Genesis 17 – 18:15

Genesis 17 – Covenant of Circumcision

It had been 13 years since Abram had heard from God.  Abram knew he had messed up.  He was probably saying, “Will God forgive me?  Has He forgotten me or His covenant?”.  But he was wrong, God didn’t forget anything.  God appeared to Abram when he was 99 years old.  This was another appearance of God in the person of Jesus.  “I am God Almighty, walk before me and be blameless.  I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.” – Gen 17:1-2.    Abram was so overjoyed to hear from God that he fell facedown before Him.  What a moment of grace!  He truly sensed God’s presence and a profound reverence. 

Do you feel God has been quiet in your life?

Do you think, “Is He going to talk to me”?

Is God there?

What life habit is God asking you to remove so you can be closer to Him?

When Abram fell on his face, he showed the attitude of his heart.  Throughout the Bible we see falling before God and kneeling when praying.  Paul, Daniel, John and even Jesus knelt when praying.  The body’s posture can influence the mind. 

What is your attitude when you pray?

Do you kneel in awe and reverence?

What did God mean when He said to be blameless?  Blameless doesn’t mean that you will never sin.  It means that you will walk with God and follow His ways rather than the ways of the world.  It means that you trust God completely and you will try living a life that pleases God.  Then when you do slip up and sin, you will repent and be refreshed in the Lord. 

Do you think God will consider you blameless? 

Principle:  God wants our total commitment. 

This covenant is still in place today.  God doesn’t go back on His Word.  God gave them a new beginning by giving them new names.  Abram’s name became Abraham and Sarai’s name became Sarah. 

Why was their names changed?  I had to consult commentaries to find out.  Abram means “exalted father”.  A father has children, but he had no children.  So his name was changed to Abraham meaning “father of a many”, because he would have sons and become the father of nations.  Sarai means “princess”, but since she will be the mother of nations, God changed her name to “Sarah” which means “princess of many”. 

The confirmed covenant was: God will make Abraham very fruitful; Abraham will be the father of many nations; God will make nations of him and kings will come to him; God will make an everlasting covenant with him and his descendants; God will be his God and the God of his descendant; God will give Abraham and his descendants the whole land of Canaan forever. 

God told Abraham that he and his descendants must keep His covenant.  He told Abraham to circumcise every male and that any uncircumcised male would not be part of the covenant.  God also told Abraham that Sarah would have a son and to call him Isaac.  God would also bless Ishmael (Abraham’s son with Hagar) and make him fruitful as well as Isaac.  Abraham obeyed God. 

Abram was righteous before he was circumcised.  Circumcision was just a reminder and a physical sign that set apart Abraham and his descendants from those who did not know God.  Circumcision is also a spiritual sign that sin is not a part of our lives and enables us to live a life of purity. 

“The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.” – Deu. 30:6. 

“A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly. Nor is circumcision merely outward and physical.  No, man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the spirit, not by the written code.  Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God.” – Rom. 30:28-29. 

Jews through the centuries began to trust more in the sign of the covenant (circumcision) than the God of the covenant.  Some believe that the circumcision was sufficient and necessary to save.  Christians today are free to circumcise or not.  It doesn’t get us closer to God.  Believers receive circumcision of the heart when they accept Jesus by faith - that He died for our sins and when He died, our sins were buried with Him and we are raised with Him anew through our faith.

Principle:  True circumcision is not the outward appearance, but circumcision of the heart. 

Genesis 18:1-15 – The Lord Visits Abraham

In the heat of the day three men appeared to Abraham.  Two of the men were angels and the other was the Lord.  The Lord did not reveal himself right away.  We can assume this was the Lord again in the Person of Jesus Christ, because John 1:18 says, “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.”   

Why did Jesus come to visit Abraham?  Perhaps it was a test of his heart.  Abraham passed the test.  He demonstrated hospitality and love for the human needs of those around him.  The main purpose of the Lord’s visit was to confirm to Sarah that she and Abraham would have a son.  This is the sixth time that we see the revelation about the promised son.

Sarah overheard the Lord tell Abraham that she would have a son this time next year.  Sarah laughed to herself in disbelief and said to herself that she was too old and worn out to have a son.  The Lord asked, “Why did Sarah laugh….” – Gen. 18:13.  This shows us that the Lord knows our innermost thoughts and what we do in secret.  There is nothing hidden from Him.  Then He said, “Is there anything too hard for the Lord?” – Gen. 18:14.  Nothing is impossible for God.  After all He is the Creator.  Abraham and Sarah both believed in God, but now she’s faced her unbelief in a promised son.  Now she believed the truth.  Perhaps if she had believed sooner, it would not have taken her so long to conceive.  

Are you tuned in to the needs of others?

How would you respond if God came for dinner tonight?

