Genesis 15 and The 430 Years

How to calculate "the self same day"

Fred R. Coulter—March 7, 2020

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Greetings, everyone! Welcome to Sabbath services! We're just exactly one month away from Passover. I want to advertise a few things for you:

Transcript Books with CD:

• The Last Ten Days of Jesus' Life

Books:

• A Harmony of the Gospels in Modern English, the Life of Jesus Christ

That has the whole thing about everything concerning Christ with commentary. It is absolutely the best Harmony in the world, and I think the only one that actually does it based around the Holy Days and the Passover.

• The Christian Passover

All those old heresies of the Passover circulate around. So, we're going to cover some of them, but this book is an in-depth study step-by-step of the Passover throughout the whole Bible, and covering:

• What are the problems that the Jews have?
• What are the problems that the Protestants have?
• What are the problems that some of the Churches of God have?

• A paper written by Kuhn and Grabbe—44-years-old—and this was the initial assault against the Passover in the Worldwide Church of God and was also and assault against the Church by the two principals involved in taking the Church down.

When you write for this, you will see that I have in the margin all my first initial comments as I read it. This proves that those who have doctorate degrees—and Robert Kuhn has several of them—that they do not prevent them from lying or presenting false doctrine, and it doesn't prevent them from deliberately trying to undermine the faith of true Christians. This is 1976-77, before they started having all of the trouble concerning the Passover.

The Christian Passover is the third edition; we have sent out a lot of them, and this is absolutely essential for you to completely understand it.

• Why are there so many attacks against the Passover?
• What do you think?
• What is the most important thing for all of us as individuals?
• What is the most important thing in our lives? Contact with God!
• Who does not want us to have contact with God? Satan the devil!

So, Satan the devil—in 2-Cor. 11—has his ministers who appear as 'ministers of righteousness. Even Satan transformed himself into 'an angel of light.'

So, they come bringing false doctrines and they first like to set the stage by dumbing down the people and the ministry. When they bring it, like they did in Worldwide, they had a Greek 'expert' who was so high-minded that no one was able to ask him an intelligent question, because he was so smart, Stavrinides was his name. He was the agent to completely undermine the Truth within WCG.

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John 13 tells us something tremendously important, and you need to understand that Jesus said in Luke 6, 'Why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and do not practice the things that I tell you.'

In Matt. 7 it says, 'Why call Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the will of the Father.' That's not contradictory because Jesus did everything that the Father said He should do:

What He says I should say, I say; what He told Me to do, I do, and this is the commandment that I had from the Him. I lay down My life willingly so that I may receive it back.

How many people really have foot-washing today? John 13:8: "Peter said to Him [Jesus], 'You shall not wash my feet, not ever.' Jesus answered him, 'If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.'"

When we are washing one another's feet and we have the Spirit of God, we have the Spirit of the Father and the Spirit of Christ—the two parts of the Holy Spirit—in our mind. As we do this, it is as if Jesus were washing our feet. You need to understand how important and how deep that relationship is with God, that He wants to have with us.

Exo. 12 is where Israel had its first Passover. There is a doctorate who says that he has read the Passover book and I've gone half way through his video, but he made a mistake that almost everyone makes. In their study they leave out certain important things.

We will follow the chronology here very carefully. We know that they were to pick a lamb on the 10th day of the 1st month. They were to keep it up until the 14th. When did the 14th begin? At sundown as the 13th ended! Then they were to roast it. They weren't to boil it. The lamb that they took had to be less than a year old.

So, they could not have taken a lamb that was born in the season before this Passover. Most lambs are born somewhere in February or early March. A lamb that is eight days old or older could be used. If you have a small lamb and they figured it was for ten people. If you had household that had fewer people then you would share the lamb.

What were they do with the blood once they killed it? This was a domestic killed Passover. They were to take the blood and put it on the side post and the lintel of the doors of their houses. Josephus says that they were in their tents in Rameses. Not possible!

Sidebar on Josephus: what was Josephus? A Pharisee and priest of the first course! He was alive all during the beginning of the Church, maybe even to the last part of Jesus' ministry. In his original copy there is not one reference to Jesus.

As a Pharisee, what do you suppose his job as an historian was to do for the Jews? To eliminate any historical evidence of Jesus! Do they do that today? Yes, indeed!

After the Israelites put the blood on the doorpost and lintel, they were to stay in their house and eat the lamb and at midnight God started killing the firstborn. He spared their firstborn because of the blood!

This paper by Kuhn and Grabbe advocates that at that time they keep time like we do and after it was midnight they could leave. That's what they said in the paper.

There are those who combine the Passover and the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. How do they do that? By not reading these Scriptures!

Exodus 12:21: "Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them…" I'm giving you this message personally. You can put away your smart phones, I want it direct to you! I'm being sarcastic!

