The Abrahamic Covenant: Part 17
John Plunkett
October 10, 2015
Today’s sermon is the penultimate message of this long Bible Study
series – the second-to-last Bible Study on the subject of the Abrahamic
Covenant.
We finished last time with the first half of Hebrews 11:16 from which we
were discussing the potential difficulty of the departure of Abram, Sarah and
their extended family out of the prosperous, affluent city-state of Ur.
Let’s back up a couple of verses – still in Hebrews 11 – just to pick up
the context:
15: And truly if they had called to
mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity
to return.
As we saw last time, Abraham and his family did not take advantage of the
opportunity to return to the relative comfort of Ur.
16a: But now they desire a better,
that is, a heavenly country…
Yes. God did provide physically
better countries for Abraham’s progeny.
But they came to more deeply desire an ultimately better country
– the best country – the heavenly country.
But again, not the Kingdom in Heaven; but the Kingdom of Heaven
– or the Kingdom from Heaven; but right here on earth.
Not just a country; but a very special city as well:
16b: … therefore God is not ashamed
to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.
I’m sure that God would be ashamed to be called the God of a family
– or a people – or a church – who are only interested in the physical. But because Abraham and his family came to desire
His heavenly country even more than any merely physical country,
He is not ashamed of them.
Or, at least, He was not ashamed of them – past tense! But if we look at Abraham’s progeny today,
I’m sure that God must be ashamed of the totally hedonistic, backsliding people
of our modern Israelite nations, as a result of which we should not be
surprised that (as Paul told us in Romans 11):
·
God has given physical Israel a spirit of stupor,
eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, to this very
day,
·
He has made their table and their recompense to be
a snare, a trap and a stumbling-block to them,
·
He has darkened their eyes, He has blinded them so
that they do not see,
·
He has bowed down their backs in spiritual slavery
– perhaps – even likely – to soon become physical slavery!
·
He has caused them to stumble,
·
He has partially and temporarily cast them away
from Himself,
·
He has broken off some of their natural olive tree
branches so that the gentiles could be grafted in.
What about us in spiritual Israel? Could God be ashamed of any of us? Are any of us more interested in the
physical trappings of this world today than the better country of the World
Tomorrow?
If we are, God will judge us by the same set of rules that He judged
physical Israel.
Do you want him to be ashamed of you?
I am sure that you don’t. I don’t
want Him to be ashamed of me!
Because of the faithfulness of Abraham and his family, and because they
sought and desired that better country, not only has God prepared a better
country for them. He has even prepared a
special city for them. I’m pretty
sure that that special city is twofold:
i.
The physical Jerusalem that will be rebuilt and
transformed after Jesus’ return there.
ii.
The New Jerusalem – the amazing Holy City – that
will come down from God – as described in the 21st and 22nd
chapters of the book of Revelation.
But let’s leave our discussion of that until the Feast of Tabernacles and
the Last Great Day; and let’s move on now and continue in Hebrews 11:
17: By faith Abraham, when he was
tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his
only begotten son,
18: of whom it was said, "In
Isaac your seed shall be called” {Genesis 21:12}
This verse says that Abraham “had received the promises.” As used here, the aorist tense in the
Greek comes out as the simple past tense in the English. However, this does not mean that the covenant
promises had all been actually fulfilled at that time during Abraham’s
lifetime. Merely that he had received
the promises verbally from God.
This is very significant because, as I’m sure Abraham asked during this
great trial, how could he receive the promise of seed – both race (physical)
and grace (spiritual) – that God had specifically promised would come through
Isaac (Genesis 21:12) if Isaac was dead and unable to sire any children? So if he couldn’t sire any children, how
could he receive the promise of seed?
God had specifically promised that this would come through Isaac.
The answer is in the very next verse:
19: Concluding that God was able to
raise him {Isaac} up, even from the dead, from which he {Abraham} also received him in a
figurative sense.
