Created Relationships #1

(FOT Day 3)

Fred R. Coulter—September 23, 2021

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Greetings, Brethren! Welcome to day three of the Feast of Tabernacles!

We're looking at all the things that God is doing, that He wants us to do, and as the sons and daughters raised from the dead and in the Family of God serving the whole world.

Today I want to look at what I call created relationships,and what God is actually doing and what He wants from us—from Him to us—and to the world during the Millennium, and from us back to Him.

Stop and think about what God has done just for the whole world and everything that is in it! In thinking about the whole world, I'm going to setup here a globe. Just think about how much bigger the earth really is, but when you look at it out in the universe it's just a speck of dust.

So, when we think of the world, here is the whole world and everything on it. All the oceans, all the land, the valleys, mountains, hills, the North Pole, the South Pole, the tropics, the equator, the islands and the seas. And there are people on every part of it!

Think about what God is doing in His plan with so many people. It's almost overwhelming, but God is so great that He can deal with each one of us in a personal relationship.

Now that we have seen the world—the globe—let's come to Gen. 1 and understand what God was really doing, what God really wanted. And it's an amazing thing, really, when you understand it.

So, here in Gen. 1 what do we have? God created the heavens and the earth! We know that there was the rebellion of the angels and re-created it on day one. Then we have everything that God has made for the earth, for the habitation of mankind, all people! He's put in it everything necessary to keep it going:

• to keep the globe turning
• to keep the right distance from the sun
• to have all the plants, animals
• to have all the things in the oceans and seas

God has made all of this for human beings and for Himself!

Now let's come to where God made man and woman, the beginning of all mankind. God had this all planned out, and remember that it tells us in 2-Tim. 1 that God had His plan and purpose before the ages of time! So, God thinks in long terms and plans. But this is special! Of all the creation of God, let's see why men and women are different. Not the difference between men and women, but all of mankind differentiated from all of the other things that God created and all the other animals.

Genesis 1:26: "And God said…" Here His plan is in motion:

• first of all you have to plan it
• next you have to prepare it

and that's what He did with the six days

• then you have to create it

That's what v 26 is telling us about!

"…'Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of heaven and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that crawls upon the earth.'"

Think about that for a minute! What other of His creation even comes close to what human beings are. The scientists who think they know everything, but they don't know anything. God says that they are foolish! They look at monkeys, apes, gorillas and orangutans and think: look how much they look like human beings, 'maybe we evolved from them! NO! God made them the way He did so human beings would know that we didn't come from them, but specially made by God in His image!

Verse 27: "And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him. He created them male and female."

Today the world doesn't believe that! They're trying to mix everything all upside down. But there was a great purpose for making male and female. We'll see what that is.

Notice what God gave them. Think of the globe, only expand it out to what the whole world is, and you're looking at the gift of God to all mankind!

Think about it! Everything you need to live, to work, to do whatever you do.

Verse 28: "And God blessed them…. [there was a special blessing on them] …And God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth… [because it had to be remade after the rebellion of Satan]…and subdue it…" (v 28). That's why God made parts of it wild! Now let's see if you can tame it.

"…and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of heaven and over every living thing that moves upon the earth" (v 28). Then He says that He's given all of this for food!.

When God finished that He looked at it, because He wanted to see how He did. Of course, it was beautiful, pleasant, wonderful!

Verse 31: "And God saw everything that He had made, and indeed, it was exceedingly good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Now let's see what else God did, and why He did it, the purpose of it from the beginning!

Genesis 2:1: "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And by the beginning of the seventh day God finished His work, which He had made. And He rested on the seventh day from all His work, which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it…" (vs 1-3)—made it Holy!

In God blessing it, it was because He was there and put His presence in it, and Adam and Eve were with Him.

"…because on it He rested from all His work, which God had created and made" (v 3).

Verse 7 brings out details that were not contained in Gen. 1. Here we find something very important that God did, which He did not do for any of the other creatures that He made! There's special significance in that. We will see what God really intended.

Verse 7: "Then the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."

That's quite a statement. It is says 'soul' in the King James, which in the Hebrew is 'nephesh' [transcriber's correction]. We get our existence from God.

Think about this: every human being that is born; Adam and Eve were created by God. But all of the rest have been born through the process of procreation of male and female.

