The Dwelling Place of God #2

Lessons from the calling of Abraham to his test of faith

(Day 3—FOT)

Fred R. Coulter—October 12, 2022

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Greetings, brethren! Welcome to Day 3 of the Feast of Tabernacles!

Hope you're having a great Feast, having a good time fellowshipping with the brethren. If you happen to be at home alone, you're not alone because God is with you—God the Father and Jesus Christ—and the Word of God and the Spirit of God is there!

That's the important thing because people can be in midst of many, many people, yet, be alone! Whatever our circumstances are, let's thank God for it and continue on with the Feast of Tabernacles.

This is day 3 for The Dwelling Place of God! We saw that tin the beginning that God was living with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Then after they were expelled from the Garden, they couldn't go back in there. It's very likely that they would meet God at the East entrance. There they would get instruction from God.

As we saw, after the death of Abel, by his brother Cain killing him, then we see that sin multiplies. But we also see that when sin takes place, first there is an exile. That's what happened to Adam and Eve. They couldn't go back into the Garden of Eden.

Then there was judgment against them because of their sin. Judgment in the way:

• that they would live
• that they would have children
• that the children would be
• of the environment

which was changed because of their sin! There would be weeds, thorns and things like this that Adam would have to put up with. He would have to work 'in the sweat of his brow.' All of this because they wanted to go their own way!

Let's fast forward to today! We are seeing the same thing exactly as Jesus said.

Matthew 24:32: "Now, learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branches have already become tender, and it puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. In like manner also, when you see all these things… [transpiring] …know that it is near…"

How near is near? To us it's a lot farther than it is to God!

"…even at the doors. Truly I say to you, this generation shall in no wise pass away until all these things have taken place" (vs 33-34).

The next verse is something that if people would take this for exactly what He's saying, and live their lives accordingly, we wouldn't have a world full of sin like we have now. But God knows the beginning from the ending.

Verse 35: "The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but My words shall never pass away." But they won't perish until the New Heaven and the New Earth! But God's Word extends beyond that!

• the Word of God is sure
• the Word of God is true
• the Word of God is righteous
• the Word of God will always take place in the time that He has determined

Verse 36: "But concerning that day, and the hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only."

While Jesus was on the earth, He didn't know! The Father had put all of this under His authority!

Verse 37: "Now, as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it also be at the coming of the Son of man. For as in the days that were before the Flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage…" (vs 37-38).

It also shows in Luke 17 that they were planting and building and life was seemingly to be going on normally! But it was normal perversion, just like it is today! Every man/woman doing what is right in his/her own eyes, and the whole society is given over to Satan the devil, like it is right now!

"…until the day that Noah entered the ark; and they were not aware until the Flood came and took them all away; so shall it also be at the coming of the Son of man" (vs 38-39).

Jesus is going to return in His time and in His way! He's going to setup the Kingdom of God! That's why we're here at the Feast of Tabernacles.

• to learn how this is all going to take place
• to learn what we are going to do
• how human beings will be learning how to live

It won't be like today!

Remember this truism: Whenever you get rid of the laws and commandments of God, and you substitute them for:

• your own words
• your own laws
• your own commandments

THEN you are making yourself a god! When that happens to the whole society everything comes unglued!

Gen. 4—let's see a pretty powerful verse when you bring it down to our day and add in the words that Jesus said that, 'In the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man.'

Genesis 4:20: "And Adah bore Jabal… [this is the linage from Cain] …he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. And his brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who corruptly play the lyre and the pipe" (vs 20-21).

Corrupted music! Not many people know that there are laws of music so you can have a proper understanding of music and the effect of music. God wants us to have music:

• He made us to sing
• He made us to play instruments
• He made us to praise Him in song

But the corrupt music that we have today with the rock music, rap music, rebellious music twists the mind and the emotions of people!

It twists so much that they are really unable to think. People who have music pounded into their very being… I know that's why I have experienced and that was when I went to a movie with Dolores, I remember the music was so loud and so penetrating that it literally went through your whole body. When you have that kind of music you cannot think; you cannot make rational statements! This is how there is so much perversion in the world today! The perversion starts at the kiddy level with Walt Disney and others like it.

