Scripture Alone: God’s Covenantal Word, Part 2
Notes
Transcript
1 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.”
7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.
One effect of the Reformation was monasteries dissolving.
A common practice in monasteries were Monks and Nuns that were vowed to celibacy.
It became clear that the monastic requirements were an invention of the Pope.
Catherine Von Bora
Martin Luther’s wife.
“If the Reformation was a revolution in theology—the recovery of the gospel was, after all, a recovery of true marriage love, Christ’s love for his bride, the Church—Luther’s marriage was about to be, for him, a revolution in everything.”
In an act of caring for the nuns, Luther were a part of helping them find husbands.
Luther though did not feel marriage was for him.
They helped marry every nun off except for one.
“With my wedding, I have made the angels laugh and the devils weep”
“Luther and Katie were well suited to each other.
They lived happily together for twenty-one years, and shared the usual burdens and joys.
Their domestic life is very characteristic, full of good nature, innocent humor, cordial affection, rugged simplicity, and thoroughly German.”
(History of the Christian Church, Luther’s Home Life)
“Before I was married, the bed was not made for a whole year and became foul with sweat. But I worked so hard and was so weary I tumbled in without noticing it.”
“Next to God’s Word…there is no more precious treasure than holy matrimony. God’s highest gift on earth is a pious, cheerful, God-fearing, home-keeping wife, with whom you may live peacefully, to whom you may intrust your goods and body and life.”
Without Katie Luther, the reformation would have never had as much of an influence.
The Promise of a Great Name–Seed.
The Promise of a Great Name–Seed.
The Promise of a Great Nation–Land.
The Promise of a Great Nation–Land.
Abram is still wonder, “How will I have an inheritance when I don’t have a descendant?”
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.
3 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.”
God promised Abram to bless him that he may be a blessing to the nations.
Blessed to be a Blessing to the Nations–Blessing.
Blessed to be a Blessing to the Nations–Blessing.
1 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.”
Directly after defending his nephew lot from the five kings.
Yahweh promises to protect Abram.
He promises to be his shield and guard him from all attackers.
He also promises a “very great” reward which is a reference to his children.
2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
Without an offspring, Abram’s name will be snuffed off the earth.
A child was viewed as a way to carry on your name to future generations.
3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.”
“[Abram] tries to domesticate the wild promise of God by viewing it from a strictly earthly horizon.” —Stephen Dempster
Abram does not see how God will give him offspring.
Abram sees Eliezar.
He sees his next of kin.
He sees this other family member.
But God’s promises are often unseen realities.
Abram’s name will not continue on if he does not have a son.
Notice what happens though…
Genesis 15:4–5 (ESV)
4 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.”
5 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.”
The Blessing of God to the Nations.
The Blessing of God to the Nations.
Abram’s offspring will be as numerous as the stars of heaven.
There was no evidence for this.
There was nothing he could point to trust that God would keep His promise.
He could NOT see any evidence of the promise.
But even without seeing evidence of the promise.
Abram trusted Yahweh.
6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
It’s NOT that Abram had faith and the faith made him righteous.
It’s that Abram believed God and God credited it to him as righteousness.
God accounted Abram as righteous because of his faith.
Abram believed God’s promises and the Lord declared him righteous because of his faith in the promise that God made to him.
Abram was not righteous by obedience to the law but it was through faith that he was made right by God.
7 And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”
But how do we know God will keep His promise?
How good is a promise except on the character of the one speaking?
8 But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?”
What God is about to do is amazing.
The promise will not depend upon Abram.
God’s Promises founded Upon God Himself.
God’s Promises founded Upon God Himself.
9 He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
10 And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half.
Why would God have Abram cut these animals in half?
In the ancient world, a covenant usually came with a ceremony.
At the ceremony (even weddings!) they would cut animals in half.
A promise was made.
And then animals were cut in half and both parties would walk between them.
Both would walk between the half’s.
Essentially saying…
“If I don’t fulfill this promise, I deserve to be cut in half like these animals.”
“If I break my promise, I deserve death!”
12 As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him.
Notice who walks between the pieces!!
17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.
God’s presence is represented with a “smoking fire pot” and “a flaming torch.”
God’s presence is often presented in the Bible as a flame or fire, and these symbols are no different.
Where’s Abram at?
Fast asleep on the ground.
Entranced in a vision on the ground.
Unable to move.
The man who is declared righteous because of his faith is lying on the ground.
Unable himself to make the promised commitments.
It’s a good thing because we see
Between Genesis 15 and Genesis 17 we see another sad story of the effects of sin.
Genesis 16:1–2 (ESV)
1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar.
2 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.”
Much like Adam in the garden…
Genesis 16:2 (ESV)
…And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.
At Sarai’s request, Abram tries to accomplish the promises of God through unbelief.
He take Hagar and they conceive a son, Ishmael.
5 And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!”
6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.
Worst still, Sarai treat Hagar harshly until she fleas and awaits death.
Until the Lord graciously provides for her even in the wilderness.
Hagar eventually returns and the promises still wait for fulfillment.
1 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,
2 that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.”
Circumcision and the Sign of the Covenant.
Circumcision and the Sign of the Covenant.
Then God proceeds to rename Abram.