We know now, in hindsight, that God sent an angel to stop Abraham from
actually killing Isaac. But the point is
that, with the help and the strength of his God-given faith, Abraham was
willing to do it. So the deed was as
good as done when he raised that knife.
Yes, Abraham had a great faith. He
was "the father of the faithful."
And please remember that Abraham’s faith was firmly grounded on solid
experience. In other instances; but
especially through the humanly impossible birth of Isaac, Abraham and Sarah had
witnessed the faithfulness of God first-hand, over and over again – absolutely
proving to them that God always follows through on His promises –
perfectly!
Through his exercise of his great God-given faith, it is likely that
Abraham assumed that, if he went ahead and killed Isaac, in order for God’s unbreakable
promises to be fulfilled, God would physically resurrect Isaac at some point so
that the covenant lineage could continue.
The Hebrews author then moves on with the covenant story through Abraham’s
progeny:
20: By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and
Esau concerning things to come.
The blessings mentioned here in this verse were the passing on of the
Abrahamic Covenant blessings – the wonderful “things to come” – primarily through
Jacob – but also secondarily through Esau – although Isaac’s so-called
“blessing” upon Esau was a somewhat dubious one. Let’s take a quick look at:
Genesis 27:
38: And Esau said unto his father, “Have
you but one blessing, my father? Bless
me, even me also, O my father.” And Esau
lifted up his voice, and wept.
39: And Isaac his father answered and
said unto him, “Behold, your dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of
the dew of heaven from above;
40: And by your sword shall you live,
and shall serve your brother; and it shall come to pass when you shall have the
dominion, that you shall break his yoke from off your neck.”
One wonders if this last prophecy of verse 40 is beginning to come to pass
right now.
However, in the end-time prophecies of Jeremiah, Amos and Zechariah,
despite their waywardness, the descendants of Jacob are likened to a beloved
“only son.”
But although Esau/Edom will likely be involved in end-time events, the
Abrahamic covenant was, without doubt, passed down only through
Jacob. Esau was never included. Because Esau despised his precious
birthright, God disqualified him and rejected him from receiving any of
the Abrahamic Covenant promises.
If you do a study on this, you will find other Old Testament prophecies
that are even harsher condemnations of Esau – even harsher prophecies on his
descendants for the future.
So again, the Abrahamic Covenant was passed down through Jacob only.
Now back to Hebrews 11:
21: By faith Jacob, when he was
dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshipped, leaning on the top
of his staff.
Just as with both of Isaac’s two sons, blessings were pronounced on all of
Jacob’s sons – all twelve of them.
These blessings were much more than just wishful thinking. Much more than a mere death-bed hope that
things would turn out well for his sons and their descendants. They were prophecies – given by God through
the failing Jacob.
And, just as those pronounced on Jacob and Esau, so these blessings
certainly did vary in actual value.
The Abrahamic Covenant grace blessings – including the sceptre,
crown and throne (which we might consider for the most part to be physical race
blessings) – were passed down through Judah.
The main race blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant were passed on
through all of the tribes (with some truncations and/or modifications
for the tribes of Levi, Simeon and possibly Dan); but primarily through
Joseph and his two sons – Ephraim and Manasseh (verses 21-22)
A limited fulfilment of the race promises was fulfilled even while Jacob’s
children, grandchildren, etc. were still in Egypt. Yes, even during the time they were in Egyptian
captivity, there was one of God’s commands that Jacob’s children and
grandchildren were adept at obeying!
They were fruitful; they multiplied; and their numbers “grew like topsy”
– much to the concern of their Egyptian captors.
Sadly, this is being reversed nowas the children of Esau and the children
of Ishmael are rising up in numbers while our modern physical Israelite numbers
are dwindling. But that’s another story!
After 400-odd years in Egypt, God raised up another special and faithful servant
– not of the primary covenant tribes of Judah, Ephraim or Manasseh – but
of the priestly tribe of Levi:
24: By faith Moses, when he became
of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,
That was because he knew that he was the son of the Israelite priestly
tribe of Levi.
26: Esteeming the reproach of Christ
greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.