Here we have God personally forming and making, with His own hands, man and woman. He's doing that because He wants a special relationship with them. So, this is what we're going to call created relationships! Also, since God is not a tyrant, and even though He has all power and strength, is not a dictator and He didn't make robots. He made living human beings—Adam and Eve—in His own image and gave them independent free moral agency!

Why did He do that? Because He wanted them to choose God and His ways! But He was not going to force it upon them. When you have independent free moral agency, free will and the power to talk and think—which God gave to Adam and Eve—then there can be a relationship that works both ways:

• from man and woman to God
• from God to man and woman

That's what God wanted! He really set it up perfect in the beginning.

Verse 7: "Then the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed" (vs 7-8). So, God had it all laid out! A beautiful Garden of Eden!

Verse 9: "And out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food…. [He wants it to be enjoyable, beautiful, right] …The Tree of Life also was in the middle of the garden, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil." There it is right in the middle of the garden!

Here's what God did and what God commanded Adam. God created them with a language, because He's going to communicate with them. They had the ability to choose, to think, to reason. He had the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Man had to choose, because God isn't going to force it upon anyone, not even Adam and Eve.

Verse 15: "And the LORD God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and keep it"—meaning to take care of and also to guard it, because of what was going to happen!

We'll just jump ahead a little bit: IF Adam was guarding the garden like he should have, he wouldn't have let the beast, the serpent, come in!

Note our message: What Would the World Be Like If Adam and Eve had not Sinned? {truthofGod.org}

Verse 16: "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying…"

God gives instructions. You make something that is perfect, fine and nice as human beings and give free moral agency there has to be:

• right/wrong
• good/evil
• choice
• thought

All of that is included here!

"…'You may freely eat of every tree in the garden, but you shall not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, for in the day that you eat of it in dying you shall surely die'" (vs 16-17). Of course, to took a long time for them to die, 930 years!

But God wasn't yet done with His plan. So, let's see what God did, because now God had created Adam, and here was a relationship that Adam could have with God and God with Adam, based upon:

• serving God
• loving God
• doing His will
• following His instructions

Verse 18: "And the LORD God said, 'It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make a helper compatible for him.' And out of the ground the LORD God had formed every animal of the field and every fowl of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature that became its name" (vs 18-19).

Here they come two by two, male and female, all of the animals coming by. He would look at them and name them. That's quite a thing! Adam had to have quite a bit of intelligence and knowledge that God put in his head so he could make the decision on what to call them.

God gave all that responsibility to Adam. Why did He do that? Because Adam was living on the earth and that what his place to live! God wanted Adam to know what all the animals were, what everything there was, so He let Adam name them.

Verse 20: "And Adam gave names to all the livestock, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field, but there was not found a helper compatible for Adam."

There's another lesson here, and we'll see what it is in just a minute.

Verse 21: "And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall over Adam, and he slept. And He took one of his ribs, and afterward closed up the flesh underneath. Then the LORD God made the rib (which He had taken out of the man) into a woman… [the Hebrew there is to build] …and He brought her to the man" (vs 21-22).

Well, God had to tell them all about the purpose of man and woman. Here she is, and here he is! I wonder what the first introduction was like? But here we have a created relationship:

• between man and woman and woman and man
• between man and God and God and man
• between woman and God and God and woman

Created relationships!

Whenever there are relationships, and there's free choice, then you have to have instructions on how to make it work. Here we have the first wedding in the Bible, performed by God. When Adam saw Eve:

Verse 23: "And Adam said, 'This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh….'"

What does that tell you? That Adam knew what was going to happen when God put him to sleep and took out the bone and made Eve!

"'…She shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man'" (v 23).

Notice that from the very first this is what Jesus said when He was asked about divorce and re-marriage. He said, 'In the beginning it wasn't so' that you could divorce and re-marry and do any kind of thing you want. God said:

Verse 24: "For this reason shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh"—joined together!

In the procreation act the children that are born are literally the one flesh from father and mother; half the genes from the father and half the genes from the mother. From that time, going on down all through history that's how all of us came into the world.

So, in that sense, as far as human beings are concerned who have now multiplied and replenished the earth, the process is the same as it was in the beginning. That's why it says:

Verse 25: "And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed."

