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master” (Genesis 24:14). God’s steadfast love or chesed (kheh’-sed) in Hebrew “refers primarily to mutual and reciprocal rights and obligations between the parties of a relationship” (H2617). Chesed encompasses every aspect of God’s favor: love, grace, mercy, faithfulness, goodness, and devotion.

When Jesus spoke of the poor in spirit being blessed (Matthew 5:3), he indicated that God’s favor was not linked to individual circumstances, but was shown through his sovereign rule over believers’ lives. The kingdom of heaven refers to God’s presence in the hearts of believers. When a person is born again, the Holy Spirit enters and remains in the believer’s heart permanently. This is referred to as the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which happens as soon as an individual accepts Jesus as his or her Savior.

God didn’t say anything to Abraham’s servant, but Genesis 24:15-21 indicates that his prayer produced immediate results.

Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, came out with her water jar on her shoulder. The young woman was very attractive in appearance, a maiden whom no man had known. She went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up. When the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please give me a little water to drink from your jar.” She said, “Drink, my lord.” And she quickly let down her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink. When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.” So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw water, and she drew for all his camels. The man gazed at her in silence to learn whether the LORD had prospered his journey

Rebekah’s actions might have been perceived as coincidental if she had not been acting so extremely kind and thoughtful toward a complete stranger. It was as if Rebekah was trying to impress Abraham’s servant for no apparent reason.

The phrase “gazed at her in silence” indicates that Abraham’s servant was stunned by Rebekah’s behavior. The fact that Rebekah arrived before he had even finished praying and did everything exactly as the man had prescribed made the incident not only astounding, but almost too good to be true. That may have been why the servant waited to see whether or not the LORD had “prospered his journey” (Genesis 24:21). In other words, Abraham’s servant started looking for confirmation that it was God’s will for Rebekah to marry Isaac.

Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount may have been intended to explain why believers often mistake God’s will for being cursed. The traits Jesus identified; poor, meek, and merciful were not desirable attributes and yet, they were promised to bring God’s blessing. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn…Blessed are the meek…Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…Blessed are the merciful…Blessed are the pure in heart…Blessed are the peacemakers…Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake” (Matthew 5:4-10) and then, concluded with the statement, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven” (Matthew 5:11-12).

The phrase “Rejoice and be glad” suggests that Jesus expected his disciples to do the opposite of what their normal response would be to adverse circumstances. What Jesus was probably getting at was that he wanted his followers to look at things from an eternal perspective rather than a temporal one. Believers should rejoice and be glad not because they are being persecuted, but because their reward in heaven will be great if they do so (Matthew 5:12). Jesus went on to say that believers should not be foolish or deceived by appearances (Matthew 5:13-16), but should strive to be examples of God’s high moral standards (Matthew 5:19-20). It is clear that Abraham’s servant was looking for a hard-working, but also kind and generous woman for Isaac to marry because he asked that the woman God had appointed would offer to water his camels even though they had just traveled hundreds of miles and would likely need more than 100 gallons of water to quench their thirst.

Abraham’s servant waited until his camels were finished drinking before he approached Rebekah and asked her about her family. When she told him she was “the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor” (Genesis 24:24), Abraham’s servant “bowed his head and worshipped the LORD, and said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the LORD has led me in the way to the house of my master’s kinsmen” (Genesis 24:26-27). The phrase “led me in the way” indicates that Abraham’s servant was being guided in the right direction as he attempted to do God’s will. Because he found the person he was looking for right away, Abraham’s servant concluded that God had blessed his effort and was responsible for his success.

Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount pointed out that certain sins could keep believers from being blessed by God. Jesus talked about anger, lust, divorce and retaliation in the context of the standard that had been set forth in the Mosaic Law (Matthew 5:21-48). He said, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:21-24).

The Greek word that is translated liable, enochos (en’-okh-os) can also be translated as “in danger of” (G1777). Enochos is derived from the word enecho (en-ekh’-o) which means “to hold in or upon, i.e. ensnare; by implication to keep a grudge” (G1758). What Jesus was most likely referring to when he said a person would be liable for his anger against his brother was that the person’s internal state or spiritual well-being would be affected by his feelings. In other words, God couldn’t have led Abraham’s servant in the right way if he was still upset about something that had happened to him previously. Jesus said if you want God to help you, you must first be reconciled to your brother (Matthew 5:24).

The Greek word that is translated reconciled in Matthew 5:24, diallasso (dee-al-las’-so) means “to change thoroughly” (G1259). What this may suggest is that Jesus wanted believers to have a completely different attitude about the wrongs that were being done to them. Instead of getting upset about every little thing that was done to offend them, believers were to focus on improving their relationships. Regarding retaliation, Jesus said that we should not resist the one who is evil. “But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloke as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles” (Matthew 5:39-41).

Jesus’ final example of believers acting in a way that was contrary to human nature was to love one’s enemies. He stated, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:43-45). The Greek word ginomai (ghin’-om-ahee) suggests that Jesus was referring to spiritual development and that he wanted believers to do things that would cause God to bless them. The phrase “so that you may be sons” could also be translated as make yourself into a son, in the same way that you might make yourself into a husband by getting married. In other words, if you love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, God has to recognize you as his child and will bless you accordingly.

When Abraham’s servant told Rebekah’s family about his prayer and what happened afterward, it says in Genesis 24:50-51, “Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, ‘The thing has come from the LORD; we cannot speak to you bad or good. Behold, Rebekah is before you, take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the LORD has spoken.” Laban and Bethuel recognized God’s involvement in the circumstances that brought Abraham’s servant to their doorstep. They didn’t resist letting Rebekah go because they knew that she had been selected by God to be Isaac’s wife. The final confirmation came when Rebekah was asked to leave immediately with a man that she had just met and go with him to a land she had never been to before in order to marry a man she had never even seen. Rebekah confidently responded, “I will go” (Genesis 24:56-58).

Jesus told his disciples, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). The Greek word that is translated perfect, teleios (tel’-i-os) means complete and has to do with growth in mental and moral character (G5046). Another way of looking at teleios would be spiritual maturity, one who has attained the moral end for which he was intended, namely to be a man or woman in Christ. Rebekah’s decision to go with Abraham’s servant indicated that she was willing to submit herself to God’s will and she was blessed because of it (Genesis 24:60).

Jesus said that that our heavenly father is perfect (Matthew 5:48). By that he meant that God completes or finishes everything that he does for his children. In the instance of Abraham’s servant seeking a wife for Isaac, everything worked out perfectly because he asked God to be involved in what he was doing. When Isaac and Rebekah finally met, it says in Genesis 24:67, “Then Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her,” indicating that Isaac was fully satisfied with the woman that God had appointed to be his wife.

If you would like to have a relationship with God, you can do so by simply praying this prayer and meaning it in your heart:

Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for your forgiveness. I believe you died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite you to come into heart and life. I want to trust you and follow you as my Lord and Savior.

If you prayed this prayer, please take a moment to write me at calleen0381@gmail.com and let me know about your decision.

God bless you!

The Test

Abraham’s spiritual development included an important step that no one else in the Old Testament was asked to take on an individual basis. It says in Genesis 22:1 that God tested Abraham. Temptation is when a person’s faith or belief in God is put to the test to see if it will hold up under the pressure of moral conviction. We know that Abraham had reached spiritual maturity before God tested him because it says in Genesis 21:11 that when Sarah told Abraham to divorce Hagar and drive her and her son Ishmael out of their camp, “the thing was very displeasing to Abraham.” The Hebrew word that is translated very displeasing, ra’a (raw-ah’) means bad in a moral sense (H7489). A word that is derived from ra’a, ra (rah) “combines together in one the wicked deed and its consequences. It generally indicates the rough exterior of wrongdoing as a breach of harmony, and as breaking up what is good and desirable in man and society” (H7451).

Abraham didn’t want to send Hagar and Ishmael away, “But God said to Abraham, ‘Be not displeased because of the boy and because of the slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named. And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring.'” God dealt with the situation according to his original plan for Abraham and Sarah, which was to bless them and all the families of the earth through their only child Isaac (Genesis 12:2-3, 17:16). But, even though Hagar was divorced from Abraham, God took care of Ishmael and treated him as if he was still under the covenant that God established with his father (Genesis 15:18-21).

The conversation that took place between God and Abraham after he made a covenant with Abimelech king of Gerar at Beersheba (Genesis 21:23-24) is recorded in Genesis 22:1-2. It states:

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

God’s reference to Isaac as Abraham’s only son was intended to point out that Abraham had a unique, special relationship with his son Isaac. The Hebrew word translated only in Genesis 22:2, yachiyd (yaw-kheed’) is properly translated as united and can be used as meaning “self, my soul” (H3173). You could say that Abraham and Isaac’s hearts were knit together or united in such a way that they were like one person. Their thoughts and feelings were in unison with each others’.