Just as "Father-Abraham" had cast the relative comforts in Ur
behind him and sought the city, the country, the homeland, and all else that
God had promised him – including the relatively difficult road to those goals,
in the same way as Abraham did, so Moses put the comforts of his royal position
in Egypt behind him once Christ – the LORD/YHVH – had given him a clear vision
of the future reward.
(This verse is another proof that Jesus Christ was the LORD God of Moses’
time).
27: By faith he {Moses} forsook Egypt, not
fearing the wrath of the king {Pharaoh}: for he {Moses} endured, as seeing Him
who is invisible.
Just like "Father-Abraham," Moses:
·
Patiently endured the hardships of the road (from
Egypt through the wilderness to the “initial Promised Land” of Canaan),
·
Never got to enjoy the initial race blessings of
that “initial Promised Land”
·
Only had a brief glimpse of the land (from Mount
Nebo),
·
Was able to “see” the invisible God with his
mind’s eye.
These are wonderful examples showing that these two men were very alike in
their experiences.
39: And all these, having obtained a
good report {martureo} through faith, did not receive the promise,
Not one of these great heroes of faith, listed here in Hebrews 11, actually
received the total fulfilment of the full Abrahamic Covenant promises. Not one of them! Not Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac,
Jacob, Esau, Joseph, Ephraim, Manasseh or Moses.
Not even those listed in verses 30-32, who were blessed to be able
to live in the "initial Promised Land" of Israel – not Joshua, Rahab,
Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, Samuel nor the other prophets. Not even David – even though he was "a
man after God’s own heart." None of
them received everything that God had in store for them – and has in store for
us!
Yes, their population had mushroomed, just as God had promised that it
would. And yes, God had led this latter
group into this wonderful land of milk and honey, just He had promised.
But although they might seem huge to us, these were only two relatively
small parts of the promised reward of the Abrahamic Covenant. There was much more to come.
40: God having provided something
better {Greek: kreitton} for us, that they {all the heroes of faith listed
previously} should not be made perfect apart from us.
The Israelites’ population explosion and the verdant but tiny “land of milk
and honey” certainly were very wonderful blessings. But again, there was something much better to
come.
Yes. There was the physical race
blessing inheritance of the beautiful lands of the United Kingdom, Ireland,
Western Europe, Canada, the United States, New Zealand, Australia and many
more. Were these the “something
better” that the Hebrews author was referring to here?
Maybe; but if so, only partially.
Looking at this verse (40) logically, the writer of Hebrews and his fellow
church members of his lifetime – those he referred to here as “us” – did not
live to see the wonderful gifts of the modern Israelites' real-estate, which
were a deferred extension of the race blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant. And of course, neither did their predecessors
– the heroes of faith listed here – nor any of the other dead-in-Christ of the
biblical era. No. The author wrote that we are all going to see
it together.
So then, just what was the “something better” mentioned
here in verse 40? The Hebrews author gives us the
answer right here in the very same verse:
That “something better” is being "made perfect."
Yes. This “something better” – this
being "made perfect" – is something that all generations of God’s
people will receive together. Well, virtually
together anyway. Maybe just a few
split seconds apart, as indicated in Paul’s prophecies of the event (see I
Thessalonians 4:15-17 and I Corinthians 15:51-52).
The appearance of the returning Jesus Christ, the first resurrection, the beginning
of the Millennium, and the calling and conversion of the physical human beings
who will still be alive during the Millennium: these will be the very next
stages of the fulfilment of the grace part of the Abrahamic Covenant.
God speed that day! In the Feast of
Tabernacles each year, that is what we look forward to. The Good News. The true Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Chapter 12 of the epistle to the Hebrews begins as a continuation from
chapter 11, with God – speaking through the author of the Book of Hebrews –
giving the readers (us) a series of instructions of what we must be
doing on our side of the covenant agreement. We know what God has promised to give us, and
we want to be there to receive it.