There was no other way to get the instructions to all the children of Israel in their houses in the land of Goshen so that they would all know what to do. So, Moses called for the elders and here are the instructions that he gave them to do in addition to these that are recorded before that.

"…'Draw out and take a lamb for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip in the blood that is in the bowl, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood in the bowl. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until sunrise'" (vs 21-22).

The King James says 'morning.' The Hebrew is 'boquer' which means sunrise. Why did God give those instructions this way? Can even a 5-year-old understand when sunrise is? He couldn't have them coming our and leaving their houses at any ole time. Since they left Rameses, what did they do on the day portion of the Passover, after sunrise? They left their houses, spoiled the Egyptians along the way—and they were willing to give the Israelites everything—and they assembled at Rameses!

If you were to stay in your house until sunrise, you can't leave that night! It says that they left Egypt by night. So, if you're in your house until sunrise, half the day is already gone.

Verse 23: "For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians. And when He sees the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you."

Did all of the firstborn of the Egyptians die instantly? Or was it like a wave passing through? We don't know, but I don't think it was instant! I think it was a wave passing through.

Verse 24: "And you shall observe this thing as a law to you and to your children forever."

What was the law? The instructions God gave! Pick them on the 10th, kill it on the beginning of the 14th and take the blood and put it on the side post and upper lintel, eat it that night, stay in your house and not go out of the house until morning.

Verse 25: "And it shall be when you have come to the land, which the LORD will give you, according as He has promised that you shall keep this service. And it will be, when your children shall say to you, 'What does this service mean to you?' Then you shall say, 'It is the sacrifice of the LORD'S Passover…" (vs 25-27).

Remember Deut. 16, those were Passover offerings for the redemption of the firstborn because the Passover is a household sacrifice, not an offering. Why is it not an offering? Because it was never to be done at the temple or tabernacle!

What we need to understand is that the Jews, because of their traditions, have blinded their minds to understand the Scriptures. When you read any of their commentaries written by their 'intelligencia' they talk about the writer of 'this book,' or the writer of 'that book.' They don't talk about it as the inspired Word of God!

Why? Because if they did, that would undo all their traditions! But they say that Moses gave 'oral traditions.' Well, if he did give oral traditions, why did God tell him to write it down?

Num. 28:16—here what you're to offer day-by-day, and on the Sabbath Day, then here's what to offer at the beginning of your months. Now then, here's the Passover Day; what offerings do you see  that are commanded at the temple? None! The only offering would be morning and evening sacrifice, because that was to be every day.

Why is there no sacrifice listed here in the midst of the obligatory sacrifices to give at the tabernacle or temple? Because the Passover was to always be a home observed ceremony! In the Passover book we've got quotes by Jews to that very effect!

Now then, the Jews later did have temple sacrifice lambs for their Passover, which they ate the next night. So, during the days of Jesus, you had the domestic Passover, which Jesus and the disciples kept. They had the temple sacrifice of the lamb for those who followed the tradition of the Diaspora, even though they were in the land of Judea.

• What was the tradition of the Diaspora? The 15th!
• Why was it the 15th?

Num. 9 is interesting because if you follow everything that was done in all the chapters leading up to Num. 9, the offering started on the 1st day of the 1st month by every tribe. Every day one tribe would bring the same offering to the priests and the Levites.

How many tribes are there? 12! Actually 13, the Levites are separate! They were the ones to operate at the temple.

This becomes important because if there were to be the temple sacrifice of the Passover lamb, then it should be right here in Num. 9. But they didn't!

Numbers 9:1: "And the LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, 'Let the children of Israel also keep the Passover at its appointed time. In the fourteenth day of this month, between the two evenings… [ben ha arbayim] …you shall keep it in its appointed time….'" (vs 1-2).

What chapter establishes how God uses 'ben ha arbayim'? Exo. 16! He told them in the morning they would get manna, then at night 'ben ha arbayim' you're going to eat flesh. When did God send the quail? Did He send them immediately after He said that they would eat flesh, and they came on the Sabbath Day. What would happen if that was so? God would be breaking His own Sabbath Day and causing the people to break the Sabbath Day by killing and cooking!

So, at sundown—ba erev—the quail came. Where did God put the manna the next morning? Out around the camp! They had to get up and go get it, because if they didn't get up and go get it before the sun got hot, it disappeared.

Just think about how you would get people up today if you had something that if they didn't get out and get it they didn't eat! That was their work, and what did He say to them on the sixth day? Get twice as much and you can keep that over! But the first five days if they kept it over what happened? They had worms and it stunk! So, there was the miracle of the manna.

Then God told them not to go out on the Sabbath Day to look for manna, because you're not going to find any. What did they do? They went out to look for manna, and didn't find any! What did God say? How long do you refuse to keep My Law?

Is it important to obey the voice of God? It was very simple, they got twice as much, but greed made them go out on the Sabbath Day! So, God didn't put any out there. Now then, back to the Sabbath and the quail.

