God’s Word - The Bible
There have been many "Once upon a Time" stories told, but there is one that is not just "Once upon a Time", but is really true. It begins with "In the beginning". It is found in the Bible, which is God's Holy Word. God inspired men to write His Word for Him. A man named Moses wrote down the first five books in the Old Testament of this one volume called the Bible. This book called the Bible is God's word because He claims it as His word. With all of the archeological findings and many years of History as we know it from our History books, and other sources, what has been written in the Bible has been proven to be so. It is the claim of the Bible to be a tool to furnish us with instruction in righteousness, discipline, and to learn what God expects from us.
(2 Tim.3:16,17 16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.).
And God has promised us that if we do His Will, and walk in His ways that He will be with us, and will take us home with Him when our body dies. (Ezekiel 18:4-6 ; John 14:1-3 ;1 John 1-6).
Many men, over many, many years, had been inspired to write down God's word, and they all have written without any differences, if we care enough to search through what has been said in order to see how they are alike and how the whole story fits together, putting it together in a spiritual application.
Although there are many "stories" we love to tell and retell, this is not a book to be considered as we would look at a novel. This is a book concerned with the God-Son called Jesus that was made finite for a time, walking among us to experience man-likeness, and who gave Himself up to be sacrifice in order that we could have the opportunity to return to God and be with Him in eternity; we are to serve God while here on earth. And we can experience God-likeness through Jesus Christ, by becoming “like Christ” in our personality.
God spoke to men over and over again through His prophets, telling them things that would happen before it ever happened, and everything that they predicted came true, one hundred percent of the time! People that are called "psychics" today predict things that appear to come true, but only a small percentage of their predictions even appear to be true. He also warned the people not to seek out soothsayers and such, and predicted the coming Messiah who would be the one that man would be required to listen to and heed. (Deu.12:32; Deu. 13:1-5; Deu. 18:9-22 )
(Deu. 13: 5 "What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it. If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him." )
And Moses told the Israelites in Deu. 18 --
(Deu. 18: 9-22 "When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God. For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do. The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him."
God told men how to live to get along with each other, and how to live in order to have peace and happiness, and as long as they were obedient and followed God’s ways, they lived in peace, and were never conquered by their enemies. All through the Old Testament, God made promises to man concerning the benefits of his obedience to God's word.
Let's stop here for awhile and read some of these passages: In Exodus - 19: 5,6; 23:21,22. In Deu. - 11:27,28; 28:62; 30: 1-3 and 8-9 and verse 20. In I Samuel -12:14-16; 15:22. In Ne. - 9:17. In Job 36:11,14. In Jer. 7:23; 11:4-8; 12:17;18:10; 26:13; 38:20; 42:6-18. In Daniel- 9:11. In Zec. - 6:15. In the New Testament we are again reassured of the promises concerning the promises given. In Acts with the beginning of the Church (chapter 2). Acts 5:29,32. In Romans - 2:7,13;6:16. In Galatians - 3:1. In II Timothy -1:8 and the second chapter. In Hebrews - 5:9,10. In I Peter 4:17.
The Bible tells us how the world was created by God, and how long it took Him. If we choose to believe God, and accept the Bible as His word, then we believe that every word in the Bible is true, because if every word is not true, then God is a liar and none of it is true. And if Jesus was not who He claimed to be then He was a liar and a deceiver, and was not even just another "good man" as some people want to say.
Now, let's explore some of the basic ideas about this Bible and learn about God's word as it helps us to live with peace and happiness in our lives.
In The Beginning
The Bible shows the Power of God. In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the earth. In chapter one, the book of Genesis (or the book of beginnings) teaches us how the world was created, bringing the Universe and all it holds, including man, into being. In the beginning, the Bible tells us that God created the Heavens and the earth in six days. He created everything to the point in time where He wanted time to begin, even if it is a "million years old". And that was "in the beginning" of God's time.
31 Oct 2009
God’s effulgence was the primordial light {first day} before the luminaries {Sun and Moon} were created {the fourth day}.
And the light was separated from the darkness, and was called Day {figuratively – a space of time defined by an associated term), and the darkness was called Night.
The “light” in both verses is derived from the same Hebrew word H215 in Strong’s, the first dealing with the illumination {H216) and the second dealing with the luminaries {H3974) - sun and moon.
The “dark or darkness, as night or obscurity” is from the Hebrew word H2822 (H2821) Strong’s; figuratively – misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness.
Creation began in darkness, and ended in light, and God separated the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good, and it was evening and it was morning; and we read that the Jews observed their day from sunset to sunset. God gave light (as effulgence; radiant brilliance, the very essence of God) where there was darkness; He made land where there had been water; He made the heavens over the earth and filled it with the Sun, which gave sunlight for warming and light for the day, and put the moon in the night to give it some light, and filled the skies with the countless stars; and with these heavenly bodies we can navigate, and we have seasons of growth and seasons of rest for the earth. These heavens declare the Power and the Glory of God! (Psa. 19)
After He had made the earth and the universe, He made man in His own image, with His nature and His Spirit. And how wondrously is man made! He named this man, Adam, and Adam named all the animals. Then God made a mate for Adam, and Adam called her Eve, which means the mother of all living. God then put them in a garden, and they were to keep the garden, and care for the animals. That was the manner in which God created the Heavens and the Earth and all that is in them. By the seventh day it was all completed, and God rested on the seventh day from all the work He had done. He blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, setting it apart as a special day of rest.
The Garden
In chapter two the Bible gives us a more detailed view of how God made the animals and man. He formed everything from the dust of the Earth (what we know now as carbon, minerals, etc.). He also breathed the breath of Life into Adam, and he became a living soul. Then Eve was formed from a rib taken from Adam.
It tells what God expected of Adam, and the rules He gave to him. God then put Adam and Eve in the Garden, and they were to keep the garden, and care for the animals. God told Adam they could eat of any of the fruit of the trees except one, which was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for in the day that they should eat of it, they would surely die. In this way God made man to discern between right and wrong, and to make choices between good and evil, which is the basic difference between man and animals, for animals have no consciousness of right or wrong, but live only as nature dictates. If they are hungry, they eat. If they are tired they sleep. They live with each other, obeying their natural laws, and staying within their own ranks. They are born and they die; and they complete the cycle of the natural world. The Earth awakens with Spring, grows through the summer supplying nourishment for both animals and fields on into Fall, and "dies" or sleeps through the Winter; and the seasons complete the cycle of Nature. But Adam and Eve would have to make the right choices in order not to die, for in dying not only would his body grow old and die, which is a separation of man's body from his soul, for it is appointed for man to die once, but he could experience separation from God’s Spirit. That also is death; it is called spiritual death. Physical death completes the generation cycle of the physical man.
But the garden was soon to be lost to man (read chapter three), because that old serpent, which we know as the devil, came to Eve and lied to her, causing her to believe that the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was really a very good fruit to eat, and that it would make them wise like God Himself.
(Gen. 3:13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, "What is this that thou hast done?" And the woman said, "The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat".)
So she took some of the fruit and ate, and then gave some to Adam to eat. Eve was deceived, causing disbelief in God, and Adam was disobedient. The choices that they made!
(Gen 3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.).
Adam condemned the body to return to the dust, forever separating man as created from the spiritual realm. Romans 5:12-16. Man - as man- cannot return to "heaven". The "flesh" is cut off. And the soul of man was left to struggle with the evils of this world, and to make the choices to return to God or be separated eternally. But by God’s grace, propitiation through Jesus Christ gives us the opportunity to make the choice to return to God through faith by the cleansing blood of the Lamb.
