Promise-Fulfillment
Notes
Transcript
Left off Gen. 19
Aiming to cover Gen. 20-21
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Recap/Opening questions…
Recap/Opening questions…
Last time: SODOM & GOMORRAH
SUCCESSFUL INTERCESSION of ABRAHAM = BIG DEAL
BARTERING W/ GOD
10 RIGHTEOUS in CITY—WON’T BE DESTROYED
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WHAT HAPPENED?
CITY = DESTROYED...
BUT LOT WAS DRUG OUT BY ANGELS & SPARED
**HAD it BEEN UP to LOT—HIS DELAY WOULD’VE RESULTED in HIS DEATH...
ANGELS COULDN’T START FIRE UNTIL HE WAS SAFE
TOOK HIM OUT BY HAND...
—> POINTING FORWARD to SUCCESSFUL INTERCESSION of CHRIST
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(Q) What else did we see that was a BIG DEAL LAST TIME? w/ ANGELIC VISITATION...
PROMISE NOW COME to SARAH....
GEN. 17—PROMISE THROUGH SARAH
GEN. 18—PROMISE TO SARAH W/ TIMEFRAME!
SARAH = DOUBTFUL,,, BUT GOD REMINDS: NOTHING TOO HARD FOR HIM.
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Text: Genesis 20-21 ESV
Text: Genesis 20-21 ESV
READ: (V1) Genesis 20:1 ESV From there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negeb and lived between Kadesh and Shur; and he sojourned in Gerar.
FORMERLY—ABRAHAM = AT HEBRON...
MOVED SOUTHWEST a BIT. APPROX. 30 MILES...
TERRITORY of PHILISTINES
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20:2-7 “Abraham’s Disbelief”
20:2-7 “Abraham’s Disbelief”
READ: (V2-7) 2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. 3 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.” 4 Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said, “Lord, will you kill an innocent people? 5 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.” 6 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. Therefore I did not let you touch her. 7 Now then, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”
FAMILIAR SCENE??
ABRAHAM SAVES HIS OWN HIDE—PASSES OFF HIS WIFE!
GOD’S RESPONSE:
ABIMELECH: YOU’RE a DEAD MAN!
**CAN YOU IMAGINE?????
“ABIMELECH, SHE’S MARRIED!”
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GOD KEEPS ABIMELECH FROM THIS SIN
NO ADULTERY
MESSAGE = CLEAR: RETURN HER, OR DIE.
ABRAHAM = a PROPHET—HE’LL PRAY FOR YOU
SOME SCHOLARS PRESUME—SOME FORM of SICKNESS BROKE OUT
**SECOND TIME ABRAHAM’S HAD this SHORTCOMING...
(T) WHY??
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20:8-13 “Abraham’s Defense”
20:8-13 “Abraham’s Defense”
READ: (V8-13) 8 So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants and told them all these things. And the men were very much afraid. 9 Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.” 10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you see, that you did this thing?” 11 Abraham said, “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.’ 12 Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. 13 And when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come, say of me, “He is my brother.” ’ ”
ABIMELECH RISES EARLY—NO MESSING AROUND!
GET’S the ANSWER: ABRAHAM = LOOKING OUT FOR HIMSELF!
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IRONIES HEAPED UPON IRONIES
ABRAHAM WORRIED ABOUT DYING—WHO WAS the “DEAD MAN” —THE WIFE-STEALER!
ABRAHAM CLAIMS “NO FEAR of GOD”
WHO = the ONE ACTING WITHOUT FEAR of GOD???? —ABRAHAM!
ABIMELECH = THREATENED BY GOD—RISES EARLY—MAKES THINGS RIGHT.
CLEARLY HAD SOME FEAR of GOD!
(Q) BEYOND MORAL PROBLEMS…DO YOU SEE the SPECIFIC PROBLEM in ABRAHAM’S STORY?
GOD SPEAKS to ABRAHAM—CH. 12—W/ PROMISE
SPEAKS in CH. 13—W/ PROMISE
CH. 15— W/ PROMISE
(Q) REMEMBER the PROBLEM W/ ALL THESE PROMISES??