Now let's see what happens when something breaks up a relationship, because a relationship is meant to have:

• love
• devotion
• compatibility

In the case of our relationship with God all of that is true, plus we need to be:

• doing the will of God
• loving God

All the husbands need to love their wives and the wives need to love their husbands. The children need to honor their father and mother. All of those are what you would say are the commandments for a created relationship!

There's another created relationship that we need to look at, which is also important: the relationship of human beings to what God created on the earth; the plants and animals and all that sort of thing.

What is interesting, in spite of the fact that the animals are the way they are today, still even today animals and plants respond to love. Think about that!

They've even had tests where they would test plants and see how they would behave if someone was angry at them and yelled and screamed at them. Well, they saw that there was a reaction in the plant. Then how it was when they were taken care of, they were fed the right thing and watered, and even talked to and the plants prospered.

So, in a sense there is a relationship between human beings and the land. That's why the one who works the land is called a husbandman, because there's that relationship that he has—created relationship!

What happens when that created relationship is destroyed? You can look at it today, everyone:

• hates each other
• is against each other
• wants his own way
• wants his own thing
• wants his own perversion

There are some few out there trying to do right and good, that's true. But look at the world because Adam and Eve broke the relationship with God!

Eve broke the relationship with God, that created relationship, because then it cut them off from God and they were made to:

• receive God
• receive God's Spirit
• live by His laws

Because there's free moral agency, and we have to decide, we've also got to understand truth from error and right from wrong. You can be sure that God gave them plenty of instruction before the serpent was let loose. You know the story there, recorded in Gen. 3[transcriber's correction].

The serpent came and said, Genesis 3:1: "…'Is it true that God has said, "You shall not eat of any tree of the garden"?' And the woman said to the serpent, 'We may freely eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has indeed said, "You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it…'" (vs 1-3).

That isn't what Eve added to it, that was probably later instruction before the serpent was allowed in. 'Because if we eat it, we'll surely die.'

Verse 4: "And the serpent said to the woman, 'In dying, you shall not surely die!'"

In other words, what the serpent was saying, 'Don't believe God!' That's the quickest way to destroy your relationship with God, don't believe Him!

So they did! Eve took of the fruit, looked at it, saw that it was good, tasted it and it was wonderful. 'Adam! Look at what I did!' Adam was sitting over there watching her, probably thinking 'I wonder if she's going to die?' because she took of the fruit.

She comes over to him and says, 'Look, Adam, this is really, really good; try it, you'll like it!' So, Adam ate of it and what happened? The eyes of both of them were opened to decide for themselves what is good and evil!

Deciding to take of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil meant that they decided to choose for their own instead of consulting with God and doing the will of God, which He already said that you should not eat of it. What happens with that broken relationship:

• between man and God?
• between woman and God?

and also

• to the environment?
• It changed!

Verse 11: "And He said, 'Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree, which I commanded you that you should not eat?'"

What is the first lesson here? Sin is the transgression of a commandment of God, which is a Law! This sin, and the judgment of the sin affected all mankind and will do the same all the way down to the return of Jesus Christ. Notice that there's no repentance and no remorse.

Verse 12: "And the man said, 'The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.'" All right, Adam:

• Why did you do that?
• Why did you watch her go pick it and eat it?

you were right there; you saw what was happening

• Why didn't you do something about it?

He could have, but he didn't! What he was doing, in effect, blaming God! That destroyed the relationship between Adam and God.

Verse 13: "And the LORD God said to the woman, 'What is this you have done?' And the woman said, 'The serpent deceived me, and I ate.'"

Why did you let the serpent deceive you? You knew what I said! She also broke the relationship between her and God, and between her and her husband Adam. Think of all the years that they lived after this, 900+ years, and I wonder how many arguments they had over why Eve did that. It must have been very contentious, because the created relationship by God is meant to be governed by the way God has given His love, His truth and His commandments, everything about it.

That's what makes a relationship good, and you choose that. Everything we do is a choice. God made us that way, so He wants us to choose right. Look at how it is with men today making robots. They think they're so smart because they can make robots. Listen! That stupid robot can only do what it's programmed to do.

• it has no thought
• it has no choice
• it has no heart
• it has no conscience

But God didn't make us that way!

