Bibelen i et nøtteskall: Bibelens historie fra A til Å

Bibelen i et nøtteskall:

Åp 20:11–15 Og jeg så en stor, hvit trone og ham som satt på den. Jord og himmel flyktet bort fra hans ansikt og var ikke lenger til.
Og jeg så de døde, både store og små: De sto foran tronen, og bøker ble åpnet.
Så ble en annen bok åpnet, livets bok.
Og de døde ble dømt etter det som sto skrevet i bøkene, etter sine gjerninger. Havet ga fra seg de døde som var der, og døden og dødsriket ga fra seg de døde som var i dem, og enhver ble dømt etter sine gjerninger.
Så ble døden og dødsriket kastet i ildsjøen. Og ildsjøen, det er den annen død.

Og om noen ikke var skrevet inn i livets bok, ble han kastet i ildsjøen.

I Matteus 13:47–50 sier Jesus På samme måte er himmelriket likt en dragnot som ble satt i sjøen og fanget fisk av alle slag.
Da den var full, dro fiskerne den opp på stranden. De satte seg ned og samlet de gode fiskene i kar, men kastet ut de ubrukelige.
Slik skal det gå ved verdens ende: Englene skal dra ut og skille de onde fra de rettferdige og kaste dem i ildovnen, der de gråter og skjærer tenner.

Hvordan kan man unngå å bli kastet i ilden som en ubrukelig fisk? Hevd ut på søppeldynge. Slaktet ned av englene på siste dagen.

Hva kan man gjøre for å være innenfor og ikke utenfor på den siste dagen hvor Jesus kommer for å dømme de levende og de døde.

Hvor vil du stå? Og hvorfor?

For Bibelen gir oss svar på det. Det forklare hvorfor vi er her, hva meningen med livet er. Den sier at vi er skapt med vilje. At vi er ikke tilfeldig, ikke bare heldig DNA. Det sier at det vi gjør har meningen. Faktisk at det vi gjør i dette livet har ringvirkninger i evighet.

Men Bibelen handler ikke om oss.

Åpne Bibelen din til den aller første bok, den aller første side, aller første kapittel, og den aller første vers. 1. Mosebok 1:1 I begynnelsen skapte Gud

Den første del av Bibelen er

1. Skapelsen

I begynnelsen… Gud. Han var der. Han er opphavet til alt. I begynnelsen skapte Gud. Du og jeg skapte ikke. Du og jeg er skapt. Når vi blir litt høy på pære husk det 1:1 I begynnelsen skapte Gud. Han sa – og det var. Prøv det nå. Si «la det bli...» og se om du er Gud. La det bli hamburger…

Så hvorfor late vi som om vi er Gud da og ikke høre på Ham hvis vi kan ikke gjøre noe så enkelt?

Bibelen starter med Gud: i begynnelsen Gud. Han er «Jeg er». Når Moses spørre Gud «Hvem er du, hvem skal jeg si har sendt med?» svare Gud fra den brennende busken «Jeg er».

Han er. Han er Gud. Og kapittel 1 og 2 lærer oss at Gud er opphavet til alt. Han skapte alt. Han skapte alt med orden. Dag 1 til 3 skaper han områder. 4 til 6 så fylles de. Vi er skapt som hans kroneverk: av støv slik de andre dyr – men innblåst av hans ånd, skapt i hans bilde. Vi er ikke bare dyr, men Guds barn. 2:7 Da formet HERREN Gud mennesket av støv fra jorden. Han blåste livspust i nesen på det, og mennesket ble en levende skapning.

Og han skapte ved hans ord. Han SA, og det ble slik. Hans ord er mektig og skaper liv. Ikke tilfeldig da at både Jesus og evangeliet er kalt Ordet. Jesus gir liv. Evangeliet gir liv. Vi som er kristne er født på ny, vekket opp fra døden, fått evig liv fordi vi hørte Ordet, og det skapte liv i oss.

Gud skapte og alt var bra. 1:31 Gud så på alt det han hadde gjort, og se, det var svært godt!

Men slik er det ikke nå. Hva skjedde?

2. Fallet

Gud skapte alt og det var veldig god. Men vi ble fristet «du kan være Gud lik»

Og så falte vi. 3:1 [Djevelen] sa til kvinnen: «Har Gud virkelig sagt… noter at djevelen angriper Guds ord. Han vil ikke at vi skal høre på ordet. Hvorfor er det så lite Bibel i menighetene? For vi høre fortsatt på løgnene «har Gud sagt»

Og har Gud sagt blir fort hvis du ikke høre på Gud v5 vil øynene deres bli åpnet, og dere vil bli som Gud.

Vi hørte ikke på Guds ord, latet som vi var Gud, spist av frukten han sa vi ikke må spise av, og så falte vi. Konsekvensene legger Gud ut i 14-19. konflikt i ekteskap, smerte i fødselen, slit på jobb, sykdom og døden.

Vi brøyt vårt forhold med Gud. Vi sa nei til ham og valgte å høre på oss selv eller andre i stedet for ham. Det er det som Bibelen kalles synd. Det er ikke først å fremst at vi gjøre dårlig ting – du kan gjøre gode ting som er synd hvis du gjør det med feil motivasjon. Synd er først og fremst et brudd i vårt forhold med Gud. Og det ødela alt.

Og det er verden vi lever i nå. Brudd i forhold med Gud og hverandre. Vi har ekteskapsproblemer på grunn av synd. Vi prøver å løse det ved å ikke gifte oss – vi blir samboere – for det er jo ekteskap som er problemet. Og alle samboer lever i ro og fred og har ingen problemer.
Statistikk viser at samboere har MER problemer og mer kortvarig forhold enn de som er gift. For det er ikke ekteskap som er problemet, det er oss. Du og jeg. Og min og din synd. Synd, selviskhet, egoisme, det drar vi med inn i alle våre forhold.
Jeg vil være Gud i mitt liv. Jeg skal bestemmer. Men hvis jeg later som om jeg er Gud – og DU later som om du er Gud, når vi møtes… hvem skal være Gud da?
Og der finner vi roten til all KONFLIKT! Fra to småbarn som krangle over alle leker (den er MIN!), til land som går til krig for samme grunn (den er MIN!), til krangling over pengeforbruket og hvem skulle rydde stue og hvem skal skifte bleie i ethvert norsk hjem!

Vi har et stort problem. Og Bibelen forteller historien om Guds redningsplan. Gud har en plan. Og det er fantastisk! Og krever 2000 år, en mann Abraham, en nasjon Israel, som må bli reddet ut av slaveri av en profet Moses, og til slutt ledet av deres største konge: David. Det er tre store navn man må kjenne til:
Abraham. Moses. David.

1. Abraham

Abraham levde 2000 før Kristus, og fikk et løfte fra Gud. For alt har gått til helvete bokstavelig talt. Vi hadde Noa og flommen, men det hjalp ingenting. Folk er like syndig etter flommen som før. De tilber ikke Gud, elsker ikke Gud, kriger og hater hverandre. Abraham selv tilba ikke Gud. Han tilba «andre guder» (Josva 24:2), sannsynligvis månen! Han var ikke noe god og oppriktig mann. Gud valgte ham ut bare av nåde, og Abraham trodde Gud. Som Romerne 4:3 sier For hva sier Skriften? Abraham trodde Gud, og derfor regnet Gud ham som rettferdig.

Gud åpenbarte seg til Abraham, og ga han løfter, og Abraham trodde på Guds Ord.

Akkurat som oss. Gud åpenbare seg – han åpne våre øyne. Gud gir oss løfter i hans ord: Kristus døde for syndene dine, er stått opp til å gi deg nytt liv. Vend om og ta imot. Og vi tror på hans ord, og leve som om det er sant. Fordi det er sant. Og han har gitt oss bevis på det. Hvis du tviler på det, lytt til forrige ukes preken som heter «Hvordan dikte opp evangeliene i 10 enkle trinn»

Løftene Abraham fikk var som følge:

12:1–3 HERREN sa til Abram: «Dra bort fra landet ditt og fra slekten din og fra farshuset ditt til det landet som jeg skal vise deg! 2 Jeg vil gjøre deg til et stort folk. Jeg vil velsigne deg og gjøre navnet ditt stort. Du skal bli til velsignelse. 3 Jeg vil velsigne dem som velsigner deg, men den som forbanner deg, skal jeg forbanne. I deg skal alle slekter på jorden velsignes.»

Det er gjentatt i kapittel 15, og igjen i 17. Et land. Et folk. En velsignelse. Gjennom en av hans etterkommere. Da er vi på jakt etter den som kommer som skal velsigne hele verden.

Derfor slekts tabeller! Hver gang ett barn blir født: er det ham? Han som skal redde oss.

Men nei. Alle dør. Abraham dør. Isak dør. Jakob dør. Men Guds løfter holder fortsatt. Abrahams etterkommer vokser stort. Men de er ikke i de lovede landet som var Israel. De er i Egypt. Og de er ikke velsignet – de er slaver! Slik avslutter 1. Mosebok. Og da møter vi

2. Moses

Redningsmannen 1500 år før Kristus. Gud møtte Moses og kalte han fra den brennende busken. Han ble utvalgt av Gud – Moses, som var en drapsmann, som levde i eksil, fordi han prøvde å redde hans folk, men feilet. Men av nåde velger Gud Moses, og han får en ny sjanse til å redde hans folk. Men denne gangen med Gud!

Og Moses går til Farao og sier «Slipp mitt folk fri». Og han sier «Nei» og så «du må høre på Gud, ellers så blir det pest og plage» og «Nei, hvem er denne Guden, jeg høre ikke på ham. Jeg er en gud. Gjør det du vil».
Og så går alt veldig dårlig for Farao og hans folk. 10 plager, hver plage verre enn den forrige. Og til slutt blir det mørke og så dør den førstefødte sønn. Men Abrahams folk? Der er det lys. Der dør ingen – for de hadde en innbytter, et offerlam. Lammet døde slik at de kunne leve. Og for de som var dekket over av lammets blod, så falt dommen ikke på dem.
Du ser hvordan det sikte mot Jesus. Mørkt når han døde midt på dagen. Et tegn på Guds dom. Han, den førstefødte, døde. Vårt innbytte – han døde i vårt sted slik at du og jeg kan leve. Vi er dekket av Jesus blod.

Og så forlater Abrahams folk, jødene, Egypt. Etter litt om og men og litt jakt av Farao som endret mening og så Sivsjøen (røde havet) hvor de gikk tørrskodd over havet så kommer de fram til Sinaifjellet. Og der fikk de ti bud og alle de andre lover og regler.

Og mange tenker at disse regler er hvordan mann kommer til himmelen. Holder disse bud og så blir Gud fornøyd med deg. Men det er helt feil.