Now they have TikTok; thank you China for all the perversions you're bringing upon us! But they know TikTok in China is entirely different than TikTok in America, which is to pervert the minds of our children. If you have children don't let them have TikTok and don't let them have their electronic devices in their bedrooms alone. That can lead to trouble!

We have the generations of Noah down through Enoch and Methuselah and down to Noah. Let's see what happens when the whole society is run amok and everyone doing what is right in his own eyes!

This is for us to learn, because it won't be that way during the Millennium. We will be there:

• to teach the people
• to help the people
• to watch over them
• to make sure that God's way is to them a blessing

God is going to take away the human nature that is evil and replace it with something that is good, called a mind of flesh and a heart of flesh! That's interesting! What do most people have today? Most people today have degrees of the mind of Satan the devil! Let's see what happens when that occurs. While you're at it:

• analyze the news
• analyze what is given on television
• analyze all the ads

Every single one of them is an indoctrination to enter into your mind, for you to become part of this world's society! God has called us out of it! That's why we're here keeping the Feast of Tabernacles! Here is what God saw:

• What do you think God is seeing today?
• What did Jesus say it would be like? Like it was in the days of Noah!

Genesis 6:5: "And the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and every… [each and every one] …imagination… [whatever is going on in your mind] …of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."

• Is that not what we have today?
• Is that not what we have on television?

Remember that no one can ever make sin righteous! It's impossible! Where do we find that today but in the churches!

Verse 6: "And the LORD repented that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart."

To see the power that He gave to man and woman—so that they would be able to worship Him and they would be able to do great things—was turned over to Satan the devil! It got so evil that God was completely upset about it.

So, here's what He had to do, and this is coming on our society today. Not with a flood like it was with Noah, but destruction is coming! We see progressively!

Verse 7: "And the LORD said, 'I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the crawling thing, and the fowl of the air; for I repent that I have made them.'"

Here's another great lesson of the Bible: One man can change everything! That's important to realize! We will see that again later.

Verse 8: "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD."

What do you know about that? There's grace in the Old Testament!

Verse 11: "Now the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth. And God said to Noah, 'The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. And, behold, I will destroy them with the earth'" (vs 11-13).

Now we see that afterward God promised not to do it again with a flood. But when it gets to the point that it is so corrupt, it must be destroyed! That's why you have the rise and fall of nations, empires, states, provinces and now we're seeing it in cities in America! They are so perverse and so corrupt that people who were what we would call normal people in society move out of there and let all the wicked have it alone and they completely tear it down!

That's why God has called us to learn those lessons! Once the heart and mind of a human being becomes perverted, evil and wretched they can think of nothing but evil all the time! Notice what Jesus said:

Mark 7:21: "For from within…"

This is why there's repentance, forgiveness, baptism and the receiving of the Holy Spirit and the renewing of the mind! Here is what it is cutoff from God:

"…out of the hearts of men go forth evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders" (v 21).

Learn something true and right: Whenever you leave the true God and His laws and commandments, you then join the ranks of Satan the devil! Then in short generations the whole society becomes perverse! This is what we see in the world today; all of this magnified!

Verse 22: "Thefts, covetousness, wickednesses, guile, licentiousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness; all these evils go forth from within, and these defile a man" (vs 22-23).

Look at it today! Look at how much homosexuality there is, transgender there is, trying to change the gender of children without the permission of the parents! If that is not evil, I don't know what is! They ruin and destroy the lives of those children for their own sexual perversion! That's just the way that it is today.

Let's look at what happened after the Flood! They had a chance to start again and a chance to do it right! They had a chance to obey the commandments of God. But did they do it? NO! Even the grandson of Noah committed on Noah himself—when he was sleeping—a perverted sex act! So, it couldn't even go one generation without it referring back to what it was before the Flood.

God promised He would never do a Flood again to destroy the earth. He gave the rainbow as a sign! God blessed everything after the Flood, and God withdrew Himself from living on the earth, and now operated from heaven down to the earth. God gave the promise:

Genesis 8:22: "While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."

That's true, that's happened all the way down!

Genesis 9:1: "And God blessed Noah and his sons, and He said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every bird of the air, upon all that moves on the earth, and upon all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered'" (vs 1-2). Same thing He gave to Adam and Eve!