God acknowledged Abraham’s love for his son Isaac before he told him to sacrifice him as a burnt offering (Genesis 22:2). This suggests that Abraham’s spiritual test had to do with his affection for the child that God had promised him. The Hebrew word that is translated love in this verse, aheb (aw-habe’) “is equivalent to the English ‘to love’ in the sense of having a strong emotional attachment to and desire either to possess or to be in the presence of the object” (H157). You might say that Abraham was in love with his son Isaac or even that he was obsessed with him in that he spent all of his time with Isaac and couldn’t think of anything else. In a way, you could say that God was asking Abraham to give up the one thing that really mattered to him, his relationship with his son.

When Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan River, it says in Matthew 3:16-17, “immediately he went up from the water, and behold the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.'” The Greek word translated beloved, agapetos (ag-ap-ay-tos’) is an expression of God’s divine will in choosing to love his son and to give him as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. John 1:29 states that as Jesus approached John to be baptized by him, John said, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!” The title Lamb of God could also be translated as God’s Lamb or God’s sacrifice, the one who is able to take away the sins of the world.

As Abraham and Isaac hiked up Mount Moriah, Isaac asked his father, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” (Genesis 22:7). Abraham’s response, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering” (Genesis 22:8) indicated that Abraham believed God would substitute a lamb for his son when it came time for him to make the sacrifice, and yet, “When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son” (Genesis 22:9-10).

Abraham’s actions demonstrated that he intended to do what God instructed him to, offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering (Genesis 22:2). The burnt offering or owlah (o-law’) in Hebrew symbolized the transferring of one’s guilt to the sacrificial victim in order to make atonement, a covering for sin or expiation of sin for purification. “The central significance of owlah as the ‘whole burnt offering’ was the total surrender of the heart and life of the offerer to God” (H5930). As Abraham raised the knife to slaughter his son, “The angel of God called to him from heaven and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ He said, ‘Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me'” (Genesis 22:11-12).

The initial basis for Jesus’ substitutionary death on the cross was Abraham’s need for atonement. God spared Abraham from having to give up his son, but a sacrifice still had to be made because the ram that Abraham offered in place of his son Isaac (Genesis 22:13) was insufficient to permanently remove the effects of Abraham’s sins. “The only human sacrifice approved by God was that of his Son, the sinless Lamb of God (John 1:29)” (note on Genesis 22:12). God said of Jesus, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). The Greek word translated well pleased, eudokeo (yoo-dok-eh’-o) has to do with a person’s subjective mental estimate or opinion about something (G2106). Another way of expressing what God said would be my beloved Son, with whom I am satisfied.

After he was baptized, it says in Matthew 4:1, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” Jesus’ experience in the desert was different from Abraham’s testing in that his faith was not the issue that God was concerned with. The Greek word translated tempted, peirazo (pi-rad’-zo) means to test, but this kind of “testing will cause its recipients to appear as what they always have been” (G3985). In other words, Jesus’ test was designed to show what he was capable of, to prove his abilities as the Son of God. The fact that Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness showed that he was doing what God wanted him to. It was not something that he wanted to do, but Jesus was willing to subject himself to the devil’s test in order to prove his devotion to God.

And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'” (Matthew 4:2-4)

Jesus ability to abstain from food for forty days and forty nights was not a sign of his divine character, but his hunger afterward was a sign of his humanity. The Greek word translated was hungry, peinao (pi-nah’-o) has to do with starvation and indicated that Jesus was probably close to death when the tempter approached him. The first thing the devil tried to do was to get Jesus to perform a miracle to save his own life. The devil wanted him to focus on his physical needs, but instead, Jesus referred to a passage in the Mosaic Law (Deuteronomy 8:3) that pointed out man’s need for spiritual sustenance.

The Greek word that is translated live in Matthew 4:4 which states, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” is zao (dzah’-o). Zao refers to spiritual life and more specifically to the resurrection of believers, but also to the way of access to God through the Lord Jesus Christ and the manifestation of divine power in support of divine authority (G2198). Jesus had the divine authority to turn the stones into bread, but he didn’t do it because he knew that as a man, his life was in God’s hand and his physical life would be sustained as long as it was God’s will for him to continue living.

Abraham knew that it wasn’t God’s will for his son Isaac to die on Mount Moriah because he had already told him “Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him” (Genesis 17:19). Essentially, it was this word that came from the mouth of God that gave Abraham the confidence to obey the LORD’s command to sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering. When Abraham saw the place that he was to sacrifice his son, “Abraham said to his young men, ‘Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you'” (Genesis 22:5) indicating that he believed God could bring Isaac back to life if need be (Hebrews 11:17-19)” (note on Genesis 22:12).

The devil’s temptation of Jesus was built on the assumption that he needed to stay alive in order for him to fulfill his destiny of saving the world. After Jesus refused to make bread to keep himself from starving, the devil tempted him to kill himself. Matthew’s gospel states:

Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you’ and ‘On the their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone'” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'” (Matthew 4:5-7)

Jesus was free to throw himself off the pinnacle if he wanted to, but he knew that God wasn’t obligated to keep him from dying.

One of the unique aspects of Jesus’ humanity was that he was able to keep himself from sinning. No matter how much he may have wanted to do one thing or another, Jesus always chose to do his Father’s will rather than his own. Jesus understood that in order for him to die for the sins of the world he had to be killed in a prescribed manner, at an appointed time, and in a particular place. Therefore, Jesus refrained from doing anything that might cause him to die another way. The devil’s instruction to throw himself down, implied that Jesus would be putting his trust in God, but in reality, Jesus could have and probably would have had to rely on his own supernatural ability to defy gravity (Matthew 14:25) in order to keep himself from hitting the ground if he did what the devil told him to.

Abraham’s obedience to God’s instruction to sacrifice his son Isaac was an act of faith in that what he was being told to do made absolutely no sense to him and contradicted what God had already revealed to him about his son’s future. Abraham could have easily justified his disobedience, but didn’t seem to waiver at all in his commitment to do what he was being asked to do. When he heard the voice of the angel calling to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” (Genesis 22:11), Abraham could have ignored the voice and went on with what he was doing. It was only because Abraham was completely committed to his relationship with the LORD that he was able to immediately stop what he was doing and change his course midstream (Genesis 22:13).

The final test that Jesus was presented with had to do with his future reign over the kingdoms of Earth. It says in Matthew 4:8-10:

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.'”

Jesus recognized that his adversary Satan was the ruler of all the kingdoms of the world and didn’t try to argue with him about whether or not he had the ability to turn them over to him. Jesus’ response merely pointed out that God who was the creator of the world was entitled to the worship and service of his creatures.

Jesus’ command “Be gone, Satan!” was a sign of his authority over the being that was trying to tempt him. The Greek word that is translated be gone, hupago (hoop-ag’-o) could also be translated as go away or get out of here. Jesus seemed to be expressing his frustration with the situation and was in essence saying, I’m done, I’ve had enough of this. Jesus appeared to be in complete control of himself and the situation and was not bothered by the fact that Satan was trying to keep him from doing God’s will.

After Abraham discovered a ram caught in a thicket by his horns, he sacrificed it instead of his son and called the name of the place where he was “The LORD will provide” (Genesis 22:13-14). The Hebrew name Yehovah Yireh speaks to Gods ability to provide that which he requires of us (H3070). Abraham understood that he didn’t need to atone for his own sins, that God would take care of it. Abraham may or may not have understood that God was going to sacrifice his own son at some point in the future. To a certain extent, it was a joint effort because Jesus was not only God’s son, but also a descendant of Abraham.

If you would like to have a relationship with God, you can do so by simply praying this prayer and meaning it in your heart:

Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for your forgiveness. I believe you died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite you to come into my heart and life. I want to trust you and follow you as my Lord and Savior.

If you prayed this prayer, please take a moment to write me at calleen0381@gmail.com and let me know about your decision.

God bless you!

Repentance

Before God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, he gave Abraham an opportunity to intercede on behalf of these two wicked cities. “The LORD said, ‘Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him'” (Genesis 18:17-19). God chose Abraham to be the channel through which his salvation would flow to all mankind. Because of his relationship with the LORD, Abraham was able to influence God’s judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah.

God described the situation in Sodom and Gomorrah as one that had reached a point of no return. “Then the LORD said, ‘Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know'” (Genesis 18:20-21). The Hebrew word translated altogether, kalah (kaw-law’) means a completion or completely (H3617). God was going to determine if Sodom and Gomorrah had become completely corrupted by visiting the cities himself. The phrase “I will know” refers to personal experience which includes observation and recognition (H3045). The LORD’s intention was to make his final decision about whether or not the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah needed to be destroyed after he observed their behavior.

When God told Abraham what he was going to do, it says in Genesis 18:22-23 that Abraham stood before the LORD and drew near to him. What this suggests is that Abraham had an intimate conversation with the LORD in order to change his mind about what he intended to do. Abraham wanted God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah if there were enough righteous people in the cities to take the responsibilities for the sins of others by substitution or representation (H5375). In other words, Abraham wanted God to let the righteousness of a few individuals bear the burden of Sodom and Gomorrah’s habitual deviation from his moral standards. Abraham thought ten righteous people were enough for God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah from destruction (Genesis 18:32).