• When does the Sabbath end? Sundown!
• When did God send the quail? Sundown!

You do have to get the quail before you eat them. Don't you think that's logical? You can't eat them before you get them!

So, they came at sundown, and where did He put the quail? He dropped them all on the camp! On their tents! He made them docile and easy to catch. Even the little kiddies probably went up and said, 'Look, Mommy, I got one.'

They skinned them, cleaned them and roasted them and ate them 'ben ha arbayim.' What does this tell us? 'Ben ha arbayim' immediately follows sunset! It's translated between the two evenings, which is between sunset and dark.

'ba erev'[transcriber's correction]—sunset—how long is it? Five minutes long! You look at the horizon and it takes five minutes for the sun to go below the horizon.

The time after that is twilight or the time between the two evenings. When I was writing for the Passover book, I wanted to get an exact timing of how long it would take for the sun to go down. I was coming back from Los Angeles and I was over by San Luis Reservoir and it has a perfectly flat top. I pulled over to a area where I would be out of the traffic and watched the sun and timed it. It took five minutes for the sun to go down, so:

• 'ba erev'[transcriber's correction]is only about five minutes
• 'ben ha arbayim' is about an hour and 15 minutes, more or less, depending on what part of the year that you're looking at.

When I was coming back from Daytona Beach and I was looking out of the window and I could look ahead—flying west and the sun was going down—and I could see the light as it comes back and could see where it was almost dark.

This follows all around the earth as it's turning. The earth turns, and that's why we have that time. It is a set time that God established between the two evenings, between sunset and dark.

The rest of the instructions for when they got it in the house and were roasting the lamb, what did God tell them? You are not to leave anything until morning!You're to burn it with fire! So, what we did when I was writing the book, we went to Skip Emerson's and he raised little goats and sheep and he took two little goats and they had just been born about a month before.

He knew how to kill them and clean them, so we timed it. Strung them up with their hind feet so their head is down, slit the throat, caught the blood and to my astonishment he took the knife and went from the hind feet clear up the chest and opened up the cavity and all the innards are in a big bag. All he had to do to get it started was to cut off at the rear end and it just fell out. Then everything that was in the lamb was out. That took three minutes!

Then we wanted to know how long it took to skin it. When you know how to skin it, it doesn't take any length of time at all. He just took a knife and went down along the side of the opened rib cage and the thing was almost skinned in less than five minutes.

It took about 15-20 minutes to make it ready to roast. To roast it they were to put into the cavity the liver, the kidneys and the heart. Then they put it on a spigot and roasted it. It could not be boiled! As a matter of fact, the Jews had way of doing it when they roasted it on a grill, like a barbeque grill, if any of the meat that was on the grill touched the juice that boiled, they couldn't eat it, they cut it off.

So, we found out how long it took to roast the lamb—about an hour and a half, because it's small. That's why you can't have a 'Passover calf.' I mean, even a small calf would weigh about 60 pounds. So, it was a lamb or a kid goat. They were to burn it all! They had to take the skin and cut it up in pieces so they could burn it in the fire where they were roasting. I'm sure that the Israelites would put it in there piece by piece; that's what we did, as it was roasting.

Then they would eat it with bitter herbs. They had to be ready to go and they were to eat it in 'trepidation,' not in haste (KJV), that they were ready to leave immediately. That's a bad translation of the KJV.

Then they were to burn all the bones. There was to be nothing left. God did not anyone to have a sacred bone chip as an idol to hold onto as a 'lucky charm' that they had been passed over by God. They had to burn it!

• So, what did we do?
• How long did it take to burn all the bones?

So, we took home a lamb shank; that was the biggest part and the hardest to burn. We put it in our fireplace and it took almost two hours to burn it into ashes. So, they couldn't go out of the door of their house until morning.

We don't know if God would have struck them dead, but do you think that after hearing the cries of all the dying Egyptians and the wailing of all the animals being killed that you would dare go out of the house until sunrise? They probably waited until they could see the tip of the sun at the horizon. Of course, in Egypt it's all flat. This brings us to:

Exo. 12—when you read the King James it makes it look like Moses went to Pharaoh. But how do we know that he didn't go to Pharaoh? He had to stay in his house until sunrise! Was Moses exempt from any of that?

Exodus 11:9: "And the LORD said to Moses, 'Pharaoh shall not hearken to you so that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.' And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh. And the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart so that he would not let the children of Israel go out of his land" (vs 9-10).

Exodus 10:28: "And Pharaoh said to him, 'Get away from me! Take heed to yourself! See my face no more, for in the day you see my face you shall die.' And Moses said, 'You have spoken well. I will never see your face again'" (vs 28-29).

Here we have two things showing that Moses did not go to Pharaoh. Pharaoh sent a message to Moses. That's what it should read in the KJV!