Everything was good for a while, and then we come to Gen. 10. Noah lived for 350 years after the Flood. So, Gen. 10 is something!

Genesis 10:8: "And Cush begat Nimrod…."

Book: The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop {truthofGod.org} You need to get that book and read it. This tells the history of the world from that time—350 years later—beginning with Nimrod.

Verse 8: "And Cush begat Nimrod He began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter against the LORD. Therefore, it is said, 'Like Nimrod—the mighty hunter against the LORD.' And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar" (vs 8-10)—then he built Nineveh and other cities!

His wife's name was Semiramis; she became the original queen of heaven. We have a very interesting book that preserved the history of the world after the Flood in artwork. How that the evil ones took over and pushed back against Shem and Japheth and got rid of the children who obeyed God! Shem and Japheth had to live separately from where the Cushites were. Everything was starting to go the way it was before the Flood! Let's see what happened and just like today:

• Where do we want to go? Mars!
• Really??
• How are you going to live there? We'll figure out some way!

Genesis 11:1: "And the whole earth was of one language and one speech. And it came to pass, as they traveled from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar. And they settled there. And they said to one another, 'Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.' And they had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. And they said, 'Come, let us build us a city and a tower, with its top reaching into the heavens….'" (vs 1-4).

Does this mean that they were figuring out how to get out into space? Could be!

"'…And let us establish a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered upon the face of the whole earth'" (v 4).

They knew that God was going to place each in their own part of the earth. The fledgling nations of people would have their own nations. They didn't want that! So they rebelled and here they are rebelling again against God!

Verse 5: "And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men had built. And the LORD said, 'Behold, the people are one and they all have one language. And this is only the beginning of what they will do—now nothing, which they have imagined to do, will be restrained from them'" (vs 5-6).

Remember the days of Noah continued 350 years after the Flood!

Verse 7: "'Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they cannot understand one another's speech.' So, the LORD scattered them abroad from that place upon the face of all the earth. And they quit building the city. Therefore, the name of it is called Babel, because the LORD confused the language of all the earth there…." (vs 7-9).

Think about this: God made all languages! Hebrew is not a sacred language! It is a human language that the Hebrews speak. They have the Bible written—the Old Testament—in the Hebrew language. But it's not a sacred language that carries over to the New Testament. There's plenty of proof in the New Testament to show that sacred names should not be in the N.T. The reason is:

All the apostles knew Hebrew and could write it; the Apostle Paul did, but:

• Did he put any sacred names in his 14 Epistles? No, he did not!
• Did any of the other apostles put sacred names in what they wrote—James, Peter, John and Jude, Matthew, Mark and Luke? No!

Sidebar on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2): All of them heard the apostles speak in the different languages and they said, 'We heard them speak of the wonderful things of God in our own language.' So, the language that came out, inspired of the Holy Spirit, for the people to hear, and the name of God that they heard was in the language that they were born in.

Verse 9: "Therefore, the name of it is called Babel, because the LORD confused the language of all the earth there. And from there the LORD scattered them abroad upon the face of all the earth."

The genealogy and the rest of Gen. 10 comes down to Abraham. We will see that Abraham is the beginning of what all the rest of the Bible will be based upon. This will extend into the Millennium, into the time that we are teaching the people God's way. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all of the patriarchs and prophets will all be there along with all of us.

We're going to teach the people God's way! At that time God will restore the language to the people that He wants. So, all will speak the same language! We don't know what that will be, and probably will not be Hebrew; but something entirely different!

Gen. 12—here we come to Abraham, and let's see that this is the key for us to understand. When we come to the calling of Abraham, everything else in the rest of the Bible flows from here! This is important to understand, because God will not dwell with anyone who disobeys Him! We see that beginning with Adam and Eve and all the way down to here. That goes all the way down to our day and on into the Millennium, on into the second resurrection! That's the whole lesson:

• Will you love God?
• Will you obey Him?
• Will you listen to Him?

This is why we're here at the Feast of Tabernacles, so that we can understand in order for us, when we enter the Kingdom of God, to help all of the people learn about God. We have got to understand ourselves, human nature, what it's all about, and God's way that He wants us to live! Let's read about the calling of Abraham. We will see that this is the same requirement as the New Testament.

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. And I will make of you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great. And you shall be a blessing'" (vs 1-2).