When the two angels that God sent to destroy Sodom arrived at the city gate, Abraham’s nephew Lot insisted they spend the night at his house (Genesis 19:3). While they were there, “The men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.’ Lot went out to the men at the entrance, shut the door after him, and said, ‘I beg of you my brothers, do not act so wickedly. Behold I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof'” (Genesis 19:4-8). Lot’s awareness of these men’s ruthless behavior and willingness to give his virgin daughters to them showed that he had no moral conviction about their sexual purity.

Psalm 11:2-3 states, “the wicked bend the bow; they have fitted their arrow to the string to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart; if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” The psalmist used the analogy of a broken foundation to depict a corrupt political system that was taking advantage of innocent people. His question, “What can the righteous do?” suggests that Lot’s effort to stop the men of Sodom from raping his guests was a futile effort as evidenced by the angels having to rescue him from the hands of an angry mob (Genesis 19:10-11). Surprisingly, when Lot was told that Sodom was going to be destroyed, he was confused and had to be forcefully removed from the city limits in order to be saved from God’s punishment (Genesis 19:16).

Genesis 19:16 indicates that God was being merciful to Lot when he brought him out of Sodom. The Hebrew word translated merciful, chemlah (khem-law’) means that God took pity on Lot. What this suggests is that Lot was not righteous and it was only because of Abraham’s intercession on behalf of Sodom that God spared his life. When the angels instructed Lot to leave Sodom, Genesis 19:16 indicates,”he lingered.” The Hebrew word translated lingered, mahahh (maw-hah’) is derived from the word meh (meh) which conveys the exclamations of what! or why! Lot was most likely shocked by the news that Sodom was going to be destroyed, but his reaction seems to suggest that he was undecided about whether or not he wanted to give up the life he had established there.

Psalm 11:4-5 states, “The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD’s throne is in heaven: his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man. The LORD tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.” The Hebrew word translated tests, bachan (baw-khan’) means to investigate (H974) and the word see or chazah (khaw-zaw’) in Hebrew means “to gaze at; mentally to perceive” (H2372). God already knew what was going on in Sodom before he sent his angels there to destroy it. It’s possible that the reason why the LORD went to investigate the situation (Genesis 18:21) was to determine if Lot wanted to be saved or would rather go to hell with the rest of his companions.

John the Baptist preached a simple message to get the attention of those who were in danger of eternal punishment. He told them to, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). The Greek word that is translated repent, metanoeo (met-an-o-eh’-o) means “to think differently or afterwards, i.e. reconsider” (G3340). John was letting people know that their behavior had been corrupted by the culture they were living in and their minds needed to be redirected toward spiritual matters. John was described as the one who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight'” (Matthew 3:3). The way the prophet was referring to was the way of access into the direct presence of God (G3598). Making one’s paths straight refers to such things as are produced by an inward act of the mind or will with regard to godly behavior (G4160).

John’s simple message might be summarized with the statement, you’re on the wrong track or you’re going in the wrong direction. John wanted people to understand that they didn’t have to live the way they were, their lives could be different. As the angels brought Lot out of Sodom, “one said, ‘Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley” (Genesis 19:17). The Hebrew word that is translated life, nephesh (neh’-fesh) refers to the inner person or soul (H5315), indicating that Lot’s physical well-being was not the issue the angel was concerned with. Remaining in Sodom would mean that Lot had rejected God’s offer of salvation and would rather be condemned with the rest of the Sodomites than separate himself from them.

Lot managed to escape Sodom, but only by the skin of his teeth. Because of his reluctance to start over, Lot asked for a compromise. He suggested to the angels that were attempting to rescue him, “Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there – is it not a little one? – and my life will be saved!” (Genesis 19:20). Basically, what Lot wanted was to avoid God’s judgment, but to be able to pick up where he left off with the life he had when he was living in Sodom. Lot didn’t want to change his behavior, just his circumstances. Lot’s question, “is it not a little one?” might be interpreted as, this one isn’t so bad is it? Most likely, the town that Lot wanted to go to was just as wicked as Sodom was, but was operating on a much smaller scale. Instead of an organized crime syndicate, Zoar may have only had just a bunch of petty thieves.

After the LORD rained sulfur and fire out of heaven on Sodom and Gomorrah, it says in Genesis 19:30, “Now Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave with his two daughters.” The Hebrew word translated fear, yare (yaw-ray’) means to stand in awe. “This is not simple fear, but reverence, whereby an individual recognizes the power and position of the individual revered and renders him proper respect” (H3372). It could be that Lot finally came to a place of repentance, realized that he was in moral danger and wanted to separate himself from the wicked behavior that was threatening his spiritual well-being. In spite of his attempt to disconnect from the world around him, Lot was still overtaken by sin. His daughters became pregnant by him while he was intoxicated (Genesis 19:32-36) and gave birth to sons that became two idolatrous nations that were enemies of Abraham’s descendants (notes on Genesis 19:37 and 19:38).

John the Baptist confronted the religious leaders that came to him to be baptized. “He exclaimed, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:7-8). John indicated that repentance was a requirement for someone to be baptized. The Greek word translated repentance, metanoia (met-an’-oy-ah) focuses on the outward expression of repentance. “This change of mind involves both a turning from sin and a turning to God” (G3341). In other words, John was looking for genuine acts of repentance that were evidence of having developed a relationship with God.

One of the things that was evidence of Abraham’s relationship with God was that he moved to a new location when God told him to (Genesis 12:4). God expected Abraham to sojourn or live in a land that was hostile to him. After Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, Abraham went to a place called Gerar where he thought, “There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife” (Genesis 20:11). Abraham’s assumptions about Gerar caused him to hide the fact that Sarah was his wife and instead told Abimelech the king of Gerar, “She is my sister” (Genesis 20:2). Abraham’s deception led to Abimelech taking his wife away from him and Sarah’s integrity being compromised. “But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, ‘Behold you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife'” (Genesis 20:3).

Abimelech’s response to the message he received indicated that he recognized who was speaking to him and respected the person’s authority. He said, “Lord, will you kill an innocent people. Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this” (Genesis 20:4-5). Abimelech’s declaration of innocence was based on his intent to marry Sarah and form a political alliance with Abraham (note on Genesis 20:2-18). “Then God said to him in the dream, ‘Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart and it was I who kept you from sinning against me” (Genesis 20:6).

Abimelech’s integrity had to do with his motive being right, but his innocence had to do with his actions toward Abraham. Because they were not aligned, it could be said that Abimelech was not right with God. Even though, there was nothing about his behavior that was offensive to the Lord, Abimelech didn’t have a personal relationship with the LORD and couldn’t claim any benefit for his motive being right. Abraham had to pray to God on his behalf and then, God healed Abimelech and also healed his wife and female slaves from their infertility (Genesis 20:17-18).

When the LORD said, “it was I who kept you from sinning against me” (Genesis 20:6), he was letting Abimelech know that he didn’t have the power to control his own behavior. In other words, if God hadn’t kept Abimelech from having sexual relations with Sarah, he would have done so. God said that he didn’t let Abimelech touch Sarah (Genesis 20:6), meaning that the LORD caused circumstances beyond his control to keep Abimelech from getting physically close to or personally involved with Sarah (Genesis 20:4). This was not done to protect Abimelech’s reputation, but to keep Sarah chaste (Genesis 20:16).

Abimelech’s claim of innocence indicated that he didn’t feel any guilt or remorse for taking Sarah away from Abraham. Even though his motives were honorable, Abimelech was acting contrary to God’s will and was punished for his interference in Abraham and Sarah’s lives (Genesis 20:18). In order to make things right, Abimelech had to return Sarah to her husband “so that he will pray for you, and you shall live” (Genesis 20:7). This act of repentance is what caused Abimelech’s life to be spared. Repentance, “a turning from sin and a turning to God” (G3341) implies obedience to the will of God. John the Baptist described this as bearing fruit in keeping with repentance (Matthew 3:8) and said, “Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matthew 3:10).

John was surprised when “Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him” (Matthew 3:13). “John would have prevented him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:14-15). John’s determination that it was inappropriate for him to baptize Jesus was based on his knowledge that Jesus had not committed any sin and therefore, did not need to repent and be baptized. Jesus explained to John that baptism was the way that God had decided to attribute righteousness to believers. In other words, baptism is the act whereby all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are brought into a right relationship with God (G1343).

Jesus’ statement, “it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15) had to do with the way Old Testament believers like Abraham got saved. It says in Genesis 15:6 that Abraham “believed the LORD and he counted it to him as righteousness.” The Hebrew word that is translated counted, chashab (khaw-shab’) means to impute or to treat Abraham as if he had righteousness even though he didn’t. The righteousness that was imputed to Abraham was the righteousness of Christ and the method that was used to impute it to him was Jesus’ baptism. The method of water baptism is referred to as “justification by faith” (G1343).

All believers are justified by faith, but the benefits of salvation are different for New Testament believers. John said, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11). What John was saying was that the best that Old Testament believers could hope for was to repent and have their relationship with God restored, but New Testament believers can receive power through the Holy Spirit that will enable them to control their behavior and be able to stop sinning, to be free from the effects of their sin nature.

