What is the Bible? Part 4 - God Reaffirms the Covenant

Genesis 35:9–15 NASB95

Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him. God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; You shall no longer be called Jacob, But Israel shall be your name.” Thus He called him Israel. God also said to him, “I am God Almighty; Be fruitful and multiply; A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, And kings shall come forth from you. “The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, And I will give the land to your descendants after you.” Then God went up from him in the place where He had spoken with him. Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He had spoken with him, a pillar of stone, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. So Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel.

Introduction

Abr. Cov’t through Isaac:

God’s faithfulness fulfilled: Promised child Isaac is born to Abraham

God asks Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. We learn a foreshadowing of God sending his own son to be sacrificed.

Gen 18-19: Sodom and Gomorrah

Isaac marries Rebekah

Sarah and Abraham die

Rebekah has two sons: Jacob and Esau. God chooses Jacob for the blessings/cov’t of Abraham to be fulfilled.

The family feuding between Jacob and Esau: Gen 27-33

1. Jacob’s Prophetic Birth (Gen 25:19-23)

God’s Faithfulness (Gen 25:19-21)

Genesis 25:19–21 NASB95

Now these are the records of the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham became the father of Isaac; and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife. Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord answered him and Rebekah his wife conceived.

Jacob and Esau - continued fulfilment of the promises of the Abr Cov’t. It is through Jacob that the promises really begin to become evident: 12 tribes of Israel come from Jacobs 12 sons.

Wayne Grudem on God’s faithfulness: “. . . means that God will always do what he has said and fulfill what he has promised.”

Deuteronomy 7:9 “Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments.”

Numbers 23:19 “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”

But we note that Jacob’s birth and purpose in life is:

God’s Choice (Gen 25:22-23)

Genesis 25:22–23 NASB95

But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is so, why then am I this way?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. The Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb; And two peoples will be separated from your body; And one people shall be stronger than the other; And the older shall serve the younger.”

God Does It

Sometimes we humans get confused, thinking that we have ultimate control of life. We get a little too enamored with our free will. We have free will, true, but God will use our choices for his plans, not ours.

Interestingly, God’s choices and plans are often quite shocking.

His Choice is Often Surprising

In tribal times of the OT, the heir was always the firstborn male.

But this is not the case here. Rather, God chooses the younger to be the heir of blessings and promises he made to Abr. and Isaac.

God frequently does the opposite of what we think ought to be done. He often chooses the weak and the lowly of the world to accomplish his purposes. He has always done this.

God chose Sarah, Abraham’s wife who was barren (and viewed with disgrace), to have a child in her 90s.

Later, God would choose the lowly Hannah (who was also barren) to have one of the greatest judges and prophets of Israel: Samuel.

Then, God would choose David to be kind over Israel.

1 Corinthians 1:27–29 “but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God.”

What This Means for Us

God is still faithful to his people, the Church

For Salvation:

Philippians 1:6 “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

1 Corinthians 1:8–9 AMP

And He will establish you to the end [keep you steadfast, give you strength, and guarantee your vindication; He will be your warrant against all accusation or indictment so that you will be] guiltless and irreproachable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah). God is faithful (reliable, trustworthy, and therefore ever true to His promise, and He can be depended on); by Him you were called into companionship and participation with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 Thessalonians 5:23–24 “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.”

2 Timothy 2:13 “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.”

To forgive sin:

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

To get us through the hard times:

Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

We are to be faithful as God is faithful

Faithful in all our relationships—to God and one another.

Recall Grudem on God’s faithfulness: “. . . means that God will always do what he has said and fulfill what he has promised.”

We, too, ought to always do what we say we will do and fulfill what we say we will do.

Jesus in Matthew 5:37 ““But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil.”

James reminds us James 5:12 “But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath; but your yes is to be yes, and your no, no, so that you may not fall under judgment.”

We can do it; we are empowered to do it.

“Faithfulness” is one of the fruit of the Spirit.

2. Jacob’s Deceptions (Gen 25-30)

Bribery of Birthright (Gen 25:27-34)

Stealing of Blessing (Gen 27)

Master of Animal Breeding (Gen 30:37-43)

What This Means for Us

It does not mean that we are permitted to act like Jacob.

What we learn is that God uses people in spite of their sins.

If we are going to wait until we get our life in order before we answer God’s call of salvation in Jesus or do what God desires for us to do or calls us to do, then we will never do it.

In regard to salvation, not one of us is good, and the call to repent and believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior is not just to save you from sins, but change you. You cannot change yourself. God changes you by he power of the Holy Spirit.

If you are waiting to get your life in order before becoming involved with ministry and disciple-making—involved with church life—then you will never do it because you will never be good enough.

Matthew 8:18–22 NASB95

Now when Jesus saw a crowd around Him, He gave orders to depart to the other side of the sea. Then a scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” Another of the disciples said to Him, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead.”

Paul commanded the Galatian churches: “but through love serve one another” (Gal 5:13b)

Illustration: online student who was a New Ager

3. God Reaffirms His Covenant (Gen 35)

Renaming of Jacob (Gen. 35:9-10)

Genesis 35:9–10 NASB95

Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him. God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; You shall no longer be called Jacob, But Israel shall be your name.” Thus He called him Israel.

God renames Jacob just as he renamed Abram.

Israel = “one who prevails with God” “one who wrestles with God”

Reminder of when Jacob wrestled with the messenger of God and also the kind of relationship Jacob’s descendants (nation of Israel) would have with God.

After re-naming Jacob, God goes on to re-affirm the promises he have to Abraham:

Promises of Descendants and Land (Gen. 35:11-12)

Genesis 35:11–12 NASB95

God also said to him, “I am God Almighty; Be fruitful and multiply; A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, And kings shall come forth from you. “The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, And I will give the land to your descendants after you.”

Promise of descendants. Interesting to note: note just descendants but kings

Promise of Land.

Promise of “Seed” (Gen. 35:12)

Genesis 35:12 NASB95

“The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, And I will give the land to your descendants after you.”

“Descendants” is actually “seed” (singular)

Galatians 3:16 “Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as referring to many, but rather to one, ‘And to your seed,’ that is, Christ.”

The promises of land and descendants are not merely to Jacob, but actually Jesus.

Grant Osborne:

Galatians: Verse by Verse The Promise Given to Christ as the Seed of Abraham (3:16)

The thrust of this verse is that all of these promises to Abraham have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ and channeled through him to those who by faith are united “in Christ” and have thus become the new seed of Abraham, the church.

God’s promises of land and descendants to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, therefore, were meant partly to serve as a physical representation of God’s spiritual people who would receive spiritual promises in the seed, Messiah, or Jesus.

Jesus is to inherit a people/nation for himself and a land, namely, heaven.

Explained in Hebrews:

Hebrews 11:13–16 “All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”

Hebrews 11:39–40 “And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.”

Hebrews 12:22–24 “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.”

Hebrews 13:14 “For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.”

What This Means for Us

If we have accepted in faith Jesus as Lord and Savior, we are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’s true seed.

Galatians 3:29 “And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.”

We are going to inherit the promises of God: salvation and heaven itself.

Amazing how God set up human history and events to point to the spiritual realities to be realized in Jesus.

Conclusion