2022-Q2-L8: The Promise

Read for This Week’s Study: Genesis 22, Heb. 11:17, Lev. 18:21, John 1:1-3, Rom. 5:6-8, Genesis 23-25, Rom. 4:1-12.

Memory Text: “Now Abraham was old, well advanced in age; and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things” (Genesis 24:1, NKJV).

Scriptures:

• Genesis 22, 23-25.

Three Worlds (Creation, Flood, Abraham) - or the Three Ages

• Repeating patterns, not exact, but similar. History may not necessarily repeat, but it rhymes.
• Promise of land and children and eternity.
• 1. Creation. Creation-Fall-Races. There are three sons and two races (Cain and Seth).
• 2. Flood. Flood-Vineyard (cursed and blessed sons)-Languages. There are three sons and (essentially) two races (Ham's and Shem-Japheth). The Tower is in line with God's purpose for mankind.
• 3. Abraham. Calling-Fall-Races. Abraham is called, then fails, then produces two sons, Ishmael and Isaac, which become two races.
• Altar building versus "tower" building. Adam (i.e. Abel) built an altar whereas Cain built a city. Noah built an altar after the Flood, whereas a century later the people built a city and a tower. Abraham builds altars for God and tents for himself. One is focused on God's NAME and the other is focused on personal greatness and recognition--i.e. let us build a NAME for ourselves.

Sabbath Rest and Creation

• The act of stopping is the greatest act of creation. Why? Because in stopping, you let go and contemplate. You let the creation do its thing. It's like a woman giving birth and weaning a child and then letting go and letting the child do its thing, become independent and free to act and live.
• This "letting go" is an essential part of the creative act. We create through the week and rest to contemplate and enjoy our acts of creation. We participate in God's work.
• As Christians we are co-ministers in the work of salvation. We have been given the ministry of reconciliation. We act, but we also must let go, we must let others choose for themselves.
• The act of giving is the act of letting go. It is the acknowledgment that we are co-creators with God and that ultimately He is in charge and that He is the ultimate source of all our creative potential. He provides the resources, the gifts, the brainpower, the strength to think and do.
• The Sabbath is like putting down the tools and saying, "I'm not tinkering any more." I'm going to sit back and enjoy the work done.
• The act of resting is the act of relating to the creation. You can relate to it in contemplation and in enjoyment and gratitude.
• A responsible creator is one who leaves room for ending the thing he has created. To say, "it is finished." I'm done with this and moving on.

SUNDAY. Mount Moriah. Genesis 22:1-12; Hebrews 11:17.

From the lesson: The meaning of God’s test is difficult to comprehend, however. This divine command contradicted the later biblical prohibition against human sacrifices (Lev. 18:21), and it surely seemed to work against God’s promise of an eternal covenant through Isaac (Gen. 15:5).

What, then, was the purpose of God’s calling him to do this? Why test him in such a powerful way?

The biblical notion of “test” (in Hebrew, nissah) embraces two opposite ideas. It refers to the idea of judgment, that is, a judgment in order to know what is in the heart of the tested one (Deut. 8:2; compare with Gen. 22:12). But it also brings the assurance of God’s grace on behalf of the tested (Exod. 20:18-20).

In this case, Abraham’s faith in God takes him to the point that he runs the risk of losing his “future” (his posterity). And yet, because he trusts God, he will do what God asks, no matter how difficult it all is to understand. After all, what is faith if not trust in what we don’t see or fully understand?

Also, biblical faith is not so much about our capacity to give to God and to sacrifice for Him — though that has a role, no doubt (Rom. 12:1) — but about our capacity to trust Him and to receive His grace while understanding just how undeserving we are.

This truth was reaffirmed in what followed. All the works of Abraham, his many zealous activities, his painful journey with his son, even his readiness to obey and offer to God the best of himself, however instructive, could not save him. Why? Because the Lord Himself had provided a ram for the intended sacrifice, which itself pointed to his only hope of salvation, Jesus.

Abraham must have, then, understood grace. It is not our works for God that save us, but it is instead God’s work for us (Eph. 3:8; compare with Rom. 11:33), however much, like Abraham, we are called to work for God, which Abraham’s actions powerfully embody (James 2:2 — 23).

Notes:

• Genesis 22:1: After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
• Genesis 22:12: He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
• Why did God test Abraham? If God knows everything, then why the test? God tested Abraham a number of times.
• 1. To show Abraham his true character.
• 2. To show others Abraham's growth in faith.
• 3. To show how God works and will work. Abraham was to teach others by teaching and example.
• Genesis 21:14: Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a container of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder; and gave her the child, and sent her away. She departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
• The struggle of faith is not what you know, but how you feel and what you don’t know.
• Abraham gave his son; Isaac gave his life.
• Abraham slow walk to performing the act. Three days walk. Long prayer—let this cup pass away but, if not.

MONDAY. God Will Provide.

Notes:

• Substitutionary atonement. My sin is imputed to Christ. Christ righteousness is imputed/imparted to me.
• 1 Peter 2:24: He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
• Isaiah 53:5: But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
• 2 Corinthians 5:21: For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
• Genesis 22:8: Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.
• Genesis 22:13: And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.
• Genesis 22:14: So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”;[Or will see] as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided [Or he will be seen].”
• Genesis 22:18: and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.