Go clear back to what Adam and Eve had; God blessed them! If they would have obeyed, the whole thing of how the world had turned out would be different. But they didn't! After that, who obeyed God? Seth, Enoch and Noah! Only three! After the Flood, the only one to obey God besides Noah was Abraham! Here's the requirement, and God said that He would bless them!

Verse 3: "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."

Think about down through history how many people that's going to be! But because of one man: Abraham! Here what we see:

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 Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the people that they had gained in Haran. And they went forth to go into the land of Canaan. And they came into the land of Canaan" (vs 4-5).

Ten Years Later: Abraham was 85-years-old

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.'"

Same way with us! God is your shield and your exceedingly great reward!Abraham at age 85and having no children, but trusting God and going wherever He led Abram to go:

Verse 2: "And Abram said, 'Lord GOD, what will You give me since I go childless, and the heir of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?'"

Abram could have made legally Eliezer his heir. But God said, 'No!'

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.'"

God did it this way to show the importance of it. How that God would keep His word in His time! Same way with us. We're told in Gal. 3 that if you are Christ's, you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise! So, this goes clear back to Gen. 12.

Verse 5: "And He brought him outside and said, 'Look now toward the heavens and number the stars—if you are able to count them.' And He said to him, 'So shall your seed be.'"

You've seen the recent pictures from the James Webb[transcriber's correction] Telescope; it's awesome! Abraham didn't see any of those, but when God said to look at the stars, He included all of them. That's quite a promise to be as the stars. From this we get two seeds:

• physical seed—Isaac
• spiritual seed—Jesus Christ

Sidebar: This is why you have all the genealogies in the Old Testament, so that this measures all the generation down to Christ!

The last book of the Old Testament is 1st & 2nd Chronicles and they have all the genealogies. So, when the New Testament begins in the book of Matthew it starts out with the genealogies of Christ, the Son of Abraham, the Son of David. Amazing to show that God kept His promise and the legal descendents down to the Christ! They're both contained right here in Gen. 15. So, Abraham believed God and had the sacrifice and so forth.

14 Years Later: Abraham was age 99-years-old

Then we come to Gen. 17; remember that in Gen. 12 Abraham was 85-years-old, and God still had not given a physical heir. God was ready to do it.

Genesis 17:1: "And when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him… "

He appeared personally like a human being, and He also appeared in vision; now He's going to fulfill the promise: This is really something when you put it all together!

"…'I am the Almighty God! Walk before Me and be perfect.'" (v 1). That's a New Testament requirement for us!

Verse 2: "'And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.' And Abram fell on his face. And God talked with him, saying, 'As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. Neither shall your name any more be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations'" (vs 2-5).

Think about this: God speaks of the things that are not as thought they are! It wasn't until a year later that Isaac was born. It was one son! Think on that! That's why when we look at the promises of God and when He tells us He's going to do, we have to understand that they're going to come in the way that God determines, and not in the way that we think!

We will also learn another lesson, that they come in a greater way and in greater magnitude than we suppose.

(break@47:05)

Let's understand something else about how God looks at things. He looks at them as though they're already done, because He knows what He's going to do. Sometimes, because it doesn't look like that God is keeping His word, and after 14 years someone could say that God hasn't kept His word. But His timetable is always different than ours!

Let's see how God expands this; Genesis 17:6: "And I will make you exceedingly fruitful… [but Abraham only had one son; never forget that] …and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you"—down through generations! But it's from Abraham!

Does that give you a little better understanding of:

Galatians 3:29 "And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise"? Yes, it does!

Genesis 17:7: "And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you in their generations for an everlasting covenant…"

This means that down through Christ, down through the return of Christ, the resurrection of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the saints, all the patriarchs, everybody in the first resurrection. Most of them will be because of what God did for Abraham!

That's something! And this is what we need to understand and realize: that the Kingdom of God is coming and God is going to bring it. Christ is going to return and setup the Government of God and the government shall be upon His shoulders. Right next to Him will be Abraham! Let's continue to see how this expands!

Verse 7: "And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your seed after you. And I will give the land to you in which you are a sojourner, and to your seed after you, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession. And I will be their God" (vs 7-8).

