Sunday October 29 th 2017 The Word of God A Survey of the Bible Part Five Get Out..And Come 1). Mt 1:1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham: The beginning of the Gospel of Matthew sets out the genealogy of Jesus the Christ and starts with His lineage to David the king, the one to whom was promised a Son whose Kingdom would be established forever. And then further back to Abraham, the father of the nation of Israel, the one to whom the promise concerning his Seed was given - Ga 3:16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, "And to seeds," as of many, but as of one, "And to your Seed," who is Christ. a). And as we will remember the Christ came to the earth in His incarnation with a singular message, to a singular people, for a singular purpose - Mt 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Mt 15:24 But He answered and said, "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Ps 2:7 "I will declare the decree: The LORD has said to Me, 'You are My Son, Today [Lit. for this day ] I have begotten You. 8 Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession. b). Here then at the Lord s first advent was the offer of rulership from the heavens over the earth being given to a generation of eternally saved Jews, the only ones who could receive such an offer at that time. c). This offer was being made by the Christ, the One who has always been God - Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. THE WORD OF GOD PART 5 1
The One by whom all things were made and for whom all things were made, manifested in the flesh in the likeness of men, the promised Seed of the Woman. d). But, as we have seen in our past weeks of study the Christ s manifestation in the flesh is by no means random. e). He was born a Jew and as the scripture tells us - Heb 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And we see and have seen from our studies that for this to be a reality the nation of Israel, from God s perspective, has existed even from the foundation of the world. f). This is something we can also determine from - Re 13:8..the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The reference to the Lamb takes us to the Passover lambs, that which was given to Israel alone to slay, pointing us to the nation s existence even before the creation of Adam. 2). So then, God the Son, who was to be begotten for the 7 th Day, in order to rule in that Day, who must come through the lineage of Abraham and David the king, created the Man and the Woman on the 6 th day of the restoration of the ruined creation recorded in Genesis Chapter 1 so that the process that would make His incarnation possible would be set in motion. And the promise of His incarnation and the redemption it would bring was given immediately following Man s disqualification to rule - Ge 3:14 So the LORD God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel." And as we read these verses we see that the promise of the coming Seed is given to that serpent of old, making abundantly clear that the Seed of the Woman is the One who will remove Satan and his fallen angels as rulers over the earth. The coming Kingdom of Christ is at the heart of all and at the heart of the Kingdom is redemption. THE WORD OF GOD PART 5 2
a). But, as we have seen in previous studies, the fulfillment of this promise of a change in rulership requires process. A process that is initially seen in the 6 days of the redemption/restoration of the material creation leading to a 7 th day of rest foreshadowing the process by which fallen Man will be fully redeemed, spirit, soul and body, leading to that which the day of rest pictures Christ s Kingdom. b). This process is given further clarity through the building of the Wife for the Man from the rib taken from Adam s side, foreshadowing the process by which the Bride for the Seed of the Woman will also be built Joh 19:33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. c). And to accomplish this process God chooses to work through one man, Adam, foreshadowing the coming of the One Man, the last Adam, the Seed of the Woman, by whom and for whom all things have been created, Who is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. - Ro 5:19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous. d). Ge 4:1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, "I have acquired a man from the LORD."2 Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. Beyond their expulsion from the Garden Adam and Eve had 2 sons and in these 2 sons is another representation of that seen in - Ge 1:4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. As the light and the darkness existed together from Day 1 picturing the condition of redeemed Man having a redeemed spirit, but also possessing a sin nature, so Cain and Abel not only embody Adam and Eve s experience following their fall and the slaying of the animals to make tunics but also that of redeemed Man. Cain was a tiller of the ground, therefore a man of the earth, a worldly man, picturing our old man, our sin nature; whereas Abel was a keeper of sheep, a shepherd the title given to our Lord Joh 10:11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. THE WORD OF GOD PART 5 3