Se på 20:1–3 Gud talte alle disse ordene: 2 Jeg er HERREN din Gud, som førte deg ut av Egypt, ut av slavehuset. 3 Du skal ikke ha andre guder enn meg.

Merk at v2 kommer før 3. Frelsen kommer før loven. De 10 bud er IKKE hvordan mann kommer til himmelen, men hvordan man lever nå som Guds folk. Som de frelste.

Men mange misforsto. Prøvde å leke Gud ved å følge reglene. Ha, se Gud jeg fulgte alle reglene dine – nå skylder du meg frelse.

Barn som åpne gave på julaften. Snu seg til foreldre. Sukk «hvor mye skylder jeg deg».

Mange kristne lever slik. Tror de må tjene til seg Guds godvilje. Prøver å være god nok for himmelen. Derfor blir menge religiøse sinte når de høre om NÅDE i evangeliet. For alt det strevet er nullverdt! Fordi de tjene seg selv. De avviser Gud og det han sier om synd f.eks Rom 3:10 det finnes ikke en som er rettferdig, ikke en eneste og de sier nei, jeg trenger ikke Jesus og alt det der, jeg kan gjør det selv. Eller den litt mer ydmyk variant: Jesus kan hjelper MEG i mitt frelsesarbeid.
De leker Gud. Derfor alle de «gode gjerninger» de gjør teller for ingenting fordi de tar Guds plass. De later som de er Gud!

De er som de fariseerne som drepte Jesus. De var så sinte på at han tok imot «synder» som tollere og horer og arbeidere og sånt – og ikke de gode flinke oppriktige. Ordentlig folk. Som dem. De ble så sinte når han sa at de var i fare og var imot Gud. Og de bestemte å vise hvor god de var ved å planlegge og gjennomføre Jesu drap…. Ups.

Moseloven var aldri frelsesplanen. Frelsesplanen var Guds konge.

3. David

1000 år før Kristus kom David, kongen som Gud hadde lovet. En Konge som elsket Gud. Med en slik Konge hadde de fred. Men David var ikke perfekt. Han og var en synder, og en dag var han ute på balkongen, og bladde gjennom alle takterrassene som lå rundt omkring palasset, mens han egentlig skulle ha vært på jobb. Han bladde gjennom inntil han kom til Batsebas profil. Mmm. Deilig. Han visste det var feil, visste at det var konen til en av hans trofaste venner. Men deilig var hun. Og hun visste at han så på. I Andre Samuels bok 11 så lese vi at hun badet der oppe. Tok ikke lang tid før David lot lystene styrer, han kalte tjeneren hans og sa «Få hun hit». Hun kom, og de de hadde samleie.

Men krise! Hun ble gravid. Hva gjør man? Han prøvde å få mannen hennes, Uria, til å komme hjem fra krigen – der David skulle ha vært – og ligge med henne. Men han var for oppriktig. Derfor bestemte David å drepe Uria. Og slik ble det. Midt opp i slaget så forsvant pluteselig alle Uria medsoldatene, og Uria ble slaktet. David tok Batseba som kone. Alt gikk bra.

Men Gud visste. Og en dag kom profeten Natan til David og avslørte Davids synd. Og David skrev i Salme 51:3 Vær meg nådig, Gud, i din kjærlighet, stryk ut mitt lovbrudd i din store barmhjertighet! 4 Vask meg ren for skyld og rens meg for min synd! 5 For mine lovbrudd kjenner jeg, min synd står alltid for meg. 6 Mot deg alene har jeg syndet, det som er ondt i dine øyne, har jeg gjort. Derfor har du rett når du taler, du er ren når du feller dom.

Selv David, Israels største konge, er ikke nok. Vi trenger en bedre konge, en perfekt konge, en evig konge.

4. Eksil

Etter David kommer Salomo, og alt er bra. Men Salomo har samme problem som hans Far – styrt av lystene sine. Han samlet til seg over 1000 koner, mange fra andre land, og han endte opp med å tilbe deres guder. Han hørte ikke lenge på Gud, men gjorde det han hadde lyst på når han hadde lyst på det. Frihet? Med 1000 koner som drar deg i hver sin retning?

Og sønnen hans, Rehoboam, splitter landet i to. Israel i nord, Juda i sør. Og ting blir ikke noe bedre. Israel har bare onde konger som gir avsky på Gud og hans ord og ødelegge landet. Dommen faller og i 722 faller Israel (nord) til Assyrerne. De truer også Jerusalem, men kong Hiskia holder trofast til Herren og Han redder dem. En engel kommer og dreper 130 000 menn i en natt, og Assyrerne går hjem!

Men Hiskia dør. Og hans sønn er Manasse, som hater Gud, og ofrer sine egne barn til falske guder. Juda lider veldig under ham og vi se at løsning vi trenger er en god konge en perfekt konge som lever evig.

Og så kollapse alt på grunn av synd og i 587 Judah blir erobret og ende i eksil og alt se håpløs ut inntil en dag en engel viste seg for en tenåringsjente!

5. Jesus

Han er Abrahams ætt. Og oppfylle pakten. Vi har et land: hele det nye jorden, himmelen. Vi er et folk: kristne fra alle tider, alle land. Et stort skare. Vi er velsignet. Frelst. Med den Hellige Ånd. Jesus, Abrahams ætt og oppfyllelse. Derfor sier Jesus Johannes 8:56 Deres far Abraham jublet over å skulle se min dag.

Han er en som Moses som frigjøre oss fra slaveri til synd, lede oss ut av slaveri og inn til det lovede land – Himmelen – og han er vårt offerlam, som gir sitt blod slik at dommen ikke falle på oss. Jesus er en bedre Moses, et bedre offerlam, Påskehøytidens oppfyllelse.

Han er Kongen i Davids ætt. En evig, perfekt Konge som aldri feiler. Som leder sitt folk på en rettferdig og oppriktig måte. Som lever i fred.

Han er Templet - møteplassen mellom Gud og mennesker.

Han er oppfyllelsen av loven. Han levde perfekt. Rettferdig. Og gir oss hans rettferdighet. I Kristus har vi holdt de ti bud. I Kristus har vi oppfylt loven. Vi har allerede bestått prøven!

Han er nåde.

Han er kjærlighet.

Han er visdom.

Bibelen handler ikke om oss. Ikke en selvhjelp bok. Ikke kalt til å være som de store helter. De var alle syndere! Vær en drapsmann som Moses eller David…?? Nei, når vi leser Bibelen se vi at det er ikke mulig for oss å frelse oss selv. Vi kan ikke gjør det. Synd har gjennomsyret oss. Vi trenger ett nytt hjerte. Bare Gud kan gjør det. Vi trenger han. Det er ham som er helten. Ikke vi. Og takk og pris. For da er det av nåde, og ikke gjerninger.

Bibelen handler ikke om oss. Det handler om Jesus.

Hvordan da sikre man seg at når Dommedagen kom at vi er den som blir frelst?

Ved å satse alt på Jesus.
Vend om og tar imot. Stå fast på dette: at mine synder er betalt av hans offer, og jeg har fått hans rettferdighet.

Når du blir spurt den dagen på hvorfor du skal slippes inn i det nye skapelsen, hvis svaret ditt starte med «jeg» så blir du kastet ut. Jeg er en god person. Jeg har ikke drept noen. Jeg leser Bibelen. Jeg har stor tro. Jeg tok nattverd. Jeg ble døpte. Jeg går hver søndag i kirken. Gode ting. Men søppel sammenlignet med dette: Jesus døde for meg.

Fil 3:3 Ytre sett har jeg grunn til selvtillit. Om andre mener de kan sette sin lit til det ytre, kan jeg det enda mer: 5 Jeg er omskåret på den åttende dagen, jeg er av Israels folk og Benjamins stamme, hebreer av hebreere, lovlydig fariseer, 6 en brennende ivrig forfølger av kirken, uklanderlig i min rettferdighet etter loven. 7 Men det som før var en vinning for meg, det regner jeg nå for Kristi skyld som tap. 8 Ja, jeg regner alt som tap fordi det å kjenne Kristus Jesus, min Herre, er så mye mer verdt. For hans skyld har jeg tapt alt, og alt jeg har tapt, regner jeg som verdiløst skrap, bare jeg kan vinne Kristus 9 og bli funnet i ham, ikke med min egen rettferdighet, den som loven gir, men med den rettferdigheten jeg får ved troen på Kristus. Det er rettferdigheten fra Gud, bygd på tro.

Åpenbaringen 22:17 Ånden og bruden sier: «Kom!» Og den som hører det, skal si: «Kom!» Den som tørster, skal komme, og den som vil, skal få livets vann som gave.
22:20–21 Han som vitner om dette, sier: «Ja, jeg kommer snart.» Amen. Kom, Herre Jesus! 21 Herren Jesu nåde være med alle!

Exodus 1:1-14 Aliens and strangers

Exodus 1:1-14

How does God work in the world today?
Does he wind up the world like a clock and then let it run down?
Does he send down a bunch of operating instructions (the Bible, for example) and then wait and see what happens?
Does he play with us like dolls, like a child, and we are mere puppets in his play?

What we learn in Exodus is that none of those are correct. The reality is that God is sovereign (in control) and active in His world. And we are not puppets but real people with real choices and real responsibility, and somehow our choices and God’s sovereignty go hand in hand. God is active, for his glory – and we can be part of his glorious salvation plan!

Exodus takes place in history. These are historical events with real people and in real places. The Bible is not embarrassed by this, this dependence on provable (or disprovable) events. God reveals himself to us through time and history, through events that human being experience. This is not a book of dry philosophy, thoughts we must thing about God. Greek philosophy and Oriental mysticism always seek to remove man from nature, from creation. Matter is dirty. From Buddhism to Zoroastrianism to Hinduism to Star Wars (“luminous beings are we, not this crude matter” says Yoda) we are spiritual beings, and we must seek to throw off the shackles of the material.

The other extreme is of course our Western materialism which assumes that there is only a material world, that the spiritual does not exist.

The Bible is an embarrassment to both. Materialism is revealed to be only part of the picture – but spiritualism has a faulty view of the material. Remember that the end of the story is not that we become a bunch of floaty angelic spirit beings, sitting in white light playing harps – but a new heavens and a new earth, with new imperishable bodies (that is, bodies that cannot be destroyed).

So in Exodus we see great material events with great spiritual significance. It is what is called theological history. Theos is the Greek word for God, so theological history is history in relation to God or history through God’s eyes.
This year we’ve spent a long time reading theological history in the book of Acts. In Acts we’ve been reading the events of the growth of the Christian church, and at each point we are shown how it is God who is behind these events, how it is He who is growing his church, sending out missionaries, converting people. He is the Prime Mover of church history.