Matthew 3:16-17 states, “And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.'” God’s verbal confirmation indicated that Jesus’ action had reversed the effects of Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden of Eden. Whereas before it was impossible for God to be pleased with any man’s behavior, Jesus’ baptism showed that on an individual basis, acts of repentance could gain one access into the direct presence of God and restore fellowship with him permanently.

If you would like to have a relationship with God, you can do so by simply praying this prayer and meaning it in your heart:

Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for your forgiveness. I believer you died for my sins and invite you to come into my heart and life. I want to trust you and follow you as my Lord and Savior.

If you prayed this prayer, please take a moment to write me at calleen0381@gmail.com and let me know about your decision.

God bless you!

A new identity

Names in the Bible had more significance than what we think of them today. Beginning with Adam’s naming of the animals that God created, names were a mark of individuality and by implication authority over a particular activity or area of responsibility. Today we might think of it as having purpose or our reason for being alive. The Hebrew name Abram (ab-rawm) means high father or father of height (H87/H48). What this might suggest is that Abram’s father was a very tall man and his son was expected to tower over most of his peers, but the spiritual meaning could be more significant. One of the root words of Abram is ruwm (room). “Basically, ruwm represents either the ‘state of being on a higher plane’ or ‘movement in an upward direction'” (H7311).

Based on his name, it seems likely that Abram’s destiny was intended to be one of triumphing over his enemies. We don’t known exactly why God called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldeans (Genesis 11:31), but it could be that his victory over the kings of Shinar, Ellasar, Elam, and Goiim (Genesis 14:15) was due in part to Abram’s superior knowledge and/or experience with strategic warfare. The Assyrian and Babylonian Empires were associated with the Chaldeans (Isaiah 23:13, 43:14), Abram’s native people, and may have been the reason why God hand picked Abram to be the father of a great nation that would eventually overtake and eliminate these barbarians from the face of the earth (Isaiah 48:20).

The critical key to Abram becoming a great nation was the birth of a child that God promised to give him when he was 75 years old (Genesis 12:1-4, 13:14-15). After ten long years of waiting for God to fulfill his promise, it says in Genesis 16:1-4:

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived.

The Hebrew word translated listened in Genesis 16:2, shama (shaw-mah’) can refer to hearing that is both intellectual and spiritual. “In the case of hearing and hearkening to a higher authority, shama can mean to obey” (H8085). To listen to one’s voice means taking note of something and believing it (H6963). In that sense, Abram’s response to Sarai’s direction was similar to his response to the word of the LORD, a prophetic message that indicated, “your very own son shall be your heir” (Genesis 15:4).

His willingness to conceive a child with Sarai’s Egyptian servant suggests that Abram wasn’t relying on the LORD to produce a family, but was relying on his own physical ability to achieve what God had promised him. In one sense, Abram was acting contrary to God’s will, but what he was doing was completely within the bounds of his legals rights. You might say that Abram was exercising his free will and God allowed him to do so because he was free to decide how his destiny would play out.

God’s ability to accomplish his will regardless of the individual choices and actions people take is what makes prophecy such an amazing feat. God does not limit our choices, but is able to predict and control what will happen as a result of the choices we make. Jesus’ birth is a perfect example of God’s ability to accomplish something in spite of his chosen people’s lack of cooperation and even rebellion against him. Matthew’s gospel states, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place this way” (Matthew 1:18) and then Matthew went on to say, “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel (which means God with us)'” (Matthew 1:22-23).

The Hebrew name Immanuel (im-maw-noo-ale’) is derived from the two words im (eem) and ‘el (ale). Im specifically means “equally with” (H5973) and suggests that the name Immanuel referred not only to God being with us, but God being one of us, a human being. Isaiah’s prophecy of Christ’s birth was particularly significant because it was identified as a sign of God’s faithfulness and was intended to be something that was impossible for anyone but God himself to accomplish (Isaiah 7:11-14). The idea that God would become a human and live among his people was probably beyond the wildest imagination of most if not all of the Jews who were alive in Israel at the time that Isaiah spoke this prophecy.

Prior to Jesus’ birth, God’s identity was primarily linked to the names he was given when he manifested himself to believers. It says in Genesis 12:7 that the LORD appeared to Abram. The Hebrew word translated appeared, ra’ah (raw-aw’) means to see. “Basically ra’ah connotes seeing with ones eyes,” but it also can mean to perceive, get acquainted with, examine, and discover (H7200). One way of describing what happened when the LORD appeared to him would be to say that Abram had a personal encounter with God. Hagar, Sarai’s Egyptian slave also had a personal encounter with God. After she became pregnant with Abram’s child, Genesis 16:4 states that “she looked with contempt on her mistress” and so “Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her” (Genesis 16:6). Then, it says, “The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness” (Genesis 16:7).

The identity of the angel of the LORD was unknown to Hagar until he spoke these words to her:

“I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered from multitude.” And the angel of the LORD said to her, “Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has listened to your affliction. He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.” (Genesis 16:10-12)

Hagar’s response to this prophetic message is recorded in Genesis 16:13. It states, “So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, ‘You are a God of seeing,’ for she said, ‘Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.’ The name “You are a God of seeing” or el (ale) ro’iy (ro-ee’) in Hebrew literally means the “visible God.” The primary distinction between God the Father and God the Son was that Jesus’ human birth made it possible for God to be visible to everyone in the world.

Matthew’s gospel states, “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him'” (Matthew 2:1-2). The wise men were looking for God and understood that he could be found in a specific location. Because of their experience with astrology, the wise men were able to find Jesus’ birth place using the stars. The wise men were not believers and yet, they wanted to know God’s identity. They wanted to see him face to face and worship him

Thirteen years after Ishmael was born, it says in Genesis 17:1-2, “When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.'” God’s interaction with Abram was based on a new identity that was established when Abram became a believer (Genesis 15:6). Based on their personal relationship with each other, Abram was expected to become like God and God was going to become like him, a man. God made a second covenant with Abram that had to do with what is referred to in the New Testament of the Bible as sanctification or what God described as walking before me and being blameless.

The phrase “walk before me, and be blameless” consists of three Hebrew words that convey a message of spiritual transformation. The Hebrew word translated walk, halak (haw-lak’) can “be used of one’s behavior, or the way one ‘walks in life'” (H1980), the idea being that of repetitive motion or daily habits. The Hebrew word paneh (paw-neh’) which is translated before me, has to do with how God sees us or you might say God’s reaction to our behavior; does it make him smile or cause him to get angry. The Hebrew word translated blameless, tamiym (taw-meem’) “means complete, in the sense of the entire or whole thing” (H8549). Tamiym is derived from the word tamam (taw-mam’). “The basic meaning of this word is that of being complete or finished, with nothing else expected or intended” (H8552).

The transformation that God wanted to accomplish in Abram’s life had to do with his spiritual identity. God said to Abram, “Behold, my covenant is with you and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you” (Genesis 17:4-6). It can be assumed that God was referring to physical kingdoms on Earth when he said, “I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you,” but there was more to God’s promise than that because he indicated that Abraham’s offspring would possess the land he was giving them eternally.

God told Abraham, “And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God” (Genesis 17:7-8). An everlasting possession is one that cannot be taken away and therefore, suggests that God was talking about a spiritual possession rather than a material one. His designation of “all the land of Canaan” implies that God was referring to a specific geographic location, but there may have been another aspect of owning land, a spiritual aspect to God’s promise, that was associated with Abraham’s eternal inheritance in Heaven.

The key to understanding God’s promise to Abraham may be found in the symbolic act that was established as a sign of his covenant. God told Abraham, “This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you…Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant” (Genesis 17:10-11, 14).

Essentially, circumcision symbolized consecration to God, “it signified Abraham’s covenanted commitment to the Lord – that the Lord alone would be his God, whom he would trust and serve” (note on Genesis 17:10, KJSB). Underlying the symbolic physical act of cutting off the flesh of one’s foreskin, was the spiritual intent to live according to God’s divine order and sovereign rules of law. Abraham’s circumcision was analogous to the oath which God had submitted himself to and was basically saying, “If I am not loyal in faith and obedience to the Lord, may the sword of the Lord cut off me and my offspring as I have cut off my foreskin.”

Circumcision, for all practical purposes, was a reminder to Abraham and his descendants that they were not to rely on their own physical capability of producing offspring in order to fulfill God’s promise to make them into a great nation. Ultimately, it took a miracle for Jesus, the Son of God to be conceived and brought into the physical world of humans. After he was born, Jesus was constantly in physical danger, starting with King Herod’s plot to find him and kill him before he had a chance to fulfill his destiny (Matthew 2:13).

An angel of the Lord instructed Mary’s husband Joseph to take Jesus out of the country to protect him from physical harm. He said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” The Greek word translated destroy, apollumi (ap-ol’-loo-mee) speaks metaphorically of spiritual destitution. “The idea is not extinction but ruin, loss, not of being, but of well-being” (G622). Because Jesus was both God and man, he was subject to spiritual as well as physical death Later, Joseph and his family returned to Judea, “And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene” (Matthew 2:23).

