July 2015 – Sword of the Spirit

Why did God not end sin with Adam?

Although God knew Adam, and we, would sin before Adam ever did sin, He didn’t end sin because of His infinite love (Eph 2:7)

Demonstration of God’s Infinite Love

By creating man and giving him his own sovereignty, knowing that he will get himself into a predicament that nothing less than the death of God himself would restore him to fellowship, and then to do it not for any merit man has but by pure unmitigated grace.

Philosophy

Philosophy = love of wisdom

Where it agrees with Scripture, it is unnecessary

Where it disagrees, it is wrong and therefore misleading

It has nothing reliable to offer (Col 2:8)

The source of wisdom is God (Jas 1:5) and His Word (Ps 119:105)

Isaac

The life of Isaac

Genesis 21:

Born

Genesis 22:

Offered Isaac is about 30

Genesis 23:

Sarah dies at the age of 127 Isaac is 37

Genesis 24:

Marries Rebekah Isaac is 40

Genesis 25:

Abraham dies at the age of 175
Esau and Jacob are born Isaac is 60
Esau, at the point of dying, agrees to give his 1st born birth right to Jacob for a bowl of pottage. Jacob tricks Esau (Edom) out of his birth right and the hatred begins.

Genesis 26:

God reiterates the Abrahamic Covenant to Isaac
Isaac passes Rebekah off as his sister to Abimelech (a title of rulers of Philistia) so he can live and prosper in the land of the Philistines without being killed and having Rebekah taken
Abimelech finds out Rebekah is Isaac’s wife, tells his people not to approach Rebekah, and allows Isaac and Rebekah to stay in their land and build riches
Isaac’s riches grow too great and Abimelech sends him off
Isaac moves to Gerar and re-digs the wells Abraham had dug
God reiterates He will multiply Isaac’s seed (while in Beersheba), Isaac digs a well
Isaac and Abimelech make a covenant that they will not hurt each other
Esau, age 40, marries 2 Hittite women

Genesis 27:

Isaac, on his death bed, asks Esau to kill and make him some venison, and he will bless Esau before he dies
Rebekah hears Isaac and has Jacob bring 2 goats and she prepares them, then uses their hair to place on Jacob to have him seem as Esau to Isaac. Jacob takes the meat into Isaac, tricks him with the goat hair and gets the blessing meant for Esau.
Esau takes his venison to Isaac after Jacob had left, and finds that Isaac was tricked into blessing Jacob. No blessing for Esau and the hatred continues.

Genesis 28:

Isaac conveys the Abrahamic Covenant to Jacob and sends him away to Rebekah’s brother Laban to marry within the family

Genesis 35:

Isaac dies Isaac is 180

Eschatological Events

Abraham

There was a 6 decade overlap in the lives of Abraham and Noah.

The life of Abraham

Genesis 12:

Called but only moves up river from Ur to Haran (for about 5 years)
Abrahamic Covenant
Father dies and Abraham goes to Canaan, the land God called him to. (Sarai) Sarah and Lot go too. Land promised again. Abraham is 75
Famine, Abraham takes Sarah and Lot to Egypt. Passes Sarah off as his sister, she was his 1/2 sister by Terah and his 2nd wife. Pharaoh sends Abraham away with his riches when he finds Sarah is his wife.

Genesis 13:

Abraham and Lot split, Lot goes to Sodom
Land and multitude of descendants promised again

Genesis 14:

4 kings warred against 5, won and took lot. Abraham trained 318 from his house and went against the 4 kings to retrieve Lot. Abraham takes no spoils.
Abraham gives tithes to Melchizedek, king and priest of Salem

Genesis 15:

God tells Abraham he will have a son and his seed will multiply, Abraham believed and God counted it to him for righteousness. Abrahamic Covenant reiterated. Abraham prepares sacrifices, God walks the covenant ritual Himself, making it unconditional, while He puts Abraham in a deep sleep

Genesis 16:

Ishmael born of Hagar, Sarah then despises her. Hagar goes to fountain, Angel of the Lord tells her Ishmael’s seed will multiply exceedingly. Abraham is 86

Genesis 17:

Abrahamic Covenant reiterated and every man shall be circumcised as a token of the covenant. Abram changed to Abraham, Sarai changed to Sarah. Abraham is 99
Sarah will have a son, he will be named Isaac and God will establish His everlasting covenant with him and his seed.

Genesis 18:

God and 2 angels visit Abraham and he offers them 3 measures of meal, which becomes the fellowship offering. God says Sarah will bare child and she laughs. In Hebrew the root verb from which the word Isaac is derived means “to laugh”.
Abraham bargains with God, while the 2 angels head to Sodom and Gomorrah, about not destroying the city for the righteous there.

Genesis 19:

The 2 angels save Lot, his wife, and 2 daughters out of Sodom and Gomorrah. The angels destroy the city, but Lot’s wife looks back and is turned to ash by the burning.
Lot’s 2 daughters feed him wine and sleep with him, baring Moab (father of the Moabites) by the elder and Benammi (father of the Ammonites) by the younger.

Genesis 20:

Abraham moves to Gerar and tells King Abimeleck (a title of rulers of Philistia) that Sarah is his sister so that he would not be slain. Pagan practice would be to kill the husband and take the wife. God comes to Abimeleck and tells him he is a dead man because Sarah is Abraham’s wife. Abimeleck gives Abraham riches and tells them to go live anywhere in his land.