----NO KIDS!----
CH. 16—TAKES HAGAR & BABY ISHMAEL COMES
---PROBLEM SOLVED---MAYBE....
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GOD SPEAKS CH. 17 — W/ PROMISE
CHANGING SARAH’S NAME—SHE’S GONNA BE a MOMMY.
NOT ISHMAEL,, BUT ISAAC.
GOD SPEAKS in CH. 18 W/ PROMISE
THROUGH SARAH,, NEXT YEAR.
NOTICE MORE DETAIL = REVEALED OVER TIME:
ABRAHAM = GONNA HAVE SOME KIDS (KID)
ISHMAEL ISN’T the ONE
NAME = ISAAC
SARAH = MOM
COMING NEXT YEAR
(Q) DO YOU SEE the DILEMMA W/ ABRAHAM’S ACTIONS in SAVING HIS OWN HIDE?
IT’S UNBELIEF.
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HELPFUL REMINDER of HUMANITY of BIBLE CHARACTERS
ABRAHAM = GREAT MAN of FAITH
HALL of FAME of FAITH (HEB CH. 11)
PAUL REFERENCES HIM
BUT HE DOESN’T GET IT RIGHT 100% of the TIME...
NO ONE BUT JESUS GOT it RIGHT 100%,, THAT’S WHY HE WAS the ONLY ONE WHO COULD DIE FOR OUR SINS...
(T) AREN’T WE ALL THANKFUL,, GOD STEPPED INTO ABRAHAM’S STORY??
SPARING HIS LIFE
SPARING SARAH FROM ADULTERY
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20:14-18 “Abimelech’s Blessing & Abraham’s Intercession”
20:14-18 “Abimelech’s Blessing & Abraham’s Intercession”
READ: (V14-18) 14 Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and male servants and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and returned Sarah his wife to him. 15 And Abimelech said, “Behold, my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you.” 16 To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is a sign of your innocence in the eyes of all who are with you, and before everyone you are vindicated.” 17 Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children. 18 For the Lord had closed all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
ABRAHAM ISN’T KILLED BY ABIMELECH,, BUT INSTEAD is BLESSED BY HIM!
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ABRAHAM INTERCEDES & GOD ANSWERS...
WOMBS of GERAR = OPENED
Gordon Wenham: INCREDIBLE THOUGHT: SARAH’S WOMB = STILL CLOSED...
ALL the WOMEN in GERAR HAVING BABIES BECAUSE of ABRAHAM’S INTERCESSION...
BUT NO BABY @ HOME....
ABRAHAM = MAN WITH PROMISE—WITHOUT FULFILLMENT....
(T) TURN PAGE… BEGIN CH. 21...
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21:1-7 “The Birth of Isaac”
21:1-7 “The Birth of Isaac”
READ: (21:1-7) 21 The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. 2 And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. 3 Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. 4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.” 7 And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
HELPFUL BIBLICAL FRAMEWORK = PROMISE —> FULFILLMENT
GOD’S WORD COMES in PROMISE
GOD’S WORK COMES in FULFILLMENT.
(V1) THE LORD VISITED SARAH ....AS HE SAID
(V1B) THE LORD DID to SARAH.... AS HE HAD PROMISED
(V2) SARAH BEARS a SON AT the TIME… OF WHICH GOD HAD SPOKEN to HIM
BABY COMES in FULFILLMENT of GOD’S PROMISE!!
ABRAHAM = DADDY
BUT GOD = CAUSE.
Gordon Wenham: We know this isn’t Abimelech’s baby! Narrator made that clear!
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GOD = FAITHFUL GOD.
FAITHFULNESS of GOD = THREAD WOVEN THROUGHOUT PAGES of SCRIPTURE....
(Q) REMEMBER the 3 PARTS of ABRAHAMIC COVENANT:
Multitude of DESCENDANTS/great nation
PROMISED LAND—to descendants
Through Abraham (his descendants) ALL the NATIONS of the earth will be BLESSED.
PROBLEM ALL ALONG?? --- NO KIDS...
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TIMEFRAME:
GOD CALLS ABRAHAM—75 YEARS OLD (12:4)
PROMISE = DELAYED—TAKING THINGS into OWN HANDS....