And we find the same revealed here in Exodus. It is God who orchestrates these events in order to reveal to us who he is: his character, his power, his glory, his Name. A refrain throughout the Old Testament is this “that you/they may know that I am the Lord (YHWH)”. He is the Prime Mover in all of history for one purpose: that we may know him. John Piper, based on Jonathan Edwards work, sums up the Bible, and indeed all of history, to be about one thing: the glory of God.

Ex 14:4 I have planned this in order to display my glory through Pharaoh and his whole army. After this the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD!

We are not the hero of the Bible stories. It is Christ. He is the hero of the Bible. Remember Jesus’ words to the Pharisees: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.” (John 5:39-40 (ESV))

And remember what we learned from Colossians: Col 1:26–27 This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God’s people. 27 For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret (or mystery): Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.

Exodus is about Christ, and reveals to us the glory of God.

With that in mind, let us turn to the introduction to the book.

1. The people of Israel are blessed 1:1-7

These are the names of the sons of Israel (that is, Jacob) who moved to Egypt with their father, each with his family: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, 3 Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, 4 Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. 5 In all, Jacob had seventy descendants in Egypt, including Joseph, who was already there. 6 In time, Joseph and all of his brothers died, ending that entire generation. 7 But their descendants, the Israelites, had many children and grandchildren. In fact, they multiplied so greatly that they became extremely powerful and filled the land.

Here we have listed the twelve tribes of Israel, named after the twelve sons of Jacob (called Israel). And look how numerous they have become. V7 In fact, they multiplied so greatly that they became extremely powerful and filled the land.

The opening verse of Exodus remind us that God keeps his promises. What promise, you may ask? Turn back to Gen 12:1–3 The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”

It’s an echo of the covenant (promise) God made to Adam Gen 1:28 Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it.”

The Lord is keeping his promise, Abraham’s descendants filling the land, becoming as numerous as the starts in the night sky, or sand on the seashore (Gen 22:17, God’s promise to Isaac, Abraham’s son). V9 is the first time Israel is called a “people”. The Lord is keeping his promise.

But not all of the promise is fulfilled, is it? They’re not in the Promised Land, are they? They are in Egypt! And so Exodus opens with a problem – how to get the people of God to move from their comfortable houses and good lands in Egypt, and get them to the Promised Land.

The start of God’s fulfilment of his promise to Abraham is surprising: the plan to bless Israel started with a declaration of slavery! (v11)

How powerful God is. How majestic. How surprising. How different. His ways are not our ways, his thoughts not our thoughts. He is a master at using our evil for good.

How often does something terrible happen to us – which later we see is of such a deep blessing to us. When I was at Sagavoll (here in Gvarv), one of my classmates killed himself – hanged himself in the cellar of our dormitory. And I discovered his body. That experience was like a wrecking ball whistling through my carefully constructed life. At one moment I was laid bare – and I realised that, at the end of the day, there is nothing but me and God. I stand before him, alone. Nothing else. It shook me up, and was the beginning of God’s saving work in my life (he saved me 9 months later in Drammen. Bing, the lights came on!). But that experience, terrible as it was in seeing my friends corpse, is not something I would ever give up. God used that to save me. God used that to show me where I stood with him. He knocked away all my other support structures to show me that He is enough.

The Israelites found themselves enslaved. And so what do they do? They cry out to the Lord. They realise they are helpless, that they need him. And they experience the most amazing rescue that history has ever seen – other than the cross of Christ.

God keeps his promise. His people will be blessed in slavery and in rescue. They will know that he is the Lord, and his name is glorious.

But before we carry on, let’s take a quick step back through the chapters of Genesis we skipped over, and get ourselves up to speed. Context is key to understanding the Bible, so what have we missed?

2. Genesis 22-50

Earlier on this year we covered the life of Abraham. If you’ve missed that series, download it and listen to it. What we saw was how God chose this man Abraham to be the start of his salvation plan for the world. We’ve already read the promise God made to Abraham in Gen 12:1-3, and the rest of the Bible follows the fulfilment of that promise: land, people, and blessing. The land of Canaan (Israel), the people of Israel, and the blessing of knowing God, and sharing that knowledge with the nations (Israel was a kingdom of priests, a light to the nations – at least, they should have been!). All this finds its fulfilment ultimately in Christ. We know Israel mess things up – sinning at every turn and generally behaving like…well, a lot like us if we’re perfectly honest! The Old Testament ends with the Abrahamic Covnenant still unfulfilled, and carries the tension “how can a holy God forgive unholy people”.
All that is solved in Christ. His death covers our sins and we receive his righteousness. And he fulfils the Abrahamic Covenant: we are his people, the church from every nation and tribe and people-group; we are blessed, his Holy Spirit is with us and in us; and our land is the New Creation, promised and guaranteed.

But that’s the end of the story. We’re still at the start. We saw how Abraham lived in a “bubble” of blessing – the Lord had promised to bless him and so he was blessed, even though, as we saw, he certainly did not deserve it, as he sinned against the Lord, a faithless, cowardly, adulterous man. Yet God forgave him and loved him. Gives us hope doesn’t it! If Christ can cover the sins of Abraham, he can cover our sins.

When we left Genesis, in chapter 23, Sarah had died and been laid to rest. Abraham bought a burial plot because of his faith in the Lord. It is the first piece of land he owns in the land promised to him by the Lord. He buys it, instead of accepting it as a gift, because he trusts that the Lord will keep his promises. For Abraham, it is a deposit guaranteeing (looking forward with certainty) his inheritance (the land). In the same way the Holy Spirit is our deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. We know that we will be with Christ upon the new Earth because the Spirit is with us now. (Eph 1:13-14)

In Chapter 24 which we hopped over, the story starts to focus in on Isaac and Rebekah, his wife, provided by the hand of God, and we see that God is blessing Isaac, just as he had promised. As we read in 25:11 After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who settled near Beer-lahai-roi in the Negev.
Because the story has now moved on from Abraham to Isaac. Chapter 25 spends a few verses on the final years of Abraham – and that’s basically it. Abraham’s part in this tale is over, his job is done – but God’s plan – oh, that is just beginning! Wait and see what God will do! After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac.

Isaac marries Rebekah, the bride given by God. A bride who is once again barren – oh no, what will happen to God’s promise? Ge 25:21–22 Isaac pleaded with the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was unable to have children. And God remembers his promise: The LORD answered Isaac’s prayer, and Rebekah became pregnant with twins.

Those twins were Easu and Jacob. Jacob was a conniving sneak, as was Rebekah! And yet God chose him, despite the fact that he was the younger twin, despite the fact that he was a cheat and a thief and a liar, and Jacob receives the promises of God and birthright of the firstborn. God forgives and blesses sinners! Are we getting the message yet?
Jacob has two significant experiences: In Gen 28, in a dream he sees ladder between heaven and earth, and the Lord confirms the Abrahamic Covenant with him. The Covenant is the bridge, the way from earth to heaven, the Covenant which is fulfilled in Christ Jesus our Lord, whose outstretched arms ont eh Cross bridged heaven and earth as he gave his life so that sinners like us could be made righteous to be with the Righteous One, God Almighty.

Jacob’s second experience was when he received the name Israel. In a rather strange tale, Jacob wrestles with God (in Gen 32), and is renamed “Israel” which means “God fights” or “fights with God”, and is blessed, receiveing assurance that the Lord is with him and the Covenant is reaffirmed.

Israel then has twelve sons (unsurprisingly his wife Rachel was barren – oh no! But God again steps in to honour his promise). One of these sons was Joseph, and that brings me to my final point in setting the scene for Exodus.

3. Joseph, saviour of the world

8 Eventually, a new king came to power in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph or what he had done.

What had he done? Well, we already know that Joseph was one of the twelve sons of Jacob, from which come the twelve tribes of Israel. Joseph was Jacobs favourite son because he was Rachel’s son, and Rachel was his true love – his other wife Leah, and their two servants he slept with…out of duty, I suppose? The books of Israel’s history hardly ever stop to condemn what the characters are doing – like polygamy and adultery is bad. No, it just tells the story, unfolds the consequences of those actions. Jacob’s multiple sexual partners ended up with a bunch of brothers who hated Joseph, because he was the favourite. It didn’t help that Joseph had a dream that they would all bow down to him, including their father and mothers. This made them furious and so they plotted to kill him.

Out in the fields Joseph came to them, and they attacked him, tore off his coat of many colours – the special coat given to him by his father Jacob, and threw him into a pit while they decided how to kill him. At that time a group of traders just happened to pass by, and the brothers thought “why kill him, when we can make a bit of money”, and sold him into slavery. The traders took him to Egypt. Little did they know that there evil actions, their prostitution of brotherly love – even that God would use, and turn into salvation for the whole world, including them!

Joseph learned humility as a slave, and worked hard for his new master, Potiphar. But Potiphar’s wife wanted to have sex with him, and when he refused, running away (good job Joseph), she falsely accused him of sexually assaulting her, and so he was thrown in jail, wrongly accused. But God had not forgotten him. At the right time he was brought before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, because of a dream he had. None of the wise men of Egypt could understand it, but God gave Joseph understanding: there would be a famine in the land, and this is how they were to prepare for it. Pharaoh was so amazed that he raised Joseph up to the highest position in the land, and gave Joseph charge over the preparations for the famine.

The severe famine came to the lands, lasting for seven years, but because of Joseph, Egypt was blessed and suffered no ill effects of the famine. People from the lands around came to Egypt for food, including, would you believe it, Joseph’s brothers! They came to ask him for food, but they did not recognise him, until he told them who he was. Joseph forgave them, understanding that what they had intended for evil, God had worked for good. There was great joy as the family was reunited by the love of God.

So that is what v8 is talking about: Joseph, the saviour of Egypt, and indeed, the world. But there is more to Joseph’s story.

Joseph was rejected by his own people, betrayed by his brothers for twenty pieces of silver, unjustly punished by the Gentiles for crimes he did not commit, but he was not forgotten by God, but exalted to the highest place in all the land where he saved the whole world. Sound familiar?

Philippians 2:6–11 Though [Christ Jesus] was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. 7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, 8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. 9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honour and gave him the name above all other names, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

God gives us these patterns, these foreshadowings, so that when Jesus appears we will recognise him as the Christ. Here he is, the man of sorrows, rejected, unjustly condemned, but now raised up, the saviour of the world!