Verse 14: "And the LORD God said to the serpent, 'Because you have done this you are cursed above all livestock…"

A curse is a penalty! That's true in everything that there is. If you break a law, break a principle, you transgress it, there's a penalty. Sometimes the penalty is minor, and sometimes it's harsh. This one was age-lasting, going down through every generation to all human beings!

"…and above every animal of the field. You shall go upon your belly, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed…" (vs 14-15)—that is being afraid of snakes, that's part of it! But also the enmity between:

• the Church and Satan
• Satan and the offspring of the Church
• Satan and the offspring that came with the Israelites

Then He gives the first prophecy of salvation:

"…He will bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel" (v 15).

Now let's see what God said to Eve. During the Millennium, all this is going to be removed. Having children will be a great pleasure, but not now.

Verse 16: "To the woman He said, 'I will greatly increase your sorrow and your conception—in sorrow shall you bring forth children. Your desire shall be toward your husband, and he shall rule over you.'"

That's the order that God set in the beginning by creating Adam first, then Eve by taking Eve out of Adam. But they were to work together in a created relationship. Now you've got all this tension because of sin! Going to have sorrow and all women remember their children as their babies, because they carried them and gave birth.

Verse 17: "And to Adam He said, 'Because you have hearkened to the voice of your wife…"—instead of Me; think about that. We're not to listen to anyone who speaks contradictions of what God says.

If Adam would have said to the serpent, 'Be gone! God says you are not to come in here! He's given me charge to guard and keep this. Now get out of here!' Satan would have had to have gone; but Adam didn't do it.

A lot of people think that God caused sorrow for women. Hold on! Let's see what He said to the men:

Verse 17: "And to Adam He said, 'Because you have hearkened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree—of which I commanded you, saying, "You shall not eat of it!"—the ground is cursed for your sake….'"—the whole environment has been changed!

"…In sorrow…" (v 17)—they both are going to have sorrow:

• the woman after her own emotions and ways
• the man has sorrow after his own feelings and emotions and ways

Verse 18: "It shall also bring forth thorns and thistles to you, and thus you shall eat the herbs of the field; in the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return" (vs 18-19).

Then we know what happened with the created relationship with Cain and Abel!

(break@40:00)

In Rom. 5, Paul writes of this very thing about what happened to Adam and Eve. This tells us something very important, it literally changed our nature and the nature of everyone down through time and history until the return of Christ.

Adam and Eve broke the relationship with God, and broke the relationship with each other!

Romans 5:12: "Therefore, as by one man sin entered into the world…"

This tells you that Adam could have stopped it, but he didn't it! Likewise, you think about that in your life and I'll think about it in my life. How many times do we go along and we don't stop what we know we shouldn't be doing! It always leads to trouble! Why? Because it breaks the relationship with God! That's a created relationship.

"…and by means of sin came death…" (v 12). The wages of sin is death! That's what God said, 'Dust you are and to dust you shall return.'

"…and in this way death passed into all mankind; and it is for this reason that all have sinned" (v 12).

Then Paul writes a little later on that the sin within is the law of sin and death! That's why we need the salvation of God. There is no way out of it except God's way. History proves it how many times.

So, let's look at the relationship that Cain and Abel had. Abel did that which was right. He brought what God commanded, showing that Abel brought the sacrifice the way that God wanted, which also tells you, when you think about it:

There were the laws of sacrifice! God's not going to take a sacrifice just because someone gives it; it's got to be done in a way that God has said. We don't come to God because we want to come to God. We have to come to God God's way! We have to use our free moral agency and choice to do so.

So, Cain thought that he would just bring whatever he wanted to bring. God didn't accept it. Cain got all mad: 'God, why won't you accept my sacrifice that I brought?' Cain brought of the ground! If it would have been firstfruits or tithes, that would have been acceptable. He just brought any old thing he wanted to, and that's the way a lot of people are!

They want to have all the good, all the blessings, and then they throw crumbs back to God. They wonder, 'God, why did You do this to me?' Just like He told Cain in Gen. 4[transcriber's correction]; here's the lesson and this lesson goes all the way down through all of history. Think on that! That's why we go over these things at the first part of the Bible, because these things travel all the way down through 6,000 years of history.

Genesis 4:7: "If you do well…"

• Did Abel do well? Yes, he did!
• What does 'well' mean? That you do according to what God says!

