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How Would God Rescue Us? In the last lesson, we saw the
requirements to approach God. A sinless substitute had to die and shed its
blood. We saw the animal sacrifices that covered sin, but no way to remove
sin existed. Sin had continued to increase from Cain's murder of Abel to
the violence that filled the world. God destroyed the world by flood,
preserving Noah's family and the animal kingdom in a huge barge called the
Ark. During the flood, millions of dead animals were fossilized and buried
under thick sediment. After the flood, the climate and God's dealing with
humanity changed considerably. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japeth.
From those three sons, all the races of the earth are descended. God told
Noah and his children to scatter and replenish the earth. Disobedience
Always Brings Judgment About 130 years after the flood, while Noah was
still alive, humanity had rapidly reproduced and traveled large distances.
Upon finding the area known as Mesopotamia, most humans gathered in the
plains of Babylon. Instead of spreading out and replenishing the earth as
God commanded, they had a new goal: "And the whole earth was of one
language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from
the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt
there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn
them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for
morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose
top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered
abroad upon the face of the whole earth" (Genesis 11:1-4). Disobedience to
God is always wrong and always brings punishment, sometimes sooner than
later. God stopped this: "And the LORD came down to see the city and the
tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the
people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do:
and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to
do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they
may not understand one another's speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad
from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the
city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there
confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD
scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth" (Genesis 11:5-9). Here
begins all of the languages and races on earth. The people gathered with
others they could understand and the tower project fell into ruin. As
people gathered into groups, the gene pool in each group narrowed. This
led to specific racial characteristics. Again, sin brings a curse. Ever
since this time, humanity has tried to find a way to break the language
barrier. Also, the sinful nature of humans leads us to distrust or even
hate those whom we don't understand. Racial strife, ethnic violence,
discrimination, and persecution are only possible because of this sin at
Babel. Today, when we sin and yield to prejudice we carry on this curse.
The Lineage of The Savior Although God had now given humanity two chances
to start over and dedicate themselves to obedience, we still disobeyed.
Obviously, humanity needs serious help. What about God's plan from the
Garden of Eden in Genesis 3:15? Apparently a seed (descendant) of the
woman would one day "bruise" the serpent's head. The idea here is to
"crush" or "conquer" the serpent. So, a human would crush a snake? No. A
human would defeat Satan, who lured humanity into sin. The human who would
do this must come from some family. And so, God begins to narrow down the
lineage from which the Savior would come. From Genesis chapter 12 forward,
God narrows the focus of His account of human history. Although the rest
of humanity continually appears in His history, the Bible now focuses on
the nation God used to raise up the Savior of Mankind. God Calls Abraham
About 330 years after the flood, God called one of Shem's descendents.
Abram was a city dweller in Ur of the Chaldees. Ur was located between the
Tigris and Euphrates rivers in present day Kuwait or Iraq. "Now the LORD
had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred,
and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will
make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name
great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless
thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of
the earth be blessed" (Genesis 12:1-3). Following God's command, Abraham
moves his family to the land of Canaan. God promised to bless all the
families of the earth through Abram. Genesis chapters 12-17 details some
of Abram's life including his devotion to God. Although Abram sinned, he
turned from his sin (repented) and always went back to obeying God. In
Genesis 17, God reveals more of His plan for Abram's family and changes
his name to Abraham. "And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the
LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk
before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and
thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face: and
God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee,
and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any
more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many
nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I
will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will
establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their
generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy
seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee,
the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an
everlasting possession; and I will be their God" (Genesis 17:1-8). Here
God gives the land of Canaan, modern day Israel, to Abraham and his
descendents. However, Abraham had no children. His wife, Sarah, was
infertile. In Genesis 16, Abraham tried his own plan to solve that by
fathering a child with Sarah's servant. The boy that resulted was named
Ishmael and became the father of the Arab families. But, God promised in
Genesis 18 that Sarah would bear him a son. And she did, "And the LORD
visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had
spoken. For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the
set time of which God had spoken to him" (Genesis 21:1-2). The boy's name
was Isaac. He was Abraham and Sarah's only child from which God had
promised to make a mighty nation. Abraham's Obedience Just as God gave
Adam and Eve a command, God gave Abraham a command. This one seems much
harsher: "And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt
Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And
he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get
thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering
upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of" (Genesis 22:1-2). God
asks Abraham to do the horribly impossible, to kill Isaac as an offering
to Him. How could a righteous, holy, just, and good God ask him to do
this? How would sinful Abraham killing his sinful son accomplish any part
of mankind's forgiveness for sin? Abraham probably didn't understand why
God asked him to do this. But, Abraham knew that God is holy, righteous,
just, and good. So he knew that God would not ask him to do anything
wrong. Remember, faith is trusting what you cannot see. Abraham exercised
faith in God. "And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid
it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and
they went both of them together" (Genesis 22:6). Understandably, Isaac had
a few questions: "And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My
father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and
the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" (Genesis 22:7).