God reveals his glory to us through real events and people in history. Abraham, Joseph, now Moses and the people of Israel – and supremely in Jesus of Nazareth, his son, our Lord and Christ (Messiah).
So have no fear, the Lord is in control. He is ruler of history, and all things are moving towards one goal: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. Eph 1:10

Genesis 23, 25:1-11 A blessed life

Genesis 23
Genesis 25:1-11

We have reached the end of our journey with Abraham, and what a journey it has been! We’re going to spend a few minutes on these final chapters, rounding off the story, and then we’re going to have an interactive review of Abraham’s story – so put your thinking caps on! – and I will end off by reminding us of the BIG things we have learned from Genesis 11-25: Abraham the man of Faith – or perhaps more correctly: God: The God of Blessing!

Chapter 23 tells us of the death of Sara at the ripe old age of 127, her final 30 years being full of joy and blessing watching her son grow to be a man. Her own son Isaac, born to her in impossible circumstances. God had blessed her as he had promised, and turned her sadness into laughter.

But what is significant in this chapter is the story which takes up the most time: buying the land. Because this is a purchase of faith. Abraham is not content to receive it as a gift, or even for a discount – he pays full price (perhaps even more than full price) – so that he secures it for his descendants after him.

Why is this a purchase of faith? Because Abraham is buying this land trusting that one day God’s promise will be fulfilled and that his descendant will live in THIS land, this place. He’s saying this is where my wife will be buried, this is where I will be buried, for this is where my family will live for generations after me.

Note the careful structure and attention to detail in this chapter. In v 6 Abraham is called an “honoured prince” literally it reads “you are a prince of God”. They recognise God’s blessing in his life, and the author reminds us of this: Abraham was blessed by God. Abraham then stands and bows low (v7) – here comes an important request: “I don’t just want a place to bury my wife – I want a burial plot – I want some of the land.”

He does not want to borrow a tomb, or even be gifted a tomb, as the gift would eventually revert back to the family who gave it.

He does not even want to pay less than fair price, as this could also lead to problems in future. What if Ephron’s descendants became poor? They might look back upon this “foreigner” as having cheated them out of the land, and so claim it back.

No, Abraham wanted to OWN the land, a symbol of his trust in the promise of God. And he bought it with the wealth that God had provided. God, the great giver of gifts, the keeper of promises.

And after some very polite negotiation “no take it for free” “no I will buy it” “it’s worth 400, but I’ll give it to you for nothing” “here’s 400” “deal” – and Abraham has a significant symbol of the promise of God.

It’s a little bit like the prophet Jeremiah buying a plot of land just before Jerusalem’s destruction by the Babylonians. Their army was right outside, land was worthless – but Jeremiah buys it. Why? Because he believed the word of the Lord, that in 70 years they would return to the land and be restored. It was a symbol of his faith in the Lord’s word.

With us too, the way we spend our money reflects how we trust the Lord. Are we building up treasures in heaven, giving money to support gospel work, investing in people, their eternal destiny – or are we only concerned about the here and now, getting as much as we can. Remember – stuff here breaks, rots, falls apart, needs maintaining – but our heavenly treasure lasts forever.

So Abraham buys a burial plot because of his faith in the Lord. In Chapter 24 which we hopped over, the story starts to focus in on Isaac and Rebekah, his wife, provided by the hand of God, and we see that God is blessing Isaac, just as he had promised. As we read in 25:11 After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who settled near Beer-lahai-roi in the Negev.
Because the story has now moved on from Abraham to Isaac. Chapter 25 spends a few verses on the final years of Abraham – and that’s basically it. Abraham’s part in this tale is over, his job is done – but God’s plan – oh, that is just beginning! Wait and see what God will do! After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac.

So let us say good-bye to Abraham as we look at v1-10 of chapter 25. He married again after Sarah’s death and had lots of children – but 5 Abraham gave everything he owned to his son Isaac. Isaac was the son of the Promise, the son of Abraham and Sarah. The sons of his “concubines” were looked after, but it was Isaac who was the primary heir. The Bible background commentary tells me that “The concubines, or secondary wives, of Abraham were Hagar and Keturah. Concubines were usually women who did not possess a dowry, and thus their children did not have primary rights to inheritance.” Basically, women from poorer families. Sara was probably from a wealthy family, perhaps even royal, since her name “Sara” means “princess”. Hagar was a servant, and Keturah seems to have been from an ordinary family, certainly unable to pay a dowry to such a rich man as Abraham was at this stage! By calling Keturah a concubine in v6, the author reminds us that Isaac was the legal heir (the one who inherits everything), not her sons.

So Abraham had many happy years together with Keturah, his wife, and then the author tells us quite simply in v7-9, with no great song and dance that Abraham lived for 175 years, 8 and he died at a ripe old age, having lived a long and satisfying life. He breathed his last and joined his ancestors in death. 9 His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite. (the plot he bought back in chapter 23).

And that’s it. A long and satisfying life, full of the blessing of God. That blessing is now passed on to his son, Isaac, and the rest of the Bible traces that great promise of land, people and blessing, given to Abraham back in chapter 12 when he called him out of the land of Ur and set him on a new course, a new life, a new adventure, that would bless the world – the Bible traces that promise all the way through Moses, David, the prophets, and finally to Jesus.

Review of what we’ve learned. We’ll do it a little differently – Q&A-

Anyone remember the big promise God gave to Abraham in chapter 12: Promised three things: LAND, PEOPLE, BLESSING.

Land starting to be fulfilled: Symbol of the promise to come. Isaac, the miracle child, child of the promise, symbol of promise to come. And links in to previous promise in 3:15 of a serpent crusher. For the world was cursed through Satan’s work, but the descendant of Abraham would bless the world.

Blessing – wow, big time fulfilled. But how, how can God bless a sinner? Big questions throughout Genesis 11-25. And indeed through the whole Old Testament. That tension of a holy God meeting with unholy people is somewhat explained by the sacrificial system and Temple – but even OT people understood it was not enough. The tension only relieved finally in Christ. Christ the meeting place between God and man, the true Temple, the true sacrifice.

There are many things we could draw from this story.

There is the lesson of Lot, who abandons the blessing of God centred on Abraham, and ends up piercing himself with many sorrows. And often we can live a sort of “Christian” life like that. You probably know people like that – maybe you are like that or have been. I was. A life lived in disobedience, or in lip service, going through the external motions, but keeping your distance from God, not letting him be God in all of your life. And we pierce ourselves with many sorrows. Lot’s end was tragic: he lost all his wealth, his city was destroyed, his wife was turned to salt for disobedience, he ended up a strange old hermit living in a cave, and his own daughters raped him. Yuck. Why didn’t he just go back to Abraham?
If you’re doing a Lot – turn back to Christ, give yourself fully to him. The alternative is full of sorrow.

There is the story of Hagar, the servant girl. Her voice ignored by everyone – except God. Used and abused by everyone – but God hears her cry, sees her, seeks her out and restores her. If that’s you – unseen, unheard, unimportant, used – God sees you. Cry out to him, and he will answer. His mercy is everlasting, and his shoulders are big enough to bear your pain.

There is the great promise of land, people, blessing, the world being blessed through Abraham’s descendant – and as we trace this promise through the Bible this descendant turns out to be Jesus, son of Abraham, son of David, who says in Acts 1:8 You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. The Gospel; the great blessing of God. That he took our punishment for sins, and we take his place (it’s a swap) – his Holy Spirit comes to live IN US – that’s how close we are to God! Blessing. We, the church, are called his PEOPLE, and our country, our LAND, is Heaven itself, the New Creation, a city which is called “the Lord is There” (Ezekiel 48:35).

There is the sure judgement of God on sin. He is patient, but for those who refuse to repent his anger will burn against them. The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were full of wickedness, and “a great outcry had reached the Lord, because their sin [was] so flagrant.” (18:20) – and the Lord moved in terrifying judgement and the cities were consumed with fire and sulphur and the land was laid bare. There is no hope for those who remain in rebellion against God. It’s no joke. His judgment is real. Hell is real. It is a severe warning, given time and time again. So if you don’t know God, if you are living in ignorance of him, or in outright rebellion – repent. If you have not accepted Jesus as both Lord and Saviour – do it now. The alternative is horrifying.

And that leads us to the one major point that hits us time and time again through this story, and indeed through the whole Bible. It is the heartbeat of God, the heartbeat of the Gospel, and it is our hope and our salvation.

It is this: God blesses sinners.
Abraham’s story tells us repeatedly that God blesses sinners.

If we turn to him, he will forgive us, he will bless us, for God blesses sinners.
For Abraham is not perfect, not by a long shot. Like almost all the other “heroes” of the Bible he has significant flaws! He lied, he was selfish, he was a sexual sinner, he made mistakes, he almost threw away the blessing of God (as if he could!) – in short he was a lot like you and me: an imperfect person, who is inconsistent in faith at best, who struggles to trust God, and who sometimes makes a massive mess of things. And yet God says “In you all the nations of the earth will be blessed”. And God says “I declare you righteous” (Abraham believed God, and he credited to him as righteousness 15:6).

Of course, Abraham never understood HOW God could bless sinners. He simply had to have faith and trust that when God said “I will bless you” that he meant it. But we know. We know that it was through the death of Christ. We know that Rom 3:25 God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past (like Abraham), 26 for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.

Abraham’s hope was in Jesus. Even though he didn’t know Jesus by name, he trusted in God’s plan to forgive his sins and open the way to bless him eternally. That’s why Jesus said that “Abraham rejoiced to see my day” (John 8:56). Abraham trusted in the future hope of Jesus, that through him God would bless sinners like Abraham, and like you and me.

Ro 5:6–11 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. … God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners… So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.

Friends, in Christ we are blessed like Abraham was. We are his children. God blesses sinners!
Beloved child of God, do not be afraid, trust your Father. Love him, and rejoice! Your sins are covered, your life is blessed, your eternal destination is secure. We will be with him forever. Amen.

Come Lord Jesus, come. Amen.

Genesis 22. The Father gives up the Son

Genesis 22.

“Abraham. Sacrifice your son Isaac.”

It’s pretty brutal isn’t it.

Here’s Abraham, enjoying the fruits of a life lived under God’s blessing. His son Isaac, growing before his eyes. His son Isaac, strong, a boy becoming a man. His son Isaac, the one who will inherit the very promises of God given to Abraham. His son Isaac, the son of the Promise.

You can imagine him and Sarah, sitting outside their tent, satisified, content. Enjoying the fruits of God’s blessing. Life is good.

And then God says 2 “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”

Oof. Like a blow to the body. The world goes dark. Panic rises in the throat. “Did God just ask me to give up that which I love most in this world? Did he ask me to give up that which is most precious to me? Did God ask me to sacrifice my son? To watch him suffer and die?

I cannot do this! Why would God ask me to do this? It must be wrong. He cannot require this of me.”
Abraham, take your son, your only son, and go.