When they had eaten of it, their eyes were opened, and becoming conscious of their "nakedness", they were afraid because of their disobedience to God's command, so they made clothes from leaves and then hid themselves from God. But God knew where they were and what they had done. He talked to them, making them confess what they had done, and told them they would be sent from the Garden, and that they would have to make their own living in the world, earning their food by working very hard to grow it, and because he was taken from dust, man's body would return to dust in death. The "flesh", which brought the death that separated "man" from God, was cut off from eternity, and man was then appointed to die once physically. But man's soul would stand in judgment, and God's spirit would return to God.
(Ecclesiates 12: 6,7: Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the Spirit shall return unto God who gave it.)
Also:
(Ezekiel 18: 4-6: Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. But if a man be just and do that which is lawful and right, And hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, ........ Hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just; he shall surely live, saith the Lord GOD.)
God told Eve Adam would have rule over her, and that she would bear children in pain and in sorrow. He promised that her "seed" would be the enemy of the serpent, bruising the serpents head (symbolic of the crushing of the authority of the devil), and that the serpent would bruise the heel of her "seed" (symbolizing the non-mortal death wound).
(Gen. 3:14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.)
He also told the serpent that he would crawl upon his belly and eat dust for the rest of his days (symbolic of the humility and shame of sin). We have a way that we treat people when we want to shame them - "making them grovel in the dirt" to show humility. So God made Adam and Eve clothes of animal skins to cover their nakedness, and blood was shed when an animal was slain in order to "cover their nakedness" (based on physical requirements). He then sent them from the garden so that they could not eat of the tree of life and live forever.
(Gen. 3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: 23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.)
How the Angels must have wept for mankind that day!
God Reaches Out
The Bible shows the compassion and mercy of God. When God sent Adam and Eve from the Garden, He was already planning to give man the opportunity to bring himself back into a good relationship with God, by obedience through His Son. And the day that His Son, Jesus, was born, the Angels rejoiced, for it was this Son who bruised the "head" of the serpent, crushing the devil's authority, and whose heel was bruised by the serpent; wounded, but not a mortal wound, because He became alive in the Spirit when God raised Him from the dead. Dead to sin, but alive in the Spirit! This opened the door to bring us back from the separation from God, and Christ is that door.
(Isa. 53: 10-12: "Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.")
He is our "everlasting portion"!
All of the foregoing events were shadows of the reality that would be in Jesus. Blood would have to be shed in order to cover the spiritual nakedness (sins) of man, and man would have to choose between right (good) and wrong (evil). The distinction between, and the separation of, darkness and light became a reality. "The burden of the darkness of sin" is now past. There is "light" in the darkness! And that light is Jesus Christ!
Psa 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
Isa. 60:1 Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. 2 For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.
Luke 2:32 A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. 33 And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him.
John 1: 7 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
1 Cor. 4:5. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. And every knee shall bow; Philippians 2:10; Isaiah 45:23; Romans 14:11-12
Two Sons
After the Garden was lost to Adam and Eve, they began living as a family, and two of their sons were born to them. The first was Cain, who was a farmer, and he would bring of his fruits to offer sacrifice to God. The Bible does not tell us whether Cain brought of the very best of his labors, or what his attitude was, but it does tell us that God was not happy with Cain's offerings because it was not offered by faith. The second son was Abel, and Abel became a keeper of the flocks. He would bring the first-fruits of his flocks and by faith offered them to God in sacrifice. His faith is mentioned in the New Testament:
(Hebrews 11:4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.).
It also tells us that Cain was jealous of Abel. God told Cain that because of his jealousy sin lay at the door of his heart. In time, Cain became angry and killed Abel, and Abel's blood cried out to God from the ground. Eve surely must have then felt sorrow over her children. God confronted Cain with his sin, and Cain denied his deed by asking "Am I my brother's keeper?" But God knew what he had done, and he punished him by sending him into the world away from his family, to be a wanderer and never have a home of his own. The ground would never yield for him again. He was to be hidden from the presence of God, and he cried out that his punishment was too great to bear. God put a mark on Cain to let the rest of the world know what Cain had done, and to keep them from killing Cain as judgment.
And Man Multiplied
There were many men whose stories are told in the Bible, all interesting and amazing to hear, as the Glory of God is revealed to us. And as each one lived and died, the world was brought one point closer to the fullness of time when Christ should appear. Since man was incapable of perfection and always fell short of the Glory of God, then the Grace of God would offer him the opportunity to return to God.
But let's follow the story from Adam to Christ through Adam's son Seth, born to Adam (Genesis 6:3) in his own likeness, according to his image (finite man). It is through Seth that we are concerned with relation to God and His plan. We will learn of all those men of God who were used most significantly by God to bring us to Christ. And as man multiplied, so also sin multiplied among those who chose to ignore God and pushed Him out of their lives. Since God could not remain in the presence of sin, God evidently did not commune with man as he had done before, and the gap between God and the world became ever greater.
Adam was 130 years old when his son, Seth, was born. Seth then had a son, and named him Enosh. The Bible tells us that then men began to call on the name of the Lord. To call on the name of the Lord was to accuse oneself and cry out to God to seek His favor.
(Genesis 4:26 26 And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.)
A generation was many years, because then man lived a long time. Seven generations passed and Enoch was born. And Enoch did not just call on the name of the Lord, but he walked with God. To walk with God was to stay with Him continually and worship and obey His will. When Enoch grew old he did not die, but was "taken" by God.
(Genesis 5:24 24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.)
The Flood
The Bible shows the sorrow and the wrath of God. Enoch was the Great-grand-father of Noah. And Noah was found to be blameless in his time.
But mankind had become so corrupt that God was grieved, and He decided to end all flesh, bringing a flood upon the earth to destroy it completely. But because Noah also walked with God, he found favor in the eyes of God, and God told Noah what He was going to do, and that man had only 120 years to repent. God told Noah to build an Ark, with rooms, out of Gopher wood, and He gave him instructions how to build it and what size to make it.
(Genesis 6: 12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. 13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. 15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. 16 A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. 17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. 18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. 19 And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. 20 Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. 21 And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. 22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.)
And Noah did all that God had commanded.
God then made a covenant with Noah, and promised that Noah, his wife, his sons and their wives would be safe in the Ark. Noah also was to take into the Ark 7 pairs of every kind of clean animal and clean birds, and 2 pairs of every unclean animal and unclean birds. He was to gather of all the vegetation for all of them to eat. And Noah did according to all God commanded of him.
Seven days before God brought the rains upon the earth, He had Noah, all his family and all the animals enter into the Ark, and God shut them in; and the waters of the flood came upon the earth. The "floodgates" were opened and the rain fell upon the earth for 40 days and 40 nights, until even the tallest mountain was 15 cubits (22 feet) beneath the surface of the water, but the Ark floated on the water in safety while everything on the earth perished, for the water covered the earth 150 days. And God did not forget Noah (And God remembered Noah-- in the sense of giving constant care). He caused a wind to blow over the earth and the waters began to dry up. It took another 150 days for the water to decrease, and in the seventh month the Ark rested on the top of Mount Ararat. In the tenth month the tops of the mountains could be seen. Seven days after the tops of the mountains could be seen Noah sent forth a raven, and it flew about until the earth dried up. Seven days after he sent the raven forth, Noah sent forth a Dove which found no resting place and it returned to the Ark. So Noah waited another seven days and sent out a Dove which returned that evening with an olive leaf in its beak. Noah was 601 years old in that first month on the first day when the waters were dried up.