What truth in scripture seems impossible for you to believe?

Has God asked you to do something and has He given you everything you need to do it, but you don’t believe you can?

Does your doubt impact the way you parent?  The Bible says we should be sexually pure, but this is not the way of the world.  So as a parent do you think this is not possible for your children? 

Do you parent out of your unbelief?

Do you ask, “Is this for people whose messes are like mine”?  Rom. 8:28 says “in all things God works for the good of those who love him…”. 

Principle:  God knows our innermost thoughts and challenges us to believe the impossible.

Join me here next week for the next study of Genesis.  -- I encourage you to trust in Jesus. 

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Genesis 15 - 16

 

Genesis 15 – God Confirms His Covenant

God knew Abram was shaky and needed assurance.  It had been a very intense time for Abram.  If you remember in the previous chapter, Abram went to war against four kings to rescue Lot and his family.  Abram going after Lot is an example of grace.  At one time, we were all “Lots” living in sin.  God loved us and chased us down in spite of who we were. 

Abram had refused any of the spoils of war from the most powerful king of the land, King Sodom.  I’m sure Abram was somewhat fearful and discouraged that the king could come back for revenge against him so God came to him in a vision.  Gen. 15:1 – “After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: ‘Do not be afraid, Abram.  I am your shield, your very great reward.’”.  God wanted to reassure him that He was his protector.  We should not look at our circumstances, but look to God who is in control.  There is no need to fear the future.  We need to rely on God and He will calm our fears.

What “after this” are you facing in life?

Is it after a cancer treatment, bankruptcy, divorce, loss of a loved some, etc.?  

Are you sacrificially committed to living God’s Word?  He assures us with His protection as He did Abram.  He will protect us, but that doesn’t mean we won’t have times of trouble.

Where do you need to trust God? 

How is God asking you to fearless obey Him?

What makes you afraid?  Failure, death.  There are over 200 verses in the Bible stating “fear not” to reassure us when we are afraid.

Are you willing to place your faith and trust in God?

God said He would be Abram’s shield.  God is our shield by protecting, deflecting and absorbing the arrows and darts from the enemy, Satan.  God said He is Abram’s very great reward.  He is our very great reward when we place our faith in Him.  We get a relationship with Him for all eternity.

Principle:  God is a shield and reward to those who trust in Him.

If God said to you “I am your very great reward”, what would this mean to you? 

Are you living by faith? 

Do you trust God to do what He says He will do? 

What does it mean to have faith? – To have faith is to trust God completely and by believing in Jesus and that He died to make us perfect in God’s sight.

What does it mean to be righteous? – To be righteous means you believe in God and live by faith.

Abram was struggling with doubt.  Years had passed since God made the promises to him.  Abram questioned God in Gen. 15:2-6.  He was questing God because he knew he didn’t have the ability at his age to have a son.  He probably wondered if he even heard God right.  He wanted very much to do his part in fulfilling God’s promise.  He probably was wondering how this would happen.  There was no disapproval from God.  God just said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars…. So shall your offspring be.” – Gen. 15:5.  Abram’s offspring today are all those who believe in Christ Jesus.  See Rom. 4:16. Gal. 3:7, 29.

Doubt is different than unbelief.  Doubt is the natural journey of faith.  Are you doubting?  Are you open to dialog with God?  God is where we go when afraid and experiencing doubt.  We all need assurance from God.  To us, God’s timing seems so off.  God showed Abram the stars to assure him that He was capable of fulfilling His promise.  Abram was led to focus on God and what God could do.  Abram took God at His Word and believed God.  “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” – Gen. 15:6.  Rom. 1:16-17 tells us that the righteousness will live by faith.  Abram was righteous because he lived by faith.

Principle:  Sinful men are counted righteous by grace through faith in the Word of God.

What is the tough question you need to ask God?

What disappointment are you living with that leads you to doubt or even unbelief?

Are you willing to trust God with your tears?

God had promised that Abram would possess the land.  Abram asked, “How can I know that I will gain possession of it?” – Gen 15:8.  Abram didn’t demand how this was going to happen.  He just went to God submissive, but confused.  God didn’t answer Aram, but instead told him to bring a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.  Abram did as God said, but then he killed them and cut them in half even though God didn’t tell him to do that.  Abram simply understood what this was all about.  It was to be a covenant with God.

In those days there was no written contract.  A covenant was made with sacrificial animals, split them in half, and the parties of the covenant would ratify it by walking between the halves.  God was personally and deeply committed to this covenant with Abram.  With this covenant Abram was guaranteed God’s promise.  If we believe, God promises us that we are saved and our salvation is secure.  It is not secure based on you obeying, but on the Jesus’ work on the cross.  Don’t live life afraid that you are not good enough.

