Last night we continued our overview of the Bible. For those of you who weren't able to be there, this will help you stay up to date with what we are discussing. Take a minute and print off the lesson sheet and look through the powerpoint slide show and fill in the blanks.
We started off by reviewing the past lesson about the Creation Era. Then we dove into the Patriarch Era. Patriarch means "The male head of a family or tribe". And that is why this Era is called such - it deals with the fathers of both the Israelite nation and our faith.
The first person that we are going to look at is where it all started - Abraham. His story is told in Genesis 12-23.
We see that in Genesis 11:31-32 that Abram's (yes that was his original name) Dad, Terah decided to move the family from their hometown of Ur to Haran. As we discussed, Ur was on the Southeast corner of the "Bible Land" just south of where Babylon was. As it states in Ch 11, their original intent was to go to Canaan (the promised land), but they got as far as Haran and decided to stay there instead.
Then God called him to leave his new found home and to go to the land that He will show him! Notice that God didn't give him a road map, a GPS coordinate, or even a star to follow! He just trusted God to lead him to the land that he was supposed to go!!!
What would you do if God called you to do something so major as uprooting your family and heading out to someplace that you didn't even know where???
Later on in Chapter 12 we see that Abram is forced to go to Egypt due to a severe famine in the land. He comes up with a plan to tell everyone there that Sari is his sister and not his wife.
I find it interesting that people in the Bible would do amazingly hard things, but then at the next opportunity they would become foolish and not trust in God! This is basically what Abram did! We can all learn from this as there might be things that are easy for us to follow or accept from God - and then there are other things that might seem extremely hard. But we need to remember that God is in control and He will watch over ALL the affairs of our lives!
The next couple of chapters deal with Abram's nephew Lot and him splitting up and also some battle scenes!
The next major theme comes in chapter 15. Here God tells Abram that he is going to have a great family. In verse 5 God tells him that his offspring will be more numerous than the stars in the sky! God also predicts the bondage in Egypt and then the eventual takeover of the promised land.
In chapter 16 we see once again where someone who isn't in direct contact with God derails someone who was. Remember back in the Garden of Eden when Eve listened to Satan and convinced Adam to eat of the fruit? We have the same circumstance here! Abram was promised by God to have many descendants, but Sarai wanted kids - NOW! She came up with the plan to have her servant Hagar bear a son from Abram. Obviously not God's plan!!!
But we see that Abram doesn't really object, and goes though with it! Sarai hates her and the baby and kicks them out. The lesson we can learn from this is that when we go outside of God's will and plan, He sometimes allows us to do that - but there are consequences!!! When Hagar bore Ishmael, it began the Arab race. If you are up on your current events, there has been nothing but fighting between the Jews and Arabs for centuries!!! But just like David and Bathsheba later on, God still allows His blessing to come to Abram.
Now is where the story gets really interesting!!! In chapter 17 we see that when Abram is 99 years old, God changes his name. Abram means "Exalted Father", but Abraham means, "Father of a multitude of nations"! So God is renewing his contract with Abraham.
There is a little break in the action and we see the story shift back to Lot and his family. The familiar story of the destruction of the "Twin Cities" (aka Sodom and Gomorrah) can be found in chapter 19
Then in chapter 21 - FINALLY!!! The birth of Isaac! God kept his promise! When Abraham was 100 years old he had a son.
Then in one of the most unthinkable things happens! In chapter 22 we read about the account of how God tested Abraham in the sacrifice of his son.
Think about what Abraham must have been going through!!! He was old! He finally had his son to carry on his name! God had followed through on His promise - only to ask him to KILL HIS OWN SON!!!
But we see in the text that Abraham didn't even think twice about it. Early the NEXT morning, he set out. God then showed him the place where he wanted to have the sacrifice. The neat insight to Abraham's faith is found in verses 7-8 where Isaac asks where the animal is. Abraham replied that God would provide the sacrifice!
He was walking in blind faith. He trusted God so much that I fully believe that he had two thoughts going through his mind. 1. God would provide a lamb for the sacrifice. 2. That if God didn't provide the animal that he would be able to raise Isaac from the dead. Abraham went headlong into what God had asked him to do - no turning back.
I ask myself if I would be able to do the same thing with any of my children and I am glad that God hasn't asked me to do that!!! Because I am not sure if I would be able to go through with something like that.
Well, the story continues as Abraham binds his son and places him on the alter. He raises the knife and starts to plunge it into his son when an angel stops him! Not only that, but all of a sudden there is a ram caught in some brush right next to him!
This is an excellent example of how God provides for us. An animal that didn't do anything wrong took the place of Isaac. Just as Jesus took our place on the cross.
Rather, I wanted to give you a more indepth look at Chapter by Chapter in Genesis. I also wanted to emphasize his faith and his failure. We should do everything that we can to try and have the same amount of faith that Abraham had. But we should also be encouraged when we fall short, because even a giant of the faith like Abraham showed that he was human when he tried to go around God's plan.
Let us go forward and not look back in the way that Abraham did. Let us believe that God WILL provide! But just as Abraham didn't see his descendants "as numerous as the stars", just because we don't see something come to completion that God promised - it doesn't mean that He isn't keeping His promises. He provides in His time, for His glory!
God bless you guys!
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