You could say, 'If you do good…' but that has to be the goodness of God, not the goodness of what we think goodness is!

"…shall you not be accepted?…" (v 7). Wouldn't God take it if Cain did what he was supposed to do?

"…But if you do not do well, sin lies at the door…." (v 7). Very interesting!

Sin is there! What is sin? The transgression of the Law! What are all those people going to do who say the Law didn't exist until 3500 years after Adam. They never read Genesis. There it is right there!

Sin is the transgression of the Law; "…Its desire is for you…" (v 9).

Satan wants you to sin so he can bring you in conflict with God and break that relationship with God! It's just like it was broken by Adam and Eve; that fantastic relationship they had by creation with God.

Here is the created relationship that Cain and Abel had with God… because Josephus records this is about 135 years into the life of Adam and Eve. So, these were not just little kiddies out here 'horsing around.'

They were adults with thought, determination, and doing good (Abel) and doing evil (Cain). You come clear all the way to the New Testament and what do you have in the book of Jude? It says, Woe to those who have gone the way of Cain!' Then Cain killed Abel, and because of his sin, Cain[transcribers correction] was exiled and went to the land of wandering.

• Gen. 5—all of the patriarchs
• Gen 6—Noah

Now let's see something very important concerning Noah. First of all, because of the broken relationship with God, and free moral agency to sin, and God letting each one go their own way, because He's got a plan to solve it at the end. But He wants everyone to learn the lesson that sin is the transgression of the Law, and that sin is:

• trouble
• sorrow
• evil
• against God
• against the environment
• against other people
• against your own self

Here's what God saw and this is why He destroyed it with the Flood—Greek: 'kataklusmos.'

Genesis 6:5: "And the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth…"

Notice what God looks at. He doesn't just look at the action. Yes, the action is important, but what does God look at? What does God see?

"…and every imagination… [everything going on in the brain, everything he's thinking about] …of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."

Nothing good going on 'up stairs'! Just like today, As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of man! Everyone thinks their way is right. Look at all the liars running the world. They think they're doing right; they think they're doing good. Why? Because they're going the same way as Cain and all of his linage, right down to Gen. 6:5 in following Satan the devil!

As I covered in the message before the Feast, they want to change human beings. I read part of it yesterday. To re-engineer to make us 'good.' They'll never do it, because the way they do it is evil! If you do something that is evil, it cannot come to good!

There we have it! God destroyed everything that there was, and if it weren't for the fact that Noah found grace in the eyes of God, God saved the world through Noah, his wife and his three sons and their wives, and all the animals that He sent to be in the ark.

Gen. 12—again we're going to see a created relationship. Our relationship today is created through Jesus Christ. Here with Abram, who later became Abraham, God spoke to him directly.

• What are you going to do when God speaks to you directly?
• What did Adam and Eve do when God spoke to them? They knew not to do evil, but they did it anyway!

So, here's Abraham living in Mesopotamia, Ur of the Chaldees, and it was filled with sin. So, Abram left and went to Terah, his father, and Abram's wife and Nahor came to Haran[transcriber's correction] (Gen. 11: 31-32).

Notice what God said, and I want you to see the parallel of the New Testament here, as well.

Genesis 12:1: "And the LORD said to Abram, 'Get out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your father's house into a land that I will show you.'" That's a broad statement!

• didn't know where it was
• didn't know how far it was
• didn't know what it was

But Abram knew he couldn't put up with the evil that's everywhere in the Mesopotamian Valley. Notice the promise:

Verse 2[transcriber's correction]: "And I will make of you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great…."

Stop and think about today. Coming from that time clear on down to the time of the resurrection how great the name of Abraham is. And after the resurrection, how much greater it will be coming on down through the Millennium.

So, when God says there's a blessing, and when you take clear out in God's plan for it's ultimate fulfillment, it's far bigger, greater and better than anything we could even imagine. Think about that!

The next time you get down in the dumps and you have a 'pity party' think about what God is going to do! That's more important than any physical thing in this life. Do we believe it? Abraham did!

"…And you shall be a blessing. And I will bless those that bless you and curse the one who curses you. And in you shall all families of the earth be blessed" (vs 2-3). You take this last phrase "…in you shall all families of the earth be blessed"!