Abram fell asleep and God revealed to him His future plans.  God’s plans for Abram’s descendants were good, but there would be many terrible troubles.  God told Abram that his descendants would be slaves in Egypt for 400 years. (Gen. 15:12-17).  We learn in the book of Exodus that all these things happened as God said.  After the 400 years God used Moses to free the people and God let them back to the country called Canaan.  God makes something good out of something horrible.  He freed them from Egypt.  God did not enslave Israel.  It was man’s free will that did that.  Today God assures us that trouble will come, but He is our very present help in times of trouble.

Are you waiting for God to fulfill a promise?

What are you focusing on, your circumstances or God?  He will fulfill His promises at the perfect time.

How will you live while waiting?

How will you protect your mind and heart?  He is committed to anyone who is committed by faith to Him.

Israel is the most disputed piece of real estate on the earth.  Israel today is one of the tiniest nations on the earth.  It’s only 260 miles at its longest point.  It would fit into the United States 768 times.  Israel is a democratic nation, but is surrounded by 22 hostile Arab/Islamic nations.  These Arab countries are 640 times larger than Israel.  They want Israel to turn over all the West Bank (Judea and Samaria), the Golan Heights and half of Jerusalem to them.  Islam’s Koran commands Muslims to force the entire planet to submit to its control, yet Israel is viewed as an aggressor.  Israel fights only defensive wars, because it resists total destruction from its enemies.  Even though it’s a tiny nation, God continues to protect Israel to this day. 

God promised Abram and his descendants the land of Israel, which includes from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates.  Abram believed God and entered into a covenant with Him.   When the sun had set, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the animal pieces.  That was God.  “On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I give this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates…’.” – Gen. 15:18.  This is their Promised Land.

Principle:  God’s grace is sufficient while we wait for His promises to be fulfilled.

  

Genesis 16 – Hagar and Ishmael

God promised Abram a son, but so far after 10 years it didn’t happen.  They became impatient waiting on God.  Sarai lived in pain and disgrace.  So after much frustration and the social stigma she took matters into her own hands.  She suggested to Abram that he sleep with her maidservant Hagar and maybe that way they could build a family through her. (Gen. 16:1-4)  At that time Sarai’s suggestion was acceptable practice in society.  Abram went along with this and Hagar became pregnant.   They were influenced by the world’s standards.  They did not seek God in their decision.  God was not consulted or His will sought.  God had told them several times that they would have a son, but it had been 10 years and time tested their faith.  True faith waits for God’s timing. 

Hagar probably considered it a privilege to carry Abram’s son, but resented Sarai because she had to submit to her.  Sarai was jealous of her being pregnant.  Hagar despised Sarai.  Sarai blamed Abram.  Abram refused to intervene.  Sarai mistreated Hagar.  Hagar fled into the desert.  What a mess!  I think Abram was the one who was really at fault in all this.  He was a passive husband and not a loving leader.  He followed the instructions of his wife and did what she told him.  Instead he should have shown Sarai understanding, security and leadership for her heartache.  He should have gone to God along with Sarai to ask for strength and patience.  Plans without prayer produce problems.

What way do you fail your spouse?

Is there some kind of pain in your life that puts you in the planning mode without God?

Are you suggesting something to someone that might be a sin?

How can you glorify God while you are waiting for God’s promise?

Hagar was prideful and angry.  She was so unhappy that she ran away.  She was God’s child and He loved her as He loves us.  God chased after her just as He chases after us.  Verse 7 says the angel of the Lord appeared to Hagar, but I think it was Jesus who appeared to her.  He said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” – Gen. 16:8.  By Him addressing her as “servant of Sarai” showed that this marriage was outside God’s law and was wrong and sinful.  Marriage is between 1 man and 1 woman.  He appeared 3 times, which shows He cared for her.  He told her to go back and submit to Sarai, that she was to have a son and his name would be Ishmael, and that he would have lots of descendants but also lots of hostility.  She needed confidence from God that everything was alright.  God’s promise to have many descendants would encourage her.  Hagar gave the Lord a name, “the God who sees me” – Gen. 16:13.

When Abram was 86 years old, Hagar gave birth to a son and Abram named him Ishmael.  There were would be consequences because of the decision that Abram and Sarai made.  Hagar’s descendants would become some of the Arab nations of today.  There was hostility between Hagar and Sarai and it continues today between Arabs and Jews.

Are you struggling and think you need to get your act together before God helps you?  Hagar was a mess.  Are you on the run?  When you meet with God, it can be hard.  Hagar was told to go back and submit to Sarai.  If you are running away, God is watching and will meet you where you are.  Just trust and submit to Him.

Principle:  Whenever we run ahead of God, there is trouble; true faith waits on God’s timing.

Join me here next week for the next chapter in Genesis.  -- I encourage you to trust in Jesus.

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