About 4000 years ago or so, God fell in love with a man named Abram. This man became known as "The Father of Faith" and his name was changed to Abraham. This is Abraham's story.
Abram's father, Terah, was an idol-maker. He created idols. And worshiped them, too. However, Terah's son did not worship idols. He refused to do so because he knew the idols were man-made and he believed there was a True God Who had created the earth, man, and the entire universe. The more he believed in this, the angrier he became at his father's idols.
So, one evening, Abram smashed all the idols in his father's shop. He took the hammer he'd used and put it into one of the idol's hands. The next morning when Terah came into the shop and saw the disaster, he asked his son what had happened and Abram said, "One of these idols must have risen up and destroyed all the other idols, Father." But Terah knew differently. He said, "These idols cannot do such a thing because there is no life in them." Abram replied,
"Then, why do you worship them, Father?"
That was the day that God fell in love with Abram. So he called him out of his father's country, away from all his kindred and set him apart.
The Bible says it like this, "He went out not knowing whither he went." Imagine that. Imagine going out into this scary world, not even knowing where or why you are going. That's not easy when you have a wife and family. Abram had his nephew, Lot and Lot's family with him, too. And all their livestock.
Abram obeyed God and went out, depending on God to lead the way and to provide every need every step of the way. And God was proud of him. He really put his faith into action. Therefore he became richly blessed. He had everything his heart could desire except for one major desire. A child.
Although he loved his wife more than anything else God had given him, Abram had no heir for all his wealth. No child to call his own. He only had his dead brother's son, Lot as a family representative.
Yet, God gave Abram a promise. He told him that he would have a child. He told Abram that he would have a son from his very precious wife, Sara and that this son would have so many offspring that nobody would be able to count them all. They would become so numerous that they would be like the sand on the seashore and countless as the stars in the sky! All Abram needed to do was believe.
Abram believed. However, his wife did not. Even when an angel came to their tent and verbalized the promise God had made to them, Sara laughed at the idea of becoming pregnant because she knew her body. Her physical body was well beyond child-rearing age. Therefore this promise was physically impossible. She couldn't even imagine making love with her husband again. Those days were over.
So, Sara came up with a plan. She hated seeing her husband so desperate for a child and, knowing how impossible it was for herself to fulfill his desire, she chose another, younger woman to do it for them. She went to her husband and insisted that he make love to her handmaid, Hagar who was an Egyptian.
Eventually, Abram gave in and had sex with Hagar to make his wife happy. As if that would make his wife happy. Well, it didn't. Yes, Hagar got pregnant and she had a son. It made Abram happy, but not his wife. By the time Sara realized what she had done, it was too late. A little boy was running around enjoying the position as the son of Abram, Chieftain of the wealthiest tribe around.
Then, one day when this son of Hagar was about twelve years old, Sara became pregnant. Her name was changed to Sarah and Abram's name became Abraham, which means, Father of Faith or Father of the Faithful. So it was that Sarah brought forth a son and they called his name Isaac. Here was the Son of Promise, true offspring of the Father of Faith. Here was the promised son born to God's beloved Abraham. What a miracle. Abraham was over 100 years old by the time his son was born.
Now, this sounds like a terrible thing but once Isaac was born, Sarah requested that Hagar and her son, Ishmael be put out of the camp. Of course, Abraham refused to do that because he loved Ishmael. It was his son she was talking about. But, God spoke to Abraham and told him to do just as his wife had asked him, so he reluctantly gave Hagar a few necessities and sent her and her son packing.
Poor Hagar! She was a victim in the true sense of the word. Used to bear a child then cast away into the desert with no place to go. All those years taking care of her mistress only to be cast aside without termination pay. So, she and her son walked as far as they could until the heat caused their bodies to become faint and their supply of water ran out. Hagar left her son on the ground and turned her back on him, saying, "Let me not see the death of my son." And God (the God of Abraham) heard her cry.
God spoke to Hagar and told her Ishmael would not die until he became the father of a great nation. He provided a spring of water in the desert for her and her son to drink from and they lived happily ever after. Ishmael became the father of the Arabs. (Are you starting to get the picture of our current world situation?)
Do you believe our genes carry memory? One thing for sure is that if Hagar and her son had not immediately cleanse their chakras, the memory of this experience would have gone down deep into their genes to be passed on to the next and following generations. And, so it would seem.
But, let's get back to our Love Story.
Abraham finally had all of his heart's desires. He had wealth beyond measure, a loving wife, a son, and a wonderful, generous God surrounding him with love. What could go wrong?
Well, God could ask Abraham to sacrifice this son of his in order to prove his fealty to the One God. That could happen. And, yes it did. Up until then, Abraham was required by God to sacrifice a spotless lamb twice a year to cover all the sins of his growing population. But, one day, it seemed that God was requiring more. He leaned heavily on Abraham and insisted that Abraham take his only begotten son up into the sacred mountain and sacrifice him on an alter to present him to God as a sacrifice!
What a demand. What could be more difficult? In Abraham's eyes, this son of his was spotless and without sin. He was a miracle child born as a fulfillment of God's promise. Born out of faith alone.
With that in mind, Abraham realized, God was the Giver of this miracle and God had the right to do as He pleased with this gift that He had given. Really, there was no question that Abraham would obey God. He would do exactly as he was instructed to do, in spite of how terrible it felt. Even in spite of what his wife would do to him when he got home.
The alter was set up. Isaac was tied up in ropes and placed on the pile of wood. All that needed to be done was a nice, clean, deep slit into Isaac's throat to cause him to die as quickly and painlessly as possible. With this intent, Abraham raised his knife over his son. Then God called out! "Don't kill him! I believe you were willing to go all the way in obedience but I will save you the anguish of murdering your own son!"
So, God fell in love with Abraham all over again. And, in turn, Abraham felt deep in his soul the anguish God suffered when His Only Begotten Son was sacrificed for the sins of humanity.
Abraham's son, Isaac became father to two sons, Jacob and Esau. Although Jacob was a "deceiver", he had faith in God. On the other hand, Esau did not value the promises of God made to his father or grandfather. He more-or-less thumbed God in the face and placed more importance on his physical state of being than his spiritual life. So, God chose to put His blessings on Jacob whose name later became Israel.
As we know, the nation of Israel became the greatest, wealthiest, most powerful nation on the earth. Yes, they also became wicked. They backslid from God umpteen times. They broke God's heart. They even went back to the idol worship of Abraham's father, Terah. They sacrificed their babies to the "god" Moloch. They were conquered, enslaved, held captive, used and abused.
Yet, through it all, over thousands (not millions) of years, God kept His promise to Father Abraham and his grandson, Israel. Those promises hold true today. One of those promises is that God will write His name on the children of Israel's hearts. He promised to send them a Messiah to do this.
Since, like every other human born onto this planet since Adam and Eve, the children of Israel fell from grace and became sinners, God had to take it into His own hands to fulfill the promises made to Abraham. Although it seemed impossible, although it seemed ridiculous, just as Sarah's pregnancy seemed impossible, nevertheless, God fulfilled His promise.
It is done. The Promise is complete. Jesus Christ, son of Abraham, was sacrificed on a cross which became an alter to God. God gave His Only Begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him will not die but have eternal life. Now, this promise made originally to Abraham has been extended.
Whoever believes may claim this promise. Jew or Gentile, Black, White, Yellow, Brown, and even Blue --all who believe will be saved from the curse of death. We who believe will be raised in power because of the promise made to Abraham 4,000 years ago.
Do you believe?
No comments:
Post a Comment