Not salvation by works! I am not
saying that! But there are certain
things that we need to do on our side of the covenant agreement in order to
receive its wonderful blessings.
Without going through it all in fine detail, let’s just read through the
first fifteen verses. Then I’ll give you
a summary list of instructions that our loving God gives us here:
Hebrews 12:1a:
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of
witnesses…
This doesn’t mean to say that the cloud of witnesses are sitting in heaven
right now, looking down on us.
I was reading a commentary this morning on these verses; and being a
Protestant writer, he thinks that these witnesses are all up there in heaven
looking down on us and cheering us on.
They're not! They're dead! They're a cloud of witnesses who are our
examples. They are the heroes of faith
listed and discussed in Hebrews 11. This
is just saying that they are wonderful examples of faith for us.
1b: ... let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily
beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
This "race" is set before us by God. The aHebrews author continues in this vein
all of the way through here. God is our
coach and we are the runners in this race.
2: Looking unto Jesus the author and
finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the
cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of
God.
3: For consider Him that endured
such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in
your minds.
Not necessarily in your body, as a runner would be; but in your mind.
4: You have not yet resisted unto
blood, striving against sin.
5: And you have forgotten the
exhortation {quoted from Proverbs 3:11-12} which speaks unto you as unto
children, “My son, despise not you the chastening of the lord, nor faint when
you are rebuked of him:”
6: For whom the Lord loves He
chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.”
7: If you endure chastening, God
deals with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the Father chastens not?
8: But if you be without
chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are you illegitimate and
not sons.
9: Furthermore we have had fathers
of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much
rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
10: For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure;
but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness.
11: Now no chastening for the
present seems to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yields the
peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
12: Wherefore lift up the hands
which hang down, and the feeble knees; {This is a quote both from Job
4:4 and Isaiah 35:3}.
13: And make straight paths for your
feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be
healed.
14: Follow peace with all men, and
holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
15: looking diligently lest any man
fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you,
and thereby many be defiled;
What is being described here is initially like the pep-talk of an athletics
coach. It then seems to roll over into a
father disciplining his children, and then it comes back to the athletics coach
again who is helping his team’s runners to train for a big race. He is training them to run and to win that
race. In our case, for every single one
of us, this is the most important race ever.
I will now give you my own paraphrase of what is being said here. This is what I believe that our wonderful ,
heavenly "coach" is telling us "runners" what we have to be
doing on our side of the New Covenant.
·
We are to run with patience the race that our
“Heavenly Coach” has entered us into.
I am not running against Trish or against Fred, and they are not running
against me. We are all running the race
and we are all aiming to get to that finish line and to receive the prize.
But we have to run! We have to
participate! Our heavenly coach has
entered us into the race and we can’t give up on it. We have to keep on going!
·
We must strive against sin. We have to lay aside every sin and every
unnecessary, energy-sapping weight (i.e. pursuit or activity) which can so
easily slow us down, and impede our progress.
·
We need to keep looking at those heroes of faith,
All of them were great examples; but most especially, we are to look to the example
of Jesus Christ, our Elder Brother, because He is the author and the finisher
of our faith – our Pacesetter and our Forerunner, the One who has already made
it across the finish line.
We can’t keep up with Him, of course even though we would like too; but we have to try. We have to look to Him and say: “You did
it. We know we can’t be as good as you;
but we are determined to cross that finish line too.”
·
We are to treat the resistance and hardships of
the “race-course” like opportunities for spiritual exercise.
Running itself – both physical and spiritual – is hard because of the inherent
resistance of our own bodies. The resistance and hardships of our spiritual
“race-course” include the world, the flesh and the devil. But God, through the Hebrews author, is
telling us to treat these hardships and resistances like spiritual exercise.
If we emulate the endurance of Jesus – the One who endured so many sinful
contradictions against Himself – the world, the Jews and Satan (who resisted
everything that Jesus was trying to do).
But Jesus endured. He didn’t give
up. He kept going.
·
We are not to allow ourselves to become
spiritually weary or faint.
