Genesis 26

God reaffirms his covenant with Issac and blesses him

A new famine comes to the land of Canaan just as it did in Abraham's day. Unlike Abraham's day, God asks Isaac to stay and not go to Egypt and God will care for him. He also tells Isaac that if he follows God like his father, he will bless him like his father, and not just because he is Abraham's son. 

Just like his father, Isaac tells those around that Rebekah is his sister and not his wife. After Abimelech spies that Isaac and Rebekah are friendlier than brother and sister should be, he accuses Isaac of trying to bring mischief to the Philistine people. Abimelech, who may be the son of the Abimelech of Abraham's day, commands all his people not to harm or touch Rebekah. 

God not only blesses Isaac in a time of famine, but allows him to receive a hundred fold from his crops and flocks. Nothing is impossible for God if we will put our faith and trust in him. All these blessings though cause jealousy with the Philistines. After fighting over wells and flocks, Abimelech approaches Isaac and asks him to leave and go further away so that there are no wars or fighting between them. This is good for us to do as Christians that we would be peaceable with all people and rather go somewhere else than let the name of God suffer. 

Notice that Isaac digs up the wells that his father dug up. It is well to follow after the example of our forefather if there example is just and holy. If our parents or mentors were Godly, it is always good to follow after their example so that we might have the same relationship and success with God. After God reaffirms the covenant with Isaac, he again does what his father would do and builds and altar and sacrifices to God. 

When God blesses your life and the things that you do for his name, people will take notice. Even though Isaac was further away from Abimelech, they still heard and saw what God was doing for them. It worried them so much that if God was going to bless Isaac to become a mighty ruler, they wanted a peace treaty between them so that they would have peace and not have to fight against God. Oh that the world would have the same respect and fear for God's church because they see how he blesses it. 

Genesis 22

Abraham's faith is tested

The bible calls Isaac a lad, so we feel he is old enough to understand some things, but not yet an adult. God comes to Abraham and tells him to go to a place of God's choosing and offer Isaac for a sacrifice. Needless to say, this would put Abraham in a grievous position. Never the less, Abraham obeys and does as God asks. On the journey, Isaac has enough understanding to realize that there is no sacrifice with them. Abraham  tells Isaac what still holds true to this day and is the foretelling of the Messiah, that God will provide a sacrifice. 

Despite the torment Abraham must have been going through, he obeys and goes to sacrifice his son. God, who is always on time, sends and angel to stay his hand. In verse 17 God reiterates his promise to Abraham because of his faithfulness. We must believe that Jesus saves us from our sins, but we also must believe enough to put it into action. 

The chapter ends to show of the generations of Abraham's brother that will provide a wife for Isaac in an upcoming chapter. 

Genesis 21

Isaac is Born

Sarah conceives a son just as the Lord had promised. It truly is a miracle for Sarah is well past child bearing age. This goes along with our faith in Jesus Christ. We were dead in sin with no hope of new life until Jesus made a sacrifice on the cross that gave us life where none before existed. It says that the Lord visited her, just as he visits us to draw us out of sin and into his righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him). 

They called him Isaac which means laughter. Abraham and Sarah both laughed when it came to believing God and his promise, but now they laugh with a joy and unbelief of God's mercy. So there is this time of joy and reaping that we will all enjoy from time to time. The season, as all of life is, is just passing though. It is not long before strife comes to the tents of Abraham. Ishmael mocks Isaac and Sarah sees it. It seems that Ishmael is not old enough to come to this understanding on his own, and he had some encouragement from Hagar; we don't know this for certain, but it seems likely. 

Sarah wants Hagar and Ishmael gone from there presence. God tells Abraham to go ahead and send Ishmael out of the camp, but make no mistake, they are still paying for past sins. After Hagar and the child are cast out, God remembers his covenant with Abraham about his seed, even though Ishmael was not the one God had originally meant when he created the covenant with Abraham. God looks after Hagar and promises that Ishmael will become a great nation. 