Abel therefore picturing the man of the spirit. e). And being the first shepherd, we cannot help but see Abel as a type of Christ - Ge 4:8 Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. f). Here is the foundational picture of the Good Shepherd [who] gives His life for the sheep. Here also is the foundational type for Israel killing their brother, the Christ and here is a stark warning of what will happen to the spirit man of the Christian if we remain in the world with the man of flesh. 3). Ge 4:25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, "For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed." Seth is the 3 rd son and we can see from Eve s words that she sees him as another seed the Seed of the Woman who comes out of the death of Abel this then is a picture of the Christ in resurrection, the Shepherd who gave His life for the sheep, demonstrating to us that it is only in resurrection power that we can overcome the man of the flesh. a). And it is of course through the lineage of Seth that our Lord comes. b). The number 3 is the number of Divine perfection as it is the number of the Godhead God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. c). Seth is a 3 rd son with whom the Seed is connected and it is through Seth, one man, that God will ultimately fulfill His purpose, but Seth is not the only 3 rd son to be seen after this fashion - Ge 9:18 Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan. Shem is Noah s 3 rd son and we will remember what we learn of Shem from the scripture Ge 9:26 And he said: "Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem, Shem is the only one of Noah s 3 sons who has a God and as we know, for the other sons to be blessed they must dwell in the tents of Shem. d). And it is through Shem, one man, that we come to yet another 3 rd son, another man through whom God will work to accomplish His eternal purpose - Ge 11:10 This is the genealogy of Shem: Shem was one hundred THE WORD OF GOD PART 5 4
years old, and begot Arphaxad two years after the flood. 11 After he begot Arphaxad, Shem lived five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.26 Now Terah lived seventy years, and begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Here we now come to Abram [Abraham] who is the third son of Terah and it is to this 3 rd son that God appears, and in this sense, Abraham like Shem, is the only son with a God. Each of these 3 rd sons then is the conduit through which the promised Seed will come as we saw from our second scripture this morning, with the focus on the number 3 pointing us to the fact that the Seed would be a part of the Godhead manifested in the flesh to dwell among men for the purpose of redemption leading to rulership. 4). Ac 7:2 And he said, "Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, 3 "and said to him, 'Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.' These are the recorded words of Stephen to Israel s religious leaders shortly before his martyrdom. And there are some things here that the Lord has recorded through Stephen s address that are worthy of note. a). Look at how he begins, The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham now it might be very easy just to gloss over this, but notice how God reveals Himself, the God of glory this is quite deliberate. b). This account of God s interaction with Abraham is the first recorded appearance of God to an individual since Adam and the Woman were driven from the Garden some 2000 years earlier and what was lost in the Garden? The glory. The glory connected to rulership in the coming 7 th Day Ps 24:7 Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. c). To appear as the God of glory, a Messianic title, is to reintroduce at this point in man s history the glory that had been lost and the redemptive process by which it will be regained, and this is seen connected to one man, Abraham, a 3 rd son, through whom this redemption would be accomplished in his Seed. d). All of course with a view to that future Day when the King of glory shall come in, the One who is also called the Lord of glory, when the glory THE WORD OF GOD PART 5 5
will have been restored with respect to Man through the redemptive process brought to completion by the Son of Abraham. e). We also see that God appears to Abraham while he is still in Mesopotamia, before he travels to Haran. And while still in the land of his birth God gives Abraham specific instructions as to what He wants him to do he is to Get out of his country, to Get out from his relatives and he is to come to a land that God would show him; he is to leave one place to go to another for a purpose. f). And we will remember from the Biblical Timeline that God s dealings with Abraham begin after 2000 years of human history have passed, or to say this same thing another way in the light of Peter - 2Pe 3:8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. It is on the 3 rd day that Abraham is called to leave the land of his birth to go to the land of his calling and in this Abraham, foreshadows the nation that will come from his loins. Israel, who will be removed from the Gentile nations and brought to the land promised to Abraham on the 3 rd /7 th Day. g). Then on another level entirely all Christians have received the same command given to Abraham so that the Lord may take them to the land of their calling on the 3 rd Day. h). And whether we look at Abraham, Israel or ourselves, there is a journey involved to take us to the fulfillment of God s purpose, or we could say, there is a process that must be completed. 5). Ge 11:31 And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram's wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there. 32 So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran. Here at the end of Genesis Chapter 11 we are given the initial account of Abram s departure from Ur of the Chaldeans and the beginning of Chapter 12 drops back to give further detail - Ge 12:1 Now the LORD had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless THE WORD OF GOD PART 5 6
