SAND, STARS, AND THE THIRD DAY
Monday – April 23, 2018, Iyar 8, 5778
Greetings and welcome back to this wonderful Bible Study from the faith Book and the faith chapter. God is so very good. It is incumbent (obligatory, mandatory) upon us to build up our faith, first for salvation than all that is ours in the Kingdom of God, which by the way is everything. This very same Book just a few verses back tells us that it is impossible to please God without faith. Impossible means there is absolutely no chance or other opportunity to please God except by the building and the exercise of faith. Furthermore, there is no effective operation of faith without love. We are not talking soft and cuddly love but Bible love which is obedience to the Word, selflessness, and adherence to and full recognition of The Blood Covenant. We are in this Blood Covenant in Christ Jesus. Now, let’s read our primary Bible text aloud.
Hebrews 11:12-15 (KJV)
12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.
13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
The “one” being talked about here is Abraham whose body was revitalized by faith when he was ninety-nine to bring forth Isaac. The same thing happened at age ninety with Sarah by faith, as we studied in the eleventh verse of this chapter. The number eleven means to come into alignment with God. When we say what God says, doubt not, and receive it as done, it will be done. Wavering is distrust of God, you know how much you like it when someone does not trust you. Now I want us to turn our attention to the sand and the stars mentioned in verse twelve above and think about it in the context of the following passage. Let’s read it aloud.
Genesis 22:16-18 (KJV)
16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
Reciprocity is right at the top of the conditions of Blood Covenant. Because Abraham did not withhold who was most precious to him neither could or would God without the One most precious to Him. God didn’t need the sacrifice of Isaac but we sure needed the sacrifice that could only be of God, the Son of God, the man Christ Jesus. Sinless, righteous Blood had to be shed for the sins of mankind to restore life to mankind. From Adam all men (and women) were born spiritually dead and were and are for now subject to physical death. Remember by the sin of one, sin and death passed upon all men (Romans 5:12). There had to be a remedy for sin to remove death, spiritual and physical. That remedy came and His name is Jesus, He is the Seed of verse seventeen above, seventeen the number of victory. Sixteen is the number of love, because Abraham loved God he obeyed God and was willing to sacrifice his only son.
I have gone down a rabbit trail or two so let’s refocus on our primary text and the mention of sand and stars in the twelfth verse. As we reflect on this, recall that we first heard this terminology in Genesis twenty-two (light). That passage occurs just after Abraham took Isaac, and Isaac went willingly, to Mount Moriah to be sacrificed at the command of God. We see the foreshadowing of the promised Messiah, coming into better and better view from the first promise in Genesis chapter three on the Day of Sin and Death. Be aware that the word “seed” in verses seventeen and eighteen of Genesis twenty-two is masculine and singular. So, although the stars and the sand are certainly a multitude, the One from which they spring, The Seed, is One. The sand is generally interpreted to be the physical descendants of Abraham (Jews) and the stars are the spiritual descendants of Abraham (Christians). The obedience (love) of Abraham and Sarah allowed both to spring forth upon the earth. Lord willing, I will pick up right here tomorrow with the phrase “afar off”. Until our next publication, I speak this Scriptural prayer for your life right now, receive it in the name of Jesus, confess it, and walk it out with thanksgiving.
2 Peter 1:2-4 (KJV)
2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
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