An Eyewitness Report

Who can we believe? Our "visiting" angel said he doesn't know everything. 

Angel: We know that a man, formerly a tax collector for Rome, chosen by Jesus to be a disciple, wrote the genealogy from Abraham to Christ. Decades after the ascension, most fellow Jewish believers belonged to the next generation.

Me: I would want to know more about this Son of God claiming to be my Savior! 

Angel: Relying on Jewish revelation, promises and prophesy, Matthew used Jewish terminology such as "kingdom of heaven," rather than "kingdom of God," in reverence for the name. His was an eyewitness report. Most people rejected the Son, despite his miracle power. He came as spiritual rather than the political messiah they expected. They knew him to be born of a woman, raised in little Nazareth.     

Me: So, while many agree somewhat on the records from Genesis to Malachi, those who accept the spiritual Christ/Messiah, follow "the way." Not there aren't endless differences among men. 

Angel: Sadly so. 

Me: Some emphasize philosophy, wisdom and learning.   

Angel: We don't use that word.

Me. What word, sir?

Angel: Where is the wise man? the scholar? the philosopher? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? Beware deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and basic principles of the world. In Christ are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

to be continued

So, What's God's Purpose?

A once-in-a-lifetime visit from an angel - he could return to Jacob's ladder at any moment - and I'm still not seeing the promise to Abraham and "all nations" fulfilled. Will the angel - friendly as he is - explain this or not? 

Me: Kind angel, sir. There was the exodus, Moses and Joshua, Samuel, Nehemiah and... 

Angel: Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Joel and...

Me: Jonah and the big fish...

Angel: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Judah, up to David, 14 generations in all. From David, 14 generations to the exile to Babylon.  And 14 generations from the exile to another Jacob, father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. 

Me: As I read, Joseph is the 13th. 

Angel: In the 14th generation from exile is the Christ, the legal, not natural, son of Joseph. 

Me: (collecting my thoughts) Sir, you speak of genealogy in the Old Testament, and now you quote the first chapter in the New Testament, which most heirs of Abraham don't accept. 

Angel: Indeed. The old scriptures don't emphasize two comings of the Messiah. However, there is intimation. During the troubled years before exile, Isaiah the prophet heard from God: Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel. Later, the Lord told Isaiah: For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. He will reign over David's throne and over his kingdom...from that time on and forever."     

Me: (eyes wide open) Is this it? Is this the kingdom, the blessing promised to Abraham? 

Angel: First, the sacrificial Lamb. As for His Kingdom on earth, none of us know when.

to be continued

 

   

I Can't Believe This 

I mean, I believe the angel; just, how can this happen to a nobody/blogger? 

Me: Angel, sir, did Abraham know about Noah and the flood?

Angel: I know only what I'm told. Certainly, Abraham saw rainbows.

Me: Sir, did Abraham know about Moses, who lived much later? 

Angel: The Lord said to Abraham, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here..." Moses was born at a time when Pharaoh had ordered that every boy born to Hebrew women be thrown into the river. Eighty years later, the Lord chose Moses, a humble, reluctant shepherd of his father-in-law's flock, to lead Abraham's children out of Egypt. 

Me: Moses' staff became a snake...and all the plagues... Holy cow! ...oops...  Sorry, holy angel. It's just so exciting. Back to Abraham, when he fell into a deep sleep and the 'firepot and torch' - not himself - passed between the halves, didn't God intend that to be his covenant with all Abraham's descendants? 

Angel: Yes.

Me: And a blessing for all time for all nations?

Angel: Yes. 

Me: The trust, obedience and effort to be righteous...is this required of Abraham's heirs and all who follow his example of true saving faith?

Angel: The Lord calls on all men to follow his precedent, and to be aliens and strangers on earth, as was Abraham. 

Me: This is starting to connect the dots.  