He gives him his name, Abraham.
5 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.
Abram means, “Exalted Father” and Abraham means, “Father of a Multitude.”
It may have continued to feel like insult to injury that they do not have a child and they’re renamed.
But God adds an obligation to the covenant with Abraham.
Circumcision as the Sign of the Blessing.
Circumcision as the Sign of the Blessing.
10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised.
11 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.
12 He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring,
13 both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant.
“Just as the rainbow (the sign of the war bow pointing in the sky) reminds God of his promise to preserve creation from another judgment by flood, so circumcision (the sign of the knife in the flesh) is to remind him of his promise of descendants in the face of the curse of sterility and death.” —Stephen Dempster
Abraham again tries an earthly path of accepting Ishmael instead of trusting the promise.
Asking God to accept the son of a slave woman instead of the son of the promise.
The Holy Spirit and the Sign of the New Covenant Believer.
The Holy Spirit and the Sign of the New Covenant Believer.
7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.
8 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.”
9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—
14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
“The Abrahamic covenant finds its fulfillment in the new covenant and the gift of the Spirit is at the heart of the new covenant.”
15 For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.
“Abraham was promised numerous offspring and they continue to increase, we are blessed with being declared right through faith, we are blessed with the gift of the Spirit who guarantees us that God's future is here and there is yet more to come, and the Jerusalem above is our Mother.” —A. Blake White, The Abrahamic Promises in Galatians
1 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.”
Isaac’s name means “laughter.”
No longer because of their disbelief.
No longer as a sign of impossibility and comedy.
BUT NOW as joy.
The joy of laughter like receiving someone back from the dead.
The son of Promise and the Great Test of Faith.
The son of Promise and the Great Test of Faith.
1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
2 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.”
This request sounds so “savage” to our western ears.
But in the Ancient Near East it was a common practice to offer children in worship to a deity.
This is what makes the sacrificing of Isaac so unique.
God asks for something that would have been “normal” for the times.
It would have been normal to offer children up as sacrifices.
But God’s refusal to accept Isaac’s sacrifice and provides a ram.
This shows God’s uniqueness as opposed to the “gods” of the other nations.
Not only does he provide another ram in the moment.
Eventually God Himself will give His only Son for the life of the people.
Typology in the son of promise.
Typology in the son of promise.
3 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.
4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.
Imagine the somberness of going for three days.
Knowing what the Lord has called you to do.
Abraham knows that God has asked him to take the life of his son.
And for three days he travels.
He travels to the land of Moriah to offer up his son.
The beloved son of promise to Abraham is taken to be sacrificed on the third day.
5 Then 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.”
Abraham reveals to these men with him is that his expectation is for both of them to return to them.
This is not because he didn’t expect to sacrifice Isaac.
Abraham believed full well that Isaac would be sacrificed.
19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.
But he had such faith in the power of God to complete the promises.
Abraham believed that God would even raise Isaac from the dead if the Lord would have Isaac killed.
6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together.
Abraham lays the wood for the burnt offering upon His Son, Isaac.
This implies that Isaac must have been old enough to carry the wood by himself on his back.
In the same way that Isaac carried the wood on his back to the top of a hill to be sacrificed.
Though he was provided for by a ram, so Jesus carried the tree upon His back up the hill of Golgotha where He was sacrificed for the sins of the whole world.
7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.
Both Abraham and Isaac are committed to what God is doing here.
It is as Isaiah 53:7 “like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth…”
So Isaac at the request of his father ascends the hill of Moriah.
Now notice the pace that Genesis records all of this…
We’ve seen 2,000 years pass in 11 chapters.
But here we see attention and detail gives to a man building an alter.
A man building and assembling the place of sacrifice.
9 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.
10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.
It’s almost as you can hear all of the universe hold their breath.
The son of promise will be killed at the command of God at the hands of his father.
11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
12 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.”
13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.
The ram in the thicket stands as a reminder to all that true redemption and salvation does not come through our sacrificing to God but ultimately by God providing a sacrifice for us.
The practical lesson in the test of Faith.
The practical lesson in the test of Faith.
The cross is the epicenter of penal substitutionary atonement.
God provides the substitute for us by laying His wrath upon His Son to provide a covering for us.
It’s at this location that the temple mount will be eventually built.
The test of Faith as a Prophetic Lesson.
The test of Faith as a Prophetic Lesson.
Geography is an important element within Abram’s story.
We have seen Abram build alter’s to the LORD on multiple occasions (Shecham, Bethel, and Hebron).
But nothing is yet seen of the city that will later be Jerusalem.
Two high points within Abraham’s story actually occur in Jerusalem.
(Jeru)Salem emerges as a geographical source of blessing for Abram; later it will surface as a source of universal blessing!
14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
This is the place that Abraham refers to God as “Jehovah-Jirah” (Hebrew: יְהוָ֣ה יִרְאֶ֑ה) or “Yahweh will provide” or “Yahweh will see.”
But think about the trajectory of this here that we see in Abraham’s life.
The answer to how God will bless the world.
The answer to how God will reverse the curse of Babel.
The answer to how God will restore the world to Himself finds it’s pinnacle in the substitutionary sacrifice in place of the son of promise.