you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." a). It is in these verses that we first see God s purpose in taking Abram to a land that He will show him For God to make Abram a great nation, for God to bless him and make his name great ; for Abram to be a blessing ; for God to bless those who bless Abram and curse those who curse him, so that in Abram all the families of the earth shall be blessed. b). Here are great and precious promises, but those promises are conditional Get out of your country, from your family and from your father s house. c). And the first thing we can note here is that God called Abram alone with respect to His command and the promises. Although still Abraham s family, God did not call Terah and He did not call Lot. It is Abram who is the recipient of the promises not his father nor his nephew one man, who has a God. d). In the Book of Hebrews, we can find additional commentary on this Heb 11:8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. We can see here that Abraham acted by faith when he was called to go out, showing us clearly that he was eternally redeemed prior to leaving Ur. e). He acted by faith, He believed that which God had said, but we see from the Genesis account that Abram s faith was not yet complete. He obeyed with respect to leaving Ur, but did not come out of his father s house and out from his family as we see both Terah and Lot going with him. f). And as result of this partial obedience Abram, Terah and Lot came to Haran and dwelt there. The journey to the land that God would show him stopped and at this point the promises were out of reach. g). Now, let s look at some of the symbolism for a moment. Abram was to Get out of Ur of the Chaldees and we would want to see Ur here in the same way that we see Egypt in Exodus a type of the world under the god of this world. The name Ur literally means flame symbolizing judgment and the Chaldeans were a pagan people embroiled in the worship of demonic idols. h). To put these 2 together we can see that Abram was to get out from a place picturing the world under Satan that could ultimately only bring THE WORD OF GOD PART 5 7
judgment, resulting in destruction as we will see later with the cities of the plain. i). And to bring this into our own experience we all received spiritual birth while residing in a world under judgment, under the sway of the wicked one, typified in Ur of the Chaldeans. j). And in this respect, we have received the same calling as Abram, Get out, so that God can take us to a heavenly land that He will show us. k). In that which happens after Abram left Ur we will also find spiritual truth for ourselves. l). Haran literally means parched, a dry place with an absence of water symbolically then a place devoid of the Word so that we may be neither washed nor sustained. And it is in this place that Abram dwelt for several years and where he had to stay until the death of Terah. m). Why was it that Abram was only partially obedient when it came to leaving Ur? - Pr 3:7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil. Simply, because he was wise in his own eyes. He did not sufficiently fear the Lord, he thought he knew better than the God who had given him spiritual life. n). And so, he is delayed [ the meaning of the name Terah] in a place symbolizing spiritual drought, a place where fruit cannot be produced Until. o). Until there is a death the death of Terah, who symbolizes the old man, the sin nature, the first birth. And the lesson to be learned from this is not hard to see to trust God completely necessitates the death of self and until and unless we are prepared to do this there can be no progress towards the land of our calling, we will find ourselves dwelling in Haran and this provides one facet of the overall picture. 6). Ge 12:4 So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. 6 Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land. When Abram finally left Haran, as the Lord had spoken to him, after the death of his father we see that Lot went with him. The complete detachment THE WORD OF GOD PART 5 8
that God asked for is still not there. However, Lot accompanying Abram provides another facet of the overall picture allowing for the Lord to use the interaction of the lives of these 2 men to teach us great spiritual truths. a). To begin with let s look at the other facet of the overall picture Terah s death as we saw is a type of the death of self which is to be our continual practice, but we know that dying to self does not eradicate our sin nature. The old man continues with us on our journey whether we like it or not and this is what Lot symbolizes as he continues with Abram. b). It is the same picture we saw earlier with the darkness existing alongside the light in Genesis Chapter 1 and Cain with Abel in Genesis Chapter 4 and we might note that even after the birth of Seth, Cain continues to live. c). But, let s also remember that although Lot accompanied Abram, it is Abram alone who had been called and Abram alone who would be given an inheritance, not Lot the very same truth we see taught later through Isaac and Ishmael - Ga 4:30 Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman." There is no inheritance for the old man only for the new man. d). As we reflect on what we have learned today let s remember we are dealing with process. The account of Abraham not only reveals his own process to spiritual maturity, but also typifies the process to Israel s restoration and our own process to maturity - Ro 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith." We will continue with this next time if the Lord is willing. THE WORD OF GOD PART 5 9