Some time passes and we encounter Abimelech again. He wants what we would now call an alliance or peace treaty with Abraham. Abimelech knows that God had blessed Abraham and that Abraham is growing in God's blessings. It doesn't hurt that Abimelech been warned of God in the past about Abraham when Abimelech took Sarah. After Abraham corrects Abimelech about a fight at a well, they enter into their alliance. We would do well to make friends and bonds with all of God's faithful servants. 

Genesis 17

Genesis chapter 17

As Abram gets into his nineties, God has not forgotten him and he renews his covenant with him. Notice that God tells him to be perfect. We know that Abram has sinned, and is not perfect, but God instructs him, and I believe us also, to be perfect. We are not to be perfect by our own might, but by his. We will most likely never be perfect down here, but whatever sin we may have in our past, we are to seek forgiveness, then seek to be without sin through Jesus Christ.

Now with the renewing of this covenant, God gives Abram the new name of Abraham which means Father of many or a multitude. God reminds Abraham that this covenant is forever and it will be everything that God has promised it would be. With this covenant that was up until this point by faith, God will also have his covenant with Abraham be a physical one as well. Not outwardly, but real and permanent. Isn't this the covenant we have in our hearts with Salvation? Our continence might change, but our outward physical appearance doesn't alter; just the heart.

God is going to change Sarai's name to Sarah. She will bear children and Abraham laughs in his heart at this idea. He knows that Sarah is just as old as him and he doesn't see it happening. Let us all remember that just as God reminds Abraham the inheritance will INDEED come from Sarah's womb, that God's ways are not our ways and he will bring what he promises to pass whether we think it possible or not. God goes so far as to tell Abraham when this child will come and what his name will be. God is specific with our purpose in life.

So Abraham goes and does as God commands and circumcises his entire household, servants and all. Let us all try and be thorough with what God would have us do with and in our lives.

Genesis 9

Genesis chapter 9

The chapter starts off with the commandment for Noah and his sons to be fruitful and multiply. If these remnants of mankind did not want to reproduce, then man was certainly doomed. With this also came some changes with eating. In my humble interpretation it appears that they are given a command to eat animals for the first time. With this though, they are not to eat things raw, and they are to hold life precious and not waste what God has blessed them with.

They are instructed to hold human life precious as well. In what some might consider contradictory, God tells Noah that anyone that takes human life, they themselves will have their life taken. I don't find this contradictory at all. If there is someone who has no regard for human life enough to take another life, than to have that person around is a danger to all living individuals. Almost as if treating a malignant cancer, all those that would take innocent life must themselves be die for the good of the living.

By the eleventh verse we come to the important covenant with mankind. God uses the rainbow to let man know that he will never again destroy this world with water. This covenant seems all the more real and true because the Bible says it had never rained before the flood, which also means they have never seen a rainbow before. This covenant is a forerunner to the covenant of eternal life through Christ Jesus. There is no life, no deliverance, no safety without the hand of God.

Sin never seems to be far behind even for those that serve and love the Lord. This goes to show that we are to be serious and sober in our days because we don't know when temptation or sin is there to stop us. Noah plants a vineyard and enjoys the fruits of it a little too much. It appears that Ham mocks and ridicules the naked state of Noah. Noah was a good man who got drunk. Ham on the other hand appears to possess some contrary ways about him. We can speculate if more happened, but I think it does a disservice to the message being conveyed. Ham's heart was not right and his brothers took pity on their father and covered up his discretion. Is this not the example we should also have when fellow saints sin? We should do much to remedy the situation and not advertise it abroad and make it worse.

We find out that Ham is going to be cursed by the words of Noah's prophecy. That his descendants will be servants to his brothers. So many times we think our sin is a victim-less crime, but later we see that many others are usually involved in our mistakes. We need the guidance of the Holy Ghost to help us along our Christian walks.