GIFTS – PART EIGHT
Sunday – December 8, 2019, Kislev 10, 5780
Greetings my precious friends and partners of this Ministry and The Three Minute Word blog and welcome back to this series titled “Gifts”. If you are reading this on Facebook please take a moment to hit the “love” and “share” buttons to encourage us and participate in the dissemination of the gospel. As you will recall I have been building a foundation for the first and necessary gift which is salvation. Some would argue that it is a gift to all that God has not allowed Satan to wipe us off the earth or even He Himself in response to our rebellion. The reason He has not done it has to do with justice for we are enormously ignorant and have a fallen nature from the outset of our lives. He has not allowed the devil to do it for the same reason and He really wants a family and He wants a big family.
Given all of this, we will continue to build the foundation for how God has redeemed, provided salvation, to fallen man, all who will receive the work of Grace by faith. Man, Adam and Eve, were created or made in the image and likeness of God and given a body from the dust of the earth that was perfect, eternal. They were without sin. The Serpent was loose in the earth and he came to tempt them to rebel against God as he had rebelled and was cast out of Heaven. One might ask why he was loose in the earth and I believe the clear answer is that it was necessary to prove or test the love of Adam and Eve for God, for His Word. God did not set them up for failure. Adam and Eve sinned but God in His love, kindness, and mercy provided a covering for them, their sin, until the Messiah could come. The first innocent blood was spilled for mankind but it was only a covering.
Genesis 3:21 (KJV)
21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
After a period of time God was able to find a man with whom He could enter into a legal Covenant (contract) to not only provide a son of promise to a barren couple but to bring The Promised Son (Genesis 3:15) into the earth to wipe away sin. That couple were Abram and Sarai later named Abraham and Sarah by God. We have reviewed the Covenant of Genesis chapter fifteen and how that sacrifice represented the surrogate blood of God necessary for a valid Blood Covenant. Then in the seventeenth chapter we find the circumcision representing the shedding of blood by man and the mark necessary for a valid Blood Covenant. Finally, following the definitive faith statement of Abraham (Genesis 17:17) the son of promise (Isaac) was born. This brings us to the twenty second chapter of Genesis which in some ways is the most important chapter in all of the Holy Scripture.
Genesis 22:1-2 (KJV)
1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
As we move into this chapter, Isaac has been born and is a young man, in my opinion likely in his early twenties however I would not be surprised if he was as old as thirty-three. Thirty-three is the supposed age of Jesus upon the Cross. As we proceed forward keep in mind that just as Jesus willingly even with joy went to the Cross so did Isaac lay upon the alter on Mount Moriah as we will see. Listen to Jesus and the Anointed writer of the Book of Hebrews.
John 10:18 (KJV)
18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
Hebrews 12:2 (KJV)
2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The word translated in Genesis 22:1 as tempt is most commonly translated as proved and would give improved clarity to the verse. God is not just proving or testing Abraham, Abraham’s love for God, but He is testing or proving the Blood Covenant to which, they are both a party. Abraham’s love for God had to far exceed His love for Isaac that day just as our love for God must far exceed that for anyone or anything in the earth. Notice that God sends Abraham and Isaac to the land of Moriah (Mount Moriah) the very spot where another sacrificial lamb, a scapegoat, would be offered to settle the sin question some two thousand years later. On this day God will also provide a scapegoat in the place of Isaac and a critical hurtle will have been accomplished on the way to the Cross. A horrible lie has arisen in the body of Christ which is that God does whatever He wants whenever He wants, period. That is a Satanic lie. He does not have the authority and must work through mankind, His idea not mine. As I finish for today let’s go just a little further in this wonderful gospel.
Genesis 22:3-4 (KJV)
3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
This is unwavering faith; this is unwavering love for God. God tells Abraham to take Isaac, his only son, whom he loves, to Mount Moriah and offer him as a burnt sacrifice there. Abraham knows the voice of God, he does not hesitate, does not pray, does not go on a three day fast, and consults with no one else, but immediately obeys. I wonder if there is a lesson here for us?
Until our next publication, as a Bible Teacher and Prophetic Voice I speak this blessing over each and every one of you, receive it, believe it, and speak over yourself and your family by faith in Jesus name!
Numbers 6:24-26 (AMP)
24 The Lord bless you and watch, guard, and keep you;
25 The Lord make His face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious (kind, merciful, and giving favor) to you;
26 The Lord lift up His [approving] countenance upon you and give you peace (tranquility of heart and life continually).
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
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