The Rainbow
The Bible shows the Love of God. God brought them out of the Ark, and Noah built an alter and offered a sacrifice to God of every clean animal and every clean bird. And God smelled the soothing aroma and said to Himself that He would never again destroy the earth as He had done, and He put a rainbow in the cloud of the sky as a sign of the covenant between God and the earth.
(Genesis 9: 12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. 14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: 15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. 17 and God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.).
God blessed Noah and his sons and told them to multiply and replenish the earth.
The cleansing of the evil from the earth is also a shadow of the reality of Baptism as we enter into a covenant with God through His son, Jesus, and as Noah did everything God commanded him, if we do everything God commands us to do, then Jesus becomes our Ark of safety (and as God "shut" Noah into the Ark, He "shuts" us in or "adds us" to His church). But we do not "wash" ourselves because we are "dirty", but because we answer the call of God to cleanse our conscience.
(1 Peter 3:18-22 "For Jesus Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is 8 souls were brought safely through the water. And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you, not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.") and (Romans 6: 3-7 "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.")
It is that man who, through faith, "calls" upon God that will receive the promise that is in Jesus Christ.
(Galatians 3:22-27 But the Scripture has shut up all men under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.)
It was Christ's blood that was shed that our nakedness (sins) might be covered. As was the blood of the perfect lambs of the flocks, chosen for the first Passover and was placed on the door-jambs, it is the blood of the Lamb of God, sprinkled on our “door”, which death passes by.
The plan that God made to bring man back to Him now begins to unfold. He had shown man that by man's obedience to God pleased Him. Enoch walked with God, and was no more for God took him. Noah obeyed divine commands and he and his family were preserved from the flood waters in the Ark. Now was the time to prepare the family that would become the Messianic Nation. This would be the family into which Jesus would be born, and Jesus was to be the Messiah, or Savior, of the lost world.
The Faith of Abraham
(Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.) This is the key to faith -- that God will keep His promises.
Although not perfect, there were many men throughout the Bible that pleased God, keeping God's commandments and worshiping Him. The first one we want to study closely is Abraham, because it is through Abraham's descendants that the Grace of God was promised, and through which the Messianic line flows, and he was the first chosen to prepare the Messianic Nation as God's chosen people through which Christ would come to bless all Nations.
Abraham was considered the "Friend of God". One of the finest characteristics of a friend is that they are trustworthy as well as trusting in the one they consider to be their friend. And that was the finest characteristic of Abraham, for he trusted God completely, obeying divine commands through faith alone that God would keep His promises.
It was not the performing of his duty, but the proof of his love. All through the Old Testament God said to man "If you will.......I will bless you". The promises to Abraham; the promises to the children of Israel when they stood before Mr. Sinai; the promises God gave through the prophets when the Israelites would cry out to God in their captivity. God always demanded obedience, but with it He promised blessings and life.
(Ezekiel 18:4-9 He that hath ........ walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord GOD.)
Abraham believed God and obeyed Him, and by this obedience, God considered Abraham righteous. It is in this manner we are made righteous; by our obedience to God's divine commands through our faith alone that, in Jesus Christ, God will keep His promises.
(2 Cor. 5:21......we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him).
It is God's Grace that gives us the opportunity to return to Him in spite of our sins, and it is by this faith that we willingly follow His commands that puts us in a good relationship with God.
(Eph. 1:5 - 8 He predestined us to adoption as sons through praise of the glory of His grace, according to the kind intention of His will, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us)
It is God's grace that gives us the opportunity to return to Him.
(Romans 4:16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all....)
And:
(Rom. 6: 3-7 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.).
It is the circumcision of the heart, and the "flesh" is cut off. The desires for this world are severed from the desires of the soul, or the spirit of man.
Jesus told us that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments, and He promised that He would be with us "even unto the end of the world". And His first command was to be baptized to fulfill all righteousness, even as He did.
(Matt. 3:15 And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.).
Christ did not see corruption because He "died" to sin (death is separation from), and because of His righteousness, He was made alive in the Spirit. He was made perfect by obedience, without blemish, and He became the sacrifice for our sins.
For (Romans 8:10... if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.).
And then, to go and baptize others in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all the things Christ taught them to do. (Matthew 20: 18-20).
More than once, Abraham was given the opportunity to prove his Faith in obedience to God's divine command. The first time, God told Abram, as he was then known, to leave country, friends, and family and go where God would lead him, and promised him that He would greatly bless him. So, believing God, that He would keep His promises, Abraham took all his belongings and all his family, and traveled where God led him, until a period of "learning" to trust God completely was fulfilled - as in the desert of "testing". God made a covenant with Abraham, and changed his name from Abram to Abraham. (Genesis 12). God promised to bless Abraham and his descendants with prosperity, and land, and that through his descendants all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Abraham never possessed the land himself but was a nomad living in tents all his life, although he saw the land which God promised to him and his descendants.
(Hebrews 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth).
Priesthood
Abraham dwelt in Egypt for a time because of famine, and "until the sins of the Ammorites had reached its full measure". After returning to Bethel, Abraham and Lot, his nephew, divided the land, and Abraham went to Hebron.
Later Lot was captured by four Kings, and Abraham went to the rescue. (Gen. 14:18-20.) When Abraham returned to Canaan in victory, he was met by two kings: the king of Sodom and the king of Salem. Abraham refused all offers of gifts from the king of Sodom because he had made an oath to God that he would not take of any of the spoils except that which the men had eaten. His allegiance to God, and refusal to serve evil. We have this account of his encounter with the King of Salem (Peace), a Priest of God, named Melchizedec who came out to meet Abraham bringing bread and wine, saying,
"blessed be Abraham of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: and blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand".
Let's look at this encounter with Melchizedec. Here is a Priest of the Most High God that comes out to meet Abraham. A Priest, who is the King of Salem, who was said to have neither beginning nor end, who brings bread and wine, blesses Abraham, and praises God as the possessor of Heaven and Earth, who has delivered Abraham's enemies into his hands. And Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedec. This was very important, although brief, because it gives us the report of an order of priesthood, preexistent to the line of Levi, and was a shadow of the reality of the priesthood of Jesus Christ. It is referred to in the New Testament:
(Hebrews 7:14 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests. And this is clearer still, if another priest arises according to the likeness of Melchizedec, who has become such not on the basis of a law of physical requirement, but according to the power of an indestructible life. For it is witnessed of Him, "THOU ART A PRIEST FOREVER ACCORDING TO THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEC”.)
The law of physical requirement was under the blood of bulls and goats. The blood of bulls and goats only rolled the recognition of sins forward in remembrance year by year, as if reminding man of the slaying of the first animal to cover man's nakedness. The indestructible life is under the blood of Christ. Christ was perfect, becoming the Lamb of God as concerning the physical requirements, but He became our High Priest because of the power of God over death in His resurrection of His son Jesus Christ, and with the Messiah’s blood our sins are covered continually, if we are “in Him”, for it is forever and indestructible. Christ is the “Prince of Peace” and our King; the beginning and the end - from the Beginning to the Judgment; the Alpha and the Omega - from the depths of sin to the heights of Heaven.
He is our High Priest; our redeemer; our Brother, and we are fellow heirs with Him in the promises of God!