Abraham trusted that God would work this situation out: "And Abraham said,
My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went
both of them together" (Genesis 22:8). Certainly, Abraham was trusting God
to provide a substitute for his son. In so speaking, he also uttered
prophecy. For one day, the perfect substitute would come to take away the
sins of the world. That substitute would be God Himself who would take on
human flesh and die to save His creation. Abraham continued to obey,
though it meant killing his son: "And they came to the place which God had
told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order,
and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And
Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son"
(Genesis 22:9-10). God sees that Abraham trusts Him no matter what: "And
the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham,
Abraham: and he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the
lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest
God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me"
(Genesis 22:11-12). Obedience always brings blessing. God does not ask us
to do anything He will not enable us to do. Obeying God is always the
right choice, even when we're not sure how it will work out. God then
provides the sacrifice that Abraham had trusted Him to provide: "And
Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught
in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered
him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son" (Genesis 22:13). God
knows that Abraham trusts Him. He goes on in Genesis 22 to re-affirm his
promises to Abraham. God promises again to use Abraham's family to bless
all of humanity. Was this just a rough test for Abraham? What was God's
point? God was painting a picture. He used Abraham to reveal a part of His
plan to restore mankind from their sins. Isaac's Picture of the Coming
Saviour In these actions, God pictured that one day a human would have to
die to pay for humanity's sins. Isaac certainly wasn't sinless, but the
future human sacrifice would have to be. Furthermore, this future perfect
human sacrifice would be offered in place of the sinner. Just as the ram
was offered in place of Isaac. Isaac as a sinner deserved to die, just as
all of us deserve to and will die. But, the ram was Isaac's substitute.
Even so, this future perfect human sacrifice would be humanity's
substitute. Also in this picture, we see a father offering his son. We
learn in the New Testament that God sacrificed His Son as the future
perfect human sacrifice to pay for our sins. Abraham's Family Line The
book of Genesis continues with a lot of rich history we cannot take time
to cover in detail. In summary, we learn about Isaac and his twin boys,
Jacob and Esau. God gives Jacob the name Israel and extends His promises
to Abraham to Jacob's branch of the family. Jacob has twelve sons who
father twelve tribes. God had warned Abraham that his descendants would
spend four hundred years in captivity in Genesis 15:13, but that they
would emerge wealthy to take their place in Canaan. In fulfillment of that
prophecy, Jacob and his sons move to Egypt during a famine. The book of
Genesis ends with the chosen family in Egypt where they spend four hundred
years. The history of God's chosen family continues in the book of Exodus.
As the name implies, the central theme of this history is Israel's escape
from Egypt after centuries as slaves and their return to the land God
promised to Abraham. To accomplish this, God chose a man named Moses. |
Lesson #7 Review
1.How did human society disobey God after the flood?
2.What did God do and what was the result?
3.What results of the sin at Babel do we still battle today?
4.How did God begin to narrow the family from which the Saviour would
come?
5.What did God promise to do for Abraham?
6.How did God test Abraham?
7.How did Abraham’s test picture the coming Saviour? |