Notes (3ABN)

• How (and What) God provides:
• 1. Supernaturally.
• Philippians 4:19: And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
• 2. Through angels.
• Psalm 34:7: The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.
• 3. Care of others.
• Matthew 25:40: And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
• Galatians 6:2: Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
• 4. Strength through the journey.
• Isaiah 43:2: When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.
• 5. Peace in Him.
• Philippians 4:6-7: do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
• 6. Joy in His Presence.
• Psalm 16:11: You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
• 7. Healing.
• Jeremiah 17:14: Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise.
• 8. Salvation. It involves not only freedom from Guilt, but also the Power to overcome Sin.

TUESDAY. The Death of Sarah. Genesis 23:1-20.

Notes:

• She's worth something. You put out the best for someone who is worth something to you. Abraham gave to Sarah an amazing send off. She was laid to rest in dignity.
• Genesis 11:29. Sarai was with Abram when God called him.
• Genesis 12:1.
• God is my Ebenezer: Stone of help.
• 1 Samuel 7:12. Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen[a] and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, “Till now the Lord has helped us.”
• 1 Peter 3:5-6: For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, 6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.

WEDNESDAY. A Wife for Isaac.

From the lesson: Genesis 24 tells the story of the marriage of Isaac after Sarah’s death. The two stories are related. Just as Abraham wanted to acquire the land in order to bury his wife, because of God’s promise to his descendants that they would have this land, he now insists that Isaac not settle outside of the Promised Land either (Gen. 24:7). Also, Isaac’s move to bring his bride to Sarah’s tent, and the note that Rebekah comforted Isaac “after his mother’s death” (Gen. 24:67) point back to Sarah’s death, implying Isaac’s pain at the loss of his mother.

The story is full of prayers and fulfillment of prayers and rich with lessons about God’s providence and human freedom. It begins with Abraham’s words. Swearing by “the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of the earth” (Gen. 24:3, NKJV), Abraham is first of all acknowledging of God as the Creator (Gen. 1:1, Gen. 14:19), with a direct bearing on the births of Abraham’s descendants, including the Messiah Himself.

The reference to “His angel” and to “the LORD God of heaven” (Gen. 24:7, NKJV) points back to the Angel of the LORD who came from heaven to rescue Isaac from being slaughtered (Gen. 22:11). The God who controls the universe, the Angel of the LORD who intervened to save Isaac, will lead in this question of marriage.

Abraham leaves open, however, the possibility that the woman will not respond to God’s call. As powerful as He is, God does not force humans to obey Him. Although God’s plan for Rebekah is to follow Eliezer, she retains her freedom of choice. That is, it was possible that this woman would not want to come, and if not, she would not be forced to.

Hence, we see here another example of the great mystery of how God has given us, as humans, free will, free choice, a freedom that He will not trample on. (If He did, it would not be free will.) And yet, somehow, despite the reality of human free will, and many of the terrible choices humans make with that free will, we can still trust that in the end God’s love and goodness, ultimately, will prevail.

Notes:

• Sarah did at 127 (Genesis 23:1). Abraham was 137.
• Isaac was 40 when he married, and Abraham was 140.
• "kindness". Verses: 12, 14, 27,
• 12: He said, “Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, please give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.
• 14: Let it happen, that the young lady to whom I will say, ‘Please let down your pitcher, that I may drink,’ then she says, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink,’—let her be the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”
• 27: He said, “Blessed be Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his loving kindness and his truth toward my master. As for me, Yahweh has led me on the way to the house of my master’s relatives.”
• 49: Now if you will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me. If not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left.”
• 62: Isaac came from the way of Beer Lahai Roi, for he lived in the land of the South.
• Beer Lahai Roi literally mans “the well of him that lives and sees me” or “the well of the vision of life.”
• 63: Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the evening. He lifted up his eyes and looked. Behold, there were camels coming.
• Genesis 16:13-14: So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” [Or You are a God who sees me] for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.”[e] 14 Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi;[f] it lies between Kadesh and Bered.

THURSDAY. A Wife for Abraham.

From the lesson: It is also significant that Abraham behaves with Keturah’s sons the same way as he did with Hagar’s son.

FRIDAY. Further Thought: Because Abraham was the extraordinary prophet with whom God would share His plans (Gen. 18:17), God entered Abraham’s human sphere and shared with him, to some degree, His plan of salvation through the sacrifice of His Son.

“Isaac was a figure of the Son of God, who was offered a sacrifice for the sins of the world. God would impress upon Abraham the gospel of salvation to man. In order to do this, and make the truth a reality to him as well as to test his faith, He required him to slay his darling Isaac. All the sorrow and agony that Abraham endured through that dark and fearful trial were for the purpose of deeply impressing upon his understanding the plan of redemption for fallen man. He was made to understand in his own experience how unutterable was the self-denial of the infinite God in giving His own Son to die to rescue man from utter ruin. To Abraham no mental torture could be equal to that which he endured in obeying the divine command to sacrifice his son.” — Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 3, p. 369.

“Abraham had become an old man, and expected soon to die; yet one act remained for him to do in securing the fulfillment of the promise to his posterity. Isaac was the one divinely appointed to succeed him as the keeper of the law of God and the father of the chosen people, but he was yet unmarried. The inhabitants of Canaan were given to idolatry, and God had forbidden intermarriage between His people and them, knowing that such marriages would lead to apostasy. The patriarch feared the effect of the corrupting influences surrounding his son … In the mind of Abraham the choice of a wife for his son was a matter of grave importance; he was anxious to have him marry one who would not lead him from God … Isaac, trusting to his father’s wisdom and affection, was satisfied to commit the matter to him, believing also that God Himself would direct in the choice made.” — Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 171.