Sunday: Harking Back to Abraham
Daily Lesson for Sunday 10th of November 2024
Jesus was not shy in declaring who He was, nor in calling on witnesses to testify to who He was, even witnesses who were long gone, including Abraham. “ ‘Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad’ ” (John 8:56, NKJV).
Why was Abraham’s witness so important that it was included in John’s gospel? (Genesis 12:3, Genesis 18:16-18, Genesis 26:4, Matthew 1:1, Acts 3:25.)
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“Through type and promise God ‘preached before the gospel unto Abraham.’ Galatians 3:8. And the patriarch’s faith was fixed upon the Redeemer to come. Said Christ to the Jews, ‘Your father Abraham rejoiced that he should see My day; and he saw it, and was glad.’ John 8:56, R.V., margin. The ram offered in place of Isaac represented the Son of God, who was to be sacrificed in our stead. When man was doomed to death by transgression of the law of God, the Father, looking upon His Son, said to the sinner, ‘Live: I have found a ransom.’ ”—Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 154.
Abraham was the father of the Jewish nation. He received the promise that, through him, all nations would be blessed. This blessing came through the Messiah, born through his lineage.
Abraham was also the father of those who respond to God in faith (Hebrews 11:8,17-19). His willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac (Genesis 22:1-24), the son of promise, was not only an evidence of faith but a window into the plan of salvation.
When Jesus said, “ ‘Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day’ ” (John 8:56, NKJV), the leaders responded, “ ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?’ ” (John 8:57, NKJV).
Jesus’ answer was astounding. “ ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM’ ” (John 8:58, NKJV).
Jesus uses language reminiscent of what God said to Moses at the burning bush. This was a claim to be God, the self-existent One. No question, the leaders understood the implication of what He said because they then “took up stones to throw at Him” (John 8:59, NKJV).
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Read Romans 4:1-5. How does Paul use this story of Abraham to reveal the great truth of salvation by faith alone, without the deeds of the law? How do these verses help us understand the idea of Abraham as the father of those who live by faith? |
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The Christian experience is about facing the unknown as much as necessary. We may not know how to deal with a new problem, but we know the God we serve: that's faith.
I do believe Abraham believed in God. Then God came along and said get out of the land of your fathers. Abraham then took his belief to a different level, action on his part if you prefer. Then it was counted to Him for righteousness. The text in Genesus is not a riddle or conundrum nor a sandwich. Example of a sandwich can be a PNP(transistor of positive-negative-positive) it is putting Genesis 15:6 into context. Yes I know this is a round about way of describing faith alone. Now how do you ride a bicycle that has tires that take the bicycle where you are going. You peddle to get you to where you are going. Logically you do something you don't just sit there to get where you are going. Unless you have joined the EV generation. Abraham did something not to obtain salvation but to give something. He gave up a lifetime of his familiar soundings for his love of the Lord.
There are a couple of things in the story of Abraham that could be overlooked in our search for type and antitype. Abraham was a compassionate man. There was a bit of friction between the herdsmen of Abram and Lot about grazing rights. Abram was the head of the family and could have told Lot where to go with his herds, but he let Lot have the choice, and Abram accepted the result in good grace. Further, when some of the local kings ganged up on Sodom and Gomorah, and took the people, including Lot, and their goods away as the spoils of war, Abraham went after them and got them back. If it had been me I would have probably smirked and said, "Tough luck for being so greedy. You deserve what you get!"
Later, when Abram, now named Abraham, bargained with God about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorah. He wanted God to stay the destruction even if there were only 10 righteous people in these cities.
Even in the matter of the burial of Sarah, he refused to accept the parcel of land as a gift and paid for it.
Abraham exercised compassion and fairness, something that should be a witness to our Christianity today.
One thing I have not heard much about in the type of the gospel represented by Abraham sacrificing Isaac is the significance of the ram caught in the thicket. To me this represents God being seemingly caught in the tethers of the great controversy by Satan’s accusations. In this illustration God uses man as His instrument by the sacrifice of Christ to free Himself in the eyes of His creation from all of Satan’s accusations.
That is an interesting interpretation Michael. It’s caused me to pause and think. Of course, using these symbols, we may never get a perfect fit, but continuing with your sanctified imagination, may I take the narrative further? Since the ram was offered up as a burnt offering instead of the son Isaac (Genesis 22:13-14) it represents Christ. And it is The Father who provides and gives His Son as a sacrifice (John 3:16) (Can Abraham symbolise The Father here? A father who dearly loves his son and still, to fulfil God’s plan gives him up.). It seems to me, man is not the instrument of freedom. Going back to your original premise, I could say that in this illustration, God uses Himself to free Himself in the eyes of his creation from Satan’s accusations.
But I would take the illustration further: The tethers of the great controversy have not caught God up. He removes them easily and frees the ram. But what happens after the ram is free? Isaac is still lying on the pile of wood waiting to be sacrificed. The Father offers The Ram so that man (Isaac) may go free. The great controversy started in Heaven, but the tethers of Satan’s accusations were not greater than God could deal with. Tragically, Adam got caught up in this mess by his own choosing and brought all humanity into sin and death with that decision. So, God, in His mercy, uses Himself to free us from the bondage of sin. Hallelujah! My imaginative interpretation of the narrative brings me gratefully to this point in the words of Cece Winans:
When sin demanded justice for my soul
Mercy said no
I'm not going to let you go
I'm not going to let you slip away
You don't have to be afraid
Mercy said no
If Israel is recognized for anything, it is for God choosing them through Abraham’s faith before they became a nation. Their 'nation' would not exist if Abraham would have rejected to believe the promise of God and decided to walk in His statutes by faith.
Respectfully, I want to differ with the lesson writer's statement that ‘Abraham was also the father of those who respond to God in faith.’ I consider all vessels chosen by God to carry out His Will on earth to be evidence that man can only respond through/by faith in order to be and remain a vessel through which God’s Will is established on earth.
The Father never abandoned His children but kept choosing the ones who still would hear His voice; calling them to do His Will because of their faithfulness. Even as the old world came to an end, He kept 'in touch' with the remnant to work out His Will through them in the world after the Flood - some were significant, others less so in our eyes, but all were the perfect choice in God's eyes wo called them.
Faith was the manner in which man responded to be with God at the beginning of the time, and faith has and will remain the only way through which man can return to ‘see’ God.
John 10:29-31 records Jesus saying: ”My Father who has given them to me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and the Father are One. At this, the Jews again picked up stones to stone Him.
Jesus admonished His brethren to believe the SAME God their Father’s believed - the God of Abraham. He explained that their God had not changed – that they were still His chosen people and that He was one of them. He called them to be faithful to their God, that their God still chose from among them the faithful to do His Work. But now His faithful workers are sent to go out into all the world to preach His Gospel, and to teach all mankind to believe in the God of their Salvation as taught by Jesus, His Son.