A Covenant Promise Fulfilled
God had promised Abraham a son, and that through this son's descendent (singular), the Nations would be blessed, and that his descendants would be as countless as the stars. God then reaffirmed His covenant with Abraham (Genesis chapter 17), and this covenant was to be everlasting. And then He predicted that his descendants would be strangers in a strange land, serving for four hundred years. In this covenant God promised the land to Abraham's descendants, prosperity, and a great blessing on all the nations in that the Messiah would come through the nation that would be Abraham's descendants. At this time God also gave a blessing for Ishmael for Abraham's sake, but Ishmael was not the son of "the promise". And Abraham's part was to serve God, and every male was to be circumcised as a seal of that covenant; every male born into that family was to be circumcised on the eighth day, and every male bought as a slave was to be circumcised. And if this was not performed, the covenant was broken, and that male was excluded from the covenant. Circumcision was the seal of that covenant.
(Romans 4:10-11 How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:).
Abraham believed God and obeyed Him. His faith was an active faith. Abraham believed, circumcision took place, and it was counted unto him as righteousness.
(2 Cor. 1:20-23 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.) and (Ephesians 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.)
When we hear God’s word, believe, repent of our sins, confess before men that Jesus is the son of God, and are baptized in obedience to His will, we mortify the “flesh” as a “circumcision of the heart”, which appropriates the Holy Spirit as our earnest; putting to death our fleshly lusts, and living to the Spirit of God’s will. Abraham entered into a covenant relationship with God. We enter into Christ, and God adds us to His Body, identifying us as a child, and we are therefore protected and guarded by God. Abraham was “circumsiced” in order to maintain that covenant. Our “circumcision” of the heart should bring about the putting to death the works of the flesh in order to maintain our covenant relationship with God.
(2 Tim. 2:19)
(2 Timothy 2:19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.)
Abraham believed, circumcision took place, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Circumcision (physical requirement) was not contingent on belief (e.g.. a baby 8 days old cannot “believe”). But baptism is contingent on belief (spiritual heart) when a person understands and repents (e.g.. Paul on the road to Damascus; the Phillippian jailer, the Eunuch, Lydia, etc.).
The promise of a son and heir was fulfilled when Abraham was one hundred years old, and his wife Sarah was ninety years old. The most significant time of testing was when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son to Him. By this time Abraham trusted God completely, and prepared to sacrifice Isaac, knowing that God would either provide in some way, or raise Isaac from the dead (Heb. 11:19), since God's promise to bless all Nations was to be through this son, Isaac. Abraham always did just as God asked, just as Noah did everything God had commanded of him. And God always kept His promises. All that God has said has always come to pass.
So, in the first few chapters of Genesis, three great men stand out: 1. Enoch, who walked with God -- and was "taken", 2. Noah, who obeyed God -- and was preserved, and 3. Abraham, who believed God -- and because of his faith was justified in his obedience. If we walk in God’s way, and obey Him, we will be justified in our obedience by the Grace of God.
We can be forgiven in spite of our sins! If we but walk in God’s way and do that which is right in His sight!
Analogies: Sons and the Covenant
Many times in the Old Testament, and at least once in the New Testament, we see the use of two sons, one representing good and one representing evil. Cain and Abel were the first ones. Then there was Perez's twins. Isaac also had twins - Esau and Jacob. Also there were times when the birthright was removed from the oldest son and given to the younger one because the youngest represented the good, or was selected to maintain the line for the Messiah. Such a case was Esau and Jacob. Abraham is generally remembered as having had only one son, but actually had two - only one being the child of the "promise" in God's covenant with Abraham, and the other the son of a bondservant.
Now Abraham didn't have just the one son named Isaac. Long before Isaac was born, God had made the promise that Abraham would bear a son through whose descendants God's promise to bless all the nations would be fulfilled. Because of Abraham's wife Sarah, he was persuaded to have a son by Sarah's handmaid, Hagar, since Sarah failed to have the patience to wait for God to fulfill His promise and she felt she was too old to bear any children. This son of Hagar's by Abraham was named Ishmael (Genesis 15:2-5), and he is the progenitor, or the Father, of the Arab nations. But Ishmael was not the son that God had promised Abraham that he would have, so he did not become the family through which the Messiah would come. God had a plan, and in spite of man's desires, He executed it without any interruptions. The "Law" was to come first, and the "promise under Grace" was to come later. The Grace of His Love for the Grace of His Forgiveness. The gift of His love that we do not deserve, for the gift of His forgiveness that we do not deserve!
(John 1:14-18: "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.")
Jesus has explained God to us! He that has seen the Son has seen the Father.
The Law was to be as a tutor to bring us to faith through Christ; we establish the Law through faith in Christ. "Living under the law" is doing the "works of salvation", and man is incapable of doing this.
(Rom. 3 30,31: "Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.")
Not as duty, but as proof of our love!
But this is very important, because this situation became the analogy of the two covenants which God made concerning His people. These covenants are known as the Old Testament, which was physical requirements, and the New Testament, which was "Spiritual". We refer to them as the old Covenant and the New Covenant.
The old Covenant is represented by Ishmael, the son of a bond-servant, and the new Covenant by Isaac the son of the free woman. Bond-servants were forced to serve their master under any condition, and without any choice, but a free person is free to serve because of love and devotion to their Lord.
(Psa. 51:16,17 a contrite and broken heart, better than sacrifice.)
And the Covenant God made with Abraham did not involve "laws", but did involve Faith. It involved the faith that God would keep all His promises, and was to prepare the "family" through which God would keep these promises. So the promises moved from the Faith of Abraham, through the laws given through Moses, to the Faith in Christ.
(Rom.1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, 'BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH'.)
The gospel is the power of God's grace for salvation to the man of obedient faith. And it is a Faith that passes from generation to generation. A person's faith is based on the faith that is passed down from someone else. If we don't understand our faith and base it on the faith that we read from scripture, we have no business passing it on.
(Hebrews 2:1-3: "Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him:").
It is a faith that grows, becoming more Christ-like in time. Abraham's faith had to grow -- so does ours! It is as looking in a mirror - the perfect law of love - and seeing oneself change to become like Christ.
(Rom. 4:16 Therefore, the Promise comes by faith, that it might be assured by grace to all of the 'seed' of Abraham.)
The gospel became the power of God's grace for salvation, given by grace since it is impossible that man can be "good enough" to accrue salvation by his own merit, but Christ can make that claim for us if we obey Him, and "walk with Him". Being under the reign of grace is contingent on baptism into Christ and continuing to "walk" with Him.
(Rom. 6:1,2 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?)
Christ's body did not see corruption because He died to sin; but was made alive in the Spirit when God resurrected Him from the grave. If we die to sin, we will not see “corruption”, but will be made alive in the Spirit in Christ Jesus! If we remain in sin we will remain separated from the body of Christ, and will see "corruption" and separation from the Spirit of God. The soul that sins will die. Either we live to sin, and die to Christ, or we die to sin and live to Christ. We are separated from one or the other.
The Law was given to Moses, and the Covenant that God made with Moses when He called the Israelites as His Chosen People - chosen to keep the line pure through which God would keep His promises. And the old covenant was not just a "bond-servant" to serve as concerning laws and rules for discipline, but was also a means to teach the Israelites what it meant to serve under conditions that brought evil into their lives. And they were continually turning away from God, and returning to Him when they got into trouble. It was to bring them to Christ and the Law of Liberty -- the freedom of the New Covenant to be written on the hearts of man. It was to bring them to Faith. Everything that was the old Law, or old Covenant, was a shadow of the reality that was to be the Law of Liberty, or the new Covenant. The old Law was the physical requirements. The old Covenant was practical laws for living to keep man healthy, to keep peace among men, and taught man what he must do to please God. The new Covenant gave man the opportunity to do what pleased God because he wanted to please God. It was the spiritual, based on an indestructible life! It gave man the opportunity to call upon the Lord - to understand his own "nakedness" (the nakedness that brings shame and makes one vulnerable), and cover himself through Christ's blood. It gave man the opportunity to walk with God because he wants to walk with God. Christ is the Prince of Peace and our King; the beginning and the end, from the Beginning to Judgment; the Alpha and Omega. He is our High Priest. Christ came out to meet us; He will again come out to meet us in our "victory". Christ offered bread and wine; His body on the Cross as His blood was shed. Christ as possessor of Heaven and Earth, in the New Covenant in His blood - not based on the blood of bulls and goats but on an indestructible life! - to be given back to God when Christ comes again to gather us into eternity. Christ, who has delivered us from the hands of our enemy. In Him are our blessings, and we give Him tithes of all. Most of all we give to Him, by Faith, the "first fruits" of our heart, knowing that He will keep His promises.