Exodus 12:31: "And during the night he sent word to Moses and Aaron saying, 'Rise up! Get away from my people, both you and the children of Israel! And go serve the LORD, as you have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone. And bless me also.' And the Egyptians were urging the people, that they might send them out of the land quickly, for they said, 'We are all dead men.' And the people took their dough before it was leavened…" (vs 31-34).

Dr. Keith Slough didn't understand about leavened and unleavened bread. They did not have yeast and they did not have baking soda. How did they get their leavened bread? They let it sour, that's like with sour dough bread! It takes the yeast spores out of the air and it leavens the whole lump. That takes a couple of days, not hours!

Dr. Sough has a small church—Christian Fellowship Ministries—and a school called Ambassador Christian College. https://christianfellowshipministries.org/}

Verse 34: "And the people took their dough before it was leavened their kneading troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses. And they asked for articles of silver, and articles of gold, and clothing from the Egyptians. And the LORD gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and they granted their request, and they stripped the Egyptians." (vs 34-36).

Rameses was a treasure city. Guess what they took? Most of the treasure! The Egyptians didn't know what God was going to do  that night; 'Look what He did last night!'

Another thing that was brought up: Do you suppose that all the treasure that the children of Israel had went into building the tabernacle? Of course, that's where they got it!

Verse 37: "And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth…"—a short period of time, short distance! Why was it a short distance?  Because they were up all the night before, then all day and then left at sundown and went a short distance!

Some will say, 'They didn't leave Egypt!' As long as they're under the protection and guidance of God, they left!

"…the men being about six hundred thousand on foot, apart from little ones. And also a mixed multitude went up with them, and flocks and herds, very much livestock. And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not stay, neither had they prepared any food for themselves for the journey: (vs 37-39).

Verse 40: "Now, the sojourning of the children of Israel in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years." That means all of their sojourning, not just when they went into Egypt when Jacob and the 11 sons came down!

• It was 430 years from what?
• How do you figure that?

Verse 41: "And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, it was even on that very same day…"

• What day was the Passover on? 14th!
• What is the next day? 15th!
• When does the 15th start? At sundown!

"…all the armies of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night to be much observed to the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt. This is that night of the LORD to be observed by all the children of Israel in their generations" (vs 41-42).

Whenever you study any of these things, you have to study all the intricate things involved.

Numbers 33:1: "These are the journeys of the children of Israel, who went forth out of the land of Egypt with their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron. And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the command of the LORD. And these are their journeys according to their starting places" (vs 1-2).

They set out from Rameses! Where were the houses of the children of Israel? Goshen! So, they had to on the day portion of the Passover spoil the Egyptians on their way to Rameses.

Verse 3: "And they set out from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month…."

• When is the Passover? The 14th day of the 1st month! This, in v 3, is the next day!
• When did they leave Rameses? By night! It took them all day to get there and get all assembled.
• How are you going to move say 1.6-million people if you don't have it organized? When Moses grew up in Egypt became a great general and knew how to move armies. He had it all organized!

"…On the next day after the Passover Day, the children of Israel went out with a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians, while the Egyptians were still burying all their firstborn whom the LORD had stricken among them…." (vs 3-4).

Think about the job of burying 20% of the population, plus the firstborn of animals! That was a tremendous job. Of course, they couldn't have everybody out there trying to bury them. Some of them were giving all the riches to the Israelites. Some were burying, and they were burying probably into darkness.

"…The LORD also executed judgments upon their gods. And the children of Israel set out from Rameses and pitched in Succoth" (vs 4-5).

We will find out what day was 'the very same day' 430 years later, and how you calculate the 430 years when in Gen. 15 it says 400 years!

(go to the next track)

Galatians 3:13: "Christ has redeemed us from the…Law…" That's how the Protestants like to read it!

"Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law…"

• What is the curse of the Law? The penalty of sin!
• Where are they listed in the Old Testament? Deut. 28; Lev. 26!

"…having become a curse for us (for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree')" (v 13).

What is the difference between a tree and a cross? The way the Romans did, they would find a good strong tree with deep roots and trim it off and put two iron flanges up high enough off the ground! Then the cross bar was the stauros that they would carry. So, when they say 'stauros' and it's translated cross, that's correct, but not a cross like you see in the movies

So, Jesus was carrying his 'stauros' and who did they make carry because He wasn't strong enough after being beaten? Simon the Cyrene!

• to say it's on a tree is correct
• to say it's on a cross—'stauros'—is correct

Both are used!

Verse 14 becomes very important in what we are covering and relating to the Passover and also relating to Israel

Verse 14: "In order that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles…"

The covenant with Israel only included Gentiles if they were circumcised! Otherwise they were strangers in the land, subject to the civil laws under the Old Covenant in the land, but they couldn't participate in the Passover unless they were circumcised (Exo. 12). Why is this important?

