Friday: Further Thought ~ The Promise
Further Thought:
Because Abraham was the extraordinary prophet with whom God would share His plans (Genesis 18:17), God entered Abraham’s human sphere and shared with him, to some degree, His plan of salvation through the sacrifice of His Son.
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
“Isaac was a figure of the Son of God, who was offered a sacrifice for the sins of the world. God would impress upon Abraham the gospel of salvation to man. In order to do this, and make the truth a reality to him as well as to test his faith, He required him to slay his darling Isaac. All the sorrow and agony that Abraham endured through that dark and fearful trial were for the purpose of deeply impressing upon his understanding the plan of redemption for fallen man. He was made to understand in his own experience how unutterable was the self-denial of the infinite God in giving His own Son to die to rescue man from utter ruin. To Abraham no mental torture could be equal to that which he endured in obeying the divine command to sacrifice his son.” — Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 3, p. 369.
“Abraham had become an old man, and expected soon to die; yet one act remained for him to do in securing the fulfillment of the promise to his posterity. Isaac was the one divinely appointed to succeed him as the keeper of the law of God and the father of the chosen people, but he was yet unmarried. The inhabitants of Canaan were given to idolatry, and God had forbidden intermarriage between His people and them, knowing that such marriages would lead to apostasy. The patriarch feared the effect of the corrupting influences surrounding his son … In the mind of Abraham the choice of a wife for his son was a matter of grave importance; he was anxious to have him marry one who would not lead him from God … Isaac, trusting to his father’s wisdom and affection, was satisfied to commit the matter to him, believing also that God Himself would direct in the choice made.” — Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 171.
Discussion Questions:
|
(20)
Apart from the biblical account there is no evidence that Abraham every existed. That should not surprise us because he spent most of his life as a nomad. If you wanted to leave evidence of your existence in those days you had to live in a city and be important enough to have your name baked into clay or carved into stone. Tent dwellers leave little evidence of their existence. Their artefacts are recycled as soon as they are no longer needed.
He forsook the city life of Mesopotamia to come a wanderer. He spent some time in Egypt, the other major civilisation of the time but ultimately ended up in Canaan, living in tents and herding his livestock - a stranger in a foreign land. In spite of that, he was a man of influence and sat at the tables of the captains and kings of that time. He came to the notice of Pharaoh - Well, Sarah did anyhow. He was powerful enough to mount a band of fighting men to rescue Lot.
Abraham is widely regarded as the precursor of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The book of Hebrews casts him as a man of faith along with Sarah. We of course see him as a type of Christ - particularly in the story of the sacrifice of Isaac.
It is interesting that most of the religions of the region at the time of Abraham have a strong fertility element. Phallic symbolism, bull worship, and temple virgins were all very much part of eastern worship of that time. The really big test for Abraham was that he believed in one God who created all and whose worship did not involve any fertility rights. Yet he and Sarah remained infertile for so long. It speaks highly of the sort of relationship Abraham had with his one God that, apart from a couple of moments of doubt he remained true to Him rather than seeking solace from the ever present fertility Gods. That would have been a very big temptation.
Fertility ...seeds
Yup, everything in creation points to reproduction. The ultimate aim of reproduction are Sons of God, by the sharing of Christ's perfected law in hearts and minds.
Romans 8:18-30, Hebrews 2:5-11, Hebrews 10:16
Maurice, I see you have a lot of bibical knowledge and Christlike charachter. Can you elaborate on how the law in the seed of Christ in us, grows.
Obviously when a seed is planted in the ground its internal law produces a design, function, and a blessing to others when fruitful.
How is that compare to an internal law in the seed from Christ in us ? Or do you ever have thoughts about it ?
Larry, I am not sure that your description of me is all that accurate. I am like Sir Isaac Newton - an observer on the seashore of life, picking up an occasional pretty stone and then writing a description of it to share the experience with others.
I see faith as something to be nurtured and grown. I have used this illustration before: If I want to become a weight lifter I need to exercise my muscles. I cannot just sit and read about it and learn the language of muscule-building. I have to get among the weights and lift them again and again. Faith is not just a mental state or process. Rather, it has to be applied to the real world in order to grow and develop. And I have to add, just in case someone should misinterpret me and think I am promoting salvation by works; working faith is a fruit of salvation, not the cause.
Blessings!
Thank you
Is not the seed a work of the holy Spirit in us, as the santification process in our walk of faith ?
Shalom
🙏
Yes indeed, Larry.
Wonderful job done
I wonder if we do a disservice to the man and women spoken about in the Scripture and studied by those who want to know more about the Faith of Christ Jesus when we label them.
I see being a prophet as a calling; the calling is not the person. Prophets are first and foremost people like all of us, believers that the Word of God is true! It is given to them to live and speak the Word of the Creator God to lead and guide humanity safely along their earthly journey.
Whilest being 'people like us', yes, indeed, prophets were called by our Creator God to do this mighty work on His behalf. We learn from them what is important in our 'walk of faith' as we observe and study their life lived by faith.
I see Abraham to be among the great examples of man’s faith – ‘starting with nothing but believing that God has called him to participate in the work of God here on earth, and maintaining this faith throughout the ups and downs of his life’.
What does it mean to be a ‘type of Christ’? I see it to have the crucial element of faith in ones life - faith as it was present in the life of Abraham and our Lord and Savior, the Son of Man - Christ Jesus.
He was and will forever be our example that it is safe to place our trust in the revealed Word of God as we go about our lives; steadfastly believing that our heavenly Father is a loving not a vengeful Father, that He offers His plan of salvation - His Way of Life - to mankind to bring his ‘faith-children’ home as they believe in His Word to be true.
The Son of God and Man - Christ Jesus – gave us the greatest example of living ones life by trusting the Word of the Father of all Life IS claiming the promise of Life Everlasting.
Part quote from Ellen White above ... In the mind of Abraham the choice of a *wife* for his *son* was a matter of grave importance; he was anxious to have him marry one who would not lead him away from God.
Since we have a marriage between Christ and his Bride, and the purpose is children. Where is the dividing line, between, a bride class and children.? Or is just a methopher !
Huh? We are studying about the *real* man Abraham and his *real* son Isaac. In certain aspects and/or circumstances of their lives, both were "types" of Christ in that in that aspect or circumstance they resembled Christ and His work.
I think the relevant quotation to which you refer is this:
Being a "figure of the Son of God" as a willing sacrifice does not also make him a figure of Christ as a Bridegroom, nor does it make Rebekah a type of the New Jerusalem or the people of God.
Figures, types, symbols and parables generally have narrow and specific applications. Trying to make them "walk on all fours" leads to such aberrations as the allegorizing method of biblical interpretation which Protestantism has specifically rejected.
I believe we are generally safest to read the Bible with its most obvious meaning, unless there is some indication within the texts that alerts us to the fact that the passage is meant to be allegorical, figurative, typological, symbolical or a parable.
Sorry that's not what I asked.
I asked about the Bride of Christ being a specific class, in the SDA denomination, like first fruits, or in some groups 144K
Thanks anyway ...
Sorry, Larry, but I didn't see the connection.
The answer to this question is "No." We do not recognize special classes of the "saved." All get the same reward, as Jesus taught in the hiring of servant at the market place. (Matt. 20:1-14)
Sorry Inge ...I did not ask about the *saved*, I asked about the *Bride* !
Revelation shows the Bride/new Jerusalem blessing mankind
Revelation 21, 22
Jesus also mentioned the *guests* at the wedding of the *bride* and groom !
------------
Inge replies:
That's a whole other topic from the lesson!