The Ultimate Test of Faith
The greatest test God put to Abraham was when He asked for Isaac. God said to him "Abraham", and Abraham said "Here am I".
(Genesis 22: 1,2 And God said "Take now your son, your only son whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah; and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you.)
Abraham made preparations and taking Isaac and two of his young men, made the journey to the mountains. Finally, on the third day, stopping at one of the mountains, he told the two young men to wait there with the donkeys and their supplies until he and Isaac should return from worshiping. Abraham took fire and his knife, and placed the wood on Isaac's shoulders, and they walked on into the mountain.
When Isaac questioned his father about the lamb for the offering, Abraham said that "God would provide for Himself the lamb for the offering".
That statement is the very essence of the Old Testament!
As Abraham was ready to strike with the knife, God stayed his hand, and blessed him for not withholding from God. (Genesis 22: 16-18) And God provided a ram - caught in a thicket, and Abraham, this man of faith, offered it up as a burnt offering in the place of his son. So Abraham and Isaac returned to his young men, and they arose and went to Beersheba, and Abraham dwelt there.
And God provided for Himself a lamb for the offering; a parallel to God's offering up His only son, whom He loved, as a lamb in our stead, if we are "men of faith" (as God asking Abraham for faith in Him (a physical requirement) and giving "His Lamb" in Isaac's stead (a Spiritual requirement)). If we trust in His promises and worship Him. Over and over God said "if you......I will". He said over and over for us not to be afraid, that He would be with us. God promised, and God prepared His son, and Christ carried His own "wood" to Golgotha, and God's hand was not stayed! God did not withhold His promises from us!
(Isaiah 53:5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.)
To Make A Nation
Now when Abraham was old, he made one of his servants promise to seek a wife for Isaac among his own kin, and that Isaac should not return back to the land of his countrymen, but the servant was to bring a wife to Isaac. The servant would be free from his vow if he could not find a woman willing to return with him. When the servant arrived at the city of Nahor, he had the Camels kneel at the well outside the city in the evening when the women came to draw water. And the servant prayed to God that the girl to whom he should say, "Please let down your jar that I may drink", that if she answer "drink, and I will water your Camels also", that she will be the one that Thou has appointed for Thy servant Isaac." Thus, Rebecca was chosen to return with the servant for Isaac. (Genesis 24: 12-26.)
To Isaac and Rebecca, twins were born; Esau and Jacob. Esau's was the first born, red and hairy. Jacob was born holding onto the heel of Esau. Esau became a hunter and was strong. Jacob was mild mannered and thoughtful. Even when they were in their mother's womb, there was great struggling. When they were older, Esau would go out to hunt and bring in deer to make a savory meal for his father. On one occasion, Jacob cooked some pottage, and when Esau returned home he was so hungry he was faint. He asked Jacob for some of the pottage, but Jacob bargained for Esau's birthright. Esau saw no use for a birthright when he was so hungry, and sold his birthright to Jacob for the pottage.
When Isaac was old and his vision was so dim that he could not see, he asked Esau to hunt for game to make a good meal, and afterward Isaac would give him his blessing. But Rebecca overheard Isaac ask of Esau and plotted to have the blessing given to Jacob. So she made a savory meal, disguised Jacob with fur on his hands and putting on some of Esau's clothing, he went in to Isaac. Isaac was not easily deceived, but since Isaac could not see well, and feeling the hairy arms he thought was Esau's and smelling the clothing of Esau's, he ate and gave the blessing to Jacob.
(Genesis chapter 27). "See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD hath blessed: Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine: Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.)
And Jacob became the heir that was in the Messianic line. Esau repented of his loss and wept bitterly, but there was no changing the blessing. (If we sin willfully, there remains no further sacrifice..... no turning back.) All Isaac could do, was to give Esau another but lesser blessing. Esau and his descendants were to dwell away from the fertility of the earth, and away from the dew of Heaven. He would live by the sword and serve his brother, until he became restless and would break the yolk from his neck.
Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing that his father had given, and said in his heart that he would slay Jacob when the days of mourning for his father would be at an end. When Rebecca heard about his intentions, she told Jacob to go to her brother Laban, and not to return until Esau was over his anger. So she told Isaac that Jacob should not take a wife among the Canaanites, but from kinsmen. Isaac then called Jacob to him and charged him to return to Rebecca's people, and there choose a wife. He asked God's blessing on Jacob, and that He give the Blessing of Abraham to Jacob. And he sent Jacob away, and Jacob went toward Haran.
Because Esau knew Isaac did not want wives from among the Canaanites, he chose a wife from Ishmael's descendants. (It is important to remember that in the Messianic line the men were to return to the family line of Abraham to choose their wives and neither were they to intermarry with the Canaanites, etc., which were of Ishmael's line, thus preserving the Messianic line. (However, there were some special considerations where the "gentiles" were included in the line because of obedience to God's commands.) That night Jacob lay to sleep with a stone for a pillow,
(Genesis 28:12-22 and he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.)
In Chapter 29 we see the meeting between Jacob and Rachel, and how Laban promised Rachel to him for his wife if he would work 7 years for him. After the 7 years were done, Laban sent Leah, Rachel's older sister, to the wedding chamber. When Jacob discovered the deceit the next morning, he confronted Laban. Laban said it was not their custom to give the younger sister to marriage first, but if Jacob would work another 7 years, he could have Rachel, also. So Jacob worked another 7 years for Laban. In the next 14 years Jacob became a rich man, and this displeased the sons of Laban. So Jacob saw that Laban was displeased with him, and decided to make the journey back to the land of his father, and with fear as to how Esau would receive him, he gathered his family and possessions and left in secret. When Laban discovered Jacob had gone, he pursued him because some of his idols were missing. Rachel had stolen some of her father's idols. When Laban caught up with Jacob, they discussed the situation, and while they were searching Isaac's camps, Rachel sat upon her camel where she had hidden them. When they were not found, Laban and Isaac made peace, and placed a pillar of stones as their agreement. Then Laban kissed his daughters and their children, and returned home.
As Jacob drew near to the land of his father he grew anxious, and sent word to Esau that he was coming, and to ask for forgiveness. The servants returned with the news that Esau was coming out to meet Jacob with 400 men. Jacob chose some of his flocks sending them ahead, in groups as gifts to Esau. Then he divided his company into two groups in order that some could escape should Esau take vengeance on him. He prayed to God for deliverance, and they spent the night at Jabbok. Then he sent his wives and children, and all that he had, across the stream. And Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When he saw that he prevailed not over Jacob, he touched the socket of Jacob's thigh, and dislocated it. Then the man said "Let me go, because day is breaking", but Jacob would not let go until he had blessed him. The man asked his name, and then said it would no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because he had striven with God and with men, and had prevailed; and he blessed him. So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said "I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved". And the sun rose just as he crossed over Penuel, and Jacob was limping on his thigh.