ISHMAEL is BORN—ABRAHAM = 86 YEARS OLD (16:16)
COVENANT of CIRCUMCISION—PROMISE to ABRAHAM AGAIN — 99 YEARS OLD… (17:1)
FINAL PROMISE to ALL of THEM— APPROX. 99.5 YEARS OLD (REF. CH.18)
PROMISE FULFILLED- 100 YEARS OLD (21:5)
PROMISE to FULFILLMENT TOOK 25 YEARS!!
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HOW MANY of US LIKE to WAIT??
DO YOU KNOW HOW YOU LEARN PATIENCE? THROUGH WAITING.
YOU NEED STRONG TENDONS & MUSCLES to EXERCISE/RUN/ETC...
HOW DO YOU GET STRONG TENDONS & MUSCLES???
EXERCISING/RUNNING/ETC.
****YOU NEED IT…BUT YOU GET IT BY DOING IT…****
YOU NEED PATIENCE......
.....SO YOU CAN WAIT…
.....AND YOU GET IT BY......WAITING.
***PATIENCE is a HANDS-ON THING…IT CAN’T BE TAUGHT in a CLASSROOM.***
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AWESOME THOUGHT:
GOD TELLS ABRAHAM in CH. 17 (AGE 99) ABOUT BABY THROUGH SARAH
HOW’S ABRAHAM RESPOND? —HE LAUGHS
GOD TELLS ABRAHAM in CH. 18 — BABY = COMING NEXT YEAR
HOW’S SARAH RESPOND? —SHE LAUGHS
NOW: LAUGHTER of DOUBT—TURNS to LAUGHTER of CELEBRATION!!
TRULY THERE is NOTHING TOO HARD FOR GOD!
NO ONE WOULD’VE THOUGHT IT…SARAH W/ BABY in OLD AGE..
BUT GOD!
ISAAC BECOMES NOT a CONDEMNATION (LAUGHING in DISBELIEF)
BUT a CELEBRATION of GOD’S GOODNESS (LAUGHING in AWE)
AMAZING FULL-CIRCLE MOMENT!
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21:8-14 “Isaac’s Feast & Hagar’s Laughter”
21:8-14 “Isaac’s Feast & Hagar’s Laughter”
READ: (V8-14) 8 And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9 But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing. 10 So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.” 11 And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named. 13 And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring.” 14 So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
AFTER FULFILLMENT—ISAAC GROWS
WEANING = NEXT STAGE
CONTINUED FULFILLMENT & CELEBRATION
PROMISE = UNDERWAY,,
BUT a BABY ISN’T the END of the STORY,,
JUST the FIRST STEP…
SO EVERY “STEP” of ISAAC = CLOSER to FULFILLMENT.
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ISHMAEL (AGE 14) = LAUGHING ABOUT IT ALL...
SARAH SENDS THEM AWAY
(V12) THROUGH ISAAC OFFSPRING WILL BE NAMED
PAUL REFERENCES: GAL CH. 4:
ISHMAEL = BORN ACCORDING to FLESH
ISAAC = BORN ACCORDING to PROMISE.
***WE KNOW a NATION WILL COME FROM ISHMAEL—BUT HE’S NOT the LINE of PROMISE
(T) THEY’RE SENT PACKING W/ MEAGER RATIONS:
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21:15-21 “God Protects Hagar & Ishmael”
21:15-21 “God Protects Hagar & Ishmael”
READ: (V15-21) 15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, “Let me not look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. 17 And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18 Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” 19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. 20 And God was with the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow. 21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
2ND TIME GOD CARES for HAGAR
AFTER SHE GETS PREGNANT—SARAH (JEALOUS) SENDS HER AWAY
ANGEL SPEAKS to HER: SHE RESPONDS “GOD of SEEING”
SHE’S TOLD to GO BACK
BEARS ISHMAEL (GOD HAS HEARD)
Gordon Wenham: THIS INSTANCE AGAIN PROVES: GOD = A GOD WHO HEARS
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THINKING of PROMISE & FULFILLMENT...