Verse 14: "In order that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles by Christ Jesus, and that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."

The next couple of verses tells us some things concerning a covenant, and it also gives us the 430 years:

Verse 15: "Brethren (I am speaking from a human perspective), even when a man's covenant has been ratified, no one nullifies it, or adds a codicil to it." Once it's ratified!

Verse 16: "Now, to Abraham and to his Seed were the promises spoken. He does not say, 'and to your seeds,' as of many; but as of one, 'and to your Seed,' which is Christ. Now this I say, that the covenant ratified beforehand by God to Christ cannot be annulled by the Law…" (vs 16-17).

What was that covenant by God to Christ? We read of it in Heb. 10. it's 'written in the Scroll of a Book to prepare a body for Me.' That was the covenant. You can't take the Law and supersede the Law by having the Law replace the promises. You can't take the promises and have it annul the Law. They go side-by-side.

Verse 17: "Now this I say, that the covenant ratified beforehand by God to Christ… [Where was that ratified?] …which was given four hundred and thirty years later, so as to make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is by law, it is no longer by promise…. [or faith] …But God granted it to Abraham by promise" (vs 17-18).

We will look at those promises, very important. Clear back in the book of Genesis the seeds of those promises were already there. That's important to understand.

Verse 19: "Why then the Law? It was placed alongside the promises for the purpose of defining transgressions…"

The KJV says it was added. What did we just read? You can't add or take away! So the translators were very unknowledgeable. You can't say you can't add to it or take away from it and then right down here you add to it.

It was placed alongside the promises for the purpose of defining transgressions…" They used to say that God added the laws of sacrifice because they sinned! Nonsense!

That's where I first got in trouble with the hierarchy, because one of the leading ministers thought I was correcting Herbert Armstrong. No! I was correcting a false doctrine! They didn't add the offerings and sacrifices, it was already planned. How do we know that? Read

• Exo, 20—the Ten Commandments were given
• Exo. 21-23—God gave the lesser laws and how to do that
• Exo. 24—Moses went up to get these things written down, the elders, looking up, saw God. He came down and to ratify the covenant with the children of Israel, He had a sacrifice and sprinkled half the blood upon the people and half upon the book, and they said, 'All that the Lord has said, we will do.'

It's kind of like your kids, when you first let your teenager take the car out all alone, what do you do? You pin their ears behind their head and say, 'You do this and that, and you don't do this and that.' What happens, that lasts as long as it takes for them to get in the car and shut the door, then their going to do their plan. It's the same way with the children of Israel!

• Exo. 25—God said to have all the children of Israel bring all of these thing that He listed for a tabernacle so 'that I might dwell among them'

In the subsequent chapters in defining everything about the tabernacle. What was the first thing that God described?

• the Ark of the Covenant where He would be in the Holy of Holies

then

• the incense altar that is outside of the Holy of Holies
• the altar of burnt offerings
• the kind of offerings that they were to have

• Is a peace offering a sin offering? No!
• Is a thank offering a sin offering? No!

I wrote a paper and said:

God intended them, in the covenant with Israel, to have sacrifices all along. Go back and think about what Moses told Pharaoh, 'Let us go three days journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices.'

That was completely a false doctrine, and all because of the incompetence of the translators of the KJV in this particular part of the Bible, amongst others.

"…defining transgressions, until the Seed should come to whom the promise was made, having been ordained through angels in the hand of a mediator" (v 19).

What did Jesus say? What was one of the first things He said concerning the Law? Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets (Matt. 5)! That's a double negative, 'emi' meaning in no way!

• What is the Law of Christ concerning sin today?
• In addition to observable transgressions of the Law that a person might do by action?
• In the mind!

We are to have our minds renewed, and the Greek is 'metomorphos'—changed! Have your brain re-written! With what? The commandments of God!

Verse 26: "Because you are all sons of God… [not sons of Israel; not proselytes as adopted Israelites] …through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ" (vs 26-27). What are conjoined to when you're baptized? The death of Christ!

Verse 28: "There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither bond nor free; there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

Look at what that does to the things in the Old Covenant. Provision was made for that long, long ago to Abraham.

Verse 29: "And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."

• When we receive the Holy Spirit, what is that called in 1-John 3?
• What is the Greek word for seed? Sperma!

We who have the Spirit of God cannot practice sin because His seed—'sperma'—is within us so we cannot practice sin. Why? Because God's Holy Spirit, being the 'sperma' has the power to convict us in conscience so we will repent!

• Was that available to the Israelites? No, it wasn't!
• Were they recipients of promises given to Abraham? Yes!

But let's look at the promises given to Abraham and when they were given and how, and that includes both to Israel and to all nations through Christ!

Gen. 12—think about this in relationship to your calling. What are we do before we're baptized? Repent and count the cost!

