SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 08-14-2006
My Worship Time Focus:
Isaac’s Birth Announced
Bible Reading &
Meditation
Reference: Genesis 17:18-22
Message of the verse: “18
And Abraham said to God, ‘Oh that Ishmael might live before You!’ 19 But
God said, ‘No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his
name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his
descendants after him. 20 ‘As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I
will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly.
He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great
nation. 21 ‘But My covenant I will establish with Isaac,
whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.’ 22
When He finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.”
God was
speaking to Abraham from a physical body it seems like to me as verse
twenty-two says that after God had finished talking to Abraham that He went up
form him. This shows to me that Abraham
could see God and have a conversation with Him and it was not some kind of a
vision that God was giving him, but a face to face conversation
God had
told Abraham that he would have a son in his old age, and that God’s covenant
would be established through this son of Abraham and Sarah’s old age. Abraham, probably not understanding exactly
all that this was all about asked God to establish His covenant through
Ishmael, but this was not to be, however God would bless Ishmael as he would
tell Abraham of this. Abraham was the
son of the flesh, while Isaac was the son of the Spirit, for indeed it was
impossible for Abraham and Sarah to have a child without a miracle from the
Lord, and that is exactly what Abraham and Sarah would receive, and it is what
God was promising in this section.
The
significance of all of this can be seen in a couple of places in the
Scriptures; the first can be seen in John 3:1-8 and the second in Galatians
4:21-31. In the Galatians passage Paul
explains thoroughly the difference between the two sons of Abraham. Galatians 4:28-31: “28
And you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise.
29 But as at that
time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born
according to the Spirit, so it is now also.
30 But what does the Scripture
say? ‘CAST OUT THE BONDWOMAN AND HER SON, FOR THE SON OF THE BONDWOMAN SHALL
NOT BE AN HEIR WITH THE SON OF THE FREE WOMAN. 31 So then, brethren, we are not children of a
bondwoman, but of the free woman.”
Paul is
saying that the covenant that God made with Abraham does have all who are saved
as part of it, yet there is still part of that covenant that applies to the
nation of Israel, and will be fulfilled with the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ and Him ruling from Jerusalem in His 1000 year kingdom on earth.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: The covenant that God made with Abraham has
much to do with me, in that because of that covenant I can know God through the
Salvation that has been given me through Jesus Christ’s payment of my sin on
the cross, and also His resurrection from the dead, and that He now lives in
heaven at the right hand of His Father.
The
covenant’s sign of circumcision also has given me the power to live in the
Spirit and not in the flesh. By looking
at both the passage in Genesis 17 and in Galatians 4 I understand more about
the two sons of Abraham and how they can represent the flesh and the Spirit,
and that in the end even though Abraham loved Ishmael he had to send him out,
and that is the same thing that can happen to me when I really like something
of the flesh I need to put it to death.
The Word of God has been convicting, challenging, and
refreshing to me as I read and studied it this morning.
My Steps of Faith
Today: Trust the Lord to give me the
strength to put to death the power of the flesh, and live by the power of the
Spirit.
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