God. No! No! I cannot do this.

He looks into Sarah’s eyes and her eyes tell the same story “No, Abraham, no. You cannot.”

And then he looks around at all that he has: his flocks and his herds, his servants and workers, his many tents, his vast wealth – all this he has received from the hand of God. It is a gift.
He looks at the land promised to him. It is a gift. He looks at his son. The greatest gift of all. He is a gift. All gifts from the hand of the Lord.

“Shall I refuse to give back to God what he has so generously given me? Shall I stand in judgement over the commands of God? Shall I determine what is right and wrong, placing myself over God – just like Adam did in Eden? What do I really love? What do I value the most? The gifts, or the Giver of the Gifts?”

The Bible has a word for that: it’s called idolatry. Putting something before God.
But idols are little wooden or stone statues aren’t they? I don’t worship those! Ah, but idolatry in the Bible is a heart matter, not just an external matter. Idolatry is best defined as loving something other than God in the place of God. Letting something else take first place, central place, in your life. And that will never work. For the guys at the Man in the Mirror, you remember the wheel illustration, with Christ at the centre. He is our hub – take him out, and the whole wheel collapses.
We are designed to have God at the centre – without him, everything goes wrong. Just look at our world. Look at our churches that have drifted from the gospel and have tried to replace the Living God with tame religion. They are full of angry, arrogant people, self-righteous - or defeated, sad people, worn-out from the burden of guilt they carry.
Idolatry is valuing the gifts more than the Giver of the gifts. Loving God for what we can get from him rather than He himself. And if we do that, we’re a Dudley Dursley.

Dudley Dursley is a character in the Harry Potter books and films – he’s Harry’s selfish cousin. And in the first film we are introduced to Dudley on his eleventh birthday. Dudley has been given 36 presents. 36! His reaction? “36? But last year I had 38….” – tells us everything we need to know about him. Ungrateful. Selfish. No thankfulness, no joy, just greed.

And that’s what we are like when we value what God has given us more than we love God himself. Psalm 73:25 says this Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. 26 My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.

God is enough.

When tragedy strikes and that which I value so much is taken from me. God is enough.

When illness robs me of my ability to do what I want when I want. God is enough.

When God keeps saying no to my prayers which seem so right to me. God is enough.

When pain racks my body. God is enough.

When God calls me to leave my country and go to a spiritual wasteland. God is enough.

When my baby boy dies in the womb. God is enough.

When he strips away all I hold dear and all that remains is him. God is enough.

God is enough.

Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. 26 My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.

And so 3 The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac. Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about. God is enough.

That’s faith. That’s trust. “I don’t understand this, God. Everything in me says that this is wrong. But I know that I am warped by sin – I cannot see things clearly. I know that I am bound by time and circumstances – I don’t see the full picture. I know my selfish and comfort-seeking heart is always pulling me in the wrong direction. So I will quiet the noise in my head and say “I trust you.””

21 Then I realized that my heart was bitter, and I was all torn up inside. 22 I was so foolish and ignorant— I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you. 23 Yet I still belong to you; you hold my right hand. 24 You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny. (Ps 73 again)

This story here in Genesis blows apart the nonsense of the prosperity gospel: God wants you to be healthy and wealthy. No! He wants you to be utterly consumed with him. He wants you to depend on him in everything.
This story destroys that stupid saying “God will never test you beyond what you can bear”. Of course he will! Who can bear this?

HE will ALWAYS test us beyond what we can bear because we are designed to rest on him, not on ourselves. We cannot bear the weight of living in this world. We cannot bear the sorrows of a fallen world – just watch the news. It is heartbreaking. Who can bear it? Only God. We cannot bear the thought of our own sinful, self-justifying, self-absorbed hearts. My heart is bitter, I am like a senseless animal before you God. I cannot bear it.

No. God will always test us beyond what we can bear so that we stop trusting in ourselves and so trust in him. Faith in God, living faith, active faith, is the antidote to idolatry.

That’s why Abraham is one of the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11. James explains it like this in James 2:21–24 Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete. 23 And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” He was even called the friend of God.

My parents have a saying which I have found immensely helpful for many years: hold loosely to things. Even good things. Not let go. But don’t hang on so tight that that thing, that person, that relationship, whatever it may be – don’t hang on so tight that that becomes your God, your idol, your central thing. For what will you do when God in his grace takes that away from you (or threatens to)? There is only One that matters most in this life, and that is Christ Alone. Hold on to him (or more properly he will hold on to us), and cherish and be thankful for all the good things he has given, but hold loosely, hold loosely and never forget Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth.

I discovered this week that my parents weren’t the first to say “hold loosely to things”. The great preacher George Whitefield preaching on this passage says this “Learn, O saints! From what has been said, to sit loose to all your worldly comforts; and stand ready prepared to part with everything, when God shall require it at your hand….let [Abraham’s] example encourage and comfort you. O think of the happiness he now enjoys, and how he is incessantly thanking God for testing him when here below. Look up often by the eye of faith, and see him sitting with his dearly beloved Isaac…. Remember, it will be but a little while, and you shall sit with them also, and tell one another what God has done for your souls.”

God is enough.

But that may have raised a question in your mind. Especially if you are being called to give something up, to move out of your comfort zone – this will be your defence: it’s not fair. God doesn’t understand. What kind of God can do this? Cruel, unfeeling God.

How often have we heard the statement “I can’t believe in a God who allows x”. Or “I went through <this terrible thing> and my faith was destroyed”

We can answer rather brutally with “who are you to stand in judgement above God – are you more God than God, seeing all things, knowing all things?” and “maybe your faith was in the wrong God, the God of your imagination rather than the real God of the Bible” – now those are true answers but they are head answers, and the pain is felt here, deep within. “I have lost my grandchild, my heart is broken. How can God allow this?”

And the answer to their pain is shown in this story.

For we find that the One who tested Abraham to sacrifice his son, only to rescue him at the last instance is the One who sacrificed his own Son, with no thought of rescue.

See, the God who makes these demands of us, we find out is the God who has travelled this road and beyond. He has gone before us so that at the moment when death will overwhelm us, when evil will destroy us, when sin and suffering will have its victory – at the moment when we lie on the altar ready to pay for our sins – at that moment God cries out “stay the knife!” and we are lifted tenderly from our place of suffering, and Jesus takes our place, the substitute ram, the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. He takes our place, and the knife plunges in, and in agony he dies. The Father gives up his son. The son gives up his life. Oh what infinite glory!

The answer to all the riddles is here, in this foreshadowing of the Cross.

6 So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them walked on together, 7 Isaac turned to Abraham and said, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “We have the fire and the wood,” the boy said, “but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?” 8 “God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham answered. And they both walked on together. 9 When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. 10 And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice. 11 At that moment the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Yes,” Abraham replied. “Here I am!” 12 “Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.” 13 Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14 Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the LORD will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”

On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided. And it was. 2000 years later, probably on this very same mountain, the Son of God provided a way out for all who trust in him. The Father sacrificed his Son in order to bring many sons to glory.

See the willingness of Isaac to be the sacrifice, as Jesus says “No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again.” Jn 10:18
Isaac carried the wood up the mountain as Christ carried his Cross. He did not struggle or fight, but was silent, as was Christ as he was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. Isa 53:7

The willing sacrifice.

But here the comparison ends. Because Abraham raised the knife – but God calls out “stop” – and Isaac is rescued. But for Jesus there is no rescue because HE is the rescuer. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. This is why he set his face like flint towards Jerusalem. This is why he sweated blood in the garden in prayer and cried out “not my will Father, but yours”. It is this moment for which he came, this is the hour in which he will bring glory to the Father by completing the work he came to do, and the Father will glorify him with the glory he had before the world began. (Jn 17:1–5). This is the moment when Heaven is silent. As Jesus hangs on the cross there is no shout of “STOP”. There is just love, incredible love keeping Him there on the cross, keeping the Father from crying out “enough” – and instead we hear those words “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me”. Words of absolute pain as suffering as he who knew no sin became sin for us. Our sins pressed down upon his shoulders.
But it is also a mighty declaration of who he is, those words quoted from Psalm 22, the Psalm of the KING. Here, O Israel is your King, victorious in death, rescuing in weakness, triumphing over Satan and sin in agony and humiliation. Here is our God.

What have you experienced that can compare with that? Have you ever heard of such a thing? Such love – going to such terrible lengths to rescue your enemies from a fate we deserve? It is unthinkable.

So remember the Cross next time you have devilish thoughts of “it’s unfair. God is unfeeling. God is cruel.” He is not pushing you on to the road of suffering – but he is standing ahead of you, calling out to you – do not be afraid, I have gone on ahead. I have cleared the way. All will be alright in the end. And his strong, scarred hand will reach out in the dark and grasp yours.
God is enough. In the darkness and pain, God is enough.

Whitefield again: “Remember, it will be but a little while, and you shall sit with [Abraham and Isaac] also, and tell one another what God has done for your souls. There I hope to sit with you, and hear this story of his offering up his Son from his own mouth, and to praise the Lamb that sits upon the throne, for what he has done for all our souls, for ever and ever.”

Genesis 22: Regeneration

Genesis 22

What would you do if God told you to give up that which you treasure the most?

What would you do if God commanded you to do something that sounded… completely wrong?

That’s what we’re going to look at today:
1. God’s ridiculous command
2. Obedience brings rewards
3. Regeneration

What would you have done if you were Abraham, and heard God say

1. God’s ridiculous command (the test)

Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith. “Abraham!” God called. “Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.” 2 “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”

Can you imagine hearing such a command from God? Can you imagine the confusion, the inner turmoil? Really? Really God? That is what you want me to do?

The author makes it clear what is going on: “God tested Abraham’s faith”. This is a test – the death of Isaac was never God’s intention. This is a test for Abraham to uncover what he loves: does he love God, or does he love what God gives him? Does he love God? Does he trust God?

“Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much”

Abraham’s response is remarkable. 3 The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac. Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about.

That’s faith in God. The story doesn’t tell us what Abraham was feeling – the conflicting emotions, the worry, the hope that God would rescue – it just tells us what he DID. He obeyed. He obeyed quickly. God’s word sounded ridiculous – but it was God’s word. And so he listened. That’s what Abraham did. But what about me?

How often does God’s word sound ridiculous to us. Forgive, do not take revenge. Pay your taxes. Honour the government. Keep sex for marriage only. Submit to your husband. Love your wife as Christ loved the church – sacrifice yourself for her! (“Seriously, God, have you MET my wife”, some might say). God’s ways so often run counter to ours. For we say take revenge. It’s a dog eat dog. Get away with what you can. Politicians are swine. Sex isn’t special, it’s just a need that people have like eating so eat wherever you find food. SUBMIT???? Hahahaha. Sacrifice for your WIFE? Are you crazy. And so on.

