The Path to Jerusalem Series (Part II)
The Way: Promised (1st of 2 parts, the second part will be PART III of "The Path to Jerusalem Series)
Introduction
What is more discouraging, you failing to keep a promise with someone or someone else not keeping a promise with you?
Have you ever arrived at the airport and the person that promised you that they would be there was not? How did that make you feel? Has someone ever promised you that they would stand up for you in a meeting, but when that time came they did not?
God has made promises, too. And, the Bible tells us that He is faithful and just and will keep His promises, for He does not lie, He is never late, and He does not CHANGE! The Bible also tells us that “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6). What other promise can you claim for yourself that is better than that?
But, there were many promises before this one, yet were they really? Let’s begin in the Garden of Eden, with God’s promises to Adam and Eve.
A PROMISE OF LIFE AND DEATH
God’s first promise to man was that he would take care of the needs of man. He told man in genesis 2:16: “and the LORD God commanded the man, "you are free to eat from any tree in the garden…”
What other promise might we need? God put before us the abundance of his work. He gave us all authority over the land, sea, and animals, and free reign to eat all that he had planted in the garden.
But this promise was put forward with an additional promise attached in genesis 2:17 “but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
Satan entered the picture. He took God’s word and twisted it and lied to the woman. He questioned her devotion to God and founded his persuasion in her need to make herself better [desirable for gain wisdom, Gen. 3:6].
It is no different today. Satan, according to the Bible, “… is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8). It is his desire to finish the job that he started in the Garden of Eden. And, he still uses the same methods. He gets you to call into question your faith. He offers you the world if you only bow down to him (possessions can become idols, i.e. cars, homes, stereos, etc.). He’ll twist God’s word and use worldly materials to persuade you to make the wrong decisions for your life.
Eve made the wrong decision, and so did Adam. But, praise the Lord, there is A PROMISE OF DELIVERANCE!
A PROMISE OF DELIVERANCE
After the disobedience of Adam and Eve, God pronounced a sentence upon man. A simple, yet wonderful promise provided a ray of hope for mankind. “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:15)
It is evident here in this promise that sin would ultimately be overcome by one of Eve’s descendants. Sin would be put to death. It is the promise of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Every promise of God from this point forward points to Jesus Christ.
It is also evident here that this parable of the seed of the woman speaks of the life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, in which he gained victory over sin and death and has paved the way to everlasting life for all who believe in him.
A clue to the identity of the seed of the woman is given in the words, "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."
A PROMISE OF SALVATION AND BLESSINGS
As the Bible progresses we begin to see God’s plan of salvation for man develop in many ways. Outstanding among these are the lives of selected individuals who were either good or bad examples of faith. To both the faithful and the unfaithful, God made remarkable promises of life or death. One notable Bible figure is Noah.
NOAH
As the descendants of Adam and Eve increased, the tendency to sin, which they had inherited, began to show itself. “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.” (Genesis 6:5 & 6)
Noah was the only man with whom God was pleased. God determined to make a fresh start with His creation and to use Noah in this purpose.
“So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.” (Genesis 6:13)
The life of Noah stands out as a shining example of faith in stark contrast with the unbelief of his age.
GOD’S 2ND PROMISE TO NOAH
The LORD then declared to Noah that He would never again destroy the earth with a flood. The earth (its rotation, lands, and seas now changed) are part of God’s purpose for the earth and God promised that seasons would follow in their turn
APPLICATION: FEW ARE SAVED
What does this record of Noah teach? That only relatively few believe God and, consequently, few will be saved. This principle displayed in the account of the Flood (1 Peter 3 v 20), applies to the far greater salvation from eternal death offered through Jesus.
ABRAHAM
Abraham is another example of a man who was prepared to accept and successfully endure many rigorous tests because of his faith in God.
God commanded and promised Abraham:
“Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1)
and,
“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” (Hebrews 11: 8).
GOD’S PROMISES TO ABRAHAM
Founded upon promises of blessings and protection, Abraham to God at His word. He realized that, when God makes a promises, He keeps it.
God told Abraham:
“I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:2-3).
Throughout Abraham’s life these promises were repeated. and each time something was added to the original promise.
God told Abraham that He would give him land
“All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.” (Genesis 13:15)
But, God, in comparing this to God’s original promise to Abraham in 12:1 [a land I will show you], He adds something. He adds “to you” and “forever.”
It is obvious, by looking at the development of Israel through the Bible and now, this second part of this promise must still be in the future. Since many countries do not recognize Israel as a nation.
But the promise of making Abraham’s descendants into a great nation has, to a large extent, been fulfilled (as the Bible shows in Genesis 12:2; 13:16; 15:5; and 22:17).
The Book of Genesis records that Abraham’s son Isaac and his grandson Jacob (whose name was changed to Israel) became the original ancestors of the nation of Israel. They lived in Canaan until Jacob, in the time of famine, took his family into Egypt. The book of Exodus tells how Jacob’s descendants increased into a nation of more than two million and became enslaved by the Egyptians. God then sent Moses to free them and lead them to Canaan. The book of Joshua, Moses’ successor, tells how the twelve tribes of Israel conquered Canaan. Later books of the Bible describe how Israel developed until about 1,000 B.C. it became a great and prosperous kingdom, during the reigns of David and Solomon.
But, after the death of Solomon, Israel declined and was eventually exiled from Canaan because the people were, generally speaking, faithless and disobedient to God (Deuteronomy 28 v 15-68).
This introduces an important principle briefly referred to in the consideration of the first promise. The great nation, which was to be descended from Abraham, was not to be composed of faithless natural descendants, but of those who showed a similar faith to Abraham.
Many generations have passed from Abraham until now. And, in each generation there has been few that have shown a similar faith to Abraham, but when they are all raised from the dead, when Jesus returns to the earth, they will be gathered together into one great nation. Then Abraham will see his immortal descendants, praising God for their salvation, “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:9).
Thus the promise will be fulfilled in a far more wonderful way than it ever could have been perceived by Abraham. But, through him all nations are to be blessed. Amen?
Mankind, however, has not yet received the greatest of all blessings with which this promise is concerned - the deliverance from the curse of sin and death. The Bible reveals that there is a time coming when, as the Lord declares: “But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.” (Numbers 14:21)
There is no room for God’s glory in an earth filled with violence and oppression, and, while sin and death remain. A great change is necessary to bring about this wonderful time of promised blessing.
This is the message of the gospel (good news), which is taught throughout the Bible. Few people realize that the promise made to Abraham before Christ walked this earth, is the foundation of the gospel!
“The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed through you.” (Galatians 3:8).
A PROMISED DESCENDANT
The Bible is quite clear who the central figure of the gospel and of the promises to Abraham is and that is none other than Jesus Christ.
Matthew 1:1 tells us “A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham…”
Galatians 3:16 further makes it clear, it says,
“The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ.”
Jesus is a natural descendant, a natural son of Abraham; but, in the same Epistle to the Galatians, it is stated, “Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham.” (Galatians 3:7).
The Way to Jerusalem is becoming not only quite clear but quite necessary. Next week, the third part of "The Way to Jerusalem" and the second part of The Way: Promised.