The Greek word translated Nazarene, Nazoraios (nad-zo-rah’-yos’) means “a Nazoroean, i.e. inhabitant of Narareth; by extension a Christian” (G3480). In simple terms, a Christian is someone that follows Christ, but it also refers to being called out or consecrated by God and placed in a particular location to fulfill a divine purpose. Abraham and Sarah were technically the first Christians in that they were called out of the land of Ur of the Chaldeans and designated to live in the land of Canaan, but it was their faith in God that made them believers or followers of Christ. God told Abraham, “I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession” (Genesis 17:8). The Hebrew word translated sojournings, magur (maw-goor’) is derived from the word guwr (goor) which means “to turn aside from the road” and is associated with living in a hostile environment as a guest (H1481). Jesus, who was a resident of Heaven, came to Earth and lived in a hostile environment for 33 years and was eventually crucified because he said he was God.

When he originally promised to give the land of Canaan to Abraham’s offspring forever (Genesis 13:14-15), God didn’t specifically state that his offspring would come from his wife Sarah. It wasn’t until after Ishmael was born that God told Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her and moreover, I will give you a son by her” (Genesis 17:15-16). Sarah was not only sterile, but also postmenopausal when God told Abraham she was going to give birth to a child. Sarah ability to conceive was dependent on her becoming a believer, putting her trust in God the same way that her husband Abraham did.

It says of Abraham in Genesis 18:1-3, “And the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said, O Lord if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant.” “This theophany (an appearance of God to man) may have been Jesus Christ. The New Testament teaches that Christ existed coeternally with God the Father (John 1:1; 8:58; 10:30; 17:5; Col. 1:15-17), and it is entirely conceivable that he would at times take the appearance of humanity prior to his incarnation” (note on Genesis 18:1-33).

Sarah’s personal encounter with Jesus began with her listening in on his conversation with Abraham. After Abraham had served his visitors a meal, “They said to him, ‘Where is Sarah your wife?’ And he said, ‘She is in the tent.’ The LORD said, ‘I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.’ And Sarah was listening at the door behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ‘After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?'” (Genesis 18:9-12). Sarah’s private thoughts revealed her skepticism about God’s ability to give her a child when she and Abraham were too old to be sexually active.

It’s clear that Jesus performed a miracle in order for Sarah to become pregnant. After Sarah laughed at the thought of conceiving a child at the age of 90, the LORD asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD?” (Genesis 18:13-14). The Hebrew word translated too hard, pala (paw-law’) means “beyond one’s power to do” (H6381). Even though it was impossible for Sarah to conceive a child, it was still within God’s power to do it if she was willing to put her trust in him instead of relying on her own physical capability. Hebrews 11:11 testifies to Sarah’s belief in the LORD. It says, “By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.”

If you would like to have a relationship with God, you can do so by simply praying this prayer and meaning it in your heart:

Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for your forgiveness. I believe you died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite you to come into my heart and life. I want to trust you and follow you as my Lord and Savior.

If you prayed this prayer, please take a moment to write me at calleen0381@gmail.com and let me know about your decision.

God bless you!

A relationship with God

Relationships have always been an essential part of human life. When God created man, he said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him” (Genesis 2:18). The Hebrew word translated helper, ‘ezer (ay’-zer) means aid (H5828) and is translated from the word ‘azar (aw-zar’) which means “to surround, i.e. protect or aid” (H5826). One of the ways that Eve may have protected Adam was to see things that he couldn’t that were dangerous, but it’s also likely that she had a different perspective about situations than Adam did and helped him to make wise decisions. Adam and Eve were created to be like God, a loving unity of more than one person (H6754). It says in Genesis 1:26, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” The use of the words us and our indicate that God is more than one person. He is identified in scripture as God the Father (Matthew 5:16), God the Son (Matthew 3:17), and God the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:16).

While Adam and Eve were living in the Garden of Eden, it appears they had interaction with God on a regular basis. It says in Genesis 3:8, “They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day” and in Genesis 3:9, “the LORD God called to the man.” This seems to suggest that there was originally both physical and verbal interaction between God and man. After Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden, God continued to interact with humans, but only on a limited and specific basis, primarily for the purpose of warning man about his judgment of the world. It wasn’t until Jesus was born that God’s fellowship with mankind was restored and he was able to physically interact with people again.

In ancient times, the physical and spiritual realms were similar in structure. Relationships were the building blocks of societies. When the population increased on Earth to the point that organizations were necessary, the initial form of government was a chiefdom. Chiefdoms were a form of hierarchical political organization in societies that were usually based on kinship with several inherited social classes: king, noble, freemen, serf and slave (wikipedia, civilization). One such chiefdom was organized by the descendants of Noah’s son Ham. Their original leader, Nimrod is described as a mighty hunter and it says in Genesis 10:10-11, “The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Achad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh.”

Psalm 47 identifies God as “a great king over all the earth” (Psalm 47:2) and indicates that he chooses our heritage for us (Psalm 47:4). What this means is that God doesn’t allow people to possess or rule over a land unless it is his will for them to do so. God can take land away from rulers that are opposed to his kingdom. Psalm 47:7-8 states, “For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm! God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne.” The Hebrew word translated reign, malak (maw-lak’) basically means to fill the functions of ruler over someone (H4427). In this instance, malak indicates that God is ruler over any group of people that is considered to be “a unit with respect to origin, language, land, jurisprudence, and government”

One of the qualities inherent in class structures is the separation of lower classes from the higher ones. Typically, a slave and a king would not have a relationship with each other and there would be little interaction between members of different classes. A natural result of this separation is conflict and power struggles between those who want to maintain or gain control over their subjects. The first mention of war in the Bible is associated with a stronger nation turning a weaker one into a vassal state (Genesis 14:4).

Amraphel king of Shinar is identified as one of five kings that “made war with Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is Zoar). And all these joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (that is the Salt Sea)” (Genesis 14:2-3). The Hebrew word translated joined forces, chabar (khaw-bar’) means to join specifically by means of spells, to fascinate or charm someone into forming a relationship with you (H2266). A word that is derived from chabar is cheber (kheh’-ber) which means a society, but can also be interpreted as a spell and is associated with enchantment or a “[serpent] charmer” (H2267).

What this seems to suggest is that the kings that joined forces with Amraphel king of Shinar were under the influence of Satan or a part of his worldly system. The Apostle Paul described the devil’s organization as consisting of rulers, authorities, the cosmic powers over this present darkness, and the spiritual forces of evil (Ephesians 6:12). Paul indicated that believers need to stand against the schemes of the devil and engage in spiritual warfare clothed with the armor of God (Ephesians 6:11, 13). One of the pieces of equipment Paul identified in the armor of God was the shield of faith (Ephesians 6:16). The shield Paul was referring to was “large and oblong, protecting every part of the soldier” (G2375). In that sense, faith is to be used in such a way that it affects the whole of one’s activities.

An outcome of the war against Sodom and Gomorrah was that Abram’s nephew Lot was captured and taken into captivity (Genesis 14:12), it says in Genesis 14:13, “Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew.” Abram’s designation as a Hebrew likely meant that he was viewed as a foreigner and was not associated with any of the kingdoms that were at war with each other. Abram’s only interest in the matter was the safety of his relative Lot. “When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, 318 of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. and he divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and he defeated them and pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus” (Genesis 14:14-16).

Abram’s engagement in warfare had both physical and spiritual ramifications. Abram was to a certain extent God’s physical representative in the conflict, but his men were aided by spiritual forces. Abram supernaturally defeated Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim and was given a type of communion service to celebrate his victory. It was administered by a person by the name of Melchizedek. Genesis 14:18-20 states, “And Melchizekek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) And he blessed him and said, ‘Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”

The phrase “delivered your enemies” (Genesis 14:20) indicated that Abram’s defeat of the four kings was not attributed to his own capabilities, but God’s intervention in the situation. The Hebrew word translated delivered, magan (maw-gan’) means “to shield” (H4042) and enemies or tsar (tsawr) represents a psychological or spiritual status that arises from a distressful situation (H6862). It seems likely that Abram was physically in over his head when he set out to rescue his nephew Lot. The only reason why he was able to overcome the four kings’ armies was because Abram was being shielded by God.

Abram responded to Melchizedek’s blessing by associating himself with God’s spiritual kingdom rather than the physical ones he had been fighting for. When the king of Sodom offered to give him the spoils of his victory, Abram refused.

Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have lifted my hand to the LORD, God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth, that I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.'” (Genesis 14:22-23)

Abram indicated that he had a relationship with the most powerful being in the universe, God Most High. The Hebrew word translated Possessor, qanah (kaw-naw’) means “to erect, i.e. create” (H7069) and implied that God owned everything that the king of Sodom had just offered him. Abram most likely didn’t want the king of Sodom to think that he had made him rich because it was Satan who was behind his activities and Abram’s loyalty belonged to God.