And Esau came out and met them, and they made peace between them.
Jacob had twelve sons. Levi was the third son. Judah was the fourth son. Joseph was the eleventh son, and Benjamin was the twelfth son. These were the sons that were most significantly used in the accounts we are telling. The Kingship was to be through Judah until "Shiloah" come.
(Genesis 49:10....until He comes to whom it belongs {the scepter} and the obedience of the nations is His.)
Judah's two oldest sons were Er and Onan, but because of their sins they were slain by God. Er's widow then bore a son to Judah (read the account in Genesis 38:11-30). Through this son, Pharez, Judah became the ancestor of David. When Jacob was dying, he called all his sons together to tell them all that would befall them. In this prophetical vision, Judah was selected as the tribe of the Messiah. It is called the Shiloh Prophesy.
The physical priesthood was to come through Levi's descendants. Remember that Levi was the third son, and Judah was the fourth.
Joseph, the son that Jacob loved so because he was the son of his beloved Rachel, was a dreamer and an interpreter of dreams. He was another man who pleased God and was used to further His plan. Benjamin was the only brother of Joseph by Rachel, and was the youngest of Jacob’s boys.
Joseph was sold into slavery to the Egyptians by his brothers through the Ishmaelites because of the jealousy of his brothers when he interpreted dreams to them about their servitude to Joseph. There he earned respect and was eventually given high position. He was there to preserve his brothers, because it was necessary to remove Israel from Canaan to prevent intermarriages and contamination through the idolatrous races, and to fulfill prophesy. And Benjamin was used by Joseph to bring Jacob and his family down to Egypt during a great famine.
This was to fulfill the 400 years which God told Abraham about, and that the Children of Israel would serve strangers in a strange land. When the Pharaoh that had known Joseph was dead and the Children of Israel began to multiply, the Egyptians were concerned that they would become a great nation and conquer the Egyptians, or help the enemies of Egypt. They began oppressing the Israelites and they became slaves to the Egyptians, enduring many hardships at the hands of the Egyptians. The Children of Israel were now ready to understand servitude under the harshness of this world, and what it means to serve under conditions that bring evil into their lives. And Egypt became a symbol of the desolation of sin. When the 400 years were fulfilled, God remembered Israel and heard their cries for release, and He raised up Moses to deliver them. But it took many times to try to get the children of Israel to learn the lesson of obedience to God's will to please God. Each generation drifted further from God, until God would deliver them into the hands of their enemy, and they would remain in captivity until they repented and cried out to return to God.
In spite of the desires of man to do things his own way, God has been patient, but would perform His plan as He willed. And Moses is the next man of significance that we will study.
The Planted Tree
Taken from Psalms 1:1-3
If you do not counsel with the sinner,
But hold to blessings from the Lord's hand,
Delighting in His Word night and day,
You will see the healing of the land.
And you will flourish like the planted tree
That grows strong by the rivers of water.
Harvest of blessings will be yours,
For your leaf shall not wither.
Your days will be full; your cup will overflow
If your voice you will raise
Giving to the Father above
All Honor, Glory and Praise.
Mary Esther Wacaster
A Prophet Raised Up
Moses, the son of a Levite, was born into troubled times. But this was God's plan concerning Moses. The children of Israel were being oppressed, and to keep them from multiplying, the Egyptians were killing all the male babies that were being born. Moses was a "good" child, so his mother kept him until he was about three months old, and then put him in a basket lined with pitch and set him afloat among the reeds on the River Nile. He was found by the daughter of Pharaoh and because she found him favorable, took him into her household. Miriam, Moses' sister, hiding from view, followed the basket, and when the Pharaoh’s daughter found him, offered to bring a woman to care for him. She brought her own mother, and thus Moses was "raised" by his own mother in the household of Pharaoh. Like Joseph, he was placed in a position of high esteem in order to perform an important part of God's plan. As he grew up he must have been told about the Jewish history, and that he was a Jew, because he later chose to live with his Jewish brethren. While trying to protect some of the Hebrews, he slew an Egyptian, and upon being told by the Hebrews the next day that they believed he would also slay them, he fled into the wilderness of Midian to keep from being found out. The 40 years in Midian was a time of learning for Moses. He lived with Jethro, the priest of the Midianites, and married Jethro's daughter, Ziphora.
When Moses was 80 years old, he was called by God to lead the Israelites from Egypt, and return them to the land God had promised Abraham's descendants. The events concerning the calling of Moses is exciting, and should be read from God's own Word. (Exodus 3:15-). Moses was the only man ever recorded as having talked with God "face to face". And his face would become so radiant when at Sinai that he had to cover his face with a veil while in the presence of the Israelites!
God told Moses to go to Egypt and tell the Israelites that God, the God of their fathers, had heard their cries, and that Moses was there to lead them to the land that God had promised their fathers. Moses tried to talk God out of having him go to Egypt, but it ended up being the job he took on - God's will! Moses was given his brother Aaron as the one who could "speak for him"; and to be supportive for him. But it was Joshua, the son of Nun, who became the closest companion and successor of Moses. He went to Egypt, and performed miracles at God's hand to affirm God had sent him to the Israelites that they might believe, and placed plagues on the Egyptians to force them to let the people go.
From the very day they left Egypt and began their journey into the wilderness the children of Israel began grumbling about things that displeased them. Everything that God gave them, He gave with a promise and admonition to obey Him. They continually gave their promise to do all God asked of them, and yet they continually broke their promises. But God was patient with them and led them on, providing them with water, bread and meat, and their clothes did not wear out in the 40 years they were in the wilderness. And still they grumbled.
After passing over the Red Sea, the Israelites traveled toward Marah for three days, and there was no water except waters that were bitter. The Israelites complained. God commanded Moses to throw a certain tree into the waters, and they became sweet. (They had just left a life that was bitter for a life that God could make sweet, but they grumbled!) At that time God made a statute and an ordinance proving them, and said "If you will give the earnest heed to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, and give ear unto His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptian’s: for I, the Lord, am your healer".
When they reached Sinai, they encamped at the foot of Mt. Sinai. At that time God tried to draw the people nigh, and make of them a people peculiar to Himself, a royal priesthood. He told them what He wanted of them, and what He would do in return for them. But with the thundering, lightening and the quaking of the earth, they were afraid and trembled, and said "Let God speak to Moses, and then let Moses speak to us, and we will do as God commands." (Ex. 19: 1-7; Ex. 20:1-20)
So Moses went up on the mountain to "talk" with God, "face to face". There God gave him the ten commandments, written on stone tablets; the "Law". While he was on the mountain (40 days), the Israelites grew impatient and had Moses' brother, Aaron, make them a golden calf that they might worship; one of the promises they made to God that they would not do! And the people sat down to eat, and rose up to play. How quickly the human mind can forget what it promises! Even after seeing all the power of the miracles which God performed through Moses while they were still in Egypt! When God heard the reveling, he told Moses to get down from the mountain. The calf was melted, crushed, and sprinkled on the waters, and the Israelites were made to drink it. The choice was made by the Levites to serve God and they were commanded to take their sword and go through the camp. And there were about 3,000 slain that day. (Exodus 32).
After the tables of testimony were given the children of Israel, God told Moses to choose men of great talent and construct the necessary properties for the construction of the temporary tabernacle of God, to every specification which God would give. The book of Leviticus gives all the rules and regulations, ordinances and commands, diseases, health habits, punishments for disobedience and rewards for obedience particularly in chapters 5, 6 and 7. For those who would seek God’s will, and learn what He expects man’s life to be, would find the book of Leviticus an in depth study for his concern.