What does it say in Luke 14? You cannot be My disciple if you do not love Me more than father, mother, brother, sister, your lands, buildings, and yes, your own life! Now let's read what God required of Abram:

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.'"

'Lord, aren't you going to tell me what it is first? Why should I be ready to go if you're not going to tell me where I'm going?'

No! He had to believe God, which if you believe God, you obey God, and you're exercising faith! The same faith as Abraham.

Verse 2: "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. And I will bless those that bless you and curse the one who curses you. And in you shall all families…" (vs 2-3). Not nations, but down to the family level!

What is the promise of the New Covenant? The Family of God! The whole family in heaven and earth (Eph. 3).

"…all families of the earth be blessed" (v 3). But that could not happen until Christ came! So, these are long term promises!

Verse 4: "Then Abram departed, even as the LORD had spoken to him. And Lot went with him…."

When Abraham left (Exo. 12) he was 75-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.'

• What does that mean? Think of that in the Kingdom of God!
• Where do you suppose Abraham is going to be? Right next to God the Father and Jesus Christ!

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?'"

It was legal to have an adoption and someone to inherit what you own after you die. So, God was thinking in terms of way beyond anything Abraham was thinking about.

Verse 3: "And Abram said, 'Behold, You have given no seed to me; and lo, one born in my house is my heir.' 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'" (vs 3-4).

Now, we want to prove something here; Genesis 16:3: "…after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan."

75+10=85

We're keeping track of his age and here is where Abram is 85-years-old, and this promise came to him. I think this is where he was converted. When did Abraham receive the Spirit of God? I think right here in Gen. 15, which covers a lot more than people imagine!

Genesis 15:5: "And He brought him outside and said, 'Look now toward the heavens and number the stars—if you are able to count them.'…."

When do you see the stars? At night! This promise was given after sunset. God took Abram outside of the tent and said, 'Now, look at the stars, are you able to number them? Can you count them?'

"…And He said to him, 'So shall your seed be.'" (v 5). Think about this for a minute! All of Israel, all of Ishmael, Esau and the sons by Keturah—who didn't receive the promise of inheritance, but still were given a token inheritance—all of those nations. Those physical nations today—the 12 tribes of Israel, including the Jews—all the Arabs, Turks, the Middle East. Then you have Ammon and Moab (Jordan), those people control 90% of the wealth in the world today.

Those are part of the blessing that God said that in Abraham they would be blessed, physically!

Verse 6: "And he believed in the LORD. And He accounted it to him for righteousness. And He said to him, 'I am the LORD that brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it.' And he said, 'Lord GOD, by what shall I know that I shall inherit it?'" (vs 6-8).

Think about that for a minute. Here he is told to leave his household and take everything that you want to take with you. You go into a land that God is going to tell him of, and now God is going to tell Abraham of a land he is going to inherit.

How is Abraham going to know that he is going to inherit it? This is a special offering!

Verse 9: "And He said to him, 'Take Me a heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.' And he took all these to himself, and divided them in the middle…" (vs 9-10).

This is a complete separate sacrifice than having an altar of stone. This is on the ground. They would split them down the middle and take each half and leave a path to walk through. This is known as a maledictory oath. I want you to think about what a bloody mess this must have been.

What he had to do first, he had to take each one and slit their throat so they would bleed to death, and all of that was shed on the ground. Then he had to take a pretty heavy axe to cut down the middle of the spine and get two halves and separate them. These were full grown at three-years-old

This is called a maledictory oath, because when you make a covenant sacrifice with this—and this is a covenant sacrifice—it covers two areas of inheritance:

• the land
• descendants like the stars of heaven

The one for the land with his own son was physical Israel, the physical blessings! The other promise was 'as the stars of heaven so shall your seed be.' The way we understand the heavens today, that is awesome! That is so mind-boggling! God doesn't do small things. He can and does, but He prefers the great things! Look at the universe and how great that is.

Verse 10: "And he took all these to himself, and divided them in the middle and laid each piece opposite the other; but he did not divide the birds."

It took quite a while to do it, but notice what happened, v 11: "And when the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away."

How long did this whole operation take? We just have one clue:

Verse 12: "And it came to pass, as the sun was going down…"

Let's think about the time involved in this. The first day the Lord said, 'You're going to have a seed of your own from your own loins.' Then God took Abraham out of the tent at night and showed him the stars in heaven. Then in the morning Abraham said, 'How am I going to know,' so God said to get this and make this sacrifice.

Here we are one whole day has passed, with the sun going down, that's a whole day, from night to sunset.  When the sun was going down look what happened to Abram.

"…that a deep sleep fell upon Abram. And, behold, a horror of great darkness fell upon him!" (v 12). This was an experience of near death!

Why? We'll see in just a minute! This was very important, and this has to do with the timing when Jesus was put into the tomb dead! That's what this pictures.