The phrase Abram used “I have lifted my hand” (Genesis 14:22) meant that he had taken an oath or sworn his allegiance to the LORD, God Most High. Abram’s commitment to the LORD went beyond the normal boundaries of human relationships. Abram knew that God was aware of everything he was doing and didn’t want to offend the LORD in any way. Abram’s declaration that he wouldn’t even take a shoelace or a sandal strap from the king of Sodom meant that he was completely devoted to the LORD and believed that all his material resources were provided by God.

One of the things that Melchizedek’s appearance suggests is that Abram’s victory over the four kings Amraphel, Arioch, Chedorlaomer, and Tidal had eternal significance. Melchizedek is mentioned in the New Testament as “being without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life (Hebrews 7:3)” (note on Genesis 14:18-20) and yet, he was apparently a human being that served God. Jesus was likened to Melchizedek as a priest, but not according to the Mosaic Law. It says in Hebrews 7:14-16, “For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life.”

An indestructible life is one that is permanent; it is unable to be destroyed. This is a characteristic of the spiritual life that is associated with God. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead paved the way for humans to receive eternal life. Paul explained Jesus’ role as the guarantor of God’s New Covenant. He said, “The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:24-25).

Melchizedek may have been an alternate guarantor of eternal life until Jesus’ death and resurrection took place. Abram’s blessing was preceded by a meal consisting of bread and wine, the two elements that Jesus associated with God’s eternal kingdom during the Passover meal he shared with his disciples just before his crucifixion (Luke 22:16). After his encounter with Melchizedek, Abram received a prophetic message from God. Genesis 15:1 states, “After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: ‘Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” The reward the LORD referred to had to do with Abram’s eternal inheritance which was linked to the birth of Christ. Because Abram was still waiting for God’s promise to be fulfilled, he asked the LORD, “what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” (Genesis 15:2).

God’s response to Abram’s question came in the form of a prophetic revelation. The phrase “the word of the LORD” (Genesis 15:4) is a technical phrase that indicates the words that Abram heard were coming directly from the mouth of God. Genesis 15:4-6 states:

And behold the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

The Hebrew word translated believed is ‘aman (aw-man’). The meaning here is that Abram was full of trust and confidence in God. It was not primarily in God’s word that Abram believed, but in God himself. “in other words, Abram came to experience a personal relationship to God rather than an impersonal relationship with His promises” (H439).

The Hebrew word translated counted in Genesis 15:6, chashab (khaw-shab’) “signifies a mental process whereby some course is planned or conceived” (H2803). What this suggests is that God took Abram’s faith into account when he devised his plan of salvation. “Abram’s faith was not merely a general confidence in God nor simple obedience to God’s command; Paul stressed that it was indeed faith in the promise of redemption through Christ (Romans 3:21, 22; 4:18-25; Galatians 3:14-18)” (note on Genesis 15:6).

Abram’s relationship with God entitled him to certain rights and privileges. The Hebrew word translated righteousness in Genesis 15:6, tsedaqah (tsed-aw-kaw’) is derived from the word tsadaq (tsaw-dak’). “This word is used of man as regarded as having obtained deliverance from condemnation, and as being entitled to a certain inheritance” (H6663). Abram’s spiritual inheritance was passed down from generation to generation until it was finally transferred to Christ from “Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born” (Matthew 1:16). Matthew’s gospel contains a record of Jesus’ genealogy. He is described as “the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1).

One of the interesting things about Joseph’s role as Jesus’ father was that he was in the royal line of King David, the heir of Israel’s throne, but he lived among the common people and worked as a carpenter (Mark 6:3). During Jesus’ lifetime, the Jews were subject to Roman governors and the nation of Judah was treated like a vassal state. Jesus often rebuked the Pharisees and Sadducees who claimed to be elite members of the Jewish society he lived in and told them, “The greatest among you shall be your servant” (Matthew 23:11), suggesting that the physical and spiritual realms were at complete odds with each other at that point in time.

God’s effort to bridge the gap between himself and mankind involved the birth of a son that was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18). When Joseph found out about his bride-to-be’s pregnancy, he planned to end their relationship, “But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20-21). The Greek word translated conceived “in English means to bring into a special relationship” (G1080). “Jesus, as the ‘only begotten of the Father’ means that even though He had the unique and equal relationship within the trinity in the past, He took upon Himself the likeness of sinful flesh, dwelt among men, was tempted in all ways, yet without sin, submitted to the death on the cross, was raised on the third day, and ascended to the right hand of the Father. He was always uniquely related to the Father, but even more so now as He is the only unique Son of God, the only sacrifice to remove sins and restore fallen man to God.”

The Greek word translated save in Matthew 1:21, sozo (sode’-zo) refers to “the spiritual and eternal salvation granted immediately by God to those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” as well as “the future deliverance of believers at the second coming of Christ for His saints, being deliverance from the wrath of God to be executed upon the ungodly at the close of this age and from eternal doom” (G4982). The covenant God made with Abram was the formal agreement that made this kind of salvation possible because it was based on Abram’s faith or a personal relationship with God.

If you would like to have a relationship with God, you can do so by simply praying this prayer and meaning it in your heart.

Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for your forgiveness. I believe you died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite you to come into my heart and life. I want to trust you and follow you as my Lord and Savior.

If you prayed this prayer, please take a moment to write me at calleen0381@gmail.com and let me know about your decision.

God bless you!

The right place

There was a time in our planet’s history when everyone spoke the same language. It says in Genesis 11:1, “Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.” One way of looking at language and words is to see them as a type of world view or culture. In a sense, language is what connects people to each other. It makes it possible for them to share their experiences and ideas with each other. A common language helps us to draw the same conclusions as other people and to see things from a similar perspective.

The Hebrew word translated words in Genesis 11:1, dabar (daw-baw’) refers to a matter (H1697) and could be thought of as a topic of discussion. A specialized occurrence of dabar is in reference ”to records of the ‘events of a period.” Dabar can also be used as a more general term in the sense of “something.” In this way, it is an indefinite generalized concept rather than a reference to everything in particular. In connection with prophecy, when the phrase “the word of the Lord” is used, it is meant to focus our attention on the content or meaning of what is being said instead of the actual words themselves.

As a result of everyone speaking the same language, people were able to accomplish amazing things and became less reliant on God for their natural resources. It says in Genesis 11:4:

Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”

The place that was built became known as Babel. “Babel was a deliberate rejection of God’s instruction to ‘fill the earth’ (Genesis 9:1), a flagrant example of the corporate pride of man (Genesis 11:4). “The expression ‘a tower with its top in the heavens’ may refer to their desire to ascend to heaven or may denote a tower with an idolatrous ‘temple of heaven’ at its top” (note on Genesis 11:1-9).

One of the things that is clear from God’s reaction to the tower of Babel was that he didn’t intend for mankind to function without him. It says in Genesis 11:5-6, “And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the LORD said, ‘Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.'” God acknowledged the power and potential of a unified people that all spoke the same language. Because of this, he intervened and caused the people’s language to be confused so that they could not “understand one another’s speech” (Genesis 11:7).

God’s strategy to keep mankind from becoming independent of him was to keep people from understanding what was meant when they said something to each other. For example, if I were to say, I don’t want to talk to you anymore; it could mean that I’m busy and I need to end our conversation or it could mean that I’m angry and I’m never going to speak to you again. These kinds of nuances to language make communication very difficult. When we misunderstand something that is said to us, it usually affects our relationship with that person and tends to over time break relationships apart.

The Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians included some guidelines for keeping relationships intact. He said, “Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother’ (this is the first commandment with a promise), ‘that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.’ Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:1-4). Paul’s instructions indicated that God wants us to have good relationships and that he blesses our efforts toward that end. In particular, we know that family relationships are important to God because he promises to bless us when we honor or pay attention to what our parents instruct us to do.

After God confused the language of men and dispersed them over the face of the earth (Genesis 11:7-8), God began to focus his attention on one family, in fact, a single person that he intended to bless and make into a great nation. Genesis 12:1-2 states, “Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” The phrase “the land that I will show you” consists of two Hebrew words that convey the message of an unknown place, somewhere that Abram hadn’t been to before. God was definitely referring to the material world that Abram lived in, but he also implied that the location Abram was going to had a special spiritual significance.

God’s promise to Abram (Genesis 12:1-3) “is one of the most significant passages in the entire Bible. It points ultimately to the redemption of the whole world. Abraham’s family became a divinely appointed channel through which blessing would come to all men” (note on Genesis 12:1-3). Abram’s obedience to the words God spoke to him started the first spiritual awakening in the world. It also initiated a spiritual journey that took Abram about 40 years to complete. Afterward, the process continued with Abram’s descendants for hundreds of years until finally a temple for God to dwell in was built in Jerusalem (1 Kings 8).