When the Israelites were drawing close to the land where God had promised to bring them, twelve spies were sent out to spy out the land and bring back reports of its fertility and beauty. When the spies returned Joshua and Caleb reported to Moses that they could go and take the land, for it truly was all that had been promised. But the others that had gone with them trembled at the fierceness of the land and the stature of the men. They gave bad reports throughout the camp, and convinced the people of the futility of trying to conquer the land. (Numbers 13:30-32.) God's anger was kindled, and He refused to allow the Israelites over 20 years of age at that time to enter into the land of Canaan. They then wandered through the wilderness, until that generation had all died, except for Joshua and Caleb, who had the faith that God could, and would, perform what He had promised. Even Moses was not allowed to enter Canaan, although he was allowed to view it, because he had "broken faith with God", for when God told Moses to speak to the rock to bring forth springs of water to give water to all the people and water all the stock, Moses in his anger struck the rock instead. (Numbers 20:12). But when Moses was about to be gathered to his people, he was taken up on the mountain (Mt. Nebo) and shown all the land of Canaan; all the land which had been promised to Abraham and his descendants.
When they reached the point just before entering Canaan, Moses gave exhortation to the Israelites, and reaffirmed the blessings if they obeyed God, and the curses if they did not obey. He also prophesied of Christ's coming - the Prophet like unto himself, that would be the Spokesman for God, and every man would be required to listen to the word which God spoke through Him . (Deu. 18: 15-22; Deu. 30:8-11).
After the Israelites conquered Canaan, they began a journey through time to deal with lesson after lesson in what God wanted from them and how to achieve this goal. They would drift away from God, fall into disobedience, and be sent into captivity as judgment on their disobedience. Time after time the children of Israel grumbled and wanted to be like the rest of the world. God sent prophets to tell the people what He wanted and what would come to pass. He gave them blessings, and asked for their obedience. Still they grumbled. God gave them judges to keep peace among them. But time after time the children of Israel would do evil in the sight of God. Each generation drifted further from God, until God would deliver them into the hands of their enemy and they would remain in captivity until they repented and cried out to return to God. The Israelites wanted a king. God gave hem kings, and still they fell into disobedience and corruption. Saul was their first king, and when he displayed arrogance and disobedience to God, he was removed and the throne was given to David.
David displayed obedience and faith even as a child, when he faced the giant Goliath alone in battle as a youth. Even though David sinned many times and tried to cover up his sins by sinning even more, he continually repented and sought forgiveness from God. He offered God a broken and contrite heart. God considered him a man after His own heart, and from David’s descendants came the promised Messiah.
The periods between the prophets and the intertestamental period (also called the period of silence) was another time of learning for the children of Israel. It would take about two generations for the children to drift back into their sins and move away from God and His laws. We can still learn from the accounts of the events in these periods, because God does not change, and His principals are all taught there for us as well. One of the greatest lessons we can glean from it is the fact that even though we drift away in our sins, if we repent and turn again to God and His ways, we are given the opportunity to return to Him in repentance and obedience. We remain unforgiven only if we remain disobedient and refuse to return to God’s ways. God has always promised man if he would obey God and follow in His ways, that God would bless him. God promised many blessings if man would but obey, and that His promises were true, and would be kept, and Jesus promised that He would be with us always, even to the end of the age if we trust Him and obey God’s word.
The Israelites continued to fall into sin and disobedience until God became “silent”. This period of silence provided the completion of the sins of the Gentiles, completing the “fullness of time” to bring the Messiah into the world. All things were now ready for the Word to be made flesh, and walk into the presence of sin, in order to offer propitiation for us that we might return to God as He had wanted us to be..... a nation peculiar to Him; a royal priesthood; a people that would love and worship him from the heart.
The Drifter
The gentle rocking of the water
Soothes the boatman into sleep.
And the drifting boat yields
To the undercurrent of the deep.
And when the dreamer awakens
To the waves of the sea
He finds it is not himself the “rocker”
But the mighty waves that be.
And it is not the mighty waves
That the drifter needs to fear,
But the failure to keep ahold
Of the oars to keep the shore near.
Mary Esther Wacaster
Intertestamental History
Proverbs 16: 24 - 25 “ Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”
Opportunities are given to us for our learning. God does not “cause things to happen to us”, but He has “poured out the vials” of learning. Man either must learn, obey and endure or suffer the consequences. Sometimes the times were perilous for the children of Israel, and they were at times in danger even of annihilation, as when Esther was queen and intervened for the sake of the Israelites when Haman sought to bring about the annihilation of the Jewish nation.
In our times, we can see similar circumstances of hate and vengeance, when Hitler sought to annihilate the Jewish nation. It was not God which brought about such chaos, but the sins of one man. God does not want that any should perish, but desires our obedience and compassion, and that we should all come to repentance. (Ezekiel 18: 4-9).
So if God loves us and asks us to repent -- whose problem is it? All problems are caused by someone’s sins. We cannot put blame on anyone but ourselves. We should live by our own standards by which we judge others, because we do the same things. So that puts judgment on ourselves, also. Jesus said to take His yolk and learn of Him. Learn His ways and walk with Him.
Men of Faith of the Old Testament were the spokesmen for God; Enoch; Noah; Jacob (renamed Israel); Joseph; Moses; David; and the judges and the prophets. After Moses died God buried him completely in His rest. And Joshua led the people on to the “promised” land. They conquered Canaan, but they did not annihilate the nations as God told them to do, and they were made a “thorn in the flesh” to Israel. After Joshua died God placed judges over Israel. Each judge would have to bring the people “back to God” and to repentance. God also provided prophets to bring His word to the people. But even some of the prophets did evil in the sight of the Lord. The people finally besought God to give them a king, so that they could be like the rest of the world. When the people continued to do evil, continually leaving God’s Word, and refusing to follow His ways, God was angered and delivered them into captivity, and God finally became “silent”.
In God’s “silence” the people had the “tutor-ship” of the Old testament to teach them what God expected and what man could do to please God while all things were being fulfilled in God’s plan for the opportunity to return to God because he wanted to return to God.
The Israelites served strangers in a land not their own for 400 +a few years, while the “sins of the people in Canaan were being completed - a case of “fulfilling time”. The Israelites had begun looking for a “deliverer”, probably because they had been taught through their traditions, that God had said that they would serve strangers for 400 years as was told to Abraham. The duration for the “period of silence was some 400 +a few years, and then the Israelites began searching and looking for the “Messiah, the Prophet like unto Moses, as was prophesied in their “scripture” although no time limit had been suggested. The relevant prophecy as concerning the “spiritual drought” when there was no prophet to be found, is found in Micah 3; Amos 8:11 and Micah 5:2-4 when Christ would come.
Amos 8:11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:
Micah 3:4 Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear : he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings. 5 Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him. 6 Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them. 7 Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer of God. 8 But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.
Micah 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. 3 Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. 4 And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.
The people were looking for this Messiah, the Prophet like unto Moses, searching but not finding, and believing fables.
Isa. 30:1 Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin: That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!
People were seeking, but not finding for there was no prophet to give them the “word of the Lord”. As concerning the secular history, Clayton Harrop gives a brief but good run-down on the period between Malachi and the birth of Christ in Holman’s Bible Dictionary on the rulers, culture and the language of the times.