We all get physically tired, and we all sometimes get mentally tired; but spiritually,
if we keep studying God’s Word in the Bible every day and if we keep that
contact with God the Father in prayer every day, He will not let us become
spiritually weary or faint.
·
We must heed the exhortations of God the Father
(our coach) that He gives to His beloved team of runners – the runners who He
has entered into this Christian race.
We didn’t volunteer and we didn’t say that we were going to go into this
race. He called every one of us and said
that He wanted each one of us on His Team.
·
We are to be in total subjection to Him.
·
We are not to despise His loving chastening or
rebuke, both of which may be considered additional parts of our spiritual
exercise program; but we are to endure them without fainting.
We are all getting older and we all have our own "thorns in the
flesh."
Again, when we run into trials – and we all do – let's think of them as just
parts of our spiritual exercise program and let's endure them without fainting.
·
We need to build spiritual muscle and strength,
again by making spiritual exercise a daily priority with prayer and study.
·
Let's not neglect our fellow-runners.
We need to help one another, especially those who have, for one reason or
another, become weak, faint or weary.
Let's lift up any hands which we see hanging down. Let's help strengthen any knees which have
become feeble. The Hebrews author is not
just talking physically; but also spiritually and mentally. We have a great responsibility to have love
for one another.
·
We musdt beware of becoming spiritually lame
ourselves!
If any of us do find ourselves becoming spiritually lame, we must
urgently seek spiritual healing from our loving Coach, who cares so much for
every one of us. He cares about our
progress and He cares about our well-being!
·
We must maintain the straight spiritual path!
Satan is going to set before us crooked, time-wasting, energy-sapping paths –
paths which we might be deceived into thinking are short-cuts!
We must refuse to be turned out of the true way. We must refuse to be turned away from the
"race-course" we know to be the correct one!
The correct course may not be the easiest one.
It might be far easier to go around the hill than to go over it. But if that is the way that He wants us to
go, then that is what we need to do. We
have seen too many brethren opt for the easy way, and we know that it is not
the answer.
·
We must keep the prize in our mind’s eye – just as
Abraham and Moses did.
It is not selfish – but right and good – for us to pursue the race’s
prizes. And again, there is one for
every one of us; so we don’t need to try to nudge each other out of the
way. We all have that prize ahead of us,
as long as we don’t give up.
The prizes are fantastic. The Hebrews
author mentions some of them: e.g. holiness. Earlier he was mentioning perfection. Perfection and holiness go hand in hand.
Another example of the future prizes is peace. But we are told that, even now, we should be
pursuing peace with everyone – both the not-yet-called and, of course,
the called – no matter which Church of God group they might fellowship
with.
We have brethren – both "independent" and in various groups – many
who keep the Feast at different times during this era; but we don’t need to
fight with them, call them down, or keep agressively disagreeing with
them.
Yes, peace is a great prize in itself.
·
We must avoid roots of bitterness.
We must not allow any root of bitterness to trouble or defile us – not against
any of our fellow-runners, or even any who we might think of as being on an
opposing team.
The majority of our brethren fellowshipping with other Church of God groups
than ours are not on an opposing team.
Like us, most of them are on God’s team as well.
God knows who His people are. It is not
our job to claim that all of those other than those in "our" group
are a bunch of bad guys, or to claim that we are the only ones who are doing
what is right.
And finally, another repetition of an exhortation that we have been given a
few times already in previous parts of this series:
·
Look diligently!
Yes, seek diligently! Let’s keep our
eyes on the finish line.
Let's just imagine the winners’ podium and the receiving of the prizes – the
covenant rewards!
I don't believe that there will be bronze, silver and gold awards. I belive that there will be a gold one for
every one of us!
So we must all keep our eyes on that goal and those prizes that we have talked about throughout this series – the blessings, the promises and the rewards of the Abrahamic Covenant and of the New Covenant. We must seek those things diligently and keep them in our mind’s eye. But also, we need to diligently seek and search out the things that will get us there!
JHP/pp/jhp