It says in Genesis 12:4, “So Abram went, as the LORD had told him to, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed Haran.” The Hebrew word translated went, yalak (yaw-lak’) literally means to walk (H3212) and it seems likely that Abram traveled by foot when he left Haran. The Hebrew word translated departed, yatsa (haw-tsaw’) has to do with movement away from some point, but there could be more to what was happening than just Abram leaving one city and going to another. Abram was likely disassociating himself from one way of life and embracing another. It says in Genesis 12:6, “When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh.” The Hebrew word translated passed, `abar (aw-bar’) is used very widely of any transition. “This word communicates the idea of crossing over the boundary of right and entering the forbidden land of wrong” (H5674).

Abram’s arrival in Canaan may not have been so much about getting him to the right place for God to bless him as it was about getting Abram to the right place for him to be a blessing to others. The LORD took Abram to the place where his distant cousin Nimrod’s sinful kingdom was located (Genesis 10:10, 11:1-9). When he arrived in Shechem, “the LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘to your offspring I will give this land'” (Genesis 12:7). Abram’s reaction to this news seemed to be twofold. First, Abram was thankful and demonstrated his appreciation by building an altar to the LORD (Genesis 12:7), but Abram may also have been terrified because he immediately moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east” (Genesis 12:8).

Abram’s positioning of himself between the cities of Bethel and Ai likely had something to do with their future spiritual significance. Bethel was the place where Abram’s grandson Jacob discovered the house of God (Genesis 28:17) and Ai was the location where the Israelites experienced their first military defeat after entering the Promised Land (Joshua 7:5). Abram may have been wondering how he was going to maintain his relationship with the LORD and not get killed in the process. Abram probably realized he couldn’t handle his precarious situation without God’s help and may have thought in the meantime he just needed to stay out of harms way.

Paul’s letter to the Ephesians pointed out that spiritual warfare is a real battle that every believer is expected to engage in. Paul began his explanation of how spiritual warfare works by stating that the Lord is the source of our spiritual strength. He said:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Paul’s description of our spiritual enemy, the devil, included the organization structure he uses to overtake us. Paul said that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).

A spiritual ruler is someone that is first in rank or power (G757), similar to the president or CEO of a company. Authorities are persons that have the ability to direct the actions of others. You might say that spiritual authorities are beings that are able to make things happen in the spiritual realm (G1537). Cosmic powers over this present darkness are associated with Satan as a world-ruler that is opposed to God’s kingdom. The Greek word kosmokrator (kos-mok-rat’-ore) does not refer to earthly potentates, “but spiritual powers, who, under the permissive will of God, and in consequence to human sin, exercise satanic and therefore antagonistic authority over the world in its present condition of spiritual darkness and alienation from God” (G2888). The spiritual forces of evil that Paul referred to were most likely the invisible powers that believers must contend with on a daily basis (G4152). Perhaps, the best way to describe these evil forces would be to say that they are demons that cohabitate with Christians who are addicted to sin.

What may or may not be true based on Paul’s description of the spiritual landscape is that Satan’s forces are concentrated in areas where there is little resistance to their presence. One can only assume that believers are more secure when they are surrounded by other believers. When God instructed Abram to leave his homeland and go to Canaan, he was essentially asking him to go to a place that was similar to the pit of hell. Abram’s willingness to accept this assignment showed that he believed God was more powerful than Satan’s evil forces.

One the remarkable aspects of God’s promise to Abram was that he said he would give the land of Canaan to Abram’s offspring (Genesis 12:7). At that time, Abram didn’t have any offspring. His only living relative besides his wife was the son of his deceased brother. It says in Genesis 11:30 that “Sarai was barren; she had no child.” The Hebrew word translated barren, `aqar (aw-kawr’) means sterile in the same sense as someone that has had a hysterectomy (H6135). It was physically impossible for Sarai to conceive a child. What this meant was that Abram’s faith was placed in God with no misunderstanding that it was going to take a miracle for the words that God spoke to him to actually happen.

Paul instructed believers to “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11). The Greek word translated schemes, methodeia (meth-od-i’-ah) means traveling over (G3180). Methodeia’s two root words, meta (met-ah’) and hudeuo (hod-yoo’-o) denote accompaniment on a journey (G3326/G3593). What this seems to suggest is that when Abram left his hometown and headed for Canaan, Satan went with him. This might be true in a sense because Abram took his nephew Lot with him when he left Ur of the Chaldeans even though God told him to leave his country and his kindred behind (Genesis 12:1). Abram’s obedience to God included a measure of disobedience and that’s how Satan was able to work his way into Abram’s situation.

A detour that Abram took after entering the land of Canaan was a trip to Egypt. It says in Genesis 12:10, “Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.” Abram’s reaction to the famine was to find a way out by taking advantage of alternate resources. Abram’s actions showed that he wasn’t depending on the LORD for protection, but rather his own ingenuity. It says in Genesis 12:11-13, “When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.”

Initially, Abram’s actions seemed to pay off. He “went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negeb” (Genesis 13:1), but there were likely some long term spiritual consequences from Abram’s decision to deceive Pharaoh and use his resources to prosper himself. Genesis 13:5-7 states, “And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, so that the land could not support both of them dwelling together; for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together, and there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock.” Abram’s solution to the problem was to separate himself from his nephew and to give Lot the opportunity to make a go of it on his own in the land of Canaan (Genesis 13:8-9).

The Apostle Paul’s description of spiritual warfare suggests that it’s an ongoing battle that takes place in the spiritual realm. Paul talked about resisting the devil and indicated that spiritual attacks had to be faced head on. Paul’s message to the Ephesians stated, “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one” (Ephesians 6:10-16).

The Greek word translated withstand in Ephesians 6:13, anthistemi (anth-is’-tay-mee) is derived from the words anti (an-tee’) and histemi (his’-tay-mee). The word anti means opposite. “This preposition is first of equivalence and then of exchange, stressing being in the place where another should be; total replacement” (G473). The Greek word histemi means to appoint or to be singled out, in order that it might be made known that one has been chosen by God (G2476). When Abram gave Lot the opportunity to choose the place he wanted to settle down, Lot chose Sodom. Genesis 13:12-13 states, “Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom. Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the LORD.”

Sodom was definitely the wrong place for Lot to settle if he wanted to live a godly life. Abram’s willingness to let Lot go there indicated that he was not being a good spiritual leader or withstanding the devil at that point in his life. In spite of this, the LORD confirmed that Abram was right where he wanted him. “The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, ‘Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. Arise, walk through the length, and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you'” (Genesis 13:14-17).

The Hebrew word translated place in Genesis 13:14 is maqowm (maw-kome’) which is properly translated as “a standing” (H4725). Maqowm refers to the place where something stands. With regard to spiritual warfare, you might say that the LORD was intentionally placing Abram in a location where he would have to continually take a stand for his faith and as a result develop that capability on a daily basis. Maqowm is derived from the word quwm which means to rise and can refer to the origin of something (H6965). The LORD told Abram to “arise, walk through the length and breadth of the land” (Genesis 13:17). In this instance, quwm is translated arise and may have indicated empowering or strengthening. Quwm “is also used to denote the inevitable occurrence of something predicted or prearranged.” In that way, you could say that God’s promise to Abram depended not only on him going to the right place, but also staying there in spite having to engage in spiritual warfare on a continual basis.

If you would like to have a relationship with God, you can do so by simply praying this prayer and meaning it in your heart.

Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for your forgiveness. I believe you died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite you to come into my heart and life. I want to trust you and follow you as my Lord and Savior.

If you prayed this prayer, please take a moment to write me at calleen0381@gmail.com and let me know about your decision.

God bless you!

The body

One of the most fascinating aspects of the human body is that it has both physical and spiritual characteristics. It says in Genesis 1:26 that God created man in his image, after his own likeness. What that meant was that humans resembled God in form and shape, as well as, in the sense of his essential nature (H6754). Because of that, God said he would require a reckoning for the life of man, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed” (Genesis 9:5-6). The Hebrew word translated require, darash (daw-rash’) “is often used to describe the ‘seeking of’ the Lord in the sense of entering into covenantal relationship with Him” (H1875).

God established a covenant with Noah and his sons that applied not only to them, but to every living creature that came out of the ark after the flood. God told Noah, “I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth” (Genesis 9:11). The Hebrew word translated cut off, karath (kaw-rath’) “can be used of spiritual and social extermination. A person ‘cut off’ in this manner is not necessarily killed but may be driven out of the family and removed from the blessings of the covenant” (H3772). The cutting off God referred to in his covenant may have had more to do with the severance of a relationship with him and others than it did the extermination of life.

When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, their relationship with God and each other was altered. One of the ways this change was manifested was Adam and Eve becoming aware of their nakedness. It says in Genesis 3:9-11, “But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ And he said, ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked and I hid myself.’ He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?'”

Essentially, what happened to Adam and Eve when they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a spiritual covering was removed and they became ashamed of their nakedness which made them feel worthless in God’s eyes (H954). When God made his covenant with Noah, it was somewhat like putting a spiritual cloke on him in that it protected him and his family from the punishment associated with sin. One of the catches to this arrangement was that it didn’t apply to the physical realm. In other words, God no longer saw Noah and his family as being naked, but they still appeared that way to each other.

