Jesus In Genesis; Gen 13-14
Notes
Transcript
Two principles we see in these two chapters
God is in control
God is faithful
In these two chapters there are three stories.
Part One: God is in control
5 And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents.
6 And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together.
Tell story
Lot chooses the seemingly best land.
Abraham gets what God wanted him to anyway!
Part Two: God is in control
12 And they took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.
Lots family stolen with all his possessions
Abraham with 318 men drives out the attackers.
All is restored!
14 And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan.
15 And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus.
16 And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.
Part Three: God is in control and God is faithful
18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.
19 And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:
20 And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.
Where is Salem? Jerusalem
King and a priest of the most high God.
Abraham pays tithe to him.
In the middle of this scene, the King of Sodom appears:
21 And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.
22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,
23 That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:
24 Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.
Bargains with him...
By rights, it was ALL Abrams.
What did Abram say?
Why?
God is my provider, not the King of Sodom!
What did Abram do when faced with these to life lessons?
Honored God: tithe
Conclusion:
Abram seemed to have no choice in his land...
Flip a coin… Yet he ended where God wanted him to be!
LIFE lesson one: either by choice or circumstance, God is in control!
He specializes in taking bad choices and circumstances and making things just like he wants them!
9 A man’s heart deviseth his way: But the Lord directeth his steps.
Abram faces multiple kings with multiple armies and the bible don’t even make a big deal of the telling of it...
BUT with 318 men, he brings order to chaos!
The weakness of God is stronger than the strength of men!
23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
LIFE lesson two: even in impossible circumstance, God is faithful!
Melchisedec: a type and shadow of Jesus
What he resembled, Jesus was and is
3 Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.
17 For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
No recorded genealogy, birth or death - symbolically eternal.
What he was, Jesus is: an eternal high priest!
Like the King of Sodom, Lucifer tried to buy him off...
Jesus would not be detoured!
There were those children coming after him that would live the LIFE that Jesus reserved for them...
Abram’s kids possess Canaan = bless the world
Jesus’s kids possess holiness (image of God) = bless the world
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
As Abram was tracing out the boundaries of the Promised Land with his footsteps, Jesus understood that too would have children to would take a land and prosper in it, assuring that His image would flood the earth!
Gen. 15-16 next week