How is God going to do that? Of course, Abram had no idea! None! But He believed God! Just like with us, we have more understanding today, and we can understand some of these things—actually more—but what do we really know about it? Not really very much! But God wants to know of us:

• Do we love Him?
• Do we believe Him?
• Do we obey Him?

IF we do we'll have eternal life!

What are we going to be teaching the people in the Millennium when we are there to:

• help them?
• teach them?
• show them the way of God?

The same thing!

God wants that created relationship! Here's one that He formed with Abram to be later named Abraham, because he was to be the father of many nations. He made a created relationship:

• that was strong
• that was good
• that was righteous
• that was Holy

Yet, notice the instruction was very simple!

Verse 1: "…'Get out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your father's house into a land that I will show you.'" That's very simple! But look at what he had to leave all of his friends and acquaintances.

What does God say of us when we come to baptism? We're to love God more than father, mother, brother, sister, lands and everything like that.

Verse 4: "Then Abram departed, even as the LORD had spoken to him. And Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran." And lot went with him!

Now we come to Gen. 15. We won't get into all the details of Gen. 15 except to say that everything else in the rest of the Bible flows from Gen. 15—everything—right down to the return to Jesus Christ. That's how important this is. Again, God came to Abram:

Genesis 15:1: "After these things the Word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, 'Fear not, Abram, I am your shield and your exceedingly great reward.'" Stop and think about that for a minute! God is telling him:

Look, Abram, don't worry about a thing, I am your strong shield, I am your great reward.

The great reward never happened in his lifetime! That's still yet to come at the resurrection!

Like Jesus told the Pharisees, 'You will see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves excluded!' So, it's not going to come until the time of the resurrection!

Then on top of that, it's going to be another thousand years of blessing that comes through Abraham. Think about that! Also, consider this: How ignorant are those 'religionists' who call themselves Christian when they say they don't have to worry about the Old Testament or anything there, because it's all been fulfilled! Yet, people follow them by the millions!

Verse 2: "And Abram said… [at this point he was 85-years-old] …'Lord GOD, what will You give me since I go childless, and the heir of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?'" This was their way of bringing up and adopted child as a legal heir in those days.

Verse 3: "And Abram said, 'Behold, You have given no seed to me; and lo, one born in my house is my heir.'"

He was talking to God, 'How do you want this to be?' So, God answered and said: 'No, no, no, it isn't going to be that way.'

Verse 4: "And behold, the Word of the LORD came to him saying, 'This man shall not be your heir; but he that shall come forth out of your own loins shall be your heir.'"

Think about that! He's 85-years-old and he's going to have a child, actually it didn't happen for another 15 years, so he was 100-years-old.

Verse 5: "And He brought him outside and said…"

Think about this: Here Abram was talking with God and He took him outside, and this had to be at night because you can't see the stars in the daytime. How much does a simple statement of God going to be in fulfillment? Remember the eye has not seen, the ear has not heard the things that God has prepared for those who love Him! What's it's going to be for us? Fantastic, indeed! But part of this.

"…'Look now toward the heavens…'"

You do this, you go out on a bright clear night and look up at the stars and you see the moon and probably see some planets, though they're very small. If you're up in the northern or southern latitudes you can see the Aurora Borealis (northern lights) and the Aurora Australis (southern lights). That's reflecting off the magnetic power coming into the earth from the sun.

"'…and number the stars—if you are able to count them.'…." (v 5). Today we know that's trillions and trillions way, way out there!

"…And He said to him… [listen to this simple statement and think about what this will really be]: …'So shall your seed be'" (v 5).

That's because God knew His plan before the foundation of the world, and before the ages of time!

Abram believe Him! He believed Him! Adam and Eve did not believe God. Think about that. They should have, but they didn't! Look what happened!

Verse 6: "And he believed in the LORD. And He accounted it to him for righteousness."

Then the rest of it gets into the Passover and Unleavened Bread, and the crucifixion of Christ right there in Gen. 15.

Then it came to pass when Abraham was 99-years-old and Sarah was 89-years-old. She got pregnant just as God said, and Isaac was born. Another 15 years and Isaac was 'a lad.' Now, here is the test that Abraham had to take.