After the flood, it says in Genesis 9:20-23, “Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside.” What exactly was going on in Noah’s tent isn’t completely clear from the text, but it seems likely that it didn’t have anything to do with Noah being nude in the privacy of his own home. The Hebrew word translated nakedness, ervah (er-vaw’) represents the male sex organ and implies shameful exposure (H6172). To be uncovered meant that Noah was probably engaged in some type of sexual activity (H1540), perhaps being sexually abused by his grandson Canaan, when Noah’s son Ham walked in on him. Noah cursed Canaan after he realized what had happened to him (Genesis 9:24-25).

It’s important to note that God didn’t punish Noah or Canaan for what happened between them. God’s covenant with his family made it possible for Noah to be avenged of the crime committed against him. When Noah cursed Canaan, he was pronouncing judgment on him because of what he had done. Psalm 8:2 says of the LORD, our Lord, “Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.” Basically, what the psalmist was saying was that even babies can claim God’s vengeance. The Hebrew word translated avenger, naqam (naw-kam’) means “to grudge, i.e. avenge or punish…The Lord reserves vengeance as the sphere of his own action” (H5358).

The Apostle Paul identified sexual immorality as a serious spiritual crime because it contradicts our likeness to God. He said, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints” (Ephesians 5:1-3). According to Paul, Noah’s son Ham was in the wrong because he told his two brothers what he saw (Genesis 9:22). The Hebrew word translated told in Genesis 9:22, nagad (naw-gad’) has to do with bringing something to someone’s attention in order to expose the person that is being reported on. In other words, Ham wanted to discredit or shame Noah by reporting what he saw to his brothers rather than keeping the matter to himself.

Paul went on to explain that certain behavior is indicative of being in a lost or unbelieving spiritual state. He said, “Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God” (Ephesians 5:4-5). The Greek word Paul used that is translated sexually immoral, pornos (por’-nos) means to sell and refers to a male prostitute as well as sex trafficking (G4205). Words that are related to pornos, porne (por’-nay) and porneia (por-ni’-ah) have to do with female prostitution, incest, and adultery. The English word pornography was originally thought of as writing about prostitutes.

Paul indicated that sexual immorality was the reason God’s wrath would be poured out on unbelievers or what Paul referred to as the “sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 5:6). The Greek word apeitheia (ap-i’-thi-ah) describes disbelief as being obstinate and rebellious. “This word literally means ‘the condition of being unpersuadable’ and denotes ‘obstinacy, obstinate rejection of the will of God” (G543). Paul told the Ephesians, “Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:7-10).

Paul’s contrast of darkness with light was meant to show that believers and unbelievers are the exact opposites of each other. There is nothing similar about them from a spiritual standpoint. One way of understanding their differences is to think of someone that is in a state of darkness as being blind compared to someone with sight. Trying to explain what an eagle flying overhead, a mountain in the distance, or a sunset looks like to a blind person is impossible because he has no awareness of these things. Paul instructed the Ephesians to “take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead to expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light” (Ephesians 5:11-14).

Paul’s instruction to expose works of darkness meant that he wanted believers to witness or share God’s word with unbelievers so that they could be convicted of their sin by the Holy Spirit (G1651). For sin to become visible, it has to be linked with the conscience mind and understood as a condition that is contrary to the nature of God. Paul associated spiritual rebirth with being resurrected from the dead and used a hymn to illustrate his point. He said:

“Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you” (Ephesians 5:14)

Paul’s analogy of waking up had to do with a change in position. Going from a horizontal to a vertical position spiritually meant that one was able to engage in a conversation with God. Paul’s statement “Christ will shine on you” indicated that spiritual comprehension was a result of being born again.

The genealogies of Noah’s three sons; Shem, Ham, and Japheth showed that particular pathways or the courses of their lives were determined by the incident that occurred in Noah’s tent. The descendants of Ham whose son Canaan was cursed by Noah (Genesis 9:25) became mighty men (Genesis 10:8-9) or valiant warriors, the opposite of what you might expect from being rejected by God. One of the definitions of the Hebrew word gibbor (ghib-bore’) which means powerful is tyrant (H1368). Noah’s great grandson Nimrod established a kingdom that eventually developed into the Assyrian Empire and included such cities as Nineveh, as well as Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 10:10-19), two cities that were destroyed by God because of their gross immorality (Genesis 18:20).

Psalm 8 suggests that God’s involvement in the world is focused on the building up of families and in particular the physical connection between family members. Verses 3-4 state:

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

The Hebrew phrase “set in place” indicates permanence and seems to suggest that God’s ongoing involvement in the affairs of men has to do with our physical location in relation to others. God placed the moon and the stars in specific locations in space so that they could be used for “signs” and to determine the “seasons and for days and years” (Genesis 1:14). The Hebrew word translated signs, owth (oth) means a signal. “This word represents something by which a person or group is characteristically marked” (H226). Owth also means “‘sign’ as a reminder of one’s duty” and can attest to the validity of a prophetic message.

The psalmist described God as being mindful of man (Psalm 8:4). To be mindful of something means that you are actively engaged in a thought process that will result in some sort of action related to it. The most frequent translation of the Hebrew word zakar (zaw-kar’) is remember and is usually associated with God’s remembrance of his covenants. When God established his covenant with Noah, he said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring the clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh” (Genesis 9:12-15).

Flesh or basar (baw-sawr’) in Hebrew refers to the meaty part plus the skin of the human body. “This word may represent a part of the body” or “the ‘physical aspect’ of man or animals contrasted with the spirit, soul, or heart (the non-physical aspect)” (H1320). Paul likened the relationship between a husband and wife to the relationship between Christ and his church. Paul said, “Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior” (Ephesians 5:23). Paul wanted believers to understand that there is a physical connection between Jesus and his followers even though he currently resides in heaven. It could be that spiritual bonds are just like physical ones except that they are invisible.

Paul encouraged husbands to love their wives in order to sanctify them as Christ does the church and said, “He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church because we are members of his body” (Ephesians 5:28-30). The Greek word Paul used that is translated body, soma (so’-mah) refers to the body as a sound whole. Therefore, it can be assumed Paul was referring to the physical connection between a husband and wife, but “the body is not the man, for he himself can exist apart from his ‘body'” (G4983). Therefore, even though Paul was referring to Christ’s body as a material structure made up of numerous pieces that could be united into a functioning whole, it must be assumed that some aspects of Christ’s body are spiritual rather than physical because believers are dispersed around the world, and yet they are still a unified whole that is attached to Christ.

Paul indicated that every believer is a member or distinct body part that is essential to harmonized operation. “The unity of the body is not due to external organization but to common and vital union in Christ (G3196). Paul illustrated this point using the example of marriage. He said, “‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church” (Ephesians 5:31-32). Paul’s reference to becoming one flesh probably didn’t have anything to do with sexual intercourse. Paul was likely thinking of an external connection that had to do with the complete person or you might say the whole of a person’s activities e.g. the husband and wife’s daily involvement with each other or just being a part of each other’s physical space.

One of the things that is unique about Jesus, who is God, but also a man, is that while he was living on Earth, he was only able to be in one physical location at a time. Because his body, the church is described by Paul as being made up of many members, you could say that Jesus’ body now spans the entire world. Jesus is present everywhere a believer is. What makes this possible is Christ’s union with his body which Paul described as being like a husband and wife that are joined together in holy matrimony (Ephesians 5:31). The Greek word proskollao (pros-kol-lay’o) indicates there are two aspects of the joining together that occurs in marriage. First, there is a clean break or cutting off of a relationship that already exists with one’s parents. Then, a gluing together that produces a strengthened kind of relationship between the couple. The word kollao (kol-lah’-o) refers to cement, indicating that a permanent bond is formed that cannot be reversed.

The bond between Christ and the members of his church results in a superior physical form of the human body. Paul said that Christ loved the church so that he could sanctify it, “so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:27). One of the benefits of having a relationship with Christ is that our physical body is regenerated and made to appear as if it has not been affected by sin. Paul’s used the words spot and wrinkle to illustrate the effects of sin as being like clothes that get messed up during use. Being born again is somewhat like getting a spiritual makeover in that it makes us more attractive both on the inside and out.

Paul’s conclusion that the bond between Christ and his church was a profound mystery (Ephesians 5:32) indicated that there were probably some aspects to this special kind of relationship that Paul didn’t completely understand. The Greek word translated mystery, musterion (moos-tay’-ree-on) “in the New Testament denotes, not the mysterious (as with the English word), but that which, being outside the range of unassisted natural apprehension, can be made known only by divine revelation, and is made known in a manner and at a time appointed by God, and to those only who are illuminated by His Spirit” (G3466).

If you would like to have a relationship with God, you can do so by simply praying this prayer and meaning it in your heart.

Dear Lord Jesus, I now that I am a sinner, and I ask for your forgiveness. I believer you died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite you to come into my heart and life. I want to trust you and follow you as my Lord and Savior.

If you prayed this prayer, please take a moment to write me at calleen0381@gmail.com and let me know about your decision.

God bless you!