Not only is Abraham the father of many nations, but listen to what it says here referring to Abraham:

Romans 4:12: "And that he might become the father of the circumcision—not to those who are of the circumcision only, but also to those who walk in the footsteps of the faith of our father Abraham, which he had during his uncircumcision." He believed God! Now, here is the promise:

Verse 13: "For the promise to Abraham, or to his seed, that he should be heir of the world…

When God gives a promise of a blessing, it goes way beyond what we think!

"…the world was not given through law; rather, it was through the righteousness of faith; because if those of the law be the heirs, then faith is made void, and the promise is made of no effect. For the Law works out wrath; because where no law is, there is no transgression. For this reason it is of faith…" (vs 13-16). Now it goes over to us!

• Are we going to be in the Kingdom of God?
• Is that not the greatest Kingdom that is going to be?
• Is not Abraham the one who is the progenitor of all of that for all that enter into it? Yes!

Yes!

Verse 16: "For this reason it is of faith in order that it might be by grace, to the end that the promise might be certain to all the seed—not to the one who is of the law only, but also to the one who is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. (Exactly as it is written: 'I have made you a father of many nations.') before God in Whom he believed, Who gives life to the dead, and calls the things that are not as though they are" (vs 16-17).

This is the kind of faith, the kind of hope that we need to have. We are the recipients of it to bring it into the world at the return of Jesus Christ. Then at that time we will see Christ and all the saints will be dwelling on the earth. That's quite a thing!

We need to think way much more broadly than we've ever thought! Much more deeply about what God has promised than we have even considered. This is tremendous!

Verse 21: "For he was fully persuaded that what He has promised, He is also able to do."

Sometimes there are circumstances that come along that we don't trust in the promises of God the way that we should, or hope in the promises of God the way that we should, because our circumstances are the exact opposite. That's what it was with Abraham. He went 25 years without a child. From age 75 to age 100. How long have we been waiting? That's why we need to keep believing!

Verse 19: "And he, not being weak in the faith, considered not his own body, already having become dead, being about one hundred years old, nor did he consider the deadness of Sarah's womb; and he did not doubt the promise of God through unbelief…" (vs 19-20). He was overwhelmed by it, but he didn't doubt it!

"…rather, he was strengthened in the faith, giving glory to God; for he was fully persuaded…" (v 21).

This is what we need to understand here, especially during the Feast of Tabernacles. What God has promised with the coming Kingdom of God, are we fully persuaded that He is going to do it?

It doesn't matter what the timeframe is, because the timeframe is in the hands of God. It doesn't matter what the circumstances may look like, because God can change all of that in an instant!

Verse 20: "…he was strengthened in the faith, giving glory to God; for he was fully persuaded that what He has promised, He is also able… [or had the power] …to do" (vs 20-21).

Verse 22: "As a result, it was also imputed to him for righteousness. But it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; rather, it was also written for our sakes, to whom it shall be imputed—to those who believe in Him Who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offenses and was raised for our justification" (vs 22-25).

See how all of these things come back to the New Testament. It's important for us to understand. Gen. 17 is where God gave the promise for the physical nations.

Genesis 17:9: "And God said to Abraham, 'And you shall keep My covenant, you and your seed after you in their generations. This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your seed after you. Every male child among you shall be circumcised'" (vs 9-10).

That's for the physical linage, the physical lands and physical children. All the males!

Verse 11: "And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin. And it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you." Circumcision is not of the Jews!

Jesus said that it's of the fathers; Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! Here's what God told Abraham concerning his own physical seed:

Verse 15: "And God said to Abraham, 'As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but her name shall be Sarah. And I will bless her, and give you a son also of her. Yes, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations—kings of people shall be from her'" (vs 15-16).

Here's Abraham 99-years-old, he had been walking now for 24 years believing God, following His instructions. Here's how he reacted to that at that age. Remember, he will be 100-years-old and his wife 90-years-old.

Verse 17: "And Abraham fell upon his face and laughed, and said in his heart, 'Shall a child be born to him that is a hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear?'" Not only that, the child was born and she nursed him for three years!

God does things that for human beings that are impossible! This is what we need to know!

Verse 18: "And Abraham said to God, 'Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!' And God said, 'Sarah your wife shall bear you a son indeed. And you shall call his name Isaac. And I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him…'" (vs 18-20).

