December 6, 2009
Scripture:
Ministry:
What thoughts fill our hearts and minds as we think about the glory of God. I try to ponder it. What is it? How do you define it? I think of it as light, radiance, brightness that is brighter than the sun. Some of the writers speak of it as all God’s characteristics brought together to magnify Him. Some of them also speak of it as a standard, which things are measured against. Either thought is true, and is He is a God of glory. Genesis 1:26a. What did man look like at this point? What was Adam in the Garden of Eden like before transgression? Surely there was a likeness to God and a special position in creation. We could gather that man manifested the glory of God? Romans 3:23. What an intimidating statement! In the beginning man had a measure of God’s glory, but that was erased by sin. In prayer, our brother reminded us that through the fall we became children of darkness. Romans 4:24-25. This is the cross, which we’ve remembered this morning. Jesus went to the cross, died, and rose again. Romans 5:1-2a. This is something that we can stand on, by grace, in spite of falling short. Romans 5:2b. That’s precious. We think of that glory as something that’s dazzling, beautiful, something brighter than the noon day sun in all its meridian splendor; and we rejoice in the hope of being displayed in that glory ourselves once we are joined to the Lord, who is the ‘brightness of His glory’. We’ll be joined to that! As the Psalmist would say, “Selah”. Meditate, ponder, and think on. Think of what we were, what He did, and, as a result, what we will be. How blessed to have the Lord as our portion.
Revelation 21:23
What we lost in the Fall has been restored to us through salvation. V.23. When we go to be with the Lord, not only will we have that glory, but we’ll also be living in the light of it. Truly we have a most precious portion.
Hymn 369 - I claim for my own a king on a throne
Prayer
Genesis 22
This is the only chapter in the entire Bible that brings out the sufferings of the Heavenly Father at the cross. Last time we saw Abraham, Isaac, and the young men on their way to Mount Moriah. Abraham was carrying the fire and the knife, which speak of judgement and death. Isaac was carrying the wood, which speaks of Christ’s humanity. There hasn’t been much conversation up until this point. Vv.7-8. I thought that God had said to offer Isaac. But here, Abraham didn’t say, “You’re the sacrifice, Isaac”. That makes this a special verse. You see, when Jesus went to the cross, God was providing a sacrifice. It’s almost as if this verse is prophetic, telling what God was going to do in the future. He provided Jesus as the “Lamb of God”, to take our punishment in that sacrifice at Calvary. It also says that “they went both of them together”. Both God the Father and God the Son were present at the time when Jesus was offered up. But was Isaac offered up as a sacrifice? V9. Earlier in the chapter we saw how active Abraham was in getting ready to go. Here again he was very active; he came and built and laid and bound and laid again. Five more actions. How faithful Abraham was! So, Abraham built the alter, laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac. What he needs next is the knife. V10-11.But just as Abraham is about to kill Isaac with the knife, at the right moment, the Angel of the Lord calls, “Abraham!” Abraham had gone as far as he could go in obeying God before he was stopped.
This chapter, as we’ve said, is a type of Calvary. But doesn’t this ruin the picture? Was there no sacrifice? V13. There was a sacrifice! And it was provided by God. And here the type transfers from Isaac to the ram. The ram was in a thicket, a bunch of vines,weeds, briars, and thistles; all a type of sin. He was caught by his horns. Now, the ram’s horns represent his power, but here they made him a prisoner. When the Lord Jesus came down from heaven, his love for this lost humanity was so strong that it wouldn’t let Him go back to Heaven without dying to save us. So the ram is now the type of Jesus, and he is the one who died on that alter. Jesus was sent by His Father, died on the cross, went into the tomb, rose again on the third day, and went back to Heaven forty days later. He then sent the Holy Spirit down here to find a Bride. The next time that we’ll see Him will be in glory. Abraham and Isaac went to the alter together, the ram was offered, and then the type moves back to Isaac as Christ in resurrection.
V19. Where’s Isaac? He is ‘missing’ and we don’t hear of him again until the end of the twenty fourth chapter where we see him receiving his bride from the hands of the servant (a type of the Holy Spirit).
Last week, we looked at the affect of the feast they had just had, which was in accordance with the instructions given to Moses. The next day, they started a fast. This showed their repentance and humiliation. They separated from strangers and confessed their sins and the sins of their fathers. The sins of their fathers were the root cause of their captivity; to be free from the bondage of that sin, they had to deal with the root cause.
They were seeking to be correct; then they got into the Word of God, the vital element to help us deal with wrong and do right. They spend a quarter of the day reading and a quarter of the day confessing and worshipping. Note that their confession and worship are proportional to the amount of time they spent reading the law. The Word of God is so important; it is speaking to the conscience and teaching us how to worship.
At the end of v. 3, we read that they worshipped God; in John 4, we read that the ”Father seeketh such to worship him.” We have a much closer relationship with God than they did; this was first established after He rose from the dead, why He told Mary Magdalene, “I ascend unto my Father, and your Father.” (Notice He did not say ‘our Father’; He has a different relationship with God.)
Now in vv. 4 & 5, the Levites tell the Jews to stand up and bless the Lord. They name seven attributes of the Lord:
Reading v. 6 in the New Translation, you’ll find that “Same” is used as a name of God; He never changes; read Psalm 102:27.
Hymn 345 - Jesus loves the little children
Prayer