And our world now is doing the same thing.....searching and not finding.......covering themselves, but not with the blood of Christ! We are in a spiritual drought, but ours is not a period of silence as then, for we have the written word, the Word of God, to guide us. And we are looking for His return for completion to end all times and give the final judgment before entering the “Promised Land”. Christ is that Prophet that we are required to listen to and heed, for there will be no other!
Rob Wacaster on the intertestamental period:
The fullness of time was the completion of everything to make it the perfect time for Jesus to come. The prophesies were all completed; the whole world spoke a common language, and was under a common government. The apostles (at least Paul as a Roman citizen) could travel all over the world without a passport; people were looking for new things, new answers to old problems (like in Athens). Jews from all over the world, born in different cultures and speaking all the languages would be in Jerusalem at least 3 times each year. They would learn of Jesus, see His crucifixion, hear the first gospel sermon, and take all that news home. There was little distracting entertainment --no television, no radio -- and attention spans were still very long. There was an expectation of the coming of the Messiah among the Jews. (They told Herod exactly where to find Him when He was born!) It was the fullness of time - exactly the right time for the most influential man in history to be born, live, change the world forever, and die; then live again to continue changing individuals until the next perfect time for Him to return.
Sometimes I wonder why he did not come today with T.V. and mass communication and rapid transportation. But could you see Jesus having much influence in a world where even fantastic reality is boring next to special effects, and simple truth is disregarded and discarded to make time for the Cowboys? He would not have been crucified today -- He would have been ignored! He would have had to be a very high-powered political or social reformer, or Tele-evangelist to get any media attention. Simple messages are ignored today. There are a lot of Pilates today asking “What is truth?” sarcastically, and not even expecting an answer. Jesus came at the best time in history - religiously, socially, and politically; in the fullness of time!”
The period of silence was a period of Spiritual drought as predicted by the prophets Micah and Amos. As the end of the period approached, the people were restless and searching “to hear the Word of the Lord”. They were searching in accordance with the Old Testament prophesies concerning the coming of the Messiah who would deliver them from the bondage of Roman rule, and set up a kingdom, restoring Israel to her former glory. They again realized the “need” for God and “called upon the name of the Lord:, but there was no sign. But what they were looking for was a physical King, given a physical kingdom to return them as a “world power:. They were looking for a prophet “like unto Moses” with miracles and signs and wonders. And there were so many striking similarities, how could they have not recognized the Messiah? If there was any significance to the similarities between Moses and the Prophet like unto him, the people should have recognized the Messiah. But we have better vision of the whole picture, and therefore are more responsible for not “neglecting so great a salvation”.
The killing of the male children under 2 years old.
Brought “the children out of Egypt the bondage of sin.
Didn’t really want to do the job, but God’s Will to be done.
Miracles to prove God’s presence.
Sent by God as a spokesman for Him (Deu. 18:15-22)
Deliverance to the “Land of Promise”.
Then......Christ came in the “fullness of time, when all things were ready”. The time had come to finish God’s plan. The Israelites were looking for THE Prophet like unto Moses, with signs and wonders. If He had come much later in history, the Jews would have left the Faith too far. Christ came as Moses came... to lead us away from “Egypt” and into the desert of testing, and proving God’s presence with miracles. A Prophet like unto Moses, but more than a Prophet. A Priest like unto Melchezidec, but more than a Priest. A King on the throne of David, but more than a King. The time had come to finish His plan. God prepared His Son. A ram caught in a thicket, as it were. He died in our stead. He was victorious over death and sin. The Old Testament brings us to Christ. The New Testament brings us to the Cross. Christ died that we might live......that we might die to sin, and be made alive in the Spirit! The final battle was victorious in Christ. God’s hand was not stayed; God did not withhold His promises from us! And the time “was” when the world was to be brought to Christ! Now the time “was” for the prophet like unto Moses, but the one that every man would be required to listen to. The One God said of -- “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him.” The One that came with miracles, and signs, and wonders -- to confirm the Word.
The Fullness Of Time
Isaiah 9: 6-7 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God. And He took the form of man, and entered into the presence of sin in order that He might become our propitiation and redeemer, setting us free from the guilt of sin.
Jesus was born into troubled times. Born in a manger - cradled in the "reeds" (straw of a manger). Herod, when he heard of this birth of the "new King", was afraid of losing his throne and ordered all the male children under 2 years old to be killed. But Joseph, being warned in a dream, took Mary and Jesus, and fled into Egypt. (Moses into the household of the Pharaoh’s daughter).
And Jesus grew in stature, and in favor with God and man. What a battle he had to fight. Spirit against flesh, knowing that He had to die as the perfect lamb of sacrifice in atonement that His blood might cover us and cleanse us from sin. He had the power to do whatever He wanted to do, but because of who He was, and what His mission was, He could only do that which was God’s will.
Christ, God and the Holy Spirit were all as one at the time Jesus was baptized (the baptism to fulfill all righteousness and God’s Spirit rested upon Jesus shoulder). Christ, God and the Holy Spirit were all as one at the time of the transfiguration.
In the beginning was darkness, and God made light. At the sixth hour of the crucifixion, when all the forces of good and evil met in the final battle, there was darkness over the Earth, and quakes, and the dead walking. In the battle, because Christ (the Word) was from the beginning and was that element that “held all things together”, everything took on the semblance of coming apart. Graves were opened, and the dead walked and was seen , and there were quakes in divers places. At the final victory, the veil of the temple was rent from top to bottom, and the “unknown things of God became manifest”. God laid the darkness of “sin” on Christ’s shoulders and turned away, not staying in the presence of sin. Jesus, feeling the departure and loneliness, cried with a loud voice. At the ninth hour Christ cried out in despair, and the spirit of the flesh and the Divine Spirit severed, and Christ sent the Divine Spirit back to the Godhead (“I commend my Spirit”......), and sent the spirit of the flesh to the dust (death). But since the Spirit of His flesh was “perfect and righteous” Christ rose in totality from the grave.
Christ was alone when He died on the Cross because God Himself cannot stay in the presence of sin, (but Christ, being in the "flesh" until His Spirit was separated from the body, remained), and the universe seemed to be falling apart, because Christ is that characteristic which holds all things together, being with God when all things were made (Gen. 1:2; John 1:1) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men, and man comprehended not that He is light - the true light that gives light to every man. In Christ is life. And the burden of sin is now past. The burden of sin is now passed -- it is passed from us, being put upon the shoulders of Jesus as he hung upon the cross.
God seeks to redeem His world, but the world seeks it's own way. The world demands blessings, but gives only disobedience. God demands obedience, but offers blessings and life in a covenant with us through His Son.
The Covenant determines the relationships between God, the world, and you.
‘Tis Done
Dark; dark, the stillness of the day,
Beneath the fury of the storm;
Like thunder was the single cry
When God removed His arm
And turned His face away.
Great; great, the sorrow of the cry,
When brooding o’er the vale,
Sin crushed the life upon the Cross,
Deep riven by every nail;
This, the cause of Christ to die.
"My God, why do you leave me?"
He whispered through His pain,
Yet by His final cry " 'Tis Done",
His death was not in vain.
God's plan that was to be.
His blood by love out-poured;
What is this Cross to me?
Why did He die? Was it that I
In mercy then could be
From sin and shame restored?
If you will die with Him
In answer to His Call
Then you will rise with Him
Out of the water's pall.
Then, daily take your Cross
And bow before His name;
He is the God that was
And is, will always be the same.
List, and O, remember
The terror and the Glory of that day
When Jesus paid the debt
Man himself could not pay.

                                       Mary Esther Wacaster