Think about this: Here you are and God is fulfilling certain things for you, talking with you, coming to you personally, coming to you in dreams and visions. So, God told him:

Genesis 22:1: "And it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, 'Abraham!' And he said, 'Here I am.'"

Think about this: You might said that this is going against everything that God said that He would do. But it's not, because God is greater than all of that. Many times we go through problems or difficulties and we don't know why we're going through them, but God will lead us out off them and then we will understand at that point.

Verse 2: "And He said, 'Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love…'"

We're going to see a parallel between God the Father and Jesus Christ, and Abraham and Isaac.

• Was Jesus the only beloved of the Father? Yes!
• Did He take Jesus and offer Him for a sin offering? Yes!

Same thing here:

"…and go into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell you" (v 2). The average person would get mad and think:

Why would God do this? My only son, and I love him! Sarah loves him! Now we have to go take a journey and offer him as a burnt offering.

NO! He got everything ready and took a couple of other young men with him, and he went with a donkey—maybe two or three donkeys—and took the wood that they would have for the fire. He also took fire in a pot. It says in the King James that he took fire in his hand, but it means he carried hot coals in a container.

So, they rose up and went on their three-day journey and came to Mt. Moriah. So, Abraham told the young men, 'Look, Isaac and I are going up here to worship God, and we'll come back. You take care of the donkeys.'

As they were going up there, Abraham laid the wood on Isaac to carry; that's a type of Christ carrying His cross! Isaac had a question, and Isaac is going along willingly, too, but he had a question: 'Father, what's going to happen. I see the wood and the fire but where is the lamb?'

Notice the faith that Abraham said, 'Don't worry, God will provide.' So, he went up and laid Isaac on the altar—he made the altar out of whole stones—and put the wood down and tied up Isaac and put him on there and took a knife out to slit his throat. Why would he do that? Because he obeyed God! When he took the knife and was ready to end it with Isaac, and an angel from heaven called out and said:

Verse 11: "…'Abraham! Abraham!' And he said, 'Here I am.' And He said, 'Do not lay your hand upon the lad…'" (vs 11-12).Then God sent a ram to be caught in the thicket.

Let's put these two things together: Gen. 15 when that sacrifice was made was God's part of the covenant. But when there's a covenant, two people have to show witness of the shedding of blood or death. So, when it came to when Abraham was blessed by God, concerning the physical nation that would come of Isaac, he said, 'You'll be a father of many nations and Sarah will be the mother of kings and you will be great.' That's part of the covenant on Abraham's part.

God's promise is sure! Abraham's part was the law of circumcision. That shed blood of the circumcision was Abraham's part to seal that covenant for a physical nation.

Now here comes Abraham's part to seal the covenant for the spiritual:

Verse 14: "And Abraham called the name of that place The LORD Will Provide; so that it is said until this day, 'In the mount of the LORD it will be provided.' And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said… [message from God]: …'By Myself have I sworn,' says the LORD…" (vs 14-16).

When God swears, there's nothing greater! He's going to do it!

"…'because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son; that in blessing I will bless you…'" (vs 16-17).

Listen to this, because this goes down all the way to today, and it goes down all the way through all the created relationships that God is going to have. But with this created relationship that Abraham had and Isaac had with God being tested… We're all going to be tested sometime or other. Many, many times we'll be tested. That's all part of it.

"…and in multiplying I will multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens…" (v 17).

That's all of those who will be resurrected and brought into the Kingdom of God at the time that Jesus returns. Plus all of those who come through the Millennium, plus all of those who come through the Great White Throne Judgment: spiritual sons and daughters of God all with a created relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ with each other in the Kingdom of God! All right here!

"…and as the sand, which is upon the seashore… [all the physical nations that came out of Abraham] …And your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in your seed shall all…" (vs 17-18).

Sometimes we think that in the Old Testament that we know this. But do we understand it? Do we grasp it!

"…all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice" (v 18).

Think about how important that is! Everything else in the rest of the plan from that time down to the completion of the plan and New Jerusalem hinged right on this offering of Isaac!

• Why did God do this?
• Why did Abraham do it?

Especially Abraham! It was his only son, and Abraham was 115-years-old at the time he took Isaac to offer him. That means that it was 40 years from the beginning of his calling in Gen. 12.