What is it that you struggle with? What part of God’s word do you carefully avoid? Or pretend you haven’t heard? Or try to explain away with a great number of words?

This is where the rubber hits the road – this is where your faith is revealed to be genuine or not: NOT where YOU agree with God, but where God’s word and your word are opposed.
Will I submit? Or will I follow my own path.
Who’s really God in my life? God? Or me?

Your obedience reveals your faith. Your trust reveals your heart. Listen to Abraham’s heart.

4 On the third day of their journey, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 “Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told the servants. “The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back.”

In Heb 11:17 It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, 18 even though God had told him, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.” 19 Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again.

God can do the impossible – even raise someone from the dead. So Abraham had full confidence in the God who keeps his promises. That’s what we saw last week, that God keeps his promises – he kept his promise to Abraham of the miracle son, Isaac. He kept his promise to Hagar and Ishmael, to hear their cry and to look after them. And he will keep his promise to bless the whole world through Abraham and his son Isaac.

Abraham knew that Isaac was part of God’s promises, and so knew that if he died, God would, must, raise him back to life again. Only through the resurrection life of the son could the world be blessed.

He knew the character of God. He knew God’s promises. And so he was able to act in faith, in full confidence that, no matter what happened, we will worship there, and then we will come right back.

He trusted God’s word, ridiculous as it seemed, because he knew God.

That is why we gather together on Sundays and on Wednesdays to read the Bible together. If we do not read God’s word we will not know what he is like, what he says, who he is. And if we do not know him, we can never obey him in joy and gladness. Our Christian lives will be crippled. How can you trust someone you do not know?

6 So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them walked on together, 7 Isaac turned to Abraham and said, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “We have the fire and the wood,” the boy said, “but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?” 8 “God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham answered. And they both walked on together.

Wow. Can you imagine the emotions raging through Abraham as his beloved son asks him “where is the sacrifice?”. And think of the amazing control, the amazing faith in the God whom he knows, to answer “God will provide”.
Not surprising that when they did return from the mountain, Abraham called that place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the LORD will provide”) (v14).

Abraham knew God, and so trusted him.

What about you? Do you know God? Do you trust him? What are you doing to get to know God? Have you asked him?
And if you do know him, are you obeying him as God, no matter what? He is God, and I am not. Where am I avoiding obeying God?

2. Obedience brings rewards

The result of Abraham’s obedience is a restatement of the promises made to Abraham back in chapter 12, and repeated in chapters 13, 15, 17, and 18, - but this time with a difference. Did you notice it?

15 Then the angel of the LORD called again to Abraham from heaven. 16 “This is what the LORD says: Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that 17 I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies. 18 And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me.”

Because you have obeyed me. All the nations of the earth will be blessed – all because you have obeyed me. Wow.

Now, at this point I’m going to share with you some “deleted scenes” from this sermon. Like on a movie when they cut out scenes that are wrong or just didn’t fit the movie – these are the deleted parts of this talk – the bits left on the cutting room floor. Try and see why I would have cut these out.

“At last we see the reason why God chose Abraham. His heart is finally revealed as a heart that obeys. And because he obeys, God could go ahead with his plan.

God didn’t know if he could use Abraham. After all, in verse 12 the angel says “now I know that you truly fear God”. Lucky God. Because if Abraham didn’t fear God, if he hadn’t obeyed – well, the nations would not be blessed. God would have to try to find someone else, someone worthy of being chosen by God.”

That’s one deleted scene. You could call it the Armenian version: the God who does not know, the dependant God.

But there’s another deleted scene, similar but a bit different.

“We know that in chapter 15 after God had given Abraham the promises Abraham believed God and he was credited with righteousness. But now Abraham had a test to pass. Fail it, and he was out – pass it and all the blessings of God were his. He was blessed because he obeyed. So shape up, Christian! Pull up your bootstraps and try harder. Otherwise you’ll find yourself out on your ear.”

This deleted scene you could might call that the “try-harder” version. Like the first deleted scene, it’s found in many, many Western churches, and we in Norway have not been spared: God opens the door with salvation, but the rest is up to you. Be a good boy, try hard, and God will like you.

But those are the deleted scenes. Because that’s not the gospel – and not actually what this story teaches us.
Because this story is NOT the beginning of Abraham’s story. It is NOT the only story in the book of Genesis. It does not stand alone. False teachers love to rip stories (or even better, single verses) out of their context and use them to make God say what they want him to say. V18 is a great example of a verse that you can rip out of context and make is say whatever you want.

The thing is that chapter 22 is CHAPTER 22 – and we’ve had 10 other chapters before this informing us of the relationship between God and Abraham. And we have learned that Abraham is a total sinner! God doesn’t love Abraham because he obeys him! God loves Abraham because he loves Abraham by grace alone. Abraham is weak in faith, disobedient to God, abuses Hagar, commits adultery against his wife, and then sends his son Ishmael and Hagar into the desert to die. No, we’ve seen time and time again that Abraham is saved by grace – yes - and continues to be blessed by grace and grace alone.

It has NOT been dependant on his performance. The try-harder version is wrong. How often has he failed yet been blessed anyway, simply because God had promised to bless? God keeps his promises.

And his promises are secure. The idea of God not being in control of the future – whether he limits his view somehow or whether he lacks power – if he is dependent on finding out what people are really like to see whether his plan works or not – how could we ever trust him? His words would be flimsy, fickle, changeable – just like ours.

And that’s not the God we have met through the life of Abraham, is it? We’ve seen threat after threat to God’s promises rise up – only to be simply dismissed, swatted away like nothing. His words are secure, unshakeable.

So if this isn’t telling us that God doesn’t know the future, or that God is waiting for us to slip up and fail a test then he’s going to get us – what does it mean? Well, it’s about

3. Regeneration

Regeneration means that we are being transformed, changed from the inside out to be more like God. And as we are changed we are drawn up into God’s plans for the salvation of the world: revealing Christ through us to those around us. It’s all about him.

16 “This is what the LORD says: Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that 17 I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies. 18 And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me.”

We are very strong on grace in this church. We understand the salvation is by grace alone, by faith alone, through Christ alone.
But we also understand that that grace makes demands on you. It is not cheap grace, pie in the sky when you die (that is, you’re forgiven in the future but there’s no effect on your life now).

James says faith without works is dead. Jas 2:17 So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. It’s not real faith.
A Christian life unaffected by the gospel is not a Christian life.

Why?
Because the Christian life is evidence of God’s Spirit at work in you.
If there’s no fruit, there’s no root.

James carries on Jas 2:21–24 Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete. 23 And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” He was even called the friend of God.

Abraham’s righteous obedience reveals that God is at work – that he has living faith. He was working out what God had worked in.
Same with us. We belong to Christ. And are now called to work out what God has worked in.

And as we obey – as we kneel in our room to pray (or pray as we are driving, or walking around Tinnemyra), as we share the gospel with a friend, as we hold our tongue with our wife, or happily change the tyres on the car, or put down the paper and “sacrifice” some time to engage with your kids, playing with them, talking with them, as we live as Christian men and women, treating people as eternal beings, infinitely valuable – as we do these things to the glory of God we find that we are lifted up into the very plans of God. We find that our actions, our words are what God is using to achieve his plans in the world. Me? Little old me? Part of God’s plan? Me, bringing glory to God. Yes, you.

Abraham, because you obeyed me, all nations of the earth will be blessed.

It’s like when was putting together our dining room chairs and tables. My kids were there helping me. Holding the legs in place. Screwing in the screws. Who built the chairs? Well, I did, of course. Without me the kids wouldn’t have got very far. I didn’t need their help. I would have achieved my purposes anyway. But because I love them, they joined with me, and so we built the chairs together. And they can say, in truth, “I built those chairs”.
Or like when we wash the car together. “I washed the car”. And they did.

Or I led this person to Christ. I prayed for them for years and God heard my prayer. That’s true! Because God is at work in you, your obedience is taken up to the throne room of heaven and you become part of God’s glorious work in the world!

Because you have obeyed me, all the nations of earth will be blessed.

Lift up your eyes! We are on a tremendous, world-changing adventure. And it starts right here.

Not because we are special, but because God is. And because he keeps his word. And he is at work in you.

So don’t be afraid to step out in obedience. Whatever it is that you have been avoiding, whatever command of his that you have been ignoring – repent now. Say “Lord, I trust you, I will obey you”. And you will not regret it. You will not be made a fool of. He will not let you down. Your obedience will ring true in the throne-room of heaven, another example of the grace of God placed in you being worked out in faith. And that little spark of obedience will be fanned into a flame of glory to God!

Wait and see what God will do. Abraham’s obedience blessed the whole world.

What will he do with yours? “Se hva som skjer!” Wait and see. Our obedience will change the world.

Genesis 21 God, the promise-keeper

Genesis 21

My wedding day was awesome. The loveliest, most godly, most adorable, most beautiful woman in the world walked down the aisle towards me. I took her hands in mine, gazed into her eyes – and made the most outrageous promises to her. Wedding vows are serious business! These are covenants, promises: I will be faithful to you no matter what. I will love you whether I feel like it or not. Through good times and bad, when you love me and when you hurt me, I will love you and stick by you. We are one, and only death can separate us.

That’s the kind of promise God has made to Abraham, to the people of Israel, and indeed to us. I will stick by you, no matter what. And because God is God, he really means it, and has the ability to see it through. No matter what the cost.
Easter is the celebration of His love – a love so vast, so huge, so unquenchable, that God goes to the cross to rescue those he has chosen to love. That’s us. Wow. The Wedding Feast will be amazing!

As it’s been a couple of weeks since we’ve been in Genesis I’m going to spend a few minutes reminding ourselves of the context of chapter 21: what is the journey we’ve been on with Abraham these last few months. And thinking about where we’ve come from in chapter 12, what struck me the most, what surprised me, is the subversive nature of Genesis. Subversive means: how it turns things on its head –it does what we don’t expect. We expect a story about a righteous man, a good man who impresses God, and as he grows in righteousness God blesses him more and more.
What we get is a sinful man who receives ALL of God’s blessings immediately, and then immediately proves he is a sinful man by lying, by not believing God’s promise, and creating a whole lot of trouble for the country he lives in (Egypt, back in chapter 12). But God blesses him. In the next chapter (13) he then tries to give away the land God promised him. But God blesses him, keeping His promise. Abraham then commits adultery with his wife’s servant girl, Hagar, and then he and his wife abuse her so badly she runs away to die. But God blesses him, reaffirms his covenant, and promises him a child.
The story is subversive. We keep thinking that we can earn salvation. We keep thinking that Abraham was a good man, and so God liked him. And Genesis keeps turning our expectations on their head. We cannot earn salvation. Abraham was a sinner, just like us. And God still loved him. God keeps his promises, even when we do not.