Gen. 18 is something, too. This is why we need to understand the things in the Old Testament. All the promises and all the covenants are there, and the New Covenant—the New Testament—is just expanded out. The return of Christ expands it out, and after everything is all done it expands out to the New Heaven and the New Earth. From a little seed that is nothing—that you cannot see—everything flows from this!

Genesis 18:1: "And the LORD appeared to him in the plains of Mamre, and he sat at the tent door in the heat of the day. And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and lo, three men stood by him. And when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground. And he said, 'My LORD, if now I have found favor in Your sight, do not pass away, I pray, from Your servant. Let a little water, I pray, be brought, and wash Your feet, and rest under the tree. And I will bring a bite of bread, and will comfort your hearts. After that You shall pass on, for this is why You have come to Your servant.' And they said, 'Do so, as you have said.'" (vs 1-5).

Verse 6: "And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, 'Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal; knead it, and make cakes.' And Abraham ran out to the herd and brought a calf, tender and good. And he gave it to a young man. And he hurried to dress it. And he took butter and milk, and the calf…" (vs 6-8).

Sidebar: Jews say that you can't have meat and milk and butter together. God did! Abraham did!

"…which he had dressed, and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree, and they ate. And they said to him, 'Where is Sarah your wife?' And he said, 'Behold, in the tent.' And He said, 'I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and lo, Sarah your wife shall have a son.' And Sarah heard at the tent door, which was behind Him. Now, Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in days, and it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. Therefore, Sarah laughed within herself, saying, 'After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?' And the LORD said to Abraham, 'Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I, who am old, truly bear a child?' Is anything too hard for the LORD?….'" (vs 8-14).

Great lesson! No, nothing is too hard for the Lord! The question is: what is God's timetable! It may be different from what we perceive, as it was here.

"'…At the time appointed I will return again, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.' Then Sarah denied, saying, 'I did not laugh'; for she was afraid. And He said, 'No, but you did laugh'" (vs 14-15).

After that we have the account of Sodom and Gomorrah! Then we have in Gen. 21, Isaac was born.

When we look at what God is doing for us, and what God is doing to us, how it should be, God will fulfill it.

• it doesn't matter how old we get
• it doesn't matter how weak we become
• it doesn't matter if we die and are buried

God's will and purpose is going to be fulfilled in the life of every single one! The ultimate purpose is that God will have a dwelling place on earth! In all of this God Himself had no place to live on the earth. He would go back to heaven and then come back to the earth and make whatever trips He had to make.

Genesis 21:1: "And the LORD visited Sarah as He had said. And the LORD did to Sarah as He had spoken… [kept His word and promise] …for Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him" (vs 1-2).

• we look at the return of Christ, it's going to be at the set time
• we look at the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth, and it will be at the set time

In spite of the impossibilities that make it look like it isn't going to be!

Verse 3: "And Abraham called the name of his son that was born to him (whom Sarah bore to him) Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac, when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. And Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. And Sarah said, 'God has made me laugh, so that all who hear will laugh with me.'…. [not at her] …And she said, 'Who could have said to Abraham that Sarah would suckle children? For I have borne a son to him in his old age'" (vs 3-7). Then it talks about the child grew and so forth!

Gen. 22—here is a test of faith! Every one of us are going to have a test of faith. I want you to understand and see if we can grasp how much did Abraham and Sarah love Isaac. Their only son, and in their old age. The requirement of what God was going to do was a precursor of what God would do with His only Begotten Son: Jesus Christ!

We know that Gen. 15 happened on the Passover. It's very likely that Gen. 22 happened on the Passover. God came to Abraham and said, 'Take your son and you go to one of the mountains of Moriah that will show you and there offer your son as a burnt offering.

Abraham got everything ready and took a three-day journey, and he saw the mountain and he told the young man that was him helping to bring the wood, the donkey and so forth. Isaac was there with him. And he told the young man to 'wait here until Isaac and I go make an offering to God.'

What was in Abraham's mind? We don't know because we're not told here, but we're told in Heb. 12. Abraham was willing to do it because he believed God and God said to do it, and He had a reason for doing it, to say to offer your son for a burn offering. That's a hard thing to take after waiting all those years for a son. Then as 100, and now probably 115 years! The best we can figure is that Isaac was about 15-years-old at this point.