Hebrews 11:8—let's take this as an example for us: "By faith Abraham, being called of God to go out into the place, which he would later receive for an inheritance, obeyed and went, not knowing where he was going."

That's true of us today. When we're baptized, we don't know where we're really going, because things may really change.

Verse 9: "By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, like a foreigner, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the joint heirs of the same promise." This ties in with the Feast of Tabernacles!

Verse 10: "For he was waiting for the city with the foundations of which God is the Architect and Builder. By faith also Sarah herself received power to conceive seed, and gave birth when she was well beyond the childbearing age because she esteemed Him faithful Who had personally promised her a son. Because of this faith, there came into being from one man—and moreover, one who was reproductively dead—descendants as numerous as the stars in the heavens, and as countless as the sand on the seashore" (vs 10-12)

Verse 17: "By faith…"—or through faith. Stop and think:

• Do we really believe God?
• Do we really believe the Word of God?
• Do we?

It's true, truth and nothing but the truth!

"…Abraham, when he was being tried, offered up Isaac; and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son of whom it was said, 'In Isaac shall your Seed be called'; because…" (vs 17-19).

How strong is your faith? Look at the faith that Abraham had! Here's the cause:

"…he reckoned that God was able to raise him even from among the dead…" (v 19).

Think about that; that's why he did it! He knew that God could do it! He knew that God would do it if it came to it.

"…from which he also received him in a figurative way" (v 19).

In other words, that's why God waited so long for him to be able to have Isaac; for God to show that He had the power to take the things that look dead and make them alive! Now let's see how they look before God with this; this is quite interesting!

James 2:15: "Now then, if there be a brother or sister who is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace; be warmed and be filled,' and does not give to them the things necessary for the body, what good is it?" (vs 15-16).

To believe something in your mind without the action and conviction and movement of your life is worthless!

Verse 17: "In the same way also, faith, if it does not have works, is dead, by itself."

What if Abraham would have said, 'Lord, that's a tough question. I'm not going to take Isaac out there; I really love him'? You would think that would be a good thing. He's trying to protect his son. But that would be the 'good' from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil!

Whatever God says to do, that is good. God isn't going to command you to sin. Abraham trusted God knowing that even if he did offer Isaac as an offering, God could raise him from the dead. That's the kind of faith that we need to have!

Verse 18: "But someone is going to say, 'You have faith, and I have works.' My answer is:…"

Think about this for just a minute, and this is the correct translation.

• whatever you believe you act upon; that's faith
• when you act upon it, those are your works

What James is writing here is 'you say you faith, show me your works, and I will show my works by my faith.'

"…You prove your faith to me through your works, and I will prove my faith to you through my works. Do you believe that God is one? You do well to believe this. Even the demons believe and tremble in fear" (vs 18-19).

This tells you very clearly that it doesn't do you any good to say you believe in God and you don't do anything about it; you don't do what God says to do. Maybe a thought in your mind, but that has nothing to do with a relationship with God.

Verse 20: "But are you willing to understand, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac, his own son, upon the altar? Do you not see that faith was working together with his works, and by works his faith was perfected?" (vs 20-22)—because they come together!

That's the whole lesson that we need to understand in our created relationship with God! The created relationship with God is that He has called us to eternal life through Jesus Christ!

• He wants us to grow in grace and knowledge and understanding
• He wants us to love Him with all our heart, mind, soul and being

That's the only way that created relationships work!

• whether it's toward God
• whether it's toward the brethren

'Love each other as I have love you,' says Jesus!

In every marriage, if you love your husband, you love your wife, you love your children; everything is based on that! If you're believing in God, He is going to make everything good happen.

That's the reason for these created relationships, that they are bound together by love, truth and obedience through God!

Come tomorrow and we'll see what it is for us in the New Testament.

Scriptural References:

• Genesis 1:26-28, 31
• Genesis 2:1-3, 7-9. 15-25
• Genesis 3:1-4, 11-19
• Romans 5:12
• Genesis 4:7
• Genesis 6:5
• Genesis 12:1-3, 1, 4
• Genesis 15:1-6
• Genesis 22:1-2, 11-18
• Hebrews 11:8-12, 17-19
• James 2:15-22

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• 2 Timothy 1
• Genesis 5; 11:31-32

FRC:bo
Transcribed: 7/14/21

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