Genesis is an uncomfortable book to read (and to preach!) because it keeps messing up our neat theology (our wrong theology!). As I said a couple of weeks ago, when we looked at chapter 20, Abraham is annoying. He’s received all the promises of God, has met personally with God, has even played the role of Jesus, pleading with the Father for mercy on the city of Sodom – and then he goes right back to the same behaviour of chapter 12. Lying, prejudice, selfishness. Disappointing. Annoying Abraham.

But God is even more annoying, I said. Because instead of Abraham getting punished, getting what he deserves – he gets rewarded with sheep and goats and servants and money. It’s unfair!

And that’s the gospel.

The gospel is unfair. It’s by grace we are saved. It is unearned. And we stay Christian only by grace. It is unearned. It is God who is the hero, who is the promise-keeper. We are saved by GOD’s action, by GOD’s grace, by GOD’s decision, by HIS will, not ours. And we remain Christians, we remain blessed, because our standing before God is not based on OUR actions but on His.

This thread of the gospel runs the whole way through the story of Abraham. And next week we’ll look at a huge signpost pointing the way to the son of God giving his life as a sacrifice for sin as Abraham is asked to sacrifice his son as an offering to God. But this week? Well this week we see that God keeps his promises, even to sinful people. God’s word is dependable. We’ve seen that when he says he will judge, he will judge. Sodom found that out. We’ve seen that when he says he will rescue he will rescue: Lot found that out. And we’ve seen that when he says he will bless he will bless: Abraham found that out, Abraham will experience it again in this chapter – and Hagar will find that out. God keeps his promises.

We’ll start off with verses 1-7 the promise to Abraham fulfilled. Then verses 8-21 the promise to Hagar fulfilled. And finally v22-34 the promise of the land will be fulfilled.

1. Promise to Abraham fulfilled v1-7

The writer wants to make it clear that God is a promise-keeping God – and so reminds us three times in v1 and 2 that God keeps his promises: 1 The Lord kept his word and did for Sarah exactly what he had promised. 2 She became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. This happened at just the time God had said it would.

This is a direct fulfilment of the promise made in chapter 18, just before the destruction of Sodom. Flip back to 18:10 Then one of them said, “I will return to you about this time next year, and your wife, Sarah, will have a son!” Sarah hears this and laughs in disbelief and so in 13 the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘Can an old woman like me have a baby?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

Why was this promise such a big deal?
Firstly because Sarah had been barren her whole life – she had never been able to have children, even in her most fertile time of life. Secondy, because she’s now an old woman, past the age of childbirth. “Yeah, right, I’ll have a kid. Sure God. I’m a dried up old prune. Good joke at my expense.” Bitter laughter from Sarah.

But the last laugh is the Lord’s, as one year later out pops Isaac, the son of the Promise. Isaac, whose name means “he laughs”. 21:3 And Abraham named their son Isaac. 4 Eight days after Isaac was born, Abraham circumcised him as God had commanded. 5 Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born. 6 And Sarah declared, “God has brought me laughter. All who hear about this will laugh with me. 7 Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse a baby? Yet I have given Abraham a son in his old age!”

Who would have thought? God does the impossible, and keeps his promise. Is anything too hard for the Lord? Who would have thought that Sarah could produce a child? Who would have thought that God would keep his promise to Abraham and Sarah, despite their failings and rebellion and sin? Who would have thought that God himself would come down to our world, the true son of the Promise, be born in a stable, grow up to be a man, show us the Father in his life, in his power, in his teaching, in his compassion – and then take the road to Calvary, to hang accursed on a tree, to bear our sins, to taste death so that we can have life, eternal life! What a love! What a cost!

See, the birth of Isaac is the beginning of the fulfilment of the promise made in chapter 12:1-3 which ultimately is only fulfilled in Christ “The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”

Through Christ all the families on earth will be blessed. Right now, across the world, in large buildings, in underground caves, in homes, in village squares, under trees, in rich places, in poor places, in every country in the world people are meeting to praise God for rescuing them. Across the world our brothers and sisters are rejoicing that they have been saved by grace. They are celebrating that God keeps his promises, by not giving us what we deserve, but blessing us instead.

And Isaac’s birth is the first in a long line that leads to the son of God. For Jesus is a son of Abraham, a great-great-great grandson of the miracle child, Isaac.

God keeps his promises.

And to remind us that this promise is not limited to one people-group – a lesson the early church learned quite quickly in Acts 10 – the writer of Genesis quickly introduces Hagar’s story – and the promise that God keeps that he made to her. God promises are for all people. His mercy is available for all.

2. Promise to Hagar fulfilled v8-21

Hagar’s story starts off by reminding us that our “heroes” aren’t very heroic at all. Just in case we thought we could earn our salvation, you know, be good enough and then God will like us enough to let us into the Club for Very Nice People (aka the Church?). No, no, no. This is the Club for Forgiven Sinners Who Continue to Sin and Mess Up But Love and Accept Each Other Anyway Because God Does (in other words, the Real Church!).

And sometimes we really do strain our ability to forgive each other and really need the Lord to give us strength. Look at how Abraham and Sarah behave.

8 When Isaac grew up and was about to be weaned, Abraham prepared a huge feast to celebrate the occasion. 9 But Sarah saw Ishmael—the son of Abraham and her Egyptian servant Hagar—making fun of her son, Isaac. 10 So she turned to Abraham and demanded, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son. He is not going to share the inheritance with my son, Isaac. I won’t have it!”

Abraham is angry because he loves his son, but gives in to his wife’s demands after a word from the Lord, and sends Hagar and Ishmael out.

Why did the Lord expel Ishmael? Two reasons are apparent in the story: the first is in v12 But God told Abraham, “Do not be upset over the boy and your servant. Do whatever Sarah tells you, for Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted. Isaac is the son of the Promise, not Ishmael. The second is a play on words in the Hebrew: Ishmael in v9 is seen as laughing at Isaac, “he laughs”. He’s mocking his name, mocking his status, in a sense, mocking his position as child of the Promise. And since the blessing of God is following Isaac, not Ishmael, Ishmael is mocking God. 12:3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt.

So Ishmael is sent out to the desert – normally a death sentence. But Abraham had faith in the Lord’s words in v13 But I will also make a nation of the descendants of Hagar’s son because he is your son, too. And Hagar and Ishmael soon realise that God is a promise-keeper.

Remember back in chapter 16: the Lord seeks out Hagar, finding her in the desert waiting to die after the abuse at the hands of Sarah. The Lord meets Hagar, sees her when no-one else does, hears her prayer – and says name your son “Ishmael” (God hears). I love her response back in chapter 16:13. It’s beautiful 13 Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord, who had spoken to her. She said, “You are the God who sees me.” She also said, “Have I truly seen the One who sees me?”

The God who sees. Our God of mercy. And again, he sees them. Out in the desert, rejected, alone, God sees them.

16 Then she went and sat down by herself about a hundred yards away. “I don’t want to watch the boy die,” she said, as she burst into tears. 17 But God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven “Hagar, what’s wrong? Do not be afraid! God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. 18 Go to him and comfort him, for I will make a great nation from his descendants.”

God hears. Who did God hear? Not Hagar – but the boy. He may even have been praying, since the Hebrew simply says “God heard the voice of the boy.” (He was 14 at the time – for some reason I’ve always pictured him as a toddler, being left to die – but he was a young teenager, fully understanding what was going on.)

But the focus is not on him, is it? The focus is on God fulfilling the promise he gave Hagar back in chapter 16. Her son, Ishmael, “God hears”, just as Isaac brings laughter “he laughs”. At the time when all hope was lost, God heard their cry, and 19 God opened Hagar’s eyes, and she saw a well full of water. She quickly filled her water container and gave the boy a drink.

And I cannot help but be reminded of Rom 5:6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.

Hagar’s story is our story. Cast out from the place of blessing for our mockery of God. Separated from the promise of life. Utterly helpless to save ourselves. And Christ came at the right time and died for us sinners. He is the God who hears.

He keeps his promises. Happy Easter, indeed!

3. Promise of land will be fulfilled v22-34

Now for this final point I have to admit that I was really struggling to understand why it’s here in the story until I read this in one of the commentaries I have on Genesis.

“This treaty with Abimelech marked another small but decisive step towards the fulfilment of the promises. Under the treaty Abraham secured legal rights to a well near Beersheba. For a herdsman totally dependent on guaranteed access to water for his flocks this was a most important provision. This was the first foothold that Abraham secured in the land of Canaan. As a mark of his thankfulness to God Abraham planted a tamarisk tree and worshipped (33).”

It’s another indication that God keeps his promises – and the theme of this chapter, indeed, one of the major themes of Genesis and the Bible as a whole – clicked into place. As Abimelech says in v22 “God is obviously with you, helping you in everything you do,”.

God keeps his promises. God is with Abraham, as he is with us. We live in the realm of blessing. But, the best is yet to come.

For, like Abraham, we live with not all of God’s promises fulfilled. This chapter reminds us, repeatedly, that Abraham is living amongst the Philistines. He has a well at Beersheba, but that’s all. Even Isaac, the son of the Promise, is born amongst the Philistines, outside of the Promised Land. Again, our expectations are subverted: Abraham lives most of his days in exile.
Heb 11:8–10 puts it like this It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. 9 And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise. 10 Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.

How do we live in this world as aliens and strangers? How do we live waiting for the heavenly city? By faith. Like our father Abraham. And his story gives us strength as we see how God cares for those waiting to enter the Promise Land, the New Creation, with Christ Jesus coming with the clouds in power, the sword of his mouth judging all people, and the earth being remade. As we wait for our life who is Christ to be revealed – have faith. Trust God. He knows how to keep his promises.

v22 “God is obviously with you, helping you in everything you do,”. God kept his promise to Abraham of his son, Isaac. God kept his promise to Hagar and to Ishmael, to hear and to rescue. God keeps his promises, to be with his people of grace, to bless and not condemn. He is with us.

Mt 28:18 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

God keeps his promises.

Genesis 20: Abraham, a flawed Saviour

Genesis 20

We are saved by grace. We all know this. But salvation is one thing. After you are saved, you’d better pull up your socks, try harder, and start living right. God helps those who help themselves.

What a pile of unbiblical, Satanic, nonsense!