Angel: It has always been so. Nevertheless, God has his purpose. 

to be continued

Angel to the Rescue 

     Abraham passed the test, and his descendants and "all nations" would be blessed. 4,000 years later, we look around. And we say, "huh?" 

     If only we could get the attention of an angel on Jacob's ladder...anyone up there who might shed light on our darkness.   

     A voice! 

     What's that? Who is this?

Angel: We knew your request before you asked. I have been sent to help, though you will not see me. 

Me: (now on my knees, shaking) I...I...I...ah...who are you sir?

Angel: My name is not important. My God and your God sent me. Is it Abraham you wish to know? 

Me: (collecting myself) Well, I can hardly think. Ahhhh... Okay. Yes. Did Abraham, that is Abram, after all those centuries, know about Adam? 

Angel: Abraham told Melchizedek, king of Salem, "I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth." 

Me: (?? okay) Did Abraham actually meet God? Does God ever appear as a man? 

Angel: In the record you call Genesis, chapter 18... The Lord appeared as a man to Abraham 25 years after he first promised he would father a great nation. Two other men with God were angels. These visits occur, but you men are mostly unaware. 

Me: (getting bold) You know, after Abram knew the awesome promise, to save his life he told Pharoah that his attractive wife Sarai was his sister. Later, God said Sarah would have a son, though both of them were beyond 'the age,' you know. Abraham told King Abimelech the same thing he told Pharoah. As if God wouldn't protect him. 

[There being no response, you know, I hadn't asked him a question]

To be continued

  

Really?

After all that study of Abraham and all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed... Genesis 22:18...

I don't get it. Abraham's descendants - they mind their genealogies - have not been blessed. Israel (Ephraim, the 10 tribes), invaded Judah, 2 tribes. Assyria conquered Israel and Babylon conquered Judah. The next generation rebuilt, only under foreign rule, and only to be rousted out by the Romans. Eighty years ago - the Holocaust.

So, Abraham's descendants are finally back in the promised land. Name one nation that claims to be blessed. Jewish rabbis say their better way of living is available for the world to see. Who's looking? People, even some in the U.S., call for their extinction. 

My reputation depends on the truth. If Genesis 22:18 is not truth, I'm done blogging. Help! Do I have to climb Jacob's ladder to find help? 

     Jimmy

 

Abraham! Abraham! ...it's Time! 

     The man God called knew God, served him and obeyed him. Could he go beyond? Could he be the foremost example of faith, trust and obedience not only for his descendants, but for the world? 

     Genesis 22: Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering..." 

     On the third day as they came near the place, Abraham told his servants to stay put. "We will worship and then we will come back to you." We? 

     Isaac noticed they had fire and wood, but where is the lamb? "God himself will provide the lamb (Yahweh-Yireh) for the burnt offering," his father answered. He built an altar and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.

     "Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son."

     "But the angel of the Lord (thought to be God himself) called out to him from heaven. 'Abraham! Abraham! Do not lay a hand on the boy. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." 

     "A second time the angel of the Lord called to Abraham and said, ...because you have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me. 

 ~ ~ ~

Where can we learn more about this? 

Such as, "all nations on earth?" 

     

Abraham Deflects to Save Himself

     Sarah, the princess, future mother of the nations, scheduled to birth Abraham's son, the first of many descendants, is in the hands of Abimelech, king of Gerar. What can her husband, a fellow human being, do about it?

     We all need God, at times more than others. Here, God saved the covenant himself by scaring Abimelech in a dream. He took another man's wife (unknowingly). God had not let the king touch her.  

     The next morning, Abimelech summoned his officials and called Abraham in. He read the riot act: "How could you...?" Then he cooled down and gave Abraham cattle, slaves and silver "to cover his offense" against Sarah. 

     Genesis 21: "Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah...and did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah bore a son to Abraham at the very time God had promised him."

     "Sarah said, 'God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.'" 

     They stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time. Happy days.

Next: The curtain rises on the last act. 

Isaac, then probably a young adult.