Abraham took the wood and placed it on Isaac who was a type of Christ. That was a type of Christ carrying his own cross. They went up on the mountain. I don't know if this was the mountain where Christ was crucified. He was crucified on the Mount of Olives, so it could be; we don't know.

In going up there, Abraham took the pot of coals and Isaac was carrying the wood, and he asked: 'My Father, I see the fire and the wood, but where is the offering that we're going to offer? What did Abraham say? My son, God will provide!

Do we have that kind of faith? We're going to face a lot of difficulties! God will provide, but we have to trust Him! We have got to use our common sense and full belief that exactly as Abraham, what God has promised he is able to do!

They got up there, Abraham made the altar and took his son Isaac and bound him and laid him on the altar and was ready to cut his throat. We're told in Heb. 12 that he was doing this because he knew that God could raise him from the dead!

He received him through procreation from his own dead body, and the dead body of Sarah. That is, dead sexually! So, he had the faith and he offered Isaac. As we know, here is the test. All of us will have a test like this. We don't know how it will come about, we don't know what the circumstances will be. This is why we need to always be ready and stay close to God in prayer, study and in everything that we do.

Genesis 22:10: "And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the LORD called to him from the heavens and said, 'Abraham! Abraham!' And he said, 'Here I am.'" (vs 10-11). I bet he was glad to hear that!

Verse 12: "And He said, 'Do not lay your hand upon the lad, nor do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.'"

• Do we love and fear God that much?
• Are we ready?

We're going to face a lot of circumstances!

Verse 13: "And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram was entangled in a thicket by its horns…."

There are two ways that it would come:

• it came and got caught in the thicket while they were preparing to offer Isaac

after the angel calling out 'don't do anything to your son, now I know you fear God'

• God supernaturally created a ram right there for the sacrifice

Think about that!

"…And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son" (v 13).

Verse 15: "And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said, 'By Myself…'" (vs 15-16).

Let's understand that God is so interested in us, and us being in the Kingdom of God, and us to takeover the world with all the other saints, and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, everything together to rule the world. That's something that we need to really, really understand!

"…'By Myself have I sworn,' says the LORD, 'because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son; that in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens…" (vs 16-17).

All the spiritual sons of God; that's why it's important that today we have these awesome pictures of the universe! We can see them and be inspired of what God has for us! He's done that for us and to know that everything on the earth and during the Millennium is just the finality of everything on the earth. Then we have New Jerusalem and all of the universe! That's something!

"…and as the sand, which is upon the seashore…. [physical seed through Jacob and the 12 sons and all the tribes of Israel] …And your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in your seed…" (v 17-18).

The same promise, because God gave it to Abraham and He passes it right on to Isaac.

Verse 18: "And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."

That's what we're going to teach all the people during the Millennium. It's important that we learn these lessons! We need to ask ourselves the same thing:

• Do we obey the voice of God?
• Do we do the things that God really wants?
• Are we really deeply engaged in our lives with God and what He's doing?
• Are we fellowshipping with each other, loving each other?
• Are we loving God?
• Are we anticipating the Kingdom?

That's why we keep the Feast of Tabernacles! All of these things are part of it. So, it's good that we go back and see it and not remove ourselves from it and think that we have something different and separate. That's not so!

• rejoice in the goodness of God
• rejoice in His blessings
• rejoice in this Feast of Tabernacles

See you tomorrow!

Scriptural References:

• Matthew 24:32-39
• Genesis 4:20-21
• Genesis 6:5-8, 11-13
• Mark 7:21
• Genesis 8:22
• Genesis 9:1-2
• Genesis 10:8-10
• Genesis 11:1-9
• Genesis 12:1-5
• Genesis 15:1-2, 4-5
• Genesis 17:1-6
• Galatians 3:29
• Genesis 17:7-8
• Romans 4:12-17, 21, 19-21, 20-25
• Genesis 17:9-11, 15-20
• Genesis 18:1-15
• Genesis 21:1-7
• Genesis 22:10-13, 15-18

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Luke 17
• Acts 2
• 1st & 2nd Chronicles
• Hebrews 12

Also referenced: Book: The Two Babylons
by Alexander Hislop {truthofGod.org}

FRC:bo
Transcribed: 8/5/22

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