GOD PROMISED PRINCES & GREAT NATION from ISHMAEL
ISHMAEL = PRESERVED
GROWS
GETS MARRIED
(T) And now we’re going to see a shift: Look @ verse 22...
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21:22-34 “A Treaty with Abimelech”
21:22-34 “A Treaty with Abimelech”
READ: (V22-24) 22 At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do. 23 Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity, but as I have dealt kindly with you, so you will deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned.” 24 And Abraham said, “I will swear.”
(Q) DO YOU SEE...how OTHERS SAW the BLESSING of GOD on Abraham’s life?
Go back and read Genesis 12:2
Genesis 12:2 (ESV)
2 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.
ABRAHAM = MADE GREAT
—TO BE a BLESSING— NOW a LASTING COVENANT W/ ABIMELECH
---> SAME KING THAT ABRAHAM FEARED PREVIOUSLY!.... NOW INITIATES COVENANT W/ ABRAHAM!
(T) One problem: read v25-34
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READ: (V25-34) 25 When Abraham reproved Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech’s servants had seized, 26 Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, and I have not heard of it until today.” 27 So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant. 28 Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock apart. 29 And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?” 30 He said, “These seven ewe lambs you will take from my hand, that this may be a witness for me that I dug this well.” 31 Therefore that place was called Beersheba, because there both of them swore an oath. 32 So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army rose up and returned to the land of the Philistines. 33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God. 34 And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines.
ABRAHAM TAKES THIS TIME to FIX an ISSUE...
**HE’D DUG a WELL— & ABIMELECH’S MEN TOOK IT AWAY
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W/ GIFT of LAMBS—IT GETS OFFICIALLY MOVED to ABRAHAM
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MIGHT NOT BE a HUGE DEAL to US...
GORDON WENHAM: THIS BECOMES ABRAHAM’S FIRST OFFICIAL PROPERTY in CANAAN!
KING of PHILISTINES AGREES —THIS WELL = ABRAHAM’S!
RENAMED “BEERSHEBA” WELL of the OATH--- BECOMES SOUTHERN BOUNDARY MARKER of ISRAEL…
“FROM DAN to BEERSHEBA”
INITIAL FULFILLMENT of LAND PROMISE!!
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ABRAHAM RESPONDS:
PLANTS TREE
CALLS on GOD—EVERLASTING GOD...
ONLY an EVERLASTING GOD CAN MAKE EVERLASTING COVENANT....
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Takeaways:
Takeaways:
REMEMBER: NONE of GOD’S SERVANTS ARE PERFECT.
DISAPPOINTING TIMES in SCRIPTURE SHOULD ENCOURAGE US...
GOD CHOOSES to WORK THROUGH IMPERFECT PEOPLE—THAT MEANS WE QUALIFY!!
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ONE LENS for VIEWING SCRIPTURE is in TERMS of PROMISE & FULFILLMENT.
**WHY CAN WE TRUST the PROMISES of GOD???
BECAUSE of the NATURE of the ONE WHO HAS PROMISED...
GOOD NEWS FOR US: RECIPIENTS of PROMISE
I. GOD HAS PROMISED to US ETERNAL LIFE.
Titus 1:2 (ESV)
2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began
PROMISED to US—ETERNAL LIFE & GOD DOESN’T LIE.
REMEMBER GOD’S PROMISE to DAVID = MORE SECURE THAN COVENANT W/ DAY & NIGHT
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II. PROMISED, CHRIST WILL COME AGAIN:
2 Peter 3:8–9 (ESV)
8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
25 YEARS for ABRAHAM
2000 YEARS for the CHURCH...
BUT the SECURITY of the PROMISE RESTS in the PROMISER...
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3. GOD’S PROMISE = SO GREAT,, THE FULFILLMENT CAN BRING JOY OUT of ANY MORNING…
LAUGHTER of DOUBT TURNS to LAUGHTER of CELEBRATION
TRULY THERE is NOTHING TOO HARD FOR GOD...
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CLOSING:
HOW DO WE GROW in FAITH & IN PATIENCE?
THROUGH the WAITING.
IT’S a MUSCLE & GOD DOESN’T WANT it to ATROPHY
---CLOSE in PRAYER----