We are saved by grace. And we continue in grace. This story of Abraham makes that very clear! Abraham was a sinner, and even after he was saved back in chapter 12, and given the covenant, he still kept sinning. So the covenant had to be confirmed – chapter 13, 14, 15, 17…. God doesn’t say “damn it, Abraham, why did you lie about your wife, you’ve wrecked the covenant now.” Or “damn, why did you sleep with Hagar – your sin has stained you – I can’t use you now”. In this chapter again we see that despite Abraham’s sin, he is not damned by God, but blessed.

Why?

Because he lives under grace. We are saved by grace and we continue in grace. We live in the realm of GRACE. It is not our efforts that count, but the efforts of Christ Jesus. And he was perfect.

1. Abraham, the disappointment

The previous chapters have been pretty dramatic: God visiting Abraham personally with a great eternal promise. The promise of a son. Abraham playing the role of Jesus, interceding for mercy. A massive judgement on the rebellious, with Sodom. And Lot was saved because God heard Abraham’s prayer. Wow.

And this chapter is a total let-down! In many ways.
It’s not dramatic. Nothing seems to particularly happen (Isaac, the promised son, is only born in the next chapter). The story seems to be a repeat of the one in chapter 12, when Abraham lived in Egypt and the king of Egypt took Sarah as his wife.
And, quite frankly, Abraham himself is a let-down. I’m disappointed with him. “Abraham, how can you make the same mistake! You KNOW God now, you KNOW he will keep you safe. I had some sympathy for you back in chapter 12, but now? You just spoke with him face to face and he heard your prayer to save Lot. God listened to you! You’re blessed. Part of the covenant. So why are you lying and disbelieving God’s Word? C’mon Abraham!”

The big surprise in this chapter is that our “hero” becomes the anti-hero, and the “baddies”, the Philistines of Gerar, represented by their king Abimelech – he’s the hero! While Abraham is sneaking about, lying, being afraid, Abimelech is taking action, standing up for his people, obeying God, and blessing Abraham. Abimelech appears to be a better Abraham than Abraham!

2. Abimelech, the innocent

Abimelech is an innocent man, who listens to God, and obeys him. And the story is deliberately written in a way to contrast Abraham and Abimelech. Just look at v3-4

3 But that night God came to Abimelech in a dream and told him, “You are a dead man, for that woman you have taken is already married!” 4 But Abimelech had not slept with her yet, so he said, “Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation?”

Big echoes of Abraham’s conversation with God back in chapter 18. God comes to Abraham, and says “I will judge” and then Abraham says “Will you destroy the innocent along with the wicked?”

Both men are approached by God with tales of judgement to come, both respond with appeals to God’s mercy. Abimelech continues:

5 Didn’t Abraham tell me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘Yes, he is my brother.’ I acted in complete innocence! My hands are clean.”

And God’s response is shocking. Not so much for us, but for the original hearers of this story – the Jews (Israelites). The Philistines were the big baddies, the evil people who so often attacked Israel and enslaved them, particularly during the time of the judges. (Gerar was a Philistine town, and in the next chapter they are explicitly called Philistines).

6 In the dream God responded, “Yes, I know you are innocent. That’s why I kept you from sinning against me, and why I did not let you touch her.

Innocent? Protected by God? God, what do you think you’re doing? You can’t declare THOSE people innocent.

I feel there’s echoes here of the scandal of God choosing a Chaldean, a descendant of those who built the tower of Babel in rebellion against God – he chooses him – ABRAHAM – and declares him “righteous”. We forget how shocking any act of grace is. How undeserved.
And here we have Abimelech, the king of the hated enemy, declared “innocent” by God. Scandal! Read all about it! This would turn your prejudices upside down!

And even worse: He’s a good king, who’s concerned for his people. Hard to be prejudiced against him when he’s just so darned nice.

As I was preparing this, we got to chapter 10 of Acts in the Bible study. And wouldn’t you know – we meet another “evil pagan” who turns out to be a good man, a righteous man who loved God. Cornelius was his name, and he was a Roman officer. Not an Israelite. Not descended from Abraham. And yet had faith like Abraham in God. Just lilke Abimelech.

And the Apostle Peter in Acts had to learn that God can save Gentiles (non-Jews / Israelites) too. That the gospel is for all. That God really meant what he promised Abraham in Genesis 12: The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.

The blessing of Abraham is not just for a few, but for all. Roman soldiers like Cornelius, Philistine kings like Abimelech – even they can receive the mercy of God.

That is a lesson Abraham had to learn. That is a lesson Peter had to learn.

That is a lesson we must learn.

Peter thought the gospel was just for Jews – for the good people, the special people – until God saved Cornelius and his family. Gentiles! Eeew. How? Come on Wednesday to find out!

Abraham was just prejudiced against Abimelech and his people – look at v11 Abraham replied, “I thought, ‘This is a godless place. They will want my wife and will kill me to get her.’

Abraham, Abraham, not everyone is like Sodom!

Our problem is that we pretend that God is like us, and sees people the way that we do. That’s why we need to keep coming back to the Bible and seeing what he is actually like. Because he is NOT like us. We would save people we like. We are nice to people we like. To people who’ve been mean to us or hurt us we’re mean to them, because they deserve it; or at least ignore them. We don’t save them! We don’t come and die for them to rescue them!
God is not like us.

When we think about those God can save we tend to impose our thoughts on His. We think “they’re beyond reach”.
Why are there so few Christians in Notodden – probably less than 5%? One of the reasons certainly seems to be because Christians are not telling non-Christians the gospel! And you can feel it – I feel it – feel the pressure to keep it light, to not rock the boat. You can feel the resistance to the explosive power of the gospel.
And I am wrong to give in to that pressure. I am assuming that God is not at work in their hearts. I am assuming that God cannot save them. I am assuming that This is a godless place.

Just like Abraham, I am wrong. For God’s Word assures me that there are many Abimelech’s here, many who are ready to hear the gospel and be declared righteous.

Now I don’t know how to change that in me. I don’t know how to go about sharing the gospel. Do we just kick down the door of our neighbours houses and say “Repent and believe, Jesus is Lord!”?
But God knows, and so I can start by asking him. Asking him to change me so I can see people through his eyes. Asking him to give me opportunities to share the gospel, both in actions and in words. With the people I already know. The people I have relationships with.

The hardest is with people who are genuinely good people. Which, if truth be told, is most people we know here in Notodden! We live in a lovely town full of lovely people. But being good is not enough. And that’s the third surprise of this chapter, and my third point. Abraham was a disappointment, Abimelech was surprisingly good, but

3. Abimelech needs a Saviour

Goodness is not enough. His innocence is not enough. God agrees that he is innocent 6 In the dream God responded, “Yes, I know you are innocent.

But he’s still in danger:

7 Now return the woman to her husband, and he will pray for you, for he is a prophet. Then you will live. But if you don’t return her to him, you can be sure that you and all your people will die.”

Abimelech may be good, but he still needs a saviour. He still needs a mediator between him and God. The curse of living outside of the Garden of Eden still stands. The Fall has marked us all: we are under the curse of death, and no amount of being really good can change that.

17 Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants, so they could have children. 18 For the LORD had caused all the women to be infertile because of what happened with Abraham’s wife, Sarah.

Abraham, playing the role of Jesus, prays to God – and death is turned to life. The curse of death is lifted, and Abimelech and his nation will live.

We too are under the sentence of death. We too need a mediator between us and God. We need Jesus to turn our death to life.

That’s the message of the gospel. And it’s fantastic. It’s amazing. And it’s unfair.

4. The gospel is unfair

I really don’t like this story. Abraham is a disappointment, He moves away from the oaks of Mamre and goes to live in Gerar “as a foreigner” (v1). Why did he do that? We don’t know. But it certainly seemed to be a bad idea, and probably rebellious.

Then when he gets there he assumes everyone else living there are godless swine out to kill him, and lies and lies to protect himself – again risking his wife being married off to a foreign king. Foolish, disappointing, Abraham.

So Abraham’s annoying – but God’s even more annoying! Look at verses 14-16 with sheep and goats and servants and money. Isn’t that so frustrating? Why is Abraham blessed after his stupid behaviour? Abimelech should be getting the gifts!

As we’ve already seen in the previous chapters, it’s because Abraham is under God’s blessing. It’s something that GOD has decided, something that GOD does, based on GOD’s actions – not Abraham’s. And so, despite Abraham’s sin, he is blessed.
Despite his failings, he is blessed. In fact, whether Abraham does the right thing or the wrong thing – he is blessed. And that’s unfair.

And that’s the gospel.

We are saved by GOD’s action, not our own. We are Christians by GOD’s grace, by GOD’s decision, by HIS will, not ours. And we remain Christians, we remain blessed, because our standing before God is not based on OUR actions but on His.

Do we understand that when he looks at us he sees Jesus, the Christ? That we are judged not on the basis of our life but his? That’s what it means to be declared righteous by God, as Abraham was.

I am so thankful that the gospel is unfair. Because that means that I can be saved. And that means that anyone else I know can be saved – however unlikely. And that means that we will keep being saved until the end. We can no more fall out of God’s blessing than Abraham could – and he certainly seemed to try!

I am saved – not because of my actions, but because of Christ’s.
I stay saved – not because of what I do or don’t do, but because of what Christ has done.
My friend, neighbour, husband, wife, child, work colleague, boss can be saved – not by their actions, but because of what Christ has done.

It is good news. Not “here’s a list of rules to follow” or “be a better person than everyone else” or “try a bit harder” but: you are forgiven. Forever. You have passed the exam of life. You have a ticket to heaven, bought with Jesus’ blood.

Abraham was a disappointment, but blessed.
Abimelech was a good man, but still needed a Saviour.

On Friday I was walking to the bank and praying for Notodden as I went. I said to the Lord “I don’t know what to do. How do we reach so many lost people? How do we share the good news of Jesus when to so many it sounds like boring religion, a list of rues to follow: “Be good and God will like you.” How do we reach people who’ve been inoculated against Christianity?”

And God reminded me of this passage. Abimelech the Philistine, who meets with God, and is saved by Abraham. And surprising converts like Ruth, and Rahab the prostitute, and Saul, and Nebuchadnezzar. And me. And you.

God can save people. Not just people we like, not just people like us – but those we think are “godless”, and beyond reach. Those he can save. And the “good”. Those he can save. Anyone.

So let’s commit to pray: pray for our family, our friends, our workmates, our children. Because we need God to act.
And commit to share – share the gospel with those around you.

As we take communion now thank God that you are blessed, no matter what you’ve done or haven’t done, because Christ’s body was broken, his blood was shed, so that you can know him.
And then ask the Lord to show you one person that you could share this gospel with this week. Just one. Pray for them now.

And if you are Abimelech? Maybe you’re a good person, maybe not – but you need a Saviour. Without Jesus you will die. Now would be good time to pray to him in your own words, and ask him to save you.