Verse 13: "And He said to Abram, 'You must surely know that your seed shall be sojourners in a land that is not theirs (and shall serve them and they shall afflict them) four hundred years.'" The phrase "…afflict them…" is separate from the 400 years!

How do we get from 400 years to 430 years?

They would be afflicted, and that started with Isaac. He lived and sojourned in the land. The strangers around there were always after him.

Verse 14: "And also I will judge that nation whom they shall serve. And afterward they shall come out with great substance. And you shall go to your fathers in peace. You shall be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full" (vs 14-16).

Now notice what happened, v 17: "And it came to pass—when the sun went down and it was dark—… [that's into the next day, so here is the second day] …behold, a smoking furnace and a burning lamp passed between those pieces." This was showing that God walked between those sacrificial animals!  

What was this doing, because this is a maledictory oath and a pledge that if you do not keep your promise, you shall likewise die. That's very serious. Jer. 34 shows what happened when they promised to let the slaves go, but went back against their promise. God said, 'You're going into captivity and you're going to lose everything because you didn't keep your promise.' God lives by His own laws!

• What is He actually doing here with this bloody sacrifice?
• Then with this great darkness and the burning lamp and the smoking furnace passed between the parts?
• What do you suppose that did to those animals? Burned them all up!
• What was left? Nothing but ashes!

Here is Abraham who doesn't know that it happened that way until after he wakes up. But he experienced a 'death'! So, this must have been—right after this—that Abraham received the Holy Spirit. Who pledged His death? Christ!

Verse 18: "In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, 'I have given this land to your seed, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates…'"—that was only fulfilled in the days of David and Solomon.

"…have given…" means that it is a good as done, even though it hasn't happened, yet. When God says, 'I have given you the promise of eternal life IF you love Me' that promise is sure!

Let's work on the 400 years plus the 30. These all relate to Abraham. They can't relate to say one of the kings of Egypt at a later time.

Abraham was 85-years-old when this occurred. Then we come to Gen. 17 when he is 99-years-old, and God gives the promises of the physical seed, nations and kings. Get our book: America and Britain: Their Biblical Origin and Prophetic Destiny.

Then Abraham said, 'How shall a man at 100-years-old have a son?'

from 85 to 100 we have 15 years

Gen. 18—the One Who became Christ and two angels came to Abraham and then Sarah fixed them something to eat after Abraham went and got a calf and killed it. It was tender and good.

Genesis 18:9: "And they said to him, 'Where is Sarah your wife?' And he said, 'Behold, in the tent.'…. [we would say today, 'In the kitchen.'] …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 [Abraham] being old also?'" (vs 9-12).

To prove how powerful God is, God does impossible things!

• Did He do this with Zacharias and Elizabeth in the New Testament? Yes, they were 70-years-old!
• Did He do this with Mary? Yes!

And here He's doing it here!

Verse 13: "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? 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 13-15).

Think of this: God did not say, 'because you laughed' I'm not going to do it.' Why? Because of the promise in Gen. 15! Keep that in mind. All of this has to do with the physical seed. Then we

400 years plus 15 from 85-100!

Genesis 21:1: "And the LORD visited Sarah as He had said. And the LORD did to Sarah as He had spoken, 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). God does all these things according to time!

Verse 3: "And Abraham called the name of his son that was born to him (whom Sarah bore to him) Isaac…. [meaning laugh] …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" (vs 3-5).

We now have 85-100=15 years=415 years

How do we get another 15 years? We have to look at another major event that took place, and we have to deduce the 15 years, which we will do.

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.' And He said, 'Take now your son, your only son Isaac…'" (vs 1-2). Ishmael was Abraham's son, but not the son of promise! And Ishmael was blessed.

"…whom you love, 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 Jews like to say that this is where the temple was, but I beg to differ!

• Where was Christ crucified?
• What was one of the mountains of Moriah? The Mt. of Olives!
• What was on the Mt. of Olives? The Miphkad Altar where all sin offerings were completely burned!
• What was Christ? The sin offering of God!

Verse 3: "And Abraham rose up early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. And he split the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up and went to the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, 'You stay here with the donkey, and I and the boy will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.' And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac his son…." (vs 3-6).

Isaac us compared to Jesus, and putting the wood on him to carry was symbolic that Christ would carry His own crossbar; not all the way but at least carry it.

"…And he took the fire pot in his hand…" (v 6). The King James says that he carried fire in his hand. Well, you don't put fire in your hand, you're going to burn it, so it had to be a fire pot in hand with coals.

"…and a knife. And they both went together. And Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, 'My father.' And he said, 'Here I am, my son.' And he said, 'Behold the fire and the wood. But where is the lamb for a burnt offering?'" (vs 6-7). This was not only a test for Abraham, but a test for Isaac, as well!

Verse 8: "And Abraham said, 'My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering.' So, they both went on together. And they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. And he bound his son Isaac and laid him on the wood, upon the altar" (vs 8-9). Now you're getting down to the nitty-gritty, the last minute here!

Verse 10: "And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son." Why would he do that? Because God said to do it! But if had done it, what is it said that Abraham thought would happen? That he would be raised from the dead (Heb. 11)!

Verse 11: "And the angel of the LORD called to him from the heavens and said, 'Abraham! Abraham!' And he said, 'Here I am.' And He said, 'Do not lay your hand upon the lad…'" (vs 11-12).

That's different that 'young men'; so this tells us that he was less than 20-years-old, because you're a young man when you're 20. How much less? Five years less, a lad! He must have been 15-years-old; that's the missing 15 years!

• 15 before the 400 years
• 15 after the 400 years
• 430 years total

"…nor do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God…" (v 12).

From the time that God called Abraham to this point was 40 years, a time of trial and testing!

"'…seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.' And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram was entangled in a thicket by its horns…." (vs 12-13).

How did that get there? God must have sent it up quietly and entangled it! Who led him up there? Probably an angel! OR God instantaneously created it. One of the two!

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

• What is this? A substitutionary sacrifice!
• What is the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ? Applied to us it is a substitutionary sacrifice for you, so you don't have to pay the penalty of sin by your death!

You die a symbolic death! What happened to Isaac was a symbolic offering replaced by a substitutionary sacrifice. Let's notice what went on after this:

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.'"

This is why we can say that it was probably on the Mt. of Olives, 'one of the mountains of Moriah, which I will show you.'

Verse 15: "And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said, 'By Myself…'" (vs 15-16)—which is greater than anything, the greatest promise that can ever be given! When God says 'By Himself' He is saying by His existence and everything that He is and stands for!

"'…have I sworn,' says the LORD, 'because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son… [Jesus, the only Begotten of the Father] …that in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens…" (vs 16-17)—the spiritual seed!

This was for the spiritual seed, the circumcision was for the physical seed. That was Abraham's sacrifice, and all the men who were with him when they were circumcised (Gen. 19). That was the blood for the physical circumcision. Both parties have to provide their assurance by a maledictory oath. So, Abraham did, in this case, with Isaac.

"…and as the sand, which is upon the seashore. And your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice" (vs 17-18)—right where we started in Gen. 12!

So, we have 15+400+15=430

This also tells us that we can decipher from this, because what two days are we talking about in Exo. 12? Passover and the first day of Unleavened Bread!

Exodus 12:40: "Now, the sojourning of the children of Israel in Egypt… [all the area surrounding Egypt was included in this] …was four hundred and thirty years."—from the time that God promised to bring them out! So, that goes back to Gen. 15.

Verse 41: "And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, it was even on that very same day, all the armies of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt."

In Gen. 15 we saw had a two-day sequence. A first night, promise of physical seed and a promise of spiritual seed to be as the stars of the heavens. Then we had the maledictory oath prepared on the day portion of that day, which then later became the Passover Day. If it's the very same day, then the day before is the Passover Day. So, that was the first Passover Day.

The reason that was done by God was to show that on the Passover Day, sometime in the future He was going to die. Look at these promises and how far they go!

Verse 42: "It is a night to be much observed to the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt. This is that night of the LORD to be observed by all the children of Israel in their generations."

So, the two-day sequence there in Exo. 12 matches up with the two-day sequence that we have in Gen. 15 and matches up with the sequence that we have in the New Testament with Christ and His crucifixion, which we'll cover next Sabbath!

Scriptural References:

• John 13:8
• Exodus 12:21-27
• Numbers 9:1
• Exodus 11:9-10
• Exodus 10:28-29
• Exodus 12:31-42
• Numbers 33:1-5
• Galatians 3:13-19, 26-29
• Genesis 12:1-4
• Genesis 15:1-4
• Genesis 16:3
• Genesis 15:5-18
• Genesis 18:9-15
• Genesis 21:1-5
• Genesis 22:1-19
• Exodus 12:40-42

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• 2 Corinthians 11
• Luke 6
• Matthew 7
• Deuteronomy 16
• Numbers 28:16
• Exodus 16
• Deuteronomy 28
• Leviticus 26
• Hebrews 10
• Exodus 20-25
• Matthew 5
• 1 John 3
• Luke 14
• Ephesians 3
• Jeremiah 34
• Genesis 17
• Hebrews 11
• Genesis 19

Also referenced:

Books:

• The Christian Passover by Fred R. Coulter
• A Harmony of the Gospels in Modern English, the Life of Jesus Christ by Fred R. Coulter
• America and Britain: Their Biblical Origin and Prophetic Destiny by Philip Neal

Transcript Books with CD: The Last Ten Days of Jesus' Life

FRC